Second Printing!!

Comics! They're Not Just For Kids Anymore...

2012-01-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

Hey, kids... Crotches!

52 Pick-Up Pick Up

2011-11-22T13:51:00.000-08:00

5 months ago Devon and Graig did their very best to pre-judge DC's New 52. Now, they've had the chance to read (or at least read about) all the titles that have come out, as well as take a peek 3 months down the road), so they're putting in their 47,544 cents in about the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Week 1

Action Comics

Devon: Loving this one. I love the fact that even after All-Star Superman, Morrison still has something to say about the character. Morrison's taken Superman back to his 1930's "New Deal" roots, making him a champion for the "little man." The more things change, the more Superman stays relevant. Damned inspired pairing Morrison with Rags Morales. Great stuff.

Graig: Like Byrne's reboot in '86, Morrison has tweaked the character enough to make Clark fresh again, not just as a template for others to run with but as whole cloth. Morrison, more than any other writer in comics, thinks not just about the characters, not just about their legacy, but about their very meaning, such that he's able to rebuild Superman in a drastic manner and yet never lose the sense that it is, indeed Superman. Also like back in '86, there's the sense of building the character for a new generation. Gee, y'think I like it?

Animal Man

Devon: Did NOT expect to love this one as much as I have. Lemire's doing some incredibly smart things on this book. Really, really intrigued by what's going on with his daughter. Definitely "all-in" on this book.

Graig: Speaking of Morrison, even 20 years after he last touched the character, it's still got to be intimidating working in his shadow. But Jeff Lemire embraces Morrison's legacy while forging his own path with Buddy Baker and family. It's an odd - at times unsettling - but tremendous read so far.

Batgirl

Devon: I honestly haven't read it. I just can't bring myself to do it. I know it's Gail Simone but even with her there; it feels forced. It just feels wrong. I don't believe she can be just anyone anymore, not even Batgirl. This comic has shown me I'm not a Barbara Gordon fan. I'm an Oracle fan.

Graig: While I've finally gotten over the fact that the Stephanie Brown Batgirl series was forced into a premature end, the Barbara Gordan-as-Batgirl revival has proven a poor consolation.

Batwing

Devon: Read the first two and they weren't bad. Heck, they were enjoyable. The thing is, this feels like it should've been presented as a mini-series and branded as Batman Inc: Batwing.

Graig: For some reason I hadn't mustered up any enthusiasm for this series, but I am starting to get curious about this mystery of The Kingdom, "Africa's greatest super team". This may be something I need to pick up in the dollar bins a few years down the road.

Detective Comics

Devon: When did nailing a face to a wall become suspenseful? Movies like "Saw" have lowered the bar on what we think suspense is. Suspense is Hitchcock; Daniel's 'Tec feels like wannabe HBO pilot starring some iteration of Batman. Dropped after 2 issues.

Graig: So like "STARZ presents: Batman"? I've heard in almost equal numbers people praises and put downs this series. But most of the people on the put-down side are people like myself who have never had any enthusiasm for Tony Daniel's work and, also like myself, aren't reading the book. Ignorance is bliss?

Green Arrow

Graig: Neil Gaiman and Mike Mignola. Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. Grant Morrison and Adam Hughes. Oh, don't mind me. I'm just trying to think of writer/artist combos that would actually make me give a shit about this Green Arrow series.

Devon: Ha! Agreed.

Hawk and Dove

Devon: Once again, I'd like to thank inker Karl Kesel for teaching me what an inker does. Kesel was Liefeld's first inker and made the guy's work look gorgeous. It's been downhill ever since. And... and this book takes place in my hometown and where I still live, Washington, DC. Rob, I know there's a shorthand but damn, DC is more than The Washington Monument and The Capitol. You don't draw feet and you don't draw neighborhoods.

Graig: I can't even think of a single writer partnered with Rob Liefeld that would entice me to buy this book. If you like him, more power to you, but that is officially the worst drawing of Batman I've ever seen. It's making me nauseous looking at it.

Devon: Well, Sterling Gates has already been dropped from the title. Sooo...

Justice League International

Devon: Meh. Just nothing there for me. From what I've heard, it's not that good.

Graig: Were this book in the old DCU I would be more enticed, but in a sense that we're starting from scratch with most of these characters in this title, I can't be bothered. Also I think Justice League: Generation Lost soured me on the whole idea of the JLI.

Men of War

Graig: This book is, schmaltzy back-up feature aside, damn good. It's a shame that writer Ivan Brandon is parting ways with the title, it really is.

Devon: Huh. I didn't know that. I just couldn't figure out what this book was supposed to be. A war book, yes but half the book was about fighting super-villains or something and then the other half was about soldiers in Afghanistan, I think. There was just too much of a disconnect there.

Graig: I can see that. The back-up feature was really not a good idea. The main story is really about a grunt's eye view into the superhero world, and how all those beyond-reality powers affects their job.

O.M.A.C.

Devon: Didn't bother. It just looked... weird. Not even Kirby-weird. Just weird.

Graig: As expected from Dan Didio's Outsiders run, this book is fairly poorly written, and yet the Giffen injection tempers the cringe factor with a hell of a lot of fun. I'm so torn.

Static Shock

Devon: I read the first and it was just OK. Also, it's never good to hear the writer's leaving while you're reading the second. Artist Scott McDaniel is the interim writer so there's some continuity, writing-wise but this book's already in trouble. Hopefully, new writer Marc Bernardin can find a trajectory for this title.

Graig: Outside of the six-issue Xombi series prior to the reboot there hasn't been a well executed story with the Milestone characters since they've been integrated into the DCU. This certainly isn't doing it, and I'm certain Scott McDaniel is the wrong writer and artist for Static. That said, I'm sticking with it because Static deserves to have an ongoing series, indefinitely. So I'm going to be one of those fans. Just this once.

Stomwatch

Graig: Paul Cornell's relaunch of Stormwatch kicked off as if it had been an ongoing series for years, with not much introduction to the characters or lead into the story. But two issues later it's starting to come together.

Devon: Enjoying it. There's a lot going on and this could actually hurt this book. Like Graig said, it kicked off like it's been a series for years, making it not the greatest book for readers ready to try something new.

Swamp Thing

Devon: Loving this one! Beautifully drawn and feels more in line with the Wein/Wrightson Swamp Thing and that's not unwelcome.

Graig: I haven't been reading it but I think, like Lemire is doing with Animal Man, Scott Snyder is embracing the past while forging forward. I also think Snyder and Lemire are conspiring to thread their two books together, so I'll probably get it in trade to catch up.

Week 2

Batman and Robin

Graig: Devon said in a recent review that Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are firing on all cylinders with Bruce and Damian (which they didn't so much with Dick and Damian pre-reboot) so I'm feeling more positive about this series than I was to start. I'll give it a shot starting with the next storyline.

Devon: This has truly my favorite of ALL 52 titles. Tomasi and Gleason are making me fans of Damian Wayne. He's a born killer and was for maybe 80% of his life. (He's ten.) His father, Bruce Wayne, is trying to temper that and something like that just doesn't go away. The results have been a joy to behold. Just absolutely love where they're taking this.

Batwoman

Graig: Any hesitation I had about a Greg Rucka-less Batwoman series dissipated within 3 pages of issue 1. Even if the story were crap, which mercifully it's the opposite, J.H. Williams' art alone continues makes it a must-read. But when Amy Reeder takes over on alternating art chores, Williams and W. Hayden Blackman have proven they have more than a solid handle on Kate Kane (plus Cameron Chase!)

Devon: Man, the minute I saw Chase and Mister Bones on the page, I knew I was home!
What can you say about J.H. Williams? Batwoman is a design clinic and his writing is as good as what was going on with Rucka. The whole thing with kidnapping of children is very intriguing. Very happy to have this book back on the stands.

Deathstroke

Devon: I want to love this book but I just don't know if I have the energy I had 20 years ago to be a Deathstroke fan. It's like, "Look, he's doing something bad-ass," when I'm really learning to enjoy naps. I think I may have outgrown the character.

Graig: I was surprised to see how good the art on this series looks. However, just like Devon, I officially burned out on Deathstroke towards the end of his first series in the '90's and have never recovered. And that new wardrobe is gawdawful (I imagine it's a pain in the ass to illustrate page after page too).

Demon Knights

Devon: I like this book. It's intriguing with a weird energy that make you want to read it.

Graig: This was one of those New 52 books which I had no interest in, yet for some reason or another picked it up and, in spite of myself, enjoyed it. It's not perfect, but I quite like the cast, and the Etrigan/Madame Xanadu/Jason Blood love triangle is ingenious.

Frankenstein: Agents of S.H.A.D.E.

Graig: Frankenstein, Lady Frankenstein, Creature Commandos, Ray Palmer and his micro-city headquarters, Father Time now an Umbrella Academy kid, Monster Planet.. this book is fucking awesome. It's just a shame I don't like the art all that much. Let's vie for a Frankenstein, Hellboy, Atomic Robo three-way team-up.

Devon: That would be AWESOME! I admit I stopped at one, simply because I was like, "This is gonna make a great trade paperback."

Green Lantern

Graig: As much as I would like to hate on this book (because I hate Hal Jordan), I really like what Johns is doing here (and actually what he's subversively been doing all along) which is turning Green Lantern into a book about Sinestro. Plus Doug Mahnke is just slaughtering it with his art. That guy is so good it makes me want to punch things.

Devon: Despite myself, I'm enjoying this. Johns is doing this thing where he's proving Sinestro's the ultimate Green Lantern and that Hal Jordan sucks at being Hal Jordan and that just makes me laugh.

Grifter

Devon: I tried. I really did. I just couldn't get into the whole Daemonite fighting thing again.

Graig: Were this a movie, it would be a Jason Statham vehicle. Take that for what you will (and I'm not saying Statham is the right casting choice for Grifter - that'd be Josh Hollaway) but that's just the type of story this is. It appears CAFU is moving over to Blackhawks and Scott Clark is coming aboard, which may or may not impact my overall enjoyment level of the series. We'll see.

Legion Lost

Devon: Never was a Legion fan. Sorry.

Graig: A few years back I went through a "Legion" period, wherein I read (in the approximate of) 300 Legion of Super-Heroes/Legionnaires/Legion Lost comics in the span of a year, and reading the ongoing(s) ever since. Before that I had read, maybe, 10 Legion books in total over a 20 year span. I think I'm returning to that.

Mister Terrific

Devon: This book has everything against it: The character's origins are decidedly pre "DC 52." It has a writer no one's really heard of and initially, had three different artists scheduled in its first three issues. Well, they did manage to find an artist for the first three issues but he wasn't the guy you want to debut a book with. Also, one of the "draws" of this book is that it features Karen Starr, the former Power Girl. It just does nothing but put people off to see her not herself in this new universe.

Graig: Terrific: those covers by J.G. Jones. Not Terrific: everything else. It's a damn shame.

Red Lanterns

Devon: Hey, kids! COMICS!

Graig: 5 months ago, Devon said: "Ed Benes on art? Even though this book is about rage-filled aliens, somehow, we're gonna get an ass-shot out of this." If only. Instead we got a scantily clad women seductively posing under a blood-vomit shower. In my head this reads as a negative, but I'm sure some will read that as a good thing.

Resurrection Man

Devon: Man, the artist is great and the writing is solid. Better than I expected.

Graig: I enjoy this book on a level that makes me regularly question my objectivity towards it. I think it's friggin' great, but I'm not 100% certain that it is as great as I think it is.

Suicide Squad

Graig: While this book would be 10 times better were Marco Rudy the regular series artist as originally solicited, it's actually been surprisingly good even without. Adam Glass has adopted many of the elements that made John Ostrander's Suicide Squad and Gail Simone's Secret Six work while still injecting a few new ones of his own. It's still more visceral than smart entertainment, but the seeds of good characterization and team dynamics have been firmly planted.

Devon: I could not disagree more. Evrything in this book feels entirely arbitrary. From the criminal's motivations to the characterization; nothing makes sense. This book's just a total waste.

Hey, we disagreed on something!

Graig: Whoa, wasn't expecting that. Coming soon on Second Printing, Graig and Devon battle over Suicide Squad... rap battle...

Devon: Can I be Ghostface Killah?

Superboy

Graig: I hear many, many people are surprised by this book, which, in turn, has surprised me. The art, actually, looks quite lovely, but I think the Teen Titans connection is putting me off.

Devon: OK, we agreed again.

Graig: Phew... Can we still do the Suicide Squad rap battle?

Week 3

Batman

Devon: Such a great book. Scott Snyder is expanding on the world of Gotham. I've always held Gotham is as much a character in Batman as anything else so as an unabashed Gotham fan, I'm absolutely in heaven.

Graig: I flat-out loved what Grant Morrison did on Batman, but I honestly am enjoying Scott Snyder's work (previously on Detective Comics, and now here) even more. This story is shaping up to be epic, yet personal. And Greg Capullo... man, that guy is talented, something I'd have never known had he not escaped the McFarlane gutter.

Birds of Prey

Devon: I don't know when I stopped caring about BoP but it happened. This feels more like the recently cancelled Gotham City Sirens than Birds so this doesn't help things much.

Graig: Birds of Prey has always been a back-burner title for me, one which I'll pick up if I'm running low on things to read, but also one I'm quick to drop when I'm reading too much. Status quo.

Blue Beetle

Devon: It's not a bad book but it just feels sort of unnecessary and trying to cater to a Blue Beetle audience that never really was there to begin with.

Graig: Can't shake the feeling that I've been here before. Like Devon said, it's not a bad book, but it seems like Tony Bedard is just rephrasing the last Blue Beetle series.

Captain Atom

Devon: The problem with Captain Atom is that I just keep wanting him to go all Dr. Manhattan on The DC Universe. That'd be cool.

Graig: Oh, totally. Instead he's just a Firestorm clone here.
Before the reboot, JT Krul had returned the Teen Titans to an excellence it hadn't seen since the late-1980's, so I know he's not a bad writer. Yet, this is dreadful storytelling and characterization. It's like the title was fobbed on him and he has no idea what to do with it. Freddie Williams II has adopted a new art style which is actually quite incredible, so it's just unfortunate he's not provided with the copy to compliment it.

Catwoman

Graig: Ignoring the sex hullabaloo, I'm usually not all that interested in Catwoman unless a writer can make me interested in Catwoman. I don't dislike Judd Winick like some people do, but he's just not going to entice me to read. Guillem March, on the other hand...

Devon: I've really been enjoying this book. It's got a weird energy to it. Issue three's ending shocked me by actually being... good.

DC Universe Presents

Devon: I sort of burned out on Deadman after Blackest Night.

Graig: We are agreed yet again! Deadman used to be one of my favourite guest-star characters. Geoff Johns' thrusting of him into the spotlight in Brightest Day (and now his high profile New DCU appearances, not to mention a relationship with Dove... wtf?) has killed most of that enthusiasm.
Issue 6 kicks off the New DCU Challengers of the Unknown, which intrigues me more. I look forward to see what else gets a revival before this title is canceled.

Green Lantern Corps

Graig: I think I've just overdosed on Green Lantern stuff in the past few years and don't have much interest in the peripheral series. Sorry John. Sorry Guy. Sorry Kilowog. Sorry G'nort.

Devon: Sorry Peter Tomasi. At least John Stewart's in this GL Corps series.

Justice League

Devon: Subtlety need not apply to this Justice League title. Not loving it but not disliking it either. It's like Kool-Aid, it has no sort of value but when you're thirsty, it's there.

Graig: Man there is some clunky, clunky writing in this book. In Green Lantern we get Geoff Johns in top form, and over in Justice League is about as bad as I've ever seen his writing get.

Legion of Super-Heroes

Devon: All I can think is that I'll have to say I've never been a Legion fan, twice.

Graig: The first issue of this book was so bad that I've literally sworn off the Legion of Super-Heroes. Okay, not literally as I've been suckered into the Star Trek/Legion crossover, which itself isn't great but it is ridiculous and therefore worth paying some attention to.

Nightwing

Devon: Great artist, Nightwing and it's just sort of there. I was hoping for something. It's intangible but this Nightwing title just doesn't have whatever it is I'm looking for. I have the third issue but haven't been able to get to it. Hopefully, it'll be better than the last.

Graig: I like the story Kyle Higgins is telling, and he's got a good handle on Dick Grayson, but his execution isn't close to perfect. It's not Justice League-level clunky but it does get ham-handed at times. Eddie Barrows' richly detailed artwork helps it along nicely though.

Red Hood and the Outlaws

Graig: Jason Todd, Roy Harper and Starfire. Written by Scott Lobdell, art by Kenneth Rockafort. So... what about this is supposed to attract me as a reader, exactly?

Devon: Ha! I'm enjoying the hell out of this. It's just a ridiculous comic. It's got two former promiscuous kid sidekicks teaming with a promiscuous alien princess. They shoot things, visit monasteries and trip on their own memories. All done with incredible art. What's not to love?

Supergirl

Devon: No real surprises in this comic. It's just Supergirl. Nothing wrong with that.

Graig: If I had to pick from all the surprises, this would be my biggest surprise. Something about the simplicity of storytelling in this book is absolutely clicking right with me, to the point that I'm enjoying this as much as I'm enjoying any book in the new 52.

Wonder Woman
Devon: Man, this one's ACES. If you liked Azz's 100 Bullets, you'll find a lot to love here. The gods are petty and vile things always vying for more power and ruining whatever come into contact with them and Wonder Woman refuses to be another pawn. Love it! Cliff Chiang is doing the work of his life. Second favorite book of the new launch.

Graig: Congrats Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, you've made me care about Wonder Woman again. That's no small feat.

Week 4

All-Star Western

Graig: I don't know why I'm not reading this. It seems like it should be something I'm reading. Jonah Hex and an Arkham descendant in a buddy action-western. Why am I not reading this?

Devon: If I told you writers Palmiotti and Gray are setting up the basis for Batman's future bad-ass-ness using Jonah Hex as a precursor, would that help? They are with the man who'll found Arkham Asylum as Hex's second. Add to this, a secret society based on The Crime Bible (heavily featured in the adventures of Batwoman and The Question) and the machinations of a certain Mayor Cobblepot and I'm so geeked to find out where this is all going.

Aquaman

Graig: On the Geoff Johns chart we have Green Lantern on the left... "best"... and Justice League on the right... "worst"... Aquaman falls squarely in the middle. There's some good stuff -- like the vicious man-eating sub-marinian creature horde hitting the surface world -- and some painful stuff, like Johns' attempt at subverting Aquaman's image. The Mera/Aquaman relationship is a little flowery, but then, I think it should be.

Devon: Eh, I'm enjoying it. It has a certain charm. It's sure pretty as Ivan Reis is drawing it. It doesn't challenge in the way that writer Will Pfeifer's Aquaman run did but frankly, at this time, it's not what the character needs. Aquaman needs sales and Johns is the man for the job.

Batman: The Dark Knight

Devon: A funny thing happened at my comics shop, the first issue sold out in one day so I never got a chance to read it. Then, I heard it was about Two-Face doing Bane's drug, Venom and I knew I'd won a little that day.

Graig: That cover for issue number 6 provides all the reason I need for not reading this book.

Blackhawks

Devon: Human Defense Corps. Look it up. It was better when it was that.

Graig: I loved Human Defense Corps so much that I've bought the series twice (after I loaned out my first copies and they never came back)! With Mike Costa ("Cobra") on board as writer I had hoped for a GI Joe-in-the-DCU type of book. It didn't seem like it from the first issue, but perhaps I was wrong. I'll give it a second shot with the next storyline.

The Flash

Devon: Heard good things about this, unfortunately, Flashpoint put me off of Barry Allen. May have to reconsider though.

Graig: Francis Manapul is doing some of the most incredible panel work this side of JH Williams, but I still have no interest in reading a Flash book starring Barry Allen. My Wally West devotion runs deep (pun!).

The Fury of Firestorm

Devon: This one looks like someone asked, "What if we took the car Voltron and put it with the lion Voltron, it would be twice as awesome." No, it wouldn't. It'd be like The Fury of Firestorm.

Graig: This book should appeal to me, this book should excite me, yet I don't want to touch this book like it were actually on fire. Something is definitely wrong here.

Green Lantern: New Guardians

Devon: Burned out on Green Lanterns. Even a book featuring my fave Lantern, Kyle.

Graig: Yeah, no thanks.

I, Vampire

Graig: Another book I didn't think I would would ever have reason to read, and it turns out, it's incredible. It's one of the 10 best of the new 52. Maybe top 5 even.

Devon: Agreed. I still hold the first issue's cover hurt the book as it looked like a Twilight rip but this is just a very nuanced series that any horror fan can get into.

Justice League Dark

Devon: I like that two issues in and no one's referred to them as Justice League Dark. It's an intriguing idea; having former Vertigo mainstays on a Justice League team but yeah, it's just sort of awkward. Really awkward. Like Vertigo in DC's clothing awkward.

Graig: It's an intriguing book that maybe should be a mini-series, or perhaps not a "Justice League" series, but, yeah, intriguing.

The Savage Hawkman

Devon: Seven years ago, I created a blog called "Seven Hells!" simply because of my love for Hawkman. Two years ago, I made a Facebook page out of the same. Three months ago, I didn't read Savage Hawkman #1 out of that same love. Hawkman deserves better.

Graig: Dear DC, if you want me to read the Savage Hawkman, I have two words for you: Ralph and Sue. Until then, I'm out.

Superman

Devon: Boring. Superman should NEVER be boring. Or introspective. This is Superman for God's sake. This should be the flagship, the standard-bearer, instead, we get an announcement days after the first issue's release that no one's happy with their work. You tugged on his cape, DC.

Graig: George Perez writes dense, dense comics. They're world building, but not incredibly exciting. He's off the book as of issue 7 (wherein Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen take over writing chores temporarily, as they're doing with Green Arrow) which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but does make me kind of sad. Nicola Scott doing fill-in issues, that makes me happy.

Teen Titans

Devon: Haha! If I didn't know what this was, I don't think I'd want to know. It looks atrocious.

Graig: I don't know about the writing but everything about this book looks wrong. I've pooped better looking costumes.

Voodoo

Graig: Even if the entire critical blog-o-sphere said this was the best title of the New 52 (not that ANYBODY is saying that) I would still be scratching my head over its mere existence. I admit, I'm kind of curious what this book could possibly be about, but not curious to spend any money on it.

Devon: They should just call this "Comic Book. Tits."

Post-52

Penguin: Pain and Prejudice

Devon: I like The Penguin. Not enough to read a Penguin mini, mind you.

Graig: Exactly. This just makes me wonder why the talented people involved are spending so much time and effort telling a story about the Penguin.

Huntress

Graig: There's not much revolutionary about the storytelling here, but Paul Levitz is dishing out a solid action comic, and Marcus To's art is gorgeous without being salacious. It's just a solid, solid read.

Devon: I always thought Huntress, with her street level vigilante ways and mob connections, would make a great Marvel character. This book proves it. And yes, To's art is gorgeous but the true revelation is how well John Dell's inks compliment To's pencils. Keep these two together, DC.

The Shade

Graig: Or: How James Robinson Got His Groove Back. The artists lined up for this 12-issue mini-series should make it a must-read for anyone who's a fan of comic book art.

Devon: Amen. I've been enjoying this. Robinson seems happiest when writing Starman's universe.

Legion: Secret Origin

Graig: Sigh. The Legion's origin story is perhaps the most boring thing about them. I don't need to read yet another retelling of it.

Devon: (sigh)

My Greatest Adventure

Graig: A Matt Kindt Robotman story? I'll read that in trade. A Kevin Maguire original creation... I remember "Strikeback"...

Devon: Speaking of "Strikeback," remember one of Malibu's other titles, Sludge? Know who drew it? The guy drawing and writing The Garbageman feature in "My Greatest Adventure." I passed then, I'll pass now.

The Ray
Devon: Artist Jamal Igle should be doing something... else. I just don't even know what to say.

Graig: Hrm. I liked the Ray back in the 1990's. This is not that Ray. Even if it were, I'm still not sure I'd have an opinion either way.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents

Devon: Loved the series from a few months back so I'm back in.

Graig: If you read all the hype behind THUNDER Agents, it wouldn't hold up to it. But if someone told you "it's good", you'd probably read it and agree.

Batman Beyond Unlimited

Devon: I get the appeal. Just was never a fan.

Graig: I also never liked the Batman Beyond cartoon like I liked the Batman Animated series that preceded it, but I flipped my shit when the "Beyond" universe cropped up in Justice League Unlimited. This new book kind of excites me.

---------------

Devon's Top 5
1) Batman and Robin
2) Wonder Woman
3) Batman
4) Animal Man
5) Action Comics

Graig's Top 5
1) Batman
2) Animal Man
3) Batwoman
4) I, Vampire
5) Supergirl

Kyle Rayner, Swag Swag #likeCaillou

2011-10-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

Chances are if you're not Canadian and don't have children then you don't know of Caillou. I am Canadian and chances are if I never had kids then I'd have never heard of Caillou, and I'd probably be the happier for it.

Caillou is an insufferably precious, balloon-headed bald kid whose parents treat him like he's exceptionally fragile, as if he's going through chemotherapy or something (would explain the baldness). I swear they break down crying every time time they're not in the room with him. The narrator of the program talks in that manner as if she's about to break out in a chuckle all the time, and it grates on my goddamn nerves... but not as much as the theme song, which I can only stomach when I pretend it's David Cross singing it old-school broadway style, wearing a beanie cap and painted on freckles. Worse still, it's bloody infectious, one of those earworms that crawls inside your brain and makes a home.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Here you go, listen at your own risk.

