Marvel Preview Review for January 2010 Part 3 of 3

X-FORCE #23
Written by CHRISTOPHER YOST & CRAIG KYLE
Pencils & Cover by CLAYTON CRAIN
X-FORCE has a new mission: KILL SELENE. As Utopia burns, Wolverine and the team heads to take down the Black Queen and rescue one of their own, but they have no idea what they're in for when they arrive on the shores of Necrosha. The biggest X-Force story yet continues as Selene's Inner Circle begins to tear itself apart, and the truth about Wolfsbane is finally revealed. PART FOUR (of SIX) 32 PGS./$2.99
Lee: Well, at least the cover isn’t dripping blood. More like hanging chunks of meat. Completely different.
Jim: Marvel's version of Blackest Night continues. There is a part of me that wishes I still cared about the X-Men and the various spin offs, but I don't.

NATION X: X-FACTOR
Written by PETER DAVID
Penciled by VALENTINE DE LANDRO & Cover by CHRISTIAN MACNEVEN
Utopia. The sanctuary for mutants to escape a world that wants them extinct. So is it the ideal home for X-Factor? That's what Cyclops believes when he invites the world's only mutant detective agency to relocate to their floating island retreat and take up residence there. But will Madrox and his team believe that it's the best place for them? What old faces will pop up, and what old acquaintances will be renewed? And will there even be a Utopia left when the mysterious Crone shows up and threatens to bring the entire place crashing down into the Pacific? 40 PGS./ $3.99
Jim: And now Marvel is really ticking me off. X-Factor is the one book that I have been able to follow as they stay in their own corner of the MU. This appears to be changed once more (as they were dragged into Messiah War or whatever.) It maybe time to drop X-Factor.
Lee: I'm with you. I read this in trades and it's time to cut the losses. I can't keep up with every Marvel event, nor do I want to. I shall miss this but it's time to go.

X-MEN FOREVER #15 & 16
Written by CHRIS CLAREMONT
Penciled by PETER VALE (#15) & TBA (#16)
Cover by TOM GRUMMETT
GREAT JUMPING ON POINT the fate of PERFECT STORM! The last time we saw Storm, she was fleeing from the X-Men, having blinded Sabretooth and killed Logan. Now, we turn our focus to Wakanda to see what became of the evil clone of the woman that the X-Men loved and trusted. ALSO: new two-part story starting with Issue 16 as CHRIS CLAREMONT continues his landmark run on X-MEN FOREVER! Don’t miss a single panel! Plus, an extra feature detailing a timeline of what other Marvel Universe stories were occurring during the current X-Men Forever saga!#15 - 40 PGS./ $3.99#16 - 32 PGS./ $3.99
Lee: There is almost too much wrong with this to cover in the three sentences I'm allowed. But let me try. So, the Marvel U is soooo complicated that I now need a timeline to show how everything connects? What happened to the days when it was fairly simple? And do we really need another Dark Storm or Storm the God storyline. Claremont hasn't been one of my favorite writers for a long time but he's better than this. At least, I hope he's better than this.
Jim: Lee, you might be missing that X-Men Forever is it's own little convoluted timeline. This is the X-Men starting from when Claremont left the book years ago. We are pretending he never left and are now moving forward with what was Claremont's vision of where the X-Men were going. In order to set the story in the proper place and time the timeline makes "comic book" sense. The whole problem is this an idea that should have never been green lighted. It is playing to a very small niche market and I can't imagine the sales on this book are growing.
Lee: Oh yeah. I missed that. Maybe they need a "good jumping on point" or something like that. I can tell you, if I did buy this on a whim (which I won't) I wouldn't have been happy to learn it was basically a gaint 'What If'... I'll try not to pick this again.

X-MEN ORIGINS: CYCLOPS
Written by STUART MOORE
Art by JESSE DELPERDANG & Cover by ADI GRANOV
The X-MEN ORIGINS series continues with this month spotlighting Cyclops! Witness the origin of the X-Men’s leader from his childhood through his joining of the X-Men with both classic moments and a few scenes that you’ve never scene. Don’t miss this book!40 PGS./One-Shot/$3.99
Jim: Cyclops has one of the most convoluted personal histories of any character and re-telling his origin only gets a one-shot? Why?
Lee: The sad part is that it was one of the simplist origins for a long, long time. Marvel just keeps trying to cram details into the nooks and crannies that every heroes history has become a convoluted mess.

S.W.O.R.D. #3
Written by KIERON GILLEN
Penciled by STEVEN SANDERS & Cover by JOHN CASSADAY
Agent Brand, Beast, Sydren, Beta Ray Bill, Marvel Boy, Jazinda, Karolina and all the other aliens on Earth have been captured by Henry Gyrich and his “NO MORE ALIENS” agenda. Only one person can free them and save the world: Lockheed.32 PGS/$2.99
Lee: Let me see if I understand this cover. A dragon that flies and breathes fire needs guns. How about I declare this stupid beyond belief and we call it even.
Jim: LOL. The dragon has always been a cool side character, doing this is plain ignorant.


MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE INHUMANS VOL. 2 HC
Written by DOUG MOENCH & SCOTT EDELMAN
Penciled by GEORGE PEREZ, GIL KANE, KEITH POLLARD & AL MILGROM
Collecting THE INHUMANS #1-12, CAPTAIN MARVEL #52-53 and the rare Inhumans tales from WHAT IF? #29-30 & THOR ANNUAL #12.272 PGS./ $54.99
Jim: I'm stunned that the Inhumans got two Masterworks released so close to one another. I'm really looking forward to an Iron Fist Masterwork and hope we see a couple so we get to the early Claremont/Byrne work on that series.
Lee: The Inhumans are getting this so quickly because of the Perez art and their current inclusion in the War of Kings stuff. Interest for this particular C-list team is as high as it's gonna get so why not. On the upsite, it has great art by Gil Kane and the stories aren't that bad. Don't get me wrong, it's still Marvel 70's slugfests, but if you like non-stop action, then this is a good read.

Jim: It is sad that Marvel is what made me fall in love with comics and I could probably stop following Marvel all together if I was doing serious cutbacks.
Lee: These days, I'm basically into hc's and reprints of material through the 80's. It's a sad state of affairs.

Irredeemable #8 – A Review

Irredeemable #8

Publisher BOOM Studios

Writer Mark Waid

Art Peter Krause

Colors Andrew Dalhouse

Thomm pointed out how apologetic I was in reviewing Punisher #11, well I’m about to do it again. So before I delve into this review I want to say I think Irredeemable is one of the best new series of 2009 and may even be a top ten series for 2009. I also have tons of respect for Mark Waid and my fantasy job would be writing comics and having an editor like Waid to push me to learn how to be the best I could be. Also Peter Krause is a heck on an artist, but this review is not about the art. It’s about one element of the story. Finally half of the book was its normal terrific self as the current day story line was extremely well done. More then enough mea culpa, onto what was wrong with this issue.

For seven issues we have been learning about the Plutonian and all the secrets behind what have driven him over the edge. We learned about his super hearing allowing him to hear the jeers as well as the cheers, the whispers about him thought to be behind his back. This was a nice little thing to throw out there because everybody is ripped behind their back by acquaintances and co-workers. Often it is in fun, but it maybe mean spirited and if we heard all these things it might eat away at us.

We learned that his girl friend rejected him. He had hidden his secret identity away from her and when he finally revealed who he was, she freaked out and walked away. We have been trained to expect the girl to swoon and love that it is the hero, but in real life the reaction was more natural. She had been falling in love with a façade and not a real person, the trust had been broken. She was not going to jump into bed and be happy after finding out the man she loved, was not who she thought he was. Michael Corleone’s wife was not too happy either once she found out he never stopped being part of the family.

We learned how his sense of duty and his super senses never allowed him to get a moment’s rest. I know when I’m constantly pushed that I start to lose perspective on things and something small can make me angrier then it should.

Then we learned of the guilt he felt regarding the fact that he was responsible for a horrible virus. He gave away alien technology and it was misused and it caused the death of children. He felt this keenly as being his fault.

All of this was a great build up so we could see the pieces as they were lining up and I read with rapt anticipation of what would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. This issue we find out that his best pal Samsara found out that Tony was responsible for the virus getting out. Samsara has now lost trust in the Plutonian and this causes him to destroy Sky City and kill millions. What?????

I didn’t buy off on it. I wanted the pace of the story to move, but the ultimate act and thing that pushes him over the edge rang hollow. We had not built up the relationship between Tony and Samsara enough for this act to have that much of an impact. I know that he was at his breaking point and this could be the tipping point, but it just did not ring true for me. He never just killed somebody before and to go from the consummate hero trying to save everyone to wiping out a city, well I need more. Samsara has been portrayed as Tony’s friend, but we had not learned enough to know that Tony losing this relationship would be of such a magnitude. More worked needed to be done to show the Plutonian was slipping over the edge and more work needed to be done to show the depth of this relationship. Then maybe that tipping point would be enough.

Now I also trust that there is even more to this then Waid has revealed, but I would have wanted that more to come out first before seeing him blow up a city. Of course having to run the back story and main story at the same time causes both stories to have a slower pace as each story only gets a half an issue every time out.

We still have plenty to reveal about the Plutonian and plenty more to come with all the action in the modern day, but the big reveal this issue was disappointing. Also I hold this book to a very high standard, so it is harder for this book to achieve what I expect because of the high expectations.

Bottom line this is still a great series, but I felt like the big reveal of Tony’s past did not hit the mark.

Overall Grade B - It was a split grade A for the present C for the past.

Marvel Preview Review for January 2010 Part 2 of 3

SPIDER-MAN: THE CLONE SAGA #5 (of 6)
Written by TOM DEFALCO & HOWARD MACKIE
Penciled by TODD NAUCK
MAXIMUM CLONAGE! It’s Hoo-Ha Time as MJ goes into labor while Peter, Ben Reilly, and Kaine have a clone war for the ages…in the heart of mid-town Manhattan! Only one will walk away as the controversial crossover rockets to its mind-blowing conclusion! 32 PGS./$3.99
Lee: Here’s something to ponder. What if Peter decides he wants to ‘hang out‘ with the Black Cat for the night and asks Ben, his clone, to keep MJ occupied for the evening. If it’s also Friday night date night at the Parker house and MJ hooks up with Ben Reilly, is she still a dirty ho for cheating on Peter? Makes you wonder doesn’t it.
Jim: But in that scenario she is not cheating on Peter, since she has no clue it is Ben. Peter is the dirty ho for cheating on MJ, which leaves MJ free to divorce Peter and take half his income from the movies.

FALL OF THE HULKS: RED HULK #1 (of 4)
Written by JEFF PARKER
Penciled by CARLOS RODRIGUES & Cover by ED MCGUINNESS
FALL OF THE HULKS continues in this all-new series! What secrets will be revealed? What plans has the RED HULK been hiding from everyone? And what does all of this have to do with the COSMIC HULK robot!? Don’t miss this thrilling first chapter by JEFF PARKER (Agents of Atlas, The Hood) and CARLOS RODRIGUES (Thunderbolts)! 40 PGS./ $3.99
Jim: Oh goody, goody. Not only do we have two Hulk series we now have an extra series about the fall of the Hulks, taking up one of my favorite writers time and efforts. This sounds so lame, Cosmic Hulk robot, please stop.
Lee: AH AH AH! But, it's Jack Kirby's Cosmic Hulk Robot from the Eternals series. That makes it completely ok. You know it's getting bad when you're digging up the cosmic hulk robot.

BLACK WIDOW & THE MARVEL GIRLS #3 (of 4)Written by PAUL TOBIN
Pencils & Cover by SALVADOR ESPIN
She’s S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff, and Nick Fury has two missions for his newest recruit. First, find out everything possible about the mysterious Ms. Marvel, and deal with her if deemed necessary. Secondly, infiltrate the Red Skull’s organization and discover the location of one of the Skull’s “Sleeper” robots before it spells doom for all mankind. Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, is soon to find that combining these two cases is the one way to stay alive. 32 PGS./$2.99
Lee: If I were a logical person, I might ask why the Black Widow, who can’t fly, is 30-40 feet ABOVE the nearest rooftop. Let’s assume Ms. Marvel dragged Black Widow into the sky. Why would BW struggle to get away? Personally, I would cling to Ms. Marvel with all I got. I would be hanging on to any tract of land or asset that would stop me from falling. But that’s just me.
Jim: And when did the Black Widow all of a sudden become the go to girl character in Marvel? She guest starts in every darn book out there and has two mini-series going right now. Who does she think she is, Wolverine?
Lee: I know it's retorical but there's an Iron Man movie coming which just might... I'm not sure... maybe have the Black Widow in it. But, the trend of having 40 appearances by Character X who just happens to be in the new Marvel Movie Y is annoying. But, at least we can plan for it later.
Jim: So if they actually make a Deadpool movie he will be in even more comics. That is a scary thought.

MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #19
Written by PAUL TOBIN
Penciled by IG GUARA & Cover by NIKO HENRICHON
The Avengers have barely moved into their new mansion before they have their first visitor, the super villain known as the Plant Man. But Plant Man isn’t crashing the party, he’s asking for help in his battle against a violently berserk Silver Surfer, an interstellar powerhouse intent on planting the Plant Man. How much will the Avengers put on the line to protect a super villain, and can even the assembled Avengers stand against the Power Cosmic? 32 PGS./$2.99
Lee: Here’s a question, shouldn’t the cover in some vague way indicate what the story is about? If the answer is yes, then shouldn’t the hype have something to say so that the cover and the story mesh together? If yes, then this cover & hype is a miserable fail.
Jim: Let's hope it is just some sort of mix-up, otherwise this makes no sense at all.

