Friday, June 30, 2006

Continuing the Madness...

This has been done by two of the Boys Boys, Neil and Daniel, so I thought I'd go ahead as well.
It has nothing to do with comics per se, but it gives a chance for my loyal readers (2 at this point I think - the aformentioned members of the Boys Boys) to learn some information about me (despite the fact they likely already know this stuff).

1. FIRST NAME? John
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Probably, what's it to you?
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Listening to a World of Warcraft audio file of a guy freaking the hell out while commanding his clan on a raid. I laughed my ass off to the point of tears
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HAND WRITING? At times. It's a pleasant mix of printing and script
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCHMEAT? Pastrami, the most sensual of all meats
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Maybe...probably not though.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Not since we were forced to write them in gradeschool.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes, and they're tonsilriffic
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Nah, save that for the crazy folk
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL? Raisin Bran
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Only my good pairs
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Both in mind and body. Double threat!
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM FLAVOUR? Cookies and Creme (in a box!)
14. SHOE SIZE? 10.5
15. RED OR PINK? Red.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Thinning hair. Damn you MPB!!!
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? The Boys Boys.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? If they do, that's a paddling.
19. WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? White and in sock-feet (too hot for shoes Dr. Jones).
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Honour Roll sushi and a Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Damn library construction right outside my office window
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? polka dot
23. FAVOURITE SMELL? cinnamon
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Pam wanting me to get the oil changed in the car. Women...always wanting something
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their polarity
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? No one sent it! I copied it from Daniel's Blog, mwa-ha-ha!
27. FAVOURITE DRINK? Jones' Cream Soda
28. FAVOURITE SPORT? Poker (it's a sport! according to TSN anyways).
29. EYE COLOR? Brown
30. HAT SIZE? adjustable
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? nope, the idea of sticking something in my eye everyday isn't appealing
32. FAVOURITE FOOD? Corn on the Cob
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? A scary movie with a happy ending. Take that meaningless survey!
34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? White
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? winter all the way. much rather be too cold than too hot
36. HUGS OR KISSES? depends who's giving them
37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? my homemade cheesecake
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I'm guessing Neil will have the first comment
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Teh Cheeze -> Since this is cut and pasted from Daniel's blog, I assume The Cheeze is me, so suck it Dan.
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martain
41. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Bubbles!
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? The Simpsons and I do, let's Eat! (don't ask)
43. FAVOURITE SOUNDS? One hand clapping
44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles.
45. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME? League City, Texas
46. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I am a jack of all trades and master of none, so I guess that means I kind of suck at everything
47. AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Summerside, PE.
48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Stolen from Daniel's site.

And to make it relavent to comics: Hawkman.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

New Comic Day June 28

Ultimate Spider-man #96


This is the second (and last) part of the Morbius storyline. It had some cool moments such as Morbius laying the smack down on the vampires, Spidey getting bit and freaking out. However if you were considering picking up this issue, I'd recommend against it for the following reasons: (1) Morbius claims that he can save Ben Urich's life (he got bit last issue) and it looks like to do so, he has to bite him. Spider-man prevents Morbius from doing so but Morby chucks SPider-man through a wall where he fights some vampires. During this though, Morbius has fixed Urich up right good, then helps Spidey. What bugs me is that the healing takes place off panel and we get no explanation whatsoever about how Morbius can save him. (2) At the end, Peter is contemplating continuing his life as a crime-fighter and Mary Jane comes up to him all friendly asking what's wrong then ends up hugging him. That would be fine except for the fact that last issue, Peter and MJ had a pow-wow ending with her not wanting to be around him. Why the change of heart? Again no explanation.

For the two issues as a whole though it's good to see the writer, Brian Michael Bendis, tell a shorter story instead of the usual decompressed stuff he does in New Avengers and that god-awful Hobgoblin arc a year or so ago.

Invincible #33

Invincible continues to be one of my favourite comics. This issue sees Mark (aka Invincible) confronting Angstrom Levy as he threatens his mother and newly found half-brother. Angstrom wants to kill Mark because he blames Mark for his silly looking head. In order to acomplish said killing, Angstrom sends Mark through a myriad (your word of the day) of parallel universes where he fights various WMDs. This is done in the effort to weaken Mark so that Angstrom can finish Invincible off himself. The plan backfires though as Mark pounds the living tar out of Levy and ends up killing him (or so I assume - there was a HELLUVA lot of blood) while they are in another reality. I expected the Angstrom confrontation to last more than one issue and I think it might have worked better as a two-parter, but it was still good.

I enjoyed this issue because we get to see a nice turning point in Mark's character. This is the first time he's killed someone whilst in a rage so watching how he deals with that will prove interesting. As well, Mark is trapped in an alternate reality so seeing how he gets home will be fun as well.

I'm one of those comic readers who is more about the words than the art, but Invincible is always good in both departments. The facial expressions are well done and the colors are very vibrant. Top notch comic from Kirkman and crew.


