Out of Arkham

Thoughts on Wednesday Comics

2009-07-09T11:35:00.001-07:00

Not my thoughts on comics released yesterday (since there weren't any, really), but my thoughts on THE Wednesday Comics. I figure the easiest way will be to just go through each story.

Batman - I wasn't pulled in by Azzarello's characterization of the Batman character, but I like his anxious Gordon. The art was suitably dark and noir-ish. This installment did a nice job of setting up the story with a simple but exciting premise, no prior continuity knowledge required. Some rich dude is minutes away from death and somehow Batman's gonna defy the odds and save him (maybe). I'm hoping there'll be some twists here and there, though,and I'm sure the reveal of the villain will be good stuff. Grade: A-

Kamandi - Not exactly a novel observation, but the artist's Prince Valiant style artwork really suits the Wed. Comics format. The story itself was all setup, but probably necessary because no one knows who the hell Kamandi is. Too soon to judge this one yet, but at the very least I can say that it definitely suits the spirit of the format, and pays homage to its predecessors in the newspaper action comics genre. Grade: A

Superman - Even though the art isn't what you'd think of when remembering the old Sunday narrative comics like the Phantom and Prince Valiant, I still thinks it's very well done. Not much happens in the form of story progression, but the story provides some much needed action and punching shit that was lacking in the last two. I love how Superman finds time to scold the idiots telling him to kick the alien's ass. Grade: B+

Deadman - A noir-ish murder mystery is about what I'd expect with a Deadman story, which is a little disappointing. Again, lots of setup but Deadman has a somewhat complicated origin so it's probably necessary (again). While I'm certainly not adverse to violence in my comics, I thought the whole double-murder, heart removed from chest during kinky sexy time was a little too to TV-14 for this format, which is supposed to hearken back to the old Sunday adventure comics. I don't think Mary Worth ever stumbled onto such a scene (that we know of...). The panel layouts were well done and the art was well-done; the artist even managed to render the gruesome murder scene in a way that made it fairly unobjectionable (I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, though). I have hope for this one, though. Grade: C+

Green Latern - Bo-ring! They couldn't think of any better set up for a comic where a jet pilot uses a magic ring to police the cosmos than having a bunch of goofy 50's rejects sit in a bar? I mean, they're not even saying anything interesting -- just, "Where's Hal? Where's Jordan?" Yeah, assholes, where IS Hal? I'd like to see what he's doing, too, rather than listening to your dumb asses wonder about where he might be. Probably fist-fighting with Sinistro on Mogo the Living Planet. We won't find out this issue, kids! Well any of these "average Joe" characters have anything meaningful to do with a sci-fi space story? I sure as hell hope not. Anyway, the story didn't explain GL's origins or powers at all, which is bound to confuse any new readers unfamiliar with the character, and there was absolutely no hook to make readers care about Hal or get excited about GL's adventures. All we know is that Hal is a womanizing asshole who doesn't show up for work. Decent art couldn't save this otherwise boring story. Grade: D

Metamorpho - Neil Gaiman shows *everyone* how the hell this Wednesday Comics thing is supposed to be done! Crazy goofball character? Check. Weird Silver-Age style action sequence involving Giant Clams? Check. Cornball dialog with a little innuendo that goes over the kiddies' heads? Check. The art was a perfect fit as well -- reminded me of something between Venture Bros., Johnny Quest, and Jack Kirby. Not only that, but Gaiman manages to introduce a completely unknown super-hero and his supporting cast with hardly any boring exposition or wasteful setup. You get right into the story, see the man's power's in action, and are thrust headlong into an adventure. This is newspaper comics done right! You don't need 10 panels of internal monologue to explain a character, just a little picture of his head with the caption "Neaderthal Manservant" tells you everything you need to know. Grade: A+

Teen Titans - And then there's this turd. What the fuck is this? I don't even understand what's happening. The story is narrated by some asshole who doesn't seem to realize he's in a "book" where his story was preceded by a woman getting trapped by a Giant Clam. There's like 56 different characters, most of whom I have no idea who they are. To make it even worse, as others have said, it seems like the stupid thing is in continuity! I hate the art, primarily because of the confusing "panel" layouts. Also, it appears that the villain stabs a teenage girl through the heart at the end, but I can't tell since she doesn't have a head. Hey Kids! Comics! This one completely misses the entire point, in terms of content, style, art, and theme, of the format. Grade: F

