Comic Book Blog

Indefinite Hiatus

2005-06-16T22:55:00.000-05:00

There's just no way I can maintain this blog properly. It's on indefinite (permanent?) hiatus. Please enjoy some Kitchen Fresh ramblings.

Long Time...

2005-04-18T14:10:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted to this blog, primarily because I've had a tough time just maintaining the Kitchen Fresh Blog. But the July previews for Marvel have come out and I thought something disturbing regarding the House of M crossover solicitation was worth posting here:

The solicitation states:
"The last page of this issue will blow your minds and crack the Internet right in half!"

Now, I read the internet rumors and advance solicitations probably as much as anyone else. But the idea that the writers are trying to stump fans who discuss comics on the web is silly. Just tell us good stories. Frankly, from everything I've seen, House of M does not look like it will be a good story. I sure hope I'm wrong, since it seems like a long time since the X-Men and Avengers showed up in the same story.

Wolverine: The End, Revisited

2005-02-21T12:03:00.000-05:00

I previously reviewed both issues #5 and #6 of Wolverine: The End in this space.

I have just re-read the entire mini-series. My intention was to re-read Origin as well, but instead I read some synopses of it online.

First, I have to say, that I had been confusing the character of John Howlett (whose first appearance is in this series) with that of Dog (the character from Origin). Now that this situation is clearer in my mind, I can more easily criticize this book.

This miniseries does not work. Partly, this is due to expectations. In a series that is supposed to be a character's final adventure, this is not the adventure we would hope for. Wolverine is more than just the mystery swirling around Weapon X and he is more than just a man waiting to find out all the things the reader knows (and some the reader didn't know) about Origin.

Origin was a nice story because it gives a background to a character that we never knew, and it's never clear if the background will ever be revealed to him. Various X-Men psychic foes have mentioned snippets of Origin to him, and he had a dream about Rose from Origin but we never know how much he'll find out.

The End tries to tease out a lot of these connections, such as how will Wolverine learn the truth and how did he end up at Weapon X. But the notion that he had a brother (who was supposedly dead in Origin) following him around like a stalker from the sidelines throughout his life, is a bit much.

Did we really need a brand-new villain in this series? It's also chock-full of "where are they now" references without the characters showing up (such as Victor Creed's death, this mysterious accountant son, and others).

Somewhat related to this is that I am a big Wolverine fan, but I have no idea about anything relating to Weapon X anymore. In the first Wolverine ongoing series, Larry Hama and Mark Silvestri tried to elaborate on Barry Windsor-Smith's Weapon X series, and for the most part, it seemed pretty clear. But somewhere along the line, between Deadpool, the Weapon X series and Grant Morrison's Weapon Ten, the entire concept has gotten muddled around in my brain. I'm just as confused as Wolverine!

The End tries to set the record straight, but it just ends up more confusing. It would have been nicer if this story wrapped around Wolverine's man/beast dilemma and some of the themes of honor and being an X-Man, rather than this long-lost brother.

Review: Ultimate X-Men #56

2005-02-16T01:07:00.000-05:00

Ultimate X-Men #56
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Stuart Immonen

It's no secret that Brian Vaughan is one of my favorite current writers. He's doing great work with Y: The Last Man and Ex-Machina, and this week marks the return of Runaways.

One of the trends in the Ultimate books, is the use of "familiar" names just for the namesake and applying them to brand-new concepts in the Ultimate Universe. The last story included much of that, with Fenris making their appearance. Same goes for the Mr. Sinister appearances, and even during the Bendis storyarcs where a ton of mutants with normal MU counterparts were introduced. I don't like this trend.

At the same time, this is the first part of the story that I've truly enjoyed. The characters are growing and their relationships being tested fairly well within some action sequences. Vaughan has done a fairly strong job of balancing so many different characters. The art by Immonen isn't terrible but it's not as flashy as the art from previous artists, such as the Kuberts or Finch.

This book is pretty strong, but I think I would prefer it if the next story doesn't try to "re-invent" too many previous concepts. At least we haven't seen Ultimate Shi'ar (there seems to be a moratorium on cosmic Ultimate stuff).

Review: Superman/Batman #17

2005-02-15T19:25:00.000-05:00

Superman/Batman #17
DC Comics
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Carlos Pacheco

Sometimes these alternate dimension/timeline stories get tiresome. Sometimes, but this is not one of those times. What a fun adventure through the possibilities of no Superman or Batman! Pacheco's art is crisp and clean, and Loeb has been dropping hints that this story links with some of the first issues of the series. Along the way in this story arc, we've gotten a "who's who" of different characters as well. It's all good fun and this arc makes this book one of the best that's out there right now.

Review: Madrox #5

2005-02-15T19:17:00.000-05:00

Madrox #5
Marvel Comics
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Pablo Raimondi

In the past, I've read Peter David titles for a while, but then found that his intricate continuity got too complex and the humor got to be a bit silly. I felt this was certainly the case with some of his recent work, such as Young Justice and Captain Marvel. Initially I found both these series enjoyable but as they wore on, I started to get a bit tired of them. Recently, David has been back on the Hulk, and also has a critically acclaimed book in DC's Fallen Angel.

Madrox is a miniseries that reunites some of the characters from David's run on X-Factor. It's a pretty good concept in a comic universe of X-Clutter. It is set in District X, the mutant ghetto of Manhattan, which is a strong concept and has been featured in a number of books since its inception (including Uncanny X-Men). In fact, I'm surprised that nobody had thought of this before.

David writes a nice, smart noir story here and the Multiple Man is a great protagonist because it always allows him to do a switch-a-roo. The mystery is compelling and the characterization is strong. I don't recall having seen Raimondi's work before and he does a good job of capturing the dark, noir-like environment that the series is trying to create. This was a good miniseries, perhaps not as good as some online reviewers have said, but definitely a fresh look at existing characters. The ending implies there may be more adventures down the line, and I would certainly welcome them. When so many comics are heading in a direction I don't like, this one is doing the opposite.

Review: Daredevil #69

2005-02-14T23:26:00.000-05:00

Daredevil #69
Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev

Daredevil's a book that I've been reading since Kevin Smith relaunched the character. Prior to this series, I had not been particularly interested in him. Bendis has been writing a nice story with Daredevil, and putting him through the ringer. All along, Maleev's art has complemented the grim and gritty setting of Hell's Kitchen. The only down point of this run has been when David Mack substituted for Bendis for several issues and wrote a dragged out story involving Echo and Wolverine.

Now we move on with another chapter in the "Golden Age" story, and it hadn't been that memorable to me, so I read all four parts in one sitting. This is a good story that spans several different time periods. I like how the stories are woven together and crafted, but the unchronological storytelling of even the more modern events seems a lot like a gimmick. But that's nitpicky. When Bendis returned from the short hiatus, I thought this comic had declined in quality but this arc has proven me wrong. Maleev's art is as spectacular as ever, especially when trying to capture the different eras of the story. Get the word out, Daredevil's back on track.

X-Men: Death Becomes Them

2005-02-14T20:32:00.000-05:00

A great parody of Morrison's New X-Men.

Review: Planetary #22

2005-01-31T01:41:00.000-05:00

Planetary #22
DC Comics/Wildstorm Comics
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: John Cassaday

Planetary remains one of Warren Ellis's better works, and perhaps one of the better comics out there right now. If only it came out more regularly! It's hard to remember what happened the last few issues, one almost hopes for a recap page or something.

William Leather of the Four was captured in a recent issue and now we learn more about his background and why he's part of the Four and what their motivations are. This issue is very strong, with a great backstory for Leather, who provides the primary narration. The art is beautiful as usual, and Planetary has once again bought itself a few months of me gushing before I get upset that it's so long between issues again. We must be in the home stretch since now only two members of the Four are at large.

One other side note - I noticed the Wildstorm imprint puts out about eight to twelve regular titles. Oddly enough, I buy four of them (Ex-Machina, Planetary, Sleeper, The Authority), making that the largest percentage of any "line" that I buy. Also, most of these books are high quality. Throw into the mix Alan Moore's line, America's Best Comics, and there are some really good comics being made at the Wildstorm group, with a wide range of genres. Too bad the titles don't sell that well.

New Heroes

2005-01-31T01:38:00.000-05:00

You ever wonder what will happen once all the various comic book super heroes/stories have been mined and made into movie franchises? There doesn't seem to be too much new stuff coming down the pipe.

Review: Sleeper: Season Two #8

2005-01-31T01:13:00.000-05:00

Sleeper: Season Two #8
DC Comics/Wildstorm Comics
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips

Ed Brubaker is writing some good comics right now. I've caught a glimpse of Gotham Central, which I thought was a dopey concept, but is a great crime comic. His relaunch of Captain America has been top notch. The Authority: Revolution isn't quite as good, but it's the best version of that comic that hasn't been written by a jaded fellow from the UK. That brings us to Sleeper, the book everyone loves to praise but nobody loves to buy.

We're in the home stretch for Sleeper, and one thing I enjoy is that it's totally unclear what the outcome will be for Holden Carver. With other titles, the protagonist is expected to survive the end of the series because his name is "Superman" or some other equivalent. On the other hand, Holden's story has an ending, but we do not know if it will be at the end of this "season" and we also do not know if it will be a happy ending.

This series has the same quality Planetary does, in that each issue is a self-contained story within a larger framework. This works really well for the monthly comic books and doesn't have the same feeling as some of the decompressed storytelling that's so popular these days. In the first series, Brubaker took each issue and used it to spotlight a different character. This time around, he's managed to create little stories within the bigger espionage conflict.

Miss Misery gets a little focus in this issue, and here's a character that's well conceived -- a villainess who has to do bad things or else she will wither up and die. A tragic villainess - a woman whose physical well-being is dependent on her actions. It's strong characterization and the game of trust and knowledge that is Sleeper continues on.

I've never seen the tv show Alias, but from what I heard it's like Sleeper. If that's true then it's probably a pretty good show.

Review: X-Men #166

2005-01-30T23:53:00.000-05:00

X-Men #166
Marvel Comics
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Salvador Larroca

Uncanny X-Men #240 and Wolverine #1 (Claremont/Buschema) were the first two comics that started my comic book collection. Sometimes, it feels like I still buy these titles just to keep getting them.

This X-Men book started with Chris Claremont and Jim Lee then continued on to lengthy Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell runs (with a little Mark Waid sprinkled in). Joe Kelly then came on board, followed by Alan Davis and a forgettable/confusing Chris Claremont return. Lobdell came back, killed Colossus, and then Grant Morrison took over for a bit, changing the title's name, and writing a somewhat contraversial story. After Morrison, the title changed back to plain old "X-Men" for Chuck Austen (about whom enough has been said). Now we bring in Peter Milligan, who by my crude count is about the eleventh regular writer on X-Men.

For the most part, this book has had some fine caretakers. The lowest moments have been the Claremont "Revolution" and Austen runs by far. Now Milligan tries to follow up the Austen debacle with "Golgotha."

I've never read any of Milligan's material, save for a few X-Statix issues. X-Statix was a pretty novel book, but also a niche book, and I've never seen Milligan on anything mainstream before. I must say, I'm hopeful for something good here, but you can't judge a story very well on just one issue.