Young Avengers #12


And then we have Young Avengers. Plagued by lateness, I really didn't give two shits about what happened in this issue (which is the last one). I won't bore you with a detailed plot summary, but in short: Young Avengers + Old Avengers = Kree and Skrulls getting punched ALOT. There wasn't even that much story as there were no less than 5 splash pages. The only good thing is the art by Jim Cheung. Hard to believe this comes from the same guy who wrote the excellent Wonder Woman #1.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

New Comic Day June 21

Lots of stuff this week so dig in! A recurring theme this week will be comics that come out out on a very irregular basis (ie. less than one per month). As well, I'm going to do a break down of cents/page (CPP) and see if the best value is also the best comic.

Eternals #1

This is the newest offering of uber-writer Neil Gaiman to the comic reading populous. This is a story based on characters called, yep you're right, The Eternals who were created by Jack Kirby in the seventies. I will freely admit that I am an Eternals virgin and hadn't heard of them at all until Gaiman was announced to be writing this 6 issue mini-series. I trust Neil Gaiman to entertain me and that trust is justified with this comic.

The idea behind this new series is that Ike Harris (Ikaris) is an Eternal in the present day but is the only one on Earth that remembers there ever were Eternals. The other members of the team are leading ordinary lives and have only the vaguest of sub-conscious thoughts that there's something not quite right in their everday experiences. Ike tries to convince a med student, Mark Curry, that he's actually Makkari, an Eternal, and gets the typical "you're crazy" response one might expect. Gaiman does a very good job of portraying Mark as the sceptic and of introducing the other characters, Sersi, Sprite and Thena. Though we are pretty sure that these characters are Eternals, Gaiman still plants the seeds of doubt through Mark and it makes for a very intriguing read. On a bad note though, I realize that he's trying to update the Eternals to the current Marvel Universe, but I didn't really care for the references to the Super-hero Registration Act going on in Civil War.

John Romita Jr. has always been a favourite artist of mine and most of his panels are very well done. The Celestials look fantastic and the expressions Mark has while Ike is telling him some Eternal history are spot on. However there were a few panels that were somewhat jarring. Ike leaping off Mark's fire escape looked very static was a main one and a few other minor things I noticed that I don't expect from JRJR.

All in all, it's not as great as I thought it would be from the oreview pages I read, but it was still decent.

CPP: $5.75/39 pages = 14.7 cents per page!

Ultimates 2 #11


To begin, if you don't know, the Ultimates are the Avengers in Marvel's ultimate universe line of comics. They are a big grittier than their regular Marvel Universe counterparts and more morally ambiguous, which makes them more interesting characters in my opinion. I really like the Ultimates so let's get that out of the way, but I don't particularly like this issue because all it really is, is a set up for the grand finale in issue #12.

So what's good about this issue? Well Thor gets out of his plastic room (somehow), lots of punching, and the Hulk comes back. Other than that though this issue is about getting all the players in place. Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) goes to his space station to activate something called "Iron Man Six, " Captain America gets creamed only to look up to see the leader of the enemy super-villains looming over him, Loki appears to be over confident, which will likely be the cause of the villains' downfall, etc... So while I'm sure #12 will be excellent, #11 sure isn't. As well, this book has been plagued by lateness, but it can be forgiven somewhat because the writer, Mark Millar, has been quite ill lately, battling Crohn's disease. Though he might have had the script done long ago and it might all be the fault of the penciller, Bryan Hitch, who doesn't give a great performance this issue. The inclusion of George W. Bush being a pansy was also a bit tacky I thought.

Last time an issue came out: March 1, 2006 (nearly 4 months ago!)
CPP: $3.40/28 pages = 12.1 cents per page!

Astonoshing X-men #15

Despite what others may claim, I think this is a damn fine comic book series. To catch you up, this is an X-men series that doesn't really care about the shared universe of other X-men titles and is pretty much standalone (as it should be). Written by Joss Whedon (my hero) and John Cassady (the object of many a man-crush), the combination being known as Jossady, the team consists of Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, and Colossus. But wait! Isn't that Emma Frost, the White Queen on the cover with several notable X-men villains!? Yes, and it is in this issue were her betrayal comes to fruition. The new Hellfire Club, consisting of Sebastian Shaw, Cassandra Nova, the White Queen, Negasonic Teenage Warhead (that's not a typo and NTW from now on), and a mysterious fifth member lay the smack down on the X-men and truly hand them their asses.

Ass-handedry:
Emma does a great job pretending to be upset and we get a very nice visual right on page one. Cassandra Nova turns the normally brilliant Beast into his namesake, virtually eliminating his higher thought processes. NTW loosens Kitty's ability to control her phasing powers, and she literally phases down through the Earth's crust. Colossus beats down on Sebastian Shaw and forgets his power is to absorb kinetic energy. Shaw then gives Colossus the mother of all boxed ears and we see some metallic blood drip down his nose before he collapses. Nova removes Wolverine's agressiveness, turning him into the equivalent of a 5 year old girl (it's very cute). It's all very reminiscent of the fight against a previous incarnation of the Hellfire Club way back in Uncanny X-men #132, complete with an homage to a classic Wolverine moment:



Cool no? Anyhoo, this issue is a plot mover and hints at bigger stuff to come. Go Jossady!

