What kinds of crazy super heroic comic books could possibly make me come about my blogging hibernation? Well, I think its safe to say that we all know the answer to that one question, now don't we.
Secret Invasion # 1. Yes. It is true. I have just read Secret Invasion # 1 and now I'm gonna throw a bunch of hate all over it 'cause how we do when we do it. Where can we start on this? From what you heard (if you have not had the pleasure of reading it) its got all kinds of your typical Brian Michael Bendis speechifying in the word balloons. And of course, its completely foreign and alien to those who have not been following along this little ride that Marvel's Golden Boy has taken the Marvel U on. This things that people say are unfalse! You can't just pick up the Bible and start reading at Revelations, my friends! You gotta get on at Genesis and see how that shit rides.
Luckily, I'm one of those morons that starting reading this Marvel Bible at the beginning. I may have skipped a couple chapters of Numbers and Deuterononmy(sp?), but I got the main picture all mapped out in my head. Something has been amiss for awhile now and today is the day that we take a moment to sort this crap out.
Having read this first issue I have decided that this isn't a very good book. Why?
Bendis can't do melodramatic. He just can't. His forte is the half-assed comedic scripting that he culled from Aaron Sorkin's assorted TV dramas and faux-cheekiness of the WB's Tuesday night line up, with the "realistic" stutter of some guy named David Mamet. Its HBO Sopranos Cool disseminated through the likes Hank Pym and Luke Cage. Every character is smart and funny, except for those who TRY to be smart and funny, only to their own mid-fight embarassment. More often than not, it is pretty damn boring.
From the moment that Iron Man opens his stupid mouth on the first page, to the shocking reveal at the end, everything comes with a self-imposed weight that does not deliver in any kind of convincing manner whatsoever. When Tony Stark tells us readers that he's telling us the biggest secret there is in the world, the eyes only roll.
We've seen this all before. It was called Civil War and it had heroes fighting other heroes. Throwing in the added bonus that some of these heroes are really just aliens in disguise makes it a little more interesting. I just can't help but think that its a premise that is not in capable hands. And that feeling seems to permeate alot of what Marvel has been putting out the past two years. These are great ideas that I could do a million times better. And I'm a horrible writer.
But I'll be around until the end, if only to give me something to hate about.
Now the new All Star Superman # 10? That's a great book. Everything that Secret Invasion # 1 did wrong, All Star Superman # 10 did right. Each page is packed with something new. We aren't just flipping through a comic book about Superman, we're turning a new corner with him. Its all ground that we have traveled before. We just have a better guide than we did last time. We have a writer that is able to make us stop and look at everything differently. This is, without a doubt, a Superman tale that will be remembered for a long, long time by fans of both super hero and non-super hero genres.
But I'm feeling like you all knew that, right? Right.
Showing posts with label Marvel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A bunch of super hero comics I bought in 2008, part 1
Just got home early from school where I took an algebra test that I definitely did not do good on. Why? Because I'm part lazy slacker, part someone that gets sick and missed a night or two of class. Its funny, because I was making algebra my dirty little slizz-zut at the beginning of the semester until I somehow lost my way. Who would have thought that Spencer D. Carnage, Casual Marvel Comic Book Blogger, would ever be somewhat decent at trinomials? Its that "Solve for x and graph it out: 3x + 20 is greater than or equal to 9x - 2 + x" shit that gets me. And this is ELEMENTARY algebra we're talking about. What happens when you get into ADVANCED algebra? Does it compare to a newbie trying to jump head first in the murky, continuity-shark filled waters of the 2008 publishing schedule of mainstream superhero comics?
The answer to that question is perverse and often baffling.
Let's start with Uncanny X-men # 495, shall we? Yes. Yes we shall. Its been a long tiiiiiiiiiime since I've read an issue of Uncanny X-men. The last issue I read had Vulcan flying in space and taking way too long to disable some Shi'ar starships. It was one of those one-off issues that Brubaker seems to do so well with in Captain America. Unfortunately for my $2.99, it didn't quite work out for Vulcan as it did for Nomad so I stopped reading. From what I heard, that decision was a good one because that space shit was whatevs. Then the Messiah CompleX came along and I still kept my distance. Now that its over, I thought I would jump on with Uncanny X-men # 495.
If you want my two cents, Emma and Scott taking their post-crossover honeymoon in the Savage Land is exactly what an X-men comic needs to get me to jump back off.
Uh.......whatthefuckamIreading? The leader of the X-men and the White Queen running from dinosaurs while exchanging meaningful glances.
(That big long space is me folding my arms and shaking my head with disdain through my computer at the people who created this comic.)
That's okay, though. Bru wants to channel Chris Claremont at his worst, go for it. I'm good. As long as I have one more issue of Astonishing X-men left, I can wait six more months before I get my fix of X-goodness. I think you all know what I mean, right? Despite the wait, this last arc of Astonishing X-men is great. It got bumpy for a few moments there, but as soon as they got into space, it was all systems go. And if we have to wait six months to get that grand finale issue from Whedon, Cassady & Co., you won't hear me complain. It'll be a shame to see this creative team go, but it was worth the wait.
Next, I'm going to talk about Captain America # 34. In case you haven't heard, that's motherfuggin' Bucky under that new Cap costume, son! That's right! If you've been avoiding spoilers, you're prolly all jacked up with rage right now! You're thinking "What's the deal, Spencer? Normally you're all "OMG SPOILERZ!" when you're ruining the comics I haven't read. When that happens, I just leave and surf for pRonz on the interwubs. But this?! This is too much!!! Its so bad th-that........deep breath......I'M NEVER GOING TO READ YOUR BLOG EVER AGAIN."
That's okay, because I'll probably give up blogging after this post, so I think I can live with that.
So yeah. Bucky is Cap. And Cap is back. And Spencer? Spencer's yawning. Why is Spencer yawning? Spencer is yawning because it looks not much has changed in the world of Captain America. The Red Skull is still around.... Some of those new baddies like Dr. Faustus and Arnim Zola that were re-introduced 15 to 20 some odd issues ago are hanging on his arm... And the new Cap is sent out to take on AIM agents trying to steal money from Wall Street. Talk about a shitty ass debut. I get what's going on. Iron Man wants Cap-Bucky to start out slow. Stretch out the ol' chain mail before they throw him at some Skrulls. I get it. It was just a boring issue. The biggest threat in this issue was Sub-prime Mortgages. Sorry, friend, but I already faced that threat two years ago. I'm over getting my ass handed to me by Sub-Prime Mortgage Lenders. Its time for some new enemies to step up already. I've been gone a long time, but this makes me glad that I stayed away. Sorry, Jason. I tried. I really did.
Last but not least.... New Avengers Annual # 2. Yeah. Fuckin' Bendis. Figured I'd drop in and see what's up with that science experiment that I got going on with Bendis. Its the one where I remember how much I loved his Daredevil, Alias and early Powers and hope that he FINALLY ironed out the kinks in his more recent work. Not too mention, get a gauge for what's going in my beloved Marvel U seeing how he's one of the guys in charge.
Guess what, readers? Its still not good. Did I spoil that one, too? I figured I must be the last DECENT blogger who is still dipping their toes in that stagnating pool, so I guess its only fair that I share.
The book opens up with the Hood and crew going BACK to Tigra's place to get the Feminists and Tigra fans upset by having him punk her once again. Instead of beating the crap out of her and videotaping it in some kind of shitty fashion that ended with Bendis patting himself on the back at Newsarama for handling a scene like that with such class, she caves and gives up the goods without a fight. The goods that I'm talking about is the location of where the New Avengers are hiding. Can't blame her, because there is the Hood with a gun to her head again, but with like.....8 dudes in the shadows looking all scary.
Now that the Hood knows where the New Avengers are, he takes to their front door. He's not gonna punk out like Iron Man and bring in Brother Voodoo. Nah, he's just gonna jump into that faux looking run down building that used to belong to the Sorceror Supreme which will soon become a Starbucks and start punching around until he hits Wolverine in his Canadian face. But first?
Well, let's set the scene for those who haven't had the chance to waste their money on this issue. Before you storm into the good guys' hangout, you gotta pump everyone up. You know, cheerlead a little bit. But it ain't the kind of cheerleading it would expect from a team leader. No. This one involves everyones standing around like a bad ass, posing for their picture in the Official Marvel Handbook. After doing that for a few minutes, some numbnuts Thor villian can't stand the suspense. What's he gonna say? Naturally, it goes something like this:
Piledriver, the numbnuts Thor villian, stands there looking all bad azz with his arm crossed, as you can see by his decision to replace his standard villian costume shirt with a wife beater. Yeah, bro.... You fuckin' rip. You wanna punch some good guys? Good thing you wore that wife-beater, dude, 'cuz there's a bunch of super hero bitches in there that need to get bitch slapped.
Let's do this!
Piledriver says to the guy in charge(that's the Hood), "So What'cha Think, Hood?" See, Piledriver, he don't fuck around. He's thinking about how they're gonna stomp them Neg Reg heroes! He's fired UP! and ready to GO! Like the man said.....
So What'cha Think, Hood?
(anticipation)
(followed by more anticipation)
(its only seconds, but damn, I wanna crack heads so every second of anticipation just gets me more riled up, anticipation)
(god, the anticipation is killing, anticipation)
(fuck me, I wanna punch a Spider-man in his face, I'm so anticipating right now, anticipating anticipation)
(followed by more anticipation)
(what's that crazy new villian mastermind on the block gonna say, anticipation)
(in case you're wondering, the question is "So What'cha Think, Hood?" anticipation)
(....-tion)
Fuck it, here's the panel:
*blink, blink*
Fuck you, Bendis.
