Well, I am getting new comics but they will be picked up and reviewed starting next Wednesday. I'm not picking up new comics this week because Saturday is Detroit Fanfare where I will be meeting and hopefully getting an autograph and picture with Stan "The Man" Lee!
I'll be posting my swag and pictures here and on my Facebook page.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Weekly Pulls
Words: Bill Willingham
Pictures: Inaki Miranda
The titles of this issue is Dark City and it focuses on Mister Dark, the new villain introduced after the Great War and the Fall of Fabletown. He's taken over the spot of Fabletown and is slowly building his own kingdom in it's place.
We learn a little more about him such as he personifies fear. A very interesting concept. He's able to induce anyone's fear upon them regardless what it is.
We also learn more about his teeth deal. What happens it when he eats the teeth of someone they become little more than zombie slaves to him. He calls them 'witherlings' and while they appear mindless and rotting he apparently hears their thoughts and holds conversations with them as a master would with his slaves.
He chooses some very interesting victims. They are all people that have come into some kind of contact with the Fables. An example it Molly Greenbaum who had a one night stand with Prince Charming that was shown briefly in the very first few issues of the series! The question is why is he picking these specific people?
Another part of this issue involves Bigby's father, the North Wind and his attempt at talking Mister Dark into leaving the mundy world for good. He tells Mister Dark of the duel with Bellflower (formerly Totenkinder) which seems to excite Mister Dark. The most interesting bit here is North Wind using Mister Dark's real name: Dullahan.
Finally, the kids of Snow and Bigby are given some screen time. They are being taught to embrace their North Wind heritage and North Wind himself learns of the existence of Ghost.
Overall, a very well done issue and a perfect representation of 'the calm before the storm' that well will see next month in FABLES #100!
Words: Daniel Way
Pictures: Carlo Barberi
Deadpool continues his quest to be a hero. He teams up with who he thinks is Moon Knight, Black Widow and Steve Rogers, who loves to beat him up.
It turns out these are simply clones created by Doctor Bong who wants to have Deadpool on his team of clones, presumably to rule the world (Doctor Bong is a little out of touch and kind of weird)
Anyway, the REAL Steve Rogers shows up and fun ensues.
I'm getting the feeling Way doesn't know what he's doing with this title anymore. This "Deadpool wants to be a hero" things has been done for a long time out and he's failed at it so many times you'd think he's just give up on it. Or, at least, i wish he would.
Perhaps with all the other Deadpool books running currently Way doesn't have much room to play in...no matter the reason this series is beginning to suffer from lack of direction and plain fun
I still like the art though!
Words: Brian Pulido & Mike Wolfer
Pictures: Marcelo Mueller
This begins the all-new ongoing series starring the legendary Lady Death who made her first appearance way back in 1991's Evil Ernie: Youth Gone Wild miniseries which I recently reviewed here.
She is no longer with the Chaos! Cosmos and Evil Ernie and after more than a few failed or less than exciting runs with CrossGen and Avatar Comics she lands at Boundless and begins anew.
The story begins with Lady Death's kingdom under siege by someone calling herself Death Queen. She seems hellbent on killing everyone in Lady Death's realm and even wears a mask of Death's face in an evil grin.
After destroying Lady Death's kingdom, killing much of her army she confronts the Diva of Death herself and seemingly defeats her!
It's an interesting take on Lady Death but I have to admit, I miss the good old days when Lady Death could take on all of Heaven and Hell and come out on top. But, after reading this free preview I have to admit...I'm more than a little interested in where this is going to go. I have to figure out if I want to grab it monthly or pick up the trades. But anyone interested in Lady Death should run to their local comics shop and pick up this free issue!
Words: Roger Landgridge
Pictures: Chris Samnee
More old school Marvel style action continues! This issue things begin to settle down after the last two issues of Thor Vs. Mister Hyde. We begin with Thor having a dream about his arrival on Earth. We begin to learn more about why he's there, Odin wishes to teach him a lesson of some sort. Thanks to Loki's involvement he is granted a hasty vision before Jane walks in.
The next day Jane is suspended from her job at the museum and to put her mind at ease she decides to take Thor shopping to get him more...normal clothing.
While all this is going on we meet Hank Pym, Ant-Man/Giant Man, and his wife Janet, The Wasp, as Pym learns of the death of his long time friend at the hands of Hyde. He decides to try to bring his friends killer to justice.
At the worst possible moment, Thor begins to see Loki's vision but it blurs his perspective and he begins to see Asgardian concepts on earth. He sees Giant Man as a Frost Giant and a fun little fight ensues.
