Panelology - Marvel & DC August 2009 Solicitation Picks

by Brandon

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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



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

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

Waited for the trade: Aliens Omnibus Vol. 1

Mr`Orange
This format was reviewed on the site a little while back, and I liked the sound of it, so I took a look at the offerings available from Dark Horse, and though there were a few interesting titles, this series stood out from the rest. I’ve always liked the mythos behind the Aliens series, both the films and the books, so thought I’d dive right in. With no idea of when the original books where published, or how they fit into the continuity of the movies, I opened the omnibus and dived right in. The first of the books collected in this Omnibus was Outbreak

The book opens with a very quick, very basic retelling of (what I remember to be) the second movie of the franchise, Aliens. It is told from the perspective of “Billie” who I have taken to be “newt” from that film, who is now in a mental institution. Now, for me, this is the make or break of a decent “extended universe” or franchise book, how much of the back story does the reader know, and how to bring them up to speed. A good book won’t waste time with rerunning the whole back story, but you also need to give a nod in the direction of the source material.

Outbreak’s writer Mark Verheiden does a good job of bringing everyone up to date without labouring the point. The writing over all is good, not brilliant, as the book is quite dense and, living in a world of decompressed writing, it can get a bit much at times. The story overall is very good though, and plays on the themes set up in the later movies and the books where the government and Earth based companies want to monetise the Aliens through the use of them as biological weapons.

The book runs two parallel, but ultimately connected, storylines, one is about a mission led by a survivor from the mission to Rim (the second movie in the Alien franchise) and the freed Billie. It is around here that the book gets a little messy, now bear in mind this may be down to the fragmented way in which I read the book, or it could well be an underlying messiness in the scripting. A few scenes on-board the flight get confusing with a couple of the characters, though you can work out what is going on, it is a case of not knowing who exactly is carrying out these shenanigans.

The second storyline deals with Earth based events, a domestic infestation, and a cult that worships these aliens as the new coming of Christ?, as a saviour. This storyline bring up some interesting issues with the creatures, not only their goals, but how they go about achieving them. We learn a lot about the motivation of the aliens, what it is that they hope to achieve through these colonies. We learn that they are more than just mindless creatures, and are cunning, intelligent beings, which makes the plans of the Corporation that much more chilling.

The art was decent, pretty realistic, quite graphic in places, it wasn’t anything special, but did enough. Though they did try to capture the tone of the movies, it didn’t quite come through.



The second book is Nightmare Asylum With the same writer but this time the art is provided by Dan Beauvias and, barring one part where it is really rushed, the art is very well done. When it needs to, it captures the dark tone of the book, but the rest of the time it provides a cleaner, clinical feel to the story, therefore really amplifying the danger and darkness of the aliens.



The story continues from the end of the first book, with Wilks and Billie on a cargo ship to some unknown destination. We continue to follow the adventures and misfortunes of the pair while we learn more about the military’s plan for the aliens.

The state of planet Earth is explored some more, with live (TV) feeds being sent out by some of the survivors. We follow the fate of one pair, an Uncle and niece who are trying their best to remain alive on Earth. You can see what the writer was trying to do with this, adding a more “human” face to the book, adding in some characters you can sympathise with, almost empathise with, but they have been given such little screen time that they just become an annoyance.

The main story was very interesting though. It was based around a military commander’s attempt to “civilize” and train these aliens and make them into a more loyal army. Of all the military people in this universe, he is the only one that seems to have an understanding of the true nature of these creatures, of their intelligence and capabilities.

I’m not going to spoil the story, as I prefer to review the book rather than the plot, so while better than the first, both in terms of art and pacing, the book still isn’t quite hitting the notes of the first couple of movies. Though with four volumes of the Aliens omnibus out the stories must have caught the imagination of a fair few readers out there, and hopefully the quality keeps on improving.

Female War is the reason there are three more volumes. This book has come on in leaps and bounds with regard to the first two. It helps that the art is by Sam Keith, which really adds to the flow and dynamism of the book. At no point is it dark and broody as you would imagine an Aliens book, but the flow and structure of the book is so much better. The story flows so well, the art actually accentuates the story rather than just being there, as it was in the two previous books.

The other thing that came to light while reading this book, is that my assessment of the recap in the first book might have been off, it might have recapped the first Alien film and not the second, as that seems to be the one recapped here!

At one point it was rather confusing as I wasn’t sure if it was a recap or actually part of the new story, but it all worked itself out in the end. And boy what a story it was, very high octane all energy fun, well as much fun as it can be reading a book about an alien species decimating earth and those in charge of saving us, protecting us being corrupt and essentially in league with those that want to see our end. This time there was essentially only the one story, though it did dovetail the two previous stories, the people on earth and the extermination of the aliens. The writing has also really improved, you can tell that the writer now has a better understanding of the medium, as he has come from a TV / Screenplay background.

Finally we have a couple of small stories to cap off the book. First, is a diary account by a biologist that worked for the company and the Aliens project. He talks about the nature of the beast, its cultures and evolution, why they do what they do, and then, after that, came another short story. Though short in numbers of pages it was immense in scope, it really did tell a hell of a tale. I can’t really say anything about it, as it will spoil the story, but it covers a lot of themes that have come up during the three books in the omnibus: the nature of man, the nature of these aliens and the consequences of the interaction between the two. This last story has convinced me to pick up the second trade, which I would not have done otherwise. The book is ok, the art passable for the most part, but until this last little tale, it really didn’t engage me enough to carry on the series. Even the impressive third book, Female War, was not enough to bring me back to this universe; but this has. Read more!

Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! Vol. II

by Matt


Welcome to my second “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 Omnibus’s, Nowhere Man, Final Crisis, Jim Valentino and the Guardians of the Galaxy and Dave Lapham’s Young Liars.

SHOUT OUT! Absolute Omnibus Fever!
Seems like every company is putting out large collections of classic material. Type in Absolute or Omnibus when you search at Amazon.com and you will find a ton of new collections. I am WAY excited for the newly announced Captain Britain Omnibus, Secret Wars II Omnibus and Joe Quesada even mentioned an Inferno Omnibus. Keep them coming! DC is finally catching up as well, with the collection of Starman in hardcover along with Absolute Sandman and the Complete Death. Dark Horse has done a terrific job in their collections. Their line of Omnibus's are in full color and are slightly smaller than average trades but they are packed to the gills with comics. I love that Dark Horse is collecting a lot of thier old material like Aliens, Predator, Indiana Jones, Terminator, Ghost, Barb Wire, X and hopefully more. Other companies are getting into this as well. IDW is putting out an Omnibus of Deperadoes and Fallen Angel. Top Cow has also put out full collections of Rising Stars and Midnight Nation. They are also putting out a complete collection of Cyberforce. Checker is putting out larger collections of old Crossgen book as well. And if you purchase your books online, you will usually save quite a bit and you can get your hands on some fantastic collections for pretty cheap.


SCREAM AT! Nowhere Man Canceled
This would have been my first Virgin comic and I was really looking forward to the book. The premise sounded very intriguing and I was certainly looking forward to some fantastic science fiction art by Paul Gulacy. I contacted Liquid Comics to see if they had any news and I will share it here once I get a response. According to Paul Gulacy, he completed issue #0 of Nowhere Man which will be a special 16 page preview of the series. Liquid Comics will be announcing shortly which comics will be published.

SHOUT OUT! Dave Lapham’s Young LiarsI knew I was going to get a book so freaking screwed up with Dave Lapham at the helm. And you would think that if you read his Stray Bullets you would be a little prepared for some messed up crap but I was still totally taken surprise! The story revolves around Sadie and Danny. Danny is in love with Sadie and tries to save her from herself. Sadie is the daughter of the owner of the Brown Bag Superstore and she runs away from her family. Her father sends a group of assassins called the Pinkertons to find her. Sadie was shot in the head before the first issue (we see what happens in flashbacks) and she has a bullet lodged in her brain, which causes her to become a major risk-taker and action junkie. She also suffers from delusions, she thinks she is on the run from "The Spiders from Mars" because they plan to rule Earth. Danny and Sadie have other friends that hang with them and are pursued by the Pinkertons. One thing that Lapham does extremely well in all of his comics is that he has the ability to create characters that have major flaws and problems but writes them in a way that makes you sympathize with them, no matter what dumb choice they make. This book is filled with violence (decapitations, castarations, naked fistfights), twists and you will never know what happens next. This is not a book for the squeamish! The latest issue proves once again that I have no idea what is going to happen next. This issue reveals that Sadie is from Mars and that the Spiders from Mars are real. The Spiders plan to use Sadie to lay millions of eggs on Earth and capture and conquer it. She runs away from her Spider family and comes to Earth and inhabits a young girl. Whether this is just her imagination or this is really what has happened is anyone’s guess. All I know is that I am in for the ride! One of my favorite books! If you are looking for a book that goes down a different street I highly recommend you try this out. A trade Daydream Believer will be released in December.

SCREAM AT! Final Crisis Crisis
The online solicitations for DC for January 2009 came out this week and it looks like there was another art change for the final issue of the delayed Final Crisis event. While I think it was good for Jones to man up and apologize for the delays, I still think DC really screwed the pooch on this event. I might have been a little more forgiving but this had already happened with Infinite Crisis. I was really excited as a fan about the direction DC was taking right before Infinite Crisis came out. Unfortunately DC almost killed all my enthusiasm by delays and art changes made on Infinite Crisis and the endless mini-events and weekly books to keep up. But I was willing to give Final Crisis a try for 2big reasons. I am a sucker for large events and secondly I like Grant Morrison. The first issue intrigued me and I knew that with Morrison it would all make sense down the road but apparently that road has been under construction. Like Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis is suffering from delays and art team changes as well. You would think that a company would learn from its mistakes the first time. More than likely, this will be my final DC event. At one point I was collecting a majority of the big titles DC was publishing, now I am down to just one or two. But unlike most comic fans, I will wait until I get the final issue and read them all at once before I fully quit DC. It just doesn't look good.

SHOUT OUT! Valentino returns to the Guardians of the Galaxy
Jim Valentino’s run on the Guardians of the Galaxy back in the 90’s was one of my favorite books. What I liked about his run was that there seemed to be a natural evolution with his characters. Unlike other Marvel characters like Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, no matter what happens to the characters, they will ultimately revert back to their core roots. Since the Guardians of the Galaxy were not major Marvel characters, Jim was able to make changes to them and evolve them. Almost all the Guardians went through a major change and that is what made the book so enjoyable. Sadly, when Jim was going to join Image, Marvel fired him from the book. I was overjoyed to find out that Marvel offered Jim to draw an alternate cover to the new Guardians of the Galaxy series with issue #7. It is fantastic of Marvel to extend the olive branch to Jim and honor what fantastic contributions he made to the Guardians of the Galaxy. This makes me want to try out the new series even more!

That's all for this time. I will be back shortly with a new set of Shout Outs! and Scream Ats!. If you are interested, you can see my first column here. Read more!