The Pull List

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #622: The Gauntlet Continues! Okay, let me start with the good because there is a major bad with this issue that Marvel needs to be aware of and that I've not seen touched on anywhere else.
Last week Spider-Man and the Black Cat broke into Mr. Negative's hide out to steal back a vial of Spidey's blood. This issue picks up the next morning. Spidey and Cat did some adult stuff then Spidey finds out the Cat sold his blood. Naturally this doesn't sit well with Spidey who tracks the vial down to a goth club. This is where he discovers that 'goth' isn't as interesting as it used to be. People still try to dress like vampires but for some reason they are covered in glitter. A sign of the end times, I believe.
Anyway, he tracks the vial down with the help of a mysterious woman who leads him to Morbius, the Living Vampire. The long a short of it is Morbius bought the blood in hopes the presumed healing abilities of it would help him cure Jack Russell from the Zombie Plague he was inflicted with in Marvel Zombies 4.
The woman turns out to be Martine, Morbius' former girlfriend who became a vampire in Morbius 90's series. Things kind of fall apart from there.

Now for my problem with this issue...there are 2 actually. The first one is with this Morbius story. He was hyped for it and got a really nice cover...but what was the point? This story doesn't help the overall Gauntlet progress at all.
Then there is the length of the story. This was an extended issue with a hiked cover price, $3.99 rather than $2.99, but the Morbius part was less than half of the issue. The rest? We got to see he rehab of Flash Thompson who lost his legs in Iraq. Why did this need the length of a regular issue? It didn't. It really didn't need to be in this issue at all. Marvel could have tossed this story in Web of Spider-Man or the upcoming Annual. I didn't care for this at all and it really soured the series for me. Marvel tosses these random issues out with more pages and a higher price for no apparent reason. I still love the series but really hope Marvel doesn't do this again.



DEADPOOL #20: Let me start by saying I do NOT like Hit-Monkey. To me this is a really lame, useless and pointless character, or non-character, and doesn't have much use here. To have a character like Deadpool actually being afraid of him is even worse. Now, if this monkey could talk and interact with DP that would probably help some but I doubt it would help much.
So, Hit-Monkey is in New York apparently gunning to DP who is trying to learn how to be a hero from Spider-Man who wants nothing to do with either of them.
The interactions between DP and Spider-Man are fun and fluid, not on the same level as Joe Kelly's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #611 but it could be worse. This part of the story is fun...where it falls apart is the monkey. I really can't say anything good about it and this just seems more like a filler issue, just waiting for something good to come along. One more issue and I think we're done with the monkey for now...hopefully for a very long time.




FANTASTIC FOUR #576: There is a lot of new discoveries in this current run of the FF. Last issue we saw the birth of a new nation created by High Evolutionary and run my intelligent Moloids, this time we learn the true meaning of Atlantis.
A meeting of three separate undersea races make up what they claim to be the true Atlantis. To them, in their mind, Atlantis is the entire sea. They have been in hiding and have now decided to make their presence known.
What makes this issue is the underwater battle where the characters were unable to speak to each other. It was a silent fight between the FF and AIM. The art made this sequence work perfectly. Honestly, the art of Dale Eaglesham works for this series perfectly. His style has been criticized by some as being off scale but that didn't really bother me. It's kind of hard to see Sue as a frail woman considering all the things she's been through over the years. It just makes sense that she would have a mild build.
It's Sue's personality that gets me. She seems to be more forceful and more in control of things. I like this. Especially when the Kings of Atlantis ask who speaks for man and she steps up as the mouth piece of mankind. Kudos and I have to say after the confusing mess of the previous issue, this one redeems it all.

NEW AVENGERS #62: Siege Continues! This series is somewhat out of sync with the main story. In SIEGE #2 we see the New Avengers, lead by the returned Captain America, showing up at Asgard and joining the assault.

This issue takes us back maybe a few hours as Cap is still regaining his gear and others are finding he's returned. Cage and Nick Fury both are very shocked to see Captain America alive and kicking, naturally.

The second story is kind of a throw away story with Spider-Man and Spider-Woman fighting some third tier villains that no one really cares about. Hardly worth mentioning.

But here's hoping NEW AVENGERS #63 is more in sync than this one. In an event the size of Siege that last thing you want is a lot of rehashing of events you saw weeks ago.

THOR #607: Siege Continues! Thor is down, Osborn's Dark Avengers have attacked and seem to be winning. What could happen next?

The real question is how could this happen? In a word: Loki. He's been able to shield Osborn's actions from the Asgardians which allowed the assault to begin in earnest. The one person who could have warned people, a blind soothsayer called Knut, knew what what coming and tried to warn everyone. Loki silenced him very effectively.

The real story in this issue is the tale of Volstagg. He turned himself in to the local authorities after the attack that began this. Over the years he'd been depicted as a God with a heart as big as his stomach and this issue really shows that. He expresses his grief and sorrow over this incident by way of technology he never used before. His reaction and apology is truly something to read.

But before you can see him return to his brethren he is attacked by the Clone of Thor who now calls himself Ragnarok. I've never seen any of the Warriors Three take a beating like this!

Update Are Coming!

I'm working a lot this week but I have Friday and Saturday off. I'm planning to post more than a few things here on those day.

As always, feedback is welcomed.

Favorite Gimmick Covers

As I begin to post more and more here, I'm thinking of other ways to put more of the comics in my collection here. Gimmick Covers is something I thought about.

