Super-Powered Comics: Diamond Destinations for December 2009

I always see articles from other bloggers claiming to “valiantly” slog through the latest issue of Previews so comic readers can see what’s nifty coming up without cracking the magazine themselves. I think the notion is silly, as I consider my monthly perusal of the catalog to be a highlight of the comic buying experience. But that doesn’t mean I cannot go through my own recommendations.

Page 77: Milestone Forever is the series that will finally wrap up the dangling plot threads of the classic Milestone titles from the nineties. I loved these comics as a kid until DC decided to push their distribution of them in to the gutter. My local shops stopped carrying them and amazing titles like Icon, Static, and Blood Syndicate vanished. It may be for only two issues, but they are back right here, as the Milestone universe finally comes to a shocking close that will lead in to the Milestone characters arrival in the DCU.

Page 84: Warlord 11 is just another issue of the title, but with writer Mike Grell now on art duties as well, it really is a can’t miss title. More people should be picking this one up before it ends up canceled.


Page 124: Ame-Comi Steel does things to Natasha Irons no man should see. Isn’t she still jailbait in the DCU?

Page 144: Spawn 200 is a milestone for a title outside the big two. Besides Cerebus I know no other title that has made it this far. Sure the creative team changed several times over, but the recent return of Todd McFarlane has revived this title for the first time in years. This issue features art by McFarlane and Capullo and guest art by a half dozen top talents. Sounds like a great place to jump on if you haven’t already!

Page 148: Speaking of good jumping on points, here is Invincible Returns #1. Invincible gets his old costume back, a bunch of guest covers, and the start of the Viltrumite War storyline. Invincible is one of the best titles on the market. Here’s where to start picking it up if you haven’t read it yet.

Page 152: Another underrated series returns with a one shot. Help keep the series alive by picking up a copy of The Perhapanauts: Molly’s Story!

Page 166: I am not quite sure what to expect from Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box but the opposing forces of Finn and Glori wre definitely interesting characters back in the original Broken Trinity. Top Cow is really pulling out all the stops to make great books in the last year or so, and I would bet that this will continue that trend.

Page 194: Fathom has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, but now I feel a lot less guilty. David Schwartz, writer of a great Image book from a few years ago called Meltdown and original Stormwatch artist Scott Clark are teaming up for the new series, “Blue Destiny”! Sounds like a great line up for the next volume, but you can check out this 0 issue preview for only $2.50.

Page 207: If you haven’t picked up The Anchor yet, Boom has got the first trade out for just shy of $10. That’s a truly great deal. If you have read it, the next issue (#5) is also out and ready for purchase. I cannot say enough times how great this title is!

Page 255: I don’t know if it matters whether the story is good or not, as The Phantom Double Shot #3 teams Phantom up with Buckaroo Banzai. Comics don’t get much crazier than that.

Page 261: The fourth volume of Atomic Robo kicks off, and this time he faces “The Revenge of the Vampire Dimension”. This book oozes zany coolness. Give this issue or one of the three previous trades a try ASAP.

Page 306: I have to point out the Kryptonian at Heart t-shirt just to say that anyone who wears that is a tool. I have seen some ugly shirts, but dang, that one takes the cake.

Page 336: Let’s close things out with a series of amazing looking Usagi Yojimbo Status. I don’t have the kind of money it takes to buy these, but these are some real beauties.

That wraps up the independent superhero goodies coming in February, folks. And if you can’t wait for all that super-goodness, let me just throw out a reminder that my own webcomic Arc continues to update every week for your reading enjoyment!

Not Quite Super-Powered Comics: No Enemy, But Peace

A brief digression today for a comic I think everyone should read.

I ordered No Enemy, But Peace with a bit of trepidation. Though the art and description sounded promising I am always wary of war-based comics. I think so often we miss the point of war comics, especially one’s set in times of war. Often they exist only to make a political statement, and if it’s one thing we doṉt need when it comes to Iraq it is another political statement.

But the solicitation copy made me think I might get something a little different, the story of one heroic Marine in action. So I decided the $3.50 cover price would be worth it and I put my order in. I’m glad I did.

Richard C. Meyer crafts the story of Corporal Marco Martinez and the Battle of At-Tarmiya with a style of grace rarely seen in a first time comic creator. Meyer is a Iraq vet himself, and it shows in the dialogue, the narration, and every page of detailed weapons and equipment. The dialogue feels true to life, true to human interaction, and without the constant cursing of so many modern war comics. I understand soldiers curse, just like normal folk do, but sometimes I think writers forget that they don’t always do so. We get a few perjoratives through the story, but dialogue isn’t filled with it, and I appreciate that authenticity. I don’t feel like I am reading someone trying to sound like soldiers like I do with books like Army in Love or The Other Side.

The art is somewhat uneven as we hop back and forth from the hyper-detailed art of Martin Montiel Luna and Meyer’s own less detailed style. Meyer’s pages are limited, though, so it only hits in a couple brief places.

Meyer hits on what I think so many people miss in every story of this war, and for that matter, many others. War in our fiction doesn’t have to be, and maybe shouldn’t, be about political statements. Sometimes it&8217;s nice to ignore the condemnation about why we are there, ignore the constant stories about “massive” death counts (that compare in no way to any other war this country has ever fought), and instead focus on the people that fight it. The people that take heroic actions to save those around them in situations so many of us cannot understand.

Bravo, Mister Meyer. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.

Heroes the Graphic Novels Part 2

My apologies for people expecting this yesterday. My dumb self forgot to bring all the old Heroes novels with me to work the last couple nights which meant I had to do this in my normal sleep time.