Anyway, what's the point? Point is this:

Kyle Rayner is no fan of Caillou. He straight up bum rushed that Hector Hammond-looking kid off his fireman Big Wheel and is gone, baby gone, singing his own damn version of the Caillou theme song:

I'm Earth's Green Lantern number four,
once the only one but now there's more,
including a dog named G'nort,
I'm KyleRayner

One night I drank too much and had to pee,
wandered into a back alley,
that's where the ring found me,
I'm KyleRayner

Found my girlfriend in a fridge and joined the JLA...
but my ring keeps slinging, creating new shapes...

This space cop thing is not so tough,
but that Black Lantern thing was kinda rough,
and Hal Jordan can suck my nut,
I'm KyleRayner, KyleRayner, I'm KyleRayner... That's me.

I get bored sometimes.

Week 4 - "The Last of The New 52"

2011-10-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

Q. Hasn't everyone talked "The New 52" to death yet?
A. No!
Real A. Well, maybe. But I'm still more than a little fascinated by it all. It's like pilot season each fall, only I doubt that, with all the channels combined, there's even 52 new TV shows being rolled out this season. We've been doing a sort of mini-coverage of the Fall TV pilots on (one of) my other blog(s) "Graig and David Sometimes Disagree (about movies and other stuff)" and there, like with "The New 52" I've gotten suckered in to sticking with shows I didn't think I'd like, left disappointed by others I thought would be better, forcing myself to stick with some that have potential and/or talent I generally find appealing hoping they'll get better, and had my suspicions confirmed on many that they're just as bad as they appeared.

With "The New 52", I've picked up a total of 28 titles, six of which I hadn't originally intended to pick up but either got intrigued by the word of mouth (Animal Man, I, Vampire, Demon Knights) or was drawn in by some fanboy attraction (Justice League being the first of the new 52, sheer curiosity over Superman, and a serious appreciation for Keith Giffen as an artist on OMAC).

For my own edification and perhaps your amusement, I will now go title-by-title with a very quick synopsis of my feelings on each ("DNB" denotes "Did Not Buy")

Justice League - will read digitally through the first storyline, but not really all that enthused so far

Week 1
Action Comics - I'm in as long as Grant Morrison is, because I'm a Morrison fanboy
Animal Man - the first issue was indeed as great as everyone said it was. I'm sticking with for a bit.
Batgirl - Charmless, dropped.
Batwing - (DNB) wasn't interested, liked the artwork from previews but still not all that interested.
Detective Comics - (DNB) don't really care for Tony Daniel's writing, and the much touted "shock ending" only pushes me away more.
Green Arrow - (DNB) no interest, reviews have left me with no interest
Hawk and Dove - (DNB) Liefeld
Justice League International - (DNB) despite being a huge minor character buff, this title has no interest to me (mainly due to the uninspiring creative team)
Men of War - a fairly solid book but unfortunately saddled with a back-up feature. Sticking with it for a while.
O.M.A.C. - Giffen's artwork is delightful, but it's just not resonating story-wise. I'll give it a couple issues.
Static Shock - It's not great, but I like Static so much I'm sticking with it in hopes it gets better.
Stomwatch - I like Paul Cornell but Stormwatch's narrative structure is a mess, but if it gets corrected it should be really good. Sticking with it for the first storyline.
Swamp Thing - (DNB) I've heard it's good, and I like both writer and artist, but I'm just not a big Swamp Thing fan. Maybe in trade?

Week 2
Batman and Robin - (DNB) wasn't thrilled with Tomasi and Gleason's previous B&R work so I avoided.
Batwoman - great looking, obviously, but surprisingly good reading too. Long haul.
Deathstroke - (DNB) no interest at all
Demon Knights - I don`t really get into the whole medieval thing often, but I quite liked this. I`ll stick with it through the first storyline at least.
Frankenstein: Agents of S.H.A.D.E. - it`s out there and friggin fantastic. Long Haul
Green Lantern - I`m not sure if I`m bored of Green Lantern yet. I`ll give it a couple months.
Grifter - I loved the first issue (though strangely a lot of people loathed it). I`m with it through the first storyline, and hope it can carry the goodness beyond that.
Legion Lost - (DNB) I don't think a second legion book was necessary (especially considering how disruptive it's been to the first book). Not now, not ever.
Mister Terrific - I so want this to be good, but it's really not. A new artist might go a long way to salvaging it. I'll read until it's to painful to continue (which by my estimation is 2 more issues)
Red Lanterns - (DNB) no interest
Resurrection Man - the first issue wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for this old fan of the original series. Long haul.
Suicide Squad - I wasn't expecting to like it, but, art aside, I thought it was awesome. Long haul.
Superboy - (DNB) looked painful, so I skipped it. Heard it wasn't too bad, but that's not inspiring me at all.

Week 3
Batman - this was the best of the best of the New 52. Pure entertainment with pointy little ears. I'm on as long as Scott Snyder is writing.
Birds of Prey - (DNB) I'm keeping my eye on this one but not ready to add to the pull list yet
Blue Beetle - Not too bad, but nothing great or even all that different from the last Blue Beetle series. One more issue before I decide yea or nay.
Captain Atom - the first issue was more boring than a first issue should be but I'm giving it another issue or two to turn itself into something worthwhile, but not holding my breath
Catwoman - (DNB) look, I like sexy lady drawings as much as the next guy, but this just doesn`t seem right. Not for me.
DC Universe Presents - (DNB) I`m finding the recent spotlight on Deadman has made him far less interesting to me. I`ll see what the next DCUP arc offers up and the one after that, and the one after that.
Green Lantern Corps - (DNB) I hit GL exhaustion point after Blackest Night, so no interest
Legion of Super-Heroes - I like the Legion quite a bit, but the first issue was so terrible it`s absolutely soured me on them for the time being. Dropped.
Nightwing - the wife wasn`t completely turned off by the new series, so it`ll keep getting picked up until she tires of it.
Red Hood and the Outlaws - (DNB) no thanks
Supergirl - I liked this more than I think anyone did. I`m in with Kara a good long while, or maybe until the creative team changes.
Wonder Woman - okay, I`m digging this. I`ll be around a while to see where it goes

Week 4
All-Star Western - (DNB) heard it`s pretty good. I`ll keep my eyes on the reviews and maybe pick up the first arc in trade if it holds up.
Aquaman - good enough to pick up the next couple issues, but we`ll have to see from there
Batman: The Dark Knight - (DNB) I`m satisfied with just one Batman title a month, thanks.
Blackhawks - I was excited for it and seriously let down. I`m not giving it a second chance.
The Flash - (DNB) Looks pretty but I`m still holding out for Wally`s return.
The Fury of Firestorm - (DNB) skimmed through it and it looked awful, which reviews have confirmed. Poor Gail.
Green Lantern: New Guardians - (DNB) I was thinking about picking up this one because I like the lantern spectrum concept, but I heard it wasn't great so I'm passing for now.
I, Vampire - I'm so bored with vampires, but I was shocked by how great the first issue was. I'm into it, at least for now I am.
Justice League Dark - It was an entertaining enough read, I'm not sure it's my thing though.
The Savage Hawkman - (DNB) see Detective Comics
Superman - I'm torn, I kind of liked it but kind of didn't. The fanboy in me wants to know about the Superman of the new DCU, but I'm not sure if I'm really all that interested. I'll give it another issue and see.
Teen Titans - (DNB) I'm still so miffed that DC finally got the Titans back on the right track and now they offer this crappy looking reboot. No thanks.
Voodoo - (DNB) reviews were surprising, though not overwhelming enough to get me on this book. If it's worthy I might try in trade.

---
Stray Thoughts:

The books of the New DCU are already being threaded together. With Madam Xanadu appearing in both Demon Knights and Justice League Dark, with mentions of the larger superheroics of the DCU in disconnected titles such as I, Vampire and Men of War, and crossover companies like Cadmus in O.M.A.C. and Superboy, not to mention the thematic return of super-science in so many of the titles. Static is sharing New York with Hawkman and Captain Atom, Wonder Woman is about to battle some gods, and Circe just showed up in Men of War.

There are tendrils strewn throughout, and while it is making the shared universe seem really big, it's perhaps over-connected, and with 52 titles and all these new and used heroes cropping up in a 5-year span it actually seems somewhat overwhelming. As well, I'm not sure seeding the "shared universe" so heavily is a good idea to keep new readers interested in the titles they've picked up. I know even as a reader of half the line-up I don't want to feel forced into reading anything more just to understand what characters are talking about.

It's only a matter of time before the crossovers and guest-stars to start happening (I believe there's one scheduled already for October) but I think each of the books (well, those that aren't sharing space or characters with other books) should have room to breath and develop on their own first.

---
Cancellation Notice:

Back to the Fall Pilot Season comparison, I read today that NBC's The Playboy Club has already been axed three episodes in. While it's rare for comics to nix a series before its tenth issue, it may happen with more than a few of these books and in rapid fashion. Obviously some books, like anything Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Justice League are safe, but others may not fare so well despite quality.

Here's my chopping block predictions for the first two years:

Batwing - 18 issues
Blackhawks - 9 issues
Blue Beetle - 20 issues
Captain Atom - 10 issues
Deathstroke - 20 issues
Grifter - 13 issues
Hawk and Dove - 15 issues
I, Vampire - 22 issues
Legion Lost - 12 issues
Men of War - 8 issues
Mister Terrific - 18 issues
O.M.A.C. - 8 issues
Resurrection Man - 18 issues
Static Shock - 16 issues
Voodoo - 12 issues

And I'm betting the following don't make it past a third year (though I hope I'm wrong on most of them):
Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Green Arrow, Demon Knights, Frankenstein, DC Universe Presents, Red Lanterns, Fury of Firestorm, Savage Hawkman, Suicide Squad, Stormwatch

DC has now flung their poop at the wall, so I guess we'll have to see what sticks, what stinks and what surprisingly smells like roses.

The DCnU 52 - week 3

2011-09-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

Week 3 of "The New 52" brought to mind two thoughts (and since I didn't read Catwoman, one of them wasn't "I love boobies"), the first being that the DCU has become egregiously more violent than it was a month ago. Sure there was a lot of violence before, but it wasn't quite as graphic as it's gotten now.

In Nightwing a couple of cops had their throats slashed out as Dick Grayson ducked and avoided an assassin so that he could change into Nightwing without revealing his identity. "That's on me" he said, which is about as meaningful as the badly grammatical "My bad." At least he acknowledged it, but still, how much is it really going to affect dear old Dick in his nightly crime fighting. If it actually does have an impact, I'll be really impressed.

Over in Wonder Woman, a couple of horses got their heads lopped off so that human-esque upper torsos could crawl their way up out of the neck-holes. Later, Diana tosses a blade which lops off the arm of one of these centaurs. I wonder if another mini-human torso will grow out of it.

In Batman, the Dark Knight Detective comes upon a scene where the victim has been strung up in a Virtuvian Man-style position, only with dozens upon dozens of blades sticking out of him, as noted in the scene, "whoever did it missed every one of John Doe's major arteries -- on purpose. Meaning they wanted to hurt him very badly, for a long, long time."

[If you want to see the grand guignol Bleeding Cool has combined the greatest hits for ya. We try to run a clean ship here.]

I'm not prudish, and I don't mind excessive violence [or sex, for that matter], but I think things like having the Joker's face peeled off at the end of the first issue of the flagship title for the company, or having a guy force-fed his garden hose in Batgirl #1 might not be the impact one wants to have... or maybe it is. I suppose it's a matter of context as well, as I didn't flinch at all seeing King Shark chomp off a guy's arm in Suicide Squad, but then that's what I expected from that book. I'm not sure I expect a full-on, tits-out affair from a Catwoman ongoing series (Vampirella, Lady Death, yes). If you came at us with a "mature readers" Catwoman: The Night The Tights Came Off In Georgia, then yeah, I would expect it there . Is the excessive violence of the bisections and crushed-heads sort that Geoff Johns has fondly delivered in his comics the intended status-quo for "The New 52"? Should it be?

You see just as much on your average episode of CSI or Sparatacus:Blood and Sand, but I thought, and I guess I thought incorrectly, that DC was looking to attract new readers to their books, and by new readers I had assumed younger readers, since their most loyal (or perhaps just vocal) audience came in around the post-Crisis reboot era at a young age, when comics were still relatively accessible to that age group. This leads directly into my second point, that DC has issued, 39 books so far, and not one has had an anything less than a "T" (for Teen") rating.

Where are the books that the kids can read, that can transition them in their pre-teen years from the Tiny Titans and Brave and the Bold/Young Justice/cartoon-tie-in comics to the DC Universe proper? You should have gateway books with characters like Static or Blue Beetle or Supergirl, all of which produced relatively clean first issues, but with a "T" rating I don't know that a younger reader won't be exposed to neck-slashey-face-peely-bodice-rippy material an issue or two down the road.

In some respect I understand that DC isn't "going dark" or "grim'n'grittiy" again, but that their entertainment is just, in many places, reflecting the entertainment that pervades popular culture at large. Every book isn't going to Saw-like torture porn, just like every book isn't going to be Jersey Shore-sex shenanigans (where Starfire is the only character to come close to matching Snooki's particular skin tone), or a gothic horror, or a military action set-piece or space opera or whatever.

But at the same time DC is saying they're diversifying their line with the types of stories they're telling, they're not trying very hard at diversifying the audience they want to be telling these stories to. "T" for "Teen" seems to be the main point, with sensationalistic imagery in places it's truly like they want teenagers to show it to their friends and say "you gotta see this, this shit is sick" (you know, in the way that they say "sick" meaning "cool" meaning "rad" meaning "good"*) or perhaps also meaning, well, sick, as in depraved, or morally incorrect, or abhorrent, or unwell.

This isn't to say DC isn't producing some good books, and that I'm not enjoying wading through "the New 52" like it was pilot season, because I am, but I wonder if, after the novelty of examining the new DC Universe through a critical lens, whether most of the books and the new universe itself will still be at all interesting beyond a few exceptional titles.

---

My current top ten favs of "the New 52" (having read 22 out of 39)

1. Batman #1
2. Grifter #1
3. Batwoman #1
4. Supergirl #1
5. Animal Man #1
6. Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1
7. Wonder Woman #1
8. Action Comics #1
9. Suicide Squad #1
10. Men of War #1

* not sure the kids even say "sick" anymore?

DCnU, week 2

2011-09-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

So last week's grumbling about the art of the "DCnU" books doesn't bear as much weight this week. Of the seven books I picked up this week I can say that I loved the art in over half of them, I mean J.H. Williams III on Batwoman and Doug Mahnke on Green Lantern are two of the premiere artists in comics right now. Then there's the lesser known CAFU and Bit on Grifter (their ultra-clean lines impressed me on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and just as much here) and Fernando Dagnino on Resurrection Man may not be the conventional "hot" artist, but his Gene Colan aesthetic is so perfect for the title. That said, the other three books I picked up, the art didn't leave me so keen. I talk about how Gianluca Gugliotta fails Mister Terrific in this week's Thor's Comic Column , but I forget to mention that he doesn't even seem to understand Terrific's mask is supposed to be a "T", and not just a mask. Had Marco Rudy (whom I called attention to on this blog waaaay back) handled the duties on Suicide Squad I would have liked the book a lot more than I already do, as it stood it had two decent artists with somewhat competing styles on the first issue making it look like a rush job. While I just plain didn't care for the art on Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. from Alberto Ponticelli. Ponticelli has a loosey goosey freehand style which reminds me of JJ Birch (aka Joe Brozowski), another artist with a similar style who illustrated two of my favourite books (Firestorm and Xombi) yet I've never appreciated his work much. Ponticelli wouldn't be a bad fit for the Frankenstien book if it were mainly monsters, but they coexist with some wild super-science like Ray Palmer's microscopic fortress inside a floating, 3-inch indestructible sphere that you have to teleport into. Plentiful tech and architectural flourishes need more structure, freehand doesn't quite cut it, unless perhaps you're Geoff Darrow, but this guy isn't Geoff Darrow.

Another word on art. I picked up a copy of Animal Man #1 this week (and for cover price, not $22 bucks on ebay thank you very much) and it's a solid solid read, however Travel Foreman's art looked, well, awkward, like it was fading away on the page, while on the various previews I've seen on computers and even my iPod, it looked a lot better. Same goes for Ponticelli's work on Frankenstein. Even just looking at the panel on screen above it looks pretty good, yet reading over the title twice, I really, really didn't like his art. Could it be that some artists work just look better digitally or in a compressed form. I wonder if Animal Man or Frankestein were printed in Archie digest-sized whether it would look better on paper?

On the non-art front, something else I noticed (as mentioned above) is "super-science" seems to be making a comeback, featured quite prominently in both Frankenstein and Mister Terrific. As soon as these concepts were busted out (like the S.H.A.D.E. base or the T-Sanctuary) I started to smile. These kinds of things have been somewhat abandoned in the past couple decades as superheroes have driven for a more natural or plausible or grounded-in-(quasi-reality) sensibility, and I'm glad to see Eric Wallace and Jeff Lemire bringing the fun back. Hopefully we see more of this.

One of the other trends I've noticed with "The New 52" so far is the plethora of compressed storytelling. People have long complained about how "decompressed" comics have become, well, to them I say take a look at Static or Mister Terrific or Resurrection Man or Frankenstein or Stormwatch and in some cases you might find yourself overwhelmed with information to process (Mister Terrific is example-prime). Hopefully they temper their info-dumps in future issues.

So I'm going to rank the titles I've bought so far from top down what I've enjoyed the most to the least:

The Great
1. Grifter (seriously, this book is amazing, like if They Live starred the character Sawyer from Lost instead of Roddy Piper)

2. Batwoman (J.H. Williams III and W. Hayden Blackman may not be as phenomenal writers as Greg Rucka, but they're still pretty great, and Chase is back! This doesn't really miss a beat from Batwoman's last issue of Detective Comics, so it's still kind of feels like the warm comforts of the old DCU.)

3. Animal Man (oh, it's as good as you heard, and if you haven't heard anything about it, then it's better than you're expecting, wonky art and all)

The Good
4. Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. (it's funny that Jeff Lemire is working in the shadow of Grant Morrison on two titles yet forging his own way with both of them. Despite highly disliking the art I loved everything else about this book)

5. Action Comics (if you're going to reinvent Superman, this is a pretty damn good way to do it. It's not perfect but it is pretty exciting, and certain better than anything in 10 seasons of Smallville)

6. Suicide Squad (okay, they de-aged and sexy'd up Amanda Waller, which is, you know, really wrong, about as wrong as tarting up Harley Quinn, but this book has what it takes to be successor to the Secret Six. Issue two is going to be ah-may-zing).

The Not Bad
7. Men of War (would probably rank in "the good" were it not for an unspectacular back-up feature lofting the price up $1)

8. Resurrection Man (I love that he's back, I like where it's going, I'm super keen on the artist, this first issue just moved too quickly and robbed us of seeing the plane crash)

9. Stormwatch (It was a bit of a whirlwind of introducing characters and identifying the tweaks to them, as well as establishing Stormwatch's rich, Planetary-style history. With this issue out of the way it should get better)

10. Green Lantern (Doug Mahnke's art is some of the best stuff ever, and I like Sinestro as "the" Green Lantern, but, jesus, Hal's a crappy character).

The I Hope They Get Better
11. Mister Terrific (It'll get better if a] Eric Wallace takes it easy on the sub-plots already, b] they get a new artist, which I hear is in the works, and c] I learn how to spell "terrific" without spell-check)

12. Static Shock (Pacing, Scott McDaniel, pacing. I love Static and really want him to succeed, but the first issue just didn't click)

The I Just Don't Care
13. Batgirl (meh)
14. Justice League (meh)

"The New 52" (so far)

2011-09-08T19:35:00.000-07:00

Devon and myself (and the whole Thor's Comic Column crew) are in the midst of preparing the first week of reviews of "The New 52" (EDIT: it's up now. We aren't running the full gamut (we're far too poor, far too limited in time and there are far too few of us to do so) but what we do have covered should be pretty good... if I do say so myself... which I do.

As I noted in the last post, I have just under two dozen of "The New 52" in my pull list for this month (which seems about three times as many as anyone else I know), but ultimately I'd like to try them all out for myself, as much as an academic exercise as a consumerist endeavor.

Firstly, I should note that this week at my LCS, things were buzzing. Number 1s were flying off the shelf and unlike Justice League from last week, many of this weeks books seemed seriously under-ordered. Men of War was looking pretty thin, and word was that Batwing was close to selling out. I've heard others talking of sell-outs at their LCS, so at least this first week (or first month) seems to be a success. Although I would hope that the people coming into the shop are new, or at least lapsed comic book readers, I'm skeptical, thinking instead that most of the books are being picked up by people like myself: long-time comic book readers who don't really know anymore which of "The New 52" they should pick up, so they're trying an unusually higher volume of comics this first month.

This first week (let's face it, the one title debuting last week doesn't quite count), I've taken in Action Comics, Batgirl, Stormwatch, Men of War and Static Shock. I skimmed through a few others at the LCS, and a few more previews on-line. My initial impression is purely a reactionary one. I'm disappointed in the art, almost uniformly. This isn't to say there isn't some good work being done, just none of it, so far, has really made an impression.

On Justice League, I'm not, nor have I ever been, much of a Jim Lee fan (I generally prefer cleaner lines, and less of them), and quite frankly I think he's well past his prime, or perhaps gone soft from lack of regular flexing of his illustrative muscles. I've read a lot of praise for his work on the book last week but I found it kind of sloppy to look at. I didn't hate it but it didn't scream the work of a "premiere artist" to me.

Rags Morales, on Action Comics, is an artist I've liked since way back in his Black Condor days (circa 1992). His work has varied in quality (from good to phenomenal) depending on the inker he's working with, and in recent years I've found his work striving too much for realism. Mostly, I just think as of Identity Crisis he draws eyes real creepy-like, and wish he'd stop. He's a solid, proven artist, and a decent fit with Grant Morrison, but he's still not a big, big talent like, say, Steve McNiven over on Captain America with Ed Brubaker or even a surprising under-recognized talent in need of a big break like Jamie McKelvie (who's just started an arc on Secret Avengers with Warren Ellis).

Adrian Syaf on Batgirl and Miguel Sepulveda on Stormwatch both put in a solid effort but neither really stand out. Syaf's style isn't particularly distinguished in any way, while Sepulveda can go big (he did well on Marvel cosmic stuff a while back), but I find the consistency of his character work, particularly faces, to be off-putting. Tom Derenick on Men of War is very well suited to the military genre, so no real complaints there, but again, nothing spectacular. Static Shock's Scott McDaniel is perpetually tolerable to me. I really don't care for his style but I can appreciate it at times.

Looking at some other books, Travel Foreman's work on Animal Man is so exceptionally clean, it looks like an Ikea catalog. It's not necessarily a bad thing, as I tend to like that style a lot, but it also looks a little too minimalist at times. Tony Daniel, some people love him, I'm not one of them. He's good, but he's not stellar. Dan Jurgens on Green Arrow gets some much needed pep from inks by George Perez, but it's still Dan Jurgens, a fully capable visual storyteller but dull dull dull. Aaron Lopresti on Justice League International is a veteran workaday illustrator, the kind of guy you should be glad to have on a middle-of-the-road book like Justice League International, still very few people are reading JLI because Jurgens is writing it or Lopresti is illustrating it.

Of this week's illustrators, four should be taken note of... Yanick Paquette (on Swamp Thing) should have become a superstar thanks to his collaborations with Grant Morrison, yet, he's not. Swamp Thing with Scott Snyder isn't a bad placement, but it's not A-List like Batman Incorporated was, or had he been reteamed with Morrison on Action.

Keith Giffen looks like he's channeling Kirby full bore on OMAC, just such a shame the character design is so much more hideous than the old, hideous Kirby OMAC design. Also a shame: he's working on the book with Dan DiDio, who must have some dirt on Giffen to get him to help him out all the time. DiDio's Outsiders was such a disaster that I put him on my "permanent boycott all work with his "written by" byline on it" list.

Rob Liefeld. Hawk and Dove. Say what you will, Liefeld gets attention. He has his fans that give it to him, and he has a legion of detractors who also give it to him. His artwork, from all examples I've seen of this book, is as horrendous as it's ever been, as if he's made it extra-special-awful just for those who love to complain about how awful his work is. It's like he knows, and giving his nay-sayers more of what they want. The guy is a super-star, and for as long as he's on Hawk and Dove it will be a minor hit (I just don't think he's going to be on it past the first five issues or so, after which it will shortly be canceled).

Finally, there's Ben Oliver on Batwing. I have no idea who this guy is, but of every title I've looked at this week, his work is the only one that popped, and may actually entice me to buy this otherwise maligned-in-advance book. He's perhaps a little light on the background department, but his sense of light and shadow is absolutely remarkable. I'm not certain Batwing's going to be the breakout character of "The New 52" but Ben Oliver just might be the breakout artist. I guess we'll know when Marvel poaches him to put him on a status title.

This went on longer than I thought.

Other impressions, in brief:

The heroes of the new DCU seem to generally be at odds with the police/military, and, perhaps with the public, and, perhaps, with each other.

Gail Simone seems to be transferring her more twisted tendencies from Secret Six to Batgirl. I'm not sure that's appropriate.

The books seem to be making a pointed effort to establish new villains right out the gate. So far only Lex Luthor in Action has made any real impression.

Most of the books seem to be trying to start already in a new status quo... it doesn't seem like the most friendly route for new readers (or even old readers). Not that I want 52 new origin stories either...

Of the five books I got this week, the only one I'm firmly not getting again next month is Batgirl. Though Gail Simone owned Barbara Gordon over the past decade, she doesn't seem to know what to do with her now.

Devon Interviews Howard Chaykin

2011-09-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

I had the sincere honor of interviewing Howard Chaykin for the TV show Fantastic Forum last year. Chaykin has, for over twenty years, been a true hero of mine, having followed him from his works on his creator-owned series, American Flagg! to the upcoming Avengers: 1959, a mini-series he'll writing and drawing for Marvel.

