Hey Guys I just want to bring up two things this late at night.
First thing and I know many of these photos are floating around the internet and tv news shows now. Christian Bale who played Batman in the new film went to go visit the survivors and families of those effected to by the shooting in Aurora Colorado. This is a great deal of respect shown by Bale to these people. I am sure it touched so many and helped the healing process.
Christian Bale and Survivor Carey Rottman
Here is some coverage written on Comic Book Resources.
The second thing for tonight is the news that Batman Incorporated #3 will be postponed for a month. This comes after the recent events in Colorado. The issue has been printed, but contains subject material that is considered inappropriate following the events. Sources say it has to do with a gun in a classroom. I am not sure how true this is but I am sure we will find out when the issue comes out August 22. So check your subs and the wall for this one in a month.
Grant Morrison
Finally, according toExaminer.comthat Grant Morrison will be leaving both Action Comics and Batman Inc. Batman Inc, which is different then the previous book mentioned, will have it's last Morrison book with issue 12. His Action Comics run will end at issue 16. Find more details at the link.
There you have it folks 3 short new snipts to help keep you informed, and knowing is half the battle!
In this my inaugural review post I am going to be giving reviews on a smattering
of comics that I read while on vacation in OCNJ. These comics are a week to two weeks
old. If any of them strike your fancy please check them out at 1up Collectibles.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
Avenging Spider-Man #9 - $3.99 - Includes Digital Copy
- T+
This series has been a bit of fun. For anyone who hasn’t
picked it up this is a series where Spider-Man individually teams up with
members of the Avengers. In this one he teams up with the new Captain Marvel,
Carol Danvers (f.k.a. Ms. Marvel.) Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick (the new
Captain Marvel writer), the story is full of decent banter you expect from a
Spider-Man story, but nothing ground breaking. It is the first part of an arch
that sets up Spider-Man and Capt. Marvel vs. Robyn Hood vs. The Police and
Hired Security team. Everything in this story is decent except for this new
character Robyn Hood, which is weak. The name tells you her story, but she also absorbs then uses the damage dealt to her. It should be interesting to see where this little tiff goes.
Read it for the banter and the great artwork from Terry and
Rachel Dodson. If you haven’t seen much of their work, look them up, it’s a
unique comic book style. Terry who does the pencils does a great job of
storytelling with great figures andgestures, while Rachel inks his work perfectly. Edgar Delgado does a great
job of coloring this work and makes it all seem to come together just right.
This series has been well written and the art at times has been disturbing. Jeff Lamire, known for
his writing on Sweet Tooth, has written
a long interwoven interestingstory so far. This issue is no disappointment. It starts off where Buddy Baker is
meeting Totems of the Hire Flesh to form a new body for him. Since it has been
taken over by a hunter of the Rot. There is a great sequence that is really well
written and illustrated, it is where Buddy forms his way from a speck of
consciousness to a nanobe and from there he reaches out to different animals
until he finds his body and can go find his son.
Buddy finds his son who was being protected by Sox from the hunter with Buddy's body. After a warning that the Rot is coming, the
hunter looses his head in a gruesome fight with Buddy. To see what I mean go
pick it up, this is a great couple of pages. After that there is also a pretty awesome visual nod to John Carpenter's The Thing. Finally Cliff passes out while spouting on about the
avatar of the Rot, Anton Arcane. Leading to a cross over with Swamp Thing. The art in
this book is great the style fits the tone and mood of the story perfectly.
There are a few visual miscues that do hinder some of the story telling but
Alberto Ponticelli does a great job, and I can’t wait to see this crossover.