Back in the 1990's gimmick covers were everywhere, much like variant covers and Deadpool is now. They were used, at first, to spotlight 'milestone' issues like #1, #25, #50 and so on. After a while they were used for the sake of being used. Some gimmicks were cool others were...well...not as cool.

Here is a cover that I've always enjoyed. LOBO #1, the first issue of DC's Main Man's ongoing series cover date December 1993.

By this time Gimmicks were pretty much everywhere and Lobo was a great way to poke fun at them. The gimmick for this one is embossed and silver foil, his zipper is raised and shiny, and Lobo brings some attention to it.

A few issues later, Lobo had another great cover that I will be posting at some time in a Favorite Cover post.

Thanks for check this out and, as always, any suggestions or comments are welcome and wanted. Let me know what I can do to improve what I'm doing, input is a great way to learn!

The Pull List

Okay, even though I'm in the middle of defending Comic Books against the unprovoked and ignorant attacks of some far right-wing nut job, I still have new comics coming in every week. This week wasn't as embarrassingly small as last week.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #621: The Gauntlet continues! Spidey decides it's time to get that pesky red gas Mr. Negative made that can kill him and him alone. But he's not a thief. Good thing Black Cat is! So, they 'team-up' so switch this gas out for another.
Meanwhile, due to being infected with Mr. Negative's...negativity, Aunt May is still on a tear through the people in her life. She trashed Peter, tossed her family and Harry Osborn out of her home and these effects don't seem to be letting up. Spidey was able to beat it but Aunt May is going to be a challenge.
Let's see... Mary Jane showed up. Just for a quick few pages as Harry is crashing with her now. Plus, another quick thought from her that she knows Peter is Spider-Man.
Overall, a nice issue, good are and the story is moving forward at a good clip. Dan Slott is a great writer. I also have to say I'm very excited that The (New) Vulture is coming back in a few issues...after we see The Lizard next!

DEADPOOL #19: SPIDER-MAN! Because no one shows up in more comics a month than Spider-Man!! NO ONE! So, Deadpool wants to hang with Spidey. Well...with a 4th ongoing book coming out and all the variant covers and guest shots MAYBE Deadpool comes close...So, anyway, DP wants to learn the hero ways from Spidey but to do so he must first help Spidey figure out who killed the owner of a local store he liked. Deapool knows who's responsible and seems hesitant to do anything about it. Something about a monkey who is a hitman? Go figure. This is still my favorite of the Deadpool books even though we've had a few misses. Beyond that...how could you NOT love that cover!?

DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #8: Deadpool is still on his mission to return Headpool back to the ZombiVerse. But messing around with the Nexus of All Realities has brought DP to the forefront of something big. Big enough to warrant the aid of the new Sorcerer Supreme: Doctor Voodoo. This, of course leads into the Deadpool Corps five week event in March but for now the gang must contend with the Marvel Zombies!

So, they end up in the Marvel Zombies universe...the first question I have is where in the Marvel Zombies continuity this falls in, though I am thinking it's AFTER the events in the first Marvel Zombies miniseries, because the earth is trashed and there are very few humans left. There seem to be few main event characters left as well as Zombie Moon Knight is the highest tier character we see.

Deadpool and Gang are saved but a group of humans who have set up shop and are fighting to live and trying to find a cure to save their planet. Will Headpool be able to help? Will he want to and would he have a choice? It's all very interesting.

I'm still getting used to the art though...

DOOMWAR #1 of 6: Okay, so apparently while Doom was part of the Cabal he'd also been working on taking over Wakanda. Apparently...he did it. Using a 'rebel' group as a front he was able to oust T'Challa and capture his queen, the X-Man Storm. It seems Vibranium, a metal only found in Wakanda, can be used to magnify magic much like it can turn sound into a weapon. If Doom is able to get his hands on enough of it he would be able to do ANYTHING.

T'Challa and his sister, the new Black Panther, along with a few loyalists seek the help of the X-Men to save Storm and take back Wakanda.

Overall, this is a good series and has the potential to be something huge seeing as how Doom is involved but I think it's going to be over shadowed by Siege for the first part of it.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #23: This is one of those 'pay attention' issues. It rewinds the clock some to show you what happened when the Magus killed members of the Guardians. He didn't kill them, rather he took their souls and is using them to power himself and hopes to turn them against their friends. The key players here are Phyla (Quasar) and he lover Moondragon. Their love created a bond the transcends death. Phyla was able to contact Moondragon and warn her about the Magus being alive and getting more powerful.

The Magus, as usual, plans to destroy everything but this time he's going to use Gods he found on the other end of The Fault. This reality he found is devoid of death. The Gods there beat it and he wants them to do the same here. Doesn't sound so bad until you realize the Gods are evil and the reality they rule is a twisted obscenity and should be destroyed. This is also part of the ongoing Realm Of Kings event...or rather Non-Event as it doesn't seem to be doing much of anything which is fine with me.

Warner Todd Huston's terrorist attack on Comic Books.

This post is going to be a little different than I what I normally post here. It still pertains to comic books but in a different way. The industry, specifically Marvel Comics, Captain America and fans like myself, have been attacked and lied about recently.