From being on the forefront of the 80's creator-owned wave to having a hand in creating some of the first Star Wars comics, Chaykin is sincere and incredibly forthcoming about being one of comics' true pioneers.

Take a look...

Bedside Manner

2011-09-02T08:14:00.001-07:00

I was knocked down with the flu this week, a combination of post Toronto Fan Expo physical fatigue, many nights lacking proper sleep, and, oh yeah, my daughter projectile vomiting her fever germs all over me. It was some serious Linda Blair exorcist shit going down (little girls are not made of sugar and spice, but rather strawberries and vomit I discovered). Anyway, laid up in bed on Wednesday I decided to take care of the mess that lay beside it... the mess of paper and staples, bags and boards. There must have been, I kid you not, 200 comics, thirty graphic novels collecting there.

My first step was to sort through, separating the things I've read from the things I haven't. Easy enough. My to read pile consisted of about 20 books (a handful of Unwritten issues, a bunch of Free Comic Book Day titles, and a few stragglers from the past few weeks) and about a dozen trades (I'd just acquired the complete run of Buffy Season 8 at Fan Expo days before so that comprised most of them, the rest were massive omnibuses which always tend to gather dust once I put them down, generally getting about halfway through).

The next step, sort by title, grouping any one-shots or mini-series into one pile to conserve space. To my surprise I (well, we, as my wife is complicit in this too) wasn't collecting as many titles as I thought, with only about fifteen total ongoing series, making the fact that I'll be checking out nearly two dozen new DCU titles pretty ridiculous. I also realized that I hadn't sorted my comics in some time, as there were upwards of seven issues in some stacks.

Step three is bagging the suckers up. I should really do this step more often as some of my loose copies tend to get a little dog-eared with my daughter trying to squeeze between the comic stacks and the bed, or slightly crinkled as the cat uses them as a launching pad to get up to the window. But then my collector days of comics are long gone. I don't buy and preserve them like I used to. I certainly don't individually bag and board each issue. I now tend to group, stuffing in as many comics into a comic bag as will fit without rounding at the edges. It's my nod to conservationism. It's probably not great for their resale value but fuck it, I'm not in it for the money, it's entertainment.

Once I've sorted and bagged, the comic bricks get put beside the bed, for dispensing to the basement shelves ("the keeper pile") or to the long boxes in the shed (the "get rid of someday pile"). What I've noticed, however, is the "get rid of someday pile" is just as large as the "keeper pile" which means I'm buying a whole lot of books that, essentially, I don't really ever want to read again. That's not only a lot of wasted space in my house (or shed) but also a lot of wasted paper and printing and machining and transportation etc. on something that's not worth keeping around. I'm not even concerned by the money aspect, after all, I got whatever entertainment out of it I wanted.

For my reviewing gig, I've had the opportunity to read more digital comic than I can count, and I continue to have that opportunity, but I cannot stand reading comics on a computer. Reading PDF comics drives me bonkers. Scrolling up, zooming in, scrolling right, zooming out, scroll zoom scroll zoom... I hate it. It's not the comics reading experience I like or want. I do it from time to time but I am resistant to it. I'd much rather have the tactile.

But this Wednesday, again, laid up in bed, I couldn't make it out to the comics shoppe, and even though I was undecided about whether I was going to read the first issue of the new Justice League, the first offering from the New 52, I have to admit my curiosity was piquing. I was actually planning on browsing the book and making a game-time decision at the store whether I'd take it home or not. Chances were, considering what a light week it was, that I would buy it, but at the same time, I didn't want Justice League, just as I don't want so many of those books that are sitting beside my bed. I do want to read them, I just don't want them around. This is where the digital comics come in... they allow you to read them, but you don't have them in the physical sense, they're available but they're not taking up any real space, and getting rid of them requires minimal physical effort (a few keystrokes or screen taps and they're gone).

So, curiosity getting the better of me, I downloaded the Comixology app for my iPod Touch, I purchased Justice League #1, and I read it.

A LONG WAY TO GO TO GET TO THE PONT...

To my surprise, I liked the experience. I liked it quite a bit. The comic itself was okay (Devon has a good review dropping later today that almost fully mirrors my own thoughts), but that's not what I'm talking about. The Comixology app, firstly, is free... as should any shopping app be. Secondly, it's fairly easy to use. Browsing their shop is relatively simple (though a search function would be nice), organized in different categories (series, publisher, genre, creator, story arcs, free comics) it's layered nicely to indicate the amount of content you will find within each layer, and once you get to your selection it provides enough useful detail (writer, artist, release date). The Free Comics section is particularly well-stocked with first issues of various indie titles and some original content from DC in the form of character primers (that take you all the way up to Flashpoint, but are, I guess, irrelevant now) and lots of preview books.

What the store doesn't have is a Search function, which is disappointing, nor does it have a graphic novel section which would make it easier if you were looking for collected stories or original graphic novels instead of having to wade through the individual categories. As a plus though, the store does have a "Day and Date" release section on its title screen showing all the new releases of books coming out the same week as print editions (which is handy now that DC has gone D&D) as well as a "just released" area for new-to-digital books just being offered.

Finding the new Justice League book wasn't hard at all, and buying it was even easier as an "in-app" purchase it was paid for through my Apple store account. This means I didn't have to give my credit card info to any new sources, though I'm going to have to investigate how the App connects to the Comixology on-line in case I want to access my comics through there (ah, turns out I already have Comixology account from before).

Reading the comic on the iPod isn't the same experience as reading a physical comic, and on such a small screen a lot of the flavour of the comics visual storytelling process is lost. You don't really get to see full page's layout, so I imagine reading something like J.H. Williams III Batwoman stories from Detective Comics wouldn't translate very well, but for the most part you see one panel at a time through the Comixology's "guided view". Basically as you thumb through it, it takes you from one panel to the next, sometimes it takes you to a zoomed-in section of the panel first either to note details or read text, then zooms you out to see the full image (you have the option of zooming in or out at your leisure as well, though you rarely get the option to view the entire page unless it's a full page spread). It's actually a bit more cinematic reading this way, partway towards being a motion comic in some sense. The "guided view" technology gets in the way occasionally but helps more often then not, and makes reading the story rather smooth.

As well, being able to zoom in closer on the art and see details is both good and bad. Jim Lee's not really known for his minutiae, and his backgrounds are so loose, almost impressionistic in a sense, so zooming in on his artwork doesn't really reveal anything but a mess of lines. His work is best viewed as a whole image. I imagine this would benefit looking at a George Perez book or even Sergio Aragones' work.

One of the other things the guided view does nicely is it saves you from "the spoiler on the next page" or even "the spoiler on the same page"... you know, when something surprising happens on the adjoining page or later on the same page and it's the first thing you saw when you flipped the page, and you say "holy shit" before you've even gotten to the "holy shit" moment. Well, with the guided view the "holy shit" moment will sneak right up on you. Not that Justice League had any holy shit moments, but I can see how it has its pluses.

The further advantage is, frankly, it makes comics readable on a bloody iPod/iPhone. I'm not sure I'd want to read all my comics on an iPod (my eyes are already paying the price of tiny-screen-eye-strain from so much Peggle and Angry Birds) but it's a nice option to have for toting around some reading material without actually having to tote around reading material or worry about having a page-flipping hand free while holding onto a handrail on a manic stop-starting bus.

Of course, the only real issue I have with it is paying the same price for a digital item as opposed to a physical item. I understand the logic behind it, especially for DC and Marvel, who can't afford to undercut their brick-and-mortar, and I appreciate that DC will be dropping the price of each new-release book when the next issue hits the stands by a buck, but there's still, at least to me, a lack of value to digital media, especially such as this where it's a proprietary item, usable only by a specific format and never actually yours. If Comixology goes under, poof, so does your digital collection with it. So while $3.99 for a 24-page story was excessive, especially for a digital edition, I'm willing to do it once. I think after the first month of the DCnU I'll be waiting for the $1.99 editions of anything I want to read, but don't want.

I've already lined up a few of those 22 new DC titles as digital only purchases, and maybe even catch up on some older stories this way. I doubt a fully digital transformation is happening anytime soon, but I'm actually, finally excited about the option it presents.

Lest We Forget

2011-08-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

It's time to say good-bye.

To the Secret Six,

I never felt like you had a plan, a destination you were heading to, and I enjoyed that. Not every book needs to have an end game in place, in fact, that was kind of the point of comics was that characters could live on forever. Alas. You were twisted and weird and darkly funny, showcasing that, yes, villains are still human. All those freaky love stories and disturbing innuendo. Gail Simone, you made Catman respectable, you gave Bane an actual personality (and, finally, a reason why he should be a premiere Bat-villain), and your original creations, like Scandal Savage and Jeanette, despite their blah names were welcome additions to the DC canon. You will all be missed.

To Batgirl,

Stephanie Brown, what can I say? You got screwed. There are plenty of entertaining and exciting books on the stand each month, but yours was the most fun. I would like to think the New DC is born out of the "Batgirl" model, a hero who's already established, but still rough around the edges, still learning, still fallible, still struggling in their fight against crime. Not all heroes need to punch-out bad guys with a smile on their face, in fact it would seem rather out-of-place for most characters, but for Steph, you could tell she was having fun doing good. Hopefully you will be back, and soon, in the new DC... you're just too bright a character to be pushed aside.

To Xombi,

Well dude, the fact that after 15 years you got to have a comeback at all was freaking awesome. I'm not sure why you couldn't have been a Vertigo book and perhaps be granted a longer life, as you would seem far more at home there, alas, it was good to see you and your strange crew again. If it's true what they say about you, that you cannot die, well mate, I hope to see you again.

To the Teen Titans,

Oh Titans, you'd been so mishandled for so long that I thought you'd never get back to being what you once were, but with J.T. Krul in charge, you looked the part and acted it. You're adventures felt like vintage Wolfman-era Titans, but instead of George Perez's hyper-detailed settings, and super-sculpted figures, you had Nicola Scott's more natural take, exquisitely rendered environments populated by characters who looked less like comic book characters and more like people. When I see what they've done to you in the new DC, dear Titans, I feel immense sorrow for what we've just lost, and great pity for what's about to come.

To Oracle,

There's the old adage "Knowledge is power" and if that's the case then you were one of the most powerful characters in the DCU, capable of accessing virtually all knowledge stored or transmitted electronically. And you did it all from a chair, proving that the body doesn't always need to be strong to fight. You were an inspiration, not just to the handy capable but also to the wimps and tech geeks, the timid and the tredpidatious. You made us believe that we could still contribute by sitting on our asses. It's not a great message, really but there you go.

To Wally West,

I miss you, please come back.

EDIT:
To Action Comics and Detective Comics

Your longevity as titles is your legacy, and I'm sorry to see that taken away from you. You have both survived for many, many decades, and indeed will continue on for decades more, however your issue numbers are tragically being reset, which would be like McDonald's reformulating their hamburgers using soy instead and resetting all their volume served signs to "0". Action, you're less than a decade from your 1000th issue, which is a phenomenal feat, and doubtless there will still be a celebration in that honor, but it does actually mean less knowing that it's not contiguous as it should be.

What If?... Millar Fully Didn't Write The Ultimates

2011-08-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

Grant Morrison recently alluded in a Rolling Stone interview that he'd not received credit for certain works of his. On December 29, 2008, I wrote something and left it in draft form and sort of forgot about it. That was until yesterday when someone reminded me about a conversation we'd had almost three years ago...

Take it as pure speculation on my part...

At the time of The Ultimates' release, Grant Morrison was moving on from his Marvel exclusive contract and started in with his new Vertigo/DC assignments. As many folks know, writers Mark Millar and Grant Morrison were great friends and had been known to help shepherd Millar into comics. Millar and Morrison had gone on to receive co-writing credits on such books as The Flash and Skrull Kill Krew.

Millar after having a fairly well publicized fallout with DC Comics' following their handling of his Superman: Red Son series, left to go to Marvel and one of the first announced titles was yes, The Ultimates, a re-imagining of Marvel mainstay, The Avengers.

Ultimates comics suddenly started coming in with some frequency and they seemed to be more polished, less snarky and even snappier than some of Millar's previous solo works. Ultimates Volume One possessed the "Rah! Rah! We can conquer all spirit" I'd very much liked about Morrison's JLA run and less of the cynicism of Millar's Authority work. Frankly, it read as a perfect melding of the two's sensibilities and was generally received as such.

Ultimates Vol. 1 wrapped up to overwhelmingly positive reviews and then a few months later Morrison's work started seeing the light of day at DC. Later on, Ultimates V. 2 came out and fell into the more jaded, cynical style Millar has sort of become known for.

To this day, I am convinced, after reading nearly everything Morrison has put out, that he had a MAJOR hand in ghosting Ultimates with Flash co-writer and friend Millar. If you ever doubt it, read volume two of his JLA run back-to-back with Ultimates and you'll see what I'm talking about. Without Morrison's input, Ultimates Vol. 2 would go on to read as very cynical and dark, something more in line with Millar's Autority work.

Again, speculation but hey, go back and read between the lines of the interview.

A call to arms

2011-08-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

If you haven't caught it yet, Rolling Stone did an interview with Grant Morrison (as Devon amusingly put it on Facebook "Well, they're only 20+ years too late but Rolling Stone finally "discovers" Grant Morrison.") The online sidebar is a "deleted scenes" grouping of questions and answers that didn't make it into the print version.

Within contains this juicy tidbit regarding the fact that some think superheroes need to disappear from comics altogether to be relevant:

I can appreciate someone like Chris Ware for his artistry, which I think is beautiful, but I think his attitude stinks, it just seems to be the attitude of somebody really privileged, and honestly, try living here, try living on an Indian reservation and shut up, and really seeing all that nihilistic stuff, it really makes me angry, it's unhelpful to all of us, and it's coming from people who have money and success to talk like that and bring those aspects of the way we live in favor of all the others, and it's indefensible.

So I never liked that stuff, I always thought that I had a real Scottish working class thing against the fact that these were done by privileged American college kids, and they were telling me the world was flat. "You're telling me the world is flat, pal?" And it's not helpful, it doesn't get us anywhere.

Will this be the point where the shit really hits the fan, placing a further dividing line between the alternative and the mainstream? Morrison was one of the few crossover voices between the two worlds, in terms of the people who wish to only see comics as an art form and the people who generally like it for entertainment. Morrison's rather epic brain stimulated the art-crowd-kids ("the ACK") in a way few other genre writers do, and his books were routinely the few mainstream works that would penetrate the ACK best-of lists over the years. I imagine there is already a plethora of message boards, blogs, tweets, websites rallying against what Morrison says here. My main bone of contention would be that a lot of these ACK never went to college, and also that a great many of them aren't American. There's a lot of them in Canada too. I see them all over the place here in Toronto, many of them taking after the Crumb aesthetic of what a starving ACK comic artist should look like, so they're easy to spot.

I also don't think most of them are all that rich, which I'm sure he's going to get shat on for generalizing. Perhaps he should. But he's going to have a huge target on his back, or perhaps in the middle of his brow like Bullseye.

Back to the point, is it an elite viewpoint to say that superhero comics are irrelevant? Yeah, it is. To say that any genre is inherently without merit smacks of elitism. The general attitude Science Fiction was saddled with for decades, or marginalizing Fantasy up until Lord of the Rings went from being juvenile to phenomenon. Like Star Trek did at addressing certain issues in the 1960's via metaphor, superheroes frequently have that same capability to transcend the sheer entertainment value. Entertainment is so often the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down.

That said, I'm not sure I fully get the gist of Morrison's comment, and really what he's calling Ware and his ilk out on? He states:

My book wasn't academic. I can't take on those Comics Journal guys, they flattened me, as they did, it's just defensive, smartass kids.

So is he upset with those that see comics only as an academic exercise, who only look at the material produced as inferior and beneath their time or attention. Is he basically pointing out the same kind of ACK snobbery that some people have towards cinema, the foreign film goers versus the Hollywood plebs, or the indie music scenesters who immediately dismiss anything that broaches the mainstream? Is he upset with exclusivity, because I don't think he's just upset that TCJ gave his book a bad review (sounds actually like he could care less).

I think the Art Crowd Kids, the ones producing very insular, very depressed little books about their own narrow, self-marginalized lives, I think many of those artists and writers simply reject the mainstream in advance of the mainstream rejecting them. Look at Marvel's Strange Tales collections, with indie and alternative writers/artists providing their own vision for Marvel's characters. You have to think so many of the ACK really do want to write/draw superheroes but just don't fit the mold, so to speak. In that way, I think a lot of the ACK's downplay of the mainstream stems from that fear of getting ostracized or having their fragile egos further demeaned. I should note I'm saying none of this in a derogatory fashion, there are plenty of damaged and broken people out there and the ones that are fortunate enough to learn how to express it creatively, through art, music, comedy, etc often produce something that is rewarding, influential, meaningful and helpful to plenty of others through the curing powers of the shared experience. Then again, there are those that say that dwelling in one's self to the point of mental illness is a form of elitism and entitlement, a by-product of socialist societies and the corruption of primal survival instinct. But I digress.

As a regular reviewer of comics for the past 7 years, I've tried, heartily and often, to embrace the entire medium, but I still trend towards genre works, seeking out the cream of escapism rather than sinking into the morass of the alternative world of comics. The books I tend to review the highest, however, are genre books that do more than tell a story, they have an emotional, social, or political contingent to them, sometimes subversively, others overtly, though I'll also rate highly a book where the story fails but the art succeeds, so I'm not beyond looking at things strictly for the art of it.

There shouldn't be an "us versus them" debate in comics. There's enough crossover material on either side that people, even if they're preferential to one or the other, could find something to enjoy. Shitting on one or the other, as a collective perpetuates an old, fruitless argument that further minimizes the medium as a whole.

(NB. Morrison said a lot more that deserves commentary but I wanted to try and stay on topic here.)

The Gateway at PopCultureShock

2011-07-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was given the privelege of having my own twice-monthly comics opinion column at PopCultureShock.

I'll focus mainly on all things geek, shining a light on what's floating my boat and what's attempting to sink it.

Most of all, I'm looking to write things that will get you talking and loving your comics again.

So, please, take a look and don't be afraid to let me know what you think.

Best,
Devon Sanders

THE GATEWAY

THE GATEWAY: YOU, LIFTING THE VELVET ROPE AND CHRIS MELONI

THE GATEWAY: YOUR SUMMER OF AWESOME

THE GATEWAY: THE NEW MYTHOLOGY

Marvel's "It's Either In You Or It's Not" Promotion

2011-07-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

She-Hulk? Doctor Strange? The Silver Surfer? Could this be The New Defenders?

The Gateway: Your Summer Of Awesome

2011-07-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

Before you go see Captain America: The First Avenger, read this...

52 Pics-Up

2011-06-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

"One of the good things about the September initiative for DC is that we can take a fresh start approach and take bits of continuity that we think work and just really start fresh with the characters. You don't need to have read all those stories to enjoy what I'm doing, but at the same time, I'm trying to honor the writers that dealt with the character in the past too. " -- Jeff Lemire

More solicit details can be found here

1) Justice League #1 Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Jim Lee & Scott Williams

Devon: Geez. If the guy from Stone Temple Pilots and Slash had formed Velvet Revolver in 1995, they would've killed. Lee and Johns are kind of like that, only in 2011. I'm kind of over it already.

Graig: I'm not really sure Jim Lee should be drawing anymore... certainly he shouldn't be designing costumes. Collars and chinstraps are the new thigh-belts and pouches.

2) Green Lantern #1 Written by Geoff Johns, Art by Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy
Devon: I sort of stopped reading Green Lantern after it went into a Blackest Night/Brightest Day holding pattern. Glad to see Mahnke getting some attention, though. The man drew JLA, Batman AND Superman and people were still like, "Who's he?"

Graig: The only reason I'm reading Green Lantern now is because of Mahnke, so I've got a decision to make about whether I continue or not. I've actually enjoyed much of Johns' run (particularly the bigger picture stuff like Sinestro Corps War, Rainbow Lanterns, Blackest Night) but it seems to have run its course.

3) Green Lantern Corps #1 Written by Peter J. Tomasi, Art by Fernando Pasarin & Scott Hanna

Devon: Glad to see John Stewart in an ACTUAL Green Lantern title again is all I can say and glad the Emerald Knights experiment's over, too.

Graig: When I was a kid, my favourite Star Wars characters weren't Han and Luke, but Hammerhead and Tusken Raiders. I love minor characters. So if I were a kid, having just seen the Green Lantern movie (which I haven't yet, and actually still trying to muster up the enthusiasm to care to) I think a book like this which features all those tertiary characters would be right awesome. But I'm not that kid anymore. Plus, I still think John should be THE Green Lantern. He's the most interesting and complex character of the Earth Lantern bunch.

4) Green Lantern: The New Guardians #1 Written by Tony Bedard, Art by Tyler Kirkham & Batt

Devon: Remember the other New Guardians series from the 80's? The one with the gay Guardian named "Strange" who died because the writer gave him AIDS? This will be received about as well. OK, maybe a little better. But hey, it's got Kyle Rayner in it. Might be worth a look.

Graig: I DO remember that other New Guardians series. There's no way this can be worse than that. One of the things I quite like about Johns' GL run has been the introduction of the Rainbow Corps, so I'm interested in the concept of a Kyle-led spectrum team, but the creative team isn't inspiring me enough to actually plan to pick it up.

5) Red Lanterns #1 Written by Peter Milligan, Art by Ed Benes & Rob Hunter

Graig: I have a suspicion this might be a mini-series since I'm not really sure the character is worthy or capable of supporting his own ongoing title.

Devon: Ed Benes on art? Even though this book is about rage-filled aliens. Somehow, we're gonna get an ass-shot out of this. And no, I don't really know if a team of angry aliens really are worthy of an ongoing title.

6) Wonder Woman #1 Written by Brian Azzarello, Art by Cliff Chiang

Devon: Love Cliff Chiang. LOVE him. I'll pick this solely up for him. Kind of interested in seeing what Azzarello has to say with Wonder Woman.

Graig: Wonder Woman has been a complete miss for me since Greg Rucka's run ended many moons ago, and the new WW design still hasn't grown on me, but with this creative team (probably the most exciting of the Reboot, reuniting the Dr. Thirteen team) it at least deserves a look.

Devon: And yes, listen to Graig, go read Doctor Thirteen: Architecture and Mortality.

7) Aquaman #1 Written by Geoff Johns, Art by Ivan Reis

Devon: Why does Aquaman have to be so dark? He's tall, good-looking, has a hot ginger wife, rules 70% of The Earth and he's a king! If I wrote this book, it'd be nothing but panels of Aquaman high-fiving folks.

Graig: I have a soft spot for Aquaman, and Reis did visually awesome things with him in Brightest Day, though I wasn't too fond of that story. I'll give it a shot, but I'm not optimistic.

8) Flash #1Written by Francis Manapul & Brian
Buccellato, Art by Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato

Devon: If you're of a certain age, Wally West is your Flash. This is not the Flash I'm looking for.

Graig: I too am assuming that this is still Barry Allen, and the wife and I have a pact that as long as the Flash is Barry Allen, Population: Dullsville, we're not reading the Flash anymore. We're Wally loyalists, but I think we're calling of the search party. He's gone and not coming back (not until there's a new Geoff Johns is instilled at DC and makes everything like it was when he was a kid in the late 90's/00's)

9) The Fury Of Firestorm #1 Written by Ethan Van Sciver & Gail Simone, Art by Yildiray Cinar

Devon: Why does the song "Ebony and Ivory" come to mind here? Talk about trying to play both sides, DC...

Graig: The wife complains that Geoff Johns' wants all his toys like they were when he was a kid, and I'm generally inclined to agree with her. Sometimes, like with Green Lantern, he's able to do some pretty shiny new things by stepping back to move forward, but other times it just feels like a step back with no forward momentum. Bringing Ronnie Raymond back into the mix in Brightest Day was one of those "step-back/no momentum" kind of things, although I have to say I have been pretty sour on Jason Rusch since all of the interesting things Dan Jolley instilled in the character were written out by Stuart Moore. I'm debating whether to even bother giving this a shot.

10) The Savage Hawkman #1 Written by Tony S. Daniel, Art by Philip Tan

Devon: This just feels so... "not-right." Hawkman shouldn't be "savage" that's just one facet of his character but they're running with it for some reason.

Graig: Yet another Hawkman misfire? From the write-up it sounds halfway to what I think it should, sort of Carter Hall-as-Indiana Jones, but the fact that the action takes place in NYC instead of an international location seems all wrong.

11) Green Arrow #1 Written by JT Krul, Art by Dan Jurgens

Graig: Enh. I really have nothing more to say about this.

Devon: Never cared for the character. Moving on...

12) Justice League International #1 Written by Dan Jurgens, Art by Aaron Lopresti

Graig: The interesting thing about the picture above is in the full September solicits, the woman in the lower left corner has been removed. And by interesting, I mean I don't really care at all. I've read my fair share of Justice League incarnations (in that I mean most of them), and one of the worst was Dan Jurgens' run immediately following the Giffen/DeMatteis era. Yet this still seems like an even bigger insult to it.

Devon: I think I sort of moved past The JLI a few years ago. It was lightning in a bottle. Pass.

13) Mister Terrific #1 Written by Eric Wallace, Art by Roger Robinson

Graig: Devon, we going to high five on this one or what?

Devon: Wish we could. Love the character. Really want this to succeed. I admire the effort but the comics market won't support him. Plus, I find it sort of insulting that the only black writer in this event is relegated to writing a black character.

Graig: Yeah, I mean, shouldn't he be writing Static Shock too? (joke!)

14) Captain Atom #1 Written by JT Krul, Art by Freddie Williams II

Devon: Devon's ambivalence, thy name is Captain Atom.

