Waited for the Trade: The Birthday Batch!

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.

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Shout Outs! and Scream Ats!

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!

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BG Roundtable: Best & Worst of 2008

by Doug Smith

So, the gang at the Bad Genious was recently sitting around our secret headquarters, eating tater chips and drinking soda pops, when we realized we hadn’t done a roundtable in quite some time. Heck, the last time we did a roundtable, George W. Bush was President!


We quickly decided we should do a “Best & Worst of 2008” round-up. The decision was quick. The putting-together of random thoughts from a bunch of fanboys buzzing on caffeine and junk food? Well, that took a little longer. So, without further ado, I give you…the Best & Worst Comics of 2008!!!

Let’s start with Rory, still riding high from watching his own personal god (small “g”) perform at the Super Bowl…

Rory: Hm. Probably the best was Doctor 13 (although half was in 2007). Worst was Batman RIP.

Doug: That Doctor 13 series was an overlooked gem; I'll wager most people don't even know it exists. It didn't help that it was the back-up feature (in Tales of the Unexpected) to a mediocre Spectre lead story. But there's a trade out there for Doctor 13 and I would highly recommend it.

Brandon: My vote for best comic this year: Punisher #'s 55-60 (“Valley Forge, Valley Forge”).

This was one hell of a swansong for Garth Ennis on the Punisher MAX title. The framing device of using a new Punisher book about his time in Vietnam perfectly framed the story of how a group of military generals is trying to cover up their dirty past. It's a pity Garth Ennis has left this book, but I'm immensely pleased with this story. It's too bad because I feel as if this last arc was overshadowed by the glut of crossovers Marvel has been vomiting up all year.

Doug: I’m definitely suffering from crossover burnout. For the first time in years, I’m looking at some of these crossovers from the Big Two and skipping them. My days as a whore are behind me.

Speaking of whores, here’s our resident X-whore…

The General: I've pretty much just been buying X-titles and trades of things that came out four years ago. And, the X-titles rarely have high moments. They are generally either "decent" or "shitty."

Chris: I thought “Messiah Complex” was really good. Did that come out in 2008?

The General: It ended in January, so really the X-stuff I'd have to consider would all be the stuff that was released after “Messiah Complex”... and that's been a definite mixed bag.

Chris: Okay then and yes, I agree with your assessment. Gonna have to come up with some other stuff then.

While we wait for Chris to put down the chicken wings and come up with some answers, let's check in with our old friend Jon...

Jon Quixote: The Incredible Hulk #165-167 was fantastic.

Editor’s note: Jon is Canadian. This proves my theory that Canada is 35 years behind us in terms of pop culture. He’s also been raving about this “great” new band called Grand Funk Railroad, and he won’t shut up about how much he’s looking forward to Mel Brooks’ next movie, Blazing Saddles.

While we’re on the subject of people that are out of touch, let’s check in with our resident grumpy old man…

Doug: My vote for the best comic of the year goes not to one title, but a whole group of them: I think Marvel has done a great job with their C-list characters in the past year or two.
Immortal Iron Fist may just have been my favorite comic series of 2008, with Nova not too far behind. Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Britain and MI-13, and The Incredible Hercules are also excellent books. Moon Knight got much better as new writer Mike Benson found his way flying solo. Ms. Marvel continues to be a solid book three years into its run, as does X-Factor. The Inhumans, while not having their own title, continue to play big roles in major Marvel events. Eternals is a strong new series. I wasn't as keen on Ghost Rider, Black Panther, or the just-canceled She-Hulk, but they've all had respectable runs of 30+ issues. Who would have thought, a few years ago, that Marvel would have success with these characters?

On the other hand...2008 was the first year I didn't buy a monthly Avengers series in over 20 years. (I don't count Avengers: The Initiative...it's a good book but it's not really the Avengers.) When I did get sucked into buying New Avengers and Mighty Avengers as part of the Secret Invasion cross-over, it just made me even more upset about the status of my once-favorite series. Those crossovers were a boring waste of time and money, and for the most part, didn't even feature the Avengers! Ah well....Dan Slott arrived on Mighty Avengers this month, so that book is back on my pull list.

The General: I think that Doug's comment about the second tier books being better than the main books is pretty interesting and accurate in many regards.

Editor’s note: I love it when people agree with me. Mostly because it happens so rarely.

The General: I do feel that the main titles have ranged from watered down, to unfocused to just plain boring or bad while many second string characters have had really solid books in the last year or so.

And, I think that holds true for the X-line as well. Uncanny X-Men has had potential, but not found its sea legs. Astonishing X-Men is pretty much irrelevant and uninteresting (the first was to be expected, but the second was the surprise with Ellis writing). The only main X-book that has been any good is X-Men: Legacy... but that's been by effectively turning itself into a second string book focusing on Professor Xavier.

Meanwhile books like X-Force, Cable and Young X-Men, in my opinion, have been more interesting and focused than any of the main titles. And, while they all have their short comings, I find myself reading them often before the main titles.

I would disagree with Doug’s assertion that X-Factor has been strong. In my opinion, all momentum on the title has been undermined by it trying to be tied into every event that comes down the line, which has really caused it to lose focus. The rotating cast of characters and artists has only made matters seem worse. It's pretty close to the chopping block for me.

Mr. Orange: : I'm going to agree with Doug…

Editor’s note: Somebody else agreeing with me? Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket tonight! Let’s hear that again…

Mr. Orange: I'm going to agree with Doug and Tyler here, the smaller titles have been the best this year; they have been given a lot more leeway and allowed to shine. Books that have spun out of the major events have been really solid, surprisingly so.

