I Am Baytor

Nat and the Beanstalk

2011-11-14T09:38:00.000-08:00

New Nat and the Beanstalk! By Patrick Pugh and myself! Nat and the Beanstalk

Nat and the Beanstalk #24

2010-10-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

Nat #24 went up last Wednesday. You should read it and then have everyone you know read it.

King of the Nerds Returns and a Review

2010-10-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

So yeah I'm back here. I started with I Am Baytor and hence I will return and stay. None of the other places felt right, even my stint at Alltern8. Something about Baytor feels normal. So this is where I'll stay but I'll be changing it up a bit, not just my weekly comics. Seriously, I can't talk about the same series is pretty much the same each month. Do you want me to say Avengers is good this month and then next month is fairy good and then the following month it's awesome but all for the same reasons? I doubt it and I'm sure I can't write it. But I will still be talking comics, the stuff that really stands out or something new that's really cool. Plus I'll be writing about all my geeky obsessions here, Star Wars, D&D, miniatures games, and my new obsession, Magic the Gathering. What is that? Accusing me of flopping all over the internet? Who cares, you're most likely following me off a link on my Facebook. And Wordpress sucks. I hate it. Anyways, I will list the titles I'm reading each month and if they are there then you can be sure I'm liking them.

So we'll start off with a review. Yup a godforsaken Matt review. And that review is for Star Wars Bloodlines #1. So Dark Horse has always been pretty good at having no terrible Star Wars comics. Some are better than others for sure, but for the most part there at least mediocre. But most of them I do really enjoy and some are just fantastic (pretty much any by Jon Ostrander and Jan Duursema). I almost didn't read this as I'm not a big fan of the Jango/Boba characters. Don't get me wrong, one of the best looking armor sets in the Star Wars universe. But as for the characters, they really disappoint me. The Mandalorian commandos in the second season of Star Wars the Clone Wars animated series were fucking badass! This is how Jango and Boba should have been. I'm sure I'm about to get stoned by you Boba fanatics but tell me what he did that was so badass--besides where fucking cool armor, character a badass gun and driving a badderass ship? Nothing. He follow Han Solo but he didn't catch him. That shit was Vader. Boba is a delivery boy, nothing else. Took him to Jabba that proceeded to use his jet pack once and then get knocked into the sarlac pit by a blind guy. Yeah Han is so badass that he kills Boba while blind. And don't come at me with Boba crawled out of the Sarlacc pit. It's not cannon, it's fan fiction. And then there's Jango. Gave up his DNA, then got his head cut off by Douche Windu. Not that it's these characters fault, they're just written badly.

But as normal, I get sidetracked. I wasn't going to read Blood Ties for my fiery disappointment with these characters. But first issue was enjoyable. It jumps from both time periods between Jango as an adult and Boba as an adult and the plot threads that starts in Jango's era will continue to Boba's era. So if you're a Boba nut, you'll enjoy it. If you're like me and complain about everything good, you'll also enjoy it.

Matt Reviews Green Lantern #55, Pale Horse #1 and Captain Swing #2

2010-07-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

A temporary change of venue...

So the Alltern8 gig was fun and I learned a lot, got paid for a bit which was cool but now it's time for a change again. But I won't be remaining on this old blog either. I want a new name (which I can't decide on yet) and either I a new blog home or I'm toying with the idea of just creating a blog page on The Comic Book Shop website, which is what I'm leaning towards. But I did want to get a few of my reviews up for you guys--I hate missing a week.

But I do have some new ideas coming up. A new rating system that's very me, links and perhaps some audio. Audio? Hmmm we'll see. Otherwise read on for my reviews for the week!

Green Lantern #55

So I haven't been overly happy with the Green Lantern story post-Blackest Night. To me it just feels like he's setting up for the next event. However, this issue chalks up to be one of the greatest Green Lantern books ever. Why? Lobo. More specifically, Doug Mahnke drawing Lobo. Doug Mahnke is one of my favorite artists. He did the art of the fantastic and never collected Hitman/Lobo Special.

(Hitman Lobo Special) Find this book

Besides Simon Bisley himself, Doug Mahnke is the best Lobo artist. For me this issue is all about the main man himself. Geoff Johns does a great job at capturing what Lobo once was before the 1990s ruined him. The Bo used to be one of THE BEST characters in comics and gods knows how long it's been since he's been enjoyable. And not only does Johns write him well, he pits him against Atrocitus. The battles are as brutal and over the top as you can expect and the old Bastich has some great one liners that will make you laugh out loud. Hey there's even Lobo's dog vs. Red Lantern kitty Dex-Starr. And ONTOP of all that awesome action and dialogue, there's a back-up story feature the origin of Dex-Starr I GOOD KITTY.

Seriously the only bad part of this book is Hal Jordan. He's become such a pompous jackass I just want to smack him in the mouth. And I think Lobo's right, time to get over Central City Hal.

Pale Horse #1

I was pleasantly surprised by Pale Horse. Yes I realize this did not come out this week. But we sold out first day on it and finally the reorders have come in. I've gone kind of cowboy nuts having recently finished Red Dead Redemption and currently remaking my way through the Sergio Leone movies. I had considered the book when it first came in, but it is a Boom Studios book and I've really not found much that I've liked from there.

The book take place in 1862 starring a black man named Cole whose Indian wife is brutally murdered by some bandits. Revenge is quick and brutal as goes the rest of the issue. Cole is written very well and comes off as believable and not the typical western stereotype. I'm quite impressed by Christian Dibari's art, there's a lot of Guy Davis in there. He's depictions of violence are just awesomely blood and horrific. I will definitely keep reading this book.

Captain Swing #2

So I got kicked off the Warren Ellis forums. Every time he announced a new crappy Avatar project, I'd simply post "finish Fell and Desolation Jones first." Both of those great series are halfway or more into storylines that he's just never gone back to--which to me is a slap to the face of his fans and/or anyone who has put money into both of those books. Both of those series blows away anything he's done at Avatar or Marvel. But for some reason, he has no interest. And it drives me nuts that he does that to his fans, especially when he does that to me. So after the second time I posted that, Warren himself railed on me about how I don't know his schedule and blah blah blah NO ONE TALKS BACK TO THE GREAT AND MIGHT ELLIS! Yeah no one does on his forums, I don't know if you've ever been to his forum but I tell you with his fans, his butthole is sparklingly clean. So as it is with my nature, the next new series post, I yet again posted "finish Fell and Desolation Jones first" in which I received my banishment--which made me laugh.

Now with all that being said, after reading Captain Swing maybe I don't want him to finish Fell and Desolation Jones if this is how he writes now. Captain Swing is terrible, freak'n dreadful. The writing is horrible--the story, ideas and dialogue makes me want to pour bleach in my eyes. The art is standard semi-talented Avatar artist, it'll give them that. But the main character looks like a recycled Lazarus Churchyard, an old Warren Ellis creation. I actually couldn't make it through issue 2, it was so bad. I barely made it through issue 1. So maybe I don't want him to finish Fell and Desolation Jones.

Okay so this stupid blog just crashed three times when I was trying to move pictures around. So only the first comic gets a pic. Hopefully next week I'll have figured something different out.

Review: Is Sexton Really Bruce Wayne? Find out in Batman and Robin #12! Plus I, Zombie and The Boys!

2010-05-07T07:14:00.001-07:00

Review: Is Sexton Really Bruce Wayne? Find out in Batman and Robin #12! Plus I, Zombie and The Boys!

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Article: Star Wars the Clone Wars: Season 2 Finale and the Season as a Whole

2010-05-05T07:28:00.001-07:00

Article: Star Wars the Clone Wars: Season 2 Finale and the Season as a Whole

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Review: X-Force #26 (Death of an X-Man) and Ultimate Comics Avengers 2 #1

2010-04-28T15:50:00.001-07:00

Review: X-Force #26 (Death of an X-Man) and Ultimate Comics Avengers 2 #1

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Review: Matt's Comic Picks for the Week--American Vampire #2, Joe the Barbarian #4 and More!

2010-04-25T08:12:00.001-07:00

Review: Matt's Comic Picks for the Week--American Vampire #2, Joe the Barbarian #4 and More!

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Article: The Pack A.D. Live in Spokane!

2010-04-13T19:54:00.001-07:00

Article: The Pack A.D. Live in Spokane!

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Tempted by the Dark Side--Star Wars Legacy Vol 3 | Alltern8.com

2010-03-15T11:23:00.001-07:00

Tempted by the Dark Side--Star Wars Legacy Vol 3 | Alltern8.com

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Marvel Picks of the Week--Uncanny X-Men #521, Spider-Woman #6

2010-02-17T18:39:00.001-08:00

Marvel Picks of the Week--Uncanny X-Men #521, Spider-Woman #6 & Dark Avengers #14! | Alltern8.com

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Picks of the Week: Mesmo Delivery Service and Hit Monkey! | Alltern8.com

2010-02-12T17:17:00.001-08:00

Picks of the Week: Mesmo Delivery Service and Hit Monkey! | Alltern8.com

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Hey Look! I Read Manga! Dark Horse's Shaman Warrior Vol 1 | Alltern8.com

2010-02-05T10:45:00.001-08:00

Hey Look! I Read Manga! Dark Horse's Shaman Warrior Vol 1 | Alltern8.com

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Alltern8.com | Hang on to That Lightsaber, it's the Newest Star Wars The Clone Wars!

2010-01-26T13:26:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | Hang on to That Lightsaber, it's the Newest Star Wars The Clone Wars!

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Alltern8.com | Gilbert Hernandez Gives us a Non-Love and Rockets Graphic Novel--Sort of

2010-01-21T11:36:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | Gilbert Hernandez Gives us a Non-Love and Rockets Graphic Novel--Sort of

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Alltern8.com | Star Wars Legacy Vol 1 Broken

2010-01-19T18:56:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | Star Wars Legacy Vol 1 Broken

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Alltern8.com | The Golden Age of Justice! New Episode of Batman Brave and the Bold!

2010-01-17T14:19:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | The Golden Age of Justice! New Episode of Batman Brave and the Bold!

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Alltern8.com | Comics for the Week: Adventure Comics #6, Crossed #8 and Iron Man #22

2010-01-14T18:09:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | Comics for the Week: Adventure Comics #6, Crossed #8 and Iron Man #22

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Alltern8.com | The Force is Strong with This One: Star Wars the Clone Wars Animated

2010-01-12T08:30:00.003-08:00

Alltern8.com | The Force is Strong with This One: Star Wars the Clone Wars Animated

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Alltern8.com | The Force is Strong with This One: Star Wars the Clone Wars Animated

2010-01-12T08:30:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | The Force is Strong with This One: Star Wars the Clone Wars Animated

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Alltern8.com | The Force is Strong with This One: Star Wars the Clone Wars Animated

2010-01-12T08:29:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | The Force is Strong with This One: Star Wars the Clone Wars Animated

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Here Are Some of My Favorite Things 2009

2009-12-31T15:12:00.000-08:00

So as I sit here on this hard metal stool in the store on this the last day of the year, waiting for the day to be over and the New Year's Eve festivities to begin, I can't help but think of the things that excited me over the last year (I mean more than my wife if you know what I mean!). These are the things in my related field of comics, merchandise and animation that got me ultra-obsessed, make me happy and giggle, or even disturbed the hell out of me in 2009. These are the things that made 2009 remarkable, the things I enjoyed with my kids and the things that may have annoyed the bloody hell out of my wife but who still took it all in stride as her dorky--albeit incredibly good looking husband--rambled on and on and on about Anakin Skywalker, Black Lanterns and Batman Batman Batman and of course, don't touch the lead figurines, they'll give you cancer. So while we all wait impatiently to go booze up and riot, let's all look at the things I loved this year:

Wednesday Comics, Blackest Night Mania, Dick Grayson as Batman and oh god what is that on the cover of Crossed!

DC Comics was the comic company for 2009. While Marvel struggled in boredom and only at the end began to pull out of their slump, DC was massively exciting in 2009. At the beginning they "killed" off Batman which then launched into Batman Reborn with Dick Grayson taking over the costume. These things tend to be gimmicky as all hell but this went smoothly and was darn good. I don't remember a time when ALL the Batman titles were this good.

DC also took a chance with Wednesday Comics and pulled that off beautifully. A weekly anthology comic printed on newspaper, folded no less ensuring no mint copy insight. But it all worked and worked really well.

Blackest Night mania was almost more fun that the actual title itself, which is one of the best books of the year. Teaser ads of undead super heroes, multi-corps symbol shirts, a billion and half tie-in issue and of course, the rings.

Then we have the Crossed, Garth Ennis most creepy and disgusting comic he's ever done. While the series had fizzled by the end of the year, those first few issues made me laugh at the most horrific things I'd seen on paper and made me wonder if there's something wrong with me. While we'll gloss over that, I think the pinnacle of the run had to be the cover to issue #4.

Star Wars the Clone Wars and Batman Brave and the Bold

Animation was top notch this year, the two outshining series had to be Star Wars the Clone Wars and Batman Brave and the Bold.