Adam Strange - I loved this one. I wasn't entirely sold on it until some wacked-out space apes show up and start jumping out of space rockets, and the main character points out how, normally, this would be a fucking insane thing to be transpiring. Rather than dwell on it, he fires up the motherfucking rocket pack and flies into action in what I think is the single best panel in the entire issue. Art is a little weird and MC Escher-ish, but it works. Again, this is how its done -- hook the reader, get right into the action, and never mind the insanity because the weirder, the better. Grade: A+

Supergirl - Well, it's cute. Obviously. And you got baby Krypto and Streaky there, which is kinda awesome. Kids would probably like this one, and I certainly didn't mind it. The cartoony art suits the subject matter and the character quite well, and manages to avoid any upskirt shots on poor exploited teen Kara. This one seems to be more in the vein of Saturday Morning Cartoons, rather than newspaper comics. Grade: B-

Metal Men - I though DiDio would land on his ass with this one, but he clearly gets what the Wednesday Comics format should be. The art has many classic comics sensibilities, but retains a bit of modern edge (like the look of the robbers' weapons) to help appeal to younger readers. Each of the metal men gets a chance for a little dialog which gives us some clue to their personality. But actually, the dialog is mostly unnecessary since the artist does such a good job with the faces that we can pretty much guess how each of them will act just be looking at their expressions. Again, I like how we get right into the action, though a bank robbery seems a little passe, even for this format. Hopefully DiDio will up the stakes with a team of supervillains or something real soon. Points for the bossy dude smoking the pipe, though I'm not fond of the fawning metal woman (even though I get this is "retro," there's no reason to make the only female character a vacuous flirt). Grade: A-

Wonder Woman - I have no idea what the hell is happening in this story thanks to the terrible coloring. It was hard to read too. Did anybody bother to tell the art team this was going to be printed on newsprint? I get that this is some sort of dream sequence -- I think -- but, really, what's the point? Yeah there's magic and dreams and mystery and talking animals and witches... Neil Gaiman loves all that crap too, but you didn't see any of it his Metamorpho story. I think that this little Avengers Fairy Tale take on Wonder Woman would be really cute and fun to read -- in a different format, one where we could appreciate the subtle colors and dream-like qualities of the art. In the Wed. Comics format, it just falls flat. Not to mention that it will just confuse new-to-DC readers who are only family with the T.V. version of Wonder Woman. If it were me, I would have gone totally retro with the concept, complete with all the weird bondage undertones in the original stories. Grade: C-

Sgt. Rock - Okay, we all know the Kubert's can rock the pencils. But c'mon, was Wed. Comics really in need of a huge splash page of Gitmo-style "enhanced interrogation"? Much like the impaling of the Martian girl or the double sex homicide, it doesn't suit the format, and this story seems even grittier than those two. What I wanted to see out of the first installment of this story was some crazy WWII style action and over-the-top patriotism, like Rock and Co. with the Haunted Tank taking down a Kraut Bunker, ambushing a convoy of Nazi's, or kicking Hitler in the ass. And where are Rock's squad mates, like the crazy Hippy dude? Next issue better have the boys busting in there to rescue Rock so they can get to something other than long, uncomfortable scenes of torture. Grade: D+

Flash - They sold me on this one with the first panel. I'll buy anything with mind-controlling super-genius evil Gorillas (complete with requisite banana jokes). I like how the first story sets up the villain nicely -- we know he has some diabolical and convoluted plan, but like the Flash we can't fathom what it is yet. The author uses Grodd to good effect here because, let's be honest, Flash isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and Grodd takes advantage of that fact plus the Flash's goody-goody nature that compels him to save people. I thought I would be bored by the second half, but Iris' inner dialog really pulled me in and made me like her as a character. I like that, through Iris, we're seeing the events from her layman's perspective, adding a whole additional layer of mystery to the story. As long as the author keeps bringing the Silver Age Flash weirdness, and plays up the mystery and intrigue in the Iris West strip, I think this one will work. Grade: A

