The Bad Genious

Waited for Trade

2009-09-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Another Waited for Trade column? I cannot believe it either but I managed to crank out another batch of trades. In this column I will be reviewing IDW's new G.I. Joe trade, Boom's Irredeemable, Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns, Annihilation Book 3 and Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis Volume 1.

Once again I have to warn you. I do feel like I am getting better at writing reviews but I still feel like I struggle at describing events and putting down in words what my brain is saying. I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible but I offer no promises. If you are looking for an in-depth review about a trade, this is probably not for you. At best you will get an honest review from someone who absolutely loves comics. And of course I will use the Official Bad Genious Rating System(tm).

A = Astonishing, Truly Bad Genious
B = Brainy, Brilliant
C = Commonplace
D = Dunce, Dumb, Don't Buy
F = Freakin' Crap in a Hat

Gosh, another splurge. I have a problem folks. I cannot stop buying trades! If you click on the title of the trade, it will take you directly to its listing on Amazon where you can check out prices and more reviews.

Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis Vol. 1
It is no secret that I love Alan Davis's work. Excalibur was my favorite comic when it came out and I was so sad when both he and Claremont left the book. Thankfully, Marvel got him to come back and not only draw, but write the book as well. This was the first major work that Alan wrote and it didn't disappoint and I didn't miss Claremont at all. This trade reprints Excalibur #42-50 and Alan solved a ton of old storylines. He gave Phoenix an official origin, explained the Captain Britain Corps and finished all of the lingering plots that Claremont left behind. He also brought in new characters such as Micromax, Cerise and Kylun and reformatted Widget. If you liked Claremont's run on the book, you HAVE to have this run. The sad thing about this run (and most of the rest of Alan's run) is that most of the origins given here have been ignored. This book is fun, Alan throws everything at you. The unique humor that Claremont established continues here, there is excellent characterization and the art is strong. There is also a feel of finality too, the whole trade is one large story that has a nice payoff at the end.
Final Word and Grade: While the stories are old and some of the plots here have been ignored, this trade is still worth getting, especially if you read and liked Claremont's run. I am also pleased to report that Marvel is publishing another volume. A

Annihilation Book 3
I finally finished the first Annihilation saga and they saved the best for last. This is not your typical Marvel cosmic story, this is war. The cosmic stuff is merely the backdrop, the war is at the forefront and we get front row tickets. I knew I was in for a treat after seeing the full splash page of Galactus battling Tenebrous and then losing! And it didn't let up from there. Griffen writes a terrific story in bringing all the major players together and giving them their own moment to shine. Ronan stands out as the breakout star of this event, we see how driven he is to uphold the Kree culture and how unwavering he is. I don't want to spoil anything major here but he has a couple of very cool moments that solidify him as a major player in the Marvel Universe. The solid art for the main Annihilation series is done by Andrea Di Vito, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists. Unfortunately, the Heralds of Galactus issues that follow the main Annihilation series are not as strong and more than likely it is because the main series was that great.
Final Word and Grade: Excellent stuff. You don't have to have knowledge of the cosmic Marvel stuff to really enjoy it. It is a war story at heart, the cosmic stuff is mostly put in the background. B

Irredeemable: Volume 1
Mark Waid is Evil! At least that is what this book tells us. I have heard excellent word-of-mouth about this book and for $9.99 how could I resist? And I am so glad that I am a sucker for cheap trades! It only took me three pages to grab me and boy it grabbed me by the throat! The story is about the Plutonian, a super hero basically like Superman or Marvelman that has become jaded and has gone bad. Now this isn't a new idea and has been done to death before, but what makes this intriguing is how former teammates, enemies and the rest of the world deals with it. Waid can pull out all the stops with this character and does an excellent job at showing how brutal a character like Superman can be if he did go bad. The art is adequate and I am sure Krause will improve as the comic continues. I am also sure Waid has some neat tricks up his sleeve and I am looking forward to the ride.
Final Word and Grade: While it doesn't tread on new ground or bring anything new to the table of a good guy going bad, it is certainly well written and the best part is that you can see the potential. And I cannot wait to see what happens next. A-

Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns
I almost purchased something else but I thought I would give Green Lantern another try. I was surprisingly impressed with Rebirth but the last trade, No Fear was disappointing. It was okay but I expected more. I am glad that I gave Green Lantern another chance because this was really good, probably the best so far of the new series. What I like about Geoff Johns is I think he does a real good job at handling heavy continuity and giving readers just enough to understand what is going on. He also gives me enough that I want to check out the old stories too. Another one of John's strengths is that he handles small moments and makes them big. And this trade was loaded with them. From funny stuff like GL's ring has the ability to block communication from other GL's ring (much to Guy's chagrin) to serious stuff, like when he had Batman put on the ring. That moment when Bruce confronts his fears with the ring is perhaps the moment I loved most. The latter half of the trade was fantastic. Hal finds that the new GL Corp are not fans of Hal even though his name has been cleared, there is some clear resentment by the newer GL Corp members that plays off well. Hal then discovers that some of his closest GL friends that he battled when he became Parallax are found to still be alive and he goes against orders to rescue them. While it does bug me that things are being returned to status quo, at least Johns provides a creative way to bring them back and that satisfies this reader. And like the trades before, I am enjoying how the seeds of the Sinestro Wars and the Blackest Night are being foreshadowed.
Final Word and Grade: This has to be the strongest of the three GL trades so far. Lots of neat moments, nothing that made my jaw drop but was a solid superhero read from cover to cover. And that is good enough for me. C+

G.I. Joe Volume 1
I am a sucker for G.I.Joe, pure and simple. I was a fan of the old Marvel series and I rejoiced when Image revived it. But it has not been the same to me. I tried the Reborn series and the other Devil's Due series but I found it lacking. It just wasn't the same. And when I heard Chuck Dixon was rebooting the Joe franchise at IDW, I was curious but decided to wait for trade because the last few reboots were not as fun. This was probably the best out of the bunch and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next. This trade introduced the smaller Joe team with some minor changes to the original characters. Cobra is not even a force yet, it is merely a ghost organization. We hear whispers of this terrorist organization but we don't know who or what they are. This makes them even more mysterious and much more dangerous. Only a few Cobras are introduced, but sadly no Storm Shadow, Zartan and even Cobra Commander do not appear. And this adds to the intrigue. The Joe team seems still too bland but Dixon does give them some life. And the subplot of Snake Eyes being AWOL is one that does interest me. While the book doesn't offer anything really new or mind-blowing, it does scratch my Joe itch and I will get the next trades and try out IDW's other Joe books.
Final Word and Grade: This is the best and strongest Joe book in years and I am looking forward to seeing my old favorite characters slowly get introduced. If you like G.I Joe, you should get a kick out of this. If you like Dixon's writing, you will like this too. It is more serious than the Marvel run but looks like it will still have some of the more unbelievable aspects of that same run. C+

Next time will be all about one of my favorite properties, the Guardians of the Galaxy. I will review Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1, Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome and The Power of Starhawk Hardcovers. In addition I will look back at Jim Valentino's run on the book in the '90s.

Waited for Trade: More Birthday Goodness

2009-08-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

by Matt

I am a sucker for trades. A couple of months ago I purchased some trades with some birthday money and I have noticed a trend my wife absolutely hates. Usually when I buy a batch of trades it leads to more trades. And sure enough, I splurged and bought a whole bunch more. With this batch, I reviewed Weapon Omega, Green Lantern: No Fear, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, Annihilation Book 2, Kinetic and the highly anticipated (by yours truly) Captain Britain Omnibus.

I warned you before and I am going to warn you again, I am not the best reviewer. I struggle at describing what I think of a book in words, my fingers and mind are not always in sync. I will also try to avoid spoilers as much as possible. If you are looking for an in-depth review about a trade, this is probably not for you. At best you will get an honest review from someone who absolutely loves comics. As a reminder, I will use the Official Bad Genious Rating System(tm).

A = Astonishing, Truly Bad Genious
B = Brainy, Brilliant
C = Commonplace
D = Dunce, Dumb, Don't Buy
F = Freakin' Crap in a Hat

Are you like me? Do you buy trades and never read them for a very long time? I do this all the time. I will buy a trade and it will sit on my shelf for months before I pull it out and give it a read. So some of these trades were not recent purchases but from splurges past. If you click on the title, it will take you directly to its listing on Amazon where you can check out prices and more reviews.

Annihilation Book 2
I bought this book on the strength of the first Annihilation book, hoping that it would continue to raise the bar on Marvel Cosmic stories. It doesn't quite reach the bar set by the first volume but it was pretty close and still enjoyable to read. This volume covers the Silver Surfer, Super Skrull and Ronan characters and how they were affected by the Annihilation Wave. I am not a huge fan of any of these characters and I was surprised that the writers made me care about these characters that I normally don't give a flying fig for. The issues covering Ronan was the best part of the book. Simon Furman made Ronan and the choices he made very real and now I understand this character and I have gained more of an appreciation for him. The Silver Surfer issues were also great, I admit I didn't see where the Surfer was going in this and the decision he made was bittersweet. Griffin understood that this is what the Surfer needed to do. The Super Skrull issues were enjoyable but I felt was the weakest out of the bunch. Part of the problem was I am Skrulled-out with all the exposure the Skrulls have received lately and I felt that the art just didn't match up with the other two series. It is not that the art is bad per say, it just didn't match the feel that the other two had. It just seemed too cartoony.
Final Word and Grade: Probably the weakest of the 3 Annihilation books, but a very solid read. If you want to get to the heart of the Annihilation storyline, you could probably skip this volume and go right from the first to the third and final book. But if you want a lot of dressing with your turkey, I would recommend getting this. C+

Kinetic
I bought this trade awhile ago and it is one of those stories that has stayed with me since. I dig it out every so often and just glance through the pages but I end up reading it from cover to cover anyway. This is a story about this young man in high school who is extremely sick and is very unhappy. Then he gets powers that change all of it. What I really like about this book is that this was a very realistic look at what would really happen. The powers are an afterthought, it is how it changes him and his relationships, and this is what this trade is about. The writing is well done, the pacing just leaves the reader wanting more, the dialogue rings true and the art just exemplifies how Tom (the young man) is feeling. The art and coloring may put off some people but I thought for the most part it enhanced the story. The dull gray coloring choice for Tom and his mother is a perfect example of how Tom sees themselves. Dull and boring and dark. There are moments in this book that made me a little uncomfortable but I think that is why I like it so much.
Final Word and Grade: If you are looking for a different take on superheroes and powers, this is for you. If you enjoy teenage angst, this is for you as well. And for ten bucks you get the whole series! B+

Weapon Omega TPB
Now this was a lot of fun. Originally this was published in the short-lived Marvel Comics Presents and I skipped them because I had no interest in the other stories and was happy when Marvel was publishing all the Weapon Omega stories in one trade. As a lifelong Alpha Flight fan I was not very happy with the useless slaughter of the old Alpha Flight team, in particular the passing away of Guardian. Guardian was more about the power suit and one of the best looking costumes around than him being James Hudson. I hated the character of Michael Pointer when he first appeared and I hated the fact that a non-Canadian got to wear that costume. I was pleasantly surprised by this story though. The writer managed to change my mind about the character of Michael, I still am not a fan of how he came to be but I really liked what has been done to him in this book. He is a tragic character, he does not want these powers and he feels inadequate and is filled with guilt. By the end, he is more comfortable with his role of being Guardian. There were some nice twists and some great character moments with Michael and his other Omega teammates. The only thing that I didn't like was that the art was not completely drawn by Andrea Di Vito. Di Vito is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists and his rendition of Guardian was perfect. His soft pencils reflected how insecure Guardian was. Checchetto finished the last four parts of the book and his a pretty good artist in his own right but doesn't compare with Di Vito.
Final Word and Grade: I am sure this was overlooked by many Marvel fans but this should be picked up. If you like B-list characters and the Omega Flight series you will like this book. I went into it with no expectations and came out very satisfied. Great superhero stuff. B

Mouse Guard Volume 2: Winter 1152
Very rarely do I find a sequel that works better than the original but this is one that does. I thought that the first Mouse Guard was charming. This isn't one of those books where the creator has an idea and just goes with it. This is a book that is extremely detailed and obviously planned way ahead. You can easily feel and see the passion that Petersen has for his concept, which definitely makes up for any small inadequacies. This volume continues the adventures of the mice from the first volume and moves the story of the Black Axe even further. There are some very nice moments in here, the battle with the owl, the journey through the ice and snow and my favorite, the Weasel labyrinth and the bats. Well-written and the art is almost flawless. Exquisite paints and colors really bring this world alive. And the conclusion left me wanting more.
Final Word and Grade: The first volume of Mouse Guard was fun and I was happy about the sequel when they announced it but this takes it up a notch. Now at the conclusion of this volume I am impatiently awaiting the next installment. The only drawback is that it is a fairly quick read. If you like Castle Waiting or Bone, I highly recommend getting this. A-

Green Lantern: No Fear
Green Lantern: Rebirth caught me by surprise as a fun read so I decided to try out more of GL's adventures. I was not disappointed by it but nothing really stood out either. There are a few things that I really liked, the rebuilding of Coast City, the small hints foreshadowing the Blackest Night but in particular I was impressed by the prelude by Darwyn Cooke. His story of Hal taking Kyle Rayner out for a ride in a jet while in flashback we see Hal's dad doing the same thing with Hal was a nice, quiet moment that showed readers what type of person Hal is. I originally thought Hal was a cocky jerk but this story showed me Hal's good side and it comes off more confident than cocky. The rest of the trade was good but nothing spectacular. The story at times did lose me a little because I have absolutely no familiarity with Green Lantern at all but that doesn't bug me as much as it might with some other readers who are trying this for the first time. I don't mind not knowing everything about the characters, if it intrigues me, I'll investigate it further. The change in art chores did seem to take some flow out, especially since the artists were not similar at all. All are good artists but it just seemed out of place. I will say that I think this was Simone Bianchi's best work.
Final Word and Grade: A little bit of a let down from the GL: Rebirth series and I expected a little more of a bang out of the gates. That is not to say that this was bad, it just wasn't strong. Still, it was enjoyable enough to get the next trade. C

Captain Britain Omnibus
I saved the best for last. Gosh, I could go on and on and gush about this book but I will try to control myself. This was on the top of my wish list for Marvel’s line of Omnibus and this didn't disappoint at all. Captain Britain is one of my favorite characters and this reprints some of his best appearances. This huge volume reprints a ton of his early stuff starting with Alan Moore's fantastic run. Alan's Mad Jim Jasper storyline is one of my favorite runs of all time with some great moments. Alan understands that Brian Braddock is not a perfect person and is weighed down by the heavy responsibility of being Captain Britain. He is flawed and says and does things that are not always in the right. I will never forget his second battle with the Fury (he dies in the first one!) and he and some other heroes barely escape with their lives. He asks what they should do with Captain UK (who had come from another dimension) and Saturnyne replies that she needs a place to stay and some clean clothes. Cap replies, "Why should she get special treatment? Everybody's wet." Saturnyne replies coldly, "Not wet like her. She's wet because she was very frightened. Grow up Captain." And did you know that Miracle Man was killed during this run?

The volume continues into Jamie Delano's run which I prefer over Alan Moore's run. This introduces Meggan and shows his memorable battles against Slaymaster and the evil Kaptain Britain, who tries to have his way with his sister Betsy. Betsy later becomes the new Captain Britain and fails and Brian is forced to come back and take the mantle once again. Delano's run is much underrated compared to Moore's run and is not even an afterthought but I see Delano's run as just as good, if not better. This volume also reprints New Mutants Annual #2 (Psylocke's first American appearance) and one of my favorite comics of all time, Uncanny X-Men Annual #11. The X-Men Annual is what introduced me to Alan Davis and to Captain Britain and I have been a huge fan ever since. Also reprinted is Captain America #305-306 which does not compare to the rest but is still fun to read. Even though Captain Britain seems like a wimp in these issues.

There is also a ton of bonus material. All the covers are reprinted, early sketches of Alan Davis designing the new Cap costume, a Short History of Britain, written By Alan Moore from the 70's, promo posters, bios, pin ups, never-before-reprinted short strips that accompanied the main story and ALL the bonus material from the earlier published trades and X-Men Archives, including those covers as well. Whew! That is a load of bonus stuff!
Final Word and Grade: Very biased grade here but this has to be my all-time favorite book. Anyone who enjoys Alan Davis or Captain Britain needs to pick up this book. Just as a warning, this does contain Alan Davis's earliest work and is not as polished as his art is today. It can be pretty rough at times but you might not notice as much as you will be enthralled by the story. A+

I still have loads of trades to read. Hopefully sometime soon I will be reviewing Annihilation Book 3, Batman/Grendel, Punisher Max Vol 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1, BOOM's Irredeemable and Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome and The Power of Starhawk Hardcovers.

Panelology

2009-08-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

It's time again for a round robin of topics on comic book collecting. This week I discuss bad behavior from fans, the comic news lull, Marvel second features, and a cool cover from Booster Gold. Let's get started.

Learn Some Respect!
I feel like an old man shaking my fist for the above title, but it fits so well. This could all be filed under the Fanboy Jerk of the Year category. Recently at the Chicago Comic Con, comic book fan Ryan Coons approached fan-favorite whipping boy Rob Liefeld. He wasn't a fan asking for an autograph or a fan attempting to talk with a beloved creator to show his appreciation. Instead, Ryan Coons approached Liefled for one reason: he wanted to berate him about his handling of Captain America. From a decade ago. Coons literally asked Liefeld for an apology. This didn't really take guts. It took a good dash of immature idiocy. He did not do this once. In fact, on his second round of insulting, he handed Liefeld a copy of How to Draw the Marvel Way. Awesome.

While some juvenile fans snickered, many fans and creators noted that this was at best the lowest form of fan behavior and at least improper behavior in general. It was nice to see tons of creators throw their scorn onto this yellow-hat moron.

Comic book fans have a stigma of being overly picky. While I think there are definitely some curmudgeon's in the crowd, comic fans are not all that way. Idiotic behavior such as Ryan Coons', however, reflects poorly on all of us. The next time you spy a creator you don't like, just walk and find someone you do respect. This all goes back to something we all should have learned in grade school: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. If a fan goes out of his way to insult a creator he doesn't like, it is time to get a life.

I guess comic fans should remember that we don't own these characters. They don't belong to us no matter how much we love them or how long we have collected them. Comic book publishers are bound to publish stores that we don't like. It's just going to happen. Insulting creators, even those we may not enjoy, accomplishes nothing. It's a matter of human decency. There is a way to let others know your displeasure without looking like some kind of nincompoop that doesn't get out of his parent's basement often.

I should point out that I'm not defending Rob Liefeld's work here at all. I'm not really familiar with his work as I was never a big fan. I am saying that fans should treat creators better. That goes for online work. Don't threaten to blow up Vertigo's offices or hand Rob Liefeld copies of drawing books. Again, I'm sure Ryan Coons or any number of indignant fans could find much better things to do with their spare time than become trolls.

I think most comic fans are good people. They are salt of the earth. But it's jerks like Ryan Coons who give us a bad name. Maybe we fans should be less tactful and accepting of such poor behavior.

Comic Book News Lull
Ever since the San Diego Comic Con blew out of Comic Book Town, comic news has been slow. I know it happens every year, but it seems like this year was especially bad. It seemed like news sites such as Newsarama and CBR ran on CCI fumes for around two weeks after CCI before they attempted to run anything new. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but more like the truth than actual fiction.

Chicago did bring a trickle of news, with the aforementioned moron Ryan Coon's taking the cake. But there wasn't anything Earth or Internet smashing. Marvel's big news about acquiring Marvelman still has fans buzzing, but more about the lack of news than anything Marvel has actually announced. DC is still heavily trumpeting their Care Bear's by way of Zombies with rings shindig Blackest Night.

That's pretty much it. Nothing to see. Move along.

Where are the Marvel Second Features?
Though DC routinely gets trounced in monthly sales, the grand old party of comic books realizes that offering a second feature makes $3.99 comics more palatable to fans. I think DC realizes that $3.99 isn't going to keep fans coming to the well if all fans are getting is 22-pages of comic book. At least it makes it easier for me to justify spending the extra dollar on a book with a second story.

As the DC program took off, rumors swirled about Marvel adding second features to their books. Yet CCI and Chicago passed by without firm announcements. So, where are they? Marvel's argument that they are just offsetting costs would be fine if they eased the financial strain a bit. Instead, Marvel keeps forking $3.99 books at us hoping we'll just keep buying them without any added content.

Instead of making crappy miniseries or ongoing series that get canned within six issues, why not add them as second features? Exiles, a recent cancellation, comes to mind. I'm sure there are several books that would love to adopt that little slice of comic book revelry. It's an opportunity for Marvel to make $3.99 books easier on our wallets, give some titles and characters another chance, and bring in more fans to already existing books. Maybe we'll something soon. Surely Marvel can't be in the dark about this, can they?

Cool Cover Alert
I saw this cover on the newsstand of a local comic book shop this weekend. Booster Gold covers never really strike me as being awesome, but I thought this one was great.

My attraction to this issue might have something to do with the fact that G4's Blair Butler (who is insanely beautiful) is featured on the cover. I'm not sure.

Summer Reading, pt. 6

2009-08-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

This is it. This is the end. I start back to work in two days. Students start back a week thereafter. I would lying if I said I wanted to go back to work. Let me state emphatically that I do not. This summer has been crazy busy and I don't feel like my brain has had enough time to defrag from last school year. Like it or not, though, my days of freedom are dwindling. Luckily, I have been able to read a ton of comics this summer and have been able to catalogue my new comic book experiences here for all to read on the big, bad Internet. In this last edition of summer reading, I review new books from the Batman reboot, a milestone for Savage Dragon, the awesome Unwritten, and several Star Wars books.

Captain America: Reborn #2
I know I reviewed my latest batch of Marvel books last week, but I decided to give Captain America: Reborn another shot. The first issue fell kind of flat for me for two reasons: the same two reasons this issue fell flat for me. What a coincidence? My first major reason is that I am an outsider to this title. I'm one of those people Marvel roped into buying this through the hype. I'm probably a chump for doing so, but impulse buys can sometimes pay off. I'm the type of outside person Marvel is hoping will buy this. Yet, an outsider is all I feel like. I have no real connection to the characters or events outside of the larger context that the event/non-event Dark Reign that is going on and Norman has some kind of mad-on to make sure he gets Cap first. Which brings me to my second problem. This just doesn't feel real to me. This can't really be how Marvel is bring Captain America back? It seems to out there for Brubaker's reputation. This second issue did little to clear up the mechanism of how a magic bullet is able to bring Captain America back by sticking him in time. It's weak for a return that surely have been planned from word one when they decided to kill Steve Rogers off at the end of Civil War.

Batman & Robin #2
Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely are probably the best creative team in comic books working past, present, or future. They just hit the ground running with whatever they do together, a synergy that clicks. The second issue of the new Batman & Robin series has some great character moments with just about everyone in the book. Alfred is comfortable in the mentor role and Damian is too in his role as the would be jerk. The dynamic between the new Batman and Robin is still tense. And while I think it's a bit too early to play the "Robin runs off on his own" card, it just seems to work here. The editorial bigwigs over at DC should pat themselves on the back. The Batman books haven't been this blessed with this caliber of creative talent in a long time, if ever.

Detective Comics #855
Speaking of talent on the Bat books, another one of the titles that is currently blessed is Detective Comics. While Rucka's story here is weaker than the last issue, it still plays off well. A large part of that is due to the gorgeous artwork provided by J.H. Williams III. Batwoman spent a large part of this issue tripping, which works more towards the artist's strength rather than the writer. If Morrison and Quitely are the best team, then Williams is the best stand alone artist. Each page is a joy to look at. The second feature with the Question was still "meh" for me.

Fables #85
Now back on regularly scheduled programing, this issue of Fables stands out as one of the better single-issue stories in the run thus far. That may be in large part due to following up the so-so crossover of the last few months. Mr. Dark is a menacing villain and we get a slight peak here of what he was like and where he came from. Willingham's story almost reaches new heights here, while guest penciller Jim Fern does an outstanding job of providing artwork worthy of any regular issue out of the series. This new, yet darker era for Fables looks like it is going to be fertile for new stories. Some fans wondered if Willingham was going to be able to continue to write great comics for Fables once the Adversary was out of the way. It's issues like these that prove Willingham can actually out do himself.

The Unwritten #3
Holy crap! This is the best new series on the stands now. To use an over-used baseball analogy, Mike Carey and Peter Gross are hitting the ball out of the park with every issue. This title is everything you want out of a Vertigo title. It's literary and edgy, smart and funny, mysterious and fantastical. Carey manages to keep the story of Tom Taylor dealing with his alter ego of Tommy Taylor going strong without really focusing on the fictional Tommy Taylor this issue. Instead, we get an examination of Frankenstein and a solid argument between assembled writers on why horror works. This is such a well-written series that it's hard to find fault with anything Carey and Gross have done thus far. Could this be the best book out now? Possibly, but if you haven't gotten on board yet, what's your excuse?

The Savage Dragon #150
Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon hit a milestone few independent comics ever reach with this 150th issue. It is such an achievement for him and not just in term with numbers. Savage Dragon isn't the best book on the stands. I don't think it ever will be. However, it is one of the most entertaining reading experiences a comic fans can have. The amount of zany ideas per square inch here beat out any comic book being published right now. It's hard to read a Savage Dragon comic and not catch a bit of Larsen's infectious love for this character. The title on the cover states that this issue was the biggest bargain in comic." 100 pages for $5.99? Yeah, that's awesome, especially when many Marvel and DC books cost you just two bucks less for barely 22 pages worth of story. For that, fans get a ton of extras on top of the regular story for this issue. Included here are Savage Dragon #0, Lev Gleason Publishing's Daredevil #18 (not that Daredevil), a Vanguard story, and several small strips just for fun. And I shouldn't forget the always interesting letter column. For fans old and new, this issue is great for someone wanting to scratch their comic book itch. I can promise it's not going to be the next Watchmen, but does every comic need to be? Just have fun reading this one. I did.

Conan the Cimmerian #12
I gushed last month about how awesome Conan has been since the rebooting to Conan the Cimmerian. I don't have that much to add this month in terms of praise because this book is still very entertaining. "Black Colossus" is one of those classic Robert E. Howard stories that is hard to mess up. It has everything you would want from a Conan story: love, war, and lots of kick ass art. Though I'm already familiar with the story, Truman and Giorello inject so much life into this story that is fresh once again.

