Cool News
AICN COMICS REVIEWS! CAPTAIN CARROT! BIG EYES FOR THE CAPE GUY! THE RETURN OF BUZZ! AND THE USUAL MUCH, MUCH MORE!
#30 | 12/14/05 | align=right> #4 |
(Click title to go directly to the review)
ESSENTIAL AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 7
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CAPTAIN CARROT? #1
X-FACTOR #1
SEASON OF THE WITCH #0-2
SECRET WAR #5
DMX #2
GLX-MAS SPECIAL #1/PUNISHER SILENT NIGHT #1
Big Eyes for the Cape Guy presents ARK ANGELS V.1
Big Eyes for the Cape Guy presents ARCANA Vol.1 TPB
Big Eyes for the Cape Guy presents HIKARU NO GO Vols. 1-5
Indie Jones presents…
CHEAP SHOTS!
ESSENTIAL AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 7
Written by Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Archie Goodwin, Bill Mantlo
Art by Ross Andru, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane
Published by Marvel
Reviewed by Buzz Maverik
The best word to describe the storytelling in these 22 issues of ASM, two issues of GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL # 10 is tight. Tight in many ways. Tight as in cool, tough, awesome, bitchin', rockin', baad and groovy. And tight as in perfectly precise.
These stories come from a nearly forgotten era, although they immediately follow the death of Gwen Stacey (a character forgotten or never known by many Spider-fans). Gerry Conway? Ross Andru? This writer-artist team had a long run of ASM, at the time when it was Marvel's flagship. Sure, Marvel always said THE FANTASTIC FOUR was their flagship, but the FF has still not attained the recognition level of Spidey or the X-MEN. Long runs on ASM were important for cohesion, for vision. Because Spidey was known outside comic book circles, ASM had to be good.
Andru, co-creator of THE METAL MEN for DC, seemed to combine the styles of two of the best and better known Spidey artists: John Romita Sr. and Gil Kane. Like Mr. Romita, his characters and settings had a sense of reality to them. They looked like real people in real places. Mr. Andru paid attention to detail. Like Mr. Kane, his Spidey and his versions of Spidey's foes had a fluid, airborne sense of power. They moved and lived within those still panels. And in the one way Mr. Andru's work was superior to that of Mr. Kane, he never drew from that angle where you could see up the character's noses.
Ross Andru was a Spidey innovator in that he increasingly placed our hero in dizzier and more precarious positions within the panel. As with most pre-1990 comics, you're going to see a lot more panels per issue here. The arrangement of the panels isn't a wild or unique as I remembered from reading some of the originals, but Spidey's positions and moves reflect a slightly idealized human able to spin and flip and hang like only a superhuman could. I've also noticed that Mr. Andru uses sort of a tilted camera technique to often give us that sense of vertigo while our hero defies gravity and anatomy.
In the opening story, Mr. Andru's art evokes both George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD and Walter Hill's THE WARRIORS, as Peter Parker moves to Far Rockaway (put on some Ramones and sing along Rock-rock-Rockaway Beach) to room with Flash Thompson. Pete didn't have anywhere else to stay, what with his last roommate turning into a super-villain and blowing up the apartment (be glad your roommate is just an asshole!). It looks a little 70s noir. FRENCH CONNECTION. THE SEVEN UPS. THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3. We've got the WARRIORS nightmare, night time urban desolation, with DAWN’s dangerous, mindless (here mind-controlled) masses. Horror was the order of the day at Marvel, and this was a very creepy story for a mainstream, superhero comic. The realism of the art made everything scarier.
Writer Gerry Conway at first seemed dedicated to following a formula in each issue, although not in each story. He's writing an embattled Spider-Man, a Peter Parker still mourning his murdered love. Pete's on the edge of sanity and any number of maniacs, lead by the Jackal, are ready to give him a solid push. He's unsure of how he feels about Mary Jane Watson, although things become clear, especially in the aftermath of the Jackal/clone saga. Yes, that's right. Clone saga. Spider clones have always been a bold move and sometimes comic books need bold moves. The results are great here.
And let's put it this way, we've been told that Gwen put out for the Goblin. That's another bold move. I haven't read the results and won't comment on them here. Gwen didn't put out for the Jackal, which nearly got Spider-Man killed about a dozen times. (Gwen's clone was probably programmed to put out for the Jackal but that's none of our damned bidnesses!).
When Mr. Conway left the book, writer Len Wein took over. The great thing about Mr. Wein's work (as it was on BATMAN) is that he was intimately acquainted with the work of the previous writer. He knew his classic Spidey, but as editor, he also realized that we kids didn't, and he riffed first and foremost off Gerry Conway's work. Highlights include Doc Ock vs. Hammerhead round two, and the fate of the Spider-Mobile.
Forget eras. Forget time. Forget evolution. Classic storytelling, in words and pictures, can't be defined that way. Simply put, if you like Spider-Man, like good stories and art, this is a book for you.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CAPT. CARROT? #1
Writer: Giraffe Johns
Artists: Scottie Shaw!
Publisher: Wombat Communications
Reviewer: Prof. Challigator
It sure took long enough, but Wombat has finally brought back the great Capt. Carrot and his esteemed Zoo Crew. However, in doing so they have followed through on Dan Piggio's threat to "darken Capt. Carrot too." This 4-page murder mystery is unfortunately "to be continued," so I'll have to pick up the next issue to see how Giraffe Johns and Scottie Shaw! resolve this whodunit.
Picking up some time after the end of the trend-setting CAPT. CARROT AND THE OZ-WONDERLAND WAR mini-series, this new story starts with the badly beaten corpse of Zoo Crew member, Little Cheese, lying in a puddle in the alleyways of Gnu York City. Through exposition and news television news reports, we learn what has happened in the interim between the conclusion of the mini-series and this story. Of course, I'm still waiting to find out how THE INFERIOR FIVE made it back to Earth-12 from the Zoo Crew's Earth-C in the pulse-pounding cliffhanger ending of the mini-series. But I digress…
It looks like Little Cheese publicly took off his mask, revealing his secret identity to the world. He resigned from the Zoo Crew and set on a course as a high-profile defense attorney. His actions spurred President Mallard Fillmore to pursue forcing the other members of the Zoo Crew to reveal their true identities. Yankee Poodle, secretly the world-famous gossip and entertainment reporter Rova Barrett, was outed by Fillmore's administration. Fastback sped off to parts unknown while Pig-Iron and Rubber Duck became vigilantes working outside the law. Alley-Kat-Abra revealed her identity and retired from the super-hero life to go back on-stage performing her magic act. But poor Capt. Carrot. He suffered the worst of fates. He found love in his new partner and fiancée', Carrie Carrot, but one day arch-villain, Armordillo, attacked and fed the love of Cap's life to Frogzilla - in front of a school bus full of puppies!!!
Apparently, Cap killed Armordillo in trying to bring him to justice. This brought an arrest and trial for Cap who pleaded self-defense and never revealed his true identity to the court. Little Cheese took on the defense of Cap and prevailed. Cap immediately disappeared.
It has been years since those events and Yankee Poodle, convicted and sent to the pound for an alleged assassination attempt on President Fillmore, is an escaped fugitive joined up with Pig-Iron and Rubber Duck. The three have vowed to bring Little Cheese's killer to justice. Bad gnus though. The only clue around Little Cheese's body are some tell-tale carrot crumbs. And as all good Capt. Carrot fans will recall, comic book artist R. Rodney Rabbit just has to consume some of his super-powered carrots to become the powerful Capt. Carrot - and there is one carrot noticeably missing from Rodney's stash.
When the scene cuts to Rodney, we find him depressed and living in squalor surrounded by cigarettes, booze, and stale take-out. When confronted in his home by the mysterious new super-hero American Eagle, Rodney declares Capt. Carrot dead. But American Eagle will have none of that and demands that Rodney change into Capt. Carrot and give him some answers about the murder of Little Cheese.
You know? You take the Prof's favorite current writer, Giraffe Johns, and team him up with one of his all-time favorite cartoonists, Scottie Shaw!, set the story on Earth-C and you have comic book magic. In four pages, all the characters (except Fastback - uh-oh!!!!) are reintroduced, a mystery is set up, and an exciting new character appears. Not to mention Fox (of FOX AND CROW fame) gets some attention as the television news anchor. Been a long time for ol' Fox. Good to see him looking like he hasn't aged a day (though he dresses nicer now).
What Giraffe and Scottie did with this story is show that the concept of Capt. Carrot is definitely versatile enough to tell any type of story within the twisted pun-ridden parody world in which he exists, so long as the writer treats it with respect. In fact, this deadly serious turn of events carries a deeper pathos and emotionalism simply because the characters were originally conceived in a world of blissful naiveté. However, as the darkness that pervades Supersquirrel's world spills over into Wombat's continuity, the Zoo Crew rises to the occasion to prove that they are a concept well worth exploring in this new renaissance of quality comic book storytelling. As I think through the events of these hard-hitting four pages, I'm reminded that Dan Piggio mentioned that the Crash has been an integral part of all major changes throughout Wombat's history. Which makes me glom onto the fact that Earth-C's Crash analog, Fastback, never appeared in this story. With his speed, Fastback could've easily slipped into Rodney's apartment and stolen one of the super-powered carrots to frame Rodney. Hmmm. But then again, maybe Carrie Carrot did not actually "die" when Frogzilla ate her and she's gone all "Red Robin" on Cap, killing Little Cheese and framing Cap. Like all good mysteries, I'm hooked and can't wait to see how it resolves. One thing's for sure, Prof. Challigator is demanding that Dan Piggio push through a line of Capt. Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew action figures from Wombat Direct, complete with a two-pack of American Eagle and Little Cheese's corpse.
Oh yeah, and squeezed in between these four pages is a DC Comics' Teen Titans story (TEEN TITANS#30), written by some guy named Geoff Johns and drawn by some guy named Tony Daniel that brings back Blue Devil's sidekick, Kid Devil, and introduces the villainous zombie Titans West (Omen, Phantasm, Crystal, Aquagirl, Hawk and Dove) led by the new Brother Blood. It's pretty good too - but not as good as the lead story.
X-FACTOR #1
Writer: Peter David
Penciler: Ryan Sook
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewed by Humphrey Lee
So this is the second time Peter David has tackled an X-FACTOR book, and it really is nothing like the first. So right off the bat, if you're expecting anything like the old days of government sanctioned teams of mutants and whatnot then you're in for a surprise (but I assume by now you're really not expecting any of that). Now, if you are expecting more "street-level" type book, stemming along the lines of the MADROX mini that PAD did recently, then you're in the right place. And what a glorious place it is.
This book has two major lead-ins, the aforementioned MADROX mini that set the stage for the X-FACTOR detective agency, and the event that has pretty much set the stage for everything going on in the current Marvel Universe, the HOUSE OF M. Since we last left off our new group of miscreants a lot has happened: The business has grown due to an influx of capital coming from a very unique source (and a hilarious one at that), we've got a couple new members in the sonic-screaming Siryn (who is also sporting some new power variations), and apparently Monet St. Croix (M from Generation X) as well (though she's not to be found in this ish despite the cover appearance), oh, and there's that whole "mutants everywhere have lost their powers" thing going on.
And that last plotline is what really drives the narration of this book. One time X-Force member Rictor is one of the mutants stricken down powerwise after the events of HOM. This is such a huge loss for this character it has caused him to scale a building and contemplate jumping off. It's there that Madrox decides to send in one of his more emotionally upbeat duplicates to try and talk him down. And I know that all this seems like a stretch from the outside, but that's where the brilliance of this book comes in. Peter David takes a character that has little appeal and backstory, and inside this issue and his explanation as to why Rictor would consider this comes up with something that makes the character very special (and now tragic) because of these new circumstances. If you never cared about Rictor before, or hell, didn't even know who he was, now you have a little insight into the mindset of the guy and can't help but come to see why this would become an option to him. That leaves it all to Madrox to explain to Rictor that's it not so bad, to give him (and the readers) insight on just how things that I mentioned above have developed in the book and yadda yadda. Oh, and it also sets up one of the most unexpected cliffhangers I've seen in a long long time. I saw that coming never.
So there you go. This is the new breed of X-FACTOR. It's got your normal Peter David sense of humor, it's still got some superhero smashing, but not on the same level as back when they were working for ol' Uncle Sam. The main point of this book is taking B and C level characters you might not have any knowledge about and turning them into something more than that, and making them by far more entertaining. And for those of you who did have prior knowledge of these guys, well then you'll just be happy to see them really well written now won't you?
Fun. That's the real x-factor that's been missing from so many comics these days.
SEASON OF THE WITCH, ISSUES 0-2
Written by: Jai Nitz
Penciled by: Kevin Sharpe
Published by: Image Comics
Reviewed by: superhero
SEASON OF THE WITCH’s issues number zero and one were good enough that I actually bought issue number two with my own money. See, sometimes a creator will e-mail one of us @$$holes and ask us to review their book or books and send us a comp copy to peruse. Most of the time it’s a one shot deal. I’ll get a book, like it well enough, but not enough to actually add it to my pull list at the shop.