This series continues to be a highly entertaining series that should be read by everyone. It's nice, back to basics, story telling and light hearted art that LOOKS like comic book art. I can't recommend this enough!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Weekly Pulls **100th POST THIS YEAR!**
Words: Mark Waid
Pictures: Paul Azaceta & Matthew Southworth
Origin Of The Species, Part 4! Spider-Man, thinking the baby he tried so hard to save is dead, goes on a rampage through New York City looking for the person or persons responsible for it. All the third and forth string villains are running for their lives as Sidey takes out The Spot, El Diablo, Screwball, Electro, The Enforcers and more!
Meanwhile we have a shot of Harry holding some vials of the Green Goblin formula and looking at it as if thinking about taking it!
Mary Jane, Carlie Cooper and Lily Hollister try to keep things together while being stalked by Tombstone!
And Doc Ock gets VERY close to getting the baby, and finally revealing that he hopes the baby's blood will be enough to heal his beaten and withered body, only to have the baby taken from his man the Chameleon by none other than...The Lizard!
All out action continues in this installment of one of Brand New Day's more exciting stories! If there is one complaint it's some of the art. While I like it in general, there are some panels where Spider-Man look kind of chunky and it does tend to distract from the flow of it, as a long time reader would tell you a fat Spider-Man generally means a fake Spider-Man. It's tradition. Not saying that's the case here it's just how Spidey is being drawn.
Words: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Pictures: Miguel Sepulveda
It really begins to hit the fan in this issue! We have betrayals, not the bad kind though!
The Cancerverse version of Scarlet Witch turns on her compatriots to help stop the evil Captain Marvel from destroying our Marvel Universe. She is destroyed for doing so but not before she transports Thanos and the Guardians to the place where the Cancerverse began.
Nova tries to convince the remaining defenders to help aid the Guardians but they would rather stay on the front line and help the Abstracts (Galactus and the Celestials for example) fight off the massive Galactus Engine, Medusa remarks that she feels there is something more powerful and BIGGER behind the Galactus Engine...I fear what that can be!
The other betrayal is Thanos. He knows the Cancerverse creatures want him dead and Thanos wants nothing more than to be dead so he offers his life up in exchange for that very same death. Knowing Thanos there is more going on here than we are seeing. In the Cancerverse Death has been destroyed. If Thanos is killed there will it also reset the concept of Death and destroy the Cancer?
So what's this all leading up to? Well, next month is the sixth and final issue of this series that Marvel claims will change the face of the Cosmic branch of the Marvel Universe and from what we're seeing here they aren't kidding!
On the art side, it flows very nicely perhaps the only fall back is Thanos being drawn as a freaking huge Hulk sized guy. But it's easy to follow and very exciting...I almost don't want it to end!
Words: Matt Fraction
Pictures: Pasqual Ferry
The set up continues concerning the after effects of Thor bringing Asgard to Earth. The beings that are seemingly going from realm to realm destroying everything continue their crusade as Thor begins to regret the death of his half brother Loki.
It's a set up issue so not much happens, just a story progressing and that's NOT a bad thing.
What is kind of a bad thing is the way Ferry is drawing Thor himself. I noticed it a little bit last month but it's really obvious this month. Ferry is drawing Thor to match the no-name actor who's playing him in the upcoming live action movie.
I can't say I really like that, it's distracting and takes me out of the story. BUT I really like Thor and I've been reading this series for a few years now so I'm not really willing to drop a good book because the artist wants to ruin the look. But it isn't easy.
Words: Roger Langridge
Pictures: Chris Samnee
Yeah, I wasn't going to buy this on a monthly basis, I loved the first issue but couldn't rationalize having a second ongoing Thor comic. Until I found out the first trade collection will be a smaller than standard size and will only collect the first four issues along with reprints of books I'll have in Essential Thor, Volume 1, overall it didn't make sense.
So, for the next few weeks I'll be picking up a new issue of this until I'm caught up.
The story is basically out of continuity and kind of resets the Thor story in modern times. It's fun and light hearted and innocent. Fun is what I'm trying to say.
Thor is on Midgard and has to learn how our world works while trying to figure out why he's there and how to return to Asgard. It's an all ages book that I still recommend for anyone.
With next week's Issue 3 I'll begin to get more into the actual story. For now, just know it's good and fun.
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Long Box #14: Lobo/Deadman
LOBO/DEADMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BALD
Words: Alan Grant
Pictures: Martin Emond
February 1995
The story begins with Lobo on his way to Earth, a place he really hates. After dealing with an annoying hitchhiker, we find out the reason he's coming to Earth is because he's been hired to arrest someone...that someone turns out to be Deadman.
Lobo has the thinking that Deadman is a really hard dude, someone that might give him a good fight.