Star Wars Extravaganza:
I'm going to be dorky and write a review haiku for each of these issues. It's a) something different and b) risk free because no one is reading.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars #7
So pedestrian
Can anyone make this good?
Not even the Jedi

Star Wars: Invasion #1
Based on book series
Why not follow Yoda's lead?
Please do or do not

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #43
John Jackson Miller
Must Zayne always save the day?
Isn't he clumsy?

Star Wars: Legacy #38
Poor Cade Skywalker
Trapped real drunk on Tatooine
Look, bounty hunter

How To Make A Character Lame: The Punisher

2009-08-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

Not all comic books are equal.

We fans all know that. Some comic books are just better than others. Many times it is an isolated incident. But there are some instances where a character is treated poorly over a long period of time. Sometimes is laughably bad. Sometimes it can be downright insulting to the fans.

All superhero books don't necessarily make the title characters out to be great. In fact, many longtime comic book characters have had their fair share of lame moments. One of the longest suffering characters to the disease of inequity is Frank Castle, The Punisher. Here are the five worst turns for poor Frank Castle.

Make Punisher Black
Yeah. Marvel hit some pretty bad lows in the 1990s. There probably isn't a better example than when Marvel turned Punisher black. It sounds wacky now, but someone at Marvel had to think, "This is freaking great!" at the time. It went down like this...

The Final Days story arc had gone for seven issues, including the seventh part which was a conclusion of sorts. Frank castle had been pursued by the Kingpin's sinister agents even into prison where a group of thugs led by Jigsaw carved Frank's face ala the aforementioned Jigsaw. Frank manages to escape prison, but he was still being harassed by a group of Kingpin's goons. At this point, any sensible vigilante would know that it was time to change his appearance. Frank hooks up with a drug addict underground plastic surgeon. They are apparently more easily accessible than one might imagine. Franks task her with making him unrecognizable... and she does.

I think Frank was just as shocked as anyone. What follows is a stereotypical and humorous romp through any preconceived notion white folks had about the treatment of blacks in America in the 1990s. What's the first damn thing that happens in issue #60 when Frank gets on the road? That's right: he gets pulled over in a gross miscarriage of racial profiling. Of course, Frank doesn't want to play by their rules. One cop asks him, "What's the matter, boy? Cat got your tongue?" When there is no answer, another cop whacks Frank in the back, saying, "Maybe the coon's got his tongue!" Frank proceeds to beat some ass, but the righteous ass whipping that follows is not carried off without some help.

In the 1990s, if you were going to be turned black, you could only have a few other black superhero friends. So Frank had the Falcon, Blade, or Luke Cage to choose from. Of course, if you wanted to be the baddest m&%^#$ f%^&*# on the block, the winner had to be Luke Cage. Awesome. Once Cage gets in on the fight and spirits Punisher away from the scene, they go back to Cage's hood. What do they find there? A drug dealer pushing his product on a kid playing basketball. Yeah... Marvel P.C. at its best. By the end of issue #60, Marvel readily declares the team-up as being between BLOOD BROTHERS.

But don't worry. He got better. By issue #62, apparently the mafia couldn't stand him being black and forced him back into his normal digs. I mean, come on, white bread America couldn't take a black dude waxing drug addicts and criminals. That type of righteous indignation can only be reserved for white Vietnam veterans.

Anywhere a reader steps in the four issues dealing with the black Punisher he or she is bound to find something laughably objectionable. This was an instant WTF classic. Despite my heavy trading of comics when I was kid, I always held onto these issues from when I bought them back in '91. Recommended for the sheer Borat-style laughs you will get.

Make Punisher Kitschy
The Punisher was everywhere in the 1990s. If your book didn't have Punisher in it, then you pretty much sucked. One of the oft mentioned stories that featured Punisher was the Archie crossover. The 1990s were rife with ill-conceived crossovers. That's part of their charm, I suppose. But thankfully we've moved past the need to have crossovers and events book that are meant to only move books instead of telling decent stories. Right?

The story takes place in idyllic Riverdale, U.S.A. The Punisher is in pursuit of a criminal that looks oddly enough like mild mannered Archie Andrews. Hilarity ensues as Archie and this nefarious lookalike intertwine in mesh of zany fun and good humor. Punisher does pull a gun on Archie. You don't get to see that everyday at Riverdale High. No, sir.

For added kitsch value, the Marvel edition of this featured a die cut cover. Nothing says awesome crossover like an enhanced cover. For the record, I own both versions. I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Make Punisher an Angel/Demon Thingy
The decline of the Punisher in the early to mid 1990s is a cautionary tale of too much of one thing really is too much. Most people remember that Spider-Man and Wolverine were appearing all over the Marvel Universe, but Punisher was also everywhere during this time, like the Archie crossover mentioned above. Once this overexposure and lackluster revivals completely panned out, there was really only one option left.

Kill the Punisher.

Of course, this being comics, that only meant he was going to come back... in the employee of heaven. Or was it hell? I forget which one, thankfully. The two miniseries that spawned out of this wellspring of creativity(one solo, one with Wolverine) were just terrible. They are pretty much universally accepted by all Punisher fans as the low point in a career of some pretty shitty stuff. Garth Ennis thankfully cleaned the slate with Welcome Back Frank by ignoring any developments during that dark time.

Recently, I did manage to see copies of the first miniseries at a local shop for $5 each. This retailer assumes that you are a chump.

Make Punisher Blow Up Cars in the Shape of a Skull
I have go tot be honest with you here: I actually like the various Punisher films. I'll let that sink in a minute.

Finished? Good. Knowledge is power and now that you have been informed, we can continue.

The year 2004 saw the first attempt from Lion's Gate to revive The Punisher movie franchise (if one can call it that). I can admit that there were some dumb scenes in all three Punisher movies, but the dumbest of all is the final scene of this Thomas Jane fueled film. Punisher came off as more The Manipulator throughout this film. He plotted long and hard to get back at John Travolta's character. I mean, really hard. Not only does Punisher end up waxing his guy in the final showdown of the film, he places a bunch of elaborate bombs around a car lot in order to make a skull shaped firebomb in the explosion. Really. He does that.

Yeah... I just hope all of his enemies were flying that night, otherwise it might have been hard for them to get his oh so subtle message. It would have been a waste of all his hard effort for them to be just toking up or shooting someone while he sent his fiery warning to the underworld.

Make Punisher Frankenstein
The thing that most Punisher fans like about the character has nothing to do with the fantastical world he inhabits. Most fans enjoy the Punisher because he isn't fantastical. He's real. He was never washed in gamma radiation. Nor was never bitten by an irradiated insect. As a child, Frank Castle wasn't rocketed to earth as the last survivor of a dying race. And he sure as hell wasn't born with mutated genes. The Punisher was born out of a terrible situation in which his family was murdered, with his experiences in Vietnam painting an important backdrop. He never needed superpowers to be who he was. He didn't need other worldly improvements.

We Punisher fans just like him the way he is. Punisher doesn't need to change.

Detractors are quick to point out that comic fans are just too stuck in their ways and don't allow for change. Let's be frank: there is change and there is stupid change. Changing Punisher's race, the tone of his books, or his super powers are all certainly changes. Stupid, idiotic, and absolutely rotten changes, but changes nonetheless. Changing things up for the sake of it isn't really innovative. It can be downright harmful to the character.

If Marvel feels the need to change the character, so be it. But is it necessary to change the fundamentals of the character? Any Punisher reader can already paint the idiotic "reset button" story that will have to be done because this change can't last long. But it is unnecessary. Punisher is getting a little long in the tooth. If we need a refresher, retcon his experiences from Vietnam to Iraq or Afghanistan. Don't wholesale what makes the character great.

But it looks like some major changes are in store for the Marvel Universe version of Punisher. That's too bad because Rick Remender seems to be a great writer. For at least the first few issues of the new relaunch it appeared he actually got the character. Turning Frank Castle into Frankenstein isn't exactly proof of that now. It's zany and crazy, but not in the good way. If anything, we fans are either going to be getting more Kitschy Punisher or a horror infused Punisher. Either way, we fans will just have to wait and see where our favorite character is going to now.

Summer Reading, pt. 5

2009-08-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

The penultimate article of my summer reading series has arrived! That lusty picture to the left isn't here just to fit our monthly T&A quotient! No sir, we have more taste than that around these parts.

My monthly shipment of new comics arrived Monday afternoon and I was stoked to read up on all the things I'd seen floating around the vast Internet the past few weeks. The first things I read were my Marvel titles. I'm a shameless Marvel Zombie, I can admit to that, but I would be a liar if I didn't say that some of the Marvel books I have been reading have been a little lackluster lately.

But was I disappointed or elated this month? Read on.

The Invincible Iron Man #15
What can I say about the "World's Most Wanted" arc that I haven't already said? The plodding storyline continues on into part 8. I don't mind a longer story if there is actually a story to tell. But Invincible Iron Man has become a book where Tony Stark is on the run... and that's pretty much it. This story could have easily been condensed down, but because it has to fit within the framework of the Dark Reign non-event event, we get a seemingly unending stream of escapes and near-misses. Tony Stark may be losing his mind, but I'm losing my patience. Do something here, Fraction. Anything. Please?

Frank Castle: The Punisher #72
Most of the Punisher Max arcs are serious and grounded in a harsh reality that is hard to take at times. But Garth Ennis wisely broke up the intensity every now and then with a humorous arc. Victor Gischler deftly follows in Ennis' footsteps here by giving the reader fun, yet characteristically violent romp with Frank Castle in "Welcome to the Bayou." Stylistically, this reminds me of the film 2,000 Maniacs on some level. There isn't a supernatural angle working here, but the idea of Podunk rednecks in the Louisiana Bayou trapping outsiders for their own nefarious purposes is ridiculous and entertaining all at once. There are several laugh out loud lines here, surprisingly delivered by Frank Castle. Goran Parlov, Punisher Max veteran artists, provides complimentary art to the outlandish send up. The appearance of the gangbanger in the back of Frank's car at the end of the issue is sure to throw a new wrench into the hectic story. This book is highly recommended if you want to find a solid book with dark humor.

Punisher #7
D-listers unite! Ah... Rick Remender apparently has plans to turn Frank into Frankenstein in his upcoming "Rest in Pieces" arc, but for now readers have to settle for Frank icing the D-List All-Stars the Hood has assembled to take out Punisher. The thing that makes Punisher work so well in the Marvel Universe is that he was very different from your average costumed bear. He didn't deal with the fantastical all that much despite it being right next door. He was detached from the spandex set, but had a purpose. I just don't see that purpose coming out of this incarnation of Punisher. Frank Castle gunning after the D-Lister All-Stars just doesn't seem right or appropriate for the character. This just doesn't feel right. If the preview images are any indication, that feeling of trepidation is going to stick around for a little while.

Ultimatum #5
Speaking of feelings of trepidation, the final issue of Ultimatum finally hit the shelves last week. The verdict? Ugh. To be fair, it was a lot better than I expected. Though it seemed like half the book's pages were splash-pages (I wish I were exaggerating), Loeb has set up an interesting environment for the post-Ultimatum Ultimate universe. Let's all just forget the fact that he had to commit character genocide in order to establish this setting, but it worked. Mutants are on the run and heroes everywhere are dead. A vacuum has been created story wise and that can be fertile ground for storytelling in the near future. But was it worth it? Loeb has been criticized up and down, and rightly so, for his wholesale butchering of the Ultimate Universe. There are too many cooks in the kitchen now and with any luck he will be exiting out through the back. With Millar, Bendis, and Ellis at the helm for the Ultimate Comics relaunch, perhaps fans can expect better and brighter days ahead for the Ultimate Universe.

Ultimatum Spider-Man Requiem #2
The story here was solid, but like the previous issue, it seemed more like a rejected story from the regular run. J. Jonah Jameson was a great choice for narrating this story, but the narration doesn't have the weight it should have. Hulk meets Spider-Man, they fight, and Hulk shows a human side. You can find a thousand Hulk stories out there like this. Why was this one so special? Because Spider-Man was there? Because a busload of kids got saved? Come on. Ultimate Spider-Man can do better than this. Maybe it will in the future, but for now these last few issues of volume one have done nothing to add to the great stories that came before it.

X-Force #17
This beginning of this issue disappointed me some. Messiah War was more dud than stud, and here we get transported back to the climax of the previous arc t wrap things up there. It was a bit confusing for me to remember what had happened a few months prior to this and why I should care. The Leper Queen climax wasn't even a climax... it just kind of ended.To quote the actual book, "boom." I'm not terribly impressed with that particular framing device, but I'll live. At least I hope I do. Things get messy quick for the team when they get back. The pace of the book is frantic and that works well within the scope of what is going on at the UN and on the streets. Any hope of this team being kept a little secret has to be vanishing fast if the pages of this issue are any proof. By the end of the issue, this title was back into my good graces with its action and frenetic pacing.

X-Men Legacy #226
This issue marks the beginning of a new era for X-men Legacy. Rogue's team barely has a chance to breathe before being thrust into the actions of the Utopia crossover. Though the issue wasn't a bad read, it seemed like Rogue, Danger, and Gambit spent the entire issues putting out little fires instead of actually focusing on the main blaze. Like Elvis, Jesus, and Santa Claus, they were just everywhere. It was like Mike Carey got ADD during the writing of this crossover. There is a lot going on around town, I'm sure, but a more focused approach could help flesh out this book. And this book has been very focused in the past year.

Uncanny X-Men #513
I'm not going to mince words here; I think Fraction got moved to the big leagues a bit too quickly with Uncanny X-Men. I know I've mentioned it before, but Uncanny X-Men should scream UNCANNY EFFIN' X-MEN! This does not scream that. This barely whimpers it. This issue finds the uncanny X-Men wacthing the action... on television. What? This is UNCANNY EFFIN' X-MEN! Where's the larger than life action? Instead, we get a lot of scenes with mutants we don't give a rat's ass about. Adam X? What rock did they find that loser under? Trust me, we x-fans don't give a shit about Adam X. I know I was kind of hoping his ass would get handed to him by someone big like Ares. Maybe his head will get smashed in or ripped in half. I don't know, but it would be cool. Let's work on that, guys.

I'll be back in a few days with the final article on my summer reading habits. I'll be reviewing the most recent issues of Fables, Savage Dragon, Batman & Robin, Detective Comics, the various Star Wars titles, and Conan. Until then...

Marvelous Possibilities

2009-08-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

Marvel's announcement that they own Marvelman at the San Diego Comic Con in late July 2009 was a welcome surprise for many fans. Why? Because Marvelman has been in legal purgatory for many, many years. That is the Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman version. Though it's still not clear whether that paramount work or not remains under Marvel's publishing purview or not, it is clear that Marvel can does plan on publishing new Marvelman material. I can just see the line queuing up outside Joe Quesada's office in New York with writers chomping at his heels to get a chance to write this character. But who are these writers?

I submit to you my humble list of writers who I think should, could, and probably would tackle Marvel's newly minted Marvelman.

Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman comes to mind immediately. I think that it is highly probable that Marvel will get Gaiman for an arc or two, maybe even a miniseries. They wouldn't get him for longer, but he's been involved in this whole legal process for a while. He also wrote Marvel's 1602 in the hopes of funding said legal battle. It would have been fruitless of him to have spent such time and effort in this process to not get a shot at writing Marvelman in any form. It would be great if he could continue and finish the story he started, but it would also be awesome if he did anything with the material. I think Marvel would at least give him the initial stab at writing Marvelman, perhaps by launching with a miniseries.They have a good working relationship that I don't see hindering Gaiman's inclusion.
Vegas Odds: Marvel publishing books with an "X" on the front cover.

Mark Millar
Though he's pretty busy these days, Mark Millar can bring a crowd to pretty much anything. I think Millar could do a good job with the Marvelman character, but he has to realize sensationalizing this character just doesn't seem right. He has a penchant to make things be a bit too dramatic. Millar can definitely bring pizazz, for better or worse, when it comes to writing comic books. He's a staple around Marvel and one of two jewels (along with Bendis) in modern Marvel's crown.
Vegas Odds: Ultimate Captain America insults France again.

Grant Morrison
Wishful thinking on my part, but damn it could be cool to see Grant Morrison on this title. However, Morrison seems to be content at Dc doing whatever the hell it is he is doing this month. I don't think Marvel would give Morrison the total freedom to be as deliciously weird as he could be with Marvelman.
Vegas Odds: Final Crisis becoming readable.

Brian Michael Bendis
Bendis would be the safe bet for Marvel since he's kind of their "go to guy" for all things big, but I doubt anything of interest would happen due to his allergy to adding immediacy to his comics. He's a good writer, but I just don't think he gets characters like this. Like I said of Millar, he's a staple of modern Marvel. Chances are he gets a crack at this character, but that's only after Gaiman passes on the job or moves on after completion of his story.
Vegas Odds: Already writing 83% of Marvel books.

Jeph Loeb
Oy. Marvel's been giving this guy a ton of work lately. I'm only familiar with the Ultimatum side of the equation, but man, that book sucks badly. Yet... Marvel seem to be very keen on him now. If you read anything coming out from the house of ideas, they just love this guy! I don't even think that's P.R. They seem to be genuinely pleased with his current output even though it's late and many fans deride it as being on par with watching a Michael Bay movie. But he sales comic books.
Vegas Odds: Blob eating Wasp's guts out with chocolate syrup on top. And sprinkles!

Mike Carey
Carey is kind of a pick from left field on this property, but he's a solid writer. He's proven himself with numerous titles, but may be too busy for a turn at Marvelman between X-Men: Legacy and The Unwritten. However, his style seems like it would fit in perfectly with at least the Moore and Gaiman run.
Vegas Odds: Emma Frost starts wearing sensible, frumpish clothes.

Brian K. Vaughn
Vaughn is another "out there" pick since he seems to be more on the way out of the comic book medium in lieu of television and movies. However, with the recent announcement that he would not be on this season of Lost, Vaughn might have some free time in the future to pursue a comic book comeback. This probably would never happen, but I would love to see more from Vaughn and this would be a great chance for a double return; Marvelman's back, and so is Brian K. Vaughn.
Vegas Odds: Y the Last Man movie shot as a porn.

Matt Fraction
Matt Fraction is another guy who is getting a ton of work at Marvel these days. His work at Marvel thus far has been good, but not great. I just don't think Fraction has enough clout in the industry yet to pull off an assignment like this. His rise to prominence seems too fast. There's been absolutely nothing in his previous work that I think would even put him in the same league as Alan Moore or Ne4il Gaiman. I think he could pull the Marvel fans in, but that's pretty much the extent of his drawing power. Yet... hes gotten some pretty high profile assignments as of late. Matt Fraction is someone to watch in all of this.
Vegas Odds: Spider-Man appearing by issue three.

Alan Moore
I know. Yeah, right. This would probably never happen, but damn it would sweet, wouldn't it. Alan Moore doesn't strike me as someone who revisits the past much if ever, and Marvelman seems like the distant past for him.
Vegas Odds: Quasar becomes first book in years to sell over a million units.

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! San Diego Edition

2009-07-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Welcome to a special San Diego Comic-Con edition of "Shout Outs/Scream Ats!” This edition will be a little different, I will be only looking at announcements from the big comic con that make me all giddy. (Shout Outs!) Like Marvelman, Mike Allred, Bone and more!!

There were quite a few announcements that were made at San Diego that excited me. Here are the ones that stand out the most to me and are in no particular order.

SHOUT OUT! Kurt Busiek’s American Gothic!
Busiek described this series as "set in the United States. It’s contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, historical fantasy.” He continued to describe his series of having stories like a girl in Rhode Island who discovers Thor is living in exile on a nearby island; and the story of a washed up cooking host searching for the perfect burger, who ends up in the borderlands of hell. I feel like I am missing reading something like this and it looks like this will scratch that itch!

SHOUT OUT! New Bone books!
This had to the announcement that surprised and excited me the most. Jeff Smith is back on Bone! He is creating new Bone projects with writer Tom Sniegoski, including Bone: Tall Tales (featuring Smiley and Bartleby!) and three new prose novels set in the Bone universe. One of my favorite characters, Roderick will appear in these new books. I cannot wait for this!

SHOUT OUT! Marvelman!
I had a feeling this was going to be the major announcement Marvel had up their sleeve when Joe Quesada started to tease it via Twitter. And I couldn't be more pleased, finally an announcement that lived up to the hype. Miracleman has been one of the few remaining "Must Read" comics that I have not read and I am really hoping that Marvel will put out a reasonably priced (please no expensive hardcovers!) reprint so I can finally see what the hubbub was. I also hope that Neil Gaiman will come back to finish off what he started so many years ago. What I do fear is that Miracleman is not integrated into the Marvel Universe, I would prefer that the character is kept separate from the main Marvel Universe and I definitely don't want to see Miracleman given to Bendis or Loeb or really any other creator. Just get Gaiman and one of the original artists (Buckingham, Davis) to finish what they started and not something new. And since I am being really picky about it, I like the name Miracleman over Marvelman and hope they keep it Miracleman. But if the only way I can get my hands on the reprints is if they make it Marvelman, I'll still get it.

SHOUT OUT! New Cyberforce series!
Cyberforce was my favorite property when Image debuted over sixteen years ago. Wait a sec, SIXTEEN years ago? Good gravy, I remember picking up the first issue like it was yesterday. There is no way that it came out that long ago! Sure enough, it came out in October of 1992. Man, I am old. Anyway, Cyberforce was my most anticipated book and I followed it right through the mini and through the ongoing. Sadly it was canceled when Top Cow became more fantasy-type books and there was no room, or demand for Cyberforce. They tried to reboot it about two years ago but it wasn't as great. Now with the new Fusion series (featuring Cyberforce and Hunter Killer and Marvel's Avengers and Thunderbolts teams) and the new Cyberforce/Hunter Killer series just coming out, Top Cow announced that an ongoing Cyberforce will launch in 2010. The writer has not been announced yet (I have a feeling it might be Joe Casey) but it will be drawn by Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer artist and HUGE Cyberforce fan Kenneth Rocafort! Really looking forward to seeing one of my favorite teams back.

SHOUT OUT! Image United!
Speaking of Image, I CANNOT wait for the Image United series! I know, I know, this was announced at a prior comic convention but the real reason to celebrate is that work has been done on the series and it looks like it just might come out on schedule. If that truly is the case, Kirkman really deserves a raise for getting all the creators focused on this book. I am a sucker for events like this and the Image nostalgia factor is kicking in high gear. This will be the first book I have picked up that featured the likes of Spawn and Youngblood for almost 10 years! I really hope Kirkman rides McFarland to finish (or start) the Batman/Spawn special that was solicited two or three years ago.

SHOUT OUT! I, Zombie!
I like zombies but I think I am getting a little zombied-out of the whole genre and when I saw this title announced I was not interested until I found out that Mike Allred was pencilling the book. This does seem to be something different than the standard zombie story and the idea (a girl who is a zombie detective) by writer Chris Roberson really seemed interesting. But my interest is really on Allred, I am looking forward to seeing him draw some zombies! Looks to be a fun project.

What were some of the announcements that excited you?

Panelology: San Diego CCI 2009 Round Up

2009-07-28T05:29:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

In case you have been buried under a stack of Alpha Flight comics the past few days, The San Diego Comic Con wrapped up this past weekend. This weekend marked a huge landmark for the convention. Comic-Con International turned 40 this year. While the focus on comic books has been lessened in recent years by the influx of other media such as television, movies, and video games, there was plenty of comic book news to be had by all.

Welcome to the 21st Century!
While comic book news updates during big conventions like CCI are hardly a new thing, the pace at which updates hit the Internet this year was bordering on frantic. In addition to comic book news sites, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter also were alight with constant updates. Contributing to the insane amount of up-to-the-second updates was the fact that iGoogle provided free wireless throughout the convention hall. Though some fans reported spotty reception, those of not in attendance were plenty happy with the deluge of updates we received throughout the weekend.

Also in 21st Century news, it appears Dark Horse will be releasing some of their Star Wars titles for download on the ever popular iPhone. Dark Horse will start out modestly by releasing three stories from their back catalogue. Stories from Empire, Legacy, and Clone Wars will be released first. If all goes well, expect more iPhone comics from Dark Horse in the future. I guess the impact of this announcement really depends on two things. One, do you like Star Wars? Two, and more importantly, do you have an iPhone? If you're like me, an iPhone is really beyond the realm of my interest. I'm going to be interested in seeing how well this program works. And why only Star Wars? Dark Horse has plenty of great books. It just seems odd that these stories would be the one they would pursue. But congratulations to Dark Horse for pushing their technology experiments one step further!

The trend appears to be continuing throughout the medium as well. CBR has an interesting look at the prevalence of digital comics. The future is here, or at least it's coming. These new developments could be tempting especially if they cost less than $4 an issue.

Marvelous
The announcement from Marvel that they own the rights to Mick Anglo's Marvelman is without a doubt the biggest news to come out of CCI. Hand's down. I'd dare any DC, Image, or indie fanboy or fangirl to give a comparable story. Anything? Yeah, I didn't think so. The announcement has left readers with more questions than answers. What does this mean for the Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman Marvelman/Miracleman stories? Will there be new material soon? How many reprints can fans expect? Regardless of the questions, it is damn exciting news to hear that new Marvelman material will be coming down the pike despite years of legal wrangling. I'll comment more on this issue later this week.

Kirkman's Progress
I believe Robert Kirkman has already arrived as a major creative force, but if anyone needed any more proof, just take a look at his presence at CCI this year. While news of the end of his Astonishing Wolf Man comic saddened many fans, that sadness was eventually washed away by some interesting preview art for Haunt from Todd McFarlane. Whether you love Todd or loathe him (personally, I'm more the latter), this book at least sounds interesting. With Kirkman backing up the Toddster on writing duties, I think this will sell like hotcakes when it finally sees the light of day in October.

Vertigo Commits to Crime
An odd, yet welcome, announcement came from DC/Vertigo that they will be making a new crime line. Listen to the audio podcast from the panel by clicking here. In a way, I'm glad to see Vertigo putting an emphasis on the crime genre. This is the perfect place for a new focus like this. However, was it really necessary to create a new alternative comic book line within an already established alternative comic book line? DC doesn't exactly have a great track record with this type of line. Remember Helix? Paradox? Piranha? Minx? Focus? Yeah... Vertigo has already had some strong crime comics in the past. It's just a bit odd that they would want to underline it even more. Vertigo is an established name within the medium. Adding the title "Crime" to it doesn't really do anything besides giving it a cosmetic boost.

