This weekend was Father's Day weekend, so I had more important things to do than sit on the internet, hitting the refresh button on my browser over & over again, in an attempt to get the news from Wizardworld.
It was only this morning that I heard the news, and all I have to say is...
FUCK YOU!
Seriously, fuck you, DC. Fuck you Bob Wayne & Dan Didio. Fuck. You. Mark. Waid.
This new Flash series was just starting to get good! You know how long I've waited to see Bart's moment in the sun? You know how long I've waited for this book to finally come out?
Since I was 13, motherfuckers! Since I was buying Impulse, another one of the few ongoing comics that I KEPT BUYING when no one else was. And when it was cancelled, what did I get?
I got Young Justice starring baby Lobo.
FUCK YOU DC.
Now as exciting as it is for fans to see Mark Waid helm the book again, I have to admit that it doesn't really do anything for me. Sure his run on The Flash was great, all those years ago, but isn't it somebody else's turn? Isn't it time we got over this very slim minority of internet assholes who just troll the message boards screaming "WE WANT BARRY BACK!!", even though these fuckers weren't even alive when Barry Allen was the Flash?
Fuck you! You took away Wally. Now you're taking away Bart? Have we loyal Flash fans done nothing for you DC? Have we not tried our damndest to ensure that whoever it is behind the red and gold, that The Flash remain one of the cornerstones of the DCU? Don't we fans of Bart Allen deserve something for sticking with The Flash, Impulse, Young Justice, and The Teen Titans?
The only thing that might make this news bearable for me, is that Waid is writing the new series, entitled All-Flash. "All-Flash"? What could they mean by that? Don't they mean "All-Star Flash"? Like the proposed All-Star series featuring Barry Allen? Or do they mean....
We'll see, Waid. We'll see, Didio. Let's see how long you can keep me faithful to this book when you're disappearing all my favorite characters in the DCU. We'll see if All-Flash can serve the same purpose as The Flash, as the only mainstream superhero DC book I continue to spend money on each month. We'll see...
UPDATE: Wow. I just re-read that post, and I only now realized how unnecessarily harsh that sounded. So I apologize guys. I love you Bob Wayne. I love you Dan Didio. And, I especially love you Mark Waid. If not for you, we wouldn't even have Bart. Just warning you guys, no matter what the internet says, there are some hardcore Flash fans out there (not Barry fans, not Wally fans, not even Bart fans; Flash fans). I've been reading the Flash since the days that I was able to buy my comics with saved-up pocket change. I lamented the end of Impulse. Be careful, Mr. Waid. I know you have a handle on the legacy and the characters, but sometimes wanting to go beyond that is what seperates a good comic from a great comic.
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Ok, I may be forced to take back all the mean things I said about the way in which DC has been handling the whole One Year Later if all their books contained scenes like this:
SPOILER WARNING!!! DO NO LOOK UNLESS YOU'VE READ GREEN ARROW #74 OR DON'T CARE ABOUT SPOILERS. SPOILER WARNING!!!
I know Eli's going to make fun of me for this, but I cried when I read that page. Is that so wrong to ask? Just a few moments that pack a ton of emotional wallop into 8 panels? Is that so hard for you DC? Is it too much to ask?
Labels: Black Canary, comics, DC, Green Arrow, Judd Winnick
Avi Arad is interviewed over at Wired Magazine about this weekend's Spiderman 3 opening.
I will not be checking it out here in NY. Instead, I am going to go back to NJ, round up some old comic book loving high school buddies, and we're all going to go together.
Fun times.
I will post some thoughts some time tomorrow night.
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Labels: comics, movies, spiderman 3
Are there any more zombie-genre stories left to tell? The medium of comics has recently been over-saturated with generic zombie story, after generic zombie story, culminating in Marvel's Marvel Zombies. At this point, everyone seems to be sick of them, but are we sick of zombie stories, or is there anything left out there that could possibly breathe life into this seemingly (un)dead sub-genre.
Granted, there are a few good zombie books being put out right now. The drama-level of Robert Kirkman's Romero-worshipping The Walking Dead
remains consistent, but about half-way through the series, it lost it's moral footing. The gray areas became too gray. The character flaws have come to define the characters, rather than simply flesh them out. It has degenerated from a book that featured zombies, to a book that is about zombies.
Arguably, none of George Romero's classic zombie films have ever really been about zombies, just like no science-fiction story set in the future is really about the future. The zombies were more scenery than anything. The created an environment in which specific social issues could be tackled. That is why, unlike a long-form ongoing comic book series, they only last two hours. To extend the story beyond that would be hitting your audience over the head with a hammer. But without moral conviction, Romero inspired zombie stories have virtually nothing to offer us.
On the other hand, European styled zombie stories (a la Zeder or Zombi) have certain aesthetic strengths that their American cousins are lacking in. Warren Ellis' Black Gas mini-series has been a perfect example of this aesthetic translated to the printed comic page. The moral footing of these kinds of stories is a bit shakier, boiling down to 'everyone's a fucker', which Ellis pulls off perfectly (again). The biggest difference, however, is in its attention to the aesthetics of horror. Euro-zombie stories are supposed to be genuinely scary and/or creepy. You'd think that this kind of storytelling would prove so effortless for cartooning, since you essentially can create any mood or atmosphere that you desire without having to expand a SFX budget.
