Dark Horse Preview Reviews for November

Jim: I actually found it hard to do this Preview Review as I felt Dark Horse had little to offer that was of true interest for me. Some months they can be the most dynamic group and other months very little. Maybe Lee will add some books.
Lee: I’ll do my best. We all know that I can add a million pointless books for no reason. But, it should be noted since neither of us read/collect Star Wars that eliminates half of the DH offerings.

AGE OF REPTILES: THE JOURNEY #1 (of 4)
Ricardo Delgado (W/A) and Jim Campbell (C)On sale Nov 432 pages $3.50 Miniseries
Dawn breaks over a sprawling forest in Cretaceous North America--a dawn far colder than its peaceful, forest-dwelling herbivores are used to. The seasons are changing, and it's time for the able-bodied to migrate south. But the trek is a dangerous one even when massive herds band together, for while there is safety in numbers, numbers also draw attention, and the carnivores are moving in! This journey may not last long when the first hunter arrives, a ferocious tyrannosaurus rex who has her sights set on a young triceratops!
- Ricardo Delgado--a prolific development and storyboard artist who has worked on such hit films as Men in Black, The Incredibles, WALL-E, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the Matrix series--returns once again to his critically acclaimed, Eisner Award-winning comic series, Age of Reptiles!

Jim: Being unfamiliar with the previous series I find it hard to be excited about a book about Dinosaurs. I don’t see a lot of compelling dialogue.
Lee: The original series is outstanding. No there isn’t a whole lot in the way of dialogue but the visuals are amazing. Delgado is second only to Stout as a dinosaur illustrator. This will be very, very good.
Jim: But I don’t want a book about reptile living, no matter how good the art is, where is the story? I guess this will be like watching the nature channel.


THE BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH CONAN ARCHIVES VOLUME 1
Roy Thomas (W) and Barry Windsor-Smith (A)On sale Jan 20FC, 200 pages $49.95 HC, 7" x 10"
In 1970, Barry Windsor-Smith burst onto the comic-book scene with his dynamic portrayal of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, altering the course of the blue-eyed Cimmerian forever, and cementing himself as one of the greatest artists to touch pencil to paper. Nearly forty years later, Dark Horse Comics, in the tradition of the Dark Horse Archives collections, reprints Barry Windsor-Smith's entire run on Marvel's Conan the Barbarian in two fine hardcover volumes!
The first volume of The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives includes such classic tales as Rogues in the House and The Tower of the Elephant, written by Roy Thomas and fully illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith--now presented as they were intended, remastered using the original color palette!
- This volume reprints the first half of Barry Windsor-Smith's run on Conan the Barbarian.
- The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives are the definitive collections of the historic and influential Conan the Barbarian comics drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith!

Jim: See I love this book and I hate it. I have this material in other formats, but BWS in a hardcover and I’m sold. Wonder what the heck Barry is up to currently.
Lee: Don’t know what BWS is doing but I am excited to get this. I don’t “need” another $50 hc but I definitely NEED this. I just hope they fixed the coloring issues they had with the tpb versions.
Jim: Recent update says they will not be using the original color palette, for $50 I want to know what the heck they are doing.



BLOOD+ KOWLOON NIGHTS
Hirotaka Kisaragi (W/A)On sale Jan 20 b&w, 176 pages $9.95 TPB, 5" x 7"
In his years as a Hong Kong police officer, Nishi Tatsuyoshi has never seen murder victims like the ones being found in the abandoned Kowloon Walled City. Bodies completely drained of blood are showing up every few nights, and rumors of vampires are swirling. The closer Nishi gets to the truth, the more obstacles are thrown in his way. Someone doesn't want him to discover what's really going on! Forced into an uneasy alliance with the Chiropteran-hunting Red Shield organization, Nishi works with a mysterious cello player named Hagi as they try to find the source of the murders and bring down the Wong family--which peddles a miracle drug they claim will give users immortality!
- Hot on the heels of the wildly successful Blood+ and Blood+ Adagio manga series and Blood+ anime series, Blood+ Kowloon Nights features Saya's lover, Hagi, in a gripping solo adventure that takes place in the years between Saya's infamous Vietnam incident and the events in Blood+!
- Dark Horse has sold over 70,000 copies of previous volumes of Blood+!

