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AICN COMICS REVIEWS AQUAMAN! CRIMINAL MACABRE! Q & @ with RAVEN GREGORY & a 5 page preview of RETURN TO WONDERLAND!
| #53 | 3/21/07 | #5 |
(Click title to go directly to the review)
AQUAMAN #50
HELLBLAZER #230
CRIMINAL MACABRE - A CAL MCDONALD MYSTERY: TWO RED EYES #4
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #2
AFTER THE CAPE #1
THE SPIRIT #4
Indie Jones presents GENERAL JACK COSMO PRESENTS #1
CHEAP SHOTS!
Q & @ WITH RAVEN GREGORY PLUS A 5 PAGE PREVIEW OF RETURN TO WONDERLAND
AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS #50
Writer: Tad Williams
Artists: Shawn McManus (pencils)/Walden Wong (inker)
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Prof. Challenger
ENOUGH -- My head is splitting.
-- Mera
Yeh. Mera pretty much sums up this comic book in that quote above.
Reading a comic should not be a chore. This comic was a real chore to read. I had to force myself to finish it. Why? Because I wanted it to get better. But it didn’t.
What is so damn difficult about producing a successful AQUAMAN series? I’m serious. Someone enlighten me. What makes the concept so intrinsically impossible for writers and artists to consistently deliver good stories and good art? Peter David is probably the only writer who ever succeeded at all, and most of that success was predicated upon shocking the reader with scenes like a school of piranha chewing Arthur’s hand off. But, as usual, even David ran out of interesting stories to tell about the character and the series ran out of steam. Since then, it’s been round-robin time with each new creator-team bringing a new “vision” of the character...and failing.
And I always give the new team a chance to win me over. For some reason, I keep hoping against hope and rooting for the character to succeed. Busiek and Guice started off really strong, but inexplicably the series quickly started gasping for breath. I have no idea whether it was Busiek losing interest or Guice not delivering, but something behind the scenes happened. The series started running late, the issues started losing any emotional impact, guest-artists appeared. I dropped the book.
So now DC has dropped a famous fantasy novelist, Tad Williams, into the writing chair and paired him with artist Shawn McManus. On paper, an excellent choice. In execution, an unfortunate disaster.
Let me reiterate that I really wanted this book to be good. But, for the life of me, I can not recommend it. It may be one of the worst comics I’ve read in a long time. When reviewing mainstream comics, there’s a big difference between a poorly executed comic book (like this one) and a comic that is well-executed but horrible in its effect upon characters and/or continuity (like CIVIL WAR and its ilk).
Part of the problem with AQUAMAN #50 is that the team of Williams and McManus do not compliment each other. In fact, McManus seems completely out of his comfort zone. His art is so inappropriate for the book that I’m not entirely sure my review would still be negative if it had a different artist attached. And I say this from the perspective of one who generally loves McManus’ art. However, working with the undersea venue and the pre-existing character designs for these characters, McManus veers the art into such a cartoony vein that it distracted from the writing rather than just tell the story. He seemed very uncomfortable with the more “realistic” characters and also unsure even how to draw such characters as the Dweller. It’s distracting as a reader to see what appears to be an artist floundering around inconsistently from panel to panel and page to page trying to capture the characters and flow of the story.
At the same time, Tad Williams just writes, writes, and writes some more to the point where I just wanted to yell at the writer to stop the words and let the visuals carry some of the story. It may be great writing--for a serialized novel. For a comic book, it was awkward to the extreme. His attempts at humor completely fell flat, which may have been the fault of the artist (I can’t honestly assess). The substitution of the squid-guy for King Shark as “New Aquaman”’s sidekick was forced and clumsy.
I know this is negative, but the truth is that I can tell that the writer and artist are trying hard to produce something good. I’ve just got to say that this first outing did not succeed at all, and if I were a casual reader, it would not persuade me to pick up the next issue. And isn’t that the ultimate, bottom-line goal of every issue of an ongoing series? To make the reader want to buy the next issue?
This comic failed on all counts and I feel bad for the creators. It was so wrong, in so many ways, that I’m not sure how to fix it. But my first suggestion would be to bring in an artist with a more realistic style who is experienced at crafting sword and sorcery fantasy worlds. Is Tom Yeates still around and working?
HELLBLAZER #230
Writer: Andy Diggle
Penciler: Leonardo Manco
Publisher: Vertigo/DC Comics
Reviewed by Humphrey Lee
There's fresh blood on the writing chores on what I guess you would call Vertigo's "flagship" title so I figure it's time to give old Johnny boy a look over and see what the new guy on the block (THE LOSERS' Andy Diggle) has to offer. And what he has to offer, apparently, is kind of a tried and true approach to the character, but a good intro nonetheless.
By now if any of you have ever read a HELLBLAZER story, you should know by now what to expect, at least from our title character John Constantine. Constantine is your ultimate con man. The guy who has always got what you want, or can get you what you need, at any price. But when dealing with the charming, trenchcoated Brit, what you get doesn't always turn out to be what you bargained for. But occasionally even the man with all the solutions gets himself in way over his head, and that is where the fun lies with the character.
Like I said, Diggle starts us off with a yypical Constantine scenario: John has apparently done something kinda stupid and because of it he's ambushed and now finds himself bound to the post of a pier with tide coming in and one pissed off gangster type sadistically watching him as he edges closer to his demise. Basically, this is Diggle flexing his muscles and showing us that he knows how these stories are supposed to roll, and that he knows how the character is supposed to work; his scheming and planning, and how he worms his way out of any situation, no matter how badly against his favor. The story unfolds like you'd expect it, with John stalling away and getting into the skull of his captor and would be murderer, and with a simple but effective twist at the end to put the ball back in his court. And with Manco's art helping to push it along, this all feels like home. His moody and I want to say "dirty" pencils really are the perfect atmosphere for this book, and really help along Diggle's script as he tries to capture the essence of John. As much as I love Dillon's work on the character back when he and Ennis were putting Johnny boy on the map, I honestly think that now in Manco's almost three year tenure on this title his variation of the character has become my definitive version of him.
Now this is all well and good, as Constantine still continues to be one of the most complex and innovative characters comic books has ever seen, but the key to a run on a character that has seen some very classic and innovative ones is to put him in situations or against beings or powers that he hasn't faced, all the while adding just that extra little layer to the character in its wake. Ennis put him up against the mother of all baddies in the Devil himself, and also showed him his mortality more than he had ever experienced before. Azzarello tapped into his remorseful side and his uncanny sense of duty while he plodded through some of the dirtiest and seediest haunts in backwoods all over America.
And Mike Carey took a little bit of the character's soul by showing him the life he could have had if he hadn't gotten mixed in this crazy world of his in the first place. So, again, it's great that Diggle in one issue can show me that he knows how the inner workings of the book should go; now it's a matter of pulling in that special "epic" feeling some of these defining runs have produced and do something that will leave his mark on the title, and the character himself. But there's a lot of promise being shown here, and already a lot of my apprehensions are laid to rest. Now it's just time to sit back and see what's delivered.
CRIMINAL MACABRE – A CAL MCDONALD MYSTERY: TWO RED EYES #4
Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Kyle Hotz
Publisher: Dark Horse
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
I literally screamed HOLY SHIT when I put this book down. It is that good. Next year, when I’m rooting through all of the books I have read throughout the year to pick out the Best Single Issue for the @$$ies next year, this book is going to be on top of the list. Quite simply, down and out paranormal detective Cal McDonald and his ghoul buddy Mo’Lock curb-stomp the hell out of the original Nosferatu in such a brutal and vicious way that I was literally stunned as I leafed through the pages of this issue.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
This issue brings to a close the first arc in the new Cal McDonald ongoing series. Cal is a detective that happens to fall into a lot of mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghouls, and all sorts of monsters. He can’t help it. It’s just the kind of shit that happens to him. To deal with this constant barrage of horrors, Cal is most often drunk or fucked up on some kind of mixture of alcohol and illegal/pharmaceutical drugs. I came to know the character of Cal McDonald from his first miniseries entitled CRIMINAL MACABRE drawn by Ben Templesmith. Since then, I have read most of Cal’s adventures in both prose and comic book form. Recently Cal’s adventures, particularly the last miniseries (SUPERNATURAL FREAK MACHINE), seemed to have lost their bite. The hard nosed detective seemed to be edging more into self parody territory and I feared that the character was beginning to lose the edge that attracted me to the character in the first place. And then came the CRIMINAL MACABRE ongoing series from Dark Horse to reassure me that Cal McDonald is truly one of the coolest characters in comics once again.
Writer Steve Niles scribes a most powerful story as a boat carrying the original Nosferatu crashes into a California harbor. His goal: to find Cal McDonald and make him pay for killing so many of his kind. In order to get to Cal, the legendary vampire steals his ex-girlfriend. Meanwhile, Cal has been hospitalized and for the first time in years, his system is completely drug-free. And this issue lets everyone know that a drug-free Cal is not someone to be fucked with.
The sheer brutality of the fight scene between Cal, Mo’Lock, and the Nosferatu and the outcome of the entire issue is one of the coolest fight scenes I have seen in recent memory. All of the old vampire-killing clichés are utilized, but done so in the hurried, brash, and no bullshit manner that one has come to expect from Cal. All of the brutal action is rendered beautifully by Kyle Hotz. I’ve followed Hotz’ work for a while. He’s hit a nice stride after his run on miniseries like THE HOOD and ZOMBIE over at Marvel, but this is a career high for this rising star of an artist. Hotz outdoes himself by gently mixing the horrifically surreal with searing realistic imagery. There is a whole movement over the last ten years that have followed the Bernie Wrightson way of artistry. Eric Powell, Kelley Jones, even Mignola. But with his work on this issue, Hotz has skyrocketed to the top of the list of this type of horror artist. Unformtunately, the editorial page at the end says that this is Hotz’ last issue. Here’s hoping he’ll be back soon on this title. Cal and Co. has never looked better and I’ll be sure to seek out whatever Hotz has planned for the future.