There's this guy, an evil villain called Warner Todd Huston. He claims to be a writer, he has a blog like mine...but UNLIKE mine he doesn't write about things he knows.
Recently, Captain America (#602) was tracking down a terrorist group called The Watchdogs. He and Falcon came across a group of people protesting something. It APPEARS they are protesting taxes and government spending. This happens all the time.
What Warner Todd Huston FAILS to realize is you actually need to read a full issue of a comic book to understand what's going on. You can't just look at one page, find something you THINK is happening then pretend to be offended about it.

I'm planning a series of posts on this topic and this man because there is no way to fully explain the impact this man's inaccurate and rude words have had on comics. This is almost like the 1950's all over again. The only difference being I wasn't around then to defend my hobby.

So, let's begin, shall we?
Warner Todd Huston wrote what he claims is a 'critical analysis' of CAPTAIN AMERICA #602 when in fact all it was was a slander piece filled with half truths and a full display of his ignorance about comics.
He begins: "In it the current Captain (there have been a few of them, apparently) is on the trail of a faux Captain America that is mentally deranged and getting chummy with some white supremacist, anti-government, survivalists types going by the name of “the Watchdogs.” While investigating this subversive group, Captain America and his partner The Falcon — a black super hero — have decided to try and infiltrate the secretive organization.
In preparation for the infiltration, Marvel Comics depicts the two super heroes out of costume and observing from a rooftop a street filled with what can only be described as a Tea Party protest. The scene shows crowds of people in city streets carrying signs that say, “stop the socialists,” “tea bag libs before they tea bag you,” and “no to new taxes.” Naturally, the people in these crowds are depicted as being filled with nothing but white folks.
The black character asks the out of costume Captain, “What the hell is this?” And follows that with, “looks like some kind of anti-tax protest.” The Falcon character then snidely tells his partner the Captain, “So I guess this whole ‘hate the government’ vibe around here isn’t limited to the Watchdogs.”

Okay, now I'm going to overlook the whole pointing out Falcon being black thing. It just shows his ignorance. We've known Falcon was black for decades but I guess since he knows nothing about comics it might shock him to see a black character being a main character. Where he falters here is "Marvel Comics depicts the two super heroes out of costume and observing from a rooftop a street filled with what can only be described as a Tea Party protest." I suppose if you really feel the need to label such things but are the Tea Party Protests the ONLY ones that oppose taxes? This may be shocking to hear but...no, they aren't. People have been protesting taxes for decades now, it's nothing new. This just shows Warner Todd Huston grabbing for straws...or shows how thin his skin is.
He continues, "The black character asks the out of costume Captain, “What the hell is this?” And follows that with, “looks like some kind of anti-tax protest.” The Falcon character then snidely tells his partner the Captain, “So I guess this whole ‘hate the government’ vibe around here isn’t limited to the Watchdogs.” Again with the color thing...get over it. Also, this shows more of his ignorance. Falcon is a liberal character, this isn't new to anyone who knows what they're talking about. We've had very liberal characters in comics for years. Green Arrow comes to mind. He's so liberal I can't stand him, personally.
But we have Conservative characters too. Green Lantern, for example. Captain America can be considered a traditional conservative due to his love of country and not political party but for the most part, Cap has generally been above left/right politics. He does what he feels is best for his country regardless which party is running it.

So, Cap suggests Falcon try and infiltrate the group. Warner Todd Huston has a problem with this. Now, I don't know if it's because Falcon is black and Warner Todd Huston feels a black character shouldn't be a lead for any reason or not, but he claims the move only shows the protest group is a racist group because they are shown to be mostly white.
This is a stretch, much like making remarks of Warner Todd Huston being racist...well, I've seen other things he's written so it may not be THAT much of a stretch but be that as it may, he IMPLIES Marvel is making a statement about the Tea Party people, he claims Marvel is saying they are all white and all racist.
You think that's a stretch too? Here is Warner Todd Huston's OWN WORDS: "So, there you have it, America. Tea Party protesters just “hate the government,” they are racists, they are all white folks, they are angry, and they associate with secretive white supremacist groups that want to over throw the U.S. government." Every bit of this statement is not true. No where on that page do you see proof that the protesters 'hate government' that is only what Falcon thinks. One characters opinion. There is NOTHING to suggest those people are racist. Falcon mentions they are white. When I see the Tea Party Protests on FOX News I see white people more than I see Americans of other color. It's not that big of a deal. Angry? Okay I'll grant him this ONE. Who isn't angry about being taxed? The last part though...NO, there is not even a remote suggestion that this group is associated with the Watchdogs. What IS suggested is there may be a way to locate one group by infiltrating the other. It happens in the real world. One group sees the passion of another and they use that passion to further their goals, Cap probably thinks the Watchdogs would do something like that. They have America and they might be able to get more members by lying to the protesters about who they are. It makes sense.

Now, in the interest of fairness, something Warner Todd Huston knows NOTHING about, I am going to now show you the pages in question. Read them. Look at them closely and tell me if you see the same thing Warner Todd Huston sees. I've looked at these pages many times and I don't see it. Of course, UNLIKE Warner Todd Huston, I know how to read a comic book.
...to be continued

Marvel Age: Avengers

SIEGE.
This is the end game for what started seven years ago with AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED. It's all out war on 3 fronts: Norman Osborn's 'heroes', the outlaw New Avengers and the Asgardians. So far the series, which runs 4 issues and started in January, has had a few surprises including the death, presumably, of the God of War, Ares at the hands of the Sentry.