Star Wars The Clone Wars made me fall back in love with Star Wars. After such bitterly disappointing movies, the Clone Wars cartoon brought back that excitement I've always carried for Star Wars. I know there are a billion guys out there that feel the same about Star Wars as I do but I don't care, that's what makes Star Wars great. From the new padawon Ahsoka Tano, an actual character you can feel for in Anakin Skywalker, a whole lotta lightsabers and the break out character Cad Bane—the dual blaster wielding, pimp hat wearing bounty hunter that puts Boba Fett to shame, it was a great year to be a Star Wars fan.

Then we also get Batman Brave and the Bold, the new Batman series that is a throwback to the old sixties and seventies comics. Here we get a lighter, non-brooding Batman. They have him team up with some of the most awesome and obscure characters around, including OMAC, Bwana Beast, Adam Strange and Mister Miracle. I mean I had kids come into the store looking for comics with Kamandi in them just because of this series. So cool.

Plus I got to enjoy these two series with my five year old son, which made these all the better. I'm not sure who was more excited.

Statues, Action Figures and Cancer Giving Figurines.

For me this year was all about awesome merc to buy. From the aforementioned Blackest Night shirts and rings to DC Direct's beautiful Cover Girls of the DC Universe statue series to the Brave and the Bold mini toys (it's a Bwana Beast action figure, OMG!) this year really hit my wallet when it came to junk. We also got the UK imported DC Superhero Figurines which are sculpted amazingly well, cost only $14.00 but be sure to wash your hands after you touch them because they are made of lead.

As I get closer to the end of my day (but not close enough) I just want to say a special thanks to all my family, friends and customers who helped make 2009 great, that helped spur on my addictions to all things cool, who made me laugh and who forced me to write, write, write as I did a ton of it this year. To the customers that brought me beer on my birthday, to Craig who makes working a blast and to Prenger who reminds me that they’ll always be someone more pathetic than me! So here comes 2010, with more comics to read, cartoons to watch, video games to play and hopefully another great year.

Alltern8.com | Thor by J. Michael Straczynski

2009-12-22T11:10:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | Thor by J. Michael Straczynski

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Alltern8.com | Ultimate Comics Armor Wars #1-3

2009-12-20T12:02:00.001-08:00

Alltern8.com | Ultimate Comics Armor Wars #1-3

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Reviews

2009-12-20T09:51:00.001-08:00

My comic book reviews for the week are updated here!

My Top 10 Anticipated Comics for 2010

2009-12-16T09:36:00.000-08:00

Check em out!

http://www.alltern8.com/library/comics_and_graphic_novels/top_10_most_anticipated_comics_of_2010/l-4542.html

2009-12-11T17:41:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately not much for me to review this week. My favorite of the week was Daytripper #1, a new Vertigo series by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. It was a great read but I'm not quite sure where they'll go after this first issue. It follows a day in the life of an obituary writer as he deals with the inferiority he feels towards his father. It really reminded me of a Paul Thomas Anderson movie, especially Magnolia. I recommend picking it up and giving it a read when we get some reorders in.

Otherwise, I gots myself two new beautiful statues:

You can also view my Top 5 Graphic Novel picks for 2009 here: http://alltern8.com/library/comics_and_graphic_novels/the_top_5_graphic_novels_of_2009/l-4495.html

2009-12-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

So this week both Marvel and DC ruined the end to two late running mini-series with new issues of other series. Way to go both of you. First being,

Blackest Night Flash #1 which of course happens after the events of Flash Rebirth #6. Now I was going to say you should wait until Flash Rebirth #6 comes out before reading this but then Andy and I looked it up on the interweb and found that Rebirth #6 doesn't come out until January 27th which is a week after Blackest Night Flash #2 comes out. So it's pretty pointless to wait. Now the good news is Blackest Night Flash #1 was a great read. Geoff Johns teams up with his old Flash partner Scott Kolins for an issue that takes place right before Blackest Night #5. It also serves as a sort of sequel to Final Crisis Rogues Revenge as the Rogues take on the Black Lantern Rogues. It's also Barry vs Black Lantern Reverse Flash. Johns lays down some major plot threads for the overall Blackest Night story making this one a must read if you're into trying to figure out whats going to happen. The last page is my favorite as Captain Cold says, "Let's go shoot some zombies."

The other "spoiler" issue this week is Dark Avengers Annual #1, which also happens to be my favorite read of the week. I won't tell you what the spoiler is because it's pretty darn cool (another awesome last page). With Dark Avengers Annual #1 we find out what's happened to Noh-Varr--Marvel Boy--after his exit from the Dark Avengers after learning they're all criminals. Noh struggles to find direction on Earth, to understand humanity better and eventually where he stands in the upcoming events. Also a kick ass fight with the Sentry. Bachalo's art is superb in the fact you can actually understand whats going on, sometimes he goes off the deep end with design. And then there's the last page.

Next up is the X-force Annual #1

The main story is written by Robert Kirkman with art by Jason Pearson, who is one of my favorite action artists. It's a none important story but still a lot of fun as Wolverine infiltrates Hydra on a life saving mission. Lots of violence and Wolverine humor. The back up story is Deadpool and is connected to the Necrosha X story line. If you like Deadpool then you'll love it. If you don't then you're in the same boat as me...

Siege the Cabal is the lead in to the Siege event as Norman Osborn and Doctor Doom forgo their tea party and have a slap fest instead. Loki continues to manipulates events to beginthe siege of Asgard (and boy do I miss a female Loki, she was stacked!). We also get another shadowed appearance of Norman Osborn's "secret weapon" used to keep his fellow Cabalists in line. Anyone got any idea who it might be? Andy and I think it's going to be Marvelmen (Miracleman). We shall see but if it is I will take full credit. There's also four or five pages of Siege #1 staring Volstagg, who has quickly become my favorite Asgardian. I really liked this issue and I'm excited for Siege #1!

Finally this week, Ultimate Comics Spider-man #5 sporting one of he worst covers I've ever seen. Other than that, the issue is great. Spidey continues his battle against Mysterio with the help of who I believe is the Ultimate Hood. But as normal, my favorite part is the interaction between all the supporting cast as yet another teen joins the fray at the Parker residence.

That's it for now. I'll probably be updating in a few days with some graphic novel reviews and the next installment of my Cartoon Crazy series.

2009-11-28T12:20:00.000-08:00

So I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I myself had a great one. Thirty people stuffed in a house made for five is always chaos but fun chaos at that. But on to comics, a great week of reading at that. First off, Green Lantern #48 and Blackest Night #5

Be sure you read the GL first as it has the group of new guardians coming together, leading directly into BN #5. As always, Larfleeze steals every scene he's in. Green Lantern is a fun issue to read with all the infighting between the rainbow brigade, but Blackest Night #5 really amps everything up. I didn't foresee anything that happened in this issue. Once again, so many "oh man that's awesome" and "holy crap!" I really wish I could talk more about it but I'd ruin too much of it for all the people who haven't read it yet. I really have no idea where they'll be going with this. I don't think they'll go the white lantern route as that's so obvious and so far they really haven't done anything obvious. What are your theories? Where do you think it's going? Post a comment below and let me know or shoot me an email.

After Blackest Night, I enjoyed the Powers relaunch the most. I haven't read Powers in a long time and I had forgotten how good this series is. I started reading Powers with the first number #1, way before anyone knew who Bendis was, way before he took over Marvel and way before anyone else was putting that many words in comic books. I was at lunch in the back room at the old Division store and picked it up on whim as I had enjoyed his Goldfish and Jinx series. There were little to no subscribers for it. I was blown away by it. I remember walking out and handing it to Craig and saying, "This is really freak'n good." And then I began shoving it down everyone's throat. So Bendis really has me to thank for all his success. I really love how this series has progress and changed but still kept it's basic idea of cops who investigate super hero crimes. No matter what they've done to the characters or how much everything has evolved, it's still a cop book.

With the new #1, we return to Detective Walker's crazy life as a new murder arises which of course is connected to his long, long history. Pick this book up and support it again as it's still high quality comics.

God so many good books this week, Superman Secret Origin #3 shows us Clark's first trip to Metropolis, his first meeting with Lois Lane and the crew at the Daily Planet and his first appearance as Superman. Johns does a great job of intertwining comics history and the cool parts of the movies into the origin retell. I thought I'd be disappointed once we got past the Superboy issues, but this was fantastic.

And not a comic review more a spotlighting my new addiction:

I just got my first Cover Girls of the DCU by Adam Hughes statues. This statue is amazing, totally beautiful, even my wife loves it. Take a second to click the picture for a bigger shot. I can't wait for the others (Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Power Girl, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy) and keep the hope for a Big Barda in her leisure wear :)

Product review: Snapit Screen Capture Ver 3.9

2009-11-24T17:02:00.000-08:00

If you were reading my cartoon reviews today you'll notice some pics from the episodes. I took these using Snapit Screen Capture ver 3.9 from Digeus Software. I have always wanted a screen capture program but never took the time to search one out. When this was presented to me, I thought cool I can use this for the cartoon reviews I want to do. Naturally as all things go with me, it took me nearly a month to get to the point to where I'd use it.

Now I'm on the computer constantly between home and work and I use a lot of different programs and with all things computer, many programs tend to be a pain in the butt. Not so with this program. First off the download is fast, you only need to put in your first name and email address. From there the download and install is super quick. Now the commands are insanely simple. Hit print screen, draw your box, done. The default setting is just to copy it for you to paste in a different program. But by opening the properties you can quickly change it to auto-save it to the folder of your choice, which I did. Also you can set a different key to trigger the program to take a capture. You can also change the file type that you save your captures in.

And that's it. If you need a screen capture go with this one. As I said it's fast, it's easy but it's a very good program. As you can see in my review, the pics are nice, I was quiet surprise when I first opened them. I will definitely be using it for each cartoon review I do.

Here's where you can find it HERE

I'm Cartoon Crazy

2009-11-24T16:00:00.000-08:00

So I'm watching a few cartoons now adays and frankly they are really good. So I'm going to be talking about those too. What they do right, what they do wrong and what comics can learn from them. There are two series in particular that I'm following, they happen to be Star Wars The Clone Wars and Batman Brave and the Bold, both have just started their second season. Before we jump into the current episodes, a quick overview of my thoughts of both series.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: This is what the newest movie trilogy should have been. While those movies were overall a bitter disappointment, these cartoons have been fantastic! There isn't a bad episode among them, even--yes I'll say it--even the few episodes with Jar Jar Binks. Yes I said it. The most important characters are of course Anakin Skywalker and his new padawan Ahsoka Tano. If only they made Anakin in the movies like Anakin in this series. You would have cared about him falling the dark side, you would have felt something for him. He's an amazing character in the Clone Wars cartoon series as in, he's my favorite character. The first season just came out on DVD and if you're a Star Wars fan, do yourself a favor and pick it up, you won't be disappointed. And if you are, well frankly there's something wrong with you and I pray for your soul.

Brave and the Bold: The most refreshing thing about this series is this version of Batman is NOT the brooding, dark, psychopath that's been shoved in our faces since the Dark Knight Returns first came out. Don't get me wrong I like myself some dark and brooding Batman, but it's really nice to have a change of pace. That's one of things I like most about Batman, is that he works in so many different interpretations. This version focuses on a lighter Batman, the master detective, the master strategist, who's brain and gadgets gets him out of the worst situations. More akin to the 60s and 70s Batman or like the TV show minus the camp (well there's a bit of the camp but it's quite enjoyable). Each episode opens with a quick team up with a character not shown during the rest of the episode. After they defeat whatever villain, it cuts to the opening title scene then on to the real story which finds Batman teaming up with a different super hero (or heroes). I highly recommend this series, mixes the great stuff of Batman from your childhood, the stories and characters are fun, the animation quite enjoyable.

Now on to the episodes from last Friday night (11/20/09).

Batman Brave and the Bold Season 2 Episode 1: The second season debuted on Friday following a handful of unaired episodes from season 1. Titled "Death Race to Oblivion" we open with a great team up with Captain Marvel (not seen at all in season 1--I hope they continue to bring in new team ups).

The main story is homage the the classic Roger Corman film, Death Race 2000, Mongul comes to earth and captures the heroes Batman, Plastic Man, Green Arrow, Guy Gardner, Huntress and Plastic Man's comic side kick Woozy Winks as well as the villains the Joker, The Catwoman (donning her silver age costume), Gentlemen Ghost, and Black Manta to battle his champion, Steppenwolf in a race to be the ruler of Earth.

Naturally upon refusal, Mongul threatens to destroy all of Earth. What ensues is a classic death race as Batman's master plan unravels to save Earth and his friends. Each combatant has their own unique vehicle, with Gentlemen Ghost's dragster and Steppenwolf's war machine being my favorite.

And one of my favorite shots of the episode:

Star Wars the Clone Wars Season 2 Episode 7: We're already seven episodes into this season and progressing on a storyline started two episodes before, but this one still stands on it's own. Titled "Legacy of Terror," Jedi Master Luminara Unduli pursues Poggle the Lesser into the catacombs of Geonosis and is quickly captured by the creepy undead bugs lurking in the darkness.

