Random Thoughts

Last of the Legion

2011-11-29T11:54:00.002-05:00

Here are Wildfire and Colossal Boy:

Again...More Legion

2011-11-22T09:18:00.003-05:00

2011-11-20T19:28:00.001-05:00

Some more Legion videos:

DC Universe Legion Of Super-Heroes: Lightning Lad

2011-11-12T17:21:00.002-05:00

Take a look at Garth Ranzz from Winath:

DC Universe Legion Of Super-Heroes: Cosmic Boy

2011-11-12T17:15:00.003-05:00

Here's a look at Rokk Krinn of Braal:

lsh vid test

2011-11-12T16:47:00.002-05:00

Test of Legion Videos

Random Thoughts 24

2011-01-31T22:01:00.000-05:00

This week in comics and action figures was a week of death....

First,

SPOILERS!

Torch's fire put out- Yes, Johnny Storm gave his life to save others from the horde known as The Annihilation Wave. Although, no corpse could be recovered or even seen, it's certain that the former hero/actor/male model/hot rodder could not have survived. The team has seen its fair share of "deaths" with each of the quartet having several passings. Most of these turned out to be fake outs however. One actually made the trip all the way to heaven before being given a second chance. I'd say that this "death" will inevitably be undone. Such is the nature with comic character deaths [especially Marvel ones]. Look out for those "very special issue of" stories about how heroes deal with the news...

I come to bury Wizard, not praise it- This week the publisher of Wizard and Toyfare announced that those magazines would cease being published. Wizard started in the 90's and quickly became the slickest, coolest source for news, interviews and sneak peaks of the comic book industry. Those were, of course, pre-Internet days. Wizard remained pretty relevant until the early 2000's when Internet availability and technology progressed to the point where news reported in the magazine was old news by the date it went on sale. Now with blogs, podcasts, and sites like CBR, Newsarama and even MTV covering comics Wizard's role is done better and faster. Wizard failed to change...and for that deserves to die. To be honest, the quality of the mag was pretty poor for the last six or seven years, more and more mistakes and skimpier articles...that's why I stopped reading it five years ago. Toyfare also suffered from lack of good editing, but still had nice pictures of new toys coming out, so that I will miss. However, I say good riddance to Wizard. Of course, I do hope that those who lost their jobs find work soon. I'm not heartless. And the way the employees were told was distasteful and cowardly...but that's another topic.

No toy for U!- Mattel cancelled the TRU exclusive "Infinite Heroes" Green Lantern movie figure. Pre-sales had started and with release just a few weeks away, they pulled the item. Produced in a limited batch of 2,418 (the sector Hal Jordan patrols as a Green Lantern), the 4 inch figure came with a GL ring. No real reason has been given for the cancellation.

Thundercats!- Following a leak of pics from the UK Toy Fair, Bandai released info and pics of the new redesigned 'cats for the new show appearing this fall. It seems to draw alot from anime design styling, much like the 2002 He-Man reimagining. I just hope the voice acting is good. Thundercats is the property that I most wanted to return in some form. I was hoping Mattel would get the licence and do action figures similar to Masters Of the Universe Classics and DC Universe Classics. I'll just have to see what Bandai comes up with.

Superman Lives- In breaking news...a new Superman was cast. And he's *gasp* a Brit! Henry Cavill from The Tudors won the part. Hmmm? This seems familiar. I don't know much of Cavill's work, but that Bale guy worked out okay.

Random Thoughts 23

2011-01-24T13:53:00.001-05:00

I know it's been almost two months without a post...

I'm a terrible blogger.

It's not that I haven't been writing stuff for this blog. It's that I can't finish what I do write. Or that I'm not satisfied with whatever I do finish to post it here. So I've committed myself to do something for this weekend...and here it is.

A few news items first:

The leaks of Thor, Cap, X-Men and Spidey set photos- These have to be a marketing ploy to "test the waters" and get the public, or rather the geek fanbase, used to the look of the costumes so when the movie hits less attention will be paid to the them. A sort of desensitizing campaign, if you will.

The Dark Knight Rises casting- The news here for me was not so much as who the actors were, but rather which character they would be portraying. I trust Nolan to take Bane back to his strategic mastermind criminal roots instead of having him be dumb muscle. I also noticed that Anne Hathaway is credited as playing Selina Kyle. I wonder if the exclusion of the Catwoman name is significant or a fake out.

Fredrick Wertham spins in his grave- This week both DC Comics and Archie Comics dropped the long standing regulatory (censoring) commission for their comics in favor of their own ratings system. The Comics Code Authority was created in the mid-1950's by Marvel, DC and Archie (as well as others) to avoid being shut down for corrupting young minds. While the movies developed a scaled ratings system comics were stuck with a pass or fail stamp. Literally having a comic without a CCA on the cover was verboten (anti-drug issues aside). Loosened in the 80's (what wasn't) it remained a part of the industry. Marvel bucked the system for it's own ratings in the early 2000's. Now that its two other major supporters are out...it will most likely die.

Digital River(dale)- Archie Comics announced that they will offer their comics online same day/date as at retail. I must say that Archie Comics is really impressing me as a company. To have the "married Archie" and "student that happens to be gay" story elements as well as the modernization steps with new ratings system and same day digital releases ends my perception of the company as an out of touch stale entity.

FF Tuesday?- Well it's been a few weeks since retailers have been allowed to get books shipped on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. This was done with the implicit understanding that books would not be for sale until the next day. Marvel is now testing this new deal by allowing early sales of Fantastic Four #587. They say it's to stave off the spoiler of which member of the Four dies, setting up the next arc and relaunch of the team. This is just a test to see if certain books can be marketed like this as being "early".

Holy E-footnotes, Batman!- I grew up loving the comic book tradition of referencing past issues of not only the same title but other titles where the events had some bearing on what was happening in the issue I was reading. This habit was slowly phased out during the early 2000's. I was surprised when Amazing Spider-Man #652 had something that reminded me of those footnotes. Referring readers to go to the Marvel.com online OHOTMU entry for the old and somewhat obscure villain the Looter. I wonder how many people were unfamiliar with him enough to check out that page.

So that's all for now..... Glad I got that done as I've been "busy" reading the DC Showcase Teen Titans and watching all the streaming Tom Baker Doctor Who I can through Netflix.

Hopefully I will have another post up next Mon.

Random Thoughts 22

2010-11-29T13:53:00.000-05:00

So this Thanksgiving brought some great food and some good toons. That's right, cartoons. Now, most people would be excited about the football games. Not me.

It was sneak peek week for the newest versions of both G.I. Joe and Transformers. They debuted on the joint venture cable channel between Hasbro and Discovery Networks called The Hub. Both were supposed to have been ready for the channel's relaunch (it was previously Discovery Kids) back in October, but were pushed back to Thanksgiving weekend.

As a fan of both properties you would think that I would be excited about this. I am, to some extent. I am very wary of getting too involved in these series though. More on that later, first let's take a brief look at each with minor spoilers.

First let's look at G. I. Joe: Renegades:

The title gives some clue as to the storyline right off the bat. Well, we join red-headed Army Intelligence officer Lt. O'Hara as she gathers various members of the military to escort her during an inspection of a Cobra Industries plant outside of Springfield. It turns out that she is not there to inspect with any authority at all and with only gut instinct telling her Cobra is up to no good [OK they are] means to infiltrate the plant and obtain proof of the evil nasty things Cobra is doing there. So these poor guys are dragged unwillingly into her promotion seeking move to impress her boss General Abernathy. Of course, things go badly when Cobra's personal security force try to stop them and open fire. In no short order, news of their "assault" is passed on to the military and the Joes are labeled as terrorists. It doesn't help that in the effort to get evidence to exonerate them they not only destroy the Cobra plant, but unleash a deadly Bio-weapon. Surprisingly one of the characters dies in the explosion that lays waste to the plant [something I wished would have happened to this character in the movie]. It was a bit surprising even if done off-screen. Needless to say, the Joes return to destroy the bio-weapon monster and sacrifice the chance to clear themselves by doing so. They vow to do whatever it takes to take down Cobra, thus setting up the very "A-Team" like premise for the show.

I liked the way the writer's came up with a new explanation for the Joes' code names, now they are just nicknames they call each other. A logical and realistic explanation. Aside from Scarlet, Duke, Roadblock, Tunnel Rat, Ripcord and Snake Eyes, Flint and Lady Jaye show up. Flint is now the "Col. Dekker" to the Renegades "A-Team". Showing up on the other side is the Baroness and Dr. Mindbender with mention of Destro and Cobra Commander shows up at the end. The animation was very much that "realistic" anime inspired and not bad. Snake Eyes kicks ass, of course.

I'm not too confident in Hasbro's commitment to the show. With Pursuit of Cobra figures still doing well and there's no news of a toy line supporting the show or an IDW comic even. Still the show doesn't officially begin until next year so there might be new developments by the New York Toy Fair in February.

Also on the Hub was Transformers: Prime. A CGI series:

Again focusing on a small group of heroes, this time the Autobots and their defense of Earth against the Decepticons. Drawing from Animated, the live action movies and the War For Cybertron video game for inspiration. The two episodes shown introduced the last Autobots (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Bulkhead, Arcee and Cliffjumper) hiding their existance from the world as they remain on Earth to link up with any refugee Autobots and defend it against Starscream who rules the Decepticons since Megatron left three years earlier. After Cliffjumper is killed [again with a character's early death?] Arcee is spotted by several human teens who become wrapped up in the robots' war. Megatron has returned to harness the power of the Blood of Unicron or Dark Energon. Showing off it's power he resurrects Cliff as a feral berserker only to kill him a second time [C'mon kids are watching!]

Again, Hasbro's backing of this series is dubious. With the Generations/Universe/Reveal the Shield line and another Transformers live action movie coming this summer are they going to be able to do anything with this version toy wise? Again, I have to say Toy Fair holds the answer. It will be very interesting year there.

And over on Cartoon Network was Young Justice:

A great revamp of the Teen Titans concept. We get introduced to Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, and Kid Flash as they finally get a tour of the Justice League's HQ. Speedy walks off because the JL won't let them in. The others stick around as the JL gets word of a fire at Cadmus Labs, but a volcano eruption takes precedence. Robin hacks the JL computer and finds out that the League is suspicious of Cadmus. The teens realize that they have not been barred from going to Cadmus Labs to help and to poke around. They find out Cadmus is cloning biological weapons and among them is Project Kr, Superboy. Cadmus responds to their discovery and though they escape with the clone the lab is destroyed. The League is not happy, but impressed with their resolve. So they convert their old HQ (Happy Harbor) to serve as a base for the young heroes training overseen by Black Canary and Red Tornado. They will run missions that the League cannot take because of political or other complications.

I already like the animation and the tone of this series. It seems that they will, like JL/JLU, go into DC Universe lore. I mean, to see Guardian and Doublex as part of Cadmus in the first episode was cool. It also seems that they will forge their own way too as the "Big Bad" is the mysterious group known only as "the Light". The series starts in earnest this January.

So, that was a quite a lot of toons to watch this weekend. If you want to see them they will be re-aired in January. All except the Transformers series, which airs the first five part mini-series this week. The Hub will be running a new episode each night (along with all the previous ones right before it).

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T10:41:00.000-05:00

Enjoy Turkey Day Everyone!

This Week's Comic Stack 10/20/10 plus 10/27/10

2010-10-30T12:24:00.000-04:00

Combing last week's and this week's Stacks:

Last week

The Good:

Chaos War #2- Pak and Van Lente continue their great work with Herc and Co.

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #4- An okay ending that obviously sets up a story in Brubaker's Secret Avengers book.

Brightest Day #11- This issue focuses on Martian Manhunter and Fire(Death)storm. This is sooo much better when one or two of the arcs receives the majority of pages.

DC Universe: Legacies #6- This issue deals with the fallout from the Crisis and is drawn by Jerry Ordway and inked by Perez. A great stroll through DC history. The backup is a riff on the Legion(s) Of Super-Heroes coming back in time to get Superboy that frankly falls flat. However, that does not ruin the main story.

Green Lantern Corps #53- A new arc involving Qward and the Weaponer (now able to affect power constructs due to his studying the White Lantern construct left by Deadman) after revenge on Sinestro.

Legion Of Super-Heroes #6- The Earth-Man character solidifies his place on the team this issue and a new vote for Legion leader is called for. In a nod to the Waid series the fourth wall is broken as the writers/editors appeal to the readers to vote for the new leader online.

The Alright:

New Mutants #18- This arc about the Inferno babies grown up, while a cool starting point, is meandering and I'm losing interest in it.

The Stand: Hardcases #4- Maybe it is the gap between last issue, but for some reason it just isn't as good as previous issues.

Batman Beyond #5- Well, there is a bit of a fake-out with Dick there...[whew] Even with my fears alleviated this issue isn't as good as the last. I hope that #6 will pull it together some more and I still look forward to January's ongoing series.

Justice League Of America #50- The great art and always cool Crime Syndicate story should make this a hit. Though, it just falls short.

The Bad:

Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne #5- The great art by Ryan Sook (and Pere Perez) can't save this clunker. The time period is what confuses me. Drawn like it takes place in the thirties or forties(cars and the style of clothes worn) but mentioning the death of Thomas Wayne, it is set just after the murders of his parents. This is a key piece to the whole epic story that Morrison has been telling since he got involved with the Bat books. It ties in the Black Glove to the framing of Thomas Wayne and the Wayne family for several things throughout history along with Carter Nicols and his time machine. Having not read most of that though, I was lost until I researched it later. To be honest, I thought that Bruce was going to go back to the Golden Age Earth-2 time period or something similar and was disappointed to find out that wasn't the case.

This Week

The Good:

Justice League: Generation Lost #12- Everything we know (about Ice)is WRONG! In a huge change for the character, Judd Winick gives her an all new origin and backstory. Supposedly repressed memories awaken when she went into a fugue state last issue. Is this real, or is it Max messing with her? Either way it's pretty interesting stuff for the character.

Teen Titans #88- J.T. Krul reunites the Geoff Johns Teen Titans. At least that what the promos seemed to promise me. The team had gotten so far from what attracted me to the title in the first place. Now that the gang (for the most part, no Tim as Robin, Cyborg or Starfire) is back I wanted to check it out. Krul is not one of my go-to guys, but has done a few things that look favorable for the title and the characters. Unfortunately, he's also done some not so good thing with characters of late. So while this issue gives me hope for the future of the title, I'm not confident in it yet. Luckily they've paired him with a great artist in Nicola Scott so it will look good (although Gar's one snaggletooth annoyed me). The story is mostly the team dealing with the gang being back together and the teaser of Damian Robin [urrgh...] joining.

Zatanna #6- After being stood up by his cuz Zatanna not coming to his show, Zach investigates her disappearance. He saves Zee from a fate worse than death... marriage [ba-dump-bum] and an eternity in hell. A nice end to this little arc. Zach comes off better than he ever has before because until this series he's kinda been an @$$hole, even to his friends.

Captain America #611- Things look bad as Cap turns himself over because he's been outed as the Winter Soldier assassin. Meanwhile, there's endless meetings about this fact. The Avengers meet, Obama meets with advisers, Steve meets with Obama, Cap meets with some Nazis (to kick their asses) and finally Steve and Cap meet. Boy, all this meeting and talking you'd think Bendis wrote this issue. That said, I think that the way it's done adds tension to the story and pressure (even though he's unaware of most of these people discussing him) upon Cap. Oh, and Black Widow guests in the poor Nomad back-up.

Captain America: Patriot #3- I am really loving this book. Karl Kesel starts with the existing continuity and adds a new depth to it while telling an original story. This is my favorite thing he's written. This issue fleshes out why Cap traded Bucky for Sun Girl as partners in the fifties. The art is simply wonderful.

The Alright:

Justice Society Of America #44- Another new creative team, new direction for a title (see Teen Titans) this week as Marc Guggenheim and Scott Kolins take control of the JSA. Already in their first issue I don't think I'll be liking this much better than Willingham's run. The team has their asses handed to them by a new baddie (not even a classic JSA foe) and get all remorseful over the destruction of a chunk of a city. (ummm....Bludhaven is a radioactive crater...and god knows how many times the entire world has suffered damage from invasions, apocalypses and such in the DCU) This just seems to be done for dramatic purposes to amp up the guilt for JSA as a politician goes after them for the damage. [cleaning up and rebuilding after a big fight is half the fun in the DCU] Also one of the big three of JSA (Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Ted Grant) gets injured. Green Lantern Alan Scott is now "permanently paralyzed" because of injuries sustained by fighting the big bad. Nice,...take out the best part of JSA and after what he just went through with the Starheart, jeez take it easy on the poor guy. Wait, that's not all...Jay wants to retire and Mister Teriffic is losing his smarts. I have a bad feeling about this. The Scott Kolins art is uninked which sometimes works for me, other times doesn't but is still very good.

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #4- This title has increasingly less to do with finding Batman in time and more to do with Rip Hunter and Booster Gold. Most of the issue the motley crew of heroes are trapped in an illusion. Booster is trapped with Hal Jordan and has some great banter playing with the world's perception of him and Hal's being so judgemental of him. Jurgens may not be in top writing form this issue, but the art is great.

Amazing Spider-Man #646- The Origin Of the Species storyline concludes with a happy ending. [not that kind..] Spidey saves the day and finds out the real father of the Goblin baby is...Harry, and he doesn't have any Goblin/Menace powers. This seemed a fairly abrupt conclusion, but still worked. It must be nice for Spidey to have the Avengers to tie things up that would have taken issues to resolve a while ago. Like those pesky kidnapping charges and all those lose villains running around. Oh, well! Next issue starts Dan Slott's run on Amazing...something I've wanted to see since he did that Spider-Man/Human Torch mini years ago.

Uncanny X-Men #529- Half of the issue is set up for the Generation Hope mini, the other half is the White Queen being mysterious and manipulative with what to do with Sebastian Shaw and neither really interests me. For some reason the Portacio art seemed a bit rushed this issue too.

From a few weeks ago...

Untold Tales Of Blackest Night #1- I missed this one when it came out. An anthology one-shot that has "deleted" scenes from Blackest Night. A framing sequence featuring the Sinestro Corps archivist, Lyssa Drak, trapped in the Black Lantern Book of Black bookends. Featured in the scenes are: Animal Man, Donna Troy, Scarecrow and Sinestro Corps member Karu-Sil. In a scene sure to be quite important later on, Lyssa is rescued by a mysterious figure she recognizes (the readers don't see him/her/it) who wants her to be a bookkeeper. None of the stories are incredible or horrible and the art is all very good.

Random Thoughts 21?

2010-10-23T18:34:00.000-04:00

Just when I was getting a rhythm down to posting things, my computer decides to not boot up any more. A visit to the Geek Squad and three weeks later,...my baby's back and so am I!

I'm realizing just how long three weeks is in Internet terms. What with the 10-12 YouTube videos a day, the 6 weekly podcasts I listen to and the hundreds of comic book and toy news items posted on various sites it adds up to a lot of lost time. And it's not as if the sources stop and wait for you to catch up. No, they just keep churning out new stuff.

With three weeks worth of news to catch up on and comics to review on This Week's Comic Stack, I would never catch up. So, I'm just gonna start with the comics I bought this week and go from there. That should be up Sunday night or Monday morning.

So, till next week...

Random Thoughts 20

2010-09-26T16:40:00.000-04:00

-I was in the grocery store and noticed that Hostess and DC have a deal. Batman and Superman appear on the boxes of Cupcakes and Twinkies. Green Lantern (Hal) turns Sno-Balls into green colored Glo-Balls and Flash gets his very own Flash Cakes (red icing on regular Cupcakes)

-Some interesting DC solicits for Dec:

Green Lantern/Plastic Man one-shot by Marv Wolfman should be worth a look.

Larfleeze Christmas Special that was teased by Geoff Johns for a while before being announced at SDCC

The Legion Of Super-Heroes Annual #1 reunites Levitz & Giffen who had quite a run on the Legion in the 80's.

The all pencil Batman: Hush Deluxe Hardcover seems cool to look at, but I don't necessarily want to buy this story again.

-The big moves at DC: The ending of the Wildstorm imprint and DC Entertainment moving to LA. The only Wildstorm book I've read was Planetary (when it came out) so I was not floored by this announcement. It seems that the various properties will be folded into other imprints (either DC or Vertigo depending on which is more apropriate) so content wise I don't think DC loses much. Besides how many start and stops has the Wildstorm universe had since 2000? Four,...five? As for the move to California....It really doesn't affect the Comics offices and jobs aren't going to be lost if people are willing to move with the company.

-Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are trading cosmic level characters for street level ones. They will write the new ongoing Heroes For Hire comic. It will feature: The Punisher, the Falcon, Misty Knight, Paladin, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Silver Sable, The Shroud and Avengers Moon Knight and Black Widow. I'm sad that they're leaving the Guardians Of the Galaxy and Nova, but excited to see if they can drum up the same kind of interest in this new set of characters.

-It's premire week on TV this week. So far, nothing has really captured my attention.

The Event (NBC, Mon 9PM)- seemed like it was trying too hard to "be" the new Lost. None of the characters were particularly memorable...but the sci-fi aspect of the series is interesting. In the first episode the kidnapping of a family led to an assassination attempt ala 9/11 on the President of the U.S. by an airline pilot. The reason, he was going public about a group of people being held in custody in a remote base in Alaska. However, the plane disappears in midair before crashing. The spokesperson of this mysterious group says "They saved us". So we got this mysterious group, the conspiracy who wants the President dead for going public about this group, what happened with the plane and who did it to be answered. I'm hoping that episode two will be better.

Lone Star (Fox, Mon 9PM)- This is about a con man who is leading two lives, two cons and trying to figure out if he wants to run those cons or turn legit in either life. I'm sorry, but this kind of sounds like they said let's take a Sawyer [from Lost] "type" and create a show out of it. I don't think the lead has the charisma to pull it off though.

Hawaii Five-O (CBS, Mon 10PM)- Now, I really never watched the old show even in reruns, but I do know lots of the locations and the same production crew were used on one of my favorite shows of all time, Magnum P.I. and, I expect, Lost [do I obssess much?] So, while the lead isn't that solid , there are lots of familiar faces to keep me around for a few more episodes. There's Grace Park from BSG, Masi Oka (yet to appear) from Heroes and Daniel Dae Kim from Lost [of course]

Undercovers (NBC, Wed 8PM)- Okay, this show was fun, but I had to get over that awful "sex-pionage" promo. [I sincerely hope that's not a running gag] Watching this it could well have been "Alias: The Married Years". So the leads of Sydney and Vaughan have been recast/reimagined as two spies lured out of their five year old retirement after marrying each other. A Marshall "tech/support" type guy shows up. The female lead runs a catering business with her friend [oh, wait, Francine is dead I guess I should stop with the Alias connections] The emphasis here is on action, comedy and romance more than the actual espionage plots.

Returning favorites had strong episodes...

Chuck (NBC, Mon. 8PM)- Chuck is now looking for his spy Mom (played by Linda Hamilton) and ran into tough guy baddie Dolph Lundgren this week. This show gets some cool guest stars! I did groan when they brought back my least favorite part of the show... the Buy More. Yet, they did with a bit of a twist...so it could be interesting.

Castle (ABC, Mon. 10PM)- Nathan Fillion is back for more murder mysteries and flirting.

Fringe (FOX, Thurs 9PM)- Olivia is trapped on the alternate Earth...while her double is on the Prime one. If that's not bad enough, the bad guys on Alternearth have brainwashed her (geneticly?) into thinking that she IS that universe's Olivia.

Smallville (CW, Fri. 8PM)- Clark has a near-death experience with both Jor-El and Pa Kent, while Lex Luthor's clones are discovered. Lois knows the secret of the Blur [UGH!, hate that name] and we see the Superman Returns suit [Huh? Well I guess it was cheap]. Meanwhile, Oliver is being beaten by somebody for some reason. Chloe tries on Fate's helmet and then trades herself to free Oliver. Oh and one of the Lex clones tries to kill Lois with the good old "you're not fast enough to save the woman you love and these random innocents" trick. Spoiler alert...he is fast enough. Next episode looks killer...Lois with Carter Hall/Hawkman and Shayera and Deadshot in Metropolis...Yes, Deadshot.

I've yet to watch the last new show to pique my interest...Blue Bloods the CBS drama about a multi-generational NYPD police family starring Tom Selleck [Magnum himself] as the patriarch and NYC Police Commissioner. The other Wahlberg (Donnie) plays his eldest son, dealing with PTS from Iraq. His daughter is a prosecutor. His youngest son is a Harvard grad that gave up a career in law to become a beat cop having just graduated to the force. They are all dealing with the recent death in the line of duty of another cop sibling. The youngest is approached by the FBI to go after a secret society of crooked cops and learns his brother was working for them when he was killed. If that's not enough, there is a clue that points to the oldest brother being part of that society.

So that's it for now...

See you next week.

This Weeks Comic Stack 9/22/10

2010-09-25T00:07:00.001-04:00

From DC:

Flash #5- This is a manic issue. Manapul's art gets that across very well. The Rogues fight the Renegades and the Flash during which Captain Boomerang has a White Lantern induced freak out. He wildly throws his energy 'rangs. One hits the huge mirror that will bring out the Mirror Lords that spell death for Iris, according to the Renegade Top. Barry is knocked into the cracked mirror, breaking it and is bombarded by images of his mother alive and well. The rest of the Renegades take the distracted Barry prisoner for trial in the future, while the Top pays Iris Allen a visit...Great

Green Lantern Corps #52- This is a great conclusion to the Alpha Lantern storyline and it looks like the end of Cyborg Superman for a while. The whole issue is told through the recently freed Alpha Lantern Boodikka. I liked her observations and comments on the other lanterns as they fight to free the robotic planet of Grenda from Hank Henshaw's control. Ardian Syaf does an incredible job with the art. He has become one of my favorite "new" artists. Great

Justice League: Generation Lost #10- Max Lord sets Magog on Captain Atom. The "JLI" breaks into smaller teams to follow up on the Checkmate connection to Lord. Rocket Red, Fire and Ice find one of the three leads to be a robotics lab guarded by the Metal Men. While not as good as previous issues this one was still quite good. Winick is really on a streak here even without Giffen guiding him now. Good

Justice League Of America #49- This starts out as one of those "what does a team do after a big fight" comics. Robinson quickly shows (with guest penciler Pow Rodrix) all the team members on their downtime. Poor Donna and Jade however run into Donna's old enemy Bogeyman (I don't know if he was a real old villain from the old Teen Titans series or just made for this story) and have to fight off his psychic assault. Not too bad...the art was pretty good too. Alright

Legion Of Super-Heroes #5- A great issue with the Legion dealing with the Titan refugees. The xenophobic Earth-Man continues to reconsider his stance on aliens when he has to defend refugees from an anti-alien militia. It has a great "one man alone" stand followed by "a ____ member is never alone" moment. The cliffhanger page shows that Earth-Man may have had some very good reasons for rethinking his xenophobia. Great

And from Marvel:

Amazing Spider-Man #643 [from last week]- I still don't like the art too much, but the story is great. A nice everyone is after him chase. This is a real nice way to end the whole One More Brand New Moment In Time phase of Spidey. Good

Avengers Academy #4- Although McKone's art is pretty good, I just don't care enough about the kid characters to keep me reading. So I think this title might be gone from my pull list after next issue. Alright

Secret Avengers #5- This issue has some great guest art by David Aja and Michael Lark. It also focuses on who the "Nick Fury" is that has been leading the team opposing the SA for the past four issues. Turns out it is NOT the real Nick Fury [SURPRISE], merely a prototype LMD (Life Model Decoy) with his memories and emotions and a body more like the Vision and Human Torch than the standard robotic LMD. For some reason they can't destroy him so SHIELD locks him up. However, being "Nick Fury" he keeps busting out getting caught when he foils plots to take over the world. So he his finally liberated by the head of this secret organization...I won't say who it is, but he will be familiar to readers of Brubaker's Marvels Project. Good

Thor #615- Not the best first issue for Fraction. Mostly, it was conversation and premonitions about some vague threat to all of creation intercut with scenes of said threat wiping out the elves of Alfheim. One conversation is set up for a joke on the last page. A scientist is trying to explain to an unseen Asgardian his theory of why there is a threat coming. Asgard has come to Earth and wherever Asgard was, something is taking its place because nature abhors a vacuum. The mystery Asgardian is revealed on the last page but hinted at throughout the issue (pay attention to the type of analogies the scientist uses to explain his theory). Thor is really barely in the issue. The art was okay. Ferry takes getting used to for me, but he's fine after a couple of issues. Alright

Uncanny X-Men #528- There's a lot going on in this issue. Storm and Hope go after one of the five new mutants [#3] in Africa, there's dissension among the Atlanteans, Dazzler and Northstar enjoy some of the new hero fame that the X-Men have now, Iceman hires a PR firm [Order fans might remember this character] to capitalize on that new fame and Emma deals with some personal stuff involving Sebastian Shaw's influence on her. {WHEW} All that makes for a pretty good comic. Good

Great: 3

Good: 4

Alright: 3

Bad: 0

Some Trades:

Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 4- Roger Stern wrote most of this volume, but Chris Claremont came on for six issues and a crossover to Man-Thing (included). The highlight, for me, is when Stern returned, he was joined by Marshall Rogers (famous for his small Batman run) as penciler.

Essential Captain America Vol. 5- This volume collects the end of Frank Robbins run as penciler for the title and the return of Jack Kirby to the character. Except this time he writesas well as draws. Now, Kirby would get into some goofy stuff during his return to Cap and Marvel, but you can't just deny how well he composes a page and handles action.

The Complete Clone Saga Vol. 1- Yes, I've committed myself to reading the "awfulness" that was the Spider-Man Clone Saga. This is a very unfamiliar period of comics for me. I stopped reading right before this and came back into comics when it had ended. I guess I caught the tail end of it with the "Sign of Five"(?) story which killed off Ben Reilly. Yes, I know the gist of the story, but I want to know if it is as bad as people claim. This volume starts off pretty good with some great art by Bagley, Romita Jr. and Tom Lyle (who I remember not liking that much). It deals with the clones life before returning to NYC and his becoming the Scarlet Spider.

This Week's Comic Stack 9/15/10

2010-09-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

I know, no posts for the last few weeks.

Instead of playing catch up I'm just going to go into this week's books.

And play with my review format a little...