So, what happens after? Well, they are calling it the Heroic Age and it's supposed to be a lighting of the mood type thing. Seems after nearly a decade of dark and gritty stories Marvel wants to make things fun again. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has already had something like this happen in the One More Day/Brand New Day concept.
It was also a great idea for that title. I've tried to collect AMAZING over the years and have usually dropped it after a few months. This months marks 4 years that I've been reading the title. I started with the CIVIL WAR story and expected to drop it shortly after but One More Day happened and it's been awesome since.

So, after SIEGE comes the Heroic Age and the Avengers line gets a face lift.
Gone are the following titles: Avengers Initiative, Dark Avengers, Mighty Avengers and New Avengers. This means I'm losing a title.
In May, the month after SIEGE #4 comes out, we get AVENGERS #1...so I gain a title. Seems cool enough though. I've been reading ESSENTIAL AVENGERS lately, I'm on Volume 3 now, and I've liked the lighthearted stories and wonder if this new Avengers title will be like that.

Another thing is the finding of new team members. Over the last week or so, Marvel has been releasing teasers of who the new team members will be. As of today they include: Bucky Barnes Captain America, Hawkeye (in his original costume, no less!), Iron Man, Spider-Woman and the Mighty Thor! It's shaping up to be an awesome team and I've posted here the teasers Marvel has released. Check out Marvel.com for more information or check back here 'cause I will be getting more into stuff like this here, if it works for me that is.

The Pull List

VERY small week. In fact, I only got ONE regular comic book this week:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #620: The Gauntlet continues as Mysterio's plan comes full circle. It's kind of an old school plot where he's twisted everyone into hating each other, not that the Maggia and Mr. Negative's people need many reasons to hate each other. He is using Silvermane to attack Mr. Negative in hopes of wiping them all out. And Mr. Negative thinks all the information he's getting is coming from a police informant...but it's really Mysterio so he's getting paid to set up and kill everyone!

The sub-plot between Peter and Carly is getting interesting as she seems to have respect for Spidey but has lost a lot for Peter.

Overall, not a bad issue, great cover and the variant cover, one of many Deadpool Variants, is top notch and I will be adding it to my collection as soon as possible.



In other news....I also grabbed the NEXTWAVE:ULTIMATE COLLECTION trade. It contains all 12 issues of this awesome series and also includes some of the most entertaining letters pages of all time.

The Long Box

My reviews will be picking up over the next few days. I thought about a 'cool' name for my reviews and decided that since I'm taking books from my Collection Drawer Long Boxes that The Long Box will be a good name for my reviews.

LOBO GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
Words by Alan Grant
Pictures by Christian Alamy
August 1996

This one was interesting especially with the recent announcement of the Lobo movie (rated PG-13) being canceled in order to make a sequel to Sherlock Holmes.
Lobo, in a bar as usual, finds out someone in Hollywood is making a movie about him. He's upset because 1) He wasn't asked to play himself and 2) he's not getting a single dime from the movie. So, to fix this he goes to earth to find out who gets fragged for this.

Scene changes to Hollywood, Galactic Studios and it's head are both in debt. We learn that Mr. Lynch, the head of the Studio, has taken out a rather large insurance policy covering 'accidental damage.' I guess we can all see where this is heading.

So, Lobo shows up and see his movie version, a sad little twit who says things like "potato poots" while playing Lobo.
Naturally, Lobo decides to destroy and kill all he can, mayhem and madness ensues and, true to form, Lobo ends up being the only one who lives and the studio, the head, lawyer, accountant and a few stuntmen all end up dead.

The funny thing about this is as a fan of the character you can see Lobo doing something just like this is he were to find out someone was making a PG-13 movie out of an R-Rated character.

The story is the normal Alan Grant Lobo story, fun, self-referential humor and a few pot shots taken at writers and DC Comics. the art is smooth and does a good job of showing the action. Although Lobo wearing suspenders with skulls on the is a little odd.

Pull List For 2/4/10

Kind of a light week this week so let's get to it:

CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #4 of 6: This series continues to show me how much I really love the FABLES book. It's great seeing specific characters getting the spotlight and getting to show what they can do.
This time around we finally find out a little bit of what's going on. Three Fable Women who were always part of a harem are freed only to discover the women of the Mundy world are just as much in slavery as they were and they decide to do something about it...for themselves. They've been getting magical items from the Homelands and they sell them for a lot of money to mundies then take the money they make and buy lots of guns which they in turn made a deal with someone in the Homelands to trade the guns for a bit of land so they can have their own kingdom and their own form of freedom.
Sounds nice but the danger they are creating: exposure of the existence of the Fables, is something that cannot be ignored.
Art is sound in this series as is the writing, although it would be nice to see Aladdin get more screen time and development but then again, this is Cindy's mini, not his.

DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #896: Deadpool teams up with U.S. Ace, a truck driver who apparently has been everywhere including space. This was a pretty lackluster issue mainly because team-ups work much better when you're familiar with all the characters involved. Even biker raccoons didn't do much to salvage this issue. The best thing about it was the single panel where Deadpool flattens a raccoon which is what make the biker raccoons mad at him.
Again, this one was a miss but really, Deadpool has 3 ongoing books now and he can't be 'on' all the time, right?

However, the cover by the great Ramos was nice to see. I've always liked this guys art from way back in the day of CRIMSON. It'd be nice to see him do more stuff, defiantly a full Deadpool book somewhere!