This quickly turns into a homage to the Aliens movies as Anakin, Obi-wan, Commander Cody and his troopers descend into the twisted catacombs in search of their captured comrade. This episode is surprisingly scary as they really saturate it with thriller/horror themes. They even have the queen bug (again taken straight from the Alien Queen)

We are introduced to these worm things that give the queen control over a person whether its living or dead. There's quiet the comical scene where Obi-wan nearly allows Luminara to be implanted by the worm, curious to which orifice the worm will go into which follows by a nice back and forth between Anakin and himself as they bicker over which it will be. Naturally they spring into action right before leading to some great lightsaber action.

Overall a great episode, creepy and a bit scary with the same great characterization that makes this series so good (we'll talk more on that in another post).

Both Batman Brave and Bold and Star Wars the Clone Wars play each week on Friday, 7:30 for Batman and 9 for Star Wars.

And if you noticed all the great screen caps, follow my link to my next review!

2009-11-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

So Wednesday was crazy as those of you who did stop by could plainly see. We got our books about 3pm and I literally put the last book into the sub boxes at 6:56. Thursday was spent doing all the rest of the stuff normally done on Wednesday afternoon and usually with more people that just me. So I'm quite surprised to have gotten my reading and now my reviews done. So we'll go ahead and start off with two Blackest Night tie-ins. First off Adventure Comics #4:

Now I dislike Jerry Ordway's art almost as much as Mark Bagley's art. So from the start, the issue is already half ruined for me. Now the story is not bad, it stars Superboy Prime who is one of my favorite DC villains. The problem here is that Sterling Gates is the co-writer and to me, feels like most of it is done by Gates. Mainly, the Internet gags and such didn't have the humor that was in the last issue of Legion of Three Worlds. It felt like whoever was writing it was trying to copy Legion of Three Worlds and it came across just as that. Hey maybe it was Johns and it just fell a bit flat. Otherwise it's a pretty standard super hero tie in with too much of a back story at the beginning and frankly, I just wanted more of the Conner Kent stuff from the last few issues. What I did love about this story was the Legion back up. It's stars my favorite Legion, Mysa Nal the White Witch. I've been in love with Mysa since this issue--

--which also happens to be my first issue of the Legion of Super Heroes (which is one of the reason I always call them by their real names as that's what they were referred to in this reboot). It was also my first real DC Comic. I fell in love with it instantly and went Legion nuts there after. That issue deals with the small reforming Legion going to the Sorcerer's World to get Mysa back from Mordru, where she's been held captive and tortured.

Back to Adventure Comics #4, the Legion back up story features Blok, Wildfire and Dawnstar going to the Sorcerer's World to confront/help Mysa who's story line at the end of Legion of 3 Worlds left her with Mordru's powers and a new persona, the Black Witch. I can't wait to see where they take this and I hope Levitz keeps with it.

Next up, Superman Batman #66, my favorite Blackest Night single issue tie in and it doesn't even come with a ring!
This issue stars Man-Bat, Bizarro and Black Lantern Solomon Grundy. This is pretty much just a continuation of Scott Kolin's Solomon Grundy series. But my favorite part, besides all the Bizarro speak, Frankenstein and the Bride of S.H.A.D.E.! I seriously want a Scott Kolins penned Frankenstein series. Maybe if I say it enough times it will become true. I saying it over and over in the store and people are looking at me.

Flash Rebirth #5 suffers from being late for the past three months. Don't get me wrong, it's good but I've lost the excitement I had from the last issue. This series will probably read amazing in one sitting. It'll be interesting to see if #6 actually comes out in December. Otherwise, I like the continuing story with all the speedsters and the Reverse Flash, the ending should be interesting.

Dammit, almost forgot Spider-woman #3.

I'm quite mad that this comic is so good. Madame Hydra is cool, the flying car is cool. Maleev is fantastic. Don't be putting this back on the shelves ladies and germs, it's good comics.

HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA awesome.

2009-11-13T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well I've been trying to post for three days now and each time something happened, like one of the ancient computers giving me the dreaded blue screen of DOOM! I think that may have been a sign or a message from the Beyonder that I should cease and desist my writing but no such luck for you readers, I'm back to infect your minds.

First up this week is Warren Ellis' new Avatar mini series called SUPERGOD!

When this book was first announced, I began my tirade on Ellis, posting" finish Desolation Jones and Fell first "on every new title or issue he announced which eventually led to my being silence on his site (which made me the clear winner). Anyways as much as I'd rather see a new issue of Desolation Jones and Fell, this was a good read. It actually felt like Ellis trying to write like Grant Morrison. This new series continues his type of super hero stories he does for Avatar (Black Summer, No Hero)--deconstructing super heroes he calls it but to me he's just about how it's not fun to be a super hero. Regardless, this is his first of the Avatar super hero books I've enjoyed since the end of Black Summer. Oh and he should really finish Desolation Jones and Fell because it's a slap in the face to readers to have to wait years for a storyline to finish when you pump out issue after issue of other books.

Batman and Robin #6 despite the horrible art, I liked a lot. This would have been amazing if Quietly was still on the book. The action was great, I loved the one liners from Robin plus we get to see some character development from the kid as he feels bad for the result of his actions from the previous storyline. We get some mysterious Morrison's hints about Bruce Wayne and a cool and even more mysterious last page which would have been cooler if the artist could draw. Speaking of cool/shocking last pages, DC was the winner this week with Green Lantern Corps and Rebels both have great last pages.

Last up for new comics this week is the Batman/Doc Savage Special, which is the lead in to the new First Wave pulp characters title. The one shot is enjoyable, the writing is solid (the dialogue has some problems but I think he was trying to go for how they talked in that era) and the art is alright, but I'm not a Phil Noto fan. What I did really like was the preview for the First Wave book coming in March 2010. The Rags Morales preview art was fantastic as they ran down the characters they are planning on using including Black Canary, the Spirit, and the Blackhawks among others. Made me quite excited for it.

Finally this week:

Yeah yeah, it's written J. Michael Stryakkigaigiazikazi, and yes I swore off reading comics by him so shut up. Yes I loved this. It was great. Yes I hate that it's him. Yes I'll probably be burned at the end like normal (especially since Marvel made him mad and he flew to DC) but I wanted to be all caught up with stuff before the Siege hits. So there, it's great. I like Thor. FINE.

Holy crap everything I liked this week was Marvel!`

2009-11-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

Yes it's true, hell must have frozen over and monkeys must have flown out my butt because everything I enjoyed this week were Marvel books. Granted DC titles were light this week compared to Marvel but this is a first. At least for a long time. So let's get into it before the obvious tear in reality from me enjoying all Marvel books devours our universe.

First up this week is:

Black Widow Deadly Origin #1. It was the cover that did it. I normally don't care either way for Adi Gravnov but this cover is amazing. Black Widow is sexy as hell and both Wolverine and Winter Soldier look freak'n cool. Tom Raney's interior art is decent, the story is fun and decent and I really recommend picking it up, plus it's only four issues. I've always enjoyed that they twisted Wolverine and Black Widow's past together (ever since that great Uncanny X-men #268 issue) and here they spotlight it.

On to Ultimate Comics Armor Wars #2, totally loved it. It's has great humor, great art, really cool action, and great one liners from Stark. This is definitely on the good side of the Warren Ellis comic scale.

And another Ultimate comic, Ultimate Comics Spider-man #4. I really thought the Ultimatum thing would be the death of the Ultimate comics line, so it's hard to believe I like all three titles so much. I think UC Spidey has the best in characterization, between Peter, Gwen, MJ and Johnny Storm it's really fun to read their conversations. I really like that Jessica Jones is in this and looks like the Ultimate Hood just made his appearance, plus a really cool looking Mysterio. High marks all the way, you should all be reading the Ultimate Comics Line.

And now on to two books that did not come out this week, first being last week's Dark Reign the List Wolverine.
I'd pretty much given up on Jason Aaron being one of those writers I follow no matter what. His Marvel work started out really strong with the Wolverine Get Mystique story line and slowly went downhill from there for me--as well as Scalped suffering with delayed shipping schedule making me have the feeling that I have no idea whats going on. Well anyways, that's all changed with this one shot List issue. It's fantastic. Wolverine, Marvel Boy, and Fantomex join forces to keep Norman Osborn from taking control of the sentient secret lab call the World which births out the Weapon Plus killing machines. Most of this stems from Grant Morrison's run on the New X-men (which overall I really liked but I'm also a Morrison-head). So Wolverine teams up with two Grant Morrison's characters and it's a lot of fun. The banter and dialogue between the three is fantastic and if you're seeing the trend that dialogue makes a book for me way more than the action and overall story then you're paying attention because it does.. Jason Aaron writes Marvel Boy and Fantomex as close to the way Grant Morrison would write them as possible. I'm hoping we can some more of these into the store because it's really a kick ass story. Shockingly enough, all the List one shots I've read I've enjoyed.

And this morning I finally got around to reading Spider-woman #1.

And I liked it. A lot. So apparently the shiny bald headed voodoo doll I made of Bendis that I stabbed repeatedly in the head with a pencil in hopes that he'd write good comics again work because I've reviewed two Bendis books today and two others over the last couple of weeks and liked them all. So you all have me to thank. And if the Siege is great then you also have me to thank but if it sucks then you can't blame me because I don't believe in voodoo. Back to Spider-woman, great direction for the character, great internal dialogue and Alex Maleev art is astounding. Read this.

PS--Also read Captain America Reborn #4 and it was good. The full shot of Baron Zemo with a machine gun is awesome.

Woah roadblock, I've rewritten this four times. Here we go again:

2009-10-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

Let me start this time by saying that X-23 is a total badass! X-force #20 was one of the coolest, bloodiest issues so far. X-23 killing everything in sight with only one arm. She's easily my favorite X-man, if not Marvel U character. It's nice that her original creators are still the ones writing her. Mike Choi's and Sonia OBack's art is brilliant. Plus we got Domino and Wolverine and Archangel and Warpath, I think the only thing I don't like about this book is Wolfsbane. This issue also leads directly into:

Necrosha X, the beginning of a crossover between X-force, New Mutants and X-men Legacy (sporting one of the coolest variant covers I've seen in a long time, AW YEAH LOST BOYS). I was quite wary of this crossover coming so close after the disappointing Messiah War crossover. But so far so good as this one shot is great. Trevor Crain's art is beyond amazing and yes the idea is Selene bringing dead mutants back to life which hits so close to Blackest Night but granted X-force has been doing that since issue 1 way before Blackest Night was released. Aw well, all these these companies do is copy each other anyways (Marvel Zombies, Blackest Night, Death of Batman, Death of Captain America blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda). Anyways, great start.

Hey look I read New Avengers #58 and I liked it! Captain America vs Ares is really cool. I'll keep reading!

I'd be writing faster but B'wana Beast is teaming up with Batman on the TV. I mean come on B'wana Beast just spliced together a spider and horse!

And now ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the Geoff Johns section of the reviews:

Blackest Night #4....starring Barry Allen! Hey wait, I thought this was a Green Lantern event! Anyways, great issue but took too long to come out as things felt like it was dragging. The rumor is that Johns will be penning a second Justice League title next year and I think he's beginning to set up his team here (Barry Allen, Mera, the Atom). Leads us into:

Green Lantern #47. Finally an issue focused only on Blackest Night, no Sinestro civil war tie ups, no back story. We get Hal, Sinestro, Carol, Atrocious, and our favorite Larfleeze. And it's leading directly to what I've been thinking, the new Guardians of the Universe will be a representative from each of the corps. But we'll see I guess. Oh and Doug Mahnke art is crazy.

Superman Secret Origin #2--I love it! It has the Legion! It has Luthor! It has Superboy! It has Krypto! I want the rest of the series to be just like this, no growing up Clark!

And thus endeth the Geoff John's portion of our program. It kinda gets repetitious doesn't it?

And finally this week, Dark Reign the List Punisher.

I can't say too much but it's Dark Wolverine (Daken) vs Punisher with a direct lead into my highly anticipated story line, FRANKENCASTLE! Haha it's awesome and I can't wait. Never before have I wanted to read a Punisher storyline so badly. Here's a preview pic!

And here you people were worried what Disney might do to Marvel...

2009-10-22T15:18:00.001-07:00

Alright lords and lasses, here we go on another week of my reviews and some dandy ones there are. First up is Batman Streets of Gotham #5.

It's written by guest writer Chris Yost, writer of Red Robin and co-writer of X-force. The story stars Huntress and Man-bat and is pretty standard as the two battle over what undoubtedly be a misunderstanding on the Huntress's part. Dustin Nguyen draws an amazing Huntress, she's one my favorite heroines and his art alone make this issue worth reading. I wish the normal back up would be Huntress instead of Manhunter, which is alright but I don't read it half the time.

I haven't read Dark Avengers since #2, but I decided to pick up #10 this week and I really liked it. Deodato's art is really nice and boy does he know how to draw a sexy female. I really like the interaction between Bullseye/Hawkeye and Moonstone/Ms Marvel as well as the new meds Venom/Spider-man is now on. In fact the banter and interaction between all the Dark Avengers is quite enjoyable, I think I shall have to go back and do some catching up. I have some hope that the Siege will be good.