Don't waste my time with your shit anymore. I really don't give a shit what the Hood thinks about the music industry. The only thing worst than being a poor man's Aaron Sorkin is being the Comic Book version of a poor man's Aaron Sorkin. I want my heroes and villians to awesome. Not cheeky. AWESOME.
Is that too much?
Color me unsurprised because the rest of this comic was a big pile of crap. Like, all over. Just stupid. At one part Spidey swings in and takes Luke and Jessica's baby so he can get the baby to safety, but does so without really explaining why he's doing it, sending Luke into his typical Angry Black Guy routine that Bendis believes works so well for his character. More yawns.
Them are the super hero comics I bought and read. There was also Astro City: Dark Age # 4, but I haven't gotten to that one yet. Next, I'll ramble on about a few of the indie comics that I bought, like '76 and Pax Romana(which ruled). I totally forgot about Fell so that will have to wait. Set your RSS Feeds to Of Course, Yeah and it'll be like Christmas in March when I update this again.
Toodles!
The answer to that question is perverse and often baffling.
Let's start with Uncanny X-men # 495, shall we? Yes. Yes we shall. Its been a long tiiiiiiiiiime since I've read an issue of Uncanny X-men. The last issue I read had Vulcan flying in space and taking way too long to disable some Shi'ar starships. It was one of those one-off issues that Brubaker seems to do so well with in Captain America. Unfortunately for my $2.99, it didn't quite work out for Vulcan as it did for Nomad so I stopped reading. From what I heard, that decision was a good one because that space shit was whatevs. Then the Messiah CompleX came along and I still kept my distance. Now that its over, I thought I would jump on with Uncanny X-men # 495.
If you want my two cents, Emma and Scott taking their post-crossover honeymoon in the Savage Land is exactly what an X-men comic needs to get me to jump back off.
Uh.......whatthefuckamIreading? The leader of the X-men and the White Queen running from dinosaurs while exchanging meaningful glances.
(That big long space is me folding my arms and shaking my head with disdain through my computer at the people who created this comic.)
That's okay, though. Bru wants to channel Chris Claremont at his worst, go for it. I'm good. As long as I have one more issue of Astonishing X-men left, I can wait six more months before I get my fix of X-goodness. I think you all know what I mean, right? Despite the wait, this last arc of Astonishing X-men is great. It got bumpy for a few moments there, but as soon as they got into space, it was all systems go. And if we have to wait six months to get that grand finale issue from Whedon, Cassady & Co., you won't hear me complain. It'll be a shame to see this creative team go, but it was worth the wait.
Next, I'm going to talk about Captain America # 34. In case you haven't heard, that's motherfuggin' Bucky under that new Cap costume, son! That's right! If you've been avoiding spoilers, you're prolly all jacked up with rage right now! You're thinking "What's the deal, Spencer? Normally you're all "OMG SPOILERZ!" when you're ruining the comics I haven't read. When that happens, I just leave and surf for pRonz on the interwubs. But this?! This is too much!!! Its so bad th-that........deep breath......I'M NEVER GOING TO READ YOUR BLOG EVER AGAIN."
That's okay, because I'll probably give up blogging after this post, so I think I can live with that.
So yeah. Bucky is Cap. And Cap is back. And Spencer? Spencer's yawning. Why is Spencer yawning? Spencer is yawning because it looks not much has changed in the world of Captain America. The Red Skull is still around.... Some of those new baddies like Dr. Faustus and Arnim Zola that were re-introduced 15 to 20 some odd issues ago are hanging on his arm... And the new Cap is sent out to take on AIM agents trying to steal money from Wall Street. Talk about a shitty ass debut. I get what's going on. Iron Man wants Cap-Bucky to start out slow. Stretch out the ol' chain mail before they throw him at some Skrulls. I get it. It was just a boring issue. The biggest threat in this issue was Sub-prime Mortgages. Sorry, friend, but I already faced that threat two years ago. I'm over getting my ass handed to me by Sub-Prime Mortgage Lenders. Its time for some new enemies to step up already. I've been gone a long time, but this makes me glad that I stayed away. Sorry, Jason. I tried. I really did.
Last but not least.... New Avengers Annual # 2. Yeah. Fuckin' Bendis. Figured I'd drop in and see what's up with that science experiment that I got going on with Bendis. Its the one where I remember how much I loved his Daredevil, Alias and early Powers and hope that he FINALLY ironed out the kinks in his more recent work. Not too mention, get a gauge for what's going in my beloved Marvel U seeing how he's one of the guys in charge.
Guess what, readers? Its still not good. Did I spoil that one, too? I figured I must be the last DECENT blogger who is still dipping their toes in that stagnating pool, so I guess its only fair that I share.
The book opens up with the Hood and crew going BACK to Tigra's place to get the Feminists and Tigra fans upset by having him punk her once again. Instead of beating the crap out of her and videotaping it in some kind of shitty fashion that ended with Bendis patting himself on the back at Newsarama for handling a scene like that with such class, she caves and gives up the goods without a fight. The goods that I'm talking about is the location of where the New Avengers are hiding. Can't blame her, because there is the Hood with a gun to her head again, but with like.....8 dudes in the shadows looking all scary.
Now that the Hood knows where the New Avengers are, he takes to their front door. He's not gonna punk out like Iron Man and bring in Brother Voodoo. Nah, he's just gonna jump into that faux looking run down building that used to belong to the Sorceror Supreme which will soon become a Starbucks and start punching around until he hits Wolverine in his Canadian face. But first?
Well, let's set the scene for those who haven't had the chance to waste their money on this issue. Before you storm into the good guys' hangout, you gotta pump everyone up. You know, cheerlead a little bit. But it ain't the kind of cheerleading it would expect from a team leader. No. This one involves everyones standing around like a bad ass, posing for their picture in the Official Marvel Handbook. After doing that for a few minutes, some numbnuts Thor villian can't stand the suspense. What's he gonna say? Naturally, it goes something like this:
Piledriver, the numbnuts Thor villian, stands there looking all bad azz with his arm crossed, as you can see by his decision to replace his standard villian costume shirt with a wife beater. Yeah, bro.... You fuckin' rip. You wanna punch some good guys? Good thing you wore that wife-beater, dude, 'cuz there's a bunch of super hero bitches in there that need to get bitch slapped.
Let's do this!
Piledriver says to the guy in charge(that's the Hood), "So What'cha Think, Hood?" See, Piledriver, he don't fuck around. He's thinking about how they're gonna stomp them Neg Reg heroes! He's fired UP! and ready to GO! Like the man said.....
So What'cha Think, Hood?
(anticipation)
(followed by more anticipation)
(its only seconds, but damn, I wanna crack heads so every second of anticipation just gets me more riled up, anticipation)
(god, the anticipation is killing, anticipation)
(fuck me, I wanna punch a Spider-man in his face, I'm so anticipating right now, anticipating anticipation)
(followed by more anticipation)
(what's that crazy new villian mastermind on the block gonna say, anticipation)
(in case you're wondering, the question is "So What'cha Think, Hood?" anticipation)
(....-tion)
Fuck it, here's the panel:
*blink, blink*
Fuck you, Bendis.
Don't waste my time with your shit anymore. I really don't give a shit what the Hood thinks about the music industry. The only thing worst than being a poor man's Aaron Sorkin is being the Comic Book version of a poor man's Aaron Sorkin. I want my heroes and villians to awesome. Not cheeky. AWESOME.
Is that too much?
Color me unsurprised because the rest of this comic was a big pile of crap. Like, all over. Just stupid. At one part Spidey swings in and takes Luke and Jessica's baby so he can get the baby to safety, but does so without really explaining why he's doing it, sending Luke into his typical Angry Black Guy routine that Bendis believes works so well for his character. More yawns.
Them are the super hero comics I bought and read. There was also Astro City: Dark Age # 4, but I haven't gotten to that one yet. Next, I'll ramble on about a few of the indie comics that I bought, like '76 and Pax Romana(which ruled). I totally forgot about Fell so that will have to wait. Set your RSS Feeds to Of Course, Yeah and it'll be like Christmas in March when I update this again.
Toodles!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
The Wolverine I Know And Love
Look at that.
Wolverine, stumbling home drunk, wearing a cowboy hat, and singing some stupid song to himself while smoking. Now there is a sight that I miss. Wait, we don't have a can opener for those beers, Wolverine! How we gonna fix THAT?!
Who knew Improvisation was one of Wolverine's mutant powers?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
New Warriors # 2
Issue 2 is out and my hope for this series being decent is dwindling. And why is that?OMG!!! SPOILERZ!!!
So far, two former mutants have already joined up with the New Warriors with a third one being courted. The lovable loser, Beak, from Grant Morrison's New X-men run and Jubilee. If you look hard enough, you could make argument for a possible 4th as the one shot of the full team shows a man with spiky hair and a scarf around his neck. The recently de-powered Chamber, perhaps? Its interesting to think that the mutants, or ex-mutants, would be so concerned with the Registration Act that haunts the Marvel U. I am inclined to guess that maybe the Registration Act mirrors the Mutant Registration Act all too well and if it is not stopped, the always looming menace of a Sentinel policed future is right around the corner. However, I find it hard for a bunch of Ex-mutants to be concerned about a future scenario that they have been blacklisted from. Grevioux can definitely pursue that angle, but I don't know if I'll be buying it. Another reason for the M-Day victims to take up the cause could be the simple reason of getting their powers back. The celebrity mutant life is a sexy one. Now that these characters are so last minute, they are latching on to the next best thing, which appears to be technology-powered super heroics. Feels like Vh1's Celebreality, really..