Jim: I choose this for three reasons. One; does it really matter if they sold 70,000 copies to other people, what others buy does not interest me unless I’m reading their opinion on why they liked it. Two, I assume that there will be buckets of blood. Three I was looking for books for this list.
Lee: Well, lets see (1) Selling 70k + is enough to make me investigate what people are saying about a title. It’s a huge mark and it peaks interest which could lead to a future sale. (2) Why would you assume lots of blood? It says people were drained of blood. I picked ‘Goth’ two months ago for buckets of blood. (3) No one likes you anyway… ooops wrong response to three. Do over… AND (3) It piqued my interest. So maybe this worked out afterall.
Jim: No one likes you either – brrapppp!!!!!


CREEPY TRADING CARDS
On sale Jan 27 Boxed in a set of 50 cards (42 cover cards and 8 ad cards)$14.95
We have kicked open the crypt door with the archival hardcover collections of macabre and unusual stories from Creepy, where the only "shaggy dog tale" to be found involves a werewolf or two.
Long esteemed by comics and horror fans for their deft art and twist endings, perhaps the single most stunning element of any issue of Creepy was its cover. Starting out with a memorable first-issue cover by Jack Davis, the magazine quickly found itself with none other than Frank Frazetta as its main cover artist, which was a move everyone found exciting. But Frazetta wasn't the only great cover painter--he was followed by a host of others, such as Richard Corben and Ken Kelly, to name just two.
Another fun component to any issue of Creepy was the mail-order ads for odd merchandise from a variety of sources. These goofy ads still give one a nostalgic chuckle.

Jim: Isn’t this fad long over? I mean really my store never has cards on the counter and I know of no one who gives a crap about collecting cards anymore.
Lee: I, ruler and almighty force of Comics And nature, declare the card wave… DEAD!
Jim: See it is dead.

DEADLOCKE
Arvid Nelson (W), Nick Stakal (A), and Jock (Cover) On sale Nov 18FC, 32 pages $3.50 One-shot
In modern-day New York City, a ragtag group of rebellious teens throws its annual raucous Weimar bash filled with debauchery, booze, and bloody knuckles. Going for the first time is Locke Vinetti, a newcomer to this band of bored rich kids--a loner who usually prefers to escape into the world of his alter ego comic book creation, Deadlocke. Under the tutelage of the group's charming but unpredictable ringleader Casey, Locke has learned to express his art, and his angst, in ways he never thought possible. As the violent energy of Deadlocke continues to storm up inside of him, Locke must learn to control his newfound strength at the risk of losing Renee, the darkly beautiful girl of his dreams. Determined to prove that Deadlocke's rage will overpower Locke's love, Casey provokes Locke in a brutal rooftop battle where their lives, and their souls, hang in the balance.
Based on the Simon & Schuster young adult novel Venomous by Christopher Krovatin, Deadlocke teams comic writer Arvid Nelson (Rex Mundi, Kull) with Nick Stakal (Criminal Macabre) in a story of a young man coming to terms with his own demons in a search for his true identity.

Lee: This was the only book I could add this month. It sounds interesting and full of character development and action. Then I noticed it was 32 pages long. 32 pages???? Read the description and tell me how they are gonna cram all that in 32 pages. Maybe each plot point gets one panel in the book.
Jim: The synopsis is the actual comic book.

DR. HORRIBLE
Zack Whedon (W), Joelle Jones (P), Dan Jackson (C), and Kristian Donaldson (Covers) On sale Nov 18 FC, 40 pages $3.50 One-shot
From the Joss Whedon-helmed webmovie Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog comes the origin story of the next greatest supervillain of all time . . . DR. HORRIBLE!
In this one-shot comic, Zack Whedon and artist Joelle Jones (Token) establish how a young, impressionable, but brilliant Dr. Horrible was drawn into a world of crime. Readers are reacquainted with the charming, brawny, crime-fighting superhero extraordinaire Captain Hammer when Dr. Horrible crosses paths with his greatest enemy in an all-out showdown of immeasurable proportions. Special guest appearances include Dr. Horrible's love interest, Penny; his sidekick, Moist; and a meter man.
Fans of Joss Whedon and the smash-hit musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog will not want to miss this!

Jim: So is Zack, Joss’ kid, a nephew or brother. I mean just because he has the same last name does not mean he can write. It’s like when Tom Clancy puts his name on top of a book and he is just presenting the book or it is written in Clancy’s universe or whatever it is.
Lee: I’ve heard Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was good but I’ve never actually been there. Maybe, if I had then I would be more thrilled to see this, but as it stands I really don’t care.

