Posts Tagged ‘ Marvel ’

Granted, I’m probably late to the party on this but as I’m not picking up X-Men these days I hadn’t paid it too much attention, but I finally nailed why the Schism #1 cover looks so damn familiar.

It’s basically Wolverine playing the Jean Grey role, isn’t it?

Does this mean we can look forward to a The Cross-Dressing Antics of Mr Howlett one-shot? Or perhaps a team-up with Deadpool?

Dare to dream, Marvelites. Dare to dream.

According to the guy at Midtown Comics, comics will be in store tomorrow even though yesterday was a holiday. I don’t know if they’ll be available in the morning, but I guess I’ll find out when I turn up at 8.30…

Flashpoint #3 (Of 5) – As much as I’m enjoying this (and I am, quite a lot), the plot needs to move on a bit. Also, a lot of the ‘background’ stuff like the Atlantis/Amazon war in Europe feels disconnected. If it’s to connect to the main Flash/Batman plot it needs to do so in this issue. If it’s just to give the world color I’m okay with that, but we don’t need to flash over to see Arthur or Diana if they don’t influence the core story.

Flashpoint Abin Sur The Green Lantern, Flashpoint Batman Knight Of Vengeance, Flashpoint Secret Seven, Flashpoint The World Of Flashpoint -all #2 (Of 3) – A mixed bag of tie-ins; I feel that the Abin Sur/Hal Jordan minis are amongst the weakest tie-ins (and they tie together) and there’s a feeling of inevitability to them. On the other hand, Batman is the strongest of the bunch, Secret Seven is good looking if a bit baffling, and I enjoyed World last time round. Getting ‘em all.

Gotham Central Volume 2 Jokers And Madmen TP – Collecting #11-22 of the incredibly popular series, this is damn good read. However for me at least the impact of the stories of regular Detectives Montoya and Allen is lessened in retrospect since they became the Question and the Spectre respectively. It takes away from the street level view a bit.

Green Arrow Volume 1 Into The Woods HC – The first six issues of Ollie Queen’s third new ongoing in the past, what, ten years (and don’t forget he’s got a fourth coming up) tie in to Brightest Day, and have the exiled emerald archer hanging out in the new forest at the center of Star City like some kind of Robin Hood…oh, I see what they did there…

Infinity Inc Volume 1 The Generations Saga HC – I’ve always been a fan of Infinity Inc (even with Nuklon’s hair), the team made up largely of offspring of Golden Age characters, but this collection – including Infinity Inc #1-4 and All-Star Squadron #25-26 and Annual #2 – feels overpriced. Then again, 1980s Roy Thomas…it’s tempting.

Saga Of The Swamp Thing Volume 5 HC – I probably need to catch up on this. Read the first volume of Alan Moore’s well-regarded work and was impressed, but apparently not impressed enough to pick up the second. Is it really as good as everyone says?

X-Files 30 Days Of Night TP- I know; licensed comics can be the bane of your life. They almost always suck all the joy out of the original source material. That said, this particular combination seems to be pretty on the money. I’m curious if anyone out there has read it, though…

Doctor Who II Volume 1 The Ripper TP – I feel obliged to point this out since, you know, Doctor Who, but I confess the only recent Who comic I’ve read was The Forgotten. Which was pretty damn good, now I think about it. Tempting…

Dungeons And Dragons Volume 1 Shadowplague HC – Originally scheduled for last week, here’s what I had to say:

Collecting the first arc of the new series, this is another book I can’t recommend highly enough. John Rogers has crafted a fast-moving, funny, and exciting story here with plenty of nods to the classic game to keep fans happy, whilst also being accessible to newbies. Andrea DiVito’s art is pretty damn good too. Seriously, if you like fun comics, this is for you. If you don’t – well then, I don’t even want to know you.

Locke And Key Volume 3 Crown Of Shadows TP and Locke And Key Volume 4 Keys To The Kingdom HC – I enjoyed the hell out of the first volume of Locke And Key, an resolved to pick up the trades going forward, then promptly forgot about it. Is it worth catching up on?

Blue Estate #4 – I’m really not sure why I’m still picking this up. I suppose the plot strands are finally being drawn together a bit, but it’s still full of what appear to pointless diversions (like the guys who get beat up outside the strip club). That said, the covers are amazing.

Heroes For Hire Control TP – I’ll pick up pretty much anything that Abnett and Lanning have a hand in these days, and I like most of the characters here. I don’t see it having a long run, but I want to pick it up anyway.

Red Skull #1 (Of 5) – Beautiful covers, and having a Nazi monster like Skull as your main character takes some balls. Pity those balls weren’t on display when Waid’s Cap issue starring the Skull was rewritten all those years ago – although I hear it may be showing up unedited in a trade somewhere.

Spider-Girl #8 – Final issue. I enjoyed this book, but the tone was all over the place. Killing off Spider-Woman’s father so early on was unnecessary. As I said months ago, not every character needs a tragic back story – especially when they’re already committed to superheroing. The inclusion of Red Hulk was an odd choice too. The story will continue in the Spider-Island tie in mini, but I’ll be surprised if Anya gets another shot at a solo book any time soon.