Dark Reigning on the Blackest Night
Did you know DC has a huge event going on right now involving all of the ROY G. BIV color spectrum called Blackest Night? Did you know Marvel has a mega non-event event going on right now called Dark Reign? Sweet. Jesus. The guys at DC could hardly shut the hell up about the damn event. Same with Marvel. You couldn't throw a stone at the convention without hearing about Blackest Night or Dark Reign. I mean, Sweet Jesus! Guys, I know you're the professionals and all, but this just seems like a situation of the tail wagging the dog instead of the other way around. Can't we just tell good stories without there being a thousand tie-ins?

Video Games - E3 2009 - Comic-Con '09

The Mandalorians Are a' Coming!
The second season of Star Wars: Clone Wars had a new preview trailer that was premiered at CCUI this past weekend. In a word, I would have to say it was awesome. If I had to use two words, I would probably say it was flipping awesome. It looks as if the handlers for the television show are doing all they can to bring a darker feel to this season. The bounty hunter angle looks to figure in heavily to this season's plot. Oh, and there were Mandalorians.

That's not all folks!
It really isn't all! These were just the highlights as I saw them. There were tons of media presentations from television, movies, and video games represented here that I just don't give a rat's ass about. You might, you sick and twisted reader, you. Be sure to check out San Diego Comic Con International's website for more details on the actual convention. Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, IGN, and Bleeding Cool also have a plethora of CCI news for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to check those sites out for exhaustive coverage of the comings and goings of CCI.

Summer Reading, pt. 4

2009-07-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

There are three essentials for my summer vacation; relaxation, napping, and comic books. Fortunately for you, I just talk about comic books here. My Summer Reading series continues with reviews of Iron Man, Punisher, Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil, X-Men Legacy, Squadron Supreme, Captain America: Reborn, The End League, Star Wars Legacy and Knights of the Old Republic. About half of the books hit, whereas the other half missed. Find out who performed above and below expectations by reading on!

Captain America: Reborn #1
I haven't been keeping up with Captain America at all. I know he was killed a few years ago in the Civil War crossover. I know he's coming back. What do I care, right? A few of the Bad Genious guys were talking about this issue the other day and the method for Captain America's return just sounded so incredulous and out there that i just had to read it to believe it. They were correct; Captain America was hit with some type of magic bullet that made him unstuck in time. This was a pretty big "WTF" moment for me too. From all accounts, Brubaker's run has been pretty grounded. This magically delicious approach to bringing Captain America back just feels wrong. The issue was decent enough, but the series as a whole is not worth keeping up with for $3.99 a pop.

Daredevil #119
Daredevil's life continues to reflect some Bizarro-esque emo song. We find Matt Murdoch whinny here (suprise, surprise) as his alliance with Kingpin becomes stickier than he planned (surprise, surprise). I feel a strong sense of deja vu that all of this has happened before. I think Kingpin has become a "no-fly zone" for Daredevil writers for at least another 100 issues. Every Kingpin story has seemingly been done before. These Daredevil and Kingpin stories practically write themselves now and that's not a good thing. Wilson Fisk is being used in the upcoming PunisherMax series. Let's hope Jason Aaron finds a better way to use the Kingpin character because at this point he's pretty much a time killer.

Invincible Iron Man #14
With this issue, the "World's Most Wanted" story has stayed past its welcome. How long can we read about Tony being on the run? How long can we watch Norman Osborne harass the no ironclad Pepper Potts? How many Iron Man costumes does Tony Stark having lying around to wear now? Don't get me wrong, this title is expertly written. Of the titles I've read from Matt Fraction, this has been consistently his best. Salvador Larroca's art is superb as well, much improved over his days in the X-Universe. However, this Dark Reign business in general just seems to be chugging along with no end in sight. I can see Fraction scratching his head as he comes up with new ways to to make Tony run due to some editorial mandate stating that Iron Man has to continue to be on the run while Dark Reign plays out for the rest of the calendar year. The "hero on the run" story has been done quite a bit in the last few years and this offers nothing new to the concept.

Punisher #6
The Hood really has it out for poor ol' Frank. Can't a vigilante just kill the bad guys and be done with it? Apparently not. The Hood resurrects a whole gaggle of d-list villains with the charge of taking out Frank Castle, your friendly neighborhood Punisher. Reading a comic where Punisher is forced to take out d-listers is not really my idea of a great Punisher comic book. I'm sure someone, somewhere, is excited by all these crap villains being resurrected. I hope the one Basilisk fan out there creamed his jeans. But for the rest of us, plowing through the d-lister source book provided at the end of this issue was just torture. I'm sure Frank will come up with all sorts of inventive ways to blow away these chumps, but why does it matter? The Hood can presumably just bring them back again. Kind of makes you wish for the golden days of Frank acing crack dealers, doesn't it? Like Iron Man, the writing here is solid and the art is great. But I just want something more, something better for Punisher. Garth Ennis brought about a revitalization of the character. It seems that goodwill is going to be gambled away on the hope that people want to read about Punisher interacting with people who wear capes and funny tights. Anyone who read Punisher under Ennis know that's just not the case.

Squadron Supreme #12
My prediction a few weeks ago about this series ending on a thud was correct. There was so much potential here for a good story, but that was all wasted. The original Squadron Supreme, the characters we all cared about, are pretty much ignored for much of this issue. Instead, we get to revisit the lame characters Chaykin created in the first six issues that no one, and I do mean no one, cares about. Those characters that do remain become powerless, rendering this universe pretty much dead for the foreseeable future. To add insult to injury, Ultimate Nick Fury is still trapped in this universe with no real resolution as to how he gets out. I hope Ultimatum will provide a satisfactory answer. In teh final analysis, this series just served to highlight the failure of Marvel and J. Michael Straczynski to get their act together and publish a decent end to this series. An ending that these characters deserved.

Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem #1
I promise this won't turn into my usual anti-Ultimatum rant. Of all the issues to come out of Ultimatum, this first issue of the two planned Spider-Man Requiem was the best thus far. Granted, this issue was a flashback issue featuring a fun story where Spider-Man helps Tony Stark out when Hydra decides to bust into his office building. As per usual, Bendis was on his A-game with this character. For all of the perceived faults Bendis has in his writing, there's no denying an electricity when he writes this title character. It's evident to the reader that he enjoys writing Ultimate Spider-Man stories and that the character works best when not involved with soul-crushing crossovers like Ultimatum. Bagley and Immonen also turn in great art for this issue. It's sad to think that Ultimate Spider-Man may be MIA from his own title in the coming months, but if the creative team can get back into the groove, Ultimate Spider-Man will once again become the premier Ultimate title.

X-Men Legacy #225
Mike Carey expertly puts an an end to the long Xavier Legacy arc. I've enjoyed this titles Xavier-centric focus in the last couple of years. Mike Carey has made Legacy one of the more thoughtful and well written X-books while exploring the theme of Xavier's redemption. This issue works as a lovely conclusion to that and offers a hint as to where the series will go from here. Xavier shows he's no louse by evenhandedly invading the Acolytes' hangout and defeating them without much of a fight. Professor Xavier is kind of a lame character, but Carey reinvented him as a brainy powerhouse who is not to be trifled with. It is my hope that this isn't the last we see of Professor Xavier in this type of context. I would hate to see him float back to his old digs of being the dead weight of the X-universe. As this chapter closes on Legacy and the Rogue chapter begins, one can't help but feel a sense of wonder at what Carey has accomplished. Kudos to Mike Carey. I hope we'll see more great stuff out of this title in its second chapter.

The End League #8
Damn. This book is still ending, isn't it? With every issue that comes out of this title, I want more. There's just so much going on in this title that it can't possibly end next issue. It just can't. Clones of Astonishman have captured Soldier American and Blur Gil and are attempting to find the Hammer of Thor. A team of heroes rush to get the Hammer of Thor before the Smiling Man picks it up. Alas, it appears that all engines are go for the final issue in #9. The pace of the storytelling is picking up, which is fine, but I hope everything gets a satisfactory conclusion next issue. There are a lot of plot lines floating out there. How can they possibly be wrapped up without leaving the reader feeling cheated? I don't think Remender can do it. So, um, Mr. Remender, please come back as soon as possible to this book as soon as possible. Please?

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic#42
The moment many KoTOR fans have been waiting for finally arrived in this issue. The rogue Jedi Knight Revan, who eventually adds the title of "Darth" out front, makes his appearance here. We get a small, but important origin story for Revan here as related to the reader and Zayne's gang by future Sith Lord Malak. There is a killer fight here between Malak and Mandalorian Rohlan that has been boiling up for a while. The gears of war are4 just getting started, and with appearances by Revan and Malak here, the reader gets a sense that things are about to go from bad to worse for our fair adventurers. Miller turns in a solid, action-packed script that many fans have been begging for since the first issue of the series. There's no hyperbole involved there either; go back and read the earliest letter columns to find people begging for Revan to show up. I think this appearance will only ramp up demands for more Revan, especially as the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic promises to not finish the story set up in KoTOR's 1 & 2.

Star Wars Legacy #37
Legacy continues to be not only one of the best ongoing Star Wars titles out now, but ranks amongst the best ever published. Why? This issue exemplifies all that is right with Legacy and all that works with a good Star Wars story. Cade Skywalker continues to walk the fine line between scoundrel and hero, mixing equal parts of Han Solo and Anakin Skywalker seamlessly. We find Cade leading the crew of the Mynock on a mission to rob Imperials. We also find ample amounts of intrigue within the remnants of the Empire. While the galaxy at large does not know the true fate of Darth Krayt, buzz around the Empire has all the Moffs in a tizzy. Add in the appearance of Bounty Hunters at the end, and you have a fun read for any Star wars fan. It's a simple equation; Skywalker + scruffy looking scoundrels + Bounty Hunters + Sith + Imperial Forces = great Star Wars story. Legacy has great writing from John Ostrander that is backed up by consistently great art from Jan Duursema. These two creators are woefully ignored when it comes to "great" modern comic book runs.

Panelology

2009-07-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

Welcome to the latest edition of Panelology. I've been neglecting this column for a few weeks now, but it should be back into quasi-regular rotation now. What's been happening in the world of comic collecting? Besides the fact comic books are now officially too damn expensive, not much. Many companies seem to be pulling their punches in order to reveal some "big" items for the San Diego Comic Convention going on right now. Marvel are promising something big at today's convention. Who knows what it could be? It may even live up to the hype too. Maybe. But that's for another time and another column. This week, I stay focused on $3.99 comics, bid farewell to Ultimatum, discuss changes in Frank Castle land, and I report on my continuing education into DC Comics.

Singing the $3.99 Blues
Paying $3.99 a pop for your fix of whatever title getting you down too? I'm starting to feel it despite Mail order Comics having a great discount on books. The oft-grumbled about hottest trend in comics looks like it is here to stay for the long run. I've got to start seriously looking at my pull list for some fat to cut. The Ultimate Books are going to have to prove themselves to me once again after this dreadful Ultimatum business (more on that below). Uncanny X-men is wavering quite a bit these days with Matt Fraction's decent, but not over-the-top writing on that title. The same goes for Fraction's Invincible Iron Man; just how long can this "Most Wanted" story drag on?

One title I know that isn't going to make it is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I am confident that this book is a goner from my monthly reading list without having read the first issue. How do I know this? This book from Boom is a good idea. What's not to like about bringing Philip K. Dick, arguably one of the best science fiction writers of his time, and his stories to the comic book medium? It's a natural fit. However, directly adapting the book word for word is not a good idea. I liked the concept at first, but at $3.99 an issue on the newsstand, I found that is isn't worth it. I pay $2.99 an issue through Mail Order Comics. That's still $71.76 for the entire twenty-four issue run. That's a ridiculous amount of money for a straight up adaptation of a book I bought in 1996 for five bucks.

Ultimatum: The End... and thank God!
Last week, Marvel released an ominous image promoting "The End" for the Ultimate Line. The date for the image was 7/29/09, the same day the final issue of Ultimatum hits the stands. The image set off speculation that someone would be meeting their doom. Fan consensus is centering on Wolverine right now, though others believe Magneto might be another plausible candidate. After all, Magneto has become quite a bit of a bastard since the storyline of Ultimates 3 involved knocking off his daughter Scarlet Witch. Some fans have even speculated that this could be the Ultimate version of M-Day since no Ultimate X-title has been announced since the revamping of the Ultimate Line. Having a title like "The End" does tend to send people into a bit of speculative tizzy.

Big whoop, right? It's not as if Ultimatum hasn't had its fair share of gruesome deaths. Who cares if they are going to kill anyone at this point? Anyone who cares what is happening in the Ultimatum books right now should pretty much leave their fanboy or fangirl I.D. card on their way out the door. The way characters have been treated and killed off in this series has been borderline insulting to fans who have kept up with the Ultimate Universe over the last nine years. I don't mind retooling the line. That is Marvel's prerogative. However, it needs to be done in a way that makes sense and doesn't slap fans in the face. I think fans of the Ultimate Universe need someone to blame for this poor storytelling choice. For some reason, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar, founding fathers and creative heavyweights of the line, have somehow remained blameless in all of this.

Instead, the blame has fallen to Jeph Loeb. I hate to put all the blame on Jeph Loeb. This was a team effort, but he works so well as a lightening rod right now. Any fan wishing to cruise through any comic book message board can find anti-Loeb threads aplenty. I don't like or dislike Loeb. As a creator, his work often doesn't raise a blip on my radar screen neither in a good or bad way. He and I just don't cross paths often in my comic buying patterns. But let's face it, Ultimatum has been a stinker of a story from day one. He could have chosen an infinite number of ways to deal with retooling the line. The fact that he felt the need to wipe out half of the characters was wrongheaded. But that's what we Ultimate fans are stuck with; useless carnage and ineffective storytelling. The end can't come soon enough. I hope the new beginning finds the Ultimate Universe far removed from the business of Ultimatum.

Punisher Changes
Marvel also seem to be in the business of shaking things up for Punisher both in the Marvel and Max Universes. Punisher Max, or Frank Castle: Punisher, or whatever it's being called these days is about to be rebooted as PunisherMax. That's right, PunisherMax. No space between those words is necessary because, you know, that's cool. Despite the exceeding lame title, the creative teams looks kick ass. Jason Aaron will be lending his writing talents to the rebooted title, while Punisher-fan-favorite Steve Dillon will be handling art duties. I couldn't think of a better creative than this for the Max title. I have actually really enjoyed the rotation of writers the Max title has seen since Garth Ennis left, but I think the title needs a bit of stability in terms of direction. A stable creative team will go a long way in bringing back some of the fans who may have given up on ol'Frank when Ennis left. Plus, Aaron intends on introducing the Max versions of Kingpin and Bullseye, which sounds great. This could revitalize the Max title.

Over in the Marvel Universe, Rick Remender's Punisher title also appears to be going through some changes. In a press release Tuesday, Marvel revealed that "Rest in Pieces", or "R.I.P." for short (get it?), will be the next story arc in the ongoing Punisher series. Not familiar with it? Oh, you know the series I'm talking about. The one where Punisher has been relegated to taking on/out D-List villains no one cares about? Anyway, the "Rest in Pieces" promises to have Punisher put through the ringer by promising to change his life FOREVER!!! I know, I know. Marvel Comics aren't know for their advertising hyperbole. But there it is. You can check out a Marvel Q&A session with Rick Remender here. This sort of thing just smacks of the 1990s angel/demon storyline. And things were going so well for Punisher lately. Before becoming the D-Lister paradise, Remender started the series off strong. Like many titles in the Marvel Universe now, it has gotten too bogged down in this Dark Reign business to really be effective.

DC Education Update
My education in DC Comics is still ongoing. In terms of my buying habits, I'm still relying on the back issue bins for much of my re-education. Recently, complete runs of Captain Atom, Vigilante, Booster Gold, and Blue Beetle have found homes in my welcoming long boxes. I've found most issues of those comics for less than buck each, which is killer. I can get a stack of old school books at least four or five times higher than my modern books for the same price. Not only are they cheap, but they are providing some good reading time too. If you can't tell, I'm digging 1980s DC. These comics aren't mind blowing or anything, but they are a lot of fun. Next on my 1980s DC reading list will be Marv Wolfman's Teen Titans from the same era.

Just because I've been trolling the back issue bins for DC bargains does not mean that I have ignored modern DC. I've been checking out the Batman reboots and have enjoyed them thus far. Batman, Detective Comics, and Batman & Robin have all entered my buying habits for the near the future. I haven't added them to my pull list, but if I can find them on the newsstand at Books-a-Million I'll pick the issues up. Booster Gold is still a lot of fun even if the premise is wearing a bit thin. I'm avoiding the Blackest Night titles, but positive buzz may pull me into buying a trade down the road.

Help a fanboy out, though. Any other DC recommendations I should check into while I'm in the mood?

The end for now!
That's it! I should be back later this weekend with more reviews in my continuing Summer Reading series. Panelology will be back next week with a review of all the big time news out of San Diego.

Waited for the Trade: The Birthday Batch!

2009-07-21T19:48:00.001-07:00

by Matt

For the last couple of years I have bought myself a whole slew of trades from Amazon for my birthday. This year I treated myself to a whole bunch of different books and I thought I would pass on my thoughts and review to you. With this batch, I reviewed Anita Blake: Guilty Pleasures Vol 1, Speak of the Devil, Silverfish and a whole lot more!

I am going to warn you right upfront that I am not the best reviewer. I am not the best at describing what I think of a book in words and I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible. If you are looking for an in-depth review about the trade, this is probably not for you. You will get what I like and what I didn't like and I will also be using the Official Bad Genious Rating System(tm).

A = Astonishing, Truly Bad Genious
B = Brainy, Brilliant
C = Commonplace
D = Dunce, Dumb, Don't Buy
F = Freakin' Crap in a Hat

If you click on the title, it will take you directly to its listing on Amazon where you can check out prices and more reviews.

Silverfish
David Lapham sure has a way of making characters make the worst possible choice. This book starts off innocently but once choices are made, things spiral quickly out of control. The art is all done is grey tones which really add up to the dark tone of the book. If you like David Lapham, you will like this book. It is not as wild as Young Liars and is not as harsh as Stray Bullets but fully satisfies. Lapham needs to put out more books like these.
Final Word and Grade: Easily the best graphic novel I purchased out of this bunch. A vert engrossing read, one that I could hardly find any fault with. If you want to sample Lapham's work, this would be the best place to start! A

Green Lantern: RebirthI absolutely loved Geoff John's JSA and enjoyed his run on the Teen Titans but I have been avoiding trying out his Green Lantern. Before this turns into another Hal vs Kyle debate let me preface this review by giving you a little history of my experience with Green Lantern.

I know who Green Lantern is but I never followed the DC Universe until Zero Hour. That was my first exposure to Hal Jordan and I was intrigued that this DC icon was a bad guy. I also know that when he was shot by the Green Arrow that this was a major deal. The DC Universe interested me and I started to collect JLA and the next big DC event, Final Night. I thought it was neat and fitting that Hal Jordan would try to redeem himself by sacrificing himself to save the Earth. And I was enjoying the heck out of Morrison's JLA. Then Day of Judgement rolled around and I thought it was fitting that Hal Jordan was chosen to be the Spectre. It made sense to me since he was trying to redeem himself and it brought Hal back to the DC universe. When I heard that Hal Jordan was coming back as Green Lantern, I was a little interested but I thought DC was making a mistake. Hal was much more interesting where he was than as a Green Lantern so I skipped the miniseries. And then I heard that this parasite called Parallax made him go crazy I thought it was a bit lazy and an easy way to bring him back and I was glad that I skipped this series.

Fast forward to now, the Blackest Night event has gotten me curious about the Green Lantern again and a few of my friends have said that the Green Lantern series has been great. So I decided to buy the first trade and see for myself if it would be any good. Boy was I in for a surprise. Rebirth was a fun read and I will give Johns credit in making what seemed to be a silly idea actually have some merit. While I still do not like Hal, in fact I found him to be quite arrogant in this series, I will say that I did enjoy reading it, enough to make me try out some more GL. Johns really has a way of making small details seem huge and important. And I did laugh at Guy Gardner's reaction when Hal slugged. Nice little nod to a fun JLA moment even though I found Hal to be quite a dick in this series.
Final Word and Grade: Going into this series with NO expectations (or really expecting to be disappointed) I came out a happy reader. If you like classic superhero stuff you should like this too. While it was nothing spectacular or special, it is a solid read. C+

Speak of the Devil HC
Wow. I don't know what attracted me to try this title out, I think it was the creepy covers. I wanted to try something different and mission accomplished. I had no idea what this was going to be about but it was relentless. This is the story of a peeping tom and what he/she sees. This leads to discovering dark secrets about neighbors and then spirals out of control so fast. While the art is more cartoony it doesn't shy away from the sex and the violence. Hernandez does have a good handle on pacing and the use of panels but I found his artwork to be a little rough in some areas. His human figures seem to be quite pulpy and more unreal than real. The stark black and white compensates for this and gives the book the right atmosphere. It is a very quick read as well.
Final Word and Grade: If you like twists and sex and violence then this book is for you. I got the most enjoyment out of not knowing what was going to happen next and being shocked time after time. B-

Resurrection: The Insurgent Edition Vol. 1
The new Resurrection series took part of Free Comic Book Day and I snagged a copy and I thought it was a lot of fun. When I was browsing Amazon I found the first series collected for a mere 6 bucks! 164 pages for 6 bucks! This felt a lot like the Walking Dead and reminded me of Boom's failed War of the Worlds: Second Wave (which I thought was pretty fun) but had enough characterization and deviations that kept things interesting. Basically, an alien race came and conquered Earth and now they have left. Civilization is in ruins and the government tries to re-establish. Here we follow the survivors as the deal with each other and try to figure out what happened to the Bugs. And did the Bugs really leave? Excellent writing and fun dialogue. The art can be a little bland at times but that is really the only drawback.
Final Word and Grade: The story is quite intriguing and leaves me wanting to check out more. This easily gets a strong B and with the cover cost of 6 bucks this could easily be an A. So I will settle. B+

The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack
I ordered this a LONG time ago when Dark Horse first solicited it and I kind of forgot about it. Almost nine months later I got a nice surprise in the mail! I had no idea that this strip existed and I don't think I would have been interested in this if Dark Horse didn't include a few pages as samples in the Previews magazine. This is totally the type of humor that I like and I laughed through the whole volume. The humor can be be stupid, crass and irreverant (can I give you a better reason to check this out?) and it was worth the wait. It is like the Far Side on crack.
Final Word and Grade: The best thing about it is that it is funny. Laugh out loud funny. The strips vary from subject matter and humor, some of the strips I had to read a few times to get it and some were just plain silly but it was pure enjoyment reading. The only drawbacks this has was that it was so short and was a very quick read. This will be one of those books that you forget for a couple of years and then laugh yourself silly when you rediscover it gathering dust on your bookshelf. A-

Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures, Vol. 1
I was really looking forward to trying this out. I love vampires and I like artist Brett Booth so I thought this would be an easy sell for me. The premise was interesting enough, vampires are legal citizens of the United States and Anita Blake is an animator (she can raise the dead) and she is also a vampire hunter. How could this book go wrong? Well, it unfortunately does go wrong and almost right from the start. I was only a few pages into it and I was already lost. It was difficult to follow what was going on and what role Anita has. Is she a cop? What does an animator do? Too many questions from the start hampered my enjoyment of the rest of the trade. The scenes shift quickly without much explaination and is muddled down by some long and poor dialouge. While it can be pretty to look at, this collection (which only collects the first 6 issues of the story) was very boring and I am not going to get the next one.
Final Word and Grade: It was nice to see Booth's art again but I wish he was on a different project. I love vampires but there was nothing new or exciting to be found in this volume. D-

This was not all that I got for my birthday that I need to go through. Look for reviews on Annhiliation Volumes 2 and 3, Batman/Grendel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome Hardcover.

Comics or Food? My Year without Comics

2009-07-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here Kevin, one of my students and I discuss superheroes and whether or not they should kill. Conversations like these are why I dropped comics for a year and became a broke student again.

by Cindy Cooper

Last year I made the decision to leave my secure, but painfully dull desk job behind, forever, and finally answer the calling to become an art teacher. Of course this involved going back to school for a year. There were many things to consider in making this very serious decision. How would I feed my rapidly growing 13 year old son? What would we do for healthcare coverage? Would my family be able to put up with me as a student for a whole year? Finally I decided it was the right thing to do. However in all my pondering, I neglected to consider the most important question: how I was going to keep feeding weekly comic book habit?!

Sadly, I had to quit comics cold turkey. Well, maybe I did buy a copy of Neil Gaiman’s “The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch”, but no monthlies were possible on what I was making grading for art history classes and working 8 hours a week in the Art Education office at Pratt Institute. Even if I had found the money, I was too busy reading educational theory, writing lesson plans and papers to catch up on what was happening in Daredevil, but he was always in my thoughts.

The last comic I read was Daredevil # 109 on the way to South Africa, for my first semester at Pratt as part of their Pratt in South Africa program. I was too excited about new experiences to think about what I’d be missing. I had other questions in my mind. Were there comic book stores in South Africa? Would they read the same comics we did? While in South Africa I bought a beautiful graphic novel about the life of Nelson Mandela that was created by a company called Umlando Weizethombe, a South African comic book company that puts out graphic novels about South Africa’s history. I highly recommend their work if you come across it. I found one comic book store when we stopped through Cape Town but we did not have time to visit it. I could find no comic book stores in Port Elizabeth. The kids did read comics though. There were often sports comics, usually about soccer, sorry, I mean football, and tucked into the newspaper. My students were not very familiar with superhero comics and I delighted in sharing the myths behind the characters I love. They were fascinated in particular by Captain America. Go figure.

I was so busy with experiencing comics in a new culture that the absence of comics in my own culture did not begin to truly haunt me until the fall when I was teaching Drawn to Stories, a visual storytelling class in Pratt’s Saturday Art School, for neighborhood kids. The middle school kids I was teaching were anxious to get to work creating their own original comics, and were full of thoughts and questions about the comics I brought in for inspiration. Their enthusiasm reminded me of the stories I’d left behind. Suddenly I needed to know: would Captain America stay dead? What would become of the New Avengers? What would become of the regular Avengers? Would Peter and Mary Jane ever get back together? And how long would I wait before I ever found out?! The withdrawal symptoms finally began to surface.