Issue 52: The introduction of a certain flying boy, featuring beautiful Tom Grummett art shot straight from his pencils.

Issue 53: The Rogue ad debuts... how much does Nissan pay for these? Joe Kelly returns to Haiti to tell a story of the dying Haitian.

Issue 55: We get an entertaining “manga-cized version of Hiro and Kensei’s quest for the scroll, complete with cute furry Hiro. Another amazing piece of Grummett work.

Issue 58: Another tale of a soon-to-be erased future. These are probably the most annoying Heroes features. This one is doubly aggravating as it doesn’t feature any characters from the show.

Issue 60-61: Kensei appears as Adam Monroe in this flashback to the Revolutionary War. As the leader of a group of British soldiers (naturally), Monroe comes in to contact with another Hero by the name of Evan. Evan is a one man army (possessing powers similar to Madrox) and over several months they battle one another again and again, until Monroe is overcome. Monroe eventually comes to a decision important to him and his plot for the next several hundred years. And we have more gorgeous Grummett art on both chapters.

Issue 62: Michael Gaydos returns to give us the tale of West’s abduction. An important though somewhat bland flashback.

Issue 63-64: Another two parter revealing Elle’s secret history with Claire. Nothing spectacular again, but it is an important piece of back story as well as Elle’s first comic appearance.

Issue 66: First post-season two story. We visit with Adam Monroe, locked in a coffin, and receive an intriguing look both at the future character and at the hardships of immortality. Awesome art from Peter Steigerwald, a man known more as a colorist.

Issue 67: Another chapter in the internet-based mystery of Richard Drucker. I haven’t followed the Heroes Evolutions story close enough to know more of the clues to this, but good Gaydos art on this one.

Issue 68-70: The evolutions storyline continues as a new character named Matt infiltrates the Company and a plot by Hana & Drucker comes to fruition. Matt (another learner in the style of Charlie) ends up downloading Drucker & Hana in to his head in a rather convoluted storyline.

Issue 71: We meet telekinetic Abu Aswan and get an insight in to his interest in Egyptian history.

Issue 72: Kimiko returns alongside artist Jason Badower in a story by Aspen MLT’s J.T. Krul. Kimiko finds herself connected to yet another Evolutions concept, the Yamagato Fellowship.

Issue 73: War Buddies continues with part seven. Post-Viet Nam, Linderman meets another power leech named Linda Tavara.

Issue 75: Another flashback to the dawn of the country... and the question of whether or not Benjamin Franklin was a hero. Aspen MLT take over fully with this chapter.

Issue 76: Nanci Quesada takes over as editor as Aspen’s J.T. Krul and upcoming G.I.Joe artist Robert Atkins as Sanjog Iyer (the weird boy that Suresh met) continues to harass new heroes.

Issue 78: A flashback to the origins of the original Hero Killer Linda Tavara.

That finishes up the at home portion for today. 25 more chapters to come early tomorrow.

Super-Powered Comics: Secret Six #1

Yesterday, I covered El Diablo #1 in this pretty little blog of mine. Today I focus on DC’s other big release of last week: Secret Six #1. For someone unfamiliar with this group, I highly recommend you quickly click on the links provided on this page. The new Secret Six are probably the best creation DC has given us in the past five years. I bolded that last statement on purpose. That is just how strongly I feel about this property. Trust me when I say I do not buy many DC/Marvel books, and trust me again when I say that I never by monthlies by the big two. But I am making an exception for this title, because in the able hands of Gail Simone, these five characters are easily the strongest characters in the entire DCU.

I have already been a sucker for Deadshot, as he was developed by John Ostrander, Kim Yale, and Luke McDonnell in to an incredibly deep character in the pages of his first miniseries and the late 80’s Suicide Squad (which really should have a collection by now). Christos Gage wrote another Deadshot miniseries a few years back which further fleshed him out. All seemed designed to prepare him for this book.

Gail Simone has taken Catman and given him all the depth Deadshot possessed before hand. He has made the two characters in to a strange sort of buddy team, kind of an evil Blue Beetle/Booster Gold team.

The two characters created for the team, Scandal Savage and Ragdoll are equally as deep. Scandal is a lesbian living in the shadow of an ancient evil father (sort of a twisted Talia) who is working on overcoming the death of her lover (and ex-Kesel era Superboy villain) Knockout. Ragdoll is the son of the classic JSA villain and is pretty much just bat$#!& insane.

In to all of this we throw in new member Bane, the man who broke Batman, and you have a fascinating dynamic of villains-as-heroes.

Plus you have a truly insane villain who lives in a box. Seriously.

My only real complaint with this one is the same complaint I have for pretty much every DC book right now. The language and the violence both skew to a decidedly teenage and over crowd. It bothers me that a lot of their books go on newstands, unlabeled, with this kind of content in it. I really fear a repeat of the pre-Comic Code burnings if DC does not do something to label these titles.

It sounds messy, but in the hands of Gail Simone and her amazing artistic compatriot Nicola Scott, Secret Six lives up to the hype of its previous two forms. I highly recommend everyone go out and pick up a copy today!

Collected Edition Review: Noble Causes Archives volume 1

I just finished reading through the collected edition of Jay Faerber’s Noble Causes and I got to say I am even more impressed than I thought I would be. This book collected the initial one-shot, the first three mini-series, and the first twelve issues of the regular series. That is twenty-five issues for those counting at home. And that many issues for twenty bucks is nothing to scoff at, even if it is in black and white.