And finally, pick of the week…

Shinku #2 – I know, vampires feel very overused and omnipresent these days, but Ron Marz and Lee Moder’s take on them (with samurai!) is satisfyingly bloody and just a little bit sexy. This may not be everyone’s thing, but it’s off to a strong start. Frankly, after Marz’s incredible run on Witchblade I’ll check out anything he does, and I miss seeing Moder’s art monthly, so I’d recommend picking it up. There’s a preview of the first issue here – check it out.

As a Brit in America, I’m morally opposed to the 4th of July holiday, being it the commemoration of the anniversary of the day you think you won your independence.

“Think?” I hear you say. “Silly Briton, we did win our independence!”

Really? Then why do you still speak English?

Oh, I’m just kidding – and I’m fairly sure I stole that joke from Cheers.

Anyway, given the day, I feel compelled to remind you that there’s another Captain America movie which is finally coming to DVD:

Yes, the 1990 version of Captain America is coming to DVD thanks to MGM’s manufacturing on demand service. For both of you waiting for this, I’m sure it’s a dream come true. Look – press release snippet!

During World War II, a brave American soldier (Salinger) volunteers to undergo experiments to become a new super-soldier, codenamed “Captain America.” Infiltrating Germany to sabotage Nazi rockets pointed at the U.S., Captain America faces off with Nazi superhuman warrior Red Skull (Scott Paulin, The Right Stuff) who defeats the hero, throwing him into suspended animation. Frozen for 50 years, Captain America is found and revived only to find that Red Skull has changed identities and has targeted the President of the United States (Ronny Cox, RoboCop) for assassination. With America on the verge of utter chaos, it is up to one man to save the day!

I’ve seen bits of this movie (and if you hunt on youtube the whole thing is on there) and, well…let’s just say it won’t be taking pride of place next to my copy of Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. (And I know the header on the front page is from the 1979 movie, but it’s just funny).

And that’s your lot for today. On the bright side I managed to get through a 4th of July post without mentioning the Force of July.

Dammit.

It’s been a while since I’ve done this – but there sure seem to be a lot of trades around. And Flashpoint books, of course…

Batman: Knight And Squire TP – I admit, I didn’t quite warm to writer Paul Cornell’s run on Action Comics (which everyone else seemed to love), or to this when I saw the previews. That said, there’s been plenty of good word of mouth on this mini, and who am I to pass up the British versions of Batman and Robin? I’ll be picking this up at some point.

Flashpoint Green Arrow Industries #1 (One Shot), Flashpoint Hal Jordan #1 (Of 3), Flashpoint Project Superman #1 (Of 3), Flashpoint The Canterbury Cricket #1 (One Shot) – By and large I’ve been incredibly impressed with the Flashpoint tie-ins. None of them seem to be necessary to understanding the main story, but they’re certainly well-thought out and contribute to a greater view of the Flashpoint world. Against all odds, this is shaping up to be an excellent crossover.

Red Robin Hit List TP – I can’t recommend this title enough; along with Batgirl, it’s been a ray of light amongst DC’s last few years worth of books. Great characterization, great writing and art, and a great development of Tim into his own man. If there’s any two characters I’m going to miss when the DCnU rolls around, it’s him and Steph. I know that Tim’s still going to be Red Robin, but it seems he’s not going to be my Red Robin.

Dungeons And Dragons Volume 1 Shadowplague HC – Collecting the first arc of the new series, this is another book I can’t recommend highly enough. John Rogers has crafted a fast-moving, funny, and exciting story here with plenty of nods to the classic game to keep fans happy, whilst also being accessible to newbies. Andrea DiVito’s art is pretty damn good too. Seriously, if you like fun comics, this is for you. If you don’t – well then, I don’t even want to know you.

Drums #2 (Of 4) – The series started strongly, with what looks like a mass suicide, a zombie witness that only the lead FBI agent saw, and a whole heap of voodoo. Dark and ever so slightly horror-tinged, this is yet another strong mini from Image.

Marineman #6 – Speaking of strong minis from Image, I think a lot of people overlooked Ian Churchill’s labor of love due to his new almost animated-like art style, and due to the fact that the hero looks like an Aquaman rip-off. They’ve missed a fun romp. I’ve had huge issues with the pacing, but all in all this has been very enjoyable. Wouldn’t mind seeing a second series (assuming this is the last issue of this one, which I think it is…).

Skullkickers #8 – Like D&D, this series has been a surprise. Another great fun book, if slightly more slapstick and less polished than Rogers’ entry into the genre. Even so, I’d recommend this too.

Witch Doctor #1 (Of 4) – Worth a look if only because the tag line of ‘House meets Fringe‘ has me intrigued. It’s also the first non-Kirkman book from Robert Kirkman’s Skybound imprint. There’s a preview here.

Amazing Spider-Man #664 – It’s be easy to tread water as Spider-Island is coming up, but Dan Slott’s not content to do that – instead he’s throwing us what would seem to be a capper on the long-gestating Mr Negative/Anti-Venom storyline. Negative’s one of the better characters introduced during BND, so I hope he makes it out of this intact.