Idiotic metaphors aside, this book is still standing on the fence for me as a super hero comic. Having an unreasonable soft spot in my heart for Nicieza's and Bagley's work on the first volume, its safe to say that I'm probably going to be a little unfair. Its still light on the action, much like the first issue. Mystery abounds in regards to what these New Warriors are all about but none of it is particularly thrilling. And the detective work put into solving the mystery of the New Warriors by Wolverine comes in the form of deduction via putting his thumb up against a televised broadcast of one of the female Warriors in action. At this point, there's just a whole bunch of grand standing against the Registration with a little bit of "not being a mutant is hard" going on. A more hardline, in-your-face approach would do this book tremendous justice. By issue 2 of the first volume of New Warriors, they had already defeated Terrax and went up against a gang of thugs equipped with fancy AIM weaponry. This time around? The return of Jubilee.
Some where out there, a message board thread is rustling with cries of celebration. Thanks, Joe Q.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
October Solicitations for Marvel Comics
So the October Solicitations are here courtesy of various different new sites and today we're going to look at a few covers that stuck for good and/or bad reasons. Its lazy blogging, but its all I got right now.
Let's begin!
< INTERNET OUTRAGE >OMG, WTFers!!!!! Pron swiping!!!!!?!< /INTERNET OUTRAGE >
There is this whole post inside of me about how they need to bring back the old school covers with kinds of crazy captions promising things that would never ever happen. Joe Quesada's name comes up no where in this prospective post. I think you can understand why.
This is the kind of cover that makes you hate the art inside because they most likely do not compare in the slighest.
I'm not much of a fan for modernized updates of classic stories, because they absolutely have no bearing on current continuity and if there's ever a reason to read Marvel Comics, its so I can go on about which superhero registering this week and who's sleeping with a skrull, but.....Eric Canete just might make me break that habit. Plus, Joe Casey. He's damn good as of late.
Ugh. That's all kinds of not-good. I'll take the cover with my dwag JRJR, thank you!
I'm boss-y! I'm the first girl to scream on a track! I switched up the beat of the drum! That's right i brought all the boys to the yard! And that's right, i'm the one that's tattooed on his arm!
I'm boss-y!
I think that Sean Phillips' talent is being put to great misuse with these stupid zombie books. Agree? Disagree? Comment below, suckas!
Have we finally out 90's the 90's? Yes, I do believe we have. By Mr. Bendis, no doubt. That is something, isn't it.
I was stoked for this when they announced it way back when. Having finally read some Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple in the interim, I'm twice oas stoked. Do people say that anymore, "stoked?" Or am I, like, totally showing my age? Is 28 old enough to start doing that?
God, I hope to heck that they don't bring back the 2nd version of Night Thrasher's armor with those 80's shoulder pads and ugly hockey mask helmet!
...
Why are you looking at me like that?
What's wrong with these two covers? Let's ask Speedball himself!
Say what you want, but New Warriors vol 1, issues 1 through 25 are the bible when it comes to doing Speedball right. If anything, they could have just shunted him over to Cable & Deadpoll and GLI, but no. Us Marvel fans have to be dumb about things like FUN.
Something is not quite right with us fans.
Stu-pid! I mean, really? Is this the best you can do, Mr. Silvestri?
Salvadore Larocca has greatly improved, IMO. I mean, even when she's all effed up, Storm is still rocking that ghetto booty. S'up, girl! Holla at yer boy!
I finally jumped on the bandwagon for this book. Great stuff. Who would of thought the Multiple Man would have been so damn interesting?
I'm digging on some Skottie Young lately. The dude's got illin' skills and he's funny, too! I think I'm man-crushing.
For some strange reason, I want to pick up New Excalibur and read it. Am I missing something? Is this flying under my radar? Am I so eager for Chris Claremont to be awesome again that I'll entertain notions of enjoying a book whose lead characters consist of Captain Britain, the Juggernaut and Dazzler?
The only David Lapham work I have read outside of Stray Bullets and Murder Me Dead is his Daredevil/Punisher work, which was absolutely fantastic. From what I've heard, some of his other stuff, specifically his DC work, not so much. I think I'll defer to the internet on this one before I dive in. I mean, if the internet was right about cats being hilarious, I'm sure they'll be spot on about this as well. Right?
Let's begin!
< INTERNET OUTRAGE >OMG, WTFers!!!!! Pron swiping!!!!!?!< /INTERNET OUTRAGE >
There is this whole post inside of me about how they need to bring back the old school covers with kinds of crazy captions promising things that would never ever happen. Joe Quesada's name comes up no where in this prospective post. I think you can understand why.
This is the kind of cover that makes you hate the art inside because they most likely do not compare in the slighest.
I'm not much of a fan for modernized updates of classic stories, because they absolutely have no bearing on current continuity and if there's ever a reason to read Marvel Comics, its so I can go on about which superhero registering this week and who's sleeping with a skrull, but.....Eric Canete just might make me break that habit. Plus, Joe Casey. He's damn good as of late.
Ugh. That's all kinds of not-good. I'll take the cover with my dwag JRJR, thank you!
I'm boss-y! I'm the first girl to scream on a track! I switched up the beat of the drum! That's right i brought all the boys to the yard! And that's right, i'm the one that's tattooed on his arm!
I'm boss-y!
I think that Sean Phillips' talent is being put to great misuse with these stupid zombie books. Agree? Disagree? Comment below, suckas!
Have we finally out 90's the 90's? Yes, I do believe we have. By Mr. Bendis, no doubt. That is something, isn't it.
I was stoked for this when they announced it way back when. Having finally read some Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple in the interim, I'm twice oas stoked. Do people say that anymore, "stoked?" Or am I, like, totally showing my age? Is 28 old enough to start doing that?
God, I hope to heck that they don't bring back the 2nd version of Night Thrasher's armor with those 80's shoulder pads and ugly hockey mask helmet!
...
Why are you looking at me like that?
What's wrong with these two covers? Let's ask Speedball himself!
Say what you want, but New Warriors vol 1, issues 1 through 25 are the bible when it comes to doing Speedball right. If anything, they could have just shunted him over to Cable & Deadpoll and GLI, but no. Us Marvel fans have to be dumb about things like FUN.
Something is not quite right with us fans.
Stu-pid! I mean, really? Is this the best you can do, Mr. Silvestri?
Salvadore Larocca has greatly improved, IMO. I mean, even when she's all effed up, Storm is still rocking that ghetto booty. S'up, girl! Holla at yer boy!
I finally jumped on the bandwagon for this book. Great stuff. Who would of thought the Multiple Man would have been so damn interesting?
I'm digging on some Skottie Young lately. The dude's got illin' skills and he's funny, too! I think I'm man-crushing.
For some strange reason, I want to pick up New Excalibur and read it. Am I missing something? Is this flying under my radar? Am I so eager for Chris Claremont to be awesome again that I'll entertain notions of enjoying a book whose lead characters consist of Captain Britain, the Juggernaut and Dazzler?
The only David Lapham work I have read outside of Stray Bullets and Murder Me Dead is his Daredevil/Punisher work, which was absolutely fantastic. From what I've heard, some of his other stuff, specifically his DC work, not so much. I think I'll defer to the internet on this one before I dive in. I mean, if the internet was right about cats being hilarious, I'm sure they'll be spot on about this as well. Right?
And we'll finish this up by saying Criminal is a great comic book that deserves to be in your long box. 'Nuff said!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Just sayin'
I called dibs on coining the term "Skrullektra"! The proof is in the pudding, my friends. Google "Skrullektra" and check the dates. We can wait.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Looking at DC & Marvel, but through Octopi Eyes!
You remember how not too long ago I was all hating on comics for being crappy? Well, they're still mostly crappy, and thank god for that because without crappy comics I don't think any of us would ever have a reason to go online, but I'm finding my distaste for them going on a seasonal decline. Why? Beats the hell out of me, really. Since I won't have the funds until friday to purchase new vittles for my comic book reading appetite, I've been going through some old trades to get my jones on. I can't think of a better time and place than now to talk about them so let's do just that!
JSA: The Golden Age
As you all know, I am not what you call a 'DC Guy.' When I think of DC comics, I think of playing peanuckle with my grandma while sipping tea on lazy sunday afternoon. Its great and all, but I'd rather be doing other things. That's just me, though. The good thing about JSA: The Golden Age is that it is the DCU straying away from that middle-of-the-road super hero business and getting down and dirty with it. Its got that edginess laid out in front of you, but with a touch of class that usually escapes most Marvel comics. Using the Red Scare as a backdrop, James Robinson crafted a well thought out suspense thriller that works as a great send off to the bygone era of the 40's and 50's mystery men. Re-reading this makes me wish that there was a comic where Alan Scott punchs Hal Jordan AND Guy Gardner in their stomachs to show the world how sissy they really are when compared to the Tower Of A Man That Is Alan Scott The Original Green Lantern, big puffy sleaves and all. Alan Scott is the type of guy that will be 80+ years old, sitting in a wheelchair, talking about how he could whoop your uppity 20 something year old punk ass. And he probably would, too. Alan Scott is not one to be fussed with. When I first read this a year or two ago, it actually made me want to catch up on the JSA and see how things were going for them in the current DCU. Maybe one of these days I will. Until then, I can look at this Elseworlds Tale and say "Me and Hourman have something in common: we've both done drugs!" Not even reading Amazing Spider-man can make me say that. And that's something.
