Free Digital Comic

Ultimates #10


Redemption Code

ATMC1IJ0FSQ3

Go to marvel.com/redeem and enjoy

The Avengers Reading Initiative: Four Sets of Ones, Twos, and Threes (50 issues apart)

So last week in anticipation of the new Avengers movie coming out, I decided to get a jump start on my Avengers comic book reading.  It’s been a tradition of mine since the underrated 2003 Daredevil film came out to dive into my collection of back issues and hardcovers and read as much about the particular celluloid comic character until my interest starts to wane.  Say what you will about  Ang Lee’s Hulk movie, but both it and DD spurred the best reading runs to date (Iron Man did pretty well too).   Of course, the comic material in particular has a lot to do with my success (Miller’s DD, Trimpe’s Hulk, and Micheline/Layton’s Iron Man) or failure and up until a couple of years ago I didn’t have either the weekly blogging or at40 recording commitment (meaning I had more free time to read), which probably explains why I didn’t get very far with Captain America beyond the Omnibus.  While I don’t have a complete run of the Avengers, I do have the following:

Marvel Omnibus: The Avengers Volume 1 featuring issues #1 thru 30.

Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Volume 6 thru 12 (by this posting) featuring issues #51 thru 119.

The Avengers (1963): #1½ , 141-202, 209-211, 227-292, 294, 298, 299-323, 334, 355-358, 360-396, 372‑375, and 400 plus a scattering of annuals.

The Avengers (1997): #1-64

Well, I decided to limit my reading to the pre-Onslaught stories, so that threw out the excellent Busiek/Perez run from 1997.  I also knew that I would be struggling to get through the oft-reprinted early issues and may NEVER get very far in the series, leaving scores of stories unread.  Then it occurred to me, why limit myself to one single era? 

First Impressions: Frankenstein Alive, Alive #1

As I said I want to try this out a few times and do this format for new series. As a matter of full disclosure I’m a huge Bernie Wrightson fan. I have loved his work for many years and still keep waiting for DC to do an Absolute Edition of his and Wein’s Swamp Thing.

This week is Frankenstein Alive, Alive #1 by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson published by IDW.

The Cover – Franky checking himself out in a puddle. Extremely dark, I’m curious is by being so dark would it draw your attention or not on the comic rack.

Inside Front Cover – Spot illustration of Frank with the credits.

Page 1 – The art is in black and white, which suits Wrightson’s work perfectly. This is pencil and inks. We are at carnival and the kids and adults want to see the freak show. No words are actually needed.

Page 2 and 3 – Two page spread. Franky comes out from behind a curtain stunning the crowd. Feels like depression era America and Frank’s narrative shows he is self aware and apparently working for the carnival. Wrightson’s expressions are terrific, just drop dead gorgeous artwork.

Free Comic Book Day

I went to Free Comic Book Day on Saturday and made a few discerning choices.  Ok, some were discerning.  Others were just to see what's going on in Marvel and DC.  So here's what I picked-up and what I thought of them.

Vertigo Preview 2012 was the weakest offering of the bunch.  That may have to do with the fact that it wasn't actually a Free Comic Book Day offering.  It was just a preview that was published earlier, but it was out with the stuff for the day, so I'm including it.  Besides, I didn't see anything else for Vertigo for the occasion.  It's like an inverse relationship to the quality of Vertigo books.  The problem for me was that it was previews for Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child, Fairest, The New Deadwardians, and Saucer Country.  All four of them came out in March and are already on to their second issue as of April.  A preview of books that are already out is putting the cart before the horse or closing the barnd door after the horse has escaped.  Pick your equine analogy.  I've been buying three of the books.  They're all good but I don't think Dominique Laveau is good enough to last much longer on my list.  I would have liked an actually FCBD offering for Vertigo.

Dark Horse Previews For July

Lee: Many thanks to Jim for helping out last month but it’s time for the return of the original idiot… THOMM! Yeah Thomm. We’ve missed ya. Mostly missed ya.
Thomm: No idiot is more original no this site than our esteemed founder, Jim. Well, maybe his right thumb man, Lee. I cannot claim the honor.