On to the issue itself -- it's not that interesting. There's a lot of set up and a number of X-Men who usually take the back seat in terms of action. I'd like to see where this goes, because even if it just was average super hero/adventure fare, that's better than it's been in a while. I could really go for the X-Men just going on random missions here and there about now.

One other side note: I never liked how the characters' accents were written out, like Rogue's "It's okay sugah, ah'll take care of it." or Gambit's "Dis is a tricky situation, chere." But in this issue (and who knows how long before that) the characters haven't been doing that, and oddly enough it's taking away from their individuality a little. At this point I think it's a subtle contribution to the characterization, and probably one that only as a long time reader that I've missed. I don't read Rogue or Gambit's solo books. I wonder if they have those mannerisms in those titles.

Review: Wolverine #24

2005-01-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

Wolverine #24
Marvel Comics
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: John Romita Jr

Mark Millar. A writer who has written some of my favorite stories (Ultimates Volume 1, Ultimate X-Men, The Authority), and this month wrote four comics that I purchased.

Wolverine is one of those comics, and it's part five of a twelve issue arc by this creative team. These twelve issue arcs are all the rage, and Millar is part of that trend. In fact, he is currently in the midst of twelve issue story arcs in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man and The Ultimates vol 2.

For the most part, this works. The twelve issue arcs are wearing a little thin, but Millar is parading out a series of Marvel heroes to quip about. This month, Daredevil gets the treatment. Lines like, "You're the biggest himbo that ever wore a pair of tights" or "How can you be getting so damn much of something I barely had in years?" are examples of typical Millar lines. They still generate the chuckle, but are starting to get a little tiresome.

Romita's art is suited well for action and lots of Hand assassins. This is a pretty fun story, basically summed up by Wolverine fighting a ton of people. Not too deep other than that. I think Wolverine can be written on two levels where there is brute violence and some characterization thrown in. We've gone from heavy characterization under Rucka to strict brute violence under Millar. Hopefully the next person can try for down the middle.

Pull List - January 24, 2004

2005-01-24T01:30:00.000-05:00

Here are some titles I'm reading these days.

Hopefully, I'll have a quick review on X-Men #166 and Wolverine #24 before the week is out. Also, I'm planning on reading the Peter David Madrox mini-series.

I'm not sure if I'm going to get the issues for Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers or wait for the trade paperbacks. Same goes for the upcoming DC Countdown event. Finally, Age of Apocalypse, one of my favorite all-time stories, will be celebrated in March with a number of one-shots and mini-series. Not sure if those will be on my pull list either.

Recently, I've stopped reading Amazing Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man. I can't say I feel much of a void. Also, I haven't been excited about an X-Men title in quite some time, aside from Astonishing X-Men.

In tpb form, I'm still following Powers and Y: The Last Man. Both these series have been excellent.

In issue form, here are the monthly titles I'm reading. I must admit, the DC titles have been more to my liking of late.

Marvel Comics

Astonishing X-Men, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man, Secret War, The Ultimates 2, Ultimate Fantastic Four (I know I said earlier I'd stop getting it, but N-Zone has been quite good), Ultimate Nightmare, Ultimate X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men: Phoenix Endsong

DC Comics

Authority: Revolution, Ex-Machina, Green Lantern: Rebirth, JLA, JLA Classified, JSA, Planetary, Sleeper: Season 2, Superman, Superman/Batman, Teen Titans

Upcoming:
Runaways, X-Men: The End Part 2, and DC's All-Star Batman and All-Star Superman

A few of the books I'll stick around on until creative teams change, such as MK: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, JLA, JLA Classified and Superman.

Books I look most forward to each month (in no particular order):
Runaways, Planetary, Teen Titans, Superman/Batman, Astonishing X-Men, The Ultimates 2

Review: Wanted #6

2005-01-24T01:21:00.000-05:00

Wanted #6
Image Comics
Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: JG Jones

Well, much like Wanted and Wolverine: The End, I've been taking a lot of time off from putting out new material. So here's a third post in the last 24 hours.

This issue concludes the six-issue Wanted mini-series. According to an interview with Mark Millar, there won't be a sequel to this series, and it's already been optioned for a Hollywood picture.

There are some great concepts in this series, such as what happened to the heroes, how all the villains interact, and the backstory with Wesley and his father. The art is beautiful as well. But there's something about Millar's cynicism that gets sort of annoying. In the beginning of the series, he did an excellent job of portraying Wesley Gibson as a loser, but now that he's bad, he's not at the uber-cool that Millar thinks he is.

Jones does a beautiful 2 page spread towards the end of the story. The interludes drawn by Dick Giordano are also very nice. This is a clever little concept/mystery, but it's not the "Watchmen for villains" as I've seen it billed elsewhere.

On a side note, I noticed that I'm reading three other books by Millar, Wolverine, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man and The Ultimates 2. His style is starting to get a little repetitive, I think. Ultimates is by far the best of his works. Wolverine, MK: Spider-Man and Wanted are all not as complete. The characterizations are a more varied in Ultimates and the suspense has been greater. Also, one wishes for a little more variety in material --his themes of corporate super-villains (found both in MK: Spider-Man and Wanted) seem a little repetitive.

Review: Teen Titans #20

2005-01-23T16:34:00.000-05:00

Teen Titans #20
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Tom Grummett

First off, I read on the 'net that Tom Grummett and Mike McKone have both signed exclusives with Marvel. That's too bad, is Marvel plucking Titans pencillers away? I like both these guys and their clean styles.

Something about the DC universe in general that I'm enjoying more than at Marvel is the integration of the stories. On the Marvel side, it seems like things operate in a vacuum much more than DC these days. They're trying to have tighter integration (for example, Pulse/Secret War, Wolverine/New Thunderbolts/New Invaders, Spider-Man/New Avengers) but it's still a bit off, especially, for example, when all three X-Men books seem to operate in different realities.

But DC is pretty tight in the books that I'm reading at least. Case in point, mentioned this issue are the death of Robin's father (Identity Crisis), some teenager finds Lex Luthor's armor (Superman/Batman), Starfire goes to the Outsiders and the new Speedy joins the Teen Titans (Green Arrow).

This book continues the super quality of the Teen Titans series thus far and injects some emotional elements into the storyline as well. Characters are developed while plot lines (some long running) are continued. And the art looks great. Another great issue for one of the better titles on the shelves these days.

Review: Wolverine: The End #6

2005-01-23T16:12:00.000-05:00

Wolverine: The End #6
Marvel Comics
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Artist: Claudio Castellini

Could it be? Wolverine: The End and Wanted both concluded this week? It's true, it's true!

Wolverine: The End has been a major disappointment and this final issue is no different. The delays haven't done this book any favors, but the story is not very good. Wolverine is a character with ties to so many different people and so much mystery and what does his "last" story deal with? His long-lost brother? Dreadful.

I've always felt that the core of Wolverine is the man/beast conflict, made even more interesting with his ties to Japanese culture and honor and twisted by the Weapon X project. Then, there are his experiences and relationships with the X-Men, adding further depth to the character. Very little of this has been touched upon in this series, and it's all not very memorable at all. The character designs for both Wolverine and his brother aren't terribly inspired either.

And since this is a "The End" book, it should end with Wolverine's death, right?

How did this mini series go so wrong?

Two MIA books

2004-12-27T17:31:00.000-05:00

Where are Wanted #6 and Wolverine: The End #6? One book I want to read in order to find out how it ends because I'm interested. The other book I'd like to have since I had to suffer through the first five issues and just want it to be over with. Guess which is which.

Persons of Mass Destruction

2004-12-09T13:06:00.000-05:00

Oddly enough, in his New York Times column today, Thomas Friedman uses the term "people of mass destruction" while talking about Iraq. Why is this relevant to a comic book blog space? See Ultimates 2, #1. Captain America referred to as a "person of mass destruction." I thought it was an interesting coincidence.

Wolverine - Return of the Native

2004-12-04T01:20:00.000-05:00

I was just re-reading Wolverine: Return of the Native by Greg Rucka and Darick Robertson. Overall, I think they did a pretty good job with the character (especially Robertson's art!) but the relationship with the federal agent from the first story arc (Cassie Lathrop?) seems to have completely disappeared. I like how nowadays when a new creative team leaves a book, the new creative team can completely disregard any of the story that the previous creators wrote. The penultimate sentence of this post is sarcastic.

Finally!! A Sub-Mariner movie!

2004-12-03T22:51:00.000-05:00

Finally, the Sub-Mariner gets the respect he deserves with a full feature film treatment!

Who am I kidding? The Sub-Mariner is like Aquaman. Nobody cares.

New Avengers is a 500 Issue Run??

2004-12-03T17:09:00.000-05:00

The solicit reads:

THE STORY: "THE RAFT" PART 1 (OF 5)
After the devastating destruction of the original Avenger’s just what sort of threat to the world could persuade Captain America to assemble an all new team? And after the events of AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED, who could possibly be on this team? The answer to the biggest secret in comics is only found right here. Get ready for the first of a proposed 500-issue run that signals an all-new era, as Bendis & Finch join with you, the fervent faithful, for the launch of the all-new ongoing Avengers series!
PRICE: $2.25

Are they serious? A 500 issue run? How can someone map out 500 issues of a series? That's on the order of 30 years. I know for Bendis it's probably three or four story arcs but still, that's quite an ambitious run.

What I'm Reading

2004-11-20T17:23:00.000-05:00

Here's a little November update of books I'm reading. I'll include a little commentary.

I apologize for being behind on my "Best of." It may wait until the end of the year.

Old stuff: Supreme, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 2. Yes, it's an Alan Moore kick.

Current Monthly Titles:
Astonishing X-Men - Whedon picks up where Morrison left off. I just read issue #6 and it was great.

Wolverine - I liked JRJR on Spider-Man but I don't like his stuff on Wolverine as much. Millar's story is a little cliche but Wolverine vs. the world is always fun.

Uncanny X-Men - I'm a little behind but it seems like they're just rolling out Claremont scripts from fifteen years ago?

X-Men - Changing creative teams. It's about time.

X-Men: The End - I'm one issue behind on this. Better than I had expected.

Wolverine: The End - Won't end soon enough.

Ultimate Nightmare - So slow. It's going to be continued in Ultimate Secret?!

Ultimate X-Men - Vaughan is one of my favorites...

Daredevil - Been a little off since the "break." Still enjoyable and the art is superb.

Secret War - Good when it comes out. What happens in this book that it had to come out quarterly? Couldn't they have made it and then released it in four consecutive months?

Marvel Knights Spider-Man - I enjoy this more than Amazing Spider-Man.

Identity Crisis - I have no idea who did it. Some people say Nightwing? My friend says Luthor but I think he's wrong.

JSA - Just started to pick up recently. An Identity Crisis tie-in won't hurt, I bet.

Teen Titans - The time travel stuff works well with this.

Superman/Batman - The Supergirl story started to get a little tedious in my opinion. I look forward to Pacheco.

Green Lantern: Rebirth - Only one issue in. No matter how good it is, it will still be interesting.