At the end of the day, however, the problem is not zombies, but too strong a focus on zombies. Even Black Gas seems to have the problem of pacing a story along with featuring enough zombie eating flesh moments on top of that. The most exciting of zombie stories prove that.
Jason's The Living and the Dead, and Brain Ralph's post-zombie-apocalypse story Daybreak, are fresh new zombie stories that work. Both stories use the zombies as little more than window-dressing, giving the narrative a bit of an extra 'umph', but are capable of standing on their own. If only there were more people willing to tell stories (zombie or not) like these two, I would be buying a lot more comics right now.
What we love about zombie movies is the zombies themselves, but unfortunately that is hardly ever what makes a movie worth watching or a comic worth reading. The zombie is a trope that works because it can easily be connected with various other tropes of almost any genre within fantastic/speculative fiction.
So to answer my question, there are more zombie stories out there to tell, but nobody seems to be imaginative or clever enough to come up with them. Until then, the genre will remain another ghetto the comics medium has tried to cash-in on and destroyed in the process. It will take an unbelievable amount of talent and craft to ressurect zombie fiction.
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Some good questions are asked, and some good answers are given. Generally speaking, it's nice to see a non-comics reading woman discussing the issues of genre fiction. It just goes to show that there is a female audience out there for superheroine franchises, if this wasn't the crap they were trying to shill.
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Labels: comics, fangirls, Jennifer Estep, Karma Girl
(Yes, I did just use "'ol")
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Labels: comics, fantastic four, silver surfer
A lot of television.
I've noticed that graphic literature/comics have been getting quite a bit of reference in the mainstream media lately.
Beyond the constant barrage of "Zap! Pow! Comics are not just for kids, anymore!" and "Kids love Manga!!" articles that seem to come out consistently.
I think that is a good thing.
Some references made in television in fact deal with the preconceived nothing that comic books are made for children, albeit in somewhat backhanded ways that inevitably make comics out to be, not only reading material for kids, but reading material for grown-upkids as well.
Whatever.
I'll take 'em where I can get 'em.
(Yes I did just use "'em" instead of "them".)
Here's a quick run-down of how some of my favorite tv shows have been referencing comics:
Lost
Fans who have been following the show will not be surprised that the creators of Lost reference comic books. In the very first season, one of Hurley's comics (a Spanish-language translation of a Mark Waid Green Lantern/Flash story, which I assume was part of the Brave & the Bold mini-series) makes a few appearances, as it is handed off from character to character. However, as the slipstream-style drama has escalated over the past season and a half, the witty pop-culture references have been sidelined along with Charlie and Hurley. "Serious" comic reading Lost fans were excited by the prospect of comic's "it-boy", Brian K. Vaughn, perhaps bringing some elements of comic-styled storytelling to the show, and what they got instead was an exchange between Hurley and Charlie arguing over whether the Flash was faster than Superman. Those of us in the know obviously recognize the Flash as the faster man (fastest man alive, in fact), but one of the beautiful things about this exchange, for me, is that it is in fact identical to maybe 5,000 different conversations I've had growing up one of the few unabashed Flash fans in elementary school. To add to this beautiful fan-boy moment, Hurley takes it up a notch by referencing the classic Flash/Superman story when Charlie begs the question, Why on Earth would Superman want to race the Flash? "Uh, I don't know. For charity?" Brilliant!!
30 Rock 
Aside from having consistently grown from a fairly clever/funny show that started off a bit rocky (pardon the pun) to possibly the best network comedy show currently on air (I know it's going to get canceled before it's time), it consistently uses terms like "frick", "dang", "oh snap", and "blerg" as running jokes. Even better, however, has been the use of "By the hammer of Thor!"
Raines
I honestly have no idea why no one is talking about how amazing Raines is. It has, at it's foundation, possibly the greatest must-win combination in the history of television: Jeff Goldblum and endless Raymond Chandler references. That's right. Both of those things, in one television show. Why are you not watching this? I have no idea. On top of this, of course, are the comic references. Several, in fact. The police sketch artist who works with Raines, is an aspiring graphic artist, for which Raines constantly belittles him for. To Raines' credit, an overheard conversation of said artist with his agent on the phone has him turning down work for Archie Comics, stating "If you want the Dark Knight, or Watchmen, you know where to find me." Also, an entire episode (Stone Dead) deals entirely with an art student studying cartooning as the victim, and his entire world of persnickety fanboys, goth girlfriend, and, hitting it even closer to home, washed-up stoner gangs. The comic references have seemed to have ended there, and the season finale (as announced by NBC, in spite of another, un-aired, episode being listed on tv.com) was quite shaky compared to the rest of the season, but I will continue to watch the show for as long as it airs. I re-iterate: Jeff Goldblum + Raymond Chandler.
Sidenote: I'm not sure if anyone has noticed this, but the apartment building of the victim in the Pilot episode, is nearly identical to the building Philip Marlowe lives in, in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, which has a similar must-win combination of Elliot Gould + Raymond Chandler.
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Labels: 30 rock, comics, Lost, Raines, television
It's true. I thought about it.
That dude above might have been me (aside from the whole, resentment towards the Catholic Church for screwing up my psyche that I still maintain today).
Towards the end of high school (I attended a Catholic high school), a lot of my teachers began trying to recruit kids into the brotherhood, stating that the church would pay for their education after a certain amount of time, etc. etc.
Very similar to the Army's recruitment strategy.
They didn't court me though.
The Marines did.
Hard.
