It's a Bit of a Shame

What happened?

2012-01-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anyone pays any attention to this blog anymore but I always hate when I find an abandoned blog that doesn't have some sort, I don't know if this is the right word, but let's call it a conclusion. The reason I gave up this blog is because I finally admitted to mysel that writing about comics wasn't my passion, it was making comics. So starting on Halloween of last year I launched Heavy Breakfast, a web comic that has been updated more or less once a week. Go check it out.

Random Thoughts on the New DC

2011-10-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back, I've been busy reading all these new DC books, and I figured instead of doing a bunch of reviews I'd list some random thoughts.

*I guess Justice League was fun but really sucked as an introduction to the DC universe, sure it was a good idea pairing up the heroes from DC's most recent movies but I don't know if stringing those potential new readers along while they wait for the Justice League to assemble is the best long term strategy. Ah well, it sold 200,000 copies so what do I know?

*Aside from the unquestionable sales success I think DC's greatest accomplishment is finally having critically acclaimed creative teams on the Trinity. Action Comics, Batman, and Wonder Woman rank among those books everyone should be reading, after the whole debacle with JMS, I though this would never happen.

*Okay, so I guess I was wrong about Animal Man, though I would say the success of that book has a lot more to do with the strength of Jeff Lemire as a writer than it has to do with a general interest in Animal Man, though there's definitely a fair amount of that too.

*I wasn't sure even Grant Morrison could come up with a take on Superman that would click with today's audience but his arrogant, working class hero strikes the perfect balance of the different and the familiar. Going to dread seeing the character in that new costume after this first storyline though.

*I hate to say it but Paul Levitz has lost that Legion magic. I couldn't even bring myself to finish this first issue, as I had long since forgotten why I ever liked these characters. Not a good sign when even a dedicated fan doesn't know why he should care, especially when you consider the target audience are new readers.

*My votes for books that will get canceled first? Voodoo (obscure character, critically panned), Men at War (lacks marquee talent combined with a $3.99 price tag), Resurrection Man (a book canceled due to lack of interest in the 90s with no trade paperback to boost interest), and OMAC (because it's Kirby, and unless we're talking about Marvel or Grant Morrison, no one but Kirby could make Kirby work)

*I don't know if I'll feel the same way several months from now but Frankenstein ended up being my favorite of all the books. It's exactly like BPRD except goofier, stranger, and uglier. A lot of people hated Alberto Ponticelli's artwork, but I think his rough style helps the feel of the book.

*Swamp Thing looked gorgeous, I've always felt Yannick Paquette was an artist always on the verge of something amazing, and this book shows it. Scott Synder also delivered an engrossing story with genuine scares. However I must add that it's probably only engrossing to previous Swamp Thing readers, as it fails to make for a compelling introduction to the character what with him appearing only on the very last page. And yes, I think we can all agree that Superman cameo screamed editorial mandate.

*Sword & sorcery, family horror drama, supernatural team book, and even superheroes. I appreciate the sense of variety on these books, each time I picked up a different book I was delighted by how unique a reading experience it offered.

*Yes, Flash did end up being significantly better than I had expected. Francis Manapul and Brian Bucchelleto are providing the kind of visually fresh art that's become a bit too rare these days. Fingers crossed that this will become DC's artistic response to Marvel's current Daredevil ongoing.

*But this whole thing was really soured by DC's response to those who spoke out against Starfire in "Red Hood & The Outlaws" and that infamous scene in "Catwoman". They responded by reminding readers to be sure to pay attention to their ratings, even though sites like Bleeding Cool have shown how inconsistent those ratings are. I think it would have better to just not say anything if their response was going to be so dismissive.

And now for no reason at all a post about Doctor Strange

2011-08-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

It's rough seeing Doctor Strange nowadays. He doesn't have a Sanctum Sanctorum, he doesn't have his Cape of Levitation, he doesn't have his All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto. He's now just a regular guy in a trench coat whose suave mustache is the only clue to any casual viewer that he's someone extraordinary and not a random pervert fresh from some half decayed porno theater.

At some point in the last couple of years Marvel seems to have become ashamed of its magic characters, sweeping under the carpet any character whose existence didn't fit logically in a world where radiation gives men super powers and so of course Doctor Strange, Marvel's living embodiment of magic, was the one to receive the most downgrading. They scrubbed away all the most intriguing Ditkonian elements away from, leaving him to seem like nothing special at all.

If such treatment were done to some random C-lister from the 70s like Adam Warlock there wouldn't be much reason for concern, but this is Doctor Strange, he's a staple of the Marvel universe. In his earliest adventures Steve Ditko defied conventions and created a world of psychedelic imagery combined with postmodern art thereby influencing numerous artists for generations to come. Then in the 1970s Steve Englehart would use the character to explore the metaphysical and spiritual concerns which helped to usher in deeper storytelling in comics. Then in the 80s Roger Stern would begin an epic run on the character that ranks among Stern's best work. Since then the character has been in miniseries featuring some of the best talents in comics; Brian K. Vaughn, Peter Milligan, Brendan McCarthy, Mike Allred, Tony Harris. In case you were not aware those people have got ALL KINDS of Eisners. My point is Strange has had numerous classic stories and clearly draws the attention of significant talent.

I think Marvel's just ashamed of the camp. Despite my argument in how great Doctor Strange is, I have to admit that he's also kind of corny. He's the guy who shouts "By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!" or "By the all-seeing Eye of Agamotto". Then there's the wild hand gestures, the mustache, and that costume that brings to mind a mix between a Dio album cover and Joseph's Technicolor Dreamcoat. And Wong, he's got an Asian servant named Wong. It's no wonder that the character spawned a hilarious parody in Doctor Orpheus on Adult Swim's "Venture Bros", because to his very core he is pretty goofy. Maybe this is why Marvel has been so aggressive about cleaning house on the character, seeing just what needed to be removed to make the character seem serious. But instead of making him better focused it just caused him to tumble further and further away from what made him appealing. It's just one of those unfortunate side effects of a comic audience demanding "serious" storytelling.

But I can't say Marvel didn't try, in the 2000s there were a slew of fantastic miniseries. Marvel didn't radically change Strange in any of these stories, instead trying to sell the classic version of the character to today's audience. They even went as far as to get some of their best creative minds to work on these titles. But despite their best efforts no one read them. After that they passed him along to Brian Michael Bendis to see what he could do. Needless to say that lead to how things are now.

But maybe this dark time for the character is on its way out. Matt Fraction will be writing a new Defenders ongoing featuring Doctor Strange. Fraction sounds like he has some solid ideas which will definitely take advantage of this character. I won't lie, the part I find most exciting is seeing Strange in promo art wearing what appears to be a goofy red vest over a black body suit, it's no flowing cape that looks like an old Indian rug but it'll do.

My concerns and bitchings about DC's November 2011 solicits

2011-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

*Does anyone plan to regularly buy the Justice League combo packs? The idea I'm assuming behind this is that someone may want to buy both a physical copy as well as a digital copy. This is an idea you see in vinyl records and DVDs. But in both these examples you need that digital version to enjoy the product in a way you couldn't do easily with that product alone. What scenario can you think of where you'd have to have a comic in a different format because you couldn't enjoy it in the way you have it? Carry it on a bus? Flip through it while on a toilet? No, neither of these seem likely. I'm not sure someone is going to cough up an extra dollar for what I suppose is a sense of novelty. It's like DC was so desperate to one-up Marvel's digital game that they just threw out something without much prior thought.

*DC seems to have its books divided into those for preexisting fans and those for those possibly imaginary new readers. So what about that third group? The ones for no one. I look at books like Captain Atom, The Savage Hawkman, and Blackhawks and wonder just who they have in mind. These books all star characters that have limited or no appeal (otherwise there would be at least one Captain Atom trade paperback, you know?) and don't seem to tie-in to any obvious comic outsider trends like teen vampires or guys in tight shirts. It would appear DC putting out books doomed to fail are part of their relaunch strategy as well.

*I am absolutely shocked DC is putting out another THUNDER Agents series even if it is only a 6 issue miniseries, it's kind of like when they put out a multi-issue miniseries with those Red Circle characters right after all of their ongoings completely bombed. I know THUNDER Agents had a small following but is that really grounds to throw away money?

*Strange observation vaguely associated with this thing: You know what isn't in the back of the last issues of the two Flashpoint minseries I read? An acknowledgment of the existence of ongoing series that tie into these miniseries. In neither "Frankenstein & the Creatures of the Unknown" and "Secret Seven" is a blurb saying something like "read the continuing adventures of ____ in their own ongoing starting next month". I'm sure there were ads in those books acknowledging their existence but what about those oh so important new readers who may not make that connection?

*On one hand I'm impressed with DC's commitment to staying on schedule but at the same time they sure have switched out a great deal of artists a mere three months in. Considering that DC's stated they planned this relaunch over a year ago I'm surprised things are falling apart so fast, it makes it hard to have faith in the overall stability of this project.

*I love Legion of Super-Heroes with all my heart but damn, what is DC thinking by putting out THREE LOSH titles? The series' glory days are long since past and if we've learned anything from the recent relaunch of LOSH and Adventure Comics is that the market can barely support one ongoing let alone two. I guess those promo rings for the first issue of "Legion: Secret Origin" will help a bit but I doubt they will ever make the money back from at least two of these titles.

Bristles of Evil

2011-08-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

I want you to think about an age old image, it's the 1920s, a damsel in distress is lying on the tracks, a man in black has placed her there. Now I ask, what is he twiddling? I imagine you didn't say "his earlobes".

The mustache, yes, the mustache, what has happened to villains with mustaches? Think of the classic villains of comic books. Guys like The Puzzler, The Prankster, Abra Kadabra, The Machinesmith, Adam Orion, Turner D. Century, Brainstorm, El Diablo. See? All brilliant, all deserving of the title of "greatest villain the printed page has ever seen". When you read the stories where whatever smooth skinned, boring hero fought these hirsute hustlers you knew it meant business, however this hero was going to win it would only be just barely.

So what happened, I have to ask, why all the folliclephobia? Imagine how much more intimidating characters like Bullseye or Darkseid would be with an empowering Imperial or a delicious DuPont.

