Mercurialblonde Comic Reviews

Curiouser and Curioser

2007-07-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.imposemagazine.com/mag/?p=1349
So here's what's going on right now. Right now, I'm writing comic book reviews for Impose magazine, which you can get to by following that link. However they kind of trickle out one at a time. But they are pretty much the top books of any given week. So I've been thinking about what I want to do with this blog to differentiate it, assuming I have any readers left right now.

I'm thinking of just doing extra reviews and posting them here. So you could therotically read me reviewing 6 or 7 books per week. Or I might just give a surface summary of the books that came out during the week and sort of point fingers at what interests me.

Which might also be good.

I don't know. We'll see.

Legion of Monsters Satana # 1;Red Sonja: She Devil With A Sword # 23;Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special # 1

2007-07-04T07:09:00.001-07:00

First off, apologies for missing last week. I was moving and didn't have internet access until like Friday. So anywho. Without further ado.

Legion of Monsters Satana# 1
Robin Furth(Satana)-Kalman Andrasofszky(Satana); Jonathan Hickman(Living Mummy)

I primarily decided to read this one because of Jonathan Hickman's name being attached. But the book is basically something of an anthology of stories involving some of Marvel's more obscure Hellbent Characters. In this case Satana, and the Living Mummy.

Robin Furth's Satana story leads off. It's basically the whole devil's deal but told from the Devil's perspective. Trips to hell. Souls sent and retrieved. This story certainly isn't made more remarkable by how much of a sex kitten Satana looks. But even Furth is aware of that and makes a joke to that end. It is pretty much standard fare that is and has been done a lot better in things like Hellblazer and Strange Girl. But it's certainly not not enjoyable. If this is actually an extended series, it might end up being kind of good once the cast of characters in it are expanded, and Satana is fleshed out more. Right now she is more of a stereotype.

The Art for the Satana story is about what you'd expect to see reading say...Heroes for Hire. It's like the story in that it's solid but not wholly remarkable. At least to my art ignorant eyes. But there are certainly worse books.

As far as Hickman's section. Wow. Yeah. A-mazing. I was interested to see how his style which worked so perfectly with Nightly News would work with kind of a silly Marvel story. And it worked amazingly well. We are given a lot of interesting bits of information related to the story and Egyptian history and it's all given across eyebleedingly cool pages that seemingly can barely contain their contents. Hickman's work just kind of spills in all directions across the pages and in many ways succeeds far better than a simple panel structure would have worked.

Essentially his living mummy story is the same story as Satana, but his artistic vision takes it up to the level of must see. I'm definitely interested to see where Hickman goes next. I would like to see more sort of landscapes like on the last page of this book.

Red Sonja: She Devil With A Sword # 23
Michael Avon Oeming-Homs

Red Sonja is a book that I've heard a lot about, like Conan, that I just never gave a try. Until now. And I have to say, if I had been up on where the story was, and understood who all the characters were, it probably would have been really good to me. As it stands though, it was a pretty action packed adventure, with lots of scantily clad sex bunny poses by Red Sonja(who is inexplicably swimming in a metal bikini, which also doubles I think as armor...maybe?).

The art is pretty good, covering both the profane and the sublime. The book almost plays as a study in contrasts. Whether it's beautiful Sonja against ugly sea monsters of completely horrible concoction. Or the Wizard towards the end who brings darkness as well as light. The interplay in the tone of the art is definitely emotionally affecting.

Oeming also writes Omega Flight, and again here he shows himself to be a very capable writer, even if all I'm really able to appreciate is the direction and dialouge of the script that relates to just this issue. It's very hard sometimes to nail the kind of "by the gods" kind of talk that this book sometimes would entail, but Oeming does it quite well. It doesn't take you away from the reality of the book, but actually succeeds in bringing you farther into this world.

I don't know how much I would recommend this book on it's own, but I'm certainly interested to pick up a collection of this run and see how it goes. Anyone that has read my reviews in the past knows I'm definitely a fan of super heroine stories.

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special # 1
Geoff Johns-Ethan Van Sciver

Straight out I have to say I have never liked any of the Green Lantern characters. I think they are all boring stiff cardboard cutouts of better archetypes. I'm not a Hal Jordan fan. Not a Kyle Rayner fan. Not a John Stewart fan. And so on and so forth. That said, you know a huge "but" is coming after all that build up. BUT I enjoyed the crap out of this book.

Geoff Johns is one of the best and brightest of those working in the field right now. He was good about five years ago too. But he's turned a corner with his work to where he is getting into really rarefied air with his work. I don't know if there is a comic book writer right now who makes me care more about his characters no matter who they are than Geoff Johns. The man is a powerhouse and if you're not reading most everything he is writing I'm not entirely sure why you're even bothering to follow comics at all.

Sinestro Corps is kind of a distillation of all the things Johns is brilliant at. He takes a character that to my eye is one of the least threatening and most ridiculous looking in all of DC Comics, which is saying a lot. And a concept that is kind of silly in and of itself, the whole Sinestro Corps, and the yellow impurity, and makes this into an amazing meditation on evil. Watching Sinestro torture Kyle Rainer and teach him fear has to be one of the best sequences in all of comics this year.

What Johns accomplishes in this one issue in setting up the Sinestro Corps as a major threat to the DC world is astounding and just goes to show, all of this crisis kerbabble that DC is doing is unneeded. The old formula of getting together some screwed over baddies, and planning a major assault on the status quo--it's all we've ever needed. Johns makes the Sinestro Corp far more feared than Monitors or Anti-Monitors have ever been on their own(in fact there is an appearance by the Anti-monitor in this book, but oh well).

By the time you get to the final reveal of this book, you are ready for things to go down. The Sinestro Corps are this year's Black Adam.

And then after all of that you get a Dave Gibbons backup story about Sinestro's tutelage of Hal Jordan, which is also tremendous, and I look forward to seeing more of those.

You would be hard pressed to find a book more jam packed with goodness than this one this year. Definitely a must read.

New Avengers #31; Worl War Hulk # 1; The Sub-Mariner # 1

2007-06-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

New Avengers # 31
Brian Michael Bendis-Leinil Yu

Okay, it's been a week so I'm sure it's okay to complain about this now. I usually don't do spoilers, but the whole point of this issue is what happens at the end of it. Which is SKRULLS. IT'S ALL SKRULLS TONTO. Who is a skrull? Are you a skrull? Is she a skrull? Maybe I'm a skrull? How can we know?

I initially felt really angry about this but did eventually settle down once Bendis came out and assured everyone that this wouldn't retcon Civil War or any of the other major events of the past year.

Pretty much if you want to have any foothold in the marvel world these days, you have to be reading Bendis' Avengers books. Because that's where everything is happening. Sure X-men are all off in their own world, so you could just stay there with them. But if you want to have any notion or clue as to what is going on in the 616, you have to read Avengers. Fortunately neither book is offensively bad. And of the two, my favorite poison is New Avengers.

But yeah. You pretty much know where this story is heading. So if you're into a whole doppleganger, body snatcher type tale which has been done before many times--then get on the bus and buckle up. I KNOW I WILL....sigh.

World War Hulk # 1
Greg Pak-John Romita Jr.

This was for me the real event of last week in Marvel. After waiting for about a year to see someone lay the smack down on Tony Starks, Hulk is here to satiate all your smashing desires. He roars. He smashes. He crashes. He makes Tony Stark look like a fool. It really is quite lovely.

And it looks fantastic. JRJR really knows how to draw action. And that's great for a book that hits the ground running at a hundred miles per hour. In one issue we get not one but two Illuminati smack downs by the Hulk--now that's what I call a satisfying chunk of comic!

Make now mistake though, Greg Pak does do the small things necessary to keep this story interesting and keep you caring about the Hulks plight. He does an excellent job of summarizing Planet Hulk for people who want to just jump right in.

This is pretty much this years Marvel big Event, so you need to be reading at least the core book here. Lots of must reads over at Marvel right now. Though it can be kind of exhausting to have event after event. It certainly is exciting though.

That said, this is the perfect book to cleanse the palate post-Civil War. If you're tired of registration/anti-registration. And don't want to think about Skrulls right now, then this is the book.

Sub-Mariner # 1
Matt Cherniss Peter Johnson-Phil Briones

I'm not sure why, but while I think Aquaman is a total putz, I kind of dig Namor. And Marvel has been kind of hinting at a larger Namor narrative down the line. So this book seems like it will end up being important. The set up is basically that all is not well in the house of Namor. Atlantis is in ruin, sleeper cells are attacking the USA with or without Namor's okay. Things are bad okay. Bad.

And now Namor has had enough. On the brink of all out war with the US, he goes to take matters into his own hands and get to the bottom of things.

What this book really does a good job of capturing is Namor's anger, pride, and defiance--and since we are reading the book from his perspective it's very compelling. Once again it's another Marvel book where Tony Stark is basically the duplicitous villain. So if you want to see another hero defy Tony, look no further.

The art pretty much comes across as standard fair. It's what every book looks like right now in comics. So nothing to complain about or rave about there. Though if you want to bring Aquaman back into the equation, I like the art of his book a lot better.

But yeah. Undersea intrigue. You know you want it. Namor is going to kick some butt soon. Not a must read or anything, but if you bought it, I don't think you'd be disappointed with your purchase. Solid story, with some potential. See how it goes.

Black Summer # 0, Uncanny X-men # 487, Omega Flight # 3

2007-06-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

Black Summer # 0
Warren Ellis-Jose Van Ryp

Well if Civil War wasn't direct enough for you, you now have what could shape into a new Warren Ellis opus in Black Summer. Black Summer begins with one of our main heroes John Horus brutally murdering the entire white house with his bare hands then holding a press conference afterwards to announce new elections.

John Horus who is a part of something called the Guns, which is I guess something akin to maybe the Justice League of America in terms of being like America's super team, has decided that it would be right hypocritical of himself to stand by while the current administration commits grave injustice after grave injustice with complete impunity. And so he takes action. And now we have the setup for what looks to be a completely brilliant book.

This book looks to be a meditation on just how strong the so called American ideals really are. If after being given a chance to remake our government over completely fairly, will we turn it all into a police state, devolve into Civil War, or I don't know...actually elect a government that somewhat upholds the ideas and notions the country was supposedly founded upon.

The book is less political in the terms of Liberal and Conservative, and more ideological in terms of it's about the marketplace of ideas. So I think regardless of your political leanings there is food for thought here. You figure Bush's approval raiting is crawling around in the upper 20's or so, and there really can't be that many people for whom his brutal murder in a work of fiction is that upsetting. But we'll see.

The art by Jose Van Ryp is very good, and highly detailed. I enjoyed the look of the book as much as the ideas presented in it.

This is definitely one of those books where Warren Ellis appears to be writing unchained, so it's a very easy recommendation. As with any great Ellis project my only criticism is more like a concern, I worry about him finishing this before he gets bored. He's notorious for starting fast and furious then letting his books fizzle while he goes onto his next big thing. Focus Warren focus. Please. This could be a huge book. Could be Ellis' Preacher if he lets it be.

Uncanny X-men # 487
Ed Brubaker-Salvador Larocca

Everyone has their dislikes. Things that no matter how well done, how well prepared, you just plain won't like it just because of it's basic premise. For me some of my dislikes are broccoli, Ron Howard movies, and X-men in space stories. So here you have this great team of Brubaker and Larocca, who are just fantastic--Brubaker may be the top story teller AT marvel right now, and Larocca makes very pretty pictures--and they decide they are going to tell a huge year long space opera starring the freaking X-men.

I mean don't get me wrong, I love comic book space operas. I loved Annihilation. But I've always in my head considered the X-men a disorganized earth bound team, that when they get into space, it just gets really silly. So I was really sad that I basically could not enjoy or read Uncanny for the longest time. Until now. Because the Uncanny X-men ARE BACK ON EARTH!!! Wooo! Yeah! Party time! Time to really put the rubber to the road and get going with these stories.

The art is of course amazing and fantastic. Storm makes an appearence and is....amazing and fantastic(which brings up another point, Spider-man in space bad, Fantastic Four in space Great!). The story is kind of a setup for the next big X-event involving the Marauders, which we'll see how that goes.

But yeah. X-men are back on earth. It's the start of a whole new arc. Now is the time to jump aboard this book. So get going!

Omega Flight # 3
Michael Avon Oeming-Scott Kolins

All I will say about this book is HURRY IT UP. Jesus Christ. It's issue 3 of 5, and apparently that's pretty much going to be the whole series--and we are STILL setting up the team. Even my English majoring ass can figure out that means we're over half way through the entire story, and we still don't have the team set up.

I know someone else who made this mistake and screwed up what could have been a good story. His name is Neil Gaiman, and the book was The Eternals. This is a book, that anyone at Marvel who is actually reading it's content needs to extent by another five issues. Because we're still going to have to be doing setup in issue four. At this rate, all I can say is issue 5 better be one heck of a conclusion.

I mean. It's a good book, okay. But there are a TON of superhero team books coming out of Marvel right now, and when you know this one is only going to be here for a short time, and it really hasn't even begun to start--you wonder why you're wasting your time.

Get with it guys! Time is running out. I loved this book. Please don't let it be another Eternals.

The Boys # 7, Silver Surfer: Requiem # 1, Silent War # 5

2007-06-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

The Boys # 7
Garth Ennis-Darick Robertson

The Boys are BACK! After a long hiatus, after proving to dangerous for DC to carry, the Boys are back on Dynamite. Issue seven is the start of a new arc, so it's not too late to jump in. Plus I believe the trade collecting the entire DC run of six issues is out there also to buy, so there's really no excuse not to be in on the ground floor here.

What in god's name is The Boys? It's a book about a group of good for nothing arse-kickers, who blackmail and beat up a bunch of good for nothing pervert superheroes. At least that's what we've got so far. But here we are in issue seven, and we're still really setting the cast and setting. Given that Ennis has said this is going to be a long project like the Preacher series, the setup of this series is building to something epic. But it appears patience is what is needed right now.

This issue gives us further development of Hughie, who is pretty much the focus of the book to this point. As well as shading a little bit towards bigger things with the Frenchmen and the Female. All of this is given around more spewed Ennis venom towards the superhero genre, it's fans, and it's creators. I'm not nearly smart enough to know what all the references mean, but either way, this book is chock full of them. It's a very biting and angry book to this point, and I think what a lot of people including myself are waiting for now, is the other shoe to drop, and Ennis to start putting in some of his romanticism that has won so many of our hearts over the years. I have faith that it's coming. Just looking logically at the plot threads he's laying out, it would appear almost certain it's coming. This is just taking a long time to really get there. Lots of subtle buildup in a book that is very loud on the surface.

I'm just saying, you need to be reading this now, even though I'm not giving it the most stirring recommendation, because I'm almost certain this is going to end up in a book that you are going to want to buy all the trades of, and you don't want to wait until you're like five trades behind. We're talking simple economics here. Spread out the burden of this book on your wallet. It will be worth it.

Silver Surfer: Requiem # 1
J. Michael Straczynski-Esad Ribic

Okay. So this book actually made me cry reading it. Twice. And whether I am bitter at JMS about Spider-man or not, I pretty much have to review a comic that moves me to tears. Especially since I don't actually like any of the characters involved.

No this book isn't perfect. JMS is overly wordy in a lot of it. His language overly flowery to the point of embarrassment in more than a few places. But I guess if you chuck enough pretty words over the just beautiful paintings of Esad Ribic, you're bound to knock one out of the park. And that's what happens here. There is a scene here with The Silver Surfer and Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four, that almost had me bawling it was so sad. The way JMS chose to have it related with the painting, but narration by Johnny Storm, who like a child doesn't get the weight of what he's actually describing, is just completely beautiful.

The other part that made me tear up was to do with the way JMS described the Surfer's outlook to his impending situation. Which again, succeeded because of it's child-like innocence in dealing with a very heavy subject.

This book doesn't take place in continuity, so it's not imperative to read to get some portion of a major event. But it is a beautiful reminder of the power of the medium, even when it involves silver guys on surfboards who can travel through space and shoot things with beams that come out of their hands. Or does it sound silly when I say it that way? Either way. Good read. Worth it if nothing else for Ribic's paintings.

Silent War # 5
David Hine-Frazier Irving

Yeah so I am in on this really late. Issue five of six. I sort of wish I had kept up with it. Though I'm not a huge fan of the Inhumans. But the premise is basically that the Inhumans, who are this race of people who live on the other side of the moon, are really made at the american government for stealing this sacred thing of theirs which gives them their powers. So they declare war against the US. But it's nothing as overt as Civil War really. And yada yada, fruition, explosions, fun times.

The story itself is alright. I came in so late, there wasn't a ton of hope that I'd be really engaged into that aspect of it. But Frazier Irving...WOW. I've never seen a book that looks like this. It's really amazing and remarkable. The cover doesn't do the art inside any justice. It's just some of the coolest stuff you'll see. That's the reason to pick up this book. Probably I'll even get it in trade. This is definitely an artist to keep track of and buy books of solely because he's working on them.

X-Men #199, Countdown #49, Shadowpact #13

2007-05-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

X-men # 199
Mike Carey-Chris Bachalo

Still the best X-book going for my money. The art is STILL fantastic. And the last arc just ended, so you should be picking this up at 200. This is by far the most interesting X-team out there. I think Astonishing's Team is kind of the headliner X-men, which aren't so much put together because they're a good team, but because they are the top marketable team. Uncanny is Charles Xavier-led team, and we all know he's no fun. So that leaves us the Dirty Dozen-esque Adjective less(appropriately) X-men.

In this issue we get almost a JSA type level of team work by this group that at the same time seems to be barely holding together. The way that the team splinters off when Rogue isn't around is a fantastic move by Mike Carey.

We also get more development of the Rogue/Mystique/Iceman triangle, as well as getting to see Iceman do some really amazing stuff with his powers.

All of this of course drawn in the near seizure-inducing art of Chris Bachalo. The way that Carey narratively builds to these almost orgasmic climaxes of art is truly something to behold, when he lets Bachalo go nuts on a page, it's one of my favorite things in any monthly.

Read this x-book!

DC Countdown # 49
Various

The plot thickens this week in DC Countdown. We get to see our good friend Jimmy Olsen do some peculiar stretching in a fight with Croc. The monitors argue about what is to be done. We get something of a hit list, and those Rogues in Flash's book are up to something. All of this building up to a lovely climax involving our good friend Mary Marvel, and a significant villain from 52.

Yes, Countdown is off in full swing. And I have to say, so far it's looking like it may just top 52 in terms of payoff week in and week out. Sure there are parts that are more interesting than others, but we're getting a lot into that crazy metatextual multi-verse talk again, so this is a book you really want to be reading to illuminate the rest of the DC Universe, and not get completely lost sometime next year.

The art is also quite good for a weekly. All in all, I'm definitely signed up for this weekly format of comics, it's very television-like.

It's only 3 issues in, so get on now!

Shadowpact # 13
Bill Willingham-Scott Hampton

sSo last week I reviewed Fables, this is another book by Bill Willingham, this one set in the DCU about the group of heroes who helped beat the Spectre on Days of Vengeance there awhile back. This book is for anyone who enjoys magical adventures, demon slaying, and really good writing.

This is an excellent issue to start with too, because I for one, have been lax in reading Shadowpact, but this issue kind of sets the stage for a lot of big things that are about to happen, that don't really rely on a lot of things that have already happened.

The narrative voice that Willingham chooses to employ for this book, in my opinion, hits near the one you see in The Dark Tower, but much more tolerable. Plus Willingham seems to have a gift for almost effortless characterizations.

The art of the book is suitably dark and foreboding.

I think if you are at all a fan of the magical part of the DC Universe, which I am, then this is defintiely the book to read. It also is a fantastic read just for fans of Bill Willingham. If you are reading Fables, you really should read this as well. I don't know what it's sales numbers are like, but this is definitely one of the better books set in the DCU being put out. Hopefully people take notice before it gets canceled, because I think this is a book that many will read in trades and be very impressed with, and wish they had been on board earlier.

All-star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder # 5; Ultimates # 13; Fables # 61

2007-05-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

All-star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder # 5
Frank Miller-Jim Lee

People with a sense of humor and a keen sense of the absurd need be the only ones who apply. Fact being, this is not Dark Knight Returns. This isn't some super-serious thing that will be made into a movie, change lives, and find a cure for cancer. This to the untrained eye is the worst thing Frank Miller has ever done. It's offensive. It lacks fully-developed characterizations. It's at times embarrassingly written. And in some ways it may cause you to think less or diffrently of some of Miller's other work.

However. And it's a big however. This is my new freaking bible. This is the most hilarious and great thing on the shelves from last week. From the opening page quote from Wonder Woman "Out of my way, sperm bank" to yet another incarnation of "I'm the goddamn Batman", this book is full of silly somehow charming quotes that you will be dying to use amongst your nerdy friends.

There is an extent to where this book is some kind of parody. It is basically taking the basic foundations of these pristine mythological DC characters and taking them to such an extreme so as to pervert them fully. Which IS fascinating, because it's always been a charge against DC that they are too stiff with their characters, and hold them up too often as museum pieces. But Miller brings no such respect to the characters here. Intentional or not, this is derisive mocking work, and should only be ready with a readiness to laugh.

If you remember back, Charles Bukowski once wrote a book called Pulp which was his stab at a "bad" book. We'll see how the whole book turns out in the end, but I'm leaning to thinking ASBARBW is Miller's Pulp.

Ultimates # 13
Mark Millar-Bryan Hitch

The stunning final issue of Millar and Hitch's Ultimates can best be described as a comic Ragnorak. If only Civil War had been allowed to hit these heights. The final battle in Ultimates has been going on for what....5 issues? That's like...100+ pages. And Millar and Hitch throw everything in but the kitchen sink. This issue we get monsters, gods, massive explosions--if this were a movie, this issue alone would suffice as the final battle for most movies. That this is the final act of several issues of this quality only further underlines the fact that when this does finally come out in trade, you need to own it.

The Ultimates when all is said and done, may be the best thing Marvel has ever done. It will be interesting to see how it holds up over time, because the politics could end up dated in terms of the names and faces, but I would guess that in the end those are just place holders, and this can be viewed as a cautionary anti-establishment tale, with lots of great intrigue, drama, and moments that should prove iconic for ages.