Deadman, in the meanwhile, is going on vacation on the suggestion of his therapist. He decides to head to California. Thing it, in order to really enjoy his time there he needs a body. So, we get some body jumping on the part of Deadman, which he enjoys especially when he lands on Bizmo Beach and is set upon by hot chicks.
Then Lobo shows up.
After a quick reference to the Lobo Convention Special he proceeds to search for Deadman and ends up killing 2 people before finding the body Deadman inhabits. Of course this leads to a fight with three steroid freaks with muscles in places most people don't have places. This increases the body county by 3 more.
To stop Lobo's reign of violence, Deadman tries to take him over only to realize Lobo is unlike anyone he's dealt with before. To the point where Deadman starts talking and thinking like Lobo.
We then find out that the person who hired Lobo is Darkseid, ruler of Apokolips. He wants to study Deadman in hopes of figuring out the secret to Anti-Life. After arriving on Apokolips and, by habit, capturing Deadman, Lobo take a Mother Box and is given another offer: Kill himself. Why? Well, another hobby of Darkseid is wanting to become God. Not just A God but THE God. In order to do that he needs to learn all the secrets of Heaven. This is where Lobo comes in having been killed once and ended up in Heaven due to a mistake in paperwork. So Lobo and Deadman hold the secret to Anti-Life AND become a God. Fun times.
With the aid of Lobo's bike they escape and mayhem ensues the way only Lobo can do it!
Eventually, they both end up confronting Darkseid who concedes failure and let's Deadman and Lobo go...but not before he takes the Mother Box away from Lobo who mentions he gave it the 'once over' which turns out to be bad news for Darkseid.
Overall, this was a very entertaining Lobo one shot. It's always best when he's just violent and vulgar, which always betrays the fact he's a very smart man. The art is top notch and very expressive. Fans of Deadman should enjoy this just as much as fans of Lobo. It's also nice to know that Darkseid knows of Lobo and even he treads carefully around him.
And there is your really quick review of a Lobo one shot!
New York ComiCon 2010
I didn't go but MAN were there some killer announcements!
In no specific order, the things that I'M looking forward to:
In no specific order, the things that I'M looking forward to:
- IDW announced a new ongoing GODZILLA series in February 2010!
- Marvel announced a few cool thing...first, some new titles coming out in January will be priced at $2.99 and they will be condensing some of their lines to go along with that.
- They announce in January there will be a new one shot from DnA featuring the cosmic fall out from this year's Thanos Imperative!
- We're getting a new Hobgoblin, which was already announced, AND possibly a new Venom, which has been hinted at, in Amazing Spider-Man!
- Apparently Onslaught has been trapped in the Negative Zone all this time. He comes back in February and he isn't happy.
- Vertigo announced a second Cinderella miniseres: Fables Are Forever!
- And they hyped next month's release of Fables #100!
Saturday, October 09, 2010
The Long Box #13: Spider-Man
Words and pictures: Todd McFarlane
August 1990-December 1990
Torment: In 1990 Marvel decided 3 Spider-Man titles weren't enough. We have Amazing, Spectacular and Web of Spider-Man. Marvel decided we needed a series simply called Spider-Man. So, in 1990 Spider-Man #1 was released with one of the most iconic covers to come from the 1990's. The series was written and drawn by Todd McFarlane at first and the premier issue, including all the variations of the cover image, sold over 3 million copies and for a time was the highest selling comic book of all time (that record would be broken the following year when the Chris Claremont/Jim Lee X-Men #1 was released, the combined sales of it's many covers topped 8 million copies. This title is in the Guinness Book of World Records).
But enough about that, what was the first story about? Well, it was called 'Torment' and it was probably one of the darkest Spider-Man stories told at that time, second to maybe Kraven's Last Hunt.The story begins with Spider-Man doing his thing (wonderfully drawn by Todd McFarlane, when he used to draw comics). He saves a lady, stops a criminal then goes home to Mary Jane (this was before they fixed the whole marriage thing), all seems good in Spidey's life.
Then we cut to the darkness. Inside that darkness is The Lizard, one of Spider-Man's oldest enemies and friends. Only he seems less human, he kills without remorse, starting with rats then quickly moving to humans. During all of this there is a 'Doom, Doom' sound of a drum.
As the story moves forward we learn that The Lizard isn't in control of himself. There is a mysterious Voodoo Witch who has taken control of him and wants to use him to destroy The Spider. Apparently she has something of a Kraven obsession. She feels she can succeed where he failed not really knowing that Kraven, on some level, actually did succeed in what he wanted to do.We also have a small sub-plot with Mary Jane as she tries to keep her mind occupied while Peter is out web slinging by going to party after party and at one point nearly crossing paths with the feral Lizard!