I also read Dark Reign the Hulk this week and while the story was fine and all I bring it up because Moonstone/Ms. Marvel is in this one as well and she's wicked great again. I think I quite like her.

Justice League of America #38 debuts the new creator team of James Robinson and Mark Bagley. Upon finishing reading and taking a Brillo pad to my eyes and dousing them in bleach after having to suffer through Bagley's art, I had to think about the story. First off, it appears Justice League Cry for Justice should have been complete before he took over the regular JLA as there are a few *See Justice League Cry for Justice panels and whatever they were referring to hasn't happened in that series yet. The plot of the issue seems to be Vixen gathering her team of JLAers and discussing how horrible and worthless of a character she is and how pathetic their team is. I'm not joking. And then naturally Despero attacks. What I think is funny is this:

Justice League of America #38 also had Despero attacking a much more enjoyable team of Justice Leaguers which in turn made it a way more enjoyable fight. Actually, that was always one of my favorite stories from that series of JLA. But back to the issue at hand, I seem to be spouting only negatives and I did not actually hate this issue. Maybe it's the bleach being absorbed into my blood stream but I seem to still like the issue. Yes its filler, yes it should have come out after Cry for Justice was done and yes it's just to shoehorn in the Blackest Night tie-ins issue...hmm I seem to have lost where I was going with this as I return to all the negatives about this issue that I liked. Ah maybe it was the appearing of Zatanna at the end to help defeat Despero--although looking more like a tranny thanks to Bagley instead of the hot magician I so have a crush on. Now I need more bleach.

My favorite read of the week happens to have come out last week, House of Mystery Halloween Annual #1. Now I haven't read any of the new House of Mystery series and while I heard it was good, I just never got around to it. Until I heard Merv Pumpkinhead was in it. Now Merv was always my favorite character of the Sandman series and was one of the main reasons I read the Dreaming (I still maintain the Dreaming characters where way better than Morpheus and his family).

The annual is just a nifty way for Vertigo to spotlight all it's current ongoing and future series framed around the characters of the House of Secrets book. With no prior knowledge of these characters, I liked them immediately and decided by page 3 that I must read the series. With the Merv Pumpkinhead story, we also get a John Constantine story, an I, Zombie story (an upcoming new Vertigo series by Chris Robinson and Mike Allred), and a Madame Xandu story. Well played Vertigo because now I want to read all these series as all these stories were great. Merv was the best and I hope that turns into something, a new the Dreaming series would be fantastic. I must have it! And now you must have this annual. Because it directly lead to me reading,

House of Secrets Vol 1 Room and Boredom TP. I love the set up of this book. We have a group of characters trapped inside the House of Mystery as well as a newcomer. Now the bar that most of this takes place in, tabs are paid in stories so not only to we get this intriguing story about the trapped characters, we get these lovely horror stories from the patrons, generally done by other writer/artists teams and boy they can be brutal. And funny. So basically what I'm saying is this series is awesome, can't wait to read more and you should try it out especially since the first trade is only $9.99 for 5 issues. Once again, well played Vertigo, well played.

2009-10-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

You know what really chaps my hide? Yeah I said it, chaps my hide. I don't even know for sure what that means but it ain't good. I'm pretty sure it means chafing of some sort but I will not google it even with the google search bar so close to where I'm typing. To me it sorta looks like a term for wearing chaps on your hide which I don't think is such a bad thing because i think chaps are kinda of cool and think we all should wear chaps in our daily lives more often. Regardless of meanings, I'm very unhappy that Geoff Johns and Franics Manipul are leaving Adventure Comics because this book is just fantastic. They have something really unique going, something that won't have a good resolution in just a couple issues. That's what chaps my proverbial hide.

In issue 3 this week, we continue with Connor's checklist of how Superman/Lex Luthor he is or isn't. We have a foreshadowing of a mad genius villain for Connor, with it being his classmate and sudo-friend, Simon Valentine. The bits with Krypto are great and then Connor finds Tim Drake (Red Robin) in Paris and they have a heart to heart about the stuff that went on while Connor was dead and the stuff each are dealing with currently. We get some great New God/Final Crisis tidbits that gets me all excited. The Legion back up is a lot of fun and there's a pretty big bomb dropped at the end of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to the Levitz penned Adventure Comics starring the Legion, but I'm disappointed lose such a great story.

With Walking Dead #66 we see the conclusion to the hunters storyline. To me Walking Dead is like an episode of Jerry Springer, most of it is talking and extreme violence followed at the end by Rick's own Final Thoughts of what just happened. Reading his letter pages, Kirkman says he has ideas to take him to 200 issues, by that point I think Rick will just be a stump that makes noises, kind like that guy from the Crossed. Ha! I've figured it out, the Crossed is the future of the Walking Dead!

If you are not buying Secret Six then there's something wrong with you as it is one of the best books out there. Ultra-violent and creepily sweet, super villains really do have hearts even though they may maim each other constantly. Get this book, support it as it could easily be one of those that disappears. BUY IT! It's only three cheap trade paperbacks and a few issues. It's written by a girl no less!

Finally this week I finished the Showcase Presents Warlord Vol 1 TP. I've fallen in love with 70s comics. I have a hankering for awesome comics and Warlord fills my need. Warlord is about US pilot Travis Morgan who crash lands in a mysterious land in the center of the earth where there is constant daylight. It's a land of sword and sorcery and Travis quickly takes to it as the ultimate badass with his sword and gun and knack for finding warrior women in distress. I love the formula that many 70's adventure comics use, hero finds the girl, fights battles, loses the girl, goes on quest for the girl, finds other girl, rescues first girl after many battles, other girl is in love with him, so the girls fight and so on and so forth and it's so awesome. Mike Grell's art is amazing, his battles scenes intense and gritty, his women ultra sexy (right up there in with Paul Pope's ladies in my opinion), his villains dastardly and his Warlord is the ultimate in chiseled muscle, loin cloth wearing, alpha male hero. The black and white reprint takes nothing from the issues as I sometimes don't like black and white reprints of originally colored material. It works and works well. Huge recommendation from me.

And finally Planetary

2009-10-08T00:21:00.000-07:00

So Planetary has finally come to an end, the final issue is out and it is fantastic. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the final issue as they had wrapped up everything quite nice with issue 26 after their defeat of the Four and telling the Apokalips-esque alternate Earth the Four had sold our dimension to(that the Drummer so lovingly refers to as Earth Toilet-on-fire) to F-off. But I had forgotten one early thread yet to be resolved, that being Ambrose Chase. I'll leave it at that except to say this issue if full of techno-babble which I love to read. I have no idea if this is based on real theory or not but I love the way Warren Ellis writes that crap. I really do hope he returns to this world every so often, even just a one shot or graphic novel and he's left it quite open to do it. The series has really shown how amazing a comics can be, the top of the form and honestly it made nearly everything else I read this week seem amateurish and silly.

This was a huge week of reading, I took home over 20 books and read the majority of them. I still got a few to read so I may return later in the week with a few extra reads if they deem worthy enough. I grabbed a few things I haven't really been reading as I've grown quite bored with talking about the same books over and over again. So here's a few that stood out

I've posted the 2nd issue to Ultimate Comics Spider-man although I read both 2 and 3 tonight. I didn't pick up issue 2 when it came out because I felt issue one was so blaaarggh. But these two turned out to be a lot of fun, way better than any issue of the previous series I've read and that wasn't much because well, I didn't think it was all that good. Myseterio is our main villain here and has a much better look than the old fish bowl of regular Marvel U although his dialogue was quite cheesy as probably was on purpose but you really can't tell with Bendis these days. Surprisingly I enjoy the art quite a bit, a bit cartoony but dynamic and fluid at the same time. However, with Peter Parker's longer hair I have to say the same thing I say to Valley Matt when he comes in to get his books each week, "Cut your hair hippie, you like like an jerk!"

Sweet Tooth #2 continues it's rip off of the Road and I enjoyed it very much. The artist isn't much for action but it's alright, something about the jaggedness of the lines makes it feel chaotic.

In all honesty, the writing on the new Starr the Slayer comics is not all that good but Richard Corben's art is amazing and the only reason I chose to pick up this book. He does that chiseled muscle medieval gladiator character so well as well as graphic ultra-violence.

Last one for the night would be Criminal the Sinners #1. Fresh off their pulp-super hero mini Incognito, Brubaker and Phillips return to their crime noir stories. This one stars Tracy Lawless last seen in Criminal Vol 2 Lawless. However it set up to stand on it's own if you haven't had a chance to read the previous Criminal books. It's a really good start to a great crime book, looking forward to the rest of it.

Boring week.

2009-10-01T09:51:00.001-07:00

Sadly I found most things mediocre or boring this week. After putting down the forth read in a row, I thought, Seriously? Are they trying to kill me with boredom?

With Green Lantern #46, the art was suburb and story was good and all, but the Sinestro vs Mongul should have been resolved before the Blackest Night started. While the battle was cool and drawn really well it felt like filler when we should be getting somewhere with the Blackest Night story. Also as filler, the battle felt rushed. This battle would have been way more epic if it was the finale of a Sinestro Corp Civil War storyline.

However, I loved The Last Days of Animal Man #5. This story is really shaping up with each issue a joy to read. If you avoided this in issue format then you're silly because I've told you over and over how great it is. So if you're THAT person who is waiting for the trade paperback (which may start backfiring on you as how many are we supposed to order when no one was interested in the series?) then you should order it as soon as it's available because it's awesome.

...I'm just here to KILL you people.

2009-09-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Small week of reading but hot damn, some really good books. First off:

Superman Secret Origin #1. Go buy this book now. It is fantastic. Yes yes it's a retell of Superman's origin. Yes I know you've read/see/heard his origin many many times before but I don't want to hear it because this book is awesome. First off we get to see how his origin has transformed since the changes done in Infinite Crisis years ago. Most importantly, the stuff I enjoyed the most is the relationships Clark has with all the people around him as he learns of his origins and as his powers emerge. The last page is great and the little twists and changes and evolution of his different origins is enjoyable to see. Once again Geoff Johns proves he can write a story with heart just as well as zombie super heroes ripping out people's hearts.

Holy sweet Jesus on a pogo stick someone check if hell's frozen over, if Bigfoot is real and if monkeys have flown out my butt because Mark Millar wrote a good ending for a story. Not just good, GREAT. You may say I'm crazy, you may say Matt what tha french dude, but it's true--the ending to Old Man Logan was great. I mean really great. Badass cool great. Tons upon tons of Wolverine violence as he claws his way to Banner. I think this may be the most violent Wolverine comic ever. It's bloody fantastic (see what I did there?). There's only one problem in this story and you'll probably see it too, I see what Millar was trying to do and it is funny and cool but there's one word that throws it all out of whack: adamantium. But if you choose to ignore it then it's awesome and leaves you with a satisfying ending and maybe some hope for a sequel. This will go down as one of the essential Wolverine stories.

Detective Comics #857 marks the end of the first story arch as Batwoman once again goes head to head with Alice to save her father and Gotham. Very straight forward costume super hero story that is made into something epic by J.H. Williams. Alice's connection to Batwoman is hinted at and is pretty typical to the point of boredom. I still maintain while the story is solid, it's Williams art that keeps it from being just another typical costume super hero story.

Wednesday Comics #12, the final issue of the run I still sat where I was at week 5, I love the stuff I love, hate the stuff I hate. Regardless, this series proved to be different and cool and I think a success even if I didn't love all of it. I hope they continue to do this, but just as a yearly thing and only if they can have top notch people. I also hope they collect the stories singularly first (ala treasury size editions although it's a fleeting hope as they would only be 12 pages long) as I won't pay the hefty hardcover cost when I don't like half of the stories in there.

Comics for the 3rd week of September

2009-09-17T10:42:00.001-07:00

First off this week will be the book everyone has been impatiently waiting for, Blackest Night #3. As always, I recommend reading the issue before you read my post on it because there is no way to not talk about it without spoiling some of the coolness. And if you yell at me for spoiling something because you read my post, then I might have to hit you.

Once again, a kick ass issue. Barry, Hal and the Atom vs the Black Lantern Justice League. Awesome fighting, awesome dialogue--especially from Black Lantern Ralph--plus we finally get some Indigo Lantern action and some good explanations of what's really going on and how to stop it. Should be interesting and going in the direction I've been thinking. Plus Barry basically tells Hal that after everything he's been through, Hal's still a jackass. Pure awesome.

The problem with Batman and Robin #4 is that you're coming off Frank Quietly art into Phil Tan. I got a Quietly hangover and Tan is not the cure. Quietly's art fits Morrison's so well that it's jarring to have someone else on it, especially less than a month after the last issue. Otherwise a solid issue but Tan can't replicate the excitement that Quietly brings to the book.

Tiny Titans #20--AW YEAH! Another fun issue. AW YEAH--Patrick's still dumb for not liking this book.