I know, I see you now stroking that smooth, triple shaved chin of yours not quite grasping my argument. Well try out these cold hard facts: Did you know that leading scientists have stated that an individual is 11% intimidating if they have a mustache? It's true. In some Eastern European countries the mustache was considered so evil that instead of burying men with mustaches they were instead tossed into the woods to be eaten by bears as you see these people lacked science but we forgive them. When asked why he didn't act sooner to intervene in World War II president William Taft simply held up a picture of Hitler and gestured at his mustache and for the questioner, that was suffice.

Not enough? Clearly you're not a man easily convinced, that's to be expected of a soft minded man with mutton chops. I laugh for you've experience the threat, no no, I mean to say the tyranny of mustaches. Just think back to those old episodes of Batman, didn't you ever wonder why you seemed so scared to watch the episodes with David Wayne's Mad Hatter or how the sight of Cesar Romero's powdered over mustache just made you want to wretch? That was the mustache's power. And when you had your first job, you remember that manager you had who had that big ol 'stache? I bet you often dreamed of killing him, not necessarily because of how mean he was to you but more so due to a deep-rooted fear that he may one nightsneak into your room as you slept and perform some unspeakable evil act on you of an occult nature. Yes, again, the mustache proves it's strength.

If I've gotten through to you then hopefully you will hear my plea. Let's go back to that era of mad bombers with crazed fu manchus to go with crazed hair, bank robbers who don't have to wear masks because their van dyke covers so much already. So next time you're reading a comic where Batman or whoever is being slowly dunked into a tank full of acidic worms and the villain reveals a bare upper lip think to yourself "Hey man, why all the face?"

Fashion Fury: Man of Steel and Dark Knight Rises

2011-08-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

This week saw a lot of teaser images for DC's upcoming movies though some of them weren't intentional and what kind of fan would I be if I didn't try to make huge assumptions based off a handful of images without context?

First up is the first official image from the Zack Synder helmed "Man of Steel", a movie being made for copyright reasons first, and for genuine entertainment second, maybe. Here we have our Superman, Henry Cavill, hanging out in some incredibly dark bank vault. I'm not really sure what they're trying to convey with Superman destroying a bank, but the dim lighting makes me worry that this is going to be as edgy and music videoy as Zack Snyder's previous films.

Now as for Superman's costume I think it was a good move to stick pretty close to the classic costume. The only real difference the blue Spider-Man gills and that parachute sized cape. The gills make sense as I doubt regular blue would look so eye-catching but that cape is going to look pretty odd during action scenes. Seriously, that thing's Spawn-sized.

The one lingering mystery is his red underwear. After much searching for a brighter version as well as far more time in PhotoScape staring as Superman's groin than I care to admit to I'm unsure if we're getting the classic crimson crotch or the now modern regular blue pants.

My biggest complaint is that logo, it's unnatural and kind of bloated, like something that would be on a budget Superman Halloween costume. It looks like it couldn't handle a gentle breeze let alone a bullet.

Verdict: Probably the right direction but I highly doubt I'll like the execution.

Now for the double feature of Bane and Catwoman from "Dark Knight Rises" which is perhaps the most under-guarded movie set ever.Earlier in the week a ton of images of Tom Hardy's Bane leaked but now all I can find is this single image on Bleeding Cool. From what I recall Bane wears a wool-lined coat, and some outfit covered in lots of pouches that I will choose to describe has combat fatigues. I think we can all let out a sigh of relief that this costume is far-removed from the typical comic book outfit because a luchadore mask and muscle shirt would probably damage the credibility of the Batman movie world.

His clothing remind me of a seasoned mercenary which could mean we'll see the skilled tactician from the comic books. His gas mask, I really don't know, it seems quite BDSM and it's the only time in the entire franchise where I wasn't so sure it fit with the rules of the world. It, combined with the clothing, makes me think Bane looks like a boss from Metal Gear Solid which I guess is kind of cool.

Teaser shots of Anne Hathaway's Catwoman/Selina Kyle finished off the week with a bitchin' picture of her tearing things up on a Batpod. I chose to avoid reading message board responses as I imagine this stripped down look did not sit well with some fans. I'm sure people are let down by the lack of her signature cat ears but I don't think that would fit with the world Christopher Nolan's made. Instead it seems to be going for a strictly logical costume that features a sleek, form fitting outfit and some Sam Fisheresque pair of night vision goggles.

While I understand the logic of the design I must admit it lacks the sort of visual flair that Heath Ledger's Joker had. If you remove those night vision goggles she's just some woman in a plain black body suit. But then again it's just one teaser image, maybe there's more to see. Furthermore the costume is only half the character, who knows what Hathaway's interpretation of the character will add.

Verdict: I'm sold on some of these ideas but not so much on others. I'll save my judgment until we get an official trailer.

With all due respect Mr. Bissette, I disagree

2011-08-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

I want to start by saying I have immense respect for Stephen Bissette, not only as an artist, writer, but more importantly for being one of the few comic industry figures willing to speak out against the tyranny of the industry. I'm willing to believe Bissette has paid dearly for it, as it's been some time since we've seen new work from someone so unquestionably talented. But that's the price you pay for blowing the whistle on the injustices of corporations. Last week Marvel once again helped sully Jack Kirby's legacy, this time in court when a judge stated Kirby's family had no right to claims of copyright for the characters he co-created. True to form Stephen Bissette made it loud and clear that he would not stand for it.

Bissette starts off by pointing how all it took for DC to change was the SDCC Batgirl, a woman I previously mentioned on here who stood up at most of DC's panels and took the company to task for not hiring more women creators during their September relaunch. Just this week DC posted on their blog that they were taking steps to fix the problems she mentioned. Bissette says that it was time for fans to take the same approach in response to last week's ruling. He says that the best way to do this is to boycott ALL product featuring a Marvel-owned Jack Kirby creation. Fans should stop watching the cartoons, reading the comics, seeing the movies, and so on. Then when next year's San Diego Comic Convention comes along fans take the same approach and at their panels fans should take a stand against the company as "San Diego Comicon 2012 should be the least comfortable event".

But I have some problems with this idea. First of all I feel the wrong people will be affected first, and only maybe eventually the right people as well. Right now month-to-month Marvel sales make up about half the market share so when you go into a comic book store and say you're boycotting Marvel you're telling these struggling, barely left comic book stores that you're not going to buy a significant chunk of their product. Keep in mind that they order two months in advance meaning there's going to be at least two months of product that will sit there. Next up in the chain is comics distributor Diamond who if suddenly faced with financial struggles will start cutting the lower tier employees. Then comes the artists and writers on those titles people are boycotting, granted people on exclusive contracts can afford to have a low-selling title or two, but how about creators who switched from lower-paying independent publishers to a more financially viable gig. It's only after the independently run comic book stores, Diamond staff, and non-exclusive creators are affected that finally maybe the people who actually had a say in Kirby's estate will feel anything but god knows how long that will take.

The other problem is that the grim reality of the comics reading community is that there's a disturbingly large amount of fans who just don't care. Just today when Robot6 covered Bissette's protest the very first comment was from someone stating they could not understand how Kirby's heirs could believe they deserve any money since they didn't create these characters, though I doubt this person realizes that this same argument could be made to say that Marvel doesn't deserve anything as they also did not create these characters. The problem is that this group of fans are far more interested in having title stability, they want the security of having the same comic come out month-to-month which would be interrupted by any victory for Kirby's heirs. To them the suffering of the people who helped create their favorite characters mean nothing, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby are basically abstract concepts to them, as far as they know Iron Man and Spider-Man simply sprung into existence from Stan Lee's head.

If we really want to stand a chance of affecting change we need to be more aggressive about this, we need to literally make our voices be heard. We have to be like the SDCC Batgirl, she showed us how a concerned fan can make a difference. We can't be passive about this, we have to be in Marvel's face, we have to be bold and unafraid. Instead of hurting the wrong people and asking too much of a group unwilling to even understand why this is wrong we need to go out and incessantly write letters to Marvel, endlessly post on their message boards, and yes, go to those panels at conventions and make these people uncomfortable. Only then I feel the right people be forced to listen.

Reluctant Movie Review Corner: Captain America

2011-07-31T19:49:00.000-07:00

Whenever a new superhero movie comes out I tell myself that I'll skip it and watch something a little more highbrow in theaters this time around, but ultimately I fail and go see yet another movie that requires me to turn down my standards by a bit. But having recently seen "Tree of Life" in theaters (*****, HIGHLY recommended!) I felt it was okay to give in more readily and see "Captain America".

It seems like this movie has been in gestation forever as I remember when word first came out Ed Brubaker's Captain America was one of my favorite ongoing possibly ever and now with the movie finally released I'm not even sure what I liked about that book, having sold all of it not too long ago. Thankfully I still have some lingering love for this character and the promise of Hugo Weaving playing a Werner Herzog-influenced Red Skull proved at least partially intriguing.

Ultimately "Captain America: The First Avenger" is an okay movie that once again requires that I not hold it up to the standards of actual quality film making, but then again I seriously doubt anyone goes into these movies thinking otherwise, and god help them if they do. It's not the kind of movie I would normally go out of my way to review but then again I run a comics blog so I kind of have to. But in the interest of keeping this brief I'll present my thoughts as a series of bullet points, a format ~~blatantly stolen from~~ heavily inspired by Mike Sterling of Progressive Ruin. Spoilers ahead!!

*Man, those were some rough trailers, I had to sit through "Contagion", Steven Soderberg's zombie movie without any zombies; "Amazing Spider-Man" which seemed promising until that Mirror's Edge rip-off near the end, and some movie where that werewolf from "Twilight" goes all Bourne Identity. That last trailer featured no less than 17 houses exploding.

*I think this movie did as good a job as they could in explaining to non-comic nerds how Captain America is both a WWII hero and member of The Avengers. Also I really appreciate them avoiding having someone go "My GOD!" upon seeing the frozen Captain America

*Hugo Weaving is a fantastic Red Skull, but unfortunately the script does not give him much to do. He's really evil and there's a couple of good fight scenes but ultimately he doesn't quite stick with you the way Heath Ledger's The Joker or Tom Hiddelston's Loki did.