CRIMINAL MACABRE is one of those issues and series that may be overlooked by those who solely follow the big two. Some may be a tad sick of seeing Steve Niles name on the cover of a book these days. He has oversaturated the horror market these days with offerings of varying quality. But I can tell this property is something very close to Niles heart. It shows that he’s putting forth his best stuff for this series and it’s much appreciated by this fan who was losing faith in the character, but whose faith was solidified once again with this first amazing arc.
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD # 2
Written by: Mark Waid
Pencilled by: George Perez
Published by: DC Comics
Reviewed by: superhero
Supergirl? Is that you? I mean, I didn't recognize you. I mean…I can't see your ribs, your eyes don't look like they were plucked from the head of a kewpie doll, and, well, you actually look like you have some muscle tone on you. Your arms and legs don't look like twigs anymore…damn, girl, have you been workin' out? I was gettin' worried about you. For the past couple of years you've been looking like an anorexic with bad breast implants. I'm so happy to see how good you're looking!
OK, enough of that nonsense.
But it is true that it's great to see an artist of George Perez's caliber drawing Supergirl as she should be drawn. I actually wish I had been in the room when Perez made his pact with Satan just so I could convince Perez to let me leech off the deal just a little bit. I mean, c'mon, Perez can freakin' DRAW! If this issue doesn't prove it to you then you are blind and stupid. Perez has always been one of the best (if not the best) and this issue shows why. Sure his artwork is incredibly detailed. Sure his imagination just spills out all over the page. But what impresses me the most…what has always made Perez the man as far as I'm concerned is his layout. His panel progression and constant experimentation on the page with his storytelling is out and out fantastic…and it's a space tale like this that brings his strengths to the forefront. I mean, a story that takes place on a casino planet is the perfect setting for Perez to flex his artistic muscles and he proves in this one issue alone that those muscles are Hulk-sized indeed. Every page is terrific to look at and just made me smile as I turned the pages. Perez, sir, you are a god and I will say right here without shame that I love you. Man, it just doesn't get any better. Yes, it's true. I have a George Perez man-crush.
But THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD # 2 isn't just Perez's time to shine. Mark Waid does a great job crafting a comic book tale that has enough of a silver-age quality to embrace the silly trappings of the super-hero genre without making them seem silly. Waid does what so many other professional writers at the big two are unable to do: he makes super-heroing seem as fun as it used to be without letting it get too corny or overly gritty. THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD is a mainstream superhero book that has enough modern touches without making it seem like it's forgetting what it is: an adventure book. In this comic the adventure is turned up to eleven and it's just all-out fun. This type of book is why I started read comic books in the first place and as long as they keep making books like this I'll keep reading them. B AND B is rare among the big two these days. It's self-contained adventure that isn't trying to be more than it is and I'm thankful for that. For someone who's fed up with crossovers and mainstream superheroes trying to act like they're going to educate me with some deep political statement this book is a breath of fresh air. Sure, I could have dealt without the characterization of Supergirl as a complete airhead but, hey, if I can at least have someone drawing her correctly then I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. The overall quality of this issue is enough to make me look past that little quip…especially since Supergirl seems to redeem her Hillary Duff ways by the end of the issue. Either way, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD has got some great talent working on it and as long as Perez is drawing and Waid is writing I'll be buying.
AFTER THE CAPE #1 (of 3)
Writer: Howard Wong w/ Jim Valentino
Penciler: Marco Rudy
Publisher: Image Comics
Reviewed by Humphrey Lee
A little ditty from Image that I ordered cause it had a solid premise, AFTER THE CAPE is a book I think I want to like more than I really did. That "solid premise" I referred to is that of a "retired" superhero and what his life has been reduced to in order to survive like the rest of us do day to day. He's got a wife and two kids to feed and is willing to, and has gone to, some pretty drastic and basically criminal stakes in order to do so. The problem with it all is the execution. Again, solid premise, and there is some genuine emotion in there when we see our lead, Ethan, having the occasional breakdown and dealing with a personal issue that has not only ruined his life as a masked avenger, but also interferes with his current life as well. But there's some really forced dialogue in here; some stuff that is very expository, or that feels like it's trying too hard to come out as powerful and rife with emotion. Sometimes it does pack a punch, but it tends to be more often than not marred by a little cliche here, or some stifling wording there, or just overachieving.
Another mixed bag is the art. Now this I can firmly say is actually really, really solid art, but it's really, really solid art in Black and White when it's obvious it really needed to be colored. There's some good use of negative space and some shading here and there, but for the most part it's just base pencils, using heavy blacks in places to make the panels feel more full. There's a flashback scene in the middle of this book, going back to Ethan's costumed days and showing why he was kicked off the superteam he was on, where basically the only way to denote it's a "flashback" (besides the character being in costume of course) is instead of being in Black and White, it's in Black and Grey. Now, its obvious that this book wasn't exactly something that was going to be lighting up the charts, hence the decision to pull back the colors, but really, the same crowd of us that decided to try this at the normal $2.99 were also probably going to give it a go if the price had just been bumped the extra fifty cents or whatever to put this in the color form it really needed and I honestly think was meant to be in originally. I could be mistaken on this of course.
This isn't a bad book by any means, but I see this going in the way of "wasted potential". It really is a strong premise, and I can see a rollercoaster ride of emotions pouring out of this in the next two issues of it, but the scripting doesn't have the same pull that the overall story does and it causes the book to fall flat too often. Add that to the lack of color this really did need, and this just feels like half of a potentially great comic. I really wish this could be given a second chance since with these oversights reconciled I feel this book had such a great chance, but alas, I guess it's not to be.
THE SPIRIT #4
Writer: Darwyn Cooke
Artists: Darwyn Cooke (pencils)/J. Bone (inker)/Dave Steward (colors)
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Prof. Challenger
“I’m gonna do my job. Now get moving or I’ll SHOVE THAT HAT SO FAR UP YOUR BUTT your kidneys will sing Happy Trails. ” Silk Satin (CIA)
Would it be ironic if THE SPIRIT took the Eisner Award this year for best series?
Darwyn Cooke is headed that direction.
Reading THE SPIRIT for the last 4 months just drives home how different Cooke is as a comic book creator to other mainstream folk. Comparing his efforts on THE SPIRIT to pretty much every best-selling series out there right now is about like comparing the novels of Ernest Hemingway to John Grisham. One of those writers is extraordinarily popular and sells millions of copies of everything he writes and the other is (and will be) recognized universally as one of the “great” writers of all time.
So what’s the primary difference between the two? Grisham is an excellent writer. He knows how to write what people like to read and he does it very well with a constant eye towards his intended audience. Hemingway, on the other hand, literally sweated and
bled every word he put to paper. He lived and breathed his writing, hoping others would like it but driven to write regardless of audience expectations. The connection to the reader in Hemingway’s writing is there because it is infused with his soul. Grisham’s books reveal an author detached emotionally from most of his writing and who simply works to structure his writing according to audience expectations. I think it’s the difference between someone who lists his occupation as an “author” and someone who is wholistically a “writer.”
Cooke clearly falls into the Hemingway category. When I read his comics now, it seems infused by his personality and heart. There is obvious thought given to each and every panel and word on the page. It makes his work an absolute joy to read. And this issue is no exception.
This issue’s story involves more machinations of the mysterious terrorist “The Octopus” and the seemingly buffoonish Hussein. It also features another sexy and dangerous love interest for The Spirit in the form of CIA Special Agent Silk Satin. The story starts in media res as The Spirit and Satin are trudging through the desert. How they got there and how they are going to get out is the meat of the story. The scenes in the desert deserve a special shout-out to Dave Stewart for his outstanding coloring work. His efforts really contribute to the mood by evoking a hot and dry atmosphere perfectly. The creative use of cactus shadows on the standard double-sized title page was amazing.
Each issue so far has featured a different female to spar with The Spirit, but in Silk Satin, Cooke introduces someone new that I think could headline her own series. Cute, spunky, sexy, and tough, Satin is a winner. Cooke develops Hussein nicely as more than just silly comic relief as well. Hussein points to one of the things Cooke is doing so splendidly in his efforts to make THE SPIRIT work as a series set in the 21st century. He is rather boldly incorporating Middle Eastern characters and terrorism as a driving plot force for the series. And he does it with a respectful balance of humor and danger. Hussein enjoys the vices and freedoms of this country but hides a definite cunning and deceitful nature behind the veneer of a naive foreigner in a strange and confusing land--that’s right, he’s the “Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer” of this series.
Pure excellence. Darwyn Cooke is proving month after month why he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as comics’ historically great artists like Wally Wood, Reed Crandall, and, yes, Will Eisner.
GENERAL JACK COSMO PRESENTS #1
Writer: Araron M. Shaps
Letterer: Dave Rothe
Reviewer: Squashua
General Jack Cosmo and the Werewolves from Mars
Artist: Nate Lovett
Hadrian Hillard, Gentleman Barbarian
Artists: Dave Goldring and Sonny Leader
Frontier Terror: The Red Ranger
Artists: Andrew Froedge, Jamie Snell, Sonny Leader
American Eagle and the Golden Star
Artists: Gabe Pena, Dave McCaig
A little known book from a fledgling studio is due to come out in May. General Jack Cosmo Presents (or GJCP for short) #1 is a quarterly 56-page anthology, and stories be damned, it has some of the most eye-catching artwork I've ever seen. The visuals are top-notch, with an extremely fine attention to detail. A different artist draws each of the four stories in this title and yet they all came out equally beautiful. Sure, some of the damsels in distress have boob jobs and there's one waitress with Down's Syndrome, but otherwise oh my god, the art and the coloring are fantastic. There's one full-page spread of General Jack Cosmo, a retro-styled Adam Strange type with some sort of sci-fi devil motif going on, diving into a battle amongst bird-men and cat-people and tentacle-faced alien Huns, duking it out throughout a pagoda city rife with well-armed, jet-packing, blue-skinned humanoids. It's truly epic.