Daredevil Reborn HC and Daredevil Yellow TP – Two DD books hit, and although I’ve heard almost nothing positive about Reborn, I highly recommend Yellow. It was the first of the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale ‘color’ collaborations when they moved to Marvel, and is a nostalgic look back at the man without fear’s early days. Sale’s art is beautiful, and there’s something about it that reigns Loeb’s more bombastic side in. It’s a touching book, and one of only a few that I own in both original issues and trades. Take a look if you’ve never read it.

FF #5 – Still treading water; Hickman’s admittedly intricate plotting is no excuse for the slow as molasses pace that this book has been in since way before the relaunch. Plodding and ponderous, this is a poor excuse for a book that should be about high adventure meeting SCIENCE! in the most exciting way possible. And yet I’m still buying it. Shut up.

Incredible Hulk And The Human Torch From The Marvel Vault #1 (One Shot) – I haven’t been picking these Vault books up but will probably get it once the trade hits. This one has Steve Ditko art, though, so I may make the exception

Incredible Hulks Annual #1 – The third part of a crossover between Spider-Man, Deadpool and Hulk, where the three have been thrown to an alternate world and forced to confront their dopplegangers. In Spider-Man, the alt-Peter was the world’s primary super-hero who needed to feed off the powers of alternate Peters, for Deadpool his alternate was basically Dr Doom (much to his disgust), and for Hulk – well, we’ll see. This has been really enjoyable; a nice surprise.

And the pick of the week….

She-Hulks Hunt For The Intelligencia TP – Collecting the She-Hulks mini (that was curtailed down from an ongoing, which was a travesty) – Harrison Wilcox and Ryan Stegman brought their A-game here. The book is funny and sweet, yet manages to be what a book involving Hulks should be (ie, there’s a lot of hitting). As much as I like Jen Walters, I’ve grown quite attached to the so-called ‘Savage’ She-Hulk, Lyra – and having them play off one another is a treat. Another one that I’d recommend wholeheartedly.

The latest (and, I think, last) Captain America: The First Avenger trailer has been released. I don’t know about you, but I’m buying Chris Evans as Steve Rogers more the more that I see.

That said, they’d be wise to drop the ‘heroes are made in America’ bit for the overseas audiences. A little self-aggrandizing, there.

Gene Colan has passed away, aged 84.

Obviously, I didn’t know the man personally but he was one hell of a comic artist – and his covers especially could be incredibly dynamic.

Thoughts with his family and friends.

Here’s a gallery of 50 of Colan covers that I’m a fan of (although I didn’t include any of his Western stuff here)

Spoilers for Ultimate Spider-Man #160 in case you’re the person who didn’t hear already.

If I were a regular reader of Ultimate Spider-Man (instead of bailing round about volume 6 of the trades), I would have been mightily peeved by yesterday’s AP release which spoiled the end of Ultimate Spider-Man #160, the fifth part of the Death of Spider-Man arc.

Granted, given the title and the previous announcement that there’s going to be a new Spider-Man, I might have been able to put two and two together to assume that Peter Parker was going to die, but to have it outright spoiled by Marvel would have annoyed the crap out of me.

But I’m not a regular reader, so I figured that I’d pick up the final issue – complete in polybag, of course – and read it.

Luckily, I didn’t have to; Midtown Comics, in their infinite wisdom, stocked the sketch variant cover of the issue right next to the three stacks of polybagged copies. You know, the white blank cover version you can get people to draw on at conventions? (Or you can draw on yourself, I guess).

The sketch version doesn’t have a polybag, of course, so I took a quick look, realized it wasn’t for me and put it back. I saw Tom Brevoort in store heading down to the Marvel section as I left, so I hope he noticed and chewed them out – but I doubt he did.

So bravo to Marvel; spoiling a story for fans but interesting non-fans, and then to Midtown for making sure that this non-fan of the book didn’t pick it up after all!

Assuming that Wednesday actually is new comics day (even after five years in the US I still get confused as to which holidays delay shipments and which don’t), there’s a bunch of stuff that looks interesting to me tomorrow. There’s also Fear Itself.

Flashpoint #2 (Of 5) – Against my better judgment I’ve been sucked into this mini, especially with all this speculating about what happens after Flashpoint. Of course in reality, chances are nothing major will happen after it except maybe having another world to play with in specials or something, so bravo, DC marketing. Bravo.

Flashpoint Minis: Abin Sur The Green Lantern #1, Batman Knight Of Vengeance #1, Secret Seven #1, The World Of Flashpoint #1 – Yeesh, four of the 372 tie-ins to Flashpoint also drop this week. I’m not sure I’ll be getting any (I may pick up the inevitable HC collections as I did for Blackest Night), but to my surprise some of these really do pique my interest. Will I be strong enough to hold off? Possibly.

Planetary Batman Deluxe HC – I won’t be picking this up, as I picked it up first time around, but I do remember it being a pretty good one-shot, with the Planetary team running up against multiple versions of Batman through his publishing history (ie, Dark Knight Returns Batman, camp 60s Batman, etc). I do question the price point of this, though, at $23 for a HC of what was originally a $5 or $6 book when it first came out. Sure, it has Warren Ellis’s script as well, but that’s pretty steep for a 96 page book.

