Rokk's Comic Book Revolution

Rokk's Comic Book Revolution Archives.

LaRevolucion44@aol.com (Rokk Krinn) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:30:00 +0000

I have always tried to keep The Revolution constantly growing and expanding. What was first my personal little blog designed for me to blow off steam about comic books slowly expanded into a mult-author review website. I knew that at some point The Revolution would outgrow the Blogger format and would need to evolve into something bigger and better. That time is now.

As of now, this blog will now serve as the Archives to the Comic Book Revolution's new website. I want to thank all the long-time followers of The Revolution for their support. I really do appreciate it.

This is a bittersweet moment for me. I feel like I am leaving the small family home I grew up in and moving into a new and nicer home that I have bought for myself. Luckily, I will have plenty of roommates as Kevin and Andrenn are both archiving their blogs and joining me at the Comic Book Revolution's new website as full-time contributors.

I think that everyone will enjoy the Comic Book Revolution's new website. I have big hopes for The Revolution and will continue to nurture and expand The Revolution in order to make it an even better place for comic book readers to stop by and share their love of this industry.

So, hop on over to comicbookrevolution.net for all the new reviews, commentary pieces and interviews. The best is ahead of us.

Comic Book Review: Red Robin #8

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:00:00 +0000

The Revolution has not been a big fan of Red Robin. Chris Yost does not seem to know what he wants this series to be. Though he has done a very good job writing Tim's character in the past two issues the overall plot is not moving the overarching story forward whatsoever, which was Tim's search for Bruce. It is very disappointing because even though Yost writing of Tim's character this title just lacks an identity in what it wants to be. Let's see if Red Robin #8 can turn things around for this title.

Creative Team
Writer: Chris Yost
Artist: Marcus To
Inker: Ray McCarthy
Colorist: Guy Major

Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Four days ago in The Craddle Red Robin is looking through the League of Assassin's database with The Expediter and White Ghost standing behind him talking about him and how Ra's wants Tim looking through their database.

Back in the present Red Robin and Tam surrounded by the Spider Council members Goliath, Funnel, Wolf, Widower, Tangle, The Wanderer, and Sac. Red Robin analyzes the situation looking at all his opponents while being contacted by Ra's Al Ghul who informs Red Robin that the Ra's that is dead was a body double. Ra's tries to help out Tim but Tim tells him to go to hell.

Red Robin then continues to analyze the situation in his head to see which ones he has to take out immediately. The Wanderer notices that the Ra's she killed is a fake which Red Robin uses to finally launch his attack.

In some unknown location the real Ra's is watching Tim fight the Spider Council with someone we cannot see says that Tim is going to die fighting seven to one. Ra's disagrees saying that Tim is not Bruce, Dick, or Damian and he believes Tim has already won.

Back in The Cradle Red Robin pushes Tam out of the way of fire and jumps out of the way from Wolf's gun fire and Wolf hits Goliath instead. Red Robin then quickly takes out Funnel and Tangle. Sac tries to take Red Robin's head off but Red Robin dodges and dropkicks Sac in the chin. As Red Robin fights The Wanderer watches him analyzing his fight.

As Red Robin continues to fight off the Spider Council he tells Tam to make a run for the door. As she runs to the door Sac takes a swing at her but Tam trips making Sac miss and hit some electric wires that shock him. Wolf comes in and is about to shoot Tam but Pru saves her by tackling Wolf.

Red Robin fights The Widower and while blocking one of his attacks Tim uses his free hand to hit The Widower with his grapple gun. Tim tells Pru and White Ghost to run. As they do Red Robin starts fighting The Wanderer and plays defense against her quick strikes analyzing all her moves. The Wanderer complements Red Robin asking him why he works for Ra's. Red Robin says he only works for one man and that he is not there right now. He takes a swing at her using his staff but she blocks it. She tries to strike Red Robin but he dodges it at punches her knocking her to the ground and makes a run for it.

Tim is in the Cradle's control room with Tam, Pru, and White Ghost telling White Ghost he is out of time. Prudance leaves on Tim's call. Tim then activates Sub-Routine RD1 that blows up all the League of Assassins base around the world. White Ghost is pissed but Tim leaves The Cradle with Tam before the whole base crumbles. The Spider Council tries to stop him but they are caught in the explosion of The Cradle.

Tim and Tam make it outside safely. While Tim thinks that Tam will need some therapy she kisses Tim. Just as she kisses him Ra's contacts Tim and Tam feels embarrassed.

Ra's complements Tim on what he has done but now Ra's is going to take out Wayne Industries since Tim took out Ra's business. Tim tells Tam they are going back to Gotham.

Eight hours later the Spider Council members come out of all the rubble with the Wanderer saying they have a new prey: Heroes.

Commentary
The Good: Red Robin #8 was a surprisingly fun action packed read. Chris Yost did a great job writing Tim's character as this is the first full issue where Tim felt like how Tim Drake should be written. Previous issues Yost showed signs of knowing how to write Tim's character but tried too hard to also show the character as being unstable in his pursuit to find Bruce.

Yost did a great job showing us the true Tim Drake as we saw the more detective side of the character who thinks out all of his moves. While Dick has taken after Bruce in terms of being a fighting capabilities Tim is the one that has taken more of the detective side of Bruce. Though Dick has shown he is a great detective himself it has always been establish that Tim is the one with the potential to surpass Bruce in being a detective.

It was cool seeing Tim remember everything he has been taught from the various people he has trained under. And Tim has trained under some of the best fighters and detectives in the DCU with the likes of Bruce, Dick, and Shiva. Those three alone are three of the top fighters in the DCU. We saw flashes of Tim using things of all he has been taught as he fought the Spider Council.

I liked that before the fight even started Tim already figured out how he needed to take out the seven enemies he was facing while protecting Tam. It is a good way to show how Tim thinks is different from Dick as Tim may not be as good a fighter as Bruce or Dick but with preparation he can fight just fight as well as those two. He was a real pro in this fight and showed that he has come out on his own.

I found it interesting how even though Tim was analyzing the situation he was in his fighting style was more acrobatic almost like how Dick fought as Nightwing. It may have just been how the art was done in this issue but I thought it was an interesting combination of how Bruce and Dick usually fight that Tim used before and during the fight.

Yost also did a good job with the hook ending by showing us Ra's has been in Gotham and is now looking to get revenge on Tim for blowing up all of the League of Assassins headquarters. It is a nice lead into Tim's "homecoming" to Gotham and should lead to some interesting things as Yost has been hinting at Wayne Industries playing a bigger role in this title.

Also, it will be interesting to see who the mysterious woman Ra's was talking to in this issue. My money is on Talia but still maybe Yost will throw us a curve ball and it will be someone we do not expect.

Marcus To really stepped up his game in this issue with some very good looking artwork. I like that he kept the background simple and focus more of the detail in the art for the fight between Tim and the Spider Council members. The art was the real driving force for this issue and made it very enjoyable as there was a great flow to all the art as Tim took out the Spider Council members one at a time. And his colorist Guy Major did a great job in this issue as well as he typically does as he made the images look great.

The Bad: Now while it wasn't that big of deal in this issue like it has been in the previous seven issues I still don't like is the shifting between past and present Yost continues to use. Even though it was only used once at the very beginning of the issue after eight issues of Yost using this it has gotten old and makes him look like a lazy writer trying to fill the page count.

I was also not a big fan of the whole fake out death of a character but then it turning out to be a body double. It was a cheap way to end the last issue and makes the impact of what happened irrelevant especially since we did not know who Ra's body double was or does the reader care.

And though I like the ending of the issue with Ra's being revealed in Gotham it didn't feel as big as if it was the ending for one of the three big Batbooks (Batman, Batman and Robin, and Streets of Gotham). Sure it was cool but this new storyline will only be a crossover in Red Robin and Batgirl which can be said to be on second tier titles of the Batbooks. It just does not make the story of Ra's attacking Gotham feel like it has big consequences on the city as if it was in a title starring Batman, whether it is Bruce or Dick under the cowl.

Also, while the fight between Tim and the Spider Council was cool it did not help the Council look any stronger and actually made them look weak. These guys have been the other big villain in this title since the start and look to continue to be a supposed threat on this title. But the way they were portrayed in this issue with all of the main members of the Council they were made to look no better than one of villains than an ongoing threat.

Another thing I didn't like and what I really am starting to hate about this title is that Yost continues to have Tim say he knows Bruce is alive but never giving supporting detail to why he thinks that. Sure we know that Bruce is the one that drew the batsymbol on the cave Tim found how does Tim know that? We have never been given a reason for Tim thinking that and Yost continues to tease that Tim just knows.

In this issue Yost showed he has a great handling of Tim's character but when it comes to showing us proof to back-up why Tim thinks Bruce is alive Yost has given us nothing. Right now Tim has no proof to show Dick, Barbara, Stephanie, Damian, and the others that Bruce is alive other than the cave painting that can be said to be drawn by some drunk high school kid for all they know. It is just annoying Yost is avoiding this plot point that was this title was marketed to do but isn't.

Overall: Red Robin #8 was the best issue of this series so far. Though Yost continues to have the same problems previous issues of this series have had. Still if you are a fan of Tim Drake fan you are sure to enjoy this issue and I recommend you pick it up. The next issue will be a prologue issue to the Red Robin/Batgirl crossover so if you are looking to jump onto this title you will have to be picking up Batgirl as well in March. So be aware of that if you plan on picking up the next arc of this title.
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Kevin

Comic Book Review: Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2

LaRevolucion44@aol.com (Rokk Krinn) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:40:00 +0000

I was completely unimpressed with Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1. It was a fairly average story that moved at a slow pace and offered the reader little more than what we have gotten in the countless other Blackest Night tie-in issues.

However, I figured that I would go ahead and give this second issue a chance. After all, this is only a three-issue mini-series, so it does not require that much commitment from me. Plus, I absolutely adored Nicola Scott’s artwork. So, I figured if nothing else Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 would be pretty to look at. Let’s go ahead and do this review.

Creative Team

Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: Nicola Scott
Inks: Jonathan Glapion

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Mera battling Black Lantern Wonder Woman. During the fight, Wonder Woman’s inner voice pleads for Mera to stop her at any costs. Wonder Woman thinks how this is not her. Meanwhile the black power ring keeps saying “Flesh.”

Black Lantern Wonder Woman engages in tons of trash talking about how Mera is the queen of nothing. That Mera’s kingdom is gone, her husband is dead and her son is dead. Black Lantern Wonder Woman beats the hell out of Mera.

Finally, Black Lantern Wonder Woman’s trash talking fills Mera with rage. Mera then makes a rally and uses water to blast Black Lantern Wonder Woman. Mera then takes her trident and stabs Black Lantern Wonder Woman through her chest.

Black Lantern Wonder Woman pulls out the trident and then grabs Mera by the neck. Black Lantern Wonder Woman is about to snap Mera’s neck. Mera says that Wonder Woman was a friend of hers and then spits in Black Lantern Wonder Woman’s face.

Wonder Woman’s inner voice then gains temporary control over Black Lantern Wonder Woman. Black Lantern Wondy tells Mera to run. Black Lantern Wonder Woman then flies off into the sky.

Black Lantern Wondy then lands and thinks how she would rather die than become this abomination that she is now. Suddenly, Cassie arrives on the scene and tells Black Lantern Wonder Woman that she can fight the influence of the black power ring.

Black Lantern Donna Troy then arrives on the scene. Black Lantern Donna says that she has always hated Cassie. That Cassie doesn’t fit in with them. That Cassie is annoying. Black Lantern Donna says that she has always wanted to hear Cassie scream.

Suddenly, Black Lantern Wonder Woman rips Cassie’s heart of her chest. Black Lantern Donna comments that Diana always ruins her fun. Black Lantern Donna asks who they are gong to kill next.

Wonder Woman’s inner voice is horrified over what she has just done. Black Lantern Wonder Woman then attacks Black Lantern Donna and hacks Black Lantern Donna in half and kills her.

Suddenly, Wonder Woman’s mother, Hippolyta, appears on the scene and attacks Black Lantern Wonder Woman. Hippolyta says that Black Lantern Wonder Woman is not her daughter. Black Lantern Wonder Woman takes down Hippolyta and is just about to cut Hippolyta’s head off when a batarang hits Black Lantern Wonder Woman in the face.

Wondy looks up and we see Batman (Bruce Wayne) on the scene. Bruce tells Wondy to stop. Black Lantern Wonder Woman attacks Batman. Batman grabs Wondy by her throat and tells her that this is not her. Wonder Woman’s inner voice stammers that this cannot be real. That Bruce is dead.

We then see the Star Sapphire power ring flying toward Black Lantern Wonder Woman. We then see Batman and Black Lantern Wonder Woman in full embrace and kissing each other. (Wow! I did not see that coming!) Wonder Woman’s inner voice says “Bruce…”

The Star Sapphire power ring then flies up to Wonder Woman. Aphrodite then also appears on the scene. Aphrodite says that the color for love of all creation is Wonder Woman’s true color. Wonder Woman says that she cannot forgive herself for what she has done.

Aphrodite says that Wonder Woman has done nothing. That Aphrodite made this place and it is a figment. A place where Wonder Woman’s possession could play out without hurting anyone. Aphrodite says that she would not allow Wondy to be destroyed by evil. Aphrodite says that in darkness that love must survive.

The Star Sapphire power ring then slides onto Wondy’s finger. The black power ring then explodes into little pieces as its connection to Wondy is severed. The Star Sapphire ring says, “Welcome to the Star Sapphire Corps.”

Wonder Woman smiles and says, “It [love] must do more…it must triumph.” We see Wonder Woman, in her Star Sapphire outfit, flying off into the air. End of issue.

Comments

The Good: Wow, I cannot believe it, but Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 was a good read. I was fully expecting another pedestrian read. However, Rucka delivered a much stronger issue with Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 than he did with the debut issue on this mini-series.

Now, it is incumbent upon me to openly disclose that I have never been a fan of Wonder Woman. I have never read her comic book and I know little about Wonder Woman outside of what I have read of her character in titles like Justice League of America and such.

Having said that, Rucka actually managed to get me to like Wonder Woman’s character in this issue. Rucka constructs some solid dialogue. Rucka obviously feels comfortable writing Wonder Woman’s character and it shows. I liked the trash talking from Black Lantern Wonder Woman during her fight with Mera. That was a nice way to remind the reader of all the losses that Mera has sustained.

Rucka also served up some good character work on Wonder Woman. After all, Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 was simply a character study. The reader already knew the outcome of the fight in this issue that we got over in Blackest Night #6. The only purpose of this issue was to allow Rucka to show the reader the internal struggle in Black Lantern Wonder Woman’s soul and to help explain why the pink power ring chose Wonder Woman.

I have to admit that I was not too keen on Wonder Woman being picked by the Star Sapphire ring in Blackest Night #6. However, I did a little research and came across an article by Marguerite Lamb in which she said that William Moulton Marston struck upon an idea for a new kind of superhero, one who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love.

Rucka does an excellent job picking up on that essential theme of Wonder Woman’s character in this issue and, in particular, in the final scene. I enjoyed how Rucka emphasized the fact that Wonder Woman is a noble warrior who fights for the preservation of life. That it is Wonder Woman’s great love for all things living and the Earth itself that is the impetus for her being a hero.

I loved the final scene with Aphrodite approaching Wonder Woman and encouraging her to accept the Star Sapphire power ring and reject the black ring. Rucka takes a cue from Wonder Woman’s pre-Crisis origin when Wonder Woman owed her abilities to the goddess Aphrodite. The use of Aphrodite as Wonder Woman’s guiding force worked seamlessly with the theme of the Star Sapphires and their belief in love allowing them to overcome all evil. The scene with Aphrodite made Wonder Woman being chosen by the pink power ring an obvious and logical choice.

I liked the use of Cassie, Donna and Hippolyta in this issue. Particularly enjoyable was when Black Lantern Donna trash talked Cassie. Cassie has always seemed like the odd man out in the Wonder Woman family to me. Rucka does a good job playing with this dynamic.

Of course, in the end, what made Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 more than an average read for me was the appearance of Batman at the end of this issue. And I mean the real Batman, Bruce Wayne. I loved it. This plot wrinkle totally caught me by surprise. Rucka takes a cue from the DCU Animated stories that played with the idea of a romance between Bruce and Diana. I liked it during the Justice League cartoon and I liked it here in this issue.

I know that Catwoman is a classic pairing with Batman, but I have to admit that I have lost just about any and all interest in Bruce and Selina. We have been down that road too many times. The Zatanna/Bruce pairing that Dini played with over on Detective Comics was certainly interesting. However, it seemed more like Dini just inserting one of his pet characters into the story rather than a logical romance blossoming between the two characters.

However, the Wonder Woman/Batman pairing is the one that intrigues me the most. This relationship is such an interesting study in contrasts. You have the ultimate human in Bruce Wayne who is the very embodiment of the human spirit and potential. On the other hand, you have Wonder Woman who is a creature of myth and magic. It is interesting to see the man of science who has become, quite literally, a god-killer being paired with a woman created by the gods from clay. I would like to see DC play with this relationship a bit more.

Even though this issue was first and foremost a characters study, that does not mean it was a slow read full of nothing but endless amounts of dialogue. Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 provided the reader with tons of bloody action. Rucka kept the action scenes flying at the reader from start to finish. The pacing was nicely done, as this story never drags for a moment. The story has a pleasant flow as each scene unfolds into the next one. Rucka had a clear direction in mind with this issue and the story moved with a purpose.

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 boasts some fantastic artwork. Nicola Scott’s artwork was just beautiful. If nothing else, I am glad I decided to get the Blackest Night: Wonder Woman mini-series because it introduced me to such a wonderful talent in Nicola Scott. I have never seen Scott’s work before. Scott has never been the artist on any title that I normally read.

Needless to say, I remain blown away by Scott’s attention to detail. Scott certainly produces plenty of dynamic splash shots. However, Scott is just as good at sequential story telling as she is as making dramatic splash pages. Scott was able to inject plenty of emotion into the characters and helped to bring Rucka’s story to life in a proper fashion.

The Bad: While I enjoyed the character work in Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2, the fact that the reader already knew the outcome of this fight from over in Blackest Night #6 effectively robbed this issue of much impact or excitement. There was no tension at all in this story. The reader simply flips through the pages in order to get the inevitable conclusion of seeing the Star Sapphire ring destroying the black power ring.

I know this is a minor complaint, but is it possible for editors and writers on these big event tie-in issues to make sure they mesh properly with what happens on Blackest Night itself. In Blackest Night #6 we saw Black Lantern Wonder Woman and Mera engaged in a titanic battle on land in Coast City where the rest of the heroes were brawling with the Black Lanterns when the Star Sapphire ring approached Wonder Woman. Hal and Carol then watched as Black Lantern Wonder Woman tried to fight off the Star Sapphire ring before the pink power ring slid onto Wonder Woman’s finger and destroyed the Black power ring.

However, in Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2, Rucka has Black Lantern Wonder Woman telling Mera to run and then Black Lantern Wonder Woman flies away from the fight scene. There, in the other location created by Aphrodite, is where Wonder Woman gets the Star Sapphire ring and the black ring is destroyed. Wonder Woman, in her Star Sapphire outfit, then flies away from that location and back to the battle scene.

It is the editor’s job to make sure writers on tie-in issues are kept in line with what is going on over on the main story. Little details like this is what can give a story a nice professional look. In the matter at hand, the editor fell asleep at the wheel and did not make sure that Rucka’s accounting of this fight meshed properly with Johns’ version of this fight.

The result is that the reader gets the feeling that there is no communication over at DC between the different editors and the different writers. It also gives the story a generally sloppy and chaotic feel to it. I know this is nitpicking, but a company like DC should be held to a higher professional standard than some bush league independent comic book publisher.

This just furthers the impression that I have had about DiDio’s tenure at DC, which has been marred by a lack of communication between editors and other editors as well as a lack of communication between editors and writers. This lack of communication has prevented DC from being able to generate cohesive stories that mesh together in a proper and consistent manner.

Overall: Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 was a solid issue. This issue was certainly better than the debut issue of this mini-series. However, even though I liked this issue, there was really nothing that occurred in this issue that you did not already get over in Blackest Night #6. Therefore, readers who are reading Blackest Night should not feel required at all to pick up Blackest Night: Wonder Woman. I would only recommend picking up Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 if you are a Wonder Woman fan.
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Rokk

Comic Book Review: Siege #1

LaRevolucion44@aol.com (Rokk Krinn) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:35:00 +0000

The Revolution has low expectations for Siege #1. I have never been impressed with any team title that Bendis has written. Nor have I been impressed with Bendis' previous attempts to write a "big" event. I much prefer Bendis when he is dealing with a solo title like Daredevil or Ultimate Spider-Man which play to Bendis' strengths as a writer.

Having said that, I am keeping expectations low, my mind open and hope that Bendis can surprise me with a strong and exciting debut issue to this big event. Let’s go ahead and do this review for Siege #1.