Catwoman + Demon - This concept is interesting because you'd never expect these two characters to have much to do with one another. Strong characterization and dialog by Simonson, and the art was pretty good, especially the last panel featuring Catwoman. Name-dropping Google seemed like a hackneyed ploy at relevancy or hipness, though. Looking forward to seeing how these two eventually team up and what enemy they face. Grade: B

Hawkman - "We flap?" Seriously? Is that supposed to be poetic or something? I just kept thinking "We fap" and chuckling like Beavis and Butthead. And why the hell did Hawkman take the birds up to an altitude where they can't breathe?! What an asshole, those are endangered species! He apparently was able to trick the birds by telling them there'd be oxygen in the plane. But can you imagine like 3 dozen birds inside one fucking plane? What the hell? That doesn't help anything. They're not going to be able to stop the terrorists from killing people or blowing holes in the plane; they're just going to scratch up the passengers and shit all over the place. And how did the terrorists get a goddamn AK-47 onto a plane anyway? Not even TSA is that stupid. Between the contrived danger scenario and melodramatic bird narration, this is just retarded. The art is nice, but most of it is just one gigantic splash page. Poor way to end the issue, in my opinion. Grade: D

Death Adder doesn't stand a chance

2009-07-07T08:27:00.001-07:00

Topless Robot posted a sweet-ass live action Golden Axe movie. I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say that this is the best movie I have seen in years. Adult Swim should hire these guys to do regular 5 minute skits like this. Micheal Bay should be ashamed.

If you're like me and dig that heavy metal Golden Axe theme, you can download it, as well as a shit ton more of cool video game themes covered in heavy metal format, from the band Mega Driver's website.

Pull List for this Week

2009-06-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

As Gish predicted, since last week held so much goodness, this week has only a few comics. Here's what we're getting:

Batman and Robin #2: I freaking love Grant Morrison and I love this series. The last issue was everything I expected it to be and then some. Professor Pyg and his Toad henchman have the potential to become great new Batman villains. I also love Dr. Hurt and the Club of Villains, who will probably be making a come back to this book in a few issues. I just wish it wasn't limited to only twelve issues. Of course, D.C. probably can't keep it in their pants long enough to let Bruce stay "dead" for twelve issue.

War of Kings #5: Probably too late to get in on this if you haven't, but it's quite a ride. This is especially true if you've been following the other cosmic titles with any regularity. DnA will probably throw the kitchen sink at us in this one, because they tend to like big surprises and cliffhangers in the final issues of an arc. The War was looking a little one sided up until issue 4, so expect the bad guys to push back.

Secret Six #11: Who knows what madness to expect from the mind of Gail Simone this month, but I'm sure Secret Six will kick ass like it usually does.

Dead Pool Merc with a Mouth #1: Isn't one Deadpool on-going monthly enough? Why do we need two? I'm not optimistic about this book, but Gish will probably make me buy it. Hopefully it at least provides some laughs.

Captain America: Reborn #1 & Buffy: The Vampire Slayer #26: I'm on the fence about these two. I've been reading Buffy since issue #1, and I've seen all the TV episodes, so I'm pretty highly invested in it. But the last 10 or so issues of Buffy have not grabbed me at all -- they lack all the elements that made the first issues, and the TV show, a hit. They aren't that funny, there's very little character development, and the whole Slayer Army thing just doesn't fit the tone and style of the Buffyverse. I'll probably skip it. Captain America, on the other hand looks like it might be pretty good. I love Brubaker's Cap work, and he'll be teaming up with Bryan Hitch whose work is usually pretty good. This has all the elements of a successful book, yet I find that I'm not that interested in it. Probably because I don't really care about Steve Rogers and I think his return is forced. Brubaker was telling some great stories with Bucky Cap? Why jeopardize that by bringing bad Cap v.1? I was much more interested in the new Girl Bucky that showed up in #600. I'll probably skip Reborn, though.

Random Thoughts

2009-06-29T11:16:00.001-07:00

I really like the Batwoman Detective Comics issue, even though it was mostly set-up. The "religion of crime" concept is cool, though I was probably most pulled in by Williams' art.
I wasn't as thrilled with the Question backup. I just don't think the character works that well as Montoya. I liked the conspiracy nut/right-wing loon Rorschach-for-kids version from the Justice League Unlimited series better.