From DC this week:

Batman Beyond #4- I was afraid that Dick Grayson would be treated badly in this new "future" [these type of stories about the future never bode well for him]. Terry gets an explanation for his retirement that is a little lame. Meanwhile Bruce is going all Kingdom Come Batbot on Hush. Terry's friend Max makes an appearance, which is cool. The last page has a reveal that is a head scratcher. My first reaction was "Damn, I knew it. I knew they were gonna do that" but then I thought about the issue and art and it's quite possible that it's not who they said they were. So there is hope. I'm enjoying this even if the mixing of the animated series and the DCU is a bit uneven. -Good
Birds Of Prey #5- Things look bad as the BoP are split because of the fallout of Savant's attack on them. Huntress has to be talked down from killing the Penguin by Oracle. As Babs deals with Savant and Creote [by showing them the new HQ?] and alludes to a way to make them forget the location of the Batcave [paging Zatanna?], Hawk and Zinda recover in the hospital. Dinah takes White Canary back home agreeing to something that will prevent Sin [her adopted daughter] from being killed shutting out the rest of the team from her decision. So Zinda and Huntress go to Bangkok [just realized how that sounds] to find Dinah. They find her alright, but it doesn't look like she's happy to see them. -Good
Brightest Day #10- Now that the issues are focused on two or three plot points this is a better title. 52 was the same way. Here the focus is on what's going on with Firestorm and the intro/origin of the new Aqualad [not called that yet]. I don't care who you are, you have got to love both cliffhangers...Aquaman vs Black Manta and the return of Black Lantern Firestorm! -Great
DC Universe: Legacies #5- Crisis On Infinite Earths and George Perez hit this issue. Len Wein gives an everyman perspective on the Crisis. But, the late 70's and early 80's are blazed through in order to get there. I do like that Spectre page that references specific Spectre stories. Perez seems a bit shaky art wise till the story turns to the emergence of heroes in the 80's (Firestorm, New Teen Titans, Outsiders, Blue Devil, Quality characters). Once the red skies show up it's incredible. Heroes and rubble galore...his forte. The second story was an okay look at some of DC's space characters drawn by Walt Simonson. -Great
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #2- Warning- scenes depicted on covers are further than they appear. In actuality, the cover gives away the cliffhanger. Some great art by Fernando Pasarin and great emotional scenes with Arisa and Kilowog working through the aftermath of their Blackest Night experiences. The "Big Bad" gets teased for a few pages then it's on to Odym to get Guy purged of the Red Lantern rage...where the cover happens. -Good
Justice Society Of America Special #1- I picked this up really by accident, it was in my pull list because the JSA is in there. I figured, it's Scott Kolins, how bad could it be? This was the conclusion to the Magog series, I guess. The story was just not that good, it did have some interesting aspects of the Kingdom Come future that it brought into the DCU. However, this really felt like they were clearing the slate for whatever Magog's role is that was hinted at in Brightest Day. -Bad
Zatanna#5- I'm kinda surprised at how much I like this series. Poor Zach...just when Zatanna and him were gonna reconnect...she gets love potion roses and an age defying casino owner who wants to marry her and give her soul to a demon as payment for his debt. Also,...he has a zombie army. -Good

From Marvel:

Captain America: Patriot #1- This starts a four issue mini that looks at the second replacement Captain America, Jeff Mace. This issue looks at how an encounter with Cap just before the war inspires him to become the Patriot. Stuck at home because of being 4-F, Mace throws himself into the home front war effort. He joins the Liberty Legion. The last few pages he is debriefed on the events of What If #5 and is offered to carry on as Captain America. Karl Kesel and Mitch Breitweiser did a wonderful job. -Great
New Mutants #17- This title is slowly losing me. Zeb Wells starts out with an awful scene between Sam and Dani that is teen drama at it's worst. These characters are supposed to be in their early to mid twenties yet since the series started they've acted more and more like teenagers. There was finally some action involving the team this issue too. The art by Leonard Kirk is good, but he needs more to do with it. I hope it's just this arc that is like this because I enjoyed the team in Second Coming. -Okay
Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #3- This continues to be a fun series. I liked the part where Steve, who has lost his Super Soldier TM muscles can still kick ass because he still remembers all his training. The art was good but had none of the fun panel layouts of the first two. -Good
Thunderbolts #148- Ugh, after the non-crossover crossover with Avengers Academy last issue, this time it's a Shadowland crossover. I guess it makes more sense as Cage is involved in that debacle. Cage sends in the T-bolts under command of Fixer and Songbird to destroy a Hand fortress and rescue a kidnapped cop. Within moments both supervising T-bolts are taken out by the Hand ninjas and once again the chains on the others are unfettered. I have liked Jeff Parker's Atlas series and I really wanted to like this one being an old T-bolts fan. This issue pulls some pretty big BS though. I'll start off saying that I am not reading the Shadowlands mini or Daredevil title now but do know the gist of it. That said WTF is a HUGE Japanese temple/fortress doing in Clint--Hell's Kitchen and how did it get there? [that's definitely a non union job] Looking at this thing on the third panel on page two...it has got to take up several city blocks. Now I'm willing to accept that as someone else's BS that Parker has to deal with. But he wrote the so bad it's good again dialogue of Luke Cage. Saying to a ninja who tried disguising himself as Iron Fist "Ninja, please." Then he gets some info from a street musician who knows all about the Hand's evil undead army living in the sewers (called the Underhand [get it]). This was just awful. -Bad

Great=3

Good=5

Okay=1

Bad=2

MIA: Amazing Spider-Man #643- The great Mark Waid throws all of Spidey's villains at him at once in this arc that closes out the near weekly run of Amazing for the past two years.

Random Thoughts 19

2010-09-15T13:48:00.001-04:00

I know it has been a while.... but I got involved in other things for the past few weeks...filming for YouTube videos, a couple of new games for my PS3...among the everyday stuff that prevents me from sitting down and writing stuff for this blog and reviewing my comics here.

I rededicate myself to getting back on a weekly schedule with both this and the reviews.

So here are a few things of interest...

-With the cancellation of Daredevil and the teasers featuring various characters as the new "Man Without Fear" Marvel revealed who will "replace" DD. It's none other than The Black Panther!....?.....

So T'Challa will get a new ongoing comic. That's cool, but given the state of the character these days it's just odd. T'Challa is no longer king of Wakanda and the chief of his tribe (currently held by his [don't get me started] sister) which prevents him from being The Black Panther as it is a TITLE. Okay, so he no longer has the resources, prestige or other trappings that he has had in the past. That makes for a cool how does he make his way in the world story.

It seems that Marvel has forgotten that it has an urban "Panther" character that would fit in better as a protector of Hell's Kitchen...I'm talking about the Kasper Cole Black Panther/White Tiger character. As part of a similar relaunch of the Panther concept a NYPD detective found pieces of the Black Panther costume and masqueraded as the real Panther to clear his name of corruption charges. Later, the original Panther takes him under his tutelage to replace him, but ends up reclaiming the Panther garb for himself. He gives Cole a white version of the Panther suit and names him the White Tiger. This all happened at the tail end of Priest's early 2000's run on Black Panther.

The new series will be written by novelist David Liss who I haven't really heard of (He writes historical fiction focusing on 17th and 18th Century). The art will be handled by Francesco Francovilla whose artwork I have loved on Dynamite's Zorro title. I will probably, at least initially, get this title on the strength of the art alone. My mind wonders what Priest would do with the premise. A deposed T'Challa organizing and leading Cole as White Tiger along with other heroes like Falcon, Iron Fist, Cage, and even having Dakota North and Sgt Tork playing roles in his plans....Wait, he already did that.

-A quick review of the two games that have been occupying my time....

Transformers: War For Cybertron

Basically a third person shoot'em up with the added ability to turn into your own vehicle. The graphics are nice but because of the backgrounds finding enemies can sometimes be difficult as they tend to blend in (but I guess that can be part of the challenge). Gameplay is pretty smooth although I have had a few unwanted transformations because on the PS3 you press down on the joystick to transform. The story is a sort of prequel/reimagining of the events that led the TFs to Earth that fits in with 80's G1 continuity. You get to be various familiar Decepticons and Autobots with own unique armaments and abilities. As a plus Peter Cullen the voice of Optimus in the 80's series, the live action movies and the new cartoon series is Prime here too. A very fun game for Transformer fans and occasional gamers like me. I think that more seasoned gamers might not be too impressed with the gameplay.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

This is really a mixed bag. Not just because of the blend of what could have been four different Spider games. The premise here is that Spidey has inadvertently broken a mystical tablet that will breakdown the walls between dimensions. Madame Web contacts Spider-Men in four dimensions to recover the pieces of the tablet. The worlds involved are the "Amazing" (close to 616 MU), "Noir", 2099 and Ultimate. The voice acting is a big draw here. Not only is it narrated by Stan"The Man" Lee, but each Spidey is voiced by an actor that has previously voiced a Spidey on TV. Neil Patrick Harris (MTV series) is the "Amazing", Christopher Daniel Barnes (9o's Animated) is the "Noir", Dan Gilvezan (Amazing Friends) is 2099 and Josh Keaton (Spectacular) is Ultimate. Each Spidey has unique powers as well as shared ones [the Noir Spidey gains the most from his original comic inspiration]. Each universe has its own aesthetic as well. I really like the "comic" look of the Amazing world.

Sadly, play is where this game suffers. The last few Spidey games have had a free roaming feature that I liked, here it's just regular levels. Also the web slinging is not automatic so it takes a while to get the hang of it and can lead to some annoyance. The in level enemies are fairly easy while the bosses are incredibly hard. The levels are formulaic as well. Go through path eliminating bad guys, fight villain, continue on path and fight villain again. The Noir stealth levels and the boss fight close quarters do change it up a bit. I probably would have been wowed more if Batman: Arkham Asylum hadn't come up with some of the features that this game has. [The Spider-Sense mode is exactly like B:AA's Detective mode] Designers could do worse if they all used B:AA as a template for future super-hero games.

So while not as expansive as past Spider-Man games or as groundbreaking it is still a fun game. Most of that fun comes from the different universes' aesthetics and the voice talent. The overly difficult bosses really hurt the game for me. Only Web-Heads need pick up this game.

This Week's Comic Stack 8/25/10

2010-08-26T15:07:00.000-04:00

The Good:

The Heroic Age: Prince Of Power #4- Satisfactorily resolved this mini and set up the Oct-Jan event Chaos War.
Justice League: Generation Lost #8- More action comedy as the heroes tried to escape the Checkmate facility they just broke into last issue.
Captain America #609- Zemo remains one step ahead of everyone with his plans for Bucky. The Falcon really stood out in this issue. There was something that confused me a bit. Steve crushed Iron-Hand Hauptmann's hand thinking it robotic, but wasn't. Wouldn't he have known having faced him before? Was that a clue? Or just a hiccup in a great story arc?
Superman: Secret Origin #6- Finally this series concluded... I would have been more receptive to this issue several months ago. That said, the art was great and the story retroactively set-up a lot of what's in the New Krypton saga.
Detective Comics #868- Dick and Jim Gordon had their hands full in this issue as a fake Joker and fake Batman [they're gonna be the same person] set Gothamites against each other as the Jokerz and Guardian Bats. I was surprised at how much I liked this. Even the insane part where Dick takes the modified Joker Venom that has been crazing people up, to learn how it feels. I could see Bruce doing that. [Although, it makes me think about what else the Bat boys have tried]
Legion Of Super-Heroes #4- This issue had more intrigue with Earth-Man. The focus remained on Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Lightning Lass rescuing Garth and Inza's kids who disappeared in the first issue. They were taken by a cult of Darkseid to be used as a sacrifice. The cultists were soon dealt with and family reunited. Sodam Yat commanded the seeker to find another worthy possessor of a Green Lantern ring on Earth, so it looks like the rebuilding of the Corps will continue to be featured.

The Alright:

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #2- I knew of these characters existence, but never really read them in anything until now (I missed Claw's appearance in Wonder Woman). I enjoyed the look at this corner of mostly forgotten Sword And Sorcery characters. I don't think this is going to be as important to the Return Of Bruce Wayne as I originally thought. Still, if all I get out of it is a wild trip through DCU with gorgeous art by Dan Jurgens then that's alright.
Justice League Of America #48- The JLA/JSA crossover ended with things being business as usual again. Batman offered Jesse Quick a spot on the JLA [Hello....what about WALLY!] and she accepted. Jade and Obsidian must never be in the same room again or Alan Scott will go all evil again [HUH?]. Jade discovered her White Lantern status, fulfilled her mission "to balance the darkness" and was fully restored to life within the story. At this point it really is Bagley's art that is the draw [no pun intended] on this title. The Cyborg/Red Tornado backup isn't worth mentioning other than acknowledging it's existence.

This Week's Comic Stack 8/18/10

2010-08-19T14:34:00.001-04:00

Once again doing double duty as I forgot to write last week's Stack.

The Good:

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1- This is the third GL title (OK because they cover different Lanterns) focusing on Guy Gardner. Guy has come far from the jerk in 80's-90's JLI to.... well he's still kinda a jerk, but he's the "No bullshit" type of jerk. I really enjoyed how Tomasi wrote him, the art by Fernando Pasarin was great. I can't wait to see what Atrocitus' mysterious plot is and why Guy is part of it.
Thanos Imperative #3- This was just balls to the walls action. And just take a look at the group that Nova is LEADING.
Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #2- Eaglesham's art really helped elevate the standard (though cool) spy story this issue. He did some clever things with the panels, something that I haven't seen in a while. He incorporated the panels into the storytelling, ala Adams or Steranko, a couple of times.
Birds Of Prey #4- With the revelation of who was behind the Birds current predicament last issue this issue was the wrap up. Canary had to physically defeat her opponent while Oracle had to reason to hers. And although everything was resolved, the result carries on to next issue.
Booster Gold #35- This was a prime example of having your cake and eating it too. Here was the type of silly fun stories that were in JLI, yet, the current "straight" take on BG that Johns/Jurgens established was not forgotten or sacrificed to get this type of story.
Justice League: Generation Lost #7- In the "companion" book the JLI had the same type of feel to it, but with a slight twist. Instead of a "modern" character in an adventure in the past, this title had a modern adventure in which character kinda reverted to their attitudes and personalities of the past. Also note that Giffen is not credited this issue and Joe Bennett did the art.
Brightest Day #8- This issue really focused on Hawkman and Hawkgirl and their story, with a secondary focus on Martian Manhunter. These multi-arc titles always are better when concentrated on one or two of the juggling stories instead of four pages of each.
Green Lantern Corps #51- Great issue. Between the stuff with Kyle and John and what Ganthet was put through by Cyborg Superman, there was some great pathos. Ardian Syaf did an excellent job with the art.
DC Universe: Legacies #4- This issue focused on the Teen Titans and "forgotten" hero groups (Doom Patrol/Metal Men) and the retired war heroes with great art by Joe Kubert.
R.E.B.E.L.S. #19- From a few weeks ago...I loved the art in this especially the face on Brainiac 2 as he ran from Brainiac 1 on the splash page. It reminded me of Kevin Maguire.
Secret Avengers #4- The Thorned Crown plot is resolved as Cap, er...Steve became Super Nova Patriot Guy to defeat the possessed Richard Rider. Nova went off to an emergency [presumably the Thanos Imperative] and Steve found out Nick Fury (or someone looking like him) was behind the attempt to obtain the crown in issue 2. [DUN-DUN--DON]
Lone Ranger #23- More lead up to the showdown between Lone and Butch Cavendish, but written and drawn well enough to forgive "filler".

The Alright:

Invincible Iron Man #29- This title continues to drag. The reappearance of Rescue didn't help this issue pull itself up any.
Zatanna #4- Some more solid magical fun with a cameo of Zatara, the younger.
Adventure Comics #517- Both stories were a little off for me. The "unknown, forgotten" hookup between Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy was curious. Being a newbie to the Legion, I don't know how "shocking" this was. The Atom story was also somewhat of a head scratcher. I just don't think that Oracle would take having the Calculator in her base so nonchalantly.
Batman Beyond #3- I guess some of the sparkle fell out of the allure of this title because I just wasn't feeling it. Then I had a terrible fear that this was going the way of Dark Knight Strikes Back. I am still worried that could be the case, but so excited over next issue. The appearance of Dick Grayson in the Beyond future. Hopefully some history will be given.
Avengers: The Children's Crusade #1- After selling out of this issue, my LCS got the second printing just in time before #2 comes out. Not really much here though, Heinberg seems a little rusty. Then again, Young Avengers didn't pick up till issue #2 either.
Atlas #4-
Justice Society Of America #42- Bagley's art continues to be the best reason to pick this up. Robinson did have a little bit with Batman(DG) that I liked.
Supergirl #55- This Bizarrogirl story didn't interest me. A casuality of JMS staking off Superman, it seems to have lost direction. And there goes the last Superman book from my pull list.
Uncanny X-Men #527- Another slump, I hope. Seeing Emma Frost flirt with both Tony Stark and Namor just wasn't my thing.
Avengers Academy #3- An interesting premise of having the students seek revenge on Osborn while on a "Scared Straight" trip to the Raft coupled with a quick crossover had me anticipating this issue and the T-bolt part too. The art was good, but the issue was often wordy till the set up of the confrontation.
Thunderbolts #147- This was mostly disappointing. It wasn't so much of a crossover as a cross "through". It dealt with the escape attempts of prisoners because of a power outage caused by the Academites. I did like the USAgent fight though.
Age Of Heroes #4- Mostly, bad stories with some okay art. Again the best story (as with all issues) was the one page Dan Slott/Ty Templeton story. This one featured a happy ending for Cloud 9, formerly of The Initiative.

Random Thoughts 18

2010-08-08T21:17:00.002-04:00

I've been slacking in posting stuff on this blog and my YouTube channel. The reason....Netflix!

My brother generously gave me a years worth basic subscription to Netflix. Having a PS3, I sacrificed two months to gain access to Blu-Ray discs. I remained sceptical of downloading the player that allows you to view movies through the Internet. I was perfectly happy getting one disc at a time through the mail.

Then in anticipation of the upcoming movie I ordered Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1. Thanks to the USPS I could only get one disc a week because the pickup/delivery of my building's mail is one of the last stops on the route it's on (3-5PM). So halfway through, I decided to take a leap and get the player. I can't stop now.

I watched the remaining two seasons of Avatar...Seasons 1,4,5,6,7 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (2 and 3 I had seen all of, I had missed the bulk of the others), Veronica Mars Season 3 (I've got 1 & 2 on DVD), Farscape Seasons 1-3 (4 I had to watch on YT), Dr. Who (2005) Seasons 1-4, Torchwood and right now I've started on the 80's-90's Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series.

I've also watched a few movies too: The original Karate Kid, Outland, InnerSpace, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (which I had been unable to find on DVD)

-This past week I also, after some trouble, tracked down a Blu-Ray copy of Batman: Under The Red Hood.

Judd Winick adapted his own storyline in the comics. He did a good job in streamlining the story into a 70 minute movie. Though I missed Tim Drake, I understood why he was excluded. I liked the short Nightwing appearance in it. He was voiced near perfectly by Neil Patrick Harris. Bruce Greenwood's Batman was adequate, but lacked something. Jason Todd was well portrayed by Jensen Ackles (Supernatural). Jason Issacs made a great Ra's Al Ghul (a worthy successor to David Warner). John DiMaggio was an odd choice for the Joker. Although he had a great Joker laugh, his delivery of lines was not quite there. Even though the story called for a more sadistic and menacing Joker he just didn't have that flair in his voice that the Joker needs.

The DC Showcase short featured Jonah Hex. This was as good as the Spectre short on the last DTV movie. Again using some anime influence, this was a neat little dark tale of gunslingers and just rewards. It was written by Jon Lansdale who wrote the Hex episode of Batman: The Animated Series as well as several Hex comics. Thomas Jane barely had any lines as Jonah Hex, but did well. Linda Hamilton, Micheal Rooker and Michelle Trachtenberg also lent voices to characters.

The extras were a bit disappointing. I had high hopes for the Dick Grayson/Robin doc. They excluded his whole career with the Teen Titans and didn't interview Marv Wolfman...who was instrumental in shaping Dick as Nightwing. The Jason Todd one (only on the Blu-Ray) was a bit better, but most of this was covered before on doc with another WB Batman movie or series (at least, I remember it being so).

-On the action figure front...MattyCollector.com had the sale of the Comic Con exclusives. I nabbed a DCU Classics Plastic Man. Mattel also confirmed the first wave of Green Lantern Classics: Low & Maash of Sinestro Corps, Abin Sur as Black Lantern, Kyle Rayner, Manhunter robot, Black Hand, Mongul and Arkillo as the Collect N Connect figure.

This Week's Comic Stack 7/4/10

2010-08-06T22:56:00.000-04:00

Another double size (i.e. two weeks worth of comics) this week:

The Good:

Green Lantern Corps #50- This amped up the action in a title that has been lacking for a while. I actually liked this more than Green Lantern, a first.
Brightest Day #7- The reason why each of the twelve were brought back in Blackest Night was finally revealed. A must read!
Flash #4- The Renegades meet Captain Boomerang. This series continues to deliver.
Green Lantern #56- Larfleeze vs Hector Hammond with the Orange Entity in the balance.
Secret Avengers #3- The team learned about what they face with the crown and that the Nova Power makes the possessed Nova unbeatable.
Captain America #608- Cap's past as both Bucky and the Winter Soldier was made public. Mostly set up for the upcoming "Trial" story, it did have enough action in it.
Justice League: Generation Lost #6- This issue focused on Captain Atom as he got a glimpse of the future caused by Max Lord. It was particularly interesting given Lord's purpose as revealed in Brightest Day.
Uncanny X-Men #526- Going after new mutants, Hope triggered the mutant powers of the first one they contacted. The most interesting of the post Second Coming storylines. In the second story Magneto mused over the Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed being Wanda's children. This was basically a prologue to the Children's Crusade mini.
The Stand: Hardcases #3- I was glad this issue was so good as #4 won't show up till Oct.

The Alright:

Detective Comics #867- I took a chance on David Hine's arc after not buying this title for a while. I couldn't resist seeing Scott McDaniel draw Dick Grayson again (as Batman this time). It holds some promise so I will give it a few issues.
Doomwar #6- The conclusion leaves the Black Panther "section" of the Marvel Universe in an interesting place. I'm assuming this ties in with Maberry's next mini Klaws of the Panther.
Justice League Of America #47- This issue suffers from being the middle of a crossover. There is plenty of action, but there is not much movement in the plot so it can be continued in the next issue.
Secret Six #24- This issue read like one of Simone's Atom issues. The Six are in a parallel or alternate reality, the American wild west. No reason or explanation is given. It was a fun issue, but will only be made sense of by reading a later issue.
Red Hood: Lost Days #3- This issue was not as good as I thought it would be. Although it's funny that this issue hit so close to the release of Batman: Under The Red Hood DVD which picks up on some of the same threads.

The Bad:

Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne #4- The art of Georges Jeanty can't help this issue. Morrison is confusing and meandering as ever and his dialogue was awful. I thought this was improving with last issue, but I guess not.

Random Thoughts 17- SDCC 2010

2010-07-26T15:28:00.001-04:00

I'm probably late to the game, but I'd thought I'd share some of the news from the San Diego Comic Con. This may not be new to you and it's only a fraction of what was announced, but I got excited or interested or amused by these items.

First, there was the incident on Saturday. I'm talking about one guy stabbing another in the EYE over a SEAT for the Universal movie panel. I don't know what's worse, the fact that somebody actually did this or the people complaining because this inconvenienced them by delaying the subsequent panels.

Now onto some comic news [that's news about comics]...

Marvel:

Some Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning four issue mini-series were announced:
-Iron Man/Thor with Scott Eaton on art
-Rocket Raccoon & Groot with Tim Green on art
There were rumblings about a "Cosmic Avengers" title, but it may not be written by them.
With Nova on the Secret Avengers and Rocky & Groot in the mini the future of Nova and Guardians Of The Galaxy is still up in the air.

Looks like Cap will join Deadpool in overexposure from the amount of stuff announced:
-Captain America And The Korvac Saga, retelling classic story
-CA: Hail Hydra
-CA: Fighting Avenger
-CA: Man Out Of Time, Mark Waid retells Cap's thawing out an reacclimation to the world
-CA: White, the long delayed Leob/Sale mini should be ready to release along with the movie.

Some X-book news:
-Uncanny X-Force (relaunch of X-Force) will feature the return of Apocalypse
-Generation Hope will focus on the new mutants that appeared after Second Coming.
-X-Men will feature team-ups with other heroes after the vampire arc ends (Peter David made a funny comment about Rogue dating a vamp)

The big news came on Sunday...It was a little unexpected, but made sense. Marvel will be reviving the CrossGen properties. This is very interesting news. Of course, when CrossGen went under as a company, it sold the rights to characters owned by them to Disney. Disney did allow the reprinting some of the CG titles final issues to be collected in trades. But thanks to synergy Marvel now has access to those characters and names.
Now, the whole connections between worlds plot will be dropped, there will not be any mixing with the MU and the concepts likely be rebooted with previous continuity. Still I can't help but be giddy about the possibilities. Especially since two thirds of CrossGen writers and artists work for Marvel now.

DC:

The big DC news was mostly to do with other media, but here are a few things:
-David Finch writing/drawing Batman: The Dark Knight
-A Ragman one-shot by Marvel regular Christos N. Gage
-hints that Batman Beyond did so well a second mini and/or an ongoing might be done
-Flash: Speed Force mini about other speedsters; Wally shows up in Flash soon
-Green Lantern: Secret Origin II in GL title dealing with Sinestro's betrayal of Corps
-Action Comics crossover with Secret Six
-Commissioner Gordon backups in Detective
-Jimmy Olsen backups in Action to feature Chloe Sullivan
-More of Peter David Young Justice to be reprinted in trade [there's a reason] starting in Oct.
-Batman, Inc., Morrison has Bruce franchise Batman, expanding on his use of the Silver Age Batmen of Many Nations concept

TV/Animation:

Marvel:
Iron Man Anime on G4TV
Iron Man Armored Adventures Season Two to have: Titanium Man, Iron Monger, Black Widow, Dr. Doom
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes : Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Wrecker, Constrictor shown in clips

DC:
Smallville: Clark flies, see Superman suit (not on him), Geoff Johns writes Booster Gold/Blue Beetle(Reyes) episode [that's what test footage on web is for] Skeets in it too.
Direct To Video films:
-Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, vignettes featuring different Lanterns, ties into GL movie
-All-Star Superman
-Batman: Year One
DTV shorts:
-Green Arrow (on Superman/Batman: Apokolips DVD), Written by Greg Weisman (Gargoyles, Spectacular Spider-Man, Young Justice) with Neal McDonough as GA
-Superman/Shazam!: Return of Black Adam, 22min on a compilation disc with previous shorts, Jerry O'Connell as Captain Marvel, James Garner as wizard Shazam
-Green Lantern CGI cartoon in 2011
-Young Justice, headed by Greg Weisman actually one of the 52 Earths in DCU, JL prominent, Bruce Greenwood as Batman
Video Games:
-Suicide Squad
-Green Lantern

Toys:

Mattel:

-DCUC:

Legion Of Super-Heroes 12 Pack: Superboy, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Chameleon Boy, Brainiac 5, Ultra Boy, Karate Kid, Wildfire, Matter Eater Lad, Timber Wolf and large Colossal Boy
Series 16: Azrael Batman, Creeper, Dick Grayson Robin, Golden Age Robin(variant), Jonah Hex, Mercury(Metal Men), Riddler(jumpsuit), Collect N' Connect Bane
Green Lantern Classics: 2 waves of six figures, each with a CNC figure, an original Red Lantern created by Four Horsemen/Geoff Johns, includes: Kyle Rayner in current suit, Mongul as Sinestro Corps member, two SC members, Abin Sur as Black Lantern, Manhunter robot, Black Hand

-DCIH:

Death Of Superman 6 pack: Superman, Ice, Fire, Guy Gardner, Bloodwynd, Doomsday
Infinite Crisis 6 pack: Superman, Wonder Woman, Max Lord, Booster Gold, two OMACs
Kyle as Parallax, Robin, Ravager, Dr Light (I)

-JLU:

Golden Age 3 pack: Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman

-Masters Of The Universe:

Royal Guard two pack
Buzz Off
Shadow Beast
Roboto
King Hiss
live action movie (Time Travelling He-Man)
early concept He-Man [name forgotten] closely resembles Conan.

-Ghostbusters:

Peter Venkman in court w/one of Scarlotti Bros. ghost
Winston Zeddemore with slime thrower
Louis Tully as Vince Clotho with brain scanner on head, regular head and stone demon dog head

Hasbro:

-Marvel Universe:

Giant Battles: Bill Foster Giant-Man vs Thor clone, Frost Giant with Loki
Original Avengers set: Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Ant-Man, Wasp
Doc Sampson

-Marvel Legends:

2012 new series with BAF start again, nothing else announced
variants for two packs: Soviet Winter Soldier/grey Black Widow, Deadpool in X-suit/Warpath in Thunderbird suit

So, that's it. I'm sure I left out a lot. And, I didn't even touch on movie news or trailers [Tron: Legacy looks awesome]...maybe another post.

This Week's Comic Stack 7/21/10

2010-07-24T12:08:00.002-04:00

After a week's break due to technical difficulties...I'm back!

This Stack will be a bit different to incorporate the backlog of books, so to speak.

The Good:

The Thanos Imperative #2- Epic!
Justice League: Generation Lost #5- Fun and funny without being too jokey.
Heroic Age: Prince Of Power #3- More fun.
DC Universe: Legacies #3- A look at the "forgotten" heroes as the Silver Age starts.
Atlas #3- Better than last issue.
Birds Of Prey #3- Sometimes you shouldn't keep your enemies closer.
R.E.B.E.L.S. #18- Some cool set up for War of the Brainiacs [my name].
Legion Of Super-Heroes #3- Earth Man/GL plot very intriguing.
Booster Gold #34- More JLI revisitation with Mr. Miracle and Barda.
Batman Beyond #2- The mixing of comic and animation universes doesn't weigh down the story.

The Alright:

Brightest Day #6- I think this is a hiccup of an issue and will climb back to Good.
Zatanna #3- Magical fun, Zee steps it up a notch too.
Avengers Academy #2- Nice reference to PAD X-Factor and use of Quicksilver.
Justice Society Of America #41- Robinson and Bagley should take over this title.
Invincible Iron Man #28- A slow issue, something better happen soon.
Adventure Comics #516- Great Atom backup.
Time Masters: Vanishing Point #1- Interesting parallel series to Return Of Bruce.
Gorilla Man #1- Fun, odd story with fun odd character.
Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age #1- Character study of Beast, Cyclops and Hope.
Age Of Heroes #3- Best part is the one page Squirrel Girl story.
Thunderbolts #146- I'm just interested in the OG T-bolts parts in the story.