Bryan Hitch is really the star of this show. Millar writes a great book to be sure, but Hitch is insane. He's a mad man. Like, I'm shocked that my eyes didn't explode out of my head. The way that the book builds to it's excesses and then always pays off is orgasmic.

If they ever talk about the age that Marvel finally took comics back from DC, this will be THE book they point to. This is wholly a marvel book, and it measures up to anything that DC has put out in it's decorated history.

Yeah. I'm a fan.

Fables # 61
Bill Willingham-Mark Buckinham

It's kind of weird that I don't have a fables review up every month. I mean, whenever people have asked me the last few years about comics I recommend, I usually tally Fables in that ledger. But the fact of the matter is that I have been following it in the trades, and have fallen behind there. So I was a bit reticent to jump in and spoil things for me.

This month however I bit the bullet. And I'm glad I did. I was surprised that I could basically jump right into this issue and not really be all that lost. I think I'm like...18 issues back in the trades or something. But yeah. Fables is one of the best possible books you could ever pick up in a monthly.

This is a book for that kind of Sandman crowd, that likes the adult fairy tale bend. The series really has it all. It can be funny, charming, intriguing, tear jerking--it really touches on every kind of emotion, and honestly, I hope Willingham never stops. He was born to do this book, and there are infinite stories he can tell in this world with this concept. I really don't see how anyone could NOT like Fables. It's probably the safest book on the shelves for me to reccomend anyone regardless of race, gender, age. Though obviously, it's vertigo, and even though it involves fairy tale characters, it probably isn't for like...really little kids. But I would have definitely dug this when I was 12 or 13.

Anyways. Yeah. I'm officially going on record to say that I am a huge Fables fan, and it's taken too long for me to tell the readers of this blog that. So now go your honest day's duty, and support the book.

Annihilation Saga, Nova # 2, Thunderbolts #114

2007-05-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Annihilation Saga
Keith Giffen-Various

So let me be direct here. If you have any single fiber of your being that likes a good old fashioned space opera in the vein of Star Wars, Dune, and Battlestar Gallactica, run, don't walk to your nearest comic book shop and get yourself some of this. Annihilation Saga is just plain staggering in it's scope. That this was going on at the same time as Civil War and Civil War was getting all the pub, is astounding.

It's all here. Galactus. Silver Surfer. Thanos. Skrulls, Kree. Death. The Beyonder. Quasar. Every marvel space character shows up to battle for you guessed it, the universe's existence. It's your basic dark threat comes in, makes things seem bleak, heroes rally, lots of things blow up. Entire planets are destroyed. Entire galaxies perish. Great stuff.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of the series is making Nova into Marvel's answer to Green Lantern. This is definitely the best story that Marvel has told in the last year.

I just hope Marvel does the smart thing and collects the entire thing in a huge hardcover tome.

Nova # 2
Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning-Sean Chen

Yeah so after reading Annihilation, I pretty much had to check out Nova's book. And have to say. I was pleasantly suprised and impressed. Basically this book is about Richard Rider, Nova, returning home after Annihilation to a post-civil war america. The basic thrust is Tony Starks and the government bugging Nova, and Nova being like "I saved the freaking universe, man!".

The story basically falls into that man out of time type of encino man type story. Even though Rider hasn't been away from earth for very long, so much has changed, that he has become dissociated from it all.

The artwork is good. The writing is really strong. This book will appeal to fans of DC's Green Lantern. And maybe fans of the old Captain America, as it does hit that note too. And then also fans of the New Warriors.

Thunderbolts # 114
Warren Ellis-Mike Deodato Jr.

I was not initally overly impressed by Thunderbolts by Ellis. In fact I thought it was going to be another Ellis project I just would have to give a pass to. But I'm starting to get glad I stuck with it. It's really starting to ramp up.

The art is fantastic. The writing, we're starting to see some of the threads spun early on pull tight. I like that this is a serious book compared to Next Wave, which was full of jokes I didn't laugh at. Thunderbolts just seems more like Ellis's brilliant work on Stormwatch and The Authority. So if you are a fan of either of those works, then this is definitely a book to check out.

I mean, techinically everyone in this book is a villain. So it's interesting how you have within that group heroes and villains, and then to some degree you are also rooting against the team as they fight their actual "villains"(unregistered heroes).

So yeah. As if you needed my recommendation on a book as hyped as Thunderbolts. But consider this the official stamp of approval, at least until Ellis gets bored with the concept.

Sensational Spider-man Annual # 1; Spider-man: FCBD; Astonishing X-men # 21

2007-05-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sensational Spider-man Annual # 1
Matt Fraction-Salvador Larocca

I've certainly been no fan of the current crop of Spider-man scribe for whom, unfortunately for me, have been current for quite some time--so this week is kind of dedicated to the guys who most likely "got next". The first of which is one of the brighest stars coming into the marvel universe, Mr. Matt Fraction, of Cassanova and Immortal Iron Fist fame. He too of the ever improving Punisher War Journal. Well he's been handed the keys to a project, I've really thought for the longest time he was born to write, and that is as one of the writers of the big three monthly spider-man books.

And boy does he not disapoint. To say Sensational Spider-man Annual is one of the best in continuity Spider-man stories in recent memory would be to sell the book quite short. It's that good. This is the type of story quality wise I'd have thought to only exist in Ultimate Spider-man anymore--but thank god we've finally come up for air. Because really this is the type of mature Peter Parker story that you can't tell in the Ultimate world right now.

The issue basically focuses on Mary Jane and Peter Parker's relationship, and how it is holding up under the pressures of his now ruined life. And it's really romantic and great and wonderful and I definitely teared up reading it in a few places. This is definitely a book where the adage, I laughed, I cried, I was moved adage holds suit. Which is to say, it's everything Spider-man SHOULD be, but seems so rarely to be. It seems like event after event is thrown at him, but no one seems to be taking a second to take stock of the very human issues surrounding these changes, and Fraction definitely does that here.

The art by Larocca stands up to the writing. There are some scenes in here that will stay with you for a long time. Just beautiful iconic stuff.

But really. I've said this so much, but I'll definitely say it again. Matt Fraction is the up and coming superstar of comic books right now. He's paid his dues, and now he's starting to get the projects worthy of his talents, and he's knocking them out of the park. It's no stretch to say that a year from now Matt Fraction(and what a great comic book name that is, it's Steranko-esque), will be on the same level as a Millar, Brubaker, Morrison. You'll see his name, and you will read it, no matter what it is. And you'll like it.

The Amazing Spider-man: Free Comic Book Day Book
Dan Slott-Phil Jimenez

Judging by all the rumors coming out, Dan Slott WILL be the new writer on Amazing, once JMS steps down(thank god). So I thought it was important to also review his book, as it sort of gives us a preview of the type of story we might expect from Slott on Amazing.

It's pretty much what you'd expect from Slott. Slott's writing manages to capture that kind of youthful mirth of how you felt about comics as a kid, even if the quality was probably never this good. Coming out of the current dark times for Spidey, this could be the perfect writer to give the fans a breather with. He seems like he can bring the fun back to Spider-man. Wacky villains, high paced adventures, and quipy quips, I think these are the elements we can expect to make their way over to his official run.

It's hard to find any fault with this book in particular. First of all. It's free. But second of all, the art is fantastic by Phil Jiminez, there's lots of great action, and it's got that classic Peter Parker trying to cram super heroism in between the events of his life. In many ways what this is most like is De Falco's Spider-girl. It's got that same vibe, but it is in continuity with Spider-man. Which I think is really what a lot of fans have been clamoring for for awhile. JMS seemed to take the fun out of Spider-man, as well as just not being all that compelling in spite of the radical changes he constantly through Parker through.

Slott basically writes the Spider-man of the first two movies. The one that everyone remembers and loves. And if he can keep that up, while dealing with the aftermath of the catastrophic events that marvel have thrown upon Peter Parker, we should be in for quite a treat.

Astonishing X-Men # 21
Joss Whedon-John Cassady

I still do not get the fan fair behind these books. I don't understand why this book is so acclaimed over in my opinion, Mike Carey's FAR superior X-book. It's baffling to me. I think Cassady's art makes the x-men look like stay-puffed marshmallow men, I keep expecting someone to poke Wolverine in the stomach and for him to go "woo hoo". And then the writing...has no one ever watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Does it not bother people that Whedon has essentially just thrown X-men skins on the characters he already had in Buffy, which in turn were brilliant modernizations of the Scooby gang? I don't really get why he's even writing Buffy the Vampire Slayer in comics. You get all of that you need in this book. I guess if you're partial to vampires instead of mutants, but still, there's so little diffrence here, that it really hampers my ability to relate to the characters.

I definitely respect that Whedon has made Cyclops interested for the first time in perhaps ever, but I've definitely read this character before. And I don't know why this issue bugs me, because really it's just Whedon's style coming through, right? But I guess it just feels very empty. It feels like he's not made any concessions to the fact that he is not writing Buffy or Angel or the Buffy in Space epic Firefly--I don't feel like he's geniunely interacting with these characters, and that bugs me. It feels like he's just madlibbing it, which I don't think is that rewarding for him. Frankly listening to him in interviews, and taking into account comments he made before he quit trying to make the Wonder Woman movie, I've got the sense that he's running out of gas right now.

These Astonishing Books seem to take ages to come out, and then when they do, nothing really happens. His run is almost over, and I've yet to be emotionally interested or involved in the entire series. And it's not like it's the characters, because you read Grant Morrison's version of the same characters, and it's far more revlatory. Morrison seemed to really have fun with the sandbox, whereas Whedon is kind of sitting in one corner playing his PSP.

So I don't know if I'm more mad at myself for not finding a way to enjoy this book that seemingly everyone on the planet loves, or mad at Whedon because I feel that he's cheating himself as a writer. I mean he's obviously got a lot of talent. But I question whether he actually enjoys what he's doing right now. The joy that is there in his earlier work seems nowhere to be found anymore. Everything feels by the numbers-Whedon. Which is nice for cashing a check, but I can't imagine it's fullfilling as an artist. But who knows. I guess it's not a good sign when a review tilts from being a discussion of the work at hand, to a psychological analysis of an artist I've never met. But it's a hurdle I'm having an increasingly hard time crossing as we get deeper and deeper into Astonishing.

Fallen Son # 2; JSA # 5; Firestorm #35

2007-05-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Civil War: Fallen Son # 2
Jeph Loeb-Ed McGuinness

Really disappointing book after a decent opening salvo. The problem with this book I think is mainly structural. The decision to cross cut the Avengers and New Avengers story in an alternating panel way was really kind of batcrap insane. The two stories really don't interconnect. One is the New Avengers playing poker, dealing with their anger over Cap's death. It's really good and the tension in the room is palpable. But the other story, which you have to read every other panel, is just Tony Stark's Avengers team in a fight with some sea monsters. And we are meant to imply that the way they fight is some way of dealing with their anger over Captain America, but it completely misses that mark and ends up just being a random adventure by the Avengers.

Generally when you chose to alternate panels like Loeb has done here, the panels kind of talk to each other and illuminate what is in each one, but in this case, it just makes you lose your place while reading. I eventually gave up on even reading the Avengers panels, just to get back to the New Avengers, which I think is hardly the intent.

Hopefully the next book in this series picks it up, I had really high hopes that Loeb was going to knock this story out of the park, but so far it seems like the writing and creative decisions are being mailed in.

Justice Society of America # 5
Geoff Johns-Fernando Pasarin

This is part two of a very good JLA-JSA crossover...which involves the finding deranged time stranded members of the League of Superheroes, the first part of which was contained in this month's JLA which was also very good. I definitely recommend going back and starting there and using this arc as a jumping on point for both books, because despite constant internet complaints about Meltzer, he's doing a fantastic job.

As for JSA. Geoff Johns continues to make this book the best super-hero team book going. The sense of family and history, as well as drama and action, is fantastic. This issue has Batman, The Sandman, Geo-Force, and Starman teaming up to go into Arkham Aslyum. If that doesn't make you want to read, I don't know what is.

I think JSA is the book that finally trumpets Geoff Johns arrival in that top tier of comic book writers. He's at least now on Mark Millar's level as a storyteller, and what he's pulling off in Justice Society of America is tremendous and is not to be missed by anyone.

Firestorm # 35
Dwayne McDuffie-Pop Mhan

Geez. Wish I had bothered to read this BEFORE it got canceled. So this is the last issue of Firestorm. A character I've only marginally cared about. But after reading this, sort of dig. Really excellent book. Heroes with voices in their head always get the win.

The Art is a lot of fun, and there's a ton of action in this book. Including plenty of New Gods, which is great. Who doesn't love New Gods? Bless you Kirby.

But yeah, very solid book, and I guess I would recommend it even though the series is done, just so you kind of don't hate Firestorm in other series I guess. I think maybe it's his shoulder pads that put me off. Who knows.

Probably a good enough book not to be canceled, but obviously Firestorm no matter how well written, is not a character that most people are going to embrace without cause. So here's to his next apparence.

Did I mention Darkseid shows up? This book may be somewhat relevant for DC's next big event. Not sure though.

World War III, Nightwing Annual #2, The Flash # 11

2007-04-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

World War III
Various

So the next big DC event has already fallen upon us. It's been 52 weeks since Infinite Crisis ended, and in those 52 weeks we've been slowly building to this opening salvo of a climax. This is where, in case you don't know, Black Adam goes freaking mental on the DC Universe. Now there's two ways you can read this, well okay, techinically three ways. You CAN get the entire story that you need in the pages of 52 issue 50. But there are also four specials that released the same week which follow Martian Manhunter during the event, and attempt to expand on some of the larger meanings of what's going on, as well as tie up the messy loose ends left over from One Year Later. You could also just read both and take the whole thing as it's own thing, like I've done here.

But if you were strapped for cash, what I would recommend is just getting 52 #50. I think the story is told better and more impactful in 52, whereas in the specials the point tends to be overly belabored as redundant as that sounds.

From my perspective, I enjoyed this event a LOT more than Infinite Crisis. Infinite Crisis, the big mumbo jumbo superhero battles just didn't have the focus and seemed just really quick and chaotic. Whereas here, they really feel very intense, and you really feel a battle of wills. I think Black Adam battling the DCU was better than all the battles even in Marvel's own Civil War. Of course it remains to be seen if World War Hulk, which is a similiar concept to Black Adam's rampage, can hit the same high note. I hope, and think, that it can.

For people worried about finding a jumping on point, I really think this beginning of World War III is where you want to be. Because leading out of this is the next big DC weekly book Countdown, and you can easily segue into that. And if you pick up the four specials, you can also kind of catch up to speed on the rest of the DCU and start going on those books.

Nightwing Annual # 2
Mark Andreyko-Joe Bennett

Yeah so I'm really not the biggest of Nightwing fans. I have never liked his costume. I've never really bought the central malaise of the character as it relates to Batman, and plus I routinely do get confused as to who and which Robin is which. So I was really suprised when I read this book and enjoyed it as much as I did.

It's basically a love story of sorts which follows the relationship between Barbara Gordon(Batgirl, Oracle) and Nightwing and what it has gone through over the years(including some really heinous stuff done by Nightwing to Batgirl, which I kind of wish I had read THOSE stories).

I'm still not terribly interested in Nightwing as a crimefighter or even as a leader of the Outsiders, but I don't know, I think maybe it's because I do love Birds of Prey that I liked this story? Yeah, now that I think on it, I think my interest in Barbara Gordon is why I enjoyed this so much. I do think the story is kind of centered on her, and I think that's why it works for me.

But yeah, really good book, and it does give a nice jumping on point to the rest of the series, I would think, I will definitely have to check that series out now. Marv Wolfman after all, I guess.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive # 11 Marc Guggenheim-Tony Daniel

The Flash is back! Remember when I was on about how I was excited for when the Flash book changed creative teams, in particular because I thought Marc Guggenheim was the perfect man for the job? Yeah, so I feel completely vindicated. We're FINALLY getting a book worthy of it's main character.

The art on this book is fantastic. There's all kinds of speed hijinks. There's the romantic drama that we've come to expect from the character over the years. And the Rogues Gallery is back in force. Yes, if you are at all a fan of the Flash, now is the time to get back into reading him. The dark days are over, hallelujah hallelujah the Flash is back!

Now we just need to wait for Gail Simone's run on Wonder Woman to start, and all will be right with the DC Universe.

New X-men 37; Amazing Spider-Girl 37, Spider-man and the Fantastic Four 1

2007-04-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

New X-Men # 37
Craig Kyle, Chris Yost-Skottie Young, Niko Henirchon

This is the opening salvo of the forthcoming Magick arc in New X-men which is a part of the annihilation type story for Marvel Comic's Magic Wielders. It has art from Niki Henirchon, who draws all of the Magick related stuff in hell, while Skottie Young draws the rest of the action involving the New X-men.

I enjoyed the book personally, but that's because I like the idea of the forthcoming arc, and love Henrichon's art(Pride of Baghdad) but I will say that at times because of the scripting and art of Young and Yost/Kyle's portion of the book, I really didn't know what was going on. The other part of the story is just your basic dark and stormy night story telling session taking place at the X-Mansion, but they do such a botched job of using the space of the room, that characters will just appear seemingly out of nowhere, or you will think one character is in one place of the room, only to have them seemingly in another by the other end of a paragraph. I don't know exactly why it was so disorientating, but it was. I've read most of this team's run on New X-men and not this isn't something that crops up enough and with enough trouble, to affect the enjoyment of the book, just kind of a nit to pick in terms of the reading.

For me, while I don't like New X-men as much as Mike Carey's X-men I do like it and am interested in it more than Uncanny and Astonishing. So that would make it the second best X-book out there for my money.

Amazing Spider-Girl # 7
Tom Defalco-Ron Frenz

Gooood book. If you've got a hankering for old schoolish spider-man melo-drama and action like you grew up on, and not the annoying crappy current runs of Amazing Spider-man, then this is definitely a book to check out. Sure it's out of continuity, and it's about Spider-man's daughter, but it is probably more true to the old webhead than any actual Spider-man book not named Ultimate Spider-man.

The art even has that throwback quality to it, as well as the action. You see plenty of fights with roving discussions. Lots of power and responsibility fun times. And just in general it's everything you would want out of a Spider-man book.

You really do feel like you've picked up a book out of a time machine. It definitely doesn't feel like it's even from this era. Definitely worth checking out.

Spider-man and the Fantastic Four # 1
Jeff Parker-Matt Wieringo

Another fun spidey book. Seriously folks, there is life not involving Amazing Spider-man, Sensational Spider-man, and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man, and that life is good. This is another book that captures the fun of comics old. It's not bogged down by having to be a serious statement on the human condition, or do something crazy and radical to try and attract new readers, it's just the Fantastic Four teaming up with Spider-man in a fun adventure.

The art isn't overly complicated, and carries the story nicely. Not going for anything epic here. This is definitely a book that goes in your fun read super-hero pile. It's not as fun as Spider-girl, but I think it should get even better as more happens.

In a lot of ways books like this and Spider-girl achieve what say, Mighty Avengers seems to be going for, but to much greater effect. Post-Civil War, there's a lot of palette cleansers out there, especially with World War Hulk coming up, that kind of smash comics back to fun mode for a little bit before we get back to the dramatic soap operatic tales we've become accustomed to.

Omega Flight, Civil War Fallen Son: Wolverine, Avengers Initiative

2007-04-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

Omega Flight # 1
Michael Avon Oeming-Scott Kollins

Omega Flight is the progression of Alpha Flight, which is sort of a canadian avengers. Suffice it to say I've never really had any interest in this book, but I was kind of interested in the new lineup which includes Beta Ray Bill apparently.

The Book is definitely solid, with nice artwork, lots of action, and plenty of moxy. It's not entirely remarkable compared to the vast array of very similiar avengers books, in fact I'm not entirely sure why one would choose to read this given the...Four diffrent Avengers books that are going on right now?

But it's there and if you read a lot of books and want another decent to good one, this is definitely in that category.

Hoo0-rah Canada.

Civil War Fallen Son: Wolverine
Jeph Loeb-Leinil Yu

The Civil War Fallen Son mini-series done by Jeph Loeb, takes us through the grieving stages for the Marvel Universe with respect to the death of Captain America, with each character for each book emblomizing that stage. In this book, Loeb uses Wolverine to wrestle with denial.

Loeb as every review has probably mentioned, is no stranger to grief after losing his son. In many ways, for very sad reasons, he's the perfect person to do these books, and one would think even though this is a superhero story, it's also an incredibly personal and hopefully cathartic one for Loeb who is one of the best story tellers in the business.

After all that buildup, you're probably wondering if the book is any good? Well in short, yes. It's really very good. And as an opening salvo of this mini-series it's fantastic and leaves me very excited about the next. If you're following Cap's death, this and Brubaker's stories are musts. Even if you're really not, these books by Loeb are pretty self-contained, and really fantastic.

The Avengers: The Initiative # 1
Dan Slott-Stefano Caselli

This is a series wholly born out of the new marvel world created by Civil War. The intiative is about the government program that Tony Stark has implemented wherein superheroes become tools of the state, every state, and have to get trained and licensed in order to carry out government specified actions as an arm of the state.

If you can get over the fact that you are for all intents and purposes reading a book about tools of the government, it's a pretty okay read. Dan Slott is always good for entertainment. The problem I kind of have with this book isn't really directly tied in with this actual book. It's kind of a general marvel thing. I don't really understand why they had M-Day, which was the eradication of pretty much all the mutants from the marvel world, the impetince behind which was to avoid the kind of over-proliferation of hyper-powered individuals, such as they are creating in The Avengers Initiative. The Avengers: The Initiative is for all intents and purposes New Mutants but with Avengers instead of X-men. Which I guess if you're fine with that concept to begin with, then I think this may be alright. Though New Mutants were coming in against the grain of society, whereas Avengers are coming in as arms of the state. So it will be interesting to see how or if Slott wrestles with some of the more pressing political questions this book raises, while trying to forge his own ground with the book and truly make it something we haven't really seen before in the Marvel U.