Walking Dead #65. As with the last couple issues, every character has a monologue--I swear to god Kirkman is trying to out-bendis Bendis. The challenge, how many words can I fit on a page. And you know what, I didn't read 90% of the word balloons and the issue was still great. Yes my complaint is that there are too many words. My biggest problem is after all this time, after all the horrible things that have happened and still happen to these characters, there is no way they'd still be talking to each other this much. I mean come on, they'd be down to grunting at each other by now. But the last few pages are awesome.

Rebels #8. I'm not reviewing this issue because Andy stole my conversation with him about it yesterday and tried to make it sound like it came for him. It did not, I brought it up. Way to go jerk! Read it here.

Brave and the Bold #27 by J Michael Straychikciskqqhidkak2g43ski. I did not read this issue as I don't read anything anymore by Mr. Spider-Totem/Spider-mantheOther so I have no idea if it was any good. It probably is, but nope I'm not going to read it. I just wanted to spell his last name. Straysikghaakjfhjklerhski.

And finally Captain America Reborn #3. I finally enjoyed an issue of this. I still think that the explanation of Cap being alive is goofy. But the writing in this issue is good, more so with the other heroes trying to save Steve. And I got a kick out of how Steve's planning to contact his friends.

Oh crap, I forgot to read Green Arrow Black Canary #24!

2009-09-11T17:15:00.001-07:00

Easily my favorite comic this week is Adventure Comics #2. This book has so much heart in it. Plus it's so different that anything Johns is writing at the moment. Manapul's art is simply amazing and I'll be real sad when they leave this book (even though I know they're headed to the new Flash ongoing). This issue deals with Connor's first date since his return with Wonder Girl as they hammer out their feelings. Also, we see Brainiac and Luthor in action and just what is Luthor up to?

Next up is Green Lantern Corps #40. This issue is the best in a while as Oa deals with all the dead Green Lanterns returning. Salaak is totally kick ass, Kryb is creepy cool and the battle with Black Lantern Bzzd made me laugh. Overall a great brutal issue.

Secret Six #13 does what it always does-serves up a unhealthy dose of ultra-violence, creepiness, hilarity and sadness. Nicola Scott's art just keeps getting better which makes me worried she'll be swept up to a larger profile book.

Darkseid is Hard Naked Truth, intro

2009-09-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

Before we get into the Fourth World Omnibuses, I have to say one important thing: I used to hate Jack Kirby. Loathe him in fact. I would look at the sixties Marvel books and be repulsed by his art. Now it's a well known fact that I may hate something for years and suddenly I'll like it and then it's the greatest thing ever even though it still sucked before I liked it. That is how it works. Now I will still say I do not like Kirby's 60s and prior work, I'm just not a fan. What I do love is his 1970s work. It's groundbreaking, weird, fantastic and exciting. But I'm getting ahead of myself because I still hated Jack Kirby. But I did love Mister Miracle. And who do we have to thank for that? Keith Geffen and J.M. DeMatteis. Their Justice League, Justice League International and Justice League America are some of my favorite comics of all time. And who did they have in there? Mister Miracle. And Big Barda. And Oberon. If you've never read these, you really should. In fact don't call yourself a fan of comics until you read these. Just don't because they are fantastic and funny.

I also love Orion, although I don't remember why. Same with Darkseid. Could be it was just the Super Powers action figure line. Or maybe cartoons as Darkseid was always a major villian even if comics couldn't quite get it right.

So this is what hooked me:

Scott Free chained to a rocket chair. The coolest shot of Mister Miracle I've ever seen. I'll say it again, that is the coolest shot of Mister Miracle I've ever seen. It's the cover to Mister Miracle #6. I had no idea he was a Kirby creation at all. But it bugged me none the less. Especially because I really wanted to read that book. Believe me, I fought it for a long time. I can't give in, I can't let myself read, let alone possible enjoy something by Jack Kirby. I've said so many negative things about Kirby in the past, if I suddenly like him I'll be a hypocrite! Wait a second, I don't care about being a hypocrite! In fact I revel in it! I prefer to be a hypocrite. Excellent, let's break that shrink wrap and start reading.

So over the next couple weeks I'll be posting some in-depth reviews, thoughts, likes and dislikes about these books, what worked and what didn't work. I'll talk about how much Grant Morrison pulled from these books for Final Crisis. Maybe it'll help some people understand Final Crisis a bit better as it is so entrenched in these books. I'll probably ramble and I'll probably bore you but I do love to talk about these characters.

So coming soon: Darkseid is Hard Naked Truth Part 1: Fourth World Omnibus Vol 1.

Graphic Novels for the Week!

2009-09-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

I only read one new graphic novel this week, that being Justice Society of America: Black Adam and Isis HC.

The first half of this book is the culmination of the Marvel and Adam Family stories first started in Day of Vengeance and continued through JSA, Infinite Crisis, 52 (especially 52), Trials of Shazam and Black Adam: The Dark Age. We get origin explanations, the return of important characters, Black Adam powered Mary Marvel last seen in Final Crisis--who happens to be my favorite corruption of a character--and some great Adam family vs JSA fight scenes. Geoff Johns and Jerry Ordway leave both families in quite a state and it'll be interesting to see where they take it from here. A very good read. Also includes the light-hearted story, "Black Adam Ruined My Birthday."

To refresh myself on the lead up books to Blackest Night, I re-read both Green Lantern Secret Origin and Rage of the Red Lanterns. It was as if I never read Secret Origin, I didn't remember any of it. I had totally forgotten how important it is to the Blackest Night, namely the first appearance of Atrocius, Black Hand origin, and Abin Sir's obsession with the Blackest Night prophecy. After reading this, I really wanted a retell of the fall of Sinestro. They talk about it a lot but I would like a quick mini-series featuring a re-tell. As for Rage, I had forgotten Atrocius' prophecy for Hal. Will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.

Finally, I read Tales of the Green Lantern Vol 1. With DC's announcement of the leader of the Black Lanterns, I went here to read Nekron's first appearance. While dated, the story was still solid. I very happy that Johns used an obscured Green Lantern villain, keeping it tied to Green Lantern lore.

Small but worth it!

2009-09-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

The first week in September turned out to be pretty small but there were still a few good reads.

First up this week, Sweet Tooth #1. This is probably my favorite read of the week. There's no way that Jeff Lemire did not read Cormac McCarthy's The Road recently because this has that feeling. In fact it's like a cross between the Road and an M. Night Shyamalan movie. But it was very enjoyable, especially if you like apocalyptic deer-boy hybrids eating candy bars. And it's only $1.00.

Strange Tales is a three issue mini-series with Indy artists doing Marvel characters. It sports a cover and first story by Paul Pope, who I happen to be nutty about. Johnny Ryan of Angry Youth Comix does two great strips, Marvel's Most Embarassing Moments and Punisher in Scared Smart. Laughed out loud on both of these. My other favorite gags had to be the ones by the Perry Bible Fellowship. Pick this book up if you're looking for a good laugh.

Finally Justice League Cry for Justice #3. One of my favorite panels of all time and all I can say about it is the word balloon before it, "You're admiring my rug." You gotta read it!

That's it for this week. I'll be updating again in a few days with beginning of, "Darkseid is Hard Naked Truth," my in depth reviews and thoughts about Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibuses.

2009-08-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

A lot of comics to read this week. Here's what I liked as there are too many great books this week to have a favorite.

First up is Flash Rebirth #4. I posted the variant cover as I think it's fantastic. I usually don't get into alternates all too much but this shot of the Reverse Flash is so cool. The issue itself is about a month late but it's well worth the wait as the mysterious new problems surround Barry begin to unfold. We learn a lot more about the Speed Force and the speedsters connections to it. I can't wait for the next issue and to see what Johns' plans for the future of the Flashes.

Green Lantern #45. I've never liked the idea of Carol as a Star Sapphire but this issue's fight between her and Sinestro is pretty cool. But the best part of this issue has to be Larfleeze. Once again he steals the show with the few pages he's in. Yuh-oh.

Last Days of Animal Man #4. I don't know quite why I like this series but I do. Solid writing, solid art, Brian Bolland covers and sexy Starfire, what's not to love?

Blackest Night Titans #1 wherein Ed Benes makes zombie/human make out sessions sexy. This is a good read, not as great as the Batman or Superman minis but very enjoyable. Has some very creepy scenes. I've not read the new female Hawk before and she's super annoying so the last page is very satisfying.

Nothing new to really say about the new issue of Detective Comics and it might be filed in with Wednesday Comics as there isn't a point in reviewing it anymore as it's fantastic and stays fantastic. I will note that the Question back up was the best so far.

Batman & Robin #3. About a month late as well so it's really a good thing Frank Quietly isn't doing all 12 issues as we'd never see the end of the story. But at the same time it's disappointing as his art is so great. First page of #3 is awesome. Mr Pyg is awesomely creepy. Robin kicks total ass. It may feel a bit quick of a resolution for the Pyg story but as with anything Grant Morrison, you have to wait until the end of his story as all things are connected.

X-force #18. Two words: X-23, chainsaw. All you need.

That's it for now. Coming soon, my huge in-depth review of Kirby's Fourth World Omnibuses.

2009-08-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

My pick for this week is Blackest Night Superman #1. Blackest Night falls on Smallville as Earth 2 Superman rises. Things just keep getting worse for our heroes as Superman and Superboy battle Kal-L. It's great that so far all the tie in/extra mini series for this event are great. I think I like it better than the Batman tie in.

Up next is Batman Streets of Gotham #3. Finally our heroes get the upper hand on Hush and it's cool. The back up with Manhunter is alright but I still wish that they had Huntress as the back up story. Or Zatanna. Yeah Paul Dini doing Zatanna would be awesome. DC needs to let me run things.

Power Girl #4 continues it's fun laugh out loud issues. My favorite line, "Great, manga monsters."

Holy crappers, I liked two issues of Superman Batman in a row. Issue 63 features a great one shot story of what if Gorilla Grodd won? The earth is enslaved by Grodd except (of course) for Batman. I love these kind of stories. Great read, buy it!

Lastly, I read Supergirl #44 part 3 of the Codename Patriot crossover story. Good story, I'm really enjoying how Sterling Gates writes a story, but I feel I'm missing something with the characters. Not Gates fault at all as a lot of these characters come from the Superman books. A re-read of the previous issues are in order.

Tiny Titans #19--AW YEAH! How is this the best Titans book on the stands????

Pick of the Week: Adventure Comics #1

2009-08-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

Tons of books this week, tons of great reading!

I loved Adventure Comics #1. This is the first time I've read Conner Kent where I really liked him. The characterization is great as he tries to find his own place in the DCU and his struggles with being made from both Superman and Lex Luthor. Francis Manapul has finally evolved from just being another Top Cow clone artist to beign someone with a unqiue style. The Legion back up story is equally as good with a nice rundown of the characters and then right into a hilarious Starman story. I think Johns is working towards something big with the Legion (at least I hope so).

Blackest Night #2 continues to be great. Not as shocking as the first issue but there are some fantastic scenes, the title page being my favorite. The Aqua-family battle is disturbingly wonderful. I like how the Black Lantern "see" what emotion their victims are. Which leads me to believe we may see some deputizing of the DCU. Anyone else think so?

After a cool Book of the Black entry, we get a Superman Secret Origin preview which is pure awesome.

Blackest Night Batman #1. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I really don't know why I felt like this since it's written by Peter Tomasi and Peter Tomasi is awesome. As much as they've stated the contrary, I believe this is essential reading for Blackest Night as the Deadman thread started in Blackest Night #2 leads directly into Blackest Night Batman #1.

Green Arrow Black Canary #3. Holy scnikies I enjoyed an issue of BA/BC. I've written many times how much I dislike what the writer is doing with them but this issue was really good. There's a new Big Game in town and he's coming after the killer of his father, which happens to be Cupid. Of course Green Arrow must step in. I would love to see Big Game let her have it but that darn Green Arrow must get in the way.

This one goes out to Joceyln who I know is reading this even though she claims she doesn't

2009-08-05T23:30:00.001-07:00

A great week for comics. Small but great (that's what she said). My book of the week is split two and a half ways. First off, Justice League Cry for Justice #1:

I read this one right away on my lunch. I loved the first issue, so this was on the top of the pile. On my lunch break I darted across Division street traffic and over to get some coffee and read comics at their tables outside. Let me tell you, the first page of this book is hilarious. I love the dialogue for the rest of the book, the interaction between the heroes as they slowly come together. Art is suburb and even a mention to my favorite real book writer, Charles Bukowski.

Next up, Solomon Grundy #6 featuring Frankenstein!

I want--NEED--a Frankenstein series. Ongoing. Dammit, I want it now! The further adventures of Frankenstein, the Bride and the agents of S.H.A.D.E. Hell if they can give us a Magog, Red Tornado, and an umpteenth Doom Patrol series, then they can give me a Frankenstein series. Buy it. And buy a Frankenstein series when DC bows down to my will.

Speaking of Doom Patrol, the half of my two and half books of the week goes to the Metal Men back up story in Doom Patrol #1. The Doom Patrol story is okay. The rest of the issue is better than the first couple pages they've been previewing in other DC titles. But the Metal Men is great. Reuniting the classic JLI team of Geffen, Dematteis and Maguire, this back up story is fun. Fun action, fun dialogue, fun art. FUN. Buy it.