One thing I don't normally review is the lettering, but I have to mention it because it stands out from other books I've read; captions are set aside with character logos, font sizes are appropriately exploited for emphasis, and speech balloons are contorted depending on who's speaking. There's a mechanized Frankenstein beast whose balloons are framed in cogs and a gorilla mastermind whose speech is grizzled on a black background. And the sound effects feel like a part of the art. There's no KLUDD here.
GJCP delivers three short stories, book-ended by the exclusive, less serious, slightly cartoon-y, and fourth wall-breaking General Jack Cosmo tale, which weaves its way around them as a framing device. The first story is some serious gothic kooky fun with Hadrian Hilliard, the Gentleman Barbarian, who politely takes down a sinister society set to subjugate civilization, with all the action a tactful barbarian would need. There's no lesson taught here, only thick adventure. Ridiculous? Yes. Outlandish? Sure. Fun? Definitely.
Next up is The Red Ranger, a “Lone Ranger” type working his way through a supernatural wild west. We witness him execute a few errant werewolves, demonstrating what a cool cucumber he is, but other than being a character showcase, there isn't much substance story-wise. As an exhibit for his own title, I'm sure this story sets up a larger tale, but other than some fantastic art, there's not much else to go on.
The final story is an eight page preview of the upcoming AMERICAN EAGLE AND THE GOLDEN STAR, a tale about two retired super-heroes traveling cross-country. The story is an artistic wonder that sets up their first meeting with the titular General Jack Cosmo himself, and explains a bit about his origins. It's an excellent few pages, almost overflowing with cool "Flash Gordon-esque" ideas, which the framing device then takes ahold of and, unfortunately, doesn't let go.
The ideas in the text are fast-flowing. Martian werewolves, gentlemen barbarians, zombie Hindu demons, musketeer cyborgs, and retired super-heroes--GJCP does not let any stone go unturned. The featured world feels like The Tick but with a tad less silly.
This book is a fun read and for 56 pages at $3.50, considering how much crap we get from The Big Two, is worth it for the art alone. The only downfall of this book is the General Jack Cosmo framing device, which starts out alright, but later becomes almost preachy in its sales push, which is understandable for a first book from a company getting its feet wet, but for me, that doesn't hit the right notes. I highly recommend, if nothing else, at least checking out the art over on MySpace. Be forewarned; the MySpace page has some ripping tunes playing.
Remember, if you have an Indie book you’d like one of the @$$holes to take a look at, click on your favorite reviewer’s link and drop us an email.
THE PUNISHER PRESENTS: BARRACUDA #2
Marvel MAX
Ennis gets to go hog wild with his unstoppable creation, the nigh-indestructible Barracuda. In this issue, the B-Man shows that he’s not as dumb as his employers think as he crosses and double crosses all of the parties involved. It’s fun seeing Garth let loose like this. ‘Cuda is a character that seems ripped from PREACHER. This miniseries looks to be another laugh-filled gross-out, vulgarathon from the guy who made it ok to do so. - Bug 
ARMY@LOVE #1
DC Vertigo
I wanted to sit back and really delve into this book and give it the full review that it probably deserves, but I just couldn't when it came to it. Why you ask? Because I really, really just don't know what I think about it yet. Part of me is in love with the premise of the book, that being Veitch's satirical look at the state of American warfare and where it "could" be in the next few years, but it's the execution that gets me. The problem is that this is pure and literal satire. Every page is teeming with "in your face" and it's just something I'm really not used to. I'm used to, and pretty much prefer, a more nuanced mechanic. Something that just takes its jabs when it can, and you occasionally have to work to get. There are exceptions, obviously; PREACHER and TRANSMETOPOLITAN both had their moments of just pure, unadulterated and unfettered satire, but they also had a very "every man" sense of humor to go with them that kept you entertained while they got on their soapboxes. ARMY@LOVE is just...odd. I really can't put it any other way. It's an odd approach to things and it's going to take some getting used to. I'm not saying that this is a bad book by any means, but it's going to take some time to pull me into its world. And I legitimately hope it does, because Rick Veitch has produced some very transcendent work in his time, but right now I'm a little more skeptical on this book than I expected to be when I first envisioned reading it. Still though, only the first issue and so much more ground to cover and it's different enough that I still recommend a try because it might simply work more for you than it did myself. Here's to hoping it's just a case of "pilotitis" as I like to call it. - Humphrey
X-FACTOR #17
Marvel Comics
This, noble readers, is the only X-book that matters. Peter David shows that he’s at home again and continuing another stellar run centering on a character with multiple personalities. This time, though, instead of the jade giant, we’re talking about the one man army, Madrox The Multiple Man and his team of mutant detectives. David mixes JLI interpersonal relations with noir mystery and mutant mayhem of the old school order. There’s no X-book out there like this one, which is probably why the X-books are in such a sad state these days. David is doing what no other comic creator has been able to do in a long time…he’s making me care about mutants. In this issue Madrox tracks down another one of his wayward dupes, annoying twat Layla Miller once again pontificates about knowing stuff (although the character is surprisingly less annoying under David’s playful pen), Rictor and Wolvesbane get into a load of trouble, and an honest to gosh mystery begins to unfold. Sick of mutants? Me too. But Peter David’s X-FACTOR is the surefire cure for that. - Bug 
CONAN #38
Dark Horse
For some reason, the Conan story that has stuck with me the most from the Marvel days is the one adapted in this issue. Originally a short prologue to Robert Howard's “Rogues in the House”, this tale of retribution, honor, loyalty and friendship has been retold masterfully by Tim Truman and Cary Nord. This is my favorite issue of CONAN to date. -- Vroom 
ION #12
DC Comics
Well, the last issue of ION came and went. What happened? Well, the big mystery hinting at the mastermind behind all of the weird shit and conflicts with former and alternate universal villains that Kyle has been battling throughout this entire miniseries is never revealed. Kyle obviously has something to do with COUNTDOWN and the Monitors, but no answers are found here, just ominous nonsensicals. Marz does deliver with what he does best--that is, telling a tale of the human side of Kyle Rayner. There’s a nice moral Kyle learns from this heart breaking final issue--one that his predecessor had to die and be reborn to learn, showing that Kyle is just as much (if not more) of a hero than Hal ever was. Being a Kyle fan, it was nice to see this series focus on a hero that was overshadowed by those who are afraid of moving forward in the DCU. It’s too bad that the confounded mysteries that were presented in the series couldn’t come to some kind of resolution though. - Bug 
Hello all, Vroom Socko here. A couple of weeks back I had a chance to take an early look at a comic due out later in the year: RETURN TO WONDERLAND. The story is about a grown-up Alice, how her life has changed since her adventures, and what happens when her teenage daughter falls down the rabbit hole. The writer is Raven Gregory, friend of the column and all around pimp. You might remember the Q and @s we’ve done in the past on the subject of his book THE GIFT. Well, it’s about time for another, don’t you think?
Vroom Socko: Everyone from Disney to Jefferson Airplane to American McGee to Alan Moore has adapted or drawn inspiration from “Alice in Wonderland”. Why do you think this story has such an impact, and what drew you to the idea of writing your own Alice story?
Raven Gregory: I think it has to do with it being the ultimate horror story wrapped up in a cute little fairy tale package. There's something so innocent yet so ominous and terrifying about it that people just can't help but have an affinity to the material. But it's probably different for each creator. For me though...it's all about the horror story...the story of a little girl's descent into madness.
As for what brought me to adding to the Wonderland mythos that was all Zenescope's idea. They had been planning on doing some of the more well known fairy tale stories as their own independent maxi/mini series and they were happy with the work I did with them on the first issue of SE7EN so I was offered the gig. After spending a couple months immersed in all things Wonderland I came to them with the idea of doing this story as a modern day sequel take off the original tale following Alice's daughter Calie and her journey into Wonderland to discover what has caused her mother to go insane and the true origin behind what Wonderland "really" is.
There's some stuff in this book, even before we head into Wonderland, that is phenomenally fucked in the head. You're no stranger to this sort of writing, of course, what with THE GIFT and SE7EN on your resume. Where does your affinity with the macabre come from?
No idea. It's just there. I'm pretty sure if I wasn't a writer I would probably be in therapy right now and for the rest of my life. But suffice to say, there is some crazy shit floating around in my head at any given point in the day, so me writing a dark twisted version of Wonderland kinda makes sense in a nothing makes sense kind of way.
Are the original Lewis Carroll novels your primary inspiration, or is it more impacted by the Disney vision, or simply the communal cultural idea of Alice?
Everything and anything became fodder for the story. The novels, the animated films, the symbolism, the drug references, the creators and the real life characters from which the story was based on all play a big part of where this story came from. I think even Lovecraft found a way to slip his otherworldly tentacle fingers into the pie at one point in the story. It was really an ethereal mind trip of an experience writing and coming up with this tale.
Do you ever worry that some parents’ group is going to make your life a living hell for "sexing up and darkening a children's story"? Not that I'M complaining, mind...
Not really. I'm sure I'll get a lot of shit once the book is out there...but as long as I know that my heart was in the right place when I wrote it I'll sleep fine at night. Beyond all the horror and darkness there's more than quite a few moral lessons and themes that run through the series. But it's more of things that would apply to this day and age instead of the more innocent time during which the novel was conceived.
You started with your own stories, then gorged yourself on SE7EN, and now you've gone down the rabbit hole. What's on your plate for your next project, and just how fucked up is it going to be?
Hopefully THE WAKING. It's taken a while to get my next creator owned book off its feet but hopefully it'll finally be coming out early next year if everything goes well. It's probably one of my most personal, heart wrenching stories I've done and it takes fucked up to a whole nother level. And there's zombies. Can't be fucked without the zombies!
RETURN TO WONDERLAND begins this summer, with a .99¢ prologue on sale in May. Check with your local comics shop to reserve your copy. Remember, preordering is your friend.