Sleeper - Consistantly good.

Planetary - Is this book on a schedule or do they just put it out whenever?

Authority: Revolution - The first issue was okay, it didn't blow me away. I like Brubaker's other stuff.

Ex-Machina - Different. Can't tell if it's good yet but there were a few good surprise endings in the first few issues.

JLA (Busiek) - Sold out at my comics store. Will have to find the first issue.

JLA: Classified - I'll keep buying, depending on the creative team.

Superman - This book hasn't really revealed its story and it's on part 6.

Wanted - One more issue to go. The first five have been excellent.

Ultimate Fantastic Four - Slow. I'm done with this.

Ultimate Spider-Man - I liked this book, but then one day I realized I sort of don't care about it.

Amazing Spider-Man - After all the cosmic stuff, now it's a Gwen Stacey re-write. I'm going to stop buying this.

Fantastic Four - Losing interest quickly. When Waid leaves, so will I.

Upcoming:

Legion - Waid/Kitson writing characters I know nothing about. Might give it a try.

Captain America - I like Brubaker but still, this is the fifth revamp in the last few years?

Ultimates 2 - I hope this book is awesome.

Ultimate Secret - I hope this book has stuff happen in it!

Trade Paperback
Y: The Last Man
Powers
Catwoman: When in Rome

Review: JLA Classified #1

2004-11-17T01:50:00.000-05:00

JLA Classified #1
DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Ed McGuinness

The cover says "Where is the Justice League?" and that's a good question -- they're not in their own book. But it's not a bad issue.

Grant Morrison is the writer who got me excited about collecting comics again. Just over five years ago, I picked up his JLA run and it revitalized my enjoyment of the medium. Prior to reading JLA, I had not read many DC titles, and I was mostly an X-Men/Image comics fan. JLA changed that with Morrison's iconic portrayals of the heroes and big and strange story ideas.

This issue continues that tradition. The story is a "big idea" and right out of Morrison's storyline since it features some heroes he created, the Ultramarines. Batman shows up in this issue and it's great. Morrison puts a very fun spin on the Batman concept. The McGuinness art is great (I particularly enjoyed when Batman gets a phone call) and probably tops the art from Morrison's original JLA run because it's really kinetic.

JLA Classified is a good first issue for a series. Lately, DC has recently had many good first issues, including Superman/Batman, Teen Titans, Outsiders and Identity Crisis. The first three of these series slowed down quite a bit, in my opinion, after the first few issues. Hopefully JLA Classified will change that trend.

X-Men: The End Annotations?

2004-11-15T02:06:00.000-05:00

Is anyone out there doing annotations for X-Men: The End? There are a ton of stories and characters being referenced that I have no idea about.

What sort of demand was there for a story like this? It brings back such obscure characters and refers to such crazy continuity.

Superman copyrights

2004-11-12T14:56:00.000-05:00

I understand the plight of the Siegel and Schuster families in trying to regain the copyrights to the Superman character. But I don't think the two creators were really "ripped off" in the beginning by National Periodicals since I don't know that the company envisioned the character becoming such an icon.

Interesting question, however. If you create something for a company, who owns the copyright? And if you sold the creation to them (even if it's at market value), what obligation does the company have to the creators?

The only sad thing about this battle is that it's not really about whether or not the creations are being used properly or reflected in the literature well, it's about who should profit off of them.

One more Marvel comment

2004-11-10T13:52:00.000-05:00

I mentioned that DC seems to have more popular "must buy" comics these days. Is that just because of hype I've been reading in the internet or is that true in sales and share?

One more thing about Marvel. Does anyone else notice that some of their characters exist in three different lines? Spider-Man's in the regular Marvel U, then Ultimate and now Marvel Age. I thought Ultimate Spidey was the all-ages, easily accessible Spider-Man. Nope, that's Marvel Age. So then why have Ultimate Spidey? How does Ultimate FF add to the comics landscape? Near as I can tell they're nothing like the FF and even Dr. Doom (who is never called "Doom") is totally different (with a fresh set of horse legs).

I think that's enough of complaining.

State of Marvel and Hype

2004-11-10T13:31:00.000-05:00

A friend and I were discussing some comics the other day. It seems like DC has all the hot properties right now -- Identity Crisis, Green Lantern: Rebirth, and JLA: Classified come to mind in particular. Marvel's got big Avengers stuff happening but the other hype seems a little less.

Maybe my tastes are changing but I think that Marvel is in a low period right now. At first, I really enjoyed Straczynski's Amazing Spider-Man, but it hasn't proven to be that exciting to me (and this is even before the bizarre events of the Sins Past storyline). Spider-Man taking on cosmic foes doesn't interest me much and Ezekiel's story definitely fizzled out.

I may also be getting overwhelmed with Bendis. The Pulse isn't that striking. His Ultimate X-Men storyline wasn't that great. Ultimate Spider-Man is starting to get boring for me (and they got rid of Gwen so quickly!) I didn't really enjoy Avengers: Disassembled. Daredevil, previously my favorite of his Marvel works, seems to have lost something since it came back from the Echo hiatus.

Then the X-Men. I love Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon but there are way too many X-Men books out these days. I love the characters, the premise, but when I read X-Men: The End and can't recognize half the characters because they appear in books I couldn't afford to buy, it makes me sad. I'd like to know what's going on in the X-Universe. When Magneto shows up in Avengers, I'd like to know how/why he's alive again in Excalibur and what he plans for the Scarlett Witch. Sure, I know that District X is another part of Manhattan, but can you tell me more? Is NYX the same as District X? Why did X-23 (a female Wolverine) make her comics debut around the same time as the Native (another female Wolverine)? Do Jubilee, Gambit, Nightcrawler and Rogue all have fanbases large enough to warrant individual series, especially in light of the soon to be ended Mystique and White Queen series?

Marvel's X-Line is diluted, the Ultimate line is on its way and soon the rest of Marvel will suffer from Benis overexposure. I know Marvel's run right now by Bendis, Millar (who I haven't yet soured on) and Straczynski but I think they may need a jolt of new creativity. It seems like the current mindset is that Marvel looks at only short term profit lines and do whatever they want to the characters. It seems like they view the fans as people who don't want to accept any changes at all and so they should tell whatever stories they want regardless of fan reaction. They're wrong. Some fans react poorly to any changes but most fans just want to see the characters and continuity treated with respect when you make changes. Fans have spent a lot of time with these characters, so if you're going to tell them that all the stories they invested time and money into are going to be contradicted, you had better have a good reason.

If a character has acted or spoke a certain way for thirty years, fans won't accept an immediate change in behavior. That's why Hal Jordan fans got so upset when he went insane in DC Land. But Peter Parker told Aunt May his secret after thirty years and there was nary a peep. Why? Because it was well done. Comic fans accept Tim Drake and the death of Jason Todd. They've accepted three Flashes. They've accepted Mary Jane instead of Gwen Stacy. They've accepted the removal of Wolverine's adamantium. It can be done. Just tell good stories.

Review: Avengers #503

2004-11-10T13:28:00.000-05:00

Avengers #503
Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: David Finch

I've never been a big Avengers fan. But recently it seems like Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Fantastic Four are having trouble with sales. Ever since the Heroes Reborn debacle, it seems like one of these books is going through another creative revamp.

In store for Avengers is another creative revamp. A new team is on the way consisting of Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America, The Sentry, Iron Man, Luke Cage and Spider-Woman. Of course, that means we need to get rid of the old team. On the one hand, I don't think it's such a good idea. On the other, if the current team's sales have been such a problem, maybe a change will be good. Something tells me that by tossing out the traditional Avengers teams, most of the traditional fans will leave the book. But I guess Marvel is banking on the fact that a new influx of fans will come in and outsell the original title. Especially because it's Bendis.

In general, I'm wondering where Marvel is headed with its titles. It seems to me that none of their books are generating the same kind of buzz as DC titles like Identity Crisis and Green Lantern: Rebirth.

But let's get back to the book at hand. This issue marks the conclusion of the "Chaos"/Disassembled stories. I'm not sure how Disassembled tied into other books (for example, the FF Disassembled story seems totally unrelated) but by the end of this issue the title's purpose is clear.

I haven't really enjoyed this story. It's made me question whether or not I will pick up New Avengers (probably not). Something about it doesn't sit well with me. I'll try reading all four issues in sequence but despite the fact that a lot of things happened in this story, it still feels like very little got accomplished. There's a ton of dialogue with Dr. Strange (which feels like a cheap resolution) and I just don't really agree with the events of the story. I think I went into the issue with a negative attitude and so that translates into this review. The artwork by David Finch is pretty good, and I enjoyed the little montages with art from past Avengers issues as well. Also strange about this book was that it dealt with some very heavy continuity, which is an oddity these days at Marvel.

Ultimate Iron Man?

2004-11-08T20:48:00.000-05:00

Do we really need an Ultimate Iron Man? The regular Iron Man has enough trouble selling his own book. It seems like the Ultimate line is getting diluted (with Ultimate Elektra currently on the shelves).

Review: Green Lantern Rebirth #1

2004-11-04T01:03:00.000-05:00

Green Lantern Rebirth #1
DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver

I didn't really start reading many DC Comics titles until after Hal Jordan became Parallax. The destruction of Coast City and the crowning of Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern were familiar to me, but I didn't really know Hal Jordan in comic books like many readers did.

Eventually, I read the story where Hal Jordan goes crazy, becomes Parallax and allows Kyle Rayner to become Green Lantern. It seemed pretty well done, although I can understand why fans of a character wouldn't want to see that character become evil. Since then, it seems like Kyle Rayner has come into his own as a hero. DC seems to have developed the character well and managed the evolution of Green Lantern in a pretty satisfactory way. On the other hand, I thought the movement of Hal Jordan to the Spectre was mismanaged. The Final Night story, where Parallax redeems himself was pretty well done, and other attempts to get Hal Jordan "back" into stories were enjoyable (like when Kyle Rayner goes back in time and meets Hal), but the Spectre evolution seemed strange.

Now, on to Rebirth. I never really liked stories where the outcome is known. In this case, we know that Hal Jordan will be back as Green Lantern. It sort of reminds me of X-Men: The Search For Cyclops, where after Cyclops had died and we knew he'd be back, by the end of a four issue limited series. In some sense, it bugs me. It also bugs me that Kyle Rayner will probably be gone after this story. He seemed like a pretty good character who would still function well in the periphery. Maybe he will, but he might be gone. It's even been suggested that Kyle Rayner will be the Identity Crisis killer. Not so sure if I buy into that.

In the story, lots of mysterious things are happening and they all seem to revolve around Hal Jordan. The other heroes don't know what's happening but they know that Hal is somehow involved. The story is well set up and I wonder in what direction all of the elements will go.

Ethan Van Sciver's art is quite good. I enjoyed his work on New X-Men, and maybe that's why it seems like it has a "Marvel" style to it (despite the fact that books rarely have a style now that all the artists move back and forth). The art is very detailed and very kinetic. This book is an interesting start to the mini series with the predictable ending. Let's hope that it does not disappoint.

Oh, and one question -- does anyone know whose sinister reflection appears in the power battery being held on the cover?