Fantastic Four: 1 2 3 4
The only FF comics I own are Civil War Tie-ins or are drawn by Mark Bagley. I like the FF, but I just haven't read the right FF story to get me completely hooked. I know, I know, apparently John Byrne is where its at with this book. Enough already. I got this trade because, well....its Grant Morrison and Jae frickin' Lee! And its gooooood. Dark, moody, and scary as all hell at points. Morrison takes one of the brightest, shiniest super hero teams and puts them up against the ropes while Lee illustrates it all for us to see in usual dark and moody style, which works out great to accent to the feeling of DOOM hanging over our heroes' heads. Through the eyes of Grant Morrison, you get a real sense of what makes these characters tick. Its a psychological thriller that only lets up when the good guys finally beat on the bad guy. Its not enough to make want to buy everything FF yesterday, but it helps push me in the right direction.
Kingdom Come
I don't know what's so bad about Alex Ross. Sure, he's all antiquated in ways regarding the DCU and the only new changes that he acknowledges are those that lean towards the ones we see made in Kingdom Come, but brothers and sisters.....the dude can paint. And sure, sometimes the painting comes off as stiff and doesn't explode at you from the page like a Kirby panel would, but that's 90% of the guys working in the industry right now. Regardless, y'all got your opinions and I got mine. Let's move on, shall we?
I like Kingdom Come because I like Alternate Futures. They're fun. Its always interesting to see what time can do to our beloved heroes and villians. What do you think Spider-man's gonna be like when he's older? Let's go to the future and see! You ever think Wolverine will just keep on living while the rest of the X-men die, and if so, will he be all emo sad about it? Let's go to the future and see! Now I can agree with you that most stories that jump forward in time are usually piles of crap. But we're talking about super hero comics here. They're all usually are just big piles of crap. Knocking the premise just because a writer doesn't know what to do with it is unfair and childish.
What Kingdom Come is, is a love letter to DC. Apparently DC has a lot comics that function on this same kind of level, its just that Kingdom Come is doing it like Woah. Kingdom Come works so well as a love letter from Mark Waid and Alex Ross to the DCU that, that love is so great and exponentially infecting that it even transferred itself on to me. That's right! Kingdom Come knocked a little bit of ice off of my cold, cold Marvel heart. I even gave my friend Ryan, a DC fan, a hug after reading this. Its interesting when you compare Kingdom Come to what's going on right now in the current DCU. Not that I'm reading a lot of DC comics, but by the look of things, its getting pretty bad. If I must say, its starting to look like Marvel comics stayed over for the weekend and left the DCU with nothing to show for it except a heaping dose of STDs. If the current issue of the Flash is a clear cut indicator of what DC is doing as a whole(which it seems it has been the past week), DC and Fun had themselves a little bit of a falling out. I thought One Year Later was our way of getting away from all that negativity, but it looks like they're still knee deep in it over there. Sorry, DC fans, but it seems that the Marvel way of doing things is so damn lucrative and appealing that the guys in charge are trying to steal our thunder! We're just better looking, is all! Don't believe me? Go check out the Bendis Board! Nothing but 20 to 30 something year old hotties posting about New Avengers and Veronica Mars! LOL!
JSA: The Golden Age
As you all know, I am not what you call a 'DC Guy.' When I think of DC comics, I think of playing peanuckle with my grandma while sipping tea on lazy sunday afternoon. Its great and all, but I'd rather be doing other things. That's just me, though. The good thing about JSA: The Golden Age is that it is the DCU straying away from that middle-of-the-road super hero business and getting down and dirty with it. Its got that edginess laid out in front of you, but with a touch of class that usually escapes most Marvel comics. Using the Red Scare as a backdrop, James Robinson crafted a well thought out suspense thriller that works as a great send off to the bygone era of the 40's and 50's mystery men. Re-reading this makes me wish that there was a comic where Alan Scott punchs Hal Jordan AND Guy Gardner in their stomachs to show the world how sissy they really are when compared to the Tower Of A Man That Is Alan Scott The Original Green Lantern, big puffy sleaves and all. Alan Scott is the type of guy that will be 80+ years old, sitting in a wheelchair, talking about how he could whoop your uppity 20 something year old punk ass. And he probably would, too. Alan Scott is not one to be fussed with. When I first read this a year or two ago, it actually made me want to catch up on the JSA and see how things were going for them in the current DCU. Maybe one of these days I will. Until then, I can look at this Elseworlds Tale and say "Me and Hourman have something in common: we've both done drugs!" Not even reading Amazing Spider-man can make me say that. And that's something.
Fantastic Four: 1 2 3 4
The only FF comics I own are Civil War Tie-ins or are drawn by Mark Bagley. I like the FF, but I just haven't read the right FF story to get me completely hooked. I know, I know, apparently John Byrne is where its at with this book. Enough already. I got this trade because, well....its Grant Morrison and Jae frickin' Lee! And its gooooood. Dark, moody, and scary as all hell at points. Morrison takes one of the brightest, shiniest super hero teams and puts them up against the ropes while Lee illustrates it all for us to see in usual dark and moody style, which works out great to accent to the feeling of DOOM hanging over our heroes' heads. Through the eyes of Grant Morrison, you get a real sense of what makes these characters tick. Its a psychological thriller that only lets up when the good guys finally beat on the bad guy. Its not enough to make want to buy everything FF yesterday, but it helps push me in the right direction.
Kingdom Come
I don't know what's so bad about Alex Ross. Sure, he's all antiquated in ways regarding the DCU and the only new changes that he acknowledges are those that lean towards the ones we see made in Kingdom Come, but brothers and sisters.....the dude can paint. And sure, sometimes the painting comes off as stiff and doesn't explode at you from the page like a Kirby panel would, but that's 90% of the guys working in the industry right now. Regardless, y'all got your opinions and I got mine. Let's move on, shall we?
I like Kingdom Come because I like Alternate Futures. They're fun. Its always interesting to see what time can do to our beloved heroes and villians. What do you think Spider-man's gonna be like when he's older? Let's go to the future and see! You ever think Wolverine will just keep on living while the rest of the X-men die, and if so, will he be all emo sad about it? Let's go to the future and see! Now I can agree with you that most stories that jump forward in time are usually piles of crap. But we're talking about super hero comics here. They're all usually are just big piles of crap. Knocking the premise just because a writer doesn't know what to do with it is unfair and childish.
What Kingdom Come is, is a love letter to DC. Apparently DC has a lot comics that function on this same kind of level, its just that Kingdom Come is doing it like Woah. Kingdom Come works so well as a love letter from Mark Waid and Alex Ross to the DCU that, that love is so great and exponentially infecting that it even transferred itself on to me. That's right! Kingdom Come knocked a little bit of ice off of my cold, cold Marvel heart. I even gave my friend Ryan, a DC fan, a hug after reading this. Its interesting when you compare Kingdom Come to what's going on right now in the current DCU. Not that I'm reading a lot of DC comics, but by the look of things, its getting pretty bad. If I must say, its starting to look like Marvel comics stayed over for the weekend and left the DCU with nothing to show for it except a heaping dose of STDs. If the current issue of the Flash is a clear cut indicator of what DC is doing as a whole(which it seems it has been the past week), DC and Fun had themselves a little bit of a falling out. I thought One Year Later was our way of getting away from all that negativity, but it looks like they're still knee deep in it over there. Sorry, DC fans, but it seems that the Marvel way of doing things is so damn lucrative and appealing that the guys in charge are trying to steal our thunder! We're just better looking, is all! Don't believe me? Go check out the Bendis Board! Nothing but 20 to 30 something year old hotties posting about New Avengers and Veronica Mars! LOL!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
New Warriors # 1
I finally got around to reading New Warriors # 1 which is a book that I did not want to miss. And why is that? Because I'm a huge fan of the original 25 issues of New Warriors. I became a fan in the 5th grade when a friend let me read his copy of issue # 1. This series was the first 4 color super hero team book I really sank my teeth into. Other books I was reading at the time were heavily tied to my love for 80's action movies and cartoons, such as Punisher and G.I. Joe, or featured a solo character such as Amazing Spider-man. The first team book I got into was Uncanny X-men (which I jumped on around issue # 270) however the tone of Uncanny X-men at the time was more serious and sometimes darker then the standard super hero fare. Magneto was issues away from killing Zaladane in the Savage Land; Wolverine, Jubilee & Psylocke had just fought off the Mandarin, mind control and a cadre of Hand ninjas in Madripoor; Dazzler was stalked by an obsessive fan; the mutant hating nation of Genosha had just kidnapped Xavier's students, which resulted in one of their deaths. This era of X-men stories were extremely well crafted, so much that they are partially responsible for the "sophisicated, written for the big screen" type comics that dominant the current comic book landscape, however they lacked the one thing that New Warriors excelled at and helped to turn me on to: good old fashion super hero fun.Issue # 1 of this current New Warriors series by Kevin Grevioux and Paco Medina doesn't have that same sense of super heroics that Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley's original series did. Where the original New Warriors comics were at most times easy going and fun, this version of the New Warriors seems to forgo the light hearted nature of its predecessor and takes up a completely new agenda of its own which seems to only be saying "F You" to Tony Stark and the Registration. The only real light moment that comes up in this issue is the flirtation between Sofia and a young male customer who frequents the dinner she works at. Unfortunately, it suffers from the same poor dialogue that affects most teen characters in a medium that is mostly curated by middle aged men, a flaw that Nicieza himself, in my opinion, never really suffered from. Other than that, the rest of the book deals with the agenda at hand.