Check out the @$$oles’ ComicSpace AICN Comics page here for an archive and more @$$y goodness.
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DO IT!
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see myspace for teaser. search the name.
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but you can make igloos out of DVDs. DVDigloo!
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I would LOVE to see Cooke win the Eisner for his take on The Spirit. His love for the character is evident in every word, every panel he puts on the page. Darwyn Cooke is proving himself to be the true heir to Will Eisner, and god damn, i love him for that!........ Oh, and I'm freakin loving Waid & Perez together! The same kind of fun adventure that brought me into comics 30 years ago.
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That bunny has ill intentions.
Also: ALICE spelled sideways is CALIE, though I'm sure most of you already noticed that. -
I *KNOW*! Can you believe it? If that isn't a bad omen, then nothing is!
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It looks like the cover of a softcore porn DVD, with bubbles just in all the right places. You really expect me to take this book seriously? Please.
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Superhero was right on in his review. What more can be said about George Perez' art? Amazing. Loved GL trying not to think of how hot Kara is "17. 17. 17." Best line: "I have food in my refrigerator older than her! Who am I, Ollie?" The way he let her down was great. Waid's characterization is cool and perfect. I kind of hate is kind of airhead in the DC universe in general but Perez drew her better than anybody has.
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Superhero was right on in his review. What more can be said about George Perez' art? Amazing. Loved GL trying not to think of how hot Kara is "17. 17. 17." Best line: "I have food in my refrigerator older than her! Who am I, Ollie?" The way he let her down was great. Waid's characterization is cool and perfect. I kind of hate is kind of airhead in the DC universe in general but Perez drew her better than anybody has.
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What seems to be up?
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...so someone tell me, have they picked up on the cliffhanger at the end of Mike Carey's run, or is everyone just ignoring the fact that Constantine's evil mystical offspring are running around loose?
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Ooh, let's make Alice in Wonderland all twisted and scary and sexy! It's been done to death, man.
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I can feel the excitement in Ambush Bug's review. He always does such a great job reviewing comics that thrill him.
Ambush Bug, you're an inspiration. -
Prof, I absolutely agree with everything in your review of The Spirit. I must have looked at the opening spread for ten minutes. I love having those as the opening credits and then the rest of the story too. Dave Stewart on colors is kicking ass. Right on about the desert scenes. He makes it feel not only hot, but dry and unpleasant too while at the same time an absolute joy to look at. I love this book.
Bug! I love X-Factor too, but here's where I disagree:
"the X-books are in such a sad state these days."
AXM may be dreadfully late, but it always delivers when it does arrive. Ed Brubaker is on Uncanny X-Men and it may not be as good as X-Factor (it's not) or AXM, but it's the best that book's been in years. X-Men? Fuck Bachalo or whoever is drawing that book. I don't care for adjective-less X-Men and I don't count New X-Men, Excalibur, Exiles, X-Files or anything else as a 'main' X-Book. Also, Layla Miller is actually kind of really great when not written by Bendis (sorry Bendii). Peter David has really done good with her character. I love how she tells Jamie that they're going to get married. Just thought I'd get all huffy about that. *huff* We good? Good. -
Never trust a comic written by a guy named Tad. Tad is not a name, it is a unit of measure.
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brave and the bold and the spirit....sweet books. i must read the latest cal story, sounds obviously dope.
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Yuck. Seriously, that's like the worst title ever.
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So comics are better than DVDigloos...so there...
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C'mon Vale...seriously...are you gonna share or what? Stop Bogartin' that weed son!
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well played sir, well played indeed
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Ambush Bug likes the CAL MCDONALD comic so much because the guy on the cover looks just like Ambush Bug...Yeah, what is it with ALICE IN WONDERLAND comics(with all due respect to my good friend Vroom Socko who conducted an excellent interview with Mr. Gregory)? I mean, most comic readers are dudes from their teens to their early 1000s these days. Isn't it like:"Hey, Todd, whatcha readin'? Some cool, twisted Vertigo thing? The Punisher? CIVIL WAR: DAMNED YANKEES or what?""It's a new take on ALICE IN WONDERLAND about her daughter.""I am now going to hurt you badly, Todd."
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"There's nothing in this issue that would really make me want to come back, making me believe that all is not what it seems. If I'm a new reader, why should I sit around saying, "Well maybe it will get better?" There are too many good books out there to really sit around with material that isn't eliciting a decent reaction. For me, this issue just didn't cut it."
And there you have it. Yes it's IGN so take it for what it's worth but still. Thanks a lot Brubaker, it took you less than a year to fuck up the best five years of DD stories since Frank Miller's. FUCK YOU! -
...humans never lived under the sea. That's my opinion...just not a lot of history to delve into down in the briny deep...and Bug, how can X-Factor be the best...wouldn't that be Astonishing??? Oh, and you got anyone reading any of the Virgin line??
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...for Darwin Cooke's SPIRIT series to win the Eisner Award. Irony is when you expect the exact opposite... like if everyone in the comic-reading world expected Darwin Cooke's SPIRIT to win an Eisner and then instead some crap by Rob Liefeld did. THAT would be irony. Cook's SPIRIT winning the Eisner would be more like poetic justice.
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As in from the district of Columbia?
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I agree that it would be poetic justice. However, I also think it could be construed as "ironic" at the same time simply because of the perceived incongruity of an award named for Eisner presenting an award to a series entitled "Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT." Sweet poetic justice. Everyone fill out their ballot boxes accordingly this year!!!
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I'll be reviewing the new GATEKEEPER series from Virgin next week. It's Guy Richie and Diggle...haven't read it yet, but I'm thinking I'll probably like it.
I haven't really been astonished by Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. I like the Kitty and Colossus stuff, but the intergalactic stuff is played and I guess I'm just sick of all of the main X-Men at this point no matter how well they are written. They need to disappear for a while before they become interesting for me again. And to me, they have since I'm not picking up any x-book but Astonishing and X-Factor. David just does a great job with the characters and is actually doing interesting things with Madrox's powers. -
that's all i ask damnit.
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I'm sick to fuckin' death of Hal Jordan. Dude shoulda stayed dead. First a shitty run as a pussy-assed Spectre, then yet another goddamned resurrection of a character that shoulda never happened. Fuckin' Alex Ross and all the other fuckin' whiny-assed Jordan-lovers can go screw. Kyle was a better character from the beginning, and he got to have an actual character arc where he grew as a Lantern and as a person. Hal, meanwhile? "Hey, look at me! I'm still a cocky dickwad fighter pilot, only with a heavy concience now!" Whoopedeedoo. Not knockin' the job Johns is doing with the book--it's just that it's a weaker character. Better costume? No question. But Kyle's the better character. Always has been.
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of ppl spelling COLOMBIA wrong...seriously, where do you get the u's? though i agree the district of columbia does have some good weeds. all over the place...i think. shrugs*
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One of the definitive bat-artists dies and no mention?
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Seriously. The guy's one of, if not the, only artists to actually get better over a thirty year career.
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Seriously, stop making up definitive Bat-artists
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Cut his teeth on the very first Calculator story/arc in 'Tec #463-468. This makes him perfect, dontcha know, Vale? He was only 57, too. May he rest in peace.*sighs and goes and hides under the hamster wheel* I've had enough of death these past few months to last me a long while... *reads bright and shiny Brave and the Bold and BoP*
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Aside from the fact that all the art I've seen from this thing so far looks like some of the lower quality soft core commissions from Al Rio's website ... nothing wrong with cheesecake when done right, but Cavewoman this isn't ... the writer doesn't seem to have read Alice in Wonderland or done much research. Now, that doesn't mean the writer NEEDS to do research to write about Alice, but having read the various versions of Alice (Wonderland, Underground, Looking Glass) and owning the Annotated version, it seems pretty clear this version has nothing to do with the original and more to do with the Disney version. What makes me say that? The quote is lifted directly from Disney's cartoon and appears no where in that order (or from Alice) in the book(s). It's not like there are any shortage of good quotes that could have fit the situation...
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marshall died? not cool...march is not a good month. too many dead i say...too many.
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Surprisingly, it seems that both Peter Travers and Leonard Maltin are currently far behind Maxim's Pete Hammond, who already has about 35 quotes in various ads for various (sucky) movies. Just thought you'd like to know. Also, Thunderbolts is indeed a damn cool comic, having recently read issue 3.
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This is the least amount of talk-backing for AICN comics in weeks! ;^)
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To alla those who skimmed ober that review, you should know that. I'll try to pick this up sometime. I freakin' order you to do the same.
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Aquaf@g or whatever on the other hand is talkback gold apparently.
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That's quite the point you've got there Heathen. Might I also add that the only comic I'm really ashamed to own is an Aquaman one? It's that bad. Aquaman should be cool. Aquaman should be cool. Aquaman should be cool. Maybe if everyone says t three times and clicks their heels together it'll work.
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..is a guy whose only powers are that he can TALK TO FISH supposed to be cool?
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four issues of The CW, some of Chuck Austen's X-Men run, Peter Milligan's X-Men run, an issue of Daredevil: Father and I'm embarrassed to own the past 7 or 8 issues of Aquaman, although I've dropped it (thought I'd give it to #50 to see if it'd turn around - nope). I mean, there's no way you can explain to someone who see's that you have an Aquaman comic that it is cool. You should just admit defeat.
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Yeah! Animal Man can talk to ALL animals, even alien ones and use their abilities. He should kick Aquaman's ass.
I never got why their was a new Aquaman either? I know that the Dweller is supposedly the OG Arthur/Aquaman, but who is the new Arthur Curry and why is he named Arthur Curry? Wha??? -
Am I bad person because I don't like both The Bold and the Beautiful and The Spirit? I got the first 2 issues of the Spirit and it left me completely cold. I mean, it was alright storytelling but a terrible introduction to the character.
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Forgot about how *NON SPOILER SINCE DIDIO, MELTZER, ETC. SPOILED IT* there was a multiverse again, err, still. Even if he is, how is his Dad and whatever still on 'this' DC verse? They better give me something better than wall punching. I don't really see the need for Aquaman to be from another Earth-? unless DC specifically wanted to use the title to do so because they think that it stinks too or something.
