Reviews on the Fly
GOT TO CUT IT SHORT THIS TIME KIDS. THIS SEXY BEAST MOVED AND AS A RESULT HAS LIMITED INTERNET ACCESS FOR THE NEXT WEEK OR TWO. BUT FEAR NOT, I STILL GOTS THE SKILLS TO PAY THE BILLS.
NEWUNIVERSAL: SHOCKFRONT #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Warren Ellis
Pencils by Steve Kurth
Inks by Andrew Hennessy
This title has been on hiatus for a long time. NewUniversal is the rebirth of Marvel’s New Universe titles under one book, reimagined as the type of show HEROES would be if done right. (Say what you will about what you like, but HEROES lacks originality.) Ellis was going to do a 12-issue story but it seems the previous artist left after the sixth issue and they’ve set up the second set of six issues as a kind of "season two" to mark the new art team on the title.
Winners of the Week
The Batman family had a very strong week with the release of 5 titles all of which had merit. The first part of the RIP storyline in BATMAN #676 by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel seemed to continue from the previous issue and was not a hard start so I am curious to know if people who have not been reading Batman on a regular basis enjoyed it. But I did. And the crazy joker at the end was nice. BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #17 by Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguire kicked off an early tale of Batgirl meeting Catwoman for the first time. Cheesecake galore! And if you liked the Batgirl portrayal I would suggest picking up the Batgirl Year One trade paperback for more early adventures of Barbara Gordon. HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #1 (OF 6) was obviously an early tale of the Huntress and well done. GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #8 (OF 9) continued to be a good read with Batman stating on the last page "It’s time to take my city back" so look for an action packed conclusion. SIMON DARK #8 also came out and if you were not aware this series takes place in Gotham City. Still waiting on Simon to meet Batman. Should be interesting.
Tentative Shipping for Thursday, May 29, 2008
Final Crisis # 1 and Marvel: 1985 # 1 headlights the tentative list of comics that are supposed to ship next week 05/29/08.
Click to view the list of comics that are shipping this Wednesday 05/21/08
or
Check out what might be coming out next Thursday. Please be aware that due to the Memorial Day holiday comics will be out on Thursday next week.
Classic Conversations #4
Originally taped 10/20/05 the show starts with our panels reaction to Infinite Crisis #1 and gets into the return of Power Girl in JSA Classified. It had been 5 weeks since we had last taped a conversation so there are a lot of quick hits on many books including Loveless #1, Justice #2, She Hulk #1, Shaolin Cowboy #4 and the creation of the universe in the Fantastic Four.
House of M gets slammed by the panel with the reveal that Quicksilver was behind it all. Qucksilver’s story actually came full circle last week with the release of the X-Factor one shot, The Quick and the Dead. I still liked House of M more than most and while Marvel has not done as much as some people would have liked with the subsequent story lines there are still only 200 or so odd mutants in the Marvel Universe and the whole Messiah Complex storyline would not have been possible without the House of M.
We also talk about how the mega company crossovers are back (and still are i.e.Secret Invasion and Final Crisis) and how that affects the storytelling in a lot of books. And Ron and Jim express their frustration about the ad placement in many Marvel comics. It was a complaint I heard quite often back then. Not so much anymore. Have them improved or are we just used to it now?
Enjoy the show!
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Some Comic-to-Film News and loose change
The new poster for THE DARK KNIGHT was released recently and as you can see, MR. J plays a prominent role for this one sheet.
It might be wishful thinking but rumors seem to follow that Heath Ledger’s performance is so good that he may in fact get nominated for an Oscar for it.
Now from the little footage I did see I can honestly say much like Robert Downey Jr. BECAME Tony Stark, Ledger definitely looks like he has BECOME The Joker.
At the very least I expect him to creep me out. To think once upon a time I heard Heath Ledger was going to play the Joker and thought, "That’s the stupidest idea for a movie in forever."
HAHA.
Looks like the joke may very well be on me.
*Ahem*
What?
New Comics this Wednesday - May 21, 2008
Highlights of the week include Justice League of America #21 a Final Crisis tie in and the first title to sport DC’s new "sightings" banner, DC/Wildstorm Dreamwar #2, the Secret Invasion continues with the release of Mighty Avengers #14, Terry Moore’s Echo #3 and the Indiana Jones movie tie-in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
The full list follow………..
New Action Figures - May 21, 2008
HULK BOBBLE HEAD
Wacky Wobbler releases it’s first Marvel character!
Bobble smash! Green, mean, and hardly lean, Dr. Bruce Banner’s alter-ego stands 6" tall and is ready to lay down some hurt. Standing atop a personalized display base, this not-so-jolly green giant is ready to crush anybody who tries to stop his rampages, be they for good or bad!
Whatever Happened to Star Wars George?
Once upon a time I got myself into the midnight showing of a little independent film called STAR WARS THE PHANTOM MENACE. Walking out of that film I had trouble explaining why I liked it. Upon reflection much later I realized this was because I did not like it, but was trying to find ways to defend it anyway. I was a junkie with a horrible drug problem making excuses you see.
House of Mystery and House of Secrets
The House of Mystery ran from 1951-1983. In this day and age that is simply unheard of, but it happened. House of Mystery is credited as DC’s first horror comic and many of us remember the later years of House of Mystery as a horror anthology title. What many people forget is that in those middle years the it was actually a super-hero book. In 1964, super-heroes were again gaining in popularity, mostly due to Spiderman and other Marvel titles. DC quickly jumped on that bandwagon and started reviving the golden age heroes of the past. J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, received his own series starting with issue #143. Issue #156 saw Robbie Reed and the Dial ‘H’ for Hero series. And finally with issue #174 the House returned to the mystery/suspense stories format.
Reviews by a fREAK
I read a lot of really good books this past week, not all of which I was able to write about but I set aside some I really dug and will hopefully get to the others another day. Before we begin let me say I really wanted to like SECRET INVASION #2 but the issue on the whole was a bit boring and fell flat except for that wonderful sequence with RONIN/HAWKEYE picking up the bow and arrows from the Skrull version of himself and the conversation between him and the returned MOCKINGBIRD. I wish the rest of the issue could match those few pages. It wasn’t bad just not that eventful.
Let’s pull out the REVIEWS, eh? Yes. You need to know what was good after all. You’d be lost without me you know? LOST like Matthew Fox. True Story.
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #1
Vertigo (DC) Comics
Written by Matthew Sturges & Bill Willingham
Art by Luca Rossi & Ross Campbell
When you have interesting characters coming from all over and becoming trapped in a House that has gone missing, what do you have? You get a wonderful introduction to a new series from Vertigo about a place where stories are the only form of payment among the patrons and nothing is ever quite what you expect it to be.