Really hard.
Anyway, none of this is neither here nor there.
If you are a big follower of the inter-net, you may have seen some items about the Catholic Church using manga-sytled comics about real people's experiences in the seminary. Seems like an innocuous enough recruitment strategy, even with the reputation Christian oriented comics have gotten from Chick Publications, but I honestly believe that the Catholic Church is a slightly different animal (read: The Death Cookie by Chick Publications). Yaoi jokes aside.
Anyway, I just couldn't let go of this particular quote:
"Cartoons, particularly Manga-styled ones, are a good way of reaching young people, even up to the age of 25," says Father Embery.
Because there aren't 30 year old "otaku" who live in their mom's basement, reading Death Note all day and fansubbing anime.
It's a good thing that most of my comic-reading friends are under the age of 25.....
Oh wait, that's not true.
I feel surprisingly guilty now.
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Labels: catholic, comics, priesthood
Not a bad batch, in my opinion, but I can't say that I'm in complete agreement on some of the nominations. Of course, I'm not an Eisner judge, so the decision is really not up to me.
I appreciate the creator driven aspect of the awards (I mean it is the creators being nominated, more so than the books), and while I think that most of the super hero themed works nominated are deserving of honor, I do honestly have to wonder about the level of variety. I mean, any super hero books nominated were either created by Ed Brubaker or Darwyn Cooke, Batman: Year 100 and All Star Superman aside.
Also, is Fables really that good? It's an enjoyable read, but I gave up on it after a few issues. Has it really gotten that much better? It's one of those books, like Y: The Last Man, that I (could) enjoy the hell out of and read regularly, but would never say it's one of the best comics ever.
These are probably two of the most overrated comics in the market today. Like I said, I enjoy the shit out of some BKV aktion as much as the next nerd, but Y is by far one of his weaker masterpieces. And to be completely honest, just because a comic book is really good at being a great comic book, doesn't mean that it really reaches the literary aspirations that everyone seems to be forcefully injecting into the medium.
And while some of the more hyped nominees like Yang's American Born Chinese and Alison Blechdel's Fun Home certainly achieve a fairly high level of literariness, it's far from breaking new ground (no matter what the NY Times says).
That being said, there are quite a few nominees who, in my opinion, have done some really amazing work in the medium, if not in terms of literary aspirations, than by all means cinematic, or visual, or even comical.
Brian Chippendale's Ninja (Best Graphic Album - New) is seriously some next level shit. Not necessarily new new ground for any of the Fort Thunder cartoonists, but the packaging and presentation is some of the best I've seen. Yes, I'm a sucker for over-sized books that don't fit in my book shelf, and yes I also own Lost Girls (AKA The Giant Purple Brick), and the packaging of Ninja blows it away.
I don't think that I can hype Scandinavian cartoonist Jason enough. Eli and I had a conversation recently where we debated which cartoonists and writers were breaking new ground in the medium. Jason was among my list, but Eli contested my opinion, by stating that good cartooning isn't enough to break new ground. I argued that it was if the craftsmanship of the cartoonist was so pure and so refined that it actually defined the language of the medium to come. Jason is very close to being at this point, and his nominated book The Left Bank Gang, is perhaps the best example of his work's potential available states-side. It's also one of the most powerful books I've read in a long long time. Comics or otherwise.
A few more quick notes:
- Lewis Trondheim's A.L.I.E.E.E.N. is probably my favorite book that First Second put out last year, which says a lot since they put out some really amazing books last year
- I'm actually not too familiar with most of the manga in the Best US Edition of International Material - Japan category, but I read the volumes of Old Boy released by Dark Horse. It's good, but is it really worth an Eisner?
- The fact that Tatsumi's Abandon the Old in Tokyo really brings up some serious questions about what can be considered a "comic book" and a "comic strip". Eddie Campbell defines a comic book as a long-form comic strip, and a graphic novel as a longer-form comic strip. The stories included in Abandon the Old in Tokyo are all about 4 - 6 pages in length and were included in an ongoing erotic manga anthology. So do short stories like this count as "strips" or "books"? Considering the limitations of the newspaper and the differences in graphic design, I would venture to say that a few of the Tatsumi stories are probably equal in density as any Sunday Peanuts strip. I don't know. I could be wrong.
- That being said, Tatsumi sort of kills the "competition" in the Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Books category, but would be given a run for his money in the Best Archival Collection/Project - Strips category.
- I'm very disappointed with the judges choices for Best Digital Comics. None of them are that great. I would pick Dan Goldman's fucked-up psychedelic roommate dramedy, Kelly, over Shooting War any day. And seriously, Bee?
- I didn't think Kramers Ergot 6 was that great a collection. There have been better volumes of the anthology, and better anthologies released last year.
- Ivan Brunetti should win every category that he is nominated for.
- Except Best Humor Publication, which would necessitate that Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot Comics win because the Flaming Carrot saved my life.
- I still have not read his Gumby book. I know I should though.
- Does Young Avengers really count as a "continuing series" at this point since, it's, you know, no longer continuing?
- I am seriously giving myself palpitations trying to decide whether to root for Paul Pope's Batman: Year 100 mini-series, or Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey. Sock Monkey!!
- I can't believe Stan Fucking Lee got nominated for an Eisner Award. Seriously? Seriously?!? What's next?