UNCLE SCROOGE CLASSIC CHARACTER #6: BEAGLE BOY
On sale Jan 20
Packaged in a special litho-printed, full-color tin box with a vintage-style pin-back button and bookletLimited edition of 650 numbered pieces$49.95
We're giving one of the comic-book medium's most revered casts of characters the Syroco-style treatment in this series of statuettes based on the classic Uncle Scrooge comics. Our sixth and final character in this series is Beagle Boy. The Beagle Boys were a gang of buffoonish criminals, only identifiable by the prison number plates on their chests. They were a constant threat to Scrooge's riches, and are probably still trying to pull the perfect heist to this very day.

Jim: Com’n Lee, this can not be a real character from the duck books. Beagle Boy?
Lee: That’s a fake comment to drag a post out if I’ve ever seen one. Good try but you’ve been around to long to not know the Beagle Boys. The others I’ll give ya… not this one.
Jim: Okay, but I barely remember them.

END LEAGUE #9
Rick Remender (W), Andy MacDonald (P), Matthew Wilson (C), and Eric Canete (Cover) On sale Nov 4 FC, 40 pages $3.99 Ongoing
With the hammer of Thor in his possession, the Smiling Man sets out to remake the world in his image, unless Codename Black can stop him. Dead Lexington's manipulations force Prairie Ghost and Brother Occult to choose between mass murder and the fate of all life on Earth. Zeus sends his only daughter, Divinity, to destroy her former allies and obtain the hammer for Olympus. Soldier American finds himself a POW of Wolfsangel--in 1942. The deck is stacked; there is no possibility of victory--the end draws nigh for the End League. Brought to you by the super champion of America, Rick Remender (Punisher: War Journal, Fear Agent), with art by groundbreaking rising star of comic bookery Andy MacDonald (Punisher: War Journal, Miss America).
Series finale!

Jim: This cracked me up. It is listed as an ongoing series, but it is the finale. At this point call it an unwitting limited series. Heck I think this book ended up with three different artists.
Lee: What a crash and burn this turned out to be. Way to long between books, way to many artists. This is labeled disaster.

Jim: A pretty blah month for Dark Horse.
Lee: Considering I only added one book, I would have to agree the month is blah. Actually, if it weren’t for the Conan hc then I would be truly disappointed.

Sweet Tooth #1 – A Review

Sweet Tooth #1

Publisher Vertigo

Story & Art Jeff Lemire

Colors Jose Villarrubia

Cover Price for Issue #1 - $1


I have been on a mini-crusade to make sure I keep my list under control. The advent of the $4 book really caused me to have to pare down my list. As Marvel and to an extent DC decided $4 was the price point I realized I need to reduce my list by 25% or more to just break even with the price increase. At more then 100 books on my list I realized that while I have a high degree of disposable income it is not unlimited. An interesting side bar is as I pare down my list I have started to realize that I don’t miss the books I have been cutting and correspondingly I have been able to not start a lot of series and have again not noticed that it didn’t really faze me. Reminds me of when I sold the vast majority of my collection on E-Bay, I hardly ever missed it once I sold it. This week alone I skipped four new books and had the intent of kicking Sweet Tooth to the curb, heck Strange Tales I did kick to the curb. Since Sweet Tooth was only a buck, I figured I would try it and then cancel it. It didn’t work out that way as Sweet Tooth was just too damn good and reading good comics is what it is all about for me.

I was unfamiliar with Jeff Lemire and had recently read his OGN “The Nobody”. I enjoyed it and hope to get a review out on that book. Still one book had not sold me on his work that much to make this new series a mortal lock. Just the cover of the Sweet Tooth had convinced me this was just dumb as the boy has deer ears and antlers and is eating a candy bar. Plus the cover shot of Gus looks a lot like Lee. Add to that the title is horrible being called Sweet Tooth and I was confident this book would not make the grade and was happy to be proven wrong.

We open up as Gus, the antlered boy, and his Dad; are living in the woods in the middle of nowhere. We learn that they live in Nebraska and some event/plague has occurred that has wiped out a lot of people. Gus has only known his Dad and no one else and has only seen his Mother’s grave. What we learn of the setting is learned through what Gus knows and his narrative of what his Dad has told him for most of the book. We are given only a miniscule amount of information and a minimal dialogue, but the pictures convey all it all. The father is dying, the son is lost as his Dad passes away and the sadness Gus feels is apparent as he has to bury his Dad. It is a very quiet opening and poignant as we learn that since the event only a few “special” children have been born and Gus maybe the only one left.

The shift in tone, pace and narrative from there is dramatic. We see Gus staring at a buck and the similarity is obvious and then a bullet goes through the deer’s head. The hunters show up and Gus takes off. The hunters chase him down and are anxious to capture him as apparently there is a reward for creatures such as Gus. As the one hunter bends over Gus, his head explodes as it is hit by a bullet and the other hunter is scared sh*tless as the new person walks into the picture with a smoking rifle.