The Bad:

New Mutants #15- Something's gone after the Second Coming arc, needs to find way fast.
X-Men: Second Coming #2- Merely a poor epilogue to the exciting crossover.

Watch out for a RT on all the news from SDCC 2010 on Mon or Tues.

This Week's Comic Stack 7/8/10

2010-07-11T14:14:00.002-04:00

The Good:

Brightest Day: The Atom Special #1- This was a longshot. I hadn't really read anything done by either of the creators, Jeff Lemire and Mahmud Asrar, so I didn't know what to expect. I liked the art and loved how Lemire treated and wrote Ray as both the Atom and Ray Plamer. This was a perfect comic for those unfamiliar with the character as not only did Lemire set up the new direction for the Atom, but also retold his origin. There was some retconning of his backstory done for the current arc. However, that is intriguing and not too drastic. I look forward to the Atom feature in Adventure Comics.
Brightest Day #5- This issue had some revelations. Aquaman found out something that Mera had been hiding since her arrival and that ties into the strange group that has been raiding the surface from the oceans. Hawk and Dove (mostly Hawk) tried to get Deadman to resurrect Don Hall. The hawks found themselves in a strange world of half men half animal beings ominously called Hawkworld. The weakest story arc in this book continues to be the Hawkman and Hawkgirl one. It seems that once again they are trying to "fix" the Hawkman continuity. Something that I thought Johns did expertly in JSA and the early Hawkman series. It just seems like every writer has their own take on the origins of the Hawks, so the disparate versions need to keep getting reconciled with each other. The writing just seems so forced compared to the other arcs.
Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1- I really enjoyed this book. If just to see Steve in action (not that he hasn't or won't be in Secret Avengers) again instead of behind the desk. It was a little strange for him to have been so secret agent like. Cool, but strange. It's not as if that hasn't been part of the character before, but it hasn't been part of the character for a long time. Brubaker knows Steve pretty well and came up with an interesting story involving the legacy of the Super Soldier project. It was such a thrill to see Eaglesham's art have something to do. It's been languishing on the FF. It was also cool that Cap's original 1941 origin was reprinted at the end.
X-Force #13- The issue started off with the sacrifice of a character to return the team that was in the future to the present. (he's been dead several times before, so I don't see this being too big a deal) Bastion stood ready to eliminate them exhausted X-Men to get to the first new mutant, Hope whose powers finally awoke. They seemed to be reminiscent of a certain fiery entity. She disappeared into a flaming column as she unleashed her full power against Bastion. The story concludes next week in Second Coming #2.
Secret Six #23- This was a great fill-in issue written by John Ostrander. A "Most Dangerous Game" type story the Six are selected as prey, but turn the tables on their pursuers quite easily. Not groundbreaking, but fun. The art could have been a bit better but was quite good.
The Stand: Hardcases #2- Aguirre-Sacasa and Perkins showed the society that Randall Flag has built in Vegas and the troubled Nadine nearing Boulder and Mother Abigail. Another consistently good issue.

The Alright:

The Red Hood: Lost Days #2- This just didn't seem as good as last issue. Perhaps that's because the novelty has worn off. I realized that the missing days of Jason Todd could be told in a extra sized one-shot or a two issue mini and that in all likelyhood this will be a drawn out story to fit into six issues.

Bonus:

I took advantage of something that it seems a lot of comic stores are doing now and bought a whole run of a comic. [It looks like stores are trying to get rid of inventory] So, what did I buy?....The great mystical martial arts title from the long gone Crossgen Comics, The Way Of The Rat.

Written by Chuck Dixon and set in an analog of ancient China, it's about a thief who comes to possess a mystical ring that allows the wearer to become a master of the staff. The story follows the thief's journey takes him from being a criminal whose luck is as good as getting him into bad situations as it is getting him out of them to a hero. He is guided along the way by talking monkey and watched over by a mysterious figure in white known as the Silken Ghost. Central to the plot are the several other rings that bestow mastery of weapons upon the bearer as well as a scroll that is a gateway to hell and a mystical gem. The hero encounters "mongols", ghosts, dragons and a corrupt empire all very much in keeping with the Asian martial arts/mystical epic feel.

Unfortunately, the series was canceled, but never got the relaunch that was teased because CG went bankrupt. The art was (as the rule with CG) top notch, with most of the series drawn by Jeff Johnson [where is he now?] and fill-ins by Luke Ross and Mike Perkins (both would go on to Captain America).

CrossGen is one of the saddest stories of failed comic book publishers because every book had such high quality art and writing. Many of today's top artists worked there. Not only did they work there, they became better artists because of the quality demanded of them. The diverse genres that they played with was cool..50's B-movie horror, pirates, Sci-Fi, epic fantasy, Victorian detectives, samurai, the list goes on.

Well I've gone on enough... Maybe I'll write more about CG in a future blog.

This Week's Comic Stack 6/30/10

2010-07-04T10:51:00.001-04:00

Well, I had some trouble posting this on Thursday night. But here it is now. Happy Fourth Of July everyone.

The Good:

Green Lantern #55- Johns continued to deliver great action and story while Manhke really raised his game from last issue. Lobo showed up to throw down with Atrocitus which dragged Hal, Carol and Sinestro to his defense. Dawg got into a fight with Dex-Starr (the RL cat, more on him later). It all ended with a twist, as the fight was engineered for a purpose and Lobo's payment an interesting one. It came back to the mysterious figure hunting the entities of the different Corps. Yet, the Spectre too, hunts for the Red Lantern entity, the Butcher. Last but not not least was the four page origin of Dex-Starr. It was finally revealed what happened to make this one pissed off pussycat.

Flash #3- Barry was last accused of having DNA at a murder scene, but obviously he wasn't a murderer, so he must have contaminated the scene. Barry preferred taking heat for being careless much more than having to explain the physical evidence which is still unexplained. While he discussed all the stuff going on with Iris, the future Renegades attacked again. Almost beaten, he was saved by the just escaped Captain Boomerang who gained a new power from the White Lantern it looks like. This issue had a short back up similar to GL#55, this time it was a nod to the old Flash Facts explaining how boomerangs work and the new power of Captain Boomerang. While last issue had a slight pacing problem this one didn't. I loved the almost Silver Age feel of this issue.

Secret Avengers #2- Although this was mostly more setup for next issue, there was enough to keep me satisfied. While Sharon Carter tried to figure out who knocked her out, Steve took the team to Mars. They found mind-controlled workers (in some nifty space suits too) building something. Splitting up, half the team ran into a mysterious armored being and the others ran into Nova wearing the "Serpent Crown". While the action was limited this issue did move the plot along fairly well. The art was terrific as well.

Captain America #607- This was a great issue. The menace and threat that Zemo presented in the issue and the boiling anger of his target, our hero Cap [yeah no more Bucky Cap], were handled well. Zemo was out to destroy Bucky's rep and his suitability to be Captain America. Unfortunately, Zemo's ahead of him. After a hallucinogen induced rampage on some NYPD (stopped by Steve), Bucky tracked the girl who "slipped him a mickey" and faced a new "Beetle" (unnamed in the issue, but I'm going by the costume). Meanwhile Zemo bought some footage of the Winter Soldier, presumably to leak to the public.

Batman Beyond #1- Adam Beechen got the voices of the characters down very well. I'm mixed about the art. It had a style that was not like the animated design but tended towards the more cartoony comic art style. I just don't see it fitting. The Superman/Batman Annual a few weeks ago was strange enough seeing the animated "Beyond" world done in a realistic style. This more cartoony style was even more offputting. That said, I enjoyed the story and even though the it dropped several clues as to who the mystery villain is that is after old Batman villains, I'm thinking they are red herrings.

The Alright:

Justice League Of America #46- For some reason this issue really improved over last issue. Perhaps Robinson has finally got down the members or maybe it's the addition of the JSA (which is probably the book he should be writing). The art too seems to have improved with the inker adapting to Bagley's pencils better. This issue started off the JLA/JSA crossover which features the teams dealing with the return of Jade and the power of the Starheart going crazy (again).

Justice Society Of America #40- I decided to give JSA a try again before the crossover event began. I hadn't bought this title for almost six months and apparently the writer thought that noboby else had too. The issue was a complete recap of the two previous arcs (which blended into each other) told as a flashback. That caught everyone up on events with the JSA/JSA All Stars and prepared them for the JLA crossover.

Doomwar #5- A good solid action comic. This issue Reed brought in War Machine as extra back up. T'Challa got desperate in taking the fight to Doom using Deadpool to track him down.
Wonder Woman #600- As far as the "anniversary" issues this month this was my favorite. It opened with a fun story by Gail Simone and George Perez [can't go wrong there] with WW leading a battle of heroines against robotic sirens and the high school graduation of the girl who took Diana home in the Perez run. Then there was a cute little story about WW talking with Power Girl about her cat with art and story by Amanda Connor. An okay team up with Superman followed (written by Louise Simonson). Geoff Johns wrote a small retrospective piece that transitioned into JMS' prologue for his reboot of Wonder Woman as a character and concept. While I didn't mind the Don Kramer art and, to a lesser extent, the 90's-ish costume the reboot really rubbed me the wrong way. I felt that this idea would better suit the Earth One concept better.

The Bad:

Invincible Iron Man Annual #1- What was touted as the return of the Mandarin turned to be an awful waste of time and money. The real crime was that Iron Man was not in the entire story at all except as cameo spots in news reports. Instead we got a story about the Mandarin abducting a famous Asian movie director to make a movie of his life story ala Kim Jong Ill. The Mandarin was not interested in truth or credibility. Taking months, the production claims many lives and the spirit of the director. In a final bid for freedom and a parting jab at his captor the director edited a true version of the Mandarin and switched out the approved version. Needless to say, this did not end well. I liked the added touch that the director had made a movie based on one of the past Iron Fists though. [This admittedly read a lot better the second time around after getting over the absence of Iron Man.

2010-06-28T11:35:00.002-04:00

As I had a few hours to kill in Red Bank, New Jersey this Sunday I decided to visit Jay And Silent Bob's Secret Stash (at 35 Broad Street). Of course, this is the comic store owned in part by Kevin Smith. I thought this might make for an interesting blog too. Before I go in, here's the exterior...

It's located on the main street for all the shopping and dining in Red Bank. Upon entering, the register area is located to your right and the current projects of Smith are featured heavily in a display ahead of you (Green Hornet, movie merchandise). Along the left hand side are the recent and new comics arranged alphabetically on the wall.

Here's a view looking back toward the entrance....

Further back the long and narrow storefront is a back issue section. The comics are displayed in a nice custom built file/shelf. The issue are mostly from 80's to early 2000's and are about $1.25-$1.50 generally. More expensive issues line the walls but tend to be signed or variant covers of recent issues. They use the reverse numbering filing system too, although alphabetical, the issues are put in order of most recent to least (#108 before #3).

At the rear of the store there are several display cases for both statues and busts and movie memorabilia from all Kevin Smith movies...

There are a lot of trades and hardcovers. They are arranged by company and by character. And although they didn't have the specific trades I wanted (Korvac Saga and Invincible Vol. 2), they had so many other ones that it was hard to limit myself to the budget I set for this visit.

This view looks to the rear of the store and shows the start of the trade section which continues along part of the back wall. In addition ,there is about six old fashioned spinner racks full of trades. There is a table set up back there which I assume is for signings and podcasts (mics were pushed off to the side and half hidden).

So that is a quick overview of Jay And Silent Bob's Secret Stash comic book store in Red Bank, New Jersey. Check it out in person if you get the chance, especially if you are a Kevin Smith fan.

I thought I might do some more visits/reviews of comic stores, but that would be over fairly soon as there are only three other stores close to me. Also, I really don't have the time or ability (due to responsibilities) to go further afield so to speak. Which is disappointing, because I have a lot to say about what makes a comic store a GOOD comic store and a BAD comic store. i even came up with a criteria.

Merchandising- how organized, laid out is the product. A key part of ANY retail store.

New issues- display and promotion of current (within year sometimes) titles

Back issues- display, selection and organization of comics older than a year.

Other stuff- man does not live on bread and water alone, nor comic book stores just comics. But, I've seen stores where other product (toys, rpg miniatures)dominates to the point of comics being an afterthought.

So, how is J&SB's in my opinion...

Merchandising- B+, some clutter but maximum use of space

New Issues- A-, clearly organized and visible "new" and "recommended" signs

Back Issues- B, nice display and selection but I prefer going by in numerical order (#1,2,3)

Other stuff- A-, kept to a minimum and then only to comic related stuff (toys, statues) with the exception of the Smith movie merchandise (T-Shirts, hats, etc)

Guess that makes a B+

Random Thoughts 15

2010-06-27T17:21:00.001-04:00

Wow! Haven't done one of these for a while!

-In complete opposite to the way Marvel announced same day as comic day digital comics, DC almost stealthily announced that Justice League: Generation Lost would be available online starting with #4 on the day it would be available in stores. Furthermore, #4 and #5 would be returnable by retailers. Is it me, or does that seem classier? On the other hand, what about #6-8 which probably have already been ordered?

-I wrote previously about Gene Colan and his health issues. But, the story has turned even more bizarre and tragic. His wife, recently separated and having plead guilty to assaulting Gene, was found dead in the house they used to share. While relationships are sometimes tumultuous and I really don't know anything about theirs other than the two times I met them at conventions, I'm sure he will miss her. I hope his life improves some, it seems to have been really bleak the last few years.

-The Hobbit lost Guillermo Del Toro as director and had Niell Blomkamp (District 9) rumored to replace him, but now it looks like Peter Jackson himself is going to step in.

-Toy Story 3 ruled the box office as it should have. Although very similar in themes to the last one, Pixar/Disney still delivers an emotional and entertaining film.

-Also in Disney news...Something I found both cool and yet a bit weird. You can now live in Walt Disney World. Yes, if you have the money, you can buy one of thirty homes offered for sale this year (not built yet). There are three, four and five bedroom houses in various styles. As part of a gated community, residents will have access to the facilities of a nearby hotel/spa also being built as well as all the perks that guests staying at WDW owned resorts get. So, if you have $1.5-8 million you can move there.

- Visited Jay And Silent Bob's Secret Stash the comic store partly owned by Kevin Smith today. I took some pictures for a friend who is a fan, so you might see a blog evolve out of it later. I picked up some trades- The Stern/Byrne Captain America War And Remembrance, Buffy Season Eight Vol. 2 and the Starlin/Mignola DC mini Cosmic Odyssey.

This Week's Comic Stack 6/23/10

2010-06-25T09:01:00.000-04:00

The Good:

Justice League: Generation Lost #4- Aside from the surprise that this issue would be available digitally on the same day as in the shops (as well as the issue being returnable by retailers) this was a good mix of action and humor. Winick is doing well on this book, guided no doubt by old hand Giffen. The "JLI" battled some Rocket Reds, made friends (unintentionally) with a rogue Red, and Booster figured out that Max was getting the band back together for a reason. Which Max (via radio) confirmed. This is not a groundbreaking series nor "important"...just FUN.

Green Lantern Corps #49- The Alpha Lanterns are revolting! And they're rising up against the Guardians too! [sorry, couldn't resist that old joke] The Alphas have been abducting Lanterns and turning them into Alphas. But this issue showed that what was just thought to be an aggressive recruitment drive [think press gangs] turned out to be a bit more sinister. The Alphas set their sights on John Stewart, lured him into a trap and wouldn't take no for an answer. Meanwhile, Kyle and Ganthet noticed that there is now more Alphas around on Oa and decide to investigate. They tracked down John Stewart who was confronted by the mastermind of the Alphas before he started to make him into the newest Alpha. I won't spoil who the bad guy was...just say that it's pretty obvious who it was due to his silhouette and some dialogue. That did ruin the DAH-dah-DUUUHN moment at the end, but I still had a pretty good reaction to it and can't wait to see what happens next issue.

X-Men: Legacy #237- Greg Land's art here was the best it's been since he was on X-Men and maybe since Sojourn [Ahhh, CrossGen....] There are some great battle scenes, shorter than the last chapter. Cypher and X-Force stopped the threat from the future sentinels. But they still have to find a way back. And the X-Men still have to deal with their enemies in the present. This really continued that epic feel that the crossover has had. This is the point of the epic that the readers know the heroes would win, but it's a question of who will be left standing and how will those that aren't fall. I'm surprised at how good this crossover has been. Aside from one or two issues, it's been very solid storytelling.

Legion Of Super-Heroes #2- Not as good as last issue, but still good. Some Legionnaires returned and Saturn Woman attacked during the Legions rescue efforts after the destruction of Titan. There was more Earth-Man/Green Lantern intrigue as that storyline slowly simmered. A good solid issue.

The Alright:

Detective Comics #866- Written by Batman expert Denny O'Neil, this had a nice flashback story as Dick remembers an old case he had as Robin that he reexamines. The case involved the Joker and the Order Of St. Dumas crossing paths and a criminal convicted and sentenced for a crime he didn't commit based on evidence planted on him by the Joker. Now recently paroled and with a terminal illness time is running out for him. As Batman Dick found proof of the guy's innocence and raced to get the evidence of the criminal's innocence to the authorities then tell him he's exonerated. But, the Joker got to the criminal first. The joke being that he died without being cleared of that crime, I guess. While not up with some of O'Neil's work, it was pretty good.

Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne #3- The cover was misleading as Bruce was never a pirate. He did get mixed up with the grandson of the Black Pirate [who I got to like because of Starman] and Blackbeard. The art was a big improvement over last issue's. This was a fairly grounded Morrison in terms of story too. If the next few issues are like this the series will end up a nice little mini, but a story that ends up as extraneous in the scheme of things.

Zatanna #2- Zee routed a pesky nightmare demon easily in this almost Dr. Strange-like story. Plus it had some nice art.

Supergirl #53- As a result of War Of The Supermen Kara wants to renounce her Kryptonian heritage as well as Supergirl. While Lana Lang tried to talk her out of it, Dr. Light (the good one) and Gangbuster observed the painful process of removing the powers of Superwoman (Lucy Lane). Then a meteorite landed carrying a Bizarro Supergirl. It looks like both Kara and the creative team are at a crossroads as to where to go. With Superman off limits thanks to JMS this title might fall by the wayside. I don't know if Bizarro Supergirl will make me come back.

Thunderbolts #145- So Zemo turned out to be a test (and the Fixer in disguise) for the new recruits. Aside from some mischaracterization there was enough there to warrant another issue before taking this off the buy list.

Fantastic Four #580- While I liked the art, the Arcade trying to kill the Human Torch story wasn't that good. I did like the little bit with Franklin and how Johnny related to him. The B story was about Reed's students coming up with their first science project...cure Ben Grimm. And they found one... for one week each year...Not impressive as he used to be able to control his transformation to the Thing at one point.

Superman #700- In this anniversary issue there were three stories. The first featured Superman's return to Earth after New Krypton's destruction. After a brief fight with Parasite Lois and Clark catch up. The art is not that good. The second story was the best. Dan Jurgens both drew and wrote this flashback featuring Superman and Robin. The third and final story was a prologue to the JMS run. Superman is going to literally walk the country because someone slapped him in the face because he didn't offer his services as an X-ray machine. God, brilliant stuff [Letterman made fun of this story!] I don't like where JMS is headed so this will likely be the last Superman I get for a while.

This Week's Comic Stack 6/16/10

2010-06-17T17:04:00.000-04:00

The Good:

Brightest Day #4- The Hawks stepped through the Door O' Bones onto... Pandora from Avatar?[floating rocks], Deadman met up with Dove and Hawk, some Atlantean types attacked, Robbie Raymond was attacked by a "Ghenna" made of salt while Jason Rauch slept and a Firestorm atomic power symbol emanating from his head, and the new Aqualad appeared, although powerless.

DC Universe: Legacies #2- Len Wein continued to examine the history of the DCU. This time it was the late 40's and early 50's. As the JSA made it through the war and ended up forced into retirement by the HUAC. In the secondary feature Wein looked at the Seven Soldiers of Victory. JH Williams III did something real unique with the art. He drew each member of the Soldiers slightly different, as if they were done by different artists. This played into the old formula in SA/GA teams and team-ups of the group splitting up for mini adventures then reuniting for a climax. Although here each was only for a half page.

The Lone Ranger #22- This was an incredible issue. I admit, mainly because of the hint at the future of a certain character named after a verdant insect. The plot picked up after last issues bleak looking ending and provided a satisfactory resolution of that cliffhanger, yet still had a continuation of the bigger story.

Birds Of Prey #2- The Birds were set up by the White Canary and a mystery person. Dinah was framed for murder and her ID made public (Max Lord again?) than lured to fight White Canary while the police arrived. The BoP joined by Hawk and Dove are forced to fight the cops to avoid arrest. Oracle prepares to enter cyberspace to find out how Dinah was framed and how. It's interesting that in Brightest Day DC will have TWO "outlaw" superteams.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #17- I missed the last issue so I was catching up while reading this one. Blackfire (Starfire's evil sister) regained her lost powers and her Tameranian forces attacked Rann. So in this issue the conflict raged on Rann while the sisters fought each other. The new rookie Vegan sector GLs showed up to end the battle, but make matters worse almost creating a temporary alliance against them. Luckily, a Thanagarian fleet showed up carrying Vril Dox who was negotiating a formal end to the Rann/Thanagar conflict. Rann, Thanagar and the displaced Tamaranians all came to an agreement. The Tamaranians will colonize the southern contident of Rann. The rookie Lanterns happily reported the cessation of hostilities to Salaak, who chided them for allowing Dox to undermine the Corps authority and mission.

New Mutants #14- The eleventh part of Second Coming, this issue really nailed the desperation of the X-Men and their Utopia. Cyclops gave a Jack Shepard "Live together, die alone" speech to all the mutants on the island. Hope and Rogue prepared to do... something bad ass. The frequency between waves of Nimrods increased, Colossus was overwhelmed and had his arm broken. Xavier aided his son Legion in wrangling all his personalities and their powers to come to the rescue. Meanwhile in the future X-Force's mission was proceeding well until another Master Mold Sentinel activated. The book ended with a weakened Magneto summoning up his strength to go into battle.

The Alright:

Age Of Heroes #2- This second issue featured: Gravity battling Warhead (the Radioactive Man's "child") an okay intro to Young Allies; A new(?) American Son battling a generic monster with a Spidey cameo; A pointless Young Masters two page story; and the best story...a one page Gauntlet piece that had him answering another serviceman's question as to why he chose to come to Afghanistan if Steve Rogers offered him a spot on the Avengers.

Atlas #2- This issue was a "getting to know each other" issue as 3-D Man and Atlas shared their histories thanks to The Uranian's telepathy uncovering some mysterious discrepancies. They did go to Iceland (to stop that pesky volcano) for some action. 3-D Man had a cryptic remark to The Uranian as his vision revealed something that he has been hiding from the others (exactly what, wasn't shown). The backup flashback story was a midly interesting "zombie" story.

This Week's Comic Stack 6/9/10

2010-06-10T21:35:00.000-04:00

The Good:

Booster Gold #33- A great issue. I loved Booster's rant on the JLI's relevence and the trip back in time with the old J'onn, Canary and Max. The perfect companion piece to JL: GL.

Justice League: Generation Lost #3- More of Max Lord's machinazations against the JLI. This time focused on Fire being kicked out of Checkmate and bringing in the new Blue Beetle. I really don't see how they're gonna get out of this.

Secret Six #22- This story arc wasn't my favorite. It was written well, but I didn't like where it was taking my favorite character of the team, Catman. His kidnapped son had been given up for adoption, rather than subject his son to the life of his parents he let him go. However, he told Chesire that he died...pretty harsh considering that Lian just died. He did so many evil things to find his son that there maybe no way back for the person who was the conscience of the Six. And what does that mean for the others.

The Heroic Age: Prince Of Power #2- Thor and Cho had a Mighty Marvel Misunderstanding Melee. While Vali Halfling took over Olympus. He destroyed the Eternal Flame and all but a single vial of ambrosia, aging the immortal gods. Once Thor and Cho worked things out they went in search of the Egyptian Book Of The Dead the next item that Vali needs in his bid to become THE GOD. A clever and funny book.

Uncanny X-Men #525- Things got more desparate this issue. As the Avengers and FF try to get through the sphere encapsulating San Francisco, the X-Men face a never ending wave of Nimrod Sentinels. The X-Force team is sent into the future to stop the reinforcements from coming through.

Invincible Iron Man #27- Another "talky" issue. But, there was some good scenes and dialogue with Rhodey and Tony as they prepare for the action [I hope] of next issue. Oh and Stark's former secretary Mrs. Arbogast joins Stark Resilient.

Captain America #606- Again an issue I don't have an actual problem with, but don't like what they are doing with a character. Zemo returned this issue [he also reappeared in Thunderbolts] and to a more villainous demeanor. I don't hate this, but find it sells the character and his progress as a "person" short. Now, I may be surprised later on...and I can see a reason why Zemo would act like this (his father's greatest achievement, a failure), but I felt he was a different man. It's also gonna be interesting to see how this gels with the Thunderbolts. I loved the continuity nods in this issue, especially the dream sequence that references Steranko's classic issues.

The Alright:

Avengers Academy #1- I liked the twist this successor to Initiative had. The McKone art was good, but something was missing. I wasn't as wowed as I was with his Teen Titans. So I'm still not sold on this title.

Batman #700- This read better the second time around. Grant Morrison used an obscure villain and plot device to tell a story about Batman (or the men who are Batman) through the ages. From Bruce to Terry all the way up to the Year 1,000,000 Batman. I liked that aspect, but it was not enough to get me to enjoy the issue.

Random Thoughts 14

2010-06-07T16:07:00.000-04:00

Suffering from extreme depression over the loss of Lost last week (say that five times fast) I put off a RT, but it's back...

-It's a long way off, but Flash is next to the big screen after the third Nolan Batman and the Superman reboot.

-Hugo Weaving joins Captain America cast as the Red Skull, and Tommy Lee Jones has a part in the movie as well, what role hasn't been revealed yet.

-James McAvoy will portray a young Charles Xavier in the hurried production of X-Men : First Class

-Marvel will release a digital and hard copy of Invincible Iron Man Annual #1 on the same day setting of a flurry of speculation and debate

-Both DC and Marvel were tight-lipped at HeroCon this year.

-DC is getting back all the characters Vertigo "highjacked" including Swamp Thing! Big news, as these characters still existed in the DCU but were verboten when the mature reader imprint got a hold of them (to prevent confusion between an all ages book and an adult)

-While still awaiting the official Mattel confirmation the Four Horsemen announced a Green Lantern Classics offshoot to the DCU Classics line.

-Mattel did annouce a huge production of Green Lantern movie product including basic and deluxe action figures (including wearable rings with each figure) as well as a continuation of the Movie Masters line. It looks like they are following the Dark Knight example.

-Green Lantern will get an animated series in 2012. It will air on Cartoon Network

-Also airing on Cartoon Network in the future...a new Thundercats cartoon. It will have a blend of western and anime influences in the design and animation

-Another 80's toy/TV cartoon property will return on Nicktoons...Voltron! The cool lion version not the vehicle one.

-Mattel will be producing new toys based on the Voltron show.

-Oh, and Thundercats will also support a new toy line from Bandai. Unfortunately, it's the much weaker in quality Bandai America that will run the line.

Guess it's true....everything old is new again.

This Week's Comic Stack 6/3/10

2010-06-03T17:19:00.000-04:00

A fairly light week....

The Good:

Brightest Day #3- I'd pick any other color Lantern than white [okay, maybe not orange or black] damn thing is worse than a Magic 8 Ball. Not only does it give you cryptic answers when asked questions, it throws you into situations you're unprepared for. [Sounds like the entity behind the White Lantern Ring is Jacob from Lost] Deadman found that out the hard way as he wound up fighting the Anti-Monitor. Aquaman tried to get a handle on his summon the DEAD sea life powers, Ronnie and Jason were told they could never become Firestorm again (unless they wanted to be a nuclear bomb) and the Hawks found Hath-Set building a gateway to somewhere with their bones, all of their previous bodies bones. Oh, and Martian Manhunter trailed the murder of the family from last issue by talking to a dog. Strange, but compelling.
The Thanos Imperative #1- The Kree/Inhuman and Sh'iar fleets were overwhelmed by the invading Cancerverse, while the Guardians of the Galaxy dealt with a revived Thanos and the evil Revengers attacked the Nova Corps taking Namorita captive. Talk about epic! Next issue looks like it's twice as epic from the preview...as the Silver Surfer, Galactus and the Celestials show up! This book is four or five different titles that have been crammed into one!
Superman/Batman Annual #4- Paul Levitz writes this "preview" of sorts to the new Batman Beyond series. This issue dealt with the absence of Superman after the events of the JLU episode of the TV series. Levitz got the voice of each character down...and had a real good story. However, it was a little offputting seeing the animated characters drawn realistically, or at least in a style more like the regular DCU. Not bad, just strange. Which also made me think about whether DC wants to have it's cake and eat it too. Clearly Clark and Lois never married in this timeline/universe, yet references to stories that happened in the DCU proper were shown and as mentioned before it refers to the TV series as well. I am excited about the new comic series, but can't figure out if it's a continuation of the TV show, one of the 52 Earths or the official future. BTW I'd be fine with either one of those.
Adventure Comics #12- Paul Levitz again...This was a nice retelling or should I say "between the pages" story of Clark as Superboy touring the future Metropolis. I liked how there was a great blend of Silver Age and modern storytelling. It felt like a Silver Age story (Superboy plays baseball, it's him vs. Legion) yet with modern storytelling and dialogue. Apparently many of these Superboy and LSH "rediscovered" adventures are going to influence or be built upon in the Legion title

The Alright:

Torch #8- The series kinda ended the way I knew it had to, so it was kind of anti-climatic. I was more excited by the coming soon teaser page at the end. IN SEPTEMBER... THE INVADERS..with Captain America(Bucky), Captain America (Steve), Namor, Torch, Toro, Spitfire, Union Jack and Vision(Golden Age?) I guess it's from the same creative team...but, oh....I would love a Brubaker writing this title.
Red Hood: Lost Days #1- This is the history of the not dead Jason Todd before he showed up as the new Red Hood. Winick is hit or miss with me, usually. However this issue had enough in it to keep me until next issue, but didn't blow me away. Interesting the use of Talia and Ra's here given what is going on with Damian and Batman now.
The Stand: Hardcases #1- This issue focuses on the pyromaniac Trashman's journey to meet the Dark Man in Las Vegas. The creative team continues their level of work in adapting King's epic novel. Unlike a novel, once finished with an issue there is a months wait for the next issue. Which really gets in the way of the story. Comics (hero) are structured for serialization, not novels. So, while one issue of a comic will take a reader far along in the story an adaptation of a novel goes a lot less further. And that's the problem I'm discovering that is popping up with the Stand series.

