The Week In Review Preview

Three parts this week. Part 1 about the 40 issues epic of Rotworld.

Part 2 is on All New X-Men #8 and how much fun this book is and what it shows up.

Part 3 is about Sex, Joe Casey and the Age of Ultron. Are the best comics from Alternative publishers or not?

To mix things up a clip from each part.

A final note is Joe Casey in his back matter basic talks about the best stuff is going on in the alternative publishers, a better word then independents. His remarks are that Marvel and DC are so stagnant that he finds it hard to believe almost every blogger and others he reads still have Marvel and DC dominating what they talk about. I’m certainly guilty of an over focus on Marvel and DC myself at times; it is like we are all locked into a death spiral. Heck out of everything I have read this week Sex was the best of the week. In defense of the cape and cowl set, Joe’s work is building off our familiarity with that genre to tell his story. It speaks of an obvious affection that Joe has for the material. I think that stagnation is what causes writers to try and do as much as they can to change things up. Tying the first two parts to this diatribe, Animal Man and Swamp Thing wanted to change the characters in a profound way going forward. I guess they succeeded, but DC can hit the reset button at anytime. 

Comic Covers Sunday: Critters

People often forget that it isn't all about them.  Heck, it isn't even all about people in comic books.  One of the best of the fuzzy animal books was called Critters.

Critters #1, June 1986
Design: Joshua Quagmire
Pencils/Inks:Joshua Quagmire; Stan Sakai; Steven A Gallacci
This is it... the first appearance of Usagi Yojimbo.  That's right, the ronin rabbit started right here!  Bet'cha didn't know that.

Critters #4, September 1986
Painted: Ken Macklin
One of the things I liked about these covers is that the editors went all out.  This is a fantastic parody of... well every Conan cover. 

Critters #8, January 1987
Pencils/inks: Mark Armstrong
Did you notice that this cover was from the man who would later work on Peter Porker, The Amazing Spider-Ham.

Critters #9, February 1987
Pencils/inks: Tom Stazer
This cover looks like an old Zap! comix cover.  I wonder if that's Fat Freddie's Cat?  If it were, it would explain the psychedelic colors.

Critters #39, July1989
Pencils/inks: J.P. Morgan
And 30 issues later it looks like it's gone off the tracks.  Actually the only reason I picked this was because it was so crazy.  I'm curious to see the insides now.





That's all for this week, go out and enjoy the snow or sun... depending on where you live.













     
 

Superior Spider-Man #005 – A Review

“Now is the winter of our discontent”

Made so by meteorologists who cannot

Predict the slightest flake of snow!

Let me tell you about my Wednesday.  They had been touting the “BIG” storm for days, calling for four to eight inches of heavy wet snow.  Worst of all it was to be an all-day event beginning Tuesday night and continuing until 0300 Thursday.  While this hasn’t been the snowless winter of last year, it has been the winter of near-misses for those of us living in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.  So, I was fully prepared to go to work on Wednesday, thinking eight inches over 24 plus hours would mean pretty manageable and plow-able totals on the roads.  I also (usually) work in downtown Baltimore and cities are notoriously warmer than the suburbs. 

I wake up before my alarm and look out the window – nothing but wet pavement.  I quickly shower and dress, but before I leave the bedroom, my wife tells me that we’re still under a Winter Storm WARNING and that there is some snow on the ground already.  I promise to check the forecast again myself, be careful on the roads, and call her as soon as they announce that schools are closed.  I get outside and it’s snowing a lot and even though it’s only a dusting on the car – it is thick and wet.  I know I can get to work though at this hour with few people on the road, so I head out.  Maybe it was just the headlights, but the extra-large flakes were making it hard to see.  It certainly wasn’t blizzard conditions, but if this was the start of the storm, then my theory that conditions would still be drive-able eight-hours later might not pan out and it wouldn’t be worth the hassle even if it meant missing my weekly trip to the comic store.  I make a short circuitous route and return home, phone-in that I won’t be in, and after putting away the dishes, head back to bed. 

I wake up five hours later at 0800 and look out the window again – nothing but wet pavement!  The schools are closed, work is on liberal leave, but I’m upset that I didn’t go for it (I’m sure the additional sleep was helpful).  I pray for a better attitude over my Cap’n Crunch Berries (Thanks to Manny for saying, “You need to pray” when he usually does the honors).  It was a relaxing morning and they were STILL calling for the “HEART” of the storm to come around 1300 and run until midnight.  Yeah, right.  It was mostly snow/raining around 1000 when I set out with two of my children for Cosmic Comix and Toys.  We were the first customers to arrive (thirty minutes before the official opening).  It would’ve been a quick trip, except I deliberated long and hard over my two free empty box bonus comics.  I finally choose Uncanny X-Force #002 and Dollar Bill (I love Steve Rude) – two books I’d skipped before.  I was hoping to get both with digital codes, but I couldn’t bring myself to get a duplicate of what I already had.  I almost got the last two chapters of Rotworld, so I could better sell my Swamp Thing lot on eBay, but that would’ve been like throwing money down the drain.  Anyway, the friendly store owner, Rusty, remarked that Superior was the best issue since #002.  I told him the real reason why I was so keen on getting to work this morning was to have an excuse to come get my comics “while I was out”. 

Now I’ve been “loving on” Superior Spider-Man for most of the year and…you guessed it…I will continue to do so TODAY!