The story, for those who have never followed the book, is about the Noble family, a mix of the Fantastic Four and one of any multi-generational soup operas you can find on daytime TV. The family consists of father Doc (a gadgeteer) and his wife Gaia(a sorceress), their children Rusty (super-strong and now encased in a metal body), Race (a speedster), and Zephyr (who controls wind). In addition we have Rusty’s wife Celeste, Race’s best friend Krennick, Gaia’s illegitimate son Frost, and Race’s new wife Liz Donnelly. Liz is a normal everyday human and it is she we follow through much of the early part of the trade.

The story opens with a murder and things just get more convoluted from there. Mr. Faerber does an excellent job of building suspense from miniseries to miniseries, which servers to basically create a thirteen issue epic. Things restart (but not reboot) for the regular series, of which the first twelve issues also form an ongoing saga.

I have been following the monthly issues of Noble Causes since the mid-twenties and have thoroughly enjoyed the series. It truly is a great read, but alas, it does not have as many readers as it needed to survive and will be ending with issue forty in October. This is good news for archives fans though, as the eventual release of Archives volume two will contain the remaining twenty-eight issues of the series.

All in all, Noble Causes Archives comes highly recommended. Go out and get your copy today!

True Believers #1

So I am going to start my new focus on superhero fiction on Takin’ the Helm by going back to the comics. Ironic somewhat as my point of this is really to focus on superheroes in other formats, but I think True Believers is well worth the effort. Marvel has stumbled on a truly original concept with this one. The Believers are a group of high tech super-powers with a quest to expose corruption on every level. Their targets range from corporate to superhuman to celebrity, and they seem willing to go to the extremes for the exposes they then post on a their website true-believers.com (which is ironically an actual comic-related site). The concept is carried out to perfection in the first issue, one of the best number ones I’ve seen in quite some time.

Maybe the strangest fact about the book is its creative team. Cary Bates rose to fame in the 70’s and 80’s as Julie Schwartz’s right hand man on Superman and Flash both of which he wrote for somewhere around a decade. His star faded post-Crisis but he went on to produce two precursors to modern graphic storytelling: Captain Atom and New Guardians before disappearing from comics for years.

On art is Paul Gulacy. I can’t begin to list all of Gulacy’s works, although he may still be most famous for his run on Master of Kung Fu. Together these veterans of old school comics craft something truly different, truly inspired.

Bravo to both, and here is hoping for a lot more True Believers in the future.

Comics Review Part Two!

Re: Circle #5

Sadly, with the end of “The Goliath Trap” also comes the end of Brian Reed and Ian Hosfeld’s The Circle. It makes me quite sad as I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Hosfeld’s art was beautiful while still quite original. Reed’s story started slow but built up to be a compelling saga with a great climax. The characters were solid, the villains were well written, and the story hit all the notes of a great piece of espionage fiction.

Apparently, it just couldn’t get a foothold in the marketplace of today. That saddens me a bit, and it also makes me wonder if Reed and Hosfeld would have been better off taking this series to someone like Dark Horse or Oni Press that have a few more resources to put behind endorsing the series. Two men can only do so much, especially with the great amounts of expansion Image has been going through over the last couple of years. And I don’t think Brian Reed’s growing status as a comic writer is enough to guarantee his Marvel fans will find their way over to buying an Image title.

Anyway, I encourage anyone who hasn’t tried this series to go out and ask their retailer to order the current issues. Or pick up the trade when it releases. But go out and try this series. And if you like it, make your voices be heard to the powers that be at your favorite publishes. Maybe somehow, somewhere, The Circle will be able to find its way back in to the market.

Re: Comics NOW! #2

If you haven’t heard of this one it is because it’s a comic magazine rather than a comic itself. Comics NOW! is an amalgam of Wizard and Twomorrows Publishing’s always excellent Back Issue. While rising above the current schlock that Wizard peddles, it falls short of being as good a magazine as it could be.

First, I’ll say this issue corrects a lot of the production mistakes issue one fell through. A lot less dead space on the pages, columns fall in the angles they are supposed to, and such. Unfortunately, I don’t know how many people will see that, as the cover art for this one is honestly pretty atrocious. The Nova cover on issue one looked professional quality, but the DC villains cover this month seems somewhat amateurish.

While stronger overall than issue one, the articles themselves still feel rather weak. They seem to be trying for serious study of current trends and stories in comics, but instead each article feels like a so-so summation of those trends and concepts. A little more critical analysis might help these articles as would a few more creator interviews in said articles. The article on pulp heroes in comics succeeded at this (although it apparently has some kind of fantasy that a Shadow comic is on the market). Good interviews, good summations, and overall a good outlook on the genre. That being said, the oversight of the new Lone Ranger series seems a big strange to me.

The article on crime comics is so-so, and it suffers a bit from its focus on pointing out old rules to the comic code that no one on the indy market has followed for thirty years now. It makes little sense in the current market, where only Archie still uses the comics code (and I’m not even sure about them). And again the article suffers as, while its interviews are good, it fails to deliver the writer of the big boy in today’s advent of crime fiction, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal.

The article on villains as comic stars is weak at best and honestly more long winded and boring than it is anyway informative. The retrospective on Luke Cage is nothing new, the columns on podcasting and the market read like filler, and the article on silver age silliness (this month, Batman’s time traveling pal) is just what it sounds like: silly fluff. The columns that round out the book do little to change my opinion about over-written fluff, and the story synopses, while handy, are written in the dullest tone imaginable. Their focus on only Spider-Man and X-Men from Marvel seems strange as well when the publisher’s top selling books are the Avengers titles.

