(Click title to go directly to the review)
Advance Review: HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO Novel
SECRET WAR #3
BATMAN BEYOND #1
BROKEN WORLD #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE #41
AIRBOY #1
THE BUNKER V2
THANOS: THE INFINITY RELATIVITY OGN
SECRET WARS TRAVEL GUIDE PART II
Available next week!HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO Novel
Writer: Mark Edlitz> Publisher: BearManor Media
Reviewer: Lyzard
Paul Bettany recently credited his role in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON as The Vision for saving his career. He isn’t the only actor that owes a superhero for their stardom. Hugh Jackman went from Curly McClain in OKLAHOMA! to Wolverine in X-MEN and the rest is history. While Robert Downey Jr.’s reputation was on the upswing after ZODIAC, it was his portrayal of Tony Stark in IRON MAN that secured his acting resurrection. But not everyone has a super experience wearing tights.
HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO doesn’t just show the heroic triumphs of actors who have earned a fanatic following for their portrayal of comic characters, such as Tom Hiddleston as Loki. The book also features tales of cynicism and the trials and tribulations of trying not to let your alter ego become your presumed identity. HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO is more than a series of interviews, but provides food for thought when it comes to the cinematic and small screen portrayal of superheroes, discussing in depth subjects such as what defines a superhero/villain, the struggle of adhering enough to material to please the fans, and what type of audience base this genre really has.
What I personally want from a book such as this is honesty, mostly in the form of Hollywood dirt. Not everyone has enjoyed their time in the spotlight, and I want to hear why. If you are going to advertise your tome as “the untold stories behind the great movie and television superheroes from the people who played them,” then I better learn something that wouldn’t be found with a simple Google search. Sometimes the interviews do come off as, shall we say, publicist friendly. James Marsden talks dearly of his time playing Cyclops, never touching the controversial change in directors for the X-MEN series or his untimely demise in LAST STAND. But then there are interviews with the likes of Alan Cumming and Michael Rosenbaum, who provide credence to the difficulties of portraying iconic characters. Rosenbaum has no issue discussing his initial skepticism for the SMALLVILLE project, and reading his interview makes me that much more willing to watch an episode or two.
HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO’s biggest asset is that it makes you want to rediscover a wide array of superhero properties. I never saw the SUPERGIRL movie, but after reading Helen Slater’s interview I wouldn’t mind giving it a try. Same goes for Chip Zien’s discussion of HOWARD THE DUCK. Edlitz doesn’t just cover icons like Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk, but also provides us with insight into failed projects like the television reboot of Wonder Woman. Movies and shows like these aren’t going to get coverage like this anywhere else, and that alone makes Edlitz’s work stand out.
The book also features interviews with creators such as Stan Lee and directors like Jon Favreau. There are a few oddball choices, such as the coverage on James Bond, and while I may not agree with Edlitz about the worthiness of the special agent as a superhero, at least he provides a well-thought out argument for his choice. For those actors who Edlitz was unable to interview directly there is an entire chapter with excerpts from previously published pieces including Mark Hamill, Brandon Routh, Hugh Jackman, and many more.
So who’s this book for? HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO can border on the scholastic side as it is both bulky and referential, but the analysis is easily skimmable if one does not desire a more erudite read. In the preface section, Edlitz states that “nerds aren’t the only ones who revere superheroes, and it’s not just the geeks and fanboys who idolize heroes in tights. Superheroes are cherished by virtually everyone”, and so can anyone enjoy his book. You don’t have to be a die-hard fan of the Marvel cinematic universe to appreciate what Edlitz has done here. Having an encyclopedic knowledge of all the actors who have portrayed and voiced Batman isn’t necessary. If you want to learn more about the genre that has dominated the current zeitgeist, hear the hard truths about Hollywood, or just gain some trivia to impress your friends at parties then HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO is right for you.
HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO comes out June 15th and you can pre-order a copy from BearManor Media’s website as either paperback or a PDF eBook.
Lyzard is Lyz Reblin, a graduate student at the University of Texas pursuing a master's degree in Media Studies... which is just a fancy way of saying she plays a lot video games, watches far too many horror films, and then tries to pass it all off as "research."
SECRET WARS #3
Writer: Jonathan HickmanArtist: Esad Ribic
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man
The Marvel Universe in transition continues as Hickman reveals another group of survivors from the original Marvel U. Now, you could dismiss this series as another pointless alternate reality story. But aside from being the only Marvel game in town, it still features the Marvel characters we all know and love. It's not the robot Avengers of Universe %& or the little people Avengers of Universe @#, which is what most people hate about alternate reality stories, plus it has impact as it will kick off the first Marvel Universe reboot ever. I'm guessing it will have nothing to do with Speed Demon killing Quicksilver's mom.
So Hickman basically has two things going on here. One, he's still explaining this Battle World to us--how it functions top to bottom, and the new roles the Marvel characters have taken in it. Two, he's lay the groundwork for a massive power struggle, again using characters we know and love, not just the crossover villain of the year.