*I was pretty resistant to Chris Evans as Captain America, right up to the release of the film but as soon as I saw him moving around in costume I knew he was the right choice. Like Weaving I don't feel like he was given the most engaging story, but at least his character had more depth.

*Character-wise the handling of Bucky was a pleasant surprise. Instead of being a Jimmy Olsen he was more a big brother for the pre-Super Soldier Steve Rogers. Not really sure how I felt about them eventually killing him off. I guess you could argue that his death allowed Steve Rogers to finally become his own man and at the same time act as a catalyst for Rogers to finally push to take down Red Skull once and for all, but I don't think the movie did the best job at conveying that. Hopefully this won't result in a Winter Soldier appearance, that would be goofy.

*I hope this movie results in typecasting for Tommy Lee Jones, he plays a curmudgeon quite well.

*The most toyetic set piece is Red Skull's totally sexy Murder Wagon.

*I did find this movie had a bit of a conflicted view on the war. On one hand the bright palette and complete lack of acknowledgment of the atrocities of WWII gave its portrayal of war as being about as serious as some kid bumping action figures together in his backyard. That's fine, there's nothing wrong with trying to tone down the reality of war in order to make for a more family friendly film that has tie-in action figures and a main character that appears on cartoons. But then again there are scenes of soldiers being vaporized, graphically shredded in plane propellers, shot in the head, and so on. I guess it's too cliche at this point to acknowledge what that says about America's relationship with violence.

*I doubt I can think of a superhero movie with more costume changes for the main character. Captain America goes from dopey, literal interpretation of his comic book costume, a vaguely Ultimate 1940s inspired costume to the movie costume.

*I guess the movie was going for a sense of symmetry but it was kind of goofy having two scenes involving characters performing a dangerous experiment while their sidekick slowly counts off progressively rising multiples of 10 on a dial.

*I'm not going to lie, I loved each and every one of the nerdy easter eggs, like the hint at Arnim Zola's eventual fate or showing Steve Rogers drawing in a sketch book. I actually grabbed my girlfriend's arm at that last part, ecstatically whispering "Oh man! I can't believe someone remembered he's an artist!" I had no idea I could still get so excited about such things.

*For me the hands down funniest part was seeing typical comic relief character, Dum Dum Dugan, viciously mowing down people with a pump-action shotgun. Yeah, I suppose I have a different sense of humor than some.

*The real star of the movie was that spinning green torch at the beginning of the movie. What's his story? I want to learn more!

One more thing about SDCC

2011-07-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

After reading this post over at DC Women Kicking Ass I couldn't help but make one more post about SDCC. At each DC panel there was a woman dressed as Batgirl who took DC to task for their treatment of their female characters in this upcoming relaunch, and more importantly, for their lack of female creators.

I felt a need to make this post because my only acknowledgement of female fans outrage was that one woman shouting "How can you justify calling that diversity?" at Dan Didio. However this other woman (who has not revealed her real name, hence me awkwardly referring to her as "this woman") was the exact opposite as she calmly and clearly presenting each of her concerns to the panel. But instead of receiving proper responses the panel were flippant to her serious inquiries. Worst of all these responses came from people like Grant Morrison and Jim Lee, people I've grown up reading, people who are now helping to perpetrate a boy's club mentality at DC.

DC Women Kicking Ass also posted an interview with this woman who later on touches upon one of my criticisms about that previously mentioned female fan, namely that a female character associated with a male character is somehow weaker than those who are not. She explains "Johns [stated] that DC had more iconic female characters than anyone else, and also said that he loved Mera, who was a great character and ‘right there next to Aquaman’. The first woman Johns mentioned in response to my question wasn’t Wonder Woman, it was a character defined by her relationship to one of the male superheroes." Emphasis mine, and it's a fair enough argument, because no matter how developed Mera is as a character she wouldn't exist without Aquaman.

But you know what's the most disturbing part about all of this? At a separate panel she bluntly asked Didio if he was committed to hiring female creators and his response is "I’m committed to hiring the absolute best writers and artists.” Upon pointing out that this makes it seem as if there are no talented female writers and artists the audience grew furious. She never did get a proper response.

So not only does Didio not see a problem with this it also seems male fans don't either. That's a pretty upsetting reality for female comic fans.

I know I'm not really adding anything here but I felt like doing what I could to spread the word about DC's stance towards female fans and if this topic matters to you I ask that you do the same.

THUNDER SHARK and Rag Fish - San Diego Comic Con

2011-07-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

San Diego is once again behind us leaving me once again wondering what the excitement was all about but instead of making a list of sarcastic, cynical observations I've decided to make a list that's only half sarcastic, cynical observations. So welcome to my completely original concept in which I quantify my observations as either positives (referred to with proud exaltation as THUNDER SHARK) or negatives (halfheartedly, reluctantly referred to as Rag Fish). I'm in talks with Spike TV to sell off the concept, I may even shut down this blog based on the royalties and licensing we're talking about.

THUNDER SHARK to the return of The Defenders. I usually go pretty easy on Marvel but if there's one thing they've dropped the ball on it's Dr. Strange. It's been pretty rough seeing one of my favorite characters have everything that makes him interesting systematically removed. So I was pretty delighted to hear that they were not only putting him on this new Defenders book but also bringing in Matt Fraction to write. I know I've been pretty indifferent to Fraction's run on Thor but when I read this interview with him on Comic Book Resources in which he stated he was going to write Strange as "William S. Burroughs, Man of Occult Mystery" I have to admit my eye brow was at least a little raised. I'm not sure if we'll see the return of the Cloak of Levitation wearing, "By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth" shouting version of the character but I'm willing to believe Fraction is capable of restoring the character to close to his former glory.

Rag Fish to that DC protest that didn't even happen. It was ridiculous to try to mount a full-scale protest because people didn't like the direction a comic book universe was taking but it's even more ridiculous that no even bothered to show up. Good work guys, I'm sure Dan Didio is currently running around like Pee Wee Herman with handfuls of snakes as he attempts to make last minute changes in hopes of appeasing your group.

THUNDER SHARK to me being wrong about The Flash relaunch. I was letdown by the announcement of artist Francis Manapul taking over The Flash. As I've stated, The Flash is in serious need of a strong creative team and someone new to writing didn't strike me as the guy to pull it off. But as the preview artwork and DC panels revealed Manapul and co-writer Brian Buccellato have come up with some great ideas, both visually and storywise. This splash page for instance reminds me a great deal of JH Williams III which is never a bad thing. Then there's the revelation that the book will introduce Flash's rogues gallery one at a time which I'm hoping means these characters will operate more individually instead of as a team. Based on this little information I'm gladly recanting my previous reservations.

Rag Fish to fan rage. Comic Book Resources' Josie Campbell states "A female fan told Didio that she counted and out of the twenty-eight solo character titles only six were women and only two were not connected to older male superheroes. “How do you justify calling that diversity?” the fan asked as the audience cheered." which annoys me because on one hand this is a legitimate concern but at the same time is stated in the most asinine way possible. I understand a desire to see more female characters existing on their own but it's inaccurate to say DC hasn't tried before this relaunch with characters like Zatanna and Power Girl. I'm not saying that it's fair to exclude them now but I feel like giving an ongoing to a character who failed so recently as part of a company wide relaunch would be unwise. Furthermore I'm annoyed by the implied notion that a female character is inferior if they spun out of a male character's book. If anything it shows they're stronger overall for continuing to be popular outside that male character's book.

Rag Fish to Dan Didio avoiding tough questions. I hated how emotionally charged that one fan's question was but she was still entitled to a legitimate answer. From that same Josie Campbell write-up of the panel "Didio told her it was an industry problem and then dodged the question, calling on the next fan". Ouch. I know it's rough being Dan Didio, serious, hang out at just one DC Nation Panel and you'll quickly feel shame at being a comics fan due to the way fans feel they can talk to him. But there was a serious inquiry in that question that was most likely delivered with aggressive finger pointing. For those more level headed fans with the same concern it was like being told that ultimately DC doesn't care.

THUNDER SHARK to Grant Morrison on Superman. I think like most people when Grant Morrison finished up "All-Star Superman" I was hoping one day we'd see him take over one of the two Superman ongoings. With years and years of Superman creative teams that just didn't click with audiences DC has finally made that logical decision of bringing aboard Morrison. Most interesting of all is it would appear he's being allowed to make some risky changes to the character, ones that seem to help make Superman like less of the superhero with a stick up his ass to the inspiring, down-to-earth demigod of Morrison's celebrated series.

Epic Review: Daredevil #1

2011-07-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this cover from the early years of Daredevil, it's issue 9, take a good look at his face, he's smiling. Now compare that to your vision of Daredevil, the draped in shadows, recounting his origin to himself as he takes on a wave of master ninja assassins. A warm, life affirming smile is about the last thing that I could ever imagine him doing. Kind of funny because when the character was first introduced, pouncing amongst a group of villains in a bright red and yellow costume, he was supposed to be cut of the same cloth as Spider-Man. He was supposed to be a wise-cracking cavalier hero whose greatest struggle was winning the heart of the attractive secretary at work. But as time went on this interpretation was stretched, shrunk, and reworked in every possible attempting to find that right tone for the character with relatively no success. That was until that young turk Frank Miller came along and planted the character firm in a world of gritty city streets, martial arts, and lots and lots of suffering.

Frank Miller would say goodbye to the character in the legendary storyline "Born Again" in which alter ego Matt Murdock's life is slowly dismantled when the woman he loves sells his secret identity for a fix of heroin. In case it wasn't obvious it's heavy stuff. But much like Watchmen did for the majority of superhero comics "Born Again" proved so influencial as to permanently change the status quo. Almost immediately did the life of Daredevil/Matt Murdock consist of being given a little sense of normalcy and even sometimes happiness only to have it all destroyed in a matter of issues. Poor Horn Head has had to watch his ex-girlfriend slowly die of AIDS, had his best friend supposedly murdered, gotten married only to have that woman be driven permanently insane by a vengeful antagonist, had his law firm blown up, and there was even an issue where he tells everyone he's going to Australia but in fact he just goes home, trashes his apartment and then commits suicide with his wife and young daughter, oh wait, that's the plot of "Seventh Continent".