The major saving grace of this issue: a new fourteen page Black Coat story. Black Coat is an excellent title that needs to get back in to the market sooner rather than later, and I’m hoping this story can help that happen.

All in all, Comics NOW! has potential. Some strengthening of the features in every issue and dropping the excessive columns for another feature would definitely strengthen the book, and continued endeavors to feature more indy books as good as Black Coat won’t hurt either.

Re: Dark Ivory #1

I would have bought this series just for the beautiful Linsner painted art; I’m not going to lie. And honestly, I am not seeing a lot past that as of yet. Ivory looks good but doesn’t seem to have a lot of depth, and issue one only serves to introduce us to an awful lot of characters for what is only a four issue limited series. Nonetheless, the gorgeous art keeps the series together quite well. And as I said, the Linsner art is worth the $2.99 all by itself.

Danger’s Dozen #3

I picked up this book mostly to see the return of the great Norm Breyfogle to the printed page. His art has been solid, although the inking on the book (by Breyfogle himself at least this issue) seems a little weak. I’m not going to try and give a plot synopsis because honestly, the story is all over the place. Suffice it to say the book revolves around a guy named Boss Aman who is a sort of Doc Savage type, but a Doc Savage with a giant floating mystical eye that follows him around. He seems to be encountering a regular horde of weirdoes and superhumans, all while not coming close to having formed a team of twelve.

The $6.95 cover price for this double sized issue was a little steep as well, but it does contain two issues worth of story to make up for it. I am not sure how long this series can continue without forming a little more solid narrative however. Right now it comes off as a bit of amateur hour from someone with enough money to hire an out of work but solid artist.

The back of the book contains a preview of a new series called Contract and it looks to be an even bigger mess than Danger’s Dozen, and without the added help of Breyfogle on art. All in all, A First Salvo seems to have potential as a publisher, but they are going to have to kick their work in to high gear if they think they’re going to survive in today’s marketplace.

Death of the New Gods #7

One of the few DC books I’m still buying reaches its penultimate chapter with this issue, which reveals the killer of the Fourth World characters. Everyone left pretty much dies this issue, while Starlin finally ties the series more closely to his previous Fourth World epic, the amazing Cosmic Odyssey. His art is solid, the story is great, and although it saddens me to say it, I think this series has been a fitting end to Jack Kirby’s characters.

One more issue and one last New God remains. Looks like issue eight will be quite the epic struggle. If you haven’t been buying this one, I suggest you rush out and pick up the trade in a few months. If you enjoy cosmic heroes at all, you will definitely enjoy this one.

Re: Witchblade #116

This is the first issue of Witchblade that I’ve picked up since sometime in the mid-60’s of the series. I did so mostly off the strength of Phil Hester’s new Darkness series and the copy of First Born #1 I got for half price a couple months back.

I liked a lot of what I saw. Dani Baptiste is a far more compelling character than Sara Pezzini, although she does lack the convenient job as a police officer to build new storylines around. That’s exactly what this issue does as we are introduced to a serial killer apparently obsessed with the twelve Apostles and their deaths. This harkens back to Paul Jenkins’ issues on the series (when I gave up regularly buying the book), but unlike those Marz’s so-so story is lifted by the art. Stjepan Sejic is a virtuoso and his computer-painted style is unlike anything else on the market. And unlike other computer painters out there (Adi Granov comes to mind), Sejic seems able to produce work at a mind-boggling speed. His witchblade effects are just plain gorgeous, as are all the women he draws. His men are still a little weak in my opinion, but with at least thirty-something more issues of Witchblade ahead of him he can do nothing but improve.

All in all an able handed production and a good sign of things to come. I will definitely be sticking around at least a few months to see how this series pans out.

Comic Reviews Catch-up part 1

Re: Astounding Wolf-Man #5

All right, now things are finally heating up in this book. I’ve been a big proponent of stuffing a lot in to every issue of this book as long as it continues its bimonthly status, and this issue gives a lot of bang for the dollar. Loved the Capes cameo, and the character development points between Wolf-Man and his more and more estranged family is some great comics writing. The lovely Erin at my local shop, Alter Ego (331 7th Ave. in Marion, IA for anyone in the Eastern part of our lovely corn-filled, first to vote state), was nice enough to hook me up with an issue featuring the beautiful variant cover by David Williams and Art Adams. I remember Williams from pin-ups and a few single issues years back at Marvel. Where’s he been all this time?

Re: Grendel Behold the Devil #5

Zombies! Sweet!

I was wondering when this series would finally kick in to gear, and issue five seems to be it. We are finally tying together some of the pieces of the story, building towards the answers to Grendel’s problems and all together making some damn good stuff.

Great stuff and here’s hoping for a whole lot more from Matt after this book is finished.

Re: Hack/Slash #10

Mostly a filler issue, but we do finally get a look at Cassie Hack’s father and his work. Another brutal fight with some yucky feral children, more great art by Emily Stone, and a rather good read even if it doesn’t seem as deep as previous issues. (I can’t believe I just used the term deep for this series…) Anyhow, well worth the $3.50 admission price and the preview cover image alone has me itching for issue #11.

Re: Invincible #49

More good stuff as we wrap up the mini-Image crossover fight with Dr. Seismic. We finally get the build to issue 50 (really quick there, Kirkman) and the return of both Darkwing and the Reanimen served the story well. This issue has me salivating for issue 50, so I have to say good job with that, Robert. And the pinup by Rob Hough is just plain amazing in the back. Someone needs to get this guy on an extended project and stat.