We start up with a glimpse of the New Warriors in action, chasing and catching a villian, only to leave him tied up with a message for both the super-villian community and the authorities in charge: Consider yourself warned. A sub plot is dangled in front of us, involving some NY police detectives that will be no doubt on the case of these New Warriors. We get a look inside the head of our lead character, Sofia, a former New Mutant by the name of Wind Dancer that lost her powers in the Decimation that came from House Of M. The recruitment process for Sofia starts off with a series of mysterious messages from an unknown party that ends with her being led into the Base Of Operations of the New Warriors. Night Thrasher, a former New Warriors, is re-introduced in a cliff hanger ending, leading us to question whether not he is somehow back from the explosion that killed him in Civil War # 1 or his suit is being worn by someone else. Its an interesting introduction to a new series, but its obviously far from over. We're still missing some members from the roster and its safe to say that we're 5 issues away from the obligatory "Woah, Buddy!" moment that solidifies every new super hero team's line up and mission purpose.
This isn't a comic book for new readers. Its a comic book for the fans of the New Warriors and Captain America's anti-Registration side, a demographic that is by its very nature is specific and narrow. Any complaints of the issue being "new reader unfriendly" really miss the point. This is for those Marvel fans that are intimately familiar with what has happened in the past two years of Marvel's publishing schedule, giving them a chance to see some kind of possible redemption for story lines that they are unhappy with. A mutant who was depowered due to Scarlet Witch's "No More Mutants" is given both the character, and all 5 of her fans, a second chance. The New Warriors are brought back to life, turning them from mere cannon fodder into the ones that are now manning the cannons. And they're pointing them directly at Stark Tower. The banner that was dropped by the anti-Registration's side at the end of Civil War is being picked right back up and turned into guerilla-styled tactics and subversive slogans painted on city walls to give voice to protest. The war is over but the revolution lives on...
Its not the worse book out there. It is nice to think of this being the book that echoes our own sentiments towards the outcome of Civil War. At some point, one of the lead characters will undoubtfully being wearing a 'Cap Was Right' t-shirt. Soon enough, we will see our New Warriors going toe to toe with Iron Man & Co. giving a select few of us that strange moment of escapist fantasy where our favorite D-Lister gets to smack Mr. Stark a good one for being such a prick. The only difference from New Warriors and the other comics that feature characters with dissenting voices against the Pro-Registration side such as Nova or the New Avengers is that the whole crux of this foray in escapism is very much dependent on the current state of things. What happens when that status quo changes? When the Post Civil War Marvel U. reverts back into the Plain Ol' Marvel U, a character like Nova can just fly back into space and pick up where the past decade of Marvel publishing has left off. And the New Avengers have Spider-man and Wolverine. What will be left for the New Warriors to do once there is no more Fascist Tony Stark to get them all riled up? Is there a Fugazi in the future for the Marvel U's Minor Threat?
Probably not. When this series gets cancelled, we'll be left with the same small group of dedicated New Warriors fans,
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Some rants inspired by the Marvel Solicitations for September 2007
Every now and then, about once a month, 12 times a year, all year long, Marvel likes to give us "fanboys" a sneak peek into what's coming out. The recent solicitations brought up something that I felt the need to kick around out in the open with the hope that I might understand this insular world that I have embraced to the inner core of my being.One thing I don't get? Fans that get burned about the sudden stream of comic book appearances of a character due to that said character being featured up in a next big super hero blockbuster movie. The new crop of Silver Surfer related projects and appearances is what got me thinking in this direction. You dudes just get hella burnt, you do.
News of the black suit making its appearance in Spider-man 3 and everyone is all "sighs" and whines. Its funny because the people making these kind of remarks are mostly DC fans. As if the idea of Marvel trying to get some extra dollars by indirectly tieing in some of their comic books to their corresponding movies really turns your screw. However, when DC puts out a Silver Age collection of classic Brainac stories around the same time the latest Superman movie comes out in which Brainac is the feature villian, everyone is all "These stories are blowing mind! Yippie skippy!" Not trying to stir things up, its just an observation. Marvel fans get like that, too. Recently at New Joe Fridays, someone had to question Marvel's reasoning behind the Back In Black storyline. You almost feel like the Powers That Be have to apologize for the forthcoming movies editorializing the comics. Don't know about you, but it seems the way to run a business is to capitalize upon any kind of success and milk it for all its worth. When you're done with that, slap a variant cover on that summabitch!
Also, while we're vaguely on the subject of new solicitations....anyone notice a lack of the Black Panther title being solicited? Has it been canceled and I just missed it? If it was officially canceled, I imagine there would have been a nice little storm of thinly veiled racism and the subsequent commentary making its way across my screen. Until now, nothing yet.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Heroes Con & WW Philly: Wrap it up!
Last post I was talking about doing a run down of this past weekend with all news from Heroes Con and WW Philly, separating most of the crap into their related editorial camps. One post, we talk about all things X. The next post, its WWH-related! Well, that was an idiotic idea because of the things they announced, I don't really give a damn about most of them, so....
I'll ramble while you read, alright? Okay.
Out of the Spider-man related announcements, the most interesting one is the cancellation of all the ancillary Spidey titles and making Amazing Spider-man a title that comes out three times a month. You sneaky bastards, Marvel Comics....making us fans buy Friendly Neighborhood and Sensational when we only want to read Amazing....just prey on our completist tendencies, why don'cha! Heaven forbid there should be a gap in my collection where Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's not so great Spidey story takes place for the month! What are they going to do next?! Put Wolverine and Spider-man in every comic so that I have no choice put to buy them all!?!
That would be sheer fucking madness!
And can we stop talking about how a married Spider-man screws up the character? Go read Kraven's Last Hunt to get an idea of what a married Spider-man should be like. The idea that a bunch of 40+ year old men sitting around huge tables at creator summits and discussing ways to make Peter Parker single again in order to recapture that soap opera element that the book had when they were all kids is sad and depressing and will only lead to God awful stories that no one wants to read. Step away from the Retcon button and just deal with the fact that Spider-man has to swing to the super market every now and then to pick up some feminine products for MJ. Okay? Thank you.
Did you catch that part about how there's a Brian K. Vaughan and Eduardo Risso Wolverine Mini coming out? I would love to see an Eduardo Risso Wolverine. And Brian K. Vaughan just might give us back the Wolverine that we all deserve. Its only a mini, but damn, it'll probably all kinds of great.
Let's talk about Skrulls! Just read New Avengers # 31 and it wasn't all that bad. Bringing Jessica Jones and the baby into the mix like that seems pretty stupid, but its too soon to really say. At this panel, Bendis fields the usual stupid comics that a story like this will raise. Me, I just want a good story. Bendis is capable of those from time to time, so here's to hoping that this current path we're on does not give me ulcers.
The one announcement that Bendis did NOT make was the eradication of his catty ass thought balloons in Mighty Avengers. Hopefully by San Diego Comic-Con, we'll get that announcement along with a formal apology and coupons to redeem for re-lettered versions of those Mighty Avengers comics that don't have Ms. Marvel and Iron Man thinking like morons when they're not talking. They can either mail them to my house or send them in e-coupon form. I'm not picky.
Then there is the news of the X-Crossover, called The Messiah Complex. I imagine Magneto will be back yet again and everyone will be all "Dang!" to which Magneto replies "s'right!" and then fighting ensues alongside some parallels to how the X-men represent the struggles of the oppressed people in the real world. Why you gotta make me feel all bad for being a white privileged suburban male, huh X-men comics? Can't I just read about sexy mutants going all stabby and blasty and mental mind reading without having to feel like some jerk? Gosh!
Yeah, this will probably be another huge mess, but apparently that is what's for sale in today's world of mainstream super hero comics. Enjoy yourselves!
I'll ramble while you read, alright? Okay.
Out of the Spider-man related announcements, the most interesting one is the cancellation of all the ancillary Spidey titles and making Amazing Spider-man a title that comes out three times a month. You sneaky bastards, Marvel Comics....making us fans buy Friendly Neighborhood and Sensational when we only want to read Amazing....just prey on our completist tendencies, why don'cha! Heaven forbid there should be a gap in my collection where Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's not so great Spidey story takes place for the month! What are they going to do next?! Put Wolverine and Spider-man in every comic so that I have no choice put to buy them all!?! That would be sheer fucking madness!
And can we stop talking about how a married Spider-man screws up the character? Go read Kraven's Last Hunt to get an idea of what a married Spider-man should be like. The idea that a bunch of 40+ year old men sitting around huge tables at creator summits and discussing ways to make Peter Parker single again in order to recapture that soap opera element that the book had when they were all kids is sad and depressing and will only lead to God awful stories that no one wants to read. Step away from the Retcon button and just deal with the fact that Spider-man has to swing to the super market every now and then to pick up some feminine products for MJ. Okay? Thank you.
Did you catch that part about how there's a Brian K. Vaughan and Eduardo Risso Wolverine Mini coming out? I would love to see an Eduardo Risso Wolverine. And Brian K. Vaughan just might give us back the Wolverine that we all deserve. Its only a mini, but damn, it'll probably all kinds of great.
Let's talk about Skrulls! Just read New Avengers # 31 and it wasn't all that bad. Bringing Jessica Jones and the baby into the mix like that seems pretty stupid, but its too soon to really say. At this panel, Bendis fields the usual stupid comics that a story like this will raise. Me, I just want a good story. Bendis is capable of those from time to time, so here's to hoping that this current path we're on does not give me ulcers. The one announcement that Bendis did NOT make was the eradication of his catty ass thought balloons in Mighty Avengers. Hopefully by San Diego Comic-Con, we'll get that announcement along with a formal apology and coupons to redeem for re-lettered versions of those Mighty Avengers comics that don't have Ms. Marvel and Iron Man thinking like morons when they're not talking. They can either mail them to my house or send them in e-coupon form. I'm not picky.