In a completely unrelated note, I still have no computer at home. So blogging is still sort-of suspended. A lot of really good stuff came out this week, and I downloaded a bunch of awesome stuff to read. So if I get a new computer soon, expect some furious comic blogging.
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Labels: comics, eisner awards, predictions/wishes
But enough about that. I promised no more non-comic related posts.
Has anyone read the new Madman book that Image just put out?All I can really think about is how weird it seems to me.
But then again, it is a Madman book. It strives to be "weird" I guess.
Laura Allred's colors is a nice visual shift compared to the Madman comics I'm used to reading. Everything seems less dark, less bouncey, but at the same time a bit less static and a bit more real. Allred's modernist/Art Deco inspired layouts seem to have reached its pinnacle with this new book. It really grounds the story in that pop art aesthetic, even more so than any of Allred's previous works.
I know that sounds crazy to you familiar with Madman but, hey, it's a new Madman book. It can get crazier.
By crazy I don't necessarily mean schizophrenic or even psychedelic. I feel the people confuse the two.
Madman or even The Atomiks have always been sort of wacky and silly, but they always followed a specific kind of logic. It may not have always fit perfectly with our own logic, here in the world of non-fiction, but it still maintained a sense of logic regardless.
It's like the difference between Surrealism and Dadaism, which a lot of people seem to mix-and-match. Surrealism literally means "super realism". It doesn't always mean that one realism is superior or better than the other (although I have a feeling Breton would dispute that), but rather that one is a bit more intense or vastly different from the other. Madman is surrealism in it's most straight forward and digestible form. It follows an eschewed narrative, but a narrative that can be followed if one extends oneself enough.
Dadaism, on the other hand, is the absence of logic. It is nonsense. The word "dada" actually means "hobby horse". There is no real meaning behind that definition. Dadaism is only consequential in its inconsequential nature.
Anyway, Madman Atomic Comics seems to be more along the lines of Oddity Odyssey (republished by Oni Press), which was a much darker affair than say the Madman series published by Dark Horse Comics.
While Madman (the Dark Horse series, again) is fun and light and exuberant in its whimsy, Oddity Odyssey is unsettling and angst ridden. It's the two poles of mental illness. The seemingly nonsensical silliness of play, versus the burden of a heightened sensitivity to reality. Rather than pit one against the other, Allred had separated the two concepts into two different stories/series to more finely dissect and pick apart. The first issue of Madman Atomic Comics seems more in line with the burden angle than the play angle, although it is reasonably too early in the series to suss out Allred's ultimate intention.
Ultimately, Madman is a product of modernism. It is only post-modern in that it is aware of itself as a product of modernism, and often makes reference to this. It plays with iconography and its meaning, rather than aesthetics or pastiche. But at its core is the main tennant of modernism - laying bare the bones of the device. It is a comic book that operates in the logic and reason of a comic book. It celbrates its own silliness and wackiness, with reverence, but not obligation, to what has come before.
This is why Allred's Dark Horse Madman series was such a breath of fresh air in the age of the "grim 'n gritty" appropriation. Rather than appeal to the darker side of a decidedly cynical audience in an attempt to affect drama, Allred abandoned dramatism altogether to form something much more compelling.
The darkness of Oddity Odyssey doesn't diminish the stories power, nor does it drag down its characters. It still remains a story that is ultimately fun to read. But if the age of "darkness" is over, there is no need for Allred to produce the antidote any more.
If Atomic Comics is any indication, we can assume the Frank Einstein, along with Allred, have returned to more existential issues. This can either be considered a "good" thing or a "bad" thing, depending on what you want from your comics. Either way, this new series looks to be an interesting ride regardless of direction.
I remain positive in any expectations of Madman Atomic Comics.
NOTE: Madman Atomic Comics is not to be confused or associated with Fox Atomic Comics. Madman Atomic Comics is published and printed by Image Comics, an entirely separate entity.
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Labels: comics, madman, Mike Allred
I've been so super busy with work, and caring for my two cats, that I've had hardly any time to write/blog about anything, nor have I had sufficient time to make any kind of headway through my ever-growing Reader list.
So on that note, I'll just mention a few "quick" things:
- Something seems to have been up with my regular store's Image shipment. All of last week's books all got in a week late (that means last week's Image books and this week's Image books were received today, Doogie Howser). That means, I didn't get my copy of Mike Allred's new Madman comic until today.
- For those of you paying attention, that means that I'm very excited about this week's pull. I admit that I indulged myself a bit this week, but with me pulling two copies of Invincible and X-Factor, plus a copy of Powers for Eli, I figured I might as well get almost all the books I want for myself and I'll have Eli foot the bill later.
- Ooh, new episode of Lost tonight. That means all comic reading and kitten petting will promptly cease at 9:58 PM.
- Does anyone know when the hell Ivan Brunetti's new collection is coming out? Nobody's been talking about it, and I have no idea when Fantagraphics ships things, or when my store would order it. They're often too busy whenever I go in there to answer my inane questions about "When is Book X coming out?"
- Also, when is the new issue of Mome coming out? I thought it should have been out by now, but again, for the reasons above I'm pretty much operating in the dark.
- Have I mentioned that I think Ivan Brunnetti is an absolute genius?
- Reason # Infinity why I hate Adrien Tomine: that shit is fake! You're upset (well, actually it's your characters, but I assume it's you too) that your girlfriend doesn't talk to you? Anders Nilsen's girlfriend doesn't talk to him because she's DEAD!! Meaning, your heartache is affected and disingenuous to the point of inspiring nausea.