Also read this week was Amazing Spider-man #601 (what woman sits like that alone?), Captain America Reborn #2 and Superman World of New Krypton #6. All were solid reads. My only thing on the Superman titles is that while they are all good solid reads, there's nothing overly exciting about them. They say they are building to something really big and I hope so. The new story line--Codename: Patriot--is a good start, so I'm looking forward to seeing where this will go.

With Captain America Reborn #2, we continue the quantum leaping of Steve Rogers into different eras of his own body. And Norman Osborn continues to be evil. Cap strangling Hitler on the cover. Makes me want to see Inglorious Bastards even more.

That's it for this week. I should be able to update in a couple days with some trade paperback reviews. Next week is shaping up the be a massive week. I can't wait.

Black Lantern Ch'p

2009-07-30T16:48:00.001-07:00

Wherein Squirrel Green Lantern Ch'p gets run over by a yellow truck and dies. SPLAT. Awesome.

Comis for July 29, 2009

2009-07-29T22:17:00.001-07:00

My pick of the week this week is Detective Comics #855. The art is even more beautiful than the last, the fight scenes move like liquid, razor blades in mouths and guns blast to the face. Batwoman's new villain Alice is cool but Rucka must be careful otherwise she just might be a female Joker. But for now she beautifully crazy, brutally insane and delightfully wicked.

A close follow up is Last Days of Animal Man #3. I know this book is set in the future that will probably never happen, but this is a really good read. We get to met the League of Titans, which is a mash up of Justice League and the Titans. The Brian Bolland cover sets it off just great and the chemistry between Buddy and Starfire is suburb, hell they even reference 52!

Wonder Woman #34 is the only issue of Wonder Woman that I can recalling making it through. I've stated before, I'm not a Wonder Woman fan, the only time I've truly liked her was when she was an anti-life slave for Darkseid in Final Crisis. But I grabbed this issue not only because I'm a fan of Gail Simone because of her Secret Six series, but also because I love myself some Black Canary. And Gail writes her very well, no silly marriage drama, just a kick ass super woman team up. Gail's dialogue and banter is spot on as always, the issue is fun and I did actually enjoy Wonder Woman, but it was probably because of Black Canary poking fun at her.

Last up this week is Wednesday Comics. This is probably the last time I'll write on it because I love the damn book and I say the same things over and over. Paul Pope's Adam Strange, Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook's Kamandi, and Karl Kerschl's Flash are blowing the competition away! These creators know exactly how this series should work and their strips get better each issue. Nothing is wasted on their pages, stories and art is fantastic and I really wish to see series from all these guys (especially Kamandi). Best recovery this issue goes to Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred on Metamorpho as we get more than just one huge panel (holy crap, Neil wasn't so lazy this issue!) and a sexy Element Woman to boot.

One last thing. I re-read Final Crisis Rogue Revenge last week as it came out in hardcover. Unfortunately Andy has beat me to the punch and reviewed it. Normally I don't mind us reviewing the same books as we have different views but Andy's is pretty much exactly what I would have said, so much so I will spend the rest of the week attempting to find out how to exorcism him from my brain before he finds the important stuff on world domination by using monkey spliced Nano-DNA--oops I've said too much. I will say that I thought the Rogues were some of the STUPIDEST (yes capitals) villains in comics and after reading this book, they are some of my favorites now. So read it.

Upcoming books--a preview

2009-07-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'd like to take a second to preview some upcoming comics I'm really looking forward to. I recommend getting these on your list if you're interested as we've been selling out like crazy lately, especially books with Geoff Johns' name on it.

Adventure Comics #1

Written by Geoff Johns; Art by Francis Manapul, co-feature art by Clayton Henry Covers by Francis Manapul

It's the return of one of DC Comics' longest running books and one of its greatest modern-day heroes – Conner Kent! In our first heroic issue, Superboy can't wait to jump back into his life – but which life will it be? With a clarity he's never had before, Conner makes a beeline for the greatest place on Earth...Smallville?

Plus, in the wake of FINAL CRISIS: LEGION OF THREE WORLDS, Starman heads off on an all-new mission in the present. And it's one that will not only impact Superboy, but the future of the DC Universe itself. Fortunately, the off-kilter Legionnaire won't be dong it alone! And in the upcoming months of ADVENTURE COMICS look for Lex Luthor! Brainiac! Lightning Lad! Superboy's pal Simple Simon! Sun Boy and Polar Boy! Ultra, the Multi Alien! Wonder Girl! Black Lantern Alexander Luthor! And many, many more new and familiar faces!

Superman Secret Origin #1

Written by Geoff Johns; Art by Gary Frank and Jon Sibal; Covers by Gary Frank

Hot on the heels of their acclaimed run on ACTION COMICS, superstars Geoff Johns and Gary Frank reunite to present a 6-issue event that spells out the definitive origin of Superman for the 21st century – and it all starts with a gigantic 48-page issue! Chronicling Clark Kent's journey from the cornfields of Smallville to the skyscrapers of Metropolis, you'll witness a whole new look at the beginnings of Lex Luthor, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Lois Lane, Metallo, Jimmy Olsen, the Parasite and more! It's a look at the mythic past of the Man of Steel with an eye toward the future!

Like I always say, getting comics on your list ahead of time (not the week before), will almost always ensure you get one, especially during the month we order that title. Email us at cbsspokane@gmail.com if you want to get either of these put on your list (or to set up a subscription for it). I myself can't wait for these. Most of the DC books this month have a preview for Adventure Comics in it and it looks great. Both books have the Legion in it and with Secret Origin, we get to see Johns--once again--fix all the crappy history changes they did in the 80s and 90s.

Finishing the new comic reviews

2009-07-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

Went out with the wife last night so I didn't get the rest of my reviews done until today. I don't care, we had an awesome time.

Power Girl #3

I enjoy this series more with each issue. It's just plain fun. It's not earth-shattering, it doesn't have major groundbreaking affects for the rest of the DCU, it's not bad-ass cool. What it is is sexy super hero giant monkey fighting fun.

Tiny Titans #18

I love this series, it makes me giggle. Patrick there is something wrong with you that you don't think it's hilarious. We should all shun you and point our fingers and laugh at you and throw stuff too. AW YEAH!

Supergirl #43

I do enjoy this book. I was a bit wishy-washy on it but this issue changed that. Sterling Gates is going to be a name I'll grow more and more excited to see on books. I for one, am very happy they gave Supergirl shorts underneath her short skirt. I think Michael Turner's goal in life was to make all super heroines look like prostitutes. I really hope they take away the bare mid-drift and make her costume more like the one she wears in the Wednesday Comics strip. It's still cute, still has a short skirt but she doesn't look trashy. I like a Supergirl that I can show my daughter and not feel creepy about. And it fits her character better. If she's supposed to have the same standards as Superman, why would she fly around in a short skirt with nothing covering underneath?

2009-07-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have to go with Andy and make my favorite book of the week Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds #5. As he says this book is well worth the wait. Not only does it pull together quite a few Legion threads, the battle and fate of Superboy Prime is awesome. Lots of great action, it's funny and make me excited all over again for Legion. I wish it was going to be more than a back up story in Adventure Comics but I'll take what I can get. Superboy Prime is easily one of my favorite villains and I for one, hope to see more of him soon. I can't wait to re-read this series once it's in book form.

Green Lantern #44

Black Lantern Martian Manhunter vs Flash and Green Lantern. Great action, great dialogue, great art! I quickly realized how much I missed Martian Manhunter and how they could have made him way more excited that they had been. I secretly hope that some of these dead heroes will be restored to life, but at the same time I don't. This is also a must for the overall story of Blackest Night.

X-force #17
The first issue since the closing of the very disappointing Messiah War storyline. Our heroes are appearing back in the present. We get some great ultra violence with Wolverine and Archangel, body parts aplenty and exactly what I've always wanted to see in the past with these two. I'm happy they've gone back to their normal story line.

Amazing Spider-man #600

I haven't read Spider-man in a long time, but I picked up #600 and enjoyed it. The story is set up where I didn't feel lost at all. Romita's art is great, the battle with Doc Oct is standard but enjoyable, Spidey's one-liners are funny and annoy which is the point I guess. The last page of the main story is my favorite though, as we get to see Mary Jane. I'm interested in how they are going to handle this as I've always liked Mary Jane being with Peter. But I don't want them to just revert things back to exactly how they were. I hope they just fall in love all over again without ever knowing what happened before. That way they can be dating but Peter will not be tied down. We shall see.

I still have a few more comics to read so heck back in a few days for some more of my pointless ramblings!

Finally part 2

2009-07-20T17:24:00.001-07:00

I meant to do this last Friday but didn't get back to it.

First off is Superman Batman #62.

Now normally I never look at this book. I've actually never read this series whatsoever, it started with Jeff Loeb and Ed McGuinness as the creative team and I'm not a fan of either. But I thought the cover of this issue was cute so I picked it up and loved it. It's a one shot issue flashing back to Tim Drake Robin and Supergirl's first meeting. Superman brings her to the Batcave and suddenly Supes and Batman leave on a JLA mission. Naturally there's a riot at Arkham Asylum and the new worlds finest team have to go in. The story goes back and forth between witty banter between Robin and Supergirl to really dark scenes within Arkham Asylum. The artist Rafael Albuquerque does a wicked creepy Joker and the tea part panel is one of my favorites. I highly recommend this issue if you're looking for a fun read, especially not tied to any other storyline.

Superman & the Legion of Super Heroes TP

First off, I highly recommend reading Patrick's review on this book, as he comes into it with a totally different perspective. You can find his at http://thevalleyreview.blogspot.com. Now I love the Legion of Super Heroes. It was first DC comic I got into. Before that I'd had just read G.I. Joe and Excalibur (and a bit of X-men). The Legion I read was the five year after period, where the Legion were all adults and the galaxy has had a massive collapse and there's no more Legion. This is still one of my favorite books of all time and I read it generally once a year. It was great until right before Zero Hour when Keith Geffen left. After he left, the book went to crap faster than I've ever seen a book go to crap. Then to top it off, Zero Hour. I pretty much hated everything they've done ever since. It had a few bright points--the Blight, Legion Lost--but I stayed mad that they threw out that much history and dammit, it wasn't the Legion.

But this was the book that brought my Legion back. And I loved it, got me very excited for Legion. It also brought back the history of Superboy being in the Legion, which also makes me excited for the Superman Secret Origin mini series coming up. Gary Frank's art is fantastic. I've loved him since his Kin/Midnight Nation days. He also draws the kind of Superman I like, the slim Superman. I'm not a fan of the over-muscled Ed McGuinness Superman (although I love the Frank Quietly Superman because frankly, Frank draws everything well). I like the Kurt Swan slim Superman, I guess, the Christopher Reeve Superman, although I don't think of Christopher Reeve when I think of Superman.

So anyways, get this book. It's a great for introducing you to the Legion. It's also a great Superman story if that's what you want. It's also perfect if you've been yearning for your old pre-crisis or pre zero hour Legion. Geoff Johns does a damn good job at it all.

Reviews for the week part 1--Blackest Night!

2009-07-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

So I'm about halfway through my stack but I wanted to get my thoughts down when they are fresh.

First off:

Blackest Night #1.
(I recommend waiting to read my review until you've read Blackest Night, just so you can come into the issue totally fresh. I do my best not to reveal actual story threads but you'll gleam something out of the story with my writing. I will say right here I loved it, go buy it right now, call in sick to work, drive forty-five plus minutes to Spokane, just get your copy!)

All I can say is wow. This issue was well worth the long lead up. Ivan Reis' art is the best I've seen it, very early Bryan Hitch with a bit of Alan Davis and Adam Hughes. The double page spread of Hal showing the dead heroes is amazing. This issue does a very good job at building the dread, the shadowing of something very bad about to happen. Then BAM, Scar strikes and for the rest of the issue, Geoff Johns punches you in the gut over and over again. I counted three times that I stopped, went back and re-read the previous page just because I thought it was so cool. A few times I thought, "oh brutal!" And the last couple pages reveals my favorite Black Lanterns! This comic is 48 pages with very few ads (that I barely noticed while reading) and clocks in at $3.99. Very worth it.

Blackest Night Tales of the Crops #1

The first of three weekly issues focuses on Saint Walker of the Blue Lanterns, a story from Mongul's childhood and the first appearence of the Indigo (compassion) Lanterns. I really enjoyed all three stories, but my favorite was Mongul as a child. Holy crap I laughed out loud a number of times and really, I don't think I was supposed to. Maybe it reminded me a bit of my son or maybe I'm just twisted but you'll see why. As for the Indigo Lanterns...as compassionate as Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

Titans #15

Billed as a "Prelude to Blackest Night," it hardly is. However, it is a really good rundown of Tempest. He must have a large part in Blackest Night because this basically is a vehicle to introduce and catch up newer or non Titans readers on who he is. A solid read and it's nice to see Garth again.