I wish they would switch the Manhunter and Question features -- I think Montoya would work better in parallel with the street-level Gotham stories.

Incredible Hercules was downright philosophical this week, what with all the musings on the nature of God and how, if he exists, he must be an asshole just like Zeus. Not only that, the book suggests that being an asshole is a prerequisite for being God. Not used to such deep thoughts in my super-hero books, but I like (I'm sure Herc is slated for cancellation any day now).

I don't want to spoil Runaways for anybody, so don't read this if you haven't read #11 yet. I thought Immomen did a great job with the characters; Nico as the de facto mother is still kind of irritating, but whatever. I was hoping she'd be the one to get the axe, but no, they kill off my favorite character which, of course, is the awesome telepathic dinosaur. I'm not blaming Immomen because I'm sure this was an editorial decision, but still -- why couldn't they have killed Nico? I'm assuming this is some convoluted way to bring Gertrude back to life. But since Gertrude doesn't actually have any powers, I'm not sure what she's supposed to do without Old Lace. Nevertheless, I'm excited the Gert's coming back because she was many favorite character along with Alex.

Paul Pelletier, who pencilled War of Kings and the first issues of Guardians of the Galaxy, is coming to Tampa in 2 weeks for a coand, of course, I probably won't be able to go because I'm moving that weekend. Dammit!

I Say Thee NAY!

2009-06-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

Via Weekly Crisis I hear that JMS is being taken off of Thor as of September. Hmm. That's interesting. Excuse me for just a sec, I need to go to my room for a minute. Ho-hum, doo-dee-doo...

... ahem. What the hell Marvel? Who are you going to replace him with? PLEASE tell me it'll be Jeph "I'm Such a Fucking Douchebag that I Can't Even Spell 'Jeff' Right" Loeb, because that would just be so awesome. Maybe Thor and Rulk could have some hot man sex after they kill all of the Runaways? That's thinking outside the box! Or maybe they could sub in Bendis -- I'm sure he won't mind a 25th book -- he can just use the same damn scripts for all of them anyway.

The only writer I will accept is Matt Fraction. Unless that happens, the remote control *stays* in.

Update: Obviously we don't know whether JMS left voluntarily or not. He probably did (or else Marvel is idiotses). But that wouldn't make for a very fun post.

Gotham City Sirens #1

2009-06-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

This morning, I read a couple reviews of GCS which mainly had the same things to say.

1) The setup is contrived.
2) The art is too "cheesecake."
3) The characters are flat.
4) Nothing really happened and the bad guy was lame.

This is my take on these issues.

1) Considering the state Catwoman is in, I'm not sure who else she'd have to turn to right now. The Batman she knew is out of the picture and neither heroes nor villains trust or like her entirely. Unless she were to be kept out of the current storyline completely (not an option, as far as I'm concerned), who better to team her up with? Besides, I love all of these characters, and even if there weren't a good reason to put them together, I'd like it anyway.

2) Yeah, well, what the hell did you expect? It's called Gotham City Sirens for fucks sake. I'm not really into fan service myself, and I admit to rolling my eyes at the Zatanna scene a little, but I kind of knew what I was getting into here. Again, I love the characters so much, I just accepted the whole cheesecake thing from the start. Besides, I read Bomb Queen recently, and I guess it kind of desensitized me. (Ask shadow how amused I was at the nip slip therein.)

3) Since this is the first issue, I'm going to cut Dini some slack regarding how well-rounded the characters seem. A lot of first issues fall victim to obvious or hyperbolic character "development" in the interest of having the reader know about the characters as quickly as possible. This is presumably so we can just get to the action already. Hopefully he'll round them out a bit more as time goes on, especially considering he had a hand in creating one of them.

4) Again, this is a first issue. It's mainly going to be about setup. And yeah, the bad guy sucked out loud. But a) this is a female-centric comic book, which means the bad guys are often going to suck (see: Oracle v. Calculator or Wonder Woman v. ~~Ninja Turtle~~ ~~Genocide~~ Cheetah) and b) his presence is indicative of what's going on in Gotham City right now. The death of Batman has brought all kinds of weirdos out of the woodwork, and they all want to make names for themselves, like the doofus in question. As Sirens seems to be one of the more lighthearted titles in what has been a bummer of a recent storyline, I guess this is as good a place as any to portray that side of the new Gotham.