That wasn’t the case with SEASON OF THE WITCH. With SEASON OF THE WITCH I actually got a book I enjoyed enough to pick up at the shop with my own dough and that’s saying something. Don’t get me wrong. SEASON OF THE WITCH isn’t going to blow the doors off the comic book reading world but it is an all around good read and in a comic market where so much out there just reeks of sameness SEASON OF THE WITCH is an interesting diversion from the norm.
I remember seeing SEASON OF THE WITCH issue number 0 on the stands. It had this skimpily armor clad heroine on the cover blowing a bubble with her bubble gum. To me it instantly looked like a Witchblade rip-off but I picked it up anyway and looked through it as the artist actually looked like he knew what he was doing. As soon as I picked it up I put it back down again. Issue zero was only twelve pages of story and the rest of the book was made up of character sketches. Plus the book was a Sword & Sorcery book which is a genre I was never really crazy about in comic books. Heck, even when I was a teen-ager and everyone else was playing DUNGEONS & DRAGONS I was more interested in rolling dice with VILLAINS & VIGILANTES or at least the MARVEL SUPER HEROES RPG. Sword & Sorcery in comics was never a genre that I was particularly crazy about unless you were talking about Buscema’s Conan or Thorne’s Red Sonja. CrossGen seemed to have some interesting S & S stuff but it never caught on with me as the stories never seemed all that compelling to me.
So SEASON OF THE WITCH had some stuff going against it from the get-go with me. But when I read the preview copies that were sent to me my ideas about the book changed.
Issue number zero is sort of a SEASON OF THE WITCH primer. It presents a story that obviously takes place later in the lead character’s history in which she’s obviously mastered her abilities and become a skilled warrior in the fantasy setting of Asamando which is where SOTW takes place. Apparently orcs have been assaulting human travelers and slaughtering them without mercy so of course it’s up to our heroine to solve the problem. Obviously she comes across a band of orcs and confronts them in the typical hero meets villain scenario but the writing of the piece made the encounter a lot less ordinary than it could have been. The writer of the book intersperses the opening of the book with an interesting narrative involving how the lead character’s grandfather used to hunt when she was little. It’s a good enough piece of writing that it gets you right into the feel of what’s happening and sets up what’s about to come which ends up being a wholesale orc slaughter. Actually, that’s the part of the book that disturbed me and intrigued me at the same time. It’s not the fact that the main character hates orcs and wants to kill them for what they’ve done to humans. It’s the fact that at the end of the story the lead character actually finds a den of helpless orc females and babies and murders them all in cold blood. As a matter of fact most of her attitude towards orcs in general comes across as pretty much blind racism or, er, species-ism as it were. There was a bit at the tail end of the story where I actually felt that the heroine was actually in the wrong. I mean, the way the panels where rendered where she comes across the orc den absolutely made me sympathize for the little orc babies that were about to be killed for no other reason than actually being orcs. It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth because the orcs are presented as being sentient, intelligent creatures and not just bloodthirsty animals. But in the end it’s what made the book stand out for me. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t want to read a book about a close minded warrior who just slaughters babies and mommies for her own satisfaction but it did give her character a bit of moral ambiguity which, to me, is what made her interesting. Oftentimes heroes are just so black and white with NO grey areas in between and this little character “quirk” (if you can call it that) actually made her more interesting to me and made me want to read more of the book. So the teaser issue did its job and did it admirably. I wanted to read more.
With issues one and two, SEASON OF THE WITCH goes back to the very beginning of the story. We are introduced to the lead character, Jessica, and her miserable life. She’s terrible in school, miserable at home and apparently has only one real friend to speak of who bores her to death. What was interesting to me is that I actually didn’t feel sorry for the lead character. I don’t know if this was the creator’s intention but, to me at least, it seemed that Jessica’s misery was a bit self-imposed. Actually, she came across as a bit of a bitch who was only interested in just how miserable she could be. I didn’t have any sympathy for her, but again, that’s what I ended up liking about her. She wasn’t just a poor little Cinderella clone. To a certain extent I actually ended up being more interested in her because she wasn’t perfect.
Eventually Jessica is dragged out of her so-called life into the fairy-world of Asamando by a sorcerer who claims that she is a Spell Sword, a champion who can free the land from their oppressive king. For the most part this is where the book enters the typical hero-trained-by-their-elder territory that so many other stories have tread before. But what’s atypical is that Jessica handles it all a lot less gracefully than other heroes have in the past. All she does is piss and moan about how hard everything is and events in her new fantasy home become almost an exact replay of events from when she was miserable on Earth. Jessica even goes so far to actually complain about her new breast size as one of the after effects of being brought to fairy-land is that you now will have your ideal body type. All of this illustrates that Jessica is not your typical fantasy/super-hero. She’s whiny and complaining and slightly egotistical. She’s actually fleshed out. Hell, she may not be the most likeable character I’ve ever read but at least she seems more real than most of the comic characters out there. The problem then is how do you avoid the inevitable Anakin Skywalker syndrome that could set in with a book like this? Meaning, if your lead character is a whiny brat then how can you actually get your audience to sympathize with them? Well, one of the tools the writer is able to use is making the stuff that Jessica hates doing pretty much the same stuff everyone else would hate doing. The writer sort of evokes a KARATE KID style montage which allows the reader to possibly identify with the heroine’s gripes as the last thing the reader themselves would want to do is sew their own clothes, move rocks in a wagon, or be stuck doing laundry without some of today’s modern conveniences. What does become problematic, however, is the fact that once Jessica does acquire her powers and her ego begins to match her power level how can you avoid making your lead into someone completely unlikable like the aforementioned Mr. Skywalker? By issue number two Jessica’s still a bit of a pain in the ass but it is only the second issue of the series and the character obviously still has some room to grow. If the creators of SEASON OF THE WITCH want readers to stick around they’d be well advised to have the character learn a few hard life lessons to put her in her place a bit. By the end of issue two it seems as if this may be what’s being set up so I’m not expecting to end up completely loathing Jessica as much as I did George Lucas’s crybaby Jedi but as I said it’s time for her to mature a bit. It’s only so long that you can read about someone who’s as shallow as Jessica seems to be coming across.
The art in SEASON OF THE WITCH is actually very, very good. While issue number zero is black and white with a couple of different inkers, issues number one and two seem to have been put together with heavy pencil work and computer coloring fleshing out the look of the book. I actually liked both of the artistic approaches taken to the book as the black and white issue was very crisply illustrated and the pencil lines of the next two gave the book’s appearance a smoothness that added to the fantasy feel of the book. Honestly, the creators of the book would have had a winning look for their comic with either approach as the artist is good enough that his style looks great either way. My only complaint about the art is that there does seem to be an over reliance in the colored books on using Photoshop effects to fill in the backgrounds instead of actually drawing stuff in. It actually became much more evident with issue number two as the second issue actually appears a bit rushed compared to the work in both issues numbers zero and one. Hopefully the artist will have enough time to fully flesh out the third issue, as I was really impressed with his style and the second issue’s shortcomings left me a little cold, but even with its rushed feel I could see that the artist has some real talent.
SEASON OF THE WITCH isn’t exactly a perfect book but it is a really good one. With time the creators may be able to work out some of the kinks and make SEASON a very solid fantasy read. The art goes a long way toward making it worth picking up and if the art team can avoid taking shortcuts like they did in issue two this could be one of the better looking independent books on the stands. Yes, there are some pacing and character issues but the creative team of SOTW seems to have a LOT of potential and I, for one, hope that the book is given enough time to grow into what could possibly be a fan favorite. Of course the $3.50 price tag doesn’t help its fight any and I’m hesitant to recommend that anyone pay that much for a single comic book but if your shop gives you a discount like mine does this book is worth a look.
Now if someone could just explain to me why female fantasy figures wear armor that completely exposes their chest and stomach area. I mean, I understand the need for cheesecake but there’s gotta be a way to make a female fantasy character sexy and believable without having to have her goods exposed for all the world to see. Hell, if the creator of ARTESIA can do it I’m sure other creators can too…
SECRET WAR #5 (of 5)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Gabriele Dell’Otto
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Vroom and Dave: Secret Reviewers
Review of issue one
Review of issue two
Review of issue three
Review of issue four
VROOM: Holy shit, it's over?
Really?
All five issues are out? Wow, and it only took 22 months. Although I guess I shouldn't complain, we only got one issue of Spider-Man/Black Cat in that same time. But I digress; the matter at hand is the finale to SECRET WAR. So what happens?
What happens is a Deus Ex Machina, then a whole issue of exposition. The same as HOUSE OF M and AVENGERS FINALE, in other words. We have Angelina Jolie wave her hand and make all the bad guys go away, then Nick Fury explains the whole plot to us, and you know what? I still have no goddamn idea what the point was! There was some terrific stuff to be found early on; the whole idea of the various tech-based villains being involved in some conspiracy was a damn good one, but all we got was some megalomaniac villain, a whole lotta buildup, and no real payoff.
DAVE: And let me tell ya, as megalomaniac villains go, Lucia von Bardas is no Dr. Doom. Not even a Count Nefaria.
The Owl may be cooler.
And yet this is the character (SPOILERS A’COMIN’) whose villainy we’re supposed to believe led to Nick Fury being deposed as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.?! Like hell. She’s just another example of Bendis’s hubris. He’s outed Daredevil, given Wolverine his memories, killed off a scad of Avengers while dissolving the team, and now come up with an awful contrivance to be give Nick Fury the boot. Not that I expect the booting to stick, but as just another instance of Bendis making his mark, it’s wearisome.
But maybe not as wearisome as the fact that this is another “heroes fail” story. Bendis does a lot of these stories, sometimes in titles where bad times feel appropriate (DAREDEVIL), sometimes in titles where it makes the heroes look like total chumps (NEW AVENGERS). This one’s the latter, with the likes of Captain America, Wolverine, and Spider-Man all being duped by Nick Fury, and more gallingly, by Bendis’s pet character, Angelina-Jolie-From-HACKERS. It’s almost as if Bendis has contempt for the characters on a subconscious level. He at least shows them to be competent in action scenes, but the rest of the time they come across as easily manipulable dupes. Are ineffective heroes just the new paradigm? Bendis is hardly the only one making a mint off the concept.
VROOM: That and the concept of heroes in conflict with each other. You’ve heard what the event coming out of this next summer is called, right? MARVEL CIVIL WAR. Is it any wonder that the only titles I still give a shit about are the ones that aren’t involved in some multi-part, shake the pillars of heaven “event” that’s going to be the biggest thing to happen to this universe until six months after it ends when we get another “event” that shakes the pillars of heaven!!!
…
…
Sorry about that.
I should say that I wasn’t all that pissed off about Fury going underground as much as the fact that that’s pretty much all that happened here. Anyone who’s read NEW AVENGERS or THE PULSE can infer what happens. I know that’s due to delays, but I’d still like to have seen something more happen than just an anticlimactic resolution to an attack from a cheap bad guy, then seeing Nick Fury slink into the shadows. Don’t get me wrong; having Fury go rogue is a great idea, one that works. I know, because I’ve seen it told by other writers. All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again.
As to Bendis and ineffectual heroes, I’m planning to address that later. But first, what’s your final appraisal of the work Dell’Otto brought to the book? I must admit that seeing Wolverine rip the shit out of Fury was wicked cool.
DAVE: Or might’ve been if Wolverine shouting, “You don’t mess with my head!!! You don’t mess with my head!!!” hadn’t reminded me of Wolvie’s infamously awful “Stop raping me!” line from THE PULSE.
Final take on Dell’Otto? Solid. I get a slightly schlocky “Luis Royo” vibe from his work airbrushy work, but his storytelling’s good, his characters nicely designed, and to bring it all back to our review of the first issue…he still draws a mean S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Honestly, beyond a basic disinterest in the style he presents, I chalk up most of my complaints about his work here (weak action scenes, repeated panels) to Bendis’s quirks. Doesn’t mitigate ‘em, but it means the fault doesn’t lie with him.
Clearly the guy’s got chops and a future in the biz, but for me, he’ll probably only ever be interesting as a cover artist. For instance, I like his take on The Man Called Nova for this upcoming cover.
VROOM: That is a magnificent cover! I don’t know that I’d buy another mini by Dell’Otto, but if he does an original hardcover or graphic novel I’ll snatch it up in a heartbeat. As to Bendis and his quirks…
With the completion of this series, Bendis is at a real crossroads as a storyteller. He can either expand as a writer, finding new themes to work with, or he can keep on going the way he has his entire career. Bendis’ philosophical approach to writing is relatively simple, “If it ain’t broke, break it!” That’s served him well on many the title, books like DAREDEVIL (the breaking of Matt Murdock), TORSO (the breaking of Elliot Ness), and FORTUNE & GLORY (Hollywood breaks Bendis). But it seems the more players he involves and the bigger the stage gets, the more the story falls apart for me. (See not only this story, but also DISSASSEMBLED, where he breaks the Avengers, and HOUSE OF M, where he breaks the entire mutant population.)