Not a must own by any means, but if you are following Civil War fallout, it is integral.

Brave and the Bold # 2; Fantastic Four # 544; 52

2007-04-04T01:17:00.000-07:00

Brave and the Bold # 2
Mark Waid-George Perez

Brave and the Bold was a book I had sort of enjoyed, but kind of ended up deciding it was mediocre enough not to worry about, but on a whim I decided to go ahead and read number 2, and I'm glad I did, because the second entry into the series is a lot better.

The second issue team up is Supergirl and Green Lantern, and grant you I am a big Supergirl fan(though her solo book is a big pile of poo right now), but still the book seemed a lot more lively than the previous entry. There was more humor. The action was better. The second issue seemed to do everything I sort of liked about the first book well. I appears it will be a good series worth checking out monthly, especially in kind of a slow time, like now.

The art still looks really great, though at times it seemed to get overly convuluted in the second issue, and seemed to get harder to tell what was going on, but all the same it was good and I look forward to reading the next entry, which will be Blue Beetle and Batman.

Fantastic Four # 544
Dwayne McDuffie-Paul Pelletier

Fantastic Four was a book my mom actually read as a kid. But I have to say, I've never really been at all interested in any of the dynamics of Marvel's First Family. The whole reason I actually picked this book up, was because it's the "new" fantastic four, with Black Panther and Storm taking over for Sue and Reed Richards who have gone off on a second honeymoon of sorts.

Is this book good? No. Not really. If you're a fan of some of the more scattered cosmological jargon in the Marvel Universe, this book might appeal to you. I couldn't really follow, or care to follow, half of what was going on and where. The Black Panther pointing the Ultimate Nullifier at the Watcher, is kind of silly, and sort of diminshes the history of that weapon.

I thought it would be interesting to see how the two new members who are also married now, played off of Torch and Thing. But really, they just felt like they were out of place. It would sort of be like replacing Robin with The Flash. Yeah the Flash is more interesting than Robin, and can do more things, but the chemistry isn't there.

I think I'll go back to my not reading the Fantastic Four mode, now, thank you.

52

My brief checkback with 52. This series has been amazing. I've loved every minute of it. The zaniness of some of the characters and things that happen from week to week are stupid grin inducing. Black Adam should have his own series in the DCU after this, if not that then he should be the principle villain in the DCU for awhile. I've loved all the arcs of the series.

I fully recommend picking this up in trade when it comes out. It's one of the top books put out by either of the two companies, and it is weekly, which is amazing.

I can't wait for Countdown which will be a similiar weekly series that guess what...counts down to the next major event.

52 right now is leading in DCU's next big event(which techinically already happened since this all takes place in the year between Crisis and One Year Later(I think just reading that sentence convinced anybody who may have wanted something to do with the DCU, to not, ha)) and it is SPECTACULAR. Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison are working on this along with several other top writers. It's amazing. You should be reading it. Or if not, you should be planning on reading it.

All the haters, are just haters. Love me some 52.

The Incredible Hulk #104; The Dark Tower # 2; Crossing Midnight #4

2007-03-28T02:35:00.000-07:00

The Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk # 104
Greg Pak-Carlo Pagulayan

Thought I'd check back in on this book, now that we are nearing the next big marvel event(does the fun never stop?) World War Hulk, and see how the big mean and green is doing. Well it looks like I missed a lot of smashing because now Hulk is emperor of the planet he's landed on, and generally being a good guy, living a good life...all of this is of course setup for yet another batch of stupid puny humans to come and mess things up for the Hulk.

As I said before Planet Hulk got overly repetitious, this is a quality book. You do enjoy following the hulk. It is a lively cast of characters that Pak's created. But as they say, it's time to get the show on the road. Once we knew the Hulk was going to return to earth, everything else started to become just filler before the main course. So while I appreciate Planet Hulk, it did drag on over long, and I am glad to see it an issue away from it's end.

Probably if you are wanting a jumping on point pre-world war hulk, this is the issue to get. It recaps everything, and is really the beginning of the next great batch of hulk smashings.

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Reborn # 2

Peter David-Jae Lee

The art on this book is still beautiful, and for that alone you want to turn the pages. But geez. Overwrought much. As I've said, I haven't read the Stephen King books on which this was based, but the dialouge and narration are just sooooo excessive. Almost to the point of parity.

I would love if this book were more pared down, and the art was left to tell the bulk of the story. This issue is more expository, and a lot less actually happens in this issue. I think that's going to become something of a lingering problem with this book, the pace. There were more than a few times I was caught looking to see how many more pages I had left in the book. It just yammers on and on.

I guess you're getting your moneys worth, because the production values on this are still through the roof. I'm still not reading the essays at the back of the book by Robin Furth, because I'm lame like that. But really...a good time was not had by all in the reading of this book.

I think it will make an excellent trade, and it probably makes an excellent set of novels, but as a monthly, I have to say I'm not all that excited to see the next issue.

Crossing Midnight # 4
Mike Carey-Jim Fern

In contrast to The Dark Tower, Mike Carey's Crossing Midnight shows that you can tell a very measured tale, and still make it work as a monthly. Without fail, no matter how I might feel in the middle of the book, by the end, I am always wanting to immeditely read the next book.

I don't fully understand the mythology behind the book yet, and I get confused about who is who when they are referred to by name, so I don't have all the names straight, but I really am enjoying the story. In particular the newly appeared kind of rebel sewing god that appeared in this issue. Very cool.

This still feels like a book that is moving towards something spectacular, and I still fully reccomend giving it a shot. I don't know how it will read as a trade, but it is a great monthly.

Captain America # 25; The New Avengers # 28; The Mighty Avengers # 1

2007-03-21T01:49:00.000-07:00

Captain America # 25
Ed Brubaker-Steve Epting

So by now you've heard all the hub-bub. We've had all the debates as far as why, and whether Marvel should have done it. So put that aside, and just focus on the actual book, if you can get your hands on it. Because this book is astounding storytelling. Which, really...what else would we expect, it's Brubaker damnit.

Wonderful art. Wonderful omniscient storytelling. That Captain America dies is important, but compared to the story on the whole, this book stands on its own, and makes you want to keep reading. This could have been the death of some C-level hero, and it still would have been really good.

Steve Epting's art shifts wonderfully through time, and holds the story in a gravely reality.

You should buy this book, with the knowledge that once you do, you're stuck on the Captain America book until Brubaker leaves. A must buy, and not for stupid collectible reasons. This really is issue eight of Civil War.

The New Avengers
Brian Michael Bendis-Leinil Yu

Heck. Maybe I AM a Bendis fan? I think I'm now reading just about every book he's writing right now. New Avengers was a book that I read for like ten or forteen issues, never really liked it that much, but really wanted to, and now post-civil war, with Bendis also writing The Mighty Avengers(see below) I thought it was a good time to get back on the book. Plus I really like the team, even if it doesn't make a ton of sense. I like Spider-man, I like Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, Echo, Ronin, Spider-woman, not so much Wolverine these days, but it's a good group. Very disgruntled, very magic and ninja-y.

So how was the book? It was good. The banter is still excessive, and Bendis misses more than he hits, but there are some good lines here and there. The overall direction and tone of the book is interesting though, and I love the look of the book. It's very gritty. Some of the facial expressions are a little weird during the discussions, and seem counter-intitiutive to what is being said, but other than that it's a fantastic looking little book.

This book isn't going to change your life or anything. But it's good enough entertainment. I really enjoyed reading it, despite it's flaws. And hey, maybe I am starting to "cotton" to Bendis writing. Or the more likely thing, he writes just about ever Marvel book of note....

The Mighty Avengers
Brian Michael Bendis-Frank Cho

Now for the other Avengers book. In case you are wondering what the diffrence is, the Mighty Avengers are tools of the government, and the New Avengers are kind of an outlaw vigilante group.

Anywho. Mighty Avengers is a chuck back to more hokey comics, where heroes battled monsters, and talked in thought bubbles. And while I thought at one point I was nostalgiac for the thought bubble, after reading Mighty Avengers, I am squarely against it. There are parts of this book that are just completely grating to me. The dialouge is extremely annoying. Like...compare Tony and Ms. Marvel picking a team against Brad Meltzer's Justice League picking a team--it's day and night.

It doesn't help that there's not a single character I like in this book either. Very irritating book. That basically spoils all the good will that New Avengers was building for me. I like the Frank Cho art okay. It's not reaaaallly my cup of tea though. But it's solid.

I will probably stick with this book for a little bit, just to see the two Avengers teams go at it from diffrent vantage points. But really...if you're wanting an Avengers book, pick New Avengers, please.

Brave and the Bold # 1; Action Comics # 846; Strange Girl # 14

2007-03-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

The Brave and the Bold # 1
Mark Waid-George Perez

I was really excited about reading this book. The premise of it is a classic team up book, where each month we get to see two of our favorite DC heroes, in this months case Batman and Green Lantern(Hal Jordan version), join forces to help solve, what looks to be an ongoing problem. It's written by Mark Waid, who I thought I was beginning to like, and drawn by the legendary George Perez.

But I have say, even though I plan to keep up with the book because I really like the concept, this book was really pretty disapointing. To me sometimes Mark Waid's writing, in particular, his dialouge can start to come off very wooden, like I had that problem with his Flash run earlier in his career. I thought after reading Legion of Super-heroes that he had spiced things back up, but it's still very flat dialouge. Which...I mean...is certainly a part of the premise to this book, it's supposed to throw back to that sort of era, I understand that, but it doesn't really mean that in 2007 I really enjoy reading it, on top of given how often Waid ends up with dialouge like this, it seems kind of like a crutch.

No problems really with Perez' art. In fact I like the look of the book a lot.

It's just I was expecting to have my socks knocked off with this book, and was just completely underwhelmed. If you are a big DC fan like me, you'll probably be interested in checking this book regardless. But honestly, there are a ton of books out there that actually get it right. Especially on DC.

Action Comics #846
Geoff Johns-Richard Donner-Adam Kubert

Holy crap! I've been hearing great things about the Johns-Donner run on Action Comics. So me being me, I decided to check it out in the last issue before the group goes on hiatus. And wow what a show. I'm not a superman fan, but there are so many great books out about him right now, and this is definitely one of them. I love love love Kubert's art. The story gives Superman a great foe in General Zod. And in general does the one thing that I've always complained most superman stories don't, which is play on his humanity and put him up against impossible odds.

Even though this is a long way into a story arc, I was able to catch this on the run, and didn't have a ton of problems following what was going on in the book. Geoff Johns has seriously upped his game the last two years. He's always been a good writer, but now he's starting to string together GREAT writing.

He gives his characters pathos, without falling into the trap of a lot of post-Dark Knight/Watchmen writers, and making the characters psychotics. The shades of humanity he puts into his characters embues them with vulnerability yes, but they still have a certain goodness about them. The characters Johns writes are at their core good people, who do amazingly heroic things, but they are never perfect people. Even his General Zod is pretty sympathetic. He's mis-guided and evil, but I could understand his anger and resentment.

And one can't overlook Ricahrd Donner's contribution. This is the man who gave us the Superman movies that didn't suck, and apparently the studios should have left him to his druthers to do the whole franchise, because he's got what they'd call a real barn burner of a story cooking here.

The final page of this book will keep me excited for the continuation of the story whenever it comes. Already one of my favorite splashes of the new year.

Strange Girl # 14
Rick Remender-Nick Stakal

How should I explain this book....hmmm....it's kind of like in Buffy when the apocalypse starts to happen, but it's narrowly averted, except here, it's not averted, and so our main character goes on a mindbending trip through hell.

Rick Remender is definitely one of my favorite writers right now. I love the choices he makes in his stories, and I love the way his characterse think and speak. There's a lot of humor in it, but it's also very serious. I guess since I brought it up, he's sort of Whedon-ish in that respect, but I actually am not a big Whedon fan. I think Remender has a lot more range, particularly in comics, and this and Fear Agent are two of my most look-forward-to books each month.

I definitely have a soft spot for heavy religious iconography, and occult bends to stories, and Strange Girl really fits that bill. And does it without falling into a ton of mopey goth type cliches.

The art, I'm not quite as sold on. It's very versatile I give it that. But imagine this book with like a JH Williams working on it. It would really jump to the next level. I definitely think the ideas for the art are great, and I like how hard Remender seems to be pushing his artist. But if there's a week point to this book it's the art.

But yeah, I definitely recommend Remender to anyone. He's good stuff.

Seven Soldiers of Victory; Civil War; Local # 8

2007-03-07T01:07:00.000-08:00

Seven Soldiers of Victory
Grant Morrison-Various Artists

Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory is point blank, a tour-de-force, in every sense that word can mean. The premise off the series is seven heroes strung out through time, who never meet, are part of a team, unbeknownst to themselves, fighting to save the world against an aged fairy race called the Sheeda, who have come to harvest mankind.

The series is built on these seven mini-series, which though best read in the order they are collected in the trades in, can be read seperately as their own adventures, as their own self-contained origin stories.

The series starts at issue 0 and then has the seven mini-series, which are kind of origin tales, finally concluding with issue 1 of The Seven Soldiers of Victory. The structure alone of the story is worth the price of admission. To say nothing of Morrison's meditations on writing, magic, the devolution of society, history and time.

It would not be a stretch to compare Morrison's contemporary work to that of Robert Anton Wilson, Phillip K. Dick, and Alan Moore. The man is on top of his game, and the artists in this series respond to his call. Each series has it's own distinctive look and flavor. Just as an exercise in characterization the series is worthwhile.

I really do hope that DC collects the entire run in one huge absolute edition, because this work is that important. However, it would not be somewhat appropriate if they don't, because the series itself kind of operates through the seems of the DC universe. And I definitely think once you have read this, it changes the DC world for you. It's a definite companion piece to Infinite Crisis, and I highly reccomend it. But make sure you are in it for the long haul. This is a story that once it gets going is impossible to let go, but it's also an easy story to dismiss based on the early issues. Stick with it, because the payoff is worth it.

Civil War
Mark Millar-Steve McNiven

Well it's over now. The blueprint for the new Marvel World has been put forth. And now it's time to look back and see what what we've ended up with. Is Civil War perfect? For what it is supposed to be, in terms of setting new ground rules for the Marvel world it definitely accomplished it's task. Where a lot of the problems come in, are from expectations of this event to be like an Crisis on Infinite Earths, which it certainly is nowhere near that epic. And then on top of that, there is the predictable niggling over piddly details of whether you buy certain characters being one way or the other.

For me the character issue was never a huge one. Sure there are a few moments where you wonder if say, Reed Richards, would really be that devious. But I was able to suspend my disbelief as a reader, in large part thanks to the art of Steve McNiven, who I believe has set a new high water mark for the tighted ones. The emotion that he is able to convey in characters faces, and postures--you could read this book without Millar's words, and enjoy it as much, or more.

Millar's writing has been equally strong for the most part. There have been several brilliant exchanges through the book, in particular the one between the Punisher, Spider-man, and Captain America, that I will remember for awhile. Is this book as strong as Millar's Ultimates? No. But it's also only 7 issues long. And for being that cramped, I think Millar does a good enough job.

Where this book is important I believe, is in marking out the new direction for Marvel and the 616 universe. This work is nothing if not a manifesto for the new Marvel era. Hopefully we can expect more of these timely political books now that the Marvel world has been brought a little farther into the real world it's always said it's a part of. In many ways Civil War can servce as a refocusing point for the universe, and allow for a better exploitation of the advantages that the Marvel 616 has over say the DC universe. I think in that respect, whether it's everything you wanted or not, it is an extremely important book, and anyone wanting an entry point into Marvel Comics for the next year should pick up the core book(which reminds me, I've heard a lot of people complain about all of the extra books that you supposedly have to pick up--having finished Civil War, I really do think all that you need to know is contained within the pages of those 7 issues. If you are reading it, and want to know more about a specific character related event, you can definitely go pick up their book(as I did with Amazing Spider-man a few times) but it is hardly essential that you do this, and I can't really stress that enough. YOU ONLY NEED TO READ THE 7 MILLAR ISSUES).

And I know we aren't supposed to do this, but since both companies have been so event laden...here is my ranking of events between the two companies from the last two years:
1. 52
2. Civil War
3. Identity Crisis
4. Countdown to Infite Crisis
5. House of Stupid M
6. Infinite Crisis

Up next we have another DC countdown to something or other, and from Marvel World War Hulk.

Local # 8
Brian Wood-Ryan Kelly

Kind of a nice book to review as a change of pace from the superhero books up above. Local is this indie book that each issue takes place in a diffrent place of the country, and kind of is about the smaller things in life, which are usually the things that matter most.

This issue takes place in Wicker Park, Chicago, and takes place mostly between a diner and two apartments. It's about a waitress named Megan(who I gather most of the series is about) as she is kind of in that mid-20's crisis point of deciding what she wants to do with the love in her life. If she wants to stay with a nowhere guy who makes her happy, or go with a rich guy who can buy her things and give her a future, but who she doesn't really like.

It's really a wonderful piece of character writing, and it's a testament to the creative team that the story feels as quiet yet important as it does. Reading this book you really do hear the wind whipping leaves through the air, and all the diner sounds and congestion. You really do get into Megan's headspace for the duration of the book, and can understand where she's at as a person. It's definitely a wonderful book, and I look forward to catching the whole run in trade once it's collected. Supposedly the series basically follows Megan from 18-32, which is completely fascinating to me.

As an aside, in my creative writing class in college, the idea was thrown around that men could not write women characters believeably. This is another book that counteracts that arguement, as Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly do a wonderful job telling Megan's story. A lot of good writing can happen when your characters are treated as humans, not sex objects.

Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 1; Spider-Man Reign # 3; Wormwood Gentlemen Corpse # 5

2007-02-28T01:35:00.000-08:00

Ghostrider: Trail of Tears # 1
Garth Ennis-Clayton Crain

Let's see...war, the west, vengence, what makes a hero--all by Garth Ennis, like you're not going to check this book out. For a book subtitled trail of tears, it really hits the mark of what you'd hope for. For a book about a flaming skull spirit of vengence, the cultural and political analysis is suprising and worth the dime.

The dialouge sometimes seems to be a tad overwrought for what it's going for, but the content of what the book is about makes you extremely forgiving.

Ghost Rider Trail of Tears starts off in the tail end of the american civil war, and examines race relations, who really profits from war, and a whole mess of issues which almost set you up perfectly for the haunting image on the final page of the book.

To say this book is in Ennis' wheelhouse would be a massive understatement. But it definitely has potential. For all the talk of The Boys being the new preacher, Ghost Rider seems to more closely hit those themes and I would definitely reccomend it to any fan of Preacher or Ennis.

The artwork is fantastic. It bounces between sepia colored paintings of horrific detail, to more impressionistic nightmares.

I was apprehensive about reading a Ghost Rider book, because I'm not really a fan of the character, but you really don't need to be to enjoy this book.

Definitely a worthwhile read.

Spider-man Reign
Kaare Andrews-Jose Villarrubia

This book is really starting to piss me off. It could be so good, and it just continues to be so overwrought, so derrivitive, so geriatric that three issues in I really wonder how the conclusion is going to redeem all the time I've already put into this book hoping it would get traction.

As it stands, this book one issue away from it's conclusion is still really not worth reading. If you always wanted to see an aged Peter Parker mope his way around with a bunch of other old men, then this is the book for you. I mean, it's like nobody in this book is middle aged. It's all little kids saving the day, and old men.

The art is pretty nice, but it is the same every issue. It's been raining(of course it would be raining) all book long. Maybe it's playing on seasonal depression everywhere by just having a complete air of gloom, but I would kill for something NOT drab.

The dialouge is crap. I actually find myself skipping much of it halfway through because it's so pretensious. The first person narrative is even worse.

Instead of reading this, read Dark Knight Returns, and past a picture of spider-man over all the images of batman in that book. Trust me, it will be a lot more fun.

Wormwood Gentlemen Corpse
Ben Templesmith

Now here is a book that's a real hoot. This issue is almost entirely self-contained, so far as I could understand, and it centers around going to watch drunken leprachauns fight in an arena. If you're at all a fan of deadpan but over the top zombie humor this book is for you. Just a really fun read, and a joy to let your eyes move over.

Did I mention drunken leprachauns fighting it out with busted beer bottles? Because surely I did. Coming off the dismal gloom of Spider-man Reign, this was a lovely book to come to. The sense of humor is spot on. Very dark humor.

The central character of a worm that inhabits decayed bodies is extremely charming and this is a book I will definitely be looking to pick up from here on out. I fully reccomend it to all of my friends.

SHAZAM!: The Monster Society of Evil # 1; Fell # 7; The Dark Tower # 1

2007-02-21T01:22:00.000-08:00

Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil # 1
Jeff Smith

The one word to describe what I felt reading this book by Jeff Smith, creator of Bone, is giddy. This book which begins Jeff Smith's take on the character of Captain Marvel is just sublime. This should be current DC continuity, it's so good. This is a book that really brings out the magic and amazement of the superhero genre, as well as a lot of the humor. Watching Captain Marvel buy a hotdog is a great joy.

The book is rife with make-you-smile moments involving Billy Batson and Captain Marvel. Though at it's core it is about a homeless child coming from a tragic past, the mood is always two steps away from happiness. Shazam just makes you feel so good to be reading a comic.

Jeff Smith's artwork for the book matches the writing, and in many cases carries the day. This is a book you can enjoy without any of the words. Just a real capturing of the genre of superheroes--not an easy thing to do, and great talents have been far lesss enjoyable while doing so. This is a book that definitely reminds me why I still read superhero books and why I liked them so much as a kid. I would recommend it without hesitation to anyone that was even slightly interested in either Jeff Smith or the superhero genre.

I can only hope that this opening adventure that will eventually tally four issues will beget many more from Jeff Smith who is one of the truly great talents in the field today.

Fell # 7
Warren Ellis-Ben Templesmith

It seems like forever since I've reviewed Fell. It's been ages since an issue has come out of this terrifici book. And the question is whether it maintains the level of excellence it had previously set in the prior 6 issues. I have to say, this issue is terrific, and if it were any other book I'd probably be lavishing praise upon it. But as a new edition of Fell it's rather anti-climactic.