Batman Streets of Gotham #2

Continues to be one of the books I look forward to most. Paul Dini's writing is smooth as always and I love Dustin Nguyen more each time I see his art. Not only do we see the conclusion of the Firefly attack but we also see Hush make a whole lot more trouble for our new Dynamic Duo. It's very helpful that I just read all of Dini's run on Detective Comics as all the Hush stuff is a continuation from that. I'll be writing soon on my thought of those issues.

Finally, Wednesday Comics #2

Continues to please! Paul Pope's Adam Strange is beautiful, the detail on the monkey men is astounding. The Superman strip features Batman and I love Bermejo's Batman. The back and forth between the two is classic. Supergirl continues to be silly fun, Teen Titans and Metal Men get better, Sgt Rock and Wonder Woman continue to be a waste of space and Metamporho falters story wise but the kid history strip is funny. And we get to see the Demon! And oh how I love to see Kamandi!

More soon folks!

After Wednesday Comics #1 and Green Lantern #43, everything is...

2009-07-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

...forgettable. I was trying to remember what else I read and couldn't. I've already talked about Wednesday Comics in a previous post. Green Lantern #43 was simply amazing. This is prelude to Blackest Night and great lead into the series. It focuses on The Black Hand and his connection to the Blackest Night. Doug Mahnke's art is superb, this guy keeps getting better and better. I'm glad he's GL's new regular artist, I hope he's on the book for a long time.

Ah, now I remember: I also read Batman #688, Green Arrow Black Canary #22, Rebels #6, Red Robin #2, and Superman New World of Krypton #5. Batman was alright. I'm not a fan of Winick's writing, but it was solid enough. However, Mark Bagley is now on the book and absolutely hate Mark Bagley. He makes everyone look like teenagers. He made the scene about Dick complaining about the costume look like a teenager throwing a hissy fit. But I did like how Two-face realized it wasn't the same Batman. I'll definately keep reading this book as my issue is the art, but I do look forward to Tony Daniel taking over (especially since it looks like we'll finally see the Two-face Batman).

Red Robin and Rebels were both a good read as was World of New Krypton but I still can't really see the point of all of it, I just miss Superman being normal Superman. As for Green Arrow/Black Canary, if you've read my previous posts you know how I feel about the writer on this book. However, Bill Sienkiewicz doing the finish art on the Green Arrow story was really cool.

Finally, I picked up Brave and the Bold Vol 4 TP.

The Supergirl and Raven story was pretty throw away, the dialogue between the two was funny and witty but the action part was boring. The reason I picked this up was the second part of the book, which was a Green Lantern/Phantom Stranger/Green Arrow team up. David Hine wrote all three characters very well, the story was enjoyable and Doug Braithwaite art was very good. Green Lantern Orlan of Sector 3897 had a cool design and I'd like to see him in Green Lantern Corps. I wish Phantom Stranger would show up more often as he's pretty bad ass in this story.

Next week, Blackest Night #1!

Wednesday Comics #1

2009-07-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm not finished reading my stack yet but I just had to quickly comment on how good Wednesday Comics #1 is. First off the format is as fun as I hoped it would be. It folds down nicely and fits into a normal comic bag. It looks really nice in said comic bag. Now fully opened, it looks very cool, it's easy to read, easy to turn the pages. I removed everything from the kitchen table and laid it there to read it.

Now for the content. I really enjoyed all the strips but one, that being the Wonder Woman. The art was beautiful but I found it hard to read. I'm going to give it another shot when I re-read. As for the others, my favorites were Kamandi, Adam Strange , Batman---WAIT! I was just flipping through it to see what my favorites were and I realized I was typing all of them. I do nearly love them all. They are fun. The whole project is fun. Each strip leaves me wanting more! My non-comic wife even thought it looked cool. My son will love that Gorilla Grodd is in the Flash episode. And yes I was smiling happily all the way through the Supergirl strip.

We were down to thirty copies when I left work today. USA Today was bringing in the normies. We have some more on reorder already but for you weekend people, I suggest you call or email us if you want one and don't already have it on your list. There's a very good chance we'll have none by the weekend.

Batman RIP

2009-07-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

When RIP was first coming out, I wasn't reading much for comics. I was going through my comic dry spell and I had read some misc issues here and there and they made no sense so I complained as usual and left it alone calling the run the bad side of Morrison writing.

With my incredibly strong renewed love of reading comics--especially DC--I began to get curious about this series. Final Crisis was my favorite read of last year so I was on my Morrison kick once more. But it was actually Greg Rucka and JH Williams that made me do it. After reading Detective Comics #854 I really wanted to see more JH Williams art. After diving into what I had at home, I gave his Batman issues a read (collected in Batman the Black Glove). This story involved the Batman of All Nations and the obvious history here along with Grant's writing really intrigued me. The Black Casebook had just come out (the 40s and 50s Batman stories that were a big part of Grant's inspiration for his Batman run), so I picked that up and despite my normal distaste at reading comics that old, I loved it. Most likely it was that I just love seeing the creations or inspirations for writers and already having seen how he linked the Batman of All Nations in I couldn't wait to read more. I had originally scoffed at Batman of Zur-En-Arrh (the only RIP issue I had previously read), but now with the history in mind, I couldn't wait to re-read.

So I jumped head first into, blazing through his whole run in about two days. And as a whole and with the history in place, I absolutely loved the run. There so much story elements in even the first trade paperback that is still playing out in the new Dick Grayson Batman issues. As always with Grant Morrison writing, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. It's not always easy reading, I generally have to re-read his comics to fully get it. And I like that. Makes that money spent worth it in my opinion. Even to this day I can still re-read the Invisibles and get something else out of it.

But back to the Batman story. The ongoing theme of the ultimate evil secretly plotting Bruce's downfall. Linking in the old history into current time, the possibility that it was Thomas Wayne behind it all, could Bruce be insane and none of it was real? I loved it all. My favorite being his back up emergency personality, Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, which is hilarious considering how much I hated it when I first saw it. And then there's the rebirth of the Joker. I can't wait for him to pop up in the new Batman and Robin to fight Dick and Damien. Grant did a great job, he had a plan that's still unfolding and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

So another good week of comics. The new comics I read this week were Batman & Robin #2, Justice League Cry for Justice #1, Green Lantern Corps #38, Secret Six #11, Captain America Reborn #1 and Dark Reign Zodiac #1 (I guess this was last weeks). It was also a week of great covers with JL double covers and the GLC being my favorites.

Batman and Robin #2 was fantastic. Frank's art is just beautiful. The fight scenes are so fluid, the panel design dynamic but not difficult to follow. I love the double page spread of Batman fighting the identical circus freaks. Story wise, I'm really enjoying the human side of Dick Grayson. I like his self doubt and his frustration with Damien. My favorite line is, "...and I hate the cape..." Then there's good old Alfred, the backbone of the Bat Family, always there to keep them going, to remind them who they are and why they do what they do. I love Damien, I've always loved him. I know a lot of people have problems with him, but if you hate him because he's a brat then Grant's doing his job because that's just what he is. One reason I like him so much is because I have my own little Damien at home. If I were Batman, Carter would be Damien as Robin...my own little bratty maniac who doesn't listen to anything I say but is always punching the hell outta something.

And the last page...just plain cool.

I'd been looking forward to Justice League Cry for Justice for a long time. I was very happy with the book, but it didn't really progress how I thought it would. They haven't even grouped up yet, let alone a become a team. Just seems with only 7 issues, they started out really slow. Otherwise I really liked it. The art was suburb and the interaction between Hal and Ollie was very well done and really makes me want to read the hard traveling heroes books from the 70s. I like the use of the lesser known characters like the blue Starman and Congorilla. My only real complaint was there was no Batwoman yet. I was looking forward to more of her, especially in a team setting.

For Green Lantern Corps #38, the only thing I have to say is that the Guardians are a bunch of bastards! I hope they get whats coming to them in Blackest Night.

Now on to Captain America Reborn which left me saying, WHAT THE HELL? Time will have to tell on this story but so far to me, the explanation just doesn't fit right with the character and the kind of book it is. It also feels very unoriginal, especially with the recent events with Bruce Wayne Batman in Final Crisis. The books is written well and the art is good but I'm not so sure on this Steve Rogers thing. At least Bucky and Sharon are not making a deal with the devil to rewrite history so he's alive...

2009-06-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

Needless to say, this week was a huge week. But that leaves us with a lot of good books to read. My top book of this week was Detective Comics #854. This was a great read with some of the most beautiful art I've ever seen, JH Williams has really outdone himself this time. The back up story with the Question was equally enjoyable.

Green Lantern #42 was great as well and my first read of the week. The ending was mean, leaving me yet again with question, why does anyone follow the Guardians of the Universe? But I think that's going to be a major theme come Blackest Night.

Gotham City Sirens #1 was a lot of fun. I'm so happy all the Batman Reborn books have been so good.

On the Marvel side, the few titles I did read were decent enough: Wolverine Weapon X #3, X-force #16, X-factor #45 and Dark Avenger Uncanny X-men Utopia. I think I've become too much of a DC head though.

Lastly, my favorite cover and my new favorite character of the week goes to Last Days of Animal Man #2, the Green Lantern Whale being my favorite new character!

2009-06-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late posting this week but better late than never. My favorite comic last week was Batman Streets of Gotham #1 by Paul Dini & Dustin Nguyen. I really like the perspective the narrative was in and that they focus on Batman villains besides the big ones. The Manhunter back up was very enjoyable as well and I really like the DC has started doing this. At least when you have to pay $3.99, you get a second story.

I also enjoyed the Outsiders #19, Power Girl #2, Supergirl #42, Incognito #4, and Cable #15. All of them good solid reads. My only real complaint with Cable is it's feels like we've been reading the same issue for the last four issues. X-force vs Stryfe vs Cable vs Bishop vs Apocalypse with Deadpool being funny. Come on guys lets finish this up, let's reveal who or what Hope is. I personally think she's Jean reincarnated but we'll see.

But for the freak'n love of god, get Andrew Kreisberg off Green Arrow/Black Canary. By the time he leaves, he'll have run this title into the ground. I love Green Arrow, I love Black Canary. I like how they finally got them married, but why have the immediately put them into marital problems. Come on, read Final Crisis. See how Grant Morrison wrote them. That's how it should be. A kickass crime fighting duo, not whiny marriage problems and stupid super villains that are obsessed with Ollie and Dinah being jealous.

It grows...

2009-06-17T23:52:00.001-07:00

The addiction grows...

2009-06-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

I love the DC Superhero Figurines. What Andy and I lovingly refer to as cancer statues. They are made of lead and there's a nice cancer warning on the package. But damn are they cool. Originally I was only going to get my absolute favorites--suddenly almost all of them are my favorites. Superman came home on Saturday. Robin, Spectre and Donna Troy are on reorder so I don't short the store. Sinestro comes in this week (so does Lex Luthor which originally I wasn't going to get, but now...). For the love of god, I'm even planning on getting Bane (that was the Secret Six series fault). I was able to talk myself out of getting Wonder Woman, because really, I could care less for Wonder Woman. Naturally, my daughter just said, "I hope you get some girl ones, you know just a couple." So looks like Wonder Woman comes home tomorrow.

Great comics week.

2009-06-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

This week comic lot was fantastic, I love comic weeks like this. My favorite was Green Lantern Corps #37 (I just keep getting more and more excited for the Blackest Night), followed by Flash Rebirth #3 and JSA vs Kobra #1. Red Robin was a good read as well and Batman with Winick writing was decent enough, but probably would be better if Batman and Robin #1 wasn't so good.

Suprisingly enough, X-factor was the lamest of the bunch. I liked Jamie in the future bit but the Monet was part was dumb.

I also picked up the Final Crisis HC which I'll probably start this weekend. I'm looking forward to re-reading the series with the Superman Beyond and FC Submit.

6-2-09

2009-06-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

My absolute favorite this week is Batman And Robin #1. They really nailed this one. The story is fun, the art is amazing and there's one page in particular that I said out loud, "that's so cool." I'm really liking Dick Grayson as Batman and Damien as Robin, there's a great chemistry between the two. Plus, the sound effects are drawn into the panel. I'm so excited about the Batman titles, yes I even want to read the Winick book. Crazy.

Following up, Final Crisis Aftermath Run #2 made me burst into laughter, I mean who doesn't love tiny dogs being thrown out a skyscraper? Both Scalped and Superman World of New Krypton were both solid reads. My runner up this week is Secret Six. Last week I blew through all their issues from Villain United, their regular series and their appearance in Birds of Prey. This is easily one of my favorites now and made an audible squeal when I see it on the invoice.

We also got in a one page preview of the new Wednesday Comics and I'm even more excited about the project, even if it's on the newspaper print. I guess a bunch of retailers are up in arms about the paper but if you get enough retailers gathered in one area, they turn into a bunch of old ladies that complain about everything. This thing is going to be ultra cool and unique, not just the same old GLOSSY dribble.

Reading this week:

5-22-09

2009-05-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

So I read about ten to fifteen new issues this week and overall I was pretty disappointed. Granted some of them I was jumping in halfway or at the ending of a story line. Also I loved nearly everything I read last week so I'm sure that tainted it a bit. The books that did stand out this week were Secret Six #9 (from last week but read it this week), Battle for the Cowl #3, Wolverine Weapon X #2 and Uncanny X-men #510.