Then there is the news of the X-Crossover, called The Messiah Complex. I imagine Magneto will be back yet again and everyone will be all "Dang!" to which Magneto replies "s'right!" and then fighting ensues alongside some parallels to how the X-men represent the struggles of the oppressed people in the real world. Why you gotta make me feel all bad for being a white privileged suburban male, huh X-men comics? Can't I just read about sexy mutants going all stabby and blasty and mental mind reading without having to feel like some jerk? Gosh! Yeah, this will probably be another huge mess, but apparently that is what's for sale in today's world of mainstream super hero comics. Enjoy yourselves!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Heroes Con & WW Philly: Mondo Marvel & More
The Summer Con season is in full swing, with both Heroes Con and Wizard World Philly going on this weekend at the same time. Since I am one of Marvel's six blogs, I have decided that its time to start acting like one by posting my idiotic commentary alongside the new announcements. To make things easy, I'll divide it up into different posts based upon editorial camps and what not, starting with basic Marvel stuff.
Are you ready for some hard hitting in your face bloggery?! If the answer is "No!", please click here. If the answer is "Hell yes, brother! Bring the pain!" then continue on....
All in all, things don't look so bad. And believe you me, there is no one more upset about that than myself. Why? Because I'm never really happy with comics unless they're pissing me off!
And then there's the new Marvel Comics Presents. You know that snazzy car that looks hella hot and drives gnarly fast that the protagonist drives in the 2nd The Fast & Furious movie? This is the comic book version of it. Its a mother fraggin' sports car of a comic book that's gonna race off of the racks, right at your ass, so you best get out of the way or else you gonna get run over! And quite frankly, I don't think that some of you could handle that.
Yeah, I'm not too sure what that's supposed to mean other than this comic looks HOT!
If they could Sam Kieth and Rob Liefeld drawing dudes like Longshot and Deathlok, it would buy 5 copies, but I get them CGC graded and shot up into space to insure nothing would ever happen to them that would cause them to lose value! Ok, that wasn't right. Sam Kieth is actually awesome even if he draw some funky Wolverine action back in the old MCP.
Even though this is more X-men related, they talked about it today so I'll just lump it in. The Angel: Revelations mini-series.
Er, uh....what? I, um.....I'm not going to read this when it comes out therefore this will probably be the first and last time I ever blog about an Angel mini-series at all. As a matter of fact, I could quite possibly be commenting on YOUR blog about how unsmart you are for wasting everyone else's time with your review of issue # 3 when it comes out. While we're on the subject of useless mini-series, let's pitch some that could be of equal importance and probably not worthy of anyone's reading time:
Paste Pot Pete: Unglued!
Captain Ultra Happy Fun Time Romancing Love
Erik & Charles: The College Years
What about Frogman?
Rom The Spaceknight: You got your wish. Can you stop bugging us now?
And that's all we have to say about Angel: Revelations and all of the other exciting announcements and preview art we've seen so far. Next, we'll talk about Spider-man. By next I mean probably on Monday or Tuesday!
Are you ready for some hard hitting in your face bloggery?! If the answer is "No!", please click here. If the answer is "Hell yes, brother! Bring the pain!" then continue on....
All in all, things don't look so bad. And believe you me, there is no one more upset about that than myself. Why? Because I'm never really happy with comics unless they're pissing me off! - Captain America being written by the guy who created Rambo is only flawed by the fact that the comic itself doesn't actually STAR John Rambo, but we can just pretend that's whose under the mask, right?
- Even though I only read the Nova mini and issue 1 of Annihilation, I am curious to see what the spin-offs will read like. That Star Lord cover is mega-spiffy in its Jin-Rohesque beauty.
- And this I'm excited about. We get an Iron Fist annual which is proper because that title itself is the best super heroish book on the shelves. According to the cover which you can see to your right, it looks like its going to continue the grand tradition of being amazing.
- I really like the cover for New Avengers # 34 because it hints at some crazy alternate universe story, which I always enjoy. Hell, as bad as House Of M was, I kind of dug it. The premise rocked despite all the glaring problems with the story.
We get a Penance mini-series which I'm sure we could all do without. Unless he's getting his balls back, I could care less for Penance. Nova I like. Don't worry, buddy. I'm going to pick up those two issues I missed when I make it the comic shop this weekend. Don't think I've forgotten about you. Is that Gamora holding his head? And is it okay if I'm slightly aroused by scantily clad space babes? Wait, no, that's not right. Its sexy zombie teenage girls that's got us frat boys all riled up. Thank you, Internet. Don't know what kind of sick fetish I would be chasing this week without you.
And then there's the new Marvel Comics Presents. You know that snazzy car that looks hella hot and drives gnarly fast that the protagonist drives in the 2nd The Fast & Furious movie? This is the comic book version of it. Its a mother fraggin' sports car of a comic book that's gonna race off of the racks, right at your ass, so you best get out of the way or else you gonna get run over! And quite frankly, I don't think that some of you could handle that.
Yeah, I'm not too sure what that's supposed to mean other than this comic looks HOT!
- But dayuuuuuuuuuuuum....that Hellcat looks absolutely splendid. I can't think of anyone else that could do a better job with the character. Writing a comic book with your significant other sounds like it could be dangerous. Does Mrs. Immonen get all "we gonna have the big finish gone down like this or else you'll drawing your little boy comics in the dog house, Mister!"...? Because she totally could. Us men are like silly putty in your hands, women. That's why we oppress you with our comics so much.
- I like Khoi Pham's depiction of the Captain America-copied kick that Taskmaster is delivering to that S.H.I.E.L.D. flunky. It kind of makes me wish that I was at home alone on a lazy saturday afternoon, air-fighting imaginary ninja foes.
- Seeing names like Josh Fialkov, Barry Kitson, B. Clay Moore and Lee Weeks attached to this makes me happy. And Christos Gage, too. He's growing on me, that one.
- Even the Weird multi-verse Spidey doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Especially since it'll probably only be 5 to 10 pages at time for an issue or three. I'm on board. If I ever get a pull started, this book is definitely going to be on it.
If they could Sam Kieth and Rob Liefeld drawing dudes like Longshot and Deathlok, it would buy 5 copies, but I get them CGC graded and shot up into space to insure nothing would ever happen to them that would cause them to lose value! Ok, that wasn't right. Sam Kieth is actually awesome even if he draw some funky Wolverine action back in the old MCP.
Even though this is more X-men related, they talked about it today so I'll just lump it in. The Angel: Revelations mini-series.Er, uh....what? I, um.....I'm not going to read this when it comes out therefore this will probably be the first and last time I ever blog about an Angel mini-series at all. As a matter of fact, I could quite possibly be commenting on YOUR blog about how unsmart you are for wasting everyone else's time with your review of issue # 3 when it comes out. While we're on the subject of useless mini-series, let's pitch some that could be of equal importance and probably not worthy of anyone's reading time:
Paste Pot Pete: Unglued!
Captain Ultra Happy Fun Time Romancing Love
Erik & Charles: The College Years
What about Frogman?
Rom The Spaceknight: You got your wish. Can you stop bugging us now?
And that's all we have to say about Angel: Revelations and all of the other exciting announcements and preview art we've seen so far. Next, we'll talk about Spider-man. By next I mean probably on Monday or Tuesday!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Shhhhh....
Remember when that Painted Doll person spoiled Civil War a few weeks before the first issue hit? Happened at Progressive Ruin a year ago with nary a mention only to rear its ugly head 8 months later and eventually made its way to Lying In The Gutters? That might have been me. And I might have a decent spoiler in the next few days for all you Silver Age DC fans out there.
Maybe.
Maybe.
A few tidbits and what not...
I bought me some comics last sunday and read most of them. And most of those, I actually enjoyed. Even New Avengers # 30. However, there are a few panels where Spider-man starts talking about how the New Avengers formed weeks ago with the prison break out. The problem is that I'm almost certain that there has been previous mentions in terms of time elapsing, specifically with the House Of M debacle, that are greater than just a few weeks. Now I feel strangely compelled to go back and read some of those back issues just so I could say "See!!! You got it wrong, Bendissssssss!!! Ha!!!!!!!" because, as a fan, its my god given right.
Right?
It is the nitpickiness like that, that makes me somewhat ashamed for the role that I sometimes play in comic book culture. Quite frankly, when I see myself getting all fanboyish, it scares the living hell out of me. At least it has lately. That's why Civil War did such a number on me and my comic book reading habits. I got way too invested and found my passion for super hero comics turn into Newsaramian levels of stupidity when it was all a huge let down. The fact that my mind is hard-wired to digest and store continuity into the archives of my comic book knowledge is somewhat gnarly. Any hiccups in continuity that don't jive cause frustration. Why is that? I can be forgiving, sure. Most of the time I am. Given the time and effort, I could come up with a series of cliff notes that explain every last little screw up in the way that the writers should have done themselves. It would come with little word balloons that you could paste into your comic that when reread would elicit responses such as "well, that explains that whole New Avengers Collective/HoM fall out arc...." I have the power and technology to make it happen. If only there was the passion. There is the passion, but it freaks me out because the last thing a dashing, young bachelor like myself really needs to be thinking about at a bar on a friday night is the lastest issue of X-men when really, I should be trying to sleep with loose, easy women. But damn it, there must be some way to reconcile Wolverine's behaviour in Uncanny X-men with that of his appearance in Astonishing.....right?!?!
Another drink, please? Thank you.