The story is very dark and very atmospheric. Spider-Man trying desperately to understand why his friend, Dr. Connors, has become the Lizard again and why the beast is mindlessly killing anyone around it, and trying to kill him. The Voodoo Witch is an interesting character, she has control over The Lizard and her origin is given but while she's an important part of the story she really doesn't get the development she should have gotten. I say she's interesting because she is given a pivotal role in this story but she isn't funny formed.This is typical Todd McFarlane in these days. While his art was very vibrant and the motions of Spider-Man as he swings through the city are magnificent. His facial expressions though, seemed to have some problems here, in many cases people, like Peter Parker and Mary Jane, looks almost anime-esque in that their eyes were huge and their expressions were not always in the right place. But the action scenes were awesome.
However, on the writing side of it McFarlane isn't as solid. The dialogue is shaky in some spots and, as I said before, the Voodoo Witch isn't a fully formed character, just enough to make her interesting and not completely stick out but not enough to make this story truely great. The story still reads easily enough some 20 years later. I found I had little trouble getting into it again.Then there are the covers. This is where McFarlane excels like few others. Every cover for this story is awesome. The first issue has become an iconic cover and has been homaged many times (including Marvel Zombies) but ever cover is fun to look at. One of the things that he did on these covers is hide a spider somewhere on the cover. Yeah, I know "it's a Spider-Man comic, of course there's a spider!" Whatever, what I mean is each cover had a unique spider on it hidden somewhere in the image. I think some were covered by the UPC code box because there are a few covers that seemingly don't have the spider on it.
Well, that's about it, Spider-Man: Torment is still a fun read, even with the somewhat weak story. I didn't have a hard time getting back into it and still enjoyed it even with that small drawback.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Weekly Pulls
Words: Chris Roberson
Pictures: Michael Allred
I, Were-Terrier! This is it! The Secret Origin of Spot, the Were-Terrier! Learn his mysterious past! His parents killed in a car accident when he was young, he was taken in by his grandfather who was a cartoon voice actor, he voiced a cartoon monkey called Mr. Chimps, as young Scott grew up he became a fan of fantasy, comics, movies anything, much to his grandfather's dismay.
This put a strain on their relationship and shortly after graduation, Scott moved from Portland, OR to Eugene, OR. One night, while walking home, he came across a dog, a terrier, lying dying on the sidewalk, he went to touch it to see if it was dead when a strange feeling came over him.
Later that night, things started getting really hairy.
Yeah, that's his origin, and it actually goes really well with what we learned last month we know about upper and lower spirits and this ties in very nicely with the whole were-anything aspect of this world. It also makes the ending, with his grandfather, pretty funny.
So, yeah, this was a simple origin issue, getting us ready for the upcoming fight with the vampires starting next month. And we see Scott's first meeting with Gwen. Just a nice, relaxing issue.
Words: Tony Bedard
Pictures: Claude St. Aubin
To Be A R.E.B.E.L., Part 1: Seems the Green Lantern Corps doesn't much care for Vril Dox and his L.E.G.I.O.N. They want to shut him down. Unfortunately, for the Corps, Dox has Lobo on his side.
Ever since Lobo gained a Red Lantern Ring (Green Lantern #55) he's been having to deal with the whole Green Lantern world to some extent.
This time he's fighting a Lantern who's whole world is a warrior world, they even look up to Lobo as the perfect fighter. Which makes for an interesting fight, especially once Lobo actually lands a punch (followed by countless more)
We're also learning more about Lobo's interaction with the power of the Rings. His will power seems to be very strong allowing him to destroy nearly anything the Lanterns can construct with their Rings.
Honestly, Lobo is the ONLY reason I'm reason this, I don't know many of the other characters but this book is still fairly new and is written in a way that makes it easy to get into.
The only thing I wonder about is why Lobo didn't have his boots on in this issue?
Thursday, September 30, 2010
(Not my) Weekly Pull...
Words and Pictures: Bryan Lee O'Malley
I got this mostly out of curiosity. the movie made some waves and this series of digest sized graphic novels has had a lot of attention for a long time. So I wanted to see what this was all about.
I'm a bit surprised Scott Pilgrim is considered a hero, he's something of a loser. He has no job, owns very little and contributes next to nothing in his personal life.
He's also dating a high school girl but seems to have little interest in being little more than just a friend.
You don't get the whole 'evil ex' thing until a little more than half way through although he does get and email then a letter talking about a fight that he simply ignores because he has something of a short attention span.
I'm sure there isn't much I can say about this that everyone doesn't already know but I will say this: the ONLY thing I didn't like was the digest size format. The art is fun and interesting and suffers from such a small format. The characters are, in terms of this mythical land of Canada, realistic in the way they interact and talk.