To get into the spoilers, last issue we discovered The Cabal, led by The Maker (i.e. Reed Richards from the Ultimate Marvel U), survived the incursion. This issue we learn The Avengers, led by Mr. Fantastic (i.e. Reed Richards from the classic Marvel U), survived as well. In parallel with the original SECRET WARS, two factions, 'good' and 'evil', have landed on Battle World and you can smell the slugfest coming. Meanwhile, we've learn more about how Doctor Doom became the lord and god of this new world--Dr. Strange let him. As for the third person to converse with the Beyonds at the point of incursion, the Molecule Man, that is a secret Hickman dangles for another day. Finally, while Dr. Strange tries ease The Avengers into this new world, the army of Thors prepare to rain down new world justice on The Cabal.
So far the first issue of this mega-crossover-event has been my least favorite--a decent enough read, but just too much of a long drawn-out destruction of the Marvel U, and really not much story, and while issue #2 and #3 have been set-up issues, they have not been boring. Each is loaded with interesting stuff and good teasers about what's to come. Also, since this is a new crazy world, it's perfectly understandable for Hickman to take his time setting it up, and just like the new arrives to this Battle World, once we all get a grip of what’s going on, we will appreciate conflicts (oh, I can't wait to see the conflicts!) all the more. Comparing this to another big event that just started, Hickman is getting the readers involved by explaining the reasons behind the upcoming action as opposed to explaining the reasons after confusing the readers with the action. Despite all this explaining, I have no idea how Hickman is going to launch the new Marvel Universe from all this, so I'm informed and curious at the same time.
Lastly, from Alex Ross' fine cover to Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina's great pages, this is one good looking book--I sure hope they can finish it, and not force the editors to call in all the reserves. After so many lackluster events, it looks like Marvel finally has a hit on its hands.
BATMAN BEYOND #1
Writer: Dan JurgensArt: Bernard Chang
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: DrSumac
This comic honestly upsets me. BATMAN BEYOND is a great brand that DC just doesn't seem to know what to do with. If for some reason you aren't familiar with this take on the Dark Knight, or haven't read any previous comics with the character, please let me get you up to speed.
I'm sure most people know that “Batman Beyond” started as a cartoon spinoff of the widely acclaimed “Batman: The Animated Series”. What you may not be aware of, however, was that it was created essentially at the request of executives at Warner Brothers animation. The problem with “Batman: The Animated Series” turned out to be that it was so well done that it didn't target children as well as they would have liked. Apparently it's considered preferable for a cartoon to star a teenager, because the targeted demographic could imagine themselves as their hero within a few years rather than twenty.
As the story goes, producers Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Alan Burnett were called in to discuss the idea of a show about a teenage Batman. Within the course of that hourlong meeting they came up with the idea to make the show about a new Batman in the future rather than simply a prequel. This was a daring endeavor since they had to create something that was completely new while also making it feel tied to the work that they had already done. They also worked on the show at the same time as “Batman”, “Superman”, and eventually “Justice League”, not to mention “Static Shock’ and the “Beyond” spinoff “The Zeta Project”. However, despite all of those challenges the show was critically acclaimed and considered very successful. In the end we got a great new story and set of characters that added to the Batman mythos.
For those that don't know the story: in the future an aging Bruce Wayne is unable to continue as Batman due to his declining health. Years later a high school student named Terry McGinnis stumbles onto Bruce, the Batcave, and the enhanced batsuit that Bruce had made for himself. Terry is brave and athletic, but otherwise an average kid trying to keep up with school and his girlfriend. When his father is murdered, Terry steals the batsuit in order to get vengeance and ultimately Bruce becomes his mentor.
There was a comic miniseries back in 1999 and 2001, but aside from a few cameo appearances the character didn't appear regularly in comics until his first monthly series began in 2010 with the “Hush Beyond” story arc. As a huge fan of the animated series and of Hush, I eagerly read the comic only to be disappointed. Regardless of that I gave it another show with the second story arc, but it only seemed to get worse. The writer, Adam Beechen, either had no understanding or respect for the franchise judging by the way he treated many of its characters. Popular vaillains Ink and Blight were made weak and enfeebled, depending on others to keep them alive, while another villain called The Stalker was killed off panel for no reason whatsoever. Meanwhile, lesser-known Golden and Silver Age characters like the Matter Master, Signal Man, Calendar Man, and Glorious Godfrey were all referenced and used in stories as if the “Batman Beyond” audience would have any idea who they were.
I will admit that I did like how the series handled some of the supporting characters, like Terry's girlfriend Dana and their friend Max, but that wasn't enough for me to look past its other problems. I did check out another issue that claimed to feature The Phantasm from the animated film “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm”, because I strongly feel that that movie is the greatest Batman film ever made. However, The Phantasm was only a minor character in a story that had many problematic elements. Essentially, Bruce and Dick don't get along in the future because Bruce knocked Barbara up and she had a miscarriage after she got beat up fighting some random thugs on the street. The Phantasm was only involved because they wanted to kill the son of Joe Chill, the man who killed Bruce's parents, who happened to kill Terry's father. The whole thing was just bad.