Review: Teen Titans #17

2004-11-01T01:04:00.000-05:00

Teen Titans #17
DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Mike McKone

After a detour to see the Legion, the Teen Titans move on to an alternate future. While time travel stories and alternate futures can be hit or miss, this issue was more along the lines of hit. The Titans run into a darker and alternate version of themselves in this issue. Since the title has been about the trials of the young heroes as the follow their mentors, it's a good story type to try. Johns does a nice job of emphasizing the darkness of the alternate Titans making you wonder what happened to the heroes to change them so dramatically. Tom Grummett had been filling in on the book quite well, however I prefer Mike McKone's art style just a little bit more. The dark mood of the future is well captured in one of the better issues in this series so far.

Review: Ultimate Nightmare #3

2004-10-17T09:28:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Nightmare #3
Marvel Comics
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Steve Epting

Last time I wrote a review, I had to worry about spoilers. Not the case here. Nothing happens to spoil! I hate to write a negative review, especially since I've enjoyed Warren Ellis' work in the past, because I haven't read many comics in the last few week and because I want to badly to like this. But it's boring. Nothing happens. Even if there's a big payoff in the last two issues of this miniseries it will feel like it was one or two issues too long.

Steve Epting fills in for Trevor Hairsine on this one, and I just don't like his art as much. It's pretty dark and moody, but I just prefer the Hairsine pencils. Chalk it up to personal preference.

Sooner or later, something's gotta happen in this miniseries!

Review: Amazing Spiderman #512

2004-10-04T20:35:00.000-05:00

Amazing Spider-Man #512
Marvel Comics
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Mike Deodato

This will be a hard review to write without spoilers. What I will do is try to keep the beginning rather spoiler-free then at some point, issue a SPOILER WARNING that will allow me to more specifically critique the book.

This issue continues the "Sins Past" story and I believe is the penultimate chapter. The story thus far has had a few twists and turns, including a cover with a girl who looks like Gwen Stacy on it. In the last issue, Mary Jane tells Peter that she has a secret and in this issue is supposed to tell us what that secret is.

Generally, I didn't like the issue, but that was primarily because of the way that the writers have decided to try and retro-fit continuity. I have been very wary of this story because of some of the "major" changes to the past that have been described. I like progress as much as the next person, and I like when comics, try to drift from the status quo. But I don't like it when stories disrespect the past -- especially by trying to change characters from the past.

One thing I really enjoyed about this issue was Peter and Mary Jane's dialogue. Normally, Straczynski writes these cheesy little flirtations between them. But this time, the conversation is much better -- almost more serious -- than usual.

I think it's now time for a...

SPOILER WARNING

Everything below will assume you've read the issue, or you don't care.

Ugh. Just couldn't let sleeping dogs lie. Or is that, couldn't let dead characters lie? It's not enough that the Green Goblin wanted to kill Peter Parker and get in his head by killing Gwen Stacy. Oh no! We can't have that. That's not sufficient motivation! So how about we create a scenario where Gwen Stacy (ambiguously raped) has Norman Osborn's kids. Don't like the direction this is heading in -- it seems like the character's personality has changed.

On top of all this, Gwen never mentions this traumatic incident to Peter, and then Mary Jane keeps it from him too! Can't we come up with new stories instead of dredging over the past? I hope this all isn't true.

On another note, I quite enjoyed Superman and Superman/Batman this week. While both books didn't have a lot happen in them, they still were enjoyable.

Movie Review: The Punisher

2004-09-27T14:14:00.000-05:00

Bottom line: I thought this film was an average film but a pretty good adaptation of the comic book.

For the most part, the Punisher is a brooding, dark film. The Punisher, as always is pretty meticulous with delivering his "punishment" and that makes the film good. Also well done was the origin and backstory for the Punisher. With minor changes, the story stays true to the comics, and even includes a few elements directly from them.

The script isn't anything amazing, the acting is about average, and some of the peripheral characters seem a bit unncessary. The one thing they missed but tried to capture was the dark humor that Ennis infused the comic book with during the early part of his Marvel Knights run.

Review: Wolverine: The End #5

2004-09-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

Wolverine: The End #5
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Artist: Claudio Castellini

Before I dig into this book, I just think I should say that because of all the delays with this title, I have trouble remembering everything that happened before in this story.

However, that said, this has to be one of the worst comics I've ever read.

I am a pretty big Wolverine fan. Why is this a bad comic? Because it pretty much doesn't make sense.

Right off the bat, this book suffers from several problems. First, my impression of "The End" stories were that they were supposed to be the real ending of the characters' lives. Hulk: The End and Punisher: The End were both single issue stories that sort of lived up to that concept. They sort of follow the character as he goes for "one last hurrah." Wolverine: The End is too long -- six issues to tell the end of a single character's plight is unncessary. Also, how does it tie-in with X-Men: The End, which also features Wolverine?

Put that aside. The thought was that somehow this story should bookend Origin. Not a terrible idea, hence the parallel six issue structure, but Origin was decent, this is not.

I've read four major titles by Jenkins: Inhumans, Sentry, Origin and Wolverine: The End. After a great story like Inhumans, and decent set-ups in Sentry and Origin, it's amazing how far he's fallen in writing this incomprehensible title. The delays don't help, but it's incredibly difficult to tell what is going on in this book.

The final problem with this book is that it doesn't really get to the core of the character. It seems to be a six issue gimmick to deal with the idea, "What happened to Wolverine's brother from Origin, who he hasn't seen all his life and is out to kill him?" Wolverine has always been about the man within the beast. This does nothing for that. The book is very disappointing and unclear. This was an ill-conceived idea.

I guess they don't all work out.

Quick Hits

2004-09-26T12:18:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted here, and I apologize. My goal is to have well-thought posts on this blog, however, with time constraints I've been less able to do that. For stupid thoughts on my mind, check out the Kitchen Fresh Blog.

I think I'm trashing on some of my favorite writers recently (Bendis, Ellis, Waid) but their work is just not grabbing me like it used to/usually does.

Quick thoughts on comics I've read recently:

Avengers #502 - The general mood online seems to be mixed about this book. In my opinion, I expect more from Bendis, so this is disappointing. I'm also down on the upcoming idea that Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Man, Power Man, Iron Man and Spider-Woman will make up the new Avengers team after this is all over. But it's not an awful story. It's just about average.

Sleeper: Season 2 #4 - Buy this book. It's good. I don't watch the show Alias but it seems very similar.

Teen Titans #15 & #16 - This book is not as strong as it had started but it's still entertaining. Sort of like a more serious version of Young Justice, but still retains the spirit of fun.

Wolverine #19 - Rucka's run ends but this story was just too long. Seven parts is long period. I wonder if that was his doing or Marvel's (trying to milk his story for a few more issues). Rucka was better than what came before but I've seen overall better stuff from him.

Identity Crisis #4 - I've heard some online rumors about who the killer is that I don't really like. But so long as they stay untrue, this story is headed for greatness. The mystery/suspense is excellent. Mysteries like this haven't really happened a lot in comics recently.

Astonishing X-Men #5 - Great book. Captures fun, drama and action of X-Men perfectly. Might be the best X-Title out there right now.

Runaways #18 - First series ends, and they try to set a new status quo for the kids. In a sense, this issue is more of a transition than really an ending.

X-Men: The End - Dreamers & Demons #3 - Longest title for a comic ever? Touching on all the various X-Men, this series has an epic feel to it. Let's see if it will be comprehensive in resolving the X-Men story.

Marvel Knights - Spider-Man #6 - Somehow, I expected more. Adding the X-Men brings some suspense, and the Venom symbiote for sale seems interesting.

Pulse #5 - More mediocre Bendis. Mediocre Bendis is just a disappointment. Sometimes I think that Jessica Jones is Benids, just a woman.

Ultimate X-Men #51 - I don't like Gambit, but this story seems like the best way to bring him into the Ultimate universe.

Ultimate Nightmare #2 - Not the best work from Ellis. I am also disappointed by his Ultimate FF as well.

Ex-Machina #4 - Different from other stuff I'm reading. Vaughan - always with the cliffhangers!

Wanted #5 - Ha. I had forgotten this book was still coming out. I'll need to re-read the whole miniseries for total judgement.

Sorry...

2004-09-16T17:41:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't updated this lately. Massive update to come soon! Hopefully by the weekend.

The week in Review: August 25

2004-08-29T19:52:00.000-05:00

I picked up four books this week at the store and all of them were excellent.

Amazing Spider-Man #511
Marvel Comics
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Aritst: Mike Deodato

I have a paradoxical reaction when I read this book. On the one hand, the changes being made could have a long lasting effect and the title keeps me interested month to month. On the other hand, some things are implied about the characters’ pasts that I don’t like.

This issue marks the first time in a while that I wasn’t annoyed by the way Straczynski handles the small talk between Peter and Mary Jane. Also, I like the way he had Peter deal with the situation from before and it seems like he has a few more tricks up his sleeve for the next three issues. Overall, I’m more excited about this story than I was last month (a good thing) and eagerly await the next issue (that hasn’t happened for a while).

Astonishing X-Men #4
Marvel Comics
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday

Well, Joss Whedon is writing the best X-Men book at the moment (of the three “core” books) and the art from Cassaday is beautiful. A character from the past makes a surprise appearance and I wonder how this will all play out. I have some reservations about this character’s appearance but I’ll save that for later on. Excellent.

Superman #208
DC Comics
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Jim Lee

The story is starting to make a bit more sense; a good thing seeing as we’re now on the fifth part. The art is still beautiful and I like the way Azzarello handles the question of the other heroes confronting Superman. One thing I liked about the “Hush” Batman story was the way that all the Batman universe characters showed up at some point over the course of the year. It seems that this story will not be that way. It’s making more sense to me now which makes me happy.

Sleeper: Season 2 #3
Wildstorm/DC Comics
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips

Still a great title, this issue was a little more confusing only because it relied on events from “Season 1.” It was bound to happen with an espionage comic anyway, I suppose. The art still reflects the grim and gritty feeling and once again, Holden comes out more conflicted than he began. The title just keeps on truckin’.

Looking at Solicits - Marvel and DC for November

2004-08-28T14:16:00.000-05:00

There's a lot to talk about for the month of November so let's get rolling...

DC Comics

Batman titles are still in War Games mode. It appears this is the aftermath of the huge crossover event.

Superman with Jim Lee and Brian Azzarello trucks along to the 8th of 12 parts. The first four parts have been a bit slow, but I hope this will be epic by the time the 12th part has come out.

Superman: Secret Identity gets collected in a tpb and there has been good buzz about this so I might pick it up.

Identity Crisis will spotlight on Batman as the penultimate issue of the miniseries comes out.

JLA Classified marks Grant Morrison's return to the team. This should be excellent. It's the start of the series which will feature rotating creative teams doing story arcs. Perfect for the TPB fans as well.

The Titans story, "Titans Tomorrow" has me interested in the upcoming Legion series as well. Waid and Kitson on Legion sounds like a team that should not be missed. Finding the best way to budget books to read these days is harder than ever.

