I just finished reading Highways
#2 (of 4) by John Byrne from IDW. I have been critical of Byrne’s recent
endeavors and found his last Next Men run to be incomprehensible. I fear it
reads better as a collected work, but I’m not going to buy that collection at
the moment. Byrne’s art had become too simplistic and his characters did not
feel fully formed at times. Even the sex of the characters was not 100% clear
on some of his work on Doom Patrol a few years back. Also the range and type of
people who could draw seemed to be getting down to as few as the four people
Howard Chaykin knows how to draw. All of that is out the window with Highways
as the characters are all fully formed and the story of a space long distance
hauler gets more and more interesting with each issue. I hope Highways is the
first in a series of mini-series because this is John Byrne at his best with a
good story and great art. I was shocked when I read that Byrne has never been
Eisner nominated, not even for the Hall of Fame. I know Byrne has been a
lighting rod for stuff he has said on his message board and other areas, but to
deny his contributions to comics is absurd. Byrne was a fundamental force on
the X-Men, which was at one time the foundation of all Marvel comics, did the
second best Fantastic Four run ever and did one of the best re-boots of all
time with his work on Superman. Think what you will of the man personally, but
you cannot deny his skill and the amount of great work he has done in comics. Monday, March 04, 2013
Random Thoughts and Other Things I Have Read – Part 2 of 3 – The Week of February 27 in Review
I just finished reading Highways
#2 (of 4) by John Byrne from IDW. I have been critical of Byrne’s recent
endeavors and found his last Next Men run to be incomprehensible. I fear it
reads better as a collected work, but I’m not going to buy that collection at
the moment. Byrne’s art had become too simplistic and his characters did not
feel fully formed at times. Even the sex of the characters was not 100% clear
on some of his work on Doom Patrol a few years back. Also the range and type of
people who could draw seemed to be getting down to as few as the four people
Howard Chaykin knows how to draw. All of that is out the window with Highways
as the characters are all fully formed and the story of a space long distance
hauler gets more and more interesting with each issue. I hope Highways is the
first in a series of mini-series because this is John Byrne at his best with a
good story and great art. I was shocked when I read that Byrne has never been
Eisner nominated, not even for the Hall of Fame. I know Byrne has been a
lighting rod for stuff he has said on his message board and other areas, but to
deny his contributions to comics is absurd. Byrne was a fundamental force on
the X-Men, which was at one time the foundation of all Marvel comics, did the
second best Fantastic Four run ever and did one of the best re-boots of all
time with his work on Superman. Think what you will of the man personally, but
you cannot deny his skill and the amount of great work he has done in comics. 
Batman Inc #8 A Review and Commentary The Week of February 27 in Review Part 1 of 3
This week I have a set of three posts for the week in review
and one is a cheat of sorts. The first post is about Batman Inc #8 and will of course contain many spoilers.
It is impossible for me to talk about this book without ruining the issue, but
let’s face it DC has tried to guarantee that everyone knows about. The second
post will be another “Random Thoughts” post. Lee had plenty of stuff for Friday
so I held onto this post but feel it only works if it is timely and even by
Monday afternoon it is going to be stale. The final part will be commentary on
a few other books that I read from this week. Sadly I keep falling behind on my
reading and need to catch up so I try and read current stuff every week and
save other books for later.
Of course before we hit Batman Incorporated I need to
provide the links for next week with Cosmic Comix listing here and Midtowncomics here. Next week has a lot of good stuff but the one book I’m really
looking forward to is Sex by Joe Casey.
Click here for a good interview with Joe as he talks about what the series is
about and why he wanted to do it. Also coming out is Mara, Snapshot, Superior Spider-Man, Colder, Green Arrow, Age of Ultron
and Before Watchmen Rorschach. I
have noticed that my list needs some dramatic trimming as I have too many books
on the list that are not being anticipated by me. If I can’t remember at all
what happened in the prior issue it is a good chance it is a book to be
dropped.
Okay that was a damn long preamble to the first part.
I’m bitterly disappointed the Damian died and I also totally
understand why he died. Grant Morrison
with Chris Burnham (and his art is
great Gwen, regardless of what you call fat faces) have been killer on this
book and in many ways it has been the best Batman book on the stands. The “but”
is that the great work being done by Snyder and the heavy shift that the new 52
caused in Grant’s storyline relegated this book to a second tier status. As a
straight up comic book this issue was excellent. The heroic death of Damian was
well played. The character interaction between Dick and Damian made me long for
the Batman and Robin series that featured Dick as Batman. The artwork was
stunning, I’m sure work I could never afford an original page and Jason Masters’s
work, while not as strong as Chris Burnham’s held up. I did notice Jason’s four
page sequence did not feature Damian. The final two pages were flat out amazing
as we see Damian die and then see Batman die a little as he holds his dead son
in his arms. Sunday, March 03, 2013
The Week of February 27 in Review Preview
Two clips from Monday's post that also reveal my grand design for Monday and Tuesday.