Secret Six had me laughing out loud again. No I won't write LOL. Dammit, just wrote LOL. AH!!! it won't stop. Anyways, once again DC has made me enjoy characters that I had absolutely no interest in. Bane? Living Doll? Cat-man!? But it was great. I'm going to catch up on all the Villains United/Secret Six books this weekend.

Battle for the Cowl #3 ended well and pretty much as expected. It was a fun read and felt very 90's Knightfall cheesy but I still really enjoyed it, although it overall it was pretty unnecessary as we could have just jumped right into the revamped bat-books.

Nothing special about Weapon x #2, just fun Wolverine attitude and violence.

Ah Uncanny X-men #510. More 90s nostalgia. I love it. Maddy Pryor, Psylocke, Spirial. And I just love that they have all the young x-men always around. Pixie has become one of my favorite X-men.

Next week some Flash Rebirth talk as long a Eric has read his comics.

Comics read this week

2009-05-16T17:15:00.001-07:00

Here's what I read this week:

New Mutants #1
R.E.B.E.L.S #1-4
Unwritten #1
Walking Dead #61
Azrael #3
Oracle #1-3
Action #877
Dark Reign Young Avengers #1
Wolverine #73
X-factor #43
Final Crisis Aftermath Run #1
Final Crisis Aftermath Escape #1

My favorites this week were the REBELs run and the Unwritten. If you are a fan of any of the old L.E.G.I.O.N. comics pick this book up, you'll love it. I forgot how much I love a well written Vril Dox. Unwritten is a new Vertigo series by Mike Carey and Peter Gross and the first issue is only a buck. Pretty much what if Harry Potter became a real person but didn't know he wasn't real.

Final Crisis Aftermath Run had me laughing out loud. Never thought I'd enjoy a comic about the Human Flame this much. He's such a horrible bastard, how could I not love him. Escape was very enjoyable as well.

Jason Aaron's Wolverine short story in #73 was great. Walking Dead #61, how can the most disturbing parts of this book not have anything to do with zombies?

I don't think Zeb Wells, the writer for New Mutants, has ever read any of the New Mutant characters before as he seemed to give them all new personalities. It's a shame because I love these characters for the most part, especially Cannonball who got the worst of it.

May 8, 2009 - A word about solicitations

2009-05-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hey all, in the last couple previews we have some big solicitations, between the Batman & Robin, Detective Comics starring Batwoman, Batman Streets of Gotham, Blackest Night etc. Please keep in mind that it's very helpful for us for you to put these titles on the list when they are announced, especially the event books (Blackest Night). It's hard for us to know what to order if no one is asking for the book right away. We order two months in advanced so it's often a guessing game on how many to order. If you notice that titles are selling out before you can get it, this is the reason why. Not only are the subscriptions a way so you don't miss an issue, it's also used by us to judge how "hot" a title is going to be and how much we should order for the stands. The Blackest Night FCBD issue had a great checklist at the back for the upcoming event, so please let us known what of these books you'd like. We will be ordering the main title for the people on for Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, but titles like the Tales and Blackest Night Batman will not be automatically ordered for you so please let us know right away if you'd like these titles.

The Wednesday Comics is another example, this has all the makings for a great series with the amount of really good creators on it but we need to know who's going to want this.

BEST COMIC COVER EVER.

2009-03-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

Shut up Patrick, I'll do it when I'm ready.

2009-02-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

So I've been reading a lot of titles lately. First off I just blew through the New X-men Childhood's End run of 5 books and they were a solid read. It would have been better if I cared about the throw away characters a bit more...but suddenly in the last book I did! Up next, I re-read the Messiah Complex story and it held up, it was still the best X event so far. One of the only times that the none X-men/Uncanny books really fit into the story. After that, plowed my way through both Uncanny and Legacy from the Complex point on. Again, both were really solid reads and the main reason I liked them so much is that it was completely different from what they've been doing in X-men for years. No longer are they hanging out in the x-mansion waiting to be attacked. Legacy deals with Xaiver's quest to regain all his memories and to try and put some of his mistakes right. It also has Gambit and Rogue, with Rogue doing something similar to Xaiver.

The Uncanny title has the X-men relocated the welcoming arms of San Francisco and opening a mutant sanctuary. It cool to see all the side characters (New Mutants etc) in the panels and they even call them into action. Also, Beast is assembling a group to try to turn the X-gene back on. I plowing into X-factor next.

Final Crisis #7

2009-01-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

So it finally ended. Spoilers beyond, I tell ye. In the long run I liked it. It was a great series but as it wrapped up it left me wanting certain things and I guess it wasn't the things Morrison wanted to write. It felt like it needed two more issues, two much crammed into too little panels (aparently that is what he wanted, a feeling of the end of things, things happening too fast).

Regardless, I wanted the resurrection of the rest of the New Gods and for them to have some part in it, not just a panel of them walking into the Kirby world. A better explaination of the deaths of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. And Mandrakk was utterly pointless. I seriously have no idea why he was a part of it. Darkseid was enough of an ultimate villian. Darkseid was my favorite part of all this. He was so twisted and evil and even in his death he was amazing. Mandrakk was a waste of pages that could have been used for something else.

The things I did like: A happy ending. Frankenstein kicking Wonder Woman's ass (again I wanted to know a bit more but that planel was fantastic), a Kirby universe (that will probably never be properly used), the new Checkmate, the combined actions of the super heroes to kill Darkseid (especially the Flash outrunning the Black Racer through Darkseid) the death of the monitors and the knowledge of the multiverse, and most of all, I really liked the ending and the fate of Batman.

Incognito #1

2009-01-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

I read a rather large stack of comics last week but what really stood out was Incognito #1. This comic was fantastic. It's bascially about a super villian stuck in a witness relocation program and he's dying inside from regular life. Brubaker and Phillips go for a super hero pulp feel to this book. It's a great read and I highly recommend it. Course it sold out first day but I have a couple copies coming in this week and another batch the following so let me know if you want one. This is really one you don't want to miss out on.

Sorry for the delay

2008-12-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

So yeah, things have been a tad crazy around here with Christmas and snow and more snow and more snow and for the love of God will it stop snowing. Sorry about the delay but I've been shoveling.

On Thursday, when the snow was so bad, I wasn't able to make it off my block. I live up on the South Hill and our good car was stuck at my wife's work. So on this day, in between my shoveling, I was able to read all three graphic novels of Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This series is a fantastic crime comic. I've been a fan of both of these guys forever, I've always thought Brubaker was best on crimes stories. So each book is broken up in separate stories about different people, there is no "main" character to the story. But characters and names reoccur throughout the series, the characters may talk about a character in one storyline and in the next it'll have that character in it. I reminds me a lot of the old Stray Bullets series before it went to crap.

Another really nice thing--these books are cheap. $11.99 or $14.99 each. A fourth book is coming finishing up what they've done so far. They are taking a break from this series and starting a more super heroish crime book called Incognito (http://www.marvel.com/catalog/INCOGNITO.1) that I'm really looking forward to now.

Week 4 - only a day late

2008-12-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Only a day late, but it's been crazy busy so a quick thanks to all of you. We'll start with this week's comics. First off Secret Invasion #8....WTH...Bendis, God made you bald because he knew you'd write that story one day. I immediately read The Crossed #2 to cleanse my pallente and it made me giggle out loud twice (the infected bullets). For those of you not reading this series, it's Garth Ennis at his most violent. It really puts all his other violent books to shame. This is not for the squimish whatsoever. It's basically a zombie end of the world book but the zombies are alive and crazed homicidal maniacs.

Rounding out this week was Batman #682 which leaves me with the question, so uh was RIP just a Final Crisis replicating army of Batmen dream? I'm sure the next and final issue Morrison's run will make total sense (hahaha). But at least we got the return of the LUMP!

I also got in Justice Society of America Vols 1 & 2 this week. They were great. I never in a million years thought I'd be enjoying the adventures of these characters and when they brought in Kingdom Come Superman I thought it was such a gimmick but it was really enjoyable. I'm looking forward to the release of the third book and getting caught up with the series as a whole.

Week 3 or I'm in a DC Comics reading frenzy.

2008-11-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

As the title says, I seem to be in a DC Comic reading frenzy and I believed it's been sparked by Final Crisis. Grant Morrison does that to me, makes me want to read comics. Granted, Grant does put out some pure shit, but the good stuff always makes my brain turn into a whirly violent fury of comic reading madness. So this week I'm playing catch up on DC comics. I go through fazes on comics. Sometimes I'm reading everything I can get my hands on, other times, I don't ever want to see another comic again. That's why I have to play catch up so often.

This week, I plowed through Justice League of America Vol 1 The Tornado's Path, Justice League America Vol 2 The Lightning Saga, Green Lantern No Fear, Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis, Flash Secret of Barry Allen, and Superman & The Legion (looks like I'm on a Geoff Johns kick too). By far my favorites were The Lightning Saga and Superman & the Legion, but I'm a nut for pre Zero Hour Legion so the return of them was pure happiness for me. All the other titles were solid, fun reads. My only real problem with Identity Crisis was....why didn't Atom's wife just....ask him to come back...she left him...

Single comics read this week were the Walking Dead #55 (subtitled: see how many horrible things we can do to the main character), JSA Kingdom Come Specials Superman, Magog and The Kingdom, and X-force #9 (sporting a very nice cover). The JSA books were solid but I felt I was missing out a bit since I haven't yet read the main title. Which will lead into next week's post...

Week Two (11/21/08) - The Joker HC

2008-11-21T12:21:00.000-08:00

This last Wednesday we finally got our re-orders in for the Joker original graphic novel that come out three weeks ago. We had eleven copies come in originally and they were sold out in a day (I even had to give my copy up). So this week I was able to take mine home and I read it while my wife and daughter watched America's Next Top Model (okay, okay so I was half watching it too but my favorite model wanna-be got kicked off so I'm unhappy).

Anyways, brain eating reality TV shows aside, the Joker was an amazing read. It's written by Brian Azzarello with art by Lee Bermejo. Bermejo has been one of my favorite artists for years, he did the art on one of my favorite comics of all time, Global Frequency #9. The Joker is not set in current DCU continuity, basically all you have to know is who Batman's villains are. Think of it like the All Star Superman series. It's told from the point of view of one of the Joker's henchmen. The Joker is released from Arkham Asylum to find his control over the city has been divided up amongst the other villains and crime bosses of Gotham....and he wants it back. This is a really cool take on the Joker, design and personality wise as well as the other members of Batman's Rogues Gallery. Bermejo does a really creepy, nasty Joker and although it looks similar to Ledger's Joker in the Dark Knight, Bermejo has stated that he started working on this three or so years before the Dark Knight movie.

Anyways, well worth the $19.99. Looks good on the book shelf and is definitely something I'll want to re-read down the road. And for those super hero nay-sayers, this story is more of a mob style crime story than it is a super hero story. Buy it and read it.

Week One: Final Crisis

2008-11-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

So Final Crisis. This is one of the best series coming out. And I mean all of it. Every single issue of all the encompassing titles are a solid good read to a fantastic read. Really, it's quite a feat for a big event book with tons of mini series and one shots. For me, I have not read any event book where all of the titles were at least solid. Grant Morrison's at the helm of this and so far doing some of the best work of his career. Basic idea? EVIL WINS. And boy does it. This is a classic Morrison read, which means re-reading is a must. But that's a good thing, you'll get more out of your dollar (or 4 dollars).

Rage of the Red Lanterns leads directly into the next Green Lantern storyline and heads to The Blackest Night. Legion of 3 Worlds deals with the delightfully insane and whiny Superman Prime. Of the one shots, Resist is by far my favorite. It stars characters I've had absolutely no interest in reading--Mr. Terrific, Snapper Carr, Cheetah--but they are fantastic in this and I want to read more of them. Hey I've never liked the Flash's Rogue Gallery, thought they were dumb, but the Rogue's Revenge is a great read. Serious. Serious serious.

Yes I know there are a ton of sub-series and one shots and yes they are $3.99 minimum. But seriously, you only need to read the main mini series to get the story. Yes a few of the one shots fill in story lines and characters a bit better, but by no means are they a must. I think Submit and Resist are the most important of the one shots, but again, are not required (at least not yet, haha).

One more thing before I end this for the week, having read Jack Kirby's New Gods and Kamandi really helps make this series more enjoyable. The story is heavy in New Gods and Morrison is using what Kirby has laid down in the 70s. The New God Omnibus's and the Kamandi Archives are great reading in themselves and really enhance the story of Final Crisis.

Thanks for reading and I promise to keep this up, unless I'm too lazy to walk over to the computer and type, which is a great possibility :)

Available editions:

Final Crisis #1-4

Final Crisis Rogues Revenge #1-3

Final Crisis Superman Beyond 3D #1

Final Crisis Requiem

Final Crisis Revelations #1-3

Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds #1-2

Final Crisis Resist

Final Crisis Submit
Final Crisis Rage of the Red Lanterns
Final Crisis #1 Director's Cut (script and commentary)