Graig: While I like the art of Freddie Williams II generally, I'm not certain he's the right artist for Captain Atom... at least the old shiny silver Captain Atom. It does look like he's getting another redeco along with a complete character overhaul, so I'll wait to pass judgment (if I bother at all). JT Krul's Teen Titans has been a solid read so I may be willing to give his Cappum a shot.

15) DC Universe Presents #1 starring Deadman Written by Paul Jenkins, Art by Bernard Chang

Devon: An anthology. Sort of apropos that Deadman is the lead, no?

Graig: I've long loved the minor characters of the DCU and an anthology spotlighting the all-new, mostly-new, and somewhat-new minor characters of the Universe should be right up my alley. So why am I not interested? Frankly I think this would fare better as a Superman and/or Batman team-up book, as these types of series don't really survive anymore without a lynchpin character, and even then...

16) Birds of Prey Written by Duane Swierczynski, Art by Jesus Saiz

Devon: Geez, man. This does not even... Aw, man... Maybe and just maybe if Gail Simone were writing this...

Graig: Who's them ladies? Black Canary, Poison Ivy, Katana and... Starling? So the Canary gets a sidekick in the reboot, hmm. I kind of dig Katana's new style. But from the solicit copy this seems like it's going to be a "grim 'n' gritty" Birds O'Prey.

Devon: Used kitty litter is "grim 'n' gritty."

17) Batwoman Written by J.H. Williams III & Haden Blackman, Art by Amy Reeder

Devon: A rose amongst the thorns.

Graig: Finally.

18) Detective Comics Written and Illustrated by Tony S. Daniel

Graig: So, DC, you are seriously relaunching your flagship title with Tony Daniel? Mmmmhmmm.

Devon: From the writer who brought you, "The Tenth."

19) Nightwing Written by Kyle Higgins, Art by Eddie Barrows

Devon: They demoted him. The greatest elevation of a sidekick since Wally West and they kicked him back down to Nightwing. Damn shame, Dick Grayson really seemed to make for a great Batman.

Graig: The wife, a huge Dick Grayson fan, isn't totally thrilled that he's not going to be Batman anymore as, to her, returning to Nightwing is looking back instead of forward. But she is, like I am, willing to reserve judgment. I don't know who this Kyle Higgins guy is though (if only there were such thing as a google machine), but he's got a tough act to follow since Scott Snyder had Dick absolutely pegged in his Detective Comics run.

20) Catwoman Written by Judd Winick, Art by Guillem March.

Graig: I'm not sure Catwoman still needs her own series anymore, certainly not one by Judd Winick, not that I have anything against the guy, but if you're going to relaunch/reboot Catwoman, you should go bold, or at least broad, if you're going to go at all. (Yes, by "broad" I meant maybe a woman should write her for a change... is both progressive and offensive).

Devon: Well, at least it's gonna be drawn pretty and Judd Winick seems to have be in a sort of "writing decently now" place.

21) Batman Written by Scott Snyder, Art by Greg Capullo

Devon: This could be incredible. Both of these guys do great work.

Graig: Snyder's Dick Grayson-as-Batman was pitch perfect. I hope his Bruce Wayne-as-Batman is just as good. Greg Capullo's first DC work... never much considered his work having long ago dismissed him as but a McFarlane acolyte, but I'm interested to see what he's got. That cover image right there is pretty damn dynamic.

22) Batman and Robin Written by Peter J Tomasi, Art by Patrick Gleason

Devon: I really hoped these two's energy from Green Lantern Corps would translate well over to Batman and Robin. It didn't. Good work but sort of just... not there. Maybe the second time around.

Graig: I thought I was the only one who didn't much care for Tomasi's brief (and delayed) run on B&R the first time around. I've read a more than my fair share of Tomasi's works and I find, generally, his ideas solid, his characterization good, but too often his work feels forced and the pacing off. I've kind of given up on the guy, frankly.

23) Batman: The Dark Knight Written by David Finch, Art by David Finch & Jay Fabok

Graig: *Snicker*

Devon: Shit. "And the All-Star Batman and Robin Award goes to...." Finish getting the issues you owe the comic book stores before you announce a re-fucking-launch, DC.

24) Batgirl Written by Gail Simone, Art by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes.

Graig: My wife is so angry, so very angry that Steph is being written out of the picture that this book has already been banned from the premises. I've got a huge crush on Babs-as-Batgirl and Gail Simone owns the charater, so I guess I'll be hiding these under the mattress. I'm hoping that if she brings Steph back as Spoiler, the wife might be okay with it again. But the latest issue of Batgirl was so fantabulous, I'm going to genuinely miss the current series.

Devon: If anyone can turn crap into flowers, it's Gail Simone. We'll have to trust her on this... But damn, I gonna MISS Oracle.

25) Red Hood and the Outlaws Written by Scott Lobdell, Art by Kenneth Rocafort

Devon: Such a waste of an incredible artist.

Graig:Can't they just write Jason Todd out of continuity forever? And, is it just me or does it seem, from the solicit text for this title, that the Wolfman/Perez Titans are no longer part of continuity.

26) Batwing Written by Judd Winick, Art by Ben Oliver

Devon: Man, this looks bad.

Graig: Okay, the South African Batman... maybe Winick knows South Africa intimately, and isn't just going to write it based on what he's seen in Invictus and District 9. But something just seems wrong about this writer-character match-up to me.

27) Superman Written by George Perez, Art by Jesus Merino

Devon: It's like they don't want me to like Superman anymore. Why does he have to look so pissed off all the time?

Graig: That costume tweak: horrendous. It looks more Earth-3 Ultraman merged with Perez's old Luthor-Armor design than Superman. Bleh.

28) Action Comics Written by Grant Morrison, Art by Rags Morales

Devon: Sold.

Graig: It's Grant Morrison, I'm in. The guy could write The Phone Book: The Comic Book and I'd be in. Now, I have to wonder how much of Grant Morrison's new Superman origin story will be influenced by the licensing/legal issues DC's been having with the Seigel/Shuster estate (my guess: all of it, in fact I'm wondering if the entire DC reboot isn't in part a reflection of that).

29) Superboy Written by Scott Lobdell, Art by R.B. Silva & Rob Lean

Devon: The cover doesn't tell me jack. Just not feeling it.

Graig: Looks like Superboy is getting a thorough overhaul. Whatever.

30) Supergirl Written by Michael Green & Mike Johnson, Art by Mahmud Asrar

Devon: Is it so hard to write a Supergirl book that you could maybe give to a pre-teen girl? I don't think they'll make a book that could reach that market. Instead, you get things like this that appeal to 30 year old men.

Graig: I like the cape, hate the boots and it looks like the girl's getting some attitude. Is this "Power Girl-as-Supergirl"?

31) Swamp Thing Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Yannick Paquette (with Francesco Francavilla)

Devon: Scott Snyder's a great writer. I'll take a look at it.

Graig: It's a solid creative team, but I've never given two poops about Swamp Thing (outside of Adrienne Barbeau in the "classic" movie), and I don't think I'm going to start now.

32) Animal Man Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Travel Foreman & Dan Green

Graig: This seems to me like it's covering well trod ground. And that cover image is uh-glee. But I'll defer judgement to others as I like Lemire generally.

Devon: Lemire on Animal Man feels like a good fit.

33) Justice League Dark Written by Peter Milligan, Art by Mikel Janin

Devon: Ugh. Constantine is Justice League. That's ass.

Graig: Okay, you got me. I think this is about the most interesting "big" idea DC is doing in the reboot... a magic Justice League... even if the title does sound like a chocolate bar. I think Milligan is a decent choice to write, but Cullen Bunn showed how well this can be done in the "Sorcerer Kings" storyline recently in Superman/Batman, so he should have been given a crack at it.

34) Demon Knights Written by Paul Cornell, Art by Diogenes Neves & Oclair Albert

Devon: Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell on The Demon. WIN.

Graig: Medieval chicanery? Demons? Not my bag.

35) Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE Written by Jeff Lemire, Art by Alberto Ponticelli

Devon: This just looks crazy enough where I may have to check it out. Once again because of Lemire.

Graig: Frankie and SHADE were some of the best of many great things to come out of Morrison's Seven Soldiers, so I'm all-in to see how that little nugget of the DCU is expanded.

36) Voodoo Written by Ron Marz, Art by Sami Basri

Devon: "Remember the half human/half alien stripper from WildC.A.T.S.? Well, she's in her own series."

Graig: I'm still not sure whether this is a joke solicit or not.

37) Resurrection Man Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Art by Fernando Dagnino

Graig: This was one of my favourite series from DC in the late-90's, so I'm excited to see it back, with DnA in tow (I've loved their Marvel Cosmic showrunning recently and, in general, I seem to respond favorably to their work). It'll be lucky if it survives half as long as it did the first time though.

Devon: Eight issues, tops.

Graig: Yeah, but still, I'm going to love me the hell out of those eight issues.

38) I, Vampire Written by Josh Fialkov, Art by Andrea Sorrentino

Devon: It was like someone in the DC offices was like, "Hey, my niece likes Twilight. Get the license. Oh, they won't give it to us. Let's do I, Vampire again but with less ruffled shirts."

Graig: I'm bored with vampires. Otherwise, sounds interesting.

39) Static Shock Written by John Rozum & Scott McDaniel, Art by Scott McDaniel & Jonathan Glapion

Devon: Awww, Static. I always liked the li'l guy. This may be a gateway comic for getting my nephew hooked.

Graig: Static is being relocated to NYC, so I'm betting, heavily, that this series is going to have a Spider-Man vibe even more so than the character already did. I'm excited to see Static back in play, but I'm wondering if Rozum is the right guy for it. He seems better suited for the mystical stuff, but then again, I could just be typecasting him. That new costume just screams Cully Hamner doesn't it?

40) Legion Lost Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Pete Woods

Devon: Never cared for the Legion. Ever.

Graig: I've got nothing against Nicieza, the guy actually writes incredibly solid teen dramas (New Warriors holds up pretty well and Red Robin has been quite good), but at this stage, if it's not Levitz on Legion then I'm not reading it.

41) Legion of Super-Heroes Written by Paul Levitz, Art by Francis Portela

Devon: These guys again...

Graig: I'm betting that the Legion, out of all of the characters and series, comes out the least scathed by the reboot. And if not, well, it's not like we haven't had a dozen versions of the Legion in the past 30 years anyway. What's one more?

42) Hawk and Dove Written by Sterling Gates, Art by Rob Liefeld

Devon: I would publicly like to thank Karl Kesel for teaching me what an inker does some twenty years ago. Liefeld hasn't looked that good since. PASS.

Graig: That is some goddamn ugly art right there. I'm guessing this will be "The Paul Reiser Show" of the reboot.

43) Teen Titans Written by Scott Lobdell, Art by Brett Booth & Norm Rapmund

Devon: What is this? Man, just when it looks like they finally have Teen Titans back on track, they up and do this.

Graig: Ditto. But I am glaad that Superboy is joining Batwoman as a premiere gay character in the New DCU. Wait, what?

44) Stormwatch Written by Paul Cornell, Art by Miguel Sepulveda

Devon: This is one to watch. The Authority meets the J'onn J'onzz from the Justice League Unlimited cartoon series AND written by Paul Cornell. Gimme. Gimme. Gimme.

Graig: This I like.

45) Blackhawks Written by Mike Costa, Art by Ken Lashley

Devon: No, thank you. If there's no blonde in a leather mini, it ain't Blackhawks.

Graig: Costa's G.I. Joe/Cobra is one of the best titles I've been reading the past few years, so I'm torn between hoping this is more of the same or something completely different. Deserves a look at least.

46) Sgt. Rock and the Men of War Written by Ivan Brandon, Art by Tom Derenick

Devon: If you've been a reader of Sgt. Rock, the WWII hero, what makes you think that people will want to read about the adventures of his grandson?

Graig: Ivan Brandon doesn't have a whole lot under his belt (a Kobra one-shot and the Nemesis mini-series from a while back) but what I have read has been extremely well-executed espionage-style fare. So this, like Blackhawks, I will give a chance to as well.

47) All-Star Western Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Grey, Art by Moritat

Devon: Jonah Hex, Agent of Gotham. Intriguing.

Graig: Hmmm, I've not been reading Jonah Hex at all the past five years, but I hear it's pretty good western stuff... if a little rape-y. I'm guessing this will be less rape-y and, depending on the success of Cowboys vs. Aliens, more cowboys versus aliens.

48) Deathstroke Written by Kyle Higgins, Art by Joe Bennett & Art Thibert

Devon: "Hide your kids. Hide your wife." Deathstroke has his own series. Artist Joe Bennet truly is one of comics' best kept secrets. I think I'll buy this one.

Graig: I really, really liked the Deathstroke series that ran in the early 90's... that is until I re-read the series a few years ago and it was much more juvenile than I had recalled. I've kind of soured on the character since.

49) Grifter Written by Nathan Edmonson, Art by Cafu and BIT

Devon: We had Nathan Edmonson at my comics store. He has some interesting ideas for this book. Hope the market can support it.

Graig: I have no affection for the character, I don't know the writer's work at all, and Cafu and BIT's work on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents has been relatively absent (they barely contribute half the pages each issue), yet for some reason I'm quite drawn to this.

50) OMAC Written by Dan Didio & Keith Giffen
Art by Keith Giffen & Scott Koblish

Devon: Oh, Jack Kirby. They duntcha wrong. (Hangs head)

Graig: That's one ass ugly Omac. I want to be excited about a new Omac book from Keith Giffen, but Dan Didio is writing (ugh) and that character design just isn't working for me (does he shop at the same boot store as Supergirl?)

51) Suicide Squad Written by Adam Glass, Art by Marco Rudy

Devon: Man, this cover looks Hack/Slash meets Grimm Fairy Tales bad. Is that the market DC's going after? The artist Marco Rudy may be this comic's saving grace.

Graig: Between Birds of Prey, Men of War, The Blackhawks, SHADE, Stormwatch, The Outlaws and this book, DC seems to be covering a lot of similar ground on the war-on-metahuman-terror. I love that kind of stuff, but I'm afraid they're overdoing it. And really, Harley Quinn? Really? But yes, Marco Rudy... hope they can get Mick Gray to ink him again, those two were magic.

52) Blue Beetle Written by Tony Bedard, Art by Ig Guara

Graig: Devon, I think you nailed it on the head when you said that DC was "banking on new readers' not knowing or caring who the creators are" using this title as example. Because, yeah, Bedard is about as generic a writer as you can get. He's not bad, he's not outstanding, he's just there. I like Ig Guara's work on Pet Avengers, so perhaps they're going to skew this one a bit younger? They really should.

Devon: If that's the case, that just may be the only way this comic survives and just might be a little bit of brilliant, marketing-wise.

DC Reboot: A Second Printing Interview With Second Printing (by Second Printing)

2011-06-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not blowing smoke when I say that Devon Sanders is one of the most astute observers of comics culture (from the printed material to the back rooms of comics shoppes) that I know. I'm sure you, if you're following this sporadically updated blog, think much the same. So, like me, you've probably been wondering what our Mr. Sanders has to say about the DC Reboot. I can't speak for you, but his opinion is the one I've been most looking forward to hearing and I just couldn't wait anymore. So, rather than wait I went to the man himself and asked him, interview style.

GRAIG: You've said in discussion in the recent past that you're not really all that enthused by the mainstream anymore. What does get you excited about comics these days?

DEVON: A lot gets me excited about comics, nowadays. Comics are just this wonderful thing where imagination is your only limit. I love it when creators take something you think you're incredibly intimate with and make it seem new. My current new favorite comic is Batman, Incorporated. Writer Grant Morrison just keeps proving that there's so much more to say and new ways to say within the superhero genre.

What I love about comics these days is just that so many of them are just so damn thoughtful. You look at something like 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente and you don't have to be a baseball fan or black in order to get this. It's a story about a man. You could do this story anywhere; print journalism, documentary film but writer/artist Wilfred Santiago just knew the best way to tell this story was comics. That's a powerful statement. i mean, that's some Ken Burns-type shit right there, man.

Comics, as a medium allows for these types of powerful statements. The Kickstarter program is a great example of creators, fans and patrons taking comics' destiny into their own hands. It's inspiring, really.

I like that folks aren't looking to superheroes or The Big Two to make their way in the world as much.

What are you reading regularly from the Big Two these days, and of those, what are you actually enjoying?

Batman, Inc. is pretty much it. Sad to see it go. Really looking forward to J.H. Williams' Batwoman series, too. My monthly title isn't done by The Big Two. It's Oni's The Sixth Gun. It's just this genre-bending title that you can give to a horror fan and they'll just get it. Any fan of Westerns will get it.

I like comics that aren't necessarily dependent on intimate knowledge of continuity. The older I get, the less sentimental I am about continuity. Don't get me wrong, I still love the fact that someone wants to reward my capacity for ancillary knowledge but man, I don't need catering to like that anymore. Surprise me.

You had a wry post on your Twitter feed about the relaunch ("Oh, man! These new DC Reboot solicits look horrid. It's like they're trying to do "Hunger Games" with their sales.") but overall have been pretty quiet about it. As a comics fan, how do you feel about DC relaunching all of their titles and tweaking their characters/continuity?

Man, you should have seen my initial response. It was all "NERD OUTRAGE!!!!!" Having seen the entire 50-plus solicits, it's honestly turned more into, "I-wish-you-the-best," type of thing. It just looks sort of desperate. Like, "This is it." Like, it's DC Comics' "Hail Mary" pass or something. "Everything you know is CHANGED!" It won't, really. There'll be even MORE Batman comics out than ever before after this but the difference is that for one month, they'll all be Number Ones. Most likely for reasons of intellectual property. Let's be honest. Superheroes are nothing but IP mines right now. Publishing comics is no longer a priority. It's about creating and preserving properties to bring to the greater public. We, the comics readers, aren't the legion we were even five years ago. We're in the tens-of-thousands now and constantly being catered to and quite frankly, to the point where DC is probably sick of us.

What I don't like is DC has stringing along its longtime print readers to believe that with each issue, each crossover, they were making an investment in and a journey with their characters, only for them to say, "Fuck. We're done. We don't care if you cared about the creators, the characters. We need to make a sound folks who care about Superman's citizenship status can hear."

DC's money is in getting kids into Batman pajamas and getting their parents to buy Superman fruit snacks. The movies they make are commercials for that, not your comics. Anyone who ever believed that movies generated comics income never worked in a comics shop.

...So from a retail perspective...

I don't feel great about it but I have to say, I admire the effort. Anything that could potentially bring in new and more importantly, long term readers to our hobby is more than welcome. The execution is just so fucking wrongheaded, though. 52 releases in one month's time in an already struggling economy? I just can't see it working, even under the best economic conditions.

I think we'll see an initial sales bump, of course, but I seriously expect half of the announced titles won't be around this time next year. I believe DC is in a "Heroes Reborn" scenario where they may have to put things back within a years time.

As far as "day and date" goes? Good. Great. Love it. Had to happen. Glad someone big finally had the balls to do it. If you run a great comics shop, you should welcome the opportunity to work harder against anything that could take money from your hands.

Personally, I'm going to use this as an opportunity that should anyone new walks into the store having read any of this digitally to introduce them to comics in its truest form. Comics are meant to be this tactile thing. At the end of the day, we don't know yet if anyone can't wait to go home and sit with a stack of nothing to put on your bookshelf.

Without getting into specifics about each title or grouping of titles, are there any things, generally, that stand out as a terrific and/or terrible ideas about all this?

We've been conditioned to certain things from DC:

Hellblazer is a Vertigo character and a dick. And now, this chain-smoking piece of shit's Justice League? Come on! I can't buy that. Literally, I cannot buy that. It just flies in the face of everything I know.

Grant Morrison's Action Comics title is the one true gem amongst the others. I expect some magic here.

It seems that 90% of the established characters have had a costume overhaul for the reboot. In general, did they go too far? Not far enough? Or did they just approach the visual redesign from the wrong angle?

A lot of it looks like, "Hey' let's see if this works." I like that DC's trying new things but does anyone truly expect Mr. Terrific to pull in Batman numbers? Nope. What we're seeing from DC is an admission that only certain thing work well over there. The core Batman and Green Lantern titles went virtually untouched simply because they sold well previously. They weren't broken, sales-wise, so why fix them. And Justice League featuring these bestselling characters got their top-tier writer and artist. That's what should be happening there but hadn't for too long actually.

As far as design goes, this is superhero comics. It all should look a bit gaudy and interesting. DC seems to get that. In spades. With the collars. Everyone gets a Jim Lee pearl necklace!

I'm assuming you've seen the list of the titles debuting. Anything missing that surprises you DC didn't include in the reboot? In general what do you think about the range of titles offered?

I was surprised but not shocked at the lack of a Justice Society title. DC seems to be headed towards a youth movement at the moment. I was truly surprised that DC seems to be moving towards a "unified" Earth where the Milestone, Vertigo and Wildstorm characters can interact easily.

What about creative teams overall? There's a lot of recognizable names from the early-mid 90's Marvel, and early-era Image. Do you think DC is playing it too safe/generic and/or too set in the past?

And the creative teams, overall, are underwhelming. It seems like DC's banking on nostalgia and ignorance. If I discovered Rob Liefeld on Hawk and Dove as a sixteen year old, what makes you think that in my thirties I'd be nostalgic for his lack of artistic progression?

And while, I applaud a new Blue Beetle title, it's being written by someone who's work I tend to avoid because his name has sort of become synonymous with DC being ready to cancel a title. They've conditioned us to know this and are banking on new readers' not knowing or caring who the creators are.

There are some books I'm curious about because I like the writer or creative team, and others I'm cocking an eye at because I like the character. Are you more or less likely to read a DC book that contains a favourite character of yours (say The Savage Hawkman) now that they're being rebooted and how much does the creative team impact your decision?

Not even interested in the new Savage Hawkman series. It just doesn't look like Hawkman to me. DC's sort of had a hard time figuring out what they would like for him to be, of late. Having him go "savage" just doesn't feel right for some reason. Feels too "Marvel." Plus, Tony Daniel as writer just isn't doing it for me. I tried reading his Batman and it just didn't do it for me.

Besides the usual top-tier mainstays like the Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Justice League books, do you think any of these titles -- from such a superficial perspective as a a quick blurb, creative roster and cover image (quite literally judging a book by its cover) -- has breakout potential?

Of all the titles out there, I am sort of looking forward to a Stormwatch featuring The Martian Manhunter and The Authority's Hawksmoor, Apollo and The Midnighter. It seems to be taking the most advantage of this new shared universe. The part of me that still loves universal crossovers will kind of enjoy this.

As a rough estimate, how many of these titles do you think will last past the first year?

I, truthfully, don't expect this to be around for that long. I think superhero comics are moving into "houses," where if you're not in a Superman "house" or The Justice League "house," there's really less and less of a place for you. That said, as long as the rocket crashes down in Kansas and the little boy's parents are gunned down in Gotham, comics, as we know them, don't really change all that much.

Thanks Devon.
Coming Soon, Second Printing tackles (with earnestness and acerbity alike) the 52 new releases coming in September.

The New DC

2011-06-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

Back in the 1980's the phrases "We're not just for kids anymore" and "These aren't your dad's comics" were rather ubiquitous, part of an intentional marketing effort from the publishers at holding onto readership as they got older by skewing their titles towards their changing interests and sensibilities. They did their job a little too well, to the point where the new readership from younger generations isn't making up for the atrophy of the older generation. Comics, especially the mainstream superhero comics, aren't for kids. They're for teenagers at best, and by that age, if they haven't hooked them already, then they're competing with movies, television, video games, countless on-line and hand-held distractions, and, let's be frank, drugs and sex.

I'm not saying that comics need to be for kids again, not solely, as there have been some pretty good offerings from the big two and beyond (Boom's Pixar books or Bongo's Simpsons comics or even Archie for example), but there's also not a good transition point between the kiddie books and the shared universe books, because, as we all know, continuity is the greatest barrier to entry that faces the mainstream.

In that regard, a relaunch/reboot/tweaking of the establishment's nipple is just what DC needs right now. It's what the industry needs right now. A ground floor, an entry point for new readers, and one that hopefully won't isolate the old, but instead intrigue and entice them, and draw others in with them. It's not unprecedented.

If you point back across DC's history, there was the Golden Age, the dawn of superheroes, where they were created fresh for the mid-war and post-war generation. Powerful American icons to both inspire and distract their audience. 20 years later, the Silver Age, where those old heroes were revamped for a then-current audience. Their powers more grounded in "science", their stories reflecting the economic and cultural growth of the country. Another 20 years passed, to a name-yet-to-be-decided era (bronze age?), when heroes became completely wrapped up in their own world, reflecting less the real world and providing a full-fledged, shared universe for the readers to escape into, full of nuances to be explored and continuity errors to bitch about. Another 20-plus years have passed, and there hasn't been that same flip of the switch to bring the characters into the modern world. The transition has actually happened, somewhat organically, but the characters and universe is still mired pretty deeply in a convoluted continuity. So it's happening now.

It is all happening rather suddenly mind you, and releasing 52 new books in one month is perhaps a tad overwhelming, but it's also can be exciting. To look at it one way, each character, whether it's Superman, Firestorm, or Grifter, they're all starting on equal footing in September. Of course, the bigger characters have the advantage of the recognition factor... even if he's different, you still know who Batman is, as opposed to Deadman who may be a complete unknown to most people. But the potential is there for characters to break out (Mr. Terrific is getting his own series!) where they may have been relegated to the background before. Stripped of all past baggage, a character like Hawkman done as a modern Indiana Jones or Aquaman as eco-terrorist could lend them an air of relevance they've never actually had, and in a global context, rather than simply an American one. The DC pantheon has for too long been focused primarily upon serving the American audience, even in dealing with things on a universal scale. Broadening the scope of their books to an international level (as Grant Morrison has been striving to do for the past few years with, amongst other things, the Great Ten and Batman Inc.) would make sense where the internet and 24 hour cable news puts us face to face with the rest of the world every day.