Last time an issue came out: March 29, 2006
CPP: $3.40/23 pages = 14.9 cents per page!


Casanova #1


There's a bit of a story with this purchase so I'll bore you with that before I talk about the comic. I was really looking forward to this after I read the online preview. It looked really good and was certainly something different that what I was used to. I told Elfsar to pull it for me last week and to my surprise, it wasn't in the stack of comics Ethan plopped in front of me as I walked in. I checked the rack and there were none there. "Do you have a Casanova #1 for me?" I asked? Apparently they didn't receive the entire order and since I asked for one after their order cutoff date, I got shafted. It will be July 5th before I get this comic from Elfsar. However, not wanting to take the risk of getting a second printing, I went to Golden Age and snatched up a copy there. So I'll end up having two copies but it's cheap ($2.35) so it's not all bad.

Anyway what about the comic? It's kind of an espionage book (spy for the layman) which is a nice change of pace for me as the last one I followed was Mystique (the Vaughn run). This is written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Gabriel Ba. Instead of being black and white, the comic has a two-tone color scheme mixing blacks and green/grey. It's very effective in creating a noirish feel which helps the book tremendously. The story is told from the perspective of Casanova Quinn, our "hero" and starts with a decent action sequence that ends with a girl's head getting blown off (nice). Cass's father is the head of E.M.P.I.R.E (Extra-Military Police, Intelligence, Rescue, and Espionage) a world-wide organization deicated to maintaining the peace and it is this organization that ends said action sequence. There's some sci-fi elements to this book as well, in the form of alternate universes and a big mutant brain originating from the fusion of occult zen worshipers, which is always nice.

Thinking about it, the things I really liked about this comic were the little things like the one panel cuts of other character's point of views and the powerpoint reference in the Newman Xeno scene. I really liked the panels with the empty word balloons as it lets the art tell the story and in the funeral scene we can see that Cass is so caught up in grief that, though the minister is talking to him, he's not really hearing him. The main story was a tad on the confusing side, but maybe that's because I read it at work and the sound of construction outside was a bit distracting. A nit-picky thing is that some of the dialouge is in French (Cass was in Paris), but I can't read French!

I didn't like it as much as the Lord and Master, but liked it much more than Greg. I'm sticking with it as I think this book has a lot of potential.

CPP: $2.35/28 pages (with no ads!) = an amazing 8.4 cents per page!

Justice #6 (of 12)

In case you don't know, this 12 issue series is about villains trying to save the world from destruction which they think will be the fault of the world's heroes. I've always liked the concept of heroes upsetting the status quo by trying to fix "real-world" problems (ie. the Authority) and having the villains do it while still being villains is a neat idea. However, this issue doesn't really move the plot forward as much as I'd like and the only interesting thing to happen is that Green Lantern's ring translates his being into a series of electronic impulses and "saves" him inside itself. Neat idea. I enjoy Alex Ross's painting style, but the penciler he's painting over, Doug Braithwaite, could use some improvement. Not much else to say about this one. It was a very "meh" comic.

Last time an issue came out: April 19, 2006
CPP: $4.75/30 pages = 15.8 cents per page!

Ex Machina #21


New storyline and some obvious new plotlines. Check out last week's review if you need an Ex Machina Primer. First, Mitch gets a hot new intern who is not all she seems to be, some potheads get the beat down from a fake fireman, politcal fires are lit over marijuana legalization, and a woman douses herself with gasoline on the steps of city hall and lights herself on fire! Notice a trend here? Anyways this seems to be standard fare lately with Ex Machina, but it's not boring and the juxtaposition of political and super-hero antics is a nice mix. I'd like to see more resolution with the "where did Mitch get his powers from" plotline, but I'm sure Vaughn will get to it as this will be a finite series. He has stated that it will show Mitch's five years in office so it will be a nice arc for the character to go through. The new intern's deviousness may be the starting point of the downfall of mayor Hundred.

Last time an issue came out: May 10, 2006 (it's monthly)
CPP: $4.00/22 pages = 18.2 cents per page!

All Star Superman #4


Ah, the best for last. This is a truly wonderful comic. In the world of crossover this and crossover that, mainstream comics have become pretty inaccessible to the average guy on the street. Not so with this comic. Any kid could pick this up and be entertained to no end. See, this issue revolves aroud Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen. He's a regular joe who is best buds with the big man and routinely gets him out of jams. How awesome is that?

With this issue, writer Grant Morrison harkens back to the old Jimmy Olsen/Superman teamups without being bogged down by years of pointless continuity, which is the idea behind the All Star line in the first place.

There's so many good things about this issue I'm tempted to stop this post and just tell you to go out and buy it so you'll see for yourself. I won't, but you should do that anyways.