Halcyon #5 (Of 5) – Marc Guggenheim’s underrated superhero story from Image has been surprisingly satisfying, if a little predictable at times. Essentially, all violence has been eliminated by unknown means, putting most heroes out of a job (and villains too for that matter). Only one hero is determined to uncover the reason though it will cost him his life – and the remaining heroes stand against him. Good stuff that I’d recommend picking up in trade if you can.

Amazing Spider-Man #663 – I think I’m an issue behind on this at the moment, but this is almost always my most looked-forward to read these days, and I think that’s recommendation enough.

Astonishing X-Men #39 – So much for running the book as minis. I wish the alternating creative teams luck (and I’m a big fan of Christos Gage’s work), because this book has felt pointless for quite some time now.

Avengers Academy #14.1 – And speaking of Christos Gage…this should be a good jump on point as it’s part of this silly ‘Point One’ initiative, so check out the best team book you’re not reading.

Captain Britain Volume 1 Birth Of A Legend HC – Collecting Captain Britain’s early Marvel UK appearances, these strips are definitely a mixed bag. Many were originally in black and white and suffered as a result of being, well, not very good – but having reread them recently, I can say they have a certain charm.

Marvel Zombies Christmas Carol #1 (Of 5) – I have no words. Shouldn’t this have died a death some time ago at this point?

Osborn Evil Incarcerated TP - I’ve heard a lot of good things about this mini, so I may give it a shot if only because I hope that it manages to effectively book-end Dark Reign and set Osborn’s direction for the future (although I won’t object to him being off the table for a few years).

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 – Many people were fans of the first run of this series, so I feel obliged to point out that it’s back. Me, though, I decided not to pick it up as I’m sick of secret histories and I am not a huge fan of this particular writer’s style.

Thor Thunderstrike TP – Okay, this isn’t for everyone. Collecting some key issues in the development of Thunderstrike (the mortal, very 90s Thor stand-in who eventually spun off in his own series), this features Thor’s merging with Eric Masterson, the later ‘death’ of Thor and Masterson’s debut as a familiar looking hero, the return of Thor and Masterson’s assumption of his own identity. Each part of the trade was actually separated by a few years of publishing, so I expect this to be a bit disjointed – but I heartily recommend it for anyone who feels a little nostalgic for fun, uncomplicated heroics.

And the pick of the week…

Turf #5 (of 5) – Jonathon Ross and Tommy Lee Edward’s mini has been tortuously late in coming out; at 18 months for 5 issues it’s not in Planetary‘s ballpark, but it feels close. That said, this is a great, great comic that screams ‘high concept’. A mix of prohibition New York gangsters, vampires, and aliens, with a sprawling cast, this shouldn’t work but it does – thanks largely to great character work by first-time writer Ross and razor sharp dialogue. Ross has a few more series coming out soon with a number of high profile artists (including, according to a DM he sent me a few months back, a classic horror artist) – and if this is the standard of the work he’s going to put out, the more the merrier. Great, great stuff. Get the trade – you won’t regret it.

IDW’s new Godzilla comic launches today – but it’s by no means the first foray the King of Monsters has had into the US comic market. Yes, he had some Dark Horse series in the 80s and 90s, but – more memorably he also had a 24 issue run from 1977 to 1979 as a fully integrated part of the Marvel Universe.

And that Godzilla series will forever beat all challengers for these simple reasons…

1. Eating the Seattle Space Needle!

Well, I’m assuming he’s eating it, as opposed to going in for some lovin’. It’s been a while since I read the series.

2. Fighting the Champions! (of Los Angeles!)

That’s right, Godzilla threw down with the short-lived 70′s hero team that inexplicably hung out together for no real reason. Hercules! Black Widow! Angel! Ice Man! I guess it was Ghost Rider’s day off. And this was back when Hercules was really incredible. Like, towing-the-island-of-Manhattan-incredible.

3. Hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Godzilla’s not much of a conversationalist so the primary human content of the comic came from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mainly inept attempts to capture him. Lead by Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones and Jimmy Woo – yes, that Jimmy Woo – the organization kept trying and, largely, failing to capture (or even keep track of) the green behemoth. Will the same be said of IDW’s Godzilla? Clearly not.

4. Red Ronin!

Red Ronin, people. Red Ronin is certainly not a Shogun Warrior, just in case you were wondering. Designed by S.H.I.E.L.D-advising Japanese scientists Tamara Hashioka and Yuriko Takiguchi in conjunction with Stark International to battle Godzilla, Red Ronin was usually piloted by cheeky 12 year old Rob Takiguchi because, let’s face it, the person you want controlling a 100ft tall robot warrior is definitely a 12 year old boy with raging hormones.

5. Being kidnapped by aliens to fight other monsters as Earth’s champion!

Is it just me or did that seem to happen a lot to Marvel characters in the 60s and 70s?

6. Cattle rustling!

Will IDW’s Godzilla be falsely accused of cattle rustling and chased by a bunch of angry cowboy types? I don’t think so.