As an aside, if you're wondering what the hell Fell is, it's a book about a Detective Fell working in the morally bankrupt town of Snowtown, a town which is essentially been given over to people's worst vices, and essentially lives in a perpetual nightmare of existence. Every issue is selfcontained and priced at 1.99. It's attempting to give you a satisfying story, working within the pamphlet side of comics, to sort of disprove that 1, comics need be so expensive, and 2 that you can't tell a good self-contained story in a single issue. Paul Dini is doing this as well in Detective Comics it should be noted.

But anyways. What we have in issue 7 is another issue basically locked in an interrogation room while the events outstanding are rehashed by Detective Fell, and he attempts to play his little logic games to nab the criminal. The problem with this is, we've already done that in the series, and the town of Fell is interesting enough that I would have liked to had Detective Fell out roaming it a little more. The other problem to it is, that this issue doesn't really contain any sort of logical games. Just a kind of indictment on the legal system in a note we've heard before. All in all, considering the calibre of what came before, it's very blase. It almost feels like the book was just shoved out to shove one out after all this time, and there wasn't really any passion behind it's making from Ellis. Which is something that happens a lot to me when I start Ellis series. They usually start off very strong and full of a lot of great stuff, and then he seems to lose interest, and the book suffers. I hope that doesn't happen to Fell because it's a book I get legitimately excited about reading, but this issue is really nothing exceptional for the Fell team.

There is some cool art in here by Templesmith, but since 90 percent of the story happens in a gray four walled room, it does seem kind of boring even for him. I suppose he could have done a better job of playing with the space of that room. I mean, if Linklater can do it in Tape surely it can be done here.

All in all, if you've never read Fell you should start with the other issues. This isn't bad, but it's not what I'd use to convince people to read the book.

In fact the most exciting thing about this book, was Matt Fractions little short story staring match/promo for Casanova, a book I've been meaning to check out. The small three page story is better than the entirety of the Fell portion of the book, and has reminded me that I must go and get the trades for Casanova so I can figure out what the hell is going on enough to read the monthly.

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
Peter David-Jae Lee

Holy crap I had no idea what I was going to walk into. I had heard of the Dark Tower books and had some sort of vague notion about what they might be about, but after reading the new comic book story based on that world--wow. I will be getting myself to the bookstore. Fun stuff. Wizards, gunslingers, psychics, crazed apocolyptic vibe--so cool.

And without having access to the source material I can't really truly assess how good or bad Marvel did at translating this work over, but I have to bet good, because on it's own this is a fantastic book and one I look forward to following immensley.

The writing is like something a character from a Cormac McCarthy book might say, and the artwork is incredible. I mean, it's not suprising as Jae Lee is one of the real talents in comics, and Peter David has always been a pretty terrific story teller in the medium. It's books like this that will catch Marvel up to DC's Vertigo imprint.

Just fantastic stuff. Definitely reccomend the book to anyone whether they are familiar with the Stephen King work or not. This will appeal to you if you are into westerns on any level. Wizards on any level. Horror on any level. Fantastic opening salvo. Production values through the roof. There's even an added short story in the back of the book by Robin Furth.

EXCITING!

Criminal # 4; Punisher War Journal # 3; Fear Agent 10

2007-02-14T00:26:00.000-08:00

Criminal # 4
Ed Brubaker-Sean Phillips

If you're into comics, you already know the score on this book. I always hesitate to even bother reviewing it because of that reason. But if you're not into comics and you're looking to read one of the best books out there, and enjoy Noir tales at all, then this is the book for you. Brubaker as he shows in most of the things he's writing these days, is a master storyteller who knows how to unfold a character on the side of your pool and make them the most captivating thing under the sun. Not because these are perfect statuesque models of humanity, but because these are flawed unadmirable people. Junkies and Cowards are your heros in this book.

But man does it sing. Sean Phillips artwork for the series is restrained and beautiful. It's mostly comprised of quiet scenes of people getting their morning coffee, jarred with very few, but very effective flourishes of blood drenched corpses as the body count continues to silently stack up.

Like I was saying, if you're into comics at all, you know about this book, you're reading it, and this review one way or the other will have no real effect on you. If you're not into comics though, go pick this up. It doesn't involve superheroes on any level. It's not overly violent. There isn't a lot of cursing. It's just tight tight storytelling of a dark noir tale.

Punisher War Journal # 3
Matt Fraction-Ariel Oliveti

Despite the fact that Fraction completely rewrites the portion of this that is in the main Civil War Book (I don't know if these errors might not be intentional, since the book is told from Frank's messed up vantage point, or if it's just sloppy editing) this is a good book that just needs patience from the readers. The talent working on this book is exceptional. And while Civil War is dragging the plot of the book down, the book works as chopped up bits that have been seemed together. The writing actually on each page is a lot of fun and I geniunely enjoy reading it.

The art of the book is the highpoint for me. I absolutely adore Ariel Olivetti's work, and will be very interested in seeing more work.

This book is far from perfect, and I feel like I have to appologize for it a lot both in reviews and when I talk to others about it. But I promise you if you give this one time, I am pretty sure given the evidence we already have, that it's going to be a terrific book. Not every book comes sprinting out of the gate. Punisher War Journal probably won't hit it's groove until the second arc or further. Which wouldn't even make it the first Punisher work in the last ten years that started off slowly.

And while it does seem a bit much to be picking up two punisher books per month, this one is so diffrent from Ennis's book that despite them both being about the same character, you really shouldn't hesitate. If you have room in your shopping bag, and some patience to wait through some early growing pains, pick this up. You'll seem so much more respectable when 6 months from now everyone is raving about how great this book is.

Fear Agent # 10
Rick Remender-Jerome Opena

Oh how I love my Fear Agent. I picked this book up only an issue ago, and have to say I am so not regretting it. Follwing the adventures of this drunken cowboy of an anti-hero through his bent up space adventures is a complete joy. I'm planning to go catch up on the rest of the series. But this is definitely a book I recommend.

It's a good thing to get away from the big two, because a lot of the independent publishers aren't as tied down by pandering to children. And so with Fear Agent we get a very adult book with lots of slime, grime, and boozing. The book is pretty funny, but definitely feels developed and multi-dimensional. There's a definite heart and soul to this book that even having only just jumped on is palpable. This is a book that for all the fun it is, feels very well thought out.

Rick Remender's essay defending the drug use of an earlier issue at the back of the book is a must read as well. A very interesting and provacative meditation on censorship and the need to show the very real effects that certian actions can have.

This is definitely a book to fill the hole leftover by some of the more mediocre books being put out by the big two, like in my opinion Green Lantern, The Flash(which is just bad), any book with the words Spider or man that doesn't also include the word Ultimate, and the now droning slodge through Planet Hulk.

Batman and the Mad Monk 5; Nightly News 3; Kabuki: The Alchemy 8

2007-02-07T01:19:00.000-08:00

Batman and the Mad Monk # 5
Matt Wagner

The most straightforward yarn of the bunch this week, Matt Wagner's Batman and the Mad Monk trudges on. It still feels too quality a book to dislike, but too run of the mill to really lavish praise on. For my money it's a very "meh" Batman book, but considering Morrison is on sabbatical from Batman, it will have to do.

The artwork is still from that Year One era Batman, with a little bit of an upgrade. Batman gets very bloody in this issue, and it looks pretty cool all told. I would appreciate more in this book if the campiness of it were played up. It's kind of by the numbers anyways with respect to the story, so it would be nice if it played with that fact more. The most exciting flourishes in the book, are the ones that have their tongue poked firmly in Batman camplore.

A lot does have to be said for the nostalgiac feeling you get from entering this sort of Batman world which wasn't so highly developed. But I do think Morrison did what Wagner should be aiming for with this book, a lot better with his Son of the Demon/Ninja Man Bat arc.

So yeah if you are starved for some Batman, this or Detective Comics will tide you over till Morrison gets back on the case.

The Nightly News # 3
Jonathan Hickman

So glad I stayed with this book with all the potential is showed in the first two issues. Issue three is where the book has finally found it's stride. Between the story and the political essaying, everything is in balance this issue.

The book is subtitled "education. ritalin. porn. rehab. choice" and that's a very good guid for what this issue tackles. The opening salvo about the american education system is a fantastic read and has me excited for more. The dialouge in this issue has taken on a definite poetic bend, and is fantastic to read.

Oh yeah, if you didn't know...the book is about putting a bullet through Lou Dobbs forehead. And I'm not talking metaphorically. Frankly it's amazing a book like this is being put out, but I guess if it were being put out by DC instead of Image, it probably would have already been pulled off the shelves. If you're at all angry about american society and the role politics and media play in it, this is your book. If you're at all interested in really interesting non-linear art, this is your book. Definitely the most intense read that you can get off the shelves without having to hide it under your mattress when you get home.

Do yourself a favor...

Kabuki: The Alchemy

David Mack

If there was a capital "C" comics label out there, Kabuki: The Alchemy would fall right into it. This book is basically free license for magic funtime artist David Mack to let his imagination take a flying blue yonder into jaunts unknown. Whether it's paneling, the style he's drawing in, the cut outs he's using--he'll do anything to express the ideas in his head.

This book centers around a dream and a debate about the nature and compulsion to write. It's a manifesto it seems of what drives Mack to do what he does and how he does. I mean, you'll note that I'm not really referring to the characters of the book doing this, because...well frankly I don't remember them at this point anymore, and they really just seemed to be placeholders on the page for the text and design that went on around and through them.

All in all this is a fascinating work, even if the philosophy of it doesn't interest you. Mack's art is always interesting, and in this book you can kind of get behind the mask of the art and see how it ticks.

It's a beautifully naked work to be sure.

Blade of the Immortal; Snake Woman; Superman Confidential

2007-01-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

Blade of the Immortal # 120

Hiroaki Samura

I actually started reading Blade of the Immortal in high school, that's how long this book has been going. Even then I was two manga collections behind. But I loved the story then, and I think it's still good now. It's weird to jump back into it now though. In case you're wondering, by the way, Blade of the Immortal is about an immortal Samurai who must kill 1,000 evil souls in order to finally die. The story is actually more about this young girl Rin, and her quest for vengence against a samurai clan called the itto-ryu.

Anyways, it's all done by one man. The art is at times breathtaking. The characters are all fully fleshed out three dimensional characters, and just on the whole it's a very classy tale. It is exceptionally violent however. But it balances that out with many moments of stillness and subtlety. When it is finally done, it would not be at all suprising for it to take it's place next to Lone Wolf and Cub as one of the all-time great mangas.

I don't know if I'd reccomend just jumping right in right now though. This is the 3rd part of a 4 part arc, and the book is extremely jargon heavy, and it can be very hard to follow what is being talked about, and whom. There is a handy glossary in the back, but more often than not I chose to be confused than enlightened with it.

Blade of the Immortal is an extremely quality book. If you like Samurai and really good interesting diverse characters, this is a good book to read. But I would definitely try and catch up first.

Snake Woman #6
Zeb Wells-Dean Hyrapiet

I didn't pick these two books to review together intentionally. I swear. It just happens to be a coincidence that Snake Woman is a book about a god that has to kill the reincarnarated souls of sixty-eight british explorers who desecrated an ancient temple in the 18th century. If she fails to kill all sixty-eight within a single lifetime all are reborn again and she has to start over.

Very interesting premise, and the art while it probably would be more interesting stylized diffrently is good enough. The dialouge is okay. The characterizations...meh.

It's really not a wholey remarkable book. There's nothing wrong with it, and if the premise interests you, you might be interested in reading it. I mean, I can't lie, I'm sort of interested in picking this up again, but not thaaat strongly. It's a good mid level book if you're looking to get something that's not Marvel or DC, and not centered around a white male aryan-type character, or just a Zeb Wells fan.

Superman Confidential #3

Darwyn Cooke-Tim Sale

Good lord there's a lot of good Superman books out there these days. And I'm not even reading The Johns-Donner Superman. Superman Confidential combines the wonderful talents of Tim Sale and Darwyn Cook to tell the story of the first time Superman encountered Kryptonite.

The art for this book is wonderful, and you could really read the book without the words. This is two masterful visual storytellers busting out the fat yarns. Unlike Batman Confidential, both the art and the writing are up to snuff, and if you're looking for a third Superman book the chuck on your shelves this is it.

That said, if you're wondering whether to replace All-star Superman with this, don't. It's a good story, but this is not New Frontier or Dark Knight Returns for either of these creators. It's a nice collaboration, and a good to very good book, but it's really just icing ontop of your superman cake.

With all of this talent working on Batman and Superman, I can only question why it is Wonder Woman, the supposed other part of the big three, hasn't got half the talent working on even one of her books, none of which can bother to come out on time.

If it sounds like I'm complaining...I am.

Justice Society of America # 2; Phonogram # 4; Scalped # 1; Crossing Midnight # 2

2007-01-23T01:30:00.000-08:00

Justice Society of America# 2

Geoff Johns-Dale Eaglesham-Ruy Jose

As good as Justice League of America by New York times best-selling author Brad Meltzer is--Justice Society of America is just flat out better. You don't have to know anything about the Justice Society to enjoy this.

If you enjoy superhero pathos, multi-dimensional tighted ones, especially ones that haven't had a billion bad TV shows and movies made about them, this is it for you. Honestly, this book has to be read for the Starman character alone. He's easily my favorite thing about this book. His rambles are brilliantly funny and absurd. He's completely out to lunch, and yet somehow is allowed to walk around spouting off madness left and right.

If you're going to be reading a mainstream DC comics book, or any kind of superhero team book, this is the best one out there. I really don't even have to say much in that direction. It's just accepted now. Everyone knows. This is the best superhero team book out there. Deal with it.

Art looks good too. And if you want to stay with the major DC events this year, this is a must buy book because apparently this is where it's going down.

Phonogram # 4
Kieron Gillen-Jamie Mckelvie

So my favorite book came out finally. After reading the first three issues last month, 30 days felt like a death march through all things eternity. I mean, I worried honestly. I shouldn't have. But I did. Would I still love this book at 4? The ante has been raised on every book, can I make an obvious Spinal Tap cliche here? No? Screw you too.

Anyways, Kieron Gillen broke my brain on this one. Like there was some tipping point in the book where everything I was keeping track of went in on itself one to many times, and I crashed. And what I was left with, was really freaking cool pictures by McKelvie, and really freaking cool words by Gillen. I don't mean it to sound backhanded to say that even an idiot hillbilly could enjoy this book. It's kind of a thing where...do words and pictures stimulate you at all--because this is a full on sexing.

Issue four is basically everything the book's been talking about to this point, made real. And honestly, there had to have been a ton of trepidation about that. It's fun to talk about something as an allusion to what it might be, but to actually go through, show it, and have it live up to what you've been talking around, is exceptional. If either the art or the writing had failed at any time it all would have come crumbling down in a pile of silly mash. That this didn't happen only further illistrates that the cats making this book are on the level.

It'd be silly of me after all of this time to only say buy the book you retarded tree diddler. But that's all I've got.

Scalped
Jason Aaron-R.M. Guera

Jason Aaron only continues to impress. First off, you should be reading his other book The Other Side and now you should be reading his fascinating Sopranos on the reservation book Scalped.

The book follows an anti-hero named Dashiell Bad Horse who has returned to the third world apocolypse that is contemporary reservation life. The book makes no bones about the fact that native americans in this country live in a state that could easily be described as third world. And right in the heart of america no less. The adversarial tone of reservation life towards american government, makes this with The Other Side a timely book.

Honestly if I have a complaint with the book, it's that the art sometimes seems jumbeled. Sometimes it nails it, sometimes it doesn't. The color tones I think take something away from teh story making it look too much like 100 Bullets when it's really something else. The dialgoue of the book, as with his other book, is fantastic though. And the characterizations are exceptionally strong.

I actually like the writing of Scalped more than The Other Side but the artistic visioin isn't quite as strong as Cameron Stewarts. And though I know it's not fair to compare, but hey, what the heck. I am.

If like me you've always found reservation tales compelling, or like hard boiled noirish type stories, this is a good book to check out.

Crossing Midnight # 2
Mike Carey-Jim Fern-Mark Pennington

Crossing Midnight is that japanese story of two twins born on each side of midnight, one with the powers of invulnerablity granted by a japanese god, and the other...not. It's a very interesting change of pace book, in line with a kind of adult fairy tale.

It's not fast paced at all, but everytime you reach the end of an issue, you just have to read the next issue. The most intriguing thing about the book is actually the non-mythological familial disfunction that the story weaves around and through. The book has the blunted feel of a family on the skids.

It's amazing to remember this is the same guy who is writing X-men right now for Marvel, and just makes me more interested to check out Mike Carey's other books. He's not an overt stylist of dialouge like Garth Ennis. Nor are his stories playing crazy and loose with the paneling like a Bendis project. But he's definitely got his own voice. And there are some incredibly clever moments in this book.

It can sometimes feel like a lot of these books just kind of run together in pacing style, Crossing Midnight is a book that takes it's time. It's the assured narrative of a master storyteller. Mike Carey's confidence in this project is what carries it through in it's execution. He makes you believe that your patience in the book will be rewarded, and that you are in for the measured construction of something really beautiful.

In it's own way, it's unlike anything out there right now.

Action Philosophers Giant Book 1; The Killer 2; Punisher War Journal 2

2007-01-17T10:50:00.000-08:00

Action Philosophers Giant Size Book 1
Fred Van Lente-Ryan Dunlavey

Oh the halicoyn days of my "I...uh...think I maybe want to sort of major in philosophy" youth. I was so young and idealistic. All those bright sexy young ideas floating around. Yes. Those were the days. Action Philosophers reminds of those funtime special carnival freakshot days. It's got that wide eyed fun of big ideas by big people living in important times.

Backing up, in case it's not self-explanitory, what Action Philosphers is, is a comic that kind of distills about three philosphers or great thinkers down to their essence, and through the magic of comic humor makes what would otherwise be very daunting to understand, very easy to learn. The art is bombastic in that grand old cartooning sense. The jokes for the most part work. But on the whole, what you are in for, is something that at times might feel slightly textbooky. There is definitely a sense reading this book of "hey, wait a minute, you're trying to educate me, aren't you?" But it is a lot of fun.

It's a book that is completely diffrent from what else is out there, and in small doses, is really nice. If you are at all interested in philosophy then this is a great comic for you. If you also like a good humor book Action Philosphers will also appeal to you. You'll be better for having read it, that's for sure. Though your enjoyment level could vary depending on what you came into the book looking for.

The Killer
Matz-Luc Jacamon

This book is just the epitome of french cool. If you love stuff like the Professional, Ghost Dog, Le Samarouai, this book is for you. It mixes all of that into a very cynical world view that isn't afraid to engage contemporary politics(as much as one can be that was originally written in 1998 in France).

Just a really slick book. I've actually reviewed it before, but I wanted to reitterate that if you haven't started picking it up you are missing out.

In this issue we start to see the sanity of our hitman slip. The way this is shown through the art, is very cool. In fact that's the best word for this book. Cool.

Archaia Studios Press puts out fantastic quality books, and this is one of them. Do be reading.

Punisher War Journal # 2
Matt Fraction-Alive Olivetti

The writing in issue two takes a bit of a dive, with a seemingly inconsistent portrayal of Frank Castle, at times to embarrassingly silly degrees. It feels constrained and rushed in the writing. And the voice is not nearly as strong as it was in the first issue. But I can almost entirely blame all of this to being forced to tie into Marvel's Civil War. It's clear Fraction doesn't really enjoy wasting his time under the constrains of what's going on in Millar's book. Fraction's book almost seems to show contempt for the hoops Millar has thrown the Punisher through. The suspension of belief in Civil War that Cap and Punisher would work together that led to probably the best line of the entire series, is basically shredded to pieces in this book as being completely ridiculous. There is a real sense of contempt in Fraction's book when you really get down to it.

The art remains outstanding. I love to just look at this book. I love everything about the art. Even if I didn't have confidence in Fraction pulling this book off, I'd probably still pick it up just to enjoy the art. I mean, it's not like...life changing art or anything. But it's a lot of fun.

Getting back to Fraction though, if you look at the seems of this book, in combination with the stellar debut issue, I think it's clear this is going to be a fantastic run. Fractions vision of the Punisher is a huge contrast to what Ennis is doing, but it is just as compelling. The Bridge character and his pursuit of Castle is one of the best aspects of the book so far. Pretty much everything in this book that isn't shoe-horned into the Civil War story, is excellent, which bodes well for the future of this book. I think much like Ennis, the editors at Marvel will be best served to walk away and let Fraction go crazy.

I think a lot of people who picked this issue up, but not the first issue, might not give it a chance, and that would be a huge mistake. I think Fraction has a big future with the Big Two, and this Punisher run should serve as an effective salvo ushering in a bright new talent(Read Cassanova too, please).

Civil War #6; Strange Girl # 12; Battle Pope # 12

2007-01-09T01:47:00.000-08:00

Civil War # 6
Mark Millar-Steve McNiven

If this isn't the most maligned good book out there I don't know what is. It's the book everyone buys to complain about to the smallest of details and I just plain don't understand it. I love Civil War. Not so much the exterior books, I've mostly stuck to the main book, and for my money it's wonderful. Politcal commentary on the state of america and civil liberties and how those things have been dictated by history, just flies off the pages of this book to gobsmack the reader in the face. So many readers are truly upset because the book is not supposed to take sides, but they feel it's slanted against Tony Stark's authoratian regime, which is a stand-in really for Dubya's Neo-Con vision of america and the world. Not to pull their cards, but I imagine most of them are closet republicans, and they deserve to feel a little uncomfortable, a little guilty, a little embarrassed by what's taken place in this country the last several years.

I'd say that's beside the point, and it's time to discuss the comic, but really that's the point of this book. Like Millar's The Ultimates this is not a book to stand idly by on the sideline of. The ad campaign says very directly Choose a Side. You're either for freedom and all the dangers that implies, or you're against it and all the baggage that carries.