Suddenly, I felt taunted by friends on message boards who were actively reading and posting about comics. The words SPOILER ALERT took on new meaning for me and I began to feel as if I’d never be able to read another thread or blog about comics ever again. Information about my favorite comics started filtering through to me. What was this Dark Avengers? Aren’t there enough Avengers in the Marvel U? Marvel Pets? Really?

Then I discovered some comics went up a dollar in price! What was the world coming to?

Plus, I’m such an addicted reader that I missed my comics like they were good friends who suddenly stopped calling me. You get used to those characters inhabiting your brain space. They take up residence in your thoughts, and when you no longer share time with them you feel their absence. They kept me entertained on the subway to and from work. They provided an escape on a lazy Saturday afternoon or at the end of a tough workday. And, in the end, the truly good stories became a background to my life, like a soundtrack. They were part of my story as an individual. A really good story, whether it be in the form of comics, music, plays, TV or movies will live with you like that.

But, school is over now and the only thing keeping me from catching up with my favorite storylines is the lack of funds that comes with being a newly graduated teacher, two months from gainful employment. I’m temping now and therefore able to blog about how I miss comics. But soon, I will have a Big Girl job teaching! There is a school I will hopefully get a job with in September. Said school would like me to start a comic book club when and if I get a job there. “My kids want one. Would you mind?” asked the principal. Is she kidding? It’s practically what I was born to do. I figure if you start a comic book club, for your students, you actually have to read comics, right?

Needless to say, things are looking up and comics are hopefully about to be back in my life in a big way. Now if we can just get Mayor Bloomberg and Co. to lift the current hiring freeze on new teachers, I’ll be in business. Currently he and Joel Klein, New York City’s Chancellor of Education, are all that stand between me and Comic Book Wednesdays! Still, no one can come between a fangirl and her comics for too long.

Summer Reading, pt. 3

2009-07-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

Nostalgia is a funny creature. While I can muster no nostalgia as an adult for childhood favorites like G.I. Joe or Transformers, I can get very nostalgic about comic books. Remember new comic book day? This weekly event was a cherished day for me when I was tween and teenager. I can remember going into a shop on Wednesday or Thursday to buy the latest issue of X-Men or whatever bad girl book was "hot" back in the day. New comic book day was once a time honored tradition for me and many fans. With the advent of online mail order comic book stores, that time has passed. Now new comic book day has been replaced by new comic book week; the week when my monthly shipment of comic books arrive. I usually try to pace out my comic book reading to keep the freshly read feeling alive for a month. This month was different. For some reason, I burned through my stack of books like a man possessed. For this week's installment of my Summer Reading Reviews, I will highlight some of the best hits and worst misses from the batch.

Batman & Robin #1
This issue reminded me so much of this creative team's run on All-Star Superman. I'm not a Superman fan at all, but they managed to make Superman seem relevant and hip. That's right, they made the whitest boy scout this side of Idaho seem cool. I kind of got that buzz with Batman & Robin #1. The new dynamic between the new Dynamic Duo was actually pretty good. I don't read Batman titles regularly, but let's face it; replacing Bruce Wayne is sort of a dumb idea that almost everyone knows won't last longer than a couple of years. But reading this issue made me kind of wish DC would hold back on pulling that trigger for a while. The way Dick and Damian play off one another was fresh and new. This was the only issue of the Batman relaunch titles I pre-ordered. Based on the strength of this one issue, I decided to go pick up two others off the newsstand.

Detective Comics # 854
What's this? A lesbian Batwoman! Yes! YES! I can't wait to read all the steamy scenes of Batwoman and her Rogue's Gallery (a euphemism, for sure) doing the wildest, most outrageous sexual position on each other. This is going to be awesome! What? You mean she doesn't spend the whole issue getting Catwoman to do kinky things with her cape? Shit. Well, I guess I'll have to read it now... And it wasn't that bad! A lot has been made of the act that Batwoman is a lesbian, and on a serious note, that's not the reason I picked up this book either. Some very positive things have been said about Rucka's first salvo in the revamped Detective Comics. This was the only comic I picked up off the newsstand last week. It wasn't a bad impulse buy. Rucka is always an engaging writer, but the thing that really brew me in (pun intended) was the art. J.H. Williams has been one of my favorite artists since I picked the first four issues of Promethea years ago on a new comic book day. I think he is the best artist working in comic books today. Period. The artwork here in Detective Comics is lush and moody, establishing the perfect vibe for this book. I don't think I ever really followed Detective Comics regularly, but I may add this to the ye ol' pull list.

Batman #688
Judd Winick is one of those creators that I just don't really get. His work on Green Arrow was a turn off for me. Internet trolls are quick to point out that he is somewhat of a one trick pony, and I hate to agree with them, but there are certain trends that crop up in many of Judd Winick's comics. How long before we find out Damian has AIDS? The real thing that brought me into this impulse buy was Mark Bagley's always wonderful artwork. This issue was sort of pedestrian in comparison to Batman & Robin and Detective Comics. That's not to say it was bad. This issue was entertaining, but a little on the lighter side next to the other two titles I sampled. I like the fact that we get to see two classic villains here with Penguin and Two-Face. As much as I dislike month in, month out superhero fisticuffs, I have a soft spot for Batman's rogues gallery. I like reading stories about those classic villains despite the fact that it's all nearly been done before. I also enjoyed the training scene we see between Dick and Damian. There is limitless potential for this new Dynamic duo. I can honestly say that for the first time in a long time, I am genuinely excited about the Bat Books. Maybe killing Bruce Wayne off wasn't such a bad idea.

Booster Gold #22
This issue of Booster Gold was okay for the most part. While Jurgens' art was decent, I have no real connection with the Teen Titans or Deathstroke from the 1980s. This issue spent a lot of time pulling on the nostalgia string pretty hard, but it doesn't work when there is nothing there to pull. I spent most of the issue struggling to get to the next scene. As a reader, I hope that there will be some closure soon to this time traveling Black Beetle business. Surely DC can't expect this series to soldier on for all perpetuity having Booster Gold correct little missives in the past. Right? The second feature with Blue Beetle was still very entertaining and has enticed me to go back and check out the last series. The second feature makes paying $3.99 more bearable and it gives characters like Blue Beetle a second chance at living on in the printed world.

Unwritten #2
The Unwritten is the best Vertigo book being published now. I know it doesn't have stiff competition, but two-issues into he series, I can already tell that this will be classic Vertigo. If you are not familiar with the premise, Tom Taylor is the basis for a fictional Boy Wizard Tommy Taylor. Tom has been living off the fumes of his now missing father's successful Tommy Taylor novels for years. Things start to go awry when Tom finds out he may not be who he thinks he is. This book is chock full of mystery and stellar characters. Tom Taylor practically jumped into this series as a fully developed character from the first page because of the associations we all have with Harry Potter and the ever familiar struggling celebrity. If you're not reading this book, shame on you!

Astonishing X-Men #30
After reading their first Astonishing X-Men arc, I would like to respectfully request that Warren Ellis and Simon Bianchi step up their game. If this were a class, this arc was a D- effort at best. After the six issues of this arc and overpriced two-issue miniseries, I still don't understand what a Ghost Box is and nor do I care. It was sad to see Forge turned into a crazed mutant terrorist for the sake of this story. I don't mind the characterization because Forge has always needed a little more flare in order to remove the stench of lame from him. I had such great expectations for this stellar creative team, but they barely managed to make a sputter in terms of impact and seemingly effort. I'm sorry guys. Let's do better next time, okay?

Punisher: Naked Kill
This book was just brutal. When Frank Castle starts to unwind a snuff pornography film ring, readers just have to know that it is bound to get dirty. I remember an older issue of Punisher from the late 1980s or early 1990s where Frank ended up taking down a pornography ring at a Naval boys school. The whitewash of the Comic Code at the time prevented anything realistic coming out of that story. That just isn't the case here. What is described and shown is just brutal. Frank castle isn't much of a talker, but this particular one-shot gives him a lot of air time. This approach doesn't really work well for the Punisher, but it just clicks here. Suspense and supernatural story writer Jonathan Maberry really gets into a groove with Frank here right off the bat. At the very beginning of the issue, someone asks Frank to trade with him in return for his life. "I look like I'm here to swap Pokemon cards?" quips Frank as he fires off a round just above the crook's head. "Talk Fast, asshole. Clock's ticking." Indeed. For those folks who gave up on Frank when Garth Ennis left the title, I recommend you come back to give this issue a try. It's well worth the $3.99 price of admission.

Ultimate Spider-Man #133
& Ultimatum #4
I have made no bones about how awful I think Ultimatum has been for the Ultimate Marvel line. These two issues could be exhibits 1,843 and 1,844 in the trial against Ultimatum. The final issue of Ultimate Spider-Man was disappointing. This issue lacked any dialogue. It was completely silent. Remember the Nuff Said event from years ago? Interesting, but lame. It was jarring, which I get was kind of the point, but for $3.99, I want more from my comic. The interview with Brian Michael Bendis at the end of the book was obviously tacked on to make you feel like you got more content for your dollar. I don't need that. I need content. With the main Ultimatum mini, I get plenty of content, but much of it is for shock value. I can't imagine how Loeb has gotten away with raping the Ultimate Universe. Loeb is normally a creator that I don't get excited about either pro or con. However, Ultimatum is just rancid. I don't see how the Ultimate line can bounce back from this miscarriage of entertainment.

Conan the Cimmerian #'s 10-11
I just don't hear about many comic book fans talking about Conan anymore, which is a shame. I think Conan is one of the best titles I'm reading now. Tim Truman and Tomás Giorello have crafted a fine book for the traveling warrior Conan. The mixture of descriptive writing and lush artwork is just mesmerizing to me. This is one of the first books I read when I get my monthly stash. This second arc of Conan the Cimmerian finds our hero commanding the armies of Khoraja against the wizardry of Natohk, the Veiled One. Though "Black Colossus" is an adaptation of the classic Robert E. Howard short that has been adapted before for the Savage Sword of Conan in 1974, Truman and Giorello manage to make it exciting by creating an ominous atmosphere in both words and art. Dark Horse has done a magnificent job with Conan property, once again making the barbarian warrior a relevant and exciting character to read.

It's hard for me to believe that my summer break is halfway over! That doesn't mean I will stop reading, though. I will be back in a couple of days with more reviews, including Iron Man, Star Wars, Punisher, The End League, and much, much more.

See you then!

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats!

2009-07-09T23:06:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Welcome to another "Shout Out/Scream At!” column! where I take a look at what makes me a happy fanboy (Shout Outs!) and what frustrates me (Scream Ats!) about the comic industry. This column is all about the 90's! I will be covering Nomad, Guardians of the Galaxy, Savage Dragon, Psylocke and a few more 90's nuggets of joy!!

I admit that I love the 90's. While there was a lot of crap that was produced during this era, this era also produced a lot of fantastic and creative works. And it seems the comic industry is revisiting this era as well and I couldn't be more excited for some of it.

SHOUT OUT! SAVAGE DRAGON #150!
It makes me feel old when a book I have been collecting right from the start hits a major milestone. But I am proud that the Savage Dragon is hitting #150. If I was allowed only one comic to get regularly, I would take this title. You just have to admire Erik Larsen, like him or not, you should respect the guy for his passion and commitment. Why do I love this book so much? I have a ton of reasons and here are just a few.

-PASSION. Erik pours everything he has into this book. He has written and penciled (including covers) the book for 150 issues, at times he has colored it and lettered it on his own. He has stated that the Savage Dragon will be done when he dies and that this is what he wants to do until he dies. You can tell how much he loves the book and that, to me, enhances the enjoyment. He was sick in bed and still cranked out backup stories for his book.

-CREATIVITY. This is one of the few books where I cannot tell what is going to happen. No one is safe, not even the Dragon himself. This book really has it all. Clones? Check. Alternate universes? Check. Colorful characters? Check. Space invaders? Check. Deaths? Check. I could go on and on. His book also tries to stay within "real" time. Meaning, it has been over ten years since the first issue came out, so the Dragon has aged 10 years. I cannot think of any other book that does this. Erik also experiments with how to tell a story. One of my favorite comics is when he covered a whole year using single panels. Each panel covered a different day. Another memorable issue was "The Fly". One of Dragon's baddies transformed himself into a fly and pestered Dragon while he was recovering in the hospital. Erik is also not afraid to let his opinions show in the book. It could be regarding politics or the comic industry, he lets loose with it. He isn't afraid to change the status quo. Issue #75 comes to mind, Dragon makes a decision that he thinks is right by killing his enemy. Darklord (his enemy) warns him that it will be worse if he is killed and the Dragon doesn't believe him. So he kills him anyway and it changes everything! Remember when Image produced a Mars Attacks! series that showed the aliens invading the Image universe? Erik was the only one that worked that into his regular continuity. Some folks may not like continuity, personally, I love it. It makes a stronger book.

-ART. I know a lot of people are turned off by his art. I didn't like his art in the beginning when he was drawing Spider-Man but I got used to it. He may not be the greatest artist but his greatest strength is making the art kinetic.

Erik consistently puts out an entertaining product. It is chuck full of fun stuff. It can be serious and it can be laugh-out-loud funny. It is exactly what I want out of a comic book. Congrats Erik for hitting #150!

SHOUT OUT! The Original Guardians of the Galaxy return!
When the new Guardians of the Galaxy series was announced, I was so excited because I LOVED Jim Valentino's run on the book from the 90's. But I was sad because they were similar in name only. Until Major Victory and Starhawk appeared. And then this cover came out and I am all ga-ga! I love the concept of the original Guardians of the Galaxy and I am glad that they are being used again. And kudos to Marvel's trade program for putting out two classic Guardians of the Galaxy hardcovers reprinting their early appearances!

SHOUT OUT! Avengers/Invaders #12
What does this have to do with the 90's? I enjoy the Golden Age characters and during the 90's I picked up the series called "Saga of the Original Human Torch." This documentary-style comic retold the tales of the early Invaders and I really liked it. The original Human Torch was a neat character and I followed him through Avengers West Coast and Heroes for Hire, all the way till the New Invaders series (which was really underrated) when he was killed. I saw that Marvel was soliciting a new Torch series and I was looking forward to seeing Jim Hammond again. I was stoked when I heard that Jim Krueger and Alex Ross were writing this project. The first couple of issues were okay but the series started to lose some steam. I still collected the rest of the series but found myself barely reading it and filing it away with my collection. The last issue came out and I was thumbing through it and I was taken by total surprise.
**SPOILERS**
I thought it would be Jim Hammond returning but it wasn't. It was another Golden Era hero that had "Torch" powers. This totally took me off guard. Surprises just don't happen very much anymore in comics. I am looking forward to reading this series in one sitting now that I have an ending that I know I like!

SHOUT OUT! Psylocke Series
I fall into the camp that prefers British Betsy. Betsy has always wanted to be a warrior so it made sense that she become a ninja but I was not a huge fan of her changing race. I was happy with the recent Uncanny X-Men storyline that brought Betsy back to the X-Men but was a little sad that it was not the British one. But I am excited for the new mini written by Christopher Yost and I hope that he brings this character some stability that she has lacked in years. I would love to see and am confident that Yost can pull this out and make me care about Betsy again.

SHOUT OUT! McKeever/Nomad
I didn't like the original Heroes Reborn. I sold the books more than five years ago and I don't miss it at all. I hated the redesigns, I hated that Jim Lee couldn't stay on the FF the whole time, I hate the eagle on Cap. Perhaps it would be easier if I listed what I liked about it. The only thing that I liked was the 13th issue of each series when they crossed over with Wildstorm. I tried the Return one-shots and I liked them even less than the original. Even though it was Liefeld and Loeb, I picked up the Onslaught Reborn series and that completed the Terrible Trilogy. But I did like the ending of that series, I liked that they moved the girl Bucky to our universe. And boy was I surprised when they whipped her out for Cap #600 and when it was announced that she would get a miniseries. I was going to pass but then I learned that Sean McKeever was returning to Marvel and writing the series! I allow myself one or two $3.99 books (Dark Avengers being the other one I get) and I just might pick this up. I am interested to see where Marvel and McKeever take the character.

SHOUT OUT! Clone Saga?
I hated the original Clone Saga. I was collecting the Amazing Spider-Man for 240 straight issues and I finally had enough of it and dropped it with Amazing Spider-Man #400. That issue being the only good thing that came out of the whole thing. I admit that in the beginning of the Clone Saga, I was curious to see where the story was going but it just got worse and worse and finally I bailed. I am glad that Marvel is at least recognizing the storyline instead of flat out ignoring it. My opinion on continuity is this, if you are a good writer you can make continuity work. Only lazy writers ignore it completely. I was surprised that Marvel wanted to revisit this storyline in this way though. Marvel brought back Howard Mackie and Tom DeFalco to tell the story they originally wanted to tell which makes it more of a morbid curiosity. But I am screaming at the $3.99 price tag. So thanks Marvel, I will wait for the trade.

SCREAM AT! Return of Britannic!
Just kidding! I needed something to scream about! I like Scott Lobdell and I enjoyed a lot of his run on the X-titles but his run on Excalibur was horrible. What really made me appreciate Warren Ellis as a writer was his run on Excalibur. He could have swept the whole Captain Britain/Britannic away but instead chose to work with it. He formed a cool story involving Cap seeing the future (because he was lost in time and came back as Britannic) and stripped Cap to just being Brian Braddock again. And then slowly brought back Captain Britain. Warren also demonstrated this when he took over Stormwatch as well and that instantly made me a fan of Ellis.

6 Shout Outs to one (1 and a half with the $3.99 pricing) Scream At? A lot better than last time!

Summer Reading, pt. 2

2009-07-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

by Brandon
Summer marches on into July... and so does my summer reading! I could say something cheesy like I tried to "cool of with these hot reads", but I would be lying to you. It's been fairly moderate in South Carolina for late June and early July; not too hot or humid. My reading has followed the same trend; nothing much has really grabbed me lately. Many of the comics I've read the last couple of weeks have been decent, but not great. This week, I cover Uncanny X-Men, X-Men: Legacy, X-Force, Booster Gold, and many other titles. Won't you spare a mouse-click for the poor?

Wizard #213
One of the first stories Rich Johnston's new Bleeding Cool website reported on was about the latest batch of problems for Wizard. The once mighty company has apparently seen better days. Johnston ended his article by asking, "When was the last time you read Wizard?" As I often find myself doing, I answered the question that was staring back at me from my computer screen. When no one replied, I decided I might just have to check out an issue. I haven't read an issue of Wizard since I finished my B.A., which was in 2002. Wizard always seemed to be infantile, bordering on gonzo journalism and idiocy, with liberal sprinkling of fart jokes and drawings of big breasted women. That wasn't the only reason I avoided Wizard; who needs Wizard in an age where tons of comic book news websites, creator social networking pages, daily online press releases from publishers, and comic book fan message boards beat Wizard to the punch at nearly every turn. How does a comic magazine stay relevant? I think it's an uphill battle being fought by all print media, but Wizard has always been a niche magazine. I found an issue of Wizard at a newsstand the other day and checked it out. To their credit, this issue is far different and far better than the Wizard I read in middle or high school. Gone were the talking figures and rampant fart jokes (though, trust me, there were fart jokes). Wizard has taken more of a "features" approach which works really well within its framework. By focusing on interviews with creators and expanding their coverage to include entertainment pop culture has given Wizard a bit of a jolt for the future. I even checked out the current subscription rates for Wizard (around $29 a year), which in terms of content I guess is comparable to The Comics Journal (around $35) or Comic Buyer's Guide (around $25). Have you read Wizard lately? It might not be a bad idea to check it out.

Uncanny X-Men #'s 508-510
Matt Fraction's time on Uncanny X-Men has been pretty lackluster reading for me. Sure, it's got snappy dialogue and the art is sharp (insert Greg Land copying joke here), but it just doesn't scream "THIS IS UNCANNY FREAKIN' X-MEN" like it should. It just doesn't seem to be as grandiose as the stories from the past were. I think a large part of it has to do with the move to San Fransisco. This move hasn't given the geographic payoff I thought it would since it seems to be fairly unimportant to pretty much every other x-book besides Uncanny, which seems to use it as "Gee, we're in San Fransisco now. Isn't that, like, so totally, like, tubular or what?" The villains plaguing the X-Men here, the aptly named Sisterhood, also leave much to be desired. They predictably have become the View of the Marvel Universe, bickering amongst themselves and occasionally dragging in something quasi-interesting. And guess what? They invaded the new X-Mansion/compound. Haven't read that before, have we? This book is dangerously close to getting dropped, especially since Legacy and X-Force are running circles around it on a month-to-month basis.

X-Men Legacy #'s 223-224
It's sad to see Charles Xavier's romp around the X-Men universe past and present coming to an end. Mike Carey has managed to craft an excellent book out of a seemingly uninteresting topic. He has also managed to take Rogue and Gambit, two characters who were in desperate need of finding relevance, and put them back in the X-books without it seeming lame or forced. These two characters have been so easily made into caricatures by a multitude of past creators that they had become pretty much useless to anyone writing X-Men comics. It just didn't seem like anyone knew how to treat these characters. Mike Carey does a good job of using Danger as well, a recent character that was already becoming a one hit wonder with her "Kill the X-Men" shtick. I hope Professor X stays around for a while now in this book along with the other revitalized characters.

X-Force: Ain't No Dog
Bloody? Check. Violent? Check. Over the top? Check. Great? Double check. I picked this up for a buck on Free Comic Book day, but hadn't gotten around to reading it until this past weekend. The two main stories here involving Wolverine and Warpath were short and sweet, but packed a punch. This special reminded me a lot of Marvel Knight's Double Shot book from a few years ago. The Wolverine story especially reminded me of the Ennis/Quesada Punisher story from the first issue of Double Shot, where Punisher taunts a victim while visiting a dentist. While there were no dental hygienists in sight of this book, the dark atmosphere established was matchless. A book like X-Force seems to fit Marvel's Dark Reign era perfectly. The gore and violence of this issue just makes the anticipation even stronger for when the rest of the X-Men find out what Cyclops has been sanctioning behind their backs while they chill in San Fransisco.

Squadron Supreme #'s 10-11
I am a Howard Chaykin apologist and fan, but I can't help thinking that Chaykin, and to a larger extent Marvel, missed a golden opportunity with this title. J. Michael Straczynski really left this property in the lurch by exiting the book. Chaykin was left to pick up the pieces from that book and the iffy Ultimate Power crossover. He seemed to be the man for the job too... that is until he spent the first six issues of the reboot tooling around with new characters. I'm all for bringing in new characters, but these guys were just dull, dull, dull, and dull. The last few issues have been very exciting, as the old Squadron returns from a five-year hiatus. Hyperions story, which has been percolating since the JMS run, finally came to fruition. It's damn interesting reading, but it's too bad the book has already been canned. Chaykin and Marvel had something here and they blew it! I'm sure issues 12 is already out now, thus closing the book on the Supreme Power universe for the foreseeable future. I hope this isn't goodbye to these characters, but I fear it will be for at least a couple of years.

Booster Gold #'s 15-21
I commented to someone a few weeks ago that if comic books were ice cream flavors that Dan Jurgens would be vanilla. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean this as a personal insult to the guy. Vanilla is good. It's in a lot of flavors. It's a good, solid background flavor that's dependable and has its uses. But man cannot live on vanilla flavored ice cream. Dan has always been a respectable, if not solid comic book creator, but he's never going to be regarded as well as say Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, or even someone like Mark Millar. Compared to these guys, he's just not going to write the legendary comic book people are going to look back on and say, "Gee, that was great. Just brilliant!" Case in point is Dan Jurgens' Booster Gold. The earlier issues from Geoff Johns were entertaining and fun. Jurgens created Booster Gold, so this should bode well for the character in a way. Yet the title lacks something now. The art is fine, the story serviceable, but it's just vanilla. Even making matters worse was issue #20, a standalone issue written by longtime JLI writer Keith Giffen. This one-issue story featuring the old Suicide Squad, Task Force X, beat the previous five issues by a mile. It managed to make the ingredients work. I love the Booster Gold character and can only hope that the book plugs along and gets better without causing too many time travel induced headaches. The Blue Beetle back-up feature in issue #21 was also a treat. I'm not familiar with this new Blue Beetle, but it wasn't bad.

The Brave and the Bold #23
I picked this up on a whim because it featured Blue Beetle. It also featured Magog, the Modern Age hero/villain of the Kingdom Come miniseries. For the record, Magog has to be the dumbest name ever for a comic book character. Even at DC and Marvel's cheesiest moments, no one ever came up with a name a stupid as Magog. The smart ass reader might say "Booster Gold is pretty dumb too." To that I have to say... okay, you may be right. This story features the lunk-headed Magog trying to solve a hostage situation in an Iraq style country. Enter Booster to save the day and shame Magog for not staying on task to save the helpless children hostages. This is was written and drawn by the same team that brings you the regular Booster Gold book, which is why the book's sympathies lie with Booster Gold. But how about making Magog out to be even a halfway decent character? Magog is treated like one big flexed muscle tearing his way through the universe. I'm supposed to care about this idiot enough to shell out money for a monthly comic book? I saw on Newsarama a while back that Magog has a new series coming out soon from DC. I hate to judge a book before it ever sees the light of day, but the Magog book has "cancellation by issue 12" written all over it.

The Unwritten #1
After Y the Last Man ended, Fables was the only Vertigo book that still managed to grab my attention, but they are currently going through a crossover events with the Literates and Jack of Fables, which I still think is the shittiest comic book I have ever read. I also tried Young Losers, which was way too scattered for me to keep up with. When Unwritten was announced, I hoped that it might draw back in since the creative team of Mike Carey and Peter Gross also produced Lucifer, one of the woefully underrated Vertigo titles. Plus, the $1 price point was very attractive. The verdict on The Unwritten? Not bad. Not bad at all. I like the idea of following the adventures of a guy who is famous for being the basis of a fictional boy wizard to be fascinating. I'm not a fan of Harry Potter, but the concept of fame and fiction crashing together is a fertile one. Carey has some big ideas to play with in the coming months and this series has the potential to be great. I'll be around at least for the first story.