The plot of this issue has Jimmy looking for something to write about for his "For a Day" columns in the Daily Planet. He chooses to go to the moon and take over the science institute P.R.O.J.E.C.T. from Leo Quintum. Unfortunately, Jimmy has been cursed with bad luck by a gypsy until the next full moon (sounds silly but it works), so you know something's gonna go wrong. Something does when the Bizzaro workers find some Black Kryptonite in the superheavy gravity underverse (where time itself cools to a solid). It's little extras like this that makes this comic fun and Morrison is a master at adding them. Anyways, the Black K makes Superman evil and Jimmy has to take a super-soldier syrum to prevent Superman from going on a rampage. In a classic comic book explanation, Superman gets weaker and dumber the worse he acts so he goes down pretty easily. I'm definately not doing this issue justice as you really have to see it to appreciate it.

The artwork from Frank Quitely is absolutely wonderful and combines with Morrison's exciting "done-in-one" story to produce a real gem. I don't often mention the colouring of a comic, but I will here as it is exceptionally vibrant. The pages really pop. Jamie Grant digitally inked and coloured the book and he deserves a hand. Using a computer to colour the book likely makes the difference between this and other comics, though I'm not sure what the traditional method is.

Excellent series and I only wish it came out more often.

Last time an issue came out: March 29, 2006
CPP: $3.20/22 pages = 14.5 cents per page!

Let me sum up:
Rank by Favorite (1 best - 7 worst)
1. All Star Superman #4
2. Astonishing X-men #15
3. Casanova #1
4. Eternals #1
5. Ex Machina #21
6. Justice #6
7. Ultimates 2 #11

Rank by CPP (1 best value - 7 worst value)
1. Casanova #1: 8.4
2. Ultimates 2 #11: 12.1
3. All Star Superman #4: 14.5
4. Eternals #1: 14.7
5. Astonishing X-men #15: 14.9
6. Justice #6: 15.8
7. Ex Machina #21: 18.2

Rank by time since last release (1 shortest - 7 longest)
1. Casanova #1: n/a
2. Eternals #1 n/a
3. Ex Machina #21: May 10 - 42 days
4. Justice #6: April 19 - 63 days
6. (tie) All Star Superman #4: March 29 - 84 days
6. (tie) Astonishing X-men #15: March 29 - 84 days
7. Ultimates 2 #11: March 1: 113 days

So All Star Superman is my #1 read this week and it has a decent CPP and Casanova, while good, isn't as good as I thought. It may require multiple readings to "get" everything as it is pretty dense. Bringing up the rear is Ultimates 2 #11 for both it's set-up nature and lateness. Boo-urns on that one.

Friday, June 16, 2006

A Worthy Cause

Mark Millar, writer of the really good Ultimates, and perhaps not so good Civil War, recently (and is still) had a flare up from his Crohn's disease. Crohn's is a systemic inflammatory bowel disease which can result in severe inflammation of the intestinal tract and can effect the entire gastrointestinal tract, from mouth to anus, in the worst cases. He is organizing an auction to raise money which will go towards Professor John Hermon-Taylor's mission of finallizing a cure for this very serious disease. You can read the article at Newsarama here and send some bling if you can.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

2 MSN Messenger Quotes of the Night

"you dont get to kill goblins as part of a house-building quest"

"i told a chick the other day 'your so hot you give my dick a +4 bonus'"

Nothing to do with comics, but meh.

New Comic Day June 14

Ultimate X-men #71

This is the "conclusion" to the three part Ultimate Phoenix storyline by Robert Kirkman and Ben Oliver. Much like the third X-men movie, I enjoyed the first 2/3 of this issue then something happened where I was like "Kirkman, you are a tool. Fuck you." HOWEVER, unlike the third X-men movie, this ended ok and all is forgiven. We'll get to that.

The first page has the Blob giving a description of his powers while about to pummel someone. A very typical super-villain type thing to do I might add. In short, he got fat but the fat is super dense, thus his mass is really high and thus he is nigh-unmovable. We won't get into the fact he would have a severe case of atherosclerosis to support his weight - not a good idea to overthink superhero physics too much.

So we get a few pages of the X-men getting thrashed and Storm using a line from the second X-men movie "hold on to something," which I really didn't like, but the fight was entertaining and the hero of the day is the new character Elliot who uses his powers to give us a physics lesson about mass being constant and proceeds to decrease the gravity around the Blob to 0.05g. The X-men then kick him around like a soccer ball high into the air where Elliot returns the Blob's personal gravity to normal and he plummets to the Earth like the fat ass he is. So although the fight was good, we don't really learn why the bad guys were there, but since it's Kirkman and he likes to write lots of sub-plots I'm sure it will be revealed later on.

So that's one stoyline, what about this Phoenix business. Well the Shi'ar in the Ultimate universe is a religious group who worship the Phoenix as a creation/benevolent god and they think the young Jean Grey may be the reincarnation of this god. Jean agrees to some blood tests and while they are processing, the truth comes out that the Phoenix is really an evil destoyer type entity ala the third X-men movie and standard X-men continuity, who says things like "let's see how powerful your brain is once it's liquified and pouring out your nose". She tries to kill Lilandra, the head of the organization, but Prof. X is there to stop her. He brings out Jean from the Phoenix with the cool trick saying "I love you." During this momentary lapse, Chuck shuts down her mind.