My main complaint with Civil War is that in spite of the overly complained about delays, the book is going by too fast. This is a year long story really, like The Ultimates. I just don't see how this can come to a reasonable conclusion in 7 issues. The major battles are condensed to good looking skirmishes because of this. It's a 12 issue book that feels crammed into 7(which I believe is an extension of the original size the series was supposed to run). But aside from that, the writing is terrific--there's a line in here about the Punisher by Spider-man comparing him to Captain America that may be the best line of the whole series to this point--and the art--the art is amazing. So much of this book is being carried in the expressions and body language of the heroes, and McNiven has yet to disapoint. If you got rid of the words, the story would still make perfect sense, which is a testament to Millar-McNiven as a storytelling team.

Only one issue left on this series, so it's hard to say get out and read this right now if you aren't already, but this is basically shaping the Marvel 616 for the next year, and if you want to understand Marvel comics this year, it's a series you need to find time for.

*As good as this is, Millar's The Ultimates is this times better.

Strange Girl
Rick Remender-Nick Stakal

I am really becoming quite the Rick Remender fan. Last week I gave a thumbs up to Fear Agent this week Strange Girl gets the same reccomendation. Granted I don't know much of what's going on with the series, beyond we seem to have this girl, with possibly sorcerous powers, going into hell, to rescue someone she loves, that old tale, with nice little bits cribbed from Dante, it's good stuff.

The art is pretty striking and does a really good job of depeciting the blob of hell that our hero is going into. Narratively speaking, the story is kind of on a loop, which sets a nice tension that underscores all of the interactions. You really do fall into doubt with our hero Bethany.

The book is actually quite diffrent from Fear Agent. It really doesn't have the kind of ascerbic biting tone, and is definitely more gothic in flavor. The mood is entirely diffrent, which is something I like to see, because there's a lot of writers out there who seem to be writing the same wolf in diffrent skins.

But yeah if you're looking for something a little off the beaten path, kind of in that Hellboy type of mold, then this is a good book to check out.

Battle Pope
Robert Kirkman-Tony Moore

Yeah so you can't accuse me of not giving Kirkman every chance to hit me with something I like. For an author I wasn't initially enamored with, I've ended up picking up a lot of his titles, and I've finally found one(well two if you count Ultimate X-Men, though I'm still waiting to see on that) I really like. It's name is Battle Pope. And it's everything you could imagine a book called that would be.

The Pope basically rolls around town, punching people, having sex with loose women--basically the Pope for all intents and purposes is Project Pat. I don't really know the circumstances of the world he lives in, but it's very fascinating, with very incompetent demons running around trying to cause trouble. Santa Claus and Jesus as the Pope's useless deputies. It's a very fun enjoyable book, and really shows off Kirkman's wit, which he also put on display in Marvel Zombies to great effect.

The art by Tony Moore is very nice as well. It's very crisp. The coloring by Staples is really well done as well, in so far as I can judge things like that. But yeah, another really quality image book. There's a lot of them.

Styx Taxi: A little Twilight Music

Styx Taxi is an indie book put out by FWDbooks about a taxi company that picks up the recently deceased and drives them around for two hours before they go to their final resting place.

This collection is a series of short stories that have as their central theme the influence of music. Unfortunately the bulk of the stories seem like they would have done better without the constriction. There is definitely quality work here though and if you're in the mood for a more existential meditative book this is definitely something to look into.

"Sing Along"
Steve Goldman-Dan Goldman

I really enjoyed the art of this short. The concept of kind of a collage of people the drivers deal with is a plenty good one, and it's carried off pretty well. Though the captions with the song verse kind of impeded my ability to feel the weight of the story as a whole. It was hard to see through them to the page narratively speaking, I know they were working in concert with the panels, but I guess I'm not much for reading lyrics in text, and as a central narrative voice for the story, it didn't seem to work as well as you'd want something like that to work.

The little snippets of each person's story worked really well though, and I thought ignoring the captions yielded a more powerful and immediate story, which I enjoyed more.

"A Vita Coda"
Elizabeth Genco-Leland Purvis

This story about the driver Charon's love for a girl who plays the violin in the park has many of the same strengths and weaknesses of the earlier piece, though the art doesn't seem to be as consistently strong. Dom's interaction with Charon seems strange, and the way that he seems to throw a block in front of Charon that directly corresponds to what Charon is desiring is one of those things that you either buy or don't buy, and part of the reason that you don't buy it here is because the issue isn't really masked in anything, because of the compression that this story was put under, there wasn't a lot of room to beat around the bush, yet this is a story that is very much about a mood, and could use more space to stretch out in.

"Encore for My Babies"
Steve Goldman-Rami Efal

The best story of the book, really fantastic art. The lyrics on top of the first person captions on the first page were very difficult to read, and I was glad when it stopped. The dialouge was good, but lacked the succinct brilliance of the first story in the collection. But all in all, definitely the most satisfying story of the collection.

Ultimate Spiderman 1-103; Fear Agent 9; X-23: Target X 1

2007-01-03T03:29:00.000-08:00

Ultimate Spider-man 1-103(Entire Run to this point)
Brian Michael Bendis-Mark Bagley

Yeah so the whole run. From an author I kind of really don't like and an artist who draws Mary Jane more like the Green Goblin than his Green Goblin. But I did it. I gave in. Plowed through it. And did it. And you know what sucks? I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it moreso than any Spider-man story in my entire childhood. This was the Spider-man I had in my minds eye growing up from '82 to present. These were the fumes that I was feeling in those awful Maximum Carnage and Clone Saga days.

Bendis doesn't just get Spider-man, he knocks him out of the park. So much so that even though I think the art is annoying, especially compared to the art in the all-time great Spidey stories, I think this should be the canonical version of Spider-man. Like 200 hundred years from now if I was trying to impart to someone the essence of what Spider-man was and was about, I would give them the wonderful Raimi movies, and this monster of a run.

Don't get me wrong, some things in the run really made me angry. The way Gwen Stacy was handled in the book almost made me stop reading. It's been awhile since I've been that angry at a book. If I hadn't been reading it like a year or two after it happened, I would have written an extremely angry letter.

In fact after that point the series sort of hit a lull. Though Spider-man's interactions with Kitty Pryde were possibly my favorite things in the book. For all his failures with Gwen Stacy, Bendis nails MJ and Kittie Pryde. Maybe he has a thing against blondes? Who knows. But Peter's relationships with both women are incredibly sweet and heartfelt.

But the Clone Saga, which is the current arc. Whoa. The Clone Saga was such a lame thing in the 616 universe, that it got me to stop reading Spider-man altogether. In fact considering what a lull the book was in, I was really dreading coming to it. But this version of the Clone Saga, is possibly the worst most horrific thing to do to a main character in a universe. You basically get to watch every single thing that Bendis has built up into Peter's life over 100 issues get ripped apart in the most cruel manner possible. I mean it's built into the Peter Parker character that he's this guilt ridden kid who always seems to lose even when he's winning, but you almost feel like this is too far. I have no idea how Peter is going to come out on the other side of this arc believably but I am really interested to see him try.

I know there's a lot of doubts about the Ultimate Universe at times, and hell, at times it seems like a horrible idea, because bad writers think it's just their place to simply retell the old stories they read as kids, but the good writers see it as an opportunity to give us something new and dare I say better. If at the end of the day the Ultimate Universe really only gives us Ultimate Spider-man and The Ultimates as enduring works, that's fine, because both may be some of the best most significant pieces to come out of Marvel in 20 years. Even though it's a lot to catch up on with Bendis run, it's very much worth it. A lot of the guy's stuff annoys the crap out of me, but his visions of Spider-man and Daredevil are as good as anyones.

Fear Agent # 9
Rick Remender-Jerome Opena

This was the first issue of Fear Agent that I've read so I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to describe the emotional impact of the things that happen in the book, but I can say it's a book I plan to keep up with. The book can best be described as something like a cross between Batman, Buck Rogers, and the X-Files. It's gritty first person narration combined with lasertastic action against weird aliens.

The art by Opena is very good and really fits the mixture of the above elements. The main reason I plan to keep reading though is Remender's writing, which though at times a little unpolished(mainly though in the form of oddly placed captions, which isn't something I normally notice, but there's a few of them that unnecessarily break up the narration simply for the sake of putting one in a panel) is a lot of fun. There's been discussion on some message boards I post at who should be the next Detective Comics writer after Paul Dini finishes up, and my top two for that gig would have to be either Matt Fraction or Rick Remender. I think either one would do an exceptional job at it. This isn't to say that Fear Agent isn't enough. It's just that I like Remender's writing in Fear Agent so much, I'd like to see it in more books that I read. Because I'm lazy like that. Rather than chase the author, I'd appreciate it if he would just come to the books I read.

Add another one to the pull list. Fear Agent is good for what ails ye.

X-23: Target X
Craig Kyle and Chris Yost-Mike Choi and Sonia Oback

Books like these, with two authors(and in this case two artists as well) make me wish I had a writing partner. I think it'd be a blast. But I digress. Does X-23 qualify as a guilty pleasure? Because I read the first X-23 story, and felt guilty about really enjoying it, and I've got that same feeling here. It's not a life changing meditation on some great universal truth. It's not savagely political. It's just a nice yarn about this cloned from wolverine lonely psycho girl with toe claws.

She of that long line of blank slate psycho girl killing machines. Harboring dark childhood traumas. Hmm...maybe it is savagely political. Perhaps if Kathleen Hanna were writing this book...hmmm that would be cool.

Anywho. The art is really clean nice eye candy, though at times X-23(or "Laura") looks a little wonky. But all in all, like the story solid.

There's nothing truly outstanding about this book. But there's nothing wrong with it either. I will be sticking with it, much like Supergirl because I like the character, but if you're not terribly interested in the character, there's nothing here that would really compel you to bump something else off your list for this.

Best Books of 2006! Woo-Sucker Punch Ninja Kick!

2006-12-27T00:22:00.000-08:00

It's not that I haven't been reading a buttload of comics the last two weeks. Because I have. In fact I'm working on a Seven Soldiers of Victory Review, and planning to review Bendis's entire Ultimate Spiderman run. I was going to do that this week, but the thought occured to me that when next I post a blog it's going to be lucky 07, and in that vein, like every other crazy review site, it's time to wrap it up on '06. Time to go back into the year and to the best of my recollection, give you my best books of '06. History holds there should be a nice round number of these . Like five or ten or a hundred. But a hundred would be unwieldy, and honestly, so may be ten. So I'm going with five. Five really good books from the past year that I fully reccomend. And since there is only five, I won't be doing anything silly like ranking them. Just five. Deal with it.

And without much more ado:

All-star Superman
Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

In all honesty, there was maybe three or four writers who just completely pwned 2006. Morrison was one of them. He semi-quietly threw out some major good stuff. From Seven Soldiers of Victory to Batman to working on 52--even though it's tempting to give DC's year to Geoff Johns, at the end of the day Morrison's work was what kept me a proud DC fan.

And All-Star Superman was simply his best. As arguably the best book DC put out last year, ASM was no slouch. It's still ongoing, and I'll be sad when it's over. But the premise is kind of those silver age wacky superman stories of old. You've got a very mortal Superman, bouncing around in crazy situations with all the normal cast of characters we all know from the years. I don't even like Superman, in fact I kind of hate him. But that didn't stop this book from being one of the very best out there. Morrison's depiction of Lex Luthor has to be seen. And the art from Quitely is eye-gougingly beautiful. The colors are great. Just fantastic work. If you're looking for a Superhero book to read from the last year, I think this is the one.

Scott Pilgrim
Bryan Lee O'Malley

There's actually three Scott Pilgrim books that are out to get, and one of them came out this year, so technically this is okay. But I read all three for the first time this year and felt like all life to that point must have been empty and meaningless. I now know my purpose in life: To read the next Scott Pilgrim book. Collected in good chunk lollipop sized manga volumes, this book chronicles a slackless canadian layabout (perhaps even a rapskallion?) and his adventures or misadventures in love. He's constantly having to fight his girlfriend's ex-boyfriends so that he can continue to go out with her in wild video game-anime inspire fight scenes.

This is a book for everyone. I actually gave it as a christmas present to my sister and my secret santa, and they both adored the book. It's impossible not to like. It's got a charm and humor to it, that is impossible not to fall in love with. If you haven't read Scott Pilgrim, you are probably an evil doppleganger and I hope they find you and throw you into the sun.

Fell
Warren Ellis-Ben Templesmith
2006 also ushered in a bucket full of really good Warren Ellis writing. The King hath returneth. That he wrote both this and Desolation Jones(which I almost put on the list instead) puts him up there for best of the best for the year.

The concept for Fell is 16 pages, full story, 1.99. It follows Detective Richard Fell who has transfered across the bridge from the big city to Snowtown. Snowtown being something of a hellmouth for human degeneracy. The crimes in this book are often sick, disgusting, revolting, but the way in which solves the mysteries in 16 pages with a little bit of humor even, is remarkable and a testament to Ellis' abilities as a writer. There's a lot ot learn from Ellis on this book as far as how much story you really can cram into a book. There's so many books that are 6 to 7 pages longer than Fell that don't feel nearly as satisfying story wise. When you pick up Fell you feel like you're getting your money's worth. Definitely more than worth picking up.

Phonogram
Kieron Gillen-Jamie Mckelvie

If you read my review of Phonogram from a few weeks back and still didn't go pick up the book, I probably hate you, and we probably can't be friends. If I had to pick a favorite book of the entire year, it is either this or Scott Pilgrim. I would say of the two, Phonogram gave me the most food for thought while still being very entertaining. Read this book. Ponder it. Sit it down for 30 minutes. Go grab some bread or cookies or whatever it is you monsters eat. Then come back and read it again.

Love the concept. Love the art. Love the writing. Love people who listen to me and buy the stupid book.

Don't make me beg. Go buy the book idiots.

Pride of Baghdad
Brian K. Vaughn-Niko Henrichon

Incendiary. Beautiful. Brilliant. Brian K. Vaughn was the man about town in comics this year. There's nothing he wrote that you shouldn't have read. But this was the opus. Straight to graphic novel, this based-on-a-true-story, allegory about a family of lions who escaped from the zoo during the US bombardment of Baghdad dazzled.

This is up there with Dark Knight Returns. The Watchmen. Those great canonical books of the medium. Maus. It's immedietely applicable to the current situation in Iraq, as that is most directly what it is addressing. But the meditation it ends up offering on war, dictatorships, and freedom makes this something on the level of comic's Animal Farm. This book is hopefully just the first in many great works from hopefully the next great shining star of comics.

I've yet to encounter anyone who has read the book that didn't come away staggered.

Honorable Mentions: Ed Brubaker's Criminal; Warren Ellis's Desolation Jones; Rick Spears' Pirates of Coney Island

Here's to '07 folks.

Spider-man Reign # 1; Justice Society of America # 1; Wolverine # 48; Newuniversal # 1

2006-12-20T05:18:00.000-08:00

Spider-man: Reign # 1
Kaare Andrews

This little one man band of a show shows a lot of promise promise promise. It's basically, to tell you what you've already heard a million times before reading this review, The Dark Spider Returns. People aren't just saying that either. The degree to which this is derivative of Dark Knight Returns is raither staggering. I like to think it will differentiate itself further down the line and make this really something special. But here's the premise: Peter Parker is an old man, long since retired, living in a fascist state, watching things spiral out of control, until he is called into action once more as Spider-man. And all of this happens in the rain, with lots of lightning. And there's a TV news channel with plastic phases reporting the government news. So I don't know. What's that sound like to you?

I mean, honestly, if all this book ends up becoming is Dark Knight Returns in a Spider-man skin, it will still be worth a read. But Spider-man isn't Batman. They are diffrent characters with diffrent sensibilties. There are certainly feints towards exploring those diffrences, but we'll have to see if they are picked up or this book just follows the already set out cookie cutter story of the Dark Knight Returns.

It is pretty cool though. The whole Reign thing is pretty lame though. We'll see. If I sound all over the map on this review, it's because I really want to like this book, and it hasn't done anything staggeringly wrong. But this book is very close to a misstep into me hating it realm.

The art is kind of cool at times too.

Justice Society of America # 1
Geoff Johns- Dale Eaglesham

This book is really really good. It's actually better than the JLA restart I raved about from Meltzer. Johns presents some really cool new faces to the team, weaves in a mystery, and drops a bombshell at the end. It's good stuff.

Honestly the book should be picked up just for the New Starman character who is already a blast.

The premise of the story is basically The Justice Society starting anew. No more no less. Picking new team members. Introducing old faces. It's a great book to start on and get into what has always been a fantastic series. So don't sleep. Better than advertised. And if the previews for the coming year are any indication, this book is going to have some crazy things go down.

Wolverine # 48
Marc Guggenhiem-Humberto Ramos

I picked this book up mainly to see if there was going to be any hope for one of my favorite heroes, the Flash, since the current team in conjuntion with possibly suspect editorial directives, conspired to put out one of the most putrid piles of piss with the gall to still call itself a DC comic. Heh. I'm a little bitter about that. So rather than review that book, I'm going to do something positive. I'm going to talk about how the next creative team who are going to be writing The Flash, the one currently writing Wolverine--how they are going to do a-okay.

I honestly have been sleeping in this whole Wolverine mess and in particular Mr. Guggenhiem's writing of this book. I mean, I should have known better, a lot of people told me it was decent. But I put it off. Waited. And this issue seemed like the perfect excuse.

Wovlerine # 48 is pretty much a one-shot, that focuses entirely upon just what happens to everyone's favorite hand bladed canuck when he is destroyed beyond recognition, such as in a massive inferno styled plane crash. It's a very probing looking into Wolverine's mindset, and honestly, it kind of makes you wish the poor guy could just die in peace.

The artwork for this book is a lot of fun, bouncing through styles, from anime/mangish looking characters, to full on paint jobs. It's all pretty fun. Some hits, some misses. But good stuff all the same. The transition between Logan's dead world, and alive world is very cool. And I'm excited if Ramos is indeed following Guggenhiem to Flash. And I happen to like the thick neck by the by.

The writing is really quite good. Solid dialouge. Very good interior monolauge. Interesting meditations on life and death, and Logan's history. As with any good Wolverine tale, questions are always met with more questions. It's sad that marvel is having to strip away Wolverine's secrets more and more. It's interesting to know, but once it's gone it's gone. Things like this though, show how with a little imagination, one can still mine the folds.

Good book. Now go fix Flash good sirs.

Newuniversal # 1
Warren Ellis-Salvador Larroca

Strange solar event awakens, or creates in various people on the planet, diffrent kinds of powers. There's a couple white guys from diffrent places. Some scientists. A japanese girl. Violence. Sci-fi mumbo jumbo.

Really I don't know why I bothered with this. I pretty much know what kind of Warren Ellis story I like, and this isn't it. I've got Desolation Jones going on, and that's fantastic. The Phillip K. Dick bend into that world is going to be a lot of fun, I'm a fan. Fell is fantastic. I mean. I should have enough. If that's all Ellis were up to this year, fabu. Good year. Drinks all around.

That said. There is actually nothing wrong with this book. The artwork is pretty good, it's not as stylized as something like The Eternals, but it's good stuff. I didn't like the weird C on the japanese girl's face. I hate face tatoos, especially glowing ones. You've gone and drawn this perfectly wonderful face, and now you've mucked it up with a lame C thingy.

The writing is also fine. There's a fun bit about John Lennon being the beatle who is still alive and McCartney being the one that is dead. There's really not enough to have happened in this issue to really judge how strong it will be or won't be. If you have a lot of confidence in Ellis, and he has never let you down. Then give it a shot. But I definitely feel there are better number ones out there to be picking up. If it were a judgement between all of the books in this review as to what to buy, you'd buy JSA, Spider-man, Wolverine, and then this. But I try to give books a chance. I'm not going to throw something away after one issue, so if this book comes around and ends up being completely diffrent than how it looks like it will obviously be, then hoo-ray.

The Lone Ranger 1-2; MoonKnight 6; White Tiger 1

2006-12-13T03:57:00.000-08:00

The Lone Ranger
Brett Matthews-Sergio Cariello

I have to cop to it up front, when I was really little, I used to wake up at 5:30am every saturday morning, just to watch the latest rerun(which for me was brand new) of the old Lone Ranger series. And in addition to that, the actual movie of the series, was pretty much completely awe inspiring to me.

So why it took me two issues to bother with this title I've never fully understand. Maybe I was afraid they would make a childhood fave into something really cheesy. I don't know.

But what we've got here is Lone Ranger: Year One. And it is pretty darn fantastic. The first two issues fly by really quick, but you get the ambush, and the mysterious set up of a larger conspiracy against the Lone Ranger headed by one really evil Black Bart. We even have a very tortured and troubled Tonto on board already. It's a lot of fun. You really don't need to know anything about the Lone Ranger to appreciate the book. I can't really imagine what it would be like to read this book with no knowledge of the series, but it must be nice. Basically what you've got here is the making of a legend.

This is a good western comic, and that makes it a good change of pace if you're looking to branch out of the tighted wonders. Though again, there are a lot of similarities to Batman here, so you won't feel totally adrift. The art is excellent, the story telling is good--just a very solid book to be reading. One minor quibble I had was that the transitions between time periods were needlessly jarring. But I look forward to spending more time in all of these diffrent time periods of the character.

MoonKnight # 6
Charlie Huston-David Finch

Another childhood fave. I have always thought MoonKnight was really cool, and as I've said in my earlier reviews of this book, I am really happy with what Huston is doing here. This book just gets grittier and grittier. With seemingly no end in sight. It almost functions as a horror movie with Marc Spector against himself.

The gore level of this book is amazing, and the art is just flat out grimy. My only complaint is that the issues just won't come fast enough. Basically MoonKnight is becoming a face skinning nutcase who can't distinguish between reality and delusion anymore.

The interior monologue is once again very good and very clever. The dialouge is needlessly complicated and difficult sometimes to process. It's hard sometimes to remember who is related to what, and what they are going on about. But I get the sense that Huston is really feeling the medium out right now with this book. He's trying really hard and really pushing to see just what he can do with the medium, and for the most part it's been a raving success.

This is a great book if you are into delusional gritty gore happy brooding hero types. Dark stuff indeed. But it's good to see MoonKnight back on his feet.