This is why some of his best work, on such titles as JINX, POWERS, and ALIAS, features characters that come pre-broken. This helps move the action into a rebuilding stage, one that’s a helluva lot more fun than the breaking point. POWERS has the best feel for this, as it has two main players. Look at recent issues; while Walker is being rebuilt, Pilgrim is breaking down. That’s Bendis at his best. But on the opposite level there’s the character of Jessica Jones. Why do you think Bendis stopped ALIAS, or why he’s leaving THE PULSE? It’s because Jessica is no longer broken; she’s become a whole person, and Bendis doesn’t know what to do with her. That’s a missed opportunity, in my book.
I’m not saying this to be nasty, or to rile people up. I’m saying it because Bendis is phenomenally talented and the world’s biggest mensch, and I don’t want to see him go down a road where he falls victim to his own excess. Some of my favorite storytellers have gone down that road, and it pains me every time. Comics creators like Frank Miller, (huge badasses in stories favoring style over substance) and Chris Claremont (psychic women in bondage situations), along with people like Chevy Chase (pratfalls and general stupidity), and Gene Roddenberry (AI computers with a God complex). Nobody wants to see Bendis turn into a joke, least of all me. But if he doesn’t shake up his style and try something new, I can easily see it happening.
DAVE: All those interrogation scenes don’t help.
And I think we’ve outright reached the level of self-parody. Hell, we’ve even got Bendis dropping self-referential in-jokes in his stories (“Chaos magic” winks, jabs at Spidey for his constant unmaskings, etc.)! From my point of view, though, there’s no one thing Bendis can do take his writing to the “next level”. I think his massive exposure over the last several years has in fact revealed weaknesses and excesses endemic to his writing style – critical weaknesses like poor plot structure, gaping plot holes, and characters who speak with Bendis’s voice instead of their own. There are a few things he does extremely well and he’ll always be readable, but more and more I wonder if his work will stand the test of time beyond mere readability. Sales-wise, it’s a no-brainer that he’s riding a tide, but I look at his work on NEW AVENGERS, HOUSE OF M, and now SECRET WAR, and it’s hard for me to imagine people looking back on these stories as a great era for Marvel.
Time’ll tell, won’t it?
DMZ #2
Writer: Brian Wood
Penciler: Riccardo Burchielli
Publisher: Vertigo/DC Comics
Reviewed by Humphrey Lee
So the first issue of DMZ introduced us to young Matthew Roth and showed how he is now stranded in the middle of the war zone formerly known as Manhattan. Now this is where Wood takes the time to go ahead and spew some sort of liberal bias as we turn this book into some giant Red State vs Blue State "ha-ha we're right, you're wrong" BS, right?
Wrong.
This is where we see the pain of war, the horror it brings. This is how innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire and their lives are shattered by something that they had no part in starting. This is how they stand back up on their own two feet and start surviving everyday life just like before. This is how they live their lives.
This is the story of those that are forgotten when bombs start dropping and the blame and finger-pointing begins.
Issue number two of DMZ is a tour of the "leftovers" of Manhattan. Mattie Roth was supposed to cover the story of the century as war waged within the United States. Instead he was left stranded and was actually the ignorant cause of more suffering on the behalf of the people still in the demilitarized zone. Now that he's stuck here he starts to learn just how the "other half" lives as his savior from last issue, a young woman known as Zee, becomes his tour guide through the war zone. We see how those stuck here live their every day lives. What do they do for food and water? Where do they congregate now that the local Starbucks has become nothing but rubble? How do they keep their minds off what's going on around them and keep moving forward? And what about those that aren't so lucky to still be moving around, at least not with the use of both legs to do so?
And yes, all that I have said, and everything this book is trying to say is a bit on the heavy handed side. That comes with the territory on this kind of subject material. But it's an important story and it's one that is very well written and very dynamically drawn. I dare say this is one of those comics that you simply cannot miss and will go down as one of the best and most important stories told in comic form.
But that would be getting over-dramatic...
GLX-MAS SPECIAL #1
Writer: Dan Slott
Artists: Matt Haley, Georges Jeanty, Drew Geraci, Ty Templeton, Paul Grist, Mike Kazaleh, Mike Wieringo, and Karl Kesel
PUNISHER: SILENT NIGHT #1
Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Kyle Hotz
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
Artist: Kyle Hotz
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
True holiday cheer is pretty hard to come by these days. I’m probably not the only one who watched the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and thought to myself, “If this thing were put out today, there’s no way it would be green-lighted.” Which is sad really. True appreciation for something as special as the holidays is getting rarer and rarer. These days, the holidays are something to make fun of, something to thumb your nose at, something to shun or overlook or berate or deem uncool. All of this rancor may be due to the fact that today’s holiday wishes are often drowned out by real life suckitude. Like many people this holiday season, I’m a little short on the bucks. The gift giving at the Ambush Bug Holiday Hootenanny isn’t going to be as plentiful as it has been in years past. And that bothers me. I want to make this a memorable holiday season, but I can’t help but be a bit down in the dumps that the problems of life have invaded what was once a sacred season about dreams and wishes and good deeds. I guess that’s what happens when you grow up.
Being a comic book reader, I cherish the times when I was a kid laying on my belly in the family room and reading the four colored adventures of my favorite heroes. It was a time when the fantastical was believable and things like comics and the holidays made my imagination soar. So when I walked into my local comics shop in my holiday slump and saw not one, but two holiday comics written by two of my favorite comic book writers, the optimist in me cast aside those real life problems in hopes that my love of the holidays and comics would once again be resuscitated.
What I can say is that these are two decently written comics.
By this time, after a GREAT LAKES AVENGERS miniseries, writer Dan Slott is pretty comfortable with this cast of misfit characters. Slott is one of the funniest writers in comics today and he really shows those comic chops in the GLX-MAS SPECIAL #1. I especially loved the short tale pitting Deathurge against Squirrel Girl’s pet, Tippy-Toe. Madcap mayhem occurs as Deathurge must kill his squirrelly nemesis before midnight, but the unkillable Mr. Immortal keeps setting off his traps. Even Doorman’s story where he visits his strict father for the holidays walks the line of comedy and drama, giving this issue a little depth. And tidbits like the Flatman cut out figure with an infinite number of articulation points brought a smirk to my face. It was a fun read throughout.
Andy Diggle has proven himself to be a versatile and always exciting writer over at DC. PUNISHER: SILENT NIGHT #1 was his first crack at writing for Marvel. Although not up to the par of the superior LOSERS series and ADAM STRANGE miniseries, Diggle churns out a semi-entertaining tale of a Punisher sting set against the backdrop of Christmas Eve at an orphanage where a mob boss is hiding out. I appreciate Diggle’s restraint in not going the “let’s make the mob villains all goofy and ape Ennis’ tired old style” route that Daniel Way recently used in the PUNISHER VS BULLSEYE miniseries. I enjoyed the way Diggle showed the Punisher planning this operation and mapping out every contingency to utterly destroy his prey. Although not on par with the adrenaline rush I received after reading a single issue of ADAM STRANGE or LOSERS, this story kept moving at a steady pace and as always, Frank gets his guy in the end.
What I can’t say is that I was filled with holiday cheer after reading these two Christmas specials.
I don’t know about you, but suicides, multiple deaths, attempted murder of animals, dismemberment, and even more death doesn’t exactly fill me with holiday cheer. And that’s just in the GLX-MAS SPECIAL. I don’t even want to mention the fact that the Punisher uses orphans to build deathtraps for mobsters. Or the fact that the Punisher beats up Santa Claus in front of a group of children in one scene, then dresses up a dead mob boss as Santa and leaves him in plain view in the middle of the front yard for all of the orphans to wake up to on Christmas morning. Yeah, Christmas cheer wasn’t plentiful in either of these books, and to me, that’s pretty disappointing. I understand the GLA and the Punisher aren’t two properties that scream wholesomeness and good will when they come to mind. But one would think that with the talent behind both books, they might be able to squeeze in something more meaningful. Although these two books were somewhat entertaining, it was the vapid, soulless and yes, snarky cruel form of entertainment that permeates a lot of comics these days. Sure, the wholesomeness from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “The Charlie Brown Christmas Special” may be too saccharine for today’s jaded, apathetic audience filled, but there’s something about those stories that made them classics. Too bad the creators behind these books didn’t shoot for that level of worthwhile storytelling this holiday season instead of the lowest common denominator stuff we have here.
ARK ANGELS V.1
Creator: Sang-Sun Park
Publisher: Tokyopop
Reviewer: Dan G.
I had two expectations when I began reading this manga, one of which ended up confusing the hell out of me, and one of which ended up false. (Technically, this is a Korean comic, so it's a manwha, not a manga, but whatever - comics is comics. And yes, I'm aware of how controversial that statement is, and I don't care.) The first was that it would be about three young girls - all sisters - as the back cover copy proclaims. It is, but throughout the book one sister pretends to be a boy for some 'mysterious reason' that is never explained and seems to be a source of anxiety for the other two. This deception is very poorly depicted, and it took me four readings to understand what was actually going on. I'm not sure if the translation or writing was at fault there.
The second was that it would be somewhat goth and drawn in an ethereal fashion, like the creator's THE TAROT CAFE series. In fact, the art style is interestingly different from that series, much more frenetic and exciting. The gothic influence remains, but combines with a bubbly energy and some more cartoony stuff to give the book a totally different feel. It took me a while to get used to it, but by the end of the volume I liked that odd combination of goth bishonen and shojo cartoon. It certainly gives the book a distinct style.
The premise of the manga is that the environmental damage humans have done to Earth is affecting parallel dimensions as well, and representatives of those dimensions have gathered to do something to put a stop to it to save their own realms. Shem, Hamu, and Japheth are Noah's children from one of these dimensions, and they travel the Earth from their base in a high school putting animals from endangered species in their magical Ark. They see the souls of the critters, not just the bodies, so each rescue is a magical adventure, and each one turns back the Environmental Disaster clock by one minute. Secretly opposing them is the Lord, another dimensional representative who feels humans deserve no more chances and should be wiped out before they poison all the dimensions.
The stories in this volume were definitely over the top, but fun, too: rescuing a mother fruit bat who has gone senile, a stuck-up crane who won't go until she gets hooked up with a boyfriend, and trying to adjust to a new school while pretending to be a boy - there certainly wasn't any point where I felt the story was dragging. A fun new series from an established talent.
ARCANA Vol.1 TPB
Writer/Artist: So-Young Lee
Publisher: Tokyopop
Reviewed by Dave Farabee
I think I’ve had the bug for swords and sorcery ever since my parents accidentally took me to see the quite R-rated EXCALIBUR when I was about eight. It instilled in me an abiding geek love for all things elvish, dwarvish, King Arthurish, and hell, even KRULL-ish. Turns out most of its crap - you probably knew that – but I’m always on the lookout for the unique stuff that stands out from the crowd. Our spotlight of the day, ARCANA, doesn’t seem likely to join the upper echelon, but for sheer style I’ve got to give it its due.
Written and drawn by female creator So-Young Lee, best known for her gothic romance MODEL, ARCANA’s standout feature at even the barest glance is its art. Decorative, filled with costumes inspired by Middle Eastern and Art Noveau styles, and populated by Lee’s trademark lanky, androgynous characters, it certainly defies the visual conventions of the genre. And it’s very appealing. The heroine, 15-year-old orphan Inez, is a gangly tomboy of a girl – long neck, thin arms, wispy fingers even – and it’s just a nice change of pace from muscle-bound warriors and knights decked out in full plate. In fact, a “skinny” aesthetic pervades the whole book. You’d think it might be off-putting, but it’s not the glammed-up thinness you might see on a Michael Turner-drawn babe. I’d liken it more to the works of famed Viennese artist Gustav Klimt in that it pervades the whole of the work, not just the objects of lust. The skinny aesthetic’s echoed, too, by an emphasis on thin, vertical designs, from the columns of palaces to tall stained glass windows.
The story kicks off with a familiar fantasy motif: the arrival of a magical winter. From Wilde’s THE SELFISH GIANT to Lewis’s THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE to George R.R. Martin’s recent GAME OF THRONES series, fantasy writers do love to dump the snow on their characters. In ARCANA, it’s a winter that only comes once every hundred years, and the people of the land are generally freaking out over it. And rightly so – they’ve never seen snow before, and oh yeah, it seems the winter’s brought with it the return to the land of demons. And Inez has an early encounter with them. Traveling to the city with her grandfather (an aged Obi-Wan type who’s hinted to’ve been a hero in his younger days) and pet dog (one of those cool shaggy collies), she pauses to exercise her magical ability to talk to animals with a flock of sheep. It gets creepy, though, when the sheep reveal that they’re terrified…that one among their number is very different.
At which point one of the sheep explodes gorily apart into a giant demon.