Creative Team

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Oliver Coipel
Inks: Mark Morales
Colors: Laura Martin

Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 4.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Loki convincing Norman Osborn that the only way he will have full authority from the President to attack Asgard is if they can manufacture a good reason to go to war. Therefore, Loki suggests taking a page from the Civil War playbook and following the example set by the Samford Incident that led to Civil War.

Loki explains how they can take advantage of Volstagg’s simple nature and ignorance of the mortal world and frame him for a tragic event. We cut to Chicago where we see Volstagg wandering the streets. Volstagg uses his sword to chop in half a truck full of bank robbers who were fleeing a couple of cop cars. The result of Volstagg’s action causes much collateral damage.

Loki then narrates how Osborn can use some of the Hood’s super powered thugs to attack Volstagg. We see a couple of the Hood’s super powered thugs (The U-Foes) appear in Chicago and attack Volstagg. Their fight takes them into Soldier Field where the stadium is full because a Bears game is being played at the moment.

The U-Foes then let loose some massive energy blasts on Volstagg which causes Soldier Field to explode into flames. Loki then narrates that Osborn now has his incident which will allow him to invade Asgard.

We cut to Loki and Osborn at Avengers Tower. Loki explains how cameras will catch Volstagg in the middle of the destruction looking dazed and confused. The U-Foes will slink away from the scene unseen by any cameras.

Loki then disappears. Ms. Hand then walks into Norman’s office. Norman instructs Ms. Hand to call the President and tell him that they have the incident at Soldier Field in Chicago under control. Norman tells Ms. Hand to assemble the Avengers and all the members of the Initiative. Norman says that they are invading Asgard.

Ms. Hand exclaims that there is protocol that Norman needs to follow in this situation. Norman blows off Ms. Hand and tells her to do what she is told and all will be revealed to her in time.

We cut to Norman in his Iron Patriot armor assembling the battle plans. Ares is less than pleased with Norman’s plan to attack Asgard. Ares feels that he will never do battle with the Asgardian gods and will stop Norman from doing so.

Norman replies that they have information that Thor is no longer in control of Asgard. That Thor’s brother is in control of Asgard and that Thor’s brother is a madman. Ares reluctantly agrees to help Norman invade Asgard. Ares warns that he will cut Norman’s head off if Norman is lying about all of this.

We cut to Norman addressing the Avengers. Norman informs them that they will be invading Asgard. The Avengers are less than pleased with this idea. They say that they want no part of fighting Norse gods and that they signed up to be heroes not battle gods.

Norman replies that if they help him attack Asgard then once they have defeated Asgard that Norman will grant complete and total freedom to the members of the Avengers. That they will be free of Norman and will be able to either stay on the team as Avengers or leave and live their own lives. Venom, Bullseye, Moonstone and Daken all love that offer and readily agree to help Norman attack Asgard.

We cut to Ares standing in front of the assembled heroes from the Initiative. It is a massive crowd of heroes. Ares gives a standard issue and cheesy “inspirational” pre-battle speech to whip his “troops” into battle frenzy.

We slide over to the White House with the President getting a phone call from Ms. Hand. The President is outraged that Norman did not call him himself and get the President’s approval to invade Asgard. The President starts screaming which prompts Ms. Hand to hang up on him. The President then curses that Norman is out of control.

We hop over to Asgard where Loki appears before Balder and informs Balder than the mortal troops have assembled outside Asgard and are ready to attack them. Balder scoffs at the notion of a mortal military being capable to attack Asgard.

Suddenly, we see ~~Superman~~ ~~Miracle Man~~ the Sentry blasting through the walls of Asgard. We then see the Avengers, the members of the Initiative and HAMMER troops and planes attacking Asgard.
The Asgardians assemble and meet Norman’s forces on the battlefield. And with that we official have ourselves a massive brawl.

We zip over to Tony Stark’s hospital room in Broxton, Oklahoma which is located next to Asgard. Maria Hill and Donald Blake see the news report about the attack on Asgard. Blake tells Maria needs to take Tony and get out of here immediately.

Blake then runs outside of the hospital. Blake hits his walking stick on the ground and transforms into the mighty Thor. Thor then arrives at the battlefield in Asgard. Thor then locks horns with Sentry, Iron Patriot and various energy casting members of the Initiative. The members of the Initiative then blast Thor with all of their energy. We see a small mushroom explosion appear from all the energy blasted at Thor. We see a small camera crew getting footage of the battle.

We see the smoke clear and Thor is groggy, but still standing. Norman, the Sentry and the other Initiative members all gang up and proceed to beat the hell out of Thor. The news crew films the fight.

We cut to the New Avengers hideout and see Steve Rogers standing there watching the footage from the news crew filming Norman and his heroes laying a beating on Thor. Captain America clenches his fist angrily and grinds his teeth angrily. End of issue.

Comments

The Good: Man, it is going to be tough to satisfy The Revolution’s Rule of Positivity with Siege #1. I have to say that it was nice to see Tony, Steve and Thor all in one issue once again. And to not have them fighting each other.

I am looking forward to having these three men on the same team again and actually being heroes. I may be summarily unimpressed with Siege, but I am going to love the ending with the return of three of the original Avengers. I am excited to see Avengers once again being the Avengers instead a rag tag collection of C-list characters.

The Bad: Siege #1 was just an awful debut issue to this big event. I have tried to think of a more diplomatic way of saying that, but I simply cannot. I kept my expectations extremely low for this title and Bendis still managed to deliver a story that was worse than I was expecting.

Bendis gags up an issue that was poorly constructed and executed. The plotting and pacing on Siege #1 were terrible. The first eight pages of Siege #1 were slow and lacked any energy or impact on the reader. The reader was robbed of any impact that the attack of the U-Foes on the stadium might have had due to Bendis’ decision to tell this scene in a passive manner with Loki narrating as if the scene was a mere storyboard.

The first eight pages meander about with absolutely no sense of urgency at all. Them, suddenly, Bendis jarringly kicks the story into ultra-compression mode as he has Norman convince Ares to follow him in the attack on Asgard in just one page. Then Norman convinces the Dark Avengers to attack Asgard in just one page. Norman’s army of super heroes is assembled and then rallied by Ares in just one page. Then The President realizes that Norman is uncontrollable in the span of one page.

Hey, I am all for a more compressed style of storytelling in modern comic books, but this was just ridiculous. There is good compressed story telling that effectively tells a story and moves the story along in a logical fashion and is properly plotted. Then there is compressed story telling that is lazy where the writer gives mere lip service to characters’ motivations and rushes the story along just to get the story to a certain point where the writer wants to go.

The remainder of the issue was nothing more than Norman and his army attacking Asgard and Thor arriving on the scene and quickly getting punked out. Siege #1 was such an incredibly hurried issue. It read as if Bendis slapped this issue together in a day or two. At no point did I feel like this issue was the debut issue of an event “seven years in the making.”Instead, it seemed more like Siege was an event slapped together in seven days.

What amazed me was the incredible lack of excitement that Siege #1 brought to the table. This issue was completely lacking in emotion or soul. The story was devoid of any tension or sense of urgency. There was nothing at all that hooked the reader, captivated their attention and sucked them into the story. Bendis gave the reader a very subdued and, quite frankly, dull and dry issue.

This story felt lifeless, as it seemed that Bendis was simply going through the motions in order to rearrange the pieces on the game board. It appears that all Bendis want is to have the big three in Tony, Steve and Thor back together on the same side and team and that Siege is the perfunctory step Bendis has to go through in order to get to that destination. Siege #1 was a case of where the story was not at all about the journey. It was all about the destination at the cost of logic and proper plot progression. That almost always makes for a dull story.

Siege #1 was an extremely thin issue. The story was so shallow and basic. Reading Siege #1 was the literary equivalent of eating a rice cake: bland and unfulfilling. Siege #1 also lacked much creativity. Kicking off this big event with a re-hash of Civil War’s beginning was uninspiring. Even worse is that Bendis managed to fail in even properly mimicking Civil War’s beginning.

The Stamford tragedy over in Civil War was a gripping read that had a massive impact on the reader. Millar managed to smack the reader in the face with a literary 2x4 that immediately pulled the reader into the story. Millar was able to effectively convey the massive scale of the Stamford tragedy as well as the carnage and loss that was sustained on a human level.

Bendis utterly failed to do that with the event at Soldier Field in Siege #1. Soldier Field was blown up in one page and that is all we get. The reader was not even sure if the stadium was full of people due to the vague artwork. The event at Soldier Field had no impact at all on the reader. It happened quickly and Bendis spent no effort at all in trying to convey to the reader any emotion or loss connected with this supposed tragedy.

Instead, the reader simply skipped right past the event at Soldier Field without so much as batting an eyelash. Bendis’ inability to make an impact on the reader robbed Siege #1 of a dramatic start and also failed to engage the reader’s emotions.

The plotting in Siege #1 sorely lacked logic. The motivations for the various characters were murky. Bendis has Norman being played by Loki way too easily. Norman has been built up to be this ultimate mastermind. The most dangerous and cunning villain on the planet. However, Loki effortlessly leads Norman by his nose. Bendis fails to get the reader to buy into why Norman would be so hot to attack Asgard when it would clearly get him into hot water with his boss, the President.

This was inconsistent with how Norman has been portrayed during Dark Reign. Norman would not engage in a reckless action that clearly would set him up to be stripped of his power by the President. Norman’s sudden desire to risk everything and attack Asgard and the way he carried out his plan seemed too forced to me. It simply lacked logic. Bendis failed to build a more organic and proper foundation for this main plotline leading up to Siege.

Bendis failed miserably to show the motivation of why Ares and the other Dark Avengers would agree to attack the Norse gods. Bendis’ slipshod one page scene of Norman convincing Ares to attack Asgard just because Thor is no longer their leader and that Thor’s brother is a “madman” simply was not enough to create the proper motivation for Ares to change his position on attacking Asgard. This was lazy writing.

Bendis having Norman offer the Dark Avengers their freedom in return for their services in attacking Asgard was also a cheap way to create motivation for those characters to sign up for this fight. I have a hard time believing that characters like Bullseye, Moonstone and Venom would want any part of battling gods. It would be a suicide run for them. These are criminals, thugs and assassins. They are not god-killers.

Norman’s motivation to attack Asgard at all costs and Ares and the other members of the Dark Avengers’ motivation to attack Asgard seemed forced and artificial. It seemed more of a transparent and convenient excuses for Bendis to achieve what he wants which is the reuniting of Tony, Steve and Thor. Bendis appears to not care for the logic of his story as long as it takes him where he wants to go.

Another defect with Siege #1 was the small scale of the story. Bendis takes this “big” event and does his best to make it small. Bendis approaches Siege #1 in the same manner that a screen play writer would for a television show with a very tiny budget. Each scene centers on only a couple of characters at a time. All of the large action scenes take place either off panel or in just one panel shot.

Instead of showing readers the story, Bendis uses these small scenes full of dialogue to tell the reader the story. Instead of showing the reader the scene at Soldier Field and letting it unfold in real time, like the Stamford tragedy over in Civil War, Bendis uses Loki to tell the reader about what happened at Soldier Field.

The magic of comic books is that there is no budget. A comic book writer is only constrained by his own imagination. A good example of taking advantage of this fact during a big event would be how Grant Morrison handled Final Crisis. There were plenty of defects with that big event, but the scale of the story was not one of them. Morrison took advantage of the comic book medium and delivered a big event that was truly colossal on scale.

Mark Millar managed to make Civil War feel like a big event that impacted every corner of the 616 Universe. Unfortunately, Bendis does not have that blockbuster style grand imagination. The result is that Siege #1 feels like an ordinary New Avengers story rather than a 616 Universe spanning big event.

Siege #1 also lacked action. Each time the reader got the merest whiff of an action scene, Bendis whisked us off to somewhere else. The event at Soldier Field was told in the passive form of Loki narrating it as if it had already been done. Bendis also spent little time on the attack on Soldier Field as this action scene was over almost before it started.

The attack on Asgard lacked much action. The minute Norman’s heroes engaged the Asgardians, Bendis quickly cut away to Tony Stark’s hospital room. The minute Thor arrives at Asgard and engaged Norman’s heroes; Bendis has Thor quickly taken out in just a page and a half. Then we quickly cut away to Captain America. If I am going to be forced to read an uncreative and shallow story then at least give me some adrenaline pumping action and in large amounts.

The “hook” ending to Siege #1 was a joke. It was actually laughable. The splash shot of Steve Rogers with his teeth clenched and his fist shaking (I guess from either anger or early onset of Parkinson’s disease) was just so incredibly goofy.

Seriously? This is the big “hook” ending that Bendis thought would be a really cool way to end the debut issue of his big event? What in the world about this wordless full page splash shot was supposed to get me excited to come back for the next issue?

If Norman and his army can take out the mighty Thor in a page and a half then they will be able to take out Steve Rogers in about a panel or two. This hook ending was incredibly anti-climatic and fell completely flat for me.

The dialogue was average at best. At least we did not get Ares and Thor engaged in a bunch of Bendis speak. So that is something to be grateful for. None of the characters have much of a well-developed voice. Instead, the characters have rather neutral voices. Ares’ speech was particularly cheesy.

Coipel’s art was very hit or miss in this issue. Some of the splash pages looked quite pretty. However, the majority of the panels looked sloppy and rushed. There was practically no detail at all in the backgrounds. Coipel’s art was a large reason why the scene at Soldier Field failed. Coipel drew the scene with such a lack of detail that it looked like the stadium was empty. Also, the panel shots of crowds or large groups of heroes were underwhelming. Coipel would barely give the characters faces or any other details.

Coipel’s artwork helped to compound the problem that Bendis’ story was written on a small scale. Coipel never pulled the reader into the story or helped to give Siege the feeling of a truly huge event.

Overall: Siege #1 was so poor that it made Secret Invasion look pretty good by comparison. At least Secret Invasion #1 started that big event off with a bang, had plenty of wild scenes and ended with a good hook ending. Siege #1 manages to do absolutely none of that. I hope that there is much more to this story than what we got in this issue. However, the fact that Siege is only four issues long means that we probably are not going to get much more of a story than what we got in this issue.

Marvel’s incessant hyping of Siege as an event that is “seven years in the making” only made Siege that much more anti-climactic and unimpressive. There is no way this shallow story took seven years to make.

Unless you are a die-hard Bendis fan or simply have to collect every Marvel big event, I would recommend passing on Siege #1. Due to the lack of substance and content, Siege #1 simply is not worth the $3.99 cover price. Save your hard earned money and spend it on comic books that are worth it.
______________________________________________________
Rokk

Comic Book Review: Daytripper #1

noreply@blogger.com (Austin) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Creative Team
Written and Drawn: Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
Coloring: Dave Stewart
Lettering: Sean Konót

An Introduction
I like to think about story shapes. Alan Moore likes ellipses. Brian K. Vaughan likes concentric circles. I think Moon and Bá are attempting a fractal of some kind. I don't know yet. But the tension has set up shop in my belly and head so I will keep reading.

A fractal is a mathematically constructed geometric shape wherein each composite piece contains a complete copy of the whole. When creating the realistic lumps and bumps of a photo-realistic computer generated image, fractals are a really awesome shorthand way of getting a sterile surface to grow some realistic grit.

But how does this apply to the series in question? Should you care?

Also, is it any good?

Slife
Most would say that the appeal of the slife (slice-of-life) story comes from the reader caring for the characters. This is wrong. Slife stories lack the necessary plot to drag the reader from page to page. You care about Batman. You care about Wolverine. The plot takes your caring for the character and rubs it like a washboard. That is why you want to know what happens to them week after week.

When you open the first page on Brás, the subject of Daytripper, you don't care about him. You don't know him. You may end up caring about him. Even desperately so. This is a secondary result of the true appeal of a slife story: that the writer will take some uncomfortably, mewling, eyeless thing within you and drag it around the page. You will care about Brás because you care about yourself. We all have a hunger for reassurances that our mousy insecurities will find some way to survive in the world if exposed. Here the world is fictional, but the exposure is real.

Real things are being done to you. You should care. Care like cancer.

The good writer takes that ugly thing torn from the old, rodent portions of your soul and kills it. Then it sautés its organs in its own blood and feeds it back to you. The really good writer makes it look pretty.

Bá and Moon are beautiful writers. They make you love them for it.

The Plot
The first issue of Daytripper takes you through a very important day in the life of Brás, a young man who works at a newspaper, lives in Brazil, has a dog and a girlfriend and a very important father. Brás knows that this day is important. Indeed, much of Brazil knows that this day is important. But for all of these entities the day is important for a completely different reason.

Returning Momentarily to Fractals
The secret of the end is what will surprise you. Daytripper is a miniseries of ten issues. They all are connected. That's all you need to know. The exquisite suffering you will experience as you gently read yourself raw with all of your little feelings will pay off over the next nine issues.

Without spoiling the first issue, it is my theory that this issue contains a tiny cosmos of lives. By examining life in the day of Brás, Moon and Bá have encapsulated all the other aspects of our journey. My prior experience with these two is that subsequent stories will be other tiny universes superimposed on this one.

An Apology
I have made this sound way more complicated than it actually is. Daytripper is one of the easiest to read comics I have found. It won't break your brain - just your heart. The layouts are clean. The coloring by Stewart is subtly hyper-real and warm. Moon and Bá utilize minimal amount of text per panel concentrating its force. You flow from page to page like a prescient dream.

Any author can tell you something. These authors are good enough to make you forget. They are excellent storytellers.

This a comic to give to your significant other who does not read comics.
This is a comic that will get you laid.

A Disclaimer
I guarantee nothing. But seriously: I would pick it up if you are looking for a good place to expand your taste in comics. Or acquire some.

New Comic Books For January 6, 2010

LaRevolucion44@aol.com (Rokk Krinn) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:19:00 +0000

DARK HORSE COMICS

BPRD KING OF FEAR #1
CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #17
GIGANTIC #5
MASS EFFECT REDEMPTION #1
STAR WARS CLONE WARS #12 HERO CONFEDERACY PT 3

DC/VERTIGO/WILDSTORM COMICS

AUTHORITY #18
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #40
BLACKEST NIGHT WONDER WOMAN #2
CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #45
CHILL HC
CINDERELLA FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #3
DOOM PATROL #6
GREAT TEN #3
GREEK STREET #7
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #21
JONAH HEX #51
JSA ALL STARS #2
LOONEY TUNES #182
MAD ABOUT SUPER HEROES TP VOL 02
MIGHTY #12
RED ROBIN #8
RED TORNADO #5
SPIRIT TP VOL 05
SUICIDE SQUAD #67
SUPERMAN WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #11
SWEET TOOTH #5
TITANS OLD FRIENDS TP
UNWRITTEN TP VOL 01
WARLORD #10
WEIRD WESTERN TALES #71
WILDSTORM AFTER THE FALL TP

IMAGE COMICS

DARKNESS #82
DEAD AT 17 SOURCE BOOK
FORGETLESS #2
FRESHMEN SUMMER READING PACK
GOD COMPLEX #2
HAUNT #4
IMAGE UNITED #2
KING CITY #4
NIGHT OF THE BEDBUGS HC $12.99
ORC STAIN #1
PROOF #25
SAVAGE DRAGON #156
SKY PIRATES OF NEO TERRA #4
SOUL KISS HC VOL 01
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 11 FEAR THE HUNTERS
YOUNGBLOOD TP VOL 02 VOTED OFF THE ISLAND

MARVEL COMICS

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS JACKPOT #1
CABLE #22
DAFFODIL #1
DAREDEVIL TP BORN AGAIN
DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #897
ESSENTIAL AVENGERS TP VOL 07
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN PREM HC VOL 03 MOST WANTED BK 02
LIST HC
MARVEL BOY URANIAN #1
MARVEL DIVAS TP
NATION X X-FACTOR
NEW MUTANTS #9
PUNISHER MAX GET CASTLE #1
SIEGE #1
SIEGE EMBEDDED #1
SIEGE PRELUDE TP
SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE #9
SPIDER-MAN NOIR EYES WITHOUT A FACE #2
TIMELY ANNUALS 70TH ANNIV COLLECTION HC
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #6
X-MEN MUTANT MASSACRE HC
X-MEN NOIR MARK OF CAIN #2
X-MEN VS AVENGERS PREM HC
X-MEN VS FANTASTIC FOUR PREM HC

Rokk's Picks:

All right, new comics!! Last week was just so very wrong. A Wednesday without new comic books simply defies the laws of nature. Yeah, I know we got Blackest Night #6. But, that issue had been spoiled all over the internet and did not satisfy my urge for a nice large stack of fresh new comic books.

This is a rather unimpressive selection of titles headed our way from DC. I am just not that excited to read much of what DC is offering tomorrow.