DC going day-and-date with their relauch/reboot is as bold and positive a step as the relaunch/reboot itself. If the purpose of tweaking and re-engineering their characters is to appeal to a modern audience than so to is addressing the digital age head on. It will be interesting to see how this digital plan impacts the brick-and-mortar stores. I don't see it having much of an immediate impact on weekly floppy sales, but I think trade paperback sales may pick up a little more as digital readers seek out a physical copy (the same way someone buys a dvd after seeing a film in theaters a few months prior), and it could have effects both ways on the aftermarket as physical copies of a hot issue may be in greater demand (but less supply) while an average book may have little to no afterlife if a digital version is always available.

What do I think of the New DC? It's necessary.
How it plays out, I'm not sure. I don't have a complete sense of what the corporate directive is behind the relaunch, except to help strengthen DC's market share. From a story/universe perspective, we're still awaiting details on what's being handed down. Women in pants, apparently, but what else, I can only speculate (as I did a bit yesterday).

Let's see where we are on the confirmed titles front (commentary by me in italics):

1) Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee
Jim Lee probably shouldn't be designing costumes. Perhaps they should employ, you know, a costume designer. I'm honestly not even sure the guy should be drawing anymore. His comics look as '90's as Liefelds.

Four Green Lantern titles (via CBR)
Spinning out of War of the Green Lanterns, it would appear things are status quo, or moving forward as planned without much reboot-like impact. But we'll see.

2) Green Lantern #1 by Johns and Doug Mahnke w/ Christian Alamy
As long as Mahnke is drawing, I'll be reading

3) Green Lantern Corps #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin w/ Scott Hanna

4) Green Lantern: The New Guardians #1 by Tony Bedard and Tyler Kirkham w/ Batt

5) Red Lanterns #1 by Peter Milligan and Ed Benes w/ Rob Hunter

via Bleeding Cool

6) Wonder Woman #1by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang
I'm totally sold on the creative team, as for what they do with the character, well, I'm hesitant

7) Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis
I'm hopeful Johns has something good in mind here. It has to be much, much better than in Brightest Day

8) Flash #1 by Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul
Is it still Barry Allen? Then no thanks.

9) The Fury Of Firestorm #1 by Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone (writers)and Yildiray Cinar (art)
Uhhh... I'll probably try it but I'm not expecting to like it

10) Hawkman #1 by Tony Daniel and Philip Tan
Not a fan of Tony Daniel's writing, and not a big enough fan of Hawkman to care what's new.

11) Green Arrow #1 by JT Krul and Dan Jurgens
See above, substitute "Dan Jurgents' art" for "Tony Daniel's writing" and "Green Arrow" for "Hawkman".

12) Justice League International #1 by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti
All I remember is Jurgens took over the League from Giffen/DeMatteis and added Maxima to the team and invented Bloodwynde. Pass.

13) Mister Terrific #1 by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson
This is the first thing they've announced that actually has me stoked. I don't think I know Wallace as a writer but I'll keep optimistic.

14) Captain Atom #1 by JT Krul and Freddie Williams II
I have nothing against Freddie Williams II but his style all wrong for Captain Atom. Still, if this is a dimension/time hopping Captain Atom, I'll be happy.

15) DC Universe Presents #1 starring Deadman by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang
I'm assuming this is an anthology series with a rotating cast of creators and starring characers, but unlike the recent "The Brave And The Bold" series, it's a solo book instead of a team up book? But I am just assuming.

With definite (16-19):
Superman and Action Comics (perhaps with the involvement of Morrison, George Perez and Rags Morales)
Batman and Detective Comics (perhaps involving Jock and Greg Capullo and Dwayne Swierczynski)

Heavily rumoured (20-30)
Batgirl
Nightwing
Batwoman
Supergirl
Grifter
Omac (by Didio and Giffen)
Teen Titans (by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth)
Birds of Prey
My Greatest Adventure (w/ stories by Aaron Lopresti and Kevin Maguire)
Legion Lost
Justice Society

Personal Speculation (because it's fun to do):(31-38)
Swamp Thing
Static
Legion of Super Heroes
Robin
Authority
Jonah Hex
Atom
Shazam/Captain Marvel

Reboot to the Head

2011-06-01T11:41:00.001-07:00

You may have read the reports by now, that, as of the end of Flashpoint on August 31, DC is relaunching its entire line-up in September, with 52 series all beginning with new first issues. Now that the can of worms has been opened and the beans are spilled (they're bean worms), news and speculation is rampant. What we actually know is very little except that the DCUniverse is getting overhauled, big time.

One possible scenario is Flashpoint could be rewriting history/continuity, so that things are somewhat the same, yet different, in many ways to be revealed. As such with the first issue of each title it's possible we might join a character in-progress, perhaps we know them well, perhaps we don't know them as well as we think we do, or perhaps we don't know them at all. Their pasts may be unclear but that will provide writers the abililty to keep the parts of the past they want and discard the others (though I would not want to be the editor responsible for keeping all the rewritten continuity straight). Hopefully writers will look forward, instead of back, for the most part. But, unlike the "Superboy-punch" of not so long ago, this won't be a means to escape explaining something away, but instead a means of ignoring it altogether. Think the JJ Abrams Star Trek film, how it managed to forge its own path to go forth without completely ignoring or invalidating the past Trek lore.

Another possible scenario is the "coincidence" of 52. I have to wonder if there's not some correlation between the relaunch and the 52 universes introduced in the weekly series of recent yore. Dwayne McDuffie, rest his soul, was a big champion for each title operating as its own stand-alone universe, in a sense, able to incorporate or ignore the "Shared Universe" at its own leisure but not beholden to it in any way, shape or form. McDuffie postulated that the only continuity that would matter for a title is its own continuity. To exemplify, McDuffie explains about guest-appearances:

Guest Shots are permissible, but they only affect the continuity of the book they appeared in. If Flash does a guest-shot in Green Lantern, [where] there's no Empire State Building .... [this] Flash sees nothing wrong with that. Moreover, back in the pages of The Flash, the crossover story never happened.

.
To take his system even further, say if a creative team came aboard and wanted to completely reinvent the character or series, start at issue 1 with a whole new canon, they could. Much in the same way the Bond films work or even how characters like Batman get rebooted in cinema. Personally I think that each creative team should establish their character, their universe for the story they want to tell. If someone wants a ten year run on Batman, go for it, but then the next writer can take and leave what happened there in part or in total. The same as if another creator only wants to dabble in Blue Beetle's waters for a three issue arc, then give them a three issue series to do it in and reboot it again for the next writer.
The alternative to the "Mono-Earth" scenario would be each of these 52 series be their own universe, but part of a larger universe in such a way that, say, Green Lantern's book would have its own Flash, but if he wanted to cross over with the Justice League, he would need to dimension hop and ultimately there could conceivably be 52 iterations of each character? My brain hurts a little thinking about it that way.

But enough speculation on how it will play out, the other speculation is on what series will be involve and what it means for existing books.

Revealed:
Justice League written by Geoff Johns, illustrated by Jim Lee, with a "big seven" focus sort of like Morrison's JLA or the Justice League cartoon. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg. (Also, apparently, akin to Morrison's JLA, a sub-roster of 7 other heroes).

Hinted:
Superman and Action Comics (perhaps with the involvement of Morrison, George Perez and Rags Morales)
Wonder Woman (maintaining the new costume but distancing itself from the JMS character relaunch)
Adventure Comics (starring Deadman) (with the rumoured involvement of Gail Simone)
Batgirl (Barbara Gordon... so long Steph?)
Nightwing (also with the rumoured involvement of Simone)
Batwoman (it was likely delayed intentionally to coincide with the September relaunch)
Justice League International (as was promoted at the end of "Generation Lost")
"Team Lantern" - A team book featuring an ensemble of rainbow Lanterns
Green Lantern - Geoff Johns still involved
Aquaman - Also Johns with Ivan Reis
Hawkman with James Robinson and Philip Tan
Birds of Prey (Simone-less)
Teen Titans by Fabian Nicieza
Justice Society (new creative team)

Rumoured:
Firestorm
OMAC (with the involvement of Scott Kolins and/or Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen)
Legion Lost

No Mention, But Obviously:
Batman
Detective Comics
Robin
Green Arrow
Flash

A Good Chance Of:
Swamp Thing
Martian Manhunter
Legion of Super-Heroes (a title which could continue almost entirely unscathed)
Static (or Static Shock)
Supergirl

A Less Good Chance of:
Booster Gold
Blue Beetle solo series
Cyborg solo series
Superboy

Going Bye-Bye? :
Zatanna
Secret Six

I suspected that the lack of a letter column meant they were done for:
Xombi
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents

September

2011-05-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

WOAH!

...processing...

commentary to come.

Taking a look at the August Solicits

2011-05-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started frequenting a brick-and-mortar/direct market/LCS or whatever you want to call it, I've played the prognostication game, looking 2 months into the future and determining what it is exactly I will be buying. For a decade it was through the medium of Diamond's Previews that I would conduct my fortune telling/dispensing, but for the past decade the internet has just as ably enabled me to do so, though I don't tend to rummage around the smaller-presses as much anymore. I use this future-telling to gauge my general interest in the big guns, an interest that's in an ebb -rather than flow- state right now.

DC Comics

Green Lantern Titles - with the exception of the main GL title I've been avoiding these. I read Green Lantern almost solely out of appreciation for Doug Mahnke's artwork (see also Nicola Scott on Teen Titans), but there isn't even a new issue solicited for August (likely due to Johns' busywork on Flashpoint?). My eyebrow doesn't even twitch at the pairing of Guy Gardner and Batman in August's "Emerald Warriors".

Flashpoint 4-5 - "IMPORTANT NOTE: Because of its impact on the DC Universe, FLASHPOINT #5 is the only title that DC Comics is soliciting in this catalogue to arrive in stores on August 31."
This almost makes me want to read it... almost... but then I remember that EVERY even book has promised to impact the DCU in major ways, and they rarely ever do.

Other Flashpoint Titles - Skip. Not even going to bother reading the solicit text. Don't care. Skip.

DC Retroactive - wow, something I'm actually excited for here... because I'm old... and I believe the glory days of comics were in my youth, so comics that directly recall the 80's and 90's are, like, totally speaking to me man! I'm both being honest and sarcastic. I don't think there is an actual comics heyday. There are good comics that come out of every decade, just as there are trends which typify the times they were published in, for better or worse. I truly am looking forward to more than a few of these, the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire reunion most of all (starring the Injustice League). But to quibble a bit, Giffen/DeMatteis' 5-year run Justice Leauge started in '87 ended in '92, so they were as much the 1980's than the Detroit league. But the '80's Retroactive JLA by Gerry Conway, featuring the Detroit League might be fun, or it might be as horrendous as the JLA Classified issues that featured the Detroit League (years ago I wrote a long diatribe on how awful that story arc was, but it was lost when the computer crashed with no recoverable file).

It's also curious to me why Ron Randall is handling art on the 80's JLA Retroactive, same as Sergio Cariello on the 80's Superman Retroactive, and Mike Bowden on the 90's Flash Retroactive. None of these artists are representative of those books or the eras. I'm not even sure who Mike Bowden is. I'm quite excited to see Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove on Superman again. Bogdanove's style was eccentric but by the time they finished their work on Man of Steel and Steel, I was a firm supporter. Other awesome returns, Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle on 90's Batman and Bill Loebs on both 80's Flash (Loeb's Flash was '88-'92, but I guess getting Cary Bates and Carmine Infantino together for a pre-Crisis 80's Flash reunion was out of the question?) and 90's Wonder Woman.

Detective Comics #881 - wait, what? "the extra-sized conclusion of the acclaimed run by Scott Snyder, Jock and Francesco Francavilla." Great Hera, why? As much as I've enjoyed Morrison's Batman stuff, Snyder's 'Tec has been absolutely incredible Batman. DC doesn't often capitalize of their Vertigo talent (Marvel tends to steal them away) but this was a masterstroke. They should keep this gang together until at least issue 900.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #10 - To be honest, I was expecting this to be the last issue ('specially since issue 7 came out this week and still doesn't have a letters column, which either means they're so far ahead in their production schedule that they couldn't accommodate it yet or it's not going to be around long enough to start one. See also Xombi. I'm happy "this ain't the end -- not by a long shot".

Night Force HC - At last! Because YOU demanded it... didn't you? Because I didn't...

Showcase Presents: All-Star Comics Vol.1 - me and comics from the 1970's don't get along very well. I want to like them but I find them frequently difficult, cheesy, patronizing and unreadable. But 448 pages of Earth 2 insanity from Paul Levitz and Gerry Conway for $20 bucks, sold!

The New York Five TP - I knew I didn't need to buy the floppies. Good ol' predictable Vertigo.

Batman Black and White Statue By Sergio Aragones - Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha

Marvel Comics

Fear Itself - If it's not obvious by now, I'm a DC guy more than a Marvel guy and since I generally avoid all Marvel's event books nearly everything with a "Fear Itself" tag I'm skipping. Even though I really dig Cullen Bunn's work (his awesome Superman/Batman story Sorcerer Kings wrapped up this week and is collected in HC in August), I'm not getting The Deep nor am I getting Homefront despite my general affinity for Speedball. I'll probably get Herc in TPB just as I did the entire Incredible Hercules run.

Ultimate Fallout/Hawkeye/Ultimates - I'm enjoying pretty much everything Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer are writing these days so I should really check this out, despite the fact that I haven't read an "Ultimate" book since Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine and don't care so much (or at all) about the Ultimate universe.

Amazing Spider-Man/Spider Island - It's been quite a few years now since Dan Slott became sort of the key guy on Spider-Man and I've been meaning to check out some of his stuff (is the Spider-Man: Infested collection solicited this month a good read?), but then it all comes back to the fact that I don't really like Spider-Man all that much that keeps me away. As for this "Spider Island" thing, Nick Spencer doing Cloak and Dagger intrigues me (see Ultimate Fallout above) and that Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu book look pretty rad.

Secret Avengers #16 - Warren Ellis? Jamie McKelvie? Sold. Wait. $3.99? Waiting for trade!

Captain America and Bucky #621/Captain America #2 - Brubaker's Cap is still going strong and an incredible read but this reminds me of that one time I was playing blackjack and winning, and got cocky and so I started playing two hands at once and very quickly lost everything (fake money thankfully). I'm worry there's not enough Cap juice in Bru's tank for two Cap monthlies.

X-Men/Iron Man/Thor - skip.skip.skip. The X-universe, despite having some writers I like on books in there, is just far too convoluted for me to wade into. Iron Man, outside of the movies, never really sustained my interest much (I like Ellis, Fraction, Nick Spencer but not enough to read Iron Man regularly). Thor... Thor... What is it good for? Absolutely nothin', say it again. Thor bores the tits off me.

The Punisher #1 & #2 - Big Guns Greg Rucka and Mark Chichetto (who?) take on Marvel's bad-ass vigilante. I know the Punisher has his fans, but personally it seems like after reading one Punisher story, you kind of read them all. If Rucka can shoehorn in some political conspiracy or clandestine organizations, however, it could be fun...I'll wait for the reviews to come in.

Mystery Men #4 - every time I see this I think of the Bob Burden Flaming Carrot spinoff and get a little disappointed I'm not going to see new adventures of Mr. Furious, the Spleen et. al. But even still, this looks kind of nifty.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 - Yay, S.H.I.E.L.D. is back.

X-Statix Omnibus - $125. 1200 pages. How does one read a 1200 page omnibus. One runs the risk of having their chest crushed if they fall asleep reading in bed. Anyway, X-Statix was pretty awesome, for its time. I wonder if it still holds up.

Image Comics

The Infinite #1 - Uh oh... Liefeld's back. Shoulder armor. Check. Thigh-belts. Check. Pouches. Check. Absence of feet. Check. It feels like 1991 all over again.

Malinky Robot: Collected Stories and Other Bits TP - I have some of this stuff from old Slave Labor printings, but Sonnie Liew is a damn phenomenal artist and his work is worth buying twice.

Morning Glories Vol. 2 TP - after reading the first volume I've been patiently waiting for this, resisting the siren call of the monthly floppies. So close, yet still so far away.

50 Girls 50 #3 Girls + Frank Cho= ... What? Cho's writing and not drawing? Why? WHY?

The Light At The End of the Brightest Day Tunnel

2011-05-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

The bi-weekly "epics" Brightest Day and Justice League: Generation Lost both ended last week. Me being the Giffen-era Justice League fan I am I stuck with JL:GL through to the bitter end, while I abandoned Brightest Day about halfway through as it was doing little to sustain my interest.

I skimmed through the final two issues of Brightest Day last week at the comics shop, half a mind to perhaps pick them up and see how this thing closed out, but the wallet won out and I shelved them again. My curiosity was piqued however (SPOILERS ahead) as Martian Manhunter, Hawkman and Hawkwoman, Firestorm, and Aquaman became the earth, wind, fire and water elementals (respectively) in the 23rd issue to, seemingly, combat a Black Lantern Swamp Thing. Having these characters become elementals seemed like an interesting thing to do, and a rather monolithic change (except for Firestorm who has been the fire elemental in the past) for these characters. Of course, this was reversed in the final issue, Swamp Thing has returned to the land of the living (and the land of the superheroes) with John Constantine not far behind. So, it would seem, ultimately, the point of Brightest Day was to reintroduce a couple Vertigo characters back into the DCU proper. I didn't actually read the whole thing, but this is my impression anyway.

Over in JL:GL(the whole thing I did read and reviewed over at CHUD) - itself tangentially connected to Brightest Day - Maxwell Lord was reborn and decides to make the world forget he ever existed, which frees him to do whatever the hell he wants. The only exception is his former teammates in the JLI - Captain Atom, Booster Gold, Fire and Ice - haven't forgotten him and a cat-and-mouse chase ensues. (More SPOILERS) There's a lot of hinting at Max instigating a dystopian future, essentially bringing about the events of Kingdom Come using Magog as a pawn. But that doesn't come to pass and Max's grand designs ultimately are revealed to simply be revenge on Wonder Woman for killing him the first time. But he doesn't succeed in killing Wonder Woman, he's forced to lift his cloud of forgetfulness off the world (everyone remembering who he is once again, but with the complication that people don't remember who Wonder Woman is because of the events in her book, so they don't remember seeing her kill him), and he gets away to make a youtube video that is supposed to acquit him of all wrong doing in public perception. And Batman reforms the Justice League International... new series coming soon.

In both cases, these 24-issue, bi-weekly non-events were constructed as a gateway to new series. In the case of Brightest Day it's to bring Swamp Thing back to the DCU, in JL:GL, to launch a new, less funny, less heartfelt, less Giffen-y Justice League International. In both cases, it seems like a long way to go, and a lot of demand on the readers' wallets just to launch some new series.

If you want a new Swamp Thing or a new Justice League International title, then just launch them. You don't need to go through the whole pretense of an epic mini-series to get to that end. Quite frankly the experience of JL:GL has had the opposite effect than what I think TPTB at DC had intended. I don't want to revisit the Justice League International anymore. I'm done with that concept. It was awesome back in the late 80's, and the little things Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire have done over the years to stir up nostalgia were good, but this series didn't rekindle any of that fire and having a new Justice League International series, starring a fuzzy facsimile of the old cast, only seems like pissing on goodwill of the original. Dare I say it, it feels somewhat like the Star Wars prequels in that regard.

I had initially hope Brightest Day would be the testing ground for a new Justice League series starring Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Firestorm, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Deadman, capturing the eclectic second-string feel of the book from the late 70's early 80's, but it instead seems to be angling for individual series for these characters. Had they launched a new Martian Manhunter, Firestorm or Aquaman series instead, I probably would have read all three with more interest than some "event book" that took its time in connecting the threads (if it ever did). And now, if there are new books for those characters, I'm not entirely sure how interested I am in them.

I'm feeling a little bitter about my JL:GL experience and even about my Brightest Day experience (despite bailing early). I think a maxi-series of 24 issues should contain a full, enriching story and not be just and excuse to lead you elsewhere. I'm not saying it has to be as good as Watchmen, but it should at least strive for that level of completeness and complexity. 52 is perhaps the better benchmark, having juggled multiple stories from multiple creators, but all of them completed and satisfyingly so. That derivative series were launched from 52 was more a result of the strength of the series and not some put-upon mandate to lead the reader into something else to try and achieve the completeness that should have already been offered.

Am I wrong? I certainly can justify this feeling with JL:GL but did I otherwise miss something in Brightest Day or is it as it seems, a 24-issue series designed to bring Swamp Thing back? Were the individual arcs for the other characters satisfying in their conclusion or were they left open-ended?

Versus: Batman (DC Comics) Vs. Jack Hawksmoor (DC Comics)

2011-04-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

Gotham City has seen plague, quake and infestation. The Joker, once again, poisons her waters. Gotham can take no more, the rivers turn red and with one last gasp, Gotham cries out for healing. Meanwhile, secluded in The Batcave, Batman, unable to stop The Joker's rampage, is hard at work on a cure. Somewhere, deep within The Bleed, a lone figure hears Gotham's plea.

He will put an end to Gotham's suffering, once and for all, no matter who he has to go through...

BATMAN, THE GOTHAM KNIGHT

VERSUS

JACK HAWKSMOOR, THE KING OF CITIES...

Second Printers, YOU DECIDE...

Dissipating disappointment

2011-04-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Back when I was a kid buying my comics off the comics rack at the book store or lottery shop in the neighbourhood plaza, unaware of shipping schedules or even release days, it was not only common, but rather expected that I would miss an issue of some series I was reading. It was ever so frustrating, that hole left in a series run.. it would natter away at me, taunting me, a big gaping void longing to be fulfilled, subsequent issues only a bigger tease at what I might have missed. Thus the completist mentality was born, lists were made and the hunt began.

Once I discovered there were actual comic book shops, and was old enough to earn my own money and convince my mother to take me to the brick and mortar stores (aside - the only one in town for a long time was a used book store, run by a chain smoking couple and you had to walk past their dirty magazine section to get to the comics section, so I understand her reluctance. In 1991 three or four new shops opened and the cleanest one became my home away from home for a decade), I came to understand the cycles of publishing, and also made sure I would never miss anything again by having a pull-list at the shop. Every so often though, despite having the pull list, an issue would be scooped out from under me, sold out before the shop got around to filling subscription (in the heyday of the speculator boom, this often happened with guys buying multiple copies of things). Frustrating and disappointing, but now familiar with the ways of the direct market and back issue diving, few gaps in collections were ever left remaining (one I never did find, and still haven't gotten around to: Batman: Shadow of the Bat #4 of all things).

I haven't had a regular pull list since the turn of the century/millennium. I went primarily trade-only for around four years but for the past six or seven years I've been working only a block away from a comic shop and have been frequenting it every New Comic Book Day (NCBD) at lunchtime ever since (becoming a firm ritual after meeting my now-wife while she was on her own NCBD outing). In the past decade, to my knowledge, I've only missed out on smaller-press/indie titles that I was interested in but the store doesn't regularly stock or only come out sporadically and are thus harder to track. For example, I have a few gaps in my Tales Designed to Thrizzle collection and I'm behind a few issues on Big Questions and I'm still searching for the last issue of SLG's Tron series from a few years back, but missing out on any of these has caused me any real disappointment. Truth of the matter is in this day and age, you can get pretty much any mass-produced product you want with a few clicks of a button, so I know that I can start closing gaps whenever I really, really want to.

But genuine disappointment, the kind that comes after unbridled anticipation, is so rare these days. We're so used to consuming, and consuming a lot, that any disappointment is generally mild and can be supplanted by consuming something else. Like last week, for the first time in I don't know how long, neither my wife nor I were able to make it to our NCBD rendezvous. By the time I made it to the shop on Friday I discovered I had missed out on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Infinity one-shot. I was disappointed, sure, because I'm a big Johnathan Hickman fan and I enjoy the series, but I wasn't that disappointed because it's Marvel, afterall... I'll be able to find the book at another shop or when my store reorders it or whatever. It'll be around. I still had six other books I picked up last week to fill whatever void there might have been for digesting new material.

But this week... good god... this week I nearly threw a temper tantrum like the ones my almost-2-year-old has recently started throwing when I discovered the store had ordered a measly four copies of Black Dynamite: Slave Island and sold out of them in the 2 hours it had been open.

If you haven't seen Black Dynamite, you honestly don't know what you're missing. I could say it's the funniest film of the past 10 years and I'd still be underselling it. It's an absolutely genius homage to Blaxploitation and 70's kung-fu movies that rivals, if not surpasses in hilarity the early works of the Zucker Brothers parody films like Airplane and Naked Gun. I'd weaned myself off of my buy-everything-I-like-on-DVD habit for about 2 years, having gotten very good at satiating myself with renting and not owning, but after renting Black Dynamite (and watching it twice in the same evening) I knew I had to own it. I've watched it multiple times since, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone, and I'm more in awe of it every time. As much as I love it, I have a huge appetite for more, and when I found out about this one-shot comic about two months ago, I've been tracking its release ever since, patiently waiting. Seeing it in the "upcoming release" list last week has made the past 7 days excruciating, as the anticipation has been building to a boiling point where I was bouncing in my chair, counting down the minutes 'til lunchtime today, and immediately jumping down my wife's throat to head out the door the moment the clock struck noon.

Hey, I know that there's a chance that it's not going to be any good, as there are ever only a few movie-tie-in books that measure up to their source, but even in my aging objectiveness, I can still succumb to pure, unrefined geek fandom. It is so rare, however, which is what made this disappointment all the more crushing. I quite literally was ready to leave the store, trying my hardest not to take my frustration and disappointment out on the staff who I call friends. Fuck Green Lantern and X-Factor, screw Classic GI Joe volume 11, I want Black Dynamite or I want nothing at all.