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http://tinyurl.com/2qhnn9 Courtesy of Squash or Bug or one of the @-holes...I can't remember which one...
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Regular old Aquaman was boring because all he ever did was lose his kingdom and his wife and kept having to win them back again. A new character at least wouldn't be bound by the role of royalty like Orin was. And dude, the only way someone from another earth is on New Earth is because Alex Luthor shuffled the bag and most likely brought in pieces, not just people from alternate earths. It explains how the JSA had their original brownstone post-COIE when it was nowhere to be found on Earth-1. We're talking about WORLDS merging here.
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I can wait for the others to be collected in a trade.
Does DC have any other books that ship on time? Just curious. It seems that The Spirit comes out on a regular basis and others don't. I could be wrong. What happened to All-Star Batman, Superman and WonderWoman books? -
the 'new' Aquaman is going to be just as boring AND twice as confusing. What about the original Brownstone? 'Splain please.
Ha, great link superhero.
"It's all good. Somehow I manage to suffer through it. I soldier bravely the fuck on, comforted only by the small but telling fact that I'm absolute goddamn ruler of—what was it again?—oh, yeah: the EARTH."
Good stuff.
Shig, yes, you are a bad person. Nah, not really, but I can't believe you don't like The Spirit. I'm loving it. Even the damn cover stock is perfect to me. I didn't know anything about The Spirit besides that Will Eisner created him of course, but I'm digging this book. I took the introduction to the character to be something like watching Batman: The Animated series from the beginning. Meaning that you're not going to get 'THE' origin opening episode, but they fill you in along the way. That's how I've taken it so far. Issue three did something like that, check that out and see if it changes your opinion maybe? -
http://tinyurl.com/ywm6ng
My votes went like this: Bru, Cooke, Quitely, Palmiotti, Ross, Martin, Starkings, Wacker, DC, All Star Supes, Event Horizon???, The Walking Dead, How To Date A Girl In Ten Days???, JSA, Battle Royale???, The Killer???, All Star Supes, 52, Pride of Baghdad, Absolute New Frontier, Daredevil, Black Adam, Comics Journal, The Art of Brian Bolland, Justice League Unlimited, Newsarama, Penny Arcade???, and BKV. *whew* -
You are evil. EEEEEEEEEEEEVIL. Nigga died this year.
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My point was that it wasn't just people but buildings and businesses (Sundollars Coffee that just started popping up overnight after IC?) that crossed over. The JSA brownstone, while not in existence as JSA HQ immediately after COIE, was Wesley Dodds' (the original Sandman) old brownstone, which got converted to museum and HQ at the start of the new JSA team from one volume ago. That points to Wes' brownstone having gotten carried over from Earth-2, so..
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Evil. Figured that list would get some talk a backin goin! Yeehah!
T, I read about the Sundollars Coffee thing, but I'm honestly confused even more now about the Brownstone. Abuh???
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I was off when I first spoke. I originally thought that JSA HQ must've transferred whole right after COIE, but then when fact-checking I remembered what was what RE: the brownstone becoming HQ, instead of already being HQ. Really, just the way Sundollers just popped up literally overnight, undoubtedly from alternate earths, so the same sort of thing happened with the brownstone.
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The Hal Jordan characterization was what stopped me dead in my tracks with NEW FRONTIER. I reviewed the first issue here and stopped after that. People have fucking begged me to "give it a try, please, Buzz". I'm like, "What? Are you Darwyn Cooke's Mom? Do you get money?" I'm sorry, the leftie Canadian can't have a hero who kills in military combat, because his hero can't do something the writer doesn't approve of? PC-leeze! Fighter pilots are warriors, bay-bee. Single combat warriors in many cases. They are tough and they are lethal. You can see me on a guy getting a space ring and making things out of light to fight evil, but ya can't sell me on a pacifist, conscientious objector fighter pilot who -- and this is the really stupid part -- is such a great pilot that he can fly successful missions without shooting down enemy planes. Dig it. I'll buy the flying rodent guy out of avenge Mommy and Daddy. I'll buy the indestructible space orphan. The web shooting nerd. The radioactive, green body builder. The rock, flame on, stretch and the chick. But sell stupid somewhere else. I wouldn't mind reading about an utterly confident, reckless superhero who believes he's the complete master of any situation he's in and strikes with steel nerves and battle trained ruthlessness, while cracking jokes about it. But that's just me, yewseewhutImsayin'?
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..."you can see me on a guy getting a space ring...""Yes, we can, Buzz, and not to be homophobic, but in yer case it's damned sickening!"Sell. I meant sell. Really. Sell.
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...was an exceptionally talented artist. He drew, sharp, clear realistic comics. He's probably best known for a short run on Batman, partnered with writer Steve Engelhart, collected in a trade called STRANGE APPARITIONS. Really fine stuff. He teamed again with Mr. Engelhart on the first several issues of the 1980s SILVER SURFER to produce some beautiful work. They reteamed for a sequel to STRANGE APPARITIONS, which, in my opinion fell short in terms of story (I hate to admit it because Engelhart is a great, underrated comic writer) but not in the art. I'm sure Marshall Rogers did a lot of other fine work, of which I'm not so familiar.
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and Steve Englehart is probably my favourite Batman story that I've read.
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That really stuck in my craw, too. Other than that great read, tho.
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Actually, The Spirit really got going with issue 3. It's still not the greatest thing ever, but it's pretty solid.
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...but I had a so many problems with that first issue. The now cliched Batman vs. Superman, even though it was staged. I can't remember if the Wonder Woman scene in the bar in Viet Nam was in the first or second issue. I may have checked out the second issue in the shop. I was thinking,"Okay, Batman vs. Superman. DARK KNIGHT and KINGDOM COME, bay-bee. Now, this bar scene reminds me an awful lot of Dr. Manhattan confronting the Comedian in the Viet Nam bar." Mainly, while I'm not a big fan of grim and gritty comics, I'm often suspicious of a writer who won't go to what James Ellroy would call the character's dark places, in any medium. And I'm all for fantasy and suspension of disbelief, but it's taking PC too far when you can't have your fighter pilot hero killing in aerial combat. Nobody is going to accuse the writer of war crimes, ya know? And nobody is going to confuse the writer with the character (if anybody makes that mistake, it usually the writers themselves). Guess what? The Korean War happened. Wars happen. People kill in wars and sometimes it's necessary. My neo-hippie niece, Star Maverik, was going on and on about how horrible SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was and why do we have to have wars and armies, etc. I'm by no means a hawk, myself, but I finally got fed up and put in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. At the end, my niece was like, "Oh. That's why they had to invade Normandy." I agree that Cooke completely blew it with Hal Jordan. He had a few choices. The best choice would have been to accept a character who does things and has viewpoints that Cooke himself would never have. Another choice would have been to not use Green Lantern. Still another, would have been to start with Jordan after the war, messed up from all the killing he's done. Garth Ennis dealt with themes of war and its' effects in his WW II comics for DC a few years back. Those were both superb and smart. I will say that NEW FRONTIER was glorious to look at.
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All those reasons for walking away from the series are what made me quite buying it with issue #1, too. But I went and bought the Absolute edition only for the art and after I finished READING the story, I hereby declare it one of the best comic books/graphic novels ever published starring super-heroes.Every problem that I had with the first issue was addressed and handled creatively and excellently. NEW FRONTIER blew away everything else I read last year.
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Favourite Comics Writer: Surprisingly, i have to go with Warren Ellis. I looked at the books he's nominated for and i have to say i enjoyed his work a lot more than i did anyone else's...and Alan Moore doesn't count because he only wrote the one thing and he probably finished his part like 8 years ago Favourite Comics Writer/Artist: Cooke...Solo Favourite Comics Artist: Pencils: Quitely, duh Favourite Comics Artist: Inks: Ultimates 2 guy Favourite Artist: Fully-Painted Artwork: HA! I went with Maleev for that gorgeous NA issue. In your face Favourite Colourist: Dave Stewart of course Favourite Letterer: Todd Klein Favourite Editor: Axel Alonso. You guys think i'm doing it just to spite you, but check out that book he's nominated for...see? Yes, MAX Punisher Favourite Publisher: Marvel Favourite Colour Comicbook - American: All Star Superman Favourite Colour Comicbook - British: 200AD? Favourite Black and White Comicbook - American: The Walking Dead Favourite Black and White Comicbook - British: How to date a girl in 10 days (I like the publisher's name) Favourite New Comicbook: Nextwave i guess Favourite Manga: Battle Royale. It sounds cool? Favourite European Comics: The Killer. Guys, you have to trust me on this one, it's one of the best books being published today. Read it Favourite Comics Story published during 2006: All Star Supes Ongoing Favourite Comics Cover published during 2006: Nextwave #11 Favourite Original Graphic Novel: Lost Girls (And everyone's jaw drops to the floor...no way did Vale just pick that!) Favourite Reprint Compilation: Absolute New Frontier, because it's the one i would've bought had i been able to Favourite Comics Character: Batman, i guess, because i really like Batman today Favourite Comics Villain: Dirk Anger Favourite Magazine About Comics: The Comics Journal, because i've always wanted to read it and feel cultured Favourite Comics-Related Book: The Art of Brian Bolland, because how cool would it be if i'd actually read it?! Favourite Comics-Based Movie Or TV: I can't believe i fucking have to pick V for Vendetta. You know what? Fuck it, i'm going with JLU Favourite Comics Related Website: CBR Favourite Web-Based Comic: PVP? Roll of Honour: Alex Toth
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I agree with the Prof. That fucking book is glorious. Cooke did go to Hal Jordan's dark places, in my opinion, because here's a guy who's fighting a war but thinks he doesn't have to kill anyone in order to live through it, and then it turns out he did have to kill a frightened little boy in order to survive...because that's war. And it messes him up. Ennis' War stories? Fucking amazing. What ennis does with 50 pages is just brilliant.