Wildstorm: The October relaunch of The Authority finally addresses the coup that occurred months ago. Ex-Machina is quite excellent. I don't know what to make of The Intimates. I like Jim Lee and I want to support Joe Casey, but the idea seems a bit odd. We'll also get to the halfway point on Sleeper.

Other: Busiek moves along on JLA, and a tie-in with Identity Crisis hits JSA.

Marvel

Avengers seems to be the team that gets the spotlight these days. New Avengers seems to be the "All-Star" team of the Marvel Universe. I wonder a number of things about this. First, it seems like Brian Bendis, an excellent writer, has a ton of control over the direction of the Marvel Universe. The cast of this series seems similar to that of Secret War (which also ties in with The Pulse). I don't understand the obsession with Power Man and Spider-Woman. Also, while I'm not an Avengers fan, it seems to me that the true team is made up of something like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Vision and Scarlet Witch (give or take a Hawkeye, Hank Pym or She-Hulk). So I'm cautiously curious about this one.

Ed Brubaker takes over Captain America, who along with Iron Man is scheduled to have a new series start (again). I will probably pick up Brubaker's Cap over Ellis's Iron Man but this decision pains me. Perhaps I can find a friend who will pick up the other series and we can share.

Pulse is a book that I started buying because I like Bendis. I even tried to catch up with all the back issues of Alias. But in the end, I found the series Alias a little underwhelming (doesn't Jessica Jones seem like the female comic book version of the writer?) and Pulse, due to its bimonthly schedule, just very slow. I don't think I will continue for another story arc, despite its Secret War tie-in (is that over?)

Fantastic Four starts a Galactus story. This may be the "make or break" arc for me considering that I dislike cosmic stories and Waid has a new DC series starting as well (Legion).

Marvel Team-Up comes along to remind us we're in a shared universe. I thought that the nu-Marvel didn't acknowledge continuity.

Mark Millar's Wolverine continues. The preview art by JRJR makes the title character look a little funny.

X-Men The End looks like it has the Goblin Queen (a la Inferno) on the cover. The second issue of this series was good but this illustration makes me nervous for the future.

Uncanny X-Men starts a new story arc but without Alan Davis. This is unfortunate - Davis makes the book much better.

Is X-Men #164 Chuck Austen's last issue?

The Ultimate Universe keeps on trucking along, with Vaughan on Ultimate X-Men, Ellis on Nightmare and FF, Bendis on Spider-Man and Ultimate Elektra. After making Ultimate series for Spider-Man, X-Men, the Avengers and the FF, the best Marvel could come up with is Ultimate Elektra? And why all the guest stars in Spider-Man all of a sudden? Anyone else notice that Ellis writing more titles for Ultimate Universe than Bendis these days?

The Sins Past story ends in Amazing Spider-Man. I'm not sure if I like the changes they've implemented, but at least it keeps me intrigued.

Millar's Spider-Man faces a new look Venom. Does Venom need a new look?

And Powers gets another collection. Yay!!

Photos/Images

2004-08-21T11:51:00.000-05:00

Anyone out there know how to post photos to the blog more than one at a time per post? That would be sort of helpful.

Thanks!

Favorites - Didn't Make the Cut - Mini Series Part 1

2004-08-21T01:25:00.000-05:00

In no particular order, six Miniseries that aren’t part of my top 20. There are five more that I’ll write about in Part 2.

JLA/Avengers
Four Issues
Marvel and DC Comics
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: George Perez
I can't believe Perez injured his wrist

Maybe it’s because this was released so recently that I enjoyed it so much. Yes, it’s not accessible to anyone who doesn’t read the books regularly but the way that Kurt Busiek handled this crossover was superb. There was a lot of anticipation and many crossovers have come before, but Busiek offered something fresh to people. He managed to capture the essence of both DC and Marvel universes and show how heroes from each felt out of place. He used some of the tools from Avengers Forever where he mixes in all the different time periods. You could tell there was an affection for both sets of characters and their long histories. George Perez on art turns in a great work, each character’s face unique and he was able to keep so many people straight. Unreal that he injured his wrist drawing the cover to the third issue. One of the best inter-company crossovers ever.

DC 2000
Two Issues
DC Comics
Writer: Tom Peyer
Artist: Val Semeiks
When the Spectre meets a computer...

A sort of “sequel” to DC One Million where the JLA goes back into the Golden Age to retrieve modern items that have been dropped off back in time. The old JSA finds computers, machine guns and questions the cynicism it sees in its future counterparts. A great way to play off of the One Million concept. Time travel misunderstandings of course, are always amusing as well.

Earth X
Fourteen Issues
Marvel Comics
Writer: Jim Krueger and Alex Ross
Artist: Jean Paul Leon
By Alex Ross. Sort of.

Wizard asked Alex Ross to imagine his “Kingdom Come” story for the Marvel Universe and the concept for Earth X was born. I’m not a big fan of Jean Paul Leon’s art, and much of the story takes place in prose, but this is a widespread epic story that discusses the grim future of the Marvel Universe. It was followed up with Universe X and Paradise X which were both not terrible, but each series was quite long, and borderline tiresome (14-20 issues each).

Infinity Gauntlet
Six Issues
Marvel Comics
Writer: Jim Starlin
Artist: George Perez and Ron Lim
Adam Warlock is a strange fellow.

All the Marvel heroes get together to stop Thanos, who has the most powerful weapon in the Universe. Of course these big get-together type stories appeal to my enjoyment of the shared universe. Captain America versus Thanos was a great character moment. This was better than Secret Wars, in my opinion. It, like Earth X, was followed up by two weaker sequels – Infinity War and Infinity Crusade.

Punisher (Marvel Knights)
Marvel Comics
Twelve Issues
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Steve Dillon
A badass again.

At some point, I think Marvel executives made some pact to steal talent from DC’s Vertigo line and put them on all Marvel books. So the critically acclaimed team from Preacher takes on Marvel’s Punisher, and it’s great. It’s got this dark humor and simple art that is terrific. Each issue presents the Punisher with another brutal yet humorous way to remove gangsters from the world. This miniseries was stronger than the ongoing series that followed. Now, the book is in a less humorous MAX incarnation.

Sleeper (Volume 1)
Wildstorm Comics (DC Comics)
Twelve Issues
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips
The best book nobody reads.

Season 2 of Sleeper is just starting, and if it’s as good as the first “season” then the whole title may vault into one of my all-time favorites. Holden Carver is a secret agent who has infiltrated a super-villain organization. He was picked because he cannot feel pain (and thus is immune to torture). The one problem: the only man who knows Carver is in deep cover is in a coma. So Carver has to find his way out. Each issue is a self contained story that fits in well to the larger story (very similar to Planetary). This would translate quite well to TV. The choices that Holden have to make are difficult, the moody art by Phillips is perfect for the mood and the supporting cast has a lot of great characters (such as Genocide, Miss Misery and Tao). Depending on Season 2, this whole thing might be some of the best comics I’ve ever read.

Review: Ex-Machina #3

2004-08-21T01:09:00.000-05:00

Ex-Machina #3
Wildstorm (DC Comics)
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Tony Harris

If you haven’t been reading Ex-Machina, it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. The premise sounded a bit silly to me – a former super-hero decides to run for mayor of New York City – but the series has pleased so far. Each issue has been a little bit different, but all three lay the foundation in a sort of disjointed storytelling manner of the situation facing the mayor of New York City, Mitchell Hundred.

The art is perfect for this sort of book, where each character’s emotions show through in the dialogue. Vaughan is still setting up the supporting cast and it looks like there will be some politics mixed in with supernatural events. The politics seem “common sense” enough that they shouldn’t offend anyone. It’s not quite “The West Wing” but it’s a good, solid read.

Also, I just caught up with the first 17 issues of Vaughan’s Runaways. It’s quite excellent and definitely keeps you guessing.

PS - Just read Seaguy 1-3. I don't know what this was about. Quite odd.

Favorites - Didn't Make the Cut - Single Issues

2004-08-09T22:33:00.000-05:00

These single issue stories prove good tales can be told in one issue’s worth of space (even if sometimes, that issue is oversized).

Looking back, it’s pretty interesting to me that most of my favorite Wolverine stories are single issue stories.

Action Comics #775
DC Comics
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artists: Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo

You look very familiar…

The Authority was the most popular comic on the shelves and Joe Kelly writes a great story to remind readers why Superman and his “boy scout values” is still pertinent. One of Joe Kelly’s best stories ever. The issue featured a group called the Elite, who looked surprisingly like the Authority, and is currently featured in their own title, Justice League Elite.

Wolverine #10

Marvel Comics
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: John Buscema

Happy Birthday!

Claremont introduced in this issue the idea that Sabretooth came to taunt Wolverine every year on his birthday. What a dastardly thing to do! Also, this set up the sub plot that Sabretooth had killed Logan's first love, Silver Fox. This plotline would be come much more convoluted in future issues but it was a nice touch adding to the shared history of the characters.

Wolverine #100
Marvel Comics
Writer: Larry Hama
Artist: Adam Kubert

Surprise!

First, the bad: Elektra is in this comic and from this, the feral-looking Wolverine became introduced for a while. That was bad. But the good was, on this anniversary issue, everyone expected Wolverine to get his adamantium back and he didn’t. They pulled the wool over our eyes, and then to boot, Logan ends up killing Cable’s kid. As if they didn’t have a strained relationship to begin with. A little gimmicky but the trickiness was good.

Wolverine #145
Marvel Comics
Writer: Erik Larsen
Artist: Leinil Yu

He’s back.

Every anniversary issue after #75 it was anticipated that Wolverine would receive his adamantium. Then along comes issue #145, a non-anniversary issue, and it happens. While giving Wolverine back his adamantium, a creative way is found to remove the adamantium from Sabretooth (an ill conceived idea in the first place). Apocalypse is looking for a volunteer to make the horseman Death, and he’s decided that it’s either going to be Wolverine or Sabretooth. Wolverine, realizing that Sabretooth would relish the opportunity to become a killing machine decides he has to stop him. The cost is that Wolverine regains the adamantium and a new killing attitude. What a great way to tie everything together – Wolverine, Sabretooth, the Twelve storyline. Larsen’s best issue as writer on the series.

Favorites - Didn't Make the Cut - Crossover Events

2004-08-08T21:17:00.000-05:00

I figured since I'm writing reviews, in order to better understand my tastes that I would start writing about some of my favorite comics. First, I'll give you a group that "Didn't Make the Cut" of my 20 favorite stories/issues.

This first post will be comprised of crossover stories. Marvel seems to be the king company of crossovers although this has cooled off lately. I have to admit, many of the DC crossovers, such as the Death of Superman, Batman: Knightfall, Batman: No Man's Land and Bruce Wayne: Murderer were quite enjoyable but these four are all-time favorites for me.

The X-Tinction Agenda
Marvel Comics
Uncanny X-Men 270-272 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee
New Mutants 95-97 by Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld and Guang Yap
X-Factor 60-62 by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove
A simpler time...

Remember when there were just three main X-Men books? It was X-Factor, the first generation, Uncanny X-Men, the mothership book and New Mutants, the next generation of mutants. Sure, Wolverine had his own book at this point, and Excalibur was a fringe, British slightly comedic book but really the main books were down to three.