The aftermath has Lilandra's colleague coming in with the results from the blood tests and reports that she isn't the Phoenix and that her parents were members of the religion. He suggests (and here comes the Fuck you, Robert Kirkman moment) that she heard some stuff about the Phoenix as a child and DEVELOPED A MULTIPLE PERSONALITY TO DEAL WITH HAVING POWERS!!! This is the EXACT SAME explanation for the Phoenix in the third X-men Movie. Man THAT pissed me the hell off. So now Jean (recovered on a basic level) thinks she's crazy, but the bit of redemption comes at the end with the colleague talking to someone on the phone saying Jean definately is the Phoenix, which is a much more satisfactory explanation and is the reason for the quotes around "conclusion" at the start of this review.

How bout the art? Well to tell you the truth, Ben Oliver doesn't float my boat. He gets the job done but some of his images look pretty static, though he does make Jean look good and evil so that's something.

Overall it was a satisfactory conclusion to this 3-parter despite a few choices by Kirkman and mediocre art. And don't ask what those goblin things are on the cover, because I'm not really sure.

Ex Machina Special #2

I really liked this 2-part special showing the history of the Great Machine in flashback and his encounter with someone who could be considered his arch-enemy. Let's play catch-up again shall we? Mitchell Hundred is the mayor of an alternate New York city and gained the power to talk to and control machines and also prevented one of the planes from hitting the World Trade Centre on 9-11. His enemy, Pherson, gains the powers to talk to animals after a mishap in trying to duplicate Hundred's power by listening to digital recordings. He goes off the deep end and goes around setting animals free from zoos and terrorizing an animal shelter.

Hundred meets him at said shelter and after Pherson uses his power to tell some dogs to "rip his worthless throat out", The Great Machine dispatches him in a very comic book fashion. He plays a recording of that command backwards which makes the dogs turn on Pherson. So day saved. The real story here is the moral decisions Mitch plays with as his partners encourage him to cross the line and kill Pherson and the way he handles the radio interview taking place in the present.

I thought the art was quite good despite not being done by regular Ex Machina artist Tony Harris. No complaints.

Good two-issue series that provides a good intro to the Ex Machina series and the type of character Mitchell Hundred is.


Fables #50


Now this is a comic! 64-pages of pure gold and my favourite book this week. For those not in the know, Fables feature fairy tale creatures in our "real" world. So Snow White, The Big Bad Wolf (Bigby - who can change into a regular looking guy), Mowgli, Prince Charming, etc. all really exist. They are magical type creatures and depending on how ingrained a character's story is in our culture, the harder it is to kill a particular fable. A prime example is when Snow White got shot in the head and made a full recovery. Her sister Rose Red, being not as popular, would not have survived. The fables used to live in fairy tale realms called the Homelands, but an enemy called the Adversary showed up and started killing folk and building an empire. The Fables retreated to our mundane or "mundy" world. Got the gist?

So this is a very good story filled with espionage, murder, romance, a wedding, beanstalks, and a very apt analogy. What more could you ask?

We open with Bigby (big bad wolf) returning to Fabletown after being exiled. He is tasked with infiltrating the Homelands on a mission called Operation Israel. He has to get to the empire capital and confront the Adversary and does so in a very cool, albeit fantastical, spy sequence. He kills some guards and gives the Adversay a message from fabletown. They plan to take an Israelite philosophy when it comes to dealing with the bad guys: Mess with us and reap the consequences tenfold. Awesome.

The second half of the comic has Bigby reconciling with Snow white and they plan to get married and look after their kiddies (yeah they have 6 or 7 depending on who you ask in Fabletown from an earlier storyline that I won't get into). And this isn't some 2 page affair either, the build up is there including the planning and nervousness and is complete with full wedding vows. Again Awesome. I was actually hesitant to turn the last page as I expected some "Bwah ha-ha" type thing from the Adversary showing that he doesn't take kindly to threats and that a massive attack is on the way. I was pleasantly surprised when the last page simply has a close up of a table you would find at a wedding reception - complete with cake, champagne and an invitation to the wedding. Classy. As well the art of Mark Buckingham perfectly suits the nature of Fables and only serves to enhance an already excellent story. I almost want to go out and buy another copy.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

My predictive powers leave something to be desired...

Since I'm in British Columbia, many folk will have bought and read Civil War #2 already and as such, have posted many comments as to the "shocking event" which takes place therin. I predicted that Spider-man would kill Tony Stark after realizing that revealing his identity is a stupid thing to do. Apparently that did not happen, but I almost wish it did. You may not want to read anymore of you don't want to know what happens.