Eventually things got so bad for the guy that he switched out his vibrant red costume for a edgy black costume, became possessed by a demon, and basically turned into a supervillain willing to kill hero and villain alike. This all happened in the crossover "Shadowland" which was either intended to increase readership with an even grimmer take on the character or meant to be one big final goodbye to that era. But either way Daredevil was canceled and given a couple months break before this new take on the character.

I had no clue what to expect from this book, I like Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, and Marcos Martin but I had no idea what they were going with this character. It's an interesting first couple of pages, Daredevil spies on a mafia wedding around sunset and eventually must fight z-list Spider-Man villain, The Spot. Eventually in a scene that reminds me of that cover from issue 9, he grabs the bride and plants a big kiss on her. In that moment it was so clear that the Frank Miller Daredevil is dead.

Don't think that Waid and company have obliterated that previous era, it's all still there, Matt Murdock is still dealing with the effects of "Shadowland" and the common place knowledge of his secret identity. But the way it's handled is completely different, instead of brooding on top of a building, Murdock playfully denies his association with his costumed alter ego. And yes, he even smiles a bit.

The issue is divided into two stories (which makes the $3.99 price tag much more acceptable) and it's that second story that really grabbed me. The first story is for everyone who wants the average superhero fight fest while the second story focuses on an average day in the life of Matt Murdock. It starts with Matt belittling Foggy Nelson for eating potato chips as the crunching sound are like localized explosions to him, they then go out on a walk where Matt passionately sniffs some apricots, and eventually Matt teaches himself how to play a violin while in the subway. Nothing really happens in this story as far as action, unless the sight of someone rocking out on a violin gets you excited, but I guess that's what I love so much about it, it's just two close friends hanging out, spending the day in New York. It's a pretty risky story to have in the first issue of a series, especially one in need of new readers like Daredevil, but Mark Waid takes a huge risk (and I guess you could say his editor does too) and it pays off. It's funny because as excited as I was for the art team on this book I was a smidge letdown by the choice of writer, I was hoping there would be as equally an adventurous, fresh attached to this book as Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin but Waid shows he's still just as creative as he was in the 90s.

The real highlight of this second story is artist Marcos Martin whose visual inventiveness is not only impressive it helps to restore my faith in mainstream comics. Take a look at this scene of Matt and Foggy walking around the streets of New York. Typical comic book layouts see the use of repetitive 4-to-6 square panel layouts with the occasional splash page to mix things up. But here Martin uses the entirety of a two page spread to tell the story, removing any panel grids in order to allow the progression of their walk to work as dividers. Then there's the subtle touch of those little squares, so subtle I actually missed them when I first saw these pages. These squares are around different elements along Murdock's walk, such things as the intensity of a bird's flapping wings, the cacophony of a passerby's music. It helps build the world of Daredevil, it helps readers experience the synthesia of his world. Artists should constantly take advantage of the unique properties of comic books, expressing ideas in ways that could be achieved only through the combination of words and picture and unbelievably Marcos Martin does just that. I honestly didn't think artists like this still existed in the mainstream. To be blunt I really do hope history repeats itself with Martin, I want to see him go the way of previous Daredevil illustrator David Mazzucchelli and begin work on something more complex than superheroes.

Saying goodbye to The Xeric Foundation

2011-07-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

There are very few things more depressing than trying to make it in comics. But things had to be ten times harder before the internet because all those wonderful innovations that have come with it, social networks, no internet store fronts, and let's not forget e-mail, simply weren't there. I imagine the life of an indie cartoonist back then as being a rough, exhausting one (not that things are much better now) aided only by a ever wavering sense of confidence. Thankfully there was at least one way to make life easier, as way back in 1992 Peter Laird (co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) founded the Xeric Foundation which set out to aid the development of new talent in the world of comics through grant prizes. The organization was a wonderful boon for many budding talents and helped aid the careers of a plethora of different talent, including such well known cartoonists as Karl Stevens, Jessica Abel, Anders Nilsen and so many people that it would be ridiculous to list them all.

Unfortunately, but inevitably, Laird made the announcement last week that the Xeric Foundation, after next year's round of grant awardings, will switch instead to charity efforts. It's a mighty blow to striving artists but at the same time it's a pretty logical decision that was bound to happen eventually. Anyone who glances at Kickstarter's comic section will see it's a much easier, more streamlined, and more popular means to seek aid in publishing comics. That's not even considering that it's only that's if you want to have a physical comic. As Laird points out in an official press release (which you can read here) there's always the web comic option which cost nothing in some cases. Simply put as time goes on there are fewer reasons for putting aside this money when it's not nearly as needed.

I really will hate to see it go as from a consumer's angle this was one of the best ways to catch up on who's who for rising talent. In a way knowing the amount of effort that went into getting that Xeric Grant money let me know this individual deserves my attention, and honestly looking at the list of recipients it's clear that, yes, these really were some of the finest talent in comics.

In closing I want to take a look at some of my favorite Xeric Grant winners.

Young Lions by Blaise Larmee

As goofy as it is to say Blaise Larmee's "Young Lions" is more an experience than it is a story. Larmee tells a tale guided by feeling and imagery about a group of friends on a vacation at the beach. There are wolves, there are ghosts, and an exploration of the age old question of what will happen when Yoko Ono dies. "Young Lions" is illustrated in a delicate, evocative style reminiscent of a more playful, grounded CF.

Power Out by Nathan Schreiber

Nathan Schreiber has written one of the best comics about teen alienation since "Ghost World". In "Power Out" a teenager must wrestle with survival and raging hormones when he's left home alone during a massive power outage. The world of "Power Out" is the commonplace American suburbs here transformed into a lush, blue hued no-man's land filled with endless adventure. I'm anxiously awaiting the second volume which will be released thanks to Kickstarter.

Death Trap by Lane Milburn

Horror is an all too difficult genre to portray in comics but Lane Milburn has beaten the odds and given a potent, engrossing story that beats the last 90 or so slasher flicks in quality. Though the plot is about as well traveled as Crystal Lake's pathways there's enough personality and originality to give a memorable experience. The real draw though is the excellent artwork which renders each night time scene with more morbid detail than your average black metal album cover.

Random Reviews

2011-07-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #1-2

"Seven Soldiers" is one of the reasons I still read comics. After all the crap surrounding "Identity Crisis" I was growing weary of the direction DC was taking things, but then came Grant Morrison's innovative maxiseries to help save me from turning my back on comics yet again. "Seven Soldiers" for those of you who aren't familiar featured the adventures of a group of seven superheroes who never acctually meet, and so the series was constructed of seven four issue miniseries each giving the unique perspective of a different team member. Why I love this series is that each of those seven miniseries offered a glimpse at a unique world, far removed from the popular cliches of comics, I wanted so desperately for one of these characters to go onto their own ongoing series.

It took forever but it's finally happened, Jeff Lemire gives readers the Flashpoint tie-in "Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown" (which for the sake of making this review less a chore to type will be referred to from here on out as simply "Frankenstein"). Since this takes place in Flashpoint continuity things are a bit different for Frankenstein. This time around the creature is the member of a group of monster comissioned by the US government to fight the Nazi during WWII. When the war ends Frankenstein and his team mates are put in suspended animation only to be awakened decades later in modern times. Yeah so it's not the most original plot in the world but that's not why you should read this book.

Just like those original "Seven Soldiers" miniseries this is a book like no other (okay, except for BPRD, but whatever). Within the first couple of pages I'm immediately reminded of why I liked this character so much. Frankenstein hulks around, chopping away at enemies with his massive, enchanted broadsword, saying such theatrical lines as "You...evil thing. My flesh may indeed be a twisted aberration but inside lives the soul of a man. The same cannot be said for you!" Lemire NAILS this character, and considering the track record of Grant Morrison characters in the hands of people who are not Grant Morrison, that's a very impressive feat. The rest of the team is made up of equally iconic monsters and though not are not as immediately as likable as Frankenstein, show promise.

Like any team book worth reading Frankenstein and his team mates just look great together. This is thanks to Ibraim Roberson who provides the first issue and a half of content. Roberson renders each monster with maximum ghastly detail and gives each action scene a manic, fluid feel. Roberson is aided on coloring by Pete Pantazis who gives the creepy laboratories and savage war zones an effective moodiness that helps gives this book a visual style as unique as its story. But the quality takes a nosedive once Alex Massacci comes on board most likely for deadline reasons. Massacci really cuts corners, neglecting to create backgrounds, giving characters vague expressions, and even recycling artwork. I'm not sure what the deal is, this is the first time I've encountered Massacci's artwork so who knows, maybe he was up against an extremely tight deadline and this was the best he can do, but it really brings down the book compared to Ibraim Roberson's contribution.

I'm curious to see how this book wraps up next month and much more interested in how it will connect to the continuity of the ongoing series. If you want to read a team book that mixes things up in a refreshing way this is the book for you.

The Captain America America Rocks 4th of Julysextravaganza

2011-07-04T15:32:00.000-07:00

I felt a certain obligation to update on this, my nation's holiday dedicated to honoring that time we totally stuck it to the British. I wasn't really sure what to update with, I just knew it had to be Captain America, because I'm lazy and there's a Twilight Zone marathon I should be watching right now. But I couldn't figure out what to do, maybe I could do a list of best Captain America villains? No. Best stories? Naw. If I'm ever to do a entry on Captain America I have to do it on the most under appreciated run in perhaps all of comics.

For 10 years former Marvel editor Mark Gruenwald was the writer on Captain America and very few runs can match up to the sheer nuttiness of this run, that's right, it's so out there I had no choice but to refer to it as nutty. Every square inch of Captain America's world during those 10 years are filled with odd touches, like Steve Rogers getting a job illustrating a Captain America comic book or hanging out with a guy with red, white, and blue hair and a boombox bazooka.

In an attempt to get more people to pay attention to this rare treat of creative madness on par with the more lysergic moments of Steve Gerber I'm picking some of my favorite stories from Gruenwald's decade long run. Now I must mention that I don't own these comics anymore, so that means I have to describe all of this by memory, meaning there's going to be errors which I believe on some level enhances what I'm sharing.