There are so many reasons why this was a great story. Cable had just taken over the New Mutants. It reunited a bunch of the X-Men who had been scattered around by the Seige Perilous. Havok was tricked into being a villain. The X-Men and friends were de-powered. Wolverine and Jean Grey have a moment. Wolverine and Archangel have a moment. Jim Lee drawing just about every character in the X-Universe. A villain who started as obscure but ended up as powerful and just evil.

The story's shortcomings are primarily in art - Jon Bogdanove was a disappointing artist and he was charged with some of the most important parts of the story (including the conclusion). But the story wasn't that long and it overall was quite good. It also led to a series of three or four great X-Men stories (their adventures with the Shi'ar and the Muir Island saga), leading to the new X-Men series and also X-Force.

Fatal Attractions
Marvel Comics
X-Factor 92 by Peter David and Joe Quesada
X-Force 25 by Fabian Nicieza and Greg Capullo
Uncanny X-Men 304 by Scott Lobdell and John Romita Jr
X-Men 25 by Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert
Wolverine 75 by Larry Hama and Adam Kubert
Excalibur 71 by Scott Lobdell and a ton of artists

Cool covers...

Remember all those gimmick covers? This crossover benefited since each issue had a hologram cover.

The return of Magneto. The best part of this crossover was how each part was a self-contained story either forshadowing or dealing with Magneto's return. There were some stunning developments as well, such as Colossus leaving the X-Men, Wolverine having his adamantium ripped out and Wolverine finding out he had bone claws. The adamantium part settled a long-standing debate of "why doesn't Magneto just take Wolverine to task whenever they fight?" This time, he did. Great creators and storylines that significantly affected the X-Universe made for a great crossover. As I write about this one, I'm not sure why it didn't make it into my top 20.

Favorites
Onslaught
Marvel Comics

Prologue: X-Men #53, X-Men #54, Onslaught: X-Men

Phase 1: Cable #34, Fantastic Four #415, Uncanny X-Men #335, X-Man #18, X-Men #55

Phase 2: Cable #35, Fantastic Four #416, Uncanny X-Men #336, X-Man #19, X-Men #56

Impact 1: Avengers #401, Excalibur #100, Generation X #18, Hulk #444, Wolverine #104, X-Factor #125, X-Force #57

Impact 2: Amazing Spider-Man #415, Avengers #402, Generation X #19, Green Goblin #12, Hulk #445, Iron Man #332, Punisher #11, Spider-Man #72, Wolverine #105, X-Factor #126, X-Force #58

Conclusion: Onslaught: Marvel Universe

Epilogue: Onslaught: Epilogue

How did something that started so well, end so badly?

It started so well. This build up to a mysterious, very powerful villain. Then the Marvel corporate types must have gotten involved. The buildup was superb as Onslaught himself was never seen by the X-Men, but they kept finding his mark. He would terrorize villains like the Juggernaut or send his all-powerful heralds to announce his impending arrival.

Then it turned out that Onslaught was created as a consequence of Professor X's actions against Magneto in Fatal Attractions. The X-Traitor, a long standing story for about two years, was also revealed. It was all good.

Then the bad stuff happened. Part of it was bad timing. Marvel had just decided to lease their Avengers and Fantastic Four characters to Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, then of Image Comics. The characters would be spun out of continuity into their own universe where their stories could be re-told. What does this have to do with Onslaught? Apparently someone at Marvel thought that the Onslaught event would be a great opportunity to launch their new universe. So the ending of Onslaught had all the Heroes Reborn heroes disappearing. Horrible. It made no sense. But it started out quite well. And did it have to span so many issues? Most of the comics had no relation to the main story.

DC One Million
DC Comics
DC One Million 1-4 by Grant Morrison and Val Semeiks

Week One
Action Comics #1,000,000, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1,000,000, Nightwing #1,000,000, Green Lantern #1,000,000, Power of Shazam #1,000,000, Young Justice #1,000,000

Week Two
Batman #1,000,000, Superman: The Man of Steel #1,000,000, Starman #1,000,000, Impulse #1,000,000, Green Arrow #1,000,000, Legionnaires #1,000,000, Azrael #1,000,000

Week Three
Superman #1,000,000, Superboy #1,000,000, Detective Comics #1,000,000, JLA #1,000,000, Aquaman #1,000,000, Wonder Woman #1,000,000, Chase #1,000,000, Creeper #1,000,000

Week Four
Martian Manhunter #1,000,000, Adventures of Superman #1,000,000, Resurrection Man #1,000,000, Catwoman #1,000,000, Robin #1,000,000, Flash #1,000,000, Supergirl #1,000,000

Week Five
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #1,000,000, Chronos #1,000,000, Young Heroes in Love #1,000,000, Lobo #1,000,000, Hitman #1,000,000, Legion of Super-Heroes #1,000,000

My head is spinning, but it's so good and I want more...

Wow. Grant Morrison is crazy. DC Comics decided to launch in one month, the one millionth issues of all its series. The concept? The heroes from 83,000 years in the future come into our time and ask the current JLA to help them. There's so much more to this, Vandal Savage attacking the JLA on both time fronts, the League having to build the supercomputer Solaris in the present even though it is trying to attack them in the future. So good. Even issues that were ancillary to the main concept were great.

It was a bit too spread out among the comics but there were some great plot twists that really made this crossover enjoyable. DC is the master of the shared universe and as titles start to become continuity independent, this crossover emphasized why a shared universe can sometimes be a benefit not a hindrance to good storytelling.

Coming soon:
Single Issues, Current Series, Storyarcs and miniseries that "Didn't Make the Cut" and then, my top 20.

X-cessive

2004-08-08T14:22:00.000-05:00

I really like the X-Men. It's the first series that got me hooked on comic books.

But the X-Universe is growing at too rapid a pace. When I first started buying books, the titles were limited to Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants and Wolverine. At the time, even four titles seemed like quite a few. Soon, Excalibur followed, then New Mutants became X-Force and another X-Men book was introduced. But now it's pretty wild -- to the point where continuity and characters are just too confusing. Take a look, this September sees the solicitation of 22 X books!

Uncanny X-Men
X-Men
Astonishing X-Men
Wolverine
NYX
Madrox
District X
Ultimate X-Men
Excalibur
X-Force
Cable/Deadpool
Jubilee
Nightcrawler
Emma Frost
Gambit
Mystique
Weapon X
Starjammers
Exiles
Rogue
X-Men The End
New X-Men

Now to be fair, X-Men The End, Starjammers and Madrox are limited series, and Weapon X is being cancelled. This is pretty outrageous. For example, I never read Exiles and now characters from that book are being referenced in X-Men The End. That's nice and all, but I can't afford the time (or more importantly the money) to follow all the goings on in these books. It's quite unfortunate.

My suggestion would be to create a series such as "X-Men Spotlight" where story arcs featuring solo character adventures or team ups could rotate through, with varying creative teams. Hopefully these adventures could also have a meaningful effect on the comic continuity, unlike annuals or the quarterly X-Men Unlimited. There's just too much out there right now.

October Solicits: A Romp Through Marvel and DC

2004-08-05T00:13:00.000-05:00

I was going to write a little blurb on some of the comicon news but the overall theme is, "Will I be able to buy everything?" With Bendis on Avengers, Ellis on Iron Man, Brubaker on Captain America, Waid on Legion, Busiek on JLA and Morrison doing a short JLA story in Classified, what will I be buying?

Also, where is Wanted #5?

So on to the October solicitations (a bit belated).

DC Comics
Batman: War Games continues, and I wonder when the tpb's will be available. I believe I mentioned once before - DC seems to do these all-Batman crossovers quite well. Too bad Marvel can't execute an all-X crossover the same way.

Catwoman: When in Rome is a sequel to/tangent from Batman Dark Victory. I will wait for the collected edition but I expect it will be quite good.

Superman/Batman #15 continues their storyarc with Carlos Pacheco. The Mike Turner Supergirl story is dragging on for me. Hopefully this will breathe some new life into the book.

Green Lantern: Rebirth gives me a strange feeling. I understand that fans want Hal Jordan back but where does this put Kyle Rayner? And it seems a bit odd to bring Jordan back to life regardless of how he died. Johns is a pretty good writer, hopefully this will be done well. I wouldn't mind seeing a return of a GL Corps.

Identity Crisis #5 will continue the contraversial storyline. I predict more people will die before the whole series is over.

JLA #107 begins Kurt Busiek's run on JLA. His stuff has been mainly hit but some miss for me. His Avengers run didn't impress me that much but I enjoyed Avengers Forever and Arrowsmith quite a bit.

Teen Titans begins crossovers with the Legion. I don't know a thing about the Legion, I hope that it's accessible (and from Johns' track record on JSA, it should be).

The Authority gets a new writer, Ed Brubaker, who also happens to be the first American writer of the book. Hopefully he can return the book to its former excellence.

Other books that have caught my eye: Sleeper Season 2 #5 features the Grifter, JSA deals with the fate of Rick Tyler, Ex-Machina wraps up its first storyline, and there's been a sighting of an issue of Planetary!

Marvel Comics

Mark Millar starts his run on Wolverine, and I'm looking forward to it. He recently did an interview with Newsarama that made me pretty excited.

Alan Davis returns to Uncanny X-Men after a few issues off.

Sabretooth gets another mini-series. From the solicit, I can't tell if it will be decent or not. Most of the time I don't find the villain mini series to my liking.

X-Men is written by Chuck Austen. We won't have to say that much longer. Is what he does for X-Men allowed to be called "writing?"

Wolverine: The End concludes. This series is so bizarre. Not to mention that Origin 2 is on its way. uh.. great?

Astonishing X-Men #6 has a great cover! This is the flagship X-Men title and is quite good.

X-Men: The End continues. I used to know almost everything about the X-Men. Now there are so many books (many of them non-essential) that I just don't know a thing.

Wolverine teams up with Spider-man in Ultimate Spider-Man. We get more Wolverine using Bendis-speak, just like we demanded.

Ultimate Elektra #3 will be released, does this book really have that much demand?

Daredevil #66 by Bendis and Maleev is great. Maleev's pencils are superb and bring a great, gritty style to the title.

Marvel Knights: Spider-Man keeps trucking along, it seems like Venom is now involved.

Madrox sounds like it could be a good book but I might wait for the tpb.

Amazing Spider-Man finally ends the Sins Past storyline. I think I'll jump off the bandwagon once this is done. Between Ultimate and Marvel Knights, I've got enough of a fix. Also, Straczynski's lovey-dovey Peter/Mary Jane conversations are starting to tick me off.

Other books I've noticed: Ultimate Nightmare #3 continues... as does Ultimate FF #12 (this Van Damme thing is just so odd), Ultimate X-Men #52 wraps up the Gambit story.

In the regular MU, Avengers: Disassembled also trucks along (does anyone else wonder why they re-number only to cancel the book?), Fantastic Four ties in with it, and after 12 issues of Supreme Power, I probably won't be on board for a 13th.