So the big shocker is that Spider-man reveals his identity to the world saying: "My name is Peter Parker and I've been Spider-Man since I was 15 years old. Any questions?" Dumb, dumb, dumb. Peter has too high a sense of responsibility to the people he cares about to put them in the obvious danger of publicizing his secret identiy. SO assuming the Thunderbolts didn't see Peter do the reveal on T.V. (which apparently they did, but anyway...), I see an easy solution which leads to my next prediction: The press conference will be revealed as a holographic illusion created by Tony Stark in order to test Peter's loyalties to his side. This will make Peter see Tony as the manipulative turd that he is and Peter will then switch sides to Captain America's anti-registration camp.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Civil War #2 Prediction

Hey all,
I'm not following the Marvel Civil War thing but I've heard lots about it. In short, because a bunch of school kids got killed as a result of a super-hero battle, the government wishes to impose a Super-hero registration act. This means if you want to be a super-hero, you need to publicly reveal who you are and get a license or something. Sound familiar? The mutant registration act is old hat and this is pretty much the same thing, except for everybody. The story revolves around the two opposite views of the Act: the heroes that are in favour of the registration, led by Iron Man, and those opposed, led by Captain America.

Moving on, apparently there will be something in "Civil War #2 (that) marks the beginning of what could be the most tumultuous time in Spidey’s life in quite a long time. It’s going to take us to places that folks thought would be impossible." That's a quote from Joe Quesada, the editor in chief at marvel comics from a recent interview he did at Newsarama. Read the rest here. If you don't know, Spider-man is on the side which is in favour of the registration (which is dumb, but people are saying he's only there because he feels like he owes Iron Man ie. Tony Stark for making his new goofy outfit), and at the end of a recent issue of Amazing Spider-man, it looks like Spidey is about to reveal his secret identity. So the thing in Civil War #2, might be that he does the reveal, but I don't think so. Here's what I think will happen and I should note that I have no prior knowledge of the events which are to take place in Civil War #2 and I have not recieved an advance copy or anything like that:

In the last moment, Peter changes his mind and he and Iron Man get into a fight. As a result of this fight SPIDER-MAN KILLS TONY STARK. That's right folks, Spider-man will become a killer ala Wonder Woman in the whole Infinite Crisis debacle. Whether it be by accident or Peter gets super man, that's what I think will happen and is just retarded enough to be plausible in this age of comic book super events.

Early New Comic Day June 12, 2006

Wonder Woman #1


I resisted this last week when it first came out, but caved when I was at the Comic Shop yesterday. I'm not super familiar with the Wonder Woman comics and have only a handful in my collection (issues #190ish to 204 or so). The good thing about this comic is that it should be able to be enjoyed by people that either had no previous experience with Wonder Woman, and those that have been following it since the early bondage days. However, if you have a mediocre knowledge of WW then you might be left a little confused like I was.

Despite that though Allan Heinberg and the Dodsons bring us a good comic. We open with some close up shots of the various armaments in Wonder Woman's arsenal: lasso, sword, breastplate, etc then the next page reveals that this incarnation of Wonder Woman is Donna Troy, formerly Wonder Girl. The switch has to do with the One Year Later business DC is doing. The previous WW went into self imposed exile after the events of Infinite Crisis and is still missing, thus Donna took up the mantle. Heinberg does a good job introducing us to Donna and the fact that this is a new job for her ie. "I am the new Wonder Woman." If you weren't familiar with WW, then this line tells you ok, there used to be another Wonder Woman but something happened to her, now we have this newbie trying to fill her boots. This adds an element of mystery that encourages us to keep reading.

So we do and we find out that some villains are holding Steve Trevor, a friend of Wonder Woman, hostage. Here Heinberg does an excellent job of introducing some of the main villains in the WW rouge gallery. We get to see a new and improved Cheetah, who can turn herself into and control cheetahs, as well as Giganta, a woman who can change her size. Dr. Psycho shows up too, but more on him later. The goal of the villains was to lure the real Wonder Woman, Diana of Themyscira, out of hiding and it looks like they did as the old Wonder Woman shows up and proceeds to beat the living hell out of Cheetah. WW looks to make sure Cheetah never hurts anyone again and tries to kill her ala Max Lord, but Donna tries to stop her and gets stabbed through the chest for her efforts. So the reader thinks WW has gone off the deep end, but it is revealed that it was all a telepathic projection from Dr. Psycho... I think. It's pretty unclear and here is where Heinberg drops the ball a bit. With Cheetah and Giganta their powers are explained sufficiently but with Dr. Psycho, not so much. As well, if that is what happened, did Cheetah really get beaten up? If so does it make sense that Psycho would beat her ass down? Maybe the beat down was all in Donna's head...I'm not sure. If it was though, then it's unclear how Donna gets stabbed. Anyways, I would have preferred more explanation and it was weird that Dr. Psycho didn't get his own little caption box explaining his powers like Cheetah and Giganta did.