The X-Files #6
This series started out very well. I think this is one of those properties that could excel as a comic book, but I'm not sure if this title sold that well. Probably not. The sixth issue wasn't very engaging, primarily due to the plot device of having Mulder "record" his voice for Scully. The only problem with that is the fact that it was very Claremont/Byrne in his description, meaning that a panel would show a dark cave while Mulder was saying, "I'm looking at a dark cave." It's just not effective storytelling for a comic book. I think DC and Wildstorm could have done a better job building this series up and promoting it. Like Squadron Supreme, I hope this isn't the last we will see of the X-Files in comic book form. The concept is just to fertile to let go of in such a faltering way.

Independence Day Retrospecticus

2009-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

by Rory, the Bad Genious Summer Blockbuster

Let me take you back to July 2, 1996. Bill Clinton was running the country, Michael Jordan had just won another championship, and there were ruminations of a crazy dance called "The Macarena", which was about to take storm. America was feeling great. And, with that in mind, audiences flocked to Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. In fact, it is currently the third highest grossing film that is not part of a franchise (i.e. no sequels/prequels), behind Titanic and Finding Nemo (but ahead of ET). However, time has not been too kind to this film. It has become a forgotten blockbuster, and unfairly lumped in with lamer alien movies (Mars Attacks) or disaster films (Twister, Armageddon). To me, though, this film is an absolute classic. And, since it is that time of the season, let me take you through a wonderful trip through the 135 minutes that make up one of the greatest films ever.

0:00 - Ooh, the credits are exploding. I like where this is headed already. No fancy, over-the-top credit sequence here (I'm looking at you, Spider-Man). The date is July 2nd. Let's rock and roll!

0:01 - Shots of moon. Ominous shadow. Shots of Earth. And BOOM! Spaceships (revealed in a very Stars Wars way)! This movie doesn't fuck around getting to the meat and potatoes.

0:02 - R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World." This movie was the first time I ever heard this song, and I thought it was really scary. Eventually, I saw what Michael Stipe looked like, and was able to relax and enjoy the song.

0:03 - One thing that immediately jumps out is the stunning amount of diversity in the casting. Three minutes in and we have an Asian guy, a black guy, a woman, and a guy with a very weird accent. Nicely done, focus groups. ::slow clap::

0:04 - Robert Loggia!

He's easily one of the top 10 voices I wish I had for one day. I'd put him above David Bowie, but below Superintendent Chalmers.

0:07 - Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch play the most Jewish game of chess ever.

0:08 - Harvey Firestein, too. Between Goldblum, Loggia, Firestein, and Pullman, this is an amazing assembly of voices.

0:10 - We are introduced to Randy Quaid's Hispanic children. I'm really not sure how THAT happened, but chalk up Latinos to the ever-expanding list of diverse cultures in this movie (with gays and Jews represented as well).

0:11 - First shots of the alien saucers. And more GODDAMN white "gunshot" transitions. Well, no movie is perfect.

0:16 - The Secretary of Defense is a great "That Guy". I know I've seen him in something...and according to this impressive IMDB page, I'm sure everyone has.

0:20 - Yay! Fresh Prince! Finally! Shit, he's going back to sleep.

0:23 - The alien ships have taken their place. They came out of a smoke cloud, which reminds me of "Galactus" in the second Fantastic Four movie.

By the way, the music during the aliens' approach is ominous, foreboding, and completely classic!

0:25 - In one of my favorite scenes of the movie, Big Willie shatters the record of "person being completely oblivious of his surroundings". He ignores neighbors fleeing, news reports, and his son's warnings - making it ALL THE WAY out to his front stoop to pick up the newspaper. A look right, a look left, and then looking forward to see the BIG FUCKING SPACESHIP IN HIS FRONT YARD! Amazingly, this record is then immediately shattered by The Cougar, who ignores all the same warnings, and then brings out a cup of coffee to Will before noticing the 15 mile spaceship in her front yard.

0:30 - So, it has been established by Jeff Goldblum that there's six hours before the aliens attack. So, somehow he fights through traffic, gets to Hirsch's house, and gets on the road to Washington DC. The car is going slow, and the roads are packed. Six hours? That's a bit of a stretch, even in a movie about aliens blowing up the planet.

0:33 - Harry Connick, Jr. makes an appearance as bizarro-Carlton. He uses "bootie" more times than a white guy should. Solid gay marriage joke in this scene.

0:35 - Man, The Cougar doesn't notice shit, does she? She's dancing around a stripper pole before realizing that the bar is completely empty. She does a nice job showing compassion to her stripper friends.

0:37 - Jeff Goldblum gets in to the White House by "triangulating" something. I heart pseudo-science.

0:43 - It's been 20 minutes since the alien spaceships took their positions. The movie start off with a bolt of lightening, but now? Let's get to the "working overtime" part!

0:46 - And boom goes the dynamite.

I have to say, the special effects are still very impressive, especially for a movie being 13 years old. It is so nice to see the miniature sets explode and stunt cars go flying, whereas nowadays it would be all CGI.

0:47 - Just to note: Harvey Firestein was still stuck in the city. That six hour drive from NY to DC still bugs me. It is also great to see Air Force One is faster than fireballs.

0:48 - FINALLY my girl VAF notices something before another character, spotting the fireballs before her son does. This is actually a very scary scene (especially since I was 11 when I saw it). Good to see the dog survive, though.

0:49 - We're into July 3rd. I've only known Randy Quaid's family for one day, and I already hate them. They are the Luc Longley to Smith/Goldblum/Pullman's MJ/Scottie/Rodman. (To continue the analogy, Loggia is definitely Ron Harper.)

0:52 - I love a good briefing for a mission scene. Very Star Wars-esque. Poor Harry Connick Jr., he might as well be wearing a red shirt at this point.

0:58 - Great No-ments in History: "Jimmy NOOO!!!" - Will Smith

1:01 - Another fantastic scene with Will Smith shit-talking the downed alien ship. After punching out the alien: "Welcome to Earth! Now that's what I call a close encounter." Action movie writing at its finest. Usually, two witty alien puns would be dispersed throughout the movie. However, this movie breaks the paradigm and delivers two back-to-back. On my bucket list is punching someone in the face, and then saying that line.

1:03 - "All you need is love. John Lennon. Smart man. Shot in the back. Very sad." - Judd Hirsch. Yes, that made me laugh out loud. No, I'm not on any drugs while watching this.

1:07 - Goldblum and Pullman find out about Area 51. Quaid and Smith run into each other in the desert, and the closest military base is, you guessed it, Area 51. And you thought they'd have to come up with a stupid way to get characters from Los Angeles, New York City, New Mexico, and Washington D.C. together.

1:11 - We're overtly told that the aliens are similar to humans, and that they are interested in our planet. There's a heavy-handed message layered into this movie somewhere, and by god, I'll find it even if it kills me!

1:15 - Man, That Guy is a total dick. I demand he gets his comeuppance!

1:18 - The Cougar admits she voted for "the other guy" while talking to the first lady. I know I'm making a big assumption, but could Pullman's character be a Republican?

1:19 - The alien autopsy scene is pretty cool, but the writers seemed to get a little lazy. Words like "icky" and "thingamajig" are used by the mad scientist.

1:23 - So what do the aliens want us to do? Die. Motherfucking die. These guys are completely bad ass.

1:29 - That Guy talks Republican Lone Star into a nuclear strike, which fails. I demand he gets his comeuppance!

1:33 - The President's wife dies. I've been bombarded by too many human emotions at this point - the fight between Goldblum and his ex, the reuniting of the Fresh Prince and The Cougar, and now this. Although, I'll always remember a fantastic bit on Weekend Update, where Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton raved about how much he loved this scene.

1:34 - We're into July 4th. Money time! And a drunk Goldblum!

And Judd gives him the classic "catch a cold" idea. This scene is genius!

1:37 - "I gave it a cold." Love it. It's all about signals, Jerry, signals! Kudos to sharp shooting by Adam Baldwin as Major Mitchell.

1:40 - That Guy gets his ass chewed out by Kick Ass President Lone Star. Hit the road, bitch! That's some good comeuppance!

1:41 - And the USA alerts the world that they are smarter than them. U S A! U S A!

1:47 - Fuck and yes.

GAH! I want to run through a GODDAMN brick wall!

1:52 - Goldblum is busting out all the classic Goldblum-isms. "Yes, Fat Lady." "Oops? What Oops?" "Yes yes." "No no."

1:59 - The virus is in! It's tough to keep updates - this is getting intense. Ooh, nice hit from Lone Star! Time to kick ET's ass!

2:04 - Spoiler Alert: Randy Quaid saves the day.

This that you can abuse yourself with alcohol for years and still save the entire planet. What's the time limit on spoiler alerts, by the way? I say six months. So, if I just ruined this for you, I'm sorry, but you had 12 years and six months.

2:07 - The space ship that is 15 miles long and right over the military base explodes, and then drifts listlessly over to the abandoned area of the desert, causing no major harm to anyone down below. Um. Moving on.

2:10 - Little known fact: screaming makes you drive faster.

2:13 - Excellent "Conquering Hero" shot. Another thing to add to my bucket list: walk away proudly while something is burning behind me.

2:15 - "Didn't I promise you fireworks?" "Yeah." Time to rebuild civilization. Credits roll.

Overall, it's a fantastic example of a summer blockbuster - cliche but lines, great action scenes, corny scenes of human emotion blatantly designed to tug at audience emotions, a sharp sense of humor, and characters that fit perfectly within their archetypes. If you've forgotten about this movie, I highly recommend going out today and watching it this weekend.

Summer Reading, pt. 1

2009-06-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

Summer. This is the comic book fan's season for catching up and enjoying a good, geeky book while one should be outside instead. Jenn remarked last week while on our honeymoon, "How did comic books end up coming on our honeymoon?" Well, the answer really does boggle the mind; I packed them in a backpack and brought them with us. I made full use of the quiet setting of Sound off Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to catch up on some reading. Some of the titles are old, some are new, but they all get a little review from me here.

Grendel War Child #'s 1-10
Though this book takes place chronologically far beyond what I've read to thus far in the Grendel series (chapters 41-50, whereas I just entered the teens in my regular Grendel reading), I decided to give this miniseries a go since I picked it up for a buck a couple of weeks ago. It turned out to be a fairly accessible read, but not just in terms of Wagner's writing, but also the helpful recap pages at the front of the book and two-page review pages in the back of each issue which successfully and succinctly explained the entire history of the printed Grendel up to that point. Grendel Prime, the protagonist of this story, turned out to be a very effective Grendel. What he lacked in Hunter Rose's flamboyance, he made up for in true grit. This was a great miniseries and highly recommended, especially if you can find it on the cheap like I did.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars #6
No real trip would be complete without having read something in the Star Wars realm. Unfortunately, this last issue in the first Clone Wars arc was very disappointing. While the story of stopping intergalactic slavery would be interesting in, say, the 1860s, it just seemed a bit odd for a focus here. I realize Anakin was a slave, but the story's heavy "gee, this is soooooooo wrong" tilt from the beginning was a nonstarter. Of course slavery is wrong. Do we need six issues of action packed preaching to deliver that point home? This first arc was in no way as engaging as the first season of the television show. Maybe it will pick up soon, but if the second arc doesn't grab me, this book will be on the chopping block.

Justice League America #'s 46-50 (Glory Bound)& Annual #4 (JL Antarctica)
I'm almost finished with my rereading of the classic JLI from Giffen and DeMatteis. I have thoroughly enjoyed every issue and arc of JLI up until the Glory Bound arc found in issues 46-50. The first issue involving Guy Gardner going to a comic book convention was good, but the rest of the story fell flat. Much of the fun about the arc I suppose was to be derived from poking fun at the Captain America pastiche General Glory. The only catch was that... it just wasn't funny. Annual #4, however, was an excellent issue of the series that introduced the Antarctica branch of the JLI. The ineffective Injustice League and Gnort get assigned to patrol Antarctica and protect it from flesh-eating penguins. It was zany fun despite the fact that Gnort was featured so heavily. My only complaint really about this latter era of JLI is the fact that Booster Gold was MIA. He and Blue Beetle really made this title great. Despite my small grievances, this title really has rejuvenated my interest in the comic book medium. The JLI books have been fun to read. I feel old saying this, but they just don't make them like that anymore.

Justice League Europe #'s 23-28 & Annual #2
Of the various JLI books, JLE was the one I was most wary about reading, but it has in fact been one of the most enjoyable. The mix of action and Bwah-ha-ha is perfect in this title. Plus, it features some of the more consistently interesting JLI members; Captain Atom, Flash, Elongated Man, Power Girl and her cat, Rocket Red, and Metamorpho. Whereas the JLA title seemed to spend more time goofing around the embassy, JLE seemed to get out more and, you know, handle bad guys. Whether it was fighting huge works controlled by a league of captains of industry (issues 23-25) or fighting off Starro yet again (issues 26-28), this particular incarnation of the league was always fun and effective in their own little way. Any story that can make Starro seem not lame is a good story. Along with the above JLA issues, these issues can be found for ridiculously cheap prices, most likely less than a buck an issue. They are well worth your time to seek out.

Hero Squared #'s 1-3 & Special #1
Speaking of J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen, someone recommended Hero Squared to me a while back. I bought the original miniseries and X-tra Sized special to try it out. While it was funny in many parts, I just don't see how this story could be sustained over a long period of time. It seems pretty finite to me. I'm glad to see that there are only nine issues after these initial four remaining because I just don't see the concept really stretching too far. It was a fun read, but if someone were inclined to want to check this creative team out, they would be much better served by seeking out the JLI titles.

Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine #6
Wow... that was a letdown. We waited for that? Seriously? While the Nick Fury part at the end was solid, the rest was lackluster, and that's being kind. A Wolverine and Hulk miniseries should be cool. It should be grandiose and over the top. This miniseries started off with a bang, but ended on a barely audible thud.

Ultimate Spider-Man #132
Did you read the above review? Kinda sucky. Well, that's pretty much my opinion of this issue too. It's been no secret that I think Ultimatum has been dreadful, but this is just crap. Ultimate Spider-Man was one of the best titles Marvel had going. It wasn't groundbreaking, but it was always consistent. Now that it has been mucked up by all this Ultimatum junk, it has become almost unreadable. Thanks, Marvel.

The Invincible Iron Man #13
Hmmm. Interesting. I have never read a regular, monthly Iron Man comic in my life, but something compelled me to pick this title up last summer and I've been enjoying it ever since. While I think this "Most Wanted" story arc has been going on for too long, I think Fraction is slowly building up to a boiling point that will be amazing. The inevitable confrontation with Norman Osborn should be the most exciting comic Marvel produces in this whole Dark Reign business, but that's up to how well Fraction and the other frame it. If you look at Invincible Iron Man, it looks like it will be explosive. Kudos on both the writing and art here. This is by far one of the best titles Marvel is producing now.

Daredevil #118
I believe it was King George the Third who wrote in his diary on July 4, 1776 that "nothing much happened today." The same could be said for this issue. Is it just me, or has Daredevil become to whiny lately? It just kind of drones on and on and on. We get to see Daredevil brood for much of the issue, which is highly original. For those who are a poor judge of sarcasm, that was definitely sarcasm. I want to read Daredevil stories that are exciting crime dramas, not emo-like pity sessions where Matt muses about how shitty his life has become. Get over it. That Daredevil story has been written at least eighty times. Let's move on, shall we?

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats!

2009-06-17T00:39:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Welcome to another "Shout Out/Scream At!” column! where I take a look at what makes me a happy fanboy (Shout Outs!) and what frustrates me (Scream Ats!) about the comic industry. With this column I will be covering Captain America, Rocketeer, Planetary, DC's new series Magog, Messiah War and more Obama comics.!

SHOUT OUT! Planetary #27
It is really easy for me to forgive something when I love it so much. Just like my kid Logan when he accidentally deleted my 6 year franchise Madden game a few years ago, I can forgive him because I sure love the little guy. That is how I feel about Planetary. I should be screaming bloody murder that this book is taking so stinking long to come out but now that I know it is coming, I can forgive it. Planetary is my favorite Warren Ellis work (and yes, I consider myself an EllisWhore(tm)) and ranks up their with my favorite comic works of all-time. I cannot wait for this epilogue and I definitely cannot wait for the inevitable Absolute Planetary Vol 2.

SCREAM AT! Captain America Hype
Marvel has really hit the Hype Machine with the release of Captain America #600 and the new Reborn series and I shouldn't be surprised that they are bringing back Steve Rogers. But with all the hype, I find this announcement extremely underwhelming and that is probably because I found Bucky as Cap WAY more exciting than Steve and the story of him coming back. I am sure Brubaker will write an excellent yarn but I cannot hide the fact that I wish Bucky had more time to be Cap. It sure doesn't feel like it has been two years since Steve's death. It wouldn't surprise me if Marvel still had another swerve coming up.

SCREAM AT! Magog?
In the new DC solicitations it was found that a new character was to be given a ongoing series. I was excited to see who it was since I am now down to one DC book and I wanted to dabble back into the DC Universe again. And I was surprised that it was Magog. Magog? Don't get me wrong, I really liked how the character developed in the recent JSA series but he would have been one of the last characters I would have expected (and picked) for a new ongoing series. You know who I wanted? I would have loved seeing a Dr. Mid-Nite or Mr. Terrific series. Or Stargirl return for another series. I would gladly pay $3.99 for a Stargirl ongoing if it was written by Johns. But Magog? Such a strange choice.

SHOUT OUT! The Rocketeer: The Complete Collection
When I am bored at work, I like to browse Amazon and find stuff that is going to be coming out. I was very excited when I saw this baby! The Rocketeer: The Complete Collection. I have not read any of Dave Steven's stuff before but I do have fond memories of the old Rocketeer movie starring a young Jennifer Connelly and one of my favorite actors in Timothy Dalton. I have always been interested in the Rocketeer and now I have his completed adventures in one book. The books have been completely re-colored, as per Dave Stevens' wishes, by colorist Laura Martin.

SCREAM AT! Messiah War
Maybe it is because I have not read the ending of this crossover, but it just has not been doing anything for me. Nothing in the book excites me like the previous crossover Messiah Complex. Partly because I have not been a huge fan of the artwork but I couldn't place my finger on it until we see Archangel confront Apocalypse and spare his life. Then it hit me, the biggest reason I have not liked this crossover all that much is because it reminds me of the 90's crossover X-Cutioner's Song. Archangel confronts Apocalypse and spares his life in that one too. Not only that but in both crossovers we see X-Force sent to catch Cable, we see Bishop and Wolverine track Cable.

SCREAM AT! More Obama Comics
I think I have had my fill on Obama-based comics. In fact, I have gotten so tired of them that I would not have picked up Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers if I knew ahead of time that Obama's dog was slated to appear. Don't get me wrong, I am for Obama, I am just tired of all the comics. I do admit that the variant cover for Ash Saves Obama is pretty cool but enough is enough already!

Panelology: Married... With Comics, pt. 2

2009-06-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

The tables have turned today! On Tuesday, I interviewed Jenn about our upcoming nuptials, her perception of my geekiness, and how the move in together will impact my beloved comic book hobby. Jenn puts on her game face to interviews me about my fanboy tendencies.

Jenn: I can understand reading comic books is an enjoyable activity for you. What I don't understand is the collecting part of it. Can you explain why that is so important to you?

Brandon: This is a chicken and egg question. Which came first; the comic book reading or collecting? For a long, long time, I shunned the "collector" label because I definitely did not enter this hobby thinking that I wanted to simply possess 6,000 comics. I was a reader, and avid reader, which I think was odd for someone reading comics in the early-to-mid 1990s because so many people were in the hobby because of the collecting angle. I can't tell you how any of my friends would buy a comic and never crack the thing open once to give it a read. For those like me, comics were a commodity that was to be traded. We read all sorts of different titles, so we would swap issues for reading purposes. You couldn't buy too many comic books for a $2 a week allowance! I was not in a position to buy every book that came across my radar.

That economic reality is part of the reason why "collecting" comic books has become a part of my comic book hobby. By the time I left college in 2002, I only had three long boxes. Now, I have almost twenty with several short boxes for current comic book series I'm reading. After getting a job and a stable source of income, I found myself going back to the titles that did come across my radar back when I was a prepubescent punk. Most of the stuff I had bought and traded or at least read from a friend when I was younger. These issues were populating back issue bins at ridiculously cheap prices. Once again, economics played into the equation!

While I still consider myself to be primarily a reader, collecting has become an unintended byproduct of the reading. While I would say 80% of the comics in my collection will never grace my eyes again in terms of reading, it is hard to part with the little boogers. That is until you tell me I have to make a choice; you or the comic books. And of course, I would choose you, darling. Maybe.

Jenn: If the house was burning and you had to choose between saving me or saving "The Amazing Spider-Man #129" (Punisher's First Appearance), would I be on my own?

Brandon: I wouldn't say you would be on your own. That would be highly inappropriate for me to leave you in burning house. However, are you carrying anything? I mean, once we get the cats out and I know that they are secure, we could totally go back in and grab some books. By the way, how much can you lift? I would say that each box weighs around 25 pounds. I figure we could make it out with at least ten boxes before the fire gets too bad. I think you are up t the challenge. But remember, this is a team effort. No slacking off! We don't have all day, the house is burning.

Jenn: What if I had been a hardcore DC Comics fan when we started dating? Do you suppose we'd still be engaged to be married?

Brandon: Oh, that's a good question. First off, I have to give you some major props for even knowing that being a DC fan might have been a faux pas when we met. Secondly, I'm glad to know that you've been noticing what I've been reading lately! To answer your question, I don't think it would have matter tome in the way you are suggesting. You know that before we hit it off, I dated a freaky anime girl who did like comics. She was also a furry. That taught me one important lesson; I didn't really want to date myself. I'm extraorinarily broing. I have crappy tastes in entertainment, food, drink, and clothing. I have good taste in women. Therefore, I cannot date anyone who may have read all the volumes of The History of Middle-Earth or who can name more members of the Moff Council than I can. You have no idea what I'm talking about with either one of those cases and that's just fine with me.

Jenn: Can we please remove the Darth Vader head from the headboard after we get married? It really creeps me out!

Brandon: You're asking far too much of me now. Why is having a Darth Vader mask on our headboard creepy? It's a Darth Vader mask, not Darth Vader. You see, Darth Vader is a fictional character. He doesn't really exist! The creepiness rests in your own mind, not on my headboard. Plus, what if it makes me feel secure having Vader there? Would you want to rob me of my safety?

Seriously though, the answer is; whatever you want, darling. I have no say in the decorating arena. If it's between sex and Vader, I will go with booty any day of the week. Especially if there's a Star Wars costume involved. Despite your misgivings about the Darth Vader helmet, you still come to my bed with me. What does that say about you, I wonder.

Jenn: If you had to choose between Star Wars, Comic Books and the Music collection, which would win (this may be useful to me when we merge households *wink*)?

Brandon: Well... I'm just so freaking lucky that I'm marrying someone like you who won't make me have to choose. Right? RIGHT? I can say in my defense that I have significantly cut back on my Star Wars collectibles purchasing over the last year. I feel like a recovering alcoholic saying this, but I haven't purchased a Star Wars figure in seven months. In my opinion, the Star Wars collection has become a bigger beast than the comic books because they serve no "decorative" role in the household. They just take up a considerable amount of space in one closet.

Does that mean I want to get rid of them? Hell no! But yeah... something has to be done about those things. Let's get past this wedding business and getting you moved in before we tackle the Star Wars collection. I've been a good sport about the comic book stuff thus far. I think I deserve that much.

Jenn: What do you think would happen if Frank Castle was one of the leading men in He's Just Not That Into You?

Brandon: Well, first ff, I think it might be a considerably shorter movie. That particular chick flick was like the Lord of the Rings of chick flicks. I expected Hobbits to come running into Jennifer Aniston's bedroom screaming, "You did it, Mister Frodo! You did it!"

Jenn: Just answer the question.

Brandon: Okay! I think Frank would probably kill many of those self-absorbed characters out of pity or principle from the get-go. He would be putting them, and the audience, out of their memory. Benn Affleck and Jennifer Aniston's characters would be first to go. I think he would also try to toughen up the group of gay men who work with Drew Barrymore's character. I mean, really, people are dying every day out on the mean streets and all these guys can talk about is making booty calls on Facebook. I also would love to see him go to a club with the main character/loser Gigi. She would start rolling into one of her moaning monologues about not finding the right man, but Frank would counter with some grim tale about losing a good man on the Mekong River in hail of fire and blood. It would totally ruin the moment and then he would sock her in the face for being so pompous. Then he would go kill some crack dealers or something. It would be awesome.

Jenn and I get married June 13, this Saturday, at 4:30 p.m. We do have a website if you are so inclined to check it out. Make sure you request some ridiculous song and I'll make sure it makes it into rotation during the reception. Just don't tell Jenn! I may be back sometime next week with a few photos from the wedding, but I'm sort of going to be on the honeymoon at the time, which means those scant few people reading this will be meaningless to me during that time. Everything is coming into place now for the wedding.

I get asked the oft asked question "are you nervous?" now virtually every five minutes. I think that question is making me nervous. But I am not nervous about my decision! Jenn and I are very happy with one another. I'm convinced that I will be able to get her to read some more comics in the near future. Our marriage may depend on it.

Panelology: Married... With Comics, Pt. 1

2009-06-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

by Brandon & Jenn
It's happening and there's nothing I can do to stop it now. No, I'm not referring Steve Rogers returning as Captain America. In just four measly days, I'm going to get married to the love of my life, Jenn. We're currently smack dab in the middle of that "fun" stage right before the wedding where tensions are high as our nerves fritz out on us. While we're both sure that we are right for one another, one of the things Jenn likes to kindly rib me for is my affinity for comic books. As we begin to merge households, we have talked a lot about comic books lately. These are not the kinds of comic book conversations I would like to have about plot points and our favorite issues. No, these are serious, adult conversations about what we should do with all these damn comic books in my townhouse.

These conversations have been pretty riveting, lighthearted, and sometimes tense. I realize that the comic books in my townhouse take up a considerable amount of space. Ultimately, I decided to go with the BCW long storing boxes to file away my twenty some odd boxes in order to help create some space for us to live. The death of my bachelor lifestyle is upon us, but does that mean my comic book collecting days are over?