CONCRETE: THREE UNEASY PIECES
Paul Chadwick (W/A/Cover)
FC, 24 pages, One-shot , $2.99
One of the medium’s all-time greats is back in this collection of Concrete stories from the relaunched Dark Horse Presents! In three new adventures, the most human of heroes intervenes in a burglary that turns out to be much more, investigates a possible sighting of the aliens who gave him his rocky body, and develops an alternative to the Taser: himself. This issue strikes the perfect balance of inviting stories for new readers and character development for longtime fans!  Collecting the Concrete stories from Dark Horse Presents #1–#3!
Lee: I see that DH isn’t going to collect DH Presents as a single collection. Darn it! I should have supported it from the beginning. Oh well, I know Thomm loves Concrete so this pick is for him.
Thomm: And I have all the issues of the current version of DHP, so I already have these stories. And they were excellent, as always. Easily worth the $3 DH wants for these stories.

Five more totally awesome books below the break.

DC’s Second Wave – Earth 2, Dial H, GI Combat and World’s Finest #1s All

The first thought I have is will DC now be doing the drop six to eight titles every once in a while? Then add eight new ones all the time from now on, holding to just 52 titles? If yes, I’m fine with that philosophy, just curious. Then if this is the second wave, how long does that analogy last? In a few years the 10^th wave does not have the same cool sound as the second wave. I was happier with these four books then I was with most of DC lately, so I decided some capsule reviews were in order.

  

Earth 2 #1 is by James Robinson (writer) with Nicola Scott (pencils) and Trevor Scott (inks) and colors by Alex Sinclair. This book was great. They played off the first Justice League arc and showed in this world Darkseid won the war for a time. Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman sacrifice themselves to take Earth back. We then flip to seeing Alan Scott and Jay Garrick, both are not heroes or connected and both are young. The book ends with Mercury showing up at Jay’s doorstep. I loved it. The JSA (or whatever) is being reborn as the second generation and we get to see them as their careers begin. This is so much better then the unknown past of the characters in the current DCU. I have no clue about who those characters are; here I’m in on the ground floor. Plus I love the JSA and starting them over is fine by me. Heck I would have accepted the same thing in the DCU more then the half ass re-launch we got. James Robinson seems to be in his element, able to craft more of what he wants to do as opposed to making everything work with what he was given. I’m thinking of some of his recent Superman work which did not feel like the same James Robinson whose work I usually enjoy. Nicola Scott with Trevor Scott is looking like a top flight super hero artist. Her work has always been strong, now it moved up another notch. All topped off by the best super hero color artist in the business makes a nice package. This looks like a hit.

Two Books and A Movie

Well it is not a week in a review it is a discussion of two Marvel comics that came out this week and a movie. I’m defining the week being from Wednesday to Tuesday as we are all mainly comic book people. I have given up for all intents and purposes the possibility of actually reviewing the week in its entirety as catching up has become a never ending task. I’m getting closer, but it is what it is.

On some other notes the Avengers was an awesome movie and out and out fun. I hope it holds up over time, as often these summer popcorn movies fall apart with distance. It is nice to see the Baltimore Orioles playing great baseball to start the year, but they dashed my hopes before and I’m unwilling to give them my heart again until July. At least with my new locale I can see them play the Tampa Bay Rays and right now it would be two top teams fighting it out. I can be the outsider rooting for the O’s.

The two books I want to discuss are Avengers vs X-Men #3 and Daredevil #12. Both are examples of professional and well done comics and both are rife with problems that exist because of the never ending nature of these characters.

First up is Avengers vs. X-Men #3, written by the favored writers of the marvel staff (sorry Rick Remender, Jeff Parker, Dan Slott and others you are second class citizens), scripted by Ed Brubaker with John Romita Jr. on pencils, Scott Hanna on inks and Laura Martin on colors. The actual story is paint by numbers with the X-Men escaping and the quest being split into five pieces allowing the cast to be reduced per task. This is classic group super hero book writing and goes back to the days of All Star Comics and the Justice Society. We get an ultra cool moment of Captain America kicking Wolverine out into the middle of nowhere as he does not trust him to follow orders in this case. A very cool moment, but Wolverine never follows orders, it was not a stretch. John Romita Jr. is certainly a strong story teller and his art can be dynamic, but it always gets looser and looser with each issue as I guess deadlines catch up with him. This issue is no exception and I expect we will have a new artist for the next segment as I believe it was scheduled. Scott Hanna helps a lot, but some pages just don’t cut it. The writing is fine and Brubaker does better dialogue then Bendis, still it feels like it is being written down a little. I just get the feeling that there is an additional need to make this more of an all ages read. I know it is the big crossover event and all but it does not mean it can’t have more sophistication in how it is written. All in all I would have to say that it is an enjoyable ride. The type of book that is simplistic and easy enough to follow. The pluses are it feels self contained so far and should make a nice hard cover for those who want to re-read it. For me it is something I will read as escapism entertainment.