In a surprising twist, Steve Trevor is not actually Steve Trevor but Tom Tresser, the master of disguise known as Nemesis who is working for a police-type agency. For new readers, this won't be too much of a shocker because they probably never heard of him. I've been reading comics for a while and I never heard of him. The exposure I got was from a recent post at Chris's Invincible Super Blog found here (there's two parts). Finally on the last page, we get the big reveal that Tresser's new partner will be none other than Diana Prince in a hot white jumpsuit. Again for new readers, this might not be too shocking. For a long time reader though, it's cool because Diana Prince was an alias of the real Wonder Woman when she lost her powers. This is what left me kind of confused. I thought Diana Prince was Wonder Woman and the idea of her teaming up with Nemesis to rescue Donna from the terrible trio seemed weird. Apparently, through reading some other articles online, this is the new persona that WW took on after going into exile and I guess no one knows that she's really Wonder Woman. I think this is only a problem for people who've had a passing interest in the character over the years as new readers will eventually find out that WW is incognito and longtime fans will already know.

So enough praise about the story, what about the art? Terry Dodson has a penchant for drawing buxom beauties, and damn he draws them well! I have no complaints about the artwork save for the panel shown in flashback where WW is crouching over the newly deceased Maxwell Lord. Is that a look of surprise on her face? You just killed the guy! An expression of smug satisfaction would be better suited I think. The fight scenes are handled well and there is never any clutter that distracts from the story.

So this is issue is recommended with the reservation that to truley enjoy it, I think you need to either know nothing about Wonder Woman, or tons about Wonder Woman.

And always remember kids, Wonder Woman is cool because she can kick your ass and tie you up (not necessarily in that order), a hallmark of any good woman.

FUN FACTOID: the creator of Wonder Woman, Dr. William Marston, also invented the modern polygraph (ie. lie-detector) machine!

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Warm and Fuzzy Part Two

Mouse Guard #1-3





So this is Mouse Guard, a new series from Archaia Studio Press, that has been heralded as the new Bone, and renowned across the blog-o-sphere. I don't know if it's as good as Bone, as at least 2/3 of that series was some of the best comiking I've ever read. Regardless, Mouse Guard is quite good and after getting you up to speed, I'll tell you why.

Mouse Guard stars mice as the heroes of the tail (ba-dump), as you might expect from the title and the pretty pictures above (hence the title of the post: mice are mammals, thus warm, and hairy, thus fuzzy), who are part of an organization called, you guessed it, the Mouse Guard. Their job in times of peace (the Guard was formerly a military unit), is to protect travellers and the like against various woodland enemies. They can also act as pathfinders, weather watchers, and body guards. The characters thus far in the series are Lieam, a reddish coloured mouse who upholds the traditions and honour of the Guard, Saxon, a hothedded brown mouse that doesn't take guff from anyone, Kenzie, a more experienced grey mouse who leads Saxon and Lieam on missions, Sadie, a female mouse who, though courageous, knows the meaning of sacrifice, and finally, the mysterious leader of the Guard, Gwendolyn, who we have yet to meet.

Issue #1 opens with a grain merchant on his way from Rootwallow to Barkstone who tells us that he waived the protection of the Guard because he thought they were more needed elsewhere. Dumbass. Needless to say, the merchant meets misfortune and it is up to Lieam, Kenzie, and Saxon to solve the mystery once it is noticed that the merchant never made it to his destination. They come across his cart only to be attacked by the snake that (presumably) finished off the merchant. The trio puts up a good fight, but make a tactical retreat as Kenzie thinks they can't take it down. In their hiding place, Kenzie delivers the great line: "It matters not what you fight, but what you fight for." After a bit, the snake seems to have left and they emerge to find a nest full of snake eggs, which Kenzie and Saxon promptly destroy. This leaves poor Lieam to deal with the returning snake. And deal with it he does. He jumps into the snakes mouth and stabs it through the head. If that isn't awesome, I don't know what is. Once the snake is dispatched with, the plot thickens as we find out that the unfortunate merchant was a traitor providing secret documents to someone in Barkstone. The issue ends with the trio determined to find out who the documents were going to.

Issue #2 focuses on Sadie who has been tasked with finding a missing Guard member, Conrad, who was last seen in Cologero. Conrad is an older, alcoholic mouse with a peg leg. Again, awesomeness. He surprises Sadie as she rummages through his house then tells her about secret meetings the grain merchant of issue #1 had with a mysterious stranger. They plan to leave for Lockhaven in the morning, but are thwarted by no less than 6 crabs bent on VENGEANCE! What do crabs have to be mad about? I don't know. Who understands the complex phsyche of the multi-legged crustacean? Anyways the duo try to take them down and put up a good fight, but superior numbers win out and Conrad is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice so that Sadie can escape with the information he gave her.

Issue #3 features the Boyz Boyz of issue #1 on their way to Barkstone. They encounter another guard member on the road by the name of Midnight. He can only be described as the token Ninja of any well put together organization. He's all black and carries a bunch of swords and as we all know, black + swords = Ninja. You can't beat that...well maybe with Samurai Pizza Cats, but I digress. They arrive in the city and try to track down some leads on the merchant's delivery location. They realize that they are being followed and Saxon creates a diversion so Lieam can slip away. The diversion? A no-holds barred duel between Saxon and Kenzie! We get to see two of the Guard's elite throw down in a sword vs. staff fight, which Saxon takes a wee bit too seriously and seems to really knock Kenzie out. Meanwhile, Lieam finds that a cartographer (map maker for those non-book learnin' type folk) was the destination for the documents and that there is a coup planned by an armed group of militants called the Axe (no, not that Axe Doug). Lieam joins to gain more information and the other two Guardsmen are tied up and ejected from the city.