- That Weezer poster you did all those years ago was awesome, though. Too bad I can't stand Weezer anymore either.
- Why is it that whenever I tell anyone the story about how I witnessed some woman getting robbed by a gang of big angry teenagers on the subway, the question everyone asks is, "And you just stood there?" or "And nobody did anything?". Take into account that the entire episode occured within 1.5 - 2 minutes and also BIG ANGRY TEENAGERS. They could have been concealing a switch blade or a laser torch or something. I don't know. I've already admitted to being a coward many times, so don't get all self-righteous on me.
- Have I mentioned that I'm obsessed with Doctor Who right now? I mean, I've been a fan for a while, but with no regular broadcasting of a contemporary series, it was hard for me to keep up. So, in the event that the current series runs out of steam, may I propose a Doctor Who comic drawn by Ed Templesmith? This image has been my computer's desktop for days now and I just can't help but stare at it constantly.
- This post has not turned out to be nearly as "quick" as I intended it.
- I can't decide whether I'm excited about Warren Ellis' new Doktor Sleepless series coming out on Avatar. I love me some Warren Ellis sci-fi (newuniversal is my absolute favorite, if not the best, example of modern SF in the comics medium right now, and it's a friggin' Marvel book), but I just can't jive with that name. "Sleepless"? I also can't say that I've been wowed by any of the stuff he's been putting out on Avatar recently. Even Black Gas and that has zombies in it.
- Can someone please send me a still or screen capture of Rich Johnston as a zombie from Shaun of the Dead? I've rewatched my DVD of it maybe 6 times this past weekend, constantly pausing it every time I see a zombie with long hair and/or a beard. Alternately, Chris Martin as an evil creature of the undead is incredibly ironic to me. Have I mentioned that I can't stand Coldplay?
- That's all you get. I'm going back to work. If I feel like it, I'll blog about the books I got.
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BRAND NEW FREAKING MADMAN!!!
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Labels: allred, comics, madman, new comics day
Why's everyone got to hate on the Supergirl movie? The Internet has been referencing it a lot lately (I'm not quite sure why), but it's constantly being referred to as "awful" or "embarrassing" or "better forgotten". As a kid, I actually really liked the movie.Sure it doesn't stand up to the Superman movies, but neither do a lot of movies. I mean Batman Begins doesn't stand up to Memento, and Spiderman doesn't stand up to Evil Dead, so what's the fuss?
Can't we just celebrate Supergirl? I mean, if we can re appropriate and celebrate other terrible movies, can't we do this for Supergirl? I mean, it's not like it's as bad as the Supergirl comic book, and I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as the 300 movie was either.
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Labels: comics, hateration, movie, supergirl
Here's what's on my pull-list for today:
Batman #664
Crossing Midnight #5
Daredevil #95
Ultimate Spiderman #107
Now, these are all titles that I enjoy reading. Ultimate Spiderman, while having rarely actually bought the book in the past, I used to read in trade form at my parents' local library whenever I was home from school or whatever. And while Grant Morrison & Ed Brubaker are two of the creators putting out major super hero work that I consistently trust, I have to admit that I'm not that psyched about these books this week.
It begs the question, when are comics more than merely a source of entertainment? To me, all of these books, while perhaps having been executed well in their creation or being just straight-up entertaining and fun, may not prove to be all that important to my life. I have so much stuff to finish reading that will most definitely effect me beyond the 10 minutes that I spend reading it. Why do I bother with these books then?
I suppose it comes from a deep loyalty to the genre. But more than that, I think, there is always the off-chance that book like this will deeply effect me on a profound level. It happens every once in a while.
One of the other items that I'm actually really excited for is the Spiderman Loves Mary Jane hardcover, which includes all of the previous mini-series and the first few issues of the current series. This is a book that I can read & re-read and enjoy. And while the stories may not be that life-changing or deeply effective, they certainly are reusable entertainment. And sometimes entertainment can be profound on the simplest of levels like that.
But is Grant Morrison's Batman going to get re-read any time soon? I made the mistake of re-reading Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America, and it just killed any interest I had in the book. I am now not looking foward to the upcoming JLA/JSA cross-over 'cos now I feel that in order to follow the story I will have to buy books that I'm not necessarily interested in anymore.
And while I have probably been enjoying Brubaker's Daredevil run more and more as time goes on, the last issue would have provided a really good stopping point for the book, but very little story potential. Brubaker certainly hasn't killed off the last few years of Daredevil's story, but at the same time, it doesn't seem like there's anywhere new that he can take it.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just exhausted from all the non-comic related stuff going on that I'm having trouble concentrating. I'll give these books a try. At the very least, I'll build up my credit at Cosmic Comics, so I can actually buy the Spiderman Loves Mary Jane hardcover.
Labels: comics
...So is your face.
Whatever. There was one cover though, that I came across again, that I just could not let go. Eli has already posted what he thought was the most perfect cover of the June '07 solicits. Here is mine:
Do you think the speculators will jump on this book too? I mean, it might be the best cover to come out of Cap's death. If that weren't enough...
Labels: captain america, comics, marvel
...onwards...
DC had surprising number of solicitations that peaked my interest. A lot of it has to do with some genuinely good cover art, in my opinion, but I often wonder how much of that is linked to my personal investment with some of the characters and creators involved...