I’m bitterly disappointed the Damian died and I also totally
understand why he died. Grant Morrison
with Chris Burnham (and his art is
great Gwen, regardless of what you call fat faces) have been killer on this
book and in many ways it has been the best Batman book on the stands. The “but”
is that the great work being done by Snyder and the heavy shift that the new 52
caused in Grant’s storyline relegated this book to a second tier status. As a
straight up comic book this issue was excellent. The heroic death of Damian was
well played. The character interaction between Dick and Damian made me long for
the Batman and Robin series that featured Dick as Batman. The artwork was
stunning, I’m sure work I could never afford an original page and Jason Masters’s
work, while not as strong as Chris Burnham’s held up. I did notice Jason’s four
page sequence did not feature Damian. The final two pages were flat out amazing
as we see Damian die and then see Batman die a little as he holds his dead son
in his arms.
This week I have a set of three posts for the week in review
and one is a cheat of sorts. The first post is about Batman Inc #8 and will of course contain many spoilers.
It is impossible for me to talk about this book without ruining the issue, but
let’s face it DC has tried to guarantee that everyone knows about. The second
post will be another “Random Thoughts” post. Lee had plenty of stuff for Friday
so I held onto this post but feel it only works if it is timely and even by
Monday afternoon it is going to be stale. The final part will be commentary on
a few other books that I read from this week. Sadly I keep falling behind on my
reading and need to catch up so I try and read current stuff every week and
save other books for later.
Then it really heats up with:
I’m bitterly disappointed the Damian died and I also totally
understand why he died. Grant Morrison
with Chris Burnham (and his art is
great Gwen, regardless of what you call fat faces) have been killer on this
book and in many ways it has been the best Batman book on the stands. The “but”
is that the great work being done by Snyder and the heavy shift that the new 52
caused in Grant’s storyline relegated this book to a second tier status. As a
straight up comic book this issue was excellent. The heroic death of Damian was
well played. The character interaction between Dick and Damian made me long for
the Batman and Robin series that featured Dick as Batman. The artwork was
stunning, I’m sure work I could never afford an original page and Jason Masters’s
work, while not as strong as Chris Burnham’s held up. I did notice Jason’s four
page sequence did not feature Damian. The final two pages were flat out amazing
as we see Damian die and then see Batman die a little as he holds his dead son
in his arms.
Now what I want to talk more about is the character Damian,
what Grant did for the Batman franchise and why I think it is funny how in one
issue Grant has overshadowed all the other Bat books.
Comic Covers Sunday: Master of Kung Fu
Lately I've been looking at more recent series but it's time to dig into the vaults for some bronze age goodness. Today I present one of my favorite series from the 70s... Master of Kung Fu. It was the first series in which I was able to collect every single issue. I had a complete run! As a young comic nerd, this was no small achievement. I was thrilled.
Master of Kung Fu #19, August 1974
Pencils: Gil Kane
Inks: Tom Palmer
This was the cover that got me started. Shang-Chi battling the Man-Thing. Interior art was by a very young Paul Gulacy which never hurts anything.
More below the break
Master of Kung Fu #19, August 1974
Pencils: Gil Kane
Inks: Tom Palmer
This was the cover that got me started. Shang-Chi battling the Man-Thing. Interior art was by a very young Paul Gulacy which never hurts anything.
More below the break
Saturday, March 02, 2013
Avenging Spider-Man #017 -- A Review
I’m so glad it’s Friday (as I write this)! It was a long week at work, but a productive
one. It’s also been extra busy around
the house with family in-town and more arriving tomorrow (today as you read
this). This means some cleaning around
the house after my afternoon (hopefully two hour) nap – I can feel it coming on
Even Now…when I have come so far….
Whoops, we have a habit around here of breaking into song whenever a
certain phrase comes to mind – maybe it’s a memory implant trigger. Speaking of memory implants, my enjoyment of Hawkeye has been marred since the
disappointing Secret Avengers
issue. All I can think about it is him
having more of a “Swiss-cheesed” memory than Sam Beckett. The issue was good,
but the problem (SPOILER
ALERT) of Clint reading his gangster love-toy’s comics was so
dumb. I liked the comic covers, but why
couldn’t “Cherry” have written down the issue numbers for the lock combination in
order on…you know… a piece of PAPER!