This Week's Comic Stack 5/26/10

2010-05-28T14:20:00.000-04:00

The Good:

Green Lantern #54- Atrocitus has been hanging out in the NYC subway with Dex-Starr (the RL cat) and creepily uses some blood to track the Entities of Light on Earth. Meanwhile, Hal, Carol and Sinestro try to pull the proverbial sword from the stone. A message plays when they try together. They need to gather the resurrected and find the Entities. Who are given names. Predator, Ion and Parallax we know... the rest are: Ophidian (orange), Adara (blue), Proselyte (indigo) and Butcher (red). A mysterious figure pulls Sodam Yat from Daxam's sun and removes Ion from him tethering it next to Parallax. Great art and dialogue keep this slow issue from feeling so.

Superman: War Of The Supermen #4- A good year and a half of story wraps up in this issue with the whole New Krypton and exiled Superman idea and all the characters and plotlines that developed out of it being cleared away for JMS basically. While Superman and Supergirl get some fight scenes (mostly Superman vs Zod) it's really Superboy and Krypto who are the heroes. SB comes up with the solution to stop the slaughter on both sides and Krypto helps implement it. They save Kara from Ursa, the JLA from Non and Superman from Zod's troops. Krypto even takes a kryptonite knife to the gut from Zod (he lives I guess) which was a big "NOOOO!" scene for me. Gen. Lane shoots himself rather than face any charges. Nightwing/Chris Kent saves Superman from keeping Zod in the Zone forever and reverts back to his kid form finding Mon-El. The Guardian resigns and leaves town.

Justice League: Generation Lost #2- The JLI desperately tries to convince the rest of the superheroes that Max Lord exists which leads to some comical, yet saddening conversations. As people who are "pushed" come up with alternate explanations for past events. The most egregious being that Ted Kord committed suicide. It also seems that Max is now targeting the JLI by discrediting them, making them hunted. A really good series so far, the Winick/Giffen teaming seems solid.

Thanos Imperative: Ignition #1- The many characters and plots from DNA's cosmic books converge in this prologue to the "mini-event". Nova, Quasar, the Imperial Guard/Guardian, the Inhumans, the Guardians of the Galaxy. The evil-Quasar and the Magus open the rift in the Fault to the "Cthulu Elder God" universe and we see who the big bad is... and why Thanos will have to be the "hero" of this story. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Green Lantern Corps #48- As Ganthet joins the Corps as a Lantern (making his own ring in a way cool scene) it seems the Alpha Lanterns have been "recruiting" others to their ranks willing or not. [The Guardians are their own worst enemy]. Ganthet, Guy and Atrocitus meet to discuss a course of action that might set them against Hal. As Atrocitus is in the GL book too, it'll be interesting to find out how both stories fit together. Bedard seems to be a good successor to Tomasi.

Secret Avengers #1- I like the team members assembled here. Each brings something to the group; scientific knowledge, technical expertise, etc. Already, in the first issue there is a more natural and ease with which the characters work together than the ACTUAL Avengers title. I still don't see the point of having or needing a "secret" Avengers team. Oh, I understand from the story why, I just don't see it needed as a concept, but that's just me. I have no doubt that this will become THE Avengers title for me and I'm interested in the reveal of the leader of the SA's opponents, the Shadow Council.

The Alright:

Doomwar #4- This was a standard "we're losing the battle" type story redeemed by the introduction of Deadpool to the storyline ['cause he wasn't in enough books already]. What could have easily been another crass use of an overexposed popular character turned out to be a cool, clever and funny bit of writing. The art was fair with more attention paid to the part that introduced Deadpool to the story.

X-Force #27- Half of the issue was dialogue free quarter/half page panels showing the battle as the X-Men fight of the first wave of Nimrod Sentinels. Once dealt with, Cyclops came up with the plan for the next wave. X-Force's true nature was revealed to the rest of the X-Men but discussions on it's moral implications were put off until the end of the crossover, er.. the current situation is resolved (i.e. they survive). The battle scenes weren't too action-y, more like still photos than action scenes. The planning scenes were a bit too verbose [making up for the "silent" parts, I guess] The next month's issues wrap up this X-over.

Atlas #1- Left from last week. This new start (third) to the group continued the storyline of the 1950's super team. It added the modern day version of 3D-Man into the mix. He was introduced to the MU in Kurt Busiek's Avengers as Triathlon and last seen in Avengers: Initiative and Skrull Kill Krew during Secret Invasion. I was glad to see the character reused here. He's probably one of the most hated characters because of the way he was introduced and put on the Avengers. I admit that I hated him, but he grew on me. Eventually he was linked to the original 3D-Man and that went a long way in changing my opinion of the character. That said, I don't think that there was anything that would bring in new readers. If you were reading Atlas in the past, it was building on that familiarity and moving that story forward.

Thunderbolts #144- I was interested in this new direction for the title. Which was going to be a return to the "classic" T-bolts (villains truly wanting to reform as heroes). What really attracted me was the return of some of those original T-bolts: MACH V(now), Songbird and Moonstone. An interesting dynamic since they were last together. However, they didn't get that much time together as this issue focused on the other members more. Now [and this is me speaking as a fan], I think Marvel really missed an opportunity here. Who better to restore the tarnished name of the Thunderbolts than the one hero who made that first team into heroes..., Hawkeye! Don't get me wrong, I like Luke Cage. But, To me it makes sense that Clint would do this. Cap/Steve Rogers saw and recognized what he had achieved with those T-bolts and I could see him asking Clint to "fix" the team name he helped establish. As is, the use of Luke Cage and the prison element gave it a Suicide Squad feel that I don't know how to respond to. The last page did have a welcome surprise and will keep me around for the next issue even though I'm not really liking the art.

Fantastic Four #679- Dale Eaglesham's art is the only reason to buy this title. This issue was a lot of pretty pictures and nothing happening. Reed visits the Wizard in jail then sets up a school...yes, he's teaching. Okay, his students are from some of the last few issues of FF including Dragon Man, the fishlike Atlanteans, his own daughter and Artie from X-Factor/New Mutants in 90's. Actually I liked how Hickman gave some growth to that character and his powers. I cannot get over the fact that this title has yet to show the Fantastic FOUR! There is lots of issues with one or two, but few with all four together.

The Bad:

Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne #2- On this episode of Quantum Leap Sam leapt back to Puritan times. Seriously, in this issue Morrison sent Bruce to the early 1700's where he took up immediate battle with a C'thulu evoking Lovecraftian creature. Taken in by a women he rescued from said creature, he became a witchhunter (more apt to base explanations on deductive reasoning than superstition) in Gotham. Meanwhile, the heroes talked to an archivist at the end of time. There was an explanation of Morrison's take on time and time travel in the DCU. In a WTF moment the archivist revealed itself to be Bruce who left the heroes stranded as time (literally) ran out. Oh, and Bruce bumped into his ancestor Nathaniel Wayne who was revealed in Batman & Robin to be a not nice man. I really did not like this art and that's why it's in the Bad category. Otherwise it's perfectly mediocre.

Random Thoughts 13

2010-05-25T09:56:00.003-04:00

I had actually planned to do this before the Lost edition, but got too busy, so it's a little dated.

-Notice the DC Comics from the alternate world in Fringe:

Red Lantern/Red Arrow based on the Neal Adams cover [guess he's powered by rage]
Crisis On Infinite Earths #7 with Supergirl holding a dead Superman
Death Of Batman a switch with Superman event of 90's
Superman: The Man Of Steel Returns another switch of charaters

-Heroes just got canceled but it's producers are also getting sued for ripping off the storyline of the last season from the Carnival Of Souls comic book. The case is made with side by side stills and panels. Judge for yourself here.

-Finally a sad mystery involving a comic book and animated series writer is being investigated in Florida. Steve Perry (not the guitarist) and his two housemates were reported missing from the house they shared. The van belonging to Perry was found abandoned in a parking lot with several severed limbs discovered nearby. The two housemates were arrested on other unrelated charges but remain "persons of interest" in a murder investigation. Life was not going well for Perry who wrote several episodes of Thundercats and Silverhawks as well as various comics. He had been divoriced and contracted cancer. He sought help from several charities including Hero Initiative for funds towards treatment, rent and food. The house he lived in was owned by his brother-in-law(?) and had just recently forclosed. He leaves behind his ex-wife and his five year old son.

Random Thoughts 4-8-15-16-23-42

2010-05-24T01:34:00.000-04:00

Yeah, it's the series finale of Lost. After six years the best show ever to air on TV is ending. So, I decided to write this as I watched it. My predictions will be in parenthesis like so..[] I also meant to "time stamp" these, but forgot.

SPOILERS AHEAD

-Hurley got in two Star Wars references in a minute. And Jacob IS worse than Yoda.

-Vincent! I can imagine the scene where Bernard says "Who's fallen into the well, Vincent?"

-Oooohhh what's Ben's endgame

-It's Juliet, I'm giddy. [Sun's gonna remember when she examines her.] I'm tearing up.

-Damn! I knew Lapidus wasn't dead! Miles, Richard and Lapidus spin-off?...

-Whoa! That's a helluva bluff, Jack.

-So Jack was married to Juliet in alterniverse.

-It was alt-Desmond all the time back on the island?

-Target ads for smoke alarm with "Smokey" and keyboard with the "hatch" quite funny

-Shannon & Boone back...that's Sayid's wake up...yep!

-Uh-Oh,...alt-Aaron is on his way [Kate's gonna deliver him again and that's their wake-up]

-BIG mistake Jack!

-"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

-[in the altiverse THEY'RE ALL DEAD]

-teared up again when Charlie and Claire reunite/remember.

-Jack's been watching 300 with that action pose going out to commercial.

-[Michael and Walt are gonna be at the end]

-Kate haters...She's not useless anymore!

-Glad alt-Locke is the real Locke, I've been missing him

-Another, Target ad... for BBQ sauce with a boar

-The longest break yet...definite scheduled bathroom break

-Duct tape solves EVERYTHING! Quick, get some to Jack so he can fix the island

-James & Juliet reunion another tearing...also echoes Jack meeting Jacob

-"See you in another life, Brother"-knew that was coming.

-Definitely in heaven look at all the religious artifacts from different religions.

-Bookend scene!

-scenes of the wreckage? WTF?

-No "Bad Robot" at the end.

-No Walt! Michael is condemned to wander the island...but, we could have seen him again. and I guess all dogs don't go to heaven (Jimmy stole my joke!)

A very satisfying end. Not all the questions were answered. The end was also open to some interpretation.

This Week's Comic Stack 5/19/10

2010-05-20T23:46:00.000-04:00

Quite a lot this week as the Heroic Age was launched by Marvel. Also, it's funny to note that there are a lot of #1's and anthology books this week...

The Good:

Brightest Day #2- This wins misleading cover of the week as Aquaman is barely in the book. This issue focuses on Martian Manhunter and a new take on his arrival on Earth, the Hawks track Hath-Set as the Atom tries to find out why Ronnie and Jason are stuck as Firestorm. The book ends on a trademark Johns "Whoa!" moment. The pacing of so many storylines is done well. There is a fairly gruesome scene when a White Martian learns of J'onn's resurrection echoing the Black Manta scene in #1.

Superman: War Of The Supermen #3- With the Kryptonians dying in space, Flamebird flies into the sun [What is with DC and having people fly into suns to sacrifice themselves to save the day...Hal...Sodam Yat...now Flamebird] and changes the sun back to Yellow. Although, with heavy losses (once 80,000 now less than 7,000) the Kryptonians are still more than enough to overpower the humans. Kara prepares to face Ursa in Washington, DC while Kal-El awaits Zod in where else but Metropolis.

Prince Of Power #1- A holdover from last week. Amadeus Cho puts his unique style of adventuring to bring down the Griffin. He demonstrates that he's not afraid to put the front company of the Greek gods billions of dollars in debt to find Hercules. He gets into a contest with the head of Pantheon over mystical items that give the various gods their immortality/omnipotentence which he wants to use to find Herc. There is a hilarious "Memo" from Cho to all Olympus Company employees about changes he's enacting as well as a preview of the Atlas series. A fun and funny book. Watch for the joke "sound effects".

Legion Of Super-Heroes #1- As Saturn Girl visits home, the Legion is forced to make Earth-Man (who just went on a xenophobic rampage) as a member if they want to stay on Earth. Meanwhile an attempt to view the beginning of time awakens a strange being on Oa and threatens Titan's populace. The strange being takes a Green Lantern ring and brings it to Earth offering it to Earth-Man, the new Lantern of Sector 2418. I can see how Levitz is regarded as the premiere Legion writer. He sets up some interesting groundwork for future[no pun intended] issues. Plus the art was top notch.

DC Universe: Legacies #1- Two stories written by Len Wein about the onset of the Golden Age. In the first two kids witness several emerging mystery men (the Crimson Avenger, Sandman and Atom). The second involves Scoop Scanlon (who first appeared in Action Comics #1) trying to explain Dr Fate and the Spectre. The art is very good (Joe and Adam Kubert). I'm looking forward to this tour of the DC eras.

The Alright:

X-Men Legacy #236- Bastion encloses Utopia (along with most of San Fran)in a giant energy sphere. The Avengers show up to help break through the outside. The X-Men prepare for the worst on the inside. They don't have to wait long as dozens of Nimrod class Sentinels emerge from the inside of the sphere. Things don't look too good. The Avengers cameo is the highlight of the issue. It seems next part (X-Force) will be meatier.

Invincible Iron Man #26- Somewhat of a disappointment. Nothing really happens. Tony recruits a former employee to help re-purpose his last nine remaining armors while the Hammers recruit the new? Spymaster.

Zatanna #1- Dini tries to propel the female magician in fishnets to a major mystical force in this series. It's not a bad first issue. I will have to read more issues to make a final verdict on it as the issue failed to grab me. The art by Stephane Roux does help sell it though.

Justice League Of America #45- More set-up for the JLA/JSA crossover. But this time the team kinda started feeling like the League for a bit. I also think that the inker(s) really aren't a good match for Bagley's pencils. The art isn't as vibrant as his previous projects

Enter The Heroic Age #1- A "sampler" anthology one shot. I love these as they allow me to test several titles/creative teams without buying an issue of each title. Avengers Academy, Thunderbolts and Atlas hold the most promise. Also spotlighted are Black Widow and Hawkeye & Mockingbird

Age Of Heroes #1- Another anthology book. This mini takes a focus on characters instead of titles. There is a great Kurt Busiek story about JJ Jameson's reaction to the Siege aftermath. Paul Cornell gets a love letter to his Captain Britain & MI 13 series and there is a funny one page Spidey story by Dan Slott and Ty Templeton. Unfortunately there is an awful Doctor Voodoo story in the middle. This will probably be hit or miss by each story.

Superman/Batman #72- I got this because I thought that this would be a Dick Grayson Batman and Superman team up. But, it wasn't. Taking place sometime after Identity Crisis (reference in the story) Batman intercepts an ultrasonic distress call for Superman because he's out in space. Turns out Lois has been abducted to be the sacrifice for some cult ticked off because she married Clark instead of Superman. Paul Levitz pens this by the books adventure.

The Bad:

Avengers #1- The art was the usual John Romita Jr quality. I liked the use of Kang and the Next Avengers. That's about it. The dialogue is what I feel is typical generic Bendis snark. With a few changes anybody could have anyone elses lines. There's so little personality within his dialogue. That carries over to the horrible Oral History of the Avengers (the prose fake interview or recording that Bendis loves to throw in to his comics). With his dialogue Bendis places his own attitudes and ideas about the personalities and motivations into the founding Avengers that wasn't there to begin with. That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. In Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Joe Casey did such a better job in updating the existing personalities and motivations. Using stuff that was actually in the original stories he came up with a story that took what was there and gave it a modern day feel and relevancy. Bendis just does what he pleases. Anyways....I also found the anti-Avengers attitude of Wonder Man so random. However, I since found out that it has been previously established, so kudos on keeping that going, I guess. Unfortunately, I don't think that Avengers will be in my pull list.

Random Thoughts 12

2010-05-15T16:00:00.000-04:00

-Siege ended and with it several titles as well as a character that has been a big part of the Marvel scene for the last ten years. The event was one of the shortest of the Marvel events lasting only four issues in about five months.

-RIP, Atom...no not Ray Palmer. This is the Ryan Choi one that was introduced by Grant Morrison and then given his own series written by Gail Simone. In the new evil Titans book Deathstroke and his team kill poor Ryan. The death is criticized as being a re-Whitening of the DCU. Which I disagree with, but I do see this as a "cheap" death. There is no reason there couldn't be two Atoms. There are three Flashes and scores of Green Lanterns, four from Earth alone. There is not much chance of seeing Ryan again, just look at Adam Cray (for those of you scratching your head...he was a replacement Atom that served with the Suicide Squad)

-RIP, Sentry... well,... you either loved this guy or absolutely hated him. I pretty much didn't care once he got beyond his fake "lost" hero setup. So, no big deal for me.

-In the real world...Fantasy and science fiction artist Frank Frazetta passed away earlier this week. Not only did he contribute covers of books and magazines, but he also did design work on many films. He had been sick for a while and his family had been (and still is) engaged in a battle over ownership of his art while his health deteriorated. A sad way to pass.

-Fox renewed Human Target for another season. While NBC preformed a mercy killing on Heroes.

-Samuel Jackson's deal with Marvel includes a SHIELD movie in which he would star presumably...thus erasing the Hoff's 90's TV version from my mind

-Namor gets an ongoing series written by Stuart Moore and drawn by Ariel Olivetti. His role as a member of the X-Men will play a big part. The bad news, it's part of the X-Men vs vampires story.

- Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk were finally revealed... If you care they are Thunderbolt Ross and his daughter, Betty. I'm not even reading the books and that's so anti-climatic.

-Adult film company Vivid has announced that they are making superhero porno parodies...( I ran across this, really...I mean, it's not like I was LOOKING for this) first up is a take on the 60's Batman TV show. Although, this is a little different than just quickie porn. The director/producer has recruited fans and former crew members to put together an accurate recreation of costumes (skirting trademark issues), props and sets, even locations. This title is said to be the company's highest pre-sale title so far. To follow...Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Green Hornet.
I have to say, the porn industry has been woefully lacking in customer service , if they are just now, realizing how many comic book fanboys constitute their consumer base.

This Week's Comic Stack 5/12/10

2010-05-13T15:30:00.000-04:00

The Good:

Flash #2- This book delivers everything. Some great action as Barry fights future cops based on Rogues. A little humor as he rebuilds an apartment building and interacts with a little girl [I wonder though...did he furnish the apartments too? He also built a brand new building...is that still the apartment the tenants rented? Can the landlord raise the rent because of improvements?]. Cold and the Rogues want Boomerang to prove himself before being welcomed back. There is even a trademark Johns cliffhanger, Barry Allen murderer.
Birds Of Prey #1- The girls are back! And I couldn't be happier. When Babs, Dinah and Helena met on the rooftop I couldn't help smiling. Now, I didn't cry like Helena, but that little moment got to me. So most of the issue is about the reunion and the threat that someone is going to expose all the heroes IDs along with those connected to them. In the middle of the meeting a "BoP" signal lights up in the sky and Canary and Huntress face a female martial artist (called White Canary in teaser) but is she Cassandra Cain, Shiva or a newcomer? One thing is certain, this feels right. Both as a group and a comic.
Superman: War Of The Supermen #2- As Earth and the remnants of New Krypton keep on their collision course for confrontation [yay, alliteration], the Lanes have a family reunion. Superman calms Kara down after losing her mother and they head off to stop Zod's attack on the HDC's Mars base [guess this is pre- Blackest Night, otherwise J'onn might have noticed the huge space battle during his terraforming]. The K's are slaughtering the HDC despite Kal and Kara's intervention. Then Luthor pulls an equalizing move, using the corpse of fRao (fake Rao from Action Comics) to turn the sun red...and the Kryptonians start to die in space (Superman and Supergirl too).
Avengers: Initiative #35- Unfortunately, this book ends with a whimper. There are lots of small resolutions for each of the "original" cast as well as scenes from Siege expanded upon. The Deus Ex Machina (literally) affects the battle at Camp HAMMER. The one thing I didn't like was the reversion of Constrictor to a criminal, the guy came so far in the Thing series and this title.
The Marvels Project #8- This had a satisfying conclusion to the retro WWII story. Although, there was not the huge gathering of WWII heroes that I wanted [and the cover teases]The last scene took place in current time. This provided a nice bookend to the story. There is an opportunity for the threads here to be picked up in Secret Avengers.

The Alright:

Adventure Comics #11- Mon-El bows out of current time for now. This issue he spends his last moments finding planets to put the shrunken cities that Brainiac had on. Thus seeding the future of the Legion Of Super-Heroes. The serum that prevented his lead poisoning no longer works. The Legionnaires convince him to face the torment of the Phantom Zone again than the release of death. Flash to the future and Superboy and the LSH pulling him out of the Phantom Zone.
Justice League: Generation Lost #1- The hunt for Max Lord is on...Booster gets what he feels are crap leads. So ignoring his assigned leads he goes off on his own. Meanwhile, other members of the old JLI feel the pressure to find Ted's killer. Booster deduces Max's whereabouts and heads off on his own to confront him [that worked so well for Ted]. Max outsmarts him and knocks him out. However, Booster manages to activate on old JLI signal device before blacking out. The rest of the JLI arrive, but Max has already left. He's pushed the world to forget him. Only the JLI remember him. As Giffen can get quite jokey and Winick is all over the board it will be interesting if this works. I enjoyed the early JLI which were serious stories with humor put into them, rather than the later JLI which were the opposite.
Booster Gold #32- Again, knowing the way Giffen writes this is another title that really has to work to keep me around. And it is off to a good start. While more jokey than JL: Generation Lost it still hasn't slipped into full on BWA-HA-HA-HA.
New Mutants #13- The X-Men are a step behind the evil humans once again. Cyke has his fleet of Blackbirds destroyed, his group of super-smart science guys lured away and tensions among the mutants growing after being isolated. I sure hope that he comes up with something before the inevitable all out assault on the island.
Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne #1- Morrison uses odd language and syntax to represent the stone age tribes speaking as well as syllabic spellings of Bruce's dialogue to get across his "strangeness" to those tribes. It's a neat device, but a little tedious to read. It seems like it will tie in heavily with the Time Masters series, I guess that's cool. There was really nothing to give me that WOW factor here.
Siege #4- This is a case study in Deus Ex Machina (actually real gods involved too). Used not once but twice! Loki reabsorbs the power he gave to the Hood and the bad guys and gives it to the good guys. Then Thor zaps the Void and kills him. This isn't that bad of a plot, just poor pacing. The dialogue is flat. The Siege pales in comparison to Blackest Night

The Bad:

New Avengers Finale #1- Continuing right after Siege #4 as the New Avengers pursue Madame Masque and the Hood. They seek the aid of Masque's father Count Nefaria [already ticking me off as Masque HATES her father and Nefaria could care less about her]. After a long sequence of the Avengers tracking and observing their targets (with lots of "snarky" dialogue) there is an okay battle scene. The Avengers triumph, drop off their captives with SHIELD?/HAMMER? then celebrate the "Heroic Age"(TM) and reminisce about the last few years. The rest of the issue is double page spreads of past battles ending with the team in civilian clothes taking a walk in the park. If I were a fan of the title this would have been cool. However, I have exactly two issues...the first and this one. Which also caused something I noticed to annoy me. Bendis tries to bring it back to the first issue with one line, ONE LINE, referencing the fact that Nefaria was part of the breakout that got them all together [WTF!]

Random Thoughts 11 (Iron Man 2 Edition- Spoilers)

2010-05-08T11:40:00.002-04:00

-This week a first happened...I saw two, yes...TWO, movies based on a comic book property.

-The first was the several weeks old Kick Ass.

Now, I'm not a Mark Millar fan. In fact, I'm quite the opposite. I had resisted and resisted reading the collected trade of the movie's primary source material for weeks. Yet, being the comic geek I am, felt a nagging need to see what everyone has raved about for the last year and a half. Almost all of Millar's work in comics fails to appeal to me (the exception being Marvel 1985 previously mentioned in my Thoughts).

I had fully intended to read the story before watching the movie on Blu-Ray or DVD. But, I went to see the movie on the recommendation from my father. Now, my father (as much as we love each other) has never gotten my fascination with the superhero genre and comics. So, for him to like this type of movie and suggest it as "worthwhile" is astounding.

I did enjoy the movie very much. It was just plain mindless fun, though. Here's where my main problem with Millar's writing comes into play. He has cool ideas that just devolve into mindless violence and or chaos. Till about a quarter through the movie I thought it would be an inspiring (although with a dark twist) story of a young man who was set on following his dream, as crazy as it was ( a very relatable theme). It turned into a standard shoot 'em up popcorn movie. Fun, yes, but forgettable. And that's what gets me. The potential is there for so much more, but the lowest common denominator wins out in the end.

Other thoughts:
...The inspired use of the Red Mist to strengthen the relationship of the Mafia boss and his son didn't really resonate as much as it should have because of the boss' generic personality (I don't even recall his name).
...Hit Girl was not as disturbing as the hype made her out to be.
...Nick Cage was pretty subdued, I even liked his "Adam West/William Shatner" hero voice.
...The movie confuses vigilante with superhero with Big Daddy and Hit Girl.

Final Verdict: A definite Matinee that is put up to Full Price on sheer fun alone.

-Now on to the second comic movie this week...Iron Man 2

I had heard that this sequel basically improved upon the things that made the first movie so good, but also impounded upon the faults of it too. I'm glad to report that's not true.

In fact, there is very little that I can find fault with in the movie. As a fan that has a pretty deep knowledge of the forty seven year history that Iron Man has, I found it much easier to let go of that history than in past movies about Marvel heroes (probably due to the first Iron Man). Plotwise, it's a much better written movie although there is less of an emotional connection to Tony Stark. The acting is of the same quality as the first. The replacement of Terrance Howard with Don Cheadle really isn't as big a deal as i thought it would be. Mickey Rourke plays a fairly typical guy out for revenge, but with gusto. Poor Scarlet Johansen does as much as she can with very little including her one action scene. The real waste here is Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. The scheming manipulative industrialist of the comics comes off as a comical and ineffective. The best thing is that the climatic battle is actually logical this time.

Things I noticed:
...Howard Stark as a good guy. Speaking of which...anyone notice the resemblance of Howard Stark's presentation of the '74 Stark Expo to Walt Disney's presentation of WDW/EPCOT in 1966?
...the footage of the aftermath of the Hulk's rampage at the college on the screens as Tony peruses the SHIELD files (at least, that's what it looked like).
...an attempt to copy Cap's shield.
...Black Widow uses her Widow's Sting/Bite, sorta.
...Thor's Hammer didn't make the crater.

Final Verdict: Definitely FULL PRICE!

Watch for another RT with some other news and reviews...

This Week's Comic Stack 5/5/10

2010-05-07T17:40:00.000-04:00

The Good:

Brightest Day #1- While Hal, Carol and Sinestro try to figure out what's up with the White Lantern Boston Brand sees instances where the resurrected aren't quite right. Aquaman uses his power in a great scene (including the sound effect from SuperFriends) discovering he can only command the DEAD creatures of the sea. And Hawkman and Hawkgirl quest for their original bodies. A nice start. I'm glad this is every other week instead of just once a month.

Superman: War Of The Supermen #0- The FCBD giveaway transitions from LSONK to WOS nicely...plus there is a backup story that catches new readers up on events in Super books and characters

Superman: War Of The Superman #1- Zod leads the Kryptonians to assault the Earth. Luther left a bomb on New K which goes off and destroys the fledgling planet. Now the Kryps are even more riled up to go to Earth and take it as their own...bad news for us. I wonder if this is before or after Blackest Night [I'm saying before]. Might be interesting attacking Earth with all those lanterns around (not just the Green ones). Jamal Igle does a phenomenal job on the art.

Mighty Avengers #36- Things work out for Hank, although not quite as he intended. I really get a gone before it's time vibe from reading this last issue. It was cool to see a title with Hank Pym as the lead. That's really what this book was. Even though they were in the book, the Avengers were more like supporting characters. Now Hank returns to being just one of the guys. That's a little sad.

Secret Six #21- More of Catman's hunt for the kidnappers of his son and Black Alice freaks out on Scandal..Excellently dark.

The Alright:

Iron Man/Thor #1- A fairly ridiculous story (a hiccup for Fraction) with some cool interaction between the two title characters. Now, I was expecting a format similar to the 60's one-shot of Iron Man/Sub-Mariner... Characters meet or cross paths and then go on to their story in their own titles. This was not the case. The issue was no intro to the regular titles. Also, note that the Marvel giveaway is smaller than a standard comic whereas DC's free comic was the same size.

Uncanny X-Men #524- The team buries Nightcrawler as the all out attack on the X-Men becomes imminent. This issue is at the halfway point of the crossover. While I'm not too happy with the event of Kurt's death, I'm still kinda interested in the outcome of this story arc.
Zorro: Matanzas #4- This "throwback" storyline concludes. The whole story seemed to be from a forgotten arc from another series. Although, it had some clunky over narrated writing I found myself interested by the situation set up at its resolution. While not as strong as the regular series, it was still entertaining.

Random Thoughts 10

2010-05-01T05:31:00.000-04:00

-Lost without Lost this week...and realizing that there's only one more month left! [sigh] Still glad it's ending strong instead of slowly languishing.

-Watched Great Performances Hamlet with David Tennett (Dr. Who) as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart (Star Trek, X-Men) as Claudius/the Ghost. Yeah, I like Shakespeare...

-Finally saw the Hurt Locker...As much as I liked about it there was stuff I had problems with. However, it was a better, more original story than Avatar and deserved to win the Oscar.