NOVA #34: Realm of Kings issue stuff continues. I'm not sure what this realm Of Kings thing is supposed to be about but Nova is still dealing with The Fault and is doing...alright...with it. This current story with the Sphinx is pretty out of place. I understand that at one point he was Nova's main baddie but now he just seems out of place. The story where Sphinx is fighting a younger version of himself for control of some stones and his life is not as interesting as it could be.
There isn't much more I can say about it other than it does have some interesting foreshadowing for Darkhawk. Seems Talon isn't dead and more Raptors are going to be coming back...unless it was a ruse because everything that happens here is out of place and time.
Another interesting bit was the statue Black Bolt saw...he knows he dies and we know Medusa leads the Inhumans until she dies in something called the Shadow War. I'm curious about that.

SIEGE #2 of 4: The Siege of Asgard kicks into full gear! The writing is sound here, personally I never understood the hate of Brian Bendis he's a nice guy and a damn good writer, and the art is SPOT ON. The things about this that is really getting to me is that at issue #2 we are already half way through this! A major Marvel event told on this scale in only 4 issues! Astounding!
So, this issue we see the train wreck coming: The Dark Avengers are attacking Asgard, the Asgardians are fighting like mad to defend themselves and their home and the Avengers are geared up and heading into the fray themselves.
This issue contains a major shock involving a certain God who may or may not survive what happens to him...I mean, God can be killed and can come back but can a God come back from what happens to this one in this issue? I cannot say who it is or what happens but I can say when I say the panel in question I did say DAMN! out loud!
The other great moment in this issue was the last page. It's perfect usage of 'slow motion' in comics and a really great lead in to issue #3...I just wish we could have seen the look on Osborns face!

Pull List 01/27/10

Okay, so I've decided to change my weekly 'reviews' of New Comics to 'reviews' of books on my weekly Pull List. This one's a little late 'cause I'm still working on a schedule that will allow me to put new books, older books in my collection and favorite covers on here in a regular basis.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #619: The Gauntlet continues as Mysterio makes his plans a little more known. He is using certain mob bosses to take control of them all. I'm still trying to get a fix on where he's going with this as well as what seems different about him.
But this issue had really good pacing on it, recovering from last month's issue, and things really seem to be coming together.
Aunt May is still under the influence of Mister Negative and it's really odd seeing her be so mean all the time. I'm wondering if this is something that will eventually wear off or if Negative has to stop it or what.
Something else in this issue is the reminder of how much Spidey actually pays attention to things when he fights. The cover plays off this with all the dead bodies and the blood on Spidey's hands. He thinks he kills a man with a single punch and it really tears him up inside. He begins to question himself and his ability to control his power. It's always interesting to see this happen to him because it's so easy to forget that the has to knowingly restrain himself when he fights normals people.

FANTASTIC FOUR #575: You know...sometimes I get an issue of my favorite books that I have to read twice at least just to figure out what the hell's going on. This issue of FF takes it one step further: I read it twice and I still don't get it.
Mole Man's people find a city abandoned by the High Evolutionary because the power i it was de-evolving his people...
But it evolves the Mole Man's people (I think) making them smarter but they still have stupid kids so they decide to stop having kids and the Mole Man just wants his people back and...
Well, the whole thing ends with the Thing saving some kids and getting monkey like features and this city rising to the surface and...
I don't know..I'm not sure what the deal is with this story and I'm just glad it's over and we can move forward. Maybe in the future things will make sense.
Oh, and we found out where Reed buried the body of the future Galactus...which is odd because it's always been said Galactus doesn't have a real body.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #22: This Realm of Kings thing is pretty pointless. I'm just glad it isn't a crossover that requires me to read more than what I like. Both this series and NOVA are following their own plot lines that involve the recently created Fault. This time we learn the fate of Moondragon and her rather nasty baby. A creature from the Fault that eats life. Something else mentioned here is the reality on the other side of the Fault is one where 'life won' and beat death. It's interesting and I'm curious to see where it ends.
It's also good to know that certain characters aren't as dead as we all thought including Adam Warlock/Magus.
A future issue will feature the return of Thanos. I'm thinking that he might be the key to ending this whole thing. If the Fault is a doorway to a place where death doesn't exist, I can see where Thanos would come back to either destroy this place to reintroduce death to is.
Either way, It will be fun to have the Mad Titan back.


JACK OF FABLES #42: I was not to keen on the idea of Jack losing this series to his son, Jack Frost, but recent issues have helped me change my mind. Young Jack Frost wants to be a hero, something his father put in his head during the Great Fables Crossover. So Jack puts himself out there as a hero for hired of sorts and generally ends up in trouble because he has little understanding of the workings of the real world...which world that happens to be.
One thing he DOES have going for him, though, is his problem solving skills. He is a smart kid. really there isn't much anyone can say about this issue, it's a fun one and you see a little more of Young Jack's evolution into the man he will become but there really isn't' much here to point out and being specifically great.
My worry is with Young Jack running the book people will lose interest. Jack Horner had a charm: He was an asshole that you liked being around. Jack Frost is nice and has some of Horner's charm but I don't think he has enough to carry a book like this for very long.