Now this book has me interested. What the heck happened to the world? Is it the whole world, just the US? How did this plague/event cause Gus to be born as he looks half human and half deer? Since we never saw Gus’ mother was it something even worse that created Gus? Why is their a bounty on Gus head? Who the heck is the guy who shot the hunter and what does he want? How many people are left? Is there a government? What year is it? As I said the book has my interest.

Now Jeff Lemire wrote a column for the Vertigo books this month and tells us the book is about Gus who is left to survive in an American landscape that has been decimated by a mysterious pandemic a decade ago. Gus is part of a rare breed of human/animal hybrid children who have emerged and apparently are immune to the disease. Jeppard, the guy who shows up at the end, is going to try and take Gus to the “Preserve” that is a fabled refuge for these children. Jeff points out that is the premise, but the book is about a lot of things and will go places you may not expect. Jeff also acknowledges that post apocalyptic stories are a dime a dozen, but it is how tell the story and not the setting that is important.

The artwork is rather simple in the construction of its people and the backgrounds with Jeff using a more minimalist approach. Still his people are more towards the realistic side, but have a sketchier quality. The layouts, page design and construction of the artwork; does a brilliant job of telling the story. The words are often superfluous and Jeff does minimal dialogue, which makes for a fast and easy read. It is a compelling story and one that wins you over right away and you can’t help but be rooting for Gus from the jump. I still think it needed a better title, but that is a minor quibble.

Overall Grade A – A surprising low key book that changes from first to fourth gear in the span of one page and it pulls you in and wins you over. The oddity of Gus is gone immediately and you just hope for the best for him in this strange new world.

Immortal Weapons #2 - A Review

Immortal Weapons #2 (of 5)

Publisher Marvel

Bride of Nine Spiders Story
Writer Cullen Bunn
Pencils Dan Brereton
Inkers Tom Palmer, Stefano Gaudiano & Mark Pennington
Colors Paul Mounts

Iron Fist Story
Writer Duane Swierczynski
Pencils Travis Foreman
Inks Stefano Gaudiano
Colors June Chung

The last few weeks I have been grabbing some big titles to read and then doing reviews and have been having a blast as so many of the books have been great. Heck, when something was a miss I just did not do a solo review post on the book. This week started out great with Irredeemable and then two big misses from Marvel. Immortal Weapons #2 was a waste of paper for the main story and at least the Iron Fist back-up was entertaining.

The Immortal Weapons were such cool looking characters and the little bit we saw of them in the Iron Fist series made them all to be very interesting and are very unique looking. I was so anxious for this series and the Fat Cobra story turned the character into such a louse that any affection or desire to see more of that character was shattered, but it was well written and drawn and gave us an origin for the character. It was about Fat Cobra.

So I knew each issue of this series was to bring a new creative team and the Bride of Nine Spiders was pretty cool sounding name and the David Aja cover was just awesome, so I sat down to read about her and got nothing. Heck I got less then nothing and if it was not for the second chapter in the Iron Fist story I might have demanded a refund from my store for my order.

Let’s start with the art. Dan Brereton is very stylistic. His work is dark, tons of blacks spotted, his characters are stiff, but usually his work has a quality or gravitas that pulls it into a thing that screams Brereton and for better or worse, there it is. Here he is just doing pencils and has three inkers and the job looks rushed and not very Brereton, but it does maintain his stiffness. The absolute wrong art for a martial arts story, luckily we only had a few pages about actual martial arts in the beginning that involved the Queen of Spiders.

The story was garbage, heck it was four day old rotting in the sun maggot ridden garbage, not trash, garbage. The story is this Queen of Spiders leaves behind a spider that has lived for a hundred years in a box. Then it is purchased by some collector who pays $10 million dollars because this spider sings and opens gateways. The old bitty collector who lost out bidding on it hires a crew of bad ass thieves to get it back. They find the other collector and all his staff is now essentially dead as the Spider sang its song and the Bride of Nine Spiders came through the doorway. She is trapped by the Spider song that is being played in an endless loop by the bad guy collector. Oh by the way it causes hallucinations also. The thieves inadvertently save the Bride and almost everyone is killed and the story ends.

What the heck was that? No story about the city the Bride comes from. No story that even really involves the Bride and her training. No clue as to who the Bride is or what she is all about, it was almost a random story and served no purpose at all. This was a spotlight issue that was suppose to build my interest in the Bride of Nine Spiders, instead I get a Creepy Comics story as the thieves are left at the end forever hallucinating as the Spider song is stuck in their heads. I know nothing about the Bride, who she is or why I should want to read about her. At least I don’t dislike her like I do Fat Cobra.