-The Losers took the best parts of the first story arc, assembled a great cast for the Loser team and came up with an average action flick (aside from parts directly from the comic). The cast is the best part of the movie. They manage to do a lot with very little character development and seem to have had fun doing it. The one glaring exception is Jason Patric as Max, the bad guy. He's so over the top, mustache-twirlingly evil. It's so unneccessary, too. You would know how evil he is just from his setting-up the Losers. Also the sci-fi bomb/device angle took me out of the (so far "realistic") movie a bit.

-Free Comic Book Day is SATURDAY (today)!

-R.I.P.- Kurt Wagner (1975-2010)

Auf Weidersehen.... Aber, bitte kommen Sie zuruck!

This Week's Comic Stack 4/28/10

2010-04-30T13:58:00.000-04:00

The Good:

Captain America #605- Bucky Cap and Falc take down the nutso 50's anti-commie Cap and his Watchdog group. Bucky's decision at the climax shows how he's different than Steve as Cap, yet so similar at the same time. Oh, and Nomad and Ariana get more buddy-buddy in the conclusion to the plug for Young Allies

Invincible Iron Man #25- The reset mind of Tony Stark comes to terms with his "missing" time and things are set in motion for the current arc involving Hammer Industries taking over as the premiere military tech manufacturer. Sound similar to Iron Man 2? It does seem that thematically the two parallel each other. The one nit I must pick is the fact that Stark really hasn't made weapons (aside from IM suits) for a long time (both in comic and real time), yet it the reader is made to think that this is a brand new policy.

Green Lantern Corps #47- More resolutions to the bits of plot left over from Blackest Night. Including a repeal of the Third Law of Oa and a change for Kilowog. Well done.

Superman #699- Mon-El and the Legion go after the shrunken cities of Brainiac, while Superman and Zod fight Brainiac himself.

Superman: Last Stand Of New Krypton #3- Ending the threat of Brainiac, Zod uses the opportunity to sieze power and declare war on the Earth. Leading to the...,you guessed it,...War Of The Supermen (#0 free this Saturday for FCBD)

The Alright:

Fantastic Four #578- Each issue of this has been a self contained story, yet there has not been an over arcing story line. This issue hints at those stories finally intersecting next issue. The art is the quality work expected from Eaglesham, too bad there isn't more for him to do.

Action Comics #889- Finally the ho-hum Kryptonian god storyline is over. I was surprised at how interested I was in this Nightwing and Flamebird when they started, and how wrong it turned when it got into Kryptonian mythology.

Amazing Spider-Man #629- Stern ends his Juggernaut vs Captain Universe story. It does explain why Cap U is after Juggie and that the host had twisted the Cap U power for his own ends. Also, there is a prologue for the Zeb Wells Lizard story.

The Bad:

X-Force #26- Yeah, this is personal! One of my favorite X-Men is killed in this issue. And it's pretty arbitrary. They could have killed anyone, this particular character is a well known established one so that makes it "mean" more. So...who is it?....Nightcrawler. Yes, the fuzzy elf 'ports no more. At least for the next ten years (the average time for characters to remain "dead")

MIA:

Mighty Avengers #36- either sold out or shorted at the store.

This Week's Comic Stack 4/21/10

2010-04-22T23:30:00.001-04:00

The Good:

Guardians Of The Galaxy #25- The team is finally reunited just in time to face the totally
savage Thanos. This seems like a taste of what's to come with Thanos Imperative. Unfortunately, the book goes on "hiatus" for the duration of the Thanos mini.

Hercules: Fall Of An Avenger #2- Amadeus Cho and Phobos are pitted against one another by the Greek gods. But, they're not playing that game. Cho goes to look for Herc in Hades, but he's not there. So, he returns to take control of the company that is a front for the gods and to commit its resources to finding Herc. In the second story Venus and Namora find a hospital for "monsters" that Hercules funded and conspire to keep it running
Nova #36- Well, no New Warriors reunion. But, Nova does drop in on the evil demonic Quasar and Project Pegasus. A nice little adventure before the book goes on "hiatus" too during the Thanos Imperative.

Green Lantern #53- This is an epilogue to Blackest Night and wraps up/teases what is in store for Lanterns in GL, GLC, and Guy Gardner's new mini. I liked the call back to Hal and Sinestro's first meeting.

Supergirl #52- Fans of the Brainiac 5/Supergirl romance will get a kick out of this issue. Yet, it doesn't take away from the greater "Last Stand" story. It will cause a minor headache trying to figure this out: Silver Age Supergirl had a romance with Brainiac 5.... but..., she died in Crisis On Infinite Earths...however, this Supergirl spent time in the future with the third Legion(Waid's) and was sent back with her mind wiped...so this Supergirl will/has spent time in the future with original blend Brainy too? Is this going to happen? Or is the writer just confusing the three Legion universes?

The Alright:

Amazing Spider-Man #628- Spidey and Juggernaut battle Captain Universe. This story had so much promise with the first issue. Stern drops the ball a little here.

Avengers Vs. Atlas #4- I really was bored with this conclusion issue. A little too "concept" here instead of action and drama. You can get all Morrison-y, but even Morrison out Morrisons himself. What I mean by that is that the concept shouldn't take over the story. Still this was a fun book just to see the teams together. Though, I also felt that most of the old Avengers were out of character some.

Doomwar #3- Not much either to praise or pan with this. A plus here is to see characters together that haven't "teamed up" for a while. Mainly, the X-Men with Black Panther [T'Challa will always be the Panther to me] and Storm. Plus the FF are getting involved too!

Torch #7- Die...you flaming android Nazis! Mostly just set-up for the next issue's Torch and Toro vs. the Inhuman Torch (an indestructible out of control prototype version of the Torch)

X-Men: Legacy #235- Another minor X-Man dies. While not as good as the last two parts of this x-over it still carries the same sense of desperation and "this is war" mentality.

Justice League Of America #44- I so want to love this series, but it's just not happening. Never before have I been less enthusiastic about a JSA/JLA crossover. C'Mon!...JLA and JSA together....that's EPIC, always. Bagley definitely is carrying the series with his art now. DC needs to find better titles for him to do.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #15- Another epilogue/teaser issue [sure are a lot this week] Vril complains that Despero is taking all the credit for Starro's defeat. Starfire is roaming the cosmos because Dick doesn't love her anymore and it was too awkward[and giving her a bad reputation] being on the JLA. Adam Strange wants Vril to fix the poisoned environment of Rann which he'll do by moving the planet [that worked so well last time]. Starfire is surprised when a "new" Tamaran appears.

Trades:

I got the Robin: A Hero Reborn TPB on sale. It reprints Batman #455-457 and the first Robin mini-series. It follows Tim as he first gets "authorization" to be Robin and on his first solo adventure. Chuck Dixon would guide Tim/Robin for the next decade, but this is where he starts. I missed out on all the Robin stuff up to No Man's Land. I regret that now. I hope to track down more of the early Robin reprint trades and see Tim grow into the costume. Also in this are Dixon characters Shiva and Lynx (whose origin unfolds in the story). The art is pretty good, but suffers because the trade uses the same paper as the original comics do. Not a problem with today's high gloss paper, but we're talking old school newsprint paper. I'm as nostalgic as anyone, but I want more in my trades.

Random Thoughts 9 (C2E2/WWLA Edition)

2010-04-20T19:02:00.000-04:00

Second time around for this post....the Internet ate the first one

-The Atom returns in a Brightest Day one-shot as well as a backup story in Adventure Comics

-The Batman vs Al Queda story by Frank Miller was finally squashed.

-Marvel and Disney announced the new animated series "Ultimate Spider-Man" thus killing of the wonderful Spectacular Spider-Man series (unless Sony does something and sells it to someone)

-Joss Whedon is said to be the director for the Avengers movie...Yeah, he can handle ensemble casts well, but as good as Serenity was it was still just an episode of Firefly with a bigger budget.

-J.H. Williams will draw and write the new Batwoman series...Let's hope he's better than Tony Daniel at making the transition.

-The Secret Avengers lineup was fully revealed...

Steve Rogers

Beast

Moon Knight

War Machine

Valkyrie

Nova

plus Sharon Carter and Black Widow

-Ed Brubaker and Dale Eaglesham are doing Steve Rogers: Super Soldier as a companion book to Secret Avengers. I like how Steve's new suit envokes both the old Patriot and Super Patriot suits.

-Speaking of the Patriot...Jeff Mace gets a mini series about his becoming the replacement Cap during WWII

-Avengers Academy revealed its teacher roster: Hank Pym, Tigra, Quicksilver, Justice and Speedball. Yes...Speedball, not Penance!

-Chris Samnee does art for a second Thor title, with Roger Langridge (BOOM's Muppet Show) writes it

-Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung return to the Young Avengers since their series ended. The book is titled Avengers: Children's Crusade and focuses on their search for the Scarlet Witch.

-A new X-Men #1 starts soon. This time written by Victor Gischler with art by Paco Medina as the X-Men fight.... vampires? Really?....

-There will be no more Wolverine And The X-Men or Iron Man: Armored Adventures

-There will be Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Long rumored...it will have Cap, Thor, Wasp, Ant-Man, Hulk, Black Panther with Iron Man as leader.

-Finally, one of my favorite artists is in need due to health problems. Gene Colan, 84 (who drew such titles as Captain America, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Tomb Of Dracula and Batman), has relied on commission art pieces as income for the last few years. However, in late March he fell and broke his drawing arm. Unable to produce any art his income and savings are being strained by the cost of treating his failing liver. Another blogger, Clifford Meth, has info on an art sale benefiting Colan. Check out out this link for more info.

Aardwolf Publishing is also having a sale for Colan's benefit. They are selling copies of the retrospective art book they recently published. You can either get books signed ($45 w/shipping) or signed with a sketch ($155). Go here to check it out.

This Week's Comic Stack 4/14/10

2010-04-15T13:20:00.001-04:00

The Good:

The Flash #1- It's Barry's first day back on the job (an apt story for his return to a Flash title as the lead, and his own #1 issue) he stops the Trickster, meets his co-workers at the crime lab, responds to a crime scene with a body in a Mirror Master suit, then meets some "future" cops using devices and costumes based on the Rogues. Some nice art by Francis Manapul in here. I was sad that Scott Kolins wasn't going to be the artist, but Manapul is a good replacement. The fanboy in me thinks it would be cool if and when Barry goes into Keystone, those panels/pages be drawn by Kolins.
Brightest Day #0- We learn that "Deadman" can bring back dead little birdies (and maybe people even?) with his White Ring. For the rest of the issue he bounces around Earth (and to Mars)to all the resurrected people. This results in little tidbits of what these characters will be dealing with in the months to come. Whether in this title or others.
Secret Six #20- Catman makes a choice and because of it starts upon a dark path. Most of the six then set out to prevent him from going too far down that path, because they view him as being better than they are. And of all the members of the Six he is the closest one that could make the transition to "hero". Also, events in this issue are particularly interesting given what happened in JL:Cry For Justice.
Booster Gold #31- Remember how I said that last issue was the end of Dan Jurgens run on the book?...Well that's really this issue. It's a nice sweet story that serves as an epilogue to not just this arc, but the series as a whole. There is even a tease to follow Rip Hunter's adventures in Return of Bruce Wayne and Time Masters. Time Masters?....I haven't even heard about this. In today's day and age that's odd.
Adventure Comics #10- The Mon-El and Superboy stories combine and the mole in Gen. Lane's HDC is found out (well he "knew all along"). The two Superboys part is done well, but the mole story...well it must pay off somehow. I just don't see why it was needed.

The Alright:

New Mutants #12- Wells continues the tension of the event reenforcing the fact that even though the mutants have powers they are still outnumbered. The Newbies have a dangerous and crucial task of confronting the Right troops at their base and prevent them from providing reenforcements to the troops after Hope who are engaging the X-Men. With the "Death" Archangel, cyborg Cameron Hodge and all the mutant haters the X-books are very 90's nostalgic.
Doomwar #1- Actually from last week. I picked this up because a friend enjoyed it. And I did too. I hadn't read any Black Panther since Marvel dumped Priest for Hudlin on the character. I could see a bit of the Priest Panther in this issue. It was good enough to make me want to pick up the next issue.
Siege: Captain America #1- Christos N. Gage writes this passable little adventure with the two Caps. Aside from having a lame (i.e. easily beatable) villain in Razorfist there is a nice part where Bucky says he is Cap to a little kid.
Siege: Young Avengers #1- I am not a Sean McKeever fan (he ran Teen Titans into the ground) but he does a resonable job with telling the adventures of the YAs during Siege. I wished more of the Siege: books had similar plots. There is so much going on, that one-shots focusing on certain characters or teams are almost needed to give some emotion to the story.
Action Comics #888- I'm so tired of this avatar for Kryptonian deities storyline. Even with the guest appearence of the JSA and Wonder Woman couldn't get me into this issue. The Captain Atom story invokes pretty much the same reaction.

No trades for sale that caught my eye...I was hoping to get Essential Daredevil Vol. 5, but the store did not get any.

This Week's Comic Stack 4/7/10

2010-04-08T19:12:00.000-04:00

The Good:

Superman: Secret Origin #5- Johns manages to bring in lots of bits from the many origins that Superman has had yet make it new. He even ties in the current arcs. I know this is the fourth or fifth revamp of his origin in the last ten years, but I am loving it.
Superman: Last Stand Of New Krypton #2- Things don't look too good for New Krypton, as the story hits its halfway point. TBC in Adventure Comics next week
Lone Ranger #21- A truly horrifying comic as Cavendish strikes at the Ranger's last family members. It's masterfully written and drawn, but so terrible in what happens.
Uncanny X-Men #523- Fraction handles his part of the X-over well, touching on stuff from last week's Second Coming and moving forward with Cyclops' plans for each separate team. I also like that the New Mutants are given a chance to shine, or will be if people pick up that title next week. I think Fraction does a pretty good job in trying to get people to do that the way he sets it up.

The Alright:

The Flash Secret Files And Origins: 2010 #1- I the story, an insomniac Barry races to his childhood house he meets with all the speedsters who apparently can sense what each other (or just Barry) is feeling. Meanwhile, the Rogues gather in a hideout of the original Mirror Master and a giant mirror that says "In case the Flash returns break glass". The rest of the issue is an (re)introduction to the Barry Allen Flash world. Central City, the crime lab, the Rogues are all covered.
Zorro: Matanzas #3- The tension is amped up as Zorro confronts Machete with his father's life in the balance. The rage he feels at seeing his wounded father threatens to undo the support of the people.

In Trade:

On sale this week at my local comic store was the Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 4: The Mortal Iron Fist. This is the arc that Duane Sweiczynski takes over as writer from Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction. That's a hard act to follow, but he does very well. While not quite as good as the previous volumes, it's still worth picking up.

Also on sale were back issue "trades"- that's all the issues of a mini sold together as a set. So I picked up the DC mini series Empire. This was a rare Mature Reader title with a DC logo and not a Vertigo one. An out of DCU story, it is about a super genius mastermind who has taken over the Earth (for the benefit of all). Written by Mark Waid, it is almost a trial run for Irredeemable. Except instead of a Superman type hero versus the world it's a Lex Luthor/Dr. Doom type that the world fights against. Art is by Barry Kitson and is beautiful, but sometimes graphic. Waid and Kitson would go on to launch the new Legion Of Super-Heroes title after this. Check it out if you like Irredeemable and Incorruptible.

Random Thoughts 8

2010-04-06T15:20:00.000-04:00

-Blackest Night #8....Best issue of 2010(so far)

-Greg Rucka leaves DC. Huh?.....Despite all the friendly comments from both Rucka and DC offices there has to be something else going on here. Rucka is one of DC's MVPs...and he decides to just quit?

-the amount of non-news from Wondercon....It seems that the comic companies were pretty tight lipped (the usual wait and see runaround) while the movie companies treated fans well. Disney hocked Prince Of Persia, Sorcerer's Apprentice and Toy Story 3 with stars . While Warner Bros. pushed Inception with a Christopher Nolan surprise appearance, The Losers cast, Nightmare On Elm Street (new fan fave Jackie Earle-Haley app.), and Splice (a movie about animal/human hybrids that I never heard of before)

-Sherlock Holmes on Blu-ray....I love the interactive commentary with Guy Ritchie basically giving a lecture (fun one) during the movie. A novel idea to actually see him come on screen with the movie playing behind him on a "board". There are a few docs about the various aspects of making the movie. I was surprised at just how many location shoots there were.

-Toy Story/Toy Story 2....I re-bought these for Blu-ray. There are a few new features, but it's mostly a revamp of the 10th Anniversary DVD release. I enjoyed the shorts that added animation to stories that various crew members told about the "silly and wacky" stuff that went on behind the scenes. There were three of these each disc. On Toy Story 2 there was a tribute to Joe Ranft who passed after making Cars.

-Leonard Kirk is the new artist on New Mutants

-The role of Rick Grimes has been cast for the AMC TV adaptation of The Walking Dead. I don't know the dude (he's English) but he looks the part.

That's all for now...

-V.....It's back on the air and depite ABC's marketing campaign, I don't care.

-Lost....The episode focuses on Sun and Jin and their alt. history. And brings Desmond back! I am more and more convinced that the side flashes are actually going to be where the characters end up finally.

This Week's Comic Stack 3/31/10

2010-04-01T12:25:00.001-04:00

The Good:

Amzing Spider-Man #627- Roger Stern returns to Spidey with a great story that references [complete with footnotes!] to previous issues and an interesting cliffhanger.
New Mutants #11- The Siege hits the X-books focusing on Moonstone's deal with Hela to have power to face Ares (in Uncanny X-Men during X-topia) and how that relates to the dying Asgardians.
Adventure Comics #9- Brainiac 5 has to time travel to save the future while Superboy, Supergirl and the Legion members already in the present try to unify the Kryptonians with a telepathic kick to their...caste system. And more of Zod's plant on Gen. Lane's HDC

The Alright:

Detective Comics #863- A reasonably good conclusion to the double story with Batman and Batwoman. A big plus is the fact that Scott Kolins contributes several pages to the story as artist. The kicker is the end with Bette Kane possibly becoming a partner to Kate as Batgirl?[taken] Flamebird? [a Kryptonian criminal by the DCU drive by media]. And the big bad of the Question story is revealed.
Realm Of Kings:Inhumans #5- Maximus' dealings have all been on Medusa's orders to solidify the Kree/Inhuman alliance. Before they can deal with this the probe they sent to the Fault returns with the monsterously mutated Kree crew members now one giant monster. After destroying it the Inhumans recieve word of the Galactic conference called by the GoG and Shi'ar.
Fantastic Four #577- In a "let's give this another try" moment I picked this up. Hickman introduces a neat idea of the Kree creating "Inhumans" out of other species (Dire Wraiths, Badoon, Kymellan). Of course, they have their eyes set on Earth as a base to launch a new kingdom ruled by the soon to be resurrected Black Bolt. The great art by Eaglesham cant cover up the fact that there is still something missing in the writing.
Justice League Of America #43- The new team is together for all of a one page splash page before Rise and Fall fallout and other stories start taking away members. Meanwhile the bad guys reveal their plot to the reader...in a double page spread of the Multiverse [ooooooo....] I continue to hope this title improves.
X-Men: Second Coming #1- Starting off the next X-over, Chris Yost and Kyle Craig do a pretty good job. With some nice tension of the threat and the chase/action scene this almost made it to the "Good" list. I like Cyclops putting into perspective theThe one thing that made me scratch my head was the reveal of the Human League...sorry, make that Sapien League. [eighties pop reference]I had thought that most of those people had been dealt with once and for all. This League is almost every anti-mutant human villain in the last forty-five years brought together.

And now a new catagory: AWESOME!:

Blackest Night #8- The conclusion of the storyline for GL/GLC and a good chunk of the DCU for the last few years. It does not disappoint. The art by Ivan Reis is just incredible, the only other artist that could have done this better would have been George Perez. [I am not the only one to say that, but I thought it as I was reading it]. You have so many great moments...

M
A
J
O
R

S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
The Corps vs Black Lanterns, Hal creating the White Lantern Corps, the Anti-Monitor resurrection, the fold out pages with the other resurrections: Max Lord [uh-oh], Jade [what's Kyle gonna do], Hank Hall [sorry Holly], Captain Boomerang [a svelte looking original], Reverse-Flash [already hinted at by Flash: Rebirth], Firestorm [Jason and Ronnie?], Martian Manhunter [Yes!], Aquaman [double Yes!], the Hawks [the old/new Hawkgirl], Osiris[WTF?], and Deadman? [should that be Aliveman now?]

I can't wait for Brightest Day!

How DC Ruined Comics For Me

2010-04-01T10:41:00.000-04:00

Talk about your stupid, overwraught, drawn out storylines. This week DC has far surpassed Marvel in that type of comic book storytelling.

I'm talking, of course about the train wreck that is Blackest Night!

Where to start?

The writing:

Geoff Johns is such a hack! This is nothing more than giving service to the fanboys out there! Oh...you want this guy back from the dead?....No problem! How about her?.... and this guy?...Sure!....I'll even throw in this guy, because I like him so much. [Notice how I did that spoiler free] Plus, he just crams in so many things to get this story resolved that he readers have had no time to process what they have just read, things just keep coming at them. I mean he doesn't even fully end the plotlines in this issue. He leaves about a half dozen or so dangling storylines that readers will have to follow up by reading other books. One could say this was nothing more than a clever marketing scheme for his next comic series. However, if Brightest Day means more of this type of writing then I don't have much hope for it as a series or his future at DC as a writer.

The Art:

Ivan Reis has worked in comics steadily for the last few decades. The scope of this series and the last issue in particular are too great for him. I mean, this is the type of project that you would want the cream of the crop on. I'm talking about artists like George Perez or ...well, only Perez could have done this,...but Jim Lee or Phil Jimenez or Rags Morales have done epic scale stories well. Even Van Sciver could have done this (taking forever though). Sure, Reis tries...I just hope he can find work after this.

APRIL FOOLS!

Of course! Blackest Night #8 is AWWWWWEEEESOMMMMMMMMEEEE!

Starman Rundown

2010-03-28T12:34:00.001-04:00

Starman 101:

Theodore Knight- was an astronomer and physicist who developed a staff that can manipulate stellar energy. He decided to become a mystery man with it and joined the JSA. His cousin Sandra Knight, by coincidence, also became a "mystery man" [well woman] as the first Phantom Lady. He remained active until the JSA was forced into retirement in 1951. In his civilian identity he was involved in developing the atomic bomb and later suffered a breakdown over the guilt. He later resumed his superhero career along with many of his JSA colleagues. He was trapped in another dimension for several years and resumes his superhero career on an infrequent basis until his son David takes over. His first appearence was in Adventure Comics #61 (1941). He was created by Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley.

Starman of 1951- was an unidentified person who operated only in Opal City using star themed gimmicks. He only was seen for a year. [Batman had a brief identity as Starman in Detective Comics #247 (1957)

Mikaal Tomas/Michael Thomas "Blue Starman"- was an alien who came to Earth during the 70's to conquer it, but turned against his people to defend it. He was named Starman by people because of his blue skin. He wore a sonic crystal that later became embeded in his body and could fire a blast of energy. He first appeared in 1st Issue Special #12 (1976). He came from Talok III the sister planet (Talok VIII) of Shadow Lass from the Legion Of Super-Heroes.

Prince Gavyn- was created by Paul Levitz and Steve Ditko in Adventure Comics # 467 (1980). He is an alien from a world named Throneworld. He was a mutant who could survive in space, he then aquired wristbands and a staff which allowed him to channel cosmic energies. Originally he had a secret identity as a spoiled prince until his sister, who ruled, was assassinated. He supposedly died during the Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Will Payton- was an Earth man who gained super strength, durability, the ability to fly, shoot energy bolts and alter his appearence from a beam of light from outer space. He used these powers to become a superhero and took the name Starman. He was created by Roger Stern and Tom Lyle in Starman #1 (1988).

David Knight- first showed up to challenge Will Payton for using the Starman name in Starman #26 (1990). Payton was unaware of a Starman legacy, but a headstrong David started a fight. David lost the fight and realized that he had made a mistake in attacking Payton. He decided that he was not ready to be Starman yet and until he was, Payton would do the name justice. Then when Payton died he resumed his career only to be killed by the son of the Mist.

Jack Knight- reluctantly took up the mantle when his brother died. He was the main character of the series.

Thom Kalor/Danny Blaine- is the adult Star Boy of the Legion Of Super-Heroes from the 31st Century who came back in time. He spent time on Earth-22 (Kingdom Come) and is a current member of the JSA even though the time travel has given him some mental health problems.

Farris Knight- is a descendant of Jack Knight. He is from the 853rd Century and was seen as part of the DC One Million event in JLA #23 (1998)

The O'Dares- are a family of cops going back several generations in Opal City. William "Billy" O'Dare befriended Ted Knight when he was Starman. His sons and daughter all became cops and friends of the Knights. There is Clarence, Matt, Barry, Mason and Hope.

The Shade- started out as a Golden Age Flash Villain who had gained powers over an energy from another demension that appeared as shadows in ours. Alternating between vicious and rediculous in his crimes he never aged and had been made immortal by the same energy long before he encountered the Flash in the 40's. Whatever crimes he has committed or will commit, he would never break the law in Opal as he considers it his home. He also believes that Opal's most famous protector will be reincarnated and he thinks that Jack may be it.

The Savages- are another family that have been protectors of Opal through history. Brian "Scalphunter" Savage was raised by native Americans and became a lawman. He was sheriff of Opal during it's early days in the 1880's. His son Stephen Savage became a WWI hero and adventurer in the 20's known as Balloonbuster.

The Series (in TPB)

Sins Of The Fathers (Starman #0,1-5)- The Mist, a dying villain of the Golden Age Starman, launches one last crime spree trying to kill his old foe and his family and the city he loves. The Mist is helped by his son and daughter. When the current Starman, David Knight, is murdered his younger brother Jack is forced to pick up the mantle of his brother and father to prevent further attacks. He finds an ally in another villain, The Shade, who calls Opal City home. The Mist is defeated and is declared to have dementia. Then Jack receives a visit from the ghost of his brother.

Night And Day (Starman #7-10,12-16)- Jack finds the blue alien Starman of the seventies in a traveling freak show that has a sinister owner. Then Jack stumbles onto a gentle version of Solomon Grundy. And finally the Mist's daughter Nash escapes, goes through the same process that gave her dad powers and becomes the new Mist. She orchestrates a revenge plot. Revenge for the death of her brother at the hands of Jack Knight and for something that was taken from her father when several people were shown a "secret lair" of his by Ted Knight. This is played out over several issues that are the same day just from different peoples POV and includes a fight between the elderly Ted Knight and Dr Phosphorus and a gamot that she tests Jack with.

A Wicked Inclination (Starman #17, 19-27)- Jack investigates disappearences caused by a poster that is a gateway to hell (and the inspiration for Dorian Grey). He is sidetracked by David's ghost returning for a visit. This time he brings his mother along to see Jack. Then the Golden Age Sandman calls for some help in a case and Jack can't resist a team-up with the pulp hero. Returning to Opal Jack faces the demon responsible for the poster. And the Knights and O'Dares spend Christmas Eve together.

Times Past (Starman #6,11,18,28, Annual #1, Starman Secret Files #1)- These are a collection of one issue adventures in the past that had some bearing to the current story arc but were not a part of the arc itself. Jack and Ted each talk about their feelings about the other to a stranger. The Shade has an adventure in 1882 Paris. The fresh out of limbo JSA go after Rag Doll and his murderous cult. The Golden Age Starman and Mist meet for the first time and the secret lair is shown off to people who helped defeat the Mist (this leads to the events in Night and Day). In 1976 the Mikaal Starman battles another of his race. And in the 31st Century the Shade tells some children about the Prince Gavyn Starman and how the O'Dare and Knight families became friends

Infernal Devices (Starman #29-35, 37-38)- Introduces Jake "Bobo" Banetti, a super strong and near invulnerable foe of Starman's from the late 50's and early 60's(made up for this series). He is released from jail and instead of robbing a bank he ends up stopping one from being robbed. As a mad bomber threatens the city the ghost of Jon Valor, The Black Pirate asks help from Jack to release his trapped soul by solving the murder of his son. When Grundy is injured in a blast Jack inlists the aid of Sentinel, Batman and Jason Woodrue to enter the mind of Grundy to wake him up. Then during the final confrontation with the bomber he loses his powers (along with most DC heroes during the Genesis event) and the Shade saves the city. Finally the Mist relates her killing of a "Justice League" team to her infant son and reveals that he will soon meet his father.

To Reach The Stars (Starman Annual #2, #39-41, 43, 45, Power Of Shazam #35-36)- Jack meets a girl and falls in love. He tells her three stories about "heroes" and love while discussing their relation ship. He tells how Scalphunter met a rich society woman and they fell in love, but it ended when their worlds (high society and gunslinging) clashed. He then tells about his father's affair with the Golden Age Black Canary. Finally he tells her how his brother broke up with his fiance over being Starman. She then tells him that she is Will Payton's sister and she is certain he is alive and she asks Jack to find him. Jack first gets involved with proving that the WWII hero Bulletman is not a traitor after evidence is uncovered that he worked for the Nazis. Bulletman once saved Starman's life so both Ted and Jack feel they have a debt to repay. This brings Jack into conflict with Captain Marvel. Meanwhile the Shade helps Matt O'Dare to become clean by eliminating the mob that "owns" him. Then Jack makes preparations to leave on his quest to find Will Payton. He gets help from the JLA, a ship from the Shade (Verne/Wells like Victorean era rocket) and visits several people to make sure Opal is protected.

A Starry Knight (Starman #47-53) In space Mikaal and Jack find a version of Solomon Grundy. While Jack battles him David's ghost visits Mikaal. They then pass through a black cloud and find out they are in the 30th Century when they meet Star Boy and Shadow Lass. They find out that the dark cloud that brought them here has engulfed Star Boy's home planet. When trying to return to their present they overshoot and arreive on Krypton and meet a young Jor-El. They escape ending up in a zoo and return to the correct time, but not before Jack helps nudge history. They then land on Rann and help Adam Strange when an old enemy of Mikaal's kidnaps his daughter Aleea.