AVENGERS VS. ATLAS #1 (of 4)
Written by JEFF PARKER
Penciled by GABRIEL HARDMAN& Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
Spacetime is being selectively eroded by an unknown force. To stop the effect, the Agents of Atlas seek the help of the Avengers- and find a much earlier version of the team than they expected: Captain America, Iron Man, Wasp, Giant-Man and Thor are together again, with the atomic wildcard THE HULK! 40 PGS./ $3.99
Jim: The group that can't be kept down. Sure there regular series has been cancelled, but between this, the X-Men vs Agents book and backing up Hercules these guys are more prevalent now then when they had a series.
Lee: I do like the Agents. They are becoming the new SpiderGirl of the Marvel U.

SUPER HERO SQUAD #1
Written by TODD DEZAGO
Pencils & Cover by MITCH SCHAUER
The new ongoing series kicks off with a KABLAGABANGADINGDONGDOOBAWIBBAWABBA!!!!! Check out TWO new stories based on the hit animated series, THE SUPER HERO SQUAD SHOW! 32 PGS./ $2.99
Jim: I know Marvel is self promoting this crap and I don't begrudge them their due, but I miss the mini-Marvels, which I thought were a lot more fun. Lee: I liked the Hero Squad appearance on the cover of the Punisher the other month. You remember, the cover with Frank blowing some criminal to bits and a happy, smiley Hulk face in the corner. Loved that cover.

MARVEL BOY: THE URANIAN #1 (of 3)
Written by JEFF PARKER
Penciled by FELIX RUIZ & Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
A young man has travelled billions of miles through space in a rocket to help our world. But is Earth of the 1950's ready for a new super hero? Before he became the dark figure the Agents of Atlas call The Uranian, Bob Grayson raced through the skies as Marvel Boy! From the critically acclaimed writer of AGENTS OF ATLAS and FALL OF THE HULKS: ALPHA comes this all-new look back at one of Marvel’s first heroes! 48 PGS./ $3.99
Jim: See this is more of what I was talking about, my favorite team is getting more face time then Tony Stark was in Civil War, well maybe more face time then Quicksilver in New Avengers, but they are headliners!
Lee: I like Marvel Boy because of his history but this outfit is really, really bad. Grey? With a bubble on his head? I understand having the 50's retro costume but isn't it time to upgrade? Please?

PART 3 Tomorrow

Where's the Faith?

Another week, another rant. Coincidentally, this one connects to Pops's review of Franken Castle (which, by the way, makes me think of a mash-up of Al Franken and Nathan Fillion).

Why is it that the Republican Party has so little faith in the United States? Here we have the party that holds itself out as the defender of faith, so long as that faith is Christian, or at least Judeo-Christian, and sufficiently in favor of pigeon holing people in narrow classes with civil rights determined therefrom, but when it comes to the actual United States, both its people and its government, the GOP seems to be atheistic.

What brings this to my mind is the furor of the GOP at the idea of trying a select few of the Gitmo detainees in the civil courts of the US. The GOP appears to have come to the immediate conclusion that this is both a get out of jail free card to the accused and a platform for anti-American rhetoric for the same accused. To me, these seem like contradictory positions to take, for if the accused are going to get out of jail, they're going to have to keep their mouths shut. Either that or the GOP believes that NYC is such a debased Gomorrah that its citizens, in their polyglot allegiance to none, will acquit even those who come before them proclaiming their guilt and hatred of the jurors.

And that's a big part of the problem with the GOP position. Khalid Sheihk Mohammad, the best known of these defendants, has freely proclaimed his involvement in the 9/11 attacks and wants to be executed so he can be a martyr. Even Patricia Jessamy could get a conviction with a defendant like this. I don't know if the other defendants are quite as forthright in their guilt, but I'm guessing the DOJ has picked them for these trials for the obvious reason that they are such easy pickings. After all, there are many more guys still in Gitmo who aren't being brought into the civil courts.

Part of the GOP reasoning seems to be that these defendants should be tried in military courts, if at all, because this is a war on terror. Of course, this is the same GOP that argued for 7 years that this is not a war in terms that would be recognized by the Geneva Convention, so these guys weren't prisoners of war and weren't entitled to any kind of due process, military or civilian. Only grudgingly into those 7 years, and as the result of decisions by about as conservative a Supreme Court as we've seen in the last 50 years, did the GOP (and I'm making the Bush Administration synonymous with the GOP here) make the most feeble stabs at creating from wholecloth a judicial system that barely tried to ape due process.

The fact is, from the day the 9/11 attacks occurred, the plotters were criminals who should have been sought out to bring into the civil courts. These were crimes against the civilian population of the US (though the Pentagon attack could argue for concurrent military jurisdiction). I don't mean people in Gitmo who were captured solely as combatants in Afghanistan or Iraq. Those are military invasions and should be handled as POWs. I mean al-Qaeda's leaders who put together the plans for 9/11 and anyone who intenionally furthered those plans (lest anyone get on their high horse about whose fault it was that US intelligence didn't stop the attacks before they occurred, which were not intentional acts).

Just because some PR flack calls it a war on terror doesn't make it a war. If that were the case we'd be locking people up without trial for the war on poverty and the war on drugs. Hell, we're great at declaring war on things, but any declaration of war that doesn't actually involve a Congressional declaration of war shouldn't be taken any more seriously than a WWE challenge or the death of a comics superhero. No one believes either is real, and no one should believe the war on terror is an actual war.

Another GOP claim is that the trials in NYC will make NYC a target for terrorists. Why no one has called out the obvious stupidity of this statement is beyond me. Hello! NYC was already the target of terrorists. That's the whole point of the trials. NYC didn't go away with those attacks, nor did the terrorists. Ergo ipso facto, NYC is just as much a target of terrorists as it was 8 years ago. Besides, does anyone really believe that anyone in the GOP, aside from Michael Bloomberg, gives a rat's ass about NYC? This is the party whose standard bearers proclaim themselves the voices of the only real and true Americans; those who live between the coasts, the God fearing, white, small government - but lock up those at whom we look askance - good people.

Ironically, the GOP has declared war on the social degredation of such places as NYC. Why, following the logic of the GOP, many of its members should be locked up and tried for treason, or better yet, not tried at all but be held in indeterminate detention, their Bibles torn up, spat upon and defecated upon as methods to glean further information from them. Perhaps we could throw in some simulated baptisms (aka water boarding) and some objectionalbe music at high decibels. I'm thinking some AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, coincidentally objectionable to the extremists Muslims with whom they could share cell space.

Kidding aside, why doesn't the GOP like the Constitution or the values it embodies? Will they come forward and honestly proclaim that they don't believe in trial by jury? That is what their position boils down to.

Now, I can understand some family members of those killed on 9/11 not wanting the trials. First there's the issue of having to go through the evidentiary presentation of what happened to their loved ones. Second, there is that possibility that the defendants could be acquitted, though as I said, I think that remote at best. But one of the family members is quoted as saying something to the effect that the defendants took away her husband's rights when he was killed on 9/11 so she doesn't think they should be afforded those rights. Of course, that would mean all criminal defendants shouldn't be afforded due process rights because, by the mere fact of their accusation, they're guilty. This is putting the cart before the horse. If they're found guilty, then they forfeit most of their civil rights. Civil rights are not forfeited first and then a determination of guilt made. Emotional upset may play into the survivor's statement, but it's been 8 years, so I have to call for a more reasoned thought process at this point.

Not to over work the irony, but the fact that I, an atheist, have more faith in the people of the US and the Constitution than the political party that represents itself to be the party of faith certainly qualifies.

Before Pops thinks I'm attacking him at all here, let me conclude by stating I know he's not an adherent of this aspect of the GOP. No doubt Libertarians throughout the land, if they're truly Libertarians, are trying to figure out how to take their party back from the religious zealots and political fear mongers who have the helm now. I wish them luck.

Punisher #11 – Franken Castle - A Review

Punisher #11

Publisher Marvel

Writer Rick Remender

Art Tony Moore

Colors Dan Brown

Format $2.99, 23 pages of story and art

Normally I don’t like doing a review unless I have enough to say about to fill up a few paragraphs. Also I don’t like to just go out and do negative reviews, because it is very easy to criticize creative work and especially super hero comics because by their very nature they have outlandish ideas at their core and you can tear those things about like it was tracing paper.

Rick Remender has been a favorite writer of mine. I have been anxiously awaiting the last chapter of Gigantic; I have followed Fear Agent and hope that one day they will do a hard cover collection of that series. His first 10 issues of this series were okay, the first arc was very good and the second arc was okay. The Doctor Voodoo series has my interest and has potential to be very good. I can guarantee you that many people will love this arc and be laughing their asses off as they read it and I probably should do that also, but I won’t.

I love having fun with characters and having humor in many books is a good thing. Hercules from Marvel does a great job with humor and Power Girl from DC is a book where humor is sprinkled throughout the book and it works well. Even books like the Giffen/Dematteis JLA did a good job with humor. Humor can be found in all sorts of books and situations and you can have a funny page on page one and a serious encounter by page three and it can work, but it has to be within the context of the character and still show the character some respect.

The FrankenCastle story is a joke, but it is on us. The Punisher at its core is an over the top concept, but you have to approach the character with some respect. Frank is human and does what he does because he believes that killing the bad guys is the only way to stop them. Given what happened to him we can at a minimum understand why he believes what he does is right. Maybe we also have a secret fantasy that his way is the right way because we see miscarriages of justice occur in our legal system and want to forget that we rather err on the side of caution to protect people then kill everyone and let God sort it out.

This issue Rick Remender has turned Frank Castle into the Frankenstein Monster and it is a comedy. At the core of the story the idea that all the Marvel Monsters have had to retreat to an island and are now fighting for their lives is pretty amusing. Having Frank being rebuilt into a Frankenstein Monster is amusing. As a side story or a one-shot not tied into any continuity it is an amusing piece with some terrific artwork by the talented Tony Moore. As part of a regular series where we are suppose to buy off on this being part of Frank Castle’s continuity it is a crock of sh*t. Pure unmitigated crap.

The character of Frank Castle was supposed to be baseline human. He is one of the few non-powered types roaming the halls of the MU. He was chopped up into many pieces, his head taken off, his arms and legs cut off into multiple pieces. In this issue the molvoids gather up his pieces and cart him off to Monster Island. There a haggard Morbius puts him back together and he is for all intents and purposes the Frankenstein Monster.

In reading the book we are having some fun with Morbius, Werewolf by Night, the Living Mummy and putting the old Legion of Monsters together using Frank as Frankenstein. I get it, but the writer and the editor did not get it. This makes a mockery of the character Frank Castle. He is now a punch line. Instead of a cold harden killer of bad guys, he is a freak of nature and a walking joke in search of villagers to scare off. Even when they fix him and bring him back to normal, he no longer has the ability to be killed and therefore he is no longer human. Even though logically I know they will never kill the character, taking away his humanity changes the essential nature of the character. I’m dropping this book. I will continue to buy Punisher Max, but this Frank is now dead to me, if not to anyone else.

Apparently I had more to say then I thought.

Grade F – Disrespecting the character is always a losing proposition in my book.

Invincible #68 – A Review

Invincible #68

Publisher Image

Writer Robert Kirkman

Pencils Ryan Ottley

Inks Cliff Rathburn

Colors FCO Plascencia

Format $2.99, 20 Pages of Story and Art

Kirkman has been on such a great roll with this book that almost every issue is a gem. I had fallen in love with this book during about the third year of its run and was constantly singing the praises of the book. The character was actually growing up and the story was moving forward, things happened and had repercussions down the line. It was a current day version of what Marvel comics was doing when it started, only with a modern edge to it. Then the book hit a lull and I followed it, but no longer with lust in my heart. Now when I see this book is on the list for books coming up Wednesday a smile creeps across my face as I know we will get a great story and more then my money’s worth. This issue is no exception and once again just a great issue.

In order to understand one of my main reasons for liking this book is we only have to start with the first page. We see Invincible trying to clean up some site that was destroyed when his doppelgangers wrecked a lot of the planet. He has braces on various body parts, which are obviously casts for a super hero as he is still recovering from his battle with Conquest. Everything that had happened in the last eight issues or so, were being reflected in the splash panel opening the book.

Invincible is them attacked by Dinosaurus, a talking thinking Dinosaur creature, that we find out is just a teen-age kid who claims he is not controlling the transformations. The character is at once ridiculous and also a cool little one off menace. In a short four page fight Kirkman gives us a character we could see again and he could be a bad or good guy. What he did was show was Mark (Invincible) Grayson’s dark side as Mark was contemplating killing Dinosaurus when he was human.

From there we see Mark suffering through meeting Eve’s parents. Those scenes were great human interest pieces filled with humor and show the growing relationship with Mark and Eve. We see Mark and Eve out selling Invincible as a service so Mark can make money on his own now that he is no longer government funded. We also get some interaction with Oliver and we see where the rapid aging appears to be continuing. These moments and character building scenes are what help make this characters real to the reader and not just some two dimensional object.

Next we see Conquest escape from the prison that Cecil had built for him. I loved seeing that scene. No long drawn out idea of if and/or when will he escape. Conquest wakes up, is disappointment that Mark did not kill him and shrugs off Cecil inescapable prison hardly breaking a sweat. Cecil will have to tell Mark that conquest was not dead and now deal with the consequences of his actions. Mark will have to face the man who almost killed him and Eve.