The last 2 books for this week can be covered together: NEW AVENGERS #61 and THOR #606. Avengers leads into SIEGE which is weird considering the first issue of Siege is already out. We're covering ground we've already seen except somehow Bucky and Captain America are back together and looking for Cap's stuff.
Spider-Man and Spider Woman have a nice exchange where Spidey's marriage that never happened was mentioned, another great nod to Brand New Day, apparently with Spider-Woman being off world when she was replaced with a Skrull he memories of Parker's marriage to MJ wasn't fixed like everyone else's, it's very interesting.
Over in THOR we have the finale of the Asgardians fight with Doom. It's almost pointless and this point because we already know the Asgardians are going home because, well, Siege #1 is already out. What was interesting though is Balder. He started off as a rather lame duck king but this issue shows how much he's been able to fill the shows left empty when Thor was banished. Even that is touched on. Balder knows Thor is a good man but the law is the law and Balder is King and cannot make exceptions even for his brother, Thor.
Loki and Doom were working together the whole time but Loki forgets that no one works with Doom without paying a price.

Review: Joker/Mask (2000)

In the first half of 2000, DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics got together to answer the question that was plaguing the minds of comics fans everywhere: What would happen if the Joker got his hands on The Mask?

The answer came in the form of a monthly 4-part series called JOKER/MASK.

The story starts with the Joker and Harley Quinn breaking into a museum with destruction in mind. Seems the Joker thinks masks of sad clown faces are an insult and he seeks to blow them up. Oh, and those school kids in the museum? Well, what better way to ingrain the value of art in their minds than with shrapnel?
So, during the heist a few things go wrong: Harley took the detonators out of the bombs because it made the clown faces look tacky, and his henchman sets off the alarm when he takes a certain Mask out of its case. When the police arrive, the Joker is sad to learn he doesn't even rate a SWAT Team anymore.

The henchman puts the Mask on first and the Joker learns of it's abilities and after tricking the dude to get the Mask off he puts it on and the fun begins.

Naturally the first thing the New Joker does is quickly and nastily dispatch the Dark Knight who of course shows up. With Batman out of the way, Joker begins his Joke Reign over Gotham City which leads all the way to the highest rated television show on earth: Access Joker. Yeah, only with the Joker can this happen.

The drama in this series (?) is between Joker and Harley who misses her 'puddin' and wants him back. Joker sees more for his future through TV and dumps Harley in favor of hot Jokettes, and trying to force his humor on the whole city and world.

The story is great, as you read it you can actually 'hear' the Joker mannerisms made popular in the Batman: The Animated Series program and even with the green jack you can still see Joker in there.
Which brings me to the art. It's very kinetic and full of energy. Joker looks great even with the Mask on and the Batman is imposing as he should be. Everything about this was fun. It's been years since I've read it, about 10 to be exact, I haven't read it since I bought it in early 2000, but it still read very easily and deserves to be spotlighted here and other places!

NEW COMICS 1/20/10

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #618: The Gauntlet continues with the story I've been waiting for since it was announced: Mysterio Returns. I have to say though, I would have probably liked it more if it had been spread out over 2 issues instead of feeling like it was rushed and crammed into 1 issue.
The story centers around mob leaders who were killed off by someone or something only to return later because it was all a ruse set up by Mysterio. His reveal was a little lackluster and didn't seemed involved at all.
Another thread here is the return of the recently married Aunt May. She walks in on her boss at a local shelter, who, for some reason is also a criminal mastermind called Mr. Negative who touches her and makes her...negative? She verbally attacks Peter basically calling him a freeloader and asks why he isn't doing anything with his life. It all seemed a little disconnected.
HOWEVER...The art...very nice! Seemed very old school which I'm very into right now. Back in the day when comics looked like comics. I also very much enjoyed the cover and though this issue felt like a rushed filler issue, it doesn't take away from the over all impact of this Gauntlet story. Still looking forward to seeing this one to it's bitter end!

DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #7: 'Are you there Deadpool? It's me, Deadpool' begins as Deadpool attempts to take Headpool back to the Zombiverse. So, the first thing he does is jump head on into the Nexus of Realities in the Man-Thing's swamp. He ends up in a reality where Deadpool is an Agent of SHIELD. Very strange...but the big draw for this issue was the introduction of Lady Deadpool. It was an interesting scene to see Deadpool actually think Lady Deadpool was hot. But probably the best moment was when they kiss and Headpool asks how Deadpool feels about self incest! So, overall, Deadpool meets 3 different versions of himself including Kid Deadpool, and old west version who seemingly ends up being the opposite of Headpool. This series is finally coming into it's own and it's nice to have some fun Deadpool adventures without having to deal with all the drama currently running in the Marvel Universe. Though it was difficult looking at Rob Liefeld art still makes my eyes hurt overall it was a great issue with more than a few really good laughs.
Something that I really enjoy about this series is the way they set up the recap page at the beginning. Deadpool and Headpool do the recap and every issue is funny as hell!

FABLES #92: On the road to FABLES #100! This issue we look away from the dangers the Fables face in the Mundy World and peek in on the Homelands and what King Flycatcher (the former Frog Prince) is doing with the kingdom he created after the war. The goblins who stayed are seemingly adjusting to being a part of the Fables world even to the point that they participate in a baseball tourny. This issue centers on the winners of the tourny: the goblins. Well, one specifically. While heading home from the after game celebrations a drunk goblin takes the wrong path back to the goblin city and in a spot of drunken confusion eats a Fable squirrel and passes out. The next morning he gets arrested because it's not legal for a goblin to kill a Fable or vice-versa.
In another thread, there seems to be some feeling forming between Flycatcher and Red Riding Hood. They kiss and Flycatcher turns back into a frog! From what I gather it was because he still feels like he's married and the guilt of kissing Riding Hood turned him back. But he's able to force the change back to a human and it seems like all is good.
This is another fine issue of this long running, award winning series that has been my top book for many years now. And the next issue ties with the longest running book I've ever had. Ghost Rider ran through #93 then was killed off.