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That scenario would work better for an infantry man. The key word in "fighter pilot" is "fight". He'd have been court marshalled and sent to Lebonworth, or if he was lucky, put in the infantry as a conscientous objector and maybe made a corpman. That is if his buddies didn't kill him first. I mean, FULL METAL JACKET had a far better take on the same scenario. Sgt. Joker is a badass Marine but he's also full of shit. He and Pvt. Rafterman are attached to a field unit and sent into the city of Hue where the only door to door fighting took place during the Viet Nam war. Joker has "Born To Kill" magic markered on his helmet, but also wears a peace sign ("I wanted to make a statement about the duality of man, sir!" "Fuck the duality of man, Sergeant. All I ask of my marines is that they obey me as they would the word of God."). A sniper starts picking apart the squad from inside a building. Joker and Rafterman get inside and Joker discovers the shooter is a young girl. She's about to blow him away when Rafterman nails her. The rest of the squad converges. The girl is suffering. The others are going to leave her, but Joker delivers a mercy shot. The Marines misinterpret, thinking that Joker is a stone cold killer, admiring him for it. Animal Mother (a great, scary, psycho performance by Adam Baldwin), Joker's rival for badassdom, tries to one up Joker by cutting off her head. This works, first and foremost because Joker is by no means a pacifist. He's just conflicted.
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I guess that's the difference between DC New Frontier and Full Metal Jacket.
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This ain't FULL METAL JACKET. FMJ works because it is set within a realistic environment. NF, while initially a turn-off, came together to work within the fictional world it set forth for itself. In the real world, a fighter pilot deciding he can get away without killing anyone is a dead man. In the world of Silver Age super-heroes, where a Martian can somehow become a police detective, with no birth certificate or education, or where a Superman can be somehow nationally deputized by the President as a law-enforcer, or where a spotlight with a bat-silhouette ALWAYS has something solid to project itself onto in the sky -- it works.I don't think it would work within DC continuity as it stands now, but I would say that it wound up ultimately working within the world of NF. And the main reason it worked is because it set up extreme audacity on the part of pilot Jordan and projected him into a situation where he had to violate his flippant ultimatum. And that transition of his character, from cocky youth who thinks he can get away with fighting war but not killing, to realizing that this ain't the way the world works -- especially in war time. Turn-off at first until I read it on through in context and in light of the world Cooke was establishing.
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Pacifist warriors never works. Didn't somebody recently retcon it so that Captain America never killed anyone in WW2? Please. Captain America once killed one-million Japanese soldiers all by himself. I am not making this up.
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Go read the story. He uses the Hal Jordan story specifically to address that point. It's not possible to be both. You don't have to embrace killing, but you can't be a warrior and be a pacifist at the same time. That was the point. But you had to read the entire story to see that unfold.
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Can't say a character arc sucks if you haven't actually read the character arc.
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You wouldn't get past basic training. Sorry. Nope.
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Honorable Mentions: Stuff worth noting, even if it's not good enough to buy
"Daredevil" #95 (yadda yadda yadda)
DAMN YOU BRUUUBAAAKERRR!!!
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Actually, my brother Spook Maverik, who has done much killing in the name of Lyndon B. Johnson and the United States of America, said that even at the height of the Viet Nam war, a guy like Pyle in FULL METAL JACKET wouldn't have been accepted into the Marines. The Army, yes, the Marines, no. Not that he was a pacifist but they'd know who'd cut it. And I don't read arcs, story arcs or character arcs. I read stories about characters. And when something is presented to me to buy in installments, installment number one better work for me if they expect my money for installment two. And I can judge if something is stupid. However pretty NF was, stupid is stupid.NF # 1 didn't read as a particuarily fanciful, Silver Age type story even though chronologically it was set in the Silver Age. If that's the argument, there'd be no mention of the war, HUAC, etc. This was superheroes in history, which means that rules apply.All Cooke would have had to do was to read Tom Wolfe's book THE RIGHT STUFF (even better than the movie, which I love). Fighter pilots are highly aggressive individuals. They'd know instinctively if a recruit lacked killer instinct. Hell, he could have watched some movies. Even OFFICER & A GENTLEMEN or TOP GUN. I believe Cooke was unable to properly reconcile his political agenda with the times and the profession of his character.NF is a true example of the pitfalls of realistic comics. Very few have the skill to have it both ways. Like I said, I'm with ya on flying cars, death rays, time travel and Cyclopean sea monsters. And I'd have been with ya if Hal had refused to fly. But a bunch of macho fighter jocks aren't going to fly with a guy who thinks he's a better person than they are and they're not going to risk their lives, their missions and their careers on a pilot who won't kill. A mistake like that is terrible writing because it takes the reader (me) out of the story and expecting me to come back for more is merely relying on the addictive nature of comics, not much better than something like CIVIL WAR.
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...because it's a similar scenario but one done realistically and intelligently. Plus, I figured we all saw it. Joker, unlike Hal Jordan, doesn't say,"I'm going out on these missions but I'm not going to kill." Animal Mother would have given him two in the back of the head faster than he fragged Lt. Short Round (in Gustav Halsford's book, Joker loses his Stars & Stripes assignment and ends up leading the squad in the boonies. He always makes Animal Mother walk in front of him). We see the evolution from macho smartass to a man who is only doing what he has to do. That's good story and good character. Because Kurbrick was Kubrick, and a guy like Joker would never let the other guys know what he was going through, the film ends with Joker, Animal Mother, Rafterman etc. "happily" singing the theme to the 1950s Mickey Mouse Club as they tramp back to base. El, I'm surprised at you. Text to text comparisan is the sign of a sophisticated reader.
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If a first installment doesn't work for me, I'm gone. Which is what I did for NF. This is one of those times, though, when I went back after the whole thing was done and read the entire thing from start to finish and it was balls-to-the-wall good and the set-up in the first installment paid off later. This is one of those times where I publicly and loudly bitched like...well...like Buzz about that first issue. This time, I was very wrong.
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...I believe Cooke was unable to properly reconcile his political agenda with the times and the profession of his character." Precisely! You know, what I love about Millar's Ultimate Captain America is that he's politically and ideologically the opposite of Mark Millar himself and Millar makes him the good guy anyway. 'Cause he could've made Cap represent his own beliefs (like Cooke with Hal or whoever made 616 Cap a pacifist) or he could've made him a parody (like the Cap analogue from Authority) but instead he decided to do a guy who's still a hero even though he's not much like the writer. Anyway, what was my point? I gotta go home...
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what Cooke's political perspectives are based on his work (which is all I know about him).
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I mean for one thing, i can't believe i'm actually defending a writer for seriously unrealistic and somewhat stupid portrayals of character motivation in superhero comics, cause any other day of the week i'd be all over it piss and vinegar style, but i just can't hold it against Cooke. Becuase unlike Buzz, it didn't take me out of the story. In fact, the moment Hal kills the Korean boy, that's one of my fave parts. The look on the kid's face is amazing...he's so scared. Normally, this being comics, there would be a caption explaining how oh my god...he's just a frightened little boy, what did i do? But Cooke took the high road and it paid off spectacularly. I mean first of all, who the fuck cares if it's completely unrealistic? Didn't The Losers die fighting dinosaurs in the South Pacific a few pages back? I know NF is grounded in reality and stuff, but in my expert opinion there wouldn't have been any dinosaurs left by 1945 because of extinction etc. This sort of reminds me of Alan Moore discussing From Hell with Dave Sim: "Basically, [Eddie Campbell] said he felt that I was being historically speaking, a little unfair and unnecessarily harsh in my portrayal of Queen Victoria and that reality flew out of the window whenever Fat Vicky made an appearance. For my part I was surprised, since I thought reality had flown out of the window with the giant three-headed goat-god in chapter two. Anyway, as far as I remember, I said that he was probably right, but that I didn't much care because I thought that the Hanoverians could pretty much look after themselves and that having one's descendants own roughly a third of all property in the British Isles might go some small way to providing solace for being portrayed as a miserable old cow in From Hell. Also, I promised that I wouldn't be having any more appearances from Victoria, so Eddie needn't worry himself, and then threw in a couple more scenes with her anyway, just for the sheer heck of it. So, yeah, that's both our OBEs down the shitter really. Ah well" By the way, the part where the guy throws himself into the T-Rex's mouth, granades in hand, was worth it all by itself. Quit bitching.
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Conan of the Sea idea, they would be making bank. But, no....
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Sorry. I stand by my comments nonetheless.
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I'm agreeing with El Vale.
Damn. I think the river Styx just froze over. -
is what I THINK they were trying to do. I SWEAR something has gone on behind the scenes with Busiek and Guice but nobody's talking public about it. It just smacked of something happening offstage resulting in crap that makes other crap taste good.
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T-rexes and goat gods are easy. People are complicated. We know what people are like. We can read up on Queen Victoria and US fighter pilots. People know about them.Didja see THE GREAT SANTINI? What the hell do you think Robert Duvall would have done to one of his men who refused to shoot down the enemy? After the asskicking, the guy certainly wouldn't be getting into a US Marine fighter plane any time soon.Good fantasy has rules. Bad fantasy ignores human nature, for one thing. In other words, you can have a bunch of grunts battling dinosaurs and that's great...but the grunts better behave like grunts.This reminds me of film school. I was in an argument like this in a screenwriting class, although it was more twisted. I'd written a screenplay about a pair of LRRP soldiers who are assigned to escort a five man CIA team into Cambodia. They could only travel at night. The team carried bodybags with them...yes, they were vampires. Our two young heroes ended up fighting alongside villagers to stop them. Because I was young and stupid, it had a downer ending where one of the heroes was a vampire operating for Reagan in then-present day El Salvadore. The stupid thing was the class started telling me what vampires would or wouldn't do. Not the military. Not the intelligence community. Vampires. "You can't kill a vampire that way." "Why doesn't the vampire just bite the soldier when he's sleeping?" (okay that one was easy: like vampires, LRRPS slept in the daytime and killed at night). They couldn't believe that I'd just made up my own vampire shit. Finally, some guy in the class shouted to everybody else:"He can do that because VAMPIRES DON'T FUCKING EXIST!" My feeling is that you can play fast and loose with vampires, T-rexes, robots, caped vigilantes, etc. but when ignoring the character of a profession or a class of people is either self-serving or lazy. Like I said, if it'd been, "Okay, Jordan, you fucking pussy, you won't kill and you won't fly, we're putting your ass in the infantry. Get used to hearing 'em yell medic because that's one of yer names from now on and the rest of 'em are gutless, pantywaist..." And then had Hal have to end up killing, because a lot of the c.o. medics really did end up packing and having to kill.Comic book readers are too forgiving. In any other medium, you lose the reader, you've lost. Or the viewer. Let's just say that, for me, NF had it's Jump The Shark moment far too early. I mean, nobody was saying,"I know it was stupid to have Fonzie waterskiing in his leather jacket, but maybe the show'll be better next week."