Story – 4/5
Art – 3/5
Swamp Thing #11 - $2.99 - T+
Lets pick up where the Animal Man #11 led us to, Swamp
Thing. This has been written by current Batman writer Scott Snyder (got to meet him at my past job and is a good guy
btw.) This issue picks up right
where the last one left off. Arcane, the avatar of the Rot is here to get his
daughter Abigail. In a kinda hokey and cheesy way the Green has saved Alec
because he saved them and supplanted them. Just thinking aloud, I am wondering
if this was an intentional parallel between this and Animal Man. So after that Arcane
tries to take Abigail with him into the Rot, but Swamp Thing comes out of
nowhere and punches Arcane straight in the jaw. In a decent fight they learn
things have changed with one another and Abigail intervenes sending Arcane back
into the Rot portal by himself. Abigail then tries to get him to run away, but Animal Man shows up with his family. Animal Man informs Swamp Thing that they both need to team
up to take down the Rot.
This was a good back story building issue that was
illustrated by Marco Rudy. Marco’s art is hit and miss in this issue. Certain
panels are beautifully illustrated then they get bland and not detailed like
when the Arcane is shown. The panels and story telling of the art is great
where the action and other visual elements break up the normal panel structure.
The color is something to be desired by Val Staples. It’s the same five colors
used again and the colors are muted nothing is overly bright and bold just a
little better contrast would be nice. Overall a good build up to an interesting
team up.
On this weeks AVX….More of the same. Okay sorry for being
facetious. Seriously though the series is boring and lack lust for me. Hope
flinches and doesn’t get the Phoenix Force instead some of the more agitating
X-Men do. The only things that change in this issue is that Vision is gone,
Hawkeye is burnt badly, Avengers go to Wakanda , Cyclops gets more aggressive,
and Emma Frost tells Namor (behind Cyclops’s back) where they are and he shows
up. Boom end of issue. I would have been more interested if they explained more
about Iron Fist’s role in all this and if Scarlet Witch hurt Magik more for
presumably killing Vision. Instead Cyclops becomes a hypocrite wanting to end
the Avengers and the Avengers have to get Hope to K’un Lun to learn how to
fight the Phoenix force.
The art by Oliver Coipel is great. I am glad to see they put
him on this book. It made this story bearable enough to finish. Well I am not
saying it wasn’t bad just boring, nothing big happens so when this happens I
tend to focus on the art of the figures, gestures, and the artists ability to move the story along.
Coipel does this wonderfully. Some of his actual characters don’t look right
like after the Blank Panther smacks the crazy out of Stark, Starks face doesn’t
appear even. I wish this issue was better, maybe I missed something somewhere.
What do you guys think?
Story – 2/5
Art – 4/5
The Avengers VS The X-Men #4 of 6 - $3.99 - Includes Digital Copy T+
This is a guilty pleasure of mine. For those who don’t know
this is a book where one member from each side wallops on one another created
by two different creative teams.
This issue is Daredevil vs. Psylocke and Thor vs. Phoenix’ed out Emma
Frost. The Daredevil vs. Psylocke
was the better of the two fights. The story was written by Rick Remender who
seemed to get the characters right. In this fight both characters had a moment in the fight that played to their strengths.
The art by Brandon Peterson was well done it made the action and their powers
work. The best part of the first
fight was when Daredevil reminded Psylocke that with all their power now the
Avengers will soon be on their own island, leaving Psylocke speechless.
In the next fight, which seems more odd, Thor takes on Emma
Frost in a knock down drag-out fight. The story was written and illustrated
by Kaare Andrews, who while wearing both hats manages to make this work. Thor and Emma go shot for shot. One of
the best scenes is when Thor upper cuts Emma with Mjolnir while she is in her
diamond form and shatters her in to tiny pieces. Shutting her smug face up, but
of course that’s not the end of her. I won’t spoil how it ends but it was a
disappointment to me, but given the situation I guess that’s how these things
go. Check it out and let me know what you guys think.
This issue of the Punisher by Greg Rucka is one of the
better issues I have read this week. It is written in such way that it feels
like a spy thriller. The Punisher and Marine Sergeant Rachel Cole – Alves are
sneaking onto a black market weapons auction on a yacht. Frank gets caught
which was his plan, and Alves seduces the boats owner. This gets her into the
engine room, where she plants charges and stops the yacht. While all the guests
are trying to leave Alves tries to exact revenge on the Exchange’s leader
Stefanie Gerard, but Frank stops her to keep her on task.