That series continued up until last year's FUTURES END event, which advertised itself as BATMAN BEYOND's first real foray into the mainstream DC universe. I read issue #0 and #1 of this weekly series, and right from the start it didn't seem to have any real direction. Bruce's computerized creation Brother Eye went crazy and turned the heroes of the world into its mindless cyborg minions, so Terry went back in time to stop it from happening. That story would have been fine, but it seemed to be quickly discarded in favor of the random adventures of Firestorm and other less popular characters with Terry barely anywhere to be found. I know people who tried to read more of FUTURES END largely to see if anything would actually happen, and I don't believe they made it past issue #15 before they gave up. This series, along with BATMAN ETERNAL, were great examples of how easily a weekly series can go wrong. It's a nice idea to have an issue come out every week for a year, but when you don't have the story for that stretch of time the whole thing becomes a mess.
That finally brings us to the issue in question, BATMAN BEYOND #1. This is one of the first new series of the DC You titles to come out, and as a #1 issue you might expect it to be easily accessible to new readers. You would be wrong. This is a direct continuation of FUTURES END, where they seemed to have killed off Terry McGinnis to replace him with Tim Drake. Also, most of the world has still been destroyed by Brother Eye. Even worse, there is absolutely no explanation page and very little effort within this issue to explain what happened in FUTURES END to get us to where we now find ourselves. You would have to have read all 52 issues of an unpopular series in order for a fan of the “Batman Beyond” cartoon to know what was going on. That's just suicidal from a business standpoint. Sure this issue sold well, but it immediately alienates its audience, meaning a fraction of those readers are likely to come back for issue #2.
Even if you forgive this issue for not being true to “Batman Beyond” and all of the other problems I've mentioned, this is still a pretty weak issue. There is no attempt to establish the new status quo for the title aside from the fact that Brother Eye is still the big bad guy. We don't even know if Tim checked in on Bruce or what the status of the Batcave is. Plus this is its own separate timeline than the one Terry came from, so shouldn't there still be a separate Terry and Tim of this time? There is also a fight between Tim and robo-Superman that is so brief it might as well not have been included. This isn't quite as bad as the previous BATMAN BEYOND comics I've read, but it isn't off to a good start, either.
If you did make it through FUTURES END then this a might be a good series for you. Otherwise this is proof that DC doesn't know what to do with this property whatsoever. When you consider the history of the franchise, it baffles me how the original animated series succeeded despite many challenges while the comics that seek to capitalize on its success can't seem to do anything right.
BROKEN WORLD #1
Writer: Frank BarbiereArtist: Christopher Peterson
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Reviewer: Humphrey Lee
For a handful of years now Image Comics has been hailed by many, myself included, as not only King of the Indie Publishers but pretty much the standard bearer of quality in the industry. But there is a disturbance in the force if you look closely and pay enough attention. This ripple isn’t anything like a precarious dip in quality or consistency issues from those guys at the Big I at the top per se, but if you look at the lineup that BOOM! Studios is starting to solicit out there these days you’ll see a lot of familiar names from the Image side of things – like LUTHER STRODE or Justin Jordan or our writer of BROKEN WORLD here, Frank Barbiere, known from his Kickstarter turned Image work FIVE GHOSTS - or a mixture of other up and comers like Michael Moreci and Christopher Sebela and industry veterans such as Mark Waid, Mike Carey, and Cullen Bunn. It may not have the big, independent hits like Image does yet, but it seems like ever since the merger with Archaia Press two years back, BOOM! has started to move a bit beyond the mostly property-licensed stories that made up a lot of its roster over the years and has really made a push toward getting their hands on deals with newer talent and getting some higher-concept comics under their banner.
Now we’re in a BROKEN WORLD, brought to us from Frank Barbiere of the aforementioned FIVE GHOSTS fame, and he wants to count down the end of the world with you. A large chunk of space rock is coming toward Earth, and with two days left to impact there are continued evacuations to space colonies and Elena Marlowe wants to make sure she is on one of these shuttles with her family. The main thrust of this debut issue, surprise, is to encapsulate the general feelings of a populace as they brace for near extinction and to world-build a little bit. What do you do when there’s a giant death ball of rock and minerals hurtling through space to end you, and your ability to get out of its way is pretty much nil because you aren’t wealthy/important enough? You get yourself a new record to wipe out a checkered past, you go to yourpProfessorial job to deal with the forbearing doom by grasping at your everyday life, and you spend some time with your family engaging in some expository dialogue to help flesh out the fictional world you find yourself in, that’s what you do.