If that’s not an early indicator of the book’s lingering darkness, I don’t know what is, though Inez does end up rescued by a mysterious, androgynously beautiful hero. She’ll encounter him again when she visits the Emperor’s palace with her grandfather. Events there are a touch vague and shadowy, but her grandfather’s clearly got sway with the Emperor – a cruelly handsome man not unlike Inez’s demon-whomping benefactor, Yulan. Tomboyish Inez ends up butting heads with both Yulan and the Emperor as she bristles under their attitudes and the stuffy conventions of the palace. There’s no real hint at budding romance between any of these characters, though. In fact, there’s a fairly disturbing scene where the Emperor demands Inez show off her powers by speaking to a bird he’s kept starved for three days - a bird he ends up killing.
Is he just a bastard, or is it possible he’s hardening her heart intentionally for the trials to come? And trials are to come. In a somewhat unsatisfying forwarding of the plot, Inez is rather suddenly given a quest by her grandfather and the Emperor. She’s to use her animal-speaking abilities to lure a dragon to fend off the demons, and weirdly there’s no questioning of the whys and wherefores of this development – it’s just accepted with a sort of dreamy resolve that felt forced to me.
But it’s the angsty asides likely to make this compelling to those looking for a romantic fantasy steeped in darkness. The aforementioned scenes with the demon-sheep and the killing of the bird come to mind, as does the otherworldly, elfin race who drinks tears and the strange, sad fate of Inez’s dog. Mysteries abound too (Why the magical winter? What’s its connection to the demons? Why can Inez talk to animals and what, precisely, is her magical destiny? Why is Inez’s kindly grandfather so chummy with the sleazy Emperor? Who are the two men tracking Inez?), so many in fact that there was a certain frustration at the ambiguity of the thing. But for the dark, ethereal tone, and definitely for the art, I expect to follow up on the next few volumes as ARCANA presumably moves out of set-up mode and into more episodic questing. The feel of the thing is just so unique that it’s got my attention.
HIKARU NO GO Vols. 1-5
Writer: Yumi Hotta
Artist: Takeshi Obata
Publisher: Viz
Reviewer: Dan G.
I've long had a mild interest in the Japanese game of Go. (For those of you not in the know, Go is an ancient game of placing stones to take territory - not unlike chess, it is easy to learn but very difficult to master.) I even own a cheap board, though I've never actually used it to play and I don't really know how. I figured that was okay, and I'd continue happily ignorant for likely the rest of my days and Go would just go on the long list of interests I've never followed up on. Then I started reading HIKARU NO GO.
The story's a pretty standard one for manga: young person tries his best to improve his skills at something and become a 'master', with a few twists here and there. Sixth-grader Hikaru Shindo finds an old Go board in his grandfather's attic and plans to sell it - but it turns out this board is haunted by the spirit of ancient Go master Fujiwara-no-Sai, unable to find peace until he plays the 'Divine Move'. Sai's spirit makes a new home for itself in Hikaru's mind, and a Go odyssey begins, with Hikaru playing games at Sai's mental direction and beating everyone he meets, even getting a rival. Eventually, Hikaru decides to learn to play himself, and forms a club at school - but his old opponents are confused by his sudden lack of skill. Meanwhile, Sai plays online to get his fix. Developing rapidly, Hikaru is soon able to take the test for insei - youth pro - with just his own abilities. Okay, so the plot isn't inspired. It's strong enough to hold up.
It isn't really the plot of HIKARU NO GO that draws me to it anyway - and make no mistake, I really enjoy this manga - it's Hotta's ability to interweave Go games and puzzles into the story and make them exciting. I get more into those games than I do most hero-villain punch-outs or shootouts in action comics. Because Hikaru has been learning the game in the story, so have I, and I feel a kinship when he plays a stone, even when Sai tells him there's a better place. I've learned along with Hikaru, and it makes the manga engaging. They even keep Yukari Umezawa, a professional Go player, around to be sure all of the Go stuff is accurate, so the stuff I've learned is the real thing.
Obata's art draws you into the story as well. His ability with facial expressions and hand movements during stone placement really make it seem like the game is being played right in front of you. Angles are chosen well to evoke motion and a feel of the stones hitting the board. You can almost hear the 'klak' of a strongly-placed stone. He also does a great job with character design, making it easy to tell the characters apart - something that can be a problem in many manga I've read. The art isn't particularly ground-breaking, but it is very solid, and does its job extremely well.
There's a surprising amount of action in these five volumes, but it takes a form I didn't expect. Who knew reading about a board game could be exciting? Maybe someday I'll actually play the game for myself.
WAR OF THE WORLDS: SECOND WAVE #1
BOOM! Studios
I just recently rented the Spielberg/Cruise summer blockbuster version of WAR OF THE WORLDS on DVD and found it to be pretty entertaining. Many thought the ending was a bit schmaltzy, but I found it true to Spielbergian form; big effects, well staged action sequences, all tied together with an overly saccharinated bow. Not a day after I watched the flick, I found an advance copy of BOOM! Studios graphic novel sequel to the movie, WAR OF THE WORLDS: SECOND WAVE #1 in my box of goodies. This issue was equally entertaining. The first issue recaps the events from the film not from a family who survives the alien invasion, but from one who doesn’t. After the giant tripods fall in the first flick is where this story really begins. This issue sets up the tension nicely and introduces us to a character that is sure to cause trouble for the aliens once they start rampaging again. How, I’m not sure yet, considering in this issue our hero doesn’t know the difference between a flat head and a Phillips screwdriver, but the story unfolds in a way that captured my interest and the art was fully capable of rendering the mass destruction the tripods caused. This looks to be a promising series. It’s available now to order in this month’s Previews, so nab it while you can. - Ambush Bug
OPTIC NERVE #10
Writer/Artist: Adrian Tomine
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Reviewed by Dave Farabee
I’ve never read an issue of the highly respected slice-of-lifer, OPTIC NERVE, and I figured to remedy that by peeking in on the latest issue at random. To the book’s credit, I found it eminently approachable without reading a single word of the synopsis on the inside cover, and as I’d suspected from all the praise its received over the years, the craftsmanship was impeccable.
But I also had to chuckle. If you had to come up with the ultimate cliché image of the indie comic, what do you think you’d come up with? Maybe some navel-gazing twenty/thirtysomethings bitching about their sex lives at a coffee shop? Well, that’s precisely what we get in the first few pages of OPTIC NERVE, and as unfair as it might be to laugh and groan at a comic for breaking out the same angsty tropes we let Hollywood get away with all the time…man, I just hadda.
Gen X’ers. Coffee shop. Lame sex lives. Only black turtlenecks could’ve made the thing any “indier!”
But writer/artist Adrian Tomine doesn’t need me to take the piss out of his characters – he does it throughout the issue, almost obsessively even. Consider the performance art sequence that opens the book. Our lead, 30-year-old Ben Tanaka, is attending a performance art piece headlined by the cute new girl he’s hired at the movie theater he manages. Her name’s Autumn. “This is a new piece,” Autumn tells the audience. “It’s entitled ‘Fallujah’.” The performance itself involves a rock band, naked people posing awkwardly, and a series of screeching drum/guitar sound effects that suggest a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Tomine’s art, which seems generally better suited to low-key conversations than action, is particularly static during the performance – as if to emphasize its awkwardness.
Quite realistically, Ben’s all compliments despite the disgusted look that crosses his face initially, the reader easily seeing through his hopes to get closer to the vapid but earnest Autumn:
Autumn: Well, we’re taking the physicality of modern dance and the improvisation of free jazz and infusing it with a punk sensibility.
Ben: Wow. Yeah.
Ben ends up saying the right things to get a hug, and Tomine gives him a minimalist smile – his approach is working…at least kinda/sorta. I was somewhat surprised to find that the scene actually struck me as condescending to earnest artist-types. It’s not like its any big secret that there’re plenty of artsy fartsy kids out there talking themselves into the notion that what they’ve got to say is important, but Tomine’s staging almost speaks to an old-timer griping that that lousy rock ‘n’ roll is “just noise.” It’s an interesting counterpoint to the worldview of, say, Paul Pope, who infused his aspiring artist with romantic nobility in his recent 100%, but the treatment felt a touch too clichéd. I’ve heard Tomine spoken of as a distinctly Gen X cartoonist, but I wonder if he has much sympathy for his own generation.
In the coffee house scene, Ben discusses his shaky romantic prospects with his lesbian best friend, Alice. She’s much more personally and sexually aggressive than he and needles him for his slow-burn approach.
Alice: If you hang out with her one more time and don’t make a move, be prepared to be banished to “neutered Asian friend” territory forever!”
Ben (with mock melodrama): “Never! I shall never return to that horrible land again!”
There’s some terrific dialogue throughout the sequence, and it carries over into Ben’s lackadaisical phone call to his ex. She’s moving on to a promising internship, his latent bitterness (and jealousy) steers the conversation into an argument and…well, I can’t say it’s a novel scene, but it certainly rings with truth. In fact, everything about the issue speaks to keen observations of human nature. If there’s a pattern to the issue, it’s this: Ben tries to get closer to a girl, stumbles awkwardly, and talks about it with Alice, who busts his chops. There’s a fair amount of non-politically-correct humor throughout – some of it, like the aside about “white girl envy,” being pretty damn hilarious – but in a way the humor’s as awkward as Ben’s almost-kisses and out-of-placeness at parties. It’s his defense mechanism from facing up to his insecurities, and funny or not, it just contributes to the image of him as a hapless schlub. And Tomine’s not afraid to make him a selfish ass at times, so he’s got that going for him too. Even when he does hook up with a girl in the latter half of the story, the follow-through is expectedly abortive.
What I take from this issue, which for all its status quo meanderings does end on a cliffhanger suggesting a shake-up in Ben’s life, is that OPTIC NERVE is a quite approachable series about the kind of freaks and geeks you probably know or have been at one time or another. And there’s no discounting its clean-line style, sure to appeal to fans of Dan Clowes, the Hernandez Brothers, and Cameron Stewart. The staging is pretty close to perfect and there’s never an unclear moment. OPTIC NERVE’s downside for me, though, is characterized by that opening performance art sequence: what first appears to be a clinical detachment in chronicling the lives of its Gen X players eventually comes across as condescending cynicism. Sure, you can infer an implicit sympathy for the struggling characters, but scene after scene spotlights their frailty, awkwardness, and selfishness, with nary a moment of warmth or camaraderie to balance it out. The overriding vibe is pretty bleak, consistently more interested in failure than success.
Me,
-
+ Expand All
-
although issue #2 was way too compressed.
-
...Prof. Challenger types and bullshit is spewed. "One of Byrne's weakest elements in recent years has been his sloppy hair detailing." Yeah, whatever, asswipe. Go look at the actual pencils: http://www.artofjohnbyrne.com/pencilscans.html
-
Sure PAD's writing is the reason for picking up this book, but the art is brilliant as well. I am a massive Bendis fan I have enjoyed almost all of his work (even House of M despite it being 2 issues too long) but Secret War was very blah.
-
Who is this Captain Carrot imposter anyway?
-
The best reviews, and some of the best writing overall on this site.
-
For a split second, I was eight years old again...I can't stop the urge to put on Journey's Greatest Hits, unbag and read the entire run of CCAHAZC, and go dump all my change into the nearest Missle Command machine. Right after I finish my paper route, of course...
-
Anyone else reminded of PA politico R. Bud Dwyer's onair suicide from back in 86/87? I actually saw that live, as I was home from school due to a wicked snowstorm.
-
I think I need to get #10, I believe I have #9 and it's a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, the comic comes out so rarely I never remember what number I'm on.
-
Yeah man definite Bud Dwyer homage there. (are you allowed to have an homage to a dude who blew his brains out on national TV? apparently so) Yeah that was shockingly disturbing. Loved the brain chunk falling out of the back of his head.
-
Hulk ripped Wolverine IN HALF!!!
-
the real shock in that issue is how much poon hulk was getting. truly a wtf moment.
-
Of reviewers pushing their wimpy, hyper-liberal views during their reviews. Oh boo hoo, Ambush Bug, unless you're joking (in which case apologies- it's really hard tell with the number of complaints about books being too gory, profane etc.), did you really think a Punisher Christmas story would be heartwarming? Wtf...
-
Dec 22, 2005 9:20:04 AM CST
Heartwarming in that he will cut out the heart of a mobster and
by cromulent
Ryan Sook's art is beautiful in X-factor and it looks like it's gonna be a blast of a series. I like how David has cooly (is that a word) added onto everyone's powers, like Siryn's siren call and Rictor being a earth hugger now.
-
Merry Christmas! Thanks for an entertaining year of reviews.
-
Anyone else see R2-D2 in this issue?
-
Wha?? Where? I saw a giant "PURPLE DEATH RAY" (snicker) but no droid.