It is made all the worse because I was looking forward to this book and got a book that made issue #1 look good in comparison.

Now the beneficiary of all of this is the Iron Fist back-up. This is a weak Iron Fist story and not up to the same level of quality that Swierczynski and Foreman were doing with the regular series, but it outstrips the lead without batting an eye.

Overall Grade D- The back up saves this book from the ignoble F grade. If you are publishing a book call Bride of Nine Spiders, please make the story about the Bride.

Strange Tales #1 – A Review

Strange Tales #1 (of 3)

Publisher Marvel Comics

Writers / Artists Various



Marvel and DC do seem to be distinct when it comes to certain things. DC has Paul Pope do a three part Batman: Year 100 series and while very different it was also well done and quite interesting. Paul Pope is doing the Adam Strange strip in Wednesday Comics. I have seen indy creators move into more mainstream work and it works many times at DC. So I thought Strange Tales from Marvel would be entertaining. I went in thinking I would not like some of it, but the entire book was pretty much a mess in my view.

The cover by Paul Pope was well done.

The frontispiece by Nick Bertozzi was such an easy joke as to not be funny.

The Inhuman story by Paul Pope was far from Paul’s best work and was as simplistic a story as possible.

The wedding of Jennifer Walters and John Jameson by John Leavitt and Molly Crabapple was meaningless, inane and not entertaining.

Junko Mizuno’s tale of Spider-Man and MJ moving into a town of Spiders was only kept from being total trash by the depiction of MJ which was enjoyable.

Dash Shaw’s Doctor Strange tale is when the entire issue was becoming unreadable.

After that I flipped through the pages to rush and “complete” the book and then e-mailed my retailer to take it off my to save me $10 for the next two issues and save him from having to order it.

I get the feeling instead of these creators coming to Marvel dying to do a short story about one of these characters, Marvel found some of the “named” indy creators and commissioned a four/six page story or whatever. I get the feeling for some of these guys a high dollar page rate was too hard to pass up. I mean if they are getting $250 / $400 a page for the story and art and they did four pages that’s a quick 1 to 2 grand almost in their pocket for what looks to be one to two days work maximum.

I was really hoping for a lot more from this and instead got what seems to be an almost half hearted attempt and what was a good idea. Not Brand Echh from years ago was a better product and actually deserves a reprint. This felt like Marvel trying to generate some street credit by showing how they are tuned into the indy scene and instead turned out to be grandpa trying to do a rap song.

Overall Grade F – This was a dismal failure on what could have been a really cool product. Maybe Marvel should have let DC produce this book for them.

Irredeemable #6 – A Review

Irredeemable #6

Publisher BOOM Studios

Writer Mark Waid

Artist Peter Krause

Colors Andrew Dalhouse

So this week there was not one book that stood out screaming as the “big book” of the week, so I took out about five books that look like they should be good reads and decided to read Irredeemable #6 first. The reason is that the last issue was a little disappointing for me as I felt the back story regarding the Plutonian was not advanced at all. This caused me to feel that the series lost some of its pacing and I wanted to see how this issue played out. The main problem with that prior issue is that Waid and Krause have set the bar so high that even if it is just good then it seems less then that. When you consistently produce excellence even a very good issue seems flat. In some ways I get the feeling that this maybe a seminal run for Mark and Peter and especially Mark as this story just continues to be a dynamite book. This issue is back to being again the best of the best on the stands as the story really took a few steps forward. The one concern I still have for this book is that it is announced as an unlimited series, but it has to have an end. Now there is always the story after the end, but the story of how the Plutonian got from being the hero to the villain has to have an ending or eventually the audience will give up waiting for the big reveal.

This issue was an easy read. I usually pick up my books at lunch, drive home and eat a sandwich, start a comic, then back to work, come home and finish it. This book pulled me in and I finished it right away. It was an easy read, a great fast paced story and it advanced both the back story and the present day story line and left us with a couple of cliff hangers. I really enjoy it when a writer can make each chapter this exciting. So many writers put nothing into the middle of their story and save too much for conclusions or at least mini-conclusions during the course of a longer story. This is definitely a middle chapter of the current storyline and it is packed from beginning to end with actual things happening.