And my wife stood next to me, patiently, as I worked through my problems, and ultimately I did pick up the rest of this week's books but I'm still seething and they're not filling that void, that black (dynamite) hole that reminds me there's something out there I really want to read and can't, at least not right now. Amazon isn't shipping the comic until May 3rd, and I'm not certain that any other local stores (easily accessible) will have copies on hand, because, truth be told, it's a pretty niche book spawned from a still-developing-cult-status film put out by a small-press company that doesn't get a lot of traction against even the mid-sized publishers like Boom or IDW. I suppose I'll do what I have to do to make it through these difficult times, while my life is so empty outside of the love of my family, relatively secure job, good friends, and all the other good stuff I got going for me.

Flashpointless?

2011-04-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it

Second Printing presents: a quick recap of the legacy Flashpoint carries forth.

'Cause I'm old, I remember Armageddon: 2001, DC's 1991 annual event, the first to take place entirely across their Annuals rather than interrupting their monthly titles. Genius that, I say, the idea of running an event through Annuals, not necessarily the Armageddon series. Armageddon: 2001 had two bookend issues between which all the other annuals appeared, and each annual was, by and large, a stand-alone excuse to tell an out-of-continuity story set 10 years in the future about the characters and teams holding their own titles. The Plot? A character named Waverider was checking every superhero to see who would possibly become the world-conquering Monarch, and in a famous pre-internet spoiler foil, DC changed the big reveal from Captain Atom to Hawk (of "& Dove"), something which kind of pissed off a lot of people (especially after Hawk had already been ruled out in the H&D annual). Superman had three or four different futures, which just went to show that you couldn't really trust or believe anything you read in the other issues.

The Annual-based event format was great, in essence making the event its own thing, and leaving the ongoing series to do their own thing uninterrupted, keeping writers and readers happy. They repeated the annual event at DC twice more with Eclipso: The Darkness Within and Bloodlines, and in 2004 had a thematic "event" whereby each Annual presented an Elseworld story (or two) of the title characters. The Elseworlds stories, like those in Armageddon: 2001 were stand-alone, which meant readers could pick and choose or go all-in with equal enjoyment (although, re-reading them, most of the stories in both series were either uninspired or hastily executed, or both).

The mid-1990's, at the apex (or perhaps just past the turning point) of the comics boom, spewed forth the Amalgam Universe, where DC and Marvel heroes smashed together in puntastic ways for two series of one-shots. Then in the late-1990s DC had the "skip-week" events. To explain, every month consists of four weeks, but every three months there's kind of an "extra" week on the schedule which DC used at the time to have self-contained mini-series or mini-events. One skip week brought forth the "Tangent Universe", a new bundle of heroes in a shared universe with familiar names and not at all else. Both the Amalgam and Tangent Universes had solid creative teams, but investment in the characters was low (since they were essentially one-off creations) and thus so was enjoyment (even though the Tangent universe has reared its head a couple times since).

It would appear that with Flashpoint what is old is new again and we, the DC readership/fanbase are getting treated to new alternate timeline versions of the DCU, with our heroes being recognizable but definitely not the same.

Would it be rude of me to yawn?

I've seen this before, multiple times, and the potential for fun is there as it always is in alternate past/future stories. But at the same time the sprawl of Flashpoint, with over 15 titles per month (Booster Gold, I might add, is the only current ongoing series tying in) means it's not going to be a cohesive story, and knowing what's the meat and what's just fat is hard to tell from the outside. Even at a "drawing the line" price of $2.99, that's still around $50 monthly to buy into the event in total, so as a fan, if you're curious, what do you do?

Do you pick and choose what you want to read? Those Cliff Chiang covers on Deadman and the Flying Graysons makes that series somewhat enticing or the appearance of Morrison's Seven Soldiers Frankenstein in Frankenstein and the Challengers of the Unknown certainly lifts an eyebrow or the sheer bizarreness of the June-solicited one-shot The Canterbury Cricket threatens to draw me in. But if you do pick and choose, will they be all that interesting on their own, or even as a part of the whole?

Flashpoint is a rather sizable gamble on DC's part, though I did notice they're leaving the bulk of their titles alone, so it's an event that's not a mandatory event. I can keep picking up Detective Comics or Secret Six without having to worry about picking up additional cross-over issues, or, quite frankly even care what's happening in Flashpoint.

But then the question is raised, if Flashpoint isn't affecting the DC Universe titles in any significant way, then what is the point of doling out 15-20 additional books per month, and building such a massive alternate reality for a short-term event? Is Flashpoint the birth of an "Ultimates" style universe, or is it a flash-in-the-pan? (PUN!)

I should also mention that I've been avoiding the Flash since the return of Barry Allen so I've had zero build-up to this event, and I have to wonder if this event is catering to anyone outside of the Flash readership. Obviously it is trying to considering the diversity of characters and titles involved, but will any reader who hasn't been keeping up with the Flash have a vested interest in the series especially if they can keep reading their regular monthlies without interruption?

As you may be able to tell, I'm a little undecided about how I feel about Flashpoint. I'm grateful for it staying out of books like Legion of Super-Heroes and Teen Titans in the same way that the old Annuals events used to, but also puzzled by why I should otherwise care. Curiosity is seeping in a little, mostly on the strength of a few cover images and that old nostalgic feeling I have for Elseworlds tales, but I suspect I'm going to pass on the event in total.

Definitely Not Reviews (Mid-March-Madness)

2011-03-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Devon and I (and the gang) did some reviews of last weeks comics, but there were so many new comics that it was hard to a thoughtful review to all of them. So how about some knee-jerk reactions instead?

It's back, DEFINITELY NOT REVIEWS:

Adventure Comics #524 - I think I routinely get the Subs and the Legion Academy confused. I love the Subs and have no real feelings either way for the Academy. I was a huge Phil Jimenez fan at one time, which was what brought me on board for this arc. I think my Subs/Academy confusion led me to believe this issue would be a continuation of the futuristic Frat House satire that the first issue seemed to be, alas, it's true to the title and is an actual Adventure. First World Problems.

Fear Itself: Book of the Skull - To distill Devon's review, it's a complete mehss. See what I did there? Anyway, from what I've read about this, Brubaker was originally supposed to co-write the Fear Itself event with Fraction, but had to bail and took what he was going to do (this quasi-Hellboy inspired retro-WWII arc) and turned it into a bland one-shot. Some nice art and a few decent action pieces, but inessential, less than inspiring, and not so revealing about the overall Fear Itself to-do.

The Guild: Tink - This reminds me that I've not been watching Season 4 of the Guild. I've enjoyed all of the Guild comics so far, but this one kind of pisses me off, mostly because self-entitled princessy bitches like Tink just annoy the piss out of me. I guess Felicia Day has done her job well in establishing such a character for us all to loathe.

Red Robin #21 - Red Robin (yummm) takes on the Mad Men, but Don Draper is nowhere to be seen. Zing! Bet no one thought of that one yet. Anywho, Nicieza reinvents the old Blue Beetle villains as living server farms after being experimented upon by Dark Side's acolytes during the Final Crisis, now they're an integral part to the Unternet. This whole criminal internet business has actually been a pretty fun nerdist-meets-superhero ride so far.

Ruse #1 - All I have to say is, do we need another Sherlock Holmes-esque character? Enh, sure, why not.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5 - Nick Spencer's pacing of the inaugural storyline is very, very unusual, and I've not yet decided if I like how its structured/executed, but otherwise, I'm quite enjoying it, and the guest artists that have been joining Cafu every issue (this issue Ryan Sook) have all been top-tier talents.

Tiny Titans #38 - Aqualad and Lagoon boy meet the underwater Titans. I love when this book goes into seriously deranged territory. It's not necessarily subversive, just deliciously weird. This series will hopefully continue until Balthazar and Franco are in the grave.

Unwritten #23 - Until last week I had so many issues of this series sitting beside my bed, I'd taken to calling it Unread. Badum bum. But seriously folks, I ploughed through 10 issues like a crazed junkie and was itching for more. But oddly enough, reading this issue, by itself, with nothing to follow, didn't feel as satisfying. I highly recommend this series, but I think it'll fare so much better in trade.

X-Factor #217 - this one is boob-a-licious. But as much as I like cleavage, I have to say Banshee's boobs and Monet's boobs and Black Cat's boobs seriously undercut the rather potent and intelligently written debate ol' Mayor J Jonah Jameson had with some Tea Party-like protesters. It was a nice moment for JJJ, which seemed both unusual and out of synch with how I'm familiar with him (which is pretty much limited to the 1960's cartoon and J.K. Simmons in the film).

Xombi #1 - 15 years ago, back in 2005, Milestones' Xombi came to an end. 15 years after 2005, in 2011, Xombi's back, but no one cares because they're all fixated on my incorrect math. And by "they're all" I mean the four people who commented on my date typo in my CHUD review. Otherwise, to quote Dana Carvey impersonating Johnny Carson (I'm old!), "that is some weird, wild stuff."

Yo Gabba Gabba: Comic Book Time HC - for hipster adults with really young children, or stoners who are entranced by bright colours, Yo Gabba Gabba is one of the raddest things going. This very handsome collection of shorts is equally pretty rad, with some absolutely fantastic kid-friendly art and stories from the likes of Evan Dorkin, Mike Allred, and Eric Orchard (whom I introduced you to a year and a half ago, remember?). My 20-month old loves it, and I think I like it more.

Your Highness Prequel - Aye, this dost not bodeth well for the quality of yon cinefilm, as showcased in moving picture houses come April. It's kind of crappy, in facteth.

Your WTF Comics Moment Of The Day

2011-03-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

APE Entertainment is bring you an all-new Richie Rich comic and it's basically Jonny Quest meets... Richie Rich, I guess.

Where do you even start with this? Where are the pre-Michael Jordan white short-shorts dude used to wear? Where are the li'l white booties? Where's Richie flashing $100 bills like L'il Wayne on an all-night bender at a strip club? Reggie Mantle wants his hair back.

And Cadbury? Oh, Cadbury... what have they done to you? If you want milk and cookies brought to you, you want this guy bringing them to you...

Not this guy...

This guy's gonna bang your mom, Richie Rich.

The All-New Wonder Woman

2011-03-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

So, last year DC had updated the Wonder Woman costume for a "modern age", showing less of Diana's skin and turning the bustier into something less bustier-like, giving her a street-tough look more akin to Black Canary than what we would typically associate with Wonder Woman. I didn't much care for it. I have to say though, that I prefer it to this: the new television Wonder Woman costume as donned by series actress Adrianne Palicki. The fetish aesthetic is quite obviously back in (I guess in keeping with the origins of the character), as this costume seems like something I would see in the live display window at a certain adult store on Queen West here in Toronto, rather than a superhero. Quite frankly it makes Lynda Carter look ready to greet the Queen in comparison. And nerd quibble: BLUE BOOTS?

Reports about the show have David E Kelly's Wonder Woman it shaping up to be the usual clueless adapt-a-superhero-to-the-mass-market disaster. "The project is described as a reinvention of the iconic D.C. comic in which Wonder Woman -- aka Diana Prince -- is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life"

Bleeding Cool's dissection of the pilot script further damns it to, at best, The Flash-level of television reinvention.

I'm betting that, like the Cape or The Bionic Woman remake, I make it no further than 20 minutes through the pilot episode before flipping it over to watch hockey or something less brain-hurtey.

Dwayne McDuffie, In Memoriam

2011-02-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

Two hours ago, I heard of the passing of writer/creator Dwayne McDuffie. I, like many, am incredibly sad.

McDuffie had, over the years, become something of a mentor to me. He had no idea, though.

I'd first discovered him as the writer of Marvel Comics' Damage Control mini-series. In an era when every creator seemed to be taking comics by the hair, kicking and screaming, down a dark alleyway, here was this... thing. This very funny... thing. A comic that asked and answered the answer, "Who's gonna clean up this mess?" It was brilliantly written and vibrantly drawn and honestly, a breath of fresh air in an industry hellbent on becoming hellbent. I wanted to write like this man. I wanted to make people feel good about the comic they'd just read.

Later, tired of the Luke Cages and Night Thrashers of the comics universe, he co-created Milestone Comics, a brand formed on the knowledge that characters of color and even different sexualities could and should have just as many chances at heroism as anyone else. From this, we got The Blood Syndicate, The Shadow Cabinet, Xombi and the books he personally wrote Icon (and more important to me, his sidekick, Rocket,) Hardware and Static. Static would later go on to receive his own long-running cartoon series. (McDuffie wrote many of its episodes.) As an aside, I honestly believe a whole generation of young black men watching Static Shock on Saturday mornings wear their hair in dreadlocks in emulation of McDuffie's most enduring creation.

McDuffie went on to write many more cartoons, chief among them, Justice League Unlimited, the Super Friends cartoon we wished for as adults. Watching this show was seeing everything you loved about comics rendered big on screen. In each McDuffie script, you just knew he adored the material he was writing about and it showed in every word. McDuffie even managed to do the impossible and in one episode of Unlimited, wrote the best Marvel animated project Marvel never commissioned.

To me, his greatest contribution to comics and to animation was this: I remember looking into the mirror as a child and came to horrible realization that I couldn't truly be Superman. My hair didn't do what his did. My skin did not look like his.

Fast forward, thirty years and my nephew and I are watching Justice League Unlimited together. The room was filled with nothing but the sounds of the television, when my nephew looks over at me and smiles. "The Green Lantern. His head is bald like yours and he has a mustache and hair on his chin like you do. You look like Green Lantern."

I can't tell you how good I felt at that moment. To my nephew and many other children, men who looked like me could be viewed as heroes. I could be a hero. Just like Green Lantern.

Just like one of my personal writing heroes, Dwayne McDuffie.

Versus: Big Barda (DC Comics) Vs. Valkyrie (Marvel Comics)

2011-02-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

The fight enters it's second hour.

Fifteen minutes ago, Omega Rod and sword were thrown down in favor of fists.

Each fist landing impacts with the sound of a body thrown to the ground from a great height and yet, they will not stop.

Who will fall first?

BIG BARDA

VS.

VALKYRIE

Second Printers, YOU DECIDE!

Thor's Comic Column

2011-02-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

Devon and Graig review some comics over at CHUD.com.

Versus: Superboy (DC Comics) Vs. Invincible (Image)

2011-02-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

Neither has reached their potential.

Both are destined for great things.

Both could pulverize a mountain in a flourish.

Both are battle tested and battle hardened.

One is a clone of comicdom's greatest superhero, The Man Of Steel. He is also the clone of comicdom's greatest supervillain, Lex Luthor.

The other was a alien/human hybrid who was born to take over The Earth. He'd reeeally rather not, though.

SUPERBOY

VS.

INVINCIBLE

Second Printers, YOU DECIDE!

Thor's Comic Column

2011-02-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Graig and Devon are back and reviewing comics for CHUD.com.

More NHL Guardians than you can handle

2011-02-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

Sunday night at the always lackluster game of shinny that was the NHL All-Star Game, the NHL Guardians made their debut in a 3 1/2 minute true multimedia extravaganza. I had spent the previous week really ragging on the design of these characters, but I have to say that the CGI effort was actually tremendously solid and I think the majority of the characters work better (if they work at all) in the CGI design as opposed to the comic illustrations. See for yourself.

As for the content, well, it's about as engaging as a Super Friends cartoon, in that it's juvenile and patronizing. Devon Dark is as silly a villain name as has been perpetrated in the modern age of superheroes (although I didn't catch all the villain names on "The Cape" during the 20 minutes I could bear watching that show, so there could easily be plenty worse) and the leader of the Guardians decreed as "Mike Mason" in the presentation was equally groan inducing (either that or leading to hockey fans questioning "You mean the Columbus goaltender?" "No, that's Steve Mason." "Oh, so the Atlanta goaltender, then." "No, that's Chris Mason." "So who the hell is Mike Mason?") But damn if there weren't some cool things going on in that presentation... the transformation of the RBC Centre into a giant nondescript weapon of sorts was pretty cool, and the on-ice projected display must have been pretty impressive in person (same technology that was used at last year's Vancouver Winter Olympics closing ceremony I imagine).

With all the Guardians revealed and the big debut at the All-Star Game the Guardian Project website went totally live, and as with their presentation on Sunday, this effort, in fact is generally exceptionally well done (if the nuances are cheesy and/or painful).

Entering the site gives you two options: "The Vault" and "The Chronicles"
The Vault is a visually impressive flash-based interface that boots up what it must be like to sit doing JLA monitor duty. A grid of all the Guardians pops up, with most currently displaying "ALERT: Unable To Locate", with a few others' images appearing but greyed out ("Guardian Not Online"). The Hurricane is currently the only clickable Guardian which leads to an interactive page centering around a CGI display of the Hurricane, with clickable areas to discover his powers, learn more about him, download wallpaper, comics and posters. As well, you can register yourself to the sight and receive "private" messages from Mike Mason about the status of the Guardians if you're so inclined. There's an impressive music score backing the Vault, full of intensity and gravitas. They've made a really great effort, so it's quite unfortunate that everything it hinges upon, the validity of these characters as actual superheroes falls so flat.

"The Chronicles" provides access to some of the elements of the Vault but in a less Flash-intensive setting. But there's more product in the Chronicles at this point, with excerpts from the Guardians novel (yes, apparently there's a novel) providing background on Mike Mason and Devon Dark (I haven't read these excerpts yet, so I'll refrain from comment). There is a 6-page comic (one title/spash page and 5 story pages) for each Guardian scripted by Chuck Dixon but conceived by Jake Shapiro and/or Tony Chargin (presumably behind-the scenes guys at the Guardian Project... Chargin it appears in co-founder of Guardian Media Entertainment and EVP Creative Affairs).

Dixon, a workhorse writer and usually solid and dependable, gives an effort here that is clearly for-hire and passionless, the result being that most of these stories are ridiculously painful to read. It's clear that he was given a list of things to touch on for each character, such as a clear display of each of their powers (and as we've said before, the Guardians are overloaded with powers, like a role-playing game creation session gone horribly awry) and the involvement of city-specific landmarks and/or character attributes for that city that sometimes border on hoary cliche. What was forgotten, or not at all allowed, was character. There's very little distinctive personality from Guardian to Guardian or villain to villain. They're not even cartoonishly fleshed out, because they're not fleshed out at all. Each Guardian reads like the other with awful puns (I imagine Dixon had fun seeing how bitingly painful he could make these puns) or beyond cliche closing sentiments ("Whenever I'm needed, Sabre will be there.").

The purpose for each story is to show a previous adventure each of the Guardians have had, and they're all stock golden-age style plots: villain up to no good, hero intervenes, the end. There's nothing to say that one hero is more of an adventurer than the other or that any of them have secret identities or that they're interested in anything but lame jokes and foiling poorly constructed villainous plots.

If you tally it up, there's 150 pages of story here. It would have been brilliant to give Dixon free reign to write his own adventure(s) to fill the pages and develop/distinguish at least some of the characters. Alas.

On the art side, there's some recognizable talent, like Matt Haley (Blackhawk, Duck, Flame) and Sal Velluto (King, Ranger, Red Wing, Senator) dropping some less than enthusiastic work. Kevin Stokes (Coyote, Maple Leaf, Predator, Penguin), Mike Lilly (Devil, Islander) and Nathan Massengill (Sabre) actually provide something intriguing (or at least really good looking) but it's actually Tevor Von Eeden, an artist who I've never been too fond of, that really shines here (Bruin, Canuck, Canadien, Capital, Star, Flyer and Thrasher), with some really inventive panel designs and generally going above and beyond the call of duty here with some insanely cool sequences (at least, relative to the content).

(If you must, recommended are the stories for Bruin, Capital, Star, Devil, Islander, Coyote, Predator, Sabre, Duck, Ranger, found under the "Guardian Battles" section)

Elsewhere the site is a section for "Guardians in their Cities" which currently has videos for the LA King and the Philadelphia Flyer. These are 30-second CGI animations, parts of which appeared in the All-Star presentation but with descriptive tags.

Overall, the design of the website is a winner, navigation is easy, it's just truly unfortunate that the characters are so generally weak.

Of all the characters, in design I think I like either the Calgary Flame or Dallas Star the most (of a very short list), while I think the Oiler and the Coyote are the most horrendous (though in practice by way of the comics, the Blue Jacket is truly an abomination, as the Coyote story is fairly decent and the Oiler quite forgettable).

I'm horrified, yet curious, somewhat offended but intrigued by this whole thing. There's grand commercialism at play, and I haven't decided how it's any different than what goes on with mainstream comics, except that, I guess, the popularity of comic characters is determined organically as opposed to shoving a character down a particular city's throat by association.

Next week... reaction from geeks, kids, hockey fans and the totally unaffiliated.

Introducing the NEW New Guardians (day 5)

2011-01-30T10:35:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to the Old People Be Hatin' blog, where we're looking at the genius/ridiculous/mad genius concept of the NHL Guardians Project, wherein each of the NHL's 30 teams has been re-invisioned as a super-hero. Each day in January a new Guardian has been unveiled, so today we present the final six. Also, I just noticed that there are extended descriptions of each hero on NHL.com, which I've retroactively linked to. Some are outright hilarious (the Blue Jacket was a particular high point with his time-stopping flag).

The Florida Panther

Powers: night vision; light refraction; carbide claws; super-agility; dark matter manipulation
Remember in "52" when Booster Gold was running around with corporate logos all over his costume like a spandex version of a NASCAR racer? Well, this is just the start of things for Black Panther, as this, seriously, looks exactly like the late-90's Christopher Priest-scribed Black Panther, only more blue tinged and of course sportin' the NHL belt bling and Florida Panther's emblem on his chest like Flava Flav might a clock.

The New York Ranger

Powers: narcoleptic confusion, titanium cable, shockwave bomb, hover horse
There's a definite Judge Dredd vibe going on, although "dread" is a little too strong a word... let's call him Judge Superpro. Weak. Anyway, with exception to the fact that he looks like a character out of Rollerball (James Caan 1970's version) there's nothing all that wrong here. There's definitely worse... much, much worse.

The Anaheim Duck

Powers: innate genius level IQ; water breathing; chi; hydro pulse jet propulsion; omniscientific weapon creation
Jeebus Chrimbus, they actually did something cool with the Duck. Either they've really done a phenomenal job or I'm delusional with extreme lowered expectations, but yeah, I think this is cool. I'm not certain about the boogie board, but this guy's like a black and gold version of GI Joe's Wetsuit, with a weird metal duck bill. But yeah. Impressed. I'm also hoping that's Patrick Swayze's Bodhi under that mask.

The St. Louis Blue

Powers: mind control; dissolution; teleportation arch
At first he seems pretty cool, with his cold blue Firestorm-esque hair and his bad-ass trenchcoat, then you find out that his mind control is a result of his trusty saxophone which he keeps by his side. Oh no, heading into "Shadowman"/"Night Man" territory here, an extremely well trod landscape.

The New York Islander

Powers: Super strength; altered composition; grappling hook; oceanic manipulation
And here I was afraid that the Islander would be wearing a banana-yellow slicker and sporting a white beard, instead they delivered a mammoth, armored, anchor-sized grappling hook-toting badass who actually looks pretty cool. Both the Islanders and the Oilers sport blue and orange here and both characters are tanks, but for some reason this really works for me and the Oiler is the lamest of the bunch. They went excessive with his powers (he doesn't need oceanic manipulation) but otherwise...groovy.

The Atlanta Thrasher

Powers: flight; aeronautical empathy; ionic hand cannons; supersonic flight; cruise missiles; stealth technology
Our last Guardian doesn't mean he's the worst. As has occurred throughout this process with many other Guardians the CGI maquette and the illustrated images offer two completely different perspectives on the Thrasher, and I think the illustration is right horrible but the maquette is pretty cool.. a human steath bomber? Hey, it actually works.

And that's 30.
Tomorrow, we'll examine the big 10 minute multimedia/Stan Lee-hyperbolic reveal from the All-Star Game and later this week some special Guardians coverage... from a different perspective.

We're BAAAaaack

2011-01-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

Has your life been feeling empty, incomplete, hollow, shallow, unfulfilled, adjective, thesaurus these past few months without your regular dose of verbose reviews from the two remaining perpetrators of this here occasiablog?

Well, now life is complete once again as THOR'S COMIC COLUMN is back @ CHUD.COM!
Trumpets!
Fanfare!
Yawn!
Huzzah!

Introducing the NEW New Guardians (day 4)

2011-01-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to figure out who the illustrator is in the pictures that I've cribbed from the Guardians' Facebook page. I originally thought it might be Phil Jimenez, but it's not quite his style or level of detail, so next I thought Ethan Van Sciver, but it's not him either upon closer inspection. Devon brought up Neil Adams in his comment to my first post, and that's left me scratching my head. Is it Adams? If so you figure they might advertise that a little louder. Or is it some work-for-hire artist who doesn't really do comic work, or someone I just can't pick up on.
Thoughts?

Today:
The Calgary Flame

Powers: pyrokinesis, flight, heat vision, fire resistance, flaming stampede
Holy, not only do I think this design is good, it's actually quite attractive. It's a simple luchador-style get up (given Calgary's history with wrestling - the home of Bret Hart amongst others - it's not a bad nod) but it... yeah, it looks good. Wow. And his powers make sense fully, with the exception of a "flaming stampede"? Really. You were doing so good there for a moment...

The Dallas Star

Powers: flight, hydrogen blasts, EMP ripple, space travel, solar storm
Two winners in a row. This guy looks like a Masters of the Universe figure. And not a reject figure but an honest to gosh popular one... a cool one even. And unlike other armored figures in this line, this one is really quite restrained both in design and colour use (not sure about the toes though). I like him, quite a bit, actually, and a great, logical, and not at all obtuse power set.