-
R2 is underneath Anti-Monitor when powergirl stares down the tower
-
Masn, Squirrel Girl KICKS ASS. My coworker, who is a former 80's Spawn comic reader asked me which character is the most powerful; who would win. And I told him - it depends on the writer. He didn't understand me. So I explained how Squirrel Girl, some chick who has a mutant power to talk to Squirrels can take down Galactus. "Nu-uh, no she can't." We went to the comic store yesterday and I showed him. "Aw, that's crap." No it wasn't. Even The Watcher saw it happen. Any character can "defeat" any other character - it just depends on the writer. There is no point to saying so-n-so can beat so-n-so. and that's that. I hear on Newsarama that Dan Pigio said Captain Carrot isn't going to survive IC. And that sucks.
-
is gayer than Brandon Routh allegedly is.
-
To all my @$$'s and COGS: Merry Christmas, Happy Channakuh, Sweet Kwanza, Feliz Navidad and all that crap! Be safe and have fun!
-
I didn't see the ending either, but we SHOULD have seen it because it was laid out right before us. I LOVE shit like that. Anytime a writer gets me to actually slap my head and say "Why didn't I see that" gets my instant devotion. Best new ongoing X-Book since... well a really long damn time (I don't really consider astonishing "new" or "ongoing") *** My comic shops consistently under-orders the supreme power minis, so I missed Blackhawk #3 AND #4. god damnit.
-
Wha? Could someone explain what the reviewer was talking about.
-
so stop pushing your agenda on me. Go Bush!
-
I loved Peter David's run years ago.My favorite issue was when the team visits a psychiatrist.I think it was Doc Samson? and they all talk about their insecurities.Very well written issue....ps I'm glad you guys are covering manga I'd love to hear your thoughts on Blade of the Immortal and Lady Snowblood sometime..nice reveiws.
-
So, basically, Ambushbug thinks the Punisher & GLA Christmas specials missed the mark because they didn't have endings that raised his Christmas spirits?
.
Dude, they're PUNISHER and GLA CHRISTMAS SPECIALS! They're supposed to be DARK and MORBID and F'D UP. That's the point!
.
They're the antidotes for light, fluffy, cutesy holiday specials. What a weird review.
.
If you're a fan of those kinds of stories, you shouldn't be looking for them in books about a guy who shoots off people's knee caps and another guy who blows out his own brains.
.
I thought both of them were exactly what I was hoping they would be. And both of them were very entertaining. And I really liked the fact that the GLA special pimped the Punisher special on its first page... while, at the same time, warning readers that it WASN'T going to be the kind of special that Ambush bug would have liked it to be. -
Dec 22, 2005 12:41:59 PM CST
YES! YES! CAPTAIN CARROT IS BACK! Now all I need are action figu
by superhero
THANK YOU DC COMICS! Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew are THE REASON I started collecting comics! AWESOME! Keep them around as long as you can! Scott Shaw! deserves it! Screw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Captain Carrot is BACK! YEAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
-
You know it's true...:O)
-
It's true: X-FACTOR #1 really was a good read. So was the MADROX miniseries that preceded it. **** In other news, did anyone else notice that Grampa Superman's eyes had a creepy "drifting apart" effect in IDENTITY CRISIS #3? Looked like Homer Simpson when he's drunk.
-
Dec 22, 2005 12:58:29 PM CST
Yeah...it seemed like he had Super-Down's Syndrome or someth
by superhero
-
http://tinyurl.com/9bj5h
-
I can't go to my comic book store because of the transit strike here in New York. My store is in Manhattan and I live in Queens! FUCK!!! I'M STRANDED IN QUEENS!!! QUEENS!!!!
-
I'm in NY too and I feel your pain. But it looks like they're going back to work later today. Almost there, buddy.
-
I mean, considering the fact that it's the right-wing religious conservatives who can't stop blabbing this year about the bullshit "War On Christmas" being waged by the liberals and all. I mean, isn't it the supposedly "liberal media" who would purposely marry murder, suicide, violence and profanity to the birth of Jesus? I guess that there might be a way to equate Bug's nostalgic longing for a return to the strongly pro-christian message of a cartoon produced in the late 1960's could be viewed as "liberal", but it would be as wrong as wrong gets.
-
I had quit the Teen Titans. Not that it was bad, it just wasn't good enough to pay for. Then I read that Zoo Crew was in it, so I picked it up with my new books last night, and it was THE BOMB! And I am glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks so. Always loved the Zoo Crew, and this "insert" in TT is the best portrayal ever! Yes, people, do like me and skip Spider-Man/Black Cat (on principle, because Smith is so flagrantly f-u to those of us who were stupid enough to buy the comics he wrote) and buy Teen Titans this month! I also agree that X-Factor rocks from beginning to end, with my only caveat being Siryn's "altered" powers. Still good, though! And I don't say that about many books with an "X" these days.
-
If you want a cheery holiday comic special, please read the Marvel Holiday Special that came out a couple of weeks ago. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll see a robotic killer santa named Santron try to destroy the new Avengers. What did you expect the punisher christmas comic to be? Uplifting?
-
I also lament the upcoming changes to the Squadron Supreme, but OTOH, buy it while you can! I love the
Hyperion mini, and if possible the Nighthawk one is even better! See, this is "deconstruction" or "reconstruction" or "reimagining" or whatever, of classic superhero archetypes in the freshest, most entertaining and intelligent manner ever! If someone described either book to me, I wouldn't think I'd like it. However, they are among the best in the market. With all the crap in comics these days, I am glad to have some books that are a pure joy to read! Now, regarding the Great Lakes people, I was bummed when Dinah Soar got killed, and there is more somewhat gratituitous killing in the Holiday Special. Still, this was better than the mini. Great use of Squirrel Girl. My not-into-comics friend read it on the toilet and really liked it, so there you go! ps: Thanks for the Secret War review. I am just such a sucker that I totally would have bought the inevitable TPB, and now I know better. Happy Holidays cogs (no, I don't understand what that means), I'm off work until January 3rd! -
After reading Danny Ocean's comment, I thought "how can I, a self-identified hyper-liberal, love Christmas as well as comics (and movies) that present a dark take on the Holidays. But your post cleared it up for me. Seriously, I am not being sarcastic. I really did wonder how I can be super liberal, yet love Christmas and violence.
-
A moment of silence please. I loved that little fucker...
-
Dec 22, 2005 4:15:49 PM CST
Vroom, You Are So Right About The Danger Bendis Is In As A Write
by buzz maverik
Lots of people think we hate Bendis here. While we don't worship him, we don't hate him. It's just that we've read lots of comic books and out of all the current big guns working, BMB has always been the one most shackled by his own quirks/style. The quirks/style can make for some fine comics, but they can be limiting and career/talent destructive. John Byrne was once the hot creator everyone loved (well, I'm guessing everyone that didn't know him personally). Bendis, with his notorious cult the Bendii, has always flirted with a certain Byrnian downfall. Maybe it'll be more benign. Maybe he'll just turn into Claremont.
-
Which Luthor is Earth-2's? I'm assuming the one in the armor but when he attacks "Trump Luthor" and TL just disappears did Trump just teleport out or was he just an illusion created by "Napoleon Dynamite Luthor"? What is going on? Color me stupid but I have NO idea...
-
Dec 22, 2005 4:26:27 PM CST
Also, While I'm Probably Through With Modern Comics For Good
by buzz maverik
Not the SUPREME one. First off, I have always liked the concept of a superhero as nothing more than a guy in a costume with an extreme personality (in this case, an exteme chip on his shoulder). But we always miss MU Kyle Richmond as Batman as a fuck up. He should have been Bruce Wayne, but he grew up like a Kennedy and backed into superheroing through supervillainry. He's as pissed off as Batman but not as focused. Best analogy: you hire Christian Bale to play Batman in a movie. For Nighthawk, you'd got with Hayden Christiansen or James Franco.
-
Dec 22, 2005 6:15:38 PM CST
Wasn't Captain Carrot's true identity a guy named Roger
by supreme nothing
I'm guessing it was changed because of the animated movie that came out years later.......
-
Dec 22, 2005 6:19:30 PM CST
Maybe Marvel Will Revive Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ha
by supreme nothing
Oh, that was some fun readin'! With special guests Captain Americat, The Fantastic Fur, Ant-Ant, Nick Furry, and Goose Rider fighting against evil villians like Ducktor Doom!
-
Maybe spoilers below, I dunno, you decide:
superhero, if I'm reading it right, in Infinite Crisis #3, the two Luthors you see are the real Lex Luthor in the green armor (native to the DCU Earth that has been the focus of DC Comics since 1986) and Alexander Luthor Jr. impersonating Luthor, who was native to Earth 3, one of the Earths that was destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Alexander was the son of his Earth's Lex Luthor and Lois Lane; on this Earth, Lex Luthor was the world's only superhero, singlehandedly fighting against the Crime Syndicate of Amerika (basically, the evil version of the JLA). Alexander was the only survivor of Earth-3, and is supersmart like seemingly all versions of his father. Alexander, along with Earth Prime's Superboy and Earth 2's Kal-L and Lois Lane, all survived the universe reset into the DCU Earth we know today outside of our dimension in a spacetime pocket thingy (technobabble explanation). Now, after having watched the main DCU heroes screw up their world for years, Alexander and company have decided to take an active hand in resetting history so that Earth 2 became the dominant post-Crisis Earth, and somehow this will save Earth 2 Lois Lane's life. Alexander apparently took advantage of Lex Luthor's disappearance (after the end of Superman/Batman #6) to impersonate him and create the Society.
Did that make sense? -
Talking about X-Factor #1 and not discussing the charming work of Ryan Sook is a crime, and just, I'm sorry, bad reviewing. So much of the strength of the book is Sook's characterizations. Also, why is no one discussing the Ultimates vol 2? Is there some sort of any Millar thing? If so, hey, I didn't know. But Ultimates 2 is quite simply the best comic out there. No Sook sucks!!!!
-
Yeah, I can see how gobbledygook would be the applicable term. One of DC's greatest strengths--and weaknesses--is its long history and continuity, which I admit probably turns off new readers, but is great for long-time geek fans such as myself (and I've only been following this for 15 years or so, so there are many others who have been at this longer than I have).
-
In fact, despite our reputation, we're not anti-*anybody*. We're a loosely knit posse full of people with widely divergent tastes. Millar has been both praised and condemned here...in fact, I've done both myself. Just depends on the project, really. We didn't get to ULTIMATES for no other reason than that, well, nobody felt like covering it or had the time to. This week was heavy on indies and manga, but shit, those guys deserve some love too, and it's gonna mean a lot more to them than to Millar. Okay, I know manga rakes in the cash--but when we don't cover it, we hear "you don't cover enough manga!" Ya can't please everybody. As for ULTIMATES 2--I personally find it vastly superior to the first arc, and have been very pleasantly surprised with this second season of the title. Sadly, I won't be around for the third. Definitely a title worth watching, though, and I was glad we got the reveals now so that Millar has enough time to wrap it up with a big three-issue in-your-face whoopdedoo.
-
Yes, X-FACTOR looked great. I understand the choice of palette for a moody noir piece with a dark sense of humor, but I could go for just a teeny bit more vibrancy. Minor quibble, though. How's this for praise of Sook? The best thing about his art here is that it shows just how much he has matured and developed as an artist. I first noticed him on Dark Horse's BUFFY title and some SPECTRE stuff at DC. The DC stuff was a huge improvement over the sketchy, indistinct Dark Horse work, but it looks like Scott Allie was right to see potential there. He's really come around and I'll be keeping an eye out for his future projects.
-
Dec 22, 2005 7:29:39 PM CST
Wait, so none of the Luthors is actually the original Earth-2 Lu
by superhero
Wow, now I AM confused! That's so disappointing! I thought for sure one of the Luthors was Kal-L's old nemesis! Huh...I must've been reading the whole thing wrong. So then where was the "real" Luthor after Superma/Batman # 6????
-
Dec 22, 2005 7:31:14 PM CST
Oh, and Captain Carrot's real name was originally Roger Rabb
by superhero
At least that's what I hear...
-
Basically it went like this..."Hollleeee Fucking Shit!" You can see why it wasn't used...
-
wait for thayla to come on...i don't see where we are getting alexander luthor jr. impersonating lex of the society since both that lex and the one running the six were active while alexander jr. was still trapped in that alternate doo-wicky thingy with Kal-L, a dying Lois and Supes-Prime.
-
Oh. Nevermind, Drat.
comicsintheclassroom.net -
Killed by Braniac after E2 Luthor pointed out that there was no need for two Lex Luthors to be around. This was when Braniac and E1 Luthor gathered all of the villans toghether to take over the world.
-
So the alternate-Earths posse were sittin' in the ADWT (alternate doo-wicky thingy), right? And then all at once Cranky old Bastard Superman was all "it's time, let's do this", and just like that...they were out of the ADWT and on Earth Prime or Earth 1 (I keep forgetting which the DCU is set on). So if they could do it that easily just cuz they felt like it, why couldn't Napoleon Dynamite Luthor have been bouncing back and forth all along? Just because they were waiting for the right time to make their entrance doesn't mean they were *incapable* of going any sooner, dig? Plus the fact that we know the barriers between the dimensions have been weakened and are now full of holes (see current TEEN TITANS for details) lends further credence to that line of thinking.