I have mixed feelings about JSA All Stars #2. Matt Sturges needs to step up and show me something on this title. Willingham managed to do just enough to keep me from dropping Justice Society of America with the last issue of that title. Sturges must now do the same with JSA All Stars #2.

The debut issue to JSA All Stars was extremely unimpressive. Sturges gave the reader a rather dull issue. The character work and dialogue in JSA All Stars #1 were average at best. The debut issue also lacked any compelling plotlines. Hopefully, Sturges will deliver a greatly improved product with this second issue.

Now, I have to admit that I am intrigued by the co-feature that debuts in JSA All-Stars #2. The creative team for the co-feature consists of Jen Van Meter handling the words and Travis Moore and Dan Green delivering the artwork. I have never read anything by Van Meter so I have no idea if I am going to enjoy her style of writing or not.

However, the co-feature stars Hourman and Liberty Belle. I love those two characters. They are probably two of my favorite members of the JSA. I am glad that this duo are getting some time in the spotlight. I look forward to seeing what Van Meter has in store for this married couple.

The only title from DC this week that I am particularly looking forward to reading is Great Ten #3. This issue of Great Ten centers on Thundermind. I have been impressed with Bedard’s handling of the Great Ten. More often than not, the rule dealing with characters created by Grant Morrison is that no other writer knows what to do with them. That has not been the case with Bedard and the Great Ten.

I dig the format that Bedard is employing by having each issue told from the point of view of a different member of the Great Ten. This has allowed Bedard to perform some excellent character work, properly familiarize the reader with each character and still progress the main storyline along in a pleasing fashion.

I am not all that excited to read Siege #1. The preview of this issue was incredibly unimpressive. Recycling a gimmick from a big event that is only four years old is not exactly how I would kick off a new big event. That type of beginning hardly gives Siege a creative or a fresh feel to it.

Also, I have been less than impressed with Bendis’ work on any title that stars more than two main characters. Bendis cannot handle a large roster of characters. Bendis also struggles mightily when plotting and pacing a large event. Secret Invasion was a poorly constructed big event that greatly suffered in terms of shoddy plotting and pacing.

Hopefully, Bendis has learned from his mistakes and delivers a superior product with Siege. However, I am not expecting much with Siege. I think that retaining low expectations from the outset gives me more opportunity to enjoy Siege. With my low expectations, even if Bendis only delivers an average read then I will be pleased.

Ultimate Spider-Man #6 should be another fun read. I have been enjoying the re-launch of this title. Bendis has done a good job quickly moving past Ultimatum and getting Ultimate Spider-Man back up to speed. I am particularly enjoying how much time Bendis has been spending amassing Peter Parker’s supporting cast. The magic of Ultimate Spider-Man has been largely due to the wonderful supporting cast that Bendis has created on this title. I dig the fact that Aunt May’s house is basically becoming the de-facto headquarters for the Ultimate Universe version of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.

However, the Marvel comic book that I am most looking forward to reading is Marvel Boy: The Uranian #1. This issue is brought to us by Jeff Parker. There are numerous reasons why this is the Marvel comic that I am most looking forward to reading this month.

First, I love Marvel Boy’s character. Marvel Boy is a great Atlas Comics character created by Stan Lee and Russ Heath and first appearing in Marvel Boy #1 in 1950. My usual weakness for Golden Age characters is combined with the fact that I have enjoyed Marvel Boy over in Agents of Atlas. I am excited to see Parker work his magic to flesh out Marvel Boy’s origin within the context of the modern 616 Universe.

I continue to be impressed with Marvel’s concerted effort to pay more attention to their Golden Age and their wonderful Timely and Atlas Comics characters. This move by Marvel to try and re-integrate numerous Timely and Atlas Comics characters into the continuity of the modern 616 Universe is a wise idea that will only serve to make Marvel’s continuity that much more texture.

I am also looking forward to Marvel Boy #1 because of the great creative team Marvel has on this title. Jeff Parker did a wonderful job on Agents of Atlas. I have been more and more impressed with Parker’s work as of late. I expect a well crafted story from Parker.

Legen....wait-for-it.....dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week for 12/30/09

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:05:00 +0000

Cover of the Week: Blackest Night #6 (Variant Cover)

This is the 1:100 variant cover for Blackest Night and this cover actually makes Nekron look like he is a threat to bad he only appeared in all of one panel in the issue. And what big bad guy of an event only appears in one panel in the latter issues of the event?

Blackest Night #6 Highlights

Even though the story in Blackest Night is very weak Johns knows how to write most of the characters. And I loved this one between Hal and Sinestro.

This looked very impressive with Flash being able to outrun the Black Lantern rings chasing him and Hal.

Didn't we get this in Green Lantern #49? One thing of note that I did not notice when I read the issue is that this page may have spoiled the story going on in Tomasi's Green Lantern Corps as Kirk from The Weekly Crisis pointed out.

Never thought we see Mera vs. Wonder Woman. Even though we did not see their fight in this issue I expect that this fight will be expanded on in Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2. Too bad I am not going to pick that issue up.

Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps Ganthet.

Must resist making Power Ranger joke.....Must resist........Must resist........okay I am good but I think this video sums up what happened in the last eleven or so pages of this issue.

Teaser Talk: Spider-Man in 2010

metalhellspawn@aol.com (Andrenn) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:13:00 +0000

I got home late Wednesday night and I’ve been busy hard at work with unpacking and then celebrating the new year. Yes, happy new year to you all. Though I finally got some time to finish up some posts I need to write up when this little gem of a teaser popped up onto my radar earlier today.

Awww, Marvel, it’s been too long since you did one of these headache inducing teasers. Far too long.

So to help me get back into the groove of things I figure it will be fun to dissect this a little bit.

So lets obviously talk about the most obvious point of the teaser and that’s Spider-Man and MJ jumping towards each other, with MJ in a wedding dress. This could mean a lot of things. This could symbolize the end of One More Day and the couple finally getting back together or it could mean they are finally going to explain what drove them apart.

Deep down for how spiteful and cynical I’ve become over the last 2 years in regards to my childhood hero I can’t deny even the faintest idea of OMD finally ending and our 2 lovers getting back together fills me with joy. Sadly it’s not the blind joy where I automatically have faith this will happen. No I’m almost certain that OMD will never be undone as long as Joe Quesada has a say in how Marvel works.

So as much as I’d love to write to you all about how excited I am over this and how this just makes me jump for joy, I can’t. Really I would love it if this means the end of OMD, I would, I really really want to belive it could but by now I’ve learned not to have faith in Marvel. So I’m going to assume this means something else.

Now I guess it would be nice if Marvel did explain at least why they broke up. Over all the years they had rough patches, Peter and MJ endured so I’m sure all of us fans are dying to see what is the one thing that is strong enough to break them up. They lost everything in the past, their home, family, their own child, and still they persevered. So seeing the one thing that could break them up would be interesting.

Or maybe it’s just Marvel screwing with us and the former wedding won’t come into play at all and they are just bullshitting us like they have before.

Remember that infamous One More Day teaser? Here it is in case you forgot.

Funny how none of those characters really mattered to the story or had any real impact and how most of them didn’t even show up, huh? I can’t help but figure that’s the same thing Marvel is doing with this Spider-man in 2010 teaser.

Still deep down, a small flickering little fire in my otherwise cynical heart can’t help but burn a little brighter at the mere idea of OMD ending. Even if it is a tiny flicker.

But hey, there’s more to this teaser then just the forefront image. We see the Spider-family together. One of them being black suit Spider-man but it doesn’t seem to be Venom. I’m curious about this but not curious enough to talk much about it.

Then there’s the baby in Doc Ock’s arms. Last I checked Octavious wasn’t doing so well and he seemed he wanted to help the world with what little time he had left. So him going and kidnapping a baby doesn’t really seem like something he’d do right now.

Though there are 2 theories so far about the baby. One is that it’s baby May. An all right idea but I’m not seeing it. My theory, the second theory, is that it’s Norman and Lilly’s child. The infant has green eyes which could be a slight hint at it having some Goblin in it’s blood.

Though Quesada recently mentioned that in 2010 there would be something involving MJ and a baby. Maybe baby May had something to do with Peter and MJ breaking up. At this point it’s still very open in the air.

There’s also some teasing for the Gauntlet storyline but I don’t really care much to mention it since I won’t be reading it. That’s all I have to say today kids, check back soon for some comic reviews, solicit commentary, Year’s End and a look at the upcoming stuff for 2010.

The Revolutions Most Anticipated Comic Books for 2010

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Hope everyone has been having a great holiday season!

The year is almost over and with 2010 just hours away all of the comic book companies have already revealed some of their plans for 2010. With so many different announcements that have been made by the various comic book companies there looks to be a lot of big things happening in the world of comics in 2010. Because of that I asked the guys here at the Revolution to put together a top 5 things they are most looking forward to in the coming year, in no particular order.

Jim

1. Paul Levitz writing the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Levitz has written some of my favorite stories on one of my favorite series. I recently was in a discussion where I had trouble deciding between Shooter and Levitz as my favorite Legion writer. If he is teamed with the right artist and can bring back some of the magic he had previously, this could be my favorite book of the year. It seems like DC is supporting his return more than they did Shooter's return to the book.

2. Jim Shooter writing Magnus, etc.

Another favorite of mine was the original Valiant books written by Jim Shooter. I fully expect this to be a quality relaunch when Dark Horse starts publishing the new version. If these are close to the Valiant books in writing, art, etc. I will be thrilled.

3. Marv Wolfman/George Perez Teen Titans graphic novel-Games.

The team of Wolfman and Perez produced one of the all time classic series on Titans. From the introduction of the new team through the Judas Contract, Titans was a must read book. This book has been years in the making but sounds like it will finally happen this year.

4. Return of Bruce Wayne by Grant Morrison

Morrison is another favorite of mine. His stories don't always make sense when you first read them but when the story is finished I can see what I missed when I read it. I always enjoy trying to understand where he is going. I prefer the down to earth Batman stories but it is fun to read the science fiction stories occasionally. This is a side of Batman that is rarely seen today.

5. Matt Fraction writing Thor.

I have been disappointed by much of Fraction's work at Marvel. Based on comments he made when this was announced, I am looking forward to what he has planned for this book. It sounds like he is returning to the Walt Simonson type of stories. Simonson's Thor was amazing. I look forward to a return to the cosmic adventures done by Simonson. I think this pick will surprise our regular readers but I am willing to give Fraction a chance on this title.

Austin

1. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol 3: Century - Ch. 2 Paint it Black by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

There is entirely not enough LoXG in the universe. This kaleidoscopic retro-futuristic recombinant story blows by way too fast in its beautiful nine-panel grid melodies. I will always welcome more of Moore and O'Neill. The new format of longer and more self-contained chapters suits Moore's intricate stories and rich subtext and O'Neill's addictive clarity. As the plots timeline catches up to our own it will be interesting to see the referential elements resonate with contemporary works.

2. The rest of Daytripper by Moon and Ba

A quiet grenade for your eyes. The artistwriters seamlessly integrate styles and generate slices of life that set fire to things. They are sweet and brutal simultaneously like licorice armed with a knife.

3. Freakangels continuing by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield

Ellis and Duffield generously crank out the ensemble sci-fi drama for free every Friday on their website. Periodically, they publish chunks in TPB form. This story concerns a group of unrelated people, born simultaneously and possessing violet eyes, who both caused and survived the end of the world. They have powers of the mental variety and use them to maintain order in a small bastion of civilization on the roofs of Whitechapel, England. The story examines what it is to "succeed to death."

4. Joe the Barbarian by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy

Morrison returns to creator-owned territory with a story I know next to nothing about. Murphy will set your teeth on edge with a murky crispness. The previews in the back of recent issues of Vertigo series demonstrates Morrison will again be working in his Post Post-Modernist fever dream. Murphy demonstrates his huge versatility by stepping outside his neon chiaroscuro of Criminal. I suspect is about a child examining his pastiche imaginary world and self-actualization - territory well articulated by Morrison.

5. Re-printing of Cages by Dave McKean

I have never read this. I love Mckean as an artist and writer. He generates stories of simple weirdness. I look forward to Dark Horse getting this thing out there again. For examples of prior McKean greatness check out the movie Mirrormask where cities crumple like paper and unfold like roses or check Youtube for the short film "The Week Before" about what God spent his time doing the week before (S)He created the cosmos. These are your assignments. You cannot refuse.

Matt

1. New Year's Resolutions

I know it just clears the way for the next series of events, but the seven-years in the making - as in seven years of non-stop events - "Siege" will finally end this roller coaster, which peaked around "House of M" and has been going steadily downhill since. No more skrulls, no more Norman, if for no reason other than the fact that individual books' editors can't even keep up anymore. Ares wants to kill Nick Fury. The Black Widow was apprehended 6 different times in 6 different ways, each one contradicting the other, over a period of several weeks. Oh, and we hope you weren't enjoying "Reborn" too much, 'cause heeeere's Cap!

2. Superman vs. Muhammad Ali reprints!

The Kryptonian Pandemonium vs. the guy played by Will Smith! Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams! A return to ridiculousness! I'm all for it!

3. Del Rey Comics

It's difficult to imagine a more auspicious debut for a comic company than Del Rey's adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub's "The Talisman". And the world is very much ready for a new comics company with a new approach. The big two and the not-so-small indies, along with industry kingpin Diamond, have become stagnant and out of touch. New distribution methods like iPhone apps, and new publishers, are the first signs that the status quo is finally beginning to change. And although they're new to comics, Del Rey is a proven publishing pro with a history of doing "genre" material right.

4. More Stephen King comics!

Stephen King's comics, beginning with Marvel's Dark Tower books, accomplished what I thought was impossible ever since I saw Tim Curry in "IT" - namely, making me take King seriously. I'm a total King comic fanboy, and N is finally coming out. Over at Marvel in the Dark Tower-verse, the Battle of Jericho Hill is just getting started and the Stand is still standing, and I can't wait to see more of King's work over at...

5. Blackest Night: Canceled series - RISE!

Atom and Hawkman? Starman? The Question? SUICIDE SQUAD?!? Viva Los Muertes!

Rokk

1. Grant Morrison’s Multiversity.

I adore everything about the Multiverse and I like Morrison. So, a mini-series involving the Multiverse and being written by Grant Morrison is a tailor made title for me.

This is going to be a seven-issue mini-series with each issue starring a different Multiple Earth. One of the issues is going to star the original Charlton Comics characters from Earth-4. I adore the Charlton Comics characters and have hated how DC has butchered and killed them off in the modern DCU. So, I am looking forward to seeing them in all their glory.

Another one of the issues is rumored to take place on Earth-5 starring the classic Marvel Family. Morrison has displayed a better feel for Captain Marvel’s character during Final Crisis than any other current writer at DC. Unfortunately, DC has also poorly handled these Fawcett Comics characters. It will certainly be nice to see the Marvel Family in all their glory once again.

Earth-X is going to be the setting for another one of the issues. This issue will star the Freedom Fighters, a collection of great Quality Comics characters. These are also a set of characters that DC acquired and proceeded to do little with and then simply killed off. Again, it will be nice seeing these characters back and better than ever.

2. Earth One Original Graphic Novels.

Like I said, I love the Multiverse. So, I was thrilled to hear that DC is going to trot out some Earth One graphic novels in 2010. I still have my reservations that Geoff Johns is the proper writer to handle Earth One Batman. Johns has never displayed any like or enjoyment for Batman’s character. However, I dig the selection of JMS to handle Earth One Superman. JMS should deliver an iconic and mythic version of Superman.

3. Bruce Wayne’s Return.

I know Morrison’s Batman was an acquired taste. I completely understand why some readers strongly disliked what Morrison did on Batman. Having said that, personally, I loved Morrison’s Batman. So, I am looking forward to Morrison continuing the story he had cooking in Batman RIP and Final Crisis.

The Batman titles have suffered since Bruce’s “death.” The Batman titles have always been DC’s strongest performers, but their sales numbers have slipped since Bruce was taken off the table. The most recent sales numbers show both Batman and Detective Comics selling less than they were when Bruce Wayne was starring in both titles.

The Battle for the Cowl story was dull and uninteresting. Batman and Robin has been a disappointment as it has failed to live up to my high expectations. I love Dick Grayson’s character, but his run as Batman has been largely unimpressive. Dick is a much more compelling character when he gets the chance to be his own character rather than simply being Batman Lite.

4. Marvel’s Cosmic Characters.

I grew up more of a Marvel fan than I did a DC fan. So, it does not please me that I could largely care less about the core Marvel titles dealing with the 616 Universe.

Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man and Uncanny X-Men are shallow and unoriginal reads that are recycling old themes. The X-titles in general are in a state of disarray. The X-titles have become so bogged down in continuity and are simply spinning their wheels re-hashing old stories. Honestly, the return of Jean Grey is about the last thing that is going to get me interested in reading an X-title. Even X-Factor, which was one of my favorite Marvel titles and the best X-title, is a shell of what it was prior to Messiah Complex.

Bendis’ New Avengers delivers slow and pointless stories starring C-list characters. Mighty Avengers has not been as good as I had hoped. Amazing Spider-Man has been hit or miss due to the constantly rotating stable of writers. Loeb’s Hulk is just not a well-written title. Wolverine and his titles get less and less cool with the more overexposed his character becomes.

I am so completely worn out and bored of Dark Reign and all the related Dark Reign titles. Siege does little to excite me. Especially given the unimpressive preview for Siege where Bendis recycles the beginning of Civil War in order to kick off Siege. For the most part, Marvel’s big events have been a miss with me and I do not see that trend ending with Siege.

At this point, the only non-cosmic 616 Universe titles that I find to be consistently compelling reads are Brubaker’s Captain America, Hickman’s Fantastic Four and Pak and Van Lente’s Incredible Hercules.

For my money, the best aspects of the 616 Universe are the cosmic titles that DnA are handling for Marvel. Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy, the Inhumans and the Imperial Guard have all become incredibly compelling characters. DnA have made Marvel’s cosmic characters the most exciting, creative and dynamic aspect of the 616 Universe.

I have no idea what in the world DnA are going to unleash on us in 2010. However, I do know that whatever DnA are planning for Marvel’s cosmic characters that it is going to be fresh, exciting and quite entertaining.

5. The Marshal Law Omnibus.

Marshal Law is one of my all-time favorite characters. This character was the brainchild of two comic greats in Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neil. Mills and O’Neil deconstructed the super-hero genre like nobody else had at that time.

If you are impressed by what Garth Ennis is doing with The Boys then check out Marshal Law. Mills and O’Neil did it first. And, personally, I think Mills and O’Neil did it better. Ennis needs to send a royalty check to Mills and O’Neil from any money that he makes on The Boys.

The Marshal Law Omnibus is a full color deluxe oversized hardcover that weighs in at 7 5/8” x 11 ¾” and a whopping 512 pages. Unfortunately, even though this gem of a hardcover comes out in 2010, I am going to have to wait all the way to December 2010. Top Shelf, why must you torment me so with such a long wait!

Kevin

1. Amazing Spider-Man: Gauntlet and Beyond

The most consistent title in my opinion that turned in good to great reads in 2009 was Amazing Spider-Man. And as a long time Spider-Man fan it has been a while since I have been able to say that this is a title I look forward to reading each month but the Spidey Brain Trust have brought back my favorite title since I was a kid to being one of my favorite's once again. With Marvel coming out with three different puzzle like images with the title saying "The Year of Spider-Man is 2010" I can't wait to see what the Spidey Brain Trust has in store for this title in 2010.

2. Earth-One Original Graphic Novels

This an very interesting concept that DC is doing in order to penetrate a different market than the typical comic book stores. Though I am not a fan of the name I am very interested to see what JMS and Geoff Johns will be able to do with Superman and Batman without any restrictions. JMS was a no brainer as the choice to write Superman. I expect him to bring the same epic feel he brought to Thor. With Johns I am interested to see his take on Batman since he has never written the character in a Batman series to my knowledge.

3. Return of Bruce Wayne

Even though I have had my problems with Morrison's writing I got to commend the man for always drawing me into his of the wall stories. From what has been said about this mini-series so far I expect another crazy story that I will not completely understand in single issues but will read great in one sitting. And how can you not love Caveman and Pirate Batman!?

4. Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre's Daredevil

Since the Lady Bullseye arc early in 2009 Daredevil has been a must read all year. With the new status quo for Matt and his supporting cast I don't remember the last time I was this into Daredevil. I have loved what Diggle and De La Torre have done with the character so far as they are doing a wonderful job exploring what makes the character tick. I have no idea where the creative team for this title are going to take the character which is great since there isn't this much unpredictability with other comic books by the Big 2.

5. DnA's Plans for Marvel Cosmic Universe

DnA have been pure gold with Marvel's cosmic line of title ever since the start of the original Annihilation. The cosmic side of Marvel has been just excellent. And with everything that happened in War of Kings DnA have just continued to be pure money with their new story Realm of Kings that is running through all of the cosmic titles over at Marvel. I can't wait to see where they take the Realm of Kings storyline as they really seem to building towards something epic.