We open with the Plutonian taking a trip down memory lane. We find out as a young boy he was constantly being returned into foster care from parents who could not handle him despite all evidence to the contrary that Dan Anderson (his name) was a good kid and had a desire to be loved. We also saw in flashback form Dan’s inability to deal effectively with his powers. This is the first insight that we have been given as a reader as to exactly what happened to him growing up. Mark is skillfully leaving us to assume that he may have been “rocketed to earth” and then found and put into foster care, but he is not actually saying that. He is using our assumptions to set us up as he has not revealed who or what Dan (Plutonian) Anderson is at all yet. Is he an alien, a scientific experiment, a techno-organic being or something else totally different? At the same time Mark is revealing what has shaped him psychologically, but not what he is physiologically. It is a wonderful use of using the Superman archetype to seemly reveal more then he is revealing as the reader has to consciously remind himself that we cannot assume. Still we are learning all the things that have made him into the villain he is today.

We also see the hubris of Qubit who built the Modeus robots who the Paradigm now have to fight off since Qubit told them he did not need them anymore. One of the Modeus robots hits the panic button that Samsara had to alert the Plutonian when he needed him (think Jimmy Olson’s signal watch) and now they have to get out of there. They transport to the Plutonian’s hideaway to find Modeus leaving Cary behind to blow up the transport and prevent the Plutonian from following them. Once the Plutonian shows up, Cary plays back their greatest adventure when the Paradigm prevented a horrendous plague from going too far. We find out that it was the Plutonian’s fault the plague had happened. At the same time Modeus is apparently found, but what has happened to him is repulsive to the faces of the heroes that find him, but we do not see what it is yet.

Again somehow this horrid plague which turned children into walking skeletons was the Plutonian’s fault and when he finds out his reaction was said to be scary. We don’t get to see that reaction yet. So that is just another piece of the puzzle as to what makes him go from good guy to bad and on the flip side I have a feeling what he did to Modeus will show us just how far down this path he has gone. Mark constantly is reminding us that this character is truly irredeemable. The construction of the overall story has been brilliant to date.

Peter Krause continues to do some of his best work, but here and there I feel like the monthly schedule is perhaps a little faster then what he is comfortable in producing. I love his work, but it just feels like it is a little rushed here and there. I would not mind a publishing schedule of 10 times a year to keep Krause fresher or maybe find an inker for him. Still the layouts, page design, expressions just make for a flawless read. I never felt like I was wondering where I was going from panel to panel and Peter hits all the right emotional notes.

Overall Grade A – This has to be a candidate for the best new book of 2009 and should be on everyone’s pull list.

Little Boys Full of Energy

I've talked about the differences between little boys and girls many times before, but occasionally, Boy goes out of his way to prove a point.

There are the little examples like the time the family went hiking. After a long hike in the mountains, we finally took a rest. The kids, exhausted, ploped right down, while Wife looked around and said, “Isn’t it pretty here?"

Girl looked around and said “It’s beautiful. And so quiet. I love it here, Mommy!"

Boy piped in, “It’s great here. Imagine throwing a grenade over there. Why, it could blow up the trees and the bushes with one boom. Then the trees would shoot right up into the air. Or...if we had a bazooka, we could really blow that butterfly up!"

But, sometimes, even beyond statements, it’s amazing just how worked up Boy can get. The latest example occurred the other day while I was in the backyard clearing the woods. Sensing that I needed help, Boy rushed to my assistance.

He immediately found a stick and started thrashing at the weeds. Not just thrashing, but actively trying to destroy them. I was unphased by the whole thing because I remember doing the same to weeds as a kid.

Wife eventually came down to see what was going on. We quietly sat watching Boy continue his adventure.

Wife, with a furrowed brow, turns and says: Don’t you think he’s getting a little violent?
Lee: Nah. That’s just little boy stuff.

Wife: Are you sure he isn’t being a tad aggressive?
Lee: No no no, you’re just being overpro-

And, as I was trying to complete my sentence, Boy starts shouting: DIE! DIE! DIE!

Best and Worst of Last Week

Football season starts soon and baseball is heading into the playoffs. Now the Orioles are not going to the playoffs, but boy is this a fun team to watch. This is the first time in many years that I have been excited about the Orioles at the end of the year. I know that out of the last 30 games we may not even play 500 ball with so many games against New York, Boston and Texas, but this team is two years away from real greatness and has a chance to be a surprise team in 2010. As for the Ravens we can legitimately hope that this team could make it to the Super Bowl. It is a long season but the Ravens are looking to be very strong, but like any year injuries are key to keeping competitive. Still no matter what I think the Ravens are a playoff team this year and maybe even more.