1. Capwolf - In this, the unquestionable most bizarre storyline, Captain America is turned into a werewolf by some guy, Doctor Druid or whatever. But it's okay because he can still fit into his costume and can talk, kinda, just now he sounds like Scooby Doo. Somehow this goes on for like 6 issues and the main plot is there's some guy, maybe the same guy who turned Cap into a werewolf trying to become a mega powerful werewolf. Si Captain America has to unite all the vaguely werewolf-y superheroes like Wolfsbane, Wolverine, and Cable (???). Then that guy turns into this werewolf with a starfield body because he jammed a gem in his throat, or something.

2. Madcap - Mark Gruenwald created some enduring villains for Captain America, Crossbones, Scourge, The Serpent Society, but he also created....unique villains like Madcap. Madcap was originally some guy who was doing some trip with his church group, but then the bus ran into an AIM truck carrying chemicals that did things to religious people's bodies. When the man who would become Madcap came to he was the only survivor and learned he could not die as well having the ability to hypnotize people (sure, why not?). This leads him to become a wacky clown with funny hat. This character wallowed in obscurity for years and years but for has recently popped up in both Ghost Rider and Wolverine. Could a Madcap ongoing be far behind??

3. Ronald Reagan, Snake Monster - They killed MODOK, they stole Serpent Crown, and I'm sure they did a lot of other crap but nothing quite matches the time The Serpent Society turned one our presidents into a snake guy. I guess the team decided to be ambitious and decides to poison Washington's water supply with some ill-defined snake changing chemical. There's this great sequence where Captain America must beat the crap out of Reagan (who they never explicitly name but despite the amount of scales it's obvious who it is) who is in his underwear which are drawn as baggy and ill-fitting so it kind of looks like he's wearing a diaper.

4. The Armadillo - Marvel's always had the animal themed villains on lock down, covering damn near any animal you can think of, but with the feisty armadillo left unclaimed Gruenwald came up with this weirdo. Other than looking like one of the most adorable animals ever, this guy has a pretty depressing back story. This guy allowed some scientist to turn into this thing so that he could get money to help find a cure for his sickly girlfriend. It ended up working but with his girlfriend no longer an invalid she chose to pursue new options, leaving this guy a twisted freak for no reason. I can't think of any noteworthy stories involving this character but I do remember he had to carry various things around with him in what was essentially a fanny pack.

5. Flag Smasher - After seeing his dad get killed at riot this guy decided to destroy stuff like flags, and other symbols of national pride. He's kind of like if someone took your classic Silver Age Batman villain and made him a terrorist. My favorite touch with this character is that Mr. Flag Smasher realized this was too big a project for him so he created ULTIMATUM, a group of foot soldiers who wore ski masks and adorable little berets. Eventually this guy was killed off but someone at Marvel had a bit of a crush on ol' Flag Smasher as the concept was pretty quickly revived some time later.

DC fans to protest DC at Comic-Con

2011-06-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

Over at Robot 6 is a story about how a group of irate DC fans are fed up with the publisher's shenanigans and are taking to the streets of San Diego to protest outside this year's Comic-Con.

They state on their Facebook event page "Are you utterly baffled, disappointed and just ANGRY to see how DC ruins your favorite character's design and wipes decades of comic history out of the mainstream universe? Well, you're not alone!
And why not make some noise at the biggest pop-culture event this year, where creators, artists and writers appear in person - show them how fans - the fans of the classic characters, the (nevertheless slightly changing) designs, the character's history and personality - really feel about it!"

There's a word in there that really gets under my skin. "ruins". Like when DC "ruined" Blue Beetle by making him Mexican or like when DC "ruined" Green Lantern by adding new Lanterns. To ruin something is to make it so thoroughly damaged as to be completely unusable. If some crazed teenage delinquent steals your car and throws a bag of concrete through the wind shield while his friend whose into industrial sets off fireworks in the glove compartment, then it's ruined. You use to have a car, now you just have a flaming metal frame.

That's why I hate that word, DC has not gone back in time and destroyed all traces of whatever ideal version of this character that has existed. Readers can still go back to their old issues of Firestorm where he's still just some white guy and Superman has his underwear on the outside. If they don't like the current version of the character then don't read this new series, read the old ones, read the stuff that made you like that character in the first place.

But for some people (267 people and counting in this instance) it's not so simple. I guess after years of buying these comics and vicariously enjoying life through their favorite superheroes some fans believe they deserve a say in what happens to these characters. But really they don't, DC does, they own the characters and if they're free to make whatever supposedly bad decisions they want.

Instead of protesting and missing out on the convention (I mean, you guys are going to protest for the entire convention, right?) What they should do is go to the panels that DC sets aside for fans to express their opinions, where the very people who run the company will talk directly to them and explain to them why their idea will or will not work. But even then the fans would have to make a clear, succinct, statement lacking an emotional undertone to have any significant impact on Dan Didio and company, instead coming off as an emotionally unstable train wreck of a human being.

Granted, yes, DC has made some stupid decisions in the past, like The Flash for instance. I am a huge fan of that character but if you've been paying attention to what DC's done with him in the last five years you'd have a hard time describing it as stable. In that time Flash has been three different characters and four different ongoing begin and end. So after the most recent series ended I decided I wouldn't read The Flash for the foreseeable future. And if I get a hankering to read some Flash I'll reread those classic issues from the 90s instead of continuing to read something I don't like which could ultimately leave me wondering what I ever liked about the character.

I never once considered dropping every book DC publishes, demanding Geoff Johns resign, or calling Dan Didio a bald goon at a DC Nation panel. I just stopped reading the comic book. That's all anyone ever has to do when they don't like a comic book, it's really just that simple.

DC's Who's Who

2011-06-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last week I didn't buy any comics. Not a single comic book released that previous week caught my interest. It's not that shocking, as you can probably tell from the lack of updates on my site I've had some trouble staying interested in comics. Right now Marvel and DC are currently focused on pumping out tie-ins for event books that do nothing for me. Meanwhile the big comic in the indie world is a comic about some creeper having sex with prostitutes, again, not really my thing. So as a result I haven't been able to think of much to say without any real possibility of fixing that anytime soon. But whenever I find myself in a time like this, incapable of knowing why I ever loved comics, I pick out a certain series that reminds me why I ever bothered.

Yes, I owe my questionable obsession to DC Who's Who, a series of 26 books dedicated to cataloging just about every character in the publisher's fictional universe. I was about 8 or 9 when I found a couple of random issues at a local comic book store and I thought they were just wild. I'd never seen anything like, a comic book without a story and instead had a series of facts about all these characters I'd never heard of right beside all the heroes I loved. It was kind of like finding a textbook on a subject I actually wanted to learn.

And I was a dedicated student, I would take home each issue and obsessively pour over each page, taking in the heights, weights, first appearances, real names, and super powers of everyone from Hellgrammite to The Space Cabbie. The characters I learned about here would shape my comic book reading experiences, filling my mind with the proof that DC was filled with excitement, that yes, in fact, comics could be fun.

A lot of that charm came down to DC's dedication to the artwork. For instance each issue's cover featured a group shot of every character featured in that issue illustrated by George Perez. (random fact, since George Perez did each cover and also did that epic cover for the Crisis on Infinite Earths trade paperback that means Perez has drawn every single DC character, twice.) This was clearly a labor of love for Perez who took the time to work in as many character interactions in these group shots as he could. Just like these busy, energetic covers each character profile is lovingly illustrated by some of the best artists in comics (seriously, everybody is in here; Brian Bolland, Steve Ditko, Mike Mignola, Colleen Doran, Dave Gibbon, Joe Orlando, Gene Colan, Jack Kirby, Dick Giordano, John Byrne, Trina Robbins, and tons more) with each character profile given a dynamic action pose that was sure to be forever burned into a kid's mind.

Despite my ever changing tastes in comics I've never gotten tired of these. So I think I'll be spending this week flipping through this series yet again. In the mean time I'll share with you some of my favorite profiles.

1. Phantom Girl by Jaimie Hernandez - One of the undeniable facts about comics is that Jaimie Hernandez knows how to draw attractive women. Here Hernandez draws Legionnaire Phantom Girl like she jumped out of the pages of Love & Rockets while being one of the few people since Dave Cockrum to do justice to her iconic costume. I wish it had been possible for him to draw all of the Legion women but this piece (along with an equally beautiful Shrinking Violet) is better than nothing.

2. Riddler by David Mazzucchelli - It always amuses me when I'm at the home of a friend who is a casual comics reader. Because of the massive amounts of (well deserved) buzz it's a safe bet they have a copy of "Asterios Polyp" sitting on their shelf at which point I go "Hey, you know what? This guy used to draw Batman and Daredevil." to which they give me a look like their head is about to explode. While I ultimately feel that David Mazzucchelli independent work is superior to his mainstream work his mainstream work is still worth tracking down, what little of it there is. So I have no choice but to pick this excellent Riddler illustration.

3. The Brain by Bill Sienkiewicz - This one scared the hell out of me. That image in the background of Monsier Mallah done in a photorealistic style with the dotted line implying him performing brain surgery in order to make this monstrosity, well it was just too unwholesome for my kid mind. Bill Sienkiewicz did quite a few contributions for this series, all of them this good. The problem though is that despite having accomplished quite a bit at this point in his career DC gave him the most obscure characters. Dr. Tzin Tzin, Spellbinder, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, not exactly household names. But as proof of his skills as an artist Sienkiewicz made each of these characters look like some of the most exciting characters in the DC Universe. I was a bit disappointed as a kid to find out that no, in fact, Silver Swan was not as amazing as she appeared in this series.

4. Cave Carson by Tim Truman - Why there isn't more of a love for Tim Truman is beyond me. Truman didn't contribute as much as I would have liked (in fact if I remember correctly this is the only piece he did) but he makes up for it by making each contribution a highlight of the series. Here Truman gives his ultra detailed, delicately inked touch to one of those more bizarre DC creations, Cave Carson. If you haven't done so already track down Tim Truman's Hawkworld for more quality work by an under appreciated talent.