Andrenn

1. Young Avengers coming back

Ever since the initial first series ended the YA have been in a bit of a limbo. Inching their way through the Marvel Universe in waiting for Heinberg and Cheung to return for one last hurrah with the characters they created. It's been a long time coming.

Now luckily Marvel hasn't totally let the team just sit around and do nothing. A random mini-series here and there to keep them up with the current status quo. Teaming up with the Runaways and recently the excellent Dark Reign mini-series. So far the YA have still been fairly prominent but it's obvious that they have yet to really come full circle from prior developments of the original series.

Sure Patriot and Hawkeye got together, sort of, and Vision and Stature got together but other then 2 hookups the characters haven't been able to really go too far with the limitation that was set when Heinberg planned to eventually return to the characters. They haven't been able to do all they can do.

But now that's all finally changing as the creators are returning and hopefully going to wrap up all their developments and set a new status quo for the team that other writers could take and run with later on. It would be great to finally see all these points come full circle.

For one there's Kang of the future, his younger self who wants to be a hero. We saw a glimpse of him in the second half of the first series but since then he sort of just disappeared. I can't tell if I want him to come back or not. While he was a decent character, him coming back would create a love triangle with Kang/Stature/Vision and I'm rarely fond of a love triangle. They are often very boring.

Then there are characters like Patriot and Hawkeye who both have some legacies to live up to. With Cap coming back I'd think they should touch on Patriot's thoughts on this and I'm sure Hawkeye wants to talk to Clint Barton some more. These seem like 2 obvious things they should touch on.

I would hope that Stature and Vision would still take place in the series but with their current roles in the Mighty Avengers it seems unlikely that the mini could change them too much since it could have trouble matching up with their current status. It's all up in the air at this point.

There's also Wiccan and Speed and the possible return of the Scarlet Witch. I believe Heinberg said he wanted to bring her back and since it would clearly impact these 2 that would be a really fascinating twist and a really interesting read.

There are other things like Hulkling and his ties to the Skrull and Krees but those seem like more far off possible stories. Right now I just hope the 8-issue/bi-monthly mini can wrap up all these plot points so we can have some closure and maybe even a fun shake up of the team. So while 2010 is looking to be an exciting year for new possible stories, I'm mostly excited for a story that wraps up a long developing group of stories. Go figure. Well I've always loved the YA so I can't wait to see more of them come Summer 2010.

2. More Image

I really could fill this entire list up with Image Comics if I wanted. Jersey Gods, Invincible, Haunt, Image United, Witchblade, Angelus, Spawn, the list goes on. Image had another great year with 2009 and I expect 2010 to be no different.

Sadly Image United hit a snag as I predicted, but at least Image is trying to fill the void with new material such as Image United #0 having some extra goodies and Interlude, which will have Invincible! Everyone's been clamoring for something with Invincible and here we go.

I'm reading Image United mostly just for the characters and the art and 2 parts in and the story has hit a snag. Already it's feeling dull but I'm really hopeful that Kirkman can bring us back with #3 if it can make it to January on time. Supposedly something back happens there so I've got my fingers crossed. Though either way I'll still enjoy the art at the very least.

Invincible returning to his old costume should be a lot of fun. Though a recent cover teases the idea of him leaving Eve over something and that of course worries me. I'm dying to find out what happens to Eve with her pregnancy. Does she keep the baby, abort it, miscarriage, who knows! Knowing Kirkman though the baby will probably die.

My best guess is that Eve either tells Mark and he leaves her. Or she gets an abortion without telling him, that upsets him that she did that without telling him first so he leaves her for that. Both would be heart-wrenching for the readers so that's' where I figure Kirkman is going.

Though obviously there's a lot more to be excited over Invincible for. It's just the pregnancy that's at the forefront of my attention, though the looming Viltrumite war is also exciting as all hell and should be great. Also hopefully this means that we'll have a reunion of father and son finally.

Jersey Gods hit a little delay but that's okay. This series is good enough for the wait and it has been my favorite new ongoing series of 2009. Definitely the best new series Image is putting out (sorry but I'm not reading Chew) and it is tons of fun to read each month so I'm really excited to see where the book goes in 2010.

Witchblade seems to be taking a little bit of a breather and having more short and easy story arcs after following up on the somewhat disappointing War of the Witchblades from this year. That's a good thing since I've been enjoying the shorter and more easy arcs since they are a lot more fun and interesting to read then the long dragged out stories.

Also Angelus started this year but it wraps up in 2010 and I'm really excited to see where Marz and Sejic go with the mini-series. I think it could easily have potential to be the mini-series of the year!

Haunt wraps up it's first arc in 2 months and that should be exciting though really the entire series has me excited for more. 2010 is looking even better for the young series with Greg Capullo actually lending his brilliant pencils to issue #6 which I'm sure will look gorgeous.

Haunt has definitely been a very interesting series and where Krikman takes it after it's first story arc is crucial. He's built up the mystery and is slowly unraveling just a few pieces of it but he's also got to make sure this series works for more then just it's mystery, that these 2 brothers can still do the hero thing even after all is revealed otherwise this might as well have been a mini-series or something.

I hate to say it but I'm not very excited for Spawn actually, which is why Image is not higher on the list. Spawn for me was the flagship Image title when I was a kid. It was always my favorite Image comic and now it's just all falling apart it seems. McFarlane seemed to know what he's doing but now it's all just crumbled.

For one he can't seem to get the damn book out on time. #196 was solicited for September of this year, and now it won't make it until January of 2010. I call bullshit. I did so on twitter and McFarlane said it was his fault. That Rob Liefeld (guest artist for the issue) had done his part but it was on Todd since he was so busy. That doesn't make this delay any more frustrating.

Then after the big 200th issue, we get a new team of 2 people I've never heard of. Now I am willing to give the new team a try, after all David Hine paid off big time and I'd never heard of him, but it really just seems like McFarlane has do idea what he's doing with Spawn anymore.

I love Spawn and I always will but nowadays it's just getting harder and harder to read this series. It's the comic that got me back into a comics a few years ago and if not for Spawn I wouldn't be writing this very post for you all. But I feel like I'm in a relationship with someone who I'm totally committed to and care about, but who doesn't give a damn about me or anything else.

I really am glad that McFarlane gave some new changes to Spawn. It's nice to see him trying again but really it just seems like he totally lost all focus and direction. First he fired Brian Holguin from writing the series which was a huge mistake. If McFarlane wants someone to write Spawn, get Holguin for god's sakes. He's a 1,000 times better writer then McFarlane ever has been and I can already tell he's better then the new guy.

Maybe I'm just a scorned fan who feels like he's been done wrong. But I love Spawn a lot so seeing the series just so unfocused and rocky is really hard for me. I'm really hopeful that by mid-2010 McFarlane can get his crap together and fix his series or I may do something I never thought I'd do, drop Spawn.

Image as a whole though seems to be having a really exciting year with 2010. Every series is doing something new or interesting and I can't wait to read more as the new year rings in.

3. Batman Beyond Returns

It was announced a long while back that DC has plans for Batman Beyond in 2010. Not much else has been said since and I've been dying to find out what their plans are for him. I just recently picked up the animated film Return of the Joker (unfortunately it came packaged with the mediocre Mystery of the Batwoman movie) and it was great. It reinvigorated my love for the Batman Beyond series.

My real hope is that the team of Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and Glen Murakami all got together for a new animated film. While we did get a good amount of closure from the JLU/Batman Beyond story I still want one final hurrah for this series. Something really big for Terry. He deserves it.

Also I want to see Max again! Whatever happened to her? She was just as important to Batman as Bruce Wayne or Terry's Family was. She was his main intelligence person. But she never showed up in Return of the Joker or the JLU story. What the hell, DC? She deserves to come back.

But most of all I want Terry to have his one last final hurrah that's all him. Much as I absolutely loved Return of the Joker, that was more then just Terry's movie. It served as filling the gap between the original cartoon and Beyond. While I loved that 10 minute flashback, it was my favorite part of the movie, Terry deserves a movie that's 100% his.

There has also been talk about a new animated series but I think that's a much more far off dream. DC seems to be focusing all their extra animated power into the animated films like the new Justice League film as well as the prior movies for Superman/Batman and Green Lantern. So a new animated series seems very unlikely, but if that was the case that would be even better!

Though sadly my best guess is that it's just going to be a mini-series. While that would be nice too, I'm more used to Batman Beyond in animation so that's how I'd love to see it. Though if the mini was written by Paul Dini with art by Bruce Timm or Glen Murakami that could be great as well.

Either way I'm excited as all hell to see what DC has planned for Batman Beyond. I'm much more excited for this then whatever the hell it is they plan to do with bringing back Bruce Wayne. We all know how that's going to go. I'm more excited for a more interesting come back.

4. Blackest Night's End

A typical choice I know but up until the last 2 issues of the event I probably wouldn't have said this. Blackest Night was solid, but painfully predictable in it's first half but now that it's entered it's second half it seems like the real show has begun. I'm excited as all hell to see where it goes.

One thing I'm curious about is the Earth Lantern Heroes. Could Ray still be an Indigo Lantern, or Mera still a red lantern? I know damn well that Barry will be back to normal as will Lex Luthor and probably Scarecrow as well but it's hard not to hope this may change at least one or two of these heroes.

I'm not 100% certain I'll be reading Green Lantern after Blackest Night. I want to, but it's a budget thing. Either way I'm excited for this event all over again and I'm really pumped to see what Johns does next with it.

5. Arkham Asylum 2 Info

Funny how I'm not really all that excited with the return of the real Batman, but the return of him in a video game has me excited as all hell. Yes the recently announced sequel to my game of the year, Batman: Arkham Asylum, has me jumping with anticipation.

But sadly I'm well aware that we won't be getting the sequel in 2010, unless it's very late 2010. Usually game sequels are at least a good solid year apart and that's for a steady series. So while I'm excited for the game, for now I'm just dying to find out more about it.

It would seem the original team of gave designers are behind it, and it would seem that Paul Dini, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin will be reprising all their roles at least it would seem that way but so far we don't really have anything definitive saying what the game will be like or any info on it.

There's no doubt the game will be getting lots of press through 2010, trailers, behind the scenes stuff, etc. They would be crazy not to hype up this game after all the hype and praise the first one got. 2010 will hopefully give us a good amount of knowledge about the game in preparations for what I'm hoping will be an early 2011 release.

I love the first game so much and while the downloadable content has been great I'm dying for more. If Rocksteady can wake their magic wand and improve on some of the small problems the first game had then I think we could be in store for something real special here.

Honorable Mentions

First Wave, Flash monthly, Hickman/Eaglesham Fantastic Four, Siege, Miracleman, THUNDER Agents, Fall of the Hulks, Marvel Boy mini-series, Incorruptible, Invincible, Blackest Night Ending and Aftermath, Jeff Parker's Agents of Atlas.
_____________________________________________________________________

We all hope everyone has a great new year. There are some big things coming in from all of the comic book companies so let us know what you are looking forward to in 2010.

Now just don't do too much drinking at your New Year's Eve party. ;)

Happy New Year!

-Kevin

Blackest Night #6 Review

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:04:00 +0000

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Inkers: Oclair Albert and Joe Prado
Colorist: Alex Sinclair

Story – The New Guardians

Review
Yeah I know I said earlier that I was not going to be able to get Blackest Night #6 but somehow found myself going to the comic shop after having a very busy morning. In any case I got this 6^th issue of DC's big event and like the other five issues of this event Geoff Johns seriously disappoints with another issue. This issue more so than the last five issues relied heavily on Ivan Reis's artwork to deliver the "WOW" moments.

I am going to be honest in saying that the last part of the issue where each one of the leaders of the 7 different Lantern Corps choose seven different heroes of Earth was entertaining more so for the fact it was something I was hoping would happen in Blackest Night than what it means to the story. Johns did a very good job giving the reader a reason why each character was chosen to be a member of their respective Lantern Corps. The only weird one I found was Wonder Woman as I have never seen her as the DC character who symbolizes love but that is more because I have never being a fan of the character and have never actually read her ongoing series.

The one thing I will praise Johns for is his characterization of the various characters he is handling. Each of the leaders of the Lantern Corps was all great. I especially liked how they acted when Ganthet revealed that all of the Lantern rings have the power to clone a ring and give the power of a Lantern to one person. Also I did like the scene with Barry going into the future by two seconds in order for the Black Lantern rings that were chasing him and Hal to stop.

The problem with what Johns wrote, however, is that there is absolutely no plot progression in the first half of the issue. The first half of the issue was just one giant recap of what the reader already knew and all the scenes we got where just recycled scenes from previous issues. And with us being in the latter part of this event and only three issues left in this event I should not feel like I read most of these scenes before. It is just unacceptable for Johns to continue to do this after we already got five issues of the same thing, not counting the Green Lantern tie-in issues.

Also because the first half of the issue felt like a recap what happened in the last issue with the resurrected heroes who were turned into Black Lanterns had absolutely no consequence in this issue. The roles Johns gives the various heroes turned Black Lanterns in this issue could have been taken by any of the Black Lanterns, even the ones without a connection to the heroes on the scene. We never see the Johns play up the emotions that Hal, Barry, Wonder Girl, the Titans, and the JLA that are on the scene actually react to what is happening. The heroes that where turned into Black Lanterns is yet another example of Johns employing flashy cliffhangers and spread pages that don't add anything to following issues as he instead continues to waste page space on scenes we have seen in other Blackest Night issue and in Green Lantern.

Also though I liked the explanations that Johns gave for deputizing the various DC characters as temporary Lanterns I did think that was a waste of pages as well. I probably would not have felt that way if the first half of the issue did not feel like a bunch of recap BS. But after Johns dedicated half the issue of recapping what the reader already knew to waste another 7 pages on just choosing the characters felt like Johns was again wasting time.

Another good example of Johns providing us nothing but filler was the scenes with Atom and Mera in the Black Lantern ring fighting Jean and John Stewart heading to Earth. Those two scenes were just recycled material of what happened in Green Lantern #49, which came out last week. And though I can understand why the scene with John heading to Earth may have been needed the scene with Atom and Mera did not anything to move the story forward and was just felt like Johns was trying to fill the page count.

And honestly the only plot progression we actually got in this issue was Ganthet introducing the fact the leaders of the Lantern rings can clone their rings, which was about two pages, and the last page which gave us a two page splash page of the seven new Lanterns. That is a total of four pages of development if you count the splash page as two pages. That is unacceptable at this point in the event. And the reason that the last page got me excited for the next issue was more to do with Reis's artwork than Johns writing.

The other problem with this issue is the other problem I have had with Blackest Night so far aside from the poor plotting. And that is that there is no sense of the epic scope of this event. Even though I was not a big fan of Grant Morrison's Final Crisis the one thing I thought he did very well with the event was portray how big and devastating what Darkseid was doing had huge ramifications for the entire DC Universe and the Multiverse. For all of its faults at least in Final Crisis I understood why it was such a big event as it had huge ramifications for the DC Universe if the heroes were unable to stop Darkseid.

That is what Johns fails to do here as Blackest Night feels more like an event that only affects the Earth and not the entire DC Universe. Even with the involvement of the other leaders of the various Lantern Corps it feels like they are just there to save the Earth and not the entire universe. If anything Blackest Night feels like a Justice League story and not one deserving of a company-wide event. And what hurts Blackest Night the most is that even though this is supposed to be the main book Johns and Peter Tomasi have done a much better job making this event epic in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps than this main book.

Which makes for another case why this event should have stuck to being in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps and not its own mini-series event. But in the end Blackest Night has just turned into what Secret Invasion turned into over at Marvel last year with the main story being told in what are supposed to be side books while the main mini-series is nothing but popcorn for the brain.

And that brings me to my final point, what the hell happened to Nekron and Black Hand. They did not even appear in this issue. For the two characters that are supposed to be the end bosses of this event they have done very little to make them a true threat. Johns has done nothing with the characters to make them come across as deserving villains for our heroes to band together to fight them. Nekron himself continues to come of as nothing better than a B-List villain at best.

As has been the case with Blackest Night so far the one part that does not disappoint is Ivan Reis gorgeous pencils. Along with his inkers Oclair Albert and Joe Prado and colorist Alex Sinclair they turn in some stunning artwork. For all my complaints about the story what helps Johns snail-like paced story out is Reis's artwork. Without Reis this event would have been even worse.

Reis is near perfect with all of the artwork and with all of the spread pages and action Johns gives him to draw Reis is able to make Blackest Night at least look like a big event. From Barry running two seconds into the future to the choosing of the various DC characters to become Lantern Corps members to the final spread page the issue looks absolutely fantastic.

The only complaint I had against the art of this issue is the uncreative look of Lex Luthor's Orange Lantern costume. It just looked like Sinclair colored Lex's kryptonite suite orange. But that is just a very minor complaint as Reis artwork looked incredible throughout the issue.

Issue Rating
Story: 5.2/10 – Again Johns provides very little in terms of plot progression even though now he only has two issues left in this event. Though I still will give Johns credit for some quality characterization even though it did not equate to making the story any better than the previous installments of this series.
Art: 9.6/10 – Outside of one character design Reis's artwork was incredible yet again. Reis and his inking and colorist crew are really the one's carrying this event. The artwork is just awesome.
Overall: 7.8/10 – Blackest Night #6 was another disappointing issue by Geoff Johns as he continues to stretch out the story to fit the eight issues of this series. The snail like pace that this event has been moving at is just unacceptable. Those who are waiting for the trade paperback of this event made the right choice as this event might read much better in one complete sitting than in single issues. Though because of all this recapping that Johns continues to makes me wonder about how it will read as a trade/hardcover.

Comic Book Review: Blackest Night #6

LaRevolucion44@aol.com (Rokk Krinn) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Blackest Night has not blow us away here at The Revolution. Having said that, this story has gotten better with the last issue of this title. I am confident that Johns is going to end Blackest Night in an entertaining fashion. Let's go ahead and hit this review for Blackest Night #6.

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Oclair Albert and Joe Prado

Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with the Rainbow Raiders on their heels as they react to the various DCU heroes who have died and come back to life suddenly becoming Black Lanterns. A black power ring calls out for Hal and chases after him. Another black power ring calls out for Barry Allen and chases him. Sinestro wants to use lethal force against Black Lantern Superman, Black Lantern Wonder Woman and Black Lantern Green Arrow. Hal tells Sinestro to not use lethal force.

Barry quickly escapes Black Lantern Bart Allen's attack. Barry then tells Hal to create a green energy chain that Barry can grab onto. Barry takes Hal's green energy chain and wraps it around his torso. Barry tells Hal to hang on. Barry kicks it into high gear and races off.

The two black power rings chasing the two heroes follow. Hal says that the black power rings are fast. Barry replies that he is faster. We see Barry run two seconds into the future. The two black power rings then say "Connection severed." The two black power rings then de-power and drop to the ground.

Hal asks Barry if they stop Nekron will Superman and Wonder Woman die? Hal asks if both he and Barry will die. Barry looks at Hal and says "I sure as hell hope not." Barry then races off with Hal in tow as they head back to Coast City and the battlefield.

We shift to Black Lantern Jean Loring, The Atom (Ray Palmer flavor) and Mera inside of a black power ring. Deadman hops into Black Lantern Jean's body. Deadman says that he cannot control zombie Jean's body for very long. Deadman quickly warns Mera and Ray that Deadman has been hearing whispers inside of the black power rings. Deadman reveals that all of the Black Lanterns are headed for Earth.

Zombie Jean then yells for Deadman to get out of her body. Black Lantern Jean then regains control of herself. Mera asks Ray if they need Zombie Jean in order to get out of here. Ray replies "No." Mera says "Good" and proceeds to rip out Black Lantern Jean's tongue and impales Black Lantern Jean with her trident.

Zombie Jean cries out to Ray that she loves him and for him not to leave her like this.
Mera yells for Ray to ignore Jean and not look. Mera grabs Ray's hand and the two of them begin to grow and exit the black power ring.

We then cut to John Stewart streaking into the Earth's atmosphere with every single Black Lantern in the universe hot on his tail.

We hop back to Coast City and see Ray and Mera popping out of Wonder Woman's black power ring. Mera glows red with rage. Mera tells Atom to go find the Flash. Mera says that she will take care of Black Lantern Wonder Woman. Black Lantern Wonder Woman says that Mera cannot handle her. Mera replies that they are going to find out if that is true or not.

We see Barry and Hal arriving back on the scene. Sinestro is suprised to see the two heroes. Barry says that they outran the black power rings. Sinestro replies "Too bad." The Rainbow Raiders continue to blast away at the Black Lanterns.

Hal says that when they tried to combine their lights that they were only able to form a fraction of the white light. Evidently, destroying Nekron will require everyone channeling the light of life. Ganthet replies that they need all of their Corps to unite and use every beam of light they have to take down Nekron.