That may sound a little abrupt because, well, to be honest that’s a little bit how this issue played out. It’s not bad, mind you - quite the contrary given a multitude of interesting plot points being presented here – but the way everything plays out on the overall has some pacing issues. We lead in with some intrigue, with Elena dealing with a shady fellow getting her credentials modified because, apparently, as they stand she will not get on the flight out of apocalypse city due to some shady business in her past. This is good stuff, gives us an interesting lead-in and makes you wonder just what is up with our lead that it is imperative she hide herself from her past to have a future. Then she ups and goes to teach class, which I also find interesting because it is a nice take on the idea of the end of things. What do you do with impending doom hanging over your head like an Australian death spider? You live your everyday life out so that you do not let the weight of that world-shattering end drive you insane. But this back and forth with Elena and her remaining barely a handful of students mostly ends up being expository back and forth about a religious cult sprung up around this end time that sees the oncoming space missile as “God’s Divine Judgment.” They are called the Children of the Revelation, and obviously they will be coming up later.
And that is the real issue at hand with BROKEN WORLD; it’s not that the ideas and setting in play aren’t interesting, because they are, but they come out awkward. The simple scene of Elena in a forgers’ domain is great execution to show her troubled past; the next scene in the school is pretty heavy-handed in the world-making process. The next section of time with her family is good emotional balance to give heft to the impending doom, except when it also kind of casually diverts itself to referencing these dangling plots points of the cultists and a government that decides who gets to be on these ships. Again, not that these threads aren’t worth weaving but they are done somewhat inelegantly and in the middle part they somewhat infringe on some quality interpersonal moments. A little bit better pacing and some room to breathe – maybe a little bit of an extra-sized debut? – and a lot of this could have been rectified.
None of this is a deal-breaker, though, as BROKEN WORLD does paint an overall fascinatingly bleak picture with a smattering of “oh, huh” moments of surprise to go with some of the unfortunately predictable ones. For example, the Children of the Revelation showing up “Contact” style to sabotage one of the last shuttles? Not shocking at all. The failure of the asteroid to obliterate the planet (You had ONE JOB, asteroid!!!) was definitely an interesting moment because obviously it was a 50/50 where that would go and how the plot would play with Elena and her troubled past. Now she’s not an offender out in space where, according the government, she shouldn’t belong; now she’s a survivor on a planet wondering who either screwed up or lied and what has happened to their loved ones that went up beyond the atmosphere. Conspiracy is now afoot, and that’s where BROKEN WORLD wins the attention.
This opener may have had a couple of rough patches, but I feel it has a firm stance on (non-obliterated) terra firma all said. Elena’s suspicious past but obvious dedication to her family makes you wonder just what she could have done to make her go to the lengths she did to get off world with them. What was the extent of her actions, and how do they play in shades of grey? Plus there’s the whole “the apocalypse didn’t happen” thing to explore as the world has to move beyond this possible government conspiracy, as well as having a religious death cult in their midst that performed some pretty abhorrent actions on what was expected to be Judgment Day. Altogether this BROKEN WORLD may have shown some cracks in execution but is anything but a shattered mess. If anything it is a prime example of the type of storytelling that BOOM! Studios is making a dedicated effort to show off these days but also has some growing pains flaring as it develops. In both these cases, I can see the potential at hand and am interested in seeing further development of this book, Frank Barbiere and artistic cohort Christopher Peterson’s abilities, and BOOM! as a publisher as everyone involved faces an uncertain future, much like our BROKEN WORLD remnants.
Humphrey Lee has been an avid comic book reader going on fifteen years now and a contributor to Ain't It Cool comics for quite a few as well. In fact, reading comics is about all he does in his free time and where all the money from his day job wages goes to - funding his comic book habit so he can talk about them to you, our loyal readers (lucky you). He's a bit of a social networking whore, so you can find him all over the Interwebs on sites like Twitter, Facebookand a blog where he also mostly talks about comics with his free time because he hasn't the slightest semblance of a life. Sad but true, and he gladly encourages you to add, read, and comment as you will.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #41
Writer: Geoff JohnsArtist: Jason Fabok
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man
Geoff Johns' next big DC opus finally kicks off with “The Darkseid War” Part 1. To the old school DC reader, this is a dream card battle come true--The Anti-Monitor vs. Darkseid! These two haven't faced each other since Darkseid blew his body to bits in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12, but that was then and this is New 52, where neither one really has a rep.
This is the first flaw of this story, taking it as a New 52 (forget all previous DC history) tale. Neither of these villains have done much in the New 52. Darkseid was whipped by the JL before they were even a team. The Anti-Monitor did defeat the Crime Syndicate and destroy Earth-3, but then the Syndicate proved to be fairly useless as half of them died getting whipped by other supervillains. Aside from the just ending EARTH-2 WORLD'S END (which helped build up Darkseid), we've barely seen anything about these guys, so why should we care that they are fighting?