It might seem like I'm very negative about the Marvel stuff, but I'm not. I think it's just late.

Review: Ultimate Nightmare #1

2004-08-04T23:05:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the long hiatus.

Ultimate Nightmare #1
Marvel Comics
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Trevor Hairsine

I like Warren Ellis. In particular Planetary, the Authority and his Wolverine "Not Dead Yet" storyline.

I like Trevor Hairsine. His work reminds me of a cross between Brian Hitch and David Finch.

I like the Ultimates. In fact, the Ultimates were somewhat inspired by Ellis's work as the Marvel "answer" to Wildstorm's Authority. So with Ellis on the book, it seems like a good match. Not only that, it will be months until our next fix of the characters.

I didn't like Ultimate Six or Ultimate War. These were the two prior Ultimate universe mini-series stories and neither one actually told much of a story. It was as if there were 6 or 7 part stories that did very little.

I don't like decompressed storytelling. It's happening more and more, particularly in Marvel books. For example, Wolverine is in the midst of a 7 part story arc. X-Men The End is an 18 part mini series (Marvel says, "think Lord of the Rings" and all I can think of is how people kept getting up early at the end of Return of the King).

What does this have to do with Ultimate Nightmare #1? It's got all these things. Warren Ellis. Trevor Hairsine. The Ultimates. An Ultimate Universe miniseries. Decompressed storytelling.

In fact it deals with a cosmic threat (see Planetary) and the first four pages have no words (see any recent Marvel storyline). It sounds like a good premise but I've heard rumblings that it's the first of several miniseries dealing with this threat (see previous Ultimate miniseries). The art is good and the dialogue sharp (when it's around). The best part was the ultimazation of a new character. Otherwise, it reads no differently than many other books out there. That isn't to say it's bad, but it's not spectacular yet. There's not much more to say since not much more happens. As with many works from the Marvel U, once again, judgment must be reserved for when the series is over.

Hiatus

2004-07-30T08:57:00.000-05:00

I'm just going to be on hiatus for a week.

This past week saw some good books: JLA Another Nail, Planetary, and Sleeper Season 2 were all to my liking.

Astonishing X-Men was excellent as well, finally, one of the new X-writers has acknowledged that the events in Grant Morrison's run actually happened!

Superman Birthright wraps up the 12 issue mini, it wasn't bad but there were some cheesy moments (he sews up his costume with heat vision?)

Superman furthers the mystery of the vanishing, I think it's finally starting to get good.

Avengers 500 puts the Avengers in a bind. Can Bendis wow me with this story or will it be another dud like his Ultimate X-Men run? It's too early to tell.

Fantastic Four - Waid's run started great but now I'm a little more down on it. I guess I'm just not a huge FF fan.

Ultimate Fantastic Four is proving the previous statement true. It's interesting but I just must not like the FF that much.

Amazing Spider-Man uses some cheap tricks out of the past to make me really wonder, sort of like Identity Crisis. Not sure if they're good or not yet.

While you're waiting...

2004-07-23T10:51:00.000-05:00

While you're waiting for my amazing review of books from this past week, chew on this script idea I have. Normally I don't have many script ideas (and I hate fanfics) but this one will satisfy many fans:

X-Men #165 - First issue AA (After Austen)

[Shot of Genosha from afar]

[zoom in on Xavier sleeping]

[two page spread of Xavier waking up, sweating, gasping for air]

Xavier: HOLY CRAP! I just had the STRANGEST dream ever. First Juggernaut joined the X-Men and moved into the mansion, THEN we found out Angel's blood could heal people and he fell in love with Cannonball's teenage sister, AND a crazy nurse fell in love with Havok while he was in a coma WHILE Polaris went insane AND Iceman became a jackass, homophobe and bigot, THEN we found out Nightcrawler is one of many other demon-like creatures who have all been fathered by the devil. SUBSEQUENTLY we found out Cannonball's brother is ALSO an angel whose blood heals others and She-Hulk slept with the Juggernaut. Oh and Gambit got blinded while fighting a bunch of ethnic stereotypes.

Hmm. Why do I suddenly hate werewolves so much?

Wow! That was so cRaZY! I better not tell anyone or else they'll think I'm totally nUtS!

Delayed review

2004-07-21T23:02:00.000-05:00

This week I bought:

X-Men
Daredevil #62
Ex-Machina #2
Wolverine #17

I will review one of these books more fully this week. As a quick summary, I enjoyed Ex-Machina, Wolverine and Daredevil. X-Men was not as bad as some of Austen's prior work but it features the Collective Man, a character I find mildly offensive.

Review: Ultimate X-Men #49

2004-07-14T21:37:00.000-05:00

Ultimate X-Men #49
Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Brandon Peterson

I was telling a friend of mine that I had lost enthusiasm for some of the comics that have been coming out recently. But we both buy stuff that would make this week a big week. Even so, my enthusiasm was low before reading my titles this week (Titans, Ultimate X-Men, Superman/Batman, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Pulse, JSA and Identity Crisis). But as it turns out, none of the titles disappointed.

So how did I pick Ultimate X-Men to write about? My last few posts have highlighted a lot of Spider-Man stuff -- the movie, Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, so I figured I'd pick a book with a different theme. In addition, the X-Men are my favorite characters, yet to this point I haven't reviewed an X-Men title.

Brian K. Vaughan's first story, The Tempest is excellent. His signature surprises have popped up several times throughout the story. He has re-worked Mr. Sinister into a threatening villain. The many team members (made even larger by Mr. Bendis) are handled quite well, and their characterization is growing. This is how to write good team stories and expand the characters at the same time (are you listening, Mr. Austen?). Rogue comments on how Iceman's is "the only one who treated me halfway decent" in the middle of a dramatic moment and builds the relationships. Brandon Peterson's art is pretty good although something about it looks funny to me. I like how he manages a number of the panels, especially where Kitty phases Rogue.

This is great stuff. Having gone back and re-read the Millar run on the title, I've come to realize that Bendis didn't too good a job on Ultimate X-Men. His first story, Blockbuster, starts out as a Spider-Man/Wolverine team up and then becomes somethign completely different. The next story, New Mutants, ended up as just a vehicle to introduce 7 more mutants into the Ultimate X-Men universe. The part of his run where Beast dies is lame since Millar previously did a gag where Beast looked dead but wasn't. It just wasn't that great. I like most of Bendis's other stuff (although read too much of it and the characters start to sound the same), but in the case of the Ultimate X-Men, Brian K. Vaughan is a welcome change of pace. Let's hope that he can negate the arrival of "Ultimate Gambit."

Amazing Spider-Man #509 Cover

2004-07-14T09:37:00.000-05:00

Look at his left arm... What muscles are those?

Review: Ultimate Spider-Man #62

2004-07-09T19:50:00.000-05:00

Ultimate Spider-Man #62
Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mark Bagley

This book has always been a quality book and so I guess we don't really need another review saying how good it's been. Yes, the stories move slowly, but the output of issues per year is high and the concepts are pretty good. On top of all this, Peter, Mary Jane, Gwen, Aunt May and the whole cast really seem to work out pretty well.

Now this issue had some great character moments and I'm curious to see where this all heads. The issue ends with a cliffhanger, and my measure of any good book is that I want to know immediately what will happen in the next issue. This issue is that way. I have one complaint about the issue but I can't really discuss without it being a spoiler so perhaps I will just see next issue if that complaint is valid or not.

Review: Sleeper: Season 2 #1

2004-06-30T23:06:00.000-05:00

Sleeper: Season 2 #1
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips

Ed Brubaker is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. I've read a smattering of Batman stuff he's done and also seen his work on Gotham Central. But Sleeper has to be one of the finest books out on the racks. I'm looking forward for when he takes over the Authority.

Sleeper: Season 2 picks up right where the first mini series ended. The protagonist, Holden Carver, originally a secret agent planted deep within a super villain's organization now no longer knows his role in the world. The best part of this book is how each issue tells a complete story but also fits within the larger framework. The pacing is like a serial drama. This is the best book that's not being read right now. Here's hoping that this strong start is indicative of the rest of this Sleeper "Season."

Short Movie Review: Spider-Man 2

2004-06-30T23:03:00.000-05:00

Exellent movie. As with X-Men 2, the story hits the ground running. The effects could be a little better and some of the science is fishy but the performances are great and a lot of the gags are super. A great movie -- not just a great comic movie -- and definitely worth the $10 at the theater.

Fun with Sept solicits

2004-06-26T21:36:00.000-05:00

Marvel and DC September solicits... Things that catch my eye.

Marvel
I wish I could get more caught up with the Marvel Knights 5th Anniversary, but I can't. 2099? Doesn't really matter to me.

Daredevil #65 looks pretty good - some great guest artists lined up. Hopefully they'll have more than just one panel.

Wolverine #17 is Greg Rucka's last issue. In some ways, his run has been very enjoyable - full of action and certainly more interesting characterization than the Tieri run that had a lot of bizarre ideas (such as ripping off Survivor, Mortal Kombat and the vampire villain). But on the other hand, there hasn't really been much about the character Wolverine himself. I've always liked the inner monologue but here, I feel like Wolverine is just another character in his own book. We don't see as much of what he's thinking. Not sure if that's Rucka or a Marvel mandate on no-monologues. Millar is coming onto this book next, hopefully it will be great.

Pulse #5 concludes the book's first arc. Between this and Secret War, the pacing is so slow! This book is once each 2 months and Secret War every 3! I must be getting old, I can't remember the events of each book issue to issue.

Uncanny X-Men #448-449 feature Oliver Coipel filling in for Alan Davis. Hopefully this means Davis is working on a #450 extravaganza.

Jubilee gets her own book this month. I think it'll be cancelled by issue #20.

Nightcrawler and Gambit also get their own books this month. Likely, these will outlast Jubilee but Nightcrawler will end first. With Nightcrawler, I like Darick Robertson's art but both the character and Aguirre-Sacasa are not enought to draw me in. As for Gambit, haven't we heard this song before?

Overall, seems like a relatively slow month for Marvel.

On to DC Comics...

The Batman books will be fully engulfed in the War Games crossover. I'll wait for the trades, thank you very much.

Superman/Batman will feature art by Carlos Pacheco. The first few issues of this series was great but then the story got sort of weird where Luthor went nuts and there was the kid Toyman. Thus far I haven't enjoyed the Supergirl story too much, but the parade of great artists is too much to resist on this book.

Ex-Machina had a great first issue, I'll definitely be on board until this series ends. From the first issue, it seems like this will be the type of series that has a finite number of issues in mind.

Read Sleeper: Season Two since if more people read it will be back for a third season!

Hmm... Not too much I'm excited about for DC Comics either. Maybe Sept is a slower month.

Review: Amazing Spider-Man #509

2004-06-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

Amazing Spider-Man #509
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Mike Deodato

A new artist is on board with Amazing Spider-Man, Mike Deodato who recently was working on Incredible Hulk. The smooth curves and lines of Deodato are a stark contrast to the previous artist, John Romita Jr. In some sense this change of style marks a new era for this title. No major gripes about the art which is pretty good - Deodato works the dialogue and action pretty well. My only question is, what are all those muscles Spidey has on his left arm in the cover? I don't think that's quite right...