White Tiger # 1
Tamora Pierce, Timothy Liebe-Phil Briones

Well....the cover looks nice. The cover is by David Mack. It's very pretty. I like it a lot. I bought the book because of the cover. Good job David Mack. In fact I had this book lying around and a co-worker saw it and was really interested because the cover was that good. So good job David Mack.

I mean. I like Tigers. And BAM. There's a White Tiger, right there on the cover. Behind a pretty ass kicking lady with dark hair, I'm thinking about getting my hair darkened, so jealous of brunettes. It's really cool how the utility belt on the cover is kind of done in a diffrent style than everything else. Almost cartoony next to the painting water colors of the rest. Just all in all a job well done.

Oh. How's the actual book you ask?

Oh the book? It's a pile of steaming crap. I'd say you might enjoy it if you are a fan of White Tiger, but how many fans of White Tiger are there really out there? Probably less than there were before. The book where it tries to be funny is appallingly not. Where it tries to be serious, it comes off awkward. The art is par the course for anything. The whole trip to the superhero costume store felt entirely out of place(yes I know it exists in the "616", but still...). This book just howls lame. Actually the thing is, it's bad, but it's not really bad enough to get a kick out of as being bad.

That said, I'll give the book a chance. Maybe it will find it's footing a few issues in? It is written by a women, and I like to see more women writing in the business. But really....acck. Instead of buying this book, buy an extra copy of Phonogram and give it to a needy child for this christmas.

Nightly News 1; Pirates of Coney Island 2; Wonder Woman 3

2006-12-06T01:26:00.000-08:00

Nightly News
Jonathan Hickman

You have to respect this book. The coolness quotient this one man band of a book oozes, even if you don't like the book, you have to respect this book. Nightly News is Jonathan Hickman's rage against the horrors of modern day conditioning. It's about the two percent that own it all versus the 98 percent who own nothing. It's about violent politcal change. It's about how much the news sucks.

And it's pretty good.

The artistic style of the book can best be described as whatever that mess of information is that you see when you turn on your 24 hour news network. It's information overload. You don't read this book so much as it is shot at you, and you collect what you can. At it's height it's a powerful call to arms. At it's worst it's another in the long line of "You're not your fucking khakis".

And while I enjoyed the first issue immensley the seeds of fight club are there, and it bugs me. I don't feel like this book needs a cult driving it. It would have been enough to be a core of angry men. But to throw this Durden-esque claptrap on top of it...it makes me worry.

But for now, this is a good book to be checking out and I do recommend it. As I said before, even if you don't like, you kind of have to respect it. But you'll probably kind of like it.

Pirates of Coney Island
Rick Spears-Vasilis Lolos

Love this book. If you are at all romantic about the anarchic vibes of the ramones, then this is the kind of book you want to see. It's funny to review this book right next to Nightly News because while Pirates isn't as overtly political a book, it's the kind of book which might be a more successful glamorization of an ideal, and a more successfull call to arms.

Pirates of Coney Island is as near as I can tell about a gang of kids at Coney island who approximate something of a non-sea fairing, group of pirates. It's more akin to Tom Sawyer than anything really, but it wears the clothes of that sort of glue hoffing punk esctatica that even nostalgically will always be in vogue. This is about doing what you want, when you want, and giving the big number one to the authority the whole way through.

What's really fun with the book is how Spears intermarries both pirate and comic book tropes. The Pirates have their own batcave. They have their own roles in the crew, each one a speciality--even though they aren't dressed the part(though one boy does don an eye patch), they do feel like pirates.

I really had a lot of fun reading Pirates of Coney Island and am very excited for the next issue. I actually jumped right into the series without having read issue one, so I still have that to catch up on, but missing that info didn't really affect my enjoyment level of the book.

I guess the diffrence between the two books appeal is that in the end I'd rather drop out with Kerouac, then blow up with Osama. The revolution of Pirates is micro, where the one in Nightly News is more macro. Inward vs. outward.

As a final note, and something I should have mentioned sooner--Vasilis Lolos...just whoa. You can draw my wedding pictures any day sir. Love his art. It slightly reminds me of the gorrilaz animation, but it has this wonderful edge and depravity to it--and the colors just explode off the page. The fun thing with Pirates is reading it after going through a pile of fairly dark grim colored books, and then Pirates just explodes on you with blues and greens and reds and yellows. It's beautiful stuff. I can't wait to see more from Lolos.

Wonder Woman # 3
Allan Heinberg-Terry Dodson

Two things to get off my chest before starting this review. First off, it's something of a minor travesty that a character as important and iconic as Wonder Woman, who is supposedly one of the big three with Superman and Batman, only has one book, and it can't come out on a semi-regular basis. Second of all, if it means Allan Heinberg is going to continue to spin such an interesting yarn, then by all means, take your freaking time.

So yeah, I started this book kind of mad, but ended it ready for more. This is a good old fashioned superhero book with wonderful two page splash pages for battles. Lots of fights, lots of talking and drama during those fights, it's how these things are done when they're to be done right. But what hooks you into this book and makes you strap in for the long haul is contained in the dialouge from Circe to Diana(Wonder Woman): "Power you squandered...battling cyborg centurions and psychic despots...when every day thousands of women are beaten raped and murdered because they have no one to fight for them. Because you were too busy being a superhero to be their champion" Hoo boy. This book just took a turn.

One of my favorite things about Wonder Woman is how political she is. I'm not really interested as much in the greek mythology of the character, but I love when she is wrestling with politics and ideals, and real social change. I really hope this book does go to the streets and connects Wonder Woman to a more grounded place. The character could use that. And I think that's what Heinberg is attempting.

We'll see how it goes, but here's to Heinberg and Dodson telling a story worthy of Wonder Woman. Now about having more than one Wonder Woman book going....

Phonogram # 1; Punisher War Journal # 1; Angry Youth Comix # 12

2006-12-03T22:21:00.000-08:00

Phonogram # 1
Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

I actually have issues 2-3, which I plan to read, and also review. But I was so excited by this book, that after reading the first issue I wanted to do a backflip into a moving vehicle at 120mph, before punching my own stunt double in the face. This book is that freaking fantastic.

The premise of Phonogram is basically that music is magic. Instead of lame dwarves and elves being draped over a story as the predominant mysticism, it's britpop, and Scout Niblett. It's a world where music casts spells on people. Where being on the list is a magical act. It's so fatsuck cantastic that honestly if you aren't bum rushing your local grocery store and demanding that loaves of bread be replaced by stacks of this book, then something is lacking in your human condition and you should seek high grade medical assistance immedietely.

This is the type of book Jesus would have read before he threw wine on the mobs of idiots outside his church. It just does something to you. You're like, "this book should have been written already, Grant Morrison should have already figured this one out". But it's Gillen and McKelvie, kids. And it's beautiful. Please please please be buying this. Even if you wait for the trade.

Punisher War Journal # 1
Matt Fraction- Ariel Olivetti

This is a Civil War book for right now, but that doesn't stop it from being a lot of fun on it's own right. Ennis's Punisher this ain't. Fraction's punisher owes more to Spider Jerusalem than he does the serious maniac from Garth's book. It's a pretty enjoyable book. The art is some weird balance between cartoony and realistic. It really looks neat.

Fraction has a complete ball with this book. It's Punisher as a running psycho-comic monologue. It's a book with a lot of promise. I don't think it will ever reach the lofty perches of Ennis run, but it might be a lot more enjoyable. It's got that hip self-awareness pop-culture lingo going on for it, which Fraction has somehow woven into the Punisher character very effectively--in that respect the aforementioned art is perfect, as it seems to easily bound between the cartoonish and the serious.

This book is definitely an exercise in the serious and the absurd. With a slight tilt to the absurd.

A book to keep an eye on. If you're not a punisher fan, this book might be for you.

Angry Youth Comix # 12
Johnny Ryan

This book is definitely not for the faint of humor. Think of the most offensive style of humor, the most perverse sick twisted ideas your sad sack mind can imagine, and then realize that you don't even come close to being in the ballpark of Mr. Ryan.

I really enjoyed this book a lot. It is refreshing to read humor that is edgy, without seeming to try to hard. This book reads almost stream of consciousness from someone who is just raging at the way society is. It's really a great book for the repressed liberal, even though most liberals might get very offended at it. It's a book so wrong, it's right.

There's a real sense of traction with this book that I think if someone else was trying to push these ideas, might come off a lot wrong. The Fantagraphic Books seal of approval helps a lot to get this book read in the proper context. Low the humor may seem, this is high art stuff.

If you're looking for something edgy and funny to read, definitely look for it. Johnny Ryan has two collections out of his work, I haven't read either, but I am very interested to give them a try, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone else doing so as well.

Batman and the Mad Monk # 4; Dr. Strange # 2

2006-11-29T02:11:00.000-08:00

Dark Moon Rising: Batman and the Mad Monk
Matt Wagner

This book gets better and better with each chapter. It really is a throwback to Miller's Year One, though Batman as slightly farther a long(Year Two-ish). The interior dialouge is well done, the art is pretty good, and the overall supernatural B-movie nature of the villain is just a hoot.

In this chapter Batman actually makes it to the castle of the Mad Monk, which suprise suprise, is booby-trapped galore. I'm kind of hoping for some of those 70's Batman TV show traps in the next issue.

This issue is worth it alone just for the scene where Alfred complains about Batman melting down the silver candlesticks so he can make pure silver batarangs.

Good fun. There's a lot of great Batman work out there these days, and this is another book you can't go wrong with if you're a fan at all of the Dark Knight.

Dr. Strange: The Oath
Brian K. Vaughan-Marcos Martin

More BKV brilliance here. Probably not quite as strong as the opening chapter, but still one of the better books out there. Lots of cleverness. Dr. Strange is a lot of fun with BKV writing him. Love the Night Nurse, who doesn't? The core of this chapter is basically a window back into Dr. Strange's past, after he had the accident that took away his career as a surgeon. This story is book ended by the current search for the man who shot Dr. Strange and took his neato elixir that cures cancer that he was going to use for his trusty asian assistant Wong.

The dialoge is sharp as a scalpel. The magical action is well drawn and interesting to look at. Just in general a very good book. Definitely one you should be reading, as well as anything else Brian K. Vaughan writes.

Good art, good writing, were that every book at bare minimum this good.

Criminal 1 and 2; Cross Bronx 1-3

2006-11-29T01:08:00.000-08:00

Criminal
Ed Brubaker-Sean Phillips

By now you've probably already heard a lot about this newish book by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. So take this all with a kind of Out of the Past joy. Book's good. It's damn good. The book is about a coward named Leo who happens to be a brilliant criminal and a "one last heist" sort of situation that goes awry for various reasons.

The book plot wise hits all the right notes we've come to expect from the crime/noir genre. But as in most instances, what separates the best from the rest in this field is whether you can fill in the details in a compelling way, and Phillips and Brubaker definitely do. The art, of which the cover is a very poor indication in my opinion, is perfect for this book, and really sings at times. There's a quote from one of the reviews in the back of one of the issues that says something like, it makes the characters look like they are drenched in the blackest blood from hell, or something to that effect, and yeah that's about right.

Brubaker does a great job on the very first page of the book of building the pathos behind our main character, after finishing issue two, I went back and reread that first couple of pages, and it really is quite brilliant. The way Brubaker both sets up all of the elements that will be involved for the rest of the story, and the way that he pulls you through the page, holding Leo's "rules" out in front of you like a carrot, makes the beginning of this book almost textbook in terms of how to grab a reader by the throat and never let go.

And really, this book doesn't slow down. It clocks in at 26 pages, plus some extras at the back of the book(issue two has a Brubaker article about Out of the Past), so you are talking n about getting real bang for you buck.

I regret that I was so slow to pick up on this book, so if you're like me and kind of slow on these things sometimes, don't waste time. This is definitely a book you want to rush to. It's only going to be five issues, so you better act quickly, otherwise you'll be trade bait. If you are at all a fan of the crime genre, the craft of storytelling, or just like something slick to slip between readings of Civil War, this is your book. You have to hand it to Marvel. This kind of book is refreshing from a company that has mostly stuck to it's tights. Between this and the success they've had with Laura K. Hamilton's book, I think we could be entering a new era with Marvel. It would be nice if they could forge an answer to DC's Vertigo label.

Oh. Also of note, there's a cool Kafka/detective comic strip that serves as a metatexual reference to the overarching story that is going on in this book, ala the Pirate comic in The Watchmen, so if you're into that--well there you go.

Cross Bronx
Michael Avon Oeming-Ivan Brandon

Cross Bronx is a supernatural crime comic drawn and partly written by Michael Avon Oeming of Powers fame with the help of Ivan Brandon. It attempts to have a distinctly Latin flavor to it. I say attempts because if there's a failing of this pretty wonderful book, it's that the attempts to Latinize the book for me fall flat on their face. There is a disconnect between how the characters look and how they speak for the most part, that just proves too much to reconcile for the dialogue.

The main detective of the book, swear to god, looks like a kind of Jim Gordon type detective, yet I'm supposed to believe he is Latin? His partner looks like Dante from Clerks the animated series, and I'm supposed to think he is Latin? There are no visual signifiers in the book to make me think any of the detectives or most of the criminals are Latin. Yet that's what the dialogue tries to hammer home at every chance. And besides that, the dialogue is just terrible. There are times when I literally had no idea what was being said.

There was a joke about fellatio in here, that I still don't really understand, but the characters all thought it was clever, I just felt out of the loop. All of this is of course a shame, because the book looks wonderful, the panels are fresh, the overall concept of the book is good--it's just that the nuts and bolts writing of the book falls flat. Honestly this book would be better if you stripped out the text from the book and just let the pictures tell the story.

Also the whole cop losing or having lost his faith in the world has been done before, and done a lot better. It's something that is alluded to, but not fully developed in the book, and could be dropped altogether from the book, and I don't know if you'd miss it. Though I almost guarantee in issue four it's going to be brought back as the central focus inexplicably.

Frustrating frustrating book. Don't get me wrong though, it's hardly a bad book. My problems with the book are overstated because part of me really does like the book a lot, and so the things holding it back are that much more frustrating. It's not a bad book, but it could have been a lot better.

The Killer; Batman 658; JLA 3; Green Lantern 14

2006-11-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

The Killer
Matz-Luc Jacamon

The Killer is a french book that originally came out in 1998 which Archaia Studios Press(the people who put out Mouse Guard and a lot of other high quality stuff) has so kindly translated and brought across the pond to our greedy american comic grubbing digits. It's a cheap comparison to drop Le Samourai as a comparison, but I'll do it anyways, as this book and that movie are both excellent books about assassins who philosophize more than they kill.

The Killer has a really interesting style, that is obviously pretty much unlike anything you've seen in major american comics, so it's pretty cool to look at and a nice change of pace. The writing is hard to judge because it's a translation, but I'll give them a B+ because for the most part it was pretty good. The gist of what is being said is pretty spectacular though. There's a lot in here about how terrible the world is, and how awful man is to man--it's very political and drops many an ignored atrocity from world history, so it's definitely a thinking girl's book.

Towards the end of the book we see that our Killer's sanity is starting to slip, and presumably this is what is going to take up the bulk of the ten issues, is his internal battle with I assume sporatic bouts of violence. Perhaps another comparison to make would be The Professional--though the comparison there is more in terms of pacing. This is the type of book you maybe read on a rainy sunday, with some jazz in the background, maybe a nice drink. It's defintely worth tracking down month to month, but I imagine the experience of reading this as one whole, would be spectacular. But then again, it is kind of nice to have something like this every month for the next ten months.

But yeah, so this is issue 1, so you need to go track it down, because your jumping on point is now.

Batman 658
Grant Morrison-Andy Kubert

I know I've reviewed this series to death, but I love it so. Damian is such a cool character, and I am in love with this notion of Batman setting up a family with his baby's momma Talia, and teaching Damian the ropes of the world. It's time really. How many Robins do we need to cycle through? Batman has been alone for too long. I'm not saying you have to marry them either, though I wouldn't be opposed to it. But Talia and Damian just push all the right buttons for Batman. For one because Talia is kind of an equal to Batman. She can take care of herself. And Damian because he's powerful, but in desperate need for guidance. I just love the dynamics of it, and I hope Morrison decides to explore it further.

So count me in as Pro-Bat family. I mean, Batman has been technically doing this sort of thing anyways, why not have the ties be blood for once?

Apparently we're bringing the Joker back next issue, so we'll see how that goes. I still don't understand what is going on there. When I picked up this book Batman shot Joker in the face. So who knows what's going to happen there.

Oh. Did you know Batman has a rocket? Me neither. If it weren't Grant Morrison doing these things, they might come off as a little silly. But Morrison and Kubert make me buy the whole Batman having a rocket, having a kid, should settle in with his family.

Basically right now if it's got Grant Morrison's name on it, buy it. He's in top form these days.

JLA # 3
Brad Meltzer-Ed Benes

Every review of this book always points out that Meltzer is a New York Times best selling author. I wonder if every review of his book starts out "writer for DC Comics"? I should look into that. I hope so.

We get more character development with this issue, though there's a misconception being perpetuated that this book has no action in it, when it actually is fairly action intensive. There's like 3 major battles in this book, and it's only 20 some odd pages? So there's definitely action.

The cool thing about Meltzer's JLA is that we're getting beyond the main-list JLA people we all kind of associate without thinking for the the team and actually getting to some shine for slightly lesser knowns. Black Lightning for instance is shaping up into a kind of career resurgance reminiscent of Luke Cage under Bendis(am I making that comparison because both characters are black? Probably. Though neither character wears a costume, and though Black Lightning can shoot lighning he seems to prefer to punch people like Luke Cage, so who knows. But he could definitely become a star for the DCU, which is a good thing, because guys like Hal Jordan make the whole experience feel too aryan).

Black Canary kicks some but in this issue too.

The big three do some more voting. They seem to be having a really good time.

Good book, groundwork is being laid for a great book, so you really don't want to sleep on this title.

Green Lantern 14
Geoff Johns-Ivan Reis
I got this because I really like Geoff Johns. It was kind of against my better judgement because I've read Geoff Johns on Green Lantern, and it was...okay. I mean, the big problem is, I just don't really like Green Lantern. He has a cool power. But all of the guys who have been the main green lantern have come off as kind of flaky to me. Plus when the ring talks it makes me think of Iron Man's suit. And honestly Hal Jordan might as well be wearing a robotic suit. The guy just doesn't emote. Very much the square jawed hero with no fear that you've known to expect.

All in all the book is okay. If you are a fan of Green Lantern, in particular the Hal Jordan one, you might like(or you might hate it, I obviously don't "get" Green Lantern). But for the casual reader just looking for something to check out this week, you'd do far better to check out any of the other books I reviewed today.

Desolation Jones: Made in England TP

2006-11-15T01:10:00.000-08:00

Desolation Jones: Made in England
Warren Ellis-JH Williams III

Whenever I read Ellis done right, I imagine the feeling is something akin to what a smack monkey feels after a shot of mongolian horse hoof in the vein. And with Desolation Jones, the feces is definitely spittering off the fan.

Desolation Jones is a story about an ex-James Bond type who undergoes a radical experiement of which he's the only survivor, wherein' he is tortured and kept awake for a whole year. What emerges is a gray skinned, white haired, sad sack of a man, who feels nothing emotionally or physically, and slobbers zombie like through Los Angeles(which is a playground in this book for all ex-intel spook freaks like Jones). That said, the book has more in common with The Big Sleep than it does any Bond movie. In many ways this is Ellis perverted psychopath re-imagining of the classic Chandler tale. And frankly, it never misses.

The art is done by J.H. Williams III who I also encountered on Alan Moore's Promethea. He very well might be my favorite artist in the business. The variety of styles he throws on just a single page are incredible. His work is always an esoteric mix of the occult and psychedelia. This is an instance where the art stands on equal footing with the narrative. Perhaps even in some cases overshadowing it.

The Made in England arc of Desolation Jones centers around Jones trying to find a missing porno film that Hitler supposedly made in 1944. I probably could have crammed that into the opening spot, but really, it's just something that deserves it's own mention in it's own paragraph. No real reaction to it, but that gives you a good indication of the kind of depravity you're dealing with in this book.

I definitely reccomend this book if you are looking for something to jolt your system. Or if you like Warren Ellis at all. This is one of his good books.

Incidentally the second run of Desolation Jones just started last month, so it's an ideal time to jump in. You can get this trade, and then the issue from last month, and then you are good to go.

So yeah...

Irredeemable Ant-Man

2006-11-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

Irredeemable Ant-Man
Robert Kirkman-Phil Hester

Finally a Robert Kirkman book I thoroughly enjoy with no qualifications. Irredeemable Ant-Man is about "the world's most unlikable super-hero". You know how I know this? Because it says so on the cover of the book.

But it's true. This is a book basically about the kind of schmutz who steals your girlfriend, who doesn't pay for dinner, lies about everything, and just in general only looks out for number 1.

Which makes him a fantastic hero.

The artwork by Phil Hester is a lot of fun. I've always been a fan of his.

One of the things that has really stood out to me about Kirkman lately is his sense of humor. It's not so much in his dialouge, but in the situations he creates. His books won't make you bust out of your gut laughing, but you will have a smile on your face while reading. Kirkman's work could probably be best described as "pleasant"...though I guess Walking Dead wasn't really "pleasant" but maybe in it's own way. I dunno. Just a lot of authors can come off kind of soulless, and whenever I finish with Kirkman, whether I totally like everything he's written or not, I come away with the notion that "here's a nice guy doing good work".

But yeah. Of all the Kirkman I've read so far, Ant-Man is the best. Though I haven't read Invincible which is supposed to be his calling card. I'm waiting for the 800 page Omnibus this christmas.

Marvel Zombies HC

2006-11-15T00:03:00.000-08:00

Marvel Zombies HC
Robert Kirkman-Sean Phillips-Arthur Suydam

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the Marvel Universe suddenly went zombie? I haven't. But I wish I had. That's the premise behind Marvel Zombies. Zombie-master extraordinarre Robert Kirkman's epic tale of a Marvel U that hungers for flesh and brains. The artwork, particularly the covers for each book, is amazing. Just things that you never imagine, like the Hulk biting off the Silver Surfer's Head, or Wolverine, Spiderman, and others chowing down on Magneto. It's a horrifically funny book.

