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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From Top to Bottom: Comic Crossovers

by Matt

Welcome to the 3rd edition of the weekly "From Top to Bottom" column! Every week I will look at something within the comics industry and give you my opinion on what I think is the best and what I think ranks amongst the bottom-feeders.

Last week I took a look at the Top and Bottom of comic moms. This week, I take a look at intercompany comic crossovers (that is a mouth full) and I present my Top 3 Best Comic Crossovers along with those that shouldn't have seen print.

I was reviewing some of my old monthly orders through mailordercomics.com the other day and I noticed that the new (well, it was ordered about a year ago) Batman/Spawn crossover was canceled. Now, I am a HUGE sucker for crossovers, and even though I don't follow Spawn or Batman all that much, I HAD to get this book.

Company crossovers follow 3 different formulas: either it is a full team-up with one universe visiting another, a mishmash of the characters in the same universe (see Amalgam) or somehow the characters have always existed in the same universe. I am not a huge fan of the Amalgam-type crossovers, so you won't find those here. But I am a huge fan of seeing characters from separate universes interacting. Crossovers rarely matter in the scheme of things; they are all about having fun. We all want to see heroes from separate universes smack the crap out of each other before they figure out that it was all just a misunderstanding and then team up to defeat the evildoer. Some company crossovers have been fantastic and others have been pretty close, most were not bad and some were complete disasters. In researching this, I have found that there are a ton of them out there - and I think I have them all! Here are my Top 3.
3)Backlash/Spider-Man
I am a huge Backlash fan. I loved the Kindred series, I loved his solo series, I just really love Backlash. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Spider-Man (Ben Reilly no less!) would be teaming with a B-level character like Backlash and it would be drawn by Backlash creator Brett Booth himself! While this wasn't in continuity or a crossover that was really demanded, this was meant to be fun. The Venom/Taboo symbiote angle was well-played, the idea behind the team up was good, in short the execution of this crossover just screamed fun. Of course, it helps if you are a big fan of both characters.




2)Wildcats/Aliens
This was one of the rare crossovers that actually impacted continuity in a major, major way. Stormwatch discovers a meteor heading towards Earth and they send a team to blow it up, and, ultimately, bring back Aliens to Skywatch. The Aliens massacre all but a few aboard and the original team of Wildcats goes to investigate and rescue. Battalion is the only surviving member of the Stormwatch team; all the rest were killed by the Aliens. This led to Stormwatch being discontinued and the series itself being canceled, but it did also lead to the formation of the book and team called the Authority. I love this crossover because it actually affected the book and team in continuity. I have a soft spot for Stormwatch and was so shocked after reading this book. It really lived up to the famous comic mantra that this changes EVERYTHING!

1)JLA/Avengers
The grand daddy of them all! Busiek and Perez knocked this book right out of the park. It exceeded my expectations. We got the best of both worlds, highlighting what makes the DC and Marvel universes unique and fun. We also got to see the teams fight and then we got to see them as if they were in the same universe. Aside from the writing and the insanely detailed art (I could not imagine an artist other than Perez), it was the little things that made this crossover my all-time favorite. I loved that heroes were treated differently on both worlds, that magic, the Speed Force, the Infinity Gems (and many other things) didn't work in different universes. The geek in me also loved trying to find every single incarnation of the each member of the Avengers in #4. This was a dream crossover!

Honorable Mentions: There are sooo many crossovers out there that it was hard to narrow down my top 3 favorites. so I will recommend a few more: Batman/Spider-Man (the one Bagley drew), the Nexus/Madman jam, Hellboy/Starman/Batman and the first Superman/Aliens series are also among my favorites.

And here are 3 crossovers that shouldn't have happened. In ANY universe!

3)Punisher/Archie
I admit that I haven't read this. However, just the idea is silly enough to make it onto this list. If I find this book in a 25 cent bin I'll probably snag it, just to satisfy the voyeur in me.