7. The Incredible Shrinking Godzilla!

Obviously having a 100ft tall lizardKing of Monsters traipsing around the US pretty much unhindered (not to mention cattle rustling) would be a bit of an embarrassment for S.H.I.E.L.D., so Godzilla was miniaturized using the ever-popular Pym Particles (Hank Pym, is there anything you can’t do?!?) which led to a whole other set of adventures as he slowly started to grow back to normal…

- he got molested by Dum Dum Dugan! (Oh, come on, you were never really going to trust a man with a hat and mustache like that, were you?)

- he fought rats!

- he wrestled on the docks!

Bet IDW’s Godzilla doesn’t throw down with rats under 8th Avenue.

8. The Fantastic Four!

Eventually, if you’re in the Marvel Universe and you’re a big-ass monster chances are good that you’re going to throw down with the Fantastic Four, if only so the Thing can lament about how he’s just a monster too. And let’s face it, he did that a lot back in the 70s.

9. Devil Dinosaur! (And Moon Boy too, but nobody likes him)

There’s certain super-hero tropes that you can’t get away from, like fighting another hero over some silly misunderstanding then teaming up against a greater threat. Thing is, when you’re Godzilla, fighting another hero should really only last as long as it takes for you to stand on them – unless you’re Devil Dinosaur. Moon Boy, though? He should probably have just been trod on.

10. A real ending!

It takes low sales (or the lapsing of the license, whichever came first) to finally put Marvel’s Godzilla book to rest, but Big Green went out fighting the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D. before finally heading off out into the Atlantic to hibernate.

What that means is that – licensing aside – Godzilla is still out there. Sleeping. Waiting. Dream on that, Merry Marvelites!

What’s that you say?

That’s only 10 reasons why Marvel’s Godzilla rules, but the title said 11?

11. J. Jonah Jameson vs Godzilla.

Nuff said.

This…I would have heard about this if it was real, right?

Right?

Via

I may be busy as hell and off-line but I wasn’t not going to post this was I?

I feel a little better about the movie after seeing that, although I’m still a little irked that the movie seems to be going down a ‘no real Nazi’ route with Hydra being represented as a swastika-free arm of the Reich. At least there was no Chris Evans usual mugging in this, so that’s something – and if I’m not mistaken we got our first clear look at Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes in this trailer too.

You know, now that I realize that Sebastian Stan is the douchebag ski dude in Hot Tub Time Machine, his casting makes a lot more sense.

Also: laughing at Manchester’s northern quarter and Liverpool’s Albert Dock standing in for Brooklyn:

Nothing’ll pull me out of a movie like a familiar location as a completely different one…

I’m not really sure why the UK and the US often get different movie posters, but they do – and sometimes I prefer the UK ones over the US. Empire has run the newly released UK ones.

Quite like that tag line – ‘Courage is Immortal’ – and I think Bleeding Cool’s reference to the Nuremburg rally is a little unfair. Anyway, for comparison here are the last two US ones that were released again –

– which set do you prefer?

I had connection issues yesterday, but back up and running today. To say its a slow week comics-wise is an understatement, but luckily Marvel comes to the rescue with a bunch of trades…

Red Robin #21 – If there’s two comics I can usually rely on to enjoy each month, it;s this and Batgirl - but I was let down for the first time by last week’s issue of Batgirl, and last issue’s Teen Titans crossover felt forced – so don’t fail me now, Fabian Nicieza!

Age of Heroes TP – The four issue anthology series is collected; honestly, I’ve always enjoyed anthologies and I usually pick these up as they come out. I didn’t get this as it was at the time I was dropping virtually everything, but it has a great list of creators – including Dan Slott, Kurt Busiek, Paul Cornell and more on the writing, and Chris Samnee and Leonard Kirk on the art; for that alone it’s worth picking up if you can get it discounted – but at the full $20 retail it’s a rip-off.

Amazing Spider-Man #656 – Spidey dons another new outfit (this one looks to be bulletproof) to confront his newest villain Massacre. Presumably that’s not the Superman villain of the same name. The solicits are teasing that Spider-Man may kill him but c’mon…

Astonishing X-Men Xenogenesis HC - Warren Ellis teams with Kaare Andrews for the final (I think) part of his run on the book. If it’s of the same caliber as his previous two volumes, you couldn’t pay me to read it.

Avengers Academy #11 – This book continues to impress me; tight storytelling that moves along quickly. No dilly-dallying here. Apparently Korvac’s back this issue – Gage isn’t messing around when he brings out the big guns.

Fear Itself Book Of The Skull #1 – The big Marvel event of the year kicks off…and that’s all I have to say about it, really. This will be the first Marvel event I don’t pick up as it happens in the past 25-plus years, sadly.

Ruse #1 (Of 4) – This Marvel relaunch of a Crossgen property makes a little more sense than Sigil does, with original writer Mark Waid returning to the original characters involved in the series first run – may be worth checking out.