Indigo-1 agrees but points out that it will take some time getting all the members of the different Corps to Earth. Ganthet says that they will just have to find a way to hold off Nekron until then. Ganthet tells Hal that Hal's ring can replicate itself and has done so in the past during times of great need. Ganthet then reaches out and Hal's power ring splits into two. The second green power ring flies onto Ganthet's hand.

Ganthet says that the Rainbow Raiders can double their numbers. Ganthet explains that even though they all wield different colored lights, that all their technology that their power rings are based on are from the Guardians' technology. And unknown to the different Corps, the power rings contain the same safeguard.

According to the Book of Oa, during the Blackest Night, the rings are capable of deputizing a person for twenty-four hours. Ganthet says that as his last act as a Guardian he is now activating that safeguard in the power rings of each Rainbow Raider.

We see the power rings of each member of the Rainbow Raiders replicate themselves and then fly off and scan for a proper recruit for each respective Corps. The blue power ring flies to Barry and says that Barry Allen of Earth has the ability to instill great hope. Larfleeze yells for his replicated orange power ring to come back. Larfleeze yells that he will not share his power with anyone.

We cut to Lex Luthor in his hideout. Lex is in his battle armor. The Black Lanterns of all the people that Lex has killed come breaking through the hideout's main door. One of the Black Lanterns is Lex's father, Lionel Luthor. Lex starts blasting away at the Black Lanterns.

Lex is clearly overwhelmed, but right before he falls in defeat, the orange power ring flies into the room and slides onto Lex's finger. The orange power ring says that Lex Luthor of Earth wants it all. Lex's eyes glow orange and he says "Mine."

We hop over to Scarecrow torturing some woman with his fear gas. Scarecrow rants that he wishes to feel fear and only the Batman is capable of doing that. Suddenly, a yellow power ring flies onto the scene. The yellow power ring slides onto Scarecrow's finger and says that Jonathon Crane of Earth has the ability to instill great fear.

We slide back to Coast City where our heroes are battling the Black Lanterns. The indigo power ring flies over to the Atom and says that Ray Palmer of Earth has the ability to feel great compassion. The indigo power ring slides onto Ray's finger and says "Welcome to the Indigo tribe." Ray's eyes glow indigo and Ray says "Nok."

We see the violet power ring and the red power ring flying over to where Black Lantern Wonder Woman and Mera are battling each other. The red power ring replies that Mera of Earth has great rage in her heart. The red power ring then slides onto Mera's finger.

The violet power ring says that Diana Prince of Earth has great love in her heart. The violet power ring then slides onto Wonder Woman's finger. The black power ring and the violet power ring then fight each other for control of Wonder Woman.

Carol tells Hal that Wonder Woman is bursting with love and that no one loves the planet more than Wonder Woman. The violet power ring wins the battle and the black power ring breaks apart and falls off Wonder Woman's finger. The violet power ring tells Wonder Woman "Welcome to the Star Sapphire Corps."

Hal is stunned by what he sees. We then see our newly assembled additions to the Rainbow Raiders, Lex Luthor, Scarecrow, Barry, Ray, Mera and Wonder Woman in their respective Corps' uniforms. Barry says "No more worries, Hal. All will be well." End of issue.

Commentary:
The Good: Blackest Night #6 was a fun read. This issue was much like cotton candy for the brain. It was enjoyable but certainly was not filling or anything extraordinary. Johns does a nice job constructing this issue.

The story had a pleasant flow as each scene transitioned nicely into the next one. Often, big events feel disjointed as the writer crashes the reader from scene to scene in an effort to try and touch on all the various characters and plot lines. Johns is able to deftly slide from scene to scene as he easily pulls all the different characters together to Coast City for the climactic showdown with Nekron.

The first half of Blackest Night #6 summarily unimpressed me. I was concerned that this issue was going to be another slow and pointless read. Luckily, Johns revealed a neat little plot twist of having the Rainbow Raiders' power rings replicate themselves. This plot twist in the second half of this issue was the clear strength of this issue and saved Blackest Night #6 from being a slow and dull issue.

I love the new recruits for the Rainbow Raiders that the replicated power rings sought out and recruited. Scarecrow was a natch for the Sinestro Corps. Lex Luthor as an Orange Lantern was spot on perfect. Few characters in the DCU exhibit the level of greed that Lex Luthor possesses. I absolutely adore this selection. I cannot wait to see Lex wielding the orange light in the next issue.

Also, with this plot twist that brings both Scarecrow and Lex into the Rainbow Raiders, Johns makes both characters' earlier appearances in this title make more sense. Originally, I found both the Scarecrow and Lex's insertion into Blackest Night as a bit odd and a time waster. Johns does a fine job proving me wrong in my original assessment.

Ganthet as a Green Lantern was an obvious choice. I have always liked Ganthet and I liked seeing him wielding the green power ring. Barry, who after his "death" in the original Crisis became the ultimate super hero martyr inspiring countless of other heroes in the DCU, was a natural selection for the Blue Lantern Corps.

Having the red power ring recruit Mera was a bit of a surprise. In the prior issues of Blackest Night, Johns made a point of showing how Mera was in tight control of her emotions thereby enabling her to come up "blank" on the emotional spectrum vision of the Black Lanterns. Of course, given the losses that Mera has sustained as of late with both Aquaman and Aqualad's deaths, her simmering rage is more than understandable.

Ray's selection for the Indigo Tribe based on his incredible amount of compassion was consistent with how Ray's character has been written since Identity Crisis. Ray's selection for the Indigo Tribe also hearkened back to the tribal aspect of his character from the 1983 Sword of the Atom mini-series.

The choice of Wonder Woman as a Star Sapphire was probably the one that I found the least exciting. I never really equated Wonder Woman with an incredible capacity for love. Of course, I will openly admit that I know next to nothing about Wonder Woman beyond her Golden Age roots. So, maybe her selection as a Star Sapphire was as spot on perfect as the rest of the recruits.

What I did like about Wonder Woman's selection as a Star Sapphire was that it gave Johns a chance to deliver yet another plot wrinkle on how the different colored power rings operate. This was quite a surprise to see the violet power ring latch onto a person who was already wielding another colored power ring. The duel between the black power ring and the violet power ring for the control of Wonder Woman also gave the reader a clue as to what we might see in the final two issues.

It is clear that the black power rings do not have as strong a control over the living reincarnated characters like Superman and Wonder Woman as they do over corpses. Johns very well may have been showing the reader exactly the manner in which the other reincarnated Black Lanterns can and will be saved.

Johns presented the reader with some nice character work in this issue. Johns continued to do a fantastic job with the buddy team of Hal and Barry. I love both characters, so seeing Hal and Barry in action together is the aspect of Blackest Night that I am enjoying the most. Johns clearly loves both characters and it shows in the nice chemistry that he whips up between Hal and Barry. Johns did a fine job showing the reader how Hal and Barry's personality differences compliment each other and, thereby, make them one seriously formidable team to deal with.

However, what has impressed me the most about Johns' character work in Blackest Night has been the surprisingly good handling of Mera's character. I strongly questioned Johns' heavy use of Mera at the beginning of Blackest Night. I have always viewed Mera as a rather lame character. Johns has pulled off the impossible and actually made me a big fan of Mera's character. I am thrilled that Johns has used Blackest Night as an opportunity to breathe life into a lower tier character like Mera.

I dig the edge that Johns has given Mera's character. However, Johns has not made Mera just a stereotypical and one-dimensional angry brawler. Instead, Johns has made Mera rather fascinating by giving her character some depth by showing the reader the personal sorrow and conflict that resides beneath the more overt rage and anger. Personally, I thought letting Mera go toe-to-toe with Wonder Woman was a brilliant idea. It immediately elevated Mera's character into a force to be reckoned with.

Johns also cranks out some good dialogue. Johns has a fine feel for the various characters in this issue. The banter between Hal and Sinestro was spot on. The dialogue had a good flow and helped keep the reader's attention despite the lack of much plot progression in this issue.

Johns also treated the reader to a solid amount of action. This is not an action packed brawlfest, but Blackest Night #6 delivered enough action to keep the issue from being dull and dry.

Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert and Joe Prado continue to craft plenty of beautiful artwork. Blackest Night #6 was a fantastic looking issue. Reis is capable of delivering incredibly dynamic action scenes just as well as he is at delivering emotional dramatic scenes. Reis was able to breathe so much life into a story that often lacks much depth or substance.

Examples of this are panels like the one where Barry has an intense look of determination as he says "I'm faster" as he tries to outrace the black power rings. There are plenty of other panels like that one where the artwork makes the story so much more entertaining.

I particularly liked Reis' incredible two page splash shot of the new additions to the Rainbow Raiders. Ray Palmer's Indigo Lantern costume was an awesome design. Reis does a great job taking the old look that Ray sported back during the 1983 Sword of the Atom mini-series.

The Bad: Unfortunately, Blackest Night #6 suffered from the same defects that afflicted the previous issues of Blackest Night. The pacing on Blackest Night #6 was just terrible. Johns continues to move this story along at an excruciatingly slow pace.

There are only two issues left in this big event and the story is still advancing at the slowest possible pace. I honestly thought that Johns would have finally picked up the pacing on this story and kicked things into high gear for the final three issues. Instead, the slow pacing in this issue gives me the feeling that Johns is simply stalling for time in an effort to stretch Blackest Night out over the course of eight issues.

The plotting on Blackest Night #6 was unimpressive. Yes, there were a few neat plot twists, but for the most part, the plotting remains rather average. There is a lack of plot lines in this big event. Usually, Johns penned stories have multiple layers of plot lines running at the same time. That is not the case for Blackest Night as Johns has kept the number and nature of the plot lines rather simple and sparse.

There was practically no plot advancement at all for the first twelve pages of Blackest Night #6. There was a lot of sound and fury in this issue, but largely nothing happens at all in this issue other than the Rainbow Raiders getting some new recruits.

Johns spends the first half of this issue largely rehashing what we already read over in Green Lantern #49. The scene involving Deadman, Jean, Ray and Mera was largely useless as the reader already knew that all the Black Lanterns in the universe were heading toward Earth. The scene with John Stewart simply reproduced the ending to Green Lantern #49.

The first half of Blackest Night #6 was chock full of the same repetitious dialogue discussing how to beat Nekron and the Black Lanterns. Johns re-hashes once again how Nekron's plan involves using the reincarnated heroes in the DCU.

The fact that Blackest Night is so incredibly repetitive only serves to make it seem that much slower and shallow. There is nothing complex about the story in Blackest Night. Certainly, the plot lines and themes do not bear repeating so many times in order for the reader to understand them.

Even the final eleven pages dedicated to assembling the new recruits for the Rainbow Raiders seemed unnecessarily stretched out. The assembling of these back-ups could have been done in a much more economical fashion.

As entertaining as I found some of these new recruits, the fact is that these final eleven pages felt more like Johns was simply arranging game pieces on a game board than actual story development and plot progression. I understand that arranging the pieces is a necessary element of any story, however, I would have thought that Johns would have been done with that this late into Blackest Night.

Blackest Night #6 was another thin story that lacks much substance to it. Blackest Night has been a shallow read and this issue does nothing to change that fact. With only two issues left in this big event, it has become obvious that Johns had enough material for a four issue mini-series.

Unfortunately, someone within DC decided that Blackest Night should be an eight issue mini-series instead. The result is that a thin story appears even more shallow as Johns has had to stretch it out over the course of eight issues requiring the pacing to be slowed down to a crawl and a liberal amount of filler having to be added to the mix in order to puff up this story.

Blackest Night #6, and this mini-series in general, feels rather small in scale. At no point do I feel like I am reading a cosmic threat that is endangering the entire DCU. Final Crisis certainly had its faults, but at least it felt grand in scope. Final Crisis felt like a massive DCU big event. Blackest Night #6 feels more like just a Justice League of America story.

Overall: Blackest Night #6 followed Johns' normal formula for a comic books: Perform little plot progression, move the story along at a slow pace and then whip out a cool ending that gets the reader excited for the next issue. Readers who decided to wait and read Blackest Night in collected form made a wise decision. Blackest Night should be far more entertaining in the collected format.

When I first finished Blackest Night #6, I thought it was pretty entertaining. However, after thinking about the issue and writing this review, I realize that I like this issue much less now than I did once I finished reading it. The reason for that was because the final pages were so cool that they made me forget the fact that very little actually happened in this issue.

Having said that, I do believe that I will be in the minority when it comes to Blackest Night #6. I think that your average comic book reader will enjoy Blackest Night #6. Readers who have been enjoying Blackest Night up to this point will more than likely also enjoy Blackest Night #6.
_________________________________________________________________
Rokk

Comic Book Review: Supergod

noreply@blogger.com (Austin) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:51:00 +0000

Creative Team
Writer:Warren Ellis
Art:Garrie Gastonny
Colors:Digikore Studios
Covers:Felipe Massafera

The Concept:

Super-hero nostalgia is publicly executed and buried for the purposes of enriching the Jungian soil.

The Plot:

Various would-be-J. Robert Oppenheimers around the world create superhumanity for the purposes of tactical arms advantages and we, the readers, observe the ensuing car wreck.

In Detail:

The story opens shortly after the earth has been burned down to its skeleton. A British scientist, responsible for the U.K.'s foray into superhumanity, sits on some steps near the Old Bailey and dictates the step-wise end of the world to a counterpart in the U.S. While he drinks alcohol of an appropriately high proof, the story shifts between the various versions of superhumanity created by the different nations of the world. The story is a slowed-down and dissected car-wreck of how humanity created beings whose perception of the universe was so vastly different from ours that they could not care for us.

Does it Work?

Warren Ellis is the master of short-form science fiction in the modern era. The mechanisms of the style are very specific. You establish a concept in the form of a question and then design a plot to explore the world wherein that question is answered. The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone populate televised examples of high quality.

Comic books, however, are largely dominated by Super-Hero stories that endlessly examine conflicts between good and evil inherited from a simplistic Golden-Age morality. Notions of modern complexity inform modern comics only so far as it comes to accounting of the living and the dead.

The Big Two have wisely anchored there newest stories in the realm of zombies where the living and the dead can expeditiously co-mingle. Now they can effortlessly reshuffle their 1950's morality parable ad infinitum ad nauseum while forcing their accounts cum readers to play the same game, just faster.

Warren Ellis takes those 1950's concepts of conflict that super-hero readership refuses to mature and extends its antecedent paranoia that is always ignored. That paranoia provides the psychological fuel for an arms race of intelligent weapons that raze cities as reflexively as breathing. Humanity stumbles around flabbergasted as dozens of Hiroshimas and Nagasakis change the landscape into something befitting post-humanity and its weaponized physical tolerance. Warren postulates that post-humans of such an awesome power that they might populate a comic book would have psychologies so alien to our own that we could only observe their actions and comment.

These super-people are clearly rendered. The layouts are exceptionally clean grids. Ellis through his economy of dialogue and Gastonny through his fluency in placing the incredible next to the mundane achieve a documentarian effect: like Ken Burns stripped to the waist, covered in soot and blood, with a necklace of fingers while brandishing his beloved baseball bat.

In all: this comic is delightfully scary.

Issues of Execution:

From Anna Mercury to Black Summer, Ellis has been very consistent with his brief series from Avatar. The overall structure remains to be seen. The first two issues have revealed the mechanisms of the story but not the scope. If you are a plot-oriented reader of mainstream superhero comics consider picking this up in trade format to avoid frustration. If you are well versed in comics outside the mainstream then go ahead and pick this up. It will run for 5 issues.

Note:Future reviews will be less conceptual and I will actually talk about things like art in detail. In light of my introductory splenetic rant I chose to be philosophical for my overdue first review. If you have anything to say about that, remember the screwdriver.

Weekly Comic Book Reviews for 12/23/09

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:18:00 +0000

Amazing Spider-Man #616

Creative Team
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Javier Pulido
Colorist: Javier Rodriguez

Story – Keemia's Castle

Review
Sometimes saving the day does not always mean that the hero and those he or she saved get a happy ending. That is what Fred Van Lente and Javier Pulido reminded us with Amazing Spider-Man #616 that ended this short Sandman arc. It is a refreshing change of pace when a comic can give us this type of ending instead of a cliffhanger type ending that leads into another arc that has become common place during this modern era of comics.

What makes the ending that we get at the end of this issue is that it plays up the old Peter Parker luck. Even when Peter does something good it somehow turns out bad for Peter and making him look bad as himself or as Spider-Man. And I liked what Carlie told Peter after he saved her job in saying that making the tough choices is what makes a person a hero which is a great way for Van Lente to sum up why Spider-Man is amongst the greatest of heroes.

Fred Van Lente did a great job in creating a very fun, classic feeling two-part Sandman story. Sandman, like other classic villains from Spider-Man Rogue Gallery, has been underutilized over the past few years. It is a shame to since Spider-Man has one of the better Rogues Gallery in comics which is why this Gauntlet overarching story arc running through Amazing Spider-Man has been fun to read so far. Van Lente prove that you can take a villain like Sandman and give him a story that as a reader I will remember and still enjoy when I read it again in the future.

Also, Javier Pulido and Javier Rodriguez deserve a lot of credit for this two-part story as well as they combined to deliver some great artwork. I really enjoyed all of the art for the Spider-Man vs. Sandman. The fight was a lot of fun as Pulido and Rodriguez combine to deliver a great looking comic and the art in these two issues is amongst my favorite artwork we have gotten on this title up there with Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr. and Jr., and Marcos Martin.

Issue Rating
Story: 9.5/10 – Fred Van Lente knocks another issue out of the park as he is proving to be one of the better writers on the Spidey Brain Trust.
Art: 8.8/10 – Pulido and Rodriguez combined to deliver a great looking Spider-Man book.
Overall: 9.15/10 – Amazing Spider-Man #616 was another great read in what has become one of the most consistently well written comics on the market. It is great that I am able to say this about Amazing Spider-Man again. I have said it before but I am going to say it again, if you haven't been picking up Amazing Spider-Man because of all the OMD/BND stuff than you need to come back to this title because it has gone back to being a great title.

Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield?

Creative Team
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artists: Butch Guice and Luke Ross
Colorist: Dean White

Story – Who Will Wield the Shield?

Review
Before I say anything about this issue let me get this out of the way. Marvel seriously mishandled the return of Steve Rogers. Sure it was obvious that Steve would return in Captain America: Reborn, it is in the freaking title, but that is no excuse for how Marvel spoiled the hell out of the ending of Brubaker's story before it was even done. And if my memory is correct Reborn has only missed one month since the start and Marvel even added an extra issue to the series meaning the story would end in January. Something like this is known by a publisher for a while which should allow them to tell their writers like Fraction and Bendis, both of who spoiled Reborn's ending in Invincible Iron Man and Dark Avengers Annual, to tell them to calm down Steve's return story is still not officially over. Just some common professionalism for both the writer, Brubaker, writing Steve's return as well as the readers reading the story is all a fan asks for especially when comics are coming out on time with little to no delays. Just a poor management job by Marvel's editorial team.

Alright, now that mini-rant is done. As for this issue even though the recap page spoiled how the Reborn ends by giving us most of the details of how issue #6 will turn out Brubaker, Guice, and Ross turned in a very good issue with an unexpected twist at the end. Like many I expected Steve to take back the Captain America mantle even though I have like Bucky being Captain America much more than when Steve was in the role. I was glad that didn't happen as Brubaker gave us a valid reason for why Steve is not ready to take back the role upon his return to the Marvel Universe.

Bucky in many respects is in the same position that Dick Grayson is currently in over on all the Batman titles as he has taken over the role of his mentor. The big question in comics when it comes to sidekick characters has always been when are we going to see them take over for their mentors. But because of how comics work when a sidekick is allowed to grow he usually takes another separate role instead of taking his mentor's role, like Bucky becoming Winter Soldier and Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing.

Because of that the work Brubaker has done to make Bucky a fully realized character as Winter Soldier and when Bucky took over the role of Captain America is so great. Brubaker has shown that there is a way to allow a former sidekick to actually take over the role of his mentor and make it be an accepted change of the guard to many fans. And that is what Brubaker does a great job in reinforcing Bucky has been doing a great job as Captain America in this issue.

I like that the way Brubaker chose to reinforce this is by having Steve in his Captain America costume watch Bucky, in his Captain America costume, fighting Hyde and his crew. Even though Steve was still trying to recover from the events he just went through you could tell through his inner monologue that he was proud of Bucky, like a father is of a son when the son grows up. Even though Steve did feel weird watching someone else as Captain America he knew that for now it is for the best that Bucky continues being Captain America as it is has become an important part of who Bucky is now.

And I am curious to the image of the future that Steve did see at the end of Captain America: Reborn #6, which has yet to come out. It is clear that it played a part in why Steve didn't want to resume being Captain America and with his meeting with President Obama I do wonder what kind of role Steve will play in Siege. From the covers to Siege and all the related material to the event I kind of figured Steve would be leading all of the heroes as Captain America in their fight against Norman Osborn but now I am not sure.