As for the writing, we'll have to see where this goes. The story starts off innocently enough but depending on where it's headed, the events could be a red herring or could be somewhat scary. The book was pretty good, but time will tell how the arc plays out.

As a side note, Astonishing X-Men #2 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday was quite good. Not spectacular but pretty enjoyable, with clean art and some snappy dialogue.

Update to June 16 Reviews

2004-06-23T20:13:00.000-05:00

Ex Machina #1
I was on the fence about getting this book BUT I'm glad that I did since it was quite good in about every respect.

JLA: Another Nail #2
Usually I don't like DC cosmic powers stories, BUT this so far has been a solid follow-up to an excellent Elseworlds miniseries and is worth the high cover price.

June 16 Reviews

2004-06-16T20:53:00.000-05:00

Bunch of reviews, I'll do them in the format of:

I liked such and such, BUT these other things stunk.

Or,

Such and such stunk, BUT that's ok because of these other things.

Amazing Spider-Man #508
End of the Ezekiel and stories I was really excited about, BUT the payoff was a huge disappointment in my opinion.

Authority #13
The story's confusing and I doubt I would have been pleased no matter the outcome BUT Ed Brubaker will be on this book soon which I think is great.

Daredevil #61
Seems like they retconned a lot of the recent Daredevil stuff by sweeping it aside, BUT Alex Maleev draws a great Black Widow.

Ex Machina #1
Haven't read it yet, BUT all the other Vaughan stuff I've read recently is great. (I'll add an update after reading)

Fantastic Four #514
The Frightful Four seems like a good concept, strong villains, BUT I don't know anything about FF continuity and it's sort of confusing.

JLA: Another Nail #2
Haven't read it yet, BUT the other 4 issues in this world were great. (I'll add an update after reading)

JSA #62
This story didn't really hold my interest, BUT the Spectre always confuses and bores me.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #7
Warren Ellis gives a great intro to Doom BUT I can't help but think this will be another long dragged out story.

Ultimate Spider-Man #61
Intriguing story BUT do we really need to make "Ultimate" versions of everything in the "regular" Marvel Universe?

Ultimate X-Men #47
More alternate versions of tons of X-characters (see Ultimate Spider-man) BUT Vaughan also creates more character interaction in this issue than perhaps in any of the previous 46 issues.

Wolverine #16
The Native story is kinda boring BUT there's a ton of action and some great Robertson art in this one.

Wolverine: The End #4
I don't know why they felt they needed this to tie in so closely with Origin BUT I'll give it another chance once I re-read both Origin and this series in full.

X-Men #158
More weird characterization from Chuck Austen BUT for the first time in a long time, I read one of his issues without wanting to vomit afterwards.

X-Men Reload and ALL CAPS

2004-06-16T20:15:00.000-05:00

ALL CAPS lettering seems to have made it back to a number of Marvel books. I can't reiterate how happy that makes me. Something about the lowercase lettering just looks plain wrong.

Thinking about X-Men Reload... Not much really changed did it?

Before we had:
New X-Men by Grant Morrison and various artists
Uncanny X-Men by Chuck Austen and Salavador Larroca
X-Treme X-Men by Chris Claremont and Igor Kordey

Now we have:
Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
X-Men by Chuck Austen and Salavador Larroca
Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis

So pretty much the writers are just continuing their old stories and we just have a new writer and two new artists over the three books...

My current titles: Update

2004-06-13T10:55:00.000-05:00

Currently, I'm following:

Amazing Spider-Man, Astonishing X-Men, Authority, Daredevil, DC Identity Crisis, Fantastic Four, JLA Another Nail, JSA, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man, Secret War, Superman, Superman: Birthright, Superman/Batman, Supreme Power, Teen Titans, Ultimate FF, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Wanted, Wildcats, Wolverine, Wolverine: The End, X-Men

Upcoming, I'm excited about
Avengers, Ex Machina, Sleeper Season 2, Ultimate Nightmare, The Ultimates vol 2, X-Men: The End

I also follow but don't know when to expect the next issue of:
Daredevil: Father, Daredevil: Target, Planetary, Spider-Man/Black Cat

In trade paperback form I collect:
Alias, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Powers, Y: The Last Man

Three Reviews: MK Spider-Man, Batman: DATM, Identity Crisis

2004-06-12T18:50:00.000-05:00

I thought I would have a negative review, but I actually have three overall positive reviews. I'll try to keep spoiler free, although Identity Crisis is hard to discuss without giving some things away so BE WARNED. It'll be at the bottom.

Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #3
Marvel Comics
Writer: Mark Millar
Artists: Terry and Rachel Dodston

This series might just be the best Spider-Man series out there right now. Millar's got action and wisecracking that exceed those in Spectacular or Amazing. Millar's Spidey also has a maturity that the Ultimate version lacks -- there's no MTV talk in here. Issue #3 continues a fight that was started between Spider-Man and Electro. The art, full of smooth curves, is quite nice and keeps the kinetic pacing fo the fight. The mystery that was started is still left unsolved. Three issues in, this book has been pretty exciting, hopefully it can be continued.

Batman: Death and the Maidens #9
DC Comics
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Klaus Jansen

Overall, I thought this was a pretty nice Batman story, but I'm left wondering if the changes are going to be permanent or temporary. If they're temporary, then this is pretty much another Batman story. My guess is, the way the Batman folks tend to be fine with making relatively long standing changes, that the result of this series is permanent. At times, it felt like the story dragged on a bit but there were parallels drawn between Nyssa and Bruce Wayne that kept some of the personal elements going. In the end, this reads better as a collection and perhaps was one or two issues too long.

DC Identity Crisis #1
DC Comics
Writer: Brad Meltzer
Artist: Rags Morales

DC Identity Crisis doesn't live up to the hype while just one issue in, but it's still an entertaining read. I never read Meltzer's Green Arrow run, and I've had trouble starting one his novels. But the story presented here is pretty good. With the publicity surrounding this series, it would have been impossible to live up to the hype. On the other hand, my impression was that the death of a major characater would occur, and that hasn't happened here. The death scene is worked in well, but it borders with cheesy. My favorite part is how all the heroes had already built contingency plans for this sort of situation after Superman died. I'm certainly on board for the rest of this ride, although I suspect at 7 issues, this story will be longer than necessary. You can also take to the bank that the first suspect isn't the real one. I've seen too much Law and Order to fall for that trick!

Review: Secret War #2

2004-06-01T19:25:00.000-05:00

I think what I will do each week is try to review a book, and alternate in tone - positive or negative.

This week, I'm in a pretty decent mood and feel like writing a positive review. My favorite book of the week was Secret War #2. These reviews will try to avoid spoilers. As time goes on, I imagine that I will get better at doing this.

Secret War #2
Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Gabriele Dell'Otto

This is the second part of a five issue limited series. Each part comes out every three months. If you've read works by Bendis before, then you'll be familiar with his drawn out storytelling style. Because of this, the book is not helped by the quarterly release schedule. But the story is still compelling -- the major players of the mini-series are revealed, and it's an all-star lineup of Marvel heroes just as promised.

The art is spectacular. The painted style works really well. This must be part of the reasons for the long time spans between each issue but I think it's worth the wait. The first issue of the series revealed a conspiracy and now the "powers that be" are going to do something about it. Overall, I'm pretty impressed.

I wonder, maybe this series would have been better released as an oversized hardcover. Perhaps the profit margin just isn't the same. But if it continues as promised, this series will have major effects on the Marvel U. And just once in a while, it's nice to be reminded that all these heroes work in the same places.

Marvel in August

2004-05-22T18:33:00.000-05:00

Marvel Comics has released their August Solicitations. Some thoughts:

Ultimate X-Men #50 - "It's the moment you've all been waiting for - Gambit returns to Ultimate X-Men!!!" Who writes these solicitations? "The moment you've all been waiting for..." is like the comic solicit version of the movie trailer's "In a world..." And anyway, I wasn't waiting for this.

Ultimate Nightmare - Warren Ellis is always strong, could be interesting.

Ultimate Elektra - Regular Elektra's book was cancelled, why should we think Ultimate Elektra will be any different?

Avengers Disassembled - Marvel has found another way to siphon money from my bank account -- by putting Bendis on yet another title.

X-Men: The End - "The End" books have been hit or miss for me. Hulk was good, Punisher okay and Wolverine thus far underwhelming. But since I love the X-Men, I will be getting ALL of this.

Other notes - The cover to Cap & Falcon shows Cap kissing Scarlett Witch - a new romance between two long-standing characters that wasn't started by Chuck Austen! Waid's FF is excellent - one of the best books out there... Do we really need more Rob Liefeld art much less an X-Force series? Marvel Knights: Spider-Man has been excellent but why are the Dodsons out for the new story arc? Recently I've been underwhelmed by Amazing Spider-Man and Supreme Power -- enough to probably stop getting them soon. On the flip side, Daredevil has been excellent and Rucka has made Wolverine much better.

DC Comics in August

2004-05-17T17:40:00.000-05:00

DC comics released their August solicitations today.

Quick thoughts -

Batman: War Games - Another Batman mega-crossover? I will read it in collected form, as I have the last few of these events. The Batman teams tends to execute these fairly well. I wish the X-Men books could work out something similar of high quality.

JLA - Now written by Chuck Austen. His work hasn't clicked with me - especially his X-Men stuff. So pardon me if I don't seem too excited about him tackling the JLA.

Justice League Elite - I read the story in Action Comics 775 that originally featured the Elite. It was a great parody of the Authority. But once again, like all good ideas in comics, these characters will get milked over and over again until they are no longer fresh (Venom, Carnage, Xorn anyone?).

The Authority - One more month until Brubaker and Nguyen!

WE3 - I jumped onto the Grant Morrison bandwagon late in the game. Mostly, I've read his super hero stuff (JLA, New X-Men), but I'm told Invisibles is quite good. WE3 sounds interesting enought that I'll probably pursue it. The solicit describes it as, "The eagerly awaited reunion of the white-hot team of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, WE3 is their most ambitious collaboration yet - their own unique attempt to create a 'Western manga' - in a wild adventure that readers of any age can enjoy.

Yet another blog...

2004-05-15T11:58:00.000-05:00

Yet another blog/place to read about comic books. Oh yes, I've found another way to take this hobby and waste some time.

Currently, here's what I'm reading:

Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man, Astonishing X-Men, Daredevil: Father, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Secret War, Supreme Power, Ultimate FF, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimates, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, Wolverine: The End, X-Men

DC: Batman: Death and the Maidens, Identity Crisis, JLA, JLA: Another Nail, JSA, Superman, Superman: Birthright, Superman/Batman, Teen Titans

Wildstorm: Authority, Planetary, Sleeper, Wildcats

Image: Wanted

Trade Paperbacks: Alias (MAX), Global Frequency (Wildstorm), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (ABC), Powers (Image/Marvel), Y: The Last Man (Vertigo)

As you can see, a lot of popular titles, a lot of Marvel/X-Men/Bendis, and a lot of super-hero stuff. Each week around Thursday, after going to the store, I'll try to highlight some books.