It's almost like a slacker version of Strangers in Paradise (I bet THAT comparison has never been made!)
I will be getting the second volume to see how the story goes.
The Long Box #12: Evil Ernie
EVIL ERNIE: YOUTH GONE WILD #1-5Words: Brian Pulido
Pictures: Steven Hughes
December 1991-April 1992
Nearing the second year of collecting comics I was still also reading Fangoria Magazine. One issue had a cover blurb about a black and white horror comic book called Evil Ernie from publisher Eternity Comics. I wasn't much for comics outside of Marvel but had something for black and white comics even in those early days so I had to check this out.
This story introduced "Evil" Ernest Fairchild who has issues. His parents beat him horribly yet wonder why he's withdrawn. To cure this 'imbalance' they take him to Dr. Leonard Price head guy at the Clearview Mental Institution. He tries this machine called the Dream Probe in hopes of being able to work out the issues Ernest has. While under the influence of the probe, young Ernest 'meets' Lady Death, who sees in him the potential to be the biggest mass killer of all time. She tells the boy she loves him and by killing dream versions of his parents she explains to him that he can show his love for her by using the rage inside him to kill others.After the treatment, Price pays a house call and find Ernest has killed his parents. As Price explains it, Ernest killed them at breakfast then went down his block and killed 35 more people. He was finally caught but killed 12 more people AFTER he was caught.
Since then, Price has done everything he could to keep Ernest locked away and has tried to kill him to cure him permanently on a few occasions.
Along with Mary we're introduced to her family, she's the elder sister and watches over her younger sibling the youngest being Billy then Heather and Rick. While they support her efforts Heather has a series of dreams in which 'Evil' Ernie kills everyone including the Young family. She just passes them off as simple dreams.
Mary's efforts are back by the rather sleazy Commissioner Stone who is hoping the success of Neurotech will make him right and famous.
The first issue is told using flashbacks showing Price's failure at curing Ernest and his obvious guilt over it, Evil Ernie's growing relationship with Lady Death and Mary Young's hopes of curing him. It all comes together very well and gives the reader all he or she needs to know to understand the concept of Evil Ernie.
The remaining issues of the first 5-parter cover the attempts to stop Evil's dark reign or terror forever. The body count sky rockets and things get very out of control very fast.
Finally, Evil is stopped, having reached the then current levels of power he controls and the world seems like a safer place.
For now.
So, having re-read this story for the first time in about 10 years I have to say it stands up fairly well. In some places it moves to fast and doesn't seem to have a lot of smooth flow to it but this was the first attempt at a comic book by Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes so I give them some space there. And speaking of the art, this is one thing that starts excellently right off the bat. Hughes art is tight and all the characters are fully formed from the first appearance of them all. It's different than the usual way of seeing a character's look evolving as the issues come out.
This Just In!
Words: Paul Kupperberg
Pictures: Curt Swan
Obviously we have Superman fighting He-Man in this issue. THAT alone makes this a cool find. But add to that the fact that this was the first comic book appearance of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and you have a very nice find in the back issue bin of Nostalgia, Ink, my local comic shop.
Weekly Pull...?
Words: Mark Waid
Pictures: Paul Azaceta
Origin of the Species, Part 3! The all out action continues! Spidey is still trying to find a safe place for the baby of Menace and Green Goblin (scary...) and is on the run from Freak, Vulture, Tombestone, Shocker, Mysterio, and one surprise villain!
During this issue we also see the original Rhino show up who has no interest in the kid but is pissed at Spidey over the death of his wife (Amazing Spider-Man #625) and it takes Spidey literally screaming at him to make him see there is something larger going on here.
Another noticeable thing it the strain on Spider-Man, it's really beginning to show here especially when he is told the baby is dead. He just wants ONE thing to go his way, you know? (by the way, the baby isn't dead it was a ruse told to him by 'Harry' to get the baby away from him)
One nice mystery here is who is the man in the shadows talking to Doc Ock?
This is a great story, from the fast paced writing to the art, everything here is coming together very nicely.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
This Just In!
Words and Pictures: Walter Simonson
November 1983
I've never read this book but ever since the character Beta Ray Bill was really brought to my attention by a friend and former co-worker, Dan, I had to admit something...this has ALWAYS been a favorite cover of mine.
So, this week my local comic book store, Nostalgia Ink, is having a Back To School Sale and since back issues are on sale (and I needed to have more than a $10 sale because I was using my card) I decided to look through his recent acquisitions and I came across this for $15.
I figured it's time I owned it and it was one sale but helped me reach the $10 minimum.
Yeah, I was just looking for reasons to buy it, I admit, but come on, look at this cover! It rocks!