This cover I liked a lot. I thought Williams does a pretty good job of mimicking the silver-age aesthetic of the old Batman books, without doing so too flamboiantly. The sparse use of color I thought was quite effective as well. Again, I can't help but wonder if I'm being a bit biased here, simply because I have been wanting to see Williams on another Batman book really really really bad.
Similarly, this image also peaked my interest. Tim Drake has probably been one of my favorite characters since I was a young kid, but I have actually not been loving Beechem's run on the book. It's not bad, it's just not great. Still, the book has been doing a fairly decent job on the covers lately. Making the books visually appealing in a way that is obscure enough to entice someone who has not been following the storyline (or even current continuity for that matter), as well as someone who has an idea of what's going to happen next.Both of these covers show enough to tease out what the story might possibly be about (without having to read the actual text solicitation) to give a person, who may already show some interest in reading the book, a push in that direction. Something like Kurt Busiek's Superman or Judd Winnick's Green Arrow, however,give you all the details you need (assuming you can recognize Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Black Canary) to get psyched about the story.
Now, the cover to Marc Guggenheim's Flash works on a level that will most likely appeal to current fans. The impact and weight of the Tony Daniels image, only works on an emotional level, and would therefore require some previous investment in the character. Of course, DC tells us this is merely a teaser image, but for existing fans, this level of mystery (when composed well enough) can work just as well. Both DC Marvel bank on this with their campaigns of secrecy disinformation. 
Now, Tony Harris' cover to Ex Machina is a perfect example of this. So good in fact that it could possibly bring in new readers to the series. Too bad that Harris chose to save a cover this powerful to the finale of the story arc. This cover in particular gets me excited simply because, while I consistently love Harris' work on the series, his dazzling cover design has been somewhat lacking in that extra "oomph" he usually delivers. Something like this is just so powerful that I don't have to know what the story inside is like. All I need to know is that the story inside is on the same level as this cover. Being a regular reader of the series, I can safely assume it is, but if I were not, it would have to take a bit more to convince me that this book was worth jumping on at this issue.Contrastly, this is what you guys get for complaining about Superman crying too much - a cover that does absolutely nothing for me. It doesn't even have Superman punching Robotman's head off. World War Kent.
Another reason I love going through the DC solicitations each month is because they like to offer up a bunch of sweet reprints and collections. While Marvel certainly offers up its fair share of reprint collections, their solicitations generally don't involve awesome cover images (i.e. no cover for the Essential Silver Surfer collection coming out in June). So for your viewing pleasure (and mine, obviously) here are a series of "Bams":
BAM!!
BAM!!!
BAM!!!!
BAM!!!!!
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Labels: comics, DC, solicitations
This is what happens when mainstream comic companies encourage artists to draw from action figures.
Brad Meltzer (co-author of the upcoming JLA/JSA cross over event) points out that this was done after they asked for a breast reduction on Power Girl's appearance.
Images via Paperghost & THE BEATpowered by performancing firefox
Labels: ame-com, comics, JLA, JSA, Mike Turner, power girl
Let me start off by saying that Brian Bendis is the writer that made the Avengers make sense to me. As a primarily DC oriented super hero fan, and havin been burned by the quality of books Marvel had been putting out by the mid-to-late 90s, I really didn't care to give most of Bendis' work a try. However, books like Ultimate Spiderman and Daredevil were among some of the few Marvel books I would pull regularly. Anyway, it was when I read Bendis' opus (IMO) Alias that I began to change my mind about the current state of the Marvel Universe. Bendis brought decades worth of forgotten history to the foreground with this book, and made it all fresh and exciting (even if I was reading it several years after the fact). That being said, I still thought the first few issues of his New Avengers book were a bit hit or miss for me. Enter Civil War. I think of all the writers working on big titles at Marvel, Bendis was the one who took their flagship title to the next level, and thus handled the whole event in the best manner possible.
Most of my criticism of Bendis' New Avengers seemed to be centered around the usual troubles that many writers have dealing with a larger cast. Unlike books like Alias or Daredevil, or even The Pulse, which all handled the large cast of the entire Marvel Universe quite well, Bendis didn't have a titular or protagonist character to constantly fall back on. With New Avengers, Bendis was given the tough task of having to make b-list characters like Luke Cage and Spiderwoman seem as important and irreplaceable as Iron Man or Captain America. It wasn't until the Civil tie-in arc that Bendis was able to give each character at least an issue of face time, thus letting us get to know the characters on a more intimate and relateable level.
Anyway, I liked this issue of New Avengers, which focused on the Avengers who chose to not register with the American government. Unlike, Mighty Avengers, the line-up for this team seems so much more organic than the tactically chosen line-up for Iron Man's government sanctioned Avengers. This generally yields better chemistry than on either Mighty Avengers or even the previous line-up featured on the pre-Civil War New Avengers title.
Unlike before, this line-up features all heavy hitters, but no "icons" (I've already discussed how I feel that "iconic" super heroes seem antithetical to me in the context of the Marvel Universe) like Cap or Iron Man, who always gave the generally buoyant nature of the teams chemistry an added weight. In the post-Civil War Marvel Universe, the weight is already out there. It is nice to see a group of super heroes acting less like a military unit, and more like a band of brothers.
I was originally a bit wary of the book originally, given that I have absolutely loved Lenil Yu's artwork in the past (especially his collaborations with Gerry Alanguilan), but was still on the fence about the new non-inked method utilized in this book. While the intense clarity of Yu's previous work seems gone, it is replaced by a certain ethereal quality that works well with the lighter dynamic of this team.