This story reads and feels like an secret agent film. It was
highly entertaining and was done right. Granted, this type of story has been
done before but it is done so well that it works. The pacing of the story helps
it move along and makes me want to find out what piece of tech they took that
belong to Doc Ock. The art by Mico Suayan works for the tone of the story. It
looks a little rough at times, but it adds to the Pulp-ishness of the story and
the storytelling ability of the art helps solidify this as a solid issue.
Story – 4/5
Art – 3/5
BONUS ROUND
Have you seen this? Thoughts?
!!! WARNING MATURE AUDIENCE ONLY!!!
You have been warned
That’s it for now. I wanna hear your thoughts on any of these issues and video so please feel free to comment. If you anyone wants to talk shop please stop by 1up Collectibles on Wednesday for new releases I’ll more than likely be there!
I have been a fan of comics since
I can remember. Grew up with the 90’s X-Men and Spider-man TV shows, which led
me to read the comics. I really stopped reading comics in High School, but then
got back into them in college. After college, I worked in comic book
retail for a major company in the middle of NYC. After
spending almost 2 years there, I came back home in PA and accepted this job writing
reviews.
So there ya have it folks. That's the cliff notes of my life.
I hope my reviews help inform customers on what to look for and what to flip through. I also want to
continue the sense of community this site has so please if you have any suggestions or
comments, please speak up. I won’t just post reviews here, I’ll also post
interesting articles, snippets, photos, and anything comic related.
Nerdy Culturist: How to Find New Comic Books: You want to read a comic books, and there are many to choose from. The walls will be covered with them, when you go to a comic book store...
Johnny Worthless here, got three on the docket this morning. The baby is asleep, so here we go.
First book of the day was The Goon #37. Lackluster cover. Dave Stewart rules. (He is the colorist, if you don't know his work by now look him up) Only in a Goon book will you hear 'Ghetto trash, beer tab tacos, and De-Monic Go-Rilla all in the same story. I never knew that The Goon was a union leader? Yes, that's right! The Goon tackles workers' rights in this issue. Art is fantastic. It's a touching story and couldn't be more appropriate with the current social climate. In the "Goon-Mail" (which is called 'Correspondences and Whatnot with Eric Powell') Powell explains the inspiration for the story. There is a Ragemoor #1 teaser in the back, Richard Corben (who is the artist for Ragemoor #1) has done some work on Hellboy before. I enjoy his work, Ragemoor looks cool.
Q: How do you make a comic book better? A: Have Dave Stewart color it.
For Fans of... The Goon, Unions, 'The Man' getting his comeuppance!, Social Commentary
Valen the Outcast #2 was next. This is a new book I'm starting to read, found out about it through Previews. (If you don't check out Previews each month I highly recommend picking one up every 3-4 months, there is always something out there that one might be interested in that was missed on your normal radar). The story so far is King Valen is made a zombie, now he's going to get revenge on the Necromancer who made him that way. Not a fan of this cover, but it's better then Cover A. The chic on the cover is Zjanna, Valen's 'old friend'. There is a Drunk Guide named Cordovan (really). Valen looks like he's made of Rock. The names of everything are way over the top. Harrow's Thorn is really cool, but the moment is ruined by a 'Huzzah!' from the peanut gallery. (Harrow's Thorn is Valen's Sword) The book was very "jumpy" it didn't flow very well. There seems to be a disconnect between the writer and artist. Valen looks like my buddy Mikee. The Art is well done, the character design could have been better, but I liked the look of everyone. Big reveal at the end! I knew I was going to like this series from the synopsis (that's why I picked it up). Overall it was enjoyable, it reminded me of playing AD&D 2nd edition as a kid. I undoubtedly recommend this book for kids, as in kids old enough to enjoy decapitations.