-
Wait, as someone else here pointed out there is a timing issue with certain events in Infinite Crisis. We 'see' Lex3, SBprime, E2 Supes & lois 'escape' their confinement at the end of IC #1 yet the reveals in #3 show that clearly Lex3 & SBprime were active outside the 'prison' prior to this event occurring. BUT IC #3 also reveals to us that these two have been plotting together without E2 Supe's knowledge as well. The statement 'and so will Kal-L. WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT.' tells us quite a bit about the kind of person we're dealing with. Furthermore Johns is actually exploiting a continuity loophole here. Lex3 is NOT 'the son' of the E3 true analog to the E1 & E2 Lex. He IS their analog. He comes right out and says it to Lex1. Also there is the 'short-circuit' that also occurs between Power Girl and Supergirl. As for E2 Lex he didnt survive crisis and really played no major part in it anyway. He had pretty much been mothballed overall when the 1st Crisis came out. The E2 stories mainly focused on the younger heroes (PG, Robin, Huntress,& Infinity Inc.) at that time. (Psy's first DC story was in one those 80 page giant em-effers featuring the CSA circa 73 or 74 and he been DC's bitch since then in one form or another)My take is that the combination of their confinement while having to view so many crappy things while being utterly helpless has pushed Lex3 & SBprime completely over the edge and E2 Supes is so desperately stressed at the thought of Lois biting it that he is allowing himself to be manipulated into some bad shit frankly. Lex3 is CLEARLY now as bad as E1 or E2 ever were y'see.***SPOILER WARNING****
If ya don't believe me you need to just read Villains United, it is Lex3 that murders Pariah. Who, he actually worked WITH for the safety of the universe in Crisis.Oh and WELCOME BACK Buzz! I for one hope that we can expect more reviews on these classic compilations. -
It looks like Napolean Luthor Jr. HAS been traveling around, and E2 Supes as well. I'm assuming that Luthor, Jr was the Luthor that organized the Society right? And E2 Superman was the one who damaged the Watch tower and kidnapped Martian Manhunter - but that was supposedly BEFORE they broke out of the big barrier keeping them in the ADWT at the end of Infinite Crisis #1, right? It seems like they've screwed up the chronology in order to have a few dramatic revelations. Why does Luthor Jr. need to mind-wipe the heroes, anyway? Just so they won't interfere with his Earth Swap plan?
-
Thats right, it was Superboy Prime that attacked the JLA. Thanks Psynapse. It is creepy that he was the one who killed pariah. I was wondereing how he knew about him at all.
-
I Meant Napolean Dynamite Luthor Jr.
Time for bed I think. -
...nice! Thanks guys. The thing about Optic Nerve though, is that Drawn & Quarterly ARE about as indie as it gets. So, ya know, it fits.
-
OK, who's got it figured out? Who are all those evil dudes in the last scene? Two of 'em are pretty obvious...but who are these supposed to be Ultimate versions of? What they DID, man...that was straight up EVILSHIT. Evilshit, yo.
-
cog psynapse...i'm still recovering from finals and i had a total brain-fart on E2's luthor...i just re-read crisis on infinite earths right before this crisis kicked off to be all fresh and what not...oy...thank you school for taking away whatever memory i had left...i wish that villains united trade was hardcover with a bunch of side-tales following lawton and blake...what a pair i tell ya.
-
Is there a website out there that summarizes the weekly books? The comic book equivalent of www.televisionwithoutpity.com?
-
Dec 23, 2005 5:14:26 AM CST
"Yawn. Wake me when it's "One Year After All This Crap."
by darth kal-el
didnt he send his decoder ring back?WTF?and here i drank all this ovaltine for nothing...mmm pumpkin spice
-
Dec 23, 2005 5:16:00 AM CST
"I'm just bitter because my third favorite funny-book writer
by darth kal-el
"...etc,etc,et al,bla"***you had me at "im just bitter"
-
But when you read Ultimates Vol 2, and then read Infinite crisis, does DC's book just seem...I don't know...silly? I could imagine, perhaps, maybe, someone with no comic book bg coming to the Ultimates and see a combination of Rainbow Six with Superheroes, a tightly written action thriller with mysery and suspense, but what to make of Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. Classic heroes whining about their jobs. Am I wrong? It's a metatextual discussion about their roles as heroes. It may have made an interesting essay but as drama...not so much. Supes, Bats and Wondy seem more concerned with their perception by the masses and their role in society than with actually saving people. Heck, E2 Supes is right. These guys are pale stand ins for real heroes. One could argue that the same thing is going on in Ultimates, but at least there, Millar has the freedom, because essentially every character is expendable (to a point. I mean that they are not characters with licensing histories going back 40 years that Marvel would be loathe to lose) and Millar is willing to expend them and keep us guessing. Ultimates (no pun intended) the only real interest in Infinite Crisis is whether or not DC is going to return to some sort of a Pre-Crisis state. That may appeal to the fetishist in all of us geek fans, but it's preaching to the choir. It's not a song everyone is gonna want to hear. In many ways, Identity Crisis was even worse. Hear me out: the idea that heroes can keep a secret identity is, on the surface, completely ridiculous. Anybody with somewhat sophisticated technological resources and "informational" connections with half a brain could have figured out that Batman was Bruce Wayne, in the real world. Heck, don't even get me started on Superman. The fantasy of the superhero is dependent on several fallible axioms, any of which on its face is implausible. So when someone picks one and now, all of a sudden, villains begin to realize that they can figure out identities, it makes it impossible to suspend disbelief in regards to all thos other axioms. Hell, if we have to now stop believing that Clark can hide his identity behind a pair of glasses, how long before his whole psysiology stops making sense. And the thing of it is, once you open that can of worms, you can't go back. At best, you have to wait for us to be lulled back into a sense of renewed complacency when it comes to that issue. How can you read I.C. and then read Superman and not wonder how Perry CAN'T REALIZE THAT CLARK AND SUPERMAN LOOK EXACTLY ALIKE? And frankly, and this is totally personal, it's boring. It's the sort of thing someone with no comic book experience would write. Just like we get bad hackneyed Star Trek scripts from people with no familiarity with the genre. If we as creators, and you as readers, continue to support this stuff, man, it's just picking at the deep wounds in our industry. It's fun to pick at scabs, but it leaves scars. (ew)
-
Puh-leaze! DC has been kicking ass lately, and it looks like they'll kick even more ass for the next 6 months, but you aren't dont with Marvel. Not even for a month.
-
DC has kicked alot of ass lately...oh villains united...oh catman...lots of ass kicking...and happy holidays.
-
Dec 23, 2005 11:34:00 AM CST
Does anyone else think that JUSTICE is Alex Ross's reaction
by superhero
'Cause it shure seems like it. -SPOILER- All the villains finding out the heroes' secrets and getting ready to kick some superhero ass. Bet Ross's JLA resolves it without wiping everyone's meories and no one gets raped by Doctor Light either. As far as secret identities go...heystantheman!...when people are picking up a comic book they are conciously picking up a book about a guy that flies or can walk up a wall like a spider. Meaning, a TON of suspension of disbelief is involved anyway so why do you expect people not to be able to go with secret identities? If someone picks up a Superman book and has a problem with Supes wearing glasses and using that to hide his identity and NOT the fact that he can move mountains with his bare hands well, then, they shouldn't be reading superhero books. If people want straight up realism go read 100 Bullets...that's what it's there for...as an alternative. But for people to be bitching about "How could you NOT figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman?" I say get over it or go read something else! It's part of the genre and you accept it or you don't. But if you don't buy into the idea or think it's ridiculous and don't think that a flying man in blue tights is ridiculous enough to complain about that...well, then, I just don't know what to tell you...
-
Sure, the New Avengers is a train wreck, other than giving us the funniest Spiderman we have seen in years. Sure, his run on Daredevil went dreadfully wrong, but dammit, this man provided us with the most entertaining, thought provoking AICN Comic Review talkback subjects of 2005....Is Luke Cage a backdoor man and just what is happening to Jessica Jones on the first page of that issue of Alias?
People also need to read the first 3 Powers story arcs, Who Killed Retro Girl?, Roleplay and Little Deaths if they want to see Bendis at his very best. -
I'm going to give you a chance to carefully reread my post so that you can realize that you and I made almost the exact same point. then you can apologize.
-
Dec 23, 2005 12:15:20 PM CST
Re-read your post...don't have anything to apologize for...
by superhero
Didn't mean to hurt your feelings but if I did I apologize. I just think that bitching about how the villains discovered all their identities and saying that readers could never accept that their identities could ever be hidden again might be a bit silly. How many times has something completely silly been done in comics (i.e.-the clone saga) only to have been fixed up by another writer or some bizarro explanation. Just because the villains figured out who the heroes are doesn't mean anyone else will or can in the realm of comic books. There was a really interesting issue of STAR BRAND written by John Byrne where Ken Connell goes to a comic convention and the comic creators there break down how it'd be completely impossible to keep a secret identity for any prolonged period. Of course in reality secred IDs couldn't exist. But when I read Superman or Spider-Man I'm not looking for "reality" I'm looking for kickass adventure and fantasy mixed in with some over-the-top dramatic moments. Now let's have some eggnogg and be friends!
-
sorry guy, you missed the point and you do owe me an apology. if you won't tender it, I won't hold a grudge. Some people were raised wrong, what can you do? You just remade my point "When i read Superman or Spiderman I'm not looking for reality." You didn't read my entire post.
-
It ain't in the review list up above, but the new Ultimates issue is pretty darn incredible. Won't spoil it - but there is MASSIVE action and you'll be fairly surprised by some of the revelations and actions in the book.
-
Dec 23, 2005 12:46:34 PM CST
heystan...look who's not reading posts now? I did apologise
by superhero
Just because I don't agree with your point doesn't mean I missed it...
-
The only great super-hero material to come out this year.
-
but heystanthewhatever is bein a real turd. Funny how someone who has their own "secret identity" is complaining about them and whatnot right before the holidays. Anyway, to reply to one of your posts "when you read Ultimates Vol 2, and then read Infinite crisis, does DC's book just seem...I don't know...silly?" Nope, not really. And if it is, what's wrong with that? I'm enjoying the hell out of DC's stuff right now and actually a lot of Marvels less "event" related stuff (although I found Son of M to be quite the surprise both in story and art : )) When you read IC and then HoM, does HoM still suck? Probably, but having read one or the other makes no difference to me. "If WE as creators, and YOU as readers, continue to support this stuff, man, it's just picking at the deep wounds in our industry." Way to toot your own horn too btw. ; \ Happy Holidays to the @$$es (you guy's are awesome for getting these things out during this crazy time of year, I can barely keep up) and my Cogs!!!
-
Wait there's another side to that. It is perfectly illustrated during Supergirl's re-introduction story arc in Superman/Batman. Kal and Kara are walking around Metropolis in civvies. They come up to the statue of Superman that was erected when he did and Kara exclaims "Oh I get it. NO wonder they never recognize you as Clark, THIS is how they see you." She is referring to how godlike (and thus Superman himself is) the statue is in contrast to how human and fallible Clark is. Espionage experts will tell you that best place to hide is in plain sight. Successful criminals will tell you that simply acting naturally at all times will actually make people's attention turn away from you regardless of what you are actually doing. Many many criminals have successfully pulled off situations merely by acting as if they had every right to be doing what they were.Any cop will tell you this. Oh and nobody owes anybody an apology for having a different opinion about ANYTHING here folks. This is AI-goddamn motherfucking-CN where finding common ground regardless of differences is the way we play. Word.....
-
*when he died. (the statue was erected while Supe's was practicing his Super daisy pushing power.)
-
He's *not* complaining about secret identities. He's actually *supporting* them. What he's getting at is that in the Marvel universe, they're more acceptable. People have them, and nobody goes "geez, why doesn't anybody realize Mikey Wilson is Ultrakid? The only difference is Ultrakid has to wear glasses to fine-tune his Ultravision! They look the same!" Stan is saying he thinks the "how did nobody know" and the "keeping the two lives separate" is endemic to the DCU, not the MU. Now, I happen to think he's wrong, but at least I know what I'm disagreeing with and why. See, in the Marvel Universe Dr. Don Blake didn't worry about whether anybody knew he was Thor all too often, so fair enough. On the other hand, Spider-Man worries about it all the time, and on top of that Marvel has tried to make big stories out of the unmaskings of Iron Man, Captain America and Daredevil (among others) all in the last few years. In fact, the continuing push to reveal the civilian identities of the heroes in the Marvel Universe is just one of the BMB-inspired developments that bugs the bejeezus outta me. In addition, there have been plenty of stories at Marvel about heroes trying to juggle the lives/responsibilities of both identities, and one could even argue that's one of the primary themes of THE HULK for a decade or two now. Oh, and there was that whole "Tony Stark used his technology to make all the heroes forget his identity" thing that pissed off Cap a few years ago, too, which is a pretty clear predecessor to IDENTITY CRISIS, as far as i'm concerned. So while I see and understand your points, Heystan, I happen to disagree, but that's cool.