And that seems to be the big thing. This book, and even Mighty Avengers to a certain extent, seem far more fun than prior to Civil War. It's as if the dire grimness that has characterized so much of Bendis' major Marvel works (Avengers: Disassembled, House of M, Daredevil) has finally given to the latent humor constantly peaking behind the corner. The Mammet-esque "Wait...What?" moments have now formally been replaced by actual punchlines, and referential continuity jokes have been replaced by visual gags (which Yu helps pull off quite well).
With Captain America "dying" in his own book, and Ellis' constant need to exploit the criminal nature of his characters in Thunderbolts, it seems that Brian Bendis' new Avengers titles, as well as Matt Fraction's Punisher War Journal title seem to be picking up the slack of the now finished Nextwave book, by shining some light on the supposedly dark Marvel Universe post-Civil War. New Avengers is everything that I expect from an in-continuity super hero book - fun, fun, fun.
* * * * * * * * *
NOTE: I haven't finished reading all the books that came out this previous week, but there are few worth talking about. Unfortunately, this week seems to be the best week during BAM's month long Shohei Immamur retrospective. So that being said, I probably won't be touching reviews until this Saturday, while my girlfriend is off doing a Manhattan-wide "pub crawl" in celebration of St. Patrick.
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Labels: avengers, brian bendis, comics, marvel
Now, I have to admit that I'm pretty wary of this book. I love a lot of Ellis' work, but so much of it falls flat for me. He's certainly one of the more interesting "idea-men" in comics today, but it often seems like the level of craft that he pours into his books generally depends on his level of interest in exploring the subject matter at any given time. He seems to do his best work when he has much fewer distractions on his plate. His better known creator-owned work Transmetropolitan, Planetary, and Desolation Jones are among some of his best, but people often forget how prolific he really is, and tend to dismiss the crap that the occasionally puts out.
So why should I check out Black Summer?
Let's ask Ellis:
On Character Motivation
He's been asking himself the question that informs the book: where do you draw the line? If you're totally committed to the idea of covering your face and taking on a fake name and standing outside the law in order to fight for justice where do you stop? Crime pervades society. We're all aware of corporations that behave in a criminal manner. Is that as far as you go?
Wait. You know the 90s are over right? We don't need to deconstruct super heroes anymore. Now we need to do continuity laden (or reference laden) homages with nothing but reverence. Oh and it wouldn't hurt if you included some Mammet-esque dialog and pregnant pauses.
On the Conceptual Process
"William
and I have an easy, longtime friendship and we do this a lot," revealed
Ellis. "And he bet me I couldn't come up with a high-concept superhero
'event' book that naturally featured all new characters and ideas, but
also hit some of the notes of a standard Big Two event program."
Couldn't you just finish the last issue of Planetary?
On Inspiration
So
when this hit me and I'm pretty sure I was standing in my garden at
three in the morning with a glass of whisky, smoking furiously and
swearing at the sky, reduced to waiting for the thunderbolt to hit it
spoke to me not only of the reasons why someone might put on a helmet
and find justice their own way, but also why we read these myths of
social justice ourselves.
Oh.... That's why you weren't working on the final issue of Planetary.
On the Jungian Dichotomy
Half
the potential audience is going to see John Horus as the bad guy, and
that's not without merit. Half the audience is going to see him as the
Good Guy, and I can see where they're coming from too. I take no public
position.I'm writing it from both angles at once and letting people
make up their own minds.
So it's like Civil War, except...no one will buy it. Explosions are pretty.
On The Future
All
these things are cyclical. And I'm not sure you can characterize DC's
current output like that, they seem really focused on classic
broad-sweep superheroics right now. It comes down, I think, to what I
said before: what are the questions left to ask? And a lot of the
questions left to ask are sociopolitical. It's an aspect of these
decadent days we find ourselves in. Pigs with two heads are abroad in
the land. The British military is trying to loft a communications
satellite grid called Skynet. These are the End Times.
Wow. "Skynet"?! That's so badly cyberpunk it doesn't even come out the William Gibson story - it comes from the adaptation.
Honestly, I still love so much of Warren Ellis' work, but he really needs to stop letting people talk him into doing any work remotely related to super heroes anymore. And the fact that this is another book that comes out of one of his bets with William Chrstensen leaves me with little hope. I mean, did anyone else read Wolfskin? There was a reason Ellis had to stop working on it. It was awful. It made me dumber just by reading it. I can only imagine what it did to Ellis, who was writing it.
It's been a while since he's done anything that's truly blown my mind the way Transmet or Planetary did, but maybe I'm just too far along for that stuff to effect me the same way. Desolation Jones could possibly be his next great work if Marvel would stop asking him to write books that mock their entire companies publishing line.
Although, I have been really enjoying newuniversal.
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Labels: Black Summer, comics, Warren Ellis
Like Noble Causes, Invincible has a lot of unanswered questions that I need answers to. I jumped in on issue #38. So far, there’s a giant, orange, one-eyed alien who’s just found out that another character is from the same race as Invincible and wants to use our hero to start a rebellion against the other members of their race. There’s another guy who’s just learned that he’s actually more robot than human. Invincible’s girlfriend is apparently being tempted to fall for another guy and her friends are encouraging her in that direction. (It’s the old, My Secret Identity is Killing My Personal Life scenario, but Kirkman and Ryan Ottley present it in a way that makes you care just as much as you ever did about Peter Parker’s similar problems.)