SPOILERS Follow.

Superior Spider-Man #005

Writer:  Dan Slott

Penciler:  Giuseppe Camuncoli

Inker:  John Dell & Giuseppe Camuncoli

Color Art: Edgar Delgado & Antonio Fabella

Letterer: VC’s Chris Eliopoulos

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99 (including “FREE” digital copy which I sold on eBay for at least $2.75)

The last issue precipitated me referencing several controversial issues (and an early political endorsement) in my review and it was nice to see Slott address the death-penalty one head-on (literally) in this one.

Tony Stark's Malibu Beach House and Spider-Girl

Hey everybody!  I don't know why we didn't have a post (for most of) today, but I thought I'd share a cool link to some of the new Iron Man 3 Legos.  I really like the beach house and hope to get it at the end of the month when I can get double VIP points.

Oh, and Cosmic Comix's March Madness is going on now.  Vote early and vote often, but  most of all VOTE SPIDER-GIRL!!!

I guess this technically counts as a valid post.  Come back in a few hours for my review of Superior Spider-Man #005!

Two Reviews

Comic books are very tricky things these days.  It was never easy to make one but it's gotten harder since the advent of the tpb market.  Writers have it most difficult because they have to write for both a monthly audience and a bi-annual one.  While Jim and Thomm still read the single issues, I freely admit that I am a trade waiter.  Because of that, I see books very differently from them. 

This week, I offer a review of two books by Brian Azzarello Wonder Woman Vol 1: Blood and First Wave.

The List - February 2013

List time again.  Our usual suspects and a few new things.

1. Mouse Guard: The Black Axe 6 - The conclusion of this latest Mouse Guard installment was as excellent as expected.  David Petersen has the rare ability to have months pass between issue and yet telling a sufficiently engaging stroy that I remember what was happening that last time an issue was out.  As to the story itself, I suppose its resolution isn't unexpeced.  The search for the Black Axe and the subsequent search for a worthy bearer of the axe resulted in the wielder I expected.  That doesn't matter.  The journey is so well told an expected result is far from disappointing.  Of course, Petersen's art and lettering are thoroughly evocative of the Middle Ages for our protagonist anthropomorphic mice so that it's easy to fall back into the story, too.

2. Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth 2 - Danny Trejo!  Like this book wasn't great enough, Trejo is the basis of Caesar, the inmate who Todd meets during his incarceration awaiting trial as a serial killer.  Naturally, Todd, now that he's infamous, has groupies who love him and want to have sex with him.  Nevermind that he's an elementary age kid.  A little homage to the Shawshank Redemption, too.  Now, I haven't done best quote in some time, what with the demise of Secret Six, but Todd's got some great ones, so here we are: "As the good book teaches - elimination of engrams from my thetan core made my breasts larger and my vagina smaller."  Ah, parody.  Love it.

3. Saga 10 - Marko and Alana's romance back story shows the power of reading, whether it's a good book or not.  Good to see Izabel back in our present storyline, too.  No surprise she's more than a little peeved at Marko's mom.  Apparently Alana's culture teaches about the finer points of infant umbilical cords just as much as our own culture, given her lack of knowledge about the matter.  Best of all, though, the planetary sized infant is called a Timesuck.  Vaughan has some great language in this book, creating a lot of new terms for his sci-fi denizens but grounding them in the vulgar of our own daily language.  Easily relatable, just like his characters and the wonderful art by Staples.  Sure hope Lying Cat is ok.

4. Fairest 12 - And now a run of myths and fables based books.  Rapunzel's story is weirder than I thought.  Her children are bezoars.  Nasty.  On the other hand, I love the guards at the Hidden Kingdom Fables tower in Tokyo.  They look straight out of a '70s kung fu movie.  Good back story on Tomoko and Katagiri splitting the Japanese Fables community after their exile due to the Empire's invasion.  And now it's a civil war.

Some Books I Read – Part 3 of 3 – The Week of February 27 in Review

To round out the week let’s do a few quick hits on a bunch of books.

Thunderbolts #5 by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon is an okay book, but one that I find is losing my interest rapidly. First off I skipped reading the recap on the front page and I was totally lost in the story. If a need a recap to get me back up to speed it often means a comic is not holding my interest. Second the whole scenario is that the Thunderbolts are in the country of Kata Jaya to take out General Awa, too many “A” and too many made up names. Finally we are on issue #5 and we end with Frank and Electra making out, Deadpool watching and being jealous and I believe the de-powered villain the Madman being happily taken by venom to see General Ross. The characters feel out of character. I like Dillon’s art and I like some of the characters but the book is not giving me a sense of why it exists. I’m debating whether to get the next issue of not.

On the other hand The Answer #2 by Mike Norton and Dennis Hopeless is just out and out fun. The Answer is fighting bad guys dressed in scrubs left and right and the action is almost non-stop. Devin MacKenzie, the girl The Answer is protecting, is snatched by a group who is trying to convince her they want her help being part of a group of futurists. They claim to not be associated with the bad guys, but it is apparent they are the same group. I liked that Devin is not buying the story that she is being sold, but understands that she needs to acquiesce due to circumstances. I hate when a character is suppose to be as super smart as Devin does something anyone else would think is stupid. Plenty of questions about whom and what The Answer is and what the organization is about to keep you in the story. It is a wonderfully fast paced story that I have enjoyed from the jump.