Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! San Diego Edition

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?
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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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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. 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!

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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. 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!
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Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! Volume 5

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!

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Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! Special Wolverine Edition

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.
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