Last and not least we get a really shocking ending because we find out …………… Well I’m not telling, but once again another next left turn when I was expecting a straightaway.

The regular art team is back and no worse for the wear. I was worried that Ryan working on Haunt also might impact the quality of his work. There was no loss in quality and in fact some camera angles looked more innovative then ever. I marvel at the fact that Ottley and Rathburn have been hitting their schedules like clockwork and it seems that every other artist in the business struggles to do a single monthly book anymore. From fighting Dinosaurus to fighting boredom at the dinner table the art flows smoothly from page to page and never fails to deliver.

The net result is we get a book that what happened in last issue is important to this issue and feeds into the next issue. Mark’s life continues to move forward and he learns as he goes. In ten years Mark may only age five years, but he won’t be repeating his life in an endless loop like so many Marvel and DC heroes are forced to do.

Overall Grade A- Invincible is one of the best super hero books on the market and continues to be some of Kirkman’s best work. Ryan Ottley and Cliff Rathburn continue to turn up the volume on their work and give us more and more each issue.

Marvel Preview Review for January 2010 Part 1 of 3

Lee: Another month, another rant about Marvel. This month, besides the newest super-event, is the quantity of blood on the covers. It seems Marvel decided to stop showing boobs and went for blood. I never thought the day would come when I would actually miss the boobs and slutty swim suit costumes.
Jim: It should be interesting to see how stuff plays out. Marvel has relied on event after event after event and I think has burnt out some of their fanbase. Yet Blackest Night from DC is scoring them some gains in the market share so will Marvel be able to out event them or finally try and just do good stories for each comic.

FANTASTIC FOUR #575 MARVEL WOMEN VARIANT
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Penciled by DALE EAGLESHAM
Marvel Women Variant by JELENA KEVIC-DJURDJEVIC
Jim: Look Sue Storm is giving us the finger. This is just such a pathetic sales grab from Marvel. I'm so tired of every company doing variants.
Lee: Variants are the new way of life. And I'm not sure the speculation market is going to pop like it did in the 90's. There are fewer collectors than ever so this type of material may be here for a long time to come.

SIEGE: EMBEDDED #1 (of 4)
Written by BRIAN REED
Penciled by CHRIS SAMNEE
Cover by ADI GRANOVSIEGE
BLOCKBUSTER TIE-IN!! The SIEGE of Asgard has begun! And Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers are leading the charge! Osborn's savvy use of the media fueled his rise to power – but the very tools he’s been using may turn against him. It’s time to expose Norman’s true face to the world and uncover the secrets behind the attack on the gods! Witness the changing of the Marvel Universe firsthand! 32 PGS./$3.99
Lee: YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Heroes with blood dripping down their faces. This is just offensive. At this rate, my children will never read Marvel comics.
Jim: That is beyond bad, I'm not even sure of what the point of it is. I was trying to discern some reason from the solicitation copy, but I've got nothing.

SIEGE #1 (of 4)
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by OLIVIER COIPEL
Beginning with the ravaging affects of Avengers Disassembled and following the aftermaths of House of M, Civil War and Secret Invasion, culminating with the evil Reign of Norman Osborn, the Marvel Universe has been left with its greatest villains holding more power and control than ever before. On the brink of madness, Osborn, in his final bid to take total control, targets the final obstacle in his mission…Asgard. Events are set in motion forcing our heroes to put aside the deep rifts that have grown over the past seven years. Opposing them stand a horde of evil that has begun to take down the gods of the Golden Realm! SIEGE will rock the foundations of every super hero, villain and team in the Marvel Universe. As an era ends, one word will ring above all others…”SIEGE.” 40 PGS./$3.99
Lee: I know I sound like a cd with a scratch but I’m seriously sick of one event rolling right over into the next event. I really don’t care. The covers are exactly the same as Civil War with the big slash. The hype is exactly the same if you change the word ‘siege’ to ‘dark reign’ or ‘house of m’ or whatever. At least it’s only crossing into 5 other books right now, but I know that number will grow too.
Jim: Also I think people are finally catching onto the fact that nothing really is changing with the characters. Stan Lee is suppose to have said "no more change" once Marvel reached number one and he said only the illusion of change. Joe Q. must have realized that something needed to change, so he changed the landscape and backgrounds for the characters but left everything else the same. I think Bendis and Joe Q. have built a more unified universe again, but now are event dependent and it is burning out their fanbase.

CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #6 (of 6)
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils & Wraparound Cover by BRYAN HITCH
The story so big we needed another issue to finish it! The return of Captain America! The fight for the body and soul and mind of Steve Rogers! Avengers versus the Red Skull and his cronies! The biggest finale of the year is finally here! Brought to you by Ed Brubaker, Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice! 32 PGS./Rated T+ $3.99
Jim: So a big five part event and a epilogue issue were not enough the series really needed six issues. Flash Rebirth did the same thing. So Brubaker and Johns, some of the best writers in the business could not properly plot out these books or is this a total sales gimmick?
Lee: What you said. But, the real question is why do you support it if it upsets you so?

DAFFODIL #1 (of 3)
Written by BRREMAUD
Penciled & cover by RIGANO
Addio-Colonnello is a distant town, a port beyond the oceans, many moons away from our Bohemian lands. Tragedy strikes when Nosferatu launches his assault, commanding his legion of vampires to descend upon this town. This is how the Lords of the Vampire Parliament make their point. The mission of Daffodil, Globuline and Achilles, three beautiful agents of the very same Vampire Parliament, is apprehend Nosferatu and uncover the motive for his crime. 48 PGS./$5.99
Lee: Strange cartoony art with what appears to be a serious story. I love the fact European comics can pull this dichotomy off. The Soliel line is very solid and this is another book I am looking forward too. Even at the ridiculous price point.
Jim: I'm starting to think the better way to go with the Soliel line is to get the hardcover or trade.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #619
Written by DAN SLOTT
Pencils & Cover by MARCOS MARTIN
SPIDER-MAN versus MYSTERIO! How long can Mysterio play with Spidey's head before the web-slinger finally snaps?! The mind games keep ratcheting up as the body count goes up, down, and...into the negatives? Some bad guys just won't die and others can't stay dead! So which long-thought deceased Spider-Man character is back now?! It may only be January, but get ready for the most unbelievable Spider-Man moment of the year! 32 PGS./$2.99
Lee: More buckets of blood. Now I can’t decide if this is a homage to the Carrie movies or just some twisted re-interpretation of the classic Ditko water covers.
Jim: Wow, Lee is right, it is gore month at Marvel. Is the thought process, "Let's take our heroes and drown them in gore covered covers, that should jack up sales?"

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: JACKPOT #1 (of 3)
Written by MARC GUGGENHEIM
Penciled by ADRIANA MELO & Cover by DAVID YARDIN
From the pages of Amazing Spider-Man! The last Jackpot died in combat alongside Spider-Man – so who is the New Jackpot putting fear into the hearts of street criminals? Why has BOOMERANG targeted her for death? And how is THE ROSE involved? Find out this January as founding Web-head Marc Guggenheim returns to the Spider-Verse alongside rising star ADRIANA MELO (MS. MARVEL) to bring the next great marvel heroine, Jackpot! 32 PGS./$3.99
Lee: What can I say? I like the costume. Especially, the thigh utility belt made famous by Liefeld. Nothing screams classic character like a big, belt full ‘gernades or batarangs or whatever strapped to your thigh.
Jim: What annoys me is the this is just an endless riff on what Mary Jane once said to Peter, Let's face it tiger, you hit the jackpot. Feels lame.

PART 2 Tomorrow.

Best and Worst of Last Week

This week-end was busy as both of my daughters flew in for my Dad’s 90th birthday and Gwen and I did the Cosmic Comics Conversation. With that schedule I was surprised that I got around to reading everything and even was motivated to write as much as I did. This was a great week of books with a lot of great talent. I hope to start doing some end of year type posts that highlight some of the stuff I loved the most in 2009.

THE BEST

Batman Doc Savage Special #1- Writer Brian Azzarello, Art Phil Noto. I loved this book; there I destroyed any mystery surrounding what I thought about the book. For the record when I read other reviews I like to be able to just see a rating so I know what they thought. I try to always include one at the end and you can scroll down and see what I thought with a letter grade. Then if you didn’t want any spoilers you are safe. The on-line reviewers I avoid are those who eschew the idea of giving a 4 star or 9 out of 10 or what ever type rating. I understand the philosophy behind that idea, but think it screams you are worried people won’t read you whole review if you give a quick thumbs up or down. My thought is let the reader decide how much information they want.
What made me love this book is the entire mixture of this strange and concocted brew of a world that Brian Azzarello has created. I’m glad DC is flexible enough to let Brian have his own little universe and go crazy with it. This issue focuses on Batman and Doc Savage, but the next mini-series to come, called First Wave, will have Black Canary, Rima the Jungle Girl, The Blackhawks, The Avenger, The Spirit and a worldwide criminal organization call The Golden Tree. This book has me dying to see the next issue, but we have to wait a few months.
Brian’s universe is a mixture of the modern and the past, with an art deco Mister X type of feel to it. We have cell phones and Zeppelins, it feels like the Golden Age has been moved into the 21st century, but we never evolved past certain things. It sounds mad as hell, but it works and gives the book a setting that is unlike anything else we have currently on the stands. It also make Doc Savage feel more like he belongs. See my full review here.

Ghoul #1- Writer Steve Niles, Art Bernie Wrightson, Colors Tom Smith. Niles and Wrightson are becoming the team supreme for me in a genre that is more or less uniquely Niles’ own. I call it Noir Horror for lack of a better term. Niles has done a lot with Cal McDonald and his Zombie manservant; we had Dead She Said, with this same team and now the Ghoul. The Ghoul is a hulking eight foot tall mass of gray skinned humanity who has been the FBI’s secret weapon in the war against the supernatural and the bizarre. In this story we have Detective Klimpt who is in need of special expertise to try and solve a case and they send in the Ghoul. Klimpt is not prepared for this monstrosity, who is also an educated and occasionally sarcastic and humorous creature. Steve sets the groundwork and gives a great introduction to our two main characters as well as establishes the mystery they are looking to unravel. Then he does a left turn as we find out the Ghoul is in LA to run an errand while helping Klimpt, he needs to kill a couple hundred demons set to be released in LA. While the story and art were only 16 pages, which made me cry a little, the prose story in the back about the Ghoul was great. The prose story gave us a lot of insight into the character and filled in his background, making the front story even better. Bernie Wrightson was created to draw this type of material. His realistic and dark style with heavy shadows and dark lines, wonderful page design, great body language, facial expressions and all the rest make each page a masterpiece. Bernie is truly one of a kind and a master of his craft. Tom Smith with his colors enhances the work and sets the mood and lighting perfectly. I can’t wait for issue #2.

Batman and Robin #6 – Writer Grant Morrison, Pencils Philip Tan, Inks Janathan Glapion, Colors Alex Sinclair. I love the pace of this series. Grant never lets up in this book. We are only six issues into this book and more has happened in this series then most series have occurring over 24 issues. The Flamingo is the most flamboyant bad guy ever created and with his over the top costume you would not even think he was dangerous, but he puts down the Red Hood and Scarlett without breaking a sweat. Batman and Robin also jump into the fray and a battle royal ensues. The net result is the Flamingo may have been killed by Jason, but Jason is taken in custody by the police, Scarlett appears to have escaped the life of costumed hero/villain and Robin lies perhaps paralyzed after taking five shots in the back. More mystery is laid out regarding the Gravedigger and we see Dick go into a secret vault that contains Bruce (Batman) Wayne or what? Morrison usually has issue in writing an episodic comic and when I read them as a whole they are better then the individual issues, but this series has been great issue by issue and I can’t wait to one day read this stuff as a whole. Tan, Glapion and Sinclair’a art gives us a dark looking book, that was at times a little too dark and a little muddy, but had such power and dynamism to it that it was another artistic gem as well as a great story.

Jersey Gods #9 – Writer Glen Brunswick, Art Dan McDaid, Colors Rachelle Rosenberg. This book continues to be one of my favorites and has been part of a wave of great books coming out of Image. We have had Jersey Gods, Chew and Cowboy Ninja Vikings all coming from Image this year. Jersey Gods is always such an impassioned book, the story and art are both just dripping with the enthusiasm of the creators. In this issue we get into some pretty deep ideas and story points about Barock and his family, Helius and his story of how he became a father, Rushmore getting blind sided. At the same time they inject some nice humor into the book with a great scene with Zoe and her boss. While the obvious Kirby influence is in the book from both New Gods and Young Romance, the book has become its own genre in a way. This is a modern mythology and mythology often includes the gods looking to marry mortals. The story is told from a 21st century perspective and throws out characters which appear to be stereotypical. As the story progresses your assumptions of what appear to be stereotypical characters is shattered as we learn they have far more depth then you would have believed in the beginning. Also like real life in the midst of high drama and even shocking events there can be things which are light hearted and even amusing at times.