Re: Madman Atomic Comics #7

A quick read this one, what without any words and the like, but as always another beautiful issue of Madman. I enjoyed this issue quite a bit though, as it’s an obvious bridge from the extended arc of issue one and six and what I hope is more traditional one or two issue arcs a la the older Madman issues. Madman’s such a great character and such a great book that is so versatile in any number of comic book genres that the extended space story has sort of worn thin on me. But I ain’t going anywhere. For his art alone, Allred books are well worth every penny, and this comic has nowhere to go but up in a big way.

Re: Omega One #2

Big City Comics has surprised me right out of the bat with some impressive series. I have enjoyed Mario Gully’s new Ant Unleashed book quite a bit, Tempest is a fun twist on the vampire book that harkens back to Marvel’s take on the vampire, and Omega One is one of the best concepts for a team book in ages. Take the un-team concept of the Defenders than throw in a subcutaneous explosive device that forces the characters to work together and you pretty much have the concept behind this book.

The characters in the first arc all first appeared in Image’s Ant in the final issues of that series, but you really don’t need to have read that book or even issue one of this series to get that. No, writer Jeff Kaufman does an excellent job of making sure we know who everyone is in the series and why they are here. Painter Elvin Cintron brings them gloriously to life with some of the best painted art I’ve seen in comics since Alex Ross.

Oh, and did I mention Shi? William Tucci’s classic and always cool sohei warrior guest stars in this story arc, following up her appearances in Fallen Angel last year. Now we just need to convince Mr. Tucci to finish up his Sgt. Rock commitments and get moving on a new Shi project to follow up these stories. Other creators’ guest stars seem to be a recurring theme for this book as next issue Heroic Publishing’s Liberty Girl appears on the cover. It’s a great concept to help out the books, and let’s hope it can help Omega One and the rest of the Big City Comics line last for some time to come.

Re: Snakewoman: Curse of the 68 #1

When I picked up the original run of this book it was for the interesting concept mixed with the talents of up-and-coming writer Zeb Wells and the art of the always excellent Michael Gaydos. Gaydos only lasted about 6 issues though, and the series continued on halfway decently until issue 12. The lackluster Tales of the Snake Charmer limited followed that, and I considered giving up Snakewoman then and there. But the concept of Curse of the 68 seemed interesting, so I decided to give this one an order.

Well, it’s definitely the best arc since the early parts of the first series. Instead of focusing on the current incarnation of the Snakewoman, we are now flashing back to previous reincarnations, starting with a story in the old west. Behind a just plain awesome painted cover by Gaydos, new artist/colorist Pradip Ingale provides far superior art than anything that appeared in Tales of the Snake Charmer. Curse of the 68 looks to be an excellent series of done in ones that help explore the Snakewoman concept, but after it’s done I wonder if there is really anything left to say for the character. Even so, I’ll be back for the rest of this curse.

Re: The Sword #6

I’ve flip-flopped a bit on my opinion on The Sword. All in all it is better paced and better written than their previous Girls, but six issues in it already has its weak points. This issue gave us a solid look at the history of the title weapon and its original holder Demetrios, and how that saga relates to the three villains of the story. All in all, it’s a nice bit of mythology and works well to tie the series first five issues together.

Now that it’s out of the way though, I’m not sure how much left can really be said about current holder Dara and her quest to destroy the three siblings. Honestly, I don’t really see a need to run this series for more than a few more issues (four or five max) to finish up the saga. But hey, the Luna brothers are nothing if not surprising in their writing style so I’ll have to wait and see where this one is going to go.

Re: Tangent: Superman’s Reign #1

I’m going to be a 100% honest here: I’m an unrepentant Tangent fanboy. I loved both of the Tangent fifth week events from the late 90’s, and if anything made me mad from that era it was the fact that we didn’t get either a third event or an ongoing series spun out of those issues. Well, nearly a decade later and DC finally answers my wish.

Superman’s Reign #1 isn’t the greatest Tangent story ever, but original Tangent creator Dan Jurgens gives us a decent start to a new extended Tangent story that will apparently feature New Earth’s Flash and Green Lantern (John Stewart) as cast members as well. Characters are well written, but the story plods along quite a bit, spending more time reintroducing the Tangent Joker than anything else.

The backup by Ron Marz does a little bit better even though it serves only to introduce two mystery characters. But it does give a quick review of the history of the Tangent Universe which will be handy for all newcomers to the book.

All in all, this is a good start, especially with 11 more issues to go before the series finishes. It makes me happy to see DC give original Tangent architects Jurgens and Marz the reigns with this, and I just hope that Tangent: Superman’s Reign can prove as excellent as the initial two runs of Tangent were years ago.

Golden Age Redux Reviews

I feel almost obligated to read these books as JMS and the team of Alex Ross and Jim Krueger have seemed to be on the same wavelength as my own project, Living Legends, that I have been developing for the last couple years or so, first as a comic and now as an original piece of superhero fiction. Both have their good points and their weak points, as I’m sure anyone could say about my own work. Individual thoughts on the single issues are below.