If you were expecting Johns to explain why we should care that these characters are fighting, you'd be wrong. Based on the prologue and this first issue, Johns has gone to his 'hide the plot' storytelling technique, where character actions won't be explained until the final issue, making each issue leading up to it rather unfocused and uninteresting.
Let's break down what we do know of this issue--get ready for some spoilers: it all starts with a couple of Darkseid's goons going all Terminator, killing everyone on Earth named Myrina Black--the Amazon Darkseid knocked up in DIVERGENCE. Meanwhile, Darkseid's adoptive son, Mr. Miracle, hopes to join forces with the Justice League (the only ones to ever beat him) in hopes of doing it again. He also has a run-in with old stone face himself (Oh and did you know, based on his shoe size, Darkseid is like 30 feet tall? Huh). Elsewhere, Superman and Lex Luthor talk about how much Superman doesn't trust him as the Justice League checks out one of Myrina Black's murder scenes because they detected boom tube activity at it (but wouldn't all of them?).
While doing that Grail, Darkseid's daughter (who is working with the Anti-Monitor to kill Darkseid for reasons unknown), crawls out of The Flash's mouth (well, you can understand that--no, no I can't) and starts beating up the JL (again for reasons unknown). Grabbing Power Ring's, er, power ring, she uses it to bring the Anti-Monitor to Earth (wow, really? 1- So the Anti-Monitor can't even jump Earths on his own power? 2- And why did he come 'here'?- Reasons unknown). Next Lex Luthor's sister, who is working for Darkseid (sure, why not), shoots Lex, dressed in his battlesuit, full of holes with a typical hand gun (that is one crappy battlesuit). She then boom tubes Superman and Luthor away because...oh hell, I don't know, she just does. Finally Mr. Miracle escapes Darkseid, makes his way to Earth and meets up with 'the' Myrina Black, who asks him if he'd like to kill Darkseid, because she has been planning for years to do it and I guess she asks everyone that question. Wait, does this mean the whole The Darkseid (vs Anti-Monitor) War is because Darkseid never called after the one-night-stand?!?
If it wasn't for the fact that I'm an old DC fan of the JLA, Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor, I'm not sure anything would excite me about this first issue. And oddly enough, this is what Johns seems to be banking on: the old DC. As I mentioned, in the New 52 Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor are paper tigers so far. Plus, as a big event story, Johns is ignoring a lot of the New 52, using Bruce Wayne, who is dead in his own book, and saying Wonder Woman was the only child on Paradise Island, which is not the case in the New 52. So aside from rewriting Kirby's New Gods at every chance he can get, Johns is writing a tale built on the classic DCU, not the New 52. Heck, Johns has probably been dreaming about this since CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12!
Unfortunately, this story leaves a lot to be desired. On the good side, Johns still writes great character moments. He knows these characters well and knows how to make them shine in big moments and little moments. Fabok's artwork is awesome as well. He does just as well with the big and little moments too. Actually, from the start of the New 52 JUSTICE LEAGUE has had great artwork and Fabok continues the tradition. But it's looking like “The Darkseid War” is going to be just as unfulfilling as “The Trinity War” and FOREVER EVIL were.
AIRBOY #1
Writer: James RobinsonArtist: Greg Hinkle
Publisher: Image Comics
Reviewer: Optimous Douche Machine (fueled by Rob Patey)
AIRBOY is as much about the Golden Age air ace of flappy planes comic (and the Eclipse reboot) as “Birdman” was about a man who dresses up like a bird and fights crime. The hero is merely the anchor for the indictment against the artist who must imbibe the fallacy for the portrayal of story truth. It’s also about the soul-crippling weight of the man never achieving the same pinnacles he imbues in his creations.
Virtue is vile today. We can debate the triggers for this social depression, but the sales in dark comics coupled with top shows on TV all dictate that if someone is going to be a hero they better have one hell of a flaw for us to give a fuck. James Robinson now joins the ranks of Tony Soprano, Don Draper and Walter White. Yes, James Robinson. Not AIRBOY, James. To sully AIRBOY (the comic) so we would all give a shit, James basically sets himself up as the anti-hero to implode the concept of the borrowed idea reboot, the comic medium, and the “artists” who must eat this misery to spew it back into the mouths of the starving public after they chewed it to a pasty inedible pabulum for ourselves.
I’m not delaying the start of my obligatory plot break down of AIRBOY. OK, maybe a little, since it opens with James on the toilet. A well-drawn moment, but I still wouldn’t mind having some sort of selective amnesia to unsee. See, the book only gets Meta and “comic book” at the end when AIRBOY arrives to save James from himself, from killing his artist on another creative bender and perhaps all of us who simply want to clap again and see Tinkerbell live instead of it inducing fairy AIDS that can only be cured with Captain Hook’s semen. There is no comic to this comic, because as James so eloquently states, “I fucking hate the word reboot.”