The Colorado Avalanche

Powers: chryosuit, oxygen control, traveling chrystasis, chryokinesis, chrystasis,
Holy poopies. A third winner. There's something about this guy I actually really like. But to me he looks like he should be an aquatic explorer rather than working the peaks of the Rockies. He's also the first (only?) non-caucasian character (or obvious non-caucasian) or animal-based character I've seen so far. Yes, hockey is a fairly whitewashed sport, but that's been slowly changing over the past decade. But I digress... I think there's maybe even a Kirby feel to this... love it.

The Phoenix Coyote

Powers: elemental manipulation, night vision, tracking, interdimensional summoning, venomous quills
Oooooooh, Guardian Project, no. No, no, no. And you were doing so well today. What would it look like if Wolverine, Gambit and Grifter were all mashed up into one monstrously ugly superhero? This would be it. Jesus Chrimbus, this is everything wrong with the 1990's swirled up in a shit stew. Sorry Phoenix. They should have really went with a hybrid Phoenix/Coyote thing... that would have been interesting... but likely just as ugly. And that power set... so messed up. "Venomous quills"? For a coyote? I think maybe this is even worse than the Oiler. Hard to say.

The Toronto Maple Leaf

Powers: molecular elasticity, mass manipulation, chlorokinetic communication (!), regeneration, sap bombs
The "Swamp Thing" character of the group, which is all well and good. I really don't have a problem with this character conceptually. In fact I was wondering how they were going to make anything bad-ass out of a Maple Leaf, and a living maple tree is about as good as you're going to get. But really, does a living maple tree need a mask (what identity is he really protecting), or a t-shirt and shorts? If they were smart, they would have just had the Leafs and NHL logo carved into him... as is he looks a little silly. I AM GROOT!

The Ottawa Senator

Powers: power negation, channeling, mind control, gladiator skill, super agility
Okay, LA King... take a look here. This is pretty much done right. It's a flippin' gladiator, no real flourishes beyond that. Straightforward, fairly kick-ass looking, and not a hint of spandex. Not bad. I think they were trying too hard with the power set though.

Wow... that's like 4 and a half quality characters in one day. All hope may not be lost for this project after all. I look forward to finding out more about the Flame, the Star, and the Avalanche. Really.

So it all ends tomorrow (or perhaps on the weekend, I may have timed this incorrectly). The final six are The Florida Panther, The New York Ranger, The New York Islander (who I'm hoping isn't a Captain Highliner look-a-like), The St. Louis Blue, The Atlanta Thrasher, and the one I'm most curious about... The Anaheim Duck. Maybe that last one can just be Emilio Estevez... or Joshua Jackson.

Time Out: Fantastic Four, One Will Fall...

2011-01-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a Fantastic Four fan. Over my nearly 30 years of reading comics, I think I've bought a total of 14 Fantastic Four comics, and the trade paperback of Grant Morrison-scribed miniseries. They've just never been my thing. Except the Thing. I've always loved that guy. Marvel-Two-In-One, yeah, now we're talking. I found the family dynamic and more notably Reed and Sue's deathly dull relationship to be what nullifies it for me (PUN!). That's why I was actually a big fan of Dwayne McDuffie's short run on the series where Reed and Sue were off on a second honeymoon or something and Black Panther and Storm took their place. That I could get behind.

I've been reading and highly enjoying Jonathan Hickman's bi-monthly S.H.I.E.L.D. series, which explores the history of the Marvel universe and their secret society of protectors through the ages, and I recently devoured Hickman's Secret Warriors, which pits Nick Fury and his cunning coordination and espionage skills against not one, but two potentially world-dominating nefarious groups. All this great mythology building is what Hickman specializes in and based on this strong output, last week I picked up the first two trades of his Fantastic Four run. In it, he's done the impossible. He's made Reed Richards seem cool. And I'm enjoying the hell out of it. He went big...nay, huge with the first storyline in which various Reed Richards' from different dimensions have coalesced into a super-think-tank to solve not just one worlds' problems but all of the problems on all of the worlds. Fix everything. Of course it goes horribly wrong, and there are Galacti and Celestials involved, and it's all cooler than Jesus. Hickman really gets into Reed's mind and seems intent on building him as a character.

Which leads me to today.

I've been hearing about the "death in the family" story for months now, but given my lack of general interest in FF, I've not cared so much. But with my newfound enthusiasm I have cause to speculate who it could be, and what happens afterward.

So here's what I think.
It's Reed... it seems that it's just being set up to be that way. Build him up, then break him down. Reed is the man and motivation behind the FF, so what happens when you take that away. That's some meaty storytelling right there.

I thought it might be Johnny/Human Torch, since that character has been stagnant in personality and character since the 1960s, but that's the obvious choice. Reed's death might force him to grow up.

I thought it might be Sue, the heart of the team, as what would happen to Reed if she were gone. Would he adopt the role as the heart of the team and single father or disappear into his own brain? But Sue is the feminine presence on the team and I don't see her being the one.

Ben? The Thing? Not going to happen. He's too popular, and an Avenger. Yes there would be shock value in it, but other than that, his death contributes nothing.

So Reed it must be, right? Plus it leads to the obvious question, who can replace him? Who has a big enough brain to take over the Fantastic Four and lead them on massive adventures through space, time and dimensions? Three answers:

1) Valeria Richards, Reed and Sue's impossibly super-genius 3-year-old daughter, who claims her intellect has already surpassed her fathers, although she definitely lacks experience and wisdom. Why she might not be? Sue wouldn't let her.

2) Nathanial Richards, Reed's father, whom Hickman has been writing in SHIELD and abandoned Reed for global-protector duty when he was a teenager. We're not sure Nathanial's fate, except that Reed hasn't seen him since that day so long ago. With Reed gone, and Hickman's obvious attraction to this character, he seems like a probable choice. Plus, he would have the imperative to try and find a way to bring Reed back.

3) Victor Von Doom. Wouldn't that be a kicker? The guy whose genius rivals Reed but has been used for his own nefarious end has a breakdown of sorts after Reed's death and then imposes himself as Reed's successor.

I'm going to try and keep myself willfully ignorant of who it actually is for the months/year to come until the trades hit and I know I'm not going to have much luck with that but I will try. It's fun to still have some surprises in life.

UPDATE
So within 40 minutes of writing this post I was out picking up lunch, thumbing through the local freebie daily newspaper looking for the Oscar nominations when my eyes paused on a comic book image and unconsciously read the headline which spoiled it all.

Sigh. Missed opportunities. So disappointing, all around.

Introducing the NEW New Guardians (part 3)

2011-01-26T07:26:00.000-08:00

I was reading that the in-story origin of these new Guardians is that a hockey and comic obsessed 15-year-old is responsible for their creation/design, which, looking at most of these characters makes a lot of sense. I recall being fifteen, doing my own redesign of Batman and just loading his costume up with bat-symbols. Because, you know, having one on his chest, and one on his belt just isn't enough iconography. What is it about the teenage brain that just leads to such excess. Instead of one pouch, how about 30? Why small shoulder guards, and not obscenely huge metal ones with spikes, chains and whatnots? Instead of just a cape, what about a cape that has a 4 foot train that drags on the ground but looks sooper kewl when leaping from rooftop to rooftop?

Thing about these NHL Guardians, though, is they aren't actually designed by a 15-year-old... at least I don't think they are. They're designed by grown-ups, perhaps even professional comic book artist or graphic designers. (These are presumably the same type of grown ups that are responsible for the atrocity-to-superhero-mythology that is NBC's "The Cape"). But even if they did go with the idea of designing these through the eye of a 15-year-old, it still reads as if they're designed by me, when I was 15... in other words, the influences on these characters read early-mid 1990s and not 2010/2011. Superheroes these days seem to be designed either in the street clothes mold, or in the sleek tech mold of Batman Begins/Iron Man. Today's DC/Marvel spandex tights characters are getting tweaked to have piping and some kind of Project Runway influence put into them, giving them a more natural or textile look and feel, but these....

Today's Six:
The Boston Bruin

Powers: Precognition, brute strength, super smell, titanium claws, sonic petrification
Yes, a bruin is a bear. We got that. And your design couldn't have been more creative than making the dude a bear. The clever route would have been to make him a huge burly hairy mofo who wears the carcass of a bear as a cowl/cape. Yeah, it's grizzly but that's the point. He would be a real hero in certain segments of the gay community, and make the average Bostonian guy's guy very uncomfortable. Or not.

The Vancouver Canuck

Powers: Sonar blast, environmental empathy, echolocation, gliding, morphing, aquatic summoning
Did you ever lie awake at night wondering what Batman would have looked like if a whale crashed through Bruce Wayne's window instead of a bat?
No?
Well... The Canuck answers that question anyway.
And, really, it's Batman-as-a-whale. Sure it's silly, but it is actually a decent interpretation of what that would look like, with the big hump fin on the back of the cowl/cape. And it's still miles (or kilometers?) better than Captain Canuck.

The Montreal Canadien

Powers:supersuit, power augmentation, power absorption, blasters, jet propulsion
Hey, an armored hero in this group that isn't a technological monstrosity. This is actually a pretty nice design. Replace the blue with gold and it would be a decent Iron Man armor circa 1998. It's more reminiscent of X-O Manowar or Hardware (or perhaps NFL Superpro?), but still this isn't all that bad..
or original...

The Washington Capital

Powers: flight, shapeshifting, satellite sight, atmospheric resistance, sonic scream
You know, just because the team has a symbol doesn't mean you have to use it. Okay, you do know, since the "Sabre" figure isn't a buffaslug (which would be a Wuzzle that was part buffalo, part slug). And the Chicago Blackhawk wasn't a Native American (although, really, I think that would be preferable to the monstrosity of techno armor that was created), but this eagle thing in the star spangled wrestling tights? Not doing it for me.

The Detroit Red Wing

Powers: mechanical technopathy (!), laser cannons, flight, all-terrain wheels
Okay, Red Wing... what's with the big tire boots. Do you transform into a Zamboni(R)? Because you're giving off that vibe. You're like part Gatchaman, part Rocket Red (circa 1987) and part Zamboni(R) ice rink maintenance machine. Technologically you look clunky as hell, and at least 20 years out of date, but you aren't all that terrible looking. You'd have made a fairly decent He-Man figure. But, aside from all terrain tires, how do you manage getting around... I mean, like, simple things, you know, like getting through a door way. Must be a pain. How do you side step with those huge tires strapped to your feet?
(Wow, I referenced Transformers, DC Comics, G-Force, and He-Man all in that one character).

The Columbus Blue Jacket

Powers: astral plasma cannons, banishment, titanium armor
Is that? No... Optimus Prime? Is it really you? My gods man, what happened to you? You're all hyper-military-industrial-complexized, but with a colonial feel. I have to be honest, it's not a good look for you. Seriously, someone went nuts with the crayons didn't they? And what's "banishment" all about. Do you banish people from Columbus? I'm sure they're grateful (sorry Columbus, cheap joke).

Still two more of these things to go... I don't know if I'm psyched or scared.
Stay tuned. Please.

Introducing the NEW New Guardians (day 2)

2011-01-25T11:44:00.000-08:00

And we're back. Feel the pain.
This whole project is a nasty bit of business, and yet, I'm kind of intrigued by it. I may even like it. I'm just not sure if it's authentic appreciation or ironic.

Today:
The Edmonton Oiler

Powers: Portable refinery, oil pump, "blinding", super strength, energy cannon, environmental empathy.
Yes, he has a portable refinery on his back, and a gun that pumps oil out in concussive force, but hey, he's environmental empathy, which I guess means he's concerned about the environment. Except that he's pumping oil out on bad guys. Brain. Hurt. Anyway, this is one ugly ass ugly character, the epitome of 90's superhero aesthetic gone wrong, like if Liefeld were asked in his heyday to design bad guys for a G.I. Joe knock-off. Wow.

The New Jersey Devil

Powers: Infrared, fire breathing, heat resistance, flight, teleportation
I don't get this guy. What kind of head is that. Why is he like some egyptian god, but all spandexed up? Why not just make him red with black stripes, like a zebra, with a NJ Devil's tattoo... that's something else about these things... I mean obviously the imperative is to get the team and NHL logo front and center, but it really hampers the design and visual creativity of these characters. I don't hate him, but he looks a little silly.

The Minnesota Wild

Powers: celestial projection, tunnelling, super strength, general mayhem
Hey, remember the late, not-so-great, not-so-lamented Vibe from the Detroit Justice League? Did you ever wonder what he'd look like as a warewolf? Well wonder no more...
What the hell does "celestial projection" mean? He can conjure up holograms of interstellar bodies, or star charts, or plans for the Death Star using his eyes?

The Tampa Bay Lightning

Powers: bolt spear, electrokinesis, lightning board, electrical teleportation, environmental empathy (again)
Hey, it's a dude with electrical powers... and he's white!!! Let's call him White Lightning! LOL. ROTFLMAO. etc. Ahem. Anyway... I actually kind of like this guy, for much the same reasons I like the Pittsburgh Penguin, the design is relatively simple... yes, in spite of the mohawk. (Really. A mohawk?) But I think Black Lightning had this costume already.

The Nashville Predator

Powers: Matter ingestion, super-speed, adamantium skeleton, titanium teeth, atomic blast
So here's a bipedal sabretooth tiger that can eat anything, run at super speed, has unbreakable bones and can fire an atomic blast from his mouth.... so his costume isn't the only thing overdesigned. He wouldn't be so bad if they didn't have to display the team colours so prominently all over everything including his face.

The San Jose Shark

Powers: water breathing, aquatic summoning, aquatic danger sense, titanium teeth, hydro boots, technopathic telekinesis
In the bipedal animal division come King Shark... err... I mean the San Jose Shark, who can summon water to his side and sense when water is about to harm him (like "spidey sense"... or is "aquatic danger sense" about knowing when water is going to be harmed?) What I want to know is does he go blind every time he gets in a fight like real sharks do when their eyelids cover over their eyes to protect them from flailing animals in their grasp. With the exception of the dorky water skis, he's actually kind of badass, but then again.. he's a shark, so it's hard not to be. He's also not wearing bright teal, which is a plus.

---

So that's another six down. Since it can't get much worse than The Oiler, it actually does get better (relatively) from here.

Introducing The NEW New Guardians

2011-01-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

If I haven't mentioned it enough, I'm Canadian. As you may or may not be aware, we like our hockey here. I wouldn't say it's an unpopular sport "south of the border" (one of our many great euphemisms for America) but it's certainly not part of the national fabric of the U.S. like it is in Canada. They say baseball is America's game but I see more fanaticism out of football starting at the high school level on through the NFL. That's almost like hockey in Canada, except we're born with skates on...

Anyway, hockey is a growing sport in America, it's numbers increasing fairly rapidly in viewership, attendance and earnings in many markets. Impressive performances at the World Juniors and Olympics by the American teams in recent years have shone a nice spotlight on the talent that's being produced. Even still, there's still a vast majority of the population of the 50 states that don't watch or even care about hockey. So what's the answer. How do you promote a fast-paced, physical sport to a disinterested population? Well, you have to start young. With so many distractions and attractions vying for their attention - movies and television and video games and other sports and internet amongst other things - how do you stand out to the youth market.

Well, for the NHL, you turn to Stan Lee.

No, I'm not kidding.

A company called "Guardian Media Entertainment", after making a failed bid to the NFL, approached the NHL about creating a new superhero for each team in the NHL based off the team's name, called The Guardian Project. But it's not about creating new mascots, as apparently there's also a massive/convoluted story structure set behind it (which fills a 400 page bible referenced here) and an entire multimedia component --including web and social networking presence (as of today there's over 16,000 people who have braved embarassment by "liking" their Facebook page, mobile gaming, comic books, animation and more. It's a brave and valiant effort (but keeping an eye out at Stan Lee's creations over the past decade (Stripperella anyone?) doesn't necessarily inspire immediate fandom, not especially from the rapidly aging base of direct-market fanboys. But then this initiative is meant for kids, and while kids are getting more savvy about being pandered and flagrantly marketed to, this does have a slim, but possible chance for success (like the Atlanta Thrashers winning the Stanley Cup).

If anything is going to handicap this initiative, it's going to be character design. I mean, sure, I like giant dragons wearing purple underwear or giant, two-horned, interstellar purple planet eaters, but I also lived through the Liefeld era of huge metal shoulder guards and pouches (oh, the pouches) So over the next five days I'll be taking a look at all of the NHL Guardians in the guise of being one of those hypercritical/dismissive d-bags who judges a book only by its cover.

Today:
The Pittsburgh Penguin

Powers: super maneuverability, glacial sled, ice missiles, and a magnetized suit...
To be honest, I like him, in spite of Cyclops visor and Iceman's powers. Design-wise, he's simple (which you'll soon see isn't a trait of most of these characters) and dynamic enough. In the video maquette he has these awesome "penguin wings" for a cape which I quite like but they're not in the illustration, oddly enough. But what the hell does "magnetized suit" mean?

The Los Angeles King

Powers: super strength, accelerated healing, force field shield and seismic shift (his sword causes earthquakes)
Well, he's all medieval-like armor and spandex which are like the cucumbers and chocolate, two great tastes that should never meet. He's over-designed, over ornate, just look at that helm or those shoulder pads.

The Carolina Hurricane

Powers: Atmospheric resistance, flight/levitation, barometric implosion, environmental empathy
So, he's Red Tornado, but with a flowing mane of red hair, like some impostor goth (impgothster? ugh, nevermind) with a hankering for Quiznos. Ditch the hair, pare back the "H" symbolism all over the costume and it's not *that* bad. And this won't be the first time you see this but what the hell is "elemental empathy"? He feels sorry for trees, because he understands what they're going through when a hurricane pummels through?

The Chicago Blackhawk

Powers: Flight, titanium armor, concussion cannons, and elemental empathy.
Well... um... ugh. This is way overthinking such a simple idea. You go literal. Make the dude a Black. Hawk. Or something like Black Condor over at DC. This whole super-bulky hyper-armor, well it's not very modern. And "elemental empathy", seriously, these things need more explanation. Moving on.

The Buffalo Sabre

Powers: electrification, molecular manipulation, hydro suit, "the falls"
Apparently this dude's comprised entirely of water, like the Spidey villain hydro man, but like Mera he can create hard water contstructs, like a sword or body, and he has a big ol bulky Mr. Freeze rejected suit which allows him to electrify himself. He's actually not that bad, once again way overdesigned though. And I gotta know what "The Falls" are (does he tap into the power of the Niagara Fall, like a hydro power station?)

The Philadelphia Flyer

Powers: binocular vision, telekinesis, mind melding, flight, durability
Durability, like tupperware. You know, some of these names, "Blackhawk", "The Penguin" obviously have been used elsewhere, but to my knowledge I've never heard of a superhero named "The Flyer". There must be one somewhere in the history books of public domain characters? "What's your name?" "The Flyer." "And what do you do." "Seriously?"
Anyway, this is godawful ugly, but then I hate the Flyers so they deserve this. Wing tattoos on the forehead. Yeah we get it, you have wings.

With all these many overdesigned characters, it's like a 15-year-old in 1995 designed these things... but that, I believe, is the story behind the Guardian Project...

More to come. Sorry.

If I Ran The Circus

2011-01-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

I was 10 years old and spending my summer in North Carolina, being bled to death by mosquitoes. It was hot, I was hundreds of miles away from my mother and living in a house where indoor plumbing had yet to be installed. I was going in a bucket.

It was the most miserable summer of my young life. One of the few things I could count on was a (maybe) weekly trip to the grocery store where they had, you guessed it, comics.

Only this time around, they had no new comics. North Carolina had broken me. As I drug myself to exit, a familiar red, white and blue figure jumped out at me and I eagerly invited the action. It was a Captain America coloring book and I snapped it up as if it were $20 bill lying on an open sidewalk. I got it back to the house and colored those pages as slowly and deliberately as I could in order to make them last and then it happened... Cap was talking to this guy in an exquisite black suit wearing an eyepatch. His name was Nick. I knew this guy but he was different from the guy usually wearing the blue tights, white gloves and boots. No, this guy had class. He was casual. This guy looked like he poured black coffee on his cornflakes. This guy had a story. This guy wanted to be MY Nick Fury.

In a world where sales aren't a factor and I run the circus, this is the Nick Fury comic I'd want to read.

NICK FURY

Written by Greg Rucka

Drawn by Gabriel Hardman

I'd read Greg Rucka before but oddly enough, he hadn't clicked with me until Wonder Woman, of all things. Rucka was the king of comics procedurals, having already tackled the likes of Batman and his own Queen & Country and here he was doing a comic based on an Amazonian princess who flies in an invisible jet. Not exactly the match most would choose but what Rucka did on WW was pure genius. Wonder Woman became this incredible comic about diplomacy between superheroes, gods and immortals and somehow, my thoughts turned to Nick Fury. I started to think, "So, this is what Nick Fury must be caught up in, dealing with The Avengers everyday." If Greg Rucka wrote Nick Fury, I'd hope for decades-spanning tales featuring hard-living diplomat, war vet and keeper of secrets within the Marvel Univese. Who better than Greg Rucka?

I haven't seen that coloring book in nearly thirty years but when I saw Gabriel Hardman at a recent convention and I asked him to draw Nick Fury. What I got was the awesome Fury I remembered from before, only with more stories and so many more secrets left to be kept.

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow

2011-01-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

I remember a time, when Superman was, well, not cool, but at least popular. Sure, he's still popular in that he's still capital-"i" Iconic, but his comics and his life in comics has been suffering, floundering, other adjective meaning kinda sucky.

It didn't seem that long ago when Superman was huge, the king of comics, carrying four tightly joined comics (Superman, Adventures of Superman, Action Comics and Man of Steel) that made it pretty much a weekly series, plus there were always his multitude of extracurricular series, from various Elseworld stories to mini-series like "Birthright". It doesn't seem that long ago, but upon further reflection, 'twas actually about a decade past. Yes, I just used 'twas.

Okay, maybe Superman wasn't exactly "king" then, he kind of shared his throne in a kids-from-Narnia kind of way with Batman and Spider-Man who seemed to have an infinite number of series and specials themselves, and of course Wolverine who was rather ubiquitous throughout the 1990's. These days, Superman is starring solo in one book, called "Superman". He's not even the star of Action Comics right now (that'd be Lex Luthor). To put in perspective, Deadpool has at least four titles all his own and is regularly guest starring in more... every month. Fucking Deadpool!

The Superman books you could say had a pretty solid and focused run (with a few exceptions) from 1986 through to approximately the "President Lex"/"Our Worlds At War" period in 2000/2001. The initial '86 post-Crisis John Byrne revamp/depowering revitalized Superman, his world, his supporting cast, (practically everything about him) for a new generation, that carried through to the Dan Jurgens-led era that culminated in the "Death of Superman" and "Reign of the Supermen" which also culminated in media hyper-exposure and the industry-wide speculator boom and bust. Following this there was the "electric Superman" era and the "Superman Red/Superman Blue" malarky, which, with the exception of recent events, is pretty much the low point of 70 years of publishing history. Throughout all of this, there was the "Superman Triangle", the unifying factor that brought the four Superman titles together, even if the writers of each individual series carried their own story for a few months at a time, eventually the titles would start running massive stories once again. However, following the Red/Blue story, DC was trying to make Superman as relevant (ie. million-copy selling) as he was in 1995, which let to a lot of experimentation with creative teams and story structure, and by 2003, the Superman Triangle was gone and one of the titles was dropped, and there really was very little exciting about the character or his titles. Creative teams fluxuated, continuity was relaxed and generally few people knew what to do with him.

Then came Geoff Johns, DC's wonderkid and lover-of-all-things-Silver-Age. His bright idea was to repower Superman to godly levels, restore his pre-Crisis continuity with the Legion of Super-Heroes and, by enlisting his old boss Richard Donner as co-writer, trying to create a loose affiliation with the 1979 Superman film. It sounds horrendous in theory, but it was a nice kick in the pants for big blue, and despite numerous momentum-crippling publishing delays, this resulted in some of the best (non-"All-Star Superman") stories in years. But they were the product of a rather singular vision, and somehow that vision just couldn't sustain itself. It certainly didn't lend itself to other perspectives and James Robinson's sibling title (Adventures of Superman now cancelled, only "Action" and "Superman" remained) was painful at times in his own resurrection of Silver Age ideas. Donner and Johns revamped the Phantom Zone, Bizarro, and Brainiac, introducing (briefly) along the way a new adopted son for Clark and Lois (a Kryptonian child from the Zone), and reintroducing Kandor to the Superman mythos. As good as the stories were, they spat in the face of everything that Byrne, Jurgens and company had built over the years. Superman, the "last son of krypton", was now just one of thousands of Kryptonian orphans. I understand the objective was to try and highlight what makes Superman unique and not just among men, but Supermen, but it had a funny way of going about it. And not funny ha-ha.

In perhaps the biggest miscalculation since the "electric Superman" days a decade before, the remaining two Superman titles went Superman-free. Hey, it worked for "Reign of the Supermen", but that's because Superman was dead, not because he decided to go to another planet (the Kandorians created another planet called "New Krypton"). It was as if DC had no confidence that their premiere character could hold two monthlies and a maxi-series because of the storytelling circumstances they put him in. Johns crafted a rather intriguing idea but abandoned it to other writers (to focus on revamping, yet again, Superman's origin story) and it went off the rails.

I have to be honest, I didn't read any of the "New Krypton" stuff. I loathed James Robinson's work on Superman and wasn't willing to continue with a story that he was now taking the reigns of. Greg Rucka, a favourite writer of mine, took over Action Comics however, but I didn't want to get suckered into having to read other books to follow along, so I abandoned Superman altogether. Until this past week. The trade paperback of "Nightwing and Flamebird" came out and I figured I should give Rucka the benefit of the doubt and see what he did with the situation. The result: none of it's good.