5. Anton Arcane by Steve Bissette and John Totleben - Along with The Brain seeing this piece around 8 years old was absolutely terrifying for me (which I'm sure makes Steve Bissette and John Totleben proud). This is one of the best parts of Who's Who, because of the then recent revitalization of Swamp Thing there are tons of great illustrations of the cast of Swamp Thing by the skilled art team of Totleben and Bissette. Side note: When I was a kid there was that line of Swamp Thing action figures and once I learned there was some big green monster made out of plants I was all about this character. Later I went into a comic book store and was going to get an issue of Swamp Thing from the back issues. My little hands picked up this issue which immediately made me far too scared to ever read a Swamp Thing. I wouldn't entertain the idea again until about 10 years later.

Green Lantern Review Round-Up

2011-06-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

When I was walking around New York one thing that stuck out was the amount of advertising for Green Lantern. You saw it on the side of buses, down in the subway, on buildings, there may even have been a skywriter but I could just be making that up. But seriously, a New Yorker couldn't get a block from their place without seeing a heavily photoshopped Ryan Reynolds standing in front of a structure more resemblant to something from R'lyeh than the utopian world of Oa.

It's a sign that Warner Bros/DC is concerned, there's a lot riding on this movie's success. This could be their Iron Man, a movie starring a less than well known superhero that they can develop into a successful film franchise. Furthermore DC has the added motivation of coming up with a new film franchise to replace Batman which sees its final film released next year. Then there's of course the Marvel angle, while DC struggles to get people to care about Jonah Hex, Marvel was pumping out Wolverine, Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Thor, and Captain America.

And despite that goofy initial trailer (I decided to not watch this movie upon seeing a scene in which Ryan Reynolds changes into costume in front of his JJ Abrams-looking friend who then remarks "WHOA DUDE!" to which a stiff, green screen suited Reynolds replies "I KNOW!". I know he doesn't actually say "bro" at the end of that exchange but I heard it in my mind) it seemed they may just achieve their goal of launching a second comic book franchise. So I wonder what they must be thinking now that early reviews are spilling in. Let's take a look!

Of the dialog Rex Reed of The New York Observer says "The dialogue consists mostly of lectures about brain-eating bacteria, and the locations are identified as stuff like “The Edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.” It took four writers who shall remain nameless to think up lines like “We must harness the power of our enemies and fight fear with fear!” Or this favorite exchange: “Why are you glowing?” “Why is your skin green?” “What in the hell is with that mask?” At the screening I attended, the critics were laughing so loud I missed a few bon mots, but you get the picture. "

Glenn Kenny of MSN Entertainment has a problem accepting the Green Lantern mythos, stating "The Green Lantern's emerald power beam, you see, is a product of willpower, whose most ungood counterpart is fear, whose color is yellow. And said emerald beam is wielded across the universe by thousands of chosen protectors whose naked skin is covered in a green, logo-sporting protective coating, and this league of Green Lanterns is ... oh, God, do I have to rehash the whole unbelievably prolix myth, which, according to a more well-versed-in-comic-books friend who also saw the film, is taken from some iteration of the source material?" Um, I guess it does sound all quite silly when you put it like that.

As for the villains Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly seems completely indifferent. "Hal's antagonist is Parallax, a tentacled glob of floating malevolence who comes off as a rather abstract beastie; there's not much urgency to their showdown. On Earth, the spirit of Parallax takes over Hector Hammond, a milquetoast professor, and turns him into a bulgy-headed vengeful nerd. But even with the gifted Peter Sarsgaard seething in the role, he's a fairly innocuous villain." states Gleiberman.

What's interesting to note is that these aren't hard nosed, intellectual-centric publications, these are the reviewers for the megaplex, popcorn eating crowd. They aren't expecting this movie to be "That Obscure Object of Desire" or whatever, they just want it to be enjoyable.

Make no mistake, I take no pride in this, though I can tell this movie wasn't going to be worth seeing I knew that DC had a lot riding on this, I mean, yeah, Green Lantern's a huge book for them right now, but aside from anyone who has seen that one episode of Seinfeld the average American doesn't know that character. As a result, if this movie fails, well, we can say goodbye to potential Flash, Wonder Woman, or Green Arrow movies, as those properties are about as recognizable but lack the top-selling book to back them up.

But hey, just look at the reviews for the last two Transformers films, those movies fucking awful, they aren't even good as mindless, explosion-filled action films, and there's three of those. So who knows, all it takes is a nation of people too dead inside to care about quality.

Adventures in Other Cities part 2

2011-06-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

So whenever I go to a new city I try to pretend I'm there for, like, the food, the parks, that whatever, but not the comic shops. I can usually go as long as a whole day keeping up this facade but it's always by the second day that I crack and must immediately seek out wherever people go for their fix. New York was no exception but it was also so different. Whereas a place like Durham or Winston-Salem (okay, so I typically stick to North Carolina) has no more than one decent comic shop New York had countless. Unfortunately my time in New York was not also countless and I was only able to make it to three such shops (and I'm being pretty loose with my definition here).

First up was Desert Island over in Williamsburg. As you may have guessed from its location this store focuses much more on indie comics. It wasn't the easiest place to spot, as you can see from the photo, as the sign above the building was for the previous occupants. Thankfully a fourth of the sign advertised it correctly otherwise I may have never found it. Desert Island, as I would learn was the norm in New York, is full sized store in a tiny building. That's not to say everything's squashed together, in fact I was greatly impressed with what's done with the place. This store features original art prints (many from the boys at Fort Thunder), used comics at affordable prices, an eye catching minicomics display, and a bunch of other crap I'm forgetting. I took a couple of pictures of the inside but later saw a sign asking that people not do this very thing so you'll just have to use your imagination.

One of the more interesting things that happened while I was there was seeing a young guy and the owner figure out a deal on the guy's minicomics. I'd say the guy was about 20 or a little older, this was probably his first time doing something like this, the owner was patient with him, even helping him to realize his asking price was too steep. At times it was a bit rough listening to this guy nervously try to close the deal, mostly for me because I'll be exactly the same way when I end up trying to sell my stuff to some tiny comic shop. But eventually the two worked out all the kinks and the guy left smiling. Good luck to him.

I ended up picking up a reviewer's copy of Body World (keep this in mind) and more importantly the latest issue of Smoke Signal. Awhile ago I'd ordered a couple of issues of this series from Desert Island and loved it, so it was a bit of a surprise to realize I was in the store that made it. This latest issue features some of my favorite cartoonists, like Blaise Larmee, David Mazzuchelli, and Gabrielle Bell. Oh, and I forgot to mention, this is FREE. There, that's all the motivation you need to go here.

Next up was Forbidden Planet over near Union Square (I think...). This place is the polar opposite of Desert Island in every regard. Place was massive, had crap all over the place, and was packed, so much so that a friend I was with decided he would rather wait out in the 90 degree heat instead dealing with the crowd. While I'm not so sure that it was that busy I will say that it definitely bustling for a Thursday.

To put it bluntly this is the comic book store catering predominantly to nerd culture. On display were vintage Toybiz Marvel action figures, wind-up robots, those Japanese sexy girl statues, and other such things that would scare off the average reader of "The Ganzfeld" or whatever. Thankfully I love this stuff, more so than I'll ever admit in person, so while I didn't pick anything up it was enjoyable just to walk around the two floors worth of merchandise.

More interesting though was Forbidden Planet's attempt to appeal to everyone. In addition to the amounts of merchandise they also carried a nice selection of current comic books in both single issues and trade paperbacks. Indie comics were well represented too, with them even going as far as to have a modest minicomics section.

New comics were laid out in as simple a fashion as it gets, all lined-up against the wall in alphabetical order, no division by company, related properties, or whatever means believed to increase the ease of browsing. Really though, the majority of places I go seem to have everything displayed in an oblique organization method understood by no one but the staff. Comic store owners, please, PLEASE do it like this from now on.

While wandering the aisles I came across a British father as he was flipping through the comics his 8 year old son wanted. "Oh lord, this is far more violent that I would have imagined. I'm shocked they can get away with this." said his father. I'm thinking "Oh no, did that kid pick up a Vertigo book, or worse, Crossed?", no, the father's looking at Sonic the Hedgehog, seriously.

taken from their Wikipedia page, so photo not by me

My final stop wasn't even a comic book store but was such a great location for such things that it would be a major oversight not to mention it. The place I'm referring to is the massive, aptly named The Strand located just across the street from Forbidden Planet. Other than making me immediately think of Roxy Music The Strand is just filled with books, it's overwhelming. Furthermore they're all so cheap as it just may be the world's largest used bookstore, which I actually didn't know when I first went in. The majority of the books don't look used as in addition to buying used books they also house publisher's overstock. While their comic book selection isn't sizable, taking up only a small section of its upstairs, they more than make up for it in variety and price. This is one of the places I spotted a used copy of Kramers Ergot volume 4 and for such a desirable, hard-to-find book, they only wanted $50. I ended up picking up a copy of CF's Powr Mastrs volume 3 which looked brand new and was marked at half price.

Now remember how I purchased a copy of Body World at Desert Island? The following day I came to The Strand to find that not only did they also have a copy of it they also had a couple signed by Dash Shaw! Yep, hidden among their comics were various signed books. In addition to Dash Shaw I found a copy of Paul Hornshmeier's "Life With Mr. Dangerous" which even featured a small sketch. Just all laying around in stacks like they were nothing.

And that's that, thanks New York, I'll hopefully see you again soon.

Adventures in Other Cities part 1

2011-06-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

I like to think that everyone who visits New York for the first all share a similar experience at least once during that initial trip, the moment in which you feel like New York is trying to kill you. For me that moment started last night while on the subway. It was late at night and I was heading home after seeing some teensplotation movie, my mind was tired from the day and so my defenses were down. The train I took was filled, filled enough that the cliche phrase "packed in like sardines" no longer seemed cliche but a succinct description of my anxiety. At each stop instead of the crowd dissipating more people got on and it was then some several feet below the surface to the tune of the industrial pain of screeching wheels that I began to freak out.

I tried desperately to find something to focus on but every square inch of the train was filled with unfriendly faces. I did the only thing I could do to relax, I peered down at the floor and began thinking of comics. Slow my plan worked as the black speckled floor of the train allowed my mind to float into a calming lull. I'll think back to comics, yes, comics...