This lament is given to Image head Eric Stephens in his hyperbole office of opulence. Eric convinces James to take the assignment, but not until James spanks the shit out of his recent time at DC shepherding the EARTH-2 characters to their CONVERGENCE started when Tom Taylor took over. He also takes a few well-placed gob smacks at Image before going into the bender of the creative process.
After much masturbatory speculation, Robinson decides to forego integrity and continue on the boredom trail. Here’s where he makes the horrid mistake of thinking an egomaniac can collaborate on story with the artist, Hinkle. This epiphany comes from another fallacy of belief for artists in that we can have happy marriages. However, the tidy solution of an editorial bubble let us know that eternal love, like fame and fulfillment , shall end.
Hinkle draws one hell of a coke pile, anaconda dick on himself and fat chick for the duo to double team as they look for a plot in between her folds. They don’t find it. They found they snorted heroin instead of coke, that the creative well on Golden Age characters is as dry as the innards of those that read the books, and Airboy watching the two in shame and disgust.
Yeah, Airboy. Personally, I hope Robinson pushes the sanctimonious prick out the window of page 1 next issue. Would much rather see Robinson bitch out everything I’ve been saying since we got the ruse of FINAL CRISIS or find out if Hinkle’s penis will actually create a gravity well that caves in Robinson’s skull. I’ll even take a tale of redemption and attempt at discovering virtue in an age where it seems lost.
I won’t accept a hallucination. If Robinson can keep away from that contrivance, I might have a book that I revere more than THE SHADE. I said that to be a dick, but I really did love the recent mini-series (with review to prove it).
Own the meta, James. If I see one Rubik’s Cube of reality bending, I will steal all of your toilet seats of inspiration.
When Optimous isn't reviewing comics he is making the IT words chortle and groan with marketing for MaaS360, enterprise mobility management www.maas360.com. He also has a comic coming out sometime soon, for updates head to robpatey.com.
THE BUNKER VOL. 2
Writer: Joshua Hale FialkovArt: Joe Infurnari
Publisher: Oni Press
Reviewer: Morbidlyobesefleshdevouringcat
Honestly, a review of this trade, just this series in general, is going to be tough. THE BUNKER is an incredibly compelling body of work that unfolds numerous emotionally heavy themes in short, teasing spurts. Although the second trade doesn’t feel as physically tumultuous as the first (likely due to the numbing effect the first one ensured), issues five to nine are perturbing in their own right and continue to convolute any logical reservation towards the story.
As difficult (both scientifically and narratively) as a time travel piece can be, Joshua Fialkov and Joe Infurnari pull it off miraculously, and with seemingly apparent ease.
Infurnari’s art style is a fundamental part of the series. The way he chooses to evoke emotion through color can all at once heighten the tension or bring it to a standstill, or a particular lack of color especially during integral moments such as Grady firmly asserting his beliefs, a mass of white outlined in blue, that really forces a deep in the gut feeling. There’s also something abating about his abstract, almost chalky lines that is tragic yet simultaneously warm; this mesh between the too real feelings coming from the characters contrasted with slowly dissolving lines.
The second volume focuses more on revealing bits and pieces of the many timelines. Weaving in and out of the past, present, and future it becomes a struggle to strictly define the villains and the heroes, thrusting Grady, Billy, Heidi, Natasha, and Daniel into a moral crisis. The already intricate plot becomes more of an enigma as the group splits apart in their decision to believe in the future Grady, and his obvious insincerity to change the future. Scenes interchange between what’s being said and what actually happens. The present becomes just as convoluted as the future, putting into question if the time travel was the cause of the apocalypse, and the entirety is one simple endless loop.
The first issue had each character read a letter to themselves, a clear motif on growing up, and this becomes reinforced in the second trade as each is faced with the extreme plight of having a role in causing a genocide; it’s an easy way to determine where your ideologies lie.
Heidi’s assault is further addressed in the latter part of the trade. In all honesty, I’m still conflicted as to how I feel about using this as a major part of her arc. The team addresses her situation without the terrible tropes that come along with this particular life event, and portray her reactions in a respectably human way. The first trade even tackles male assault, and again is honest in how mainstream society teaches us to purposely behave in said positions. The end of volume two does indeed seem to hint that Heidi’s unfortunate past is an integral part of the overall plot, so we will just have to see where it leads to.
That surely isn’t going to stop me from continuing with the series; THE BUNKER addresses a plethora of themes and motifs while still being coherent in a skewed timeline. All those back cover exclamations and wonderments certainly aren’t for nought.
THANOS: THE INFINITY RELATIVITY OGN
Writer/Artist: Jim StarlinInker: Andy Smith
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man
Jim Starlin's latest epic with Thanos and company continues to roll on. It kicked off with THANOS: THE INFINITY REVELATION (where Starlin regained control of his favorite Marvel characters Thanos and Adam Warlock), followed by THANOS VS HULK (which set up Annihilus as an even bigger threat to the positive-verse), and now effectively chapter 3, THANOS: THE INFINITY RELATIVITY, where the groundwork laid by the first two stories starts paying dividends.