Overall, I liked GCS and will probably be adding it to my pull list. I guess if it's month after month of nothing but flat characters and cheesecake with nothing to show for it, I'll drop it. But it's worth giving it a shot, IMO.

Barack the Barbarian

2009-06-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

Yes I bought it, and so should you. It actually looks like some fun political satire. Also, c'mon, the art? Freaking sweet. A lot of comics bloggers like to bitch about how certain comics are cashing in on Obama. But I don't see anything wrong with it. Look, some people like to blow their stack on crappy Jeph Loeb* comics and the 103-or-so weekly X-books. I like crap with Obama in it. Both are guilty pleasures, I suppose, though I would argue that certain Obama books, like the biographies, Savage Dragon, Barack the Barbarian, and Bomb Queen VI are all better quality books than anything ever written by Jeph Loeb (ever, even in alternate universes in which Loeb still sucks) AND your money goes to support independent publishers rather than the Marvel-naut (that's Marvel + Juggernaut). That Spider-Man/Obama backup was pretty bad, though.

* It is a little known fact that every time you buy a comic written by Jeph Loeb, a little, adorable kitten dies. It's true, look it up.

This freaking awful!

2009-06-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

So some dorks at Marvel thought it would be cool if Runaways had a theme song, and this is what they came up with.

Jesus. Freaking. Christ. On a Stick. Seriously? If Brian K. Vaughn were dead (and he might actually become dead once he hears this song) he would probably spin in his grave.

Update: Okay, I actually feel sorta bad because Nick Lowe clearly worked hard on this and put a lot of effort into it. But, c'mon.

Cra-azy, crazy for feeling...

2009-06-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am just about this pissed off every single day all the time about everything, so I can kinda relate. However, I fail to see how trying to shove a remote control up my ass would help quell my boundless rage. Takes all kinds, I guess.

Actually, this video sort of horrifies me because I'm thinking: oh sweet Jeebus, I'm going to have one of those ... things ... running around my house in about 14 years, screaming at me.

Wednesday's Pull List

2009-06-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

What better way to breathe life back into a dead comics blog than be posting your Wednesday pull list comics? What's that you say? There are lots of better ways? Nevertheless, here we go...

Incredible Hercules: I really dug the last issue, especially with the not-so-subtle commentary on character deaths in the Marvel universe. I thought it was especially hilarious when Herc rolled up on Wasp while she was playing the slots. I just hope they get a better artist - Herc works best when the art isn't too cartoony and goofy, and looks somewhat storybookish -- see Khoi Pham's issues or the Sacred Invasion arc.

Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy: Ever notice how Herc and these two always come out at the same time? Anyway, should be good stuff as usually. War of Kings is really firing on all cylinders for me. I'm a big DnA fan, though, ever since I readthe Eisenhorn trilogy. Brad Walker and Andrea Di Vito are decent replacements for Peitllier on those two books, and generally do a pretty good job. Plus, you gotta love that Guardians cover. However, what is up with this 80's Flash Dancing Nova cover -- the hell?

Wonder Woman: I like Gail Simone, and I'm glad Lopresti is back (because those fill-in artists were kinda crap), but I haven't really been able to get into the whole Genocide story. I don't understand how it ties in with the more interesting manazon story. I feel like I'm already getting a better version of the whole Greek Gods in the modern world thing in Hercules. This is the end of the Genocide arc, so hopefully Simone can salvage something more engaging going forward.

Gotham City Sirens & Detective Comics: Sirens seems like a fun concept that could be an excellent book, if it has the right mix of humor, craziness, and characterization. I love Dini's work on the Batman animated series, and Harley is one of me and Gish's favorites. I have no idea what to expect from Greg Rucka's Batwoman arc in Detective, though. I don't know anything about the character. Here's to optimism!

Runaways: It's the start of Kathryn Immonen's run on... um... Runaways! I loved Patsy Walker: Hellcat, and I think she'll be a good fit for this book. Hopefully she'll stop fetishizing Nico like the male writers do and portray her as the whiny, self-absorbed emo brat she is so we can laugh at her. You know, like Emo Sarah. There was a very similar character at the end of Patsy Walker and she was both endearing and annoying at the same time, if that makes sense. I don't like Sara Pichelli's art, though (she can't really draw teenagers as teenagers) but I'll give it another chance.