Stars My Destination (Starman #55-60) Starts off withan alien who changes stories of a battle envolving Starman (Kirby homage included). Then the story goes to Earth and all the heroes that are protecting Opal while Jack is away. Then the "true" events of that story unfold as Jack and Mikaal find out someone has taken over Throneworld by marrying Gavyn's widow. They join a rag tag resistance group including Fastbak of the New Gods and Tigorr of the Omega Men. They find Will Payton, who is also Prince Gavyn and restore him to the throne. Sardath then sends Jack and Mikaal back to Earth via Zeta Beam.

Grand Guignol (Starman #61-73) Jack returns and then goes off to the first few JSA adventures. When he returns Opal is a mess under seige by the Shade and a bunch of criminals he has recruited including Grundy and the Mist II. It turns out that the Shade is being controled by his enemy, Culp, who shares the same source for powers. Over the centuries he has been able to take periodic control over Shade which accounts for his strange behavior. Now he wants to be in control for good and take over Opal City. He has been manipulating people since the start of the series and has had Barry O'Dare in his pocket. Amidst the chaos, Ted remembers when the wives and girlfriends including his future wife of the JSA donned versions of their costumes to rescue them. The heroes finally turn the tide against Culp, after Adam Strange and Gavyn/Payton arrive with help from Rann and Throneworld. The Mist suddenly reappears with his full mind and kills Culp after his powers are removed. The Mist announces he plans to destroy Opal City with a nuke. And a Starman makes the ultimate sacrifice for the city. The city then has the funeral for the fallen Starman.

{Grand Guignol is a term from a French theatre. It is became used to describe a certain style of play that was popular at the turn of the century in Paris. These were pieces that had characters involved in the midst of some horrific calamity that often claimed the lives of the characters at the climax in a naturalistic way with realistic stage effects.}

Sons Of The Father (Starman #74-80) Jack is left without a father and with a child. He comes to terms with this and the fact that his girlfriend has left Opal. He then goes into the past to find out who the Starman of 1951 is. Once he has finished his adventure in the past, Jack decides that Opal is safe and he can find his girlfriend and live a normal life. He gives his cosmic staff to Courtney Whitmore to carry on the Knight legacy and she changes her name to Stargirl.

Issues # 36,42,44 and 54 are not reprinted. They were more Times Past stories. In order, they are a Will Payton Starman and Batman story, a GA Starman and Demon story, a GA Starman and Phantom Lady story and a Scalphunter story.

Random Thoughts 7

2010-03-27T17:31:00.000-04:00

With lots of deaths in the news lately I'd like to remember:

Peter Graves- Mr. Phellps on Mission Impossible (1960's and 1980's), Capt. Ouver in Airplane, the "mole" Price in Stalag 17 and the MST3K/Sci-Fi "classics" It Conquered The World and The Beginning Of The End
Robert Culp- Kelly Robinson on I-Spy (check out episodes on Hulu), Bill Maxwell on "Greatest American Hero" and Halcyon Renard on Gargoyles
Dick Giordano- artist and inker of hundreds of DC comics including Batman, Detective Comics, Action Comics and the inker that helped "make" Neal Adams including the Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Ras' Al Ghul Batman stories.

-Johnny Stor....I mean, Chris Evans is Captain America! Really...? Sure he was the best thing in two FF movies, but I don't know if he has the chops to be the Cap I want to see. Then is the Cap in the movie gonna BE the Cap I want to see?

-So...Marvelman's in and Sentry's out?....Is that where things are going?

-Lost: Last episode just answered almost all the questions there were about Richard. Only two more months left...

Not much else...so, 'til next time!

This Week's Comic Stack 3/24/10

2010-03-27T17:30:00.001-04:00

This was a heavy Marvel week, but the two DC books were big ones.

The Good:

Green Lantern #52-The penultimate (always wanted to use that word) chapter in Blackest Night covers a lot. We see the creation of the universe and the avatars of light and their relation to Judea-Christian belief. The many corps work together to prevent Xanshi from destroying Earth. Lots of stuff happening to lead into Blackest Night #8.
Superman #698- Mon-El tries to free Kal from Brainiac/Luther who threaten the other shrunken cities for his surrender. Another long story nears it's conclusion.

Avengers: The Initiative #34- Chaos reigns as contingents of the team are involved with battles at Camp HAMMER and in Broxton/Asgard. The Shadow Initiative join the Avengers resistance and Penance reveals himself as Robbie Baldwin (New Warriors reunion please!). Bucky faces off against Taskmaster. Diamondback and Constrictor's relationship reaches a turning point when sides have to be chosen. Unfortunately, that's when Sentry brings Asgard down. Fits nicely in with the main Siege event dealing with the shock event in the last Siege issue.

Mighty Avengers #35- Ultron takes over Avengers Infinite Mansion and we see where Thor sent the Wasp (Janet) at the end of Secret Invasion. I hope some of the concepts and team members find their way into the "new" Avengers books coming out. This is a series that ended just as it was really taking off.

Marvels Project #7- I like how Brubaker is tying everything together in this issue. I loved the Brian Falsworth/Keen Marlowe/Mighty Destroyer bit.

The Stand: Soul Survivors #5- the halfway point of the thirty issue (six, five issue mini series) adaptation of King's novel picks up a bit from last issue only to have a two month break till the next series start

Captain America #604- Okay, the Bucky and insano 50's Cap was not bad. The Falcon "Under Siege 2" parts were cool. End the damn "Nomad" story already! I read it and can't un-read it.

Amazing Spider-Man #626- The ex-SHIELD Scorpion goes after the old Scorpion's (now Venom) suit the same time as Spidey. But, she's working for Kravens, so...they can make another Scorpion? Oh, and the Hood has enough time away from Siege to hold an auction for said suit? This is a mess, the saving grace is some of the banter that Van Lente seems good at.

Uncanny X-Men #522- Magneto brings Kitty back to Earth from her space bullet prison. I should have felt something more seeing as how I felt about her being lost in the first place. She's still not out of the woods yet being unable to become solid again (remember what happened last time?-FF vs X-Men). I'm not sure if there will be a follow up on this anytime soon as Second Coming...err...comes.

Trades:

-On recommendation of a friend (and a sale price of $9) I got Marvel 1985. I have never liked any of Millar's books. However, this fan fic about Marvel characters entering into the "real" world was not that bad. It was a neat idea to do a Marvel Prime type story it falls a little short of my expectations. Mostly because of mis-characterizations (which can be explained away) and the execution fails to deliver something that I was looking for. The art was a bit of a misstep too. Too Indie noir-ish when a more realistic style would have been better. Plus, the Marvel Universe in the story may not be THE Marvel Universe, just the product of somebody's imagination. So, it's fun and generally better written than his other stuff, but still lacking...something...I don't know... I just think that although he has a fondness for comics(the MU in particular) he just doesn't have the same passion as other writers do, or he can't convey it that well. This is the closest he gets but he falls just short. Take the conclusion. The "loser" adult classic Marvel fan can only find solace and acceptance in the fantasy world and I can't help but feel that Millar is thumbing his nose at classic MU fans (like me).

-Also on sale was the Greg Pak War Machine Vol. 1 a nice series I missed in single issues that dealt with James Rhodes and his choice of being a soldier or a hero and his slowly becoming a machine (bionic parts). Leonard Manco does the interior art and this is my favorite out of all the other stuff he's done. (then again I'm not much of a fan of his). Pak's Incredible Hercules has actually made me seek out his other stuff. Now, I hope I can find Vol. 2 for a good price.

Thunderbolts Rundown Pt 1

2010-03-24T12:03:00.000-04:00

The Thunderbolts, the original series (and it's successor the New Thunderbolts), was one of my favorite comic series. However, because of the nature of Thunderbolts, those readers with a fairly intimate knowledge of the MU will appreciate the book more than the average reader. Not that this means that those unfamiliar will be lost. Both the main writers (Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza) draw on the long and varied expanse of the Marvel Universe for plots and characters. Recognizing a reference to a past story or a supporting character reappearing after years is part of the appeal. The stories are of such a quality that they stand apart from their insider references (and in early issues there is even a recap page to help).

Who are the Thunderbolts?:

As a result of Onslaught crossover event most of the Avengers and all the Fantastic Four were thought to have died. In the aftermath of an attack on New York City and the death of the heroes a team of new heroes emerges and gives some hope to the people. Away from the the press it is revealed that the new heroes are members of the Masters Of Evil. Why they are pretending to be heroes and their goals will be revealed as the series progresses. This team consists of:

-Citizen V(as in Victory)/Baron Helmut Zemo: Seeking both revenge for his father's death and a way to outdo his father's legacy. He disguises himself as the grandson of the Golden Age hero Citizen V

-Meteorite/Moonstone/Karla Sofen: A psychologist who enjoys twisting peoples psyches. She gained powers through taking an alien gem from a patient of hers. The gem allows her to fly, gives her phasing, strength and resilience.

-Techno/Fixer/Norbert P. Ebersol: Started out trying to take over SHIELD and established himself as a fixer of problems of criminals.

-Atlas/Goliath/Power Man: A grunt who underwent the same process as Wonderman to gain super strength and toughness. When he lost those powers, he used Pym particles to become the criminal giant, Goliath.

-M.A.C.H.1/Beetle/Abner Jenkins: Created a suit of battle armor and became a prolific, if not successful, criminal. Frequently encountered Iron Man, Spider-Man and Daredevil.

-Songbird/Screaming Mimi/Melissa Gold: A runaway that fell in with criminals. She got sonic powers when the wrestling group she had been a part of bought powers to compete in an unlimited (superhuman) class.

-Jolt/Hallie Takanama: Abducted and experimented on by the geneticist Arnim Zola. She gains bio-electric powers that enhance her agility. Orphaned because of Onslaught she becomes the moral compass that the others need while they in turn become the family she needs. She is initially unaware of their criminal past.

Marvel's Most Wanted TPB:

Reprints: Captain America #168; Incredible Hulk #228-229; Strange Tales #123, 141-143; Avengers #21-22; Marvel Two-In-One #56

These are all first appearances of the T-bolts and are introduced with preliminary sketches of their new heroic identities

Avengers:Under Siege TPB:

Reprints: Avengers #270-271, 273-277

Baron Zemo organizes the Masters Of Evil for a psychological and physical assault on the Avengers. Although they prevail, the Avengers emerge a broken team. Hercules is put into a coma, Jarvis is crippled and the mansion is destroyed (for the first, but not last, time)

Justice, Like Lightning TPB:

Reprints: Thunderbolts #1-4, Annual '97; Incredible Hulk #244; excerpt from Tales Of Marvel Universe; Spider-Man Team-Up #7

New heroes, the Thunderbolts, emerge from the ashes of Onslaught's attack and the loss of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. But, these heroes have a secret...they're really the Masters Of Evil! They face the Hulk, save Franklin Richards from the Mad Thinker and rescue a genetically altered orphan from Zola the Nazi Biochemist. She joins the team as Jolt. Publicly it's the right move, Zemo can't help wonder if it threatens his plan.

The Heroes Reward #5-12; -1:

While Jolt's presence bolsters the teams feelings of acceptance and heroism, Zemo worries he is losing control over them. A flashback shows them starting on their paths to being criminals. The team fights a Growing Man and then AIM. In their encounter with AIM they run across the Black Widow (lone Avenger after Onslaught) who suspects their true identities. She reveals this to Songbird and MACH1, telling them that they should turn on their leader before she can prove who they are. Giving them a chance to turn their lives around like she did. Unfortunately, the choice is made for them, when G.W. Bridge and SHIELD out them during a press conference. The T-bolts reluctantly return to Zemo, who puts his master plan for taking over the world into effect.

Wanted:Dead Or Alive #13-20:

Having turned against Zemo and faced the mind controlled Avengers and FF. The T-bolts are prepared to turn themselves in when they are teleported to the sub-atomic dimension of Kosmos (the source of Pym particles). Caught up in their civil war, Moonstone makes a less than honorable deal. The T-bolts will assassinate the king for their freedom. Only MACH1 and Songbird know about it and agree to help. But when MACH1 has the opportunity to kill the king, he can't. So Moonstone does. Upon their return to Earth, the T-bolts wanted status sends them on the run. Hunted by SHIELD and the Great Lakes Avengers/Lightning Rods. Temptation surfaces in an offer by a new Crimson Cowl to join her MOE. Meanwhile a mysterious new Citzen V tracks Zemo and the T-bolts. A rejection of the cowl's offer is almost fatal until the team is rescued by Dreadknight.

JSA Rundown

2010-03-23T12:07:00.000-04:00

JSA 101

The Justice Society Of America debuted in All-Star Comics #3 (1940) they were a team of several popular characters that rotated in the roster [The only one to appear in every issue was Hawkman]. A typical adventure would have them meeting, then splitting into teams and then regrouping for the climax. These characters were turned into Earth-2 denizens when the Silver Age started crossing over with the Golden Age characters beginning in Flash #123 (1962). It became an annual occurance to have a crossover in Justice League of America (from #21 (1963) till the cancellation of that series with # 244(1985) being the last).

The mid/late seventies they got a revival for a few years as they resumed All-Star Comics for a few issues then moved them into Adventure Comics. These were modern day adventures of the team and featured younger members Robin, Huntress (Helena Wayne), Power Girl and Star Spangled Kid. Paul Levitz and Gerry Conway wrote these and they are collected in two volumes. Included in the first volume is the origin story of the JSA from DC Special #29 (1977). This the first time an actual origin story was given and it also explained why WWII wasn't won singlehandedly by Superman or any of the other powerful heroes (Hitler used the Spear Of Destiny to make them switch sides when they enter any territory held by the Reich or it's allies).

Then they took a rest for a few years, until Golden Age fan Roy Thomas pitched two series with ties to the JSA. They were ushered in by America Vs The Justice Society, a mini series, which not only told why the heroes retired for a while, but also gave an account of the whole Golden Age All-Star Comics run. It dealt with themes that continue to be revisited in superhero comics movies and TV shows (Watchmen, Incredibles, Heroes all owe a bit to it). The first series was All-Star Squadron [#1-67, Annual #1-3] in which FDR enlists every hero into an organized homeland defense/strike group. The group included all the JSA members, but focused on the lesser known heroes (Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, Firebrand, and the Tarantella for a few). The second series, Infinity Inc.[#1-], focused on the sons and daughters of the JSA making a name for themselves as heroes in modern times. It featured many of the charcters that would play big roles in the recent series (Nuklon/Atom Smasher, Jade, Obsidian, Hourman/Rick Tyler, Hector Hall/Dr Fate) as well as early Todd MacFarlane art.

The Crisis On Infinite Earths altered a lot in both titles. There was no longer any Golden Age Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman which affected some characters in Infinity Inc. Roy Thomas wanted an explaination, so the cancelled All-Star Squadron was replaced by Young All-Stars which came up with "replacements" for lost GA heroes and tied into the changed histories of Infinity Inc. characters. This was a prestige direct market book (comic stores only). Eventually both series were canceled, as Editorial wanted to forget these characters. They were given a send off in The Last Days of The Justice Society (1985) in which the team was trapped in another demension eternally fighting the battle of Ragnarok so that it would not spread to Earth.

A few years later, they tried out the characters in a eight issue mini series (1991) that took place after the war, but before they retired in the 50's. The JSA was restored to modern day in the last issue of the Armageddon mini series with some members having their youth restored and some retaining their age. A second series followed up on the teams reemergance, but was quickly canceled by Mike Carlin who objected to "senior citizen heroes". Lasting only ten issues it was written by Len Strazewski with art by Mike Parobeck and introduced Jesse Quick .Which leads us to Zero Hour (1994) where most of the JSA are killed or have their youth sucked out of them so as to be closer to their "true" ages. Only Jay Garrick(Flash) and Alan Scott(Green Lantern) retained their youth. Alan lost his ring, absorbed his lantern (the Starheart) and renamed himself Sentinel.

The JSA characters made few appearances, mainly in supporting roles, guest stars, cameos or flashbacks for the next few years. Then James Robinson wrote an Elseworlds story featuring them. The Golden Age was a hit and stirred intrest in the JSA again. Robinson began his Starman series [that's the next rundown] which fueled the fire even more. DC then commited a fifth week event (a bunch of one shots with a bookend series) to The Justice Society Returns (1999). It takes place in the final days of WWII, in homage to clasic stories the JSA meet, confront the villain, then split up. Their separate adventures bring them into contact with other heroes of the time who aid them when they reassemble for the showdown. All this paved the way for the series.

The JSA (1999-2007 in TPBs)

Justice Be Done- (JSA Secret Files #1, JSA #1-5) The death of an original JSA member heralds the coming of a new Dr. Fate. A new team must track down the baby who will be the host of the new Fate before the powerful Dark Lord who is killing off agents of Order and Chaos finds it and adds the power of Fate to his own. Written by James Robinson and David Goyer, art by Scott Benefiel, Steve Sedowski and Derec Aucoin.

Darkness Falls- (JSA #6-15) Obsidian is used by an old JSA foe against his father (Alan Scott/GL) and the new team. A new Injustice Society attacks the HQ when only Wildcat is there. The team then faces the terrorist Kobra and insane time altering Extant (formerly Hawk of Hawk & Dove) Written by David Goyer and Johns, art by Steve Sedowski, Marcos Martin and Buzz.

The Return Of Hawkman- (JSA #16-25, JSA Secret Files #1)- The JSA must prevent Johnny Sorrow and his Injustice Society from bringing the Lovecraftian King Of Tears to Earth. Then drawn to Thanagar Hawkgirl and the JSA aid in the resurrection of Carter Hall the Golden Age Hawkman and battle Onimar Syn to free Thanagar. Written by David Goyer and Johns, art by Steve Sedowski, Rags Morales and Buzz

Fair Play- (JSA #26-31, JSA Secret Files #2) Black Adam joins, Mr Terrific is named Chairman. The JSA must escape an underground club where heroes are pitted against one another in contests so people can bet on the outcome. Then they solve a kidnappping with Batman. Art by Rags Morales and Steve Sedowski.

Stealing Thunder- (JSA #32-38) Sand leads a team to free the world from a reality in which the Ultra-Humanite has gained control of the world through the Thunderbolt's magic and enforces his will through mind controlled super beings. Then Rick Tyler and Jakeem Thunder spend time with their fathers. Art by Peter Snejbjerg, Leonard Kirk and Steve Sedowski.

Savage Times- (JSA #39-45) A Jokerized Solomon Grundy fights Stars and Jakeem. Dr. Fate searches for Lyta Hall/Fury while a few members find themselves in a time travel adventure, first to the early 40's then to ancient Eygpt where they find a JSA of sorts (Nabu/Dr. Fate, Khufu/Hawkman, Black Adam) engaged in a war with Vandal Savage. Apon their return they attend the trial of Kobra, who promptly escapes. Art by Leonard Kirk.

Princes Of Darkness- (JSA #46-55) The JSA faces the return of Mordru who allies himself with Obsidian and Eclipso. Then the Crimson Avenger targets Wildcat. And the JSA celebrate thanksgiving and Christmas. Art by Sal Velluto, Don Kramer and Leonard Kirk.

Black Reign- (JSA #56-58, Hawkman #23-25) Hawkman leads the JSA against Black Adam who has assembled a team of former JSAers and JSA allies and taken over his former country, Kandaq. Art by Don Kramer and Rags Morales

Lost- (JSA #59-67) Per Degaton watches bad days for JSAers. The Spirit King strikes at the Spectre, Hal Jordan has tried to make him the Spirit of Redemption allowing those that the Spectre has damned escape Hell seeking revenge. Sand must be saved from a dreamworld. The two Hourmans(men?) face Rex Tyler's death at the hands of Extant. And Dr. Mid-Nite preforms the autopsy of Sue Dibny [Identity Crisis]. Art by Sean Phillips, Tom Mandrake, Jerry Ordway, Don Kramer and Dave Gibbons.

Black Vengeance- (JSA #68-75) Per Degaton attacks the modern JSA and their families and tries to prevent the JSA from coming out of retirement in the 50's. A group of JSAers go back in time (Rick Hunter helps them) and have to convince their counterparts to reform the JSA. Then the JSA return to Kandaq as the Spectre is attacking all the forms of magic in the world goaded by Eclipso.[Day Of Vengeance] Art by Don Kramer, Leonard Kirk and Steve Sedowski.

Mixed Signals- (JSA #76-81) The OMACs attack as Power Girl learns Blue Beetle died and Atom Smasher goes on trial for aiding Black Adam. Then Airwave and Alan Scott join Donna Troy for a mission in space. Mordru escapes the Rock of Eternity and battles Nabu while others look for Jakeem Thunder in the Fifth Dimension. Hector and Lyta Hall are "saved" by their son (Sandman of Vertigo) and enter the Dreaming. [OMAC Project, Infinite Crisis] Art by David Lopez, Don Kramer and Dale Eaglesham

Ghost Stories- (JSA #82-87) Power Girl finds the diary of Earth-2 Lois Lane as objects and knowledge of the Multiverse return. The Gentleman Ghost will return to life if he can murder the JSA on a certain day. He uses the ghosts of loved ones of JSA members to lure them into a trap and mess with them.[One Year Later] Written by Paul Levitz art by George Perez, Rags Morales and Jerry Ordway.

Watch for a Rundown of the next series The Justice Society Of America soon.

Also check out:

The Justice Society Returns- collects the fifth week event issues, lots of good artists and writers, many who would work on JSA later

JLA Justice For All- which includes JLA #28-31 an old time JSA/JLA crossover by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter, it introduces Jakeem Thunder

Stars And S.T.R.I.P.E. Vol1 & 2 - Introduces Geoff Johns and Stargirl and teases a Johns Seven Soldiers of Victory team/book.

Starman Vol 1-8 - Look for an upcoming Rundown to feature this title.

This Week's Comic Stack 3/17/10

2010-03-20T16:21:00.001-04:00

The Good:

Green Lantern Corps #46- Guy and Kyle face their toughest Black Lantern opponents, the many Corps have to act as a team (who knew Guy was a Trekkie?) first to fight the overwhelming numbers of the BLs and then the half dead Anti-Monitor. An amazingly epic issue that leads into the conclusion of Blackest Night.

Booster Gold #30- BG reevaluates the "Prime Directive" [another Trek reference] involved in time travel as he rescues his sister from the doomed Coast City. A sad issue because Dan Jurgens stint ended with this issue.

Nova #35- The Sphinx storyline ends on a very satisfying [for New Warriors fans] note. Next issue will probably deal with the bigger implications from that event.

Guardians Of The Galaxy #24- The "dead" members fight to escape the Church Of Universal Truth and get word that Magus isn't dead. A clever use of a character's backstory comes into play in getting the GoG heard. The big thing is the return of Thanos (not spoiled because of solicits). The art was better, but Craig is just too toony for this title.

Hercules: Fall Of An Avenger #1- Basically a "clip show" of the Incredible Hercules series with great art and a great device of recapping the series and his life by having characters toast Herc. The backup is a funny yet heartwarming story about Herc's estate.

The Alright:

Supergirl #51- This issue advances the whole Last Stand plot, the confrontation depicted on the cover is short, but does occur. Most of the issue is spent getting people on the same side to recognize they are.

The Torch #6- Torch and Toro track down the evil Nazi scientist who has created a whole city of androids and the ominously named Inhuman Torch. Interesting idea, and I always like to see a smug supervillain be offput.

Realm Of Kings: Imperial Guard #5- Superman comes to the aid of the stranded Legion members as they battle the forces of the near omnipotent Brainiac....wait a minute,....I mean Gladiator comes to the aid of the stranded Guard members as they battle the forces of the near omnipotent Lovecraftian alien. I know, they're totally different. This issue is just a "get the hell out of Dodge" plot. The evil alien menace remains to pop up another time (Thanos Imperative? as it represents a world where "life" rules not death....see where I'm going...).

Avengers Vs. Atlas #3- A fun "pile-on" the Hulk issue with some time travel hijinks thrown in. There is also a too cutesy backup featuring Venus answering love questions "posed" by Marvel characters.

The Bad:

Siege #3- This has big moments in it, but the pacing to it is off, perhaps this series would have benefited from another issue.(Imagine me saying that about a Bendis book) The battle is rushed from moment to moment. Marvel probably intended for the readers to experience the battle over the fifty or so titles that crossover with the mini. Contrast Siege with Blackest Night (similar crossover issues) and I think BN has much more satisfactory action in just the core mini series.

Superman 80 Page Giant #1- A bunch of try out stories for artists and writers, the best being a story about the small things Superman does while waiting for Lois.

Trade:

-The Middleman: The Collected Series Indispensability! TPB- I never even heard of this series until the ABC Family TV series. A mysterious man, known only as the Middleman, is tasked by a secret organization to deal with monsters, mad scientists and aliens. He recruits twenty-something nerd-girl Wendy Watson as his assistant.

It was written by one of the writers of Lost. Each episode parodied a genre or Sci-Fi/Fantasy trope and was filled with pop culture references. For example, during an episode dealing with ghosts there are constant Ghostbusters references. The collection is no different. It's really three series collected. The first turned out to be almost exactly like the first few episodes of the series, or vice-versa rather. The second was very enjoyable while the third was a huge turning point for the series and ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger. Also included are some short stories about the "future" of the series and the adventures of past Middlemen .

It's fun and pretty funny in spots, however, I must say that I enjoyed the show a lot more.(even with its low budget production) Jokes need timing, and that works better off the page sometimes. The series is available on DVD and check out YouTube for the reading of the unproduced season/series finale that took place at last year's SDCC (uses elements from the third and final comic series)

Random Thoughts 6

2010-03-19T11:20:00.000-04:00

-Kirby heirs aren't giving up. Trying to get a big paycheck from Disney they sued over the copyright termination notices they issued in Jan. Disney/Marvel's response was all the work was "for hire", meaning Kirby's work was and is owned by Marvel. An attitude that has been around since the start, case in point....the long reported unreturned artwork. Putting aside the fact that no one thought that it would one day be WORTH something, that is separate issue.

I think it's apparent that Kirby knew he was making up characters for someone else when working for Marvel. His deal with Marvel may have been shortsighted, but regardless of how much you or I, or anyone feels that he (or his heirs) deserves a deal is a deal. It's ugly and unfair, but that's the way it is. It does work the other way too. Look at Bob Kane who until the late nineties took credit for many writers and artists contributions to the Batman mythos (Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson go unknown by general public still).

Now, I'm all for a "mealticket" for a creator's family, but this just seems to be some greedy people. And as badly as Marvel management has treated Kirby through the years, and they have, they are legally in the right.

-Judd Winick returns to explore why and how Jason Todd became the Red Hood. Winick is hit or miss for me, but his Batman was great. The art is by Pablo Raimondi. The six issue mini series starts in June. Hmmm,......just in time for the direct to video animated version of his Under the Red Hood story.

-Also in June, Batman Beyond returns to comics. Written by Adam Beechen and drawn by Ryan Benjamin. Beechen has done some okay work. Nothing stellar or awful, just there. I'm not familiar with the artist. These things lead me to not have too much invested in this title as much as I want to.

-In the most unsurprising suprise announcement, Tony Daniel is staying on as writer/artist of Batman for "forseeable future". So I will continue to not buy the title for the forseeable future.

-Diamond has "annointed" another publisher their Premier status. This is the first time since 1996 that has happened (Image). And the winner......IDW. They join DC, Image and Dark Horse in the front of Previews (Marvel gets their own phamplet because they're special)and all sorts of perks (advertising, etc.)

-The twelth series set of DC Universe Classics action figures are on their way as of 10:30 PM the seventeenth. I won't get them til Tuesday the twenty-third.

This Week's Comic Stack 3/10/10

2010-03-13T15:55:00.001-05:00

The Good:

Secret Six #19- The Six go after a Church Of Blood cult and the end of the issue leaves Cat-Man with a big decision.
Superman: Last Stand Of New Krypton #1-Brainiac attacks NK, and Kal finally returns to his Superman duds (yeah!). Unfortunately he plays right into Brainiac's (and Luther's) hands.
R.E.B.E.L.S. #14- Taking it right up to the wire, Vril Dox manages to defeat Starro.
Amazing Spider-Man #624- Peter defeats the Vulture, then in trying to help JJJ manages to make things worse. Yes, he's fired...so,...this is like the umpteenth time. Still it's a good story

The Alright:

Action Comics #887- Rao,...save me...from Kryptonian spirituality. If not for the Lois part, this would have been boring.
Zorro: Matanzas #2- After a promising first issue, there is a villain with a vague plot (which doesn't go to plan) and Zorro fights...a bear! That's right the cover portrays an actual occurrence within the story). Making up for those is a gruesome scene that leads to Zorro possibly exposing his identity.
Justice League: Cry For Justice #7- A brutal close to the series, and a step with GA that I don't particularly like.
Justice League: Rise And Fall Special #1- A logical step from CFJ, but one I don't like. But the Shade is in it. And there is a nice scene with Wally and Dick.

Random Thoughts 5

2010-03-12T21:42:00.000-05:00

-I'm gonna stop reading Superman soon. JMS is taking over as writer on the title. Why, DC....why? And it's not enough to give him one DC icon, but you have to give him Wonder Woman too?

-I saw the new Iron Man 2 trailer with suitcase armor

-Tron: Legacy looks awesome too. Both Bruce Boxlitner and Jeff Bridges appear. I got so into it I added the original to my Netflix queue.

-Wish I could have been one of the lucky ones. Earlier in the week on Amazon.com, a glitch on the site caused many of the Marvel Omnibus' to be marked down to $14 to $8. A notice was put up several hours later about the issue, but the site is honoring the price for many orders. Of course, I heard about this long after it was fixed.

- Sean McKeever on Young Allies....because he did such a good job on Teen Titans.

-The Avengers Academy role call.... not too impressive.

-The covers to Batman: the Return Of Bruce Wayne made me think: Cave-Bat, Solomon Bat-Kane , Bat-Beard, the Lone Batzorro and Spirit of the Bat

-Hugo Weaving is in talks to be the RED SKULL. All I can think of is him saying (ala Smith from The Matrix) "I'm going to enjoy watching you die...Mr. Rogers."

Random Thoughts 4.5 (Oscar Edition)

2010-03-08T12:24:00.001-05:00

-WTF was up with that dance section. Not that it wasn't interesting to see hip-hop and ballet mixed, but as far as I could tell there wasn't any connection to the movies they were supposed to be "interpreting".

-Sandra Bullock? Really....? Paging Miss Tomei...

-The Hurt Locker looks like a really good movie and I added it to my Netflix queue Sunday morning. Now that it won so big, I'm curious to see if it lives up to expectations.