Issue Rating
Story: 8/10 – Brubaker provide a great story that showed why Bucky is still going to be Captain America while Steve takes on a different role.
Art: 9/10 – Butch Guice and Luke Ross combined to deliver some excellent artwork that is very similar to their and Eptings work on Captain America. Though I am enjoying Bryan Hitch's work on Reborn the artwork by Guice and Ross is more of the look I expect now from a Captain America book.
Overall: 8.5/10 – Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? was a great read that would have been better if Captain America: Reborn was over before this one-shot came out. But you can chalk it up as another one of Marvel's editorial screw ups in how they have handled Steve's return to the Marvel Universe. Still a must read if you are a Captain America fan and have been reading Reborn.

Green Lantern #49

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Ed Benes, Marcos Marz, and Jerry Oroway
Inkers: Ed Benes and Luciana Del Negro
Colorist: Hi-Fi

Story – Sempte Fi; The Birth of Nekron

Review
Aside from a few brief appearances in Green Lantern here and there John Stewart has become the most underutilized member of the Green Lantern Corps post-Sinestro Corps War but finally Geoff Johns gives John some much deserved screen time. This whole issue was a look at what John is up to during Blackest Night as we see him fighting a planet filled with Black Lanterns.

After being neglected for so long Geoff Johns did a very good job writing John Stewarts character and reminding readers why he is a Green Lantern. Even though John was against all the odds facing down a planet filled with Black Lanterns that have even given all of Earth's heroes and the Lantern Corps trouble he stood up and fought back with a vengeance.

And I really dug the flashback to John's time in the war was a good way to inform readers unfamiliar with John's history and show give some background why he creates military constructs with his ring. The final few pages with John creating his own military with his ring and then leaving the planet he is on only to see he is right by Earth was great. This actually has me looking forward to Blackest Night in hopes that Geoff Johns is able to pick up on this plot thread in an effective way.

Ed Benes provided some solid artwork. He did a very good job with showing how powerful John's will is and I especially like the moment when Jon made his own military corps. And the artwork Marcos Martz provided for the flashback scenes were equally impressive even if there was a noticeable difference in art styles.

The only problem I had was with the back-up feature that was a month to late. The art by Jerry Oroway was good the back-up didn't do much other than give us a look at something that happened before. Though I am interested to see what role Deadman will play in Blackest Night #6 with his appearance at the end of the back-up.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.6/10 – It was good to see John Stewart's character gets some attention as he showed why he is a Green Lantern.
Art: 8.1/10 – Even though we have three artists working on this single issue Benes, Martz, and Oroway combined to provide a great looking comic as there were three different stories being told in this issue.
Overall: 7.85/10 – Green Lantern #49 was a nice spotlight issue on John Stewart. And again this Green Lantern issue was a good lead into Blackest Night as there seems to be big things that will be happening in that issue. Now I just hope Geoff Johns can follow up this development and actually deliver with Blackest Night #6.

Wolverine: Weapon X #8

Creative Team
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Yanick Paquette
Inker: Michel Lacombe
Colorist: Nathan Fairbarin

Story – Insane in the Brain

Review
It is a shame that I have not been able to review Weapon X often because Jason Aaron has been doing a spectacular job with this Wolverine series. Aaron has reminded me why as a kid Wolverine was one of my favorite superheroes. What is great about Weapon X is that Aaron is going back to making Wolverine a great character by not being brought down by the whole Wolverine remembers his past that the character has been stuck on since House of M.

And this "Insane in the Brain" arc is something new for the character as I never expected Wolverine to end up in the type of setting Aaron puts him in. It is a great idea placing him in an insane asylum. Aaron is doing a lot of quality character work as he is exploring the characters psyche in these past three issues.

And he has really created some interesting characters in this setting that are as awesome as they are creepy. Aaron shows he has the creative mind to create some new characters in a story and instantly make them a threat. It is always good to see a writer take time to create new villains with depth and that challenges the title's hero in a new way instead of the usual villain that gives the hero something else to fight (cough*Rulk*cough).

Yanick Paquette provided some excellent artwork in this issue as he has throughout this arc. This is some of Paquette best artwork. He does a great job putting a lot of detail into the issue and with this arc being mostly talking heads and very little action he has done a great job with all of the characters facial expressions. He does an especially great job with the doctor's lab in making it just a creepy mad science lab.

Issue Rating
Story: 9.6/10 – Aaron continues to prove that he was born to write Wolverine and that he is still able to find new stories to tell with the character.
Art: 9/10 – Paquette again provided some spectacular artwork especially for a story that has been mostly talking heads.
Overall: 9.3/10 – Wolverine: Weapon X #8 was another great read. Weapon X is one of the better comics on the market and if you are interested in reading stories about Wolverine than pick this title because it has been great. Aaron is telling some of the best Wolverine stories that I have read in a long time.

Comic Book Review: Fall of the Hulks Gamma #1

noreply@blogger.com (Jim) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Marvel started this "family event" off with a bang. Jeff Parker and Paul Pelletier crafted a great opening story to set the stage for this one. For this issue, Marvel has assembled a classic art team in John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson.

In the previous issue, we saw how the Intelligensia (Marvel's league of intelligent villains) was formed. They were helping each other behind the scenes. Then Dr. Doom betrayed them. M.O.D.O.K. presented his new plan to the Leader. They would create their own Hulk. A stronger red Hulk who would help them with their plans.

Creative Team
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Klaus Janson
Colorist: Dean White
Letterer: Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Colorist: Mark Paniccia

Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: The issue begins at the Washington monument. Doc Samson, Ms. Marvel, and Capt. America are studying a crime scene. General Thunderbolt Ross (in the Redeemer armor) ambushed the Red Hulk. Ross was able to beat the Red Hulk in this armor. When the Red Hulk was down, Ross let his guard down. When he opened his helmet, Red Hulk struck. He killed Ross. Samson says that what Ross did amounted to suicide but they will tell the world that he died a hero. When the funeral is over, Samson vows to kill the Red Hulk.

Arlington National Cemetary, General Ross' funeral...various superheroes are there to pay their respects. Doc Samson speaks first. He tells the history of Ross' career. Ross married and fathered a girl named Betty.

Intelligensia Monitoring Station...Red She-Hulk is watching the funeral on numerous view screens. She says it would have been fun to be there. A voice off panel says there is enough speculation that she is connected to the Red Hulk. She does not care. Samson went to the funeral. The voice says that is a different circumstance.

The off panel person grabs her wrist. It is Lyra (She-Hulk- the daughter of Hulk, Earth 616, and Thundra, Reality-8009). They get into a fight. M.O.D.O.K. breaks it up.

Back at the funeral...various people speak then Rick (A-Bomb) Jones goes next. He introduces Bruce Banner. Banner talks about Ross' relationship with his daughter Betty. Ross hated Banner. It broke his heart when Betty married Bruce. Ross ranted against the Hulk. Even though Banner was the Hulk, he believes Ross saved more lives by raging against the Hulk.

Later that night at the cemetery...Betty Ross and Glenn Talbot show up. Glenn tells her it is not safe to be there.

Intelligensia war room...Doc Samson is discussing the situation with the rest of the group. M.O.D.O.K. says that with the murder of Ross, the Red Hulk has fired the first shot. Now it is their turn.

The cave...the Red Hulk and another person are entering the cave. Red Hulk says no one would believe he is working with the other person. The other person is revealed to be Bruce Banner. Banner says that they want the same thing. For them to succeed, Ross had to die.

The Good: John Romita Jr. knows how to draw. He is comfortable drawing people and the big scenes. The energy explodes off the page when he draws the Hulks in action. His two page spread of the Hulk/Thing battle was amazing.

The page where Red Hulk takes out Ross in the Redeemer armor was one of those wow moments. The page showed the massive amount of effort it took for the fallen Red Hulk to throw that punch. The armor shattering told you that Ross was in serious trouble.

After looking at this issue I would like to see Romita Jr. draw a star spanning Fantastic Four story. He is able to incorporate the Kirby style with a modern take on comics.

Jeph Loeb has been turning in very light scripts for the Red Hulk. Most issues have been all action. This one was different. This story reminded me more of his Batman stories than his Red Hulk ones. Although we still don't know who the Red Hulk is we at least got a story in this issue.

This story is centered on Thunderbolt Ross' death and funeral. Ross deserved to be the focus of this issue. It was nice to see that his good qualities and shortcomings were both recognized. Even Banner admitted that Ross did a lot of good in his life.

I like it when author's remember things that happened in the past. The return of the Redeemer armor fit into this story. It makes sense that Ross would use it to attack the Red Hulk.

The surprise at the end did catch me off guard. I did not expect to see Banner and the Red Hulk working together.

The Bad: My complaints about this issue are few.

I do think it is time to reveal the identity of the Red Hulk. This has drug on for too long.

The other complaint I have is the return from the dead of Betty Ross and Glenn Talbot. While reading this story, you just knew that Betty was returning.

Overall: A good book. It was my favorite Loeb Hulk story to date. If Loeb had written the Red Hulk like this, I would have enjoyed his series more. Even though he is not credited it seemed like Jeff Parker contributed some ideas to this story. I hope we see Romita Jr. on the Hulk again.

________________________________________________________________________
Jim

Legen...wait for it...dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week for 12/23/09

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:15:00 +0000

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Because of the holidays I haven't been able to post much these past few days but I am working on putting together the reviews for this past week's comics which hopefully I will have up later. Also even though I know that Blackest Night #6 will be coming out next week I am actually going to hold off on getting that issue until the following week. So because of that I wont be posting any reviews after next week. Instead I am going to writing up a couple post to make up for it. Also as a quick mention if you haven't yet be sure to read my review for James Cameron's 'Avatar' movie up now over at the Revolution.

Cover of the Week: Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #58

Skottie Young's covers on Marvel Adventures Spider-Man are always awesome and this one in particular standouts to me this week, which truth be told didn't have many standout covers. In any case I love the dark mood of the cover as Spider-Man is standing in front of a billboard of him saying "Wanted" as it is raining.

Amazing Spider-Man #616 Highlights

Spider-Man gives out some advice to the reader on how to take a beating while he gets the snot beaten out of him by all of the Sandmen.

Sandman has some serious self-esteem issues as he beats himself up and letting Spider-Man escape.

Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? Highlights

When I think of Captain America I think of the star shield and the wings on his mask but that is just me.

Hey why mess with a costume that works.

See even Obama didn't like Bush's Superhuman Registration Act. Now the question is how are they going to sold the Norman Osborn crisis while also working on the health care stuff. I say bailouts just like how we have solve everything else.

Fantastic Four #574 Highlights

Spider-Man brought his clone to Franklin's birthday party.

Ah, Johnny always having to trie and diss Spider-Man just cause people like him more even your nephew.

I always new our universe was created by some kid under his sheets.

Green Lantern #49 Highlights

I am guessing John Stewart has a military background. Just a guess. Though I still wonder what the point of making a sniper gun is for. The armor/military gear makes sense for protection but a sniper gun not so much.

Green Lantern Corps move out.

Guardians of the Galaxy #21 Highlights

Have I ever mentioned how awesome Drax is. Well these two pages sum that up.

Comic Book Revolution Podcast #27

LaRevolucion44@aol.com (Rokk Krinn) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:02:00 +0000

The Bunker is empty as everyone is visiting with family for Christmas and the New Year. So, I will be flying solo in this twenty-seventh podcast for The Revolution. In this podcast, I review:

Blackest Night: JSA #1
Green Lantern #49
Justice Society of America #34

Click to Play

We are all about options, so you can also check out The Revolution's blip tv page for a larger version of the enhanced podcast.

Or, if you would like to download and listen to the mp3 of the podcast rather than watching the enhanced version with the pics then you can go ahead and head over to The Revolution's podcast page and listen or download the mp3 of the podcast.

The Comic Book Revolution Podcast is also on iTunes if you want to subscribe.

New Age Ideas: Bendis Teach, Dracula Sucks, Thor and Haunting Marvel Man

metalhellspawn@aol.com (Andrenn) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:15:00 +0000

New Age Ideas finally returns after a brief hiatus, just in time for Christmas for all you good little girls and little boys. Back and better then ever we’re tackling some good stuff and a bit of negative ranting I’ve been wanting to get out of the way.

I want to be taught by Bendis

So for those who don’t know, I live in Oregon. I am just a 2 hour drive from Portland, where the writer Brian Bendis lives. Apparently he’ll be teaching a class about graphic novels at Portland State University.

I was going to try and go to the University of Oregon, but all of a sudden, Portland here I come!

Well probably not, but it would be awesome to say “Yeah, Brian Bendis is my teacher” and every day after class have him sign a new comic. It would be awesome. I may not like everything Bendis writes but I’d suddenly have the urge to buy everything he writes just to get it signed.

I actually have met Bendis, in late 2007 at a convention in Portland. He’s a really nice guy and I bet he’ll make a great teacher. If there are any of his future students reading, do me a favor and get a me a signed copy of Ultimate Spider-man #1.

Who to write Marvel Man?

There’s been a lot of speculation since Marvel announced that they own Marvel Man as to who would write and draw it. Well I’ve got know idea who would draw it (Jesus? Allah? Vishnu? Some holy figure I’m thinking) but there’s been tons of speculation on who would write it.

One of the most recent speculations is Bendis writing Marvel Man. At first I hated this idea, but now that I think about it, it just may work. My only problem is Bendis is stretched pretty thin nowadays, with Siege, Spider-woman, New Avengers, Dark Avengers, Ultimate Spider-man, Ultimate Enemy, the new Powers reboot, a new Alias mini-series, the dude is just way too busy to take on something as big as Marvel Man I figure.

My vote is for Neil Gaiman to finish his run on the series. Gaiman himself said he’d love to finish the Silver Age story that he never got to and Marvel knows he’s a popular writer. I myself didn’t become a fan of Gaiman until Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader but I would love to see him finish his story with Marvel Man.

Some people are saying Mark Millar, and I can’t think of anything else that would make me cringe in frustration. Millar is in no way a bad writer, but at the same time I think he should stick to the over the top insanity driven stuff we’re used to from him. I just don’t know if he could handle something like Marvel Man with the respect and care it deserves. I’m not calling him out on anything, just saying I’m not sure he’s the right guy for the job really.

There are other writers like Brubaker or Ellis but I just don’t know. In the end the only writer off the bat I trust to handle Marvel Man would be Gaiman. Either way I’m going to read it of course, but still. Let’s hope Marvel makes a smart choice.

Frank Miller a hack? Seriously?

All right, mini-rant time here folks.

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of Frank Miller, DKR, Sin City, Ronin, Daredevil, even his recent stuff such as Dark Knight Strikes Again and All Star Batman. A lot of people hate these 2 stories but I think their great.

But hey, because Frank Miller has written and done a couple of things that people don’t like, he’s gone from legend in most eyes to hack in many others. I can’t see that, here’s the guy who helped reinvent Batman (as did Denny O’Neil mind you) and all of a sudden he’s a hack for a few stories you don’t like?

Stan Lee has written some stuff today, I’ve read some of it and you know what? It wasn’t good at all. Does that make Stan Lee, the father of Marvel comics, a hack? Not at all. He’s still just as much a legend no matter what.

But hey, it’s the “in” thing to hate on Frank Miller. He made 300 and The Spirit and those are just so horrendous, right? No one could like those.

Except for me and tons of other people who didn’t hate them like everyone else did. 300 was my Movie of the Year with 2007. And Spirit, while not perfect, was still a great movie experience for me.

Now look, if you don’t like Miller and his writing, that’s cool. We’ve all got different tastes and opinions and I can respect that. But just because you don’t like his work, don’t go acting like he’s a hack when he’s done more in the last 30 years of comics then most people could hope to do in a life time.

In short, show some respect.

Haunting Frustrations

This isn’t so much a rant as me just coming out and saying one of the reasons I think so many people hated Haunt right off the bat.

Todd McFarlane.

Yep. Todd McFarlane.

Now I already mentioned how unfair it is to hate Haunt for his look when Batman was already inspired heavily by something. So saying something isn’t 100% original is a bullshit argument when it comes to things like that. Because as I said, everything is inspired by something.

But I think a lot of the hate for Haunt comes from the fact that it’s Todd McFarlane and a lot of people (not saying names) have a stigma against him because they read an issue of Spawn 10 years ago and didn’t like it.

What’s funny is I see a lot of reviewers complain about it having “gritty dark violence like 90’s Image did” when these same reviewers praise Invincible. A comic that just recently had it’s main hero beat a man *nearly* to death with his FOREHEAD. That’s not gritty violence?

In the long run the only real reason people will hate Haunt so much more then Invincible is simple.

Invincible doesn’t have the name Todd McFarlane attached to it.

Now I’m not saying that if you don’t like Haunt for legitimate reasons that you’re wrong. Not at all. If you have your own reasons for not liking Haunt that’s understandable but it seems a lot of people just complain about it being 90’s Image when that’s not really an insult since 90’s Image had some awesome characters and stories.

I guess what I’m saying is you’re entitled to not like Haunt, but just because it’s co-created by Todd McFarlane is a weak excuse.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Omnibus

I’m stealing a New Age Idea from my good buddy Kevin.

I recently watched Turtles Forever, an absolutely awesome movie that rekindled my love of the TMNT. While it wasn’t perfect I still loved it and even more so it reminded me of the awesome original comic.

I’ve read some of the original comic online and I’ve read the very first issue thanks to a Free Comic Book Day copy and I really do love this comic so I’m surprised there’s no big Omnibus to celebrate the awesome series.

There was a big collection collecting the first 11 issues, I saw an add for it in the FCBD comic but I can hardly find that online at book sellers let alone actually get a copy. Why not release a massive Omnibus that the fans could all enjoy? I’d buy it for sure. That along with that DVD of Turtles Forever that needs to come out!

Todd McFarlane not feeling the Marvel Man love?

I wrote that part about Marvel Man a week ago, just recently I saw a video of McFarlane and Robert Kirkman on CBRTV talking about some things and McFarlane said he’d be having a chat with his lawyer. UGH.

I really hope McFarlane isn’t the reason we’re not getting anything done with Marvel Man at Marvel. McFarlane NEVER used the damn character when he had rights to it with the exception of a damn toy. Gee. What a great use of your character property.

Also Man of Miracles does not count, that turned out to be a totally different character.

Maybe if McFarlane was publishing a Miracle Man (Marvel Man’s other alias) comic I could understand but he’s not. He did nothing with the character so some petty legal fight over it is just denying the fans who want to get to read new material with the character and that’s just annoying in every way.

Now maybe McFarlane isn’t what’s keeping Marvel from using the character but if it turns out he is, I may just have to hit my head with a phone book.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (the movie) sucks!

I made a comparison to this film as well as the old Black and white Dracula film starring Bela Lugosi. I was going off my opinion of the film when I saw it many years ago and I confess I liked it more then when I was younger since I hadn’t read the book then. Though I remembered how they ruined Mina.

I recently rewatched this film and I forgot how much they ruined Mina. They don’t just ruin the character, they take one of the best characters in the story and turn her into a total moronic incompetent love sick idiot and every scene she was in made me cringe at how badly they’d done such an injustice to the character.

Now as I said the movie in it’s own right isn’t really bad. The plot is nice for the most part and other then Mina and Jonathan, the characters are all done well. Oldman is a great Dracula and Sir Anthony Hopkins steals the show as Van Hellsing. Though all other characters are just well done and nothing special.

But Mina, my favorite character next to Dracula and Van Hellsing (in the book she’s just as brave if not braver then Jonathan) is totally ruined. She’s more then a love sick puppy in this film, oh no. I’d kill for stupid love sick puppy Mina right about now. If they’d gone that far maybe I could tolerate the film but they take her idiocy to a very tall height.

A perfect example of her idiocy is her reaction when Dracula admits he killed Lucy to her. Mind you there in bed and half naked but that’s aside from the point. Rather then like in the book where mina curses Dracula and calls him a monster saying she hates him, she hits his chest for a minute then say she wants to be with him.

Seriously, Mina? This guy kills your best friend, and you just shrug it off and say you want to be with him anyway? Am I missing something here or is this not the single most idiotic thing any character could do in this situation!

Now there is the idea that Mina is Dracula’s wife’s reincarnaton but that doesn’t fly with me. They totally ruined the character to her core and made her an absolute joke. They wanted a stupid little love story so they decided it was cool to take a great character and ruin everything about her. As I said, every goddamn scene with Mina makes me cringe!

Now to be fair I recently rewatched the Bela Lugosi film and it takes just as many liberties with the story. Changing Mina to Dr. Seward’s daughter which was just a weird and dumb change. Also explaining Renfield’s madness a little better but replacing his character for Jonathan when meeting Dracula. Also Jonathan and Mina are more sub-characters compared to Renfield, Dracula and Van Hellsing.