The dialouge is at times funny, but on the whole one character's dialouge is pretty indistinguishable from the next. However, the story ideas and concepts are fantastic.

Supposedly they are going to expand this into a fullblown universe within Marvel, I think it would be a lot of fun. There's a lot of cool stories you could tell here.

I reccomend it just for the shock value. It's not a great great book, but it's definitely enjoyable.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes TPB

2006-11-07T01:38:00.000-08:00

Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes TPB
Strange Visitor from another planet
Mark Waid-Barry Kitson

Well after reading issue 23 of this series, I knew I had to catch up and fortunately this trade came out only a few weeks back. So really, you read this book, pick up the last two issues of the monthly and you're good to go.

Before reading the book I sauntered over to the Legion messageboard on DC, to see if others were sharing my love of all things Supergirl. And I was shocked to see she was one of the most reviled aspects of the book, second only to Mark Waid himself. I thought "this can't be!".

Well after reading this collection I can understand the beef. But having read issue 23 first, I got to see where Waid was going ahead of time, and was able to see it was worth it.

Honestly after having read the trade, I would recommend just skipping right ahead to issue 22or 23. Supergirl basically just shows up, flies around, doesn't really give much in the way of characterization, and generally upsets what looked to be an interesting balance for the book.

However I think all of the Supergirl haters on Legion will come back around to her side. As annoying as she may have been for what amounts to about 6 months on this book, what they are doing to her in issue 23 is pretty heartless, and I think something good will come of it.

Running down the strengths of this book on it's own, this is pretty much a rebuilding issue after some great catastrophic battle and the death of several members, so reading this on it's own, you'll probably just want to read the book right in front of it.

The Legion is populated with pretty interesting, if somewhat hard to distinguish heroes. The cast is huge. But on the whole considering the size of the cast, Waid does a good job of creating distinct characters. The characters are all pretty sarcastic, and the book is on the whole pretty funny in a team hero dynamic sort of way.

I'm definitely interested in following the Legion even after Supergirl leaves. But I do hope she has finally found a home, as she has pretty much been kicked out of every single team she's encountered. Which is kind of sad. I do hope we see more of her wit down the line, because she can actually be very clever and cutting in her comments.

Hopefully DC decides to make her a main facet of their universe down the line.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-heroes; X-men; 52

2006-11-07T01:07:00.000-08:00

Supergirl and The Legion of Super-Heroes # 23
Mark Waid-Barry Kitson
Just when you thought I wasn't going to ramble on and on about Supergirl some more, I read this excellent title. I've never really jumped in on The Legion before, just because I had no real idea of where or what--just pretty much a whole glut of cluelessness. Well I am taking the plunge because in addition to plenty of Supergirl madness, it's also just a damn neat team/concept. I don't know everyone on the team yet, or what is going on exctly, because I'm mid-stream, but the dyanamics of the character interactions is very X-mensy. Or what we all love about the X-men.

It's odd because I usually find Mark Waid really dry. But the characters and dialouge of this book just crackle across the page. I don't know who the characters are, but reading this, I want to know them. And I just found out that the trade collecting the brunt of the Supergirl appearence is out in trade paperback, so I'm getting that toot sweet(means more Supergirl loveage(maybe I should do a Supergirl blog?))

But yeah. This is a really good book. I don't think my Supergirl fangirl-ish is clouding my judgement. The Legion is on the whole a very angsty-snarky group. So those on the lookout for some good old fashioned comic melodrama should apply here(well, not here literally).

X-men 192
Mike Carey-Chris Bachald
I know there are a boot of X-titles out there, and the thought of starting any one in particular can seem daunting, adding into that is the proclivity for the title to have huge scale events seemingly yearly, that radically change the landscape to the point where jumping in suddenly can result in some level of nausea. Frankly while I like the X-men, I find in general that I'm not a fan of most of the writing or storylines, and find it very hard to follow what is going on where.

So it was with trepedation I picked up X-men # 192. I know Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men gets all the pub, and yes, I'm only reading the trades on it so it may have gotten a ton better--but on the whole I feel like I'm reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer in X-men clothes. Whedon like Bendis, in my opinion really only writes one kind of dialouge, and once you get the gimmick, it can sometimes grate. So I'm reading Astonishing but only because I feel I'm obligated to. So maybe my disapointment with that book was coloring my judgement of the X-books. And then the reason I didn't pick up Brubaker's book is because it's some Shi'ar Alien type story, and that's the aspect of the X-men I hate the most. And honestly I kind of hate Charles Xavier.

My favorite X-Men of all-time, in order are: Rogue, Emma Frost, and Wolverine. And some days I like Nightcrawler. So what we have with this X-book is an X-men run by Rogue. She has assembled a really cool team(oh, sometimes I also like Cable, like here in X-men).

So anywho. The current arc is some sort of thing where this one group is all "we're better than mutants and humans, and we want to take over the planet", and then the X-men are all like "nuh-uh". And then they start fighting. So yeah. Re-inventing the X-wheel, this book ain't.

HOWEVER, the art is really cool and the writing is pretty fun, in large part due to the characters that Mike Carey chose. Rogue putting first Cyclops and then Mystique in their place was very cool. At the end of the day X-men is always going to be about the petty personal dramas. So in that respect it probably isn't fair to talk about the action of the story. But that's pretty much all that's in this issue, since I'm reading issue 5 of a 6 issue arc. I guess my reccomendation would be, when this is in trade, and you want a nice light read, there are probably worse X-books you could choose.

52
I figured I should say something about 52. I only started reading it at week 21, so all the ongoing threads are new to me in it, but I was like "what the hey, I want another DC book to read". It's pretty much impossible to review it, and so this may be the first and last time you hear me say anything about it. Judging it like any other book would be entirely unfair to the task the creators are taking.

I've heard they are not going to collect it in a big trade--which I think is a waste.

Meh. What I've read I've enjoyed. Given the talent that is writing it, that's not suprising.

Not much to say on it, honestly.

Happy voting day!

The Boys # 4; Heroes for Hire 1 and 3; Supergirl Power

2006-10-31T00:24:00.000-08:00

The Boys #4
Garth Ennis Darick Robertson
We come right to the cusp of having something happen in The Boys in issue four. Think about this, The Boys is like...20 pages, right? So 4 issues in, is 80 pages of book. And we're 80 pages in and we're still just building anticipation to seeing the Boys work. And we still know next to nothing about 80 percent of the group. So that's the downside. But again, it's Garth Ennis, he's said this is going to be a long run, so we begrudge him that.

The upside is there is lots and lots of disgusting disgusting sex. Orgies, rape, violence--and jokes about all of it. Nothing as ghastly as the worst of the preacher, but still lots of "I can't believe they let them put that in bookshelves" moments. With probably the most disgusting for me being the whore house for superheroes, where The Butcher is talking about how the prostitutes have trouble keeping up with the superpowered fuck jobs. Ennis is doing a good job of painting a dark disgusting world in need of a bit of a cleaning off.

But seriously. I'm waiting for the redeeming moment, and it's not happening. I mean, if say Ennis has lost his touch, or isn't as committed to this book as he said...this could be a disaster.

Also the dialouge seems disjointed for Ennis. I feel like I'm caught between accents a lot of times in this book. But that's to be expected with a book that has such a mix of white people from diffrent places.

Honestly after reading The Boys, I needed a book like Heroes for Hire.

Heroes for Hire
Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti--Francis Portela and Billy Tucci

Heroes for Hire is a women dominated, women led, group of b-listers, operating in the seems of Civil War. I missed issue two, so it will take more issues to get a real feel of the book, but honestly I sort of like what I've read by Palmiotti and Gray. My main concern with this book is it falling into a kind of Charlie's Angels type of situation. So far all of the women characters in the book are being presented pretty strongly, which is good. But I'm still not sure what kind of book this is going to turn into.

I kind of want more humor. There's some nice bits in the first issue, that are kind of gone by the third. There is also a problem that many of the female characters seem to sound kind of alike. They seem like the same character drawn with diffrent colors, and so I'll be looking for greater differentiation there.

On the whole though it's not a must must read yet. I'm going to keep reading it just because it is a nice little change of pace, even though it is within the tight wearing community.

Oh yeah this book also kind of shows how poor the pool is for female characters in the comic book world. I honestly think DC does a little better job with female characters, but not by much. Though that's to be expected from the genre. It is very testerone driven. It just seems like there's a lot of duplication and confusion of ideas of what to do with female characters. And obviously I'm not the first person to say it.

That said. I am a SuperGirl fan. I'm going to be catching up on her next, so hopefully that goes well. I saw part of that movie with Helen Slater when I was a kid, and I know now it is basically a bad movie, but when I saw it as a kid, I was like damn she's cool(the part I have burned into my brain is when she kicks the trucker guy's ass in the parking lot). She's been impossible to follow in comics though, so I'm really only now revisting her. But honestly I probably like her even more than Wonder Woman. Someone should make a new Supergirl movie.

Supergirl Power
Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchhill

YES! This is what I'm talking about. Supergirl. Happy dance time. Jeph Loeb hits it out of the ballpark. The book is self-deprecating and campy in all the right spots. It's aware of the poor history of female comic book characters(Actually thinking more on this, X-Men has always had strong female characters) and it uses that awareness with great precision.

The story is basically about Kara Zor-El the new Supergirl figuring out who she is and basically going from place to place in the DCU getting attacked. The first person narrative is a lot of fun, though not flawless, it is enjoyable. Moments like when she and Stargirl watch the JSA fight while having a casual discussion are just plain sublime. This is just a character I really love, and I feel like Jeph Loeb does as well.

I think part of the reason why Supergirl works and Superman doesn't is because Supergirl isn't perfect, she has a temper, she does make mistakes, she's more human than Superman.

On an unrelated note, I don't like Power Girl. Never have. Never will.

Anyways. Back on topic.

Supergirl: Neato.

Other Side, Dr. Strange, Boys, Planet Hulk

2006-10-17T00:44:00.000-07:00

The Other Side #1
Jason Aaron-Cameron Stewart
This is it. This right here. This is it. If you were looking for your hard as nails, gothic horror, crazy, told from both sides, timely political piece--Vietnam War comic--then this friends, this is your bag of tricks.
The writer of this amazing series Jason Aaron is going to be huge. It's best to just know that now. He can handle his vulgarity on the level of Ennis and Ellis. He's got an ear for humor. He can switch tones--the guy just flat out has skills. This book is beyond goodness.
The other star of the book is artist Cameron Stewart who is able to slip between the horror and the mundane very easily. He accentuates everything Aaron tries to do, which is how it should work. Things like this are why the word synergy was invented.
If you want a brief synopsis of this book, it's about the Vietnam War, following an american soldier from start to I suppose finish, and a Vietnamese soldier. By choosing to tell both stories it really gets at the main problems we had in Vietnam so much more clearly than many of the works of fiction out there on the topic. And it's so obvious a conciet, one wonders why it wasn't done to this degree before. The book is also full of ghosts and gore--it has this psychedlic horror film quality that can't be escaped, and I'm looking forward to more and more fluctations of the reality of the book.
Tremendous book that is worth picking up now, and then buying again when it comes out in trade.

Dr. Strange # 1
Brian K. Vaughn-Marcos Martin
The other great book of the month is Brian K. Vaughn's Dr. Strange book. Dr. Strange has never been a huge favorite character of mine. Honestly he just kind of shows up and then leaves in a lot of books, I really didn't know that much about him. I knew OF him. Knew he was one of the power houses of the marvel universe, but it feels like his story has never really been told. And in Vaughn we have the perfect voice to tell it.

The humor in this book is fantastic. Yes Vaughn does lay the seeds for a real pathos to Stephen Strange, but it's the witty banter between the supporting characters and Strange that make the book. Strange plays a really great straight man and Vaughn seems to know this. It's not to say this is a comedy book, but you laugh while reading it. Vaughn has made Strange into an immenietly likeable character and he already is very believeable. It's really a neat little book to get into, and I really do hope that Vaughn stays with it for awhile, as I think once he leaves this character is going to die. I don't think there's anyone in the comic's world who could write Dr. Strange this well....well actually, thinking on it, Jason Aaron might be able to do it...that would be an interesting book...(note to self, send note to Marvel).

The Boys # 3
Garth Ennis-Darick Robertson
I'm begining to think this would be a good book to read in trades. It is taking all parts of forever to get going. Issue three is more of the same from issue two. More blabber about all the bad things the Boys are going to do, a lot of standing around looking menacing--and not a whole lot of doing. I think this might play out better in the pace of a trade. As a monthly the only thing that gets you through are the crude sex and violence jokes. Ennis has yet to really show his hand as to what he might be up to.
We've yet to get the notion that we're a part of a larger more important story and that this isn't just going to be some episodic joke of the month thing. I trust Ennis, but it is certainly possible that the man has lost some of the great romanticism from his early work that made him so great. Preacher wasn't great because of the gore and over the top humor, that was good, but it was the underlying theme of friendship that pulled that book through. I guess I can see that potential with Mother's Milk, but it's tough. Issue 4 will give us the first taste of The Boys doing their business I think, so this story should be off and rocking soon.

Incredible Hulk # 99
Greg Pak-Aaron Lopresti
HULK SMASH!
HULK RIP OFF SPARTACUS AND GLADIATOR POORLY!
HULK DIALOUGE INCONSISTENT!

I wish I could stop reading this title, but somehow I like it. I want to see how it ends. Kudos to Pak for creating a what is on the surface a very mediocre book, but is impossible to put down once you've started the series.

Eternals # 4; Cable/Deadpool 32; Civil War: Frontline #5, 6

2006-10-11T23:09:00.000-07:00

Eternals #4 of 6
by Neil Gaiman, John Romita Jr.
I'd love to summarize this book for you. I really would. Give you a feel of just what it's about. But honestly, my brain hurts just trying to think my way through all the crazy jargon. The book is based on Jack Kirby's work by the same name, which I haven't read, but would now like to. At its core the story is basically about some super-powered godheads that had forgotten who they were, now starting to remember bit by bit. Four issues in, and not a whole mess of a lot has happened. The coolest thing that has taken place could have gone down, hell has gone down, in a Flash book.

On the whole, this whole "I forgot who I am" "oh yeah I'm one of the most powerful beings in the universe" trend is kind of annoying. Whatever happened to Spider bites and radioactive waste? Forgetting your powers is lame. Powers aren’t like keys.

The characters in and of themselves are interesting, but we're moving at a snails pace here. There's two issues left, and there's still not a clearly defined conflict here. There's this Russian-like government takeover happening in one of the side stories, I guess, but blegh, even the font they use for the dialogue is boring.

I am being patient though. It's not like Neil Gaiman doesn't know how to tell a story. But frankly, if Gaiman's name weren't on the cover I would have given up at issue two.

The real star of the book is John Romita Jr. I just love to look at this book. Where Neil's story and dialogue are kind of boring and stuck in the mud, JRJR is handling his business. I'd almost recommend getting it just for his sake.

Honestly this is a book for the trade paperback collection. It really doesn't do much as a monthly, there are better things you could be doing, and the story will probably be more enjoyable to read as a big chunk then in a lot of little pieces. So I say...wait for it.

Cable/Deadpool # 32
This is a book that you don't wait for trade to pick up. Hell even if it came out, buying the trade just seems silly. Cable/Deadpool for me is something of a guilty pleasure. It's really not good enough to rave about, but it scratches a nice itch. Deadpool makes me giggle, and he looks cool. I like Cable's god complex, so long as Deadpool is there to challenge him.

It's really not a book you need constant updates on because issue 31 is a lot like issue 32. It's the same sort of situations. Same sort of jokes. But it's the kind of same I like. Like once when I was little my mom used to make these triple decker sandwiches for my lunch, and though it was the same thing day in and day out, I was happy to eat it for a good two years in 3rd and 4th grade. Cable/Deadpool is like that.

I'd probably get tired of it in a trade paperback, but spread out over a month, it's just a nice non-serious book, even if it is Civil War related. In fact the attempts at being serious in issue 32, don't reaaaally work. But I like them, because they are cute.

Civil War Frontline #5, #6
Have to admit up front, don't keep up with Frontline that well. I think I read #2 before this or something. It's a very uneven book. The sleeper cell section I hate. Embedded is sometimes interesting. And the other story, I don't like Speedball, so that's kind of out the window. But I guess at the end of the day what we end up with here, is a book that is greater than the sum of it's parts. If it devoted the entire book to any of these sections, it would get tedious. But since it breaks it up, it's kind of manageable.

I don't think much in this book has to be known to enjoy the regular Civil War book.

And every book ends with some sort of re-contextualization of Civil War into a historical event of the month. All with a nice poem or something over the top. Spiffy. Issues Five and Six used the Civil War, and World War II. And I believe one of the issues I read used the holocaust. And okay...the main thing to note is that these sections suck. There's no way around it. They are a bore to read. They are pretentious as all get-out. And frankly, they are even more than a little offensive—both to the events themselves, and comic books by reflection. It seems like you are either making light of the historical atrocity by comparing it to some men in tights, or you are making fun of the heroes we all love by putting them next to some real world atrocities. Either point is bothersome, and the fact that I think of both while I'm reading the book makes it especially painful.

The strange thing is, the stories I've read about heroes like Wolverine or Captain America in an actual historical setting, dealing with these same events, when they are more couched into the period they are being depicted--doesn't bother me, and in fact it works marvelously (no pun intended). I think the reason why this fails so badly is because there are three elements to all of them: whatever jackrabbit poem is put over the top of the section, the historical event, and the superhero event. And it seems that never shall the three meet. Also it is all very heavy handed. Perhaps if it were done a little more subtly, it might work. But then again, subtlety has never been Paul Jenkins strong point. If ever there were a hit and miss writer it would be him. It seems he only knows one style, and it fails except for those few times when everything happens to match up and it's beautiful. Well right now it's failing. Badly. I'd rather those three pages be used to advertise sea monkeys or something.

So yeah. Civil War Frontline: meh.

Pride of Baghdad

2006-10-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Pride of Baghdad

By Brian K. Vaughn, Niko Henrichon

Pride of Baghdad is a straight to graphic novel book based on the true story of a quartet of lions who escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during the American bombing of the city in April of 2003, written by the can-do-no-wrong letters of Brian K. Vaughn(Runaways, Y: The Last Man, Deus Ex Machina), and expertly drawn by Niko Henrichon, whose work I don’t think I’m familiar with.

The book essentially puts under the microscope the whole notion of giving a people it’s freedom at the barrel of a gun. A talking point for the campaign this book ain’t. Pride of Baghdad is always working on several levels like all good allegories, and when it succeeds, it succeeds like a ice block gut shot blowing out the spine—it’s a book that while relatively short, keeps you constantly thinking, grounding every event back into the wider context the book is asking us to—that the conclusion sneaks up on you. And it’s conclusion is so good that it is the primary reason why this book will probably be regarded as one of the most important graphic novels in recent times.

Really this is a no-brainer, and I question why I’m even bothering to review this book. This should be a two word reviews: Go buy.

I think all ages can appreciate this book. It has a timeless quality, that while it is pretty specific to the Iraq War on the surface, it is also, at the end of the day, about issues which will come up, especially with guys like George Bush and Saddam Hussein running around(sadly people like that are also timeless).

At the end of the day, as the Lion Noor rightly quotes, “Freedom can’t be given, only earned”. As the world begins to question more and more the worth of the “liberation” of the Iraqi people, Brian K. Vaughn’s log on the fire, is more than welcome in these quarters, and I would suppose anyone with half a heart would at least be somewhat swayed by the contents of this book.

Oh and the turtle’s speech in the first half of the book, could be easily cribbed out of a Cormac McCarthy novel, it’s that good.

Go buy.

Batman 655, 656, 657

2006-10-03T03:01:00.000-07:00

Batman 655, 656, 657
by Grant Morrison, Joe Kubert

Senor Morrison. Opens up with Batman right in the thick of it. Batman pulls out a gun(huh? Wha? Wait a minute) and shoots Joker in the face. It's so surreal that you almost expect it to be a dream. And then when Batman tosses the body into the garbage...Well we know we're dealing with a Grant Morrison book.

The art isn't as good as some of the more stylized takes on Batman that I've seen. But it's passable. The writing is not as strong as some of Morrison's other work. We're missing a certain grit here. I feel like I should be disturbed by Gordon when he's gone nuts, but it's just kinda "meh". Morrison can do loony-bin better.Tim Drake is annoying. I can't pin it down precisely, but his dialogue is so whiny.However the interactions between Bruce Wayne and Alfred are very good. More Alfred this book needs!Anyways.

I'll probably try and follow it because it's Morrison we're talking about here, and right now I think he's just getting things started, the real fun should be a couple issues down the line. Though the next issue's cover has Batman fighting Ninja, Were-Bats on the cover. Which honestly....is promising.

And then I read 656. Woo za. This is the book I imagined when I saw Morrison's name on the cover. The bulk of the book is just Batman fighting the aforementioned Ninja Were-Bats(A brilliant combination by the way) but probably the best words for it are: And HOW. The fight takes place in a comic book art exhibit, so there are constant intertextual moments of brilliance between the fight as it is happening and the classic comic book panels presented in the background. The entire thing is delariously delicious, and I reccomend it to children of all ages.

To add further spice to this dish Morrison takes the age old Batman staple of the gritty first person narrative during a fight, and takes it to absurd new heights. The metaphors he has Batman using to describe Ninja Were-Bats weilding katanas are surreal.

All the while Frank Quietly's art just sings across the page in concert. Every note is hit, it's an amazing symphony of the absurd.

All of these things lead up to a dramatic conclusion, which could have a major effect on where the character goes from here...

That conclusion is primarily what 657 deals with. So to say, Batman is a daddy, and his son is an assassin trained psychotic arrogant snarky jerk of a bastard--which kind of erases any doubt as to whether or not Batman is the real father. The boy named Damien(appropriatly) begins to put his wrecking ball to Wayne Mansion, Alfred, and Robin.

657 slows back down to 655 speed, but because of the explosive tastes of 656, the break is perfect. This is a book to be making the effort to check out. Besides having important cannonical things happening, it's also just a barrell of fun. This is the kind of book that you read on a Monday and it feels like a Friday.