Thor: What can I say? If you aren't reading JMS's Thor already, you must have some sort of weird racist hatred of the Norse. Bigot!

Thunderbolts: I'm on the fence on this one. Diggle almost got me sold on these characters last issue. But I might have been irretrivably spoiled by Ellis's run and just expect more than this series can really deliver. Besides, goddamn Bendis stole all the cool Thunderbolts for his Darker Revengencers of Darkness with Extra Dark. On the other hand, Songbird might be coming back soon. And I loves me some Songbird.

What I'm NOT Buying: Anything with the word "Dark" in the title. What the hell, Marvel?

Reboot!

2009-06-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, our first comics blog experiment didn't work out so well. I blame law school. And Gish - I blame her most of all. But I think we're going to try it again soon. Look for updates in the near future. Arkham will live again!

Thursday's Recommendation

2008-07-08T11:18:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, all of the comics I'm picking up next week are currently in the middle of multi-issue arcs. However, this week's recommendation is so good, that it's worth picking up the last two previous issues (if you can find them). Captain Britain and MI:13 shows how the Skrull invasion is playing out on the other side of the globe. It's got a great take on the Black Knight character, and a new character, Dr. Faiza, who is charming and endearing but has the most disgusting super-power I've ever seen in my life. Judging from the cover, it looks like ** spoiler alert ** we're going to find out why Spitfire has taken to tearing out the throats of her enemies. As the least developed character so far, I'm looking forward to learning more about her and seeing her role expand. This series is written by Paul Cornell, who also wrote episodes for the excellent Dr. Who remake on BBC and it displays the same wit, energy, and talent for building compelling and interesting characters as the TV show. The Skrull invasion seems suitably epic and features some really inventive super-skrull combo warriors. I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that the art in this book is amazing as well. All-in-all, a great read that is highly recommended.

Honorable Mention: The 3-part Galactus story in Nova is coming to a close this week. This series has some great writing and art, and is highly recommended for fans of good space opera-type science fiction. This arc has been great, so pick up all three issues if you can find them.

What we bought this week

2008-07-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

Here's what we picked up for our fourth of July reading:

Batman RIP #678
Patsy Walker: Hellcat #1
Buffy: TVS #16
Astonishing X-Men #25
Joker's Asylum #1 (gish's pick, not mine!)

So far, I've only read Batman. I'm really enjoying the RIP storyline. I love the dark and dream-like quality, plus all of the mystical/occult overtones. The Club of Villains is great, and it was cool to finally see them in action. I had to look up the Zurr-en-Arrh reference, though. Apparently, in 1956 or so, Batman went to another planet (Zurr-en-Arrh), where he met up with another Batman native to that world, gained Superman-like powers, and fought robots or something. Morrison loves him some obscure references. Gish says the Hellcat book is really good, so I'm looking forward to that, too.

Some comics I pick up last week that haven't read yet but plan to this weekend:

Thunderbolts #120 & 121 (just finished re-reading #116-119 to get ready)
Angel #9 (probably the last issue of this we're going to buy -- it's pretty awful and I only bought it to see what "officially" happened after the end of the show, and now I don't care anymore)
Captain America #39
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #1

Introduce Yourself

2008-06-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I didn't really introduce myself properly. I go by "gish" on the Intertoobz. Recently, I graduated with my Masters in Library Science, and am hoping to be a proper librarian soon. Also, I'm 28 and female, if that kind of thing matters to you.

My favorite comics (past and present) are, in no particular order: Hellblazer, Sandman, Death, Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Fell, JTHM, Runaways, Lenore, Birds of Prey, Batman, (Mighty!) Thor, Simon Dark, BTVS, Thunderbolts, Avengers: The Initiative, Guardians of the Galaxy, and manga such as Crayon Shinchan and Ranma. I'm sure there are more, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. Oh, and I also liked the Avengers Fairy Tales series. Anyway, you get the idea.

Shadow mocks my love of indie comics, borrowing the motto: "Make Mine Marvel." (He also mocks my taste in music and most video games, so this is nothing new.) So there will be some debate regarding this here, to be sure. Like most things in life, I can only shrug and say that I like what I like. Even if I am juvenile and dark.