Weekly Pulls
Words: Brian Bendis
Pictures: John Romita, Jr.
A good title for this issue would be 'All Hell Breaks Loose!' Because, well, it kind of does.
You have some Avengers in the present fighting all kinds of odd things from Dinosaurs to WWI era fighter planes to Galactus while another group of Avengers goes into the future at the 'request' of Kang to prevent the Next Avengers from destroying everything.
Only...the Next Avengers AREN'T destroying anything, it was just a ruse to get the Avengers to go into the future.
So, the long and the short of it is Kang's mucking about in the time stream has finally destroyed it. Everything is every where it shouldn't be and Ultron is the main reason for it. The Ultron War is what Kang was fighting all this time by taking heroes from different times in an attempt at winning the war. Each time he did, he lost and went and got other heroes. Now all time is screwed and the Avengers have to figure out a way to fix it. Now, we're getting to the meat of this story which is good, I was considering dropping this title.
Also, the Marvel Universe Timeline in this issue was VERY interesting. Especially the part that reads "Galactus Seed"
Words: Jonathan Hickman
Pictures: Steve Epting
Three, Part 1: Okay, so all the stuff that's been happening that didn't seem to make much sense is starting to come together. The new civilizations and the line from #581 "All hope lies in Doom" are all coming together.
This issue serves as a recap of sorts in which Valeria finds Reeds rebuilt bridge which brought him into contact with the Council of Reeds who tasked themselves with solving...Everything but failed when the Celestials showed up and began to kill them all.
Meanwhile the FF are fighting in the High Evolutionary's city in an attempt at preventing their engine from exploding and de-evolving everyone withing a 100 mile radius.
But this all seems to take a backseat to Valeria and her 'quest' to correct her father's mistakes by seeking out the one person who may help her: Her Uncle Doom. Yeah, probably some of the most interesting pages in comics this year: Doom talking to a child that may be smarter than he is and striking a deal to help her father is she restores his brain to its pre-damaged version. Valeria is certainly becoming one of the more interesting characters in this book.
I just wish we had a different artist. Epting is a good artist he just doesn't seem to work well with this book.
Words: Jeff Parker
Pictures: Steve Sanders
Guest Starring Gorilla-Man!
Right, I have no idea who the hell Gorilla-Man is and I really don't care. One thing is for sure, this was the wrong way to follow up the Machine Man issue!
There really isn't much to say here, we have another one shot issue, which this series has been since it began, but while some issues are fun this one just falls flat for the most part.
It's probably because I really have no interest in a talking gorilla.
The only other thing here is this is the final issue I'm picking up for this series. I'm going to switch to getting it in trades which means I can wait a while, volume 3 picks up with #888 which is out next month so I won't be reading this series for another 5 or 6 months.
Now the only thing that bothers me is should I pick up another book to replace it or just keep the 8 ongoing books I currently have...
Words: Bill Willingham
Pictures: Mark Buckingham
Rose Red, Part 5: She's back! That's right, Rose Red is back and she's taking charge of The Farm! She decides that since SHE runs things then all the garbage Geppetto had been doing, with being 'elected' Mayor of The Farm, among other things, is not valid and not happening.
She puts her foot down there and then picks a new order for things. THIS is the Rose Red I miss, take charge but take no crap.
On the Mister Dark front, Totenkinder has learned there might be one thing to stop him, possibly kill him and end his threat forever. But it won't be easy, good thing she's repowered and even takes on a younger form and older name: Bellflower. She says she's going to fight Mister Dark in a duel, one on one. VERY interesting.
This issue shows that while some may have thought Fables has lost it's punch that it hasn't. While reading this I was reminded why I love this series so much, the dialogue is very strong and the characters are rediscovering themselves after the chaos caused by the Great Fables Crossover.
Oh, and only two issues to go!!
Words: Matt Fraction
Pictures: Pasqual Ferry
With this issue we welcome a new creative team. Fraction has made a name for himself writing Invincible Iron Man and I was eager to see him write something I actually read. Here it is.
Picking up after Siege and the run in with Mephisto we find King Balder questioning his ability to lead the Asgardians, good thing he has Thor for a brother. The Thunderer explains to Balder that recent events are to big for him to take the blame and that he just needs to be a strong King. Wisdom comes from experience is the impression I got from his talk.
While this is going on we see the first attacks on the Nine Worlds. There is a void that must be filled. When Asgard appeared on Midgard (Earth for you DC fans) it left a void in the place where Asgard SHOULD be. This seems to have allowed a race presumably from another realm to start taking over the other 9, by killing everyone and destroying everything. This set up is great because it looks as though Thor and his fellow Asgardians will have to find a way to place Asgard in it's proper place AND defend it, along with Midgard, from these invaders.