For Fans of... Zombie Good Guys, Mikee D Adventures, Sword and Sorcery, Villains who speak in negative bubbles
Last book of the day was Star Trek #4. I'm loving these covers, I picked up two for this issue. (shown here is Cover A) There were a couple hiccups with the art, but this is the most cohesive looking book so far. Great Story, Great Concept. (Old Stories, New Crew) If your not reading this series you're missing out. It's great fun!
For Fans of... Chris Pine Star Trek, OG TV Shatner Star Trek, Science-Fiction
Grant Morrison's end to the fantastic Batman Incorporated, Leviathan Strikes! After reading this one I had to give it it's own rant. This is the beginning of the end for the 'Morrison Run' on Batman. The end being this year's Batman Incorporated Leviathan (at least that's what it's called at the moment) it all started around six years ago with Batman and Son. It's a huge sprawling epic which is set to wrap up at the end of 2012. Just in time for the whole end of the world thing... Anyways, If you haven't read any of the 'Morrison Run' I can't recommend it enough. It's B A D A Double SS to the max. Below I'll list the run in it's entirety.
So back to Leviathan Strikes! DC teased a lot of what was going to happen in this book, if your looking for answers for anything involving the status quo of the new 52, look somewhere else. We were left hanging back in the 'good ole days' of the DC Universe as to what happen to the gang of Batman Inc. here are your answers. The OG run on Inc ended with issue #8, this book is issues #9 and #10 put together in a mini-maxi format. Nothing too earth shattering or anything like that. I mean you find out who Leviathan is, which is cool, I didn't have a clue it was who it was. You get to see Stephanie, (who forgot how much I miss), Dick as Batman, Tim Drake as the pimp-suited Red Robin, and Bruce in the Inc suit. This all takes place pre-new 52. It's a great ending, a fun read, it makes you want more.
Personally I thought Batman Inc felt kind of dis-jointed and didn't have a lot of cohesion from issue to issue. Leviathan Strikes! brings everything together from the whole Batman Inc. series. There are definitely new questions. There were plenty topics when reading single issues of Batman Inc. that left me scratching my head. After reading this I now found myself saying, "Oh, that makes sense...". It's Grant Morrison that is going to happen from time to time.
What I'm trying to say is I think the best way that one could read this part of the 'Morrison Run' is back-to-back.
Below is the cover (or slated cover) for the Batman Incorporated Volume 1 Hardcover. It's due out April 17th, I highly recommend this book. Till then you might be able to score all 8 issues if you're lucky. Read it all together, you'll thank me after you're done.
Well that's about it for tonight. Here's the 'Morrison Run' list, It's awesome. I recommend you start at the beginning (I didn't and you can hop on anywhere) they're all great books.
Batman and Son The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul (with Paul Dini) The Black Glove Batman: R. I. P. Final Crisis Time and The Batman Batman and Robin Vol. 1, 2, and 3 The Return of Bruce Wayne Batman Inc. Vol. 1 (April 17th) Batman Inc.: Leviathan Strikes! Batman Inc.:Leviathan (Due out this year)
There you have it kids! I might be missing something, one of these days I'll make a definitive list with One million and JLA and Everything!!! But that's for another time. (Yea! Earth 2)
Johnny Worthless here, the five on the roster today are kind of a hodge-podge from the past month/week. Trying out some new titles and some were recommended.
So here we go.
First book today is Star Wars: Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse Part 1. Cool name a bit long but cool. Very excited about this series it's a 5 parter. We meet Imperial Agent Jahan Cross, think Star Wars James Bond. Art is Quality. They do a good job of using Star Wars tech and familiar 'Star Warsy' things from known sources, (Clone Wars, OG Movies) seems very natural. Corporate Sector Action, very cool to see. It's uncharted territory for me, I've only ever had the RPG book so I would make up my own Corporate Sector stories. Han and Chewie make a cameo, it's not annoying or over the top. This looks like a gooden'. Most Star Wars writers really do there homework. I'm a fan of Ostrander (Yea Hawkman!) that was another reason this was a No-Brainer to pick this one up.