-I got the feeling that the expanded ten film best picture entries were done by the Academy just so they could say they nominated certain films. (District 9, Up, and Avatar)

-Did they make a mess out of the "In Memory Of.." segment this year? Blowing by some names, lingering longer on others, missing a shot of one of the deceased names in broadcast and having those multi-clip displays.

-Looking at that audience there seemed to be a lot of bored people.

-The introduction of the Best Actor/Best Actress nominees by friends and co-stars, weird?

-Glad that Jeff Bridges got some recognition. The Dude abides..

-loved the Morgan Freeman narrated bit about sound. I could listen to him read the phone book. (not to mention they used scene from The Dark Knight)

This Week's Comic Stack 3/3/10

2010-03-08T10:39:00.001-05:00

A fairly short stack this week:

The Good:

Invincible Iron Man #24- Dr. Strange vs the Ghost, Tony Stark battles himself and returns! But, this is Tony pre-Civil War so it'll be interesting to see his new "take" on himself and his decisions.
Adventure Comics #8- Mostly a prologue to the Last Stand Of Krypton storyline. The Legion's time travel team meet with Superboy and Mon-El, and one of Zod's agents is very close to Gen. Lane.
Amazing Spider-Man #623- Mark Waid makes this new Vulture interesting. Spidey has to save JJJ from a vengeful Vulture. All plays into Kraven's plans.

The Alright:

Detective Comics #862- The main story suffers without JH Williams' art and "punks out" both Batman and Batwoman for dramatic effect again, which is tedious. Far better is the Question backup as Huntress calls on Babs to help them (kinda funny that Montoya remains in the dark about her status as Oracle)

The controversial Justice League: Cry For Justice #7 was shorted. Yet, what's one more week.

Random Thoughts 4

2010-03-04T13:34:00.000-05:00

Thoughts this week

-At first I thought that having Jack and company never crash on the island was a terrible idea. That it would eliminate all the growth of the characters since they've been on the island. Now....I'm thinking it might actually be best.

-NEW Avengers?.... C'mon, they're not really new, are they? Why not Newer Avengers...? New New Avengers...? All New, All Same...? New, Improved...? Shiny New...? Brand Spankin' New...?

-What is with the price of action figures? I was in Wal-Mart and they had some of the DC Universe Classics series 12 (Eclipso, Dr. Midnight, and Iron) and they were $14.99! Now, I haven't bought these figures at retail since they first came out because they're too hard to find, but I recall them being $9.99-10.99. That was, what..2006/2007? I knew I was getting the set online for about $20/figure (shipping cost included) to not deal with tracking all the set down. Then I looked through the Marvel Universe figures and found a Namor (YES!) they were on sale for $7.99, regular price...$9.99. The 3 and3/4 inch Marvel Universe cost the same as Marvel Legends (a 6inch scale) used to. I feel like an old man now... "In my day, you could buy a whole set of eight figures and a build-a-figure for $80, plus they all came with comics."

-I bought a bunch of trades this week:

The three volumes of the excellent House Of Mystery. A great ongoing series that pays homage to its anthology roots by including a story within a story with guest artists.

A few Essentials each $6 on sale at my LCBS. X-Men Vol. 6 & 7, which comprise about half of the X-Men comics I sold off a few years back. Moon Knight Vol. 2 which was a whim. A steal as regular price is $17.

The Incredible Hercules Dark Reign HC (normally $20) for $8

-I'm reliving my childhood a bit. Monday I got the Masters Of The Universe Classics figures I ordered a few weeks ago. (would have come Fri. if not for the snow). Trap Jaw is cool and Battle Cat is great. The MotU figures are the only toys of mine that my Mom (and me) gave away. I didn't think I would miss those things, but seeing He-Man riding Battle Cat again was very satisfying. It feels wrong to look at a piece of plastic and feel the way I do. Is it because of the nostalgia, or the fact that I know there are others that weren't able to get the figure?

Okay, enough for now...

This Week's Comic Stack

2010-03-04T10:29:00.000-05:00

Comics out on Feb. 24th-

Again...I thought that I had set this to post...but had not.

So, here it is now...

The Good:

Blackest Night #7- Awesome!

(Black Lantern) Green Arrow #30- A nice tie-in and the first issue I bought since Winick left

The Marvels Project #6- Some great Namor vs Torch action.

The Alright:

Superman #697- A lead in for next week's Adventure Comics.

Amazing Spider-Man #622- A done-in-one Morbius guest spot.
Avengers: The Initiative #33- Mostly going over stuff that happened elsewhere, but some good action with the attack on Camp HAMMER.

Realm Of Kings: Inhumans #4- Maximus may be mad(crazy kind) but he's taking orders from someone as Crystal finds out. Some nice intrigue.

Flash: Rebirth #6- Would have been better if it came out FOUR months ago before Blackest Night

The Bad:

Blackest Night: JSA #3- After a rehash of the GA Superman's origin, the team fights BL GA Superman again. Just repeatative and inconsequential. I was disappointed the series didn't go anywhere.

Random Thoughts 3

2010-02-25T10:34:00.000-05:00

-Someone bought a copy of Action Comics #1 (Superman's debut) for... [bad Dr. Evil impression]one million dollars. Both the buyer and the seller remain a secret. This is the most expensive comic in the world, beating out another copy of Action #1 by $700,000. Guess I know where that a mill goes when I win Powerball.

-Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths is second best DC DTV. (the first being New Frontier) The Blu-Ray version has:

a doc on the many different Crhisis that have occurred in the DCU since 60's with lots of creator interviews

four episodes (two two-parters) of Justice League

The first of a series of shorts focusing on lesser known characters. This time it's an excellent Spectre story with Jim Corrigan in a nod to his 70's horror/noir stories

A sneak peak at Under The Red Hood, the next DTV

The Wonder Woman TV pilot (Linda Carter starring)

The Mercy Reef/Aquaman pilot. The crew behind Smallville give Arthur Curry the same treatment as Clark Kent. They liked the actor so much that they cast him as Green Arrow when the series didn't get picked up.

-The Christopher Nolan "overseeing" the next Superman movie rumor [false] would be something I'd totally be happy with. Goyer's writing it BTW.

-More DC ring promos on the way. A White Lantern ring joins the Flash and second GL ring. It will also be included in the set of light-up rings in July/August from DC Direct.

That's all for now--

This Week's Comic Stack

2010-02-21T13:56:00.003-05:00

OOPS! This didn't post when I thought it did....

The Good:

Blackest Night: Flash #3- Wally and Barry try to save Black Lantern Bart. Captain Cold has to deal with the BL Rogues, leading the new Captain Boomerang to a dark place.

Green Lantern #51- Hal confronts BL Spectre as Parallax.

Green Lantern Corps #45- Kyle and the other GLs try to save Guy from his Red Lantern infection.

Incredible Hercules #141- In this issue Hercules Dies!

R.E.B.E.L.S. #13-

Captain America #603-

Guardians Of The Galaxy #23

The Stand: Soul Survivors #4

Marvels: Eye Of The Camera #6- long delayed conclusion very emotional and best issue of series, but it should have been a one-shot

The Alright:

Justice League Of America #42- progressing nicely with the new team.

Supergirl #50- concludes the Lana Lang subplot, features an amusing backup co-written by Supergirl portrayer Helen Slater.

Amazing Spider-Man #621- Spidey vs Mr. Negative

Avengers Vs. Agents Of Atlas #2- time tossed heroes reminiscient of Avengers Vs Invaders maxi series

Uncanny X-Men #521- Magneto is up to something involving the return of a lost X-Man

Random Thoughts 2

2010-02-21T13:50:00.001-05:00

-DC Entertainment announced new positions. Jim Lee and Dan Didio will be co-publishers and Geoff Johns takes the position of Chief Creative Officer.

As much as I have disliked a lot of the stuff that Didio has done in the last few years, I give him full credit for being bold and innovative. That, along with one or two writers on key projects has increased the popularity of DC characters and the company as a whole.

Some of his wins/fails:

52- a weekly comic series; a win
All-Star line- created to be a continuity free, new reader friendly line; a zero sum gain, split between the Silver Age inspired Grant Morrison Superman and the ultra violent Frank Miller Batman (other titles like Wonder Woman and Batgirl failed to materialize) while a commercial success neither was exactly what the line was touted to be.
Countdown- the follow up weekly to 52; fail
Trinity- although better than Countdown the third weekly was overshadowed by Final Crisis; fail
Green Lantern- since Rebirth has brought Hal and Corps into spot alongside Batman and Superman in prominence including two ongoing series, minis and one shots; win
Wednesday Comics- a weekly newsprint collection of comic strips; win
Final Crisis/Batman RIP- plagued by lateness, continuity lapses and a densely written plot line these events sold well; just barely a win
Infinite Crisis/Identity Crisis- brought back the event to comics; win

Jim Lee, while a great artist hasn't exactly set the comics world on fire as an editor. He has been in charge of Wildstorm for over 17 years. In the last five the Wildstorm Universe has been relaunched three times, the last two occurring within a year. Of all the DC imprints it is the weakest.

As a rule, leading by committee is a mistake. SomeONE has got to make the decisions. Whether they are good or bad, that same person takes the credit/blame. So this setup has me wary.

Geoff Johns is the single most valuable person to DC. No other writer has proven that they understand the fans connection to characters or the connections and places that those characters have within the DC Universe itself. It is because of Johns' writing that I'm such a DC fan now. I have hoped that this would happen for quite a while. I hope he can guide other writers to maximize their storytelling. It seems that seems that writers chosen to follow his runs on series (with editors making bad decisions) manage to run them into the ground.

Hawkman- his second title as sole writer enjoyed a brief stint by Justin Grey and Jimmy Palmiotti, but was turned into Hawkgirl as part of One Year Later.
Flash- after he left the title struggled before being canceled, relaunched by Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo (creators of the Flash TV series) with Bart Allen as the Flash, it tanked fast
Teen Titans- Sean McKeever (admittedly losing half the cast to editorial decisions) ruined what was left of Johns' combination of Young Justice and Titans
JSA- Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges have divided the team in two in a move that is against the creed of the group. While great writers on other titles, neither "gets" the JSA right.

-I can't wait to see Crisis On Two Earths when it comes out Tuesday on DVD/Blu-Ray. The Crime Sydicate main story and the Spectre short.

That's all for now

Random Thoughts 1

2010-02-17T20:00:00.000-05:00

This is a new and hopefully frequent posting reflecting the title of this blogsite...

-I'm really enjoying the Marvel teaser images of the new Secret Avengers team. And by that, I mean trying to figure out who they are. (as if the creative team wasn't enough to get me interested)

-I had a fun time thinking about Marvel characters who could become deputized by the DCU Lanterns (ex: Captain America= Hope= Blue Lantern) and then discussed it with a friend.

-I got excited about toys announced at this past weekends NY Toy Fair. Including:

A Wal-Mart exclusive (generally bad news) DC Universe Classics five figure set made up of Green Lanterns. There's a Hal Jordan with Parallax induced grey temples, a Sinestro in his old GL suit, Tomar-Re (the orange fish-head alien), John Stewart wearing the suit from the Mosaic story and last, but not least, Guy Gardner.
A DCU Classics Supergirl Vs Lex Luthor in Battlesuit two pack
The Marvel Universe Galactus that's 19 inches high with light up eyes and seven or eight voice clips.
Transformers Generations (replacing the Universe line) coming out with a G1 inspired Thrust, the IDW inspired Drift and a Marvel Comics inspired Darkmount (Straxis)
Masters Of The Universe Classics had a bunch of figures including two that never got a US release. I just wanted the Whiplash figure, who will come with a classic 80's head and a 2002 redesign head.

-I finally got some answers on Lost this Tuesday. Old Smokey or FLocke (fake Locke) tells why Jacob brought the main cast to the Island...as candidates to become the next Jacob.

-I scratched my head as the Losers movie (great comic series BTW) got pushed back to a higher profile opening on June 4th. Then got moved back to its original opening in April.

-I bought a bunch of Masters Of The Universe Classics stuff on MattyCollector.com:

Battle Cat- 'cause He-Man needs a ride
Trap Jaw- he was my favorite figure of the original line
Man-At-Arms- a pet is cool, but you need a wingman

The thing is though,... OK, the new merchandise went on sale at 12:00 noon. I was able to be online at exactly 12:01. The Man-At Arms was a re-release, but the site wouldn't allow me to buy it as it "thought" it was out of stock still. Not wanting to lose out on other figures, I removed it from my cart. I finished my purchase at 12:09 (site traffic slows processing) and I checked to see if that problem was fixed. I noticed that the two other figures have sold out. In not even TEN MINUTES! I checked out the week old forums the site has and they were ablaze with angry customers (formerly potential ones). Now, the website is the ONLY retailer of these figures (other stores buy from them and resell at a markup) you would think that they would know the demand for these figures. Long story, short... I am lucky! I even got the Man-At-Arms when I checked to see if that glitch was fixed.

-As corny and low budget as it was, Smallville will never be as cool as the JSA episodes/movie.

That's it for now....

This Week's Comic Stack

2010-02-12T11:25:00.002-05:00

Finally able to get to the comic store after the East Coast snowstorm.....

The Good:

Adventure Comics #7- Tony Bedard steps in to give an excellent and fairly important Blackest Night tie-in.
Secret Six #18- The Six and Suicide Squad crossover concludes as the two teams join together to fight Black Lanterns.
Booster Gold #29- Dan Jurgens run is nearing an end...but this issue ramps up the tension as BG finds out he his in Coast City on the day it's destroyed. But he's still unaware that the mysterious time traveller he's tracking is his sister.
Amazing Spider-Man #620- Mysterio's plot unravels as "Silvermane", Mr. Negative and Spidey battle.

The Alright:

Action Comics #27- Chris(Nightwing) learns about the legend of Flamebird and Nightwing before confronting Jax-Ur and Captain Atom prepares to go after Mirabai
Stange #4- Strange has to heal the magical "stroke" that has happened, and he is going to operate on Eternity to do that. His new apprentice faces Silver Dagger while protecting Strange's body.
Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #4- The Guard/Jammers face an infiltrator as the evil beings of the alternate universe bear down on them.
New Mutants #10- Cyclops observes the team for the leader of the next generation of mutants as they deal with the Savage Land Mutates who are seeking out Magneto.
Human Target #1- Len Wein captures the feel and style of the TV show well. The source material, while entertaining, doesn't have much else besides the action. Too bad DC doesn't let him revisit the DCU character. A second shorter story comes off like a deleted scene, nice to see but not good enough to make it into the final cut. If you love the show, pick this up, if not then don't bother.

Trade watch:

R.E.B.E.L.S. Vol 1: The Coming of Starro- If you (like me) passed on this excellent series by Tony Bedard, Andy Clarke and Claude St. Aubin. Then got sucked in through the Blackest Night crossover issues, here is the chance to start over. Vril Dox tries to assemble a team to fight against Starro who has taken over several planets and his own police organization L.E.G.I.O.N. Cloned from Brainiac on Colu, he isn't evil but doesn't care about using people to get what he wants. A fact that will often put his allies in as much danger from him as his enemies.

This Week's (and the last two) Comic Stack

2010-02-06T00:26:00.002-05:00

I've been so bad at writing and posting... plus this week Lost returned, so I was rewatching season 5 preparing for it...Anywhoo, without further ado (nor any pics)....

The Good:

Invincible Iron Man #23- more suspense as we wait for Tony to regain his mind
Nova #34- alternate reality fun and games
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3- WW as Star Sapphire vs BL Max Lord
Zorro #19- top notch as always

The Alright:

Torch #5- Triple the Torches in this issue was fun
Question #37- The art and story gets lost under the scratchings of Seinkienwicz
Superman: World Of New Krypton #12- To be concluded...in Superman? Why did they do it this way?
Zorro: Mantanzas #1- Old school writer Don McGregor gets off to a clunky start, but lots of promise for next issue
Lone Ranger #20- more drama and little action

The Bad:

Siege #2- {Incoming} the awful dialogue and pacing totally destroy the "WOW!" moment in this issue, as a character Marvel has built up for the past few years is literally ripped apart.

And some outstanding books from previous weeks:

Atom & Hawkman #46- Atom saves the Universe
Green Lantern #50- Return of Hal Jordan Parallax
Starman #81- The Shade is awesome...too bad no Jack or Tony Harris interior art
Mighty Avengers #33- Hank vs Norman for a Cosmic Cube and Hank's distraction is the best "You already have the Cube"

Hopefully I'll be on schedule next week

Essential Showcase Of Masterworks 5

2010-01-29T12:20:00.001-05:00

Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams

This book marks a turning point of sorts for DC Comics. Since revitalizing the superhero genre in the late 50's and early 60's, DC played catch up to their innovative competitor Marvel Comics. Being the old hand, DC was less open to change and began to pay the price for it at the...umm...newsstands. As Marvel heroes gained popularity due to their "flawed" heroes and "realistic" stories, DC's prim and proper perfect heroes lost popularity.

To compete DC would have to change.

Enter in one of the titles that DC had revitalized the genre with, Green Lantern. Following the adventures of test pilot Hal Jordan who inherits an alien power ring that can create an energy field into any shape he can imagine. He becomes part of an intergalactic peacekeeping organization. Sagging in sales and with long time artist Gil Kane leaving, it was headed for cancellation. A perfect (and frequent back then) opportunity to experiment.

DC handed the title over to Denny O'Neil who had some success on Justice League Of America and Beware the Creeper (created and drawn by Steve Ditko). O'Neil had made some dramatic changes to other characters recently. He had stripped Wonder Woman of her Amazon powers and turned her into an Emma Peel type super-spy complete with "mod" new outfits. O'Neil also had turned Green Arrow from a bored millionaire who moonlit as a superhero to a champion of the forgotten and oppressed by having Oliver Queen (GA) lose his inherited millions. This last change would directly influence the Green Lantern title.

While O'Neil had reworked Green Arrow's character, artist Neal Adams had revamped his costume to fit a gritty urban Robin Hood in the pages of The Brave And The Bold. Adams had previously been teamed with Roy Thomas on the also soon to be canceled X-Men title (it went into reprints instead) at Marvel and had followed Carmine Infantino on Deadman for DC.

O'Neil decided that Hal had been in space so long that he had forgotten what it was like to be on Earth. The now liberal outspoken Green Arrow would make a nice foil for the conservative spacecop GL on his quest to reconnect with the common man. Added into the mix would be one of the Guardians (the GL's bosses) themselves to give a totally alien perspective. This quest would take the trio (and Black Canary who joins up with them) through America's west and on to other planets, all the while exploring many social issues that are still relevant today.

Race, overpopulation, pollution, cults, religious fundamentalists and drug addiction are just some of the topics O'Neil addressed.

One of the most famous comic covers and stories was the two issue arc in which Green Arrow discovers that his ward and partner, Speedy (ironic?), has turned to drugs and become a heroin addict. Following the Spider-Man story that involved generic "pills" that was printed without the Comic Code Authority seal, it was the first to come out and name a specific drug. Not only is the story about the effects of drugs, but the toll and consequences of addiction.

The second biggest event in the run was the creation of the John Stewart character. With the reserve GL Guy Gardner in a coma, the Guardians tell Hal Jordan to find another. The ring selects an activist and "angry black man" John Stewart. Initially adverse to the idea of serving the "Man" he realizes that he can accomplish a lot with the power of the Green Lantern. John Stewart would go on to become a big part of the Green Lantern mythos. He became the Green Lantern of the Justice League/Justice League Unlimited TV series.

O'Neil and Adams followed their run on GL/GA to a backup feature in the Flash and later teamed up for DC again for their famous run on Batman introducing Ra's Al Ghul and Talia. Adams had a run on the Avengers during the Kree/Skrull War and did many covers for both DC and Marvel. Adams also was instrumental in broadening creator rights. O'Neil became the editor of the Bat titles for most of the eighties.

The run was reprinted in the late eighties as a mini series that had new cover art by Adams on high quality paper. In 2000, DC came out with a hardcover complete with slipcase featuring all new coloring for the art. This in part led to the Adams Batman and Deadman runs being collected in to similar hardcover volumes.

This Week's Comic Stack

2010-01-15T00:36:00.004-05:00

This time it's actually for this week:

The Good:

The Power Of Shazam! #48- Poor Osiris gets to be a hero once again. I don't know Eric Wallace but he does a good job here. The art by Don Kramer gets a strange watercolor look to it. I don't know if that's his art work, the inker or colorist. It's not bad, just loses the style and lines that I've enjoyed in JSA, Dr Fate and his other work.

Secret Six #17- Continues the showdown between the Six and the Squad. Great action, great character bits and that's before the Black Lanterns show up.

The Marvels Project #5-The Angel runs into Captain America on his first mission. Nice mix of history, mystery and action with great art.

Invincible Iron Man #22- With Tony's mind still MIA and the Ghost after his body, Dr. Strange is consulting. Although nothing big happens, the mood set up is a good lead in to next issue.

Adventure Comics #6- Superboy learns how bad Lex Luthor is. Geoff Johns bows out of the title

The Alright:

Realm Of Kings: Imperial Guard #3- While the team scouting the Fault tries to repair the Starjammer, Gladiator regrets his assuption of the throne. Then, a face from the RoK one shot shows up...Quasar. But he's followed by some of the H.P.Lovecraft "Old Ones"so next issue is gonna be fun. This series is really picking up now.

Strange #3- Dr. Strange vs kid beauty pagents (they're diabolical)

R.E.B.E.L.S. #12- The Starro story continues after the break for BN crossover. This is a great title, good thing the first trade is out next week as I didn't pick up the initial issues.

Action Comics #885- Mon-El tries to stop the SP and the military from fighting over taking Nightwing and Flamebird into custody.

Booster Gold #28- Booster makes sure Hank Henshaw goes into space while his sister finds out she's in the doomed Coast City. And Blue Beetle's suit takes over and starts the Reach's evil programming.

Catwoman #83- Selina has to save her sister from BL Black Mask. Harley and Ivy help out.

This Week's Comic Stack

2010-01-13T00:33:00.001-05:00

I'm behind with the blog again.

First last week....

The Good (and the Only):

Blackest Night #6- Geoff Johns does it again with the creation of the "deputized" lanterns. Inspired!

And now....This week...

The Good:

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2- expands upon BN#5's WW vs Mera fight and the transformation of WW into a ---- -------.

Suicide Squad #67- this resurrection title leads into the Secret Six BN crossover

The Alright:

Superman: World Of New Krypton #11-some nice filler until the conclusion next issue

New Mutants #9- The team gets used to Doug being back and Emma Frost learns who/what Illyana is

The Siege #1-Norman Osborn finally makes the nutso mistake we've all been waiting for...he attacks Asgard.

The Bad:

Weird Western Tales #71- just a bunch of cameos of DC western characters, plus the Ray (selling out) and Simon Stagg

Essential Showcase of Masterworks 4

2010-01-07T11:37:00.002-05:00

Daredevil: Born Again

Frank Miller made himself an established "name" with his run on Daredevil in the early 80's. Eventually, both writing and drawing the book became too much and David Mazzuchelli was brought in. Miller had introduced Elektra, expanded the character of Bullseye and took the Spider-Man villain Kingpin and set him up as DD's arch-nemesis.

But, this arc would push the character to the brink.

The story opens up with a desperate woman selling a secret for some drugs. The woman, former secretary/girlfriend of Matt Murdock. Her secret, the identity of the vigilante Daredevil. Page left NYC (and the title) to become an actress. Not hitting the big time she fell into drugs and with no money sold the only thing left besides her body.

This news gets to the Kingpin, who tests it out by making life hard for Matt Murdock. Using all his influence to get him investigated on trumped up corruption charges and interfering with his finances. When observation convinces the Kingpin the information is correct he begins tracking down all those who had knowledge of it and having them killed. This trail leads all the way back to Karen Page. Saved from a hit by sheer luck, not knowing who wants her dead or why she begins to work her way to the one person who can protect her, Matt Murdock.

The frame-up escalates when a "good" cop is revealed to be the main witness. Matt's reporter friend Ben Urich tries to uncover the real story behind the charges. Ben is about to get the cop to admit that he was making up the allegations to get treatment for his sick son when an enforcer beats up the cop and breaks his hand as a warning. Realizing that the true target is Daredevil not Matt Murdock, Ben faces a choice. Do the right thing and help his friend, or do the "smart" thing.

Meanwhile, Matt himself becomes more and more aggravated as the conspiracy against him grows. Becoming paranoid he isolates himself from his girlfriend, Gloria O'Breen, and his best friend, Foggy. After losing his brownstone to an "accident", he is homeless and with his assets frozen because of the investigation, penniless. Driven near insane with rage and exhaustion he confronts the Kingpin. And is beaten and left to die in a submerged taxicab. Escaping a watery grave, he is stabbed when attempting to stop a mugging. He drags himself to his father's old gym and collapses.

While recovering, Matt recalls getting his powers and a mysterious woman who helped him adjust. He awakes to a nun who seems very familiar. He asks her a big question. She answers and although she lies (his built in lie detector tells him), he is given hope by the answer. [You'll have to find out the question by reading it].

Karen's story and Ben's story converge with Matt's, as the Kingpin plays a dangerous card to eliminate Matt Murdock. He sets a drugged, deranged "Super-Soldier" loose on Hell's Kitchen to draw Daredevil out. This gets the attention of Captain America, because of the connection to Project:Rebirth and this "Nuke" wears the flag.

At the end of the story Matt/DD is in a totally new place and mindset than from the start. Although some of the old supporting cast remains the relationship that they have with Matt is changed. This is one of the most successful tearing down and rebuilding of a character ever done in comics. The Bendis/Brubaker jail storyline being a close second.

The artwork has some amazing imagery as well as some great action sequences. Very few artists can do both. There are some real horrific moments as bad things happen to people. What really sells those moments though are the reactions to them in the expressions of the characters faces. There is some great "acting" in this story. The plot is exciting and suspenseful without ever going over the top. Dialogue is crisp and clean, very natural and not too melodramatic. If there were to be a sequel to the Daredevil movie (or even a new one)this would be a good starting point.

Miller and Mazzuchelli would reteam for DC doing Batman: Year One. [Which will probably show up in a future installment of ESoM] Sadly, DD would pretty much flounder around for years till Kevin Smith relaunched the title and then take off when Brian Michael Bendis became the writer.

Some highlights/quotes:
-"There is no corpse"-- Kingpin musing on Murdock's supposed demise
-"..I have shown him that a man without hope, is a man without fear."--Kingpin on learning Murdock is still alive
-"Don't say the name. Don't even think the name."--A scared Ben Urich warned away from defending Matt Murdock
- " I thank you for listening Mr. Urich."--Enforcer "Lois" as she made Ben listen to her kill someone
-"A heartbeat can tell you a lot. Hers just jumped. She's lying."--Matt after he asks the nun the "question" she answers no to
- A soldier with a voice that could command a god--and does.--Ben describing the arrival of Captain America, Thor and Iron Man to the aftermath of the Hell's Kitchen battle
-"What's it to you?" "He wears the flag." "I hadn't noticed."--Cap and DD talking about Nuke, a little joke as DD is blind, but Cap takes it seriously
-"My name is Matt Murdock. I was blinded by radiation. My remaining senses function with superhuman sharpness. I live in Hell's Kitchen and do my best to keep it clean. That's all you need to know."--Matt (duh) giving the last line of the story and the new mission statement of the series almost.

This Week's Comic Stack

2009-12-27T18:33:00.006-05:00

A Huge week thanks to Diamond not working to ship books next Wednesday. [Plus I'm late in finishing this]

The Good:

Zorro #18

Green Lantern #49-

Incredible Hercules #139-

Guardians Of The Galaxy #21-

Detective Comics #860-

The Stand: Soul Survivors #3-

Avengers: The Initiative #31-

The Alright:

Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield?-

Amazing Spider-Man #616-

New Mutants #8-

Uncanny X-Men #519-

Blackest Night: JSA #1- So far the least necessary of the BLackest Night tie-in minis. This really didn't add to the overall BN experience like the other series have.

Superman #695- Mon-El fights Bizarro, is welcomed back by the SP and discovers that Jimmy is in hiding. Natasha visits her uncle, who wakes up from his coma. Not much here besides groundwork for future issues.

Trade: Irredeemable Vol.2 TPB collecting issues #7-

Comic Book Lexicon

2009-12-21T23:46:00.000-05:00

I've been playing around with coming up with a collection of comic book terms and phrases. Here are the first to occur to me. Starting with some basic definitions and ending with some concepts that I have named myself (they may have other labels). Please feel free to comment and leave suggestions for additions.

Title- The official name of the comic used to identify it by retailers.

Issue- A specific comic of a title with a date and number.

One-shot- A single issue title. Often a unique story or beginning or end of a storyline.

Mini- Short for Mini-series A title that lasts for a finite number of issues. Generally 2-7

Maxi- Short for Maxi-series. A title with a finite number of issues that is of a significantly more issues than a Mini. Generally 8-12

Ongoing- A title that is scheduled to have an issue published each month.

Run- A block of issues on an ongoing that a specific writer or artist has worked on.

Trade- (short for Trade Paperback) The name for a collection of several issues of comics into a single volume bound in a soft cover.

Hardcover - A collection or Graphic Novel bound in a hardcover binding.

Graphic Novel- An original story in hardcover or paperback that has not been printed previously as separate issues.

Golden Age- The period of time of 1934-1954. Marked by the first comic book printed and the appearance of the Silver Age Flash.

Silver Age- The period of time 0f 1954-1970/73. Marked by the first appearance of the Silver Age Flash and either the Adams/O'Neil run on Green Lantern or the death of Gwen Stacy.

Bronze Age- The period of time from 1973-1986. Marked by the death of Gwen Stacy and the printing of Crisis Of Infinite Earths, Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns and Secret Wars.

Modern Age- The period of time from 1986-present date. Alternatively split into two periods. the "early"or Dark Age (1986-1992) and the "late" (1992-present day)

Marvel Age- The period of time from Fantastic Four #1 1961 to 1991 when Marvel way of writing, producing and marketing comics became the industry leader. It ended with the formation of Image Comics. (Although, Marvel says it's still going on)

Retcon- (from retroactive continuity)A piece of a character's history which was previously unknown, or has been altered by a writer; also an explanation of uncharacteristic behavior or powers previously established. The act of changing, adding to or explaining established events.

Jumping on point- An accessible issue to new readers, generally a start of new storyline or series.

Crossover- A storyline that continues through two or more titles.

Event- A storyline that is a major part of a company's line of comics. It generally includes a main title Mini , several ancillary minis, one-shots and crossover issues of regular ongoing series.