While both THANOS: THE INFINITY REVELATION and THANOS VS HULK were both enjoyable, each really lacked something. REVELATION was overly dry, as not much really happened--just more reality-bending. VS was just a simple fight comic, although Thanos was barely in it! Now here in THANOS: THE INFINITY RELATIVITY things are finally getting up to speed with what Starlin does best: having swaggering beings of massive cosmic power smashing heads with each other, with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance!
Getting into the spoilers, in THE INFINITY REVELATION Thanos basically destroyed a parallel universe, leaving only its Adam Warlock left alive (while 'ours' died). This Warlock, which for all purposes is Warlock, has been trying to find his way around the Universe with his new lease on life (which Warlock and Thanos are often known to do). Meanwhile Annihilus, who had just massively increased his own power with the same principles that make the Hulk unstoppable in THANOS VS HULK, is ready to finally bring the Negazone and our reality under his thumb. To make matters worse, Thanos, along with Annihilus and every other major force in the Marvel U, discovers the existent of a new power source--something on the level of Infinity Gauntlet. Everyone converges on a small asteroid to discover this power source, with the fan fav Guardians of the Galaxy caught in the middle. Thanos has discovered what this new power source is and teams up with his old buddy Warlock again to do everything they can to prevent Annihilus from getting his hands on it. Warlock drags the Guardians along for the fun as well. Then we get down to it in Thanos vs Annihilus! And nothing goes as planned, as—well, I'm not spoiling the ending. But I liked it.
So this book pretty much deliveres. Not as strong as the original INFINITY trilogy, but stronger than anything Starlin has kicked out since. And kudos to Andy Smith for always making Starlin's pencils look so strong. The one thing that does kind of bug me is Starlin's love of Thanos (your greatest strength is your greatest weakness). He just doesn't seem to have any respect for the rest of the Marvel U. Thanos can never lose in his eyes, unless Thanos wanted to lose, and it just makes Thanos (supposedly an element of chaos) too damn predictable under Starlin. I'd like to see Thanos sweat a little more, and not just b!tch slap everything Stan and Jack created (in case you are worried, I totally, totally, totally did not give away the ending of this Original Graphic Novel. This was no simple ending). And even though he treats the Guardians of the Galaxy better in this OGN (especially compared to the Annihilators in REVELATION), it still seems like he has no interest in them and is being forced to use them since they are big movie stars now.
Be that as it may, THANOS: THE INFINITY RELATIVITY should bring a smile to any Marvel Cosmic fan. And though I've heard nothing, I'm guessing there will be another THANOS: THE INFINITY R_________ OGN coming soon, and I can't wait to see it. On the Masked Man's scale of Crap, Poor, Decent, Good, and Great, THANOS: THE INFINITY RELATIVITY scores a strong GOOD.
THE BATTLEWORLD TRAVEL GUIDE PART II
orThe 90s, Part 2 - I'm legitimately shocked Cable was only in one of these comics!
Previously, on Secret Wars...we got to meet 1920's bootlegger Ghost Rider, which was neat. Then his head exploded, which was less neat. Plus, there were a surprising number of dinosaurs.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: RENEW YOUR VOWS #1 (Dan Slott & Adam Kubert)This is a world where a guy showed up and just murdered, like, everyone, and then Frankensteined their powers into himself. Now he rules this sector of Battleworld virtually unopposed because of the whole everyone being dead thing. Well, everyone except photographer/ex-Spider-Man Peter Parker, who in his defense, was at the time distracted being forced to kill Venom to save his wife and daughter because Dan Slott is a very mean man.
ARMOR WARS #1 (James Robinson & Marcio Takara)You may have been wondering if we were going to return to the old What If? adage of having Spider-Man die a lot in this series and, never fear, this book opens with Tron world Spider-Man literally getting a hole exploded in his chest. Also, Tony Stark is British now, I think? Everyone here has to wear an Iron Man suit or die by terrible virus, except Iron Thor, who's Rhodey and he’s just so irritated that he's not in the halls of Doomsgard getting sloppy drunk with his Frog buddy, who is also a Thor.
FUTURE IMPERFECT #1 (Peter David & Greg Land)Maestro (crazy evil dictator Hulk from the future, because Peter David Hulk was...interesting) rules over a shitty straight to VHS “Blade Runner” rip-off. Luckily, the badass and laser diamond daughter of Cyclops and Emma Frost is around and tearing shit up, so that's cool. Then Maestro turns out to not just be a dick, but an intelligent one too. The first person to airbrush the cover of the next issue on a van gets $1 and my eternal love.