Thor The Lost Gods TP – You know, I understand the principle behind this being collected, what with the Thor movie upcoming and all, but it may have made more sense if it had happened when JMS had Thor running around trying to find the Asgardians in mortal form. Why? Because this was basically exactly the same thing but ten years earlier. Set during the time Thor was lost to the Heroes Reborn universe, Sif and the Warriors Three take on his role as star of the retitled Journey Into Mystery trying to awaken the gods who are living as mortals unaware of their true nature. Oddly, as when the current volume of Thor was recently renumbered to #600 didn’t include the renumbering of Thor into this version of JiM, they won’t be included when the current Thor is renamed once again as Journey Into Mystery with #622. Meaning these aren’t just Lost Gods, they’re Lost Issues. Did I just blow your mind? I thought so!

Thunderstrike #4 (Of 5) – Yes, it’s old school, and yes, the redesign is laughable – but that’s kind of the point. The titular hero is getting another, more acceptable redesign shortly. I have no doubt he’ll either vanish into comic limbo or get killed in a one panel crossover cameo, but for now at least I’m really enjoying the new Thunderstrike.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #3 – Marvel seems to have taken a cue from the 80s and 90s and used the annuals to tell little crossover stories this year, none of which will ever be referenced again. This time out, it’s the start of a three part crossover with Steve Rogers, Super Soldier (who’s getting an annual even though he doesn’t have a series) as they go into the Negative Zone or something.

Pick of the Week

Captain America The Captain TP – I mentioned this a while back; I love this storyline. Basically chronicling the dual narratives of the new Cap (John Walker) adapting to his role and the original Cap (Steve Rogers) in his new costumed identity, this is some of Mark Gruenwald’s best work on Cap. I’m not sure it will be to a new reader’s tastes, but for me you can’t beat it. The 18-month storyline paved the way for the later trend of replacing title characters (which was especially big at DC, with Superman, Batman and Green Lantern all spending some time with someone else ‘under the mask’, as it were, a few years later), proving that once again Gru was ahead of his time.

Maybe it’s a case of high expectations, but I felt really let down when I read the first volume of Stuart Moore’s new Namor series.

http://www.richlovatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/namor.jpg“>

I like Namor a lot, always have. Whether it be as a romantic foil for Sue Richards (or, these days, Emma Frost), a respectful comrade in arms of Captain America, or a member of the lamest superhero team this side of the Great Lakes Avengers (the Defenders, in case you were wondering), there’s something about Namor that just works. I think it’s his duality – he’s an arrogant, self-centered, egotistical ass, but he’s also a fiercely loyal, honorable man that stands up for what he believes to be right. It’s hard to go wrong with the character.

And yet the first volume of Namor: The First Mutant is horribly, horribly dull. The series uses Namor’s current membership of the X-Men and their problems with vampires as a launching point but can be read as a stand alone (I haven’t read the X-Men: Curse of the Mutants storyline myself and I followed this fine). Essentially, Namor goes off to recover Dracula’s head from a race of underwater vampires and soon finds that they have ties to his own family history.

The X-Men are largely (and wisely) absent, with only Emma Frost from the core team putting in a brief appearance. Fledgling mutant Loa also shows up as a supporting character, and it looks like she may be sticking around, but other new characters introduced are pretty shallowly portrayed and it’s easy to tell which ones are marked for death.

As I said, the main problem with the book is that it’s just dull. In spite of the apparent enormity of the threat of the underwater vampires, there’s no sense of urgency to the story and it often feels as though it’s swimming in circles. Characters go to a cave. They go back to New Atlantis. They go back to the cave. The threat is contained. And that’s pretty much it.

Perhaps it’s unreasonably high expectations, but there’s little to recommend here – it’s not bad exactly (although it would have been nice if artist Ariel Olivetti had managed to complete the whole arc) but it’s not something that could be described as good. Also somewhat annoying is that the trade is another of Marvel’s increasing number of four issue collections so unless you can get it at a heavy discount, I’d avoid it.

Enormously disappointing.

For the monarch traveling abroad who does not wish to carry cash for those payments to local minions…

Via

It’s a pitifully small week for me – and even smaller when you consider that I’m not getting half the stuff I;m talking about. In fact, all in, it looks like I’m picking up two comics, maybe three. Last week was one so I didn’t bother going to the store. I guess if that’s four I could make the trip…

Superboy #5 – I said I’d stick around until the book got derailed by this Doomsday thing, and I will. Unfortunately the book has not lived up to its early promise in the slightest for me; paper-thin characterizations, plot twists I feel I can see coming a mile off, and Conner blundering around forgetting everything he’s learned the past few years. It’s at times like this I miss Kesel, Grummet, Hawaii, Dubbilex, Tana Moon, Rex and Roxy, and the other Krypto (remember him?). Maybe not the fade and the leather jacket…

Skullkickers Volume 1 1000 Opas And A Dead Body TP – I picked up the single issues of this but wanted to recommend it anyway as I’ve been singing it’s praises since day one – this collects the first arc for the bargain price of $10 and it’s a steal at that. Great hyper-kinetic fantasy fun with our nameless troublemaking ‘heroes’.

Girl Comics TP – The (in my opinion) badly-titled collection of the three issue anthology of comics by female creators finally hits the trades. While I want to support it, at $15 retail for a three issue collection, I’ll be honest: I’m probably not going to. See you in the back issue boxes at the next con.