NOVA #33: Another Realm of Kings issue...this story is so lackluster it isn't funny. that's why I'm ignoring it as much as I can and why I'm happy Nova doesn't seem to have much to do with it. Nova is busy dealing with Darkhawk's temper and the 'return' of his lost love, Namorita who died in the Stamford Incident which began the Civil War and a Reed Richards and Black Bolt who were all pulled from different points in the timeline. They are all pulled together to fight the Sphinx by...The Sphinx? It's usually confusing when time travellers are involved but basically The Sphinx is at the end of his life and realized all the time travel he did gave him some kind of temporal cancer. He figures the best way to prevent this from happening is to convince a past self to not do the things he did. But...past Sphinx doesn't agree and tries to kill current Sphinx so current Sphinx pulls the heroes who defeated him in the past to defeat his past self in order to prevent his future from being his present. This is why time travel is annoying sometimes, lol. But this is a sound issue and the art is fun and very energetic. This is probably one of the best newer books I'm getting right now and can't believe that we are actually within 2 years of NOVA #50!

that's it for this week. My current Comics total is now at: 5,040

Favorite Covers #3

Once upon a time there was a great little anthology series called NIGHTMARES & FAIRYTALES. It featured the life of a doll called Annabelle who recounted the lives and sad endings of her owners over the years.
This little black and white series featured some great art and the stories were second to none. It's very difficult to do a black and white comics these days but this one lasted for a number of years before finally folding.
It's still one of my favorite books and the covers were all fantastic!

New Comics: 01/13/10

Another small week for me. This one was a VERY small week.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #617: Continuing The Gauntlet storyline this issue focuses on the Rhino. Only not the Rhino we all know from years gone by, no, THAT Rhino decided he was tired of the criminal life and during the Civil War he turned himself in, registered and even had SHIELD remove the Rhino 'skin' from his body. He's a new man. Even got married and has a job.
No, this focuses on the NEW Rhino. What I really like is this reveal is just the the one that was done for the new Vulture. We don't know who he is or was outside the fact he subjected himself to an experiment and has skin or armor that looks like Rhino and he seems to want to kill the original in order to ascend.
Meanwhile...Peter wakes up with a shotgun pointed at him and later gets offered a full time job. You really have to love the life of Peter Parker!

Overall, this Gauntlet story is very interesting. New takes on classic villains is something we've needed for this series as much as we needed Brand New Day. New up is Mysterio and I cannot wait!

So, beyond the single comic, I also picked up a few trades:
ALL HAIL MEGATRON, Vol. 4: ends the title story as well as my run with this series. After this the ongoing starts and the art is horrible to look at. I haven't read this one yet but might do something here for it when I finish.
WALKING DEAD, Vol. 11: FEAR THE HUNTERS: I haven't read this either but it's Walking Dead so it'll rock.

Total: 5,036

New Comics 1/09/10

This is a little late because A) I was in Florida for a few days and missed new comic book day and 2) when I came home I was able to get my comics yesterday but was very sick and unable to read and review them.
I'm a little better now so we'll see how well this first official post of 2010 goes:

CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #3 of 6: Cindy and Aladdin continue their quest to find the mystery magical object while trying to hate each other...the first they are getting better at and the second they fail miserably. This series is a great idea and features one of my favorite members of the FABLES cast. Allowing Cindy to be showcased like this enables readers to fully enjoy her talents.
The flip side is her shoe store. I'm not exactly what's going on with this sub-plot but it's hardly worth mentioning right now though I'm beginning to really wonder about it.

DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #897: Guest starring the Ghost Riders. Now, I HATE what Marvel has done with Ghost Rider. There are two of them, they are angels or something and it's all very annoying. However, this isn't a Ghost Rider book...it's a DEADPOOL book which means we get Ghost Rider gay jokes! 3 issues into this series and I'm actually really enjoying the 'team-up' premise of the book especially when Deadpool says things like "So what do you say, boys...? TEAM-UP...?" They go on a demon fighting spree in an old freaktown John Blaze used to stay in when he was younger. Lobster Boy has been possessed and the Riders must try to free him. Deadpool, however, has been hired by the Bearded Lady and a midget to kill Lobster Boy because he's an ass. See why this book rocks?

SIEGE #1 of 4: How can a book meet expectations AND fall short of them at the same time? Well, when you have the first issue of an event that's being touted as "7 Years In The Making" and features nearly every villain and who knows how many heroes assaulting Asgard, home of Thor AND it delivers some great moments in the first issue that I won't give away...well, it delivers!
HOWEVER...
When you are paying $3.99 for the issue and it gets a high glossy cover but the actual story is only just over HALF of the issue and the other half is a preview for another event you don't care about and 'transcripts' of a meeting from characters in the very story you just read (then add to that the misprinting of the same dialogue on 2 pages thus leaving out 'important' dialogue) it's a MISS.

This bring my comic book total to 5035

January 1, 2010!