GIANT SIZE AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1 (Skottie Young)OH MY GOD I WANT THIS CARTOON RIGHT THE FUCK NOW IT'S A PRESCHOOL WITH A GOLDEN STATUE OF DOOM LOOKING GRUMPY IN THE CENTER OF TOWN OH MY GOD I… I... wow, I apologize, I don't know what came over me. It seems like you should keep an eye out when in this world. It's got this strange power, I mean, seriously, every time you show up, a theme song plays in the background like Mr. Fucking Rogers. Also, everyone says adorable puns, all the time, and Rogue is super depressed and texting, also all the time.
Also, Skottie Young is doing a book about the Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch movie thing? With this? That's...really funny, actually. Well done, sir--well done.
MASTER OF KUNG FU #2 (Haden Blackman & Dalibor Talajic)Now, as this travel guide took a bit to be rebooted after the whole white event when everything exploded right the fuck up, I was unable to help guide you fine people through some of the usually pretty dangerous worlds that make up this fascinating Battleworld of ours. As such, I am pleased to play catch up when necessary.
So in this world, everything is a kung fu movie but with superpowers. Everyone fought and died to claim control of all the lands until only thirteen houses remained. They became as one--the great lost kingdom of K'un L’un. From then on, leadership would be decided every thirteen years in the great tournament of the Thirteen Chambers. Emperor Zheng Zu stands tall and has served as Lord of this land for many years. Also he has a son, Shang-Chi, who is day drunk and making friends with dogs in the town square. Even though he's more alcohol than blood at this point, he beats down three people no problem. Then he's saved by, I shit you not, Calisto and the New Mutants, but this reveals his location to his father who summons his assassins: Elektra, Iron Fist, and Laughing Face, who I honestly don't know who that is, to recover him.
Recent reports seem to indicate that Kitty Pryde has Lockheed in this world, and that he's a Chinese dragon now, and Shang-Chi has mastered nine of the Ten Rings, which is now magic kung fu moves.
Seriously, you should check this sector out--it's great.
BATTLEWORLD #2 (David Walker & J.J. Kirby/Donny Cates & Marco Turini)Time for me to be concise, and explain these two brief bits.
Blade, but not Wesley Snipes Blade, Marv Wolfman 70s big ass coat Blade, has to go and fight Count Duckula in the Howard the Duck world, accidentally destroys a duck bar and the day is saved by Duck Wesley Snipes.
Because super hero comics are a magical thing, we cut over to Arcade's Killiseum where gladiator master Taskmaster (oh my god) is concerned about gladiator Thunderbolt Ross, who's turned himself into an twelve foot tall Terminator, which is smart of him, because Thunderbolt Ross is now a twelve foot tall Terminator.
X-MEN '92 #1 (Chad Bowers & Chris Sims, Scott Koblish)The X-Men protect the suburban paradise of Westchester, where everything is so 1990s it hurts. There’s a Clinton running for the White House and trouble in the Middle East and The Simpsons is on every Sunday and everything. Ahhh, what a time. In this world Cyclops is still the biggest tool in the world, everyone sees Gambit for the douche that he is, and Baron Senator Kelly literally rides around in a cart pulled by electric monsters and wearing a cape with his normal suit. I wish the 90s had more of that.
X-TINCTION AGENDA #1 (Marc Guggenheim & Carmine Di Giandomenico)In a world where everything has gone wrong and there's no one to turn to besides Havok, GodKing Doom help us all, the remnants of the New Mutants squad fail to convince Baron Rachel Phoenix Summers, GodKing Doom, and anyone anywhere that the plague they're dealing with is not going well. The remnants of this New Mutant squad need to realize that no one, not even Battle World, wants to revisit the Legacy Virus. Also GodKing Doom is a racist, but I think we all already knew that.
YEARS OF FUTURE PAST #1 (Marguerite Bennett & Mike Norton)This book opens with Wolverine throwing a tiger at a wall, so we're off to an exciting start in Terminator + Matrix + Fallout world of the Sentinel Territories, because HOLY SHIT GIANT ROBOTS. They have to deal with Sarah Conner Kitty Pryde, who is hardcore as shit. We also meet Wolverine's new son, who has "ghost" and "has a knife” powers.
This just in, this just in! It's an important news message from our reporter in the field/main book! What is it, Carl?
OH MY GOD I HAD FORGOTTEN CYCLOPS WAS PHOENIX AGAIN SHIT IS FUCKING CRAZY IN HERE MILES MORALES IS RUNNING AROUND DOOM IS GETTING HIS MASK TAKEN OFF AND SHIT OH MY GOD SOMEONE BETTER NOT TELL REED ABOUT HIS WIFE GETTING ALL UP ON THAT FUCKED UP DOOM FACE!
Thanks Carl!
BATTLEWORLD TRAVEL TIP: If you’re an established character, then look out! There’s nothing Marvel loves more than killing name characters in What If? storylines. So for the first time ever, it’s good to be a nameless person in the Marvel universe! Unless you live with Sentinels or zombies or *shudder* the Legacy Virus. Quick! Get me Colossus and a hastily written cop out, stat!
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
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