THE BEST

Batman and Robin #3 - Writer Grant Morrison, Artist Frank Quietly, Colors Alex Sinclair. We open with Batman riding the most impossible big four wheeled motorbike you would ever see and he is dragging a man with a flaming head down the street barely keeping him off the ground. Then we are treated to a few more panels of Batman scaring the crap out of this guy to get the information he needs to find Professor Pyg. It is pure Batman, but it is pure Dick Grayson’s spin on Batman. Where Bruce would hold him from the buildings, Dick is doing a more circus style act. Gordon calls Batman on what he did and asks him who is he to do that after he gave him the suspect to question. Dick’s answer is I’m Batman. It was just that easy and just that quick and it’s true. Then we cut away to Professor Pyg who has captured Robin. Pyg shows off why he is as crazy as the Joker. I’m sure if I “google” some of the lines that Morrison has given this guy I will learn there is even more to this story and to what Pyg is saying. With books like these I sometimes wished I only followed 20 books or so and then I could really over analyze the book to dig out the additional meaning or references that I’m sure I’m missing, but this book is frelling awesome without it. When Pyg starts to dance and sing as he is mutilating his victims with these masks which become the people’s faces it is just out and out madness. Robin nails it as he slowly escapes from his ropes and says “You just redefined wrong.” See my full review here.

Fantastic Four #570 - Writer Jonathan Hickman, Art Dale Eaglesham, Colors Paul Mounts. The books sort of picks up from what Hickman started in Dark Reign Fantastic Four mini-series, but it was all explained away with one or two sentences, Reed built a machine to see all the alternative worlds and is trying to use it to solve everything. That was all you needed and even that is explained in the actual comic. The actual issues opens with Reed as a child learning a lesson from his Dad that you have to be willing to try, you may fail, but you won’t succeed unless you try. Then we jump right into the action as the FF is fighting some robots. They quickly discern the robots are made to fight each one of their powers. They change partners and win the day in rapid order. This happens too much in comics because many writers seem to think we don’t care about the action we have seen a thousand times before, but we are reading our billionth comic so a battle is okay. Still it is done quickly, but done well and we see Johnny show off an infrared red ability to see people’s heat signatures. I’m unaware if this has been shown before, but it was a nice touch. Reed pulls out a pocket transporter that leads him back to the controlling signal behind the human/robot creations of the Wizard and takes the Wizard down. The Wizard is ranting about how the world is coming apart and Reed knows it as well as the Wizard does as they both can read the math behind what is going on. The look on Reed face says that he agrees. See my full review here.

Red Circle The Shield #1 - Writer J. Michael Straczynski, Pencils Scott McDaniel, Inks Andy Owens, Colors Tom Chu. JMS has done a fantastic job, in my opinion, with these four comics in bringing in the old Archie super heroes into the DCU. Each of the four characters was given enough of an origin or at least the hints of an origin to build a foundation for them going forward. He even added little ties from one to the other and ended the book where it began to bring it full circle, which was a little heavy handed, but still worked. The Shield’s story was that of a soldier who gets mortally wounded in a combat mission. In order to save him they try an untested procedure that melds nanotechnology with his body. The technology when activated via mental command by Lt. Higgins gives him a virtually indestructible layer of armor, limited flight, super strength and more. He is a super hero that is a Lieutenant in the army. The Army has made his identity known as he has no family that is alive. Of course his Dad is alive and working for the government but the Shield does not know that. Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens deliver their normal strong art job with a style that at times I love and at times it seems almost too loose, but it works well on this book. See my full review here.

THE WORST

Incredible Hulk #601 - Incredible Hulk Lead Feature, Writer Greg Pak, Art Ariel Olivetti. She-Hulk Back-up Feature, Writer Fred Van Lente, Art Michael Ryan, Colors Guru eFX. I really wanted to like this book more then I did, I will still hang around for a one or two more issues, but I’m iffy on where I go from here with this book. There were so many things that missed that it almost hurts to enumerate them. The art was Olivetti at his worst. It was so computer driven that it looked like some of those early computer art books that were very plastic. The backgrounds were straight out of a computer and you can see that so much of this was not even his art, but was all stuff that was cut and pasted together or whatever you call in with photoshop or whatever program was used. It was like a bad green screen work done in a movie, where you know the actors are walking in place with the background moving. Almost everyone is using computers and most of the time I can’t even tell how they get the effects they do, this felt very old style computer art and it hurt the book. Bad artwork that totally misses the mark can make even a good script seem bad and this was not a good script. The actual story was poorly done. I could not have been the only person who was jumping back into the Hulk with this comic, but boy did I feel like I missed the boat. I have no idea of what has happened to Bruce Banner other then he apparently can never be the Hulk again. See my full review here.