What follows is just a sampling of the conversations Jenn and I have been engaged in the past few weeks. Jenn doesn't call me an "asshat" here, which is a very positive start for us when having these conversations. Just as background, Jenn and I have been dating for almost three years now, but we haven't necessarily lived together other than on the weekends since she lives 90 miles away. She's probably the smartest woman on the face of the entire planet. She has got her PhD. in molecular biology and she is a scientist. Unfortunately, she hasn't been able to come up with any cool experiments that will give me superpowers yet, but I'm sure that particular instance is just around the corner for us.

Brandon: What did you think of comic book hobby when we first met? Do you remember your first experience with my fanboy room?

Jenn: I thought the comic book thing was "cute." Clearly, I did not realize the extent of your enthusiasm or the far reaching impact on every other part of your life (poor decorating decisions, planning vacations around comic conventions, etc.). The first time I saw the Fanboy room, we had only been dating for about a month and I was still in that "blinded by love phase." I don't really think I took it all in on that first visit because I only remember being struck by two things: 1)the sheer volume of books/boxes and 2)the life size stormtrooper in the corner.It wasn't until much later that I saw all of the "toys" and other Fanboy paraphernelia.

Brandon: I don't mean to be picky, but that's not a Stormtrooper in my extra bedroom. That's Boba Fett. But that's beside the point. What do you like about my having this hobby?

Jenn: First, I like that we have our own interests and maintain our own unique identities. Second, as my mom always says: At least I know what you are up to on a Friday night! There are many worse hobbies that you could have, so I guess I should be happy with this one!

Brandon: What do you dislike about my having this hobby?

Jenn: I think the first two dislikes are obvious, but are also a problem with many other hobbies that a person could have (you could say the same about scrapbooking for me!)...Space and money. However, I think with our new storage system, the space concern is much less of an issue. Also, you do a pretty good job monitoring how much you spend on comics and you shop for deals, so even though it is not how I would choose to spend MY money, I can't really complain about it.

Now, the real deal...an indirect effect of your comic book madness is that I get stuck at comic book stores (or at least sitting out in the car waiting for YOU in the comic store) WAY more often than I would like. Also, you put comic books on bithday and Christmas wish lists, which means that if I want to be a good girlfriend (replace with wife after June 13), I have to visit the comic book stores!

Brandon: To date, I've successfully managed to get you to read one comic, the Fables graphic novel. What did you think of it?

Jenn: I thought it was enjoyable to read - an interesting take on some characters from my childhood. I think the thing about comics that is frustrating to me is that you don't get a nice neat conclusion at the end of one book, because usually that one book is part of a series and you've really only completed a chapter in the story. I just don't see how you can be reading 6 different titles and keep all of the various stories straight from one month to the next! Ok, let the eye rolling begin...

Brandon: Why haven't you read any more comic books? What would it take to get you to read another comic?

Jenn: As mentioned in my previous, response...it is frustrating for me. I guess if you find me a somewhat girly comic that I can finish in just a few issues, I would consider it. Also, you will need to take up scrapbooking.

Brandon: What is the geekiest thing you've ever seen me do?

Jenn: Wow, so many to choose from! No, really ...I think you keep the "Geekiness" to a minimum. I wouldn't nail this down to a particular activity. I think the geekiest I've ever seen you behave is when you got really into Heroscape initially - the childlike giddiness over your new discovery was pretty geeky!

Plus, the occasional soliloquy ranting about the accuracy of a movie based on comic book history can get a little Geek too.

Brandon: Really? That's an unusual choice! I wouldn't have even put Heroscape in my top 100 geek out moments. Which hobby annoys you more and why; Star Wars, Comic Books, or the music collection?

Jenn: I can not choose. Star Wars and Comic Books take up so much space. The music collection results in my exposure to your music. There is no lesser or greater evil.

Brandon: How do you describe my "fanboy tendencies" to your friends and family?

Jenn: I don't try really. No one has ever really probed beyond "He collects comic books" unless it is to ask if you own any valuable ones. Plus, it is just who you are...I don't think I should have to explain who you are to anyone. They should have to figure it out for themselves, just like the rest of us! :)

On that Hallmark note, I'll end the interview for the day. Check back tomorrow for part 2. Jenn will be interview me about my hobby and I'm going to attempt to be honest.

Panelology - Marvel & DC August 2009 Solicitation Picks

2009-05-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

Now that Marvel & DC have released their solicitations for August 2009, I thought it might be worthwhile to look at books coming down the pike that are of interest to collectors. August looks to be a pretty decent month for collectors new and old. Both Marvel and DC have some neat looking books for old and new fans alike just begging to be pre-ordered. I know I'm going to have to make a lot of room for some new titles. Jenn won't be happy, but my inner-fanboy will just love it!

The House of Ideas has a few books that I'll be adding to my order this month. Here's a look at my picks.

- Dominic Fortune # 1 (of 4): It's always good to see Howard Chaykin writing and drawing a book, but its extra nice to see him return to a character that he created. In the various incarnations that have cropped up of this archetypal character from Chaykin's creative stables, Dominic Fortune was one of my favorites. He's been little used, but this looks to be one of those great returns we fans don't get to see very often. This title should be full of violence, zippy dialogue, loose women, and excellent art.

- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 and Avengers #1: Oh boy. I haven't made it a secret that I have been displeased with the direction of the Ultimate Universe lately. The bloated and unnecessary Ultimatum freak show has been ridiculously stupid. It's redemption time for this line. Starting with new first issues, Avengers and Spiderman look to be good starting places for those people who left the Ultimate Universe before Jeph Loeb's involvement was just a dusty twinkle in Joe Quesada's bad eye. Perhaps with the always entertaining Millar on board, Avengers will pick up with where his Ultimates 2 title left off. Otherwise, this lines probably in deep shit. Check this out, if only for the train wreck.

- The Marvels Project #1 (of 8): Ed Brubabker? Check. Steve Epting? Check. Worth $3.99 an issue? Not so sure. But, I might be willing to give it a shot. With the aforementioned creative team from Captain America on board, this will probably be entertaining at the very least. With Marvel celebrating "their" 70th anniversary, this title promises to be the centerpiece to their celebrations. Whatever. The big question for Marvel is will anyone care about a miniseries dealing with the Golden Age version of Marvel's oldest heroes. This has the potential to be a bust or a boon. I'm hoping for the latter, especially if I'm going to shell out $3.99 an issue!

- Captain America: The Death of Captain America Omnibus HC: Sweet Jesus! On the one hand, the $75 price tag gives me pause, but getting issues 25-42 of Brubaker and Epting's Captain America saga in hardcover is very tempting. I haven't bought any of Marvel's omnibus editions, but they look sweet and many people have had nothing but great things to say about these volumes.

- Marvel Bromance TPB: Huh? When I first saw this solicitation, I must admit that I almost just skipped reading it. But my curiosity got the better of me and I read it. I hate the term "bromance" but it is oddly appropriate for some comic books match-ups. It is with a little bit of shame that I must admit that this sounds kind of cool. As hokey as they may be, some buddy comics are just fun to read. Marvel selected a wide variety of characters here to spotlight, which is excellent because I don't think having Wolverine or Spider-Man pop up in your book constitutes the "bromance" label. Male bonding is cool and this should be a fun title to read.

I'm not much of a DC Comics kind of guy, but a couple of things in their August previews looked interesting.

- Red Circle Comics: The Shield, The Web, Inferno, and The Hamngman # 1's: J. Michael Straczynski takes a stab at bringing the Archie heroes into the DCU. I honestly think this is what JMS does best. I just wish he would go back to finishing The Twelve. Regardless, these books should at least be interesting for old and new readers. Plus, these specials are backed by some killer artists including Bill Sienkiewicz, Greg Scott, Roger Robinson, Hilary Barta, Scott McDaniel, and Andy Owens. Fitting these four issues into your order might taking a little more tightening of the belt, but I think they could be definitely worth it.

- Doom Patrol #1: Finally! It seems like DC has been talking about this reboot for months now, so I was happy to see it finally solicited. Kieth Giffen seems like a perfect fit for this book. To sweeten the pot, and to soften the blow of the $3.99 admission price, there is a Metal Men co-feature co-written by Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art from Kevin Maguire! That's right, this is the celebrated team that brought us the original JLI title in the late 1980s. I hope Giffen's back to the basics approach works out better for him that it did for John Byrne. I love all the various incarnations of this team and I am highly anticipating the release of this title.

- Peter & Max: A Fables Novel: This is another book that seems to have been discussed for a while now by the folks over at Vertigo. If you aren't reading Fables, you truly are missing out on one of the best titles to ever be published. This prose novel from Bill Willingham will be supported by ink drawings from Fables artist Steve Leialoha. Vertigo always does a good job with these special hardcovers and I don't think this one will disappoint any regular Fables fans. Sounds really good to me!

That's it for me this week! You can of course check out the Previews website from Diamond Distributors if you want to browse more solicitations and news.

Next week, I'll be back to talk about how my comic book life is changing now that the big wedding date is coming up faster than a speeding bullet. What am I doing to myself?

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats!

2009-05-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Welcome to another "Shout Out/Scream At!” column! where I take a look at what makes me a happy fanboy (Shout Outs!) and what frustrates me (Scream Ats!) about the comic industry. With this column I will be covering Captain Britain, DC's Blackest Night, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and DC's Human Target hitting the small screen.!

SHOUT OUT! Blackest Night
I have never collected Green Lantern. My first exposure to the character (and to the DC Universe) was Zero Hour and Grant Morrison's JLA. I have always been intrigued by the concept of Green Lantern but never made the move to try him out officially by reading his book. I was also a little dissatisfied with Final Crisis and was slowly losing my interest in the DC universe as a whole. I was not going to pick up the Blackest Night event but there were 3 things that made me want to at least check it out. First, the Martian Manhunter revealed as a Black Lantern. The Martian Manhunter is my favorite DC character and I was ticked that he was killed in Final Crisis (I was real happy with Final Crisis: Requiem) and I am really curious about where being a Black Lantern will take him. Second, I couldn't resist Blackest Night #0 since it was free and it had a great balance of new content and provided enough information for me to catch up with all the current Green Lantern news. And I have always liked Johns writing and Ivan Reis's artwork. And lastly, Mailordercomics had the first issue for only 99 cents so why not give it a read? I am hoping this event is great. I have dropped all DC books and I miss the DC Universe.

SCREAM AT! X-Men Origins: Wolverine
For the most part I enjoyed the film and I saw it a second time with my dad and it was much better with a second viewing. I am not the type to be picky about how the movie compares to the comic, so I didn't mind the changes that were made to some of the characters. What I didn't like, and still didn't like upon the second viewing was the death of Silver Fox. I just found it utterly unbelievable that Wolverine would have been fooled with her death. He has been around death by being involved in so many wars, I am sure he could smell it. And the blood Sabretooth poured on her? Wolverine would know if it was her blood or not, I don't think he could have been fooled so easily. It would have made Sabretooth all the more bad ass if he had really iced her the first time.

SHOUT OUT! Banshee in Wolverine movie!
Did you catch the small cameo of my favorite X-Man Banshee? You do remember that Banshee was the FIRST X-Man to be portrayed live action. Anyone remember that horrible Generation X pilot? This huge Banshee fan was so bored he fell asleep and missed most of the show!

SHOUT OUT! Human Target TV series
I loved, loved the last Human Target comic series produced by Vertigo. I highly recommend snagging the first Human Target miniseries to get a taste of what the Human Target is all about. The small clips of the show look a little hokey and I am hoping that Hollywood doesn't just make this a cliche action show. I hope that they stick close to the Vertigo series and really make the stories about the man (Christopher Chance) having difficulties with taking on multiple persona's. Either way, I am looking forward to the series and will certainly catch it when it hits the airwaves. You can see the video clips here.

SCREAM AT! Captain Britain Cancelled
Paul Cornell recently stated on his blog that Captain Britain and MI:13 has been canceled. BOOOO! This was perhaps the only Marvel title that I was enjoying consistently. I thought Cornell really understood the Captain Britain character, Cap has not been written like this since the old Ellis run on Excalibur. What really makes me scream about this cancellation is that I was certain (and I could be wrong) that Joe Quesada said he was raising the prices on more popular titles so that Marvel could continue to afford to put out less popular titles like this one. It feels like Marvel is taking their money and running. I would have gladly paid $3.99 for this book anyway and I am happy that Cornell got to end the book the way he wanted too.

SCREAM AT! Captain Britain Omnibus Rescheduled Again!
I am sure that with Marvel releasing this huge Omnibus they wanted to capitalize on both the success and buzz of the new Captain Britain series and name drop Alan Moore. Funny, (well, not really that funny) that the new Captain Britain series has just been canceled and this Omnibus has been moved from June 17th to a new shipping date of July 1st. This was supposed to have been released March 25th. Now I fear that Marvel might just cancel this book entirely!

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! Volume 5

2009-05-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Welcome to my fifth “Shout Out/Scream At!” column! With this column I will be taking a look at what makes me a happy fanboy (Shout Outs!) and what frustrates me (Scream Ats!) within the comic industry. Today I will be covering Marvel's new Reborn series, Spider-Man and the X-Men, Sparta USA, Anniversary issue numbering and Avatar comics!

SHOUT OUT! Dave Lapham's new series, Sparta, USA
As sad as I am with the cancellation of Young Liars, I am thrilled that Dave Lapham has a new series coming out from Wildstorm called Sparta, USA. In his own words, he describes Sparta as "a typical middle-America town, and yes they love their football. In fact, their whole culture is built around football and apple pie. Oh, and upward mobility through subterfuge. I wanted to set a story in a self-contained town with an idyllic façade but behind the scenes it was all spy games and sabotage. Sort of “Desperate Housewives” on crack. And not a soap opera. You’re the stock boy, you want to be shift supervisor, so you arrange for the old supervisor to have an accident, or a scandal." Unfortunately he is not providing the art on the series but the book is in good hands with Johnny Timmons at the helm. Football and Lapham, two of my favorite things!

SCREAM AT! Marvel's new Reborn series
I was really hoping that this was going to spotlight the return of Banshee but we all know who is returning. And we all knew it was inevitable. It just seems like yesterday that Steve Rogers was killed and I was hoping that he would stay that way for a bit longer. I like Steve as much as the next guy but I thought Bucky made a more interesting Captain America. Couple that with the $3.99 price tag and I am passing on this. And is it just me or has Bryan Hitch's work just not been the same? His work is solid enough but I have not enjoyed it as much as his work on the Authority and the first Ultimates series. If Steve Epting were drawing it, I would be all over it.

SHOUT OUT! Spider-Man and the X-Men mini series
The recent Spider-Man/X-Men series left me begging for more. I picked up this series because I have become a huge fan of Christos Gage but it was the beautiful cover by Mario Albreti that really sealed the deal. His artwork did not disappoint at all, I knew this series was a winner when I opened up the first issue and saw a panel of Gwen Stacy. The writing was a ton of fun too, Gage takes you through a new story involving Spider-Man and the X-Men and through various time frames. You get the first X-Men team, college Peter Parker, the black Spider-Man suit, the Morlock Massacre, Ben Reilly, Wolverine with bone claws and the present day X-Men and Spider-Man. And the villains are some of my favorites too, Kraven the Hunter, the Blob, Carnage, Mister Sinister and the Marauders. I don't want to spoil any of the story here, you'll have to trust me on this. If any of the above eras are a soft spot for you, I highly recommend picking up this series. How much did I like it? If a sequel is made with the same creative team, I would be HAPPY to plunk down $3.99. But SHHHHHH... don't tell Marvel that!

SCREAM AT! Dark X-Men Mini
When all the Dark X-Men images were hitting the Internet we were all speculating that this was going to be a new series. But then I heard that the Dark X-Men would appear within the pages of the Uncanny X-Men and I was happy. Then the new solicitations came out and sure enough, there was a new Dark X-Men mini solicited. Not only was it $3.99 but TWO issues were coming out during the same month. I love Cloak and Dagger and I am very excited that they are appearing in an X-title but I am going to have to pass on this. I cannot afford to spend an extra $8 bucks in one month. Not even the power of Paul Cornell can help me on this one. Guess I will have to wait for trade on this one.

SHOUT OUT! Anniversary Issue Renumbering
I am a little on the fence with this one. Part of me hates renumbering because it causes such headaches to keep track of. Especially if you are purchasing back issues (do people still do that?) and when you are filing away your books. But the other part of me (the really geeky part) is thrilled that Marvel is going back and renumbering its main titles. I always thought that it was cool that DC had books that were way up in their numbers and I hated that Marvel would just start a title back with a #1 just to sell more copies. I liked bragging that I started collecting the Uncanny X-Men with issue #200. That means I have been collecting that title for over 300 issues! I can't say the same with the other Marvel titles. Saying that you have been collecting Captain America since #310 of Volume 1 just doesn't have the same ring to it. Even though it will create some headaches, I am proud that Marvel is embracing their history.

SCREAM AT! Stinky Avatar comics!
I purchase my comics online and I can always tell when I have ordered an Avatar comic. I have been enjoying Doktor Sleepless (when I think I understand it) and I am loving Ignition City but it is a pain to really enjoy them. The ink or paper, or combination of the two really make the book stink! I had to put aside Ignition City #2 because of the smell. They really got to do something about that!

Panelology

2009-05-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

What do Punisher, Eminem, Free Comic Book Day, Wolverine, Star Trek and DC's Multiversity have in common? Do I really have to tell you they end up being discussed in this week's column? I do actually rant and rave about all of these things. Enter, those who are brave.

Free Comic Book Day Recap
I hope everyone had a good Free Comic Book Day this past Saturday. Mine was so-so. I visited two shops over the course of the day. Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC is where I always visit on FCBD. I think I've missed one year making the pilgrimage north. This year was a fairly disappointing year both in terms of the titles offered and how Heroes had actually set up the store. Of the titles offered, I really enjoyed the Love & Rockets book. It's nice to see L&R jump into the FCBD foray. The rest of the titles offered were pretty bland. Heroes had the titles spread out all over the store on the shelves next to the regular titles. That's good for them to get exposure of the regular books, but bad for fans who had to fight the crowds to get to the free books. Also, their enforcement was lax. I personally saw one guy who was pilfering seven or so copies of each title as he moseyed around the store. It doesn't take the detective skills of Batman to know where those books wound up. Can anyone say "Buy it now?" However, I did pick up the first three volumes of X-Men Essentials for less than $20. That was awesome. Newsarama had a good recap story of the fun had by all at Heroes, if you're interested.

That afternoon, I went to Heroes & Dragons in Columbia, SC. While the only free book they had left was Blackest Night, they had a phenomenal sale going on in their store. I have visited this store in the past when they have had their "sales" going on and wasn't too impressed. I walked in thinking I would walk out with very little. Wrong! Their sale was absolutely fantastic! Nearly everything in the store was on sale, if not at least 50% off. I managed to pick up quite a healthy stack of Justice League Europe issues, more than thirty in all, for around $23. Not bad. Not bad, at all.

Punishing Eminem
Reading about the Punisher/Eminem team-up this past week has depressed me a bit. Sweet Jesus, I thought we had moved past the era where we had to have ridiculous crossovers involving Frank. I guess not. Though Frank has teamed up with lots of folks ranging from Wolverine to Archie, this one most definitely takes the cake for the "WTF" award. I think Punisher would put a bullet between the little prick's eyes just for the principle of the matter irregardless for his misogyny. If you're interested, XXL has the first part and should be on sale for your reading pleasure. Marvel will probably release a collected edition of the story... which means I may buy it.

I know, I know. Damn me to hell for being a Punisher completest. In a bit of positive Punisher news from Robot 6, it appears as if Jason Aaron ad Steve Dillon might be the new creative team on Punisher Max. Cool. I'm down with that so long as it's 100% Eminem free.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine = Meh
Already seen Wolverine? I did last weekend. It was mindless fun at best. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. I think there were lots of cool snippets and scenes throughout the film, but I kept feeling like there was something missing. Perhaps it was a cohesive threatening villain? I never really felt any suspense throughout the film because Stryker and Sabertooth were going to live and Deadpool was pretty much a no-show until the final, over-the-top action scene. It was cool to see Gambit, but he could have been used a bit more. In fact, my biggest complaint about the entire film was the usage of too many mutants. It was cool to see them all on the big screen, but if they had just stuck with a couple core characters, it would would have been much more effective. I could have given a shit when Bolt was killed if they had taken the time to build him up. I could have given a shit that Xavier showed up beyond a "hey, that's neat" knee-jerk reaction if they had built that yup a bit more. Instead, we get a Cliff Notes version of each character at best; quantity over quality.

The film probably falls somewhere between X-3 and X-1 for me, with X-2 still being the best. maybe they will choose to move the story further in the next film rather than diddling around in the past. I feel like the above complaints make it seem like I hated the film. It was enjoyable and action packed, what you would expect from a Wolverine film. I think the cast could have been cut by at least half in order to provide a little breathing room rather than providing the obligation to spend a little time with a lot of characters. The general consensus amongst critics and fans is that the filmmakers should have let this one cook a little bit more. Let's hope they get off to a better start with the next film.

Making the Trek
Wolverine can kiss his spot at the top of the box office for good this weekend. Star Trek comes out today. I saw it earlier and it is wonderful. Very seldom does a hyped film live up to its hype, let alone even surpass it. Star Trek does. J.J. Abrams somehow manages to breathe life back into the barely limping franchise with this movie. Hardcore Trek fans will find much to complain about, but as a casual Trek fan, this was just an awesome film watching experience. Each actor must have been carefully vetted by the creative team behind this movie because they all nailed their roles perfectly. The mix of action, sharp banter, and the promise of a new day for Trek fans is overwhelming, but in a good way. I won't spoil anything for you, my fine readers. Just go see the film.

Flunking out of the Multiversity
I think DC hates bringing in new fans. I really do. I've been on a reeducation journey with DC, picking up books that I enjoyed from my youth and books that I missed out on that are supposedly classic. With such an emphasis on old DC, I must admit that my curiosity about what's going on in the modern DCU is piqued. Well, it is until I read an interview or story like this; Multiversity. What the hell, DC? Do you enjoy confusing people that much? Do you need to mire all of that talent under your publishing house in all of that useless continuity and multiple universe junk? I would have thought the fan backlash from Final Crisis would have taught DC a lesson. Instead, it seems that they are getting trapped in Grant Morrison's endless cycle of ideas. I love many things Grant Morrison has written. he's one of my favorite creators. However, he seems to be throwing a lot of big ideas on the wall with very little thoughtful execution to shore them up with. I think DC needs a Dr. Phil style intervention. I would pay big money to see Dan Didio sitting across from Dr. Phil as he starts into one of his "Dan, what's your problem?" rants. Maybe that very event is occurring in the multiverse right now. Who knows?

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! Special Wolverine Edition

2009-05-04T00:57:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Welcome to a very special “Shout Out/Scream At!” column dedicated to my fellow Canadian Wolverine! With the new Wolverine movie coming out I am dedicated this column to what makes me a happy fanboy (Shout Outs!) and what frustrates me (Scream Ats!) about Wolverine.

SHOUT OUT! Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
I never thought in my wildest dreams that they could get an actor that could portray Wolverine the way Hugh Jackman did. And I cannot imagine anyone else playing Wolverine. Hugh was the third man cast for Wolverine, Russell Crowe was the first choice but he backed out due to the pay he was going to get. Dougray Scott was the second choice but he had to back out because of another movie he was filming. Hugh Jackman was the right choice and I knew it the moment I saw him.

SCREAM AT! Wolverine's claws
This drives me nuts to no end. Ever since the X-Men movie came out, Wolverine's claws have looked different. In the beginning, Wolverine's claws came out on top of his hands. Not in between his knuckles. Marvel claims that movies do not affect the comics but I call baloney on this one. I am old school, I think they looked cooler on top of the knuckles and not in the middle of them.

SHOUT OUT! Wolverine Declawed
It sure took Magneto a long time to finally just rip the metal out of Wolverine and I couldn't believe that it actually happened in X-Men #25. What I really liked about it is that it took Marvel a good chunk of time for the Adamantium to return. Wolverine without metal first appeared in Wolverine #75 and it took until issue #145 to get it back. That was about five years he had the bone claws! And that was another cool surprise seeing him pop the bone claws for the first time. I thought Marvel really showed some guts with this move. They first teased him getting his metal back with #100, which I liked because Wolverine chooses to be an animal than pay the price for getting the metal and that it swerved readers and the metal would not come back for another couple of years. Unfortunately he looked really, really stupid. No nose, really hairy arms, he walked like an ape and wore a bandana. Ugh, that part was just horrible and I was glad it didn't last that long.

SCREAM AT! Daken Overdose
I didn't mind the addition of Daken in Wolverine: Origins but he is wearing out his welcome. Wolverine is overexposed but at least I like that character and I never felt in the beginning that he was forced down my throat the way Daken is. Marvel is trying to hard to make me like him by throwing him all over the place. To be fair, I do like that he is part of Dark Avengers but I am not happy that he is taking the best Wolverine costume with him!

SHOUT OUT! Wolverine: First Class
This series makes me laugh. I don't consider this series to be canonical and I think that is what makes me like it. There is nothing mind blowing about this series but I enjoy it quite a bit. I really like that his relationship with Kitty feels like it got its start here. Issue #6 is my favorite. Wolverine has to babysit Kitty, Siryn and Amp (the girl they rescued in the first issue) and all he wants to do is watch the hockey game. And of course, that doesn't happen. This book is just harmless fun.

SCREAM AT! Wolverine "Enemy of the State"
I did enjoy Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's run on the book quite a bit. Romita was the main pull for me and I was not disappointed. The story was like a summer action picture and I was in for the ride. The thing that really bugged me about this run was Wolverine killing Northstar. I didn't mind that Millar had Wolverine killing a teammate but I think it was not as a big deal as Millar thought it was. Wolverine killed a teammate but he did not kill someone he was extremely close too. Wolverine never served with Northstar in Alpha Flight, Wolverine was before his time. Northstar and Wolverine were not friends, they were co-workers at best. They never hung out together and Northstar was barely a member of the X-Men when he was killed. It would have made the impact Millar wanted if only Millar was able to kill someone that meant more to Wolverine. I can think of at least five other Alpha Flight members that would have meant more to him than Northstar. Now I am not saying it was not traumatic, it just wasn't as big as Millar and Marvel hyped.

Wolverine still ranks as one of my favorite characters and no matter what happens to him, I will still want to read about it.