-
Dec 23, 2005 4:38:35 PM CST
Yeah, I Dig What Stan Is Saying & He & Superhero Are Agreeing...
by buzz maverik
...although this "I'm a secret comic pro stuff" could be legitimate or it could be crap. I mean, waaay the hell back when I used to talkback all the time because my life sucked, there were two rumors about Buzz that I loved and didn't discourage. One guy called Lightstormer kept insisting I was James Cameron, whom I should be but am not. Another time, the discovery of Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley's corpse coincided with a time when I wasn't talkbacking so somebody posted that they thought it was me, which was very kind of them. I'm pretty sure that both Ben Affleck and everybody's favorite actor/geek Freddie Prinze Jr. have posted here. So it's kind of like if Stan's a pro, I'm thinking John Byrne or that he's posting from the future. What the hell do I know? I too like secret identities. I too am not huge of realism with this stuff because...it is not, cannot be real. I agree with Psynapse or someone else that Clark Kent works. It's attitude. That's why Clark is a nerdlinger. Look at actors. Steve Carrell. Helluva a comic actor, hilarious, fearless guy. I've talked to more than one person who couldn't believe that the boss in THE OFFICE was also THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and Brick the Retarded Weatherman in ANCHORMAN. It's not too much of a stretch of what I like to call the imagination to see how many heroes, with their abilities, could evade surveillance and switch into costume. I mean, who the hell knows what a guy with Spider powers can do? Mary Jane, maybe. Anyway, we all agree. BTW, in real life, I am the President of the United States.
-
Dec 23, 2005 4:44:34 PM CST
That Said, I Never Understood Why Captain America Had A Secret I
by buzz maverik
It's not like he does anything else, even when they do something stupid like make him a Marvel artist. Usually, his friends and girlfriends are either superhuman or high enough in the espionage community to be able to more than defend themselves against lunatics. Iron Man, I could see. In the ESSENTIAL eras, Stark Industry depended on defense contracts. It may have cost him business if Congress threw money to a company with a CEO who might be crushed by Ultimo or turned to stone by the Grey Gargoyle.
-
Dec 23, 2005 6:32:16 PM CST
"I mean, who the hell knows what a guy with Spider powers can do
by psynapse
I think I just wet myself laughing at that.
-
i hope you didn't wet yourself in an emergency batsuit...i'm not paying dry cleaning on that.
-
ON THE 12 DAY OF MY X-BOOKS BOYCOTT, MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME/12 Emma's acting BITCHEY!!!/11 Peter's unCroaking/10 Rachel's missing mommy/9 Alex's Playing the Fiddel (Second Fiddle that is)/8 T.J's wanting to HEADBANG!/7 Petro's smelling like URIEN!/6 Lorna's Buying Line Green Haircoloring/ (SUN SLOWLY) 5(thousand) insane plot threads!!!! 4 Kitty's Babying that flying purple RAT! (yes i mean Lockheed!)/3 Scott's Lossing their minds for a pice of hot bloond poon-tang/ 2 Jean' still MIA/ and a Logan so confused by his ORIGIN he preaty much UP A TREEEEEEEEE!!!!
Thank you Ladys and Germs. Remember The htel Loby has has a wie sellections of books, EXCEPT for the X-Books witch we are boycotting for Dec. Jan. and Feb.
Try the roast THUNDER BIRD. GOOD EATS!!! (That is before he comes back to life and starts killing x-men in a couple of months! -
How come i allways miss on word when i go back to proofread it? Ah spelling overated anyway!!!
-
Since Alex Luthor is half anti-matter, the Anti-Monitor is working through him. What else explains the purplish energy he blasts our Lex with? And I do have to say hmmm... Apparently the four minis were all distractions to those capable of stopping this stuff from going down.. And Society Lex/Alex apparently is putting Calculator on, first with the satellites and then with the OMAC problem: like Alex needs Luthor's satellites with the setup he's got at the Fortress of Solitude; if there's one villain who could put pieces together, it's Calcy and now he's probably too overextended to be paying close enough attention, or at least that's what Alex wants. And it isn't a mind-wiping machine, that's just the cover-story. And lastly, Alex Luthor created the paradise dimension where the four of them went; he can definitely do what he wants with it, though I have serious mental health questions about Superboy. First he complains to Kara in #2 that Superman bled to get them out of there, but he's been sneaking out with Alex and blowing up the Watchtower in the meantime? I guess all the Supermen don't have mental manipulation insurance? They should look into that..
-
I must confess for some reason i can't bring myself to read the reviews. Maybe when all the christmas craze is over i'll be able to sit and enjoy them. Oh and i agree with heystan! On almost everything he said, except when he got all mad at superhero and said his parents sucked or something. Lots of love!
-
I thought i was going crazy because Super really just didn't seem to get that I was agreeing with him. I will make one point I really should have clarified earlier: unlike other eras in which Iron Man can be unmasked or whatever and then things could die down and you could have a gradual return to the staus quo of supension of disbelief, the DCU has really centered on Identity and Infinite Crisis as defining, for the entire line, the nature of the DCU for the time being. So in the DCU, as of now, secret identities don;t remain secret. Why? Because the DCU is now being depicted in such a "realistic" manner, that secret ID's, like in OUR world, couldn't possibly work. My problem with that is now you have to pick and choose WHICH axioms of comic book reality stay intact and which others are thrown out. ULTIMATES is a way to sidestep that issue by throwing out ALL (or enough) axioms without the need to prop up licensed characters that you need to persist past the current "wave." And whether or not I am actually a pro as I claimed, I mean, how can I prove it without destroying the means by which I, as a pro, can communicate with you, readers and fans, in an open way? Besides, I don;t really think my points have (or lack) merit based solely on what I do for a living.
-
I was just kidding about the "raised right" thing. It was a joke and I'm sorry if it came off and serious anger.
best! -
I apoligize if I seem to be going on about this ad nauseum, but it occured to me that I should state that my PROBLEM with treating the DCU heros like the Ultimates is that you CAN'T totally strip the DCU heroes of ALL their "comic book" fantasy attributes. So when you strip them of one, the whole fantasy collapses, because these characters have existed under conditions of almost total unreality. Introduce one level of "real" reality, and now we have to question everything. The Avengers, if done like the Ultimates, would have the same problem.
-
I did clarify earlier that as a pro, I am not a legend like Byrne, I am a working pro drawing for one of the big two (and sometimes both and sometimes others.) I enjoy reading comics, unlike many of my colleagues, and I like being able to offer you another point of view. Not that I feel that it's in any way more valuable than anyone else's. Just different.
-
beat the living shit outta me. Best book this week. BETTER than IC.
-
uh-huh...hmmmmm...er...
-
This should be a monthly column, imo. -- For me Blue Beetle, because of Cully Hamner (Batman: Tenses) and the kick-butt costume he created.
-
in 2 words : Eff yeah . --- Whoever decided that Dillon SHOULD be drawing superheroics should be crowned the emperor of the universe. *** Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine #1: hmm... obviously an entertaining read, but other than that it seems kind of empty and pointless; I know the title is friggin Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, but still... Leinil F. Yu is a welcome change away from the other Ultimate titles' artists' photoreferencing and stiffness.
-
I read it. Very, very good stuff, by all means. Story by Aronofsky and Ari Handel, script by D.A., art by Kent Williams; what could one expect? Still, I find the phrase the Ultimate Director's Cut very unfit for it. Gentlemen, Kent Williams, storytelling-wise, is no Darren Aronofsky. The ultimate director's cut should be by Aronofsky himself and I feel Williams delivered a bit of a boring result; maybe it is because I feel that way about artists who use such a style in comics, such as Alex Ross, Dave McKean and George Pratt, whose art leaves me cold in the sequential storytelling that is comics. If I could, I wouldn't have bought the HC (45 euros! mama mia!) and instead I'd have preferred to watch the story as it was intended: on film, with sound, movement, actors and above all (watch out, I am delivering Pulitzer caliber material now) directed by Aronofsky.
-
I'll go watch the film, albeit in a spoiled manner. And then I am going to track everyone responsible for the Fountain GN and I am going to mess around with them. Just for a bit... to show them how it feels... heh heh... unlucky fuckers.
-
Dec 24, 2005 12:02:09 PM CST
But heystan...who says that if one axiom goes ALL of them have t
by superhero
I think it's the whole unrealism of comics that says that if one of the axioms goes other can and will stay intact. And, quite honestly, does anyone honestly think that the DCU is beoming more "realistic". Just because they start to introduce grittier elements doesn't make it more realistic, right? It just makes it more disturbing...which to me doesn't equate to realism. I mean, I seriously don't think the Marvel U is more "realistic" because Daredevil's identity has been outed in the press. If anything it's MORE unrealistic, right? I mean, if there was even a suspicion that a famous and possibly high powered attorney in NYC was really a vigilante who continually goes out and violates criminal's civil rights the NY DA's office'd be ALL OVER that guy, right???? I mean his license to practice law would at least be suspended immediately, correct? Let's go have some more eggnog! Not too much...my dairy intolerance can't handle too much of that stuff. Where's the Dairy Ease?
-
And what do you hope Santa will bring?
-
Wipeing out the last year of X-Men Continunity! Everything til just before Morrision began stinking up the joint, now that i think of it! That would be nice!
-
...was fantastic. I was grinning from ear-to-ear the whole way through. Green Lantern Corps #3 was great as well, best issue yet. Ditto Justice #3. Woo, fun week for comics!
-
Wrapping presents, giving my ham-hams a squeaky clean cage, having dinner with the family, s'bout it. As for Santa, well, hard-cover Harry Potter books, I guess, unless he can bring inspiration, perseverance, good scores on a Mensa test, or a nice big shiny Calculator... How 'bout you?
-
Morrison started stinking up the joint? WTF? You may need an idiocy check and while you're at it stop caring about the friggin X-Men so much. Nah i'm just kidding, i love you. Merry Christmas!
-
Christmas party with all my family...well not all of it but about 20 people or so. Big turkey dinner, music etc. Santa's bringing DVDs and stylish clothes so i can look good while i'm not naked. And maybe something surprising, but i wouldn't count on it.
-
Dec 24, 2005 4:39:51 PM CST
I, For One, WIll Admit That My Parents Raised Me In An Unconvent
by buzz maverik
They were grifters, you see. By the mid-60s, Pa Maverik had refashioned himself as the Maverikishi Goodhash Maverik and was bilking money out of rock stars by teaching them the art of Incidental Meditation. The Monkees, Joey Heatherton and Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits were all his marks...disciples...his disciples. With both my parents busy with the family bidness, they didn't have time to properly care for pre-school Buzz so they shipped me off to stay with my older brother Cav Maverik, who commanded a helicopter unit in Viet Nam. Cav was the inspiration for Col. Kilgore in the movie APOCALYPSE NOW. Except he didn't wipe out a village so his men could surf. He wiped it out so I could make sand castles. "Charlie doesn't play in the sand!" Ah, the good ol' days, flying over the rice paddies, with a flak jacket as a diaper. When it came time for Cav to go on leave and have sex with prostitutes, naturally, he couldn't have his baby brother along so he passed me on to our other brother, Spook Maverik, who was officially dead, but still somehow managed to do wet work for Air America. Oddly enough, Spook's mission was to go into Cambodia and ki--...terminate an American who was leading the communist troops. Imagine our suprise when it turned out that the commie was our other brother, Che Maverik. Spook and Che worked out a deal. Spook let Che live in exchange for babysitting me. We had a good time. When Jane Fonda visited the VC, we went along. Jane had her young niece Bridget along, who was exactly my age so I had a playmate. Heady days. Heady days, indeed.
-
... organic, robotic and otherwise
-
All I have to say is, they'd better publish the whole Captain Carrot story in 1 issue. THEY'D BETTER!!
-
Dec 24, 2005 5:31:50 PM CST
Oh, and even though I don't want to speculate on the secret
by rev_skarekroe
If he was, he would never have apologized for anything, and he would spend most of his time here talking about John Byrne.
-
And here's hoping Santa can squeeze that ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN down the chimney. http://tinyurl.com/8g8sy **** http://tinyurl.com/794tc **** http://tinyurl.com/8ckg5 **** http://tinyurl.com/d9ff9 **** http://tinyurl.com/doytq **** http://tinyurl.com/d25oh ****
-
** http://tinyurl.com/b7ech ***** as always, more here: ** http://cheston.com/pbf/archive.html **
-
not necessarily comics that were released this year, but what you read and enjoyed this year. For me: 303 (Avatar press - Garth Ennis, Jacen Burrows), All-Star Superman, We3, Black Hole, lots of back issues of Y the Last Man, Joe R. Lansdale's By Bizarre Hands (Avatar press), Nighthawk, the Mister Miracle TPB from DC, every Stray Bullets I happened to read this year, along with DD vs. Punisher, 'the Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue' reprinted in the DCU greatest imaginary tales TPB. I believe some titles elude me at the moment... ***** 'The AMAZING STORY of SUPERMAN-RED and SUPERMAN-BLUE! ' can be read here: ** http://superman.ws/tales2/redblue/ **
-
who will give a toss about Blue Skies in games?? ** http://tinyurl.com/8vags ** Anyone played Sonic Rush? Opinions?