It's official. I'm now in my 20th year of collecting comic books. I enter the new year with just over 5,030 comics in my collection and it all started with Ghost Rider, Vol. 2, No. 1 from 1990.
I used to go into my local comic book shop (LCS) to pick up horror movie magazines I used to collect, Fangoria and GoreZone among others, and one day I decided to take a look at these comics they carried. As I looked at the offerings one caught my eye.

The LCS was Nostalgia, Ink which is now in it's 25th year of operation in downtown Jackson, MI (I have a link to the Facebook page in my list of links) and the comic book was Ghost Rider.
It's amazing, in those days I had NO idea about shipping dates and that certain books come out on certain weeks (at least, that's how it USED to be done) and I certainly had no idea about the difference between DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Then there was the whole 'event' comics. Wow, so much I didn't know at the time.

But that was 2 decades ago and I've learned a LOT in that time but I honestly don't think I know enough. Over the next year I'm going to be sharing some of the things I've learned about comics as well as sharing some of the good, bad and ugly comics in my collection. Trust me when I tell you: I started collecting comics in the 1990's...I have a LOT that I question myself on these days.
News, opinion and reviews are going to be done here as often as I can so check back often, better still, subscribe to my little blog here AND I welcome any and all suggestions, criticisms and feedback of any kind here.

2010: 20 years of collecting comic books!

Starting in January I'm going to be adding posts to my weekly reviews. I'll be doing more "Favorite Covers" postings and I'll be going through my collection and reviewing the good and the bad I own. As I'm taking pictures of my comics to post here and on my Facebook page I will probably not be doing weekly reviews as normal as I had been, but I'm still around and will still post what I can when I can.

New Comics: November 5, 2009

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #610: The ending of the Who Was Ben Reilly story. I can't say I'm sad this is over with. This issue was more interesting than the previous two though as we finally find out who Raptor is and what his connection is with Peter and Ben. Kaine, to me, has always been a throw away character. Next week we get back on track with this series though. Deadpool guest stars in an issue which leads into The Gauntlet!

CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #1 of 6: Cinderella, aka Cindy, kicks a LOT of ass! This story takes place before the Fall of Fabletown. Cindy is charged with the job of locating a particularly powerful magical item that has found it's way into the Mundy world. What is the item? We don't know. It's located in the Middle East which is the territory of one Aladdin. Will we finally see him? He was mentioned in an issue or two of Fables but he's never shown up. This series has the same level of writing as the main Fables book with just more action. If you love Fables and Jack Of Fables then this is another series you MUST have!

DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #899: Guest Starring The Incredible Hercules! Deadpool is having nightmares. It's driving him...well, I guess it can't drive him mad because he's already there. Anyway, his nightmares are of an opponent he cannot beat. Trying to figure out what is going on DP ends up in a labyrinth with Hercules who is trapped...now DP is too! One thing leads to another, as tends to happen in comics, especially ones with Deadpool, and we find out who the unstoppable enemy is, which was a surprise, we also learn that Nightmare and Arcade have 'teamed up' to take out our hero and Deadpool. First issue of Deadpool's THIRD ongoing series starts off with a bang but begs the question: How much can Marvel put out with the Merc with a Mouth?

DOCTOR VOODOO: AVENGER OF THE SUPERNATURAL #2: This isn't a bad series but on the other hand I can't see it lasting very long. Voodoo is still trying to figure out what's going on. But my question is how this guy didn't know Damion Hellstrom was actually Nightmare in disguise. I'm planning to give this one more issue...then I'm going to decide if this series will continue for me or not.

LOBO: HIGHWAY TO HELL #1 of 2: Lobo Vs. Satan! Years ago Lobo was killed and because of his violent nature he was banned from dying. However...Satan feels Lobo must be punished for his transgressions and send the Main Man a message in the form of a murdered Space Dolphin. These are the ONLY things in the universe Lobo cares about. So, 'Bo heads to Hell to kill Satan. Along the way he manages to slaughter many 'dead' people. If anyone can make a dead person deader its Lobo! Written by Scott Ian and art by Sam Kieth, this is a surprisingly good read. Adding some layers to Lobo's personality and maintaining his violent nature. I can't wait for #2!

MARVEL ZOMBIES: EVIL EVOLUTION: Zombies vs Apes. I can't say I was excited about this and after reading it I have to admit that this is the FIRST Marvel Zombies book that I didn't like. The story makes very little sense to me, partly because it's hard to figure out where in continuity it takes place. Another problem is the sequences of the story aren't very sensible either. I found I had to re-read parts a few times to figure out what was going on and I've never had to do that with a Marvel Zombies comic. Here's hoping this isn't the last one and this doesn't kill the Marvel Zombies franchise.
The other big problem I had with this was the 'fix' at the end. They managed to delete this entire story from continuity so this whole story was pointless.

NOVA #31: Nova hunts down Darkhawk! At first Nova believes his friend isn't capable of killing someone. The problem arises when another 'Hawk appears and takes on Nova making him think Darkhawk has turned evil. However Nova DOES realize whats going on just before he and Darkhawk disappear from the universe! Another fine issue that focuses on two things: Nova/Darkhawk and the rebuilding of the Nova Corps. The new Nova Corps is being built slowly which I like. It's giving us a chance to get to know who these guys are, I like that!

I also grabbed:
ESSENTIAL GHOST RIDER, VOLUME 3