Covering the Wolverine

2009-04-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Wolverine has graced a ton of covers and here are my Top Ten Best Wolverine covers and my Top Ten Worst Wolverine covers. It was difficult to really pinpoint which ones I loved but it was not difficult at all in picking the worst ones. They were quite a few stinkers in there. Does one of your favorites make my list? Or does it land in the worst list? Snikt on!

TOP TEN WOLVERINE COVERS

#1) WOLVERINE #1 (1st Limited Series)
Nothing says Wolverine the way this cover says it. Frank Miller really captured the essence of Wolverine with this single cover. Wolverine is smart, cocky, brash and bad-ass! All in one cover.

#2) UNCANNY X-MEN #212
This was the first time we saw Wolverine battle Sabretooth and this cover shows us that Wolverine can be hurt. This was before he took hits all the time. He was smarter than, he didn't fight unless he had too. Barry Windsor-Smith really knew how to show a hurt Wolverine. His art is in two of my picks and was almost chosen a third time with Uncanny X-Men #205.

#3) MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #79
Barry Windsor-Smith's epic Weapon X is one of the best Wolverine stories. One of the best parts of his story is that it was presented in Marvel Comics Presents in short 8-page increments. This way we get more cool covers. This was the best of the bunch and showed how painful it was for Wolverine when he was transformed into Weapon X.

#4) UNCANNY X-MEN #251
Marc Silvestri is one of my favorite artists and one of my favorite Wolverine artists but it seemed like he didn't draw that many outstanding covers featuring Wolverine. This was my favorite that he drew, I loved the way he is in shadows. You don't have to show the gore, my mind can make it all up.

#5) CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL #8
I remember picking up this issue only because of the cover. I had no interest in Captain America and my small allowance only allowed a few cheaper comics. This was a big annual and I had to get it. I loved the clash of the shield and the claws, the sparks and the impact. And as a kid, deep down inside I had always wanted to know if Wolverine's claws could cut Cap's shield.

#6) UNCANNY X-MEN #394
This was Joe Casey's first issue of his run on Uncanny and I couldn't believe my eyes. Would he really change the status quo and make Jean and Logan a couple? This cover showed how wild Jean could be with Wolverine and I secretly hoped this would be a permanent thing.

#7) ORIGIN #2
It sure looks like it is very painful when Wolverine pops his claws. I love this cover because you can feel the claws. The blood, the way the skin protrudes, it didn't look very pleasant.

#8) INCREDIBLE HULK #340
I never noticed that Wolverine would have sharp teeth as well as his claws until I saw this cover. McFarland really shows how wild and feral Wolverine can be.

#9) WOLVERINE #79 (1st series)
It was shocking enough to me that Wolverine would have bone claws. I didn't even think that they could break off! I imagine that it would be extremely painful and this cover shows the shock and anguish.

#10) ASTONISHING X-MEN #17
This cover just makes me laugh. I thought it was a joke (and so did my dad when he saw it today) that Marvel would publish it. I hated it at first but Cassaday really nailed the look on his face. This might have been the first time I have seen Wolverine terrified!

And now the TOP TEN WORST WOLVERINE COVERS for your viewing pleasure!

#1) MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #93
RRRRR Matey! What is this exactly? A pirate? What is up with the earring? With his healing factor is that even possible? Is he coming to eat my steaks with those knives?

#2) NEW AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS #2
This is what happens when Wolverine is full of hot air. His head is square and his body is like the Michelin Man! I get it, this is a Transformers series and maybe Wolverine is transforming into the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!

#3) SPIDER-MAN AND WOLVERINE #3
What is wrong with his head? Why is it sticking out so far and is his wrist broken? If Wolverine was not on the title, I would have thought it was someone else!

#4 WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS #10
It looks like Wolverine is holding butter knives between his fingers. C'mon, you know I am right. You've done the same thing! I admit it. We have had a fat Wolverine, now we have a skinny one!

#5 UNCANNY X-MEN #423
Goatee Wolverine. So glad that didn't stick. Ultimate Wolverine was cool at this time and that is why regular Wolverine looks JUST like him. And why are there chains hanging from the top of the comic? For a 25 cent issue, Marvel could have done a better job but maybe they were trying to get all those people that were picking up Ultimate X-Men.

#6 UNCANNY X-MEN #502
Wolverine's arms are WAY too big here. They are larger than his canuckle-head! And his arms look like fifty pound stuffed Braunschweiger, with the plastic still on it since it is so shiny!

#7 WEAPON X #1
Mousse was not invented in the Age of Apocalypse. I liked that Wolverine only had one hand but I hated his mane. He looked like a cross between a lion and a hyena. This cover really showed how horrible it looked.

#8) WOLVERINE #59 (1st Series)
Steven Segal should have been cast as Wolverine! He also had a ponytail (it was revealed in the comic). Was he pudgy as well?

#9) WOLVERINE #6 (2nd Series)
Wolverine himself looks okay here but the way he is leering at Nightcrawler here. And is Kurt naked? Maybe Wolverine is making Kurt dance for some beer? Maybe Kurt owes Wolverine too many cases of beer and is paying it off with a lap dance?

#10) ULTIMATE X-MEN #1
Again, the goatee just doesn't work. Wolverine also looks like a teenager. I almost didn't pick this series up because of the crappy cover.

Wolverine Plot Generator

2009-04-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

by Brandon
Wolverine is one of those characters fans just love to hate. For better or worse, Wolverine really is one of those characters that seems to just be everywhere. Many people like to slack off on the character in public while they secretly opine for him behind closed doors. There's no denying the character is just slightly overused in the Marvel Universe. But hey, why not? The character can move a book like hotcakes. There's definitely a market out there for stories involving the ol' knucklehead. There are only so many ways you can write Wolverine stories and yet they keep coming. There are commonalities between Wolverine stories. Many of the stories are rife with cliches. Some are just downright pitiful in their formulaic mechanics. But never fear! You too can write the most mundane Wolverine story to ever grace a Guardians of the Galaxy issue! With this hand-dandy Wolverine Plot generator you can have Wolverine riding on his motorcycle in no time trading fisticuffs with Sabertooth or some other villain.

The Protagonist...
There is really only one type of protagonists in Wolverine stories; Wolverine. The thing any hack has to sort out is whether Wolverine will be in costume or in his civvies. If you go with a costume, the decision then lies in what type of costume. Do you go for the brown and red? How about the blue and yellow? Maybe the X-Force black and gray? Whichever one you go with, it's sure to impress any Hand ninjas or Marauders you met up with in your story. If you decide to go the civilian clothing route, please, please, please make sure he's a white shirt, bluejeans, and a leather jackets. A hat is optional, but no other clothes need apply.

The Antagonist(s)...
Wolverine has many, many antagonists you can choose from. With a population of over 6.6 Billion people on the planet, Wolverine could spar with just about anyone! And let's face it, this is a comic book! Anyone could be a villain! A guy pops off to Logan in a bar? FIGHT! A super-villain trashing a meeting of a Japanese crime lord's family who has contacted Wolverine as a favor to a trouble Asian woman who needs the tender strong arm of a mutant because she has a death contract out on her based on a meeting Wolverine had with a visiting Buddhist holy monk thirty years before? FIGHT!Cyclops getting him a piece of ass with White Queen? FIGHT! With Wolverine, anyone can be a potential threat. However, provided are a list of villains you may want to choose from...

- Sabertooth: An oldie but goodie. Lots of folks will be familiar with this guy, but think of all the rad/dated dialogue you could write that you and others have already read a million times. The possibilities are limitless in its limitlessness! Again!

- Magneto: Oh yeah. Who wouldn't want to write the Master of Magnetism? Wolverine has ripped this guys head off before. But that was a clone. Or something. An evil spirit? Dammit, I can't remember. He was something, but dude, regardless of evil doppelgangers or junked out mutants, they should totally have a rematch!

- The Hand/Ninjas: Wolverine fighting ninjas never gets old. Sure, it gets a bit boring. And yes, the eastern mysticism and witticisms do get a bit strained, but come on, it's ninjas! And Wolverine! How freaking awesome is that?

- Cyber: This is the poor man's Terminator... or is it the Terminator's poor man? Either way, this guy has a major mad-on for Wolverine. Like Sabertooth, you don't even need a reason for these two to fight, but adding in Daken or some ancient sword couldn't hurt.

The Setting...
Wolverine is a proverbial Renaissance Man when it comes to settings. From to the tropical to weird, the wild to the tame, from Space to the N-Zone, Wolverine is such an adaptive character to any environment. He's like a rabbit, but not. Because rabbits are wusses. Wolverine is not. Just FYI. Here are just a few places you can throw Wolverine;

- Road Trip: It never hurts to start a Wolverine story off with the main man riding on his motorcycle. Whether it be through a forest or city, it's just so refreshing to see riding his bike, the wind whipping through his claws.

- The Savage Land: The jungles of the Savage Land are wild and savage. The Savage Land is like, um, a metaphor for how wild and savage Wolverine is. I think. Wolverine is a savage beast. Savage! The Savage land is a land of savage beasts. The savagery unleashed by any savagely set story in the Savage Land would be so savage that Wolverine would have to unleash a savage rage!

- Bar/Truck Stop: Wolverine isn't your typical pansy. He doesn't go frat housing with your typical fraternity lowlifes who enjoy paying for each others company with Daddy's trust fund while they create memories whilst singing Jimmy Buffet's back catalog. No, Wolverine likes to go to the seediest bar or truck stop as only the great true north strong and free can provide. If Wolverine isn't picking up lot lizards, he's at least got to be busting heads over some local yokel's ignorant attitudes towards "muties." If you want to add extra spice to the scene, have Juggernaut or Sabertooh bust into the bar. From there, these scenes should just write themselves.

- San Francisco: This whole move to San Fransisco during the Manifest Destiny "non-event event story" has been lackluster. Wolverine just needs to spice up the town a little. Sure, he's already had his obligatory "I'm taking over an ancient order of kung fu hooligans while getting a cool new shamanistic mentor to teach me the true ways to become the Karate Kid" story with the Wolverine: Manifest Destiny miniseries. But what we need more of is a second "I'm taking over an ancient order of kung fu hooligans while getting a cool new shamanistic mentor to teach me the true ways to become the Karate Kid" story. Then, to really make sure the reader get the point, it is highly necessary that Marvel push for a third "I'm taking over an ancient order of kung fu hooligans while getting a cool new shamanistic mentor to teach me the true ways to become the Karate Kid" story.m That would so rock!

- Weapon-X Installation: When all else fails at the laptop, your blank word processing page mocking your every attempt to squeeze adamantium out of the keys, there is one place where any Wolverine writer can go to find the El Dorado of all Wolverine stories; Weapon X! While the Russians and Americans were building nuclear weapons and launch facilities, the Canadians were wisely spending their time building bunkers to test cool things out on soon-to-be-cool comic book characters. I mean, there have only been 1,326.5 stories dealing with Wolverine going on a vision quest of sorts to one of these fabled facilities where, alas, his innocence was lost. Shed no tears for this, though. Wolverine should simply show, kick some ass, and then swear to never return to any Weapon X facility again. For at least two issues. Maybe three. Check the current solicitations before you promise anything.

The Goal
Wolverine is a busy man. I mean, shit, brutha' shows up in at least fourteen titles a month at a minimum. You have to have goals and objectives to get around that much. Wolverine doesn't strike me as the kind of hero who keeps an updated schedule on his Blackberry, so he has to have a purpose before he gets entangled with the Heroes for Hire this week or Quasar and the Cosmic Rollers next week. Here are some goals that should help Wolverine ease through your story like a hot claw through butter;

- Do it for Jean!: Wolverine should always be pining for his lost redheaded love. This gives him a sense of purpose. A nice flashback of the two coyly flirting in the Danger Room should suffice. Anything that follows such a scene is golden. If Logan thinks that he can make up something to his dead crush, then he'll do it with gusto! There's only one girl Wolverine ever loved, and that was so many years ago. And though he'll never get her out of his heart. She never really loved him back. ... Chrsit! I'm sorry. I just totally channeled Meat Loaf there. Forgive me.

- Save the World!: Nothing quite gets at a superheroes goat like threatening the peace and security of the world. Ending all creation is a motivating activity. Villains threaten to do this all the time, but few can actually pull it off. Someone would have to flood New York or create an alternate world where Charles Xavier is killed and Apocalypse takes over. It would have to be some serious shit to get Wolverine good and pissed off, but it could happen.

- Save Canada!: I wish Canadians could feel a sense of ultra-nationalism. Say what you will about right-wing conservative wackos, but they really do know how to take nationalistic pride to a whole new level of crazy. Wouldn't it be great to read the ultimate patriotic comic book for Canadian nationalism? I would love to see Wolverine wrap himself in a Canadian flag to hold off the bleeding wounds that cover his body as he lashes out at the last of Canada's many enemies. It's time for Wolverine to take his rightful spot alongside Celine Dion as the champion for Canadian values. That's a Wolverine story worth telling!

Spring Break Reading, Part 3 - Oldies

2009-04-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

Two days late and many, many dollars short, the third and final installment of Spring Break Reading comes to a grinding halt. I read over one hundred issues during my spring break last week. It definitely put a dent in my reading stack, but I still have a log way to go. In this final installment, I'll astonish and astound you with reviews of Doom patrol, Queen & Country, Justice League, Suicide Squad, The Spirit, and Grendel. And guess what? I think I loved nearly everything I read while I was camping. That was awesome!

Doom Patrol #'s 26-50
Ever since DC announced Kieth Giffen would be starting a new Doom Patrol series, I got the urge to go back an re-read Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol, probably the undisputed high point for this property. In fact, every time a new reboot of this title has been announced since the Vertigo run, I have gone back to these original issues. What can I say? Part of me lives in the past. When you read these issues, you really do get a sense of how gutsy DC was when they let Morrison go off the deep end with these characters. Doom Patrol had always been billed as being the world's strangest heroes, but they had often come off as being the most mundane, especially in the 1980s. Morrison gave the Doom Patrol a purpose by embracing the weird. The characters were so great, especially Crazy Jane and Danny the Street. Cliff Steele always remains the emotional heart for the team, but Morrison was able to give the character a voice beyond being good ol' stable Cliff. This comic book is not for the passive reader. Morrison challenges you with each absurd turn. There is more psychedelic super-heroics in these pages than you could probably shake some LSD at. The art was just as appropriately trippy as the writing was. If you haven't given this title a spin, what are you waiting for? Just think of the X-Men on mind boggling drugs and you'll be getting close. Chin-chin.

Queen & Country Definitive Edition Volume 1
I'm a huge fan of the television show 24. Or should I say I was a huge fan? While the past two seasons have been less than entertaining, many Q&C fans have told me I should try this book out to scratch my counter-terrorism itch. I found a copy of this definitive edition dirt cheap on Amazon a couple of months ago and it was worth every penny. I sat down under a tree Friday afternoon with a few beers and this book. The afternoon just breezed away. Everything just seemed to meld together perfectly. I'm not terribly familiar with Greg Rucka, but this book just blew me away. He was able to mix savvy dialogue with great action without all the clumsiness that plagues many counter-terrorism shows and books. The language never gets bogged down in procedural or technical matters, but it never once feels dumbed down or trite.

Justice League International #'s 7-25
I've expressed my childhood (and adulthood, for that matter) love of the Giffen and DeMatteis Justice League era books. They just mix action and comedy so well. These comic books were fun. As a kid, I probably never owned more than five issues at a time due to my restrictive $2 a week allowance. I traded these issues out like hotcakes for new issues every chance I got. Now that I'm an adult who can actually afford to buy and keep these issues, I've made it my goal to go back and get some of the issues I traded away back in those fabled days of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Justice League just happens to be one of those titles. These titles are just fun to read. I can guarantee at least a couple laugh out loud moments in every issue, and many more chuckles. These guys knew how to keep a joke rolling without it becoming forced or overdrawn. The interaction between the characters is just golden and definitely make the book. The bad guys are pathetic, but in a lovable way. God, I hate the term bromance, but I'll be damned if it doesn't aptly describe the unique and hilarious friendship between Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. It makes you wonder what the hell crawled up Dan Didio's ass to make him dislike these characters so much. I know many people love the buff, flawless, iconic heroes to populate their Justice League books, but give me Beetle and Booster nyuk-nyuking it up while Martian Manhunter just sighs any day of the week.

Suicide Squad #'s 11-15
This was another book from the same era in DC history as Justice League and it is equally as good. I believe Doug recommended this series to me and I am eternally grateful to him for doing so. Unlike Justice League, there's only a smidgen of humor here, but the real story with this comic book is villains doing bad things. Sure, Captain Boomerang's costume is less than stellar, but the book reads like a frantic action movie. As a reader, you find yourself rooting for the bad guys to kill people. You don't often see that in comic books. Heroes are supposed to kick the crap out of the bad guys before they get too carried away. Just ask a Superman fan. B-O-R-I-N-G! The amoral area of the DC universe is so much more interesting than the white bread, might-makes-right side of that company. Ostrander is one of those writers who is never lauded as being a superstar comic book writer, but he has quietly become one of my favorite writers. Like Justice League of the same era, this book doesn't have to use the best and brightest of the DC Universe to pack some punch. I look forward to completing my collection and reading the remaining issues.

The Spirit #'s 6-10
I've been trying to purge the memory of the awful Spirit movie by going to the source, the original Eisner comics. After reading the first ten issues of the Kitchen Sink reprints from the 1980s, I have to confess that my mission has been accomplished. I started reading some of the older Spirit strips back in June when I picked up the Best Of collection from DC. I never thought in a million years that I would enjoy a golden age comic book. I always assumed golden books were all cheesy and lacked any depth. And guess what? The Spirit is cheesy. However, reading these issues just proves what treasure Will Eisner was to comic books. Eisner manages to capture the gritty side of life with glee. There are so many great characters that populate these issues that it's hard to pick a favorite. Commissioner Dolan stands out as a solid funny man, his Barney Fife to the Spirit's Andy Griffith. The art is crisp and clean, but always evocative. Eisner tried some pretty wild styles out, especially the dream sequence from the "Pool's Toadstool Facial Cream" story where Spirit imagines a future where he has to marry Ellen. Put through the modern viewing lens, Ebony White stands out like sore thumb throughout every story. But outside of the exaggerated minstrel art and dialogue, he actually is treated with respect by all the characters in the story. Just be advised of the existence of this character if you decide to go poking around in the Spirit's past. Kitchen Sink did such a wonderful job with these reprints and they are definitely worth seeking out if you don't feeling paying the exaggerated price for the hardcovers DC offers.

Grendel: Black, White, & Red TPB
Though I like all the Grendel books I've read thus far and the various takes on the character, my favorite version of the character is still the first devil, Hunter Rose. I found this trade at a used bookstore for a reasonable price and picked up for some nice, bloody reading last week. The stories were all solid, but what really amazed me about this book wasn't the writing, but the artists. Represented in the pages are some of comic book's finest artists. Off the top of my head, I remember seeing art from Tim Sale, Mike Allred, Guy Davis, Tim Bradstreet, David Mack, Duncan Fegredo, and Chris Sprouse. The simple color pallet works well for this character. Matt Wagner knows how to write a good tale of criminal minds. Probably my favorite story here was "Devil's Vagary" with art from Dean Motter. The idea of having Grendel lead a type of criminal board meeting was simply delicious and creepy to read. The stories in this book are short. They are also very powerful. I think I got a better sense for Hunter Rose out of these short stories than I have from anything else I have read. Grendel remains one of the better indie character in comic books and I hope Mr. Wagner stays true to his word and brings more tales of the devil quite soon.

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! IV

2009-04-21T00:59:00.000-07:00

by Matt

I told you I would be back sooner than later! Welcome to my fourth “Shout Out/Scream At!” column! With this column I will be taking a look at what makes me a happy fanboy (Shout Outs!) and what frustrates me (Scream Ats!) within the comic industry. Today I will be covering Young Liars, Atomika, recent Marvel Omnibus hardcovers. Can I give a Scream At and a Shout Out for the same topic? How about two topics? Read on and find out!

SHOUT OUT! Cloak and Dagger part of Dark X-Men
I love Cloak and Dagger and I am happy that they are getting some recognition. I never have liked them as mutants but at least Marvel is doing something with them. Back in the 90's I remember that I hoped and hoped that they would be part of Cyclop's new team. Matt Fraction, in a recent interview said "Norman appeals to their sense of duty and offers to expunge their records and give them a fresh start if they join this team. He really appeals to their sense of wanting to help others and not wanting to run. He understands they're runaways above all else and offers them a home and fresh start." It does seem strange to me that they fought with Captain America in the Civil War so that they do not have to sign with the government and yet, they are signing with Norman Osborn. I wonder what changed?

SCREAM AT! No new Cloak and Dagger series
I am happy that Cloak and Dagger are coming back but what is happening with the Cloak And Dagger series by D’Orazio, Flores and Warren? This was announced ages ago and I was looking forward to it. Rich Johnston did report recently that "with Cloak and Dagger joining the X-books as regular team characters, that their mini-series, in the works for a year, has been shelved for 2009." BOOO! I think I would rather have Cloak and Dagger unassociated with the X-titles but I will take what little I can get.

SHOUT OUT! Atomika #8 FINALLY!
I about died when I saw this solicited in the recent Previews. I gave up on this series and I was glad that I kept this in my pull list at Mailordercomics. I will have to re-read the series, I remember liking it so I will for sure get this. Hopefully the remaining four issues will come out at a decent frequency.

SCREAM AT! Young Liars Canceled!
Dave Lapham announced the other day that his Vertigo crime series Young Liars has been canceled with issue #18, which comes out in August. I am totally bummed. Young Liars was one brainscrew after another. Just when you thought you knew what was going on, Dave changes gears and heads in another direction. Lapham does here what he does great in Stray Bullets. No matter how awful these characters are, no matter how shady or how stupid they are, I love them. I hope Vertigo allows him to tie up as many loose ends as he can. Hopefully he will return to Stray Bullets but I am not hold my breath since he took Young Liars so he can make ends meet. Thanks Dave for such a wonderful and twisted ride!

SHOUT OUT! X-Men Forever
I like Chris Claremont and I am still a fan of his work. I don't think his current work is as strong as his past but I still enjoy his work. I admit it, I liked a lot of X-Treme X-Men so I am thrilled that he is returning to the X-Men. I am more happy that he gets his own series that is not tied to any continuity. I have always wanted to see what he would do next with the X-men when he was first fired off the X-Men and now I have my chance. I am really looking forward to this, I am not looking for anything mind blowing, I am just prepared to have some fun reading it.

SCREAM AT! X-Men Forever
What I am not happy about with this new X-Men title is the price. I was going to pick up this title but with the $3.99 price I am passing. More than likely I will just wait for trade. Which makes me sad, if this book was priced at $2.99 I would not even hesitate. I will pick up one or two books at $3.99 but this is stretching my dollar a little too thin. This sucks.

SCREAM AT! Marvel's Late Omnibus's
I am a sucker for the Beyonder and I was pumped for the Secret Wars II Omnibus. I ordered it in October 2008 and it was supposed to come out 2/4/09. I don't have it. I ordered the Captain Britain Omnibus in November of 2008 and it was supposed to come out on March 25th. I don't have it either. Secret Wars II comes out in just a few weeks on (hopefully) May 13th and the Captain Britain Omnibus is supposed to come out on June 17th. I paid good money for these books and I want my Beyonder Jerry Curl now! What is taking Marvel so long to make them? I would assume that it would be easy to print 1 or 2 copies of the Secret Wars II Omnibus since I am sure I am one of the few who bought a copy. C'mon, Make Mine Marvel!

Don't get me wrong folks. I still love comics and I am very lucky that I can still afford to read them. Well, for the time being anyway!

X-Centric: March Madness ...with Mutants

2009-04-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

by the General

Have you all heard of a little title called X-Men? Apparently, they are this group of people born with mutant powers who have sworn to protect a world that fears and hates them. I think they are going to be popular one day, so I thought I'd start a monthly column dedicated to reviewing titles starring them. If you are interested in finding out more about these little known characters, read on!

But, before I get into the actual reviews, I thought that, like Doug, I'd give you a little information about my comic collecting habits. I, like a lot of the other contributors on this blog, buy my comics through an online mail order comic site. The upside of this is that I save a good deal of money... the downside is that I don't get my comics until the start of the following month. So, you might notice that the comics I'll be talking about today are all from March. Because of this, I'm not going to be too concerned about **Spoiler Warnings** because, frankly, if you haven't read these comics by now, they probably aren't that important to you.

Also, as you might imagine (given the title of this article), I mainly collect X-titles. I'd probably estimate that 90% of the monthly titles I collect are Marvel titles. Of which at least 75% of those star a cast of merry mutants. Also, since I'm a cheapskate, I usually only collect team books. I mean, why would you want to spend $2.99 to read a book about just Wolverine, when you could spend that same $2.99 and read a book about Wolverine and a bunch of other random characters? Simple Character Quantity Economics.

Finally, instead of reviewing individual titles, I thought I'd try lumping a bunch of titles together so that instead I could focus on talking about larger themes and storylines within those titles. But, enough about me... on to the comics!

The Messiah War Begins!
Discussed: Life and Times of Lucas Bishop #2, Cable #12, X-Force#13, Messiah War Special #1 and Cable #13

I'm pretty sure that, based on the characters involved in this crossover event, that the titular "Messiah" is actually Rob Liefeld. I mean, how else can you explain that nearly every major character he created for Marvel is here? Cable, Domino, Stryfe and even Deadpool. It's like a reunion of the original X-Force cast. And, as if those characters don't keep the Badass Factor™ high enough, they've also thrown in Wolverine, X-23, Bishop, Archangel, Proudstar and the Vanisher... Ok, so maybe not all the characters are badasses.

And, what gets this many Hardcore™ characters together? Fighting over a little girl.

Actually, I've been honestly enjoying the build up to this storyline. But, while I'm enjoying it overall so far, I do have to admit that the execution has been a bit rocky. While most of the issues are holding up their part of the deal (and I'm even a little surprised to be enjoying Life and Times of Lucas Bishop), the Cable issues have been pretty clunky so far. But, I think that the art has mainly been to blame. Ariel Olivetti draws a mean flexing bicep, but his storytelling is often awkward to say the least.

"Y'think?" This is the sort of storytelling that bugs me in Cable. Stryfe and Bishop have teamed up to track down Cable and the Messiah child. And, how do they do that? A walk on the beach, as near as I can tell.