2)Gen13/Generation X
The first crossover between these 2 teams had some redeeming value which was called Art Adams. The second crossover was so bad that I totally have forgotten what it was all about. All I know if that it was painful to get through it. More painful than the first one, which at the time I didn't think was possible. And if I had a choice, I would rather buy the Punisher/Archie crossover at FULL PRICE than read this one again.







1)Badrock/Wolverine
It took me years to finally read this book. I bought it because like I said, I am a sucka for these type of books. Eventually, I decided to read it. After reading it, I sold it on eBay with a bunch of other crappy Image books and I have not looked back. This book represents what goes wrong with a crossover book. I thought Wolverine would be a good crossover with any character but he couldn't pull Badrock. And who wants to see a crossover with Badrock? Was there really demand for that like JLA/Avengers or Batman/Spider-Man? That would be like taking a corny Marvel character like Gladiator and team him with Supreme. Oh wait, they already did that. Crossovers only work if there is demand to see them together or if they both are similar type characters. That is what made even Team 7/Team X work better than Badrock/Wolverine.

After writing this, I thought about characters that would make excellent crossovers. So next week, I will present my Top 3 choices for crossovers that should happen and I will also give my Bottom 3 for crossovers I hope will never happen!
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General Reviews: The X-Men Are Dicks

by The General

The Amazing Spider-Man #556 - "Don't hate the Spidey, just hate One More Day." That seems to be my mantra these days, as I've become a bit of a booster for Amazing Spider-Man on the message boards I frequent. The truth is that I probably won't be collecting Amazing Spider-Man full time, but I am really enjoying this current arc by Zeb Wells and Chris Bachelo. The actual storyline is a little bit of goofiness involving a mystical snowstorm and Mayan ninjas. But, somehow Wells and Bachelo has turned it into a atmospheric quest with some great character beats in it. It may not be perfect, but its one of the most entertaining Spider-Man stories I've read in a long time. A brilliant B+.

X-Men: Divided We Stand #1 - This is an odd little book. It's titled "Divided We Stand," but really the title should be "The X-Men Are Dicks," since we are presented with four stories of younger mutants left traumatized and in a lurch after the disbanding of the X-Men, and one story of Nightcrawler harassing partially-reformed Scalphunter. Even in terms of storytelling this is a decidedly mixed bag. It starts with a disappointing tale by Mike Carey, involving Cannonball picking a bar fight with the Cabots - the Guthrie's rival hillbilly family from Chuck Austen's painful run. Awkwardly illustrated by Brandon Peterson, and even more awkwardly staged in terms of storytelling, this is just goofy in the worst sense of the word. A dorky D.

The next story features, oddly, Nehzno from New X-Men. Nehzno's always been a bit of an enigma, hanging out on the fringes of the various incarnations of Xavier's school. He's got cool looking silver tattoos, and his powers seem to involve growing and super-strength... but that's apparently a bad thing for reasons I can never quite follow. Anyhow, this story has him returning home to Wakanda after the disbanding of the X-Men. There he is basically shunned by the locals and learns to appreciate his old classmates, and I consider taking a nap. Honestly, I'm not sure what the point of this story is, unless they are planning on moving him over to Black Panther. Wakanda is apparently where black mutants go for there storylines to die. Anyhow, a confounding C.

The third storyline stars Victor (the little dragon guy from New X-Men) and Northstar. After the disbanding, Victor has returned home to "Smalltown USA," but Quicksilver has shown up to check in on him and bring him back into the X-Men fold. Exactly why he's bringing him back, or where he would be bringing him back to is a little unclear but--despite that--this is actually probably the strongest tale of the batch. Scottie Young dishes up some dark and moody artwork, as well as a well-written story that plays on the two characters' histories, and does a great job demonstrating how traumatizing the last couple of years have been for the younger X-characters. Victor has gone from being a background character who represent the "average kid" to something darker and more interesting. A bleak B.