Re: Project Superpowers #1

I didn’t much care for the 0 issue of this book, but #1 proved to be far better. We actually get in to the modern heroes and their actions as the Fighting Yank recruits the Green Lama in his quest to free the lost heroes. They end up in a fight with a much less friendly version of Dynamic Man, and before the issue is through the Black Terror makes his return. The entire story has a certain Terra Obscura feel to it, but unlike that series, Jim Krueger and Alex Ross are playing things a little slower and less world shattering. With statements from Dynamite that this is actually an ongoing and not a limited as it was originally pushed, that makes sense. I don’t know if I like how we have suddenly overpowered the Black Terror, as he seems set to turn in to a character very similar to his incarnation as simply the Terror in the aforementioned Terra Obscura. (This is one of the reasons I tried not to use very many noteworthy Golden Age characters in my own Living Legends. The fact that multiple incarnations of some of these characters existing simultaneously could very well just confuse the market.) The steady pacing of the character introductions issue by issue seems like a good move for the creators, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for the remaining issues of the opening arc.

*****

Re: The Twelve #3

J. Michael Straczynski’s Marvel project is much more in the vein of my own Living Legends, but I think is played for the more easy clichés. The subplot with Mister E in this issue makes the family issue a little too easy in my opinion, and Dynamic Man’s blatant racism while quite possible of a character from his time is a little too pat for my taste. The ongoing saga seems all right though, although the murder mystery that runs behind this book seems almost non-existent as a plot point so far. Chris Weston’s art does a beautiful job of giving us the Golden Age feeling of these characters while still keeping a modern sensibility to the title.

Overall The Twelve has been good solid character-driven work so far, but I think we need to really kick the overlying story in to gear sometime soon.

Comic Review Catch-Up

Re: Umbrella Academy #6

Man, I really liked this book. It sort of surprises me, as I happen to dislike Mr. Way’s music. More than dislike, really, but not quite at the hate level, but I digress. Nonetheless, The Umbrella Academy proved to be a surprising venture in to weird superheroes, a genre that hasn’t gotten much love over the past few years outside of Mignola’s little world. I do see a lot of BPRD in this, as well as another late 90’s Dark Horse comic and another favorite of mine, The Nevermen. With that in mind, if Mr. Ba should decide to leave this series for its second run (and I would like to see him back on Casanova), I would love to see the excellent Guy Davis take a shot at these characters.

The plot was solid, the characters while not as well defined as some, were leaps and bounds above most of the work from the Big Two. Only big complaint: why did the monkey have to die? Never kill the monkey, people! When will comic creators (or musicians) learn.

All in all, amazing stuff. Can’t wait to see volume two, hopefully later this year.


*****

Re: RASL #1

Jeff Smith is back, and I’m not quite sure what else to say. I didn’t find anything bad about RASL, but I didn’t really see a whole lot of anything else either. We get what seems to be a dimension-hopping thief of some kind, some sort of creature chasing him, cryptic thoughts about an evil “they” and “them”, and that’s about it. Now I know Bone started out slow too, but I guess I just expected a little more bang for my buck. Solid storytelling, beautiful art on ugly characters, kind of steep price tag for black and white. Otherwise I can’t think of much else to say. I’ll wait and see for a couple issues on this one.

*****

Re: Adventures of Miranda Mercury #295

I remember Brandon Thomas. You might too, he scripted the Rob Liefeld plotted X-Force: Shatterstar limited series a couple years back. Let’s not hold that against him. Miranda Mercury is yet another independent comic with the goal to inject some fun adventure elements back in to comics. (Note to the folks at Marvel and DC: some of us still like fun. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.) Miranda is exactly that, a fun book with a nifty little meta-concept to get it off the ground running.

This is the first issue in case you are throwing out a WTF at the #295 after the title. We’re in the last stage of Miranda’s career, as she’s apparently been poisoned somehow. She’s dying and we only have five issues left to find out how that will come to be.

I really don’t want to give away a lot of the plot, but I will say there is a lot of action, a great bit of character interaction between Miranda and Jack Warning, her faithful sidekick, and a samurai genie.

Lee Ferguson (I know his name from somewhere too, but it will take awhile for me to figure out where) is an able artist. His style isn’t perfect, sometimes his characters look just slightly off, but he’s got fine linework and good storytelling skills. You never get confused by a strange panel as some of the other ASP artists can sometimes do to you.

All in all, thumbs up for Miranda Mercury. It’s rare that I say this, but it’s well worth the $3.95 price tag. Go check it out, folks.

*****

Re: Nexus #100

Ten years between 98 and 99, and it seems like almost as many between 99 and 100. I’m okay with it though after reading the lead in issue 100. I thought the return issue fell a little flat, but issue 100 finally gets the story moving. I don’t know, maybe I was expecting a slam-bang, dropped in the middle of who the hell knows what’s going on return with the last issue. Sure I know that isn’t Baron and the Dude’s style, but I am so used to it, that it surprises when I don’t see it. With 100 I feel like I’m finally getting back in the groove of things and Nexus is back to being his same classic stuff that I’ve fell in love with thanks to the Dark Horse reprints and back issue bins.

I have to say that the back-up wasn’t worth the ridiculous delay however. It was cute, the Kennedy and Clinton parodies were amusing, but a silly little back-up like this definitely wasn’t worth the full delay. Hopefully, everything will be back on track for issues 101 and 102, and from there we can get to the first anthology issue. I for one want to know what this Origami and Silencer business is about already.

All in all good stuff with Nexus #100. Let’s just avoid the slam-bang specials and keep the schedule going from now on, ok, Rude?

*****

Re: Criminal (v. 2) #1

Best issue of this book already. Everyone should be reading this book. It’s the best writing of Brubaker’s career, and the best art Sean Phillips ever made. The hard-boiled crime genre is a great fit for comics, and they show it every issue. And don’t wait for the trades either; the exclusive back matter in each issue is worth the price of admission alone. It saddens me every time I read an issue though, as this book should be outselling Daredevil, Captain America, and Uncanny X-Men, but instead it remains just a modest success.