I hadn't intended to talk about my trip to New York on this blog as I couldn't see how it could relate in anyway to the topic of comics but as I will demonstrate comics were everywhere in this city. There was this piece of amusing graffiti, there was that day where I believe Art Spiegelman sat near me on the subway, then there was the eerie coincidence of finding three different volumes of Kramers Ergot in sequential order, each on a different day, at a different store.

We stayed with my girlfriend's friend whom I knew only some random anecdotes and a first name. This meant I was a bit shocked when we came into her apartment and hanging above her dinner table was an original drawing of Jimmy Corrigan and Enid Coleslaw (which I neglected to take a picture of, but I'll totally drive the 12 hours back if I get enough requests) by their respective creators, Chris Ware and Dan Clowes. It was just hanging there, inarguable proof that I was in the den of a fellow comic nerd.

(In case you were wondering the way she got this piece was no simple feat, it involved a run in with death. She came down with a serious disease and while hospital, heavily medicated, she wrote a gushing love letter to Chris Ware and when a friend with the right connections came to visit her the letter made it's way back to him. Then the next thing you know I'm staring at this piece seriously considering petty thievery. So if you ever want original artwork from one of the greats, try dying)

In the room we were staying in I found that it was also the space used for her impressive comic book collection. A partial selection: a complete collection of Eclipse-era Classics Illustrated, numerous volumes of Dykes to Watch Out For, every US released Junji Ito manga, and even Eightball #23. I knew I could sleep easy with this sitting at the foot of the bed. But man, was it humbling to see this collection.

Speaking of humbling experiences this week also marked Comics Journal publishing Michael Deforge's "week in the life of" entries. In the first entry Deforge reveals he does 16 hour work days, to put that in perspective there are 24 hours in a day, this means he works all damn day. The reason I'm stressing out about this is that I have recently started trying my hands at making comics with typical attempts ending more in frustration than finished product and now all I can think of is that number 16. Everyday I don't get work done he's another 16 hours ahead of me. I also keep thinking about when I was packing, I held my sketchbook in my hand, attempted to fit it in my overstuffed suitcase and when it didn't slip in with ease I set it aside assuming I'd never use it. Well, I have wanted to use it badly, so much so that I resolved to attempt to do some thumbnails on the back of a bus schedule with a #2 pencil, the results were not impressive. But now I know, any real cartoonist would have brought their sketchbook.

I'm taking the D train to Union Square when on one of the stops I see a guy in white long sleeve dress shirt (even though it's ever so close to 100 degrees on that day) with a black vest. Hey, I think, isn't that basically the only outfit Art Spiegelman ever wears? Oh wait, that just might be Art Spiegelman. He ends up sitting two people down from me and I see him immediately whip out a Moleskine journal that despite his frantic flippings I see contains some drawings. I'm not exactly star struck as I've never been a fan of his work (what the hell does "pure comics" mean anyway??) but it was still an unexpected moment.

The wheels of the train shrieks to a halt and I'm jerked back into the crowded cabin to find a man who has an uncanny resemblance to Roy from The IT Crowd glaring at me. My girlfriend is pulling my arm, we're at our stop. Oh thank god, when the doors open I push out and exhale with relief. I feel like throwing my arms up and shouting at nothing in particular that New York is weak, that New York is nothing, it hasn't killed me today and perhaps it never will. But I don't, I just keep walking.

Next time: I give you a brief rundown of some of the places for comics in New York.

My gut reaction to other DC announcements

2011-06-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

I've been distracted with a trip up to New York (more on that next week I believe) and as a result I haven't been able to cover the announcements on the day they're made. I'm skipping the Batman and Green Lantern announcements as there wasn't much of a shake up worth noting (Batgirl being an exception) and jumping right into yesterday's announcements about DC's Dark imprint. Yan at Irrelevant Comics has been putting together a complete check list of all the creative teams so go there if you have any questions.

One of my problems with the creative teams that had been announced is that they all felt pretty safe. So it's no surprise that these books have me the most excited. The only problem is that all of these titles star characters with limited appeal and as much as I love some of the talent attached I don't know that any of them have the kind of draw that could get a regular comics reader to pick up these books. When this new DC starts to see a downturn in readership I imagine it's these group of books that will be canceled soonest.

Swamp Thing - My hat goes off to anyone willing to tackle this character as I can't think of a character more weighed down by one iconic run. Though there have been some decent takes on Swamp Thing since Alan Moore's run they never quite live up to that original run and ultimately the series fails. I don't know if Scott Snyder's going to be the writer to break the cycle but it's my understanding that he's one of the more promising talents in comics. I'm willing to believe that at the very least this book won't peter out.

Animal Man - Just like Swamp Thing here's a character weighed down by an iconic run. I think DC made the right choice in picking Jeff Lemire for this project, while Lemire's stumbled a bit with The Atom and Superboy I feel that Animal Man as a character is open-ended enough to fit with that writer's strengths. But regardless I don't know if the world will ever need another Animal Man ongoing.

Demon Knights - As a fan of The Demon this one has probably got me the most excited. Thought I ended up losing interest in Paul Cornell's run on Action Comics I ended up enamored with "Knight & Squire". I think it all boiled down to Cornell being given greater creative control in the latter comic. I'm hoping I'll see the same kind of creative energy in this book as it focuses on an untapped era in DC's history. As for whether or not this book will last, I have no clue. I guess a lot of people like The Demon, rarely does time go by without some appearance by the character, and hey, he even starred in his own ongoing that lasted for 60 issues.

Justice League Dark - John Constantine, Deadman, Madame Xanadu, Shade the Changing Man and what I assume is Zatanna in a team book written by Peter Milligan? Sold, totally sold. Oh what? It's called Justice League Dark? What a stupid name, no one will ever take this book seriously! Why couldn't they name it "The Dark"? The name Justice League paints the picture of a bygone era of superheroic wholesomeness so that when you slap Dark at the end it comes off as an ill-advised attempt at edginess. Kind of like having a title called Superman Extreme or Archie Comics Deathforce.

Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE - I really don't know how this title will do. The premise of a comic starring Frankenstein by itself is probably going to get a couple of people to check out the first issue and this character's Seven Soldiers miniseries definitely ranks among the best from that series. But I think it's been far too long ago for anyone to capitalize on Seven Soldiers and even though I like Jeff Lemire I'm unsure this character has the same appeal without Grant Morrison. Curious to see how this title goes.

Resurrection Man/I, Vampire/Voodoo - These three are basically all in the same boat, they star characters that barely mean anything to the average comic reader and lack the sort of talent that will get anyone to care. I'm not saying they have the potential to be terrible but I think it will take a miracle for any of these titles to survive cancelation.

Then there's today's announcements, I guess you could lump these together as DC's "teen books", not in that they appeal to teens but rather that they star teenage characters, even though some of those characters are married and have children. This group was made up of a lot of safe creative teams and has been the least interesting of any of the books.

Legion Lost - Regardless of how I feel about the creative team I would have thought DC learned that the market can't support two Legion books what with the failure of Adventure Comics. It was wise to have this book take place in the present and will be good hook to convince Legion fans to read both books but I don't think it's enough to attract anyone else.

Legion of Superheroes - Paul Levitz is once again writing Legion, no surprises here. Speaking as a Legion fan I'm happy to see him sticking around but as someone who wants to see this book succeed I doubt Levitz will suddenly take the book in a reader friendly direction. Minor gripe but I'm a bit upset by the redesigned costumes, I don't think they look bad, but I was quite fond of Gary Frank and Yildiray Cinar's designs. I'm surprised to see them go, especially considering the length of time the average Legion costume sticks around.

Teen Titans - If any of DC's franchises have needed help it's Teen Titans. The book had been suffering for years after Geoff Johns' departure and only saw modest success once JT Krul took over the book. I figured DC would have something solid lined-up and once I heard the rumor of Scott Lobdell (who wrote one of the best teen superhero books, Generation X) was writing I figured they had done it. Then I saw the costume designs. Wow, just wow. It's going to be hard for anyone to take this book seriously with these costumes. Red Robin has a 90's pouch bandolier, Superboy appears to have a kick-me sign version of his logo on his back, then there's that Cyberforce looking character writhing around on the ground. I was almost considering reading this now I'm left wondering how anyone will take this book seriously with those dated costumes.

Static Shock - How long did it take DC to put out a new Static Shock book? A ridiculously long time I'm guessing. Not too fond of seeing John Rozum's name as the writer, not because I think he'll do a bad job but it's yet another piece of evidence that Xombi is no more.

Hawk and Dove - By Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld. Sure, why not?

And finally, this year's Heroescon

2011-06-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

This was one of the first years in a long time that I only went one day. Thankfully that day was Friday, the day where you only see a third of the crowd that comes in on Saturday and Sunday. But as a result my story is relatively free of any the bizarre human tragedy that comic conventions tend to draw out.

The longest lines I saw were for Ethan Van Sciver (at least I think that's whose line it was) and Tony Moore. Moore's was pretty epic in length. Despite how much I dislike "The Walking Dead" show I'm glad to see it's causing Tony Moore to get the attention he deserves.

I saw some great costumes this year, but the hands down most eye catching was a guy who came as a post-flayed Frank Cotton from Hellraiser. Strangely enough he was accompanied by who I assume was his girlfriend dressed up as Link from Legend of Zelda. As far as pictures I regret not taking a picture of Link with Frank Cotton is one of them. I also saw a little girl dressed as Captain America, I just want to say that I respect her choice to challenge gender norms.

Saw one pro being cornered by a fan as he went into an absurd amount of detail about the 80s cartoon series "The Inhumanoids". I'm sure there's some comic pros out there who would totally love this conversation however I don't think this fan chose the right person.

I stopped by one table and was about to take advantage of the pretty good sale they were having. Then I saw this little kid, couldn't have been any older than 8 years old, attempt to pay the wrong amount for some item which caused the seller to rudely explain how much the item cost. I ended up putting back my items and walking off.

This year was supposed to see the revival of my sketchbook but after seeing a sizable chunk of the guests canceled I decided to only make one visit. I ended up stopping by to visit Farel Dalrymple who was selling original artwork for the ludicrously low price of $20 a page (and $100 for pages from "Omega the Unknown" which honestly could get away with being double that). I had no choice but to pick up this piece which he kindly signed. Before he wrote his name he gestured at the stray writing at the bottom and asked if I wanted it erased. He explained to me he typically listens to books on tape while working and that the writing at the bottom was where he'd left off on whatever was playing. I told him to leave it as it made the piece that much more likable.