As a side note, I absolutely love this kind of Batman story that we're getting right now. This Talia, Ras, Son of Demon type story has been missing from Batman for awhile it feels like, and rather unexpectedly, I'm REALLY enjoying it. I'm actually now hoping the movie goes down this kind of supernatural bend. It's a lot of fun.

Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1 and 2

2006-09-27T02:22:00.001-07:00

If candy were Jesus then Scott Pilgrim would be a tootsie roll. Presented in the format normally reserved for things with Japanese telepaths, samurai, schoolgirls, and pirates is a book with big eyed Canadian kids--chiefly among them, one Scott Pilgrim: Slacker-nerd extraordinary.

To say this book is funny and imaginative, is to say Superman's sperm has a kick. This stuff is fantastic. The book follows Scott Pilgrim around and builds a rather well developed world of girlfriends/ex-girlfriends/bandmates(Scott has a sucky band)/family/gay roommate(Wallace Wells: 25(as of the second book)). The panels do their darndest to build really great comic timing. It's manic in the way a Japanese manga might actually be, but also feels very grounded in it's real world angst.

Bryan Lee O'Malley has created something wonderful with this book which I can only hope will go on and on into forever, and bring him untold riches.

These are the kind of books you hurl shuriken style at the back of unsuspecting friends.

BUY SCOTT PILGRIM! (Which one? (All of them (Gotta catch 'em all, right?(righhht)))

Wonder Woman 1, 2; The Flash 4; All-Star Superman 5

2006-09-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

Today's DC time. Yesterday I filled up on Marvel, now it's time to dash back into DC.

I actually consider myself a DC fan moreso than a Marvel fan, so I'm admitting my biases up front. Wonder Woman is my current favorite character in DC. Batman is numero dos. I'm an avowed Superman hater. Just plain don't like him.

With that said:

Wonder Woman 1 and 2
by Alan Heinberg, Terry Dodson
Honestly it was Greg Rucka's run that made me fall in love with Wonder Woman. I read his run in trades, and absolutely loved the balance of action, politics, and just general angst. So crisis happened. Diana justifiably killed Maxwell Lord. Everyone gave her a hard time about it, and so she has disappeared, leaving the Wonder Woman mantle to Donna Troy, her sister. And these books written by Alan Heinberg start off there in the whole One Year Later relaunch shindig.

Right now this is a book with a huge identity crisis(pun not intended). And I know Heinberg realizes it because he keeps throwing in that title "Who is Wonder Woman?" This book could go in any number of directions. It could be about Donna Troy trying to fill Dianna's boots. Diana as a secret agent trying to continue to fight crime. Diana as some sort of Clark Kent dual persona thing. Or it could just devolve back into the same character we all know and love, and pretty much continue down the path it was already on, just with the minor annoyance of the whole crisis/one year later shindig.

For my money the track that is working the best and has the bulk of my interest is Donna Troy as Wonder Woman. I like to see her struggling to get out of Diana's shadow and actually live up to the ideals of Wonder Woman. I don't know. Is it wrong to like Heinberg's Donna Troy more than his Diana?

I think this is a decent relaunch title. I think it's a good starting point for someone looking to jump in to Wonder Woman, because you don't really have to know as much about the history of Diana. Heinberg does a good job of catching you up. I don't know though. It's not amazing. I've certainly read a lot of better books. But I'm such a fan of Wonder Woman that it really just has to be decent, and this book is. So it's definitely a book I plan to keep up on.

The Flash #4
by I'm doing us both a favor
Awful.
Terrible.
Burning this book would be a waste of good fire.
The artwork somehow manages to look both weird and cliched.
The writing makes the art work look like Frank Quitley.
Why oh why does this book suck so bad?
What have you bastards done to my flash?
I've got no beef with Bart Allen. I think he'll do fine as The Flash.
But this book is just stupid.

All-Star Superman 5
by Grant Morison, Frank Quitely
Clark Kent goes to visit Luthor in jail, and hilarity ensues. Kent bumbles his way through stopping a prison riot, and saving Luthor's life multiple times, while Luthor babbles on about his obsession with superman.

The book is fuggin' brilliant.

Quitely's art is so perfect to look at. And Morrison is laugh out loud funny. This book has a kind of golden age innocence to it that is just infectious. After reading this book, I love comics more.

With that said. This book has a massive tinge of saddness running through the background.

Superman is dying, and his knowledge of this fact, and the things he does in what he knows are his final days, make the character. I usually hate Superman because he feels so blank. But morrison, while staying true to the character, has embedded a working pathos for this book. We can have our fun, and still feel like something serious is happening.

For my money this is the best thing DC is putting out right now. Every issue gets better.

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely are beautiful for making this book.

This is a book that you will pick up when it comes out as a trade. But it also works great as a monthly. This is the kind of book that if you plan to have children, you owe it to them to read. Because after you read it, your genetics and breeding stock will be improved. It's just that good. So think of the children, read All-Star Superman....shave a whale.

Civil War Shenannigans

2006-09-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

Civil War # 4
I believe this is my first word on Marvel's uber-event, Civil War, to this point. So some quick summarization if you have in fact been living with a small family of badgers under a rock. Civil War starts off with a 9/11-like catastrophe, where hundreds of people, mostly children are killed in an accident involving the New Warriors(who have their own reality TV show ala Mike Allred's X-Factor) and there's a big outcry against superheros(this catastrophe coming on the heals of several other major disasters which have caused people to distrust heroes). As usual, politicans come in to save the day with laws, laws, and more laws. Working in conjunction with Tony Starks(Iron Man) the government has drawn up a superhero registration act, wherein all superpowered folk who intend to use their powers to fight crime, must register and recieve training like any police person might. This way there is accountability and oversight, and hopefully less a chance for a disaster. This is a very idealistic plan built out of a desire for security.

But like all security based ideas, the question of how much liberty should be given up comes into play. The other side of the coin, led suprisingly by Captain America, is that the registration act is a bad idea, and could lead to a terrible orwellian police state.

A deadline is set for all heroes to register, anyone who doesn't register is considered a criminal and sent to a secret prison built by Reed Richards(secret prisons, where have we heard that before? I'm sure nothing bad will ever happen there). Captain America takes a small group of heroes underground with him to continue to fight crime and fight against Tony Stars pro-registration group, which includes a now-unmasked Spiderman/Peter Parker.

That's the gist of the setup. It's a brilliant idea, which brings in many of the key debtates going on in this country right now over security vs. liberty, and just how much you can trust the government with your lives. I love that Millar is taking this book and making it politically relevant. I think comics, especially Marvel comics, since they are situated in the real world, owe us as the reader to engage the realities of the day. I'm not saying we need polemics from Peter Parker on every political issue, but I think it's wrong to ignore in art, what's going on in the world. The trick is to engage the ideas more than per se the specifics, so that you have something that is kind of timeless. And Millar is doing this brilliantly.

Civil War is an excellent book to read and then take with your friends and discuss and debate about. I don't know how it will work as a trade(probably still be good) but it has a wonderful power as a monthly. There's an audience aspect to the monthly comic that really enriches the experience when everyone is literally on the same page. You can kind of get the same thing with television. But I like that we've got something literary to discuss like this going around.

As far as Millar's execution of the event, he has a lot to cover. It's a huge undertaking, and I just wonder if in the end it won't end up feeling rushed. I just wish the main book could slow down in a few more places and kind of ruminate on things. Where Civil War is at it's most powerful is when Cap or Tony are engaged in the debate of the ideas. There's a part in issue four, that I don't want to spoil, but issue four is the first time I've ever started to question what Cap is doing. Cap right now is slipping dangerously into a kind of Osama-like mindset...It makes me cringe, because I want to support Cap, and I want to think Tony is evil...but I'm having questions. And that's the work of a great artist.

The artwork by Mcniven is great, I think he's doing a good job of showing doubt in some of the main players. Their words may say one thing, but their faces say another. And that's really using the medium to it's fullest. I feel like Millar and Mcniven are working in concert on this book wonderfully.

To call this a must-buy would be a huge understatement. This may end up being Marvel's Watchmen. This could be one of those books that ushers in a new era for the funny pages. Don't wait for the trade to come out. Pick up the monthly and then go find a friend and make them pick up the monthly, then start talking about the book.

Cable/Deadpool #31 (Civil War Tie-In)
This is Fabian Nicienza's book. It's been awhile since I've checked in on everyone's favorite merc with a mouth, and mutant with a messiah complex, and honestly not a lot has changed. Deadpool is still a goofball who is constantly attacking the fourth wall. Cable is still annoying. the art doesn't seem as bombastic as I remember in the first trade.

But yeah. It's a decent book. I always enjoy a little deadpool. It also has a confrontation between Bush and Cable/Deadpool that should be seen.

What's weird is that Fabian's Deadpool is really the kind of character that Warren Ellis wants for his Nextwave book. I don't think there's anyone in Nextwave who is as bonkers as Deadpool...blah blah blah. I should get off Nextwave's butt. But it's such a popular book, that it boggles my mind. Deadpool is a hundred times funnier than anything in Nextwave--and it's the same type of humor. I don't know. Deadpool's humor has that extra kick because he talks to the reader more and since he's also in the book, maybe I connect more with what he says, than anything in Nextwave.

Cable/Deadpool is kind of a middle of the road book though. I'd pick it up for a laugh every now and again. Everyone needs their Deadpool fix. Which by the way, a Ryan Reynolds led Deadpool movie....is a FANTASTIC IDEA. Make it happen marvel.

Moon Knight #5
This is a book I really like. Or want to like. The artwork is gritty. The characters are all drug-maniacs in deep deep mental traumas. It's sort of got that Dark Knight Returns vibe to it. And Huston does this really cool trick constantly where similar to the Pirate Boat comic chapter in Watchmen, he'll have the dialouge bleeding over captions, and other dialouge from diffrent times and places in the story, and he'll have other characters dialouge fit for--well the example in this book is the Taskmaster is beating the crap out of Marc Spector(Moon Knight), giving a lengthy speech complaining about his problems while doing so. Meanwhile over the top of this is this group that's been watching Spector for the last 5 issues, talking about Spector and what they're going to do to him and his family. And the whole thing for the most part fits. You can read the Taskmaster's speech as responses to the committee video tape that is playing in the background, and those responses seem to fit what Spector would say, or you can read it as two diffrent things going on at the same time--it's just this very cool comic book trick playing with context. And Huston does it every book. I don't know when I'll get tired of the trick, maybe never. But it gives every page a denseness that it wouldn't otherwise have. It's like getting twice the book.

That said, Huston needs to hustle it up. It's issue 5 and Marc Spector is still in full wallow. I'm questioning whether Huston has enough plot lined up once the inevitable happens and Moon Knight is back and kicking.

Also as a side note...when Moon Knight says "Vegengence" in full page splash...so so so corny. Don't do that again. A book like this that is written by such a talented guy, should come up with better things to say. This is not that kind of book.

Right now Moon Knight is in that top bracket of books I look for every month. But if Huston doesn't pick it up, I could quickly get tired of the whole thing. Right now this book is being carried by the strength of Huston's writing and the artwork. But the plot is about as interesting a wake for that relative you only sort of know, with a family you would rather not. PICK UP THE PACE WRITER GUY!

Walking Dead, Next Wave

2006-09-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

Walking Dead HC Vol 1

Well so I finally sat down and slogged through the remaining half of Robert Kirkman's zombie epic Walking Dead. And while I was encouraged enough to probably want to check out the next chunk of story, it's really been kind of disappointing. I like the artistic style. I like the plot. I love Kirkman's overall vision for the book being a zombie movie that never ends, I think it's a wonderful concept for the book, and it will be interesting to see it develop. For those wondering just what I'm talking about, Kirkman's Walking Dead is a book about people post-zombegedon trying to survive. You've got the typical multi-cultural swath of people you normally see in these sorts of things(intentionally so), black guy, cop, Asian guy, old guy, teenage girls, some kids--yada yada. Kirkman's idea for it is a "zombie movie that never ends". Which is a really good idea for which the monthly setup of comics is perfect.

HOWEVER. The dialogue sucks. Plain and simple. It doesn't characterize. All of the characters talk the same, say the same things--and the bulk of all of the dialogue is expository in nature, which is bad in and of itself, but even worse when you are talking about panels completely taken up with expository talk bubbles that could be edited down to a well written piece of dialogue, rather than chunk. The strength of this book is in it's long term build. Getting to sit and stew with the characters in these different environments letting the claustrophobia build. And though Kirkman has laid some interesting threads in the first twelve issues presented here, I just hope they don't happen in the very clichéd annoying way that they could very well happen. I also think there have been more than a few missed opportunities to throw in some really shocking, disturbing stuff. The time they spent at the farm...it was sort of shocking what they had done with the barn...but if say this was an Ennis book, we could have had something special at that farm. I just feel like the characters are too muted, too sterile. I have to hand it to Kirkman though, he's got me through twelve issues of a story where there's not a single character I’m really interested in.

I don't know. Like I said, I will probably try and read the next chunk. But this isn't something I'd rush out to read every month though. But it is a book since it's such a large large idea in scope that I'd like to give a chance. Like I'd like to see where this book is at by issue one hundred.

So it's not a book I'd tell people to rush out and buy unless you are bored for something to read. But you could do a lot worse. Now I need to read Invincible by Kirkman, before I can fully decide on him. He might be another writer in comics that is really popular that I just don't enjoy (like Bendis).

Next Wave: Agents of H.A.T.E. # 1-6

As for Next Wave. It's staggering to me that this pile of crap is written by the same genius that is currently doing Fell, and who wrote Transmetropolitan and the Authority. Because god does this book suck. It's about this organization called H.A.T.E, which stands for something anti-terroristy, but is actually backed by a group called The Beyond, which used to be a terrorist group called S.I.L.E.N.T. Anyways. There's a super group working for H.A.T.E(run by a Nick Fury gone crazy guy named Dirk Anger) who find out about this, defect, and the book is basically about crude jokes, smashing things, blowing things up--and every arc is two issues long. Blegh. Problem is I'm supposed to be laughing throughout the entire book. I'm reading this book, remembering the reviews I read about it, saying it was the funniest book out there, and I'm sitting here telling myself "I'm supposed to be laughing". I almost chuckled once in the entire first 6 issues. The jokes are formulaic, almost madlib-like. The characters are all boring. I hate them all. I almost like Dirk Anger. Almost.

Honestly this book would probably make a better cartoon than comic book. I think the book is supposed to be manic-paced. But it seems to flow about as much as pool of piss in sand. The artwork is sort of cool. But on the whole, this is a book I will never be picking up again for any reason at all. I hate myself for giving it 6 issues. This is the exact reason why I stopped reading Warren Ellis. Which sucks, because for every steaming pile like this, he writes something brilliant like Fell. You just don't know what Warren Ellis is going to show up in each book.

My review for Next Wave: Instead of buying one copy of Next Wave, buy two copies of Fell.

Fell Issue 6, The Runaways Hard Cover

2006-09-24T03:06:00.000-07:00

Fell# 6

Did I mention that Fell was a must read book? Because it's a must read book. I just finished up to book six(though I'm still waiting to get issue three, and it burns me that I am missing it--anywho. Fantastic stuff. Issue six revolves around this really sick child abuse case, with Detective Fell on a date with Myako as the side plot. Even though each issue is single shot, we're definitely growing with the characters. I thought Warren Ellis was dead on at the back of the book when he was talking about I think the art, how you pick up this book, and though it is only 16 pages, you are IN snowtown. It's completely absorbing, and what's more satisfying. We talk a lot right now in american comics about the "satisfying" chunk. How much do we need to give a reader to validate cost. Warren Ellis' 16 pages of Fell is a satisfying chunk.

Runaways HC (“Season One”)

Speaking of satisfying chunk, the hardcover collection of "season 1" of Runaways, is oh so satisfying. I sat down with it the last two nights and plowed right through it. Brian K. Vaughn knows how to make characters I'm interested in and root for, and the book is just really fun. The surprise twist at the end was...well...surprising. I was sitting there in the back of my mind going over scenarios for all the different characters trying to decide who the mole was, but I never thought, it was who it was. It was literally the only person I didn't suspect. Right to the very end of the characters life I kept expecting the character to turn everything back around. I'm not entirely sure what makes that work for BKV and not work for others. Because like M. Night Shamamamamaamlandocalrissian--he can't write a surprise ending to save his life(or career apparently). But here BKV(oh yeah in case you didn't notice, cool short hand for Mr. Brian K Vaughn) makes the surprise twists work consistently and believably. I guess you just get so wrapped up in the characters that you don't have time to fully analyze the plot, and just, you develop feelings and biases for the characters that cloud your judgment. Something that is kind of analogous and on the same level to this would be a show like Veronica Mars, which similarly manages to keep you on your toes. I think it's something about the slight of hand which I thinnnk I read David Mamet explain, or maybe it was Ebert talking about Mamet--it's very much "hey look over here". A lot of people think that's just tied to plot, but I think in the case of Runaways and Veronica, it's more tied to characters.

The Boys, All-Star Superman, Fell

2006-09-24T02:51:00.000-07:00

The Boys # 1

The coolest new thing I'm reading is Garth Ennis: The Boys # 1(number 2 comes out this week, I'm sure it will be the shit(ho ho ho--I just wouldn't be an english major person without some lame poo puns)). If you don't know, which is your own damned fault-- but we're not passing blame, but if you don't know, Garth Ennis is the guy who wrote this awesome amazing epic Irish-fuck you to God-tale-about-friendship- vampires- the old west and john wayne called The Preacher. It's like 8 or 9 trade paper backs long, and it's the best thing from the 90's, on par with stuff like Dark Knight and Watchmen--Ennis has done a bunch of other cool stuff(all the good bits from the movie Hellblazer were from his run on Hellblazer which is a great read, it's a shame Keanu was cast to play a bastard Irish-men, kind of ruined the book for me), right now he's doing a supposedly great run on the Punisher, which I haven't read, but supposedly there's a great story on the human sex/slave trade in eastern Europe called the Slavers--been meaning to check it out. ANNNNNYWAYS...The Boys is the book that is supposed to in his own words "out Preacher Preacher" which is lofty enough praise that I'm like "hey, I'll see what's what". So it's only one issue in, so I can't say a ton, but the premise is a group of bastardly sickos going around and taking the piss out of superheroes, I'm sure it will end up being a lot more than that but as of right now the book is basically the amusement of watching some very foul slightly deranged ferrets with switchblades sitting around a table planning a little bit of the ol' carnage and mayhem. I really dug the hell out of the first issue, can't wait for more. The gleam in The Butcher's eye just makes me excited for the future of this book. He's one twisted s.o.b. He's got what they call...bad intentions. I'm interested to see what other lines this book takes, because what made Preacher great was that at the end of the day it was a romantic piece on friendship, and really at the end of the day, that's what I consider Ennis. A dirty dirty dark humored romantic.

The art of the book is by Darrick Robertson, who did Transmetropolitan, a book I loved, and the art...enh...I liked some of it. And Punisher Born, a book I thought was overrated by Ennis, and the art was...kinda boring. So we'll see how this goes. One of the characters does look like Spider Jerusalem(the Frenchman) and that's a bonus in my book.

Definitely a book to keep an eye on.

FELL # 1-3; 5

Another book I've been reading and completely fell in love with is Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Authority) book Fell. The premise behind fell is every issue is self contained (so you don't need to go buy the first issue of this one, just pick it up at random and read it) only 16 pages long, and cheaper than most comics. The art is by the guy who did this vampire book 30 Days 30 nights, I think, I dunno, didn't read it, I was really only into vampires for about a year and a half in middle school. But anyways, the book is excellent. The town the book takes place in is this city version of hell. Everyone but our detective is completely evil and morally bankrupt. Very Marlow. Every panel is densely packed with information so even though it's 16 pages, it's a very satisfying read. I would definitely recommend tracking this one down if you want something new to read. The writing is consistently strong, the art really works, it's a good example of how the medium should work. I like it a lot, and can't recommend it enough.

ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1-4

The other main book to say something about is Grant Morrison's All Star Superman with Frank Quietley. Grant Morrison is a weirdo. That's first off. But this book is a surprisingly straightforward and honest book. Really enjoy it. The premise behind it is Superman finds out he is going to die, and then it's like "what does superman do with his time before he goes?" It's a very sweet book. The art is so so so good. Really great storytelling. And I'll be the first to tell you, I don't like Superman. I'm a Batman girl. But this is damn good story telling, and if you can get over the fact it's a superman book, it's probably the best mainstream book DC is putting out right now.

So yeah. Nerd it up you nerds.

The Mercurialblonde Comic Review Page

2006-09-24T02:39:00.000-07:00

How this is going to work:
1. Um...Every month, I'll buy a glut of comics, probably the last two weeks of every month. And then I'll review those comics over the course of the next month. Yeah, I know it sucks, you'll be a month behind, but maybe you are like me and just like reading reviews, or like to buy back issues(also like me) or just like to know what's going on, what's good, and what trades to wait for(also occasionaly like me)

2. I'll be reviewing both Graphic Novels, Trade Collections, and the little pamphlets. Maybe some Manga too? I dunno.

3. Obviously with me reviewing monthlies, it might get a little repetitive to say something on each month, but it also may not. After I read a really awesome monthly, I love going out, finding reaction on that book, and posting my own thoughts on it as well. So while I know it's a bit like reviewing singles...well...that's the blogosphere for you.

4. Initially the reviews aren't going to be that organized because I'm just porting over what I had going on my Myspace page. I'll try to organize those a little better down the road. But I think eventually what I will do is create a seperate blog for each blurb of a review, that way it keeps everything seperate. Then I'm thinking maybe have big reviews of entire arcs when they are done, and put links to those somewhere...hmmm.

5. I will try, despite the first couple posts, to proofread what I write, and make this a pretty presentable page. But since I'll probably be posting a lot of the reviews at Four a.m. from work, the initial posts, might be a little raw, but I promise to go back and polish things up.

6. I forget.

7. Feel free to disagree. I love talking comics. I hope you don't agree with everything I say.

Blegh.