I will continue my quest to get everyone reading Criminal as long as Brubaker and Phillips keep producing it. Thanks for the great work, guys.

*****

Re: Ant Unleashed #3

Gratuitous nudity in this issue aside, this book finally gives the payoff for the long build of the Ant storyline. Mario Gully is back on art with this one and despite an absolutely horrible cover (and I do mean bad, Ant just looks terrible on it, barely even human shaped), he provides solid pencil work in this issue. With most of the origin out of the way, Ant Unleashed seems to be well on its way to greatness. Gully’s writing has improved leaps and bounds each issue, and I am still thankful to him for giving the world a strong African American female to comics. Here’s hoping Gully can keep up with his current schedule and finally give Ant the push this character deserves.

*****

Re: Zorro #1

This may be the most disappointing comic I’ve read in months. It’s not bad; it’s just not nearly as innovative as other reviewers seems to think it is. Francesco Francavilla produces some amazing art for the book (I still miss his excellent Black Coat), but Wagner’s story falls flat for me. I love Matt Wagner; his Grendel and Mage are two of the best books of the last twenty years. But Zorro #1 is just a so-so framing sequence wrapped around a comic adaptation of Isabel Allende’s novel Zorro from a couple years back. I had a few problems with Zorro as a novel, and I just fear that Wagner is going to rehash those elements in this book.

I’ll give Zorro a few more issues to get past the origin segment and hopefully we will move in to the quality book that Zorro deserves to be.

Now where is Lady Rawhide at? (Just kidding.)

*****

Re: Youngblood #2

I’m still not sure what to think of the new Youngblood. Casey’s writing is almost always great, but so far this book seems to fall short of his usual talent. He’s quickly developing the personalities of his team members (which is innovative enough for Youngblood), but he still hasn’t really told us what this book is about. So far it just feels like it exists because Rob Liefeld wanted to have a new Youngblood book on the market. He’s having fun with the whole celebrity superhero stuff, but it’s by no means innovative. X-Force/X-Statix, New Warriors, Blood Pack, Wildguard, and even the most recent Wild Cards novel have covered the same ground. The book could be great if it moves past that and in to a clever storyline, and with the building of the insidious sub-plot again with this issue, we may be doing that. I’ll give Casey a chance with this one; his previous work is great enough to make me do that.

Let’s hope that the next few issues can finally give us the ongoing, well-written Youngblood book that I always thought was possible.

Comic Review: Shadow Hunter #1

So one of my new comics this week was none other than a title created by a former porn star. I am by no means a fan of Jenna Jameson’s *ahem* “body of work”, but I am a fan of Christina Z. Christina wrote the first forty or so issues of Witchblade, and I followed that series for quite awhile. So I figured I would give her new title, Shadow Hunter, from Virgin Comics, a try.

Now Virgin produces one book I really enjoy in Snakewoman and another I thought was decidedly above average in 7 Brothers. While this one tries to riff off the same vibe as those two titles, Shadow Hunter falls slightly short. The story’s not bad: a girl sees visions over her everyday life and as the story progresses she learns that they are more than visions; she has actually tapped in to some kind of second dimension of strange creatures and such. All this is brought beautifully to life by one of Virgin’s true artistic discovers, Mukesh Singh. Say anything about the rest of the book, but Singh’s art is beyond gorgeous.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t quite live up to the art. It isn’t outright bad, but it is terribly cluttered. I can tell there was a lot of small characters and plot points in Jameson’s original idea. Even with 32 pages of story in issue one, you still don’t get a good feel about what’s going on. Sure our heroine sees things over reality, and she seems to have some kind of sword thingy she can manifest, but outside that we get introduced to about a half dozen characters without any idea of who most of them are or why they are here.

Like Witchblade, this book has the potential to combine story and art in to a solid package. It’s just not quite there yet.

Comic Reviews: Hack/Slash, Invincible, Ultimates

re: hack/slash 9

I honestly don’t know why everyone isn’t buying this book. Easily one of the best comics coming out of the “indies” these days. Tim Seeley’s scripts are always excellent and the art has been top notch since issue one. I find the art particularly interesting, as though there is a certain level of cheesecake, it has been drawn by a female artist in all but one issue. Both Emily Stone and Rebekah Isaacs have done superb work on this series. I am amazed that they haven’t been snatched up by one of the big two like Stefano Caselli before them.

Anyway, the latest issue finished up the three chapter “Tub Club” story arc. Easily the most risqué issue so far, I quite enjoyed the interplay between the government agents, the slasher, and our heroes. All good stuff. I am wondering how much longer we can keep maiming the leads though without them being permanently altered in a negative way.

Sadly, I don’t have any hot pictures from myself or my wife to tie in to this missive. No one would want to see me in a corset anyway.




Re: Invincible 48

Ah, this issue reminds me of the good old days. So often I see books that try to hearken back to the days of 70’s Marvel and random guest spots, but I haven’t seen it done this well in quite a while. I love seeing the appearances of all of Kirkman’s other characters, and Ottley’s visuals on the Dynamo 5 are quite stunning. Wolf-Man looks even better than he does in his own book. But what the hell is wrong with Dragon’s head though?

As always, another good Invinci-read. Keep up the good work and I’ll keep reading.