And was I the only one that was a little upset that Ronin didn't talk off his mask and bro down with Falcon at the Secret Wake in Captain America # 26?
Falcon! Bro! S'up! 'Member how I died?! Crazy, huh? Yeah, I came back somehow and totally banged the broad that killed me in the first place! Bet you Quicksilver is going to be MAD when he finds that out. Oh, the new costume? Yeah, I don't know. I've been getting high alot. Tends to happen when you die and come back from the dead. Whatevs.
But they don't let me write these comics so whatever. Just sit in the corner and stare at your boy while wearing your trannie ninja costume, Clint! See if I care!
Dude! I got linked by the Beat again! And for what? For calling this whole Tentacle Marvel business months before it happened. When I really put my mind to the world of comics, I can bring some next level shiznit. Go scour my archives if you want to see what the future of comic bookery is going to be like! Forecast: fully awesome and hella sexy. Just like me!
Apparently there is this movie that spawned all this stuff that just went through some 30 some odd year anniversary.......? Look. After much debate amongest the friends and I, I have decided that the original Star Wars trilogy? Not the best trilogy out there. To set the record straight:
Number one with a bullet. Its all Han and no Luke. And real Nazis. Not the fake Imperial Stormtrooper kind of Nazis, but real ones. With accents. And plans for world domination using buried treasure. And why does Indy fight these nazis? Because things like the Ark belong in a museum. That's why.
Marty McFly will ALWAYS be cooler than Luke Skywalker. And even though he doesn't have the swagger of Han Solo, the dude can still rock. Whether he's blowing up 10 foot high amp heads, hover boarding around in the future or moon walking in the wild, wild west, Marty McFly totally rules. In case you're wondering, Time Traveling Deloreans will always beat out the ship that made the Kessel Run in 4.5 parsecs. Sorry, but that's how it is.
Which brings us to third place....
Star Wars. That's where you belong in the Holy Trinity of Top 3 Trilogies. Loved all three of the Star Wars movies as a kid. Even more so then Indiana Jones and Back To The Future. But as I go back and rewatch them, Star Wars sinks to the bottom. Maybe its because of the subsequent mountains of crap that came after, I don't know. All I DO know is that they don't hold a candle to my boys Indy and McFly.
Nah'mean?
Right?
It is the nitpickiness like that, that makes me somewhat ashamed for the role that I sometimes play in comic book culture. Quite frankly, when I see myself getting all fanboyish, it scares the living hell out of me. At least it has lately. That's why Civil War did such a number on me and my comic book reading habits. I got way too invested and found my passion for super hero comics turn into Newsaramian levels of stupidity when it was all a huge let down. The fact that my mind is hard-wired to digest and store continuity into the archives of my comic book knowledge is somewhat gnarly. Any hiccups in continuity that don't jive cause frustration. Why is that? I can be forgiving, sure. Most of the time I am. Given the time and effort, I could come up with a series of cliff notes that explain every last little screw up in the way that the writers should have done themselves. It would come with little word balloons that you could paste into your comic that when reread would elicit responses such as "well, that explains that whole New Avengers Collective/HoM fall out arc...." I have the power and technology to make it happen. If only there was the passion. There is the passion, but it freaks me out because the last thing a dashing, young bachelor like myself really needs to be thinking about at a bar on a friday night is the lastest issue of X-men when really, I should be trying to sleep with loose, easy women. But damn it, there must be some way to reconcile Wolverine's behaviour in Uncanny X-men with that of his appearance in Astonishing.....right?!?!
Another drink, please? Thank you.
And was I the only one that was a little upset that Ronin didn't talk off his mask and bro down with Falcon at the Secret Wake in Captain America # 26?
Falcon! Bro! S'up! 'Member how I died?! Crazy, huh? Yeah, I came back somehow and totally banged the broad that killed me in the first place! Bet you Quicksilver is going to be MAD when he finds that out. Oh, the new costume? Yeah, I don't know. I've been getting high alot. Tends to happen when you die and come back from the dead. Whatevs.
But they don't let me write these comics so whatever. Just sit in the corner and stare at your boy while wearing your trannie ninja costume, Clint! See if I care!
Dude! I got linked by the Beat again! And for what? For calling this whole Tentacle Marvel business months before it happened. When I really put my mind to the world of comics, I can bring some next level shiznit. Go scour my archives if you want to see what the future of comic bookery is going to be like! Forecast: fully awesome and hella sexy. Just like me!
Apparently there is this movie that spawned all this stuff that just went through some 30 some odd year anniversary.......? Look. After much debate amongest the friends and I, I have decided that the original Star Wars trilogy? Not the best trilogy out there. To set the record straight:
Number one with a bullet. Its all Han and no Luke. And real Nazis. Not the fake Imperial Stormtrooper kind of Nazis, but real ones. With accents. And plans for world domination using buried treasure. And why does Indy fight these nazis? Because things like the Ark belong in a museum. That's why.
Marty McFly will ALWAYS be cooler than Luke Skywalker. And even though he doesn't have the swagger of Han Solo, the dude can still rock. Whether he's blowing up 10 foot high amp heads, hover boarding around in the future or moon walking in the wild, wild west, Marty McFly totally rules. In case you're wondering, Time Traveling Deloreans will always beat out the ship that made the Kessel Run in 4.5 parsecs. Sorry, but that's how it is.
Which brings us to third place....
Star Wars. That's where you belong in the Holy Trinity of Top 3 Trilogies. Loved all three of the Star Wars movies as a kid. Even more so then Indiana Jones and Back To The Future. But as I go back and rewatch them, Star Wars sinks to the bottom. Maybe its because of the subsequent mountains of crap that came after, I don't know. All I DO know is that they don't hold a candle to my boys Indy and McFly.
Nah'mean?
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Ghost Ride The Cap!!
He fought for our
freedom in World War 2...
As the leader of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, he has saved our world and many others countless times...
He stood against the Super Hero Registration Act to protect the freedom of our beloved Heroes...
Turning himself in at the end of the Civil War, Captain America was maliciously shot and killed on National Television while awaiting trial...
Longing for a second
chance at life.....
Steve Rogers made a
deal with the Devil...
Just so he could come back
and kick some un-patriotic Ass!
GHOST RIDE THE WHIP!!!
Blame Pachoob and Jason. They started it.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Fallen Short
Don't know if you guys heard, but Captain America died. Oops! I forgot my spoiler tags, didn't I! Yeah, well, he's dead, bro. Sorry. And now we get see how the Marvel U. grieves. As of this date we are currently going through the first 2 stages of some snoody professor something or other's 5 Stages Of Grief.
Stage 1, homey! Denial!
That's where Wolverine comes in and gets all "nuh uh, bitches!" and starts his poking around. That's right, Wolvie! Ain't nobody should believe that Cap's dead unless you, Canadian Mutie Ultimate Killing Cigar Smoking Machine, confirms. Before he does, he tries to get Cap's old shower-grab-ass buddy, Bucky, in on it. Bucky's all vague and stupid, so Wolvie ditches his lame-o ass and gets DD on the case. After some sneaking around and what not, sho' nuff, it turns that Captain America is really dead. And that's Denial for you. Next time I'm in the midst of Grief Attack, I will turn to my good friend, Wolverine, for some proper guidance on how to deal with Denial. It ain't just a river in Egypt!
Next, we have Stage 2!
The main boss at the end of this level is Anger, with Whiny Spider-man and Pissy Pants Namor as the mini-bosses. Pass this level and you get to upgrade to BARGAINING with Captain America....? Wait a second. With Captain America? Isn't he dead? Now, here is where I would talk about what happens in Fallen Soldier: Avengers, but its really just a bunch of heroes getting all mad and upset and whiny, which just plays out as bad as it sounds. What I want to know is what happens in Fallen Soldier: Bargaining if Captain America is dead?
Does that mean we get to see Steve Rogers in hell(cuz you know that's where he belongs!) bargaining with Mephisto for his soul? Let's hope so. If we're lucky, we'll get ourselves a Ghost Riding Captain America. Wouldn't that be effin' suh-WEET?! Hells to yeah, my friends. Someone get Brevoort and Quesada to green light my Ghost Riding Captain America proposal ASAP! I'm talking flaming Shields and a penance stare that chills you to the bone 'cuz you're being un-patriotic! I can say with the upmost honesty that Flaming Skull Captain America who rides across the U S of A on a motorcycle with fire for wheels with a flag flying from the back of it is probably the most American Thing you would ever see.
If you just teared up while reading that last sentence, pat yourself on the back for being a proud citizen of the greatest nation on Earth. You're one of the good ones, my friend.
Stage 1, homey! Denial!That's where Wolverine comes in and gets all "nuh uh, bitches!" and starts his poking around. That's right, Wolvie! Ain't nobody should believe that Cap's dead unless you, Canadian Mutie Ultimate Killing Cigar Smoking Machine, confirms. Before he does, he tries to get Cap's old shower-grab-ass buddy, Bucky, in on it. Bucky's all vague and stupid, so Wolvie ditches his lame-o ass and gets DD on the case. After some sneaking around and what not, sho' nuff, it turns that Captain America is really dead. And that's Denial for you. Next time I'm in the midst of Grief Attack, I will turn to my good friend, Wolverine, for some proper guidance on how to deal with Denial. It ain't just a river in Egypt!
Next, we have Stage 2!The main boss at the end of this level is Anger, with Whiny Spider-man and Pissy Pants Namor as the mini-bosses. Pass this level and you get to upgrade to BARGAINING with Captain America....? Wait a second. With Captain America? Isn't he dead? Now, here is where I would talk about what happens in Fallen Soldier: Avengers, but its really just a bunch of heroes getting all mad and upset and whiny, which just plays out as bad as it sounds. What I want to know is what happens in Fallen Soldier: Bargaining if Captain America is dead?