JSA Vs Kobra #6 (of 6) – Writer Eric Trautmann, Pencils Don Kramer, Inks Michael Babinski, Colors Art Lyon. This was a solid series and a great follow-up to what has been happening with Kobra. Eric Trautmann is a rising star at DC and this series showed his command of both the Checkmate type of material and the JSA type of material. Of course having Don Kramer and Mike Babinski supplying the art did not hurt. I wish I could afford that double page spread on pages 2-3 of the JSA by that art team. I also wish that we had a regular monthly series as an outlet for this material as the mixture of Checkmate, JSA and Kobra’s attack on the world worked great in this book. Also in this series Mr. Terrific is still alive and I have to hope he is revived or not really dead in the JSA as he is one of my favorite characters in the DCU. Mr. Terrific has actually had a lot of character growth over the years after just being introduced as the new Mr. Terrific. In fact I believe Mr. Terrific could support his own series or at least be a better choice then Magog or Azrael being given an unlimited series to run with. Finally I enjoyed how Kobra (Jason Burr) won at least 50% of this attack. The villain that loses all the time loses the sense of menace that a good villain should bring, having Kobra win parts of this attack make him more dangerous.

THE WORST

Daredevil #502 – Master Izo is alive and well and Daredevil and Tarantula took his body to a separate room to hide him from the hand. The whole thing just killed this book right away. The idea that Daredevil is running the Hand was interesting. The test they made him take, killing Izo, was also a good dilemma. The solution and way out of the box, worthy of writing that belongs in the seventies. We are supposed to believe that the Hand will just take Daredevil’s word for Izo being dead? Aren’t they going to ask what happened to his body now that he was revived and sent away? Now the story will be about Matt using the hand and going too far and some confrontation with Lady Bullseye and Kingpin down the road as Fisk is rebuilding his empire. Come on Mr. Diggle you can do better then keeping Daredevil stuck in the same Frank Miller cycle everyone else has. I will give Diggle some rope as I like him, but this just feels too much like material we have seen before, with the added twist the DD is leading the Hand. I was totally taken out of the book by the lame way Izo was saved and that the Hand is that stupid as to not check that he is dead.

QUICK HITS

Batman #693 - Tony Daniel (writer and pencils) is trying to tell an ambitious story and has spread his net wide with a huge cast being jammed into one book. We have Black Mask, Edward Nigma, Barbra Gordon, Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Robin, Alfred, Hush as Bruce Wayne, Huntress and more and oh yeah Batman. In the hands of the most skilled writer it would tough to get a coherent story and Tony is not yet that highly skilled writer. Also some of his fight scenes in the beginning were poorly laid out and looked disjointed. I see tons of ideas and great potential with Tony’s work, but maybe a layout artist and a co-writer could make this book shine as opposed to be what it is now, which is just an okay and oft times confusing story.

Booster Gold #26 – The Blackest Night is doing a great job of entering into various book story lines and adding something to the series it is impacting as opposed to being a distraction. Of course in this book we get Ted (Blue Beetle) Kord as a Black Lantern and this impacts Booster and the current Blue Beetle, a solid issue.

Echo #16 – Every issue of this book has been a great chapter. I feel like I’m getting to know Julie Martin just as she is starting to worry she is losing herself to Annie, the woman in the suit. Truly a graphic novel being released a chapter at a time and Terry Moore is doing his best work right now with this book. A top ten series for me in 2009.

Green Lantern Corps #42 – Are you meeping kidding me Kyle Rayner is dead? I mean it was a noble type of sacrifice and all, but Kyle dead? Blackest Night is really playing around with the concept of death, so I’m not sure who is dead for good or not in the DCU anymore and I think that is part of the overall story that Johns is playing with as a theme. Peter Tomasi is the perfect compliment to Johns writing and is doing a bang up job on this book. Regardless of the high quality of the work on this book, I do not want Kyle to be dead, he is too good of a character to lose.

Locke and Key Crown of Shadows #1 (of 6) - We are starting the third mini-series in what is becoming a great epic tale. In some ways I think they should do the numbering more like BPRD, where every mini-series has its own numbering but inside it states it is number 47 or whatever of the entire series. The ghost of Sam and Duncan fight it out this issue and we are given a revelation about the nature of Duncan and a hint that he is a puppet for something else. Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriquez have me in for the long haul; I just wish I knew how long that haul is, as the story does need to have an end point.

PunisherMax #1- Writer Jason Aaron, Art Steve Dillon, Colors Matt Hollingsworth. Let’s start with the art for this book. I have missed Steve Dillon’s art and remember last following it on Wolverine Origins. Steve has a nice realistic style that at times is a little on the static side of things. This tends to make his work fit material like Preacher and the Punisher much better the long underwear set. From over the top graphic violence to the subtleties of facial expressions displaying characters’ emotions Dillon is a master craftsman in his field. His page layouts and designs help to make any story flow. I don’t believe I have ever seen bad work from Steve, it is always top notch and a pleasure to look at and this is his type of story. Matt Hollingsworth on colors is also pretty much a mortal lock on quality. In this book he trends closer to a super hero palette, but never gets into the bold bright style of that genre. Matt’s work enhances Dillon’s art and is so good that it all seems exactly like it should be. The story itself was also fascinating and Jason Aaron is certainly known for being able to generate a hard edge into his scripts and a little maniac and madness when needed. The one thing that continued to perplex me and pulled me out of the story too often was the timeline. I know Punisher Max is not part of the regular MU, but I thought Jason wanted to bring it closer then what Garth Ennis was doing. Garth’s Punisher felt old and very world weary, continuing to fight his war because there was nothing else left for him. His world consisted of only humans; the super human was not in this universe. The MU Punisher is young by comparison and feels like he is still committed to avenging his family by whatever means it takes. See my full review here.

Realm of Kings Imperial Guard #1 (of 5) – This was an odd book to start the Realm of Kings with, but still it was an enjoyable adventure of the Imperial Guard now charged with following their own team mate as the Majestor. I also enjoy that Cecil and Beanie live on as Imperial Guardsmen and I’m sure I’m one of the few who remember that cartoon, but click on the hyperlink and you’ll see the characters who were transformed into guardsmen. I also thought at $4 a pop we could have gotten to the actual mission this mini-series will focus on a little faster.

Rebels #10 – A very cool issue as Blackest Night impacts this series. We get a nice summary of the history of Viril Dox and see Stealth become a Black Lantern. The regular storyline moves ahead as Dox’s son is captured and joins with Starro. A high energy book that is fast moving and has a complex plot but it reads very well and is one of the best newer series from DC. Dox getting a yellow ring to become part of the Sinestro Corps was also a very nice cliff hanger ending.

Red Robin #6 – This is a decent series, but Chris Yost relies on jumping around in time lines in every issue and he has still not mastered that style. Just tell a straight story from beginning to end for once. Yost is good, but he still has a ways to go to be a top writer in my view.

Supergod #1 (of 5) – Since Ellis starts this story at the end of the story everyone is already dead. It is an interesting idea that all of these different countries were trying to create super heroes and nothing went as planned. I did enjoy the political shot Ellis took at Pakistan. Overall a decent start with potential to get better.

Walking Dead #67 – A slower paced chapter where we see Rick and Carl talk about their revelations. We also got a hard left turn as the “scientist” is revealed as a science teacher with no idea if Washington DC is still alive and well, he was lying to have others take care of him.

The Quick Hits title is a little bit of a misnomer this week as a few of the books in that category I got a little wordy on. It’s funny with the way I try to do commentary on current books because between full blown reviews, preview reviews, this column and the twitter updates I always have an opinion on a book. While I did not highlight the death of Kyle Rayner is a continuation of DC running their big three third generations into the ground with Wally West, Kyle Rayner and Connor Hawke going from being headliners with their own series to being made into “C” or even “D” list characters. I hope Kyle survives somehow.

What I’m Getting Wednesday November 18

I think that this new format is going to work out, but I still feel a little daunted by the task as I had become very comfortable with the old format. The pattern was a commentary, list most anticipated, then the rest and an exit paragraph or remark. The conversational style that I’m looking for is more free spirited and forces me to abandon that type of rigid structure, but I hope it also forces me to find a different way to talk about the coming week.

DC is always a big part of my list and this week is no different, but often a portion of that list comes from Vertigo and Wildstorm, this week only three books from those sub categories is hitting, Hellblazer #261 from Vertigo,Victorian Undead #1 (of 6) and Authority the Lost Year #3 (of 12) from Wildstorm. Originally I had planned to pass on Victorian Undead but Ian Edginton is a good writer and the premise is wonderfully simple one with Sherlock Holmes trying to solve the mystery of why the dead are coming to life. If it had been a huge week I may have skipped it, but the Zombie thing continues to attract my intention in comics, although almost never in movies.

Batman is so dominate in the DCU that almost every week has at least three books or more that are Batman related. This week is no different with Batman Confidential #37, Batman The Streets of Gotham #6, Batman the Unseen #4 (of 5), Outsiders #24 (Blackest Night), Superman Batman #66 (Blackest Night) and Brave and Bold #29. That is six titles that have either a direct or very strong tie to the Batman universe. Oddly enough I do not feel the character is overexposed due to the way he is used and since Dick Grayson is now Batman in current continuity. I love the Blackest Night stuff, but of this grouping I have to say that Brave and Bold is the one for me this week. I love JMS as a writer, Jesus Saiz has been knocking it out of the park with his art, but this issue we get Brother Power the Geek. This series from DC that lasted two issues in the late sixties was the weirdest thing ever. He was created by Joe Simon to ostensibly be a modern age Frankenstein Monster and philosopher. Brother Power has hardly ever been seen since, so it could be very interesting. I read somewhere that Joe Simon prefers to never talk about the character.

We round out the rest of DC with Adventure Comics #4 (Blackest Night), Justice Society of America 80 Page Giant, Supergirl #47 and Flash Rebirth #5 (of 6). I want to like Flash Rebirth, but the slow publishing schedule and the fact that Barry is well integrated into the DCU with Blackest Night has taken the edge of what this series may be giving us. Ultimately it is written by Geoff Johns and while GL Rebirth was not perfect it set up where Johns has taken Hal and GL Corps ever since. That has been a fantastic ride, so Johns has built up a ton of good will with me.


Jumping into the other category of books we have the smash hit book of a few weeks ago coming out with it next issue, Cowboy Ninja Viking #2. I loved the first issue and thought it was a madcap romp that did a great job of playing with absurd concepts and characters and reining it in enough to make it work. I think that is a hard damn road to travel so I hope this issue can live up to the expectations I now have for this series. Also from the people at Image is Invincible #68, always a good book and Underground #3 (of 5).

The only other indy titles are from my friends at Boom Studios. I have to say that I was harping on the quality of this company since very early on and these guys are growing slow and steady. I think they are posed to be another IDW type of publisher and will vie with Dark Horse one day to be the number three publisher. Dark Horse, IDW and Boom all have terrific game plans and seem to know how to mix license deals with there own material. This week from Boom is Farscape #1, now an ongoing series that is chronicling the continuing adventures of Moya’s crew and doing it in fine fashion. Also from Boom is Irredeemable #8, I want the pace of this book to pick up, but at the same time I’m enjoying every issue of this series. Irredeemable has to be a top ten series for 2009.

Rounding out my week is Marvel with Dark Avengers #11, Dark Reign The List Amazing Spider-Man, Mighty Avengers #31, Nomad Girl Without a World #3 (of 4), Spider-Woman #3 and Thunderbolts #138. Thunderbolts is the series that I cancel and then add back on my list more then any other book. I had dropped it, then picked up last issue and was ready to drop it again when I saw the new writer was going to be Jeff Parker. I enjoy his work on both the original X-Men First Class stuff and Agents of Atlas, so now I’m back to trying out Thunderbolts yet again.

We also have the Realm of Kings #1, Realm of Kings Inhumans #1 (of 5) and the War of Kings HC. I was going to pass on this hardcover as it came out too quickly after the series for my taste. I realized how much I enjoyed it and the Realm of Kings is the direct sequel so I decided to get it while I was thinking about it. Abnett and Lanning have been doing great work for years and have found a nice corner of the MU to play with. The Realm of Kings #1 is setting the stage for a few mini-series exploring what the cosmic side of the MU looks like in the aftermath of the War of Kings.

Last and possibly least is Punisher #11. We are starting the Frank-en-Castle story arc. When last we saw Frank Castle, Daken had carved him up into pieces of meat the size of decent size hams. He was in at least 20 or so pieces. As the cover shows he is now revived and been stitched up into a version of Frankenstein’s Monster, hence the clever title. My problem with this is that Frank is a human being. Sure a driven human with levels of endurance and strength that is pushing past the top of the charts, but still human. He was dead, really, really dead and bringing human characters back to life in these unbelievable comic book ways somehow lessen the human characters more then the super human ones in my mind.

That’s it for what I’m getting this Wednesday, we will do this again next week.

Dynamo 5, the Hoped for Return

Due to a glitch - this was accidentily posted for a little while last week and was meant for today!

With Dynamo 5 going on its hopefully brief hiatus, I figured I'd re-read the entire 25 1/2 issues, plus the annual, to see if it held up in a more or less single read as well as it did in my memory. Fortunately, it did.

Regular readers will have heard Pops sing the praises of Dynamo 5 on occasion, but really, it's one of the best team superhero books created. Right off the initial premise it was something different. The Fantastic Four was the first of the family as team books, and obviously the most successful, but no one has really expanded on that idea over the years. Sure, lots of characters have various family members end up with powers of their own, whether it's Bruce Banner's cousin, Barry Allen's nephew (by marriage), or even Reed and Sue Richards's kids (though I haven't read the FF in awhile and don't know if the kids have powers these days). Sometimes the original and the relative will work together, and sometimes they'll even be on a team together, like in the JSA, but they don't form the entirety of the team. There's always more unrelated than related people on the team.