Is it good?
Yes. Next question. Haha I kid. The book is written and illustrated by David Petersen and his story is very engaging. His illustrations are abso-fucking-lutely (I'm listening to "Usages of the Word Fuck" by Monty Python as I write this) gorgeous and you wouldn't think that expressing emotions on mice is easy, but Petersen sure makes it look that way. The format of having a square comic really adds to the effect of his art because everything is a bit more spread out than the trasitional comic format. Despite being someone of a straightforward tail (haha I love that), of good guys trying to do the right thing, we get elements of mystery and action as well that really engage the reader. Each of the characters has a unique personality and they interact very well together. I actually didn't see what the big deal was when I first read through them, but I did a re-read for this article and I am impressed. Petersen has said in a recent Wizard article that he has lots of stories to tell about the Guard and I for one can't wait. I'll make a prediction right here on June 12, 2006 that the mysterious stranger that was meeting with the merchant is Gwendolyn, the leader of the Mouse Guard.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

New Comic Day June 7

Y: The Last Man #46


This is the conclusion to the Kimono Dragons storyline. Vaughn does some nice work wrapping things up as well as plant the seeds for some future storyines. The main one is that Yorrick and 355 open up to each other a bit which leads me to beleive there will be some romance...or at least some hot luvin', in their futures. Another is the resolution of who/what caused the death of all the world's males. I'm guessing that will be saved for issue #50. After this reveal, I'm wondering how much longer the series will run as most Vertigo books tend to be finite in length. As well, it's good to see Ampersand reunited with Yorrick after the incredibly daring Monkey-rescue operation.

The artwork is good as always and the sword fight between Dr. Mann and the mysterious ninja was exciting and left Mann PINNED TO A WALL!


Emissary #1

This is a neat book that I bought based on the review found here. In short is deals with this guy walking in Time Square then flying up and pronouncing that he is the Emissary and will bring people to enlightenment. What's the natural response? The military flies in two fighter jets to "BRING HIM DOWN" (that's a quote from the general who orders the strike). Since the event takes place with 100s of onlookers, the pilot doesn't want to fire missles or guns or anything, so he's ordered to ram him. That's right folks, he's told to fly his jet INTO a man hovering in Times Square. The pilot gets owned though when the Emissary holds up his hand and stops the plane in mid-air. There is also some interesting characters who I'm guessing will be the meat of the book and we will experience the Emissary's actions through their eyes. Good book and I'll follow it until at least issue #6 to see where it's going.


Invincible #32

Ah, the joy of Invincible. What can be said really? This issue takes place mostly in Africa where Mark and his girlfriend are visiting Atom Eve. We get to see that during her time away Eve has become sort of a super-hero snob ala the White Queen from the X-men and kind of thinks she is superior to "mere mortals." As well, her attitude likely results a bit from jealousy as we get the sense she would like to be going out with Mark.
The tranquil setting is interrupted by a call from Cecil and Mark rushes home to see his mom bruised and battered with Angstrom Levy with her. I forsee Mark breaking up with Amber or likely vise versa, because he can't be a normal guy and he doesn't really let her into his world because he takes off with no explanation whatsoever. The artwork is sexy as always and if you aren't getting this book now, I recommend getting the big ass hardcover that collects issues 1-13.

Action Philosophers Trade Paperback

This is a neat series as it combines history with humour. The first Action Philosopher is Plato who is a beefy fellow saying things like "Plato Smash!" It's really well done and I suggest you check out the website for some previews. I'm still not finished with it so I may add some things here later.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

What an age we live in...

This doesn't really have anything to do with comics, but I thought I'd let everyone know that I just ordered a pizza online. Amazing what computers can do these days. Here's a screenshot of my order confirmation from Pizza Hut so you can see exactly what I got:


Pretty neat eh? Maybe I'll read some comics while I eat...hhmm bad idea as grease stains are notoriously difficult to get out of paper. Maybe a comic book movie so I can justify posting this here...yeah that's the ticket. Maybe Serenity. It was a comic right?

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Warm and Fuzzy...

On May 31st I experienced the warm fuzzy feeling one gets when one receives a heavy parcel in the mail. I new what it was of course, but DAMN getting shit in the mail makes you feel important! Said parcel was none other than the

Runaways Hardcover

I'd been hearing scads of good things about this series so I finally bit the bullet and got it. I was very tempted on Free Comic Book Day to get it as part of the buy 2 get one free deal they had, as this series is also collected in three digest books. However, buying the hardcover (which just looks sexy) new at Elfsar would run $44 plus tax, so I turned to my old friend Ebay. Here I was able to snag it for $36.30 including shipping. It's very pretty and in reasonably good condition (some minor wear on the dustjacket). I'll do a review of it once I read it so stay tuned...