For Fans of... Star Wars Expanded Universe, Awesomeness, The Corporate Sector, John Ostrander
Batman: The Brave and the Bold # 13 was up next. Awesome cover, that's what led me to this book in the first place. My buddy's daughters have a couple of books from this series. They always looked fun, but to 'kiddish' as soon as I saw this cover I had to check it out. Great Robin story, If you're trying to teach your kids about Robins, (or cave people who think there has been only one) this would be a great tool. As you can guess from the cover all Robin's assemble Past, Present, and Future. Art was fun, just like the TV show. What can I say? I love Robins, If you do too, This book's for you!!! But, really it's for kids.
For Fans of... Robins, Goofy Team-ups, Brave and the Bold Cartoon
I was waiting to read this one for almost a month, The Goon # 36. I haven't read a Goon book in some time. I'm a big Eric Powell fan, he's got a great, if not odd (as in odd to you 'normal' folk out there) sense of humor, It's right up my alley! This issue has a 'real-life' guest star in ROXY DLITE, The Drinkin', Smokin', Strippin' Machine. How could I not buy this? It's a fun story The Goon and Franky (The Goon's pal) get into trouble, throw Roxi into the mix, the boys get out of trouble, (for the moment) the end. Great book, I'll be reading the Goon from here on out. If you like Humor and Hellboy, you'll love The Goon. Oh yea, not for kids.
For Fans of... Strippers, Funny, Eric Powell, Hot Human on Harpie Action
Next up Supergirl #3. Overall good book, there is something about 'Super-Family' villains that is a big turn-off for me, they look/are lame. Now for turn-ons... Whoa!!! Good Lord! Fanboys bring your drool rags to this party, the art is fantastic. Lots of crotch shots, I mean a lot, different angles and everything. If I was a Supergirl fan I'd be chopping at the bit for this book each month. That being said, Kara has basically started from ground zero with issue #1 of the new 52, it's only issue 3 so if you're interested there is still time... I'm going to leave it at that do to the fact everything I've typed to end this review sounds way too dirty.
For Fans of... Blondes, Supergirl, Gratuitous Crotch Shots
Last book of the night/day/afternoon is All Star Western # 3. I hadn't a clue what went on in the previous 2 issues of this series. Sweet Cover, that's what mainly sold me on this one. I'm pretty sure a horse wasn't 500 dollars (or 500 anything) 'back then', maybe I'm wrong. The art was sloppy, there were some really good parts, it's just not my cup of tea. I feel they're trying to tie too many things together in Gotham. In the realm of dare I say George Lucas, I don't like that. Don't get me wrong I like Jonah Hex, I just like him best as a back up, a side note to the story of Batman/Gotham. ( If that doesn't start a bar fight I don't know what will) Speaking of Back-ups... The El Diablo back up was great, I've never heard of him before, (that I can remember) the character was super cool. I'll look out for El Diablo stories in the future, but won't be picking up All Star Western again anytime soon.
For Fans of... Jonah Hex, Westerns, Antique Drive-bys
Sidebar...
I watched Batman: Year One last night. Great Movie, may be the best that DC has done straight to DVD. Classic even, if you haven't read the OG source material (cover shown to the left) just go buy it. The comic is on every one's top ten lists for a reason.
That's it for now kids.
Where else can you get info on Comics for kids, Strippers and Harpies, and DVD reviews all at the same place?
This is the beginning of the end for the 'Morrison Run' on Batman. The end being this year's Batman Incorporated Leviathan (at least that's what it's called at the moment) it all started around six years ago with Batman and Son. It's a huge sprawling epic which is set to wrap up at the end of 2012. Just in time for the whole end of the world thing... Anyways, If you haven't read any of the 'Morrison Run' I can't recommend it enough. It's B A D A Double SS to the max. Below I'll list the run in it's entirety. 