When Jay Faerber and Mahmud Asrar created Dynamo 5, the former writing and the latter drawing and inking, they created a whole new family dynamic and a whole new superhero team dynamic. Five of the who knows how many bastard children of the dead Captain Dynamo, a middle aged superhero with libido issues commensurate with his power levels, are a great set-up for many, many years of great stories, and I can only hope that hte almost three years that we have are not the end of the line.

Here's the basic set up. Captain Dynamo got his powers from a radiation accident, a la Daredevil, but with powers more akin to Superman. Strength, flight, speed, force beams and other vision abilities, and the wildcard of shape shifting, limited to human forms. He married a newspaper reporter, too, though unlike Lois Lane, his wife is just a reporter as a cover for her actual occupation as a secret agent for a governmental security agency, akin to the FBI. They spend many years together, and she's retired by the time the book starts. In fact, he's dead by the time the book starts, killed while engaged in a tryst with what turns out to be a superassassin. This demise, combined with widow Maddie Warner's discovery of Captain Dynamo's little black book, results in her locating 5 kids, who range from high school to college graduate in age, who are most likely children of her late husband, with whom she had no children. A brief gathering and dose of the same radiation that gave Captain Dynamo his powers, and the 5 half siblings each have one aspect of their late, unknown father's powers.

From there it's learning to work together as a team and coming to grips with an entirely new family dynamic. Faerber's choice of Dynamo as the nom du guerre for his patriarchal progenitor was, I expect, no accident. The series is all about dynamics, after all. Of course, any good team book is. Sure, the battles against various enemies is a prime element in group superhero stories, and there are plenty of those here, but a good group story has to be about how the members of the group interact. Faerber does that par exsalonce.

That should come as no surprise to anyone who read his previous series, Noble Causes. That too was a family as superheroes book, but he played that one more straight in that the family members were a husband and wife and their children. It was also different in that it played off the soap opera nature of so many superhero books, what with the black sheep child who was/wasn't a bastard child of the wife, the back from the dead in a robot body child, and the opposite number evil family that were their main opponents. Often times there wasn't much super action involved in the sense of the straightforward fighting of people trying to commit crimes so much as internicine battles between Nobles, all told largely through the perspective of the normal human who marries into the family. Faerber even took a big leaping twist into alternate universes, a long time stock item of DC and Marvel taken to a different extreme, somewhat akin to Krikman's use of the concept in Invincible. Sadly, Faerber ended that series not too long ago, saying he didn't have any more ideas to explore with it. A shame, and something I'll look at in more depth some time in the future.

Back to Dynamo 5. I'm happy to see that Faerber intends to keep going with Dynamo 5 and hope there won't be much delay on it. He says that he wants to give a new, as yet unanounced artist time to work ahead so that a monthly schedule is more feasible. I hope that's really all there is to this end of Dynamo 5. So far Faerber has grown his characters fluidly and with an internal logic that's hard to come by in the superhero world. The 5 kids have grown into their roles, and at the end of th run are thrown a curve ball of adapting to a shuffling of the powers between them by a very nice deus ex machina, I might add. Along the way the group had a brief break-up and a substitute goup using the same name took to the streets to protect their home base of Tower City. Some of the group's families who raised them know of the Captain Dynamo connection, but others do not. One has to deal with the specter of infidelity, though the possibility that Captain Dynamo masqueraded as the cuckolded spouse provides some comfort.

Captain Dynamo may well be the most dynamic dead character ever to appear in a comic. He doesn't come back from the dead, either. At least not so far. Nonetheless, he looms large throughout the series, for his actions as a cad as well as his actions as a hero. The annual does an excellent job of exploring a lot of that aspect, but it's nonetheless significant in the regular series. In fact, as a stand alone, the annual serves as great reading unto itself, even without reading any of the rest of the series.

But it hasn't just been those 5 who have been well developed. Maddie Warner, the matriarch of the group, has also grown siginificantly, including one issue entirely devoted to her back story and complicated relationship not just with Captain Dynamo but also with her deeply embittered one time fiance. We've also learned that Maddie's prior relationship resluted in a child who shares his father's bitterness toward Maddie, and that Captain Dynamo sired another child with his own arch villain, but that child has all of his powers but is, not surprisingly, quite confused about her role in life, having been raised by both a hero and a villain. Even the more minor series characters such as Maddie's former partner with FLAG (the FBI stand-in agency) and his prissy but subversive boss are given a lot of substance.

While many of the group's foes are more about their powers than their personalities, there's quite a lot of hinting at substance and depth there as well. The assassin who took out Captain Dynamo returns with a new employer targeting Dynamo 5. Even the home base of Tower City has a personality of its own, akin to the role that Gotham City plays for Batman or Hub City for The Question. Suffice it to say, the return of Dynamo 5 will be welcomed by me, and I hope its audience will expand with a monthly publishing schedule.

Ex Occultus & Indego Blue - Reviews

Small press publisher St James Comics asked us to take a look at a couple of their books. To that end I've read Ex Occultus: Badge of Langavat and Indego Blue #1. Both are written by Robert James Russell. These aren't corporate behemoths trying to trick you into buying a bunch of tie in crap to some allegedly universe changing story that invariably results in no more than the status quo or some cosmetic changes that are soon ignored when a new writer joins the fray.

On the other hand, they're largely what would have been fan publication in days gone by. They show the importance of a good editor in bringing a polished, well finished work to light. I like small press and hope they do well, but if they want to last long, they've got to put some more into the work.

I'll start with Ex Occultus: Badge of Langavat, which came out over the summer. This is a black and white book, and fairly well drawn for most of the story, but there seems to be something of a fascination with feet and hands close up shots. By my count there were about 8-9 instances of close shots on either feet or hands. Sometimes, especially at the beginning, this was used to suggest long periods of walking, but other times it was just sort of there. Like a lot of new artists, Sandra Lanz does better with the stills than with the action. There's good detail work throughout but when it comes to movement, there's a lot of awkward positioning and stiff feeling to it. It feels like a young artist who needs a bit of polish. As the story progressed, I don't think the art was always showing what was going on, and as the writing didn't over do the verbiage, I sometimes lost the flow of what was happening.

As far as the writing, there was a lack of explanation in the story. Now, I don't want a heavy paragraph of explanatory exposition, either from a character or as a side bar, but I think a more practiced writer would fluidly bring out the elements of the story using both words and pictures. A prime example of how the comic was missing in its background is a page that comes after the story that is supposed to flesh out some of the terms. Because this isn't a scholarly treatise's end notes, if this device was going to be employed, it should at least be at the front end of the story, giving the reader a heads up. Even with this explanation, I really had no idea who our two protaganists were or what they were about. One was a Scot in a kilt with a full beard and the other was not. The story is set in Scotland in 1864, but that's the only set up you get when you start reading. The two are trying to rescue some children who have been kidnapped. The villagers who witnessed the kidnapping say the kidnappers were lupine. Ok, seems like a werewolf story to me. That could be good. This bit of background all comes from the guy in the kilt talking to the other guy. Apparently the other guy came to help his kilt clad buddy without any idea what the mission was.

This is a very different werewolf story, though. That should be good, too, but it so contradicts the more familiar werewolf story lore, and sometimes just has extraneous differences that have no impact in the story, that I really felt like I only got part of the idea the writer had in his head. For instance, these werewolves are dead. Not in the "now they're harmless" sense but in the zombie sort of incarnation. This is interesting, but they act just like regular werewolves, so I don't see the point in making them zombie werewolves.

Here's what I gleaned of the set up. There's an indeterminate number of werewolves all of the same family. They were Romans back in the days of empire. Or descended from Romans but were a Scottish clan. I'm not really sure. Scots are Gaelic, not Roman, so I don't know how a clan would have descended from Romans. Hadrian's Wall pretty well saw to that not happening.

The leader of the family tried to take the bride of a Druid. This is an odd statement by one of the protagonists. Tried to take? The implied meaning seems to be that he tried to take her for a bride of his own, but it could as easily be read as tried to take her to clean the stables. Furthermore, writing it that way leaves the reader in the dark as to just what happened with this woman, and nothing else is said about it. Did he stop by the Druid's place and try to entice her with higher pay? Did he ride up with his boys, grab her and make off? Did he pull a knife on her but have to flee without her when Druid daddy came home? There's nothing at all to tell me why the Druid is so pissed that he proceeds to go kill off the entire family, who are the Langavats, except the children, who are kidnapped. Then, for good measure, the Druid curses the dead adults so that they'll be werewolves if anyone disturbs their graves. No explanation of whether anyone ever did disturb the graves, either. And considering that when our two heroes go to rescue the kidnapped children of the nearby town, they have to take a boat to a remote, dilapidated castle that has no entrance but one found by the use of fairies as divining rods, I don't know who would have disturbed the graves, which appear to be located within the castle.

Then the writer throws in that the base for the zombie werewolves is a desecrated church within the castle where there's an up-side-down cross lodged in an alter. Huh? I thought we were operating in an era that was pre-Christian when these guys got potentially werewolf zombiefied. Besides, at no point thereafter does the desecrated church have any bearing whatsoever on the story. From there we proceed to fighting, with the usual silver elements to protect our heroes from the werewolves (remember, zombification seems to have had no change in the werewolf iconography). Up to this point I followed along well enough, but the fighting involved too much movement for the artist to adequately keep me abreast of what was happening.

We end up somehow in a cave with the ghost children of the Langavats, who directed one of our heroes to a silver badge/pin whose central element is a fleur-de-lis, further deepening my confusion about the history behind this story. How'd the French get in here? Anyway, that badge, when jammed into the chest of the lead werewolf, turns all the werewolves back to dead humans, who are greatful for this. Huh? If that's all they wanted, why'd they kidnap the town's children for some magical, fatal rite? Why not just get someone to pin the badge on the leader? Hell, why not just do it themselves? Surely the momentary pain of picking up the badge can be withstood long enough to stick the leader with the badge so they can all die peacefully.

Like I said, there was a kernel of a good idea here. Zombie werewolves in 1864 Scotland is a good place to start, but the execution leaves a bit to be desired.

And then there's Indego Blue #1. I'm going to assume the spelling of Indego instead of Indigo has a reason, but it's not stated in this issue, which is the first part of 6. This too is a black and white book. Because this is just part one, it's harder to comment on the story. It may all end up very well. Right now, though, it's part Dark Angel (TV show that brought us Jessica Alba, in case you don't know), part the Island of Dr Moreau and part Pops's dystopia. It starts with a multi-page exposition by the eponymous star, who's a dog headed man. The exposition posits a future where the government has taken over, so I thought for sure Pops should be reading this one, but then it contradicts itself and creates a black market society. Not that those have to contradict, but when you first say that the government controls the populace right down to its DNA, it seems too much a contradiction to then say the technology for DNA splicing went out on a trend driven black market.

But that's not all in our contradiction problems. The results of the splicing are now hunted by the government, which apparently wants to use them in more testing. Of course, the government is hunting the hybrids because the hybrids were dumped in the "anals" of society. Now, this is a prime example of the need for copy editing, which is present in Indego Blue but was not in Ex Occultus. I think our author was trying to say annals, society not having a literal ass to dump people in, after all. Even if it said annals, though, it doesn't work. The word means organized historical records. The end result is that I'm lost in what the author was trying to say and distracted by the effort. That the hybrids were spit into these anals only created an image of a sexual practice I'm almost certain was not intended.

Back to our regularly scheduled contradiction. If the government wanted these hybrids for further experiments, and the fact that the author says they were dumped to the fringes of society implies that the government, which, after all, is omnipresent, had them in its power at some point, why did the government just loose them on the world in the first place? Maybe further developments in future issues will help resolve some of this.

More problematic for the story is the art by Howard Russell. It's way too light in tenor for the dark story that's supposed to be told. Indego Blue's appearance is humorous, like Under Dog, so that the dialogue doesn't match with the image. Worse, the Under Dog like head is on the body of a buff, shirtless man. That only makes it more humorous in appearance than a straight up Under Dog would have.

The art also presents at least one contradiction in the story. The guy chasing the hybrids (whose troops appear to be entirely robotic) has a conversation with the corporate/government guy who's his boss, after failing to capture a hybrid rescued by Indego Blue. That conversation indicates that he wasn't so much after that one guy as he's after all hybrids so the hybrids can be experimented upon somemore. However, in the opening sequence where the chase of the eventually rescued hybrid starts, there's a whole city street full of other hybrids who are just standing around, easy pickings for the chasing guy. And why does one of the hybrids have three pairs of eyes and two pairs of floppy dog ears? What kind of splicing results in that?

Which brings up another something in the story. Now, this may be developed in future issues, but just how is DNA splicing resulting in a human being transformed into a part human, part animal hybrid? Because that's what I'm getting out of the story when it says people were using the splicing as a trendy thing to alter themselves. As far as I know that's not how gene splicing works, in the real world or in the logic of science fiction. Gene splicing is done to an embryo, resulting in the birth of a child who's altered. Adding foreign DNA to an adult? Maybe some odd hair growth or death, but changing a person's entire bone structure? I don't know how that would happen.