-
at the moment I am going through the complete Alan Moore's Supreme. Here, I'd like to thanks ++ much my kind and generous friend D.C.
-
Couple o' things...
1) Why am I on here X-Mas day, I have 6 pages due next week of...ooops, almost gave it away.
2) Whatchoo Tawkin about, everybody!
3) Hey supes, I'm just saying that if NOW the DCU is "realistic" enough to make secret Id's untenale, it just makes it harder to "believe" everything else. You may not agree, thats cool. I'm not going to stop buying Infinite Crisis anyway.
4) Ross Andru is so damn underrated as an artist. A wonderful guy, a wonderful artist. For me, he was the Spidey artist.
5) For xmas, I bought myself Absolute Watchmen (about a month ago, Xmas comes early when I'm giving myself gifts). It's astonishing how the rescanned and recolored work looks at that size. For me, and others may not agree, it really was liking reading something new. By comparison, the AE of Crisis was just the recolored work for the trade scaled up to AE size and it shows, a little blurry, not crisp like Watchmen. DC should have done better.
PEACE! -
And I HATE Disneyland!
-
I think most of these aren't 2005 releases but fuck it, i read them this year: Punisher: The end, Batman: Year one, Fables, Promethea, Maus, Ultimates, Y: The last man, and the best one: From Hell.***On another subject, it's impossible for Heystan! to reveal his identity and be able to say anything. Of course there will be fans, but there will also be detractors who will devalue his every opinion. "Look who's talking, you can't even draw ______" or "Who the fuck are you to say anything? You haven't done anything good since______" or "You suck my _______"
-
you love disneyworld!
-
Yeah, I mean on one level, sure I don't want people just saying "hey, you suck at drawing X so why should I care about your opinion?" nevermind that they might not draw anything for anybody. But mostly, I lik ebeing anon. because I can objectively talk about published work by the people who employ me and/or might be peers.
-
Dec 25, 2005 10:51:57 PM CST
My God! Somebody Else That Hates Disneyland! I Hate Disneyland
by buzz maverik
Brother! (Although I like that song DIZ-KNEE-LAND by Dada..."I just drank a fifth of gin, I'm goin' to Dis-knee-land").
-
Dec 25, 2005 11:58:28 PM CST
Is it weird if you keep having recurring dreams of Disney World?
by thalya
But not like the big bright Superman-version that everyone knows and loves, but the more Identity Crisis-like Disneyland with small moments and oddly few crowds.. Subconscious saying "Remember your inner child", much? Though I doubt I'll have that dream tonight: just finished watching my DVD of the BBC The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe..ah, catharsis. It was just as good as when I was a kid. Tomorrow: Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, this weekend: the first book of my Harry Potter boxset. Best. Christmas. Ever. Though I'm debating: do I use my B&N giftcard for regular Watchmen or use it to augment a splurge on Absolute Watchmen? And how about you guys? You get everything you had your heart set on? How was the party, Vale?
-
Well first of all, if i were you i'd buy the Absolute Watchmen thingie, but that's because i already have the regular thingie. But still, i mean...bigger art, better color, extras...where could you go wrong? Second, i got mostly what i told you i'd get but i also got a surprise gift: A basket full of like Serrano ham, salami, spanish chorizo, gouda cheese, camambert cheese, brie cheese, olives, everything! I love that shit...thank you baby Jesus.
-
It was awesome, lots of drinking, lots of dancing, lots of laughing. And great food.
-
Bill Willingham knows his shit what can I say? Oh and here's hoping EVERYONE had an awesome Christmas, I sure did and it wasn't about what I got (although I did get some nice things) it was about what I was able to give. Weird how that works huh?
-
YOu didn't give ME anything, and my feelings were hurt. Is that what Christmas is about, you horrible person?!
-
a cog xmas without gift exchanges...must of been a lean year in crime fighting...
-
Dec 27, 2005 2:38:17 AM CST
Does anyone else think Layla Miller, the girl from House of M an
by throb
-
** http://tinyurl.com/9pzb4 **
-
Dec 27, 2005 3:40:33 PM CST
Anyone else think that stantheman is some kid really wanting eve
by sayhey kid
"I'm finishing six pages of...oops almost gave it away." Please.
-
Guess AICN knows how bored I actually am!
-
Go out, have some fun. Talkbacks dead cause everyone's...i don't know...holidaying
-
I would have thought that the gift of free will would be enough for any of my hallucinations.
-
Hey Cogs, I've been in the land of "no computerville" for the last few days. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and
-
Well, considering that monkeys are yet another of my numerous hallucinations, I'd say it's all connected.
-
So long Banshee. : ( I don't know what it is about the second issue, but I found I liked it a whole lot more than the first. Actually, it made me like the first issue a little more. It FELT like an X-Men book in a good way, well besides Banshee exploding into a jet.
-
forgot to specify, apologies.
-
They did NOT just off Banshee!! Oohh Joey Q you are such a homicidal bastard.
-
Have you heard some of the latest on 52* and the like? They've announced the main cast, 'n stuff..
-
am i in it?
-
I see the TB is slowly coming back to life. I am happy
-
Or did E-2 Supes come talk to you? As far as I know: The Question, Rene Montoya, Booster Gold, Elongated Man, Steel, and Black Adam. How was your holiday?
-
is black tom's brother and siren's dad and um...and i always brood...i'll brood on my wedding day for sure too...i love the question and black adam is the shiznit...oh 52...suh-weet.
-
I mean, really. Hooray for everyone else, tho. But one question: who the eff is Rene Montoya?
-
Anybody else still rock that out on the Genesis?
-
link, if you may. Thanks.
-
1) Rene Montoya - the recently-outed-by-Rucka main detective in Gotham Central and who dates back at least as far as B:TAS. 2) Gus: http://tinyurl.com/aa8kj 3) Oh, and apparently hot news from yesterday: Busiek is exclusive to DC now.
-
No wonder why I hadn't checked out that link, since my LCS won't have received IC #3 for 3 more weeks.
-
Those are just specific characters Newsarama was asking about.
-
I guessed Gotham Central. It sounds like a cop name. Is she a sassy street-smart latina woman? *** If you are going to the comic shop today peeps, BUY THE NEW OWLY. I cried like a million times reading it, and yes I'm man enough to admit it.
-
It'd be some weird and wacky stories with only those characters as a cast. But those I'm guessing are the "4-6 main characters" who will carry the series. And I'm worried. If anyone's seen the previews of Blue Beetle #1, I'm worried why Guy's pissed and why we won't see these 6 in OYL.. **** Shigeru: you got it, pretty much (though I say that having never read GC. I'm not so sure about the sassy part.).
-
Just your taste in men. (and really that was for the others who might've thought otherwise)*laugh K, that was funny!*
-
*leaps upon thee with red ink! (no wait, that was my geometry teacher grading papers..wrong turn of phrase..)* To the cage, mister! I can't help it if the very sight of the Calculator makes me all hot and bothered, you know that.. Blackthought, looks like you've got company.
-
Dec 29, 2005 5:12:36 PM CST
To Be Viginally Geeky Here, Banshee & Black Tom Were Cousins, No
by buzz maverik
I doubt if anyone was ever clamoring for a Banshee solo title or to make Banshee one of the Nuevo Avengers, but it's kind of weird that Black Tom and Siryn might now be better known characters. An ex-Interpol agent, Banshee started out as a foe of the original X-Men, but later became part of the All New / All Different team (I dunno what happened to the other characters, Wolversomething, etc). Claremont and Cockrum did some interesting things with the character, making him considerably older than any X-Man to date (we didn't know that Wolverine was about 75 years old at the time). He subtly took leadership of the team whenever Cyclops wasn't with them, in a way that didn't rankle the egos of Wolverine or Storm. One of his best moments was the X-Men's first visit to Muir Island, just to check things out for Banshee's new girlfriend Moira McTaggert, when everything metal around them comes alive and tries to smash them...oops, one of the "patients", Magneto, has been freed by Erik the Red and he's a little pissed. Banshee kept everyone alive long enough to get their asses handed them by the Landlord of M (until Cyclops showed up to save their bacon). Later, Banshee was seriously injured and lost his power for years when he used his sonic scream to contain a beam from a comic book gizmo of Moses Magnum that would have sank Japan. The Morlock healer eventually restored his power after the Mutant Massacre. I guess he returned to the team after I stopped reading X-books. Jamming in as many charcters to waste as possible. Killing minor characters seems pointless. Kill a major one and you shake everyone up and can get a decade of plots (although we've all seen that done). Kill a minor one and you're not doing much unless you have a whole lot more going on and aren't going to claim realism ("Banshee'd die in real life." "Uh, maybe, but in real life everybody'd laugh at him for calling himself Banshee in the first place and he wouldn't have a super scream or the power of flight.").
-
"Where *IS* the 52 news" - No wonder I am so popular *with* the female crowds. Like, woaw. English *is* my forte and I aim to kill, BABY.
-
Supposedly (and very probably so) the Y1 script by Frank Miller and Darren Aronofsky (there is no credit for D.A.). No wonder they were denied continuing with it. *** leonscripts.users5.50megs.com/scripts/BATMANYEARONEscript.htm *** I highly recommend it to Miller-philes, it will be worth every minute of your time *** Thanks to Shigeru for the link.
-
That's it. That's the spirit. And now, the rest of you. MARVEL.
-
Jesus...he's not even IN it! I mean Black Canary looks great but what the fuck...? Is Miller even trying????
-
If that Y1 script got made it would provoke even MORE fan outrage than 10 moviemacks combined. It's pretty out there. ie- Bats having a mouthful of gold teeth.
-
that Frank Miller just flat out HATES BATMAN now. That's the only reasonable explanation for this shit. Miller is so sick of people jacking him off about his Bat-stories that he's developed some subconcious hatred for the character. That's why his new Bat-book is such a goddamn mess. That's my theory.
-
Dec 30, 2005 10:46:19 AM CST
I highly...HIGHLY doubt that Batscript is authentic...but then I
by superhero
-
I've heard/read comments from various sources on the Miller script and it fits the description. *** ASS B&R is Frank's middle finger to the fandom that still clamors over his Batman tales. It reads like the polar opposite bizarro DKR. And yes, it's complete shit.
-
He painted the dentures white.
-
But if you think moviemack and others went ape over the Begins costume, wrap your mind around the reaction to this: "BRUCE cuts a HOCKEY MASK in half and spray-paints it black along with the AMMO BELT, the GROIN PROTECTOR and KNIFE. He paints a pair of STEEL DENTURES white."
-
Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else cares for the opinions of others on what he likes or dislikes. Especially the opinions of fanboys; which admittedly I (we) may be (hey, this AICN and what we're discussing is... blah blah blah). We (the people who've read it) can all see why *this* script wasn't made into Batman 5. This is a moment when we can't convince each other on what each likes (and how could we?). Your opinion on this is apparent and so is mine and that is all, I suppose.
-
Dec 30, 2005 12:57:23 PM CST
And what's more... we *should* leave it at that, BEFORE...
by gus nukem
the internet gets broken in half... AGAIN.
-
Dec 30, 2005 1:24:26 PM CST
I mean, seriously, if that Batscript is authentic then Frank Mil
by superhero
And that's saying a lot...:O0
-
Dec 30, 2005 3:17:43 PM CST
Batman cutting a hockey mask in half for his mask? Whaaa?
by the heathen
Wow, that got my attention. That's just
-
I'd also like to point out that "technically" Alexander Luthor was my "for safe measure" backup pick for Mockingbird after Joker when we all were guessing a few months ago. So, do I get a cookie or something? SWEET! : ) And Thalya, at least you don't pick the complete crazies like Superboy Prime and Alex huh? I'm hoping our boy Noah is on to them and survives when they find out he knows!
-
you thought the joker was the mockingbird...joker is too much of a loon to be calm and elusive type. what if noah dies?
-
Dec 30, 2005 9:28:53 PM CST
Yeah how much of a dumbass do you have to be to think the Joker
by el vale
That was my moviemack impression, thank you very much. So who was the Mockingbird?
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 439 total posts 159 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 144 total posts 142 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 155 total posts 140 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 55 total posts 45 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 196 total posts 45 posts
- I am The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day! No, I’m the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day! -- 35 total posts 35 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 60 total posts 34 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 127 total posts 32 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 513 total posts 29 posts
- The Sensorties Revisit The Friday Docback (And Still Smell)!! DOCTOR WHO Story #7 Again, The Coming Of Season/Series 7, And More!! -- 118 total posts 27 posts