Event Fatigue- The feeling of a reader that an event has been overplayed, over marketed and drawn out in Minis, One-shots and crossover issues.

Store Stealing- The act of reading a whole issue in the store with the intent of not purchasing it.

RetCharactering-When a writer brings in characters from previous series he/she has written and makes them part of the new series. Ex= Chris Claremont and the Otherworld characters being in his FF run.

(Kyle) Raynering-When previous versions of a character are de-powered, beaten or sidelined for the sake of raising up the "hip" new version.

What do you think?

This Week's Comic Stack

2009-12-17T12:21:00.003-05:00

So, for the week before Christmas and of my birthday...

In Trade: Deadpool Vol. 2: Dark Reign TPB- Reprints #6-7, 10-12. Deals with the fallout from Secret Invasion and the start of Dark Reign. The absent issues are collected in another trade with Thunderbolt issues as it is a crossover arc. A funny book in the truest sense of the word. The best part of the trade is the Bullseye vs. Deadpool story in the latter half.

And Now-

The Good:

The Mighty Avengers #32- Slott has found the "voices" of the characters which has freed him to focus on the story. In what is a Siege prelude of sorts, Osborn is tired of Pym's team upstaging his "Avengers" and calls together his Cabal. Only Loki responds, playing a deeper game. He has aided the Absorbing Man in escaping his cell at Project Pegasus and alerts both Pym and Osborn to that, setting up a conflict between the two teams. Before they can get into it, the Absorbing Man emerges with the powers of a Cosmic Cube (a piece having been stored at Pegasus). Pham does well with art, but the writing is better with some great one-liners and a Hercules that seems as if he's being written by Greg Pak/Fred Van Lente.

Green Lantern Corps #43- As Soranik Natu tries to revive Kyle, Guy tries to prevent his ring from leaving him. Guy's rage attracts a red ring and he becomes a Red Lantern (although he creates constructs like Hal did) and destroys a bunch of BLs. Kryb makes the mistake of attcking Guy and is dispatched quite quickly and brutally. A Star Sapphire shows up and does some trilck tying Soranik and Kyle's hearts together to revive Kyle. Mogo shows up at the end to the surprise of everyone. It has great art showing full rage and savagery of Guy as a RL.

Amazing Spider-Man #615- The Gauntlet continues with the Sandman. Murders involving a missing child lead Spidey (and the reader)to suspect the Sandman has kidnapped the child and murdered to cover it up. He tries to take him down quick, but learns that he has a new trick. A much better story, with funnier dialogue than the last arc. (Waid must have been rushed). Art by Javier Pulido is also a better fit evoking Ditko and Sale.

The Alright:

X-Factor #200- This title returns to my stack for the first time since Messiah Complex and to the original numbering. Peter David is a great writer, but I think the title got away from him and hopefully, this will bring it back. As Madrox investigates the disappearance of the Invisible Woman for her kids, M gets some disturbing news. The mystery leads back to the loss of Layla. In a second story, Siryn tries to get over the loss of her "son" when she runs into one of Madrox's dupes. Also included are OHotMU entries for the principal cast and the first issue of Madrox the mini series that revived the title. A nice jumping on point, but will new readers really spend the money. At $4.99, it's an expensive book. And fans will most likely know all about the characters and have already read the Madrox series. So I ask "why the extra stuff?"

Captain America: Reborn #5- This is similar to Flash: Rebirth in that they are both series with great writers and artists with what should be important stories and events. However, they have been undercut by shipping late and having other series (that maintained their schedule) spoil their outcome. Therefore, reading the story has no suspense or tension. So, in the issue the Skull and BuckyCap fight while Cap battles for possession of his body. The outcome (no real surprise) has already been revealed by no less than three other titles now.

Realm Of Kings: Inhumans #2- The Mighty Avengers step on the royal family's toes a bit. There is some good dialogue among Ronan, Quicksilver and Crystal and their interesting dynamic. Medusa and Pym share a moment as they reflect upon their recent losses. These bits plus a developing Kree revolt plot and the results of a probe of the Fault (leave that thing alone) revealing energy signatures matching Black Bolt keep my interest in this title going.

Supergirl #48- The revelation that Lana has a mysterious terminal disease leads into the main story about how the detective friend of Kara has become wrapped up in the curse of the Silver Banshee and her revenge. Nothing outstanding, nothing awful, just good solid work.

The Tally:

Good:3 (1-DC; 2-Mv), Alright:3 (1-DC; 2-Mv)

{Note: Justice League Of America was shorted, on reorder}

This Week's Comic Stack

2009-12-10T10:37:00.002-05:00

Again a late or lazy week means no cover pics, sorry. I'm gonna go into more detail about each issue though.

Let's get started.

The Good:

Invincible Iron Man #21- Spoiler Alert-----------Steve Rogers is back...as Cap. Things pretty much fall into place as you would expect if you have been reading this series. It's a kick to see Cap and Thor together to save Iron Man. Basically they are going to "reboot" Tony's brain (he made a backup pre-Extremis). The creepy Ghost looms as the threat to the whole "reboot" plan.
R.E.B.E.L.S. #11- Tony Bedard does a wonderful job of capitalizing on a crossover with Blackest Night. The last two issues have made me sorry I passed on this series when it started. This is the equivalent to Guardians Of The Galaxy at Marvel. Great space adventure with an interesting mix of characters, only this time led by someone who can be as much a bastard as he can a hero.
Adventure Comics #5- The fight between the BLs and SB-Prime is taken to the DC offices. Many staffers and creators get cameos. But the interesting part is when SB-Prime puts on a black ring. He goes through all the emotions (except one, plot point sense...tingling) of the spectrum. What he fears, covets, hates, loves and drives him. There is a nice Twilight Zone ending too. A backup story just serves to tease the Lex Luthor/Superboy meeting, though there is some nice boy and his dog stuff in the beginning.
Secret Six #16- Writer favorite Black Alice witnesses the Six at work and decides she wants in. They spend the rest of the issue trying to get rid of her without pissing her off. Simone is great at writing these morally ambiguous characters, particularly Bane. He has supplanted Catman as the moral (such as it is) center of the team. He's also replaced Catman as my favorite, and I haven't liked Bane since Knightfall.

The Alright:

Realm Of Kings: Imperial Guard #2- The Starjammers (do two make a team?) go off on a mission with some of their mortal enemies, the Guard. It's mostly about C'Hodd (the big green reptile-y guy) trying to be the leader. He butts heads with Brainia...Mentor. The others Guardsmen have no respect for him. And Raza seems preoccupied with the symbiont that infected him during War of Kings. To make a Star Trek This is very reminiscent of both Star Trek:Voyager and Farscape. A mix of aliens/crew that hate/oppose each other must work together because of their distance from home/society. However, it's not quite *there*, yet.
Action Comics #884- While Flamebird makes a deal with Jax-Ur to save Nightwing, Lois is interrogated and threatened by her own father?! Suitably pissed off Perry tells her that if the Planet runs the truth about Mon-El's "death" and the framing of Nightwing and Flamebird, the government will ruin it. So she quits. (Hello, Lois the Blogger I guess) The Lois stuff is the best of this issue. The backup Captain Atom feature has Mon-El bringing him before the (All-New) Justice League. Not much but recap there.
Booster Gold #27- This issue suffers from a little from the crossover. Not so much as what to do, as much as "we gotta wrap this up". Booster has to stop the Ted Kord BL. Coming from another creator this could have dropped into the Bad category. The tease for the next arc is cool though.

The Bad:

Batgirl #5- This issue totally exhausts the momentum of the previous issues. Batgirl gets in the way of Batman and Robin with a mistake (not trained together). Batman/Dick Grayson tells her and Oracle off for it (yeah, like you should cast stones there Dick). From there the issue became the most pissy comic I've read in a while. Dick gets pissy and tells Babs and Steph to stop and keep out of the Bat Cave. Babs gets pissy at Dick and takes it out on some guy that her Dad is trying to set her up with (weird). Of course, Damian is always pissy so just his presence adds to the general pissiness of the issue. Oh, and at the end Steph gets shot...it's just a graze though I'm sure we'll see more pissiness as Dick screams "I told you so!" at Babs next issue.

The Tally: Good- 4(DC-2,Mv-2); Alright- 3(DC-2,Mv-1); Bad-1(DC)

Weekly Comics Stack

2009-12-07T15:35:00.002-05:00

I'm late again.

The Good:

Blackest Night: Flash #1
Nova #32
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1
The Marvels Project #4

The Alright:

Strange #2
Superman: World Of New Krypton #10
The Torch #4
Uncanny X-Men #518

The Tally- Split evenly between Good and Alright, no Bad. More Marvel books than DC this week

This Week's Comic Stack

2009-11-30T19:34:00.003-05:00

A big week and Thanksgiving means no pics, sorry.

So here we go!

The Good:

Green Lantern #48

Blackest Night #5

Superman: Secret Origin #3

Guardians Of The Galaxy #20

Avengers: The Initiative #30

Invincible Iron Man #20

Incredible Hercules #138

The Alright:

Justice League of America #39

Amazing Spider-Man #613

Superman #694

New Mutants #7

Uncanny X-Men #517

The Bad:

Fantastic Four #573

Justice Society Of America #33

Justice League: Cry For Justice #5

So the tally- Good: 7 (3-DC, 4-Mv); Alright: 5 (2-DC, 3-Mv); Bad: 3 (2-DC, 1-Mv)

Black Panther Rundown

2009-11-23T14:46:00.004-05:00

This is a look at the entire run of the Christopher Priest Black Panther series.

First, a little 101-

The Black Panther is both the king of all the tribes of Wakanda as well as the head of the Panther Cult its major religion. He was set to marry Monica Lynne an American singer and political activist. Due to unrest in Wakanda he was forced to enact an ancient tradition that made the marriage impossible. A woman from each tribe's chief family would be selected as a "Dora Milaje" or "adored ones". They would serve as chaste companions and bodyguards to the king. If the king were to show favor to any one, the other tribes would take it as a declaration of war. Neither could the king marry another, for that would also bring civil war. Two Dora Milaje were known at the start of the series, Nakia and Okoye. A third was hidden in the U.S. by her parents who didn't want that life for her.

The Series

#1-5 "The Client"- Everett K. Ross, an agent of the State Department fills in his boss/lover on how a simple investigation into a murder led to a coup d'etat in Wakanda. It's a long complicated story involving a children's charity that became a money laundering operation, T'challa's adopted brother and leader of the Wakandan secret police (the White Wolf), a psychopathic rebel with religious fundamentalist support, and the devil's pants. All issues have art by Mark Texeira. #3 had a variant cover by Bruce Timm.

#6-12 "Enemy Of The State"- In exile, the Panther discovers that certain U.S. intelligence agents and assets helped engineer the coup d'etat. This arc features Kraven the Hunter (hired by the White Wolf to keep T'Challa in shape); the Avengers learning that the Panther initially joined to spy on them; and the retaking of Wakanda. Several artists work on this arc. Joe Jusko did issue #6-8 with Amanda Connor contributing five pages in #8 that retell Captain America #100 and are Kirby-esque. Mike Manley did #9-10 and Mark D. Bright did #11 and 12.

#13-20 "Killmonger's Rage"- Killmonger (from Don MacGregor's Jungle Action #6-18) returns to disgrace T'Challa using several pawns including Hydro-Man, Nightshade, Stiletto, Cottonmouth, Boss Morgan, Cockroach and the Hulk. Showing up to aid the Panther are Justice, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, the Falcon, Brother Voodoo and Bill Foster Goliath. This arc introduced Queen Divine Justice who would be a central character for most of the run. Sal Velluto took over the art as regular artist however #18 was done by Kyle Hotz (late 90's Hulk and Spider-Man)

#21-22 "Quest for the Panther"- Brother Voodoo and Moon Knight search the spirit realm for T'Challa who was defeated and put into a coma by Killmonger. #22 had a homage to Batman.

#23-25 "Cat Trap"- crossed over with Deadpool #44 and reintroduced the insane Nakia as Malice. #25 was a tie-in to the Maximum Security event. This arc killed off a character close to both T'Challa and Ross.

#26-30 "War"- Storm showed up to comfort T'Challa over the aforementioned death and that led to a series of events that threatened a war between Wakanda and Deviant Lemuria dragging in Atlantis, Genosha and the U.S. Meanwhile the White Wolf freed Klaw (see Captain America v2) to instigate war. Namor, Magneto and even Doom counsel T'Challa to prevent this war in #27-28. In #30 there was hearing on whether to end US diplomatic ties to Wakanda. Priest, through Ross, stated the case as to just who the Panther is (or rather should be) and how people have gotten the wrong impression about him. [it's a mission statement for the book really]. #30 also had a flashback to the meeting of Cap and T'Challa's grandfather in the 40's. Norm Breyfogle did the art for that issue.

#31-33 "Seduction of the Innocent"- Malice returned to kill T'Challa and Monica Lynne. T'Challa hired Dakota North to protect Lynne while he laid a trap for Malice. Meanwhile, Man-Ape showed up and abducted QDJ.

#34-35 "Gorilla Warfare"- While the Panther fought Man-Ape with Henry Peter Gyrich, Ross tried to convince the Defenders to help him get his body back from Mephisto. Yes the devil was running around in Ross' body while he was in Mephisto's. QDJ is revealed to be the third Dora Milaje the one from Man-Ape's tribe. The big shock was discovering another Black Panther frozen in ice. Jim Califiore did the art for this arc.

#36-37 "Once And Future King"- Showed a possible future for T'Challa and his allies. This picked up on the Batman homage from #21 and ran with it. #36 was a 100pg Monster with reprints of FF#52-53 and Jungle Action #8 along with a 3pg character study and info on Wakanda from OHotMU entries.

#38-40 "Return Of The Dragon"- The Black Dragon turned out to be the one who switched bodies with Ross. Nightshade resurrected him, but put a poison in his body to control him so he switched it for Ross'. T'Challa faced a mind controlled Iron Fist and was nearly beaten to a pulp before breaking Black Dragon's hold on him. [an important plot point in future] Nightshade revived the other Panther who talked like the Panther from the Kirby run. That Panther's mere presence ended a tribal war in Wakanda while Priest Panther tricked Black Dragon into switching back to his own body and defeating him (not before we got some 1998 Godzilla movie action). #39 was part of that " 'Nuff Said " event.

#41-45 "Enemy Of The State II"- T'Challa (Priest Panther) recruited Wolverine to help uncover a conspiracy to take over the governments of the world. It involved a claim on a Canadian island, the sale of trucks, and time displaced duplicates. Meanwhile, the other Panther (Happy Pants Panther) sought out his former associates in the search for the Golden Frogs of King Solomon. Iron Man/ Tony Stark was brought in as a false antagonist to Priest Panther so he could be warned that the conspiracy was targeting him. Although, there was a fight between a Stark duplicate and a Panther(not telling which) in #45 that was epic.

#46-47 "Saddles Ablaze"- The main cast was transported by the Frogs into the past of America's west. There they ran into Thor, Loki and The Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt and Two-Gun Kid. This referenced a previous Thor story, but I can't recall what number (#190's). Jorge Lucas handled the art for these two issues.

#48-49 "Death Of The Black Panther"- Happy Pants Panther succumbed to a seizure and forced T'Challa to deal with his impending death by talking to visions of Monica Lynne and Magneto while ending the war with the gorilla tribe. A mistake in battle almost led to QDJ dying. The book ended with T'Challa having released QDJ from her duties and abdicating the throne pretty much.

#50-56 "Black And White" -Introduced Kasper Cole a NYPD narcotics officer who found a Panther costume (from "Seduction Of The Innocent" storyline) and because it saved him from being shot when the rest of his team were killed or injured he earned a suspension and had his loyalty called into question. First the White Wolf then T'Challa aided him as he sought who set his team up and why his corrupt superior wanted to own him. #50 was drawn by Dan Fraga, #51-54 were Jorge Lucas and #55-56 were Jim Calafiore.

#57-58 "Coming To America" was a terrible filler arc written by Joe Torres and drawn by Ryan Bodenheim. Don't bother with it.

#59-62 "Ascension"- A frustrated Kasper Cole wanted to go through the Rite Of Ascension to gain the powers of the Black Panther, but when Killmonger came out of his coma it changed things. Offered a synthetic version of the heart-shaped herb Cole took it and the promise of information on criminals. Cole then raced to find the info himself while he adapted to his new senses. He did so, earning the Panther's respect and the title of White Tiger. Patrick Zircher did the wonderful art this arc. This was the final arc as the book was relaunched by Hudlin. I don't think that either Ross or QDJ have showed up again which is both good and bad.

A greatly underappreiciated nearly forgotten run. Only the first two story arcs and the Kasper Cole arcs were collected into trade (a Wolverine story arc stole it's name from one) in the US. However, Spanish trades reprinted the whole run (in Spanish of course)

This Week's Comic Stack

2009-11-19T18:02:00.004-05:00

Comics out November 18, 2009

The Good:

Adventure Comics #4- Superboy-Prime deals with Black Lantern Alexander Luthor(Earth-3) and the Blackest Knight crossover in the "real" world. There is some great poking fun of the BN event here. The Legion story is about two Legion couples and their love. I'm enjoying these smaller stories featuring a few Legionnaires at a time.
Flash: Rebirth #5- So a bunch of reveals in this issue. First, Wally's new suit. Pretty much the same except his lightning bolt symbol has two zig-zags instead of three. His daughter Iris absorbs her brother's speed force and becomes Impulse wearing a variant of Bart's suit. And for those of you who wondered why Barry's mom was murdered when he came back, that is revealed too. A great issue, even with the publishing schedule taking away all the suspense.
The Mighty Avengers #31- The Avengers back as a team! For this issue at least. The combo team allowed for some great moments. Hawkeye (Clint will always be Hawkeye)and Stature reenact the famous Ant-Man arrow cover. Clint lets Hank know that "Wanda" isn't Wanda, who then reveals that he knows. Pietro's "it was a Skrull" ploy works with everyone except his daughter Luna...who will always love him, but never respect him.
Zorro #17- Continuing the tales of various people's encounters with Zorro. A great way to have done-in-one stories.
The Stand: Soul Survivors #2- Larry meets Joe and Nadine. This issue was a lot better than last issue in getting a flow to the scenes.

The Alright:

Supergirl #47- This issue focuses on Allura and her feelings about the now captured Reactron. Not done with her political "dirty tricks" yet, she publicly defends him against vigilante mob and advocates a trial and eventual execution. Then fakes his murder to gain intelligence on the humans after Kryptonians (watch out Gen. Lane)
Amazing Spider-Man #612- Electro reinvents himself as a anti-corporate corruption activist.
Dark Reign: The List-The Amazing Spider-Man- One of the better one-shots in the batch. It's really a combo effort to get the goods on Norman out. It's as Peter that he gets to confront Norman giving a Capra-esque speech (yeah that's from the comic, but true). There is also a backup featuring Luke Cage and Jessica Jones and the aftermath of the Goblin's attack on her. Not too good, I wasn't a fan of Alias(comic). The art is good though, it's Bagley.
Realm Of Kings- Quasar investigates the Fault and finds a world where the Avengers are possessed by Lovecraftian Elder God types. He makes it back..., but is it the really the evil Quasar?
Realm Of Kings: Inhumans #1- The royal family deals with an attack by Negative Zone forces and Kree and Inhuman political scheming. Then Devos the Devastator attacks, but the Mighty Avengers drop in to interrupt him. Although, their visit is a little different in their own title.
The Outsiders #24- Black Lanterns go after the team including a repentant Terra, but given her history is she truly repentant? I am intrigued by this issue. The team seems to be a good one, with good writing and art. This may be worth giving a few chances after the BN crossover ends.

The Bad:

Justice Society Of America 80 Page Giant #1- The best of the seven stories is the Jerry Ordway Wildcat(s) one. Meant to be a look at the new members and reveal something about them while contained in a bookend/interstitial story. They are just too disjointed to flow well.

The Verdict:

Five good, six alright and one bad.

Book Of The Week: The Mighty Avengers/Flash: Rebirth (a tie)

Star Trek BlueRay Review

2009-11-18T18:52:00.003-05:00

I am a huge Trek fan.

From watching the reruns of the original series, seeing The Wrath Of Khan in the theatre to watching the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine on Saturday nights instead of going out while at college and even trying to get into Voyager and Enterprise. You will find quite a few Star Trek books in my library. Novels, series companions and even technical manuals (a look at the Enterprise as a ship).

So when it was announced they were rebooting the franchise I was less than thrilled. Even when the crew and cast had been announced, I was still wary. Though I had enjoyed pretty much all of J.J. Abrams' work, it seemed wrong. I grew curious to see it as little details started leaking out.

Which the producers went to great lengths to discourage. When I saw it I was relieved and nearly overwhelmed. Not only was this a great Trek film, it was a great film. It was the best of the summer blockbusters and the best movie of the year (so far).

The movie and the actors really capture the feel and emotion of what makes good Trek. Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban shine as Spock and Bones. Chris Pine took a little bit more to get used to. I felt his performance was a lot better after seeing the movie a second time. All of the new crew take aspects and qualities that the original actors put into the characters and make it their own. The plot is pretty strong, flowing well and at a good pace. The lens flares that bothered me in the theatre is not as prevalent at home.

One thing though. It's not really the same Trek. That's not a such bad thing necessarily. However, I do have a feeling they "threw the baby out with the bathwater". While the old Trek certainly was circling the drain, the right set of circumstances could have saved it. The success of this movie probably killed any studio interest in the old Trek universe. I still feel that if the DS9 people had been given a shot to do a movie they would have surprised many. This IS the Star Trek universe now.

Now, I don't think it surpasses Wrath as the best Trek movie, but it comes in second. Here's a ranking of how I think the movies stack up against each other.

1} ST II:Wrath Of Khan (1982)

2}Star Trek (2009)

3} ST: First Contact (1996)

4} ST IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

5} ST VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

6} ST: The Motion Picture (1979)

7} ST III: The Search For Spock (1984)

8} ST: Generations (1994)

9} ST: Insurrection (1998)

10} ST V: The Final Frontier (1989)

11} ST: Nemesis (2002)

The BR disc set comes loaded. The first disc is the movie and it has a commentary with Abrams writer Roberto Orci and producer Damon Lindelof. The second disc is full of featurettes about the production of the movie. From writing and casting to designing ships, props and costumes. The deleted scenes are cool and most add to the story and could be re-edited into a director's cut. Victor Garber (Jack Bristow) shows up in an entire cut sequence, with effects and all, as a Klingon interrogator. [Please J.J., bring him back as the villain in the next film] There is a gag reel, a little featurette on the vision of Gene Roddenberry and a "interactive" tour of the Enterprise and the Romulan ship. Last disc is the digital copy for iPods and computers.

A great movie made better for all the extras. Buy it for yourself or as a gift for someone.

Essential Showcase Of Masterworks 2

2009-11-15T23:33:00.007-05:00

This time I'd like to go over one of my favorite runs on Iron Man.

I'm talking about the run of Denny O'Neil. Sandwiched between two of David Michelinie's runs on the book it is often forgotten that he wrote the book at all. Of course, most readers know about his work at DC on Batman (as writer and editor) and Green Lantern. Yet, even my humble self had totally misremembered that he was responsible for a good chuck of Iron Man.

Although he does start his run much earlier, he really gets going with #170.

Picking up on the classic issue "Demon in a Bottle", O'Neil explores the problem of alcoholism further. With it being too big a problem to be solved in just one issue, a long story arc unfolds. Under pressure and under attack by corporate rival Obidiah Stane, Tony relapses. He gives up being Iron Man, loses his company to Obidiah Stane and descends into alcoholism.

Meanwhile Rhodey has reluctantly taken over as Iron Man. Although inexperienced he manages to beat some of Tony's oldest and deadliest foes, particularly the Radioactive Man and the Mandarin .

Tony becomes lost among the homeless in NYC, hitting rock bottom when he's discovered by Cap in some sleazy motel in a chance rescue.

The woman that Tony has hooked up with in his drunken stupor turns out to be pregnant (he's not the father). She gives birth in the middle of a snowstorm and dies from exposure. Her child lives, his survival provides Tony with both a responsibility and a goal to achieve. This marks a turning point in Tony's alcoholism. He commits himself to rehab and regaining control over his company.

He starts by joining a new company, Circuits Maximus, to compete with Stane but quickly realizes that he doesn't want the company back just the prestige, challenge and satisfaction of running a business.

Meanwhile, the cybernetic interface that was designed for Tony to use has affected the brain of Rhodey in an adverse way. Clouding his judgement and make him increasingly violent. This prompts Tony to dig out his original (Mark I) armor to fight a rampaging Rhodey in the classic (Mark IV) Iron Man suit.

Tony stops Rhodey and comes up with a fix for Rhodey to operate the armor safely. Reluctantly, Rhodey resumes his Iron-ing [sorry] till he can convince Tony to come back. At this point Stark has effectively made his comeback both personally and in business. This sends Stane over the edge. So, what else is there to do besides orchestrate an all out assault upon Stark.

Striking out at the friends and loyal employees that Stark has garnered over the years including Pepper and Happy Hogan (who have two kids...where the F did they go?) Stane is determined to break Stark by any and all means. With both active armors damaged beyond repair Tony starts on a new version. It ends in a confrontation between the two in battlesuits. Stane in his Iron Monger suit and Stark in his new "silver centurion" (Mark VI) armor.

Thus began a new chapter in Tony/Iron Man's history.

About twenty issues later, during the second run of David Michelinie, the classic "Armor Wars" story started. I will probably have another installment focusing on that storyline sometime in the future.

'Til next time...

This Week's Comic Stack

2009-11-13T10:43:00.002-05:00

Comics out November 11, 2009-

The Good:

Strange #1 W-Mark Waid; A-Emma Rios
Booster Gold #26 W-Dan Jurgens; A-Dan Jurgens/Mike Norton
Green Lantern Corps #42 W-Peter J. Tomasi; A-Patrick Gleason

The Alright:

Batgirl #4 W-Bryan Q. Miller; A-Lee Garbett
Realm Of Kings: Imperial Guard #1 W-Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning; A-Kevin Walker
Action Comics #883 W-Greg Rucka/Eric Trautmann; A-Pere Perez -Captain Atom: W-James Robinson/Greg Rucka; A-Cafu
R.E.B.E.L.S. #10 W-Tony Bedard; A-Andy Clarke

The Bad:

Amazing Spider-Man #611 W-Joe Kelly; A-Eric Canete
Batman & Robin #6 W-Grant Morrison; A-Phillip Tan

The Verdict:

A reasonably good week only stained by two comics. First issues for Strange and RoK:IG were good enough to keep me coming back. The R.E.B.E.L.S. issue was bought to get the promo ring, but surprised me. So I may add the book to my pull list.

Book Of The Week: Green Lantern Corps #42

Essential Showcase Of Masterworks 1

2009-11-12T02:41:00.000-05:00

This series of blogs is going to showcase the single issues, runs of an ongoing series, limited series, trade paperbacks, hardcovers and deluxe editions that I feel every comic book reader should have in their library. They are sometimes groundbreaking stories or masterpieces of an artist. Others are particularly emotional stories or just plain fun. And not all of them involve superheros (although a majority do).

So where to start...

It's the Death of Captain Marvel. The first actual original story Graphic Novel for Marvel printed in 1982. It tells the story of the Kree Captain Mar-Vell's death from something that the whole Marvel Universe can't beat...cancer. And that is why this story earns this distinction.

I read this story fairly recently in 2002 when it was reprinted as The Life And Death Of Captain Marvel along with several issues that were relevant to his history including his struggle against the mad Titan Thanos and the issue where he was exposed to the carcinogen that made him sick. The collection gives an overview of the character with only his first appearance being a puzzling omission. (check out Essential Captain Marvel Vol 1 for that)

All the issues are drawn and written by Jim Starlin who was at the top of his game with both. The issues get a beautiful recoloring, however the original Death was magazine size and the art suffers a little because of the reduction to a smaller size.

The true value is the emotional tie the story creates. It is a fairly personal one too. Anyone who has lost someone to cancer will have an immediate connection to the story. For me, it was my mother. She fought a long hard battle and after a brief period of remission finally succumbed to the disease that had metastasized throughout her body. That loss was with me for a long time and never goes away. Reading this story made me feel better (even with it being five years after her death).

Though it involves a story about a character's death, it is about his life, his accomplishments and his spirit. The story shows how he lived as friends (other heroes, gods and aliens) and enemies reflect upon his terminal state. His acceptance of his death is another key moment that resonated with me. The story presents Mar-Vell with a physical manifestation of that existential battle. He is led through this "world" by Thanos as Virgil led Dante through Hell and Purgatory. In the end he accepts Death's embrace. It may sound like this is a downer, but as Thanos says "this is not the end...only the beginning".

Now, maybe sterner hearts can resist. Even just thinking about it, my eyes have welled up a bit. When I first read this I completely lost it. That was the first and only time a comic did that to me. (I have felt regret when a favorite character dies, not full out grief) This is a story that uses the comic book medium to deal with a larger theme than the standard good vs evil ones that are the norm. It's a theme that some of the greatest writers through thousands of years of history have broached and others will continue to in the future. It is an eternal question. "Is there life after death?"

Is it on par with some of those great works about that subject? Probably not. But for me it is , making that heady subject instantly accessible. Maybe I'm just stupid.

So, the personal connection the story makes and the successful tackling of that eternal question are what makes this story a must for any comics fan.

I promise the next entry will be a little lighter in tone.

2009-11-11T08:30:00.000-05:00

Hello

Today is the first of what I hope to be many blogs. Mostly these will be about the silly little things that either annoy or excite me within comics, TV, movies, books, toys and video games. The only way to become a bigger geek, was to start opining about stuff on the Internet. So here I am.

For now this blog will be kinda basic bare bones. I'm gonna learn as I go along, so look forward to photos, links to web sites and even videos. Please stick with me as there will probably be lots of changes in the appearence of the page layout and design.

Enjoy these pics of my DC Universe Classics collection. (that was pretty easy)

I have a few ideas for "segments"(all titles subject to editing):

The Essential Showcase of Comic Book Masterworks- I look at comics that I think every comic book lover should have
Weekly Pull List- comic book titles I bought that week
TV Wrap-Up- All the shows on TV that I want to talk about

Also look for video game and movie reviews as well as any other stuff that crosses my mind.

If you haven't already...Check out my YouTube channel.