I was hoping Fraction would being a new level of excitement to this series and he seems to have delivered!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Weekly Pulls
Words: Mark Waid
Pictures: Paul Azaceta
Origin Of The Species, Part 2! This could be considered an 'all out action issue.' We have Spider-Man trying to save/protect the baby of Norman Osborn and Lilly Hollister aka Menace, a baby that has pure Goblin blood. That makes this baby very important to one Doctor Octopus who claims the baby can make anything he wants come true. So, to get the kid he 'hires' just about every Spider-Man villain, old and new, to get this kid and that's where the fun starts!
Spidey is able to get the baby away from Doc Ock and tries to take him someplace safe. Only problems are the other villains, like Electro and Sandman trying to get the baby and Spidey not being able to hide anywhere because everyone and their dad has a camera of sorts and no matter where Spidey tries to go he's being filmed which allows the Doc to know where he is. Great story and some very nice action!
Also, I have to say I really enjoy the art for this story.
Words: Brian Clevinger & Lee Black
Pictures: Brian Churilla
The lighter retelling of the legendary Infinity Gauntlet story continues!
With the aid of U.S. Ace, our team of Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, hulk, Wolverine and Dr. Doom travel to the center of the Milky Way to find out what cased the disappearances of half of the people on earth and punch it. (I have to say this is almost like What If..? Nextwave had fought during the Infinity Gauntlet.
Now, I'm sure some people will STILL be crying about how these characters are acting out of character, for instance when the heroes leave earth there is a 'debate' over should should get shotgun. Doom says "As the only ruler of a sovereign nation to embark upon this journey, DOOM shall take the coveted "shotgun" seat."
Hulk: "HULK WANT SHOTGUN!"
Doom: "Doom...will allow this breach of protocol."
Good stuff. If you're familiar with the original story you should really be checking this out. It's the basic story without all the heavy continuity and crossovers, good for introducing your kids to the event, and the art is very light and fun.
Words: Daniel Way
Pictures: Carlo Barberi
You know...I'm really not sure what to say about this issue. It really doesn't make much sense, even for a Deadpool comic.
It starts with him in a gas station/party store trying to buy a microwave burrito with gold (he doesn't have cash) while the Middle Eastern man in a turban says no, he only takes American dollars.
From there we have the man denying he's a terrorist while a group of people show up with the same regenerative powers of DP who want the man, or what he has stored beneath his store: weapons.
After denying he's a terrorist a few more times he admits he is, but only after Steve Rogers shows up with his Secret Avengers, knocks out DP (giving us another pointless flashback).
After the guy admits he was a terrorist, DP shoots him in the head and gets offered a place in the Secret Avengers.
I'm not sure what's going on with this series but there have been to many issues like this lately. Issues that have no real purpose and offer nothing of an overall storyline.
But, at least it was funnier than some recent issues of this series have been.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Long Box #11: The Craptacular B-Sides
Words: Brian David-Marshall
Pictures: Brett Weldele
November 2002-January 2003
New Jersey is home to very few heroes. The Toxic Avenger comes to mind but that's about it.
This series seeks to correct a wrong by suggesting heroes can come from all over the place.
The B-Sides consists of Laura Broadbahr AKA Fateball who has a Magic Eight Ball that tells her the answer to any question she asks.
Stuart Welles AKA Mize (it's apparently short for 'demise' which helps in pronouncing it) and he has the ability to speed up the decay of any item and even can effect people. The problem is he doesn't always have control over his powers.
Jesse Metuchen AKA Jughandle who has the ability to leave the time stream which helps him see what others are doing even though they cannot see him.
They are all brought together to be the 'hottest new super team since the New Warriors' by Charley Huckle, he's basically a con man who thinks he can make it rich quick if he managed a super hero team in a city and state that doesn't have many.Their costumes are bowling shirts and their first meeting is in a bowling alley.
They decide to be heroes for hire...I know that sounds familiar...and their first case leads them to a man who calls himself Doctor Dark, he can solidify light...or shadow...it really isn't that clear but shadow makes more sense, right? Anyway, they try to take this drunk out and he's to much for them to handle. Fortunately (for them) the Fantastic Four shows up to help but also Reed is concerned about Jughandle's powers, his concern is if he uses them to many times he could end up destroying the fabric of time/space. Of course, kids being kids, they don't like 'the man' telling them what to do but Sue offers Jughandle something to drink which we later find out is something meant to help control his powers and not to damage to the time/space fabric.
After all this the B-Sides get involved in a small part of the Kree/Skrull War...right in new Jersey? Yeah...