Honestly, I think Clint would have more sex in a monogamous marriage -- why
put up with this damage! Kate Bishop is
my favorite character in the book and there was way too little of her this time
around (Sorry Rusty [I know you’re not reading this], but it wasn’t Best of theWeek). What was the Best? I don’t know yet, because I’ve barely gotten through
a third of my pile. Fortunately, for my
reading public (of one or two – you know who you are), I did read the latest Avenging Spider-Man and I really liked
it.
Avenging
Spider-Man #017
Writer: Christopher
Yost
Artist: Paco Medina
Inker:
Juan Vlasco
Colorist:
Dave Curiel
Letterer:
VC’s Joe Caramagna
Publisher:
Marvel
Price:
$3.99 (including “FREE” digital code, which I sold on eBay for $3.25)
In the era of accelerated shipping schedules and bi-weekly
titles, it’s quite surprising that it has been SIX WEEKS since the last issue
of Avenging Spider-Man. I don’t know what caused the delay, but it
was worth the wait.
Friday, March 01, 2013
Indies Preview for April Part 3 of 3
The conclusion....
Picturebox So Long, Silver Screen HC by (w/a/c) Blutch
What are the movies? What effect do they have on us? Why do we love them so much? Blutch addresses all these questions in a series of interlocking short comics that move between scholarly history, romantic theory and ribald vignettes, featuring a motley cast of actors and topics including Burt Lancaster, Jean-Luc Godard, Luchino Visconti, Claudia Cardinale, Tarzan, and Michel Piccoli. 88 pgs, 8x11, FC, $22.95 Read a bio of Blutch here.
Thomm: Well, that’s different. I’m not such the movie fan that this is for me, but for those who are this is interesting.
Lee: I was only semi interested in this until I read about Blutch and saw his art. Now I am sold. As an art guy, it looks great. But it appears that Blutch is a very good story teller too.
Indies Preview for April Part 2 of 3
Continued from yesterday...
Avatar Press Uber #0 (regular cover) by (w) Kieron Gillen (a/c) Canaan White
Kieron Gillen unveils his epic new monthly series, launching with a special double-sized issue! 1945. Germany is in ruins. The war in the west can only be days away from ending. Threats of wunderwaffen to be unleashed by the dying Reich have become laughable. There are no miracle weapons here. It's over. It has to be over. It's not. There's been stories which have mixed enhanced humans and World War 2 before. There's never been one like this. See super beings in a whole new light as Gillen presents an epic new series that not only rewrites history, it redefines the genre. Superstar writer KIERON GILLEN (Invincible Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men) delivers a brutal alternate timeline tale of super humans first appearing during WW2. The Nazis have the Uber. The Allies don't. Double-size first issue at a special price! Uber is a new ongoing monthly comic series! FC, 48 pgs, FC, $3.99 See White's page and see samples of his art here.
Thomm: Super Nazis isn’t exactly a new concept, nor is having them come to power. Johns did it with LOSH in the future, for example. “What if Germany won the war?” is a long time speculation ranking up there with “What if the Confederacy won the war?” All that being said, this could be interesting. I’m not a big Gillen fan so I’ll wait to see what the reviews have to say.
Lee: Yeah, yeah it's been done before but that doesn't mean it gets old. I love the alterna-history stuff. It's a weakness. But, Kieron Gillen has been turning some good work on the X-men so it should be good.
Kieron Gillen unveils his epic new monthly series, launching with a special double-sized issue! 1945. Germany is in ruins. The war in the west can only be days away from ending. Threats of wunderwaffen to be unleashed by the dying Reich have become laughable. There are no miracle weapons here. It's over. It has to be over. It's not. There's been stories which have mixed enhanced humans and World War 2 before. There's never been one like this. See super beings in a whole new light as Gillen presents an epic new series that not only rewrites history, it redefines the genre. Superstar writer KIERON GILLEN (Invincible Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men) delivers a brutal alternate timeline tale of super humans first appearing during WW2. The Nazis have the Uber. The Allies don't. Double-size first issue at a special price! Uber is a new ongoing monthly comic series! FC, 48 pgs, FC, $3.99 See White's page and see samples of his art here.
Thomm: Super Nazis isn’t exactly a new concept, nor is having them come to power. Johns did it with LOSH in the future, for example. “What if Germany won the war?” is a long time speculation ranking up there with “What if the Confederacy won the war?” All that being said, this could be interesting. I’m not a big Gillen fan so I’ll wait to see what the reviews have to say.
Lee: Yeah, yeah it's been done before but that doesn't mean it gets old. I love the alterna-history stuff. It's a weakness. But, Kieron Gillen has been turning some good work on the X-men so it should be good.
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