New Mutants Fall Of The New Mutants HC – I love the original New Mutants, and enjoyed the hell out of the book’s first arc. The Siege and Necrosha thing derailed it for a bit, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the book before it gets derailed again by Age of X and a new direction after that. I’ll probably wait for the softcover trade though.

Sigil #1 (Of 4) – Marvel’s Crossgen quasi-relaunch kicks off; I wasn’t optimistic about it when it was announced, I’m not optimistic about it now. But I’ll at least flick through the book even if I don’t pick it up.

Venom #1 – The world needs a Venom solo book like it needs a Flash Thompson solo book. And yet here we are. Cynicism aside, I like the concept and limits on the new Venom (20 missions and 2 days), and I did enjoy the Spidey .1 issue that was basically Venom #0 so this is one I may, may pick up.

Pick of the week

Batgirl #19 – This is an easy one; any week with a new issue of Batgirl, it stands a pretty good chance of being the best thing out that week. Now that DC has shifted Red Robin to another week, that chance has increased – I guess they realized that a week can only hold so much awesome. Seriously, Bryan Q Miller has quietly crafted a great run on an incredible book here. There isn’t another superhero book out there that makes me smile quite so consistently as this. Pick it up.

Marvel has released two new posters for Thor and damn but they’re looking good. The more I see of this, the more I think that it’s definitely the movie to beat this summer.

Yep. Looking forward to this.

Justin Van Genderen, the artist behind the excellent Metropolis and Gotham prints (amongst others) a few months ago has come up with another one which is of particular appeal to me for obvious reasons…

This awesome print is available here.

I’m a day late with the pull list this week on account of not being around on the internet yesterday. Once I put away the snark, there’s actually only one regular comic that I’m interested in this week, so chances are I’ll skip the store visit this week. In fact, the vast majority of things I’m actually interested in this week are trades and not comics. How depressing.

Hexed TP – Probably not related to the BBC series Hex, which is a shame because the lead from the first season was quite attractive. She was also fake royalty in Human Target, but I don’t hold that against her. Wait, I completely lost my train of thought there, didn’t I?

Batman Time And The Batman HC – If you ask me, $20 is a bit steep for a collection of Batman #700-703, but the issues were actually pretty good and Amazon has a discount as usual – so if you’re a fan of Grant Morrison’s Batman, this is pretty good. Even so, the ‘untold tale’ between R.I.P. and Final Crisis would have made more sense if it had appeared then…

Billy Batson And The Magic Of SHAZAM Mr Mind Over Matter TP – One of DC’s more fun kids books, this is definitely worth picking up if you have young children you’re trying to get into comics. Recommended!

Giant-Size Atom #1 – I wasn’t picking up Adventure Comics when it was running the Atom back-up, so I probably won’t pick this conclusion up (it doesn’t collect the ones already printed, right?). What I will say, though, is this: great title for a book. Heh.

Hellblazer Volume 1 Original Sins TP – Okay, I need someone to tell me if this is a good first read for Hellblazer. I mean, I know its being used as the start of a new print run of collections, but is it any good? Anyone?

Wildcats Version 3.0 Year Two TP – Collecting the second (duh) and final year of Joe Casey’s much respected run on the once-flagship Wildstorm book. I actually think the entire run passed me by; I have all of the first run but bailed about halfway through the second. Maybe it’s time to pick this up…

Angel After The Fall Volume 1 HC (Premiere Edition) – I’m speechless. $100 retail for the complete 17 issues of the ‘After the Fall’ storyline? Let me save you a bunch of money: it’s terrible. Messy art, boringly plotted, and suffering from the same ‘hey we don’t have a budget, let’s throw everything we can in there’ attitude that derailed the Buffy series. Depressingly, after an Amazon discount, it’s less than I paid for the issues as they came out. Don’t make my mistake. Run, run!

Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms Volume 1 TP – Collecting the first 8 issues of DC’s old series from 1989. If I remember rightly, this was a pretty fun comic but nothing special. It does have early Rag Morales art, though – but you can probably find these in the back issue bins for cheaper than this.

Star Trek Captain’s Log Volume 1 TP – Captains Pike, Sulu, Harriman and Jellico? Wow. They really broke out the A-list characters for this one (no offense, Sulu fans).

5 Ronin #1 (Of 5) – I’ll be honest, I don’t get it. Is this some kind of alternate universe thing with a bunch of Marvel heroes re-imagined in feudal Japan? What’s the point?

Annihilators #1 (Of 4) – I won’t be picking this up since I’m waiting on the trade, but it seems like this is Abnett and Lanning’s swansong on the cosmic side of the MU for now; and possibly the swansong of the cosmic side itself. It’s been a fun few years since Annihilation kicked off, guys. See you in the funny pages.

Avengers Academy #10 – Glad I jumped back on the singles for this; really entertaining comic.

Captain America And Falcon #1 – First in a series of one-shots spotlighting Cap and his allies. Seems there’s a big push to get Captain America trades on the shelves for the summer. You’d think there was a movie coming out or something.