Marvel v. DC

2008-06-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

In response to Shadow's latest post, I'm torn as to which universe I like better. There are good characters in both, and good stories. It kind of boils down to the sorts of comics I like. For example, I like comics that feature female characters, and two of my favorites (Catwoman and Wonder Woman) happen to be from the DCU. There's even a book with an all-girl team, with an ex-librarian leader! What's not to love? I like a lot of the female DC characters in general. Not that I don't like the female Marvel characters (Quasar is teh awesome.)... It's just that the ones I like don't get their own books or stories, for the most part.

I also tend to prefer non-costumed superhero books. Like the Runaways in the Marvel universe, for example. But even if you don't count Vertigo titles, DC has stuff like Simon Dark, which is pretty much my favorite series right now. For some reason, I tend to associate DC with being darker (again, this may have more to do with Vertigo) and I prefer heavier stuff. Also, Batman has been a long-time favorite of mine. I love Gotham and the villains and (if you couldn't tell from the name of the blog) the whole Arkham thing. The goth/Malkavian in me says there's nothing cooler than crazy people and an anti-hero in black and a creepy asylum in the middle of it all.

For me, it's not which universe is better or worse. I enjoy them both, and don't consider myself a hardcore fan of one to the exclusion of the other. Hell, I love indie comics like Fell and Kabuki and Lenore and pretty much anything Jhonen Vasquez does. I don't care who publishes them, as long as I like the characters and stories.

Thought for the Day

2008-06-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

Why does it seem like everybody on the Web is a hardcore, virtually exclusive DCU fan? Am I missing something? By all accounts Marvel sells more books, yet the representation on the Web is strongly tilted toward DC. Personally, I can barely understand what is going on in most of DC's titles. And aside from Batman, Joker, Superman, and Lex Luthor, the characters don't really seem that interesting to me. Is it supposed to be the thinking man's imprint because of all the weird metaphysics like the stuff in Final Crisis? Does the DCU better reward long-standing reader loyalty?

I mean, I would much rather read a story about alien invasions, civil war, and political, moral, and social strife than spend all day figuring out how fifty-two different versions of the multiverse are going to collide in a cosmicsignularitythatdestroysthenotionofKantianfreewillasweknow.... Plus, I just find Marvel's heroes and villains more compelling and, well, cooler, and the universe they inhabit seems more fully developed and realistic (for a world inhabited by costumed vigilantes). Just me, I guess. The Internets do not concur.

Gish (our resident DC fan), you want to chime in with your thoughts?

What if this IS what's it all about?

2008-06-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

Think about it...

Wednesday's Recommendation

2008-06-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Note: In the future, I'll try to post these on Tuesday.

Obviously Final Crisis as well as the two Avenger's tie-ins will be at the top of everyone's list today. And we're also getting the final issues for two amazing arcs: Whedon's Dead End Kinds (Runaways) and Ellis' Caged Angels (Thunderbolts). All of those are going to be great, of course. But I'm going to take a chance and recommend that you also pick up this week's Avengers: The Initiative (click through for a preview).

Last week introduced us to a new cadre of recruits, none of whom you will probably recognize unless you are full-fledged Marvel zombie who has been reading every title for the last 30 years. They're not as interesting or compelling as the first class in issues 1-12, but I'm expecting a few new faces (possibly the old Skrull Kill Krew, or so I've heard). This issue should be a good jumping-on point for new readers, but you might want to flip through last month's issue at the book store just to catch-up on the new recruits' back story. Plus, this is a Secret Invasion Tie-in, and with the Initiative playing such a big role in pushing back the skrull invasion of New York, there's bound to be some juicy SI-related plot developments here. This will also be a good introduction to the Initiative for those unfamiliar with some of the minor characters being featured in the SI main book. We already know that the Crusader, an older member of the initiative, is a skrull as is Henry Pym who is one of the trainers/drill-sergeants at Camp Hammond. So they'll definitely be some fallout from all of that.

Slott and Gage are good writers capable of creating interesting and dynamic teen characters. They can also weave that in with an action-filled plot and lots of good twists and turns. The art style for A:I is sort of manga-ish and really suits the young characters featured in this series while still doing justice to the old cast. I'm not so great a describing art work -- just open the cover