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Buzz said "nobody was saying,'I know it was stupid to have Fonzie waterskiing in his leather jacket, but maybe the show'll be better next week.'"*choke*I did.
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I don't think anyone would put the words jumped the shark and New Frontier in the same sentence, except for you of course. It's widely regarded as a masterpiece, and you make it seem like wait a minute...this is total bullshit, having a fighter pilot be a liberal pussy who doesn't believe in killing, that shit don't fly (get it?) son. I shall have none of this New Frontier business, i mean it's pretty obvious anyone who likes it is into bad writing and poorly thought out comics.
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I actually like that movie.
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continuity issues is what it sounds like to me. Just tell a story.
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"Good fantasy has rules. Bad fantasy ignores human nature, for one thing."
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the criticisms above don't address "human nature" within the story so much as address and criticize elements outside of the story itself (such as what "should" have happened to the character earlier in his life. Fantasy (hell, just any sort of fiction), requires the reader to jump into a situation and either buy into the premise and ride it on through to the conclusion. If the reader throws up a roadblock because he (1) has a previous dislike of the character, or (2) brings in a preconception about how things are handled in the military (which is not a human nature thing and does not take into account that the fantasy world of the story may reflect a different military reality), or (3) any number of other reader biases. If the reader can't buy into it, then the writer has lost the reader. But it's not necessarily a criticism of the writer that not every reader is able to buy into his story. Sometimes it's simply a discontinuity between the writer and some readers. The problem is when the reader turns around and makes his personal take into a generalized and blanket dismissal of the entire work. Especially when the reader chose to step away and not finish it.
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I could kiss you right now.
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*is at this moment glad she was born in 1981 and thus never saw any bit of Happy Days pre-syndication*Oh, and at this point, is it essentially Conan of the Sea = Turkey of the Sea?
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Wait for Squashua to get here with the popcorn. ;)
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I just got it. I honestly thought it had something to do with Jessica Simpson and Conan O'Brien.
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Conan of the Sea.*mwhah*Now, that's as far as you get with me, El. I'm strictly hetero.
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I love that movie. Its a wonderful rumination on what it means to be a real dad.
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Hell, CIVIL WAR is widely regarded. I'm into the whole, thinkin' for myself thang. And I don't think people are stupid for liking NEW FRONTIER. I think NEW FRONTIER is stupid for this preposterous premise. Better to have started Hal as a stone cold killer who saw the light. I think Cooke wasn't brave enough, or couldn't bear to dislike his character enough. A lot of writers and readers and critics have trouble with multi-layered characters. I always site one of my all time favorite novelists, Mr. James Ellroy who has been criticized because his LA cops from the 40s through the 70s are often racist or do racist things. First of all, gee, racism in the LAPD. Don't tell Mark Fuhrman. Secondly, the liberal (and I'm considered liberal myself) assumption that if a character is something bad, that's all he or she is. Frankly, whatever anybody thinks of the politics involved, the characterization of Hal Jordan in NEW FRONTIER is a mess (which, in many ways, the character always was). Like I said, I can suspend disbelief about the whole cosmic policeman schtick and the little blue guys, etc. far easier than I can that this guy wouldn't be headed for the stockade.I, too, love THE GREAT SANTINI. For one thing, Pa Maverik was a Duvall look-a-like. I'm just an Andy Kaufman look-a-like (when he was alive, not now).
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Young Star Maverik is a hippie. They are into peace no matter what. It's admirable, but it ain't gonna happen, and in some cases (fewer and fewer) it shouldn't happen. SPR just seemed like bad war to her, but ya watch SCHINDLER'S LIST or ya talk to my buddy's mom, a Fillipina who was on the Bataan Death March as a child, and you realize that you don't wanna fight but sometimes you gotta.
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And somehow it came off as "i like it because people like it yaaay...what is this thinking for yourself you speak of?". Sorry about that. If ya ask me -and you'd know i'm not too far off the mark if you've read the internets lately- Civil War is widely regarded as a piece of shit. A giant mess at best. New Frontier, however, is widely regarded as a masterpiece for a reason. I don't think all the people who claim so (like for example...oh i don't know...me) sat around and said "Alright listen: There's some people out there saying this book is amazing. Now, i haven't read it myself because i'm too busy being an idiot to actually form an educated opinion on my own based on my personal reading experience, but i say we just go with the flow. If anyone asks why you like the damn thing just tell them someone said it was really good" In fact, i'm pretty sure you can find a couple reviews written by someone who actually managed (bothered) to read the whole thing that'll clarify just why people seem to fall for this book the way they do.
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Please Aquaman, can you try to be cooler? One of the few comics I have and am ashamed to won is one of yours, so kick it into high gear buddy.
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Every issue of Howard Mackie's Spider-Man run, All Star Batman 1, various issues of X-Men written by Chuck Aushten and Peter Milligan and every issue of Spawn, Lady Death, Witchblade and every comic ever drawn by Michael Turner, including sketch variants, foil variants, hologram variants and wood engraving variants.
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I gotta say, like Buzz I picked up the first issue and hated it because of that silly Hal won't kill even though he's flying a plane that has guns and is in the Big War. I dropped New Frontier right away because of it...that and the cover price. But then I got Absolute New Frontier for X-Mas (I asked for it because I love Cooke's art) and read the whole thing and really, really enjoyed it. It surprized me because just getting through that Hal stuff was cringe inducing but once I got through chapter two it really kicked in for me. But either way...Cooke as an artist=awesomeness. Cooke as a writer=so-so. Oh, yeah...and I hated that Superman/Batman fight too...can't these two goons just get along? Seriously!
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OK I'll play...I used to LOVE Marvel's US 1 back in the day. Beat that comic goons!
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...People, like you guys who know comics well, don't care for an issue but either buying it for yourself or getting it as a gift, money is spent on a big, expensive, probably hardcover volume? I think we all believe that everyone should do what they want, of course, but there's too many things I LIKE for me to spend my money on. I did like the art and I agree with Superhero about Cooke being a superior artist and a so-so writer. But I didn't like the art enough to make the difference.For me, the whole "you gotta read the whole comic to have an opinion" thing doesn't hold up. I know that NF was intended to be a graphic novel rather than serialized, but it WAS serialized and sold that way. Sorry, but it's a comic book. What do I owe a comic book or its' publisher or Creator Who Didn't Really Create Anything that I need to read the whole thing if I didn't like an issue or it was bungled? That's just addiction and programming. I mean, El, how can you say you didn't like Rob Liefeld's YOUNGBLOOD if you haven't read every single issue? I'm being rhetorical here because anybody can say they didn't like anything, especially YB, if they look at it and see that it sucks.But I like to make up my own mind, especially about comics. I don't need to know what a bunch of other people thought about a comic book, which is why I wrote my reviews the way I did. I'd write ABOUT a comic, how it made me feel or what it made me think but I always tried to not tell other people what to think or what was in the comic. One of my pet theories about fandom is that we seek the consensus. We do have our sacred cows and our scapegoats. Usually, our sacred cows deserve the accolades but as fanboys (another pet theory) we either worship or despise and nothing can live up to that. KINGDOM COME showed holes first and THE DARK KNIGHT isn't aging so well. WATCHMEN holds up because of the care put into each panel, but as it goes mainstream with the movie it's at risk because nothing can live up to that much worship. Flawless writing, perfect art but the degree of nihilism and negativity are slightly undergrad, for example. That's fine if yer an undergrad but that's a few short, meaningless years of our lives. Put down the torches, pitchforks and nooses, I still love WATCHMEN but I'm just sayin'...I think a lot of the regard NEW FRONTIER has received is that it reconfirmed the visual power of comics in what has become, overall in the mainstream, a wordy, writer's medium. The premise, superheroes in 20th century history, was great. I mean, Byrne did it first with that Batman/ Superman thing where they aged like real people, but I think he did that too late in his career. Fans, numbed by slow, overwritten comics, were enraptured by the art. I know I was. But when I get a derivative Batman/ Superman clash (in my review, I cracked myself up by speculating that, since Batman carries a chemical in case he has to fight Superman, maybe he carries around a vial of semen in case he has to fight Wonder Woman)and you can't have two heroes arguing in a bar during the Viet Nam War without WATCHMEN being invoked. I'm all for swinging for the fence, but don't telegraph your shot. Don't tell me it's going to be DKR or WATCHMEN. And yeah, if it's a pure fantasy world, say an Old West where the gunfighter hero only shoots the guns out of people's hands or Zorro cuts Zs into people's asses but never runs them through, no problem. But if you're saying something about American history, you have to say it in a way that makes sense. It's just too convoluted and what yer telling me doesn't make it any better. You're telling me that Hal doesn't go anywhere. Dig it: he starts out a pilot who won't kill (does he have a brother who's a sniper? Cal Jordan, the sniper who won't shoot anybody) and some how he encounters a Korean boy and has to kill him...to confirm that killing is bad, which he believed in the first place. That's not development. That's poor writing. For me, I hate when I can see the writer involved and I think that, as many of our friends from the Great White North are (and I'm with ya politically guys, it's just bad writing I can't stand), Mr. Cooke leans to the left and couldn't bear to have a hero doing something that he personally doesn't approve of. Forget the stupid comic by this title, but hawk to dove is interesting. Dove to hawk is also interesting. Dove to dove is staying the same. Good fantasy involves change. The characters may return to the Shire, may return to peace, but Frodo is never the same short furball he was when he left. Even Conan may be the same Hyborian killing machine he always when when he seizes the throne of Aquilonia, but he rules as a wiser, more troubled man.