I may be coming across as rather harsh on these two works, but that's not my intent. Rather, I hope I'm pointing out areas for the publisher to address to tighten what seem to me to be good bases for story ideas that are falling a bit short in the execution. There's potential here, and it's always good to see more publishers attempting to get more stories out there. None of these small press guys are going to dislodge Marvel or DC, but I like to see stories told that aren't dependent on fitting into a corporate directed universe, that are instead the product of the writer's and artist's imaginations. Nonetheless, story and copy editing shouldn't be forsaken in the journey to publication. Aiming for what Vertigo (admittedly a DC imprint) accomplishes in so much of its product is what the small press should be looking to achieve.

Time to Learn to Think or Shut Up

Ok, I know it's not my turn, but I'm finally getting around to reading my Baltimore Sun from this morning, and now I'm pissed. Ron Smith is someone I've disagreed with on economic policy, but today he's proclaiming himself an idiot. Here's a link to his column in today's Sun. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.smith13nov13,0,2728617.column

His headline pretty well sums it up: Fort Hood massacre showshow political correctness can kill. Still, I gave it a chance and read it.

That only made it worse. According to Smith, Nidal Hasan's Powerpoint presentation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center two years ago was a clear warning that he intended to do what he did at Ft Hood and it was only the fears of those in attendance that they would be disciplined for speaking up against this clear call to arms to Muslims in the Army that stopped anyone from doing anything about Hasan before he started he rampage. Really? According to at lease one person in attendance, quoted by The Washington Post and CBS News, his superiors were upset that Hasan wasn't speaking on a medical topic like he was supposed to, and others in the audience were just kind of uncomfortable.

And what was this clear call to arms that was ignored for fear of the PC police? Muslims shouldnt be involved in conflicts that call on them to harm other Muslims, and if forced to do so by their military commitments, trouble could result. What was is radical call to arms to the Muslims, who obviously weren't the majority of his audience? The military should allow Muslims who feel it would be a conflict to kill other Muslims to obtain conscientious objector status. Why, the man should have been immediately institutionalized!

What else does Smith cite in support of his contention? He was in contact with al-Qaeda. Not entirely accurate. He was in contact with a radical imam in Yemen who had once preached in the US. No question that this guy's a radical. It's the main reason he's not in the US any longer. But the military investigated Hasan's contacts with the imam and concluded the inquiries that Hasan made were part of a legitimate investigation, for his job, that Hasan was making into the influence of radical Islam. Evidently Smith would have us bury our heads in the sand and make no contacts with radicals to find ways to combat them. Or at least not allow any Muslims working for the US to make such inquiries. We wouldn't want our best assets, those who are believers in Islam, to work in our favor. No, that would mean we couldn't castigate the allegedly terrible PC thought monitoring.

Smith takes it further into a broad attack on diversity. You know, it's terrible thing that a color guard at Yankee Stadium should maybe represent the vast diversity of NYC instead of being all white an male. It's vitally important, after all, that we only have absolutely the best at color guard, whatever the hell that entails, even if that means they're all white males. Color guard is too important to be made to reflect the USA in sacrifice of quality color guard displays.

Really, it's any attack on PC that gets on my nerves. It's all such bullshit. Most of what the right wing likes to call PC would have simply been called being polite in another time. You don't go around calling people names that they find insulting. Boy,that's so hard to get behind.

Now, it also lumps in such things as efforts to have people of all stripes have a chance at whatever, be it schooling, jobs, or military promotions. Ideally it means people of equal skills and caliber getting equal chances. On occasion people screw it up and put the cart of diversity before the horse of requisite skills. That's a perfectly fine thing to sue someone over. It doesn't happen very often though.

And Smith's entirely bogus conclusion that PC leads to mass killing ought to be rolled up in a large stack of Suns (because the damn thing is so thin and a shadow of its former self that you'd need a stack to get Smith's attention) so that someone can ask him where his PC leads to killing theory puts the gun nut in Pittsburgh who killed two cops because the thought Obama was going to come get his guns, the religious nut who walked into a Kentucky church and shot it up because it was too liberal, or the lovely fellows who strung up Matthew Sheppard and beat him to death because he had the effrontery to be gay. And let's not forget all those damn PC clansman and such over the hundred years or so up to and through the civil rights era who killed so many who failed to meet there expectations of diversity (you know, the monochromatic kind). And how many pro-life supporters have been killed over the years since Roe v Wade by pro-choice extremists?

It's idiots like Smith who encourage the much more widespread right wingnuts who kill that are a greater threat to our freedom and security than a lone, mentally troubled Army major who is representative of no one but his own mental problems. Ah, but Smith has every right to proclaim his idiocy in the paper and on the air. It's the USA, after all. But it's equally my right to point out an idiot when he rears his empty head.

DC Preview Review for January 2010 Part 2 of 2

AS PROMISED PART 2

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SECRETS OF SINISTER HOUSE TP Written & art by various Cover by Nick Cardy

DC’s classic gothic horror/romance from 1971-1974 is collected for the first time in this value-priced collection. This moody, atmospheric volume collects THE SINISTER HOUSE OF SECRET LOVE #1-4 and THE SECRETS OF SINISTER HOUSE #5-18.Advance-solicited; on sale February 3 • 496 pg, B&W, $17.99 US
Lee: This is a phone book full of great 70’s DC art. The best part about this collection, and House of Mystery/Secrets for that matter, is the material still holds up. Scary stories are scary stories no matter when they are told. This also includes great gothic stories from the Sinister House of Secret Love. Love stories and monsters! What’s not to love about this collection?
Jim: True, the only reason I'm passing is that I have so many of these I need to read a few before buying anymore.

Gwen: This actually looks really cool. I may have to pick it up one day when I have time to read for fun again.

WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 6 HC Written by William Moulton Marston and others Art and cover by Harry G. Peter

In these fantastic tales from SENSATION COMICS #41-48 and WONDER WOMAN #13-15, Princess Diana explores the mystery of “The Icebound Maiden,” meets a colony of modern-day leprechauns “In Shamrock Land,” and battles The Tigeapes of Neptunia, The Octopus Plant, The Lawbreakers League and more. Advance-solicited; on sale June 30 • 232 pg, FC, $59.99 US

Jim: Damn! DC has tons of material I would gladly buy as an Archive and instead we get more of Golden Age WW. How many bondages scenes can you read about?
Lee: Actually, I’m really excited about this. It’s one of the few female characters from the golden age that’s been collected. And, it doesn’t hurt that Girl loves this material! Gwen: Thanks but I'll take my superpower-free Tai-chi side kick Wonder Woman over this any day.

ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE BOOK 4 #1 Written by Kurt Busiek Art by Brent Anderson Cover by Alex Ross

Royal Williams and his brother Charles are hot on the heels of their parents' killer, but their mission is igniting a fire that may incinerate more than they could ever imagine! It's the mid-’80s in Astro City, and not everyone's going to survive. Featuring the Green Man, the Silver Agent, Mirage, Hellhound, the Pistons of Engine, the Crazy Eights and more in the next arc of the critically acclaimed ASTRO CITY series!On sale January 27 • 1 of 4 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Jim: I love Astro City, but the Dark Age storyline has run way too long.
Lee: I’m not sure the actual story is too long but the publishing schedule has been long and slow. It makes it seem worse than it actually is.
Gwen: At least the covers will be pretty.

THE BRONX KILL HC Written by Peter Milligan Art by James Romberger Cover by Lee Bermejo

Being a cop was in the Keane blood. But Martin wanted to be a writer even if it meant turning his back on the family legacy. Then his wife goes missing, and Martin is forced to delve into the dark history – and darker secrets – of that same family. It’s a path that will lead him back to the Bronx Kill: that lonely, godforsaken stretch of land where many years earlier his grandfather had been brutally murdered, and where finally he will learn the truth about his wife’s disappearance. It’s a truth more monstrous than he could ever have imagined. Entertainment Weekly “It” writer Peter Milligan (GREEK STREET, HUMAN TARGET) joins forces with New York cartoonist and fine artist James Romberger (Seven Miles a Second) for an urban mystery drenched in family secrets. Don’t miss the newest sure-fire hit from Vertigo Crime!Advance-solicited; on sale March 17 • 184 pg, B&W, 5” x 8”, $19.99 US • MATURE READERS

Jim: Peter Milligan has been everywhere again lately. His work is usually good and this sound interesting.
Lee: Milligan is strongest when he’s not doing conventional superheroes. His strengths really are telling those haunting and bizarre stories. So far, this new format has looked good but the stories have been very hit/miss for me.
Gwen: I enjoyed Human Target but Greek Street was just weird. This has good story potential though and I'm always willing to give books like this a shot.

JOE THE BARBARIAN #1 Written by Grant Morrison Art by Sean Murphy Cover by Sean Murphy

Having an overactive imagination can get a kid through a lot, but it doesn’t change the facts: Joe’s still the kid in school that can’t fit in. He’s the victim of bullies. His dad died overseas in the Iraq war. And then there’s the Type 1 diabetes he has to live with.So is it insulin-deprived delirium or something much, much bigger that transports Joe to a land inhabited by all his toys – from ninja commandos to action robots to magical knights to star fleet captains? Is Joe really the savior of this wild fantasyland that’s been held under siege by dark magic and evil forces? With the help of a samurai rodent, is he ready to take back besieged castles and win the freedom of an oppressed people? Or is he just an over imaginative boy who could die if he doesn’t take his meds?White-hot writer Grant Morrison follows up his phenomenal BATMAN AND ROBIN with an epic adventure that’s Home Alone by way of Lord of the Rings accompanied with to-die-for art by future superstar Sean Murphy (YEAR ONE: BATMAN/SCARECROW, HELLBLAZER).On sale January 20 • 1 of 8 • 32 pg, FC, $1.00 US • MATURE READERS

Jim: Has a similar type sound as “The Stuff of Legend”, but sounds good. Of course with Grant you never know where we are going.
Lee: This could be great like We3, or it could be another SeaGuy. I’m waiting for reviews.
Gwen: Morrison is very hit or miss with me. I also thought it sounded like Stuff of Legend. Eh, I'll wait to read Jim's review ;)

THE LOSERS VOL. 1 AND 2 TP Written by Andy Diggle Art by Jock and Shawn Martinbrough Cover by Jock

With the eagerly anticipated Warner Bros. Pictures movie The Losers set to reach theaters in April 2010, DC Comics collects the first twelve issues of THE LOSERS — from the ANTE UP and DOUBLE DOWN TPs — into a single, explosive volume!This collection introduces The Losers, formerly an elite U.S. Special Forces unit that served as the covert bloody hand of America until they stumbled across a C.I.A. secret they couldn't ignore. The C.I.A. tried to kill them, but they're about to learn that it takes more than one try to eliminate The Losers.On sale January 27 • 304 pg, FC, $19.99 US • MATURE

Jim: Obviously being re-released because of “The Losers” movie being made. Could be a cool movie as this was a very good series.
Lee: I wonder why not the fancy hc re-release? But, $20 for two trades is a really good deal.
Gwen: Never read it - why would an elite unit be called losers?
Lee: Because they were kicked out of their normal undercover gigs because of insubordination or whatnot. Basically, It's a none powered version of Suicide Squad.

SWEET TOOTH #5 Written by Jeff Lemire Art and cover by Jeff Lemire

“The new ‘must read’ book.” – Geoff Johns“Dark, moving and intriguing.” – Frank QuitelySurprises abound in this conclusion to the first arc of the red-hot Vertigo series that’s so compelling you’re not going to want to wait for the trade. On the dangerous road to a rumored safe haven, Gus and Jeppard come to a raw moment of truth.On sale January 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS

Jim: One this has been a great book so far. Two, what a awesome cover. Jeff Lemire is a creator whose name I now look for on the credits.
Lee: Lemire is great. I’m surprised how smooth the transition from his Essex County work to this has been.
Gwen: That cover is so wrong...

JLA TROPHY ROOM: BATMAN (MODERN) UTILITY BELT PROP REPLICA
The latest addition to the JLA TROPHY ROOM is one of the most recognizable and important parts of Batman’s costume – his modern utility belt!This prop replica of Batman’s belt is made of faux-leather, includes eight pouches with real, working high-gloss gold snaps with Batman logo emblems and a real, working gold-plated metal buckle with a Batman logo emblem.In addition to a Certificate of Authenticity, a metal display shelf on which the belt can be mounted is included, along with mounting hardware.This mixed-media prop replica belt measures approximately 38” long, and the display shelf measures approximately 7.25” high x 22” wide x 5.25” deep.Limited Edition. Manufactured to order.* Batman’s (Modern) Utility Belt is a prop replica ONLY and is not meant to be worn.Advance-solicited; on sale June 9, 2010 * Prop Replica * $350 US
Jim: So I’m envisioning the “fan” who buys this shows up for his first date with a live girl wearing the utility belt and then goes home alone to look at his Greg Horn and Adam Hughes comic book covers.
Lee: Actually, if he can afford $350 for this and still have enough left over for dinner and a movie… I’m betting he’s got more money than us. Which means he’ll be “artificially enhanced” with the Batman utility belt and she’ll just be artificially enhanced.
Gwen: I have a Batman utility belt for a Halloween costume. It cost $10. Good enough for me.

GREEN LANTERN HONOR GUARD RING PROP REPLICA
Don’t miss out on this exciting new metal ring prop replica, inspired by the contemporary design of the rings worn by the exclusive Honor Guard of the Green Lantern Corps!Cast in silver metal with a green enamel inlay, the ring also features decorative ridges around the band. The ring comes packaged in a two-part box foil-stamped with the Green Lantern logo and with protective foam inside.Available in a men’s ring size of 11, although the ring is a prop replica ONLY and is not meant to be worn.Limited Edition. Manufactured to order.Advance-solicited; on sale June 30, 2010 * Prop Replica * $35 US
Jim: At least this is only $35 and they warn you to not wear it for fear of alienating other people.
Lee: I like the fact that DC has to highlight the fact this is a prop ONLY and not meant to be worn. Oh yeah, that’ll stop the average fan boy. Maybe it needs a surgeon general warning like “Wearing this ring will decrease the changes of you getting laid.” That might be more effective.
Gwen: Why can't you wear a prop ring? Why else would they tell you the size? I want a working Legion flight ring, that would be much cooler.