Whether by choice or mandate, the collection (which is four issues plus an annual) is saddled with far too much Kryptonian/Kandorian backstory to be genuinely interesting, and it recalls Christopher Kent (Lois and Clark's briefly adopted son from the Donner story last seen over two years ago and kind of forgotten), now rapidly aging and thrust into the hero role alongside a new character who is implausibly tied to Supergirl, not to mention bringing Lois' father back from the dead and Zod and his cronies from the Phantom Zone as the big bad, and it's all just a spiralling, overwraught, ridiculous mess. Each one of these elements could have made for multiple issues worth of storytelling if Clark or even Lois were the story focus. But Nightwing and Flamebird are two not-ready-for-primetime players put in the lead of DC's longest-running series (even if they were in their own spinoff it would be unappealing reading).

I remember at the beginning of 2010 Dan Didio and other DC hypemen trying to push the "War of the Supermen", the big culmination of the New Krypton saga, as one of the big events of the year. But it seems that, like me, most readers just decided to wait it out and see what the next status quo would be... which unfortunately is currently the "Superman Gump" storyline that even J. Michael Straczynski must be bored with, as he's abandoning it mid-stream. The only "news" on the monthly Superman front is that "Superman's Back In Action" in Action Comics #900 which really isn't news at all, except to say that the character who normally appears in that title will now be normally appearing in it again after an unceremonious two-plus year hiatus.

Bluntly put, Superman is a mess.
So, Second Printers, who do you think could fix him?
Give me a creative team each for Superman and Action Comics.

If I Ran The Circus

2011-01-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

Introducing a (hopefully) continuing feature to Second Printing simply titled, "If I Ran The Circus," where we simply tell you the characters we'd like to see done by some of our favorite creators. In our dream world, where unicorns grow opposable thumbs to fistfight dragons and sales are never a factor, awesome things like these would be happening every day.

LOIS LANE

Written by Kathryn Immonen

Drawn by Chris Samnee

I simply fell in love with Kathryn Immonen's all-too-brief run on Marvel's Runaways. After years of misguided but well-intentioned runs by Strangers In Paradise's Terry Moore and Buffy's Joss Whedon, it very much looked like writer Brian K. Vaughan's Runaways were very much a singular creation, done properly under his guidance. That is until Kathryn Immonen. Under her stewardship, The Runaways were reignited with the righteous indignation that made them fan favorites in the first place. The title looked to be one it's way to its former glory but by then, the damage had been done and Runaways was put on hiatus. Immonen has a brilliant way of just making every word count and frankly, this EXACTLY the thing you'd want from someone writing The DC Universe's greatest reporter, Lois Lane.

I first discovered artist Chris Samnee on writer Greg Rucka's series, Queen & Country. The first thing that struck me was Samnees's brilliant uses of black to set mood. Coming off the somewhat WB Animation-influenced art of past story arcs, Samnee's style seemed to elevate the art more to a level more in tune with the story. More work from Samnee followed including a noir-ish tale featuring Truman Capote. Then, I'd pegged him as the noir guy. That was until I'd viewed his blog where he'd post warm up sketches that showed the man could draw practically anything he damned well pleased. Then in a stroke of brilliance, Marvel assigned him to Thor: The Mighty Avenger where he showcased a a freer, looser line and showed he was also a master of facial expression and page composition. What's more, the true treat of Thor: TMA was his gorgeous rendering of Jane Foster, where she said just as much with her facial expressions and body language as she did in her dialogue. The whole time, making me wish some one would make Samnee's wanting to work on a Lois Lane book, a reality.

December Pull in Review

2011-01-05T11:33:00.000-08:00

I've lost the handle on "Definitely Not Reviews" for the past few weeks due to the holidays and a debilitating flu, but it should be back, perhaps next week (because with only two books, there's not much worth talking about this week).

So in lieu, I present below this "State of Affairs" on the titles I'm picking up monthly, using December as benchmark.

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RATINGS KEY:
FAVE - one of my favourite reads every month
EVEN - I like it and will keep reading it
BUBBLE - I want to like it, but I'm not sure I actually do
DROP - It just didn't cut my mustard
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Doom Patrol - It took roughly 16 issues but I've started to enjoy the ride. FAVE

Secret Six - I used to love it but the last couple storylines (and art) have left me cold on it. BUBBLE

Red Robin and Batgirl - Two of the wife's books. She buys 'em so I can read it or not, but they're quite fun, so why not (plus I dropped Birds of Prey this month so Batgirl is a good sub). EVEN

Booster Gold - I'm wondering if it's only the nostalgia of Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League that is sustaining my interest, and if that's enough. BUBBLE

Justice League: Generation Lost - well, there are some moments I'm absolutely loving and other typical Winick-ian moments that are not so lovable. I can stick this through for another 8 issues I think... although I don't want it to spin out into its own thing which is kind of telling, no? EVEN

Superboy - Just dropped it this week. I like Jeff Lemire and what he does, it just works better for me in larger formats, so like Sweet Tooth, I'm going to trade wait. DROP

THUNDER Agents - I'm not certain what its narrative thrust is, but it looks pretty, and it'll be $2.99 soon enough so I'll stick with it through the first "arc" (not that there's any semblance of one now), before swearing any long-term allegiances. BUBBLE

Tiny Titans - These were for the kidling (and they're pretty entertaining on their own) but I'm just worried my 9-year old needs to move on to something a bit older. EVEN

Green Lantern - Y'know, I don't really give a crap about whatever story Johns is trying to weave here, I really don't (and I'm not reading either of the other Green Lantern books so when the big crossover happens in the coming months I may drop this anyway). But I'm so infatuated with Doug Mahnke's art I can't look away. BUBBLE

G.I. Joe/Cobra - I'm kind of becoming a bigtime G.I. Joe (I never was much as a kid) and this is the best there is and ever has been so I don't mind the $4 a month for it. I really don't. FAVE

Captain America and Captain America: Man Out Of Time - Two more of the wife's titles, but the former has been mandatory reading for years now, and the latter is fantastic on its own. FAVE

X-Factor - Continually a high quality book. FAVE

Unwritten - I'm now 8 issues behind on reading... it's the old Vertigo curse where floppies pile up and I just wished I'd bought em in trade instead. EVEN

Batman and Robin - the current post-Morrison arc has been a tad crap, so I'll give Tomasi/Gleason's run an issue or two before this hits the drop pile. BUBBLE

Mighty Samson - Just don't think I'm interested enough. DROP

Batman Incorporated - I'm Morrison's bitch so I'll get anything he does as long as he's doing it... which reminds me when's the Joe the Barbarian tpb coming out? FAVE

Legion of Super-Heroes - I went Legion crazy back in 2008, reading literally hundreds of issues of Legion material from over the decades. The fever hasn't stopped, though it's slowed enough that I'm not buying Adventure Comics (and don't seem to be missing out). EVEN

Chew - Some people don't like this book. I don't understand those people. I'm not a fanatic, but I think it's top three most entertaining books month in and out. FAVE

Sixth Gun - I'm not certain where this is going after the end of the first arc, but it's one of the best books of 2010. FAVE

Warlord of Mars - Alright, I'm bored. I think I'll just read the book now. DROP

SHIELD Bi-monthly and always a surprise when it shows up. I (heart) Jonathan Hickman. FAVE

Detective Comics - As great as Batman Inc. is, this is the best bat-book on the stand. Can Snyder and Jock sustain this level of quality? FAVE

Teen Titans - a recent addition, but this is the best Titans I've read since...hmmm the Titans have been crap for so long I don't recall when last I actually enjoyed it. EVEN

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So I count roughly 2 dozen monthly titles I pulled in December. Of which 3 are mini-series ending in the next 3-4 months, 2 are already dropped, and 5 are on the bubble (and three minis that just ended - Mighty Crusaders, Tiny Titans/Little Archie, Strange Tales II)

I pick up only a few series in trades - Incredible Hercules (which has ended leading into Chaos War which I'm hesitant about), Marvel Cosmic (Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova, leading into the Thanos Imperative), and Johnathan Hickman books (Fantastic Four, Secret Warriors), so...

I'm wondering Second Printers... be honest with me... what are you buying that are your favourites, on the bubble and what have you just dropped?
Any recommendations for me on books I should be reading. Looks like I'm freeing up some space in my roster so I'll have some testing room.

Versus: Snake-Eyes (Comics) VS. Deathstroke (DC Comics)

2010-12-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

Only two are left.

Storm Shadow took out Ravager, the daughter of Deathstroke, with one final cut and received a warrior's death.

Blades, bloodied in previous battles, are at the ready. They silently stalk one another, looking for an advantage without making a move. There's a definite respect between these two. They know that within a series of moves, one of them will soon be dead. A move is made and blood mixes with that of the fallen...

WHO WALKS AWAY?

SNAKE-EYES

OR

DEATHSTROKE?

SECOND PRINTERS, YOU DECIDE!

Definitely Not Reviews (12-15-10)

2010-12-22T08:35:00.000-08:00

Green Lantern #59 - man that was a lot of talking. Yes, there was a lot of action surrounding the talking, but, you know, the action was irrelevant because you knew that Parallax wasn't going to kill or even hurt Hal all that much and you also knew that Hal wasn't able to hurt Parallax (or if he was he wouldn't hurt the possessed Barry Allen), so ultimately it was just a lot of jibba jabba leading virtually nowheres.

G.I. Joe/Cobra #11 - With all these different iterations of G.I. Joe out there I sometimes get confused as to who exactly Cobra Commander is (or should be), but this dapper-suited, intelligent, sensible Commander with a photographic memory is the first truly inspiring and competent leader of a global terrorist organization/legitimate business that the Joes have had. That doesn't mean he's not fun, but he's a different, non-buffoonery kind of fun.

Strange Tales II #3 - while I get a big kick out of the humorous takes on the Marvel universe, pointing out, repeatedly, the absurdity the the superhero genre is built upon, I think I appreciate the more straightforward - earnest even - takes on the characters. I liked best Alex Robinson's slice-of-life college-aged Ben Grimm and Reed Richards going on a double-date story as it used it's short story form to maximum efficiency.

Captain America: Man Out Of Time #2 - The first issue, truth be told was a little weak, as Mark Waid's updating of Cap's resuscitation ran over familiar ground but with minor tweaks. This issue, however, was solid gold, introducing the anachronistic Cap to a disbelieving Rick Jones, acclimatizing to the modern era and, quite frankly, reminding the audience what Captain America's appeal truly is (something, I personally, have always had a hard time understanding, but think I get now).

X-Factor #212 - X-Factor and Thor team up on a mission to hell, and that guy Darwin who hasn't had much to say or do since he first showed up finally shows some usefulness, and how.

Mighty Crusaders #6 - If I can say one thing to writers who know that they're working on the last issue of a series or line or company, don't end it by saying goodbye or the big bravado and bluster rallying cry "wherever there is trouble, we'll be there" type speech, because that's pure Camembert, instead, leave them wanting more. Hint at the next big adventure to never come, make it seem like there some big idea waiting in the wings that the audience will never see, make it memorable rather that awkward. Frustrate the hell out of them with a cliffhanger. As much as people say they want closure, people remember that which doesn't give it to them even more. I say this because dammit I want more.

Batman and Robin #18 - I was reading an interview by Paul Cornell over at CBR and Cornell notes:

It kind of is startling where you see reviews of my "Batman And Robin," which is supposed to be as dark as dishwater, going, "Oh, this is a light-hearted Silver Age adventure." I don't think of this as a Silver Age adventure, guys.

"Dark as dishwater"? Oh Paul Cornell, you're having us on, aren't you? This second part is as 60's as it gets, complete with a plodding bad-guy-telling-the-good-guys-their-origin which ate up a good chunk of the issue and felt more Stan Lee than Grant Morrison, less Alan Grant, more Roy Thomas.

Mighty Samson #1 - I thought I had some past connection to the old Gold Key Mighty Samson, but turns out I was full of it, because reading this issue, (which contains both Jim Shooter's remake and a reprint of the original Gold Key first issue) I don't even have a slight tickle of familiarity with the series. A post apocalyptic story set hundreds of years in the future as New York and New Jersey tribes square off. I haven't read Kamandi, really, so it would be interesting to hear someone compare the two. I also thought there should be more traces of the 20th century strewn throughout (hammer home the fact that we've made a lot of shit that's never going away).

Comics I NEED To See In My Lifetime

2010-12-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

It only took, what... 30 years for me to read Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali and guess what, really enjoyed it.

Thing was that as soon as I finished it, I wanted a sequel. No, not Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali 2 but the most natural extension of this iconic 1970's event, featuring the only comics character and historical figure worthy of iconic Treasury Edition treatment...

BATMAN

VS.

BRUCE LEE

Make it happen.

Definitely Not Reviews (Dec 1 + 8, 2010)

2010-12-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Had such a paltry week on December 1st (two floppies and a trade) that I decided to skip DNR last week... also I was travelling and Christmas shopping followed by catching up with gobs of work I'd been avoiding so I was otherwise preoccupied anyway. So with two weeks to catch up on...

Doom Patrol #17 - What was this all about again... oh, right, this was a weird one (which means it's a normal one for Doom Patrol). To compare it to TV series, it's kind of like Fringe by way of Human Target at the Doom Patrol go to a soiree loaded with criminal element types as bodyguard for the President of Oolong Island. Bad stuff happens... and Bumblebee can't find fancy attire.

Secret Six #28 - a muddled issue trying to resolve a far-too-complex situation far too quickly. Also, it had that conceit which annoys the living poop out of me whereby people (from opposing sides) stop and have a chat on the battlefied, and nobody else even attempts to take them out (and that happens here multiple times... gargalarg!)

The Incredible Hercules: The New Prince Of Power tpb - Combining two mini-series, "Hercules: Fall of an Avenger" (Spoiler Alert: Hercules is dead!), wherein a buch of heroes eulogize Herc (I find it hard to believe that an Altlantean princess would refer to anyone as "hot" though) followed by "Heroic Age: The New Price Of Power" (Spoiler Alert: It's Amadeus Cho), where in Amadeus Cho (notice how he's usually only referred to by his full name... some people are like that... mostly athletes though) takes over as CEO of Olympus Corp (or whatever it's called) and must deal with his first hostile takeover, all while actually trying to become a god so that he can find out where Hercules really is (Spoiler Alert: Herc's not really dead). This is a frustrating trade as it's all just a lead-in to the Chaos War event. (Remember the Adam Strange/ OMAC/ Rann-Thanagar War/ Secret Six etc mini-series that didn't have endings but only led into Infinite Crisis, it's just that annoying.. not bad otherwise).

Batgirl #16 - Batgirl's been framed for murder! Hardly original, but it's like pulling a cd off the shelf that you haven't listened to in 15 years... it's so familar, but time has made it sort of unfamiliar as well and yet kind of comforting.

Booster Gold #39 - Booster finally grieves over the loss of Ted Kord. It's sweet but Chris Batista's art has either gone way downhill or he's in need of a new inker, because this book is looking terrible (and really, after all the jokes, I still can't see Booster's bald spot).

Justice League:Generation Lost #15 - Like: Captain Atom time jumping, Booster Gold taking charge, Rocket Red and his tenuous grasp of English turns-of-phrase, Blue Beetle because he wicked awesome, Max Lord's aggrivated acknowledgment of the Wonder Woman reboot. Dislike: Ice and her new retcon which I guess is supposed to toughen her up, but, y'know, being a sweet, timid, pacifist superhero was really her appeal. It's basically lazy writing to completely reboot her character to explain her new personality rather than just develop her as a character. Winick you frustrate me so.

Red Robin #18 - Tim is in Russia, encountering an old Titans ally Red Star, who has been changed in recent years and has an alien spaceship sidekick (an actual inhabitable one, not like Skeets). Fabian Nicieza acknowledges how much of Russia's post-Communist development/prosperity has been a result of corruption and criminal underground, which depending on your level of familiarity with Russia may play as insightful or insulting. I'm not sure which, but it's a somewhat different story for Red Robin so far and I like it.

Superboy #2 - Y'know, I like this book, but I don't love it. In the same way I like old Silver Age comics, but I find them also incredibly difficult to take seriously. Superboy has a very Silver Age feel, and it demands an almost total shift of modern-reader mentality to not balk or dismiss it, because when you succumb to it, it's damn entertaining in that ridiculously goofy way Silver Age comics were. Remote control Parasite frogs indeed.

THUNDER Agents #2 - This was a very well-written character piece, but as much as I liked it (even at $3.99) I'm almost worried that the THUNDER Agents aren't going to have much in the way of story and instead be almost solely character focused... it's almost as if JMS were behind it.

Teen Titans/Little Archie #3 - What can I say about it, except I'm sad that it's over. It's pure pop bubblegum, sweet and chewy.

Second Printing Handy Dandy Holiday Gift Guide

2010-12-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

At work, we've been using a sort of guide book for "civilians" who've been coming in looking for comics with similar sensibilities to current TV series, movies and books. Thought we'd share to a wider audience:

If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead comic and TV series (Image Comics), you may like:

Chew Vol. 1 through 3 (Image Comics):

Vice cop Tony Chu lives in a world where, after a global epidemic of avian flu, all poultry is illegal. Chu also has a secret; he’s a “cibopath,” a person who gets psychic impressions from the things he eats. While investigating an illegal chicken smuggling operation, he tastes a bowl of chicken soup, finding himself on the trail of a serial killer.

If you’re a fan of the current Batman series of movies, you may like:

Batman: Year One (DC Comics)

The skill of leaping from rooftop to rooftop while dodging bullets isn’t something you learn overnight. No, there’s a definite learning curve. This book explores the forging of a man into a hero. Batman: Year One is what many believe to be Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City writer/artist Frank Miller’s stronger Batman work.

If you’re a fan of Breaking Bad, you may like:

Scalped Vol. 1 through 6 (Vertigo):

Bearing nunchucks and an attitude, Dashiell Bad Horse returns to the Prairie Rose Reservation he left fifteen years ago. A lot’s changed in the years, he’s been gone, meth labs litter the area adding more misery to the already crushing poverty. Soon, a 97 million dollar casino will open on this land, headed up by Lincoln Red Crow, a man from Dash’s past who’ll also play a major hand in his future. With brilliant characterization and sharp dialogue, Scalped is simply of the best books being printed today.

If you’re a fan of TV’s Mad Men, you may like:

Richard Stark’s Parker series by Darwyn Cooke (IDW Publishing):

Parker is neither hero nor villain. He knows exactly who he is. He’s a thief, simply out for his next dollar. What makes him the character so interesting is that when it’s all said and done, you’ll respect the character’s honesty. Adapting author Richard Stark’s singular character is master storyteller Darwyn Cooke of DC: The New Frontier fame. Art-wise, Cooke builds a world reminiscent of the time in which Mad Men is set while maintaining the stylistic flourishes comics fans have come to appreciate within his work. Look for both The Hunter and the newly released, The Outfit.

If you’re a fan of James Bond and The Jason Bourne series of books and movies, you may like:

Queen and Country Definitive Editions One through Four (Oni Press):

Tara Chace is an operative within The British Secret Service. The work is rarely glamorous and rarely involves traveling to exotic locations, sipping martinis. When the assignment does come, it usually involves being sent to some far off place with the express knowledge that you may be being sent off to die and knowing that if you live, you may need to drink to forget the things you’ve done. You’ll never see the espionage thriller in the same way after reading this.

If you’re a fan of Calvin and Hobbes, you may like:

Tiny Titans (DC Comics):

Full of good, simple fun and drawn in an art style accessible to young and old, The Tiny Titans are the child sidekicks of some of superherodom’s most famous heroes. Robin, Superboy, a couple of Wonder Girls, a Kid Flash and few super-pets, among others, hang out in a clubhouse while keeping the world safe for whimsy.

If you’re a fan of the Iron Man movie and comics series, you may like:

Secret Avengers (Marvel Comics):

Following the events of the Siege mini-series, Steve Rogers, the former Captain America, realizes a need for a more pro-active team of Avengers; one that takes the fight directly to any potential threat. Featuring Avengers mainstays such as Black Widow while utilizing mission specific and insanely clever additions such as Shang Chi, The Master of Kung Fu, Secret Avengers is what happens when childhood fave G.I. Joe meets the storied Avengers franchise.

If you like True Blood book and TV series, you may like:

American Vampire Volume One, co-written by Stephen King (Vertigo Comics):

Skinner Sweet is sick. Sick of aristocratic vampires trying to run the world. Sick of the romanticizing of what he is. Sick of vampires who seek the light. Skinner Sweet is an outlaw and vampire turned during the height of The Wild West. Skinner Sweet does not sparkle. Under the stellar writing of Stephen King and Scott Snyder, he shines.

If you’re a fan of political thrillers, you may like:

Ex Machina Vol. 1 through 10 (DC/Wildstorm)

Following his actions during a pivotal moment in American history, Mitchell Hundred has become the first superhero ever to be elected Mayor of New York. Operating in real time, Ex Machina follows this man through his four years in office. One of comics’ best series, Ex Machine opens with a first chapter that will leave you absolutely stunned and a final chapter that will leave you speechless.

If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter series of books, you may like:

The Books Of Magic (DC/Vertigo)

Tim Hunter, a bespectacled, young British orphan is taken on a tutorial through The Books of Magic by some of the world’s greatest magicians. Will he reject or embrace his destiny to become the world’s greatest magician? Released in 1990, a full seven years before the first Harry Potter novel, The Books Of Magic is written by Sandman and American Gods author Neil Gaiman.

If you’re a fan of the recent Green Lantern trailer, you may like:

Green Lantern (DC Comics)

Hal Jordan is a test pilot, ne’er do well and possessor of the most powerful weapon in the universe, the Green Lantern Power Ring, a ring fueled by the only thing he has in spades: willpower. The only thing that can stop Hal Jordan is the one thing he’s never known: fear. When the two meet, a battle of truly universal importance will take place and a legend will be born. To get your best look at just who Hal Jordan is; the trade paperback collections of Green Lantern: Secret Origin and Green Lantern: Rebirth are both highly recommended.

It Came From Beside The Bed

2010-12-01T07:07:00.002-08:00

(a feature dedicated to the stack of comics, old and new, languishing beside my bed)

Who's Who #2

If it weren't for Who's Who, I probably wouldn't be the DC Comics obsessive I am today (or should I say "was, until about 5 years ago"). I had, before the end of the 1980's, managed to acquire every Who's Who issue (and thoroughly scoured them time and again, at one point even tracing the images within, creating mash-up characters, such as Rad Dude, the skateboard hero who had (Golden Age) Red Tornado's soup-pot head, Reactron's body and, for some reason, Heathcliff's legs).

Anyway, for some reason, issue #2 of Who's Who always eluded me... "for some reason"... I know exactly why... because issue #2 was the Batman issue, and it always fetched a much higher price than the other issues and was nearly impossible to find in most back issue bins. So it was with much excitement this year when I found it in a dollar bin at the Toronto Fan Expo, it's blue-background George Perez cover smacking me giddily in the face. The coveted prize was quickly escorted home where it was tossed in the pile beside the bed to be left, unloved, for many more months.

But I've now read it, and my knowledge of the DC Universe circa 1985 is now complete... completely out-of-date. Alas. Some notes:

"Automan" - there was a tragic-looking Tron-rip-off TV show from Glen A Larson (Battlestar Galactica, The A*Team) called Automan back in the 1980s. I seem to only recall seeing it on French-Canadian tv as a pre-teen. This isn't him. This dude looks kind of like Robotman, only dorky.

"Azrael" - not the Bat-universe Azrael, but some flying dude with wings who appeared briefly in the Teen Titans.

"Babe" - I have to wonder why the Atari Force, wonderful though it was, was given individual entries for each character in the series. It was out of DCU continuity and lasted less than 25 issues. Surely just one "Atari Force" entry in the first issue should have sufficed?

"Batman" - This was 1984 and Batman's Origin was as so:

Now and orphan, Bruce Wayne was placed in the care of his Uncle Philip. Since Philip Wayne was a world traveler, Bruce spent his formative years under the guidance of Philip's housekeeper, the kindly Mrs. Chilton (who was secretly Joe Chill's mother, a fact Bruce has never learned).

WHAT THE WHAT!

"Ben Boxer" - Never heard of him before but he sounds totally awesome and is an instant new favourite obscure character. One of Kirby's extras from Kamandi, which I should really give a gander one of these days.

"Big Sir" - man, he really didn't come unto his own until Giffen/DeMatteis/Jones got ahold of him.

"Black Canary II" - I honestly had no idea the Dinah's origin was this damn convoluted, but given DCU continuity it doesn't surprise me.

In pre-Crisis continuity, the younger Dinah was cursed by the Wizard while still an infant to create the Canary Cry. Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt removed the baby to his own dimension, where she could do no harm, and then stripped Dinah and Larry of their memories of her existence as an act of mercy. Larry was subsequently killed and Dinah mortally wounded during the JLA/JSA battle with Aquarius. At the elder Dinah's dying request, the Thunderbolt retrieved her daughter, now a young adult, from the Thunderbolt dimension and had her take the elder's place. The younger Canary moved to Earth-One and joined the JLA. For a number of years, she believed that she was her mother.

"Blackhawk Island" - Reading this reminded me that "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is basically the Blackhawks movie which nobody seemed to want or care all that much for.

This issue is a pretty neat time capsule of the confusion that resulted while Crisis on Infinite Earths was just beginning (it ran in parallel with that series for the first 12 issues, which was probably the biggest problem with the series). I think the writers/editors knew that changes were in the offing, but couldn't really write about them yet (there were no "Spoiler Alerts" back in them days, kids), so they were stuck trying to make sense of incredibly convoluted histories or bridge the differences between old and new (the Batman and Black Canary entries really highlight this). It's interesting reading, also from the standpoint of how diverse DC's offerings have been over the years, from non-continuity projects like Atari Force and Barren Earth to alternate-realities (but in-continuity) like Warlord and Amethyst to future and space heroes where characters like Automan and Ben Boxer came from.