So, apparently a Kree living in NJ is mad that his daughter is 'in love' with a Skrull. He goes on a tear and ends up in a diner with two cats in the microwave. Don't worry though, the cats are fine, Skrull are known for taking odd shapes.So, we end up with the B-Sides actually taking some charge and stopping this from getting out of hand...MORE out of hand and while the FF are figuring things out.
The art is very 90's era independent comics style. Not bad, it's energetic. The covers, though...done my the great Sam Keith, creator of The Maxx. I still remember the first time I saw his art, it was on the cover of the series Marvel Comics Presents when Ghost Rider and Cable were teaming up in that series. I HATED his art on first sight but warmed up to it rather quickly.
This was another series I hadn't read since I finally located the third issue, it took a few years to locate though, and it's an enjoyable series to read. I can defiantly recommend it!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Weekly Pulls
Words: Joe Quesada
Pictures: Paolo Rivera, Joe Quesada, Danny Miki & Richard Isanove
One Moment in Time Concludes! I have to admit, this was a very good conclusion to a very interesting story.
Dr. Strange, Reed Richards and Tony Stark all work together to make the world forget Peter Park is Spider-Man, like they did with the Sentry.
Stark seems to think it's time for the Illuminati to stop messing around with other heroes lives though but agrees to help.
A deal is made and a spell is cast but Peter can't allow MJ to live a lie so he makes it so she is the only person who remembers Parker's secret.
This takes us to One More Day and the fallout of Peter's actions. MJ isn't happy with it, it seems, as she wanted to forget but seems willing to live with it.
Flash to the present and MJ tells Peter that basically they will always be friends but he needs to move on. Find someone else. Personally, this makes me VERY happy because I really didn't like MJ being his 'better half' Loved this story and this issue was actually worth $3.99!
Words: Mark Waid
Pictures: Paul Azaceta
Origin Of The Species, Part 1! Now, with OMIT behind us we can move on!
With the relationship of Peter Parker and Mary Jane set we can move on to, well, a major blow out it seems.
On the Life of Peter Parker Front: He's out of money, living with the room mate from Hell and needs to find a job but after JJJ blackballed him making it impossible for Parker to make money taking pictures. He also has a date with Carlie (who, by the way, I like better than MJ) which is good, he's trying to move forward.
The date becomes 'hanging out' with friends because when Peter shows up we see Carlie talking to Harry and MJ.
Meanwhile...Doctor Octopus has hired virtually all of Spider-Man's enemies to locate and bring to him a certain item with will make their dreams come true, according to the Good Doctor.
The shocker is what the prize is: Some time ago Harry was dating a hot chick who was also the villain Menace. She had taken some of Norman Osborn's goblin potion and became a maniac. After Harry found out, and still professed his love for her, she admitted she was pregnant...with NORMAN'S child! She was captured by Norman's people and hasn't been seen in some time. Now, after the Norman's fall she has escaped and is seeking Harry's help because she's in labor! And it seems the child is what Doc Ock is looking for! Why? Who knows...maybe it has something to do with the kids parents both being Goblins...
Words: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Pictures: Miguel Sepulveda
In a word: DAMN! This is the best event Marvel has had since Annihilation: Conquest!
Last issue, Drax attacked and killed Thanos. Seemed like a very bad thing to do and it was, but not because Thanos was seemingly destroyed, no, he can no longer die, the problem came from Thanos killing Drax, who it turns out is an Avatar of life because of the reasons behind his creation. That death made their location known to the Revengers and their leader Captain Marvel.
On the battle front, Nova leads Beta Ray Bill, Gladiator, The Silver Surfer, Quasar and Ronan on an attack on the main ship of the Revengers and an all out battle ensues.
Surfer cracks and joke, Captain marvel takes out Nova and learns the reason he sought out Namorita. Power levels are discovered when the Cancerverse version of Mar-Vell attacks the Silver Surfer and destroys his surfboard!
This story just keeps getting bigger and better and it tops everything Marvel is putting out right now. If you aren't reading Marvel Cosmic books you need to!
Words: Kieron Gillen
Pictures: Doug Braithwaite
Wow! Thor taking on the Disir and fighting for the realm of Hela while in the realm of Mephisto!
When the smoke cleared and Thor wins, I won't say how, we find out Loki had his hand in more of this than we first knew.
But now, even after all of this is done, where is Loki? Hela says he isn't in her realm and Thor want sot learn more about his current whereabouts.
He learns what he doesn't want to know...
I know I'm being very vague about this but this issue has some very nice twists and turns that I can't say to much about without giving away important points in the story.
Sorry...all I can say is this is a great issue and I cannot wait to see how the upcoming creative team does starting with the next issue!
Sunday, September 05, 2010
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