SINESTRO CORPS MINI NEON SIGN

Bring the excitement of BLACKEST NIGHT into your home or store with this affordable mini neon sign featuring the Sinestro Corps’ yellow emblem!The adjustable base unit can sit on a tabletop or be mounted to a wall.Powered by a plug-in, UL-adapter, the sign itself measures approximately 9" wide x 8" high and has a base measuring approximately 5.5” in diameter. Packaged in a 4-color box.Advance-resolicited; on sale June 9, 2010 * Neon Sign * $89.99 US
Lee: Screw the rings and belts… IT’S THE RETURN OF THE NEON SIGNS!!!! Yahhoooo!

Jim: So I'm guessing we will have one for each one of the new corps.

Gwen: Please, no more neon signs *cries*

WORLD OF WARCRAFT HORDE COLLECTIBLE COIN SET

Whether looting dead mobs or completing a quest, now is the time to hold and horde solid precious metal coins from the game in your hand.All three coins included in this special World of Warcraft collectible set are plated in precious metals, and each coin features a Major Horde Leader on one side and the leader’s corresponding city on the opposite side.The 24 karat gold-plated coin features the Orc Warchief: Thrall of Orgrimmar and measures approximately 1.625” in diameter. The sterling silver-plated coin features the Forsaken Queen: Lady Sylvanas Windrunner of Undercity and measures approximately 1.375” in diameter. And the copper-plated coin features the Tauren High Chieftain: Cairne Bloodhoof of Thunder Bluff and measures approximately 1.25” in diameter. All coins are approximately 0.125” thick and are removable from the box. A non-removable commemorative metal plaque with the Horde emblem is also included.Ready to be displayed on a desktop or wall, the set is presented in a black, hinged wooden box with a glass window and a flocked, vacu-formed tray. The box measures approximately 6.25” wide x 3.25” deep x .75” high. The product is packed in a protective self-shipper.Limited Edition. Manufactured to order. Advance-solicited; on sale June 23, 2010 * Collectible Coin Set * $69.99 U.S.
Jim: Pay $70 for real replica coins from an online video game. Yes you can exchange these coins for absolutely nothing in the real world, but you can impress your WOW friends that you have never met in real life.
Lee: I thought WOW stood for “Whip’em Out Wednesday”… Are we talking about the same thing?
Gwen: WoW does all sorts of random stuff to steal money away for fans. Right now they are selling a pet you can use in WoW for $10 - apparently $5 goes to the Make A Wish Foundation but it's obviously just a ploy to encourage more people to give them $$. I mean it's a virtual pet. It doesn't cost anything except paying the guy that programed it so that last $5 is all profit. And BTW, I know all my WoW friends in real life Jim :P

Jim: Feels like DC is holding back right now as I know they have a lot of plans for changes after Blackest Night and I think it maybe handcuffing what they can do with new titles and stuff. Still plenty of direct market stuff to mock (said the guy with 100 action figures).
Lee: Mock? What’s the mock? Neon Signs have returned! YAY Neon signs.
Gwen: Mocking commentary is easier to write, that's for sure.

What’s Wrong With Using N**ger in an Explicit Content Comics?

I’m picking on the Buy Pile column a little bit, maybe a lot today, but Hannibal is an outspoken kind of guy and he can certainly sure defend himself. In this week’s column he says “The "Meh" Pile Not good enough to praise, not bad enough to insult, not important enough to say much more than the title. "Sky Doll: Doll Factory" #1, "Anchor" #2, "X-Force" #21 (or you may know it as "Blackest Night: X-Men" ... dude, what the heck?), "Action Comics" #883, "Star Wars: Purge - Seconds to Die" (all that for what's essentially a clip show?), "Batgirl" #4, "Jersey Gods" #9, "Batman" #693, "Tracker" #1, "Batman/Doc Savage Special" #1, "Booster Gold" #26, "Shield" #3, "Titans" #19, "Blackbeard" #1 and #2, "Punishermax" #1 (was a racial slur on page three really necessary? Also, haven't we seen Wilson Fisk's rise to power before Frank Castle's campaign started? If not for Steve Dillon, this would have dropped farther)”

Obviously what I want to talk about is what I bolded. Hannibal has always been annoyed about the “N” word being used in comics and especially by white writers. Hannibal is black and feels that white people cannot possibly understand the entire context that word implies. I’m heavily cutting down on his viewpoint, but he does not like seeing the use of that word and especially if it is a white writer is the strong impression I have gotten.

First, I’m a white guy, so I will never fully understand what it means to be black. I also won’t understand what it means to be a woman, what it is like to grow up in New York, what it is like to have my family slaughtered by mobsters and then to take up a life of brutal vengeance. I’m also guessing I will never gain super powers and therefore will find it difficult to understand what it is like to wear gaudy costumes in public. Yet I think if I had the chance one day I could do a passable job writing a Punisher story or some other comic and try to at least draw on those aspects that are not part of my own unique experience.

Second this book is listed as explicit content and as the dialogue in question is coming from a mobster of Italian descent would his dialogue sound authentic if he did not use the racial slur to describe other people? At a poker game (where we play just for fun), I have been called b*tch and worse names because when you beat someone else in a hand they thought they had won and you are drinking those things happen. If my friend called me a “poop head” is would not have the same resonance.

So let’s look at the actual offense. The dialogue in question is “And once he brings us down, what then? We leave our streets for the N**gers and the Ivans to take over? F**k that.” If we change it to “We leave the streets to the African-Americans and Russian-Americans, forget that”, it loses something, I think.

On the next page we have dialogue of “That c**t-faced Mick psycho Finn Cooley” Now I’m half Irish and while I’m no Paul Newman or Pierce Bronsan in the looks department, I do not believe that description would be appropriate for anyone of Irish descent, yet no mention by Mr. Tabu of that racial slur and possible gender slur also.

So it is a little bit of a double standard being used and for my two cents as longs as within the context of the story it makes sense to use that type of dialogue, then its use is appropriate. Also I think words are often given power by other people. There was a story I heard about in a high school the students started to use “meep” in place of f**k. The school has apparently banned the term meep. Personally I like this as much as frell and dren from Farscape and now hope to be able to tell people to “meep off” in the future. It also cracks me up that there maybe a memo somewhere telling people to not say meep.

Anyway I thank the “Buy Pile” for the inspiration for this post and hope that if others disagree to please weigh in with your view. I’m just a poor half mick cracker from the Mid-Atlantic with one viewpoint.

DC Preview Review for January 2010 Part 1 of 2

Jim: This is the first month in many, many moons that I’m not getting a single hard cover from DC. I was tempted on Newsboy Legion, but I have tons of Golden Age material and only a few things would tempt me anymore for Golden Age.
Lee: I can’t believe that you aren’t getting a single hc. That must be a record of some type.
Gwen: Jim really needs his own library at this point he has so many hardcovers.

THE ATOM & HAWKMAN #46 Written by Geoff Johns Art and cover by Ryan Sook
The Atom has been in the center of the BLACKEST NIGHT storm since day one. But now that storm becomes more personal than he could ever have imagined when he is hunted by not only the Black Lanterns Hawkman and Hawkgirl, but Black Lanterns Khufu and Chay-Ara! Don’t miss the meltdown in another of this month’s one-issue revivals of classic DC Universe titles!ONE SHOT • on sale January 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

THE PHANTOM STRANGER #42 Written by Peter J. Tomasi rt and cover by Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes
Spotlighting the DC Universe’s magic-based characters! The Phantom Stranger, with Blue Devil at his side, battles the Black Lantern Spectre with little hope of success. Meanwhile, Black Lantern Deadman delves into the Phantom Stranger, compelled to learn the mysterious hero’s true origins. But what dangers will arise if the Phantom Stranger's enigmatic past is revealed? Find out in another of this month’s one-issue revivals of classic DC Universe titles!ONE-SHOT • on sale January 20 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

THE QUESTION #37 Written by Greg Rucka Art by Denys Cowan & Bill Sienkiewicz Cover by Cully Hamner
A BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in! Greg Rucka (DETECTIVE COMICS, CHECKMATE) joins original THE QUESTION series artists Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz for the return of Vic Sage! The Black Lantern rings have made their way to earth and disturbed the grave of the original Question. Now, the faceless man returns as Black Lantern Vic Sage targets his former protégé – and current replacement – Renee Montoya. It's the Question vs. the Black Lantern Question vs. Lady Shiva in the ultimate throw-down! ONE SHOT • on sale January 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Jim: These are three of the eight one shots that DC is releasing in January, the skip month for the main event Blackest Night. I believe this was a planned break for the series, but I’m not sure. Still I like the idea of digging up old titles and making a series of one shots related to rising the dead titles as well as characters.
Lee: There is definitely a line in which market saturation is mitigated by a good story. If/when Marvel does this both of us skewer them. But now, because you like BN, it’s ok. I still think it’s a greedy money grab but most people seem ok with it.
Jim: It is a greedy money grab so your comment is valid, but if the stories are good I can tolerate it better and DC is making these $3 and not $4 books.
Gwen: Paying for comics is paying for a good story - it's all a business so as long as you get what you pay for it shouldn't be an issue.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #7 Written by Grant MorrisonArt by Cameron Stewart Cover by Frank Quitely
Knight, Squire and DETECTIVE COMICS’ Batwoman guest-star alongside The Dynamic Duo in “Blackest Knight,” a 3-part story illustrated by Cameron Stewart (SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICT0RY: MANHATTAN GUARDIAN). Readers who enjoyed BATMAN R.I.P. and FINAL CRISIS won’t want to miss this captivating new storyline packed with additional clues on the Domino Killer and the details surrounding the “death” of Bruce Wayne!On sale January 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Jim: I’ve been really enjoying have Dick as Batman and sort of hate to see that we are already dealing with the “death of Bruce Wayne”.
Lee: It’s just clues. It’ll take months to resolve the storyline. Better to start solving now than letting it linger for another year or more.
Gwen: I agree with Jim on this one. Honestly they could keep Bruce dead and I'd be fine with it.


BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #40 Written by Sam Kieth Art and cover Sam Kieth
There’s a new killer prowling Gotham City preying on the homeless. Batman has his suspicions, but is his normally rational mind playing tricks on him? When The Caped Crusader finally meets his suspect face-to-face, he finds that the creature knows much more than he should. Prepare for a stunning 4-part storyline written and illustrated by fan favorite Sam Kieth!On sale January 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Jim: Sam Keith has been doing a lot of DC work lately. I love his art and I laugh as he draws Batman’s ears longer then Kelly Jones.
Lee: I agree! Keith’s Batman is excellent. I don’t know if I like the ears or the chins better. Kieth’s Batman needs a fancy hc like DC did for Sale’s Batman.
Gwen: I was never the biggest fan of bunny eared Batman but I will agree that I laugh when I see it.

OUTSIDERS #26 Written by Dan DiDio Art by Philip Tan & Jonathan Glapion Cover by Philip Tan
After the horrifying events of BLACKEST NIGHT, Katana and Black Lightning are dispatched to deal with a terrifying disturbance on the open seas. Meanwhile, Geo-Force is recalled to Markovia to handle affairs of state. But when Prince Brion makes a deal with a certain Kryptonian to join the team, the Outsiders find themselves cast as enemies in the eyes of the world! Don’t miss the debut of the all-new creative team of DCU Executive Editor Dan DiDio and hot artist Philip Tan (BATMAN AND ROBIN, GREEN LANTERN)!On sale January 20 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Jim: Odd to see Dan Didio, the Executive Editor of DC, take over the reigns on a title. I wonder if his day job is shaky after the recent reorganization at DC.
Lee: Or it’s just a fill in until the new regular writer gets on board.
Gwen: Hah, this will be interesting to read...

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #41 Written by James Robinson Art and covers by Mark Bagley & Rob Hunter
Be here for the start of a new Justice League era! The JLA have been getting a pounding in the last couple of months, but NO MORE! The team regroups with a new roster that will transcend time and space! Make way for the World’s Greatest Heroes – Batman, Green Lantern, the Atom, Green Arrow, Donna Troy, the Guardian, Cyborg, Mon-El, Starfire, Dr. Light and, yes, Congorilla! This issue features two covers by Mark Bagley which are seperately orderable. Cover A features Green Lantern and Green Arrow; Cover B features Batman and Mon-El. The cover images will be revealed online before the issue’s Final Order Cutoff date.On sale January 20 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
Jim: Are you kidding me? This line up is like the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans grown up with a couple of old time JLA’ers thrown in for good measure.
Lee: That was my thought exactly when I saw the line up. This is terrible. It has potential to rival the JL – Detroit lineup. It’s like DC has never figured out what to do with the Titans now that they have grown up. AND… don’t think I’ve missed the irony with you complaining about this. To wit, I believe you can be quoted as typing “Bruce Wayne never gets old, he needs to go away.” Yet, when DC replaces the JLA, you complain.
Jim: There is a way to do it right and a way to do it wrong. This feels wrong.
Gwen: Hey, I'm fine with anything that has a Legion member in the lineup! Although I think that my favorite JLA stuff in the past few years has been the animated stuff.