Does that mean we get to see Steve Rogers in hell(cuz you know that's where he belongs!) bargaining with Mephisto for his soul? Let's hope so. If we're lucky, we'll get ourselves a Ghost Riding Captain America. Wouldn't that be effin' suh-WEET?! Hells to yeah, my friends. Someone get Brevoort and Quesada to green light my Ghost Riding Captain America proposal ASAP! I'm talking flaming Shields and a penance stare that chills you to the bone 'cuz you're being un-patriotic! I can say with the upmost honesty that Flaming Skull Captain America who rides across the U S of A on a motorcycle with fire for wheels with a flag flying from the back of it is probably the most American Thing you would ever see.
If you just teared up while reading that last sentence, pat yourself on the back for being a proud citizen of the greatest nation on Earth. You're one of the good ones, my friend.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
The end of your rope is a noose
I have not purchased a real SUPERHERO comic in weeks. It shows, as you can see. The frequency of blogging around here drops significantly when I'm not pissed at Marvel Comics. And its not like they are doing something right over there, I just ain't buying it. You know what, son? It feels goooooooooooooood.
But if I refrain from trash talking the latest issue of X-men, how am I going to update this blog on the daily, weekly or monthly basis? I can't! That's like trying to make Gambit cool! Not in MY house! Without Marvel Comics to hate on, there is nothing worth blogging about! Its true! I am almost at the point of pulling every crappy Post-Civil War comic just so I will have some fodder for this unwieldly blog of mine.
I could always just do Get Your World War Hulk On. If there ever was a reason to buy Marvel Comics right now, doing a remixed version of someone else's webcomic could be just that reason. Is that what blogging has come to for me? Buying crappy comics just so I have something entertaining for all 5 of you to read?
Quick! Somebody convince me otherwise before I start thinking of ways to come up with gladiator sex jokes involving Hulk and the Brood!
But if I refrain from trash talking the latest issue of X-men, how am I going to update this blog on the daily, weekly or monthly basis? I can't! That's like trying to make Gambit cool! Not in MY house! Without Marvel Comics to hate on, there is nothing worth blogging about! Its true! I am almost at the point of pulling every crappy Post-Civil War comic just so I will have some fodder for this unwieldly blog of mine.
I could always just do Get Your World War Hulk On. If there ever was a reason to buy Marvel Comics right now, doing a remixed version of someone else's webcomic could be just that reason. Is that what blogging has come to for me? Buying crappy comics just so I have something entertaining for all 5 of you to read?
Quick! Somebody convince me otherwise before I start thinking of ways to come up with gladiator sex jokes involving Hulk and the Brood!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Random stuff
I finally finished Kavalier & Clay. What a great book. It took forever and a day because of these dang funny books I be wrasslin' with. If you haven't read it, DO SO NOW.
I also recently read Ander Nilson's Don't Go Where I can't Follow and The End. As the years pass by in this life of mine, I come ever closer to the realization that I am a colossal wuss. At one point, I was reading The End and I choked back a sob. At work. Powerful, intense, and raw. And different. These ain't no super hero books.
Going through some stuff last night, I came across a letter that I had written in the 9th grade ('94) which was to be opened at the end of 12th grade. ('97.) My goals included owning every Image Comic and owning a bass. Needless to say, I do not own every Image Comic. I do own and play a guitar though which in the context of the first goal, is like owning every Image, Ultraverse AND Valiant Comic combined. Take that, failed guitarists!
Also, I came up with a pretty decent pitch for a Cloak & Dagger mini-series. I know, its weird that I would even type that sentence, but it hit me on the 170 freeway awhile back. Like my friend Tony says, it could use a little more high concept to it, but when you have "super heroes gain powers from using drugs", I can't imagine you going more high concept than that. Do I really need to invoke the power of communist samurais that drug traffick in Brazil to sell this thing? No. All I need now is a job in Hollywood and that writing gig is mine.
Last, but not least, APE is two days away. Tomorrow night I am on the midnight train to SF, where the new guitarist and I will be taking up residence on fellow semi-blogger Pachoob's floor. Pachoob, I apologize in advance for the short, bearded guy that will be coming up with me. He's a pistol, but an all around great guy. If you so feel the need to smack him, please do so. He loves that kind of stuff.
Until next time, my comic book loving internet friends..
I also recently read Ander Nilson's Don't Go Where I can't Follow and The End. As the years pass by in this life of mine, I come ever closer to the realization that I am a colossal wuss. At one point, I was reading The End and I choked back a sob. At work. Powerful, intense, and raw. And different. These ain't no super hero books.
Going through some stuff last night, I came across a letter that I had written in the 9th grade ('94) which was to be opened at the end of 12th grade. ('97.) My goals included owning every Image Comic and owning a bass. Needless to say, I do not own every Image Comic. I do own and play a guitar though which in the context of the first goal, is like owning every Image, Ultraverse AND Valiant Comic combined. Take that, failed guitarists!
Also, I came up with a pretty decent pitch for a Cloak & Dagger mini-series. I know, its weird that I would even type that sentence, but it hit me on the 170 freeway awhile back. Like my friend Tony says, it could use a little more high concept to it, but when you have "super heroes gain powers from using drugs", I can't imagine you going more high concept than that. Do I really need to invoke the power of communist samurais that drug traffick in Brazil to sell this thing? No. All I need now is a job in Hollywood and that writing gig is mine.
Last, but not least, APE is two days away. Tomorrow night I am on the midnight train to SF, where the new guitarist and I will be taking up residence on fellow semi-blogger Pachoob's floor. Pachoob, I apologize in advance for the short, bearded guy that will be coming up with me. He's a pistol, but an all around great guy. If you so feel the need to smack him, please do so. He loves that kind of stuff.
Until next time, my comic book loving internet friends..
Monday, April 16, 2007
What I read last week
Army @ Love # 1I had high hopes for this. I have enjoyed most of the stuff I have read from Rick Vietch and was looking forward to a Vertigo book that seemed as if it would capture some of the 90's Vertigo spirit. Where I am a fan of Veitch's sophisticated work on Swamp Thing and Question, I find myself a little put off by the over-the-top gratituitous nature of his Maximortal and Bratpack. Unfortunately, that is the category that Army @ Love falls into. Soldiers fighting a pointless battle that leads to a pointless sex scene that is being sold as an attempt to advance the plot. Since the plot is a bit weak, it only comes off as empty shock value. And not that shock value for the sake of just being shocking is bad, I was expecting a little bit more. Its only the first issue, so things can definitely turn around. Until it does, I will leave it up to others to figure it out and let me know accordingly.
Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born # 3On the third issue, Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born has paid off very well. Jae Lee does a fantastic job as always with Richard Isanove complimenting his style perfectly on colors. The script is solid, too. I am a bit of a sucker for that whole post-apocalyptic low tech future setting thanks to quite a few years sitting at a table, rolling dice, and consuming large amounts of Coca-Cola in my teenage years. My friend, who is a huge Dark Tower fan loved the first two issues that I gave to him to read. Myself, I stayed away from Stephen King, due to a series of horrendous straight-to-TV movies that were spat out back in the 90's. I know, its dumb, but that's how do sometimes. But you put a Stephen King book into comic form and sure enough, I will pick it up and read it. That's the power of comics for ya! When this is done, I will probably borrow my friend's books to see what the hoohah is all about.
Iron Fist # 4Best damn superhero/kung fu book on the shelf. If you are not reading this, you are killing comics. Fraction and Bru are doing a bang up job, with Aja kicking ass on art. And the guest artists are awesome. Whoever thought a dude wearing ballet slippers could be so cool?
Madman Atomic Comics # 1This is the first Madman comic I have ever read and I want to apologize for that. When I was reading X-men comics, I was sleeping on what is such a fun book. Mike Allred can draw something fierce and his wife does such a great job of polishing it all up for all of us to enjoy. Now I just need to find a way to scrounge up $175 just so I can buy that huge book that's coming out soon. This book is all catch up, which is fine for me because I am totally in the dark about the world of Madman and found myself quite surprised on what has been going on in his neck of the woods. Solid stuff, my friends. Get it!
Brownsville TPBJewish gangsters set in 1930's New York. I love the crime genre, but this one takes a lot of the conventions associated with your typical mafia story and replace the italians with jews. And the art. Its not bad, but I could never tell anyone apart from each other. Being in black & white definitely did not help. If you are big on the mobster scene, this might do something for you. If you're smart, you will heed my sage-like advice and pass it up for something with a little more substance and originality.
Ode To Kirihito TPBThis blew me away. An 800 page medical/horror drama from the Godfather of Manga himself, Osamu Tezuka. I read it in two days. The visual tricks alone that Tezuka employs are worth the book alone. The book's style stay well within his classical early Disney influenced style as seen by most in Astro Boy, but breaks away into a more detailed form that jumps closer to photo-realism at just the right moment. This carries a real huge emotional impact at times as issues of racism, fear, and treachery run rampant through out the book. A young doctor goes to investigate a rural japanese village where some of the denizens are mysteriously turning into dog-like humanoids that eventually die. Once he gets there, the adventure and intrigue start up and it keeps going from there. Doctors squabble about the right away to cure the condition while victims confront the world that does not understand them. Things get pretty weird in this book. It suffers slightly from using rape as a motivater for the male protagonists which is the only short-coming of the book. Other than that, its a brilliant piece of work that has got me interested in reading some of Tezuka's other work.
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