Even with that though it’s still a great movie and it still does the novel and it’s characters justice. Mina is still loyal and strong for Jonathan and it works well. Unlike the 90’s film which totally disregards the great character of Mina and turns her into an idiot who I was rooting for to get eaten by a wolf.

Fraction on Thor

I have mixed feeling about the announcement that Matt Fraction will be writing Thor from now on, with John Romita Jr. taking on the art duties. On one hand Fraction did an amazing job on the Ages of Thunder mini-series (something I’ve been meaning to pick up in the collections) so we know he can write Thor well.

Though I also heard a lot of negative reviews about his work on Secret Invasion: Thor. Though to be fair that was a tie-in mini-series and those rarely do too well. Sure you have a good mini here or there but often they can’t do much so I’m not surprised the mini didn’t do well.

I wanted to jump on with Thor with #600 but early reviews showed it was really just more of what JMS was already doing with the title and just continuing things along so I couldn’t honestly pick it up feeling I’d just be in the middle of things.

After Siege seems like a perfect time to be reading Thor and I have been considering reading Thor for the longest time. Though another problem is the art. Of all the artist, Djurdjevic and Coipel where 2 great picks for Thor. But Romita Jr? I’m just not feeling it.

When I think of his art I think of street heroes like Daredevil and Spider-man. Not mighty Gods that shake the heavens with a clap. It just doesn’t seem like something his art fits. Though I appreciate Marvel at least trying to take the artist out of his comfort zone and maybe it could pay off.

Another thing is continuity. Fraction did great on Ages of Thunder mostly because it wasn’t bogged down by continuity. It had the freedom of being out of the main storylines and had all the characters to use properly and that made it work. I’m not so sure if Fraction can do the same with the main ongoing though.

Then there’s Fraction’s work on Invincible Iron Man, which doesn’t look bad but at the same time the series looks so painfully like it’s dumbing down Iron Man for the movie readers who jumped on. I’ve heard a lot of praise for the series but from what I’ve seen it looks mediocre.

I can’t help but wonder if Fraction might dumb down Thor as well for a wider audience. I may be fairly new to the God of Thunder but I don’t want a watered down character or book.

Still with all my complaining I won’t deny that I am hopeful that Fraction can do the series justice. I will be checking out the first issue at the very least and hopefully it will be good.

Awe crap I just realized this is a fairly negative edition of New Age Ideas. I don’t want to leave this one off on a sour note. It’s almost Christmas after all! Well to end off this edition of New Age Ideas I’m going to leave you with a Batman themed Christmas picture.

All of a sudden I’m feeling the joy of the season! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all readers of the New Age.

Movie Review: Avatar

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:16:00 +0000

There has been a lot of hype around James Cameron's latest film 'Avatar' with Cameron himself stating that this film will change how movies are done. I finally got a chance to check out the movie and the question is if 'Avatar' lived up to the hype? The answer is a yes and no.

For the purposes of this review I am going to limit the amount of spoilers for the movie to as little as possible.

The best way I can summarize this movie is that it is basically a new version of Pocahontas. The whole movie is basically just that with the Na'vi taking the roles of the Native Americans and the humans playing the role of the English colonist. Also just as a comic fan there are also hints of last year's Marvel event Secret Invasion with how the humans learn the culture of the Na'vi people. Even though the story and script was written long before Secret Invasion it was hard for me not to see some basic similarities to Secret Invasion when being explained what the avatars the humans use are for.

With that said the story that Cameron and his fellow writers wrote was the weakest part of the movie. 'Avatar' is one of the more predictable movies I have seen. Throughout the movie you can tell what is going to happen in the movie before it even happens. There was actually a point in the movie where I actually wanted to laugh at how predictable the movie was.

It is actually pretty clear Cameron just used the story as a vehicle to show off the amazing special effects work he and his team where able to pull off with the CGI. So going into this movie the biggest recommendation I can make going into this movie is not to expect to get a very deep and intricate story because it is not. The theme of Pocahontas is very clear throughout and along with the predictable nature of the story the story was the weakest part of the movie. At no point was I surprised by the decisions made by the characters as there was absolutely no mystery to what was going to happen from beginning to end.

Now where the movie is actually saved from a story perspective that made it actually enjoyable was the very good acting by all of the actors and actresses in the movie. Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, and the rest of the cast did a great job with breathing life to a very thin story that they make you care for the characters you are watching. Sigourney Weaver was really the standout in this film. She provided plenty of depth to her character, Dr. Grace Augustine, especially since she had some of the best dialogue in the movie.

The only member of the cast I didn't really care for was Stephen Lang's Colonel Miles Quaritch. As soon as you seen Lang's character you know he is the bad guy as he automatically has the bad guy look with what looked like steroid induced look, not that I am he took anything. But going back to the character, Lang's character really is character at no point is given dialogue that makes you care for why he acts like the villain he is. There just wasn't much to the character other than him being the military bad guy of the film ready to cause a massacre which goes back to how weak the story of the movie was.

As for the voice acting of the movie it was also a strong job by all of the actors chosen for the roles. There wasn't one weak actor pick for the role as each actor and actress picked for the role they were chosen to voice was very strong.

What really saves this movie from being a boring movie and actually made it worth the $11 to go watch is the awesome CGI and special effects. The world of Pandora that James Cameron created along with its people, the Na'vi, was just breath taking to watch. While the movie's story did not really change how movies are told the CGI and special effects really changes how I am going to look at how the next few movies I watch do their special effects.

The CGI and special effects was the best work I have ever seen in a movie. Even though you know that these aren't real creatures the amount of detail Cameron and his crew put into creating everything made the Na'vi people and the creatures look as real as the humans. It was just insane to look at how close to realistic everything looked.

Watching the world of Pandora and the creatures that inhabit Pandora kind of remind me of some of the creatures you fight in some of the Final Fantasy games. The detail that was put into everything on Pandora was incredible to watch. Nothing in this film was done half way and everything looked great. Though I can talk all day about how much I loved how all of the creatures of Pandora looked I am going to say the Great Leonopteryx, called Toruk, was my favorite creature of the world. Seeing how incredibly vicious and powerful Toruk was just a joy to watch.

And to go along with the great world that was created all of the action scenes in the movie was spectacular. All of the action made me not really care about the story as I just sat back and enjoyed the epic look of the movie. I would not be surprised if the rumor that the movie's budget was actually much greater than the reported $250 million was true with how incredible everything looked.

Coming into this movie I recommend going in expecting to see some incredible CGI work that the story is secondary and just a vehicle for the fantastic world that was created. This movie is definitely worth watching for all of the CGI and special effects work.

With how strong the CGI and special effects were in the movie compared to the weak story that was told I have to give this movie to separate ratings.

Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Special Effects Rating: 10 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
__________________________________________________________________________
Kevin

An Introductory Splenetic Venting

noreply@blogger.com (Austin) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:57:00 +0000

Mes en scene: Messy Scene

You are in your basement. It's dark and you can hear water dripping somewhere in the distance. A pathetic bit of light from a bare bulb hanging like a horse-thief reaches you from behind the rows and rows of stacks of four-color magazines. Piles of Crises-es and Crossover events sway in the moldy breeze.

You need these. Geriatric storylines wheeze consumptively at you from new releases of bestsellers. The weight of history sunk you down here to make sense of whatever the Big Two have sausage-ground out this week.

A shape falls, seemingly faster than the pull of gravity, from the top of a teetering stack of feeble Green Latern issues.

You feel a screw driver penetrate your face.

You taste blood.

The shape whispers to you, "Welcome to the Revolution."

Agenda

I am your new reviewer. I speak only for myself. I do not read any Superhero Comics, but I do read comics with superheroes in them. I read the stuff that sells poorly in comparison to the bizarrely mainstream fetish of watching spandex-clad people pummel each other into making speeches. It is my prerogative, as a reviewer, to use verbal violence and grammatical back-room surgery to insert my evidence for my opinion that you might A) read things that you might find good and B) not waste time/money on things that suck.

I am coming for you.

Viva la Revolucion!

New Comics for December 23, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Jim) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0000

BOOM COMICS

Irredeemable #9

DC COMICS

Arkham Reborn #3 (of 3)
Blackest Night JSA #1 (of 3)
Detective Comics #860
Gotham City Sirens #7
Green Lantern #49
Jack Of Fables #41
Justice Society Of America #34
Madame Xanadu #18
Northlanders #23
Superman #695
Teen Titans #78
Unknown Soldier #15
Victorian Undead #2 (of 6)
Web #4
Wildcats #18
Wonder Woman #39
Worlds Finest #3 (of 4)

DYNAMITE COMICS

Black Terror #6
Complete Dracula #5 (of 5)
Garth Ennis Battlefields Happy Valley #1 (of 9)
Zorro #18

IMAGE COMICS

Angelus #1 (of 6)
Chew #7
Cyberforce Hunter Killer #1 (Of 5)
Frank Frazettas Dark Kingdom #3 (of 4)
Image United #2 (of 6)
Invincible #69
Milo Ventimiglia Presents Berserker #2
Tracker #2 (of 5)
Witchblade #133

MARVEL COMICS

Amazing Spider-Man #616
Avengers The Initiative #31
Black Widow & The Marvel Girls #2 (Of 4)
Captain America Reborn Who Will Wield The Shield (One Shot)
Criminal The Sinners #3
Dark Avengers Ares #3 (Of 3)
Doctor Voodoo The Origin Of Jericho Drumm (One Shot)
Fall Of The Hulks Gamma
Fantastic Four #574
Guardians Of The Galaxy #21
Incredible Hercules #139
Iron Man Vs Whiplash #2 (Of 4)
New Avengers #60
New Mutants #8
Powers #2
Punisher #12
Secret Warriors #11
Spider-Woman #4
Thor #605
Uncanny X-Men #519
What If Astonishing X-Men
What If Spider-Man House Of M
Wolverine Origins #43
Wolverine Weapon X #8
X-Men Forever #14
X-Men Legacy #231

Kevin's Picks

Green Lantern #49

The only DC comic I am getting this week and one that I am actually looking forward to reading. While I have been very critical of Geoff Johns work on the Blackest Night mini-series he has done a fantastic job with the Green Lantern tie-ins to Blackest Night. And I look forward to seeing John Stewart finally getting some screen time.

Amazing Spider-Man #616
Amazing Spider-Man has been a solid read the past few months and Fred Van Lente did a good job with the re-introduction of Sandman in the last issue. Also look forward to seeing more of Javier Pulido’s artwork which was great in the last issue.

Fantastic Four #574
Hickman has been absolute money on this title and has quickly become a must read again, which is something I have not said about the Fantastic Four since Waid and Wieringo run.

Guardians of the Galaxy #21 Guardians of the Galaxy continue to be one of the best titles on the stands. DnA have just been working their magic on Marvel’s cosmic universe and I expect another fun issue of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Wolverine Weapon X #8
Jason Aaron has brought Wolverine back to being a kick ass character with this title. This new story arc has just been a insanely fun story that has Wolverine in a different type of setting than is not normal for the character which is great.

Matt's Picks

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Willow
Angel #28
Angel Annual #1

I can't wait for the Willow one-shot. And as for the Angel books (Angel #28 and annual #1), I'm very excited to see what the new creative team is going to do with this book. As a Buffy/Angel fan who ultimately likes Angel better, it's been heartbreaking to see Dark Horse do brilliant Buffy Season Eight comics while IDW has churned out terrible Angel books. With Willingham on board, maybe things will turn around.

Matt's Nix

Rokk recently mentioned some of his all-time fave books that currently suck: I'm gonna go ahead and add "What If?" to that list. I just finished "What If" World War Hulk and Secret Invasion, and these are no longer alternate reality books - they're just an excuse to put out one more comic with (Insert Event Name Here) printed on the cover. LAME.

Jim's Picks

Irredeemable #9
Waid's work at Boom continues to impress me. If you have not been following this, pick up the first issues. It is worth it.

Black Terror #6
I enjoy traditional super hero stories. Alex Ross's Project Superpowers consistently gives me that type of story. This reminds me of the JSA when it first returned to modern comics.

Invincible #69
One of my favorite super hero books. Kirkman's character work is amazing. This issue is part of the lead in to the big Viltrumite Invasion. It seems like when a person tries this book, they are hooked. Don't miss another issue of one of the best books on the market.

Rokk's Picks

We have a huge shipment of comic books headed our way today. But, I have to admit that I am not really all that excited to read most of the titles coming out this week. That has been more and more of a common theme with the past few months. That is certainly a disturbing trend. It is not that I dislike any of the comics that I will be getting today. It is just that I am lukewarm on them. A tepid response from a reader is the first sign that apathy is setting in. It certainly seems like my pull list is about to get a healthy trim if this trend continues.

Green Lantern #49 is pretty much the only DC comic book this week that really grabs my interest. Johns has been doing a much better job turning more enteraining stories on this title than he has on Blackest Night itself. I have been looking forward to John Stewart's story involving Black Lantern Xanshi. Hopefully, we will get another solid tale with this issue.

Justice Society Of America #34 is the DC comic book that is on the spot. This issue has to be flat out amazing in order to save this title from getting dropped from my permanent pull list. I have been resoundingly unimpressed with Willingham and Sturges on this franchise. I do think both men are talented writers. However, I do not think that the Justice Society of America is the franchise that best suits their particular talents.

I am looking forward to Fantastic Four #574. Hickman has been fantastic on this title. I enjoyed Millar's run on Fantastic Four, but I believe that Hickman's run is going to be even better. Hickman is bringing with him that classic 1960's Marvel Sci-Fi feel to his stories.

Guardians Of The Galaxy #21 should be another great read. DnA are like mad scientists when it comes to this title. They constantly crank out one insane plot line after another. This title is excellently plotted and keeps the reader guessing. There is simply no way to know what in the world DnA has in store for us next on this title.

I know that Incredible Hercules #139 will be another incredibly entertaining read. This title has been a blast and the current Assault on New Olympus story arc has been great so far. The only thing that I am upset about concerning this title is that Marvel is canceling it. That is incredibly depressing. Incredible Hercules is one of Marvel's better titles. It is certainly a far better read than most of Marvel's titles that consistently place in the top 25 of the monthly sales charts.

Comic Book Review: Batman #694

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Though I was not a very big fan of Tony Daniel's writing on Battle for the Cowl he has really impressed me so far with this arc on Batman. It has actually been a fun story arc so far and one of the more enjoyable stories I have read so far with Dick Grayson under the cowl. Daniel's current story has also done a nice job bringing in some of Batman's supporting cast into the mix. Let see if Daniel can continue the solid storytelling with Batman #694.

Creative Team
Writer and Artist: Tony Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Ian Hannin

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: The issue begins in Devil's Square where Penguin is being helped by a couple women into an abandoned apartment building and is taken into his shower. Boosworth worries about there being a sniper on the roof but Penguin says that if Black Mask wanted him dead the sniper would have done it already. He tells Bossworth leaves and as soon as he does Batman sneaks into the bathroom and puts Penguin's head underwater.

Batman asks Penguin about the girl from the party but Penguin says he does not know her and that he is clean. Batman is attacked from behind by Penguin's chauffeur, Lark, but he quickly knocks her and all of Penguin's men in the building out. Penguin finally talks saying the girl's name is Kitrina but he does not know what she was doing.

Later that night Batman is outside of Gotham Children's Memorial Hospital thinking about the kid, named Baby D, that got shot because of him. He tells himself that once the kid is out of the hospital he will make sure he does everything in his power to give the kid a life that will lead him out of the slums of Devil Square.

Several hours later in Devil's Square the new Black Mask is screaming at the mask blaming it for all of the problems they are having with the military, gangs, and Batman. As he is about to throw the mask into the river but Fright stops him telling him that Dr. Death has information on Kitrina Falcone.

In Crime Alley Reaper goes to a cemetery to think about all of the crime in Gotham and promises that he will purge Gotham of all the crime in the city.

Two days later in Arkham Asylum's Gen-Core Wing Bruce Wayne (Hush), Dr. Singh, Dr. Arkham and the other Gene-Core partners about the answer to get rid of mental disorders that Dr. Singh has discovered. Bruce says that the mental health industry will not like this and it should be kept inside of Arkham. Four of the partners of the Gene-Core call it a night and enter the elevator but as soon as they do the line of elevator snaps. Bruce, Dr. Arkham, and Dr. Singh go check what happened and see that the elevator has crashed to the surface below killing all of the partners inside.

Over at Gotham City Police headquarters Batman meets up with Commissioner Gordon who informs Batman about the deaths of the four Gene-Core partners. Gordon says that it seems odd that Dr. Singh is the only Gene-Core partner left. Batman says that they should not jump to conclusions and jumps of the roof. Batman later thinks to himself that there is only one person responsible for the deaths.

Somewhere in the docks Mario Falcone has Kitrina tied up and in a box asking her who helped her get into the safe. Kitrina says if she wanted to she could have screwed him over by giving the maps to the highest bidder since she is the one who created them. Mario has enough of her backtalk and has his men close the box and throw her into the water.

In the Bat-Bunker Damian is analyzing the drugs he and Dick found a few nights ago with Alfred watching his progress. Damian says that it is stupid that Dick was unable to find out what the drugs where and that he has found the drugs are a cure-all pill. Alfred congratulates Damian. Damian says he has had enough of the lessons and wants to have fun.

Dick enters the Bat-Bunker and throws Damian a mask from one of False Faces. Damian says that Dick is just having him solve all of his dead leads. Dick says he figured out the drugs formula yesterday morning (BURN!!) and he wants Damian to look over the mask because he needs a fresh set of eyes to look it over.

Dick has a meeting with Barbara over the computer and he thinks about how Damian has quickly picked up on being a good detective as of late. He also thinks about how Barbara refusing to talk to him in person as Helena's kiss really seemed to upset her. He looks over the information Barbara sent him and sees that everything is pointing to Professor Hugo Strange as being the mastermind.

On a boat Fright is complaining to Dr. Strange that the professor has not returned for his daily treatment. Dr. Strange says that the Reaper body will tell him when he has to return as he needs them for his survival. Reaper arrives saying he needs his serum. Freight calls him by his name, Dr. Gruener, but he says his name is Reaper and he will cut her into small piece if she continues to talk to him like she is doing.

Reaper then asks Freight if they have met before. She says they have when she was a child. Reaper has a brief flashback to his childhood. Freight asks Dr. Strange what's going on with Reaper and Strange just says he needs his serum. Dr. Death gives Reaper his serum.

In Devil's Square Penguin is having his car shot up by Black Mask's men. One of the False Faces hits the engine causing the car to explode. Lark holds off all the False Faces while Bossworth arrives in a helicopter for the three of them to make their escape.

We shift to somewhere else in Gotham where Huntress tells Batman that Penguin has been attacked by Black Mask with some saying he is dead. Batman says he doesn't think Penguin is dead and he will resurface. Huntress mentions that The Riddler has not been seen since the bombing. Batman says that The Riddler was hired to follow Kitrina. Batman pulls out a picture of Kitrina from a week ago that was taken outside of Dr. Singh's place. Huntress says that Dr. Singh just made it home from Arkham.

Before Batman takes off Huntress tells him that she just got the news that Baby D is dead. Batman goes off into the shadows. We then see a pissed off Batman on a rooftop. End of issue.

Commentary
The Good: Batman #694 was a great read. Tony Daniel is really impressing me with his work on this Batman story arc. Though I really disliked his writing over on Battle for the Cowl it is clear now that his writing on that mini-series was a story filled with editorial mandated series decision and Daniel had almost no freedom with the story. But with this arc on Batman Daniel is showing himself to be a talented writer when given the creative freedom to tell his own story.

What I am enjoying the most about Daniel's writing is that he is writing Dick Grayson as someone who is comfortable and confident as Batman. The way Daniel is portraying Dick's character is a lot like how Tomasi portrayed the character during his run on Nightwing. During his run on Nightwing Tomasi showed that even without the cowl Dick was just as good of a hero as his mentor by facing Batman Rogues like Two-Face and Ra's Al Ghul as Nightwing and taking them down. And it was even pointed out by Barbara during that run that Dick was becoming a lot more like Bruce in his attitude.

Daniel takes how Dick acted during the end of Nightwing and is showing that even while wearing the cowl it does not mean he has to be comparing himself to Bruce. In many ways he is actually coming around to taking more Bruce's in the shadows approach. A big example of this is how he confronted Penguin at the beginning of the issue was more of something Bruce would have done. But at the same time Daniel still showed that Dick has maintained more of a similar personality he had before with the little banter line he said before taking down Lark and all of Penguin's men.

But even with Dick acting much more confident than he did in the previous story arc on this series and Batman and Robin we saw through his internal monologue that there are still things that Dick is trying to get used to. Daniel did a good job with all of the internal monologue as it showed us Dick mindset is much different than Bruce's and how he analyzes situations is much different than Bruce.