I've never read a Deadpool book till Secret Invasion and really enjoyed it, especially as prior to this I’ve not been a fan of Daniel Way's light style of writing. Then there was X-Force, a book I was not expecting to enjoy, but picked up on a whim. It is dark, gritty, and very true to its mandate. So far it has stuck to its guns, and brought along not only action packed stories, but intelligently written ones too.

Though Guardians of the Galaxy hasn't been as great as Nova (which is a hard act to follow), the great scripting of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning has really brought to life some very obscure characters, especially Rocket Raccoon.





Wow….high praise for a book that features Rocket Raccoon. That seems like as good a spot as any to wrap up our 2008 Best & Worst Roundtable!

Please join us for our next roundtable, which, if Jon Quixote has his way, will have something to do with his declaration that Gordon Lightfoot is the new Dylan.



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Shout Outs! and Scream Ats!

by Matt


Welcome to my first “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. With this column I will be covering being a Negative Nelly, Marvel’s Premiere Hardcover line and recent news involving the ClanDestine and Quasar.

SCREAM AT! Fan Negativity
As many of you know, I am a huge fan of Banshee (which is why I named the column the way I did) and this leads directly into my first Scream At! Generally, I am a happy comic fan, very rarely does something make me so mad that I lash out in a blog or some random message board. But there are some things that I don’t agree with or something that frustrates me. And what does this have to do with Banshee you ask? I love Banshee and I am proud and happy to admit it. What frustrates me, and especially in the ‘Internet’ world is the vast amount of negativity. I understand teasing but I cannot wrap my head around people just being outright jerks because I love Banshee.

Awhile ago, on the old X-Fan boards, there was a thread that asked who our favorite X-Man was and of course I listed Banshee. People poked fun and that was quite alright but there were one or two that called me an idiot for liking that character. I remember being lambasted on the old Joe Quesada boards because I said I liked a storyline running in X-Treme X-Men and the Earth X trilogy. I like those books; does bashing it make me change my mind? A couple of years ago or so, someone joined my Alan Davis message board (shameless plug) JUST so they can ask Alan why does he take assignments on books he reads. Cause now he has to quit X-Men because Alan is on it. I can appreciate that people have different tastes and I don’t mind discussing it but what makes me scream is when people come straight out and tell you that you are a fool for liking something. That is what makes me “me”. When you bag on something I like, you are really bagging on me. I am sure some of you are thinking, “Boy, this idiot sure needs to have a thicker skin.” But why should I be the one that has to change how I feel?

The Internet is a fantastic tool, if it was not for the Internet, I would not have tried a TON of books. I would have missed out on Love Fights, Blankets, X-Force/X-Statix, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing to just name a few. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. I am not saying that we should only be positive, all I am asking is that everyone should be respectful when expressing their thoughts. In fact, I encourage people to celebrate the ‘guilty pleasures’ we all have. Instead of trying to be cool and hip (what I really mean here is fake) we should just be ourselves. You don’t have to dislike and bag on everything that everyone likes to be cool. We can all see through it anyway. Be proud of who you are and take opportunities to say something positive about something you like. I’ll start, I admit that I like Quasar. (Which provides the perfect segway to my ‘Shout Out!’)

SHOUT OUT! Quasar!
Speaking of Quasar, I was in the middle of writing a different Scream At! directed at Marvel and DC for killing characters that I liked. I felt like they were totally picking on me. But then I heard that one of my favorite characters was coming back.
**SPOILERS**
I would like to give Marvel a great Shout Out! for bringing back Quasar! I didn’t collect the Annihilation crossover when it came out and I was saddened to hear that Wendell was killed. I was sad because Wendell felt like a real person to me, he made mistakes and I admit that he was a weenie at times but I liked him. Now I am going to have to start picking up Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova. And while I am on the subject of Guardians of the Galaxy, I would also like to give a small Shout Out! for bringing in StarHawk. I loved Valentino’s run on the first Guardians series and StarHawk was my favorite character so now I HAVE to pick up the new Guardians series, the Nova series and I will probably start picking up the Annihilation trades as well.

SCREAM AT! Marvel's Premiere Hardcover Line
Speaking of trades, Marvel’s recent addition of the Premiere Hardcover line has been a little aggravating at times. Marvel recently solicited the first collection of the new Guardians of the Galaxy but it was in the Premiere line and I doubt that I will now pick it up. If it came out in trade, I would have picked it up immediately. I usually prefer trades to hardcovers anyway so I guess I will have to wait until they put out a softcover of the book. I guess I should be happy, Marvel is collecting a ton of their old stuff but with it going to the Premiere line first, I am missing out on a ton of material because I don’t want to pay extra just to get it in hardcover. I would have bought the Kitty Pryde/Wolverine series, Longshot and the Magik miniseries if they were in softcover trades. I am hoping that Marvel will eventually put out what they do in the Premiere line into trade. They did it with the new Cable book so I am hopeful. I guess I shouldn’t complain, I did get the ClanDestine series in hardcover.

SHOUT OUT! More ClanDestine!
Speaking of ClanDestine, I would like to give Marvel another Shout Out! for giving Alan Davis’s ClanDestine series another try. First they published a short miniseries and recently Alan announced that he will be writing and drawing three of Marvel Comics' 2009 annuals. ClanDestine will be supporting characters in the Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Wolverine annuals and Alan's upcoming Thor: Truth of History will "sort of leak" into the stories as well. This will give ClanDestine its first major exposure in hopes of capturing new fans. I highly recommend this series, Alan has created some interesting characters that while they are family, and they certainly do not get along.

That's all for this time. I will be back shortly with a new set of Shout Outs! and Scream Ats!.
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