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brain hurt
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it's not well written, Moore's stuff almost always is, but because of the impact it had on superheroes. Still tend to agree with Buzz, New Frontier was ambitious in a good way but Cooke does not have the chops to back it up, seemed kind of fluffy or really that he lacks depth to understand the time in which the characters were created or just frankly really doesn't care and wanted to do his own thing. It is a masterpiece from an art perspective.
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take your pick, but it sounds like Chicken of the Sea is kind of where the character is at now. Maybe it is too much to focus on the character in relation to the rest of the DCU they should just leave him out of it for awhile.
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Check out his Solo issue. Great stuff.
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SOLO #5 is one of the only issues of that wonderful series I missed. Along with Darwyn Cooke's issue I missed Chaykin's, but I'm honestly way over Chaykin. Oh, and saying Cooke doesn't have the chops is one of the more intellectually retarded things I've read in a while. No offense personally superninja, but I think the guy deserves a lot more credit. Also, you need more than art for anything to be a masterpiece in comics. It's like a good music video, it can be the coolest looking thing ever, but if the song sucks so fails the project in it's entirety. By that regard, Civil War would be a masterpiece because of it's art and by no means should that be called anything above 'really bad' even with McNiven's work. New Frontier is considered a masterpiece by so many now because it is the whole package. I fear that anyone who says they like it only for the art is taking an apologist route like a fan of the Star Wars prequels would. "I like it because of the visuals, c'mon!!!" Only thing is, New Frontier is waaaay better than the prequels. Be proud of it. I agree with Elvis Vale here (besides that whole Axel Alonso thing... pfft).
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Here's what Garth Ennis had to say after Preacher was over: "If there's one man without whom we definitely couldn't have done this, it has to be our pal Axel Alonso. He fought tooth and nail for us so many times, he struggled so hard against the forces of darkness -- oh, i can't begin to tell you how much stuff we'd have lost if he weren't there. It was this devotion to duty, along with his excellence as an editor, that made Axel this book's best friend" And now the guy edits my favorite monthly book. Oh i've got the guy's back, alright!
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help us all.
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Continue to bob his knob then!!! He also edits Amazing Spider-Man, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and Punisher War Journal and the other MAX titles (is there any other MAX titles?), all of which are such high quality books. I mean, they're awesome. Like the best books out there and you can bet your ass Axel is the reason for it. 'The Other' storyline in Spider-Man? Hell yeah my man Axel green lit that shit because he's so awesome! Oh, and he really respects his readers too. He's a nice guy all around. He even talked to Stan Lee one time and said that he was cool with Spidey unmasking. I'm sure Sleazy can vouch for how great of a guy Axel is. I mean, Axel even sang that one song 'Paradise City' and who doesn't like that? Nobody. Why? Axel Alonso is the greatest human being known to man. I hear he's getting Alan Moore to write every book at Marvel because he's so fucking great and he's not even going to screw Alan the way Alan normally gets screwed by the big two publishers because Axel Alonso makes Jesus Christ look like a dick with all of his glory. Axel Alonso.
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retardation with pride. I'm pretty sure it is a masterpiece from an art perspective, and people would agree on that whether or not they enjoyed the story. Which I did not because it lacked some weight to me.
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That was an angry rant if i ever saw one. You probably should calm down, or else...
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axel alonso is jesus? probably why i'm atheist.
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However, my onlyinto-the -rare comic s.o., who not so coincidentally loved Preacher and Transmetropolitan, didn't think it was so great. I thought it was edgy entertaining satire, but wasn't really cruel or hypermacho. But I think the relative lack of dick swinging is why many people are disappointed.
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Ashamed of owning Evil Ernie and Lady Death. However, not ashamed of owning Purgatori. Ashamed of liking: Chuck Austen's run on EXiles.
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I'm really not that ashamed of Howard Mackie's Spider-Man run since it attributes to me owning like 120 consecutive issues. Did I mention that Back in Black is worse than those other two stories I pretend don't exist? Well it is worse, just for the record.
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A while ago I think someone complained how you never review any Ninja Turtles comics and the other day I found this cool one drawn by Richard Corben, so I think it's about time you reviewed a Ninja Turtle comic.
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Did you know that Ted Kord anagrams to "Det. Dork"? Batman-lite if ever I saw it. I was also going to say that Ted Kord anagrams to something like "re-Ditko" or "Ditko-er" ('cause Ditko created Kord after he created Spider-Man), but then I was hazy and still waking up and didn't realize that there was an extra D instead of an I.In other news, first half of issue #2, "Waking Up" is up: http://tinyurl.com/2kyrpp
As par for the course as any DC book these days: shit blows up (and Grant Morrison discovers the other side of Space B). -
it was a slow week for me last week so i picked up jsa: classified 23-4, the first jsa books i have ever bought, based on the slick covers, the nice interior art, the look of dr. mid-nite, who i know nothing about, and the promise of a 'the end' after the second part. so i learned a little about him and it was a great couple of issues. reminded me of another vampire two-parter i bought a long time ago when robin was in metropolis and helped superman beat up a bunch of them. i won't be collecting any more jsa, but i hope they do more with dr. mid-nite - a great character.
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There was also another Dr. Midnite story a couple of months ago in issues #19 and 20 of JSA:C, that dealt with blackmarket metahuman appendages. I remember that at a Blade/Geoff Johns panel at a con I went to last year, it devolved into JSA talk and Johns mentioned that he thought Midnite would be a good character to center a show around ("House" with superheroes). If sales are good enough I bet we could get a comic series at least.. And if nothing else, if you avoided the pair of needless crossovers with JLA: Classified and Hawkgirl, JSA: Classified has been great for short self-contained character arcs if that's your thing. There's a great Injustice Society story from issues #5-7 that really rocked my socks (and can also be found in the Honor Among Thieves TPB, along with an ok Flash/Wildcat story that was notable for Jay Garrick beating Ted Grant to death for all but his last of nine lives).
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is where it's at people! Awesome issue. Dreg, pick up the first four issues of that before any of those JSA: Classified things man. The first four Justice Society's are an arc and waaaay better than the Classified stuff. Issue #4 was especially good.
Dr. Midnite ongoing? You're more likely to get a Dr. Fate or Booster Gold ongoing -- WHAT? But, seriously, no way in hell he gets an ongoing. He'd sooner get that television show than an ongoing comic. -
That was nigh on two weeks ago now. Johns finally got his JSA groove on like nobody's business in that issue. I guess he just needs a lot of things in motion for that book to really feel on. We're out of exposition-ville, and full steam ahead now, w00t w00t!And H, didja see that Alex Ross cover? Love that they hid that spoiler!
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The noogy-noogy one or another?
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Like father like son!
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I thought we knew that Tom was Wildcats kid? What *SPOILER* do you speak of miss T? Note, that I'm ultra dense on this Monday afternoon. ; )
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But we didn't know that when the solicit for #4 came out, which is why they used the Eaglesham cover instead. :)
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NOW I got ya. Yeah, I like that they hid it that way too then. I was confused for a minute there. How about the ending to that issue 4 though? Man, good stuff, great arc. Eaglesham btw, has really upped his game. Check out Villains United and his stuff on Justice Society and there's a nice improvement.
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I'm considering being obnoxious 'til I get one iota of feedback from somewhere.. anywhere.. (and the easy part is, I wrote it so you wouldn't have to read the first issue again in order to get things)Cogs! Fight that Rogue Monday, fight I say!
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..absitively, posilutely right, H. To quote Peeg, "Hell yeah!" And nice that they visited Philly for a battle. I wonder what other Philly-isms will pop up (like Morimoto's in issue #1).
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..absitively, posilutely right, H. To quote Peeg, "Hell yeah!" And nice that they visited Philly for a battle. I wonder what other Philly-isms will pop up (like Morimoto's in issue #1).
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...that is the absolute LAST time I microwave popcorn.
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Thalya enjoys DP.
Double Posting. -
And y'know, I never really tried it til now, but I think I really like it.. >:D
And while I'm at it, you never got back to me with comments! [/obnoxious] <- hopes that faux code comes out -
Now I know how to do that.. And Squash, that popcorn was too hot to handle, huh? It was getting all Brokeback in here.. I coulda used the popcorn, I swear..
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I press the 'Popcorn' button on the 'ol microwave. Does the trick every time. Hope the fire wasn't a huge one or anything Squash.
I'll get to issue #2 soon, T. Promise. ; ) -
I know you're constantly mega-busy. On the plus side, you may get to read the whole thing instead of just the first half when you find the time (which means infamous page 13). And y'know, you can make your own logs of charcoal if you zap the popcorn long enough. mmm.. big black logs of buttery hard charcoal....
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He said.
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'Cuz, Hell, if you were able to get an actual house fire out of microwaving popcorn you must be REALLY high or drunk(or brain dead).
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*points upwards in the thread to Vale's post "Prof..." and Prof. Challenger's post "What's the best Tuna?" and all in between*
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Will need to absorb and formulate a proper response. Just one question: Are "you" and Noah gonna bump uglies?
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Besides, DC doesn't have a MAX line so it'd all be off-camera anyway. And btw, *banana nut bread smoochies!* (I actually baked some IRL for once!)
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This is just the first half of the issue. You would not guess what the second half holds in a million years.
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Someone go read all of Thalya's posts, then mine.
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