THE MIGHTY #12 Written by Peter J. Tomasi & Keith Champagne Art by Chris Samnee Cover by Dave Johnson
It’s Gabriel Cole vs. Alpha One at last! It’s a battle between one man and the most powerful being on Earth… but it’ll be a lot more brutal than either expected, and Alpha One’s labyrinthine headquarters holds one more surprise! The epic tale of THE MIGHTY concludes here!FINAL ISSUE • on sale January 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Jim: I just hope they were given enough time to wrap this up as I don’t think 12 issues were all they were hoping for on this series. On the flip side the story needed to have an ending and this could be good.
Lee: I hope they make it a shiny hc. I doubt it and I’ll be happy with the trades, but I’d like the nicer format.
Gwen: I'm not really into this so I don't have much to say.

WONDER WOMAN #40 Written by Gail Simone Art by Aaron Lopresti & Matt Ryan Cover by Aaron Lopresti
Wonder Woman faces The Crows! Five mysterious young men with a dark and terrible secret have arrived on Paradise Island with one mission: To kill Wonder Woman!On sale January 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Jim: Lee says this cover has to do with an old AC/DC album cover. I was not a heavy metal guy or at least I never got their albums so I’m taking Lee’s word on this one.
Lee: It isn’t an old cover, it’s a swipe of Angus Young from AC/DC. Well, maybe not a swipe but at least a homage. There is no doubt about that.
Gwen: I just thought it was another Wonder Woman bondage cover. Silly me.

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN VOL. 2 TP Written by Grant Morrison Art and cove by Frank Quitely
The New York Times bestseller from the team of writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely (BATMAN & ROBIN) is now in trade paperback!In this follow-up to the award-winning ALL-STAR SUPERMAN VOL. 1, the Man of Steel goes toe-to-toe with Bizarro, his imperfect duplicate, and the new Zibaro, also from the Bizarro planet. Plus, more exciting adventures that take Superman across the universe and back in these tales from ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #7-12. Advance-solicited; on sale February 10 • 160 pg, FC, $12.99 US
Jim: Memo to DC: Screw this crap, give me my Absolute Edition of this series! NOW!
Lee: Memo to Jim: DC doesn’t listen to old cranks like you. But, I bet this does get an absolute some day.
Gwen: Patience Jim, patience.


THE NEWSBOY LEGION by JOE SIMON AND JACK KIRBY VOL. 1 HC Written by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Art by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby and others Cover by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Originally featured in STAR SPANGLED COMICS #7-32 (1942-1944), The Newsboy Legion stars a group of scrappy boys who fight crime in their home of Suicide Slum. Watched over by adult hero The Guardian, The Newsboy Legion battles crime through their own newspaper, taking on crooked politicians, slum lords, fifth column agents and much more.Advance-solicited; on sale March 24 • 360 pg, FC, $49.99 US
Jim: I have enough Golden Age stuff that encompasses this type of material. It is Simon and Kirby, but the Newsboy Legion, not so much of a draw.
Lee: You may not want it but I do. Old Kirby is sometimes better than newer Kirby. While not a fan of the newsboy legion I’m excited to get this book.
Gwen: I'm not sure what the appeal of this is... I guess I prefer Golden Age superhero stuff if anything.

PART 2 TOMORROW

Punisher Max #1 – A Review

Punisher Max #1

Publisher Marvel Max Line

Writer Jason Aaron

Art Steve Dillon

Colors Matt Hollingsworth

Format $3.99 – 22 Pages


I pick a very select few books that I want to read first and if I’m motivated by the work to do a review on them. These books are not only books I hope will be good, but are usually first issues or have some other type qualities that make me want to write a review of them. As my real job has pressed me lately I have done less reviews then I would like to do, but this week I got a little more ambition again and the first two books I read have given me the motivation to write reviews on each one.

Let’s start with the art for this book. I have missed Steve Dillon’s art and remember last following it on Wolverine Origins. Steve has a nice realistic style that at times is a little on the static side of things. This tends to make his work fit material like Preacher and the Punisher much better the long underwear set. From over the top graphic violence to the subtleties of facial expressions displaying characters’ emotions Dillon is a master craftsman in his field. His page layouts and designs help to make any story flow. I don’t believe I have ever seen bad work from Steve, it is always top notch and a pleasure to look at and this is his type of story. Matt Hollingsworth on colors is also pretty much a mortal lock on quality. In this book he trends closer to a super hero palette, but never gets into the bold bright style of that genre. Matt’s work enhances Dillon’s art and is so good that it all seems exactly like it should be.

The story itself was also fascinating and Jason Aaron is certainly known for being able to generate a hard edge into his scripts and a little maniac and madness when needed. The one thing that continued to perplex me and pulled me out of the story too often was the timeline. I know Punisher Max is not part of the regular MU, but I thought Jason wanted to bring it closer then what Garth Ennis was doing. Garth’s Punisher felt old and very world weary, continuing to fight his war because there was nothing else left for him. His world consisted of only humans; the super human was not in this universe. The MU Punisher is young by comparison and feels like he is still committed to avenging his family by whatever means it takes. The super heroes and all the wild insanity of a super powered world is the norm to him. When I was reading that Aaron was doing the origin of the Kingpin I thought we were going back in time in the regular MU. Instead references are made to Garth’s run on the book and the mob is talking about the Punisher being on their tail for 30 years. This Wilson Fisk is a young man who is manipulating the mob to make him into a Kingpin. Not that this story can’t work, it can, I’m just trying to determine if there is a place in time to put this version of Frank Castle. If this is Garth’s max Punisher he felt too young and was missing the gravitas that Garth’s Punisher exuded. If the MU, then it really does not work as Frank being after the mob for 30 years and Wilson Fisk just starting does not line up at all. It may sound like I’m nitpicking but I like to know what the set-up is to what I’m reading. If I accept this is the Max Punisher of Ennis’s run and that in this world Wilson Fisk is just starting out, then the story works a lot better. Maybe my own assumptions took me out of this book and I should have gone in a little colder as a little information can be dangerous.

Reviewing the story from that perspective it will be interesting to see Wilson Fisk grow into an enemy that Frank can’t beat. In this issue we are introduced to a young Wilson Fisk who is both a massive physical presence as well as an extremely smart and manipulative man. He is satisfied to be the man behind the man as he works to take over all of the mobs and run them as “The Kingpin”. There is a great over the top scene where Wilson squeezes the eyeballs out a guys head. Another good scene was when Fisk has a shot to take out Frank and does not take it. The star of the story was Wilson Fisk and for the first issue that was okay, but I hope Jason remembers the title is Punisher Max, not Kingpin Max. Finally is this is the max Punisher world, there is no reason why we can’t have this end with Wilson Fisk being killed by Frank.

A strong first issue, despite my one misgiving that I rambled on and on about, with strong art work makes this a book to add to my list. It would be even better if it was $3.

Overall Grade B – Frank’s back, but now he has to deal with the rise of Wilson Fisk, The Kingpin.

Batman Doc Savage Special – A Review

Batman Doc Savage Special

Publisher DC Comics

Writer Brian Azzarello

Art Phil Noto

Format $4.99 - 38 Pages of Story and Art

With an 8 Page Back story on the characters of First Wave

I loved this book; there I destroyed any mystery surrounding what I thought about the book. For the record when I read other reviews I like to be able to just see a rating so I know what they thought. I try to always include one at the end and you can scroll down and see what I thought with a letter grade. Then if you didn’t want any spoilers you are safe. The on-line reviewers I avoid are those who eschew the idea of giving a 4 star or 9 out of 10 or what ever type rating. I understand the philosophy behind that idea, but think it screams you are worried people won’t read you whole review if you give a quick thumbs up or down. My thought is let the reader decide how much information they want.

What made me love this book is the entire mixture of this strange and concocted brew of a world that Brian Azzarello has created. I’m glad DC is flexible enough to let Brian have his own little universe and go crazy with it. This issue focuses on Batman and Doc Savage, but the next mini-series to come, called First Wave, will have Black Canary, Rima the Jungle Girl, The Blackhawks, The Avenger, The Spirit and a worldwide criminal organization call The Golden Tree. This book has me dying to see the next issue, but we have to wait a few months.

Brian’s universe is a mixture of the modern and the past, with an art deco Mister X type of feel to it. We have cell phones and Zeppelins, it feels like the Golden Age has been moved into the 21st century, but we never evolved past certain things. It sounds mad as hell, but it works and gives the book a setting that is unlike anything else we have currently on the stands. It also make Doc Savage feel more like he belongs. It is the era of the pulp heroes, pushed forward to give us a modern edge without losing the soul of the past. Yesterday and today melded into a unique fusion that will be hard to maintain, but it works great in this book. The Twelve from Marvel comics had captured that feeling.

We also have a Batman who is young and raw and quick to draw his gun. Batman is trying to bring some level of decency to Gotham and his mission is against both a global criminal empire and the corruption that has taken hold of Gotham. His quest has brought him into the limelight and caused Doc Savage to travel to Gotham to hunt him down. The interaction between to two characters is great as Doc Savage is physical perfection and a multi-talented genius and Batman is a determined amateur at this point in his career. The story is a lot of set-up as Doc assumes Batman to be a bad guy, but being a deductive genius he figures out Batman is innocent of the murder. Doc manages to pull off a meeting between the two where he proposes a partnership between them.

Phil Noto does a great job of bringing Azzarello’s vision to life. I would think pulling off the artist side of this golden age / today fusion had to be difficult, but Noto pulled it off. His realistic and distinctive style that often settles for limited backgrounds worked very well for this book. He made Bruce and Doc really stand out from the crowds. I believe Noto colors his work and he choose a nice muted palette that was not so dark as to bury the book into a total noir feel, but far enough away from the super hero type coloring to make the book have that right type of feeling. In many comics the coloring side of the book sets the mood and tone just like walking into a bright yellow room versus a soft shade of green, the reader feels the impact.

I loved this younger and brasher Bruce Wayne, who is still half playboy and still very young and naïve. He has a vibrant and fun edge that would never feel right in the regular DCU. Doc is spot on perfect as he is the consummate good guy and as close to a super human as you can get in this world (I hope). The pacing was great as it moved at a good clip and was slow and fast when the story called for it, yet the book never dragged. Even the back story pages were great and gave us a taste of what is to come.

What a great opening shot. We have established the main players and laid out what the world is like. The back story gives of strong hints of what is to come. It feels like Azzarello has a long story planned out and I hope DC does this as a series of mini-series and maybe this can be another 100 issues in total.

Overall Grade A – The First Wave gets off to a rousing start that has me clamoring for more. Doc Savage and Batman is this world’s team supreme. Will they be able to work together? Can they take down The Golden Tree? When does the rest of the cast come in and how will they impact Bruce and Doc? I’m riding the First Wave when it hits the stores.

The Gold Glove

This past weekend turned out to be very pleasant where I live. Saturday was nice but Sunday was better. The temperatures got into the seventies one last time and the entire family was wearing shorts. I have to say, after growing up in New England where it’s occasionally snowing by now, 70’s is pleasant change.

But, with warm weather comes the need to do outdoor chores. So I raked a little, weeded at little, and mowed the yard. For all the Northerners reading this, that’s right, I mowed the yard in November.

Wife and I also forced the kids to stay outside most of the day because we knew there wouldn’t be many more days like this. Eventually, the kids ran out of things to do so Boy suggested a game of kickball.

I’d had enough of yard work so I decided to play. Tiny, like her big brother, is ultra competitive and wanted to play. Girl wanted to play because everyone else was playing. We even managed to get Wife into the act.

Without a doubt, the best kickball player was Daddy. What can I say, I’m just bigger and stronger than the rest of the weaklings in my house. Because of my obviously superior skills it was Boy and Wife against me. Tiny and Girl only wanted to kick, so they were designated kickers.

The game was going smoothly until it came time to prove why I am ‘King Kickball’ at our house. Boy was pitching and Wife was ‘in the field’. I warned Wife to backup. I even told her, you’re too close. Back up!” But she didn’t listed. So I blasted a ball way over her head into the neighbor’s yard. Boy has a very strange look on his face. It was a mix between awe at how far I had kicked it and annoyance that I was going to score.

I scored and we continued to play. A little while later while attempting to end my turn at bat, I popped one up to Wife, who dropped it. Boy again had a strange look on his face. It was part wow what a kick and part annoyance that Mom dropped an easy pop up.

I went to the field and we played some more. Later, Girl and Tiny were on first and second and I needed to score some runs. I kicked a high floater. It was just high enough that when Wife jumped up, arms fully extended she couldn’t reach it. Boy again had a strange look on his face. It was part annoyance that Mom missed yet another ball and part annoyance that he couldn’t get me out.

The next time I was up, Boy turned to Mom and said, “Why don’t you pitch?”

Later that night, Wife and I were talking when I finally had to ask, “Wow. You’re taking the whole kick ball thing pretty well.”
Wife: What do you mean?
Lee: Well, you know. You got subbed out.
Wife: No, Boy wanted to switch.
Lee, in a fit of honesty, Oh ho no no no. You got pulled because of poor performance. You were the hole on the left side of the infield. You were Stone Glove McGee. He put you in pitcher because you couldn’t make an out. You got yanked! SEE YA!

And the look I got told me that I should have gone with ‘yeah, he was being nice and letting you pitch.’