As far as X-Force goes, I think its easily the strongest part of this event. That said, I really hope that they didn't kill of Boom-Boom (see, no spoiler warnings, punks!) like it appears they did. It would be the first time that Kyle and Yost's tendency to kill-off second and third stringers would have really peeved me off... if for no other reason than it would nix my often fantasized about Nextwave Reunion.

Finally, does anyone else think that one of the things they are building to is X-Force splitting off, so that Cyclops no longer leads them?

X-Meeeennnnn iiinnnnn Spaaaaaaace!
Discussed: X-Men: Kingbreaker #4 and War of the Kings #1 & #2

If there's one thing that the Bad Genious' resident Soul-Hole and Ellis-Whore, Dan, hates; it's Space. And, when it comes to the idea of the X-Men in space, I tend to agree with him. I fall into that rare minority that was never really a fan of the Phoenix Saga because so much of it involved the X-Men in space... fighting aliens. Bleh.

That said, (and here's where I show off exactly how big of a hypocrite I can be) I actually have been enjoying the ongoing Vulcan vs. Havok in space storyline that's been running for several years now. Pretty much from the point that Brubaker kicked it off, I've been consistently entertained. And while it's rarely been Great (with a capital "G"), its at least usually Good.

Furthermore, after an exciting finale to Kingbreaker, I'm excited to see the storylines scope expand to become entwined with the Inhuman's own ongoing saga. Bring on the Shi'ar/Kree war! Now, it has to be said that some of the BGers are grousing about the slow start to War of the Kings, but honestly the slow first issue didn't bother me much. Instead, what has me scratching my head is Polaris and Crystal suddenly being all buddy-buddy.

Now, I could be missing somehere, so correct me if I'm wrong: Polaris is Quicksilver's half-sister. But, this is a fairly sketchy relationship that was only established a couple years ago, and hasn't exactly been filled with cheerful family reunions. Crystal is married to Quicksilver... or at least they used to be married, but aren't any more... since Crystal is now getting married to Ronan the Accuser. But, now Polaris is hanging out with Crystal before her wedding, and they are all BFF?!

Oh, and speaking of Ronan. I actually felt sorry for him in the scene with the flowers. Saddest Accuser Ever.

Old New Mutants
Discussed: X-Infernus #4 and Young X-Men #12

You know what else Dan hates? Magic! So, I'm sure he was digging the finale of X-Infernus which was filled with all sorts of magic... not to mention Magik.

These two books are odd ducks, because on one hand they are both trying to resolve their respective storylines, but at the same time they were also just trying to get their ducks in a row for the return of the original New Mutants in their own title next month. In both regards, I think they were capable, but not exceptional.

Frankly, this transition leaves me feeling a little odd. Because, on one hand, I'm eager to see the original New Mutants all return to a monthly title. But, on the other hand, after following the ~~new New Mutant~~ ~~New X-Men~~ Young X-Men through a string of titles, I'm a little worried that those characters are just going to be put out to pasture and forgotten about. Luckily, a lot of the latest generation of X-Men have already shifted to other titles (X-23, Elxir, the Cuckoos, Armor, Pixie and even Dust), and this final issue of Young X-Men ends with "and the adventure continues" sort of finale, so my hopes are high that we'll continue to see them from time to time.

In which case, bring on the old New Mutants!

Ex-centric
Discussed: X-Men Legacy #222 and Uncanny X-Men #507

The X-Universe seems to be missing its center these days. Not only is Astonishing X-Men not shipping regularly (and feeling inconsequential when it does ship); but the events taking place on the fringes of the X-Universe are routinely more interesting than what's going on in the two main titles.

Generally, even if it doesn't feel particularly relevant, X-Men Legacy can be trusted to deliver a solid story mining the depths of X-continuity. But, for the last couple months that doesn't seem to be the case since its gotten bogged down in a silly storyline featuring Danger (because we were all itching for her return) and a group of Shi'Ar junk salvagers. And, zzzzzzz....

Oh, wait, sorry, dozed off there. Anyhow, moving on.

Over in Fraction's Uncanny we are getting a certifiably mixed bag of nuts, and my opinions on the various storylines kicking around in it are equally mixed. The X-Club? Actually entertaining. Colossus' mourning Kitty's death? Tedious. The Sisterhood? I'm a little curious about that. Magneto's return? Too early, but still has my interest. One things for sure, I'll be happier when this title finds its illusive sea-legs again.

Occasionally, other people are right.
Discussed: X-Factor #41 and Captain Britain and the MI13 #11

X-Factor and Captain Britain are both titles that have small, loyal and (most noticably) vocal fan bases that are constantly raving about them. And, both are titles that I tend to run a little hot a cold to. That said, this month, their fans are right about both.

While Peter David's pleading that people "not ruin the surprises online" in the recap page sort of bugs me (because it smacks me of his usual grandstanding tactics), I have to admit that the title has been full of fun twists and turns. This is especially welcome since the last couple years of this title have been bogged down with clumsy crossovers and forced tie-ins to major events. It's nice to see this title slip back into form, and do what it does best.

Meanwhile, for whatever reason, this new Vampire storyline in Captain Britain is working for me. And, I continue to enjoy the way Cornell writes the characters. If I have one complaint, its that I still don't feel like Kirk's art matches the title's tone that well. It just strikes me as a little too bright... but maybe that's more an issue with the coloring. (Insert shrug here.)

This is the end, my friend
Discussed: Ultimate X-Men #100 and Ultimatum #3

Actually, if you are still reading this far into my ramblings, you are a masochist, and I should end things quickly to put you out of your misery. Much the same thing can be said about Ultimate X-Men. This title has been a trainwreck for some time now and I'm glad to see it end.

And, while my reaction to Ultimatum isn't as strong as Brandon's, its still going to give me the perfect jumping off point for this imprint. So, goodbye Ultimate Universe.

And, goodbye till next month, intrepid reader!

Happy 1st Birthday Bad Genious!

2009-04-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

by Matt

It has been one year since our blog debuted! Not bad for a bunch of random dorks with a blogger account!

In celebration of our first birthday, I asked the question "What would you wish for if you blew out the candle on our birthday cake?" for a Birthday Roundtable.

I got a variety of answers and Sarah was the quickest to respond.

Sarah: A ménage à trois with Gambit and Angel.

Matt: You will go on record for that. Sarah must have Remy and Warren on the mind to respond to fast!

Sarah: On a more serious note I'd wish that there was more good books like Fables to get me interested in comics again. Fables is pretty much all that I read nowadays I have no idea what is going on in the world of comics but nothing piques my interest.... but then maybe that's a good thing seeing how our double spare bed is piled high with comics so much so that we can't actually get in the room.

Matt: That should be every comic book fan's wish. More room to store our stuff!

Chris: I want the clusterf*ck that was/is One More Day/Brand New Day to be retconned out of existence.

Matt: Retcon a retcon? You should talk with the devil about that. Let us know how it goes.

Tim: I wish DC was doing more with the Universe that wasn't so incestuous.

Matt: Ah, Tim.

Brandon: My wish for the next year; somehow Marvel will find a way to keep the Ultimate Books relevant with as little bloodletting as possible.

Matt: I dropped most of the Ultimate line awhile ago. I just might drop Ultimate Spider-Man when it reboots. I would love to see if they did something to re-energize the line.

Doug: Well clearly, I would wish for Banshee to return to the land of the living.

The General: Matt signed in on Doug's account again.

Matt: Doug is wise and awesome. That is all.

Mr. Orange: I wish I had the time to read all the comics and trades I have.

Cindy: My wish would be similar. I would wish that I could finish school and afford/have time to read comics all at the same time. Someday...someday.

Matt: Totally! More money, more space and more time for comics!

I don't want to speak for anyone on the blog but I am certain I can guess a couple more wishes.

- Emma Frost leave Cyclops for good and for Jean Grey to return.
- IDW making trades that are cheaper.
- The last issue of Planetary to actually come out.
- Banshee to come back.
- More X-titles.
- Quasar to get his own series written by McKeever.
- No $3.99 books.
- A Banshee series written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Alan Davis.
- Superman to sing at bad guys more.
- The Dark Knight movie being good.
- A new Wolverine series. Preferably with Chamber as a sidekick.
- Did I mention Banshee? (this will be the last time they let me do a Roundtable!)

Happy 1st Birthday Bad Genious!

I am taking the rest of the day off.

Spring Break Reading, Part 2 - Dark Horse, Vertigo, & Wildstorm

2009-04-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

The saga continues! But I'm afraid there won't be any foil-embossed, polybagged, or variant editions. I'm so sorry. What you are likely to find here is a ton of comic reviews. I continue my quest to catch up on the piles and piles of reading I have neglected the past few months. Enter all that are brave!

Conan the Cimmerian #'s 8-9
There are only a few individuals I would trust writing Conan these days and Tim Truman is one of them. I'm convinced he was born to write this title. With these two issues, the Cimmeria arc has ended and readers find Conan entering a pivotal part in his adventuring experience. Conan becomes are mercenary in only the way Conan can. The writing is crisp and appropriately "pulpy" while never entering farcical territory. The art provided by Tomas Giorello is just superb. With more action and intrigue than you can shake a battle-axe at, Conan remains ones of the better titles on the stand.

Kull #'s 2-5
I was never a huge Kull fan. Of the Robert E. Howard properties, I was always more partial to Conan and Solomon Kane than any of the others. I picked this mini up more out of respect to Robert E. Howard's creations than any desire to read a story about Kull. Imagine my surprise as I simply devoured these issues in rapid succession last Saturday night. The creative team of Arvid Nelson and Will Conrad have sculpted a fine story in this mini. Kull has been crowned King, but an ancient order of serpents has infiltrated Kull's kingdom with the desire to crumble it before any foundation is built. twists and turns abound in this mini. If you skipped this mini, shame on you! It''s probably the best story from a Howard property to see print from Dark Horse thus far. What are you waiting for? Get it now!

Solomon Kane #5
There's just something immensely appealing to me about stories crafted around a Puritan with a sword and gun. This mini comes to an end with this issue, and it's a shame. This was also a superior miniseries. The setting of Germany's Black Forest is creepy enough, but couple that with Mario Guevara's haunting art and Scott Allie's writing, and you have one chilling story. I want to see more Solomon Kane in the future. I have the old Marvel mini which adapted several of the old stories, but there is almost limitless potential here for future stories. He's a puritan with a gun. Come on, give us more already.

Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods #'s 3-4
It's been almost a year since Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released, and we finally have the last issue of a miniseries that was intended to capitalize on the buzz of said film. Way to go Dark Horse! This miniseries dredges up several familiar items to the Indiana Jones mythos (Nazis, hidden temples, Marcus Brody, beautiful girls) but never catches a single spark of that previous glory. There were many things going against this title right from the outset. There wasn't too much that was special or memorable about this miniseries to set it apart from that previously mentioned mythos. It was a lot of "been there, done that" moments for both Indy and the reader. I would love to read a new Indiana Jones ongoing series. There are so many great stories to be told where you don't have to be restricted to Harrison Ford's aging acting abilities.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #'s 38-39
Now that Zayne Carrick, inept Jedi Padawan and titular hero of this book, has been cleared of all his wrongdoings, John Jackson Miller & Crew have a little fun with the book. Sith serial murderers and swoop-racing take center stage here in these issues. Each issue is just fun to read. And guess what kids? We get to see some more fisticuffs between Zayne and a Sith! Too bad Zayne fails miserably as usual to take on the Sith. For once, this reader would like to see some competency out of Zayne. Instead, it appears that Miller wants to make Zayne the Potsie Weber of the Star Wars universe. To each his own, I suppose. Regardless, these were some fun issues to read. They won't be winning Eisner Awards, but they were entertaining!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars #4
I loved the first season of the cartoon series from Cartoon Network. Don't believe me? Read here. The comic series has been okay thus far, but it hasn't been stellar. It's hard to translate the fluid nature of the animated cartoon series to a comic book page. The cartoon has its own style and it just dones't work as well when the comic books try to ape it. The story of trying to save slaves from the clutches of the Confederacy is decent, but not exactly original. Woohoo, Anakin wants to save the slaves. Woohoo.

Star Wars: Legacy #'s 33-34
Issue number 33 wraps up the Mon Calamari story, and not a moment too soon. Who. freaking. Cares. Nuff said. The next issue takes the reader back to what is actually important, dealing with the aftermath of the Vector storyline and the death of a certain main villain that has been plaguing Cade Skywalker since the first issue. The new status quo set up by Vector will be interesting to watch over the next few months, so long as they can avoid Mon Calamari stories in the process. This still remains the best Star Wars book on the stands.

Grendel: The Devil Inside #'s 1-3
This is an oldie, but goody. The second Grendel is dead, but her boyfriend's slow decent into madness leads to the arrival, albeit short, of the third Grendel. Matt Wagner's exploration of violence is frantic and dark, drawing the reader in one maddening journal entry at time. The journey Brian Li Sung takes to the bottom is fascinating. If somehow you missed any of the old Grendel tales, please do yourself a favor by seeking them out. You will not be disappointed!

The End League #7
This series continues to shine with each successive issue that hits the shelves. First designed as a monthly title before delays forced it into a bimonthly schedule, this title has now been placed on an indefinite hiatus. This issue only serves to highlight what the comic world will be missing. What's not to love about a world where the heroes are on the ropes struggling for survival? The Smiling Man (think Joker) has shot Thor's hammer, the magical key to all the heroes problems, into space. Or has he? I won't spoil the ending, but it sets up an interesting dynamic for the next issue. Only two more issues to go before Remender's self-imposed hiatus for this title. Damn.

The X-Files #5
Oh, this was great. Thus far, the new Wildstorm mini featuring everyone's favorite FBI agents has been serviceable, but nothing special. The fifth issue, however, was the first issue to really capture that eerie quality the series managed to maintain for much of its run. You could just feel the ambiance of the series bleeding through the pages. It's too bad the mini didn't catch on because I think the further adventures of Agents Mulder and Scully could be fun to read in this format.

Top 10: Season Two #3 & Special #1
You get the feeling that this series could be better if Moore were still on the creative team, but the premise of this series is just so wacky and strange that it is impossible not to find some joy in the series. While the special was pretty much useless, the main miniseries has been fun. In the third issue, readers are treated to a self-help Origin Weekend put on by the Premise Keepers for heroes who are having a costumed identity crisis. The results are hilarious. Peregrine's husband apparently no longer wants to be the costumed hero he is. Despite having reservations a deep-seeded feelings of shame over her husband's identity problems, she supports his going on a Origin Weekend. This story is so clever and unique that it seems like something that Moore really would come up with. I hope there are future seasons of this title around the corner. I'm a sucker for a good cop drama and the art always provides the keen reader with some unusual and fun treats.

Top 10: Beyond the Farthest Precinct #'s 1-5
I found these issues swirling around some dollar bin recently and I had to pick them up. This was a great miniseries about a drug epidemic amongst robots. There were subplots galore and plenty of zany action in this miniseries that takes place five years after the Smax miniseries of a few years ago. This really should be considered a "season" of the series. As I mentioned above, look carefully at the art for some nice Easter Eggs.

Fables #'s 81-82
This is another one of those books that always delivers in terms of quality, and these two issues are not exceptions! These issues deal with a major death from the Fables crew. Longtime readers will be crestfallen by the death, but the knowledge that a fable may return from the dead does keep some alive, though Willingham goes to great lengths in issue #82 to point out that this character only appears in one short nursery rhyme and may be dead for good. On the villainous end of things, Mr. Dark is being established as the new bad guy in Fabletown and he's turning out to be a worthy replacement for the Adversary. Many comic books claim to change the status quo nearly on a monthly basis, but Fables is the real deal. The new setup will service a wide range of new stories that should continue to maintain the quality of this book for quite some time to come.

That's it for today... and for the remainder of the week! I'll be back next Sunday or Monday with the third and final installment of Spring break Reading. Why? Because I'm actually going to do something with my Spring Break; I'm going camping! But fear not, I'm bringing a whole stack of comic books for my reading pleasure. Be back next week for some reviews of some golden oldies including The Spirit, Elementals, Justice League International, Savage Dragon, Suicide Squad, and much, much more.

Spring Break Reading, Part 1 - Mighty Marvel Round-Up

2009-04-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

by Brandon

Ever get behind on your comic book reading? I'm not just talking a handful of issues gathering dust on your nightstand. This type of "behind" would be largely the size of, oh, maybe a long box and a half. That's the situation I currently have before me. The stresses of work, planning a wedding, and just every day life have plagued my ability to catch up on my reading. Add to the mix some very large runs that I've been able to buy on the cheap lately and you have a massive problem. But have no fear, Spring Break 2009 is finally here! While most of my students are probably off having wild, teenager-style adventures involving fumbling sexual antics and wine coolers in exotic tropical locales, their teacher has voluntarily sat this Spring Break out to catch up on reading comic books. I'm taking one for the team and catching up on a load of reading. Fasten your seat belts! This is going to be a long ride Here are some pellet reviews of the books that have crossed my path thus far during Spring Break 2009.

Dark Tower: Treachery #'s 1-6
When I finished the book series, I was pretty bummed about the lackluster ending. I had my own feelings of trepidation when the comic books were announced. However, I have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed these minis thus far. Treachery helps shed some light on a few important events in Roland's youth as a young gunslinger. In this volume, we readers get to see how his mother's infidelities are dealt with in full. I won't spoil the plot, but Peter David and Robin Firth have successfully translated the world of the Dark Tower to comic books. I hope they will continue this series beyond these origin tales. Maybe that will make up for the crappy ending to the book series.

Uncanny X-Men #'s 506-507
Of late, I've heard the X-Men creative intelligentsia frequently say that the X-books don't require teams anymore because... because... um... well... because... We've moved past that point in history. ... Did I get that right, X-creators? Anyway, the focus of the X-Books is pretty much anything goes. That must mean quality too because ever since Manifest Destiny started, Uncanny X-Men has been uncannily boring. The art is pretty. The writing is decent. The total package is just dull, dull, dull, dull. Perhaps having a more cohesive team and roster for the book would help give it some focus. Oh, and get the X-Men out of San Francisco. It just isn't working. Sorry guys.

X-Men Legacy #'s 221-222
On the other hand, the X-men Legacy title has been killer. Two of my favorite X-Men are taking center stage for this arc, Gambit and Rogue. Both characters seem to have found a writer that can actually make them interesting without hamming each character up. Gosh, those accents just beg for it, I know, but Mike Carey makes these characters work so well. It's sad to think the Professor X story is ending since it has been a welcome return of the character's relevance to the pages of the X-books. For the first time in at least two decades, Xavier is an interesting character who isn't just a figurehead or out-and-out bastard. Kudos to Carey and teh rest of the Legacy team for making this one of the best X-books in years!

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #4
Eh. This was the best thing I've read thus far from the Manifest Destiny titles. That's not a ringing endorsement though. This is a fairly forgettable Wolverine story. There are tons of those out there too. This story just happens to be inoffensive enough to be forgettable.

Ghost Rider #33
On one side of the coin, this issue was awesome just because of the sheer number of Ghost Riders it covers and shows. It sets up a fascinating backdrop for future exploration. On the flip side of the coin, this issue was pretty much a throwaway story that has no real meat to it. I'm glad the new Caretaker has decided to keep the fight going. Good job, Caretaker. But, um, was there any doubt that this would be the case? It's like having Superman handed his ass to him by some bit bad guy. Of course Superman is going to go whip his ass for that. Duh. Do we need to have a whole issue history lesson and pep talk to rev us up for that from a largely uninteresting character?

Squadron Supreme #'s 8-9
The first part of this series started off as a dud, but the last couple of issues have been great. Why? The Squadron is actually here instead of these new losers that Chaykin rolled out in the first arc. So the series has significantly improved with the return of Hyperion et al. Therefore, Marvel has to cancel this series. Oh well. Maybe this universe won't be totally forgotten, but I have a small voice inside that tells me it's done.

Daredevil #'s 116-117
This is an example of the "been there, done that" school of comic books, but it's so damn well written you almost want to forgive Brubaker & Co. for bringing back Kingpin. Almost. The first part to "Return of the King" actually works really well, but the second part feels like a retread of Kingpin/Daredevil truces of the past. At first, I was a bit sad that this creative team was moving on, but now I think maybe it's time. Note to future Daredevil writers; when you start wanting to bring back Kingpin, it's time to move on. Maybe there's an X-book you could write?

The Invincible Iron Man #'s 11-12
I have to admit that Invincible Iron Man is the first monthly Iron Man title I have ever read, but I'm really enjoying the hell out of it. Tony Stark is on the run and doing a nice tour of the Marvel Universe to boot. I didn't read Secret Invasion and am trying to avoid any Dark Reign stuff outside of the titles I usually read, but fans get a large dose of "Osborn won, get over it" here in this title. The art is absolutely gorgeous. It's hard to believe that this is the Salvador Larroca that drew some other, fairly ho-hum titles in the past.

Punisher #3
Already three issues into the new title and Remender is already doing a better job at it than Fraction did with War Journal. I already wrote about this a bit in my last Panelology article, but this is a quality title. However, I think Remender and other Marvel creators are wrong when they say Punisher doesn't have to be taking out these big fish he's gunning after. Um, that's what the Punisher does. He kills bad guys. End of discussion. If he's not doing that, then what's the point? That's why many people are attracted to the character. If you want an antihero that shows mercy, read Batman., If you want people killed like chumps, read Punisher. Next.

Ultimatum #3
Here's a little math to start off this review; Gory + shocking ≠ a good comic book. This series is almost a mockery of the Ultimate concept. Here's Marvels thinking; let's bastardize the core concept that this isn't the Marvel Universe by just killing off all this characters. It will be frickin' great! And shocking too! The only problem here is that it isn't good and it's tying the hands of future Ultimate stories. Oops, that characters dead. Screw it. Marvel is killing more than their Ultimate stable of characters. They are killing my interest. If enough fans are like me, that could be the most damaging death in this whole Ultimatum mess.

Ultimate Spider-Man #131
Despite the whole Ultimatum fiasco being just ridiculous, Ultimate Spider-Man still manages to make lemonade out of lemons. This isn't a great story by comparison to others that have appeared in this title, but it's still entertaining. The Hulk scenes were fun. But why didn't they kill Aunt May? Marvel's killing everyone else. Her ass has got to go in some Universe. Why not here?

Ultimate Fantastic Four #60 & Ultimate X-Men #100
I'm lumping these two titles together because Ultimatum has become a mercy killing for both of these titles. It seems that ever since Marvel decided to go with this Ultimatum mess, the creators of both of these titles have been farting around just waiting for the axe to fall. And it shows. The quality of both of these titles is poor, and that's being kind. Maybe they will come back in some form, but let's hope they can find some A-list creators to write solid stories, not just stories that will occupy space on the comic shelf monthly.

Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #3
Late? Yes. Worth the wait? Probably not. Decent? Yeah, I guess. While an entertaining read, I breezed through this issue like the Flash on cocaine. This is what we waited so long for? Lindelof had problems writing this? Really? Entertaining, but hardly worth the wait.

That's it for now. Check back tomorrow for the Dark Horse and Wildstorm reviews!

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! Vol. III

2009-04-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

by Matt

Welcome to my third “Shout Out/Scream At!” column! I am back baby! With this column I will be taking a look at what makes me a happy fanboy (Shout Outs!) and what frustrates me (Scream Ats!) within the comic industry. With this column I will be covering Desperadoes, DC's Blackest Night, Barack Obama, $3.99 comics, Magneto: Testament and me.

SHOUT OUT! Magneto: Testament
I usually wait until I have the full miniseries before I sit down and read them completely. And I really procrastinated reading this series because I was expecting this series to be a little heavier due to the subject matter. This wasn't something I could read while watching television or in the can, I wanted to give this my full attention. And I am glad I did. Magneto Testament was written by Greg Pak and drawn by Carmine Di Giandomenico and they concoct a story that doesn't feel like a typical X-Men or Magneto story. There are no super hero antics but there is a powerful story of love and survival. At times I had to remind myself that this was Magneto I was reading about. There are small nods that remind you that he will become the Master of Magnetism but I don't think anyone that doesn't know about the X-Men would be lost. At first I thought this series could lessen the impact of the Holocaust by adding a super power theme but it never does that. Pak and Di Giandomenico weave a wonderful tale that takes our history and Magneto's history into one thread. I highly recommend this series to everyone. You do not have to be an X-fan or comic fan to enjoy this.

SCREAM AT! $3.99 Comics
It is inevitable. But with the current economy and my current state of finances I have to rethink some of the comics I purchase. It has already impacted some of the books I want to read but then I do shell out $3.99 for some books (curse you Dark Avengers!) so I guess I am part of the problem. Chances are I will now wait for trade for some books. I would rather get them in singles so I can read them when they come out but to save a few bucks I guess I can wait. I just don't want too. Why can't I have my cake and eat it too?

SHOUT OUT! DC's The Blackest Night
In my last column ages ago, I swore off DC comics because I was dissatisfied with their last big event Final Crisis. I did end up liking the series but it was not enough to make me come back to DC. I had already dropped Batman because of the mess Final Crisis and R.I.P. made and the only other book I read, JSA, I dropped because Johns left as writer. So I was down with DC. Then I started to read some snippets online of the next event, Blackest Night and I admit that my curiosity is piqued. I have never collected Green Lantern and had absolutely no interest when Hal Jordan came back (ugh, that is another Scream At for another time) but I am a little intrigued now. DC has smartly made Blackest Night #0 a part of Free Comic Book Day and now I can try it out. Will this bring me back to DC and make me Shout Out? Or will I just Scream At?

SCREAM AT! Barack Obama Overload!
I am getting worn out with all these Barack Obama comics. Brandon did a fantastic job covering it in his recent Panelology column and I totally agree. Enough already! I probably will pick up the Drafted: Hundred Days Special because I love that book already but that is as far as I will go.

SHOUT OUT! IDW's Desperadoes Omnibus!
As many of you know, I absolutely love Dark Horse's series of Omnibus collections. They are smaller than normal trades but they have more material and they are in full color and are reasonably priced. IDW followed suit with their collection of Desperadoes. Same size, same cheap price and LOADED with material. This great collection includes ALL Desperadoes series and one-shots. If you love western and horror genres, you should pick this series up! I cannot wait to dig into it, I missed the last two mini series.

SCREAM AT! Me.
The desire to be lazy is stronger than my desire to write. And that ends now! I will be contributing more to this blog and also to my Banshee Blog. Yes, Banshee.

Until next time! And I promise it will be sooner than this one.