He also did a good job showing that the way Dick interacts with his supporting cast is different to how Bruce interacted with them. His separate conversations with Huntress and Commissioner Gordon are a good example of this. With both characters the tone was much more like that of equals and friends.

Probably my favorite part of this issue was the interaction between Dick and Damian. Since Dick has taken up the cowl the new role of having to mentor Bruce's son, Damian, has been the most interesting aspect of Dick being Batman. And the interaction between the two in this issue was one of my favorites between the two as we finally see Dick actually teaching Damian detective skills, with some help of Alfred. It is also good see Dick reign in Damian he is the one with the authority and that Damian will listen to him since up to this point he has allowed Damian to do what he wants when they are out being the Dynamic Duo.

I also like that Daniel is continuing to push the love triangle between Dick, Barbara, and Helena. Especially with what happened in Batgirl #5 between Dick and Barbara it should be interesting to see where the love triangle goes. And I would not mind it if it is a continuing this in future stories on this title and other Bat-books as there is a lot story potential with this sub-plot.

The scene with Dr. Arkham, Dr. Singh, and Bruce Wayne was an interesting scene with the supposed ties to Black Mask. From that scene and the meeting Batman and Gordon have on the next page it seems that there are signs pointing to Dr. Singh being Black Mask or at least working with Black Mask. Even though I am not a fan of Black Mask it was interesting to see Dr. Singh's name being dropped in a few scenes.

And I liked that Daniel showed that Black Mask is not messing around by going after Penguin after Penguin gave Batman some information. Penguin was has been well written in this issue and I like how he is a villain that is suffering the most from the gang war instead of benefitting from it as it is a different role for the character to have.

Also, it is good that Daniel is continuing to develop the Falcone Family in their return to Gotham specifically Mario and Kitrina Falcone. While there were hints to the antagonistic relationship between uncle and niece in this issue it solidified that fact. I hope Kitrina will still be around as I found her character to be a nice addition to the series. And I am interested to see where Daniel is going to take the sub-plot with what is going on with Mario and his gang as it seems he is slowly building them up for the Falcone Family to the top of Gotham's mob scene.

As always Daniel's artwork continues to be excellent. Along with inker Dandu Florea and colorist Ian Hannin the art looked great throughout the this issue that was almost all talking heads. This issue was all about the emotional reactions of all the characters and Daniel, Florea, and Hannin handled all of the scenes in this issue very well. My favorite was the scene at the end between Batman and Huntress as they great jobwith the last three panels in the second to the last page to show the sadness Dick feels after hearing Baby D died.

The Bad: Though I liked the subtle clues to the identity of who the new Black Mask is I still am not a fan of the character. I found the new Black Mask's rant to the mask to be boring and it is mostly because I just don't find the character to be a very good Batman villain.

Also I found the scene with Reaper to be to preachy as all he does is stand around and talk about what he wants to do and not doing much else but go get his drug fix. Right now I don't even know how Reaper would stand up to Batman and if he is an actual challenge since he has done nothing since being introduced.

My one complaint with the art is the final page of this issue. While the final page would make for a great poster image it was just an odd way to end the issue as there was not much of transition between the final page and the two pages before that one. It just seemed that Daniel wanted to do one poster like image in the issue since he didn't get to do one at all in this issue.

Overall: Batman #694 was another great read in Daniel's second turn at writing a Batman story. Daniel is doing an impressive job with his writing on this story arc. This is actually turning out to be one of the more enjoyable stories with Dick as Batman. Daniel has done a very good job balancing Dick's personal relationships with his new adventures as Batman while also bringing him into more of Bruce's lifestyle.

If you're a Batman fan this is story arc I recommend picking up as it is turning out to be a fun story. Also this story has been very new reader friendly so if you haven't read a Batman story in a while or have never picked up Batman this story is a good place to start with the new direction of the Batman franchise.
____________________________________________________________________________
Kevin

Legen...wait for it...dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week for 12/16/09

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:24:00 +0000

Cover of the Week: Green Lantern Corps #43

I always like it when a cover actually gives you a slight preview of what to expect from the issue and this cover for Green Lantern Corps #43 tells you all you need to know about what happens in the issue. Simple but powerful.

Amazing Spider-Man #615 Highlights

I always enjoy scenes between JJJ and Robbie when they start talking about the past and serious current topics. There is just a different air about their conversations that you know it is something important between these two long time friends.

Hey even Spider-Man needs to wear some winter clothes. And how can you not smile at the winter Spider-Man costume.

Javier Pulido artwork was great in this issue as these two pages show he has a very good Steve Ditko and Marcos Martin style in his art while still adding his own style to the artwork.

Batman #694 Highlights

It was good to see that Dick is actually trying to teach Damian something other than fighting and playing nice with others. It actually feels more like a Batman and Robin relationship as Dick is having Damian in the cave doing some detective work.

Things just keep getting worse for Dick in the first few months as Batman. But the bigger the challange the greater the hero Dick will be as he deals with the mountain of problems he faces and overcomes them.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #7 Highlights

Ouch! Felt that burn all the way here.

Will you look at that, Damian is a real boy.

What a great final challange to face.

Manhunter has some explaining to do.

Captain America: Reborn #5 Highlights

See kids Uncle Skull says it is okay to lie. Lying is good.

It is good to see MODOK back. Have not seen MODOK in a while.

While this is a good way to end the comic it is to bad Marvel has spoiled the hell out of this mini-series as we know both Bucky and Steve are alive and are both Captain America.

Daredevil #503 Highlights

Man, Master Izo and Matt never have a civil conversation.

Gotta love Wilson's plan to take back his kingdom and regain his rightful title of Kingpin of Crime.

Green Lantern Corps #43 Highlights

Rage is not your friend kids......

unless you want to kick some serious ass as Guy takes out a bunch of Black Lanterns and, as this image shows, a Sinestro Corp member.

You know things are getting serious when Mogo is ready to kick ass. Time to lay a planet size smackdown on the Black Lanterns.

Realm of Kings: Inhumans #2 Highlights

What better way to catch up with an old friend than bashing a bunch of skulls of an enemy.

It is never easy to talk to your ex. Pietro really stuck his own foot in his mouth in his discussion with Crystal that lead her to say she is much happier with Ronan than she ever was with Pietro.

DnA continue to do an impressive job with Medusa's character. And they did a very good job here with Pym's character.

The Week Begins - December 21st 2009

metalhellspawn@aol.com (Andrenn) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Of course the week I’m out of town is the week 3 comic I’m dying to read all come out. Life has its fair share of cruel jokes doesn’t it? Well no use complaining now. Hopefully I can find a comic shop to get these this week. Now onto 3 excellent looking titles this week.

I also wanted to state that while I do have a Most Anticipated of this week, I’m highly excited for all 3 titles. Just one more then the others a little bit.

Angelus #1 *Most Anticipated*

Written: Ron Marz

Art: Stjepan Sejic

With Dani out of the picture of Witchblade, Marz has a huge chance to really put the character into a totally new element and make an excellent story out of it. Dani’s got a lot to overcome after all (having a psychotic ancient light force in your head can be a bit of a bother from time to time I figure) and I’m really looking forward to seeing where Marz takes the character.

I figure this first issue will mostly set us up with Dani’s new status quo and set up the events that will transpire in the 5 following issues. Though Marz is great at making an enjoyable set up issue still without making it feel like the typical “putting the pawns in place” chapter that so many mini’s have.

Also really looking forward to seeing even more Sejic a month. He’s an amazing artist so seeing him on 2 books is a serious treat. Can’t wait to check this out as soon as possible.

Image United #2

Written: Robert Kirkman

Art: Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Jim Valentino, Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio and Marc Silvestri.

I must admit I am very impressed with the Image guys for getting this issue out. Major props to you guys for really buckling down and getting it done. I was almost certain this would be delayed by at least a month or so since this is the Image Founders we’re talking about here.

I’m really excited to check this issue out mostly for the promised battle between the 2 Spawns. McFarlane handling both his creations sounds like an amazingly fun time and I’m stoked to see more of Omega Spawn and his interactions with Jim, even if it will mostly just be punching.

Also while the story isn’t my main reason for wanting to read this series, I will say that I am hopeful that Kirkman does a good job of giving us some twists soon and really upping the ante for the series. All around I’m really excited to read this issue.

Invincible #69

Written: Robert Kirkman

Art: Ryan Ottley

Invincible has been on such a hot streak for so long I would be crazy not to be excited for more greatness this month from Kirkman and Ottley. I’m really curious about this new villain(?) and finding out what her role is in all this and what effect she will have on the Sequid invasion.

Though lets be honest here, I’m mostly excited to see if Eve tells Mark about her pregnancy or what she is going to do about it. I know they will probably be really busy with the whole invasion thing (those do tend to get in the way from time to time) but it’s the most interesting development yet and I’m dying to see what happens next. I’m doubting it’s anything good with a recent cover reveal for February showing a crying Eve. Awe damn…this series has me excited to see what happens next no matter what!

Witchblade #133

Written: Ron Marz

Art: Stjepan Sejic

Twice the great creative team in one month is awesome, but twice the great creative team in one week? Absolutely great. While last issue wasn’t anything special it was an enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to seeing where Marz takes the Troll plot by wrapping it up.

Comic Book Review: Ultimate Armor Wars #3

noreply@blogger.com (Jim) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Ultimate Armor Wars is the Ultimate Universe version of the classic Iron Man storyline-Armor Wars. Warren Ellis takes the basic plot of someone stealing Tony Stark's Iron Man technology. In this version the daughter of Justin Hammer, Justine, is helping Tony recover the tech. In the previous issue they took down Doctor Faustus. Faustus sold the tech to Bram Velsing. Tony is surprised to find out that Velsing has developed his own suit of armor.

Creative Teams
Writer: Warren Ellis
Penciller: Steve Kurth
Inker: Jeff Huet

Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Velsing is mad that the Ghost stole the tech from him. He calls Tony a "travel agent for venereal disease" before he attacks. As Velsing begins to carve through Iron Man's armor, Justine Hammer attacks. Iron Man blasts Velsing's armor with a device that shuts down all of his technology. Velsing is trapped in his armor. Iron Man threatens to let him die in the armor unless he reveals who bought the tech off of him. Velsing says the British bought it.

As they fly to London, Tony and Justine see the news. The British police are using new anti-riot armor developed from his technology. The Iron Man armor is not repaired from the damage done by Velsing but Tony takes it to stop the police. He sends Justine on another mission.

After a brutal battle, Tony is on the run. He takes out some of the police but the rest put him on the ropes. He is in trouble then the Ghost appears and blasts him. Tony falls into the river. Due to the damage to the armor, it starts to fill with water.

Commentary
The Good: I like the art job done by Kurth and Huet. Any Iron Man comic needs to have an art team that does a good job with the armor. This team knows how to draw the various technology on display in this story. Velsing's armor is very believable. The various separate sections of armor work well considering how he developed the armor. This was pieced together from parts of Tony's technology.

They also excel with the special effects. The explosions were spectacular. The battles between Iron Man and his armored foes were stunning.

The other high point for the art is the background in England. The various landmarks looked dead on.

Ellis keeps the action going with the various battles. I liked how Ellis remembers the damage done earlier in the story. The ending with Tony drowning in the armor was logically set up by the battle with Velsing. Without Velsing damaging the armor, Tony would have done better against the police and would not be trapped in the cracked armor under water.

Ellis continues to provide some excellant dialogue. He showed how Velsing, and the rest of the world, views Tony through the dialogue.

The Bad: As good as parts of the art was, it also suffered from some weaknesses. Kurth and Huet were weak on the normal faces. Justine's face looked different from panel to panel. Even Tony's face varied somewhat between panels. If they tightened up the pencils on the faces it would be a much better art job. It almost looks like they were so focused on the armor and battles that they did not spend as much time working on faces.

If you had not read the previous issue, it would be hard to tell where the opening scene takes place. The backgrounds were vague and non-descript.

In some panels, it looks like Tony's jet is normal sized. In other panels, it looks like Tony and Justine are sitting is an auditorium. A little more attention to detail would clear up these problems.

The story suffered from what seems to be a common problem in modern comics. Nothing really happened in most of the issue. Last issue Tony defeated Faustus, found out that Velsing has the stolen tech, and was threatened by Velsing. In this issue Tony defeated Faustus, found out that the British has the stolen tech, and was put in a dangerous position by fighting them. It seems like a repeat. Ellis is too good of a writer to phone in a story like this. Nothing new was revealed.

Overall: This issue was weak on the story side but was well executed. If you are picking it up to find out more of the story, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a summer blockbuster action story, this is a good book for you to read. I will withhold my final opinion until I see how the story wraps up next issue.
_________________________________________________________________________
Jim

Comic Book Review: Captain America: Reborn #5

legacysword@gmail.com (Kevin) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Captain America: Reborn has been a mixed bag so far but I have to admit I did enjoy the last issue of Reborn and thought it was the best issue we have gotten so far. Brubaker and Hitch seem to have picked up the pace of this mini-series. It is too bad that Marvel has taken all of the mystery of what happens in this mini-series with the reveal we got over in Invincible Iron Man last week what happens in these last two issues. But even with the massive spoilers I am still willing to enjoy how Brubaker and Hitch are going to end this story even if we already know how it ends. Let's see how Captain America: Reborn turns out with the latest issue.

Creative Teams
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Bryan Hitch
Inker: Butch Guice
Colorist: Paul Mounts

Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: The issue begins with Steve back in New York City but what looks to be NYC from the 1930s or 1940s. Steve feels that there is something wrong with the city and he then sees the whole city covered with Nazi symbols. One of the soldiers on the streets stops Steve and starts firing at him. Steve runs into an alley and he sees Red Skull's image plastered all over a wall with the words "Uncle Skull Wants You…..To Lie!" on the posters.

In AIM Transport ship Sharon yells at Steve not to let Red Skull win but Red Skull tells her he already won and kicks her in the face. Sharon questions Red Skull why he would work for Norman Osborn. Red Skull says he is only doing this deal with Norman for his own amusement.

He then says he is going to meet the President to tell him the real Captain America is back after he captures all of Sharon's friends. Sharon asks what friends Red Skull is talking about and he says the Avengers. At that moment Vision comes in through the walls but is captured in a sub-particulate force field by Sin.

In the Avengers Quinjet Captain America (Bucky), Clint Barton, Falcon, Black Widow, and Henry Pym are trying to catch up to the Red Skull. Before they can reach him the Red Skull launches a bunch of missiles at them which causes the Quinjet to crash by the Lincoln Memorial.

Red Skull lands his ship right by the Quinjet and sends out all of his men to attack the Avengers. The Avengers come out of the Quinjet and a big brawl between them and Red Skull's men begins.

We then see the Red Skull taunting Sharon about how she was just bait. Before he can finish something happens to stop him.

Inside of Steve's head Steve punches through the brick wall with the Red Skull posters and jumps through the whole telling the Red Skull he will find Skull. The Red Skull can't believe Steve found him inside his head. Steve states that Red Skull should have realized that he, Steve, has been breaking out of Red Skull's traps for decades.

Back inside of Red Skull's ship the Red Skull starts suffering from headaches from Steve's mental attack. Sin asks her father what is wrong. Skull just tells her to get the shock troops ready. Zolo says they are ready.

We shift to outside of the Lincoln Memorial were we see Crossbone send out the shock troop, who turn out to be an army of Super-MODOKs, to fight the Avengers. All of the Avengers fight off the Super-MODOKs. Bucky spots the Red Skull and Sin and tells everyone to cover him as he is going after Red Skull and Sin.

Sin says that Bucky is fast and run towards him to fight. Bucky swats Sin away with his shield and goes after Red Skull. Both Red Skull and Bucky punch each other at the same time in the face. They start to fight and Red Skull states that Bucky is pulling all of his punches. Sin shoots Bucky in both his shoulders allowing Red Skull to grab his shield.

While Bucky fights Red Skull inside of Steve's mind Steve and Red Skull are fighting. Steve states that his friends know what Red Skull is doing. Red Skull states he isn't responsible for what happened to Steve but Sharon.

Outside Bucky grabs his gun but is unable to fire it. Steve yells from inside his mind for Bucky to shoot him but Red Skull tells Steve that Bucky can't hear him. Red Skull says that this is his day and the day Steve dies.

Back outside Red Skull uses the shield to cut of Bucky's mechanical arm and says that it is over. He grabs Bucky by the neck ready to finish him off with the shield and says "Time for a new morning in America." End of issue.

Commentary
The Good: Captain America: Reborn #5 was a fun action packed issue and the best issue of this mini-series yet. Brubaker provides some great psychological drama for all of our heroes with Red Skull in control of Steve's body. All of the characters in this issue had their own unique voices and Brubaker showed he has a good understanding of all the characters involved in the issue.

One of the things that I have been pleasantly surprised by throughout this mini-series is how well Brubaker writes all of the Avengers. Reborn is the first time that I have seen Brubaker handle the Avengers as team in a whole issue and overall he has done a great job writing all of them in this mini-series. He continued that very good writing of the team in this issue. I actually wouldn't mind seeing him write one of the Avengers books after Siege with Clint, Pym, Vision, and Captain America (Bucky or Steve) as part of the team as he writes all of these characters very well.

Brubaker also did an excellent job handling Red Skull's takeover of Steve's body. He does a great job showing us that this is what he has been building towards ever since he started his run on Captain America. For Red Skull it is not enough to kill Steve but he also wants to drag Steve's name through the ground while all of Steve and Steve's closest friends watch him do it.

Red Skull's rant to Sharon was perfect in this issue. Though I usually dislike evil rants I got to say something about hearing one of Red Skull's rants just fits great with who the character is.

While the ending has been spoiled Brubaker did a good job convincing us that there is a chance Red Skull can win even if we know he doesn't. Red Skull was basically fighting two battles at the same time with Steve and Bucky and he was still able to get the upper hand in both fights. Even though Red Skull can handle himself in a fight by himself his greatest weapon has always been how he has been able to take advantage of his opponents psychologically to win which is what he does in his fights with Steve and Bucky.

Brubaker also did a great job handling both Bucky and Steve as well in this issue. I liked that Bucky was able to hold his own with the Red Skull controlled Steve. Even though Steve's body was at half its usual power level it is still a superhuman Bucky is fighting. Bucky's only superpower is his mechanical arm. But even with only being human Bucky was able to hold his own for a while, even pulling his punches, before Sin shoot him the back during the fight. And I laughed when I saw how easily Bucky swatted Sin away in order to get to the Red Skull controlled Steve.

And I liked that Steve did not just stand around in shock at the world he was in and instead knew that the Red Skull was behind everything. Outside of Millar's Ultimate Steve Rogers it is Brubaker who writes the best version of Steve and he showed it in this issue. Steve came out as a bit of a badass with how he went head on to face the Red Skull instead of just standing around doing nothing about the world he was stuck in. It showed Steve has that a never say die attitude and he always believes he can win in the end even in the most hopeless situation.

Also it was cool to see MODOK be used in this issue. It has been a while since I seen the character be used in a Marvel comic. Even though he didn't have large other than a road block for the Avengers to face in order to allow Bucky and Red Skull fight it was cool to see the character be used again.

As always Bryan Hitch provides some great artwork. Though there were a couple panels were Steve looked weird overall the issue continued the blockbuster movie type look that this mini-series has had since the beginning. He does a great job choreographing all of the fight scenes as things really get intense with some heavy action for the last half of the issue. I also liked how he drew the mental world Steve and Red Skull where having their fight in.

The Bad: With that said I have to admit even though I tried to ignore the fact that Marvel spoiled the ending to this mini-series while I was reading the issue I still hate the fact Marvel did that. For the big event Marvel has been proclaiming Captain America: Reborn to be they really mishandled this mini-series. It is not even Brubaker or Hitch's faults as Marvel always had it planned to have this mini-series end in December and they are the ones that added an extra issue to the event. So they knew it since they are the ones that added the extra issue and it really is the fault of Marvel's editorial team for dropping the ball on how this event ends as they took away all of the suspense from at least questioning whether Steve or Red Skull would have control of Steve's body at the end of the mini-series.

As for this issue itself the only complaint I had was that Brubaker does seem to stretching out some of the dialogue in this issue there was some recycled dialogue from the previous four issues of this mini-series. Though I have no doubt that Captain America: Reborn will read better when I am able to read all of the issues in one sitting I hate the fact that the story reads like it is made for the eventual trade and not the monthly setting.

Overall: Captain America: Reborn #5 was a good read that was not as great as it could have been since Marvel has decided to spoil what happens in this mini-series ending already. With the ending already spoiled it is a bit harder to get excited for the final issue of this mini-series. Still Brubaker and Hitch have done a solid job on this mini-series so far and I look forward to seeing how we reach the ending of Steve being back. If you have not picked up this series up yet I recommend picking it up in trade as I have no doubt that this mini-series will read much better as a trade than it has been in single issues.
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Kevin