Hellion's story is a brief and forgettable tale of him tracking down Magneto and trying to turn to him for guidance. Honestly, it was such a commonplace C that I've pretty much have already forgotten it. It just felt like it was written and illustrated on autopilot, so I read it on autopilot too.

Finally, we change gears for the final story to a tale about Nightcrawler "checking in" on Scalphunter. Since Messiah Complex, the now-ex-Marauder has apparently thrown in the towel and retired to a life of making miggas at some greasy spoon restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Now, in theory, the idea of a story involving a mercenary killer retiring to be a cook seems doomed to fail, but somehow against the odds this tale did more to establish Scalphunter as a sympathetic and interesting character than anything else starring him since I first read about him over 15 years ago. A slightly baffling B, with Nightcrawler sort of coming off like a dick. But, again, that's the theme of the issue, I guess.

So, let's see... D + C + B + C + B = C, I guess.

Avengers: The Initiative #10 - First off, I think this is actually last month's issue of The Initiative. But, this title has been receiving some raves recently, so I thought it was about time to check it out. And, this issue was the oldest one on the shelf at my comic store, so why not start there?

Second off, why is it that nearly every character who is either a shape-changer or has stretching powers (a la Plastic Man) has to be the "comic relief?" I use quotes there, by the way, because those characters are almost never actually funny, they're just obnoxious distracts (Think: Morph, Madcap, Impossible Man, Plastic Man, Elogated Man, etc, etc). Wacky characters are really hard to do justice... as evidenced by Slapstick in this issue. Ugh. Just... ugh.

But, beyond Slapstick, I can see the appeal of this title. The majority of it sort of plays out like an episode of Dragonball Z starring B- and C-league Marvel characters. Lots of glowing, and punching and laser shooting here. It's nothing to write home to mom about, but it's solid superheroic fight scenes with a mess of characters I largely couldn't keep straight. Based on this issue, I'd say it was a solid, chaotic, C+.

X-Factor #30 - This title has been sort of lost since a little before Messiah Complex, but to be fair this storyline seems to be working toward giving the team a new status quo. Sadly, until that happens, we've just got the cast stumbling around and fighting Arcade. Speaking of Arcade, I have a question to all the comic fans out there: When you hear the phrase "red-headed stepchild" do any of you think of Arcade? Because, honestly, it's his face that jumps into my mind whenever someone says it. To me, Arcade defines Red-Headed Stepchild.

Honestly, I found this issue a bit confusing. I'm not sure if it's Peter David's script or the illustrator that drops the ball here, but I found myself occasionally thinking "wait, where are they?" Or "he's there too? I thought he was in the other scene." Anyhow, it just seemed more confusing than it probably needed to be.

Also, to be honest, there's just an underlying sadistic current to this title that turns me off sometimes. For example, in this issue there are two pages dedicated to some random girl walking into a wall of lasers and burning to death while Arcade watches on through his monitors. Now, it could be argued this sequence shows how dangerous Arcade is and it shows how dangerous that laser wall is... but something in the handling of it just sort of rubs me the wrong way. And, I swear there is a similarly brutal sequence every other issue or so. All which just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This is all doubly odd, since I'm usually not a crusader against violence in comics.

Regardless, the whole issue is just a confusing, yet commonplace C.

Captain America #37 - I think that Brubaker's pretty much mastered the art of making an interesting comic... while having next to nothing actually happen in that comic. This issue of Captain America is a perfect example of that. For the life of me, I don't know if any of the plotlines actually moved forward. But, at the same time, it was filled with well constructed scenes and good character moments and beats. Its the same sort of smoke and mirrors that a soap opera might use. The sort of thing where each scene is solid and seems necessary but which--at the same time--you know you could walk away from, come back in six months, and find all the characters in the exact same place. I'm not sure how he manages, but I'm still enjoying reading it. So, it gets a begrudging B. Read more!