What would a trip to a comic book convention be without the picture of my haul?

I'm quite satisfied with this year as I only spent about a 3rd of what I usually spend. I must admit that this year was the first year I didn't have a solid game plan. Each I usually have a good idea of what I want to grab and this time I just kind of wandered around the convention floor in hopes that something caught my eye. I suppose any year in which I walk away with some Jimmy Olson, Devil Dinosaur and Shade, The Changing Man is a solid year.

Heroescon '11 - the blooper reel

2011-06-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we experience an event which at the time is horrifying but when we look back at it seems like the funniest we have ever experienced. That brings me to today's memory which I'm sure will cause some people to roll their eyes.

Despite all the celebrities, the great deals, and general good experience of going to Heroescon sometimes it's the weird, one-off interactions that stick with you the most. I'm just standing around waiting for this guy to finish up looking through a long box and this means I get sometime to just glance around at the convention floor. My eyes don't lock onto anything cool like well done costumes, or booths with more enticing deals, no my eyes lock onto this one young kid. I don't know why he was there, perhaps he was the son of a nerd, dragged here when he'd rather be at a mall, or maybe he was the son of a vendor, more ashamed than proud of the family business. The point was he was making great effort to seem put out by being at the convention. His arms were crossed, his brow tremendously furrowed, it was a posture we'd all mastered in our teen years, but here it was almost cartoonishly severe, there was no way this kid could be feeling as bad as he tried to seem. Now, he had the sad look, the crossed arms, but he was missing one final detail to really bring it all home of just how miserable he was, he had to do the lean. If you really wanted to look like a sullen teen, you had to lean against something so this kid goes up to one of the partitions separating vendor stands, a flismy piece of cardboard not made to support anything beyond a few hanging comics, and attempts to put his whole weight on it.

I don't use the word disaster often but my god, what resulted was a disaster. The kid of course weighs too much and immediately falls to the ground. This causes whatever support system that was used on the hanging comics to give out. No sooner has the kid fallen to the ground that suddenly comics come pouring down on him like a monsoon rain. This mass of comics slap the ground loud enough to catch the attention of the surrounding crowd. The kid briefly looks up at the audience he now has, calmly emerges from his cocoon of comics and promptly runs the fuck away.

At the time I really felt for the kid, no one is going to argue that was tremendously embarrassing and let's not forget that some of those comics may have gotten damaged when they fell, so who knows, maybe that vendor lost some money that day because his copy of Amazing Spider-Man #129 is a down from a FN to a VG+. Now, I can't help but view it as the hands down funniest thing I ever saw at Heroescon.

My gut reaction to the first slew of DC's creative teams

2011-06-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

I was going to focus only on the Heroescon updates and not talk at all about this whole DC reboot announcement because, well, everyone's talking about and I hardly see what I could add to everything. But today with the releasing of the creative teams for some of those 52 new titles I had no choice but to weight in with my reaction. For context and a full list of the creative teams head on over to Comics Alliance.

Wonder Woman

I'd say this is probably the one creative team that has me the most interested. Wonder Woman is in desperate need of a strong, focused creative team and I think that's exactly what we'll get from Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. I know that Azzarello is a pretty unexpected choice as he's a writer best known for writing hyper masculine crime drama, but I think taking a risky choice exactly what this book needed. Chiang has long been one of DC's most under appreciated artists so I'm glad to see him finally on a title deserving his talent.

Aquaman

Not much to say about this one other than it's a pretty solid creative team. As long as Johns can do the same kind of aggressive world building he's done with Green Lantern this could end up being one of DC's biggest titles.

The Flash

I have talked a great deal on this blog about how much respect I have for Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato. These two artists are easily some of the finest talent DC has working for them. But I am pretty disappointed by this creative team. After years and years of dropping the ball with this character DC needed to use this relaunch to put together a creative team that would really wow readers and restore faith in what was left of the dedicated fans. This creative team, and I hate to be so cynical, feels like the result of DC not being able to find anyone else.

The Fury of Firestorm

Unlike The Flash series this approach to having a first time writer makes more sense. Ethan Van Sciver is co-writing with Gail Simone this book that stars a lower tier character. The book stands a greater chance of working as Van Sciver will have the assistance of an established writer and further more if the book doesn't take off it's not going to upset too many people. As for my personal opinion I'm pretty indifferent, mostly because I've never been interested in the character.

The Savage Hawkman

I guess Hawkman's filling the void for a gritty, edgy superhero that was left behind after Magog's failure. Not sure if this new interpretation is going to be enticing to anyone beyond the 30 or so Hawkman fans out there. The only reason that Aquaman book stands a chance is because of the creative team, whereas here we have the guys who are famous for artistically bringing down Grant Morrison's run on Batman.

Green Arrow

Another no-brainer creative team. Say what you will of what he did in "Rise and Fall of Arsenal" but J.T. Krul did succeed in getting people talking about Green Arrow so it's not shocking to see he's still on this book.

Justice League International

I didn't read the well regarded Brightest Day miniseries this is springing out of but I still feel Judd Winick should have been the writer on this series. It just seems logical that the guy responsible for making people care about these characters would also be in charge of writing the resulting ongoing. My only guess is that Winick will be announced as writing a higher profile book, though I have to wonder just how many books

Mister Terrific

This is probably the most unexpected book on this list. I'm guessing this is an example of DC attempting to diversify the cast of its books. On one hand I can understand DC choosing Mister Terrific to star in his own book as there are very few minority characters who have been as fleshed out but on the other hand I feel like there really isn't a much needed built in audience left due to the lack of interest in Justice Society. I don't really have much to say about the creative team as I've not read anything by either however I will remind everyone that Eric Wallace is the guy who gave us this.

Captain Atom

In case it wasn't obvious from the cover it would appear that DC's giving readers a Dr. Manhattan ongoing. I'm not expecting much from this book and it really has nothing to do with my thoughts on J.T. Krul, it's just that when you have a character capable of doing anything it makes telling a compelling story that much harder. You'd think years of subpar Superman stories would have taught DC this.

DC Universe Presents

I'm actually quite excited about this book. If all works out this could end up being a great showcase for a lot of stories that wouldn't get published in your typical DC title. It also helps that instead of having a bunch of bite-sized stories each issue will focus on one story alone. The promise of Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang on the opening storyline is a nice start to the series. My one concern is that this book will end up like JLA Classified, Batman Confidential, etc. and become a dumping ground for slush file stories.

Heroescon Sketchbook

2011-06-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Once you've been to enough of these cons and realize just how many of the talented artists there will do free sketches you pretty much have to start up a sketchbook. Now the key to having a solid sketchbook is to pick a theme, just look at these examples of good themes adding up to a great sketchbook. A lot of people spend time choosing just the right theme for their sketchbook, making sure to choose a character everyone knows, that resonates with any potential artist given the task of adding to your sketchbook, then there's me, I picked some character no one has heard of, that no one can draw off the top of their head. I chose The Spectre, a character who has somehow had at least 4 ongoing series despite the average person either not knowing him or at the very least not knowing what his power is (it's super vengeance). Without further ado here's the confused scribblings of various charitable, talented cartoonists.

This one is by Scott Campbell, well known for doing Great Showdowns. I get the impression that Campbell had know clue who The Spectre but that didn't stop him from giving me a memorable sketch.

For a guy who spends all his time drawing some pretty horrific shit Guy Davis sure is nice. This is actually the first sketch in my book and I was pretty scared that I was going about asking for a sketch in the wrong way. But after asking Davis took sketchbook without any complaints and drew this great piece in just a couple of minutes. The crazy thing is it seemed like every time I went by his table he was in the process drawing yet another equally amazing sketch. Guy Davis, workhorse, awesome guy.

This one is by Richard Case, best known for his work on Doom Patrol and other early Vertigo books. As far as people I have met at cons Case is easily one of the nicest, he even drew Rebus in my copy of Doom Patrol volume 1.

Tom Neely is the cartoonist behind "The Blot", "Henry and Glenn Forever" and who also just came back from an educational trip to Canada. Tom and I got to rub it in my face that he saw Sleep multiple times live AND that he was doing a Melvins tribute comic. Well, whatever Neely, I'm best friends with Prince, okay? Anyway, Tom Neely was delighted that drawing The Spectre meant he got to break-in his new green pen. The results are to the left.

Matt Wagner has done many great things in his life, such as Grendel, Sandman Mystery Theatre, and this sketch.

To say that Sammy Harkham was feeling frenetic when I asked for this is an understatement, why his signature pork pie hat was nearly shaken from his head. It didn't help that Harkham had experience similar fits when my friend asked for a Godzilla sketch. After mocking my choice of source picture (He's got buttons AND a drawstring collar??) and openly admitting to not having the slightest idea who this character was he handed me back my sketchbook to reveal this stunning piece.

If this entry has made you feel interested in trying your hands at getting a sketch let me share some tips with you:

-Only ask when there's no one else in line.

-Ask if they're willing to do a sketch before you start throwing anything down in front of them.

-Bring a picture of the character you want done, these people are too tired from jet lag to remember what these random ass characters look like.

-If they did the sketch for free ALWAYS buy something from the artist. These people didn't travel god knows how far just to entertain you, they're here to make money so that they can at least justify the trip to this convention. In fact, you should buy something anyway even if the sketch was free, don't make Sammy Harkham have to eat ramen again this week.

Heroescon '11

2011-05-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

Despite running a comics blog for this long I've never bothered to give much props to the main reason I even do this thing. If it wasn't for years of going to Charlotte, NC's long running Heroescon I wouldn't be here wasting everyone's time by providing the internet with yet another faceless comics blog. Starting tomorrow I'm going to share some random memories from the convention. I'll talk about some memorable meetings with guests, post pictures from my (modestly filled) sketchbook, and share my best memory. Then, if all goes according plan and it rarely ever does, on Saturday I'll post a write-up on this year's convention. Anyway, see you tomorrow.