Dark Avengers #8 – This was almost an unreadable book. This is supposed to be one of the spine books of the Marvel Universe and it was turned into a book that was trying to draw the X-Men into Dark Reign. What is has done is make me almost want to drop this series, but since Fraction and the X-Men should be gone I will hang on until next month. Fraction and his poorly written book make me long for Bendis. It does not help when the art by Ross can’t hold a candle to Deodato’s work.

Final Crisis Aftermath Ink #4 (of 6) – Cancelled. This book was unreadable and I blame the art as much as anything else. With this cancellation only Run made it all the way till the end. These series were ill conceived and had little to do with any aftermath of Final Crisis. Except for Batman being dead we had not seen any true impact in the DCU from Final Crisis and that is a failure on DC’s part. I know the New Gods are out of the picture and J’onn J’onzz is dead, but something being missing is not noticed as much as something changing. As much as I have not always enjoyed Marvel’s events, House of “M”, Civil War and Secret Invasion changed the status quo of their Universe and Final Crisis did not. That is not to take away from Final Crisis and I’m still looking forward to re-reading it one day soon.

Quick Hits

Blackest Night Titans #1 (of 3) – This is just another good add-on mini-series. Heck I have dropped the Titans, but this book I enjoyed. I loved seeing some focus on the new Hawk and Dove as those characters have always interested me. Then Hank Hall killing the new Hawk was brutal, but it just makes me continue to be curious as to where this all ends with Blackest Night, all these heroes can’t be really dead, can they? The fact that I’m not sure makes this a good event starting to border on a great event.

Dynamo 5 #24 – This book is always a quick read and very enjoyable. It is a book that just flows very fast, has a quick tightly written plot, with strong dialogue and art that does the job. I feel Asrar is a little rushed at times and if he could take more time with his work and have an inker, he could be a big name. Dynamo 5 continues to be a very good series and a book that I have enjoyed each and every issue.

Flash Rebirth #4 (of 6) - This book is trying to do too many things. Also in trying to explain everything Johns is making it overly complex. We now have Barry being the source of the speed force and the accident that created him was not allowing Barry to tap into the speed force, but allowed him to create it. So that backwards and forwards in time all the other speedsters are a result of Barry. This is a good looking book, but I’m not buying into the whole comic science explanation of stuff. This is a story where the old KISS principle should have been applied with Keep It Simple Stupid. This convoluted overly detailed explanation of everything is just a confused morass.

Green Lantern #45 – This issue had a terrific battle between Carol Ferris as a Star Sapphire and Sinestro. The entire Green Lantern universe and all the ancillary tie-ins for Blackest Night have been extremely strong books and great work. This issue is no exception and I loved the last page as the Black Lanterns are invading the domain of Agent Orange. Every week I look forward to another part of the Blackest Night, which is why next week is a crying shame as no Blackest Night book is coming out.

Justice Society of America #30 – This was a strong second chapter from the new creative team and it feels like Jesus Merino is getting better as the artist already (I knew him mainly as an inker). I like the addition of the new Dr. Fate and the conflict within the group. JSA looks to be in good hands. Scalped #31 – I almost wanted to make it a best of the week, but it is really all set-up and build-up to the sh*t storm that is coming. Seriously this is a great book and if you are not reading this series you are doing yourself a disservice.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen Special #2 – Okay as I was reading this book I thought that this character was one whose time had really past. Jimmy serves no purpose in today’s world of Superman, heck Lois hardly serves any purpose anymore. Imagine my almost glee when the story ended with Jimmy apparently being killed. I don’t buy that he is dead, but one can hope. Interesting to note that DC is having characters killed at the same time we have the whole Blackest Night event. This week’s death toll from DC includes the new Hawk, Jimmy Olsen and Eddie (formerly the Red Devil) in Teen Titans. I’m enjoying Blackest Night, but it is taking away any emotional impact that these deaths in other series might have had. Of course we are talking Red Devil and Jimmy Olsen where we maybe adding by subtraction.

Wonder Woman #35 - Starting to enjoy this book a lot more now. The caged fights were good, Black Canary and Wonder Woman together was good and hopefully the end of Wonder Woman’s relationship with Tom (Nemesis). Tom (and most human boy friends) ends up becoming emasculated around Wonder Woman and they need to find her the right love interest.

This was a good week of books with a lot of highs and lows. Also as I have continued to monitor my list and cancel titles faster I find that the net result is that comics seem to be a lot better then before. I know it is a result of cutting out some of the weaker material, but still it keeps me a lot more positive about comics.