There’s the Lizard League, a gang of reptile-themed bad guys who are struggling to find a leader right now. There’s Invincible’s purple, adopted brother who seems to have mysterious origins but is soaking up information at an incredible rate. And there’s the human guy in the big spaceship with all the little brain-octopi swarming around and attached to him. Who is he and why is heading towards Earth? Don’t know. Who are the Guardians of the Globe and what are all their powers and personalities? No clue. Who is Atom Eve and why is Invincible smooching her when he says he’s in love with his girlfriend? Couldn’t tell you. Yet.
Thanks to Eli, I've been reading Invincible for a few years now. The quality of the book, while always consistently tight, waxes and wanes for me. After a certain point, I seemed to have lost my enthusiasm for the story, but my enthusiasm of the characters kept me going. There were moments where my excitement for the book would peak again, but only to fall back to the inevitable low it was before.
This all changed with issue #38.
It was a moment we've all been waiting for.
Anyway, I love Invincible. It is one of the most fun super hero comics out there right now. And the way Michael May describes it, only reminds me how weird and fun the book is. After having followed the title for a few years now, I seemed to have forgotten that part. That Invincible is just supposed to be the funnest super hero comic around...
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Labels: comics, image comics, invincible, robert kirkman
]^23F30]^23000]^23F30],](](]]]black],]3]1]2]3]1]1]3]1]8]4]5]3](],](]^23CCC])farm1.static.flickr.com/178/413305600_563a05d125_o_d.jpg])farm1.static.flickr.com/178/413305600_ddf92c2fa5_d.jpg]Better^20Living^20Through^20Graphic^20Storytelling]A^20Comics^20Blog],](],](](]^23F30](](](]^23FFF],](](]^23333](],](](]75]20],](](]^23F6F6F6])])]black]1.5]15],](](]^23FFF])])]black]^23000])])]^23666]30]black]^23FFFFFF],](],]^23333](],](]^23333]^23F30]^23FFF],](](]^23FFF])])],](](]^23000])])],](](]^23CCC])])],](]black]^23666]15]3]25]20]^23FFF],](](],](],](](],](]black](](](],](](](],]^23FFF](](](],](](]^23FFF](](](](](],]^2336F]^23F30](],](]Written^20at^20^24TIME^20by^20^24AUTH.]20],](](]^23FFF])])]^23CCC])])]^23666]30]black]black],](](]^23333](],](]^23333]^23039]^2306C]]]]Home]^24HOME]First^20Page]Email]^24EMAIL]Mail^20me^21]RSS]^24RSS]RSS^20Feed]Archive]]]^24ARCHIVE]^20]]Blogs]]]One^20Diverse^20Comic^20Book^20Nation])blog.horm.org]One^20Diverse^20Comic^20Book^20Nation]Beaucoup^20Kevin])www.beaucoupkevin.com/index.html]Beaucop^20Kevin]Comics^20Should^20Be^20Good])goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/]Comics^20Should^20Be^20Good]Comics^20Worth^20Reading])comicsworthreading.com/]Comics^20Worth^20Reading]When^20Fangirls^20Attack])womenincomics.blogspot.com/index.html]When^20Fangirls^20Attack]Girls^20Read^20Comics])www.girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/index.php]...and^20they^27re^20pissed]The^20Daily^20Cross^20Hatch])thedailycrosshatch.com/]Daily^20Cross^20Hatch]Forbidden^20Planet])forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog]Forbiden^20Planet]News]]]Sequart])sequart.com]Sequart]Newsarama^20Blog])blog.newsarama.com/]Newsarama^20Blog]The^20Beat])pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog]The^20Beat]Journalista^21])tcj.com/journalista/]Journalista^21]Publishers]]]Fantagraphics])www.fantagraphics.com/blog/index.html]FLOG^21]First^20Second^20Books])firstsecondbooks.typepad.com/mainblog/]First^20Second]Vertical^20Inc.])www.vertical-inc.com/blog]Vertical]Komikero])alanguilan.com/sanpablo/wbnormal.html]Komikero]Top^20Shelf^20Comix])www.topshelfcomix.com/blog/]Top^20Shelf]Etc]]]^3Cimg^20src^3D^22)psyc.horm.org/barimg/bar_psycho.png^22^20width^3D^2280^22^20height^3D^2215^22^20alt^3D^22PsycHo^3A^20Free^20Template^20Generator^22^20style^3D^22border^3A^200px^20solid^20black^22^20/^3E]^24PSYCHO]PsycHo^3A^20Free^20Template^20Generator]^3Cimg^20src^3D^22)psyc.horm.org/barimg/bar_firefox.png^22^20width^3D^2280^22^20height^3D^2215^22^20alt^3D^22Get^20FireFox^21^22^20style^3D^22border^3A^200px^20solid^20black^22^20/^3E])www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/]Get^20Firefox^21]^3Cimg^20src^3D^22)psyc.horm.org/barimg/bar_xhtml.png^22^20width^3D^2280^22^20height^3D^2215^22^20alt^3D^22XHTML^20Validator^22^20style^3D^22border^3A^200px^20solid^20black^22^20/^3E])validator.w3.org/check/referer]XHTML^20Validator^26^2361470^3BPsycHo}){kind=small}