Re: Ultimates 3 #3

I don’t quite understand the hate for this book so far. It does seem a bit slow moving for only being five issues, especially when compared to the slam-bang, blockbuster style of Millar and Hitch. But I think Jeph Loeb is ably putting together his own take on the Avengers mythos quite well. He has combined the classic Avengers concepts with the New Avengers to give the Ultimates his own special flare. I’m still not sure how I feel about the Ultimate Black Panther, he seems like a bland knockoff of Snake-Eyes so far. We’ll see though how the book goes. I pray we do get a cohesive ending to the five issues however. If this book proves to only be a five issue prologue to Loeb’s Ultimatum saga, not even the Madureira art will keep me from giving it an ill review.

Anyway, it’s not going to crack the internet in half or anything, but Ultimates 3 is still a good read. I recommend it, and trust me, I don’t do that often for mainstream superhero books.

Comic Review: Grendel Behold the Devil #4

Yeah, so we’re half way through this series and I’m still not quite sure what to think about it. I’m enjoying it don’t get me wrong, but I am not sure if I find it necessary. It seems to me to be more cashing in on the popularity of Hunter Rose more than it is anyway moving forward either the story or concept of Grendel. Admittedly, I’m a latecomer to Hunter; my first exposure to the Grendel mythos was Warchild (when I was almost certainly too young to be reading said book). I’ve since read pretty much the entire Grendel saga except for a stray Christina Spar issue or two. But something just doesn’t feel the same with this one.

Still, we’re only half way through, and Wagner’s swerved me with way better second halves of his work before, especially with his Batman work. Lord knows if it’s Matt so I will buy it. Hell, I’m planning on buying a freaking Madame Xanadu series now. Anyway, here’s hoping for a strong finish for Behold the Devil, and maybe some Mage 3 next year!

Comic Review: GØDLAND 21

It took what seemed like a year (and probably was close to it), but it’s good to see GØDLAND finally moving forward again. I sincerely love this book and its Starlin or Englehart-esque vibe. But the wait between issues has been ridiculous at times.

I can see why though. Tom Scioli’s art has evolved issue by issue. His females finally look female (my only real complaint ever about his work), and his layouts are strengthening. I sense a lot of Peter Laird in his current work, especially Laird’s own Kirby-influenced Stupid Heroes. I don’t know if is purposeful or coincidental, but I for one love it.

Joe Casey is (almost) always on the ball with his writing, and this issue was no exception. I especially appreciate the density that came with this issue. Some issues I have devoured in five minutes or less, which seems odd for the cosmic being-style storyline, but not this one. Most of the book was six to nine panel grids. I know a lot of folks love the whole modern, manga-style three or four panel layout, but give me a big, dense book like this for my $2.99, and I’m a happy reader.

As a side note, I want to also say great work on both Scioli and Casey’s contributions to the Next Issue Project. I especially enjoyed Scioli’s take on classic space opera storytelling, even if it was quite tongue in cheek.

Anyway, here’s hoping for many more issues to come of this great project. And please, please, please, keep it coming at an almost monthly pace. I hate having to wait months between my tastes of cosmic goodness.

The Ice Storm

I’m definitely not Tobey Maguire (though I wouldn’t mind having even a fraction of his money), but I am buried under an ice storm today. Hannah stayed home from school and I thanked my lucky stars I don’t have to go to work tonight.

We got about an inch of ice on the groud, power lines falling everywhere, and to cap everything else, I am sick as a dog. Coughing, hacking, and otherwise feeling miserable have been the name of the game for me. Thankfully, Hannah can entertain herself for the most part, so except for a few trips out of the room to eat and to type this, I have spent most of the day asleep or at least resting. Got a lot of reading done to, and finally caught up with my comic purchases from last week, just in time to go buy more tomorrow.

What made it even grander was that my last night at work, both of my coworkers called in sick. Here I am thinking that with an ice storm on the way I don’t want to be the guy calling in, and here are both the girls coming off their weekends leaving my sick butt working alone. Not fun that was for sure, but me and the supervisors made it through mostly unscathed.

Speaking of comics above, this was a pretty good week: Ultimate X-Men continued beautifully Kirkman's quest to recraft 90’s X-history in to a coherent saga, The Sword finally got going, Ultimates 3 was beautiful if a little thin on the story end. Kabuki The Alchemy ended well, with most of the story starring David Mack BTW. Suburban Glamour followed in the Ultimates vein, pretty if a little weak on story. Still one of my favorite new comics came out with its third issue as well: The Ninety-Nine. Fabian Nicieza really is a great writer, even if he is vastly under-respected for his dark X-past.

Re-reading The Golden Compass now before I go see the movie. I have seen good reviews and bad reviews, but as long as we get some polar bear ass-kickery I’ll be happy.

And that’s about all the digressions I have for today.

I'm Back!

Well, this blog sat dormant for about 5 months longer than I planned, and I have to say I really don’t have that great of an excuse. I have been spending quite a bit of time working on my other writing projects. To be specific, I’ve started working on a few comic projects that readers should be able to (hopefully) see up at my new website Evolution Comics. Expect to see a bit popping up on that site to preview my comic projects soon. And I will try my best to update here as well.

I’ve become obsessed with developing a non-super project of late. Between watching 300 and reading Eric Shanower’s Age of Bronze, I have been building a Conan-style fantasy character set in fantastic version of 1000 BC or so. No idea how much I will do with it, but it’s consuming a good size bit of non-blogging time as well.

Hopefully, I will be back in the next few days with some thoughts on recent viewing, listening, reading and the such.

Later.