And the pick of the week – a trade this time out…

Thanos Imperative HC – This will be arriving this week for me – been looking forward to the culmination of the last year or so of Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m kind of irked that I spoiled the ending for myself, but this is definitely my pick of the week!

Trying something new today. Last night I actually read all the comics I picked up yesterday – something that never happens – and figured I’d do a review post. And then I thought why not do some review tweets as well?

So each review appears on twitter (I had to cheat with the comic titles in a few cases to get it under 140 characters), with a tiny bit more detail here. So off we go…

Action Comics #898 Incomprehensible Maguffin makes this a mess; @Paul_Cornell‘s story is a big disappointment. At least its over soon. #OTR

A bit more – I really like most of Paul Cornell’s work, but his Action leaves me cold. I just don’t buy Lex acting the way he does. He’s back running LexCorp, yet still flies around in that godawful armor and kills people in public with no come back – and that’s not even getting into the Lois robot again. Additionally, this whole black orb power quest thing makes little sense the more you read it; too much of the dialogue about them is close to nonsensical. I’m sorry, but I really think this has been a failure.

Teen Titans #92 A Robin switcheroo makes the last few issues pointless. Jeanty’s art doesn’t suit unless you like Buffy as Wonder Girl. #OTR

A bit more – Speaking of failures, I understand that Tim might want to hang out with his friends a bit more now he’s not all moody loner guy, but losing Damian after only a few issues feels like a mistake; now we’re back to Ravager being the only internal source of tension on the team. Again. And can we give the Calculator a rest, please? I’m almost as sick of him as I am of Raven.

Am.Spider-Man #655 Touching and beautiful; @DanSlott and M.Martin knock this out of the park marred only by 2 unnecessary final pages. #OTR

A bit more – I always get a little bit of a smile when Dan Slott shows off his knowledge of Spidey continuity, but the two page spread of people who have died was fantastic. Sally Avril? Ben Reilly? The Spider-Mobile? Awesome – and Slott’s the only writer I can remember bringing up the fact that Spider-Man killed someone in the Spider-Man vs Wolverine one-shot back in, what, 1987? And Marcos Martin – his layouts and work here are simply amazing. Restrained and simple in the silent funeral scene, but taking on almost Steve Ditko-esque levels of trippiness in the dream sequence. Like I said, though, I didn’t really need the 2 page lead in to next issue. As a stand alone, this would have been perfect.

FF #588 Less an ending and more a tease for FF#1. Hickman’s best written issue. Especially touching: the Thing/Thor/Hulk and ‘Uncles’. #OTR

A bit more -I’ve been pretty vocal about not loving Jonathan Hickman’s run on the book, but this was really good, even without dialog for the main story. Even so, there were some bits I didn’t need as they clearly just set things up for FF #1; Kristoff taking over Latveria (When was the last time we saw him? Where did that awful armor come from? Does Stature still have a crush on him? Why is Doom stepping down?), Reed deciding to reassemble the council, and the return of Nathaniel Richards (again) especially left me cold. That said, Ben’s venting in the desert with Thor and the Hulk – presumably at Johnny’s request was perfect, as was his almost hateful look at Namor during the wake. I also enjoyed the fact that Doom showed for Johnny’s funeral, even if only for a panel, and that Reed was apparently ready to fly solo in the Negative Zone with the Ultimate Nullifier to try to get Johnny back -only to receive his shredded costume from l’il Annihilus (so still no body…). Nick Dragotta gave a suitable Kirbyesque feel to the art, especially where the mourning Sue was concerned, and all in all did a fine job. And as I said, the ‘Uncles’ back-up with Franklin and Spider-Man was nice and sweet. I may just stick around for FF after all.

D&D #4 Continues to be a pleasure; one of the better recent launches. Captures the fun D&D spirit but great for non-players too. #OTR

A bit more -Phew, not the end of the series after all! I still can’t recommend this enough to fantasy fans. Simply a very well crafted and fun comic, and John Rogers is writing the hell out of it. Highly recommended.

SkullKickers #6 Some hits and misses in this anthology issue but maintains the fun of the series. Forgettable and skippable though. #OTR

A bit more – The first two tales are pretty good fun, the second two less so. This isn’t the best introduction to the comic by any means, but it’s a decent enough placeholder for regular readers. It seems as if the second arc won’t kick-off until May, but it should be worth the wait.

Turf #4 Labyrinth plot draws tighter together and parties come together; continues to be incredibly impressive comics debut for @wossy. #OTR

A bit more – Jonathon Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards are really knocking this out of the park, despite the lateness. Gangsters vs Vampires vs Aliens may sound like a recipe for disaster, but it’s really not; there are so many great characters at play here that even the quiet scenes like the face-off between the Dragonmir brothers, or the looting of a diamond store really hold your attention. That’s the other thing; I haven’t read a comic that takes this long to read in a long time. The art is beautiful and the dialog is so dense that you really need to go back and read the whole comic again when you’ve finished. As a penultimate issue this obviously isn’t a jumping on point, but when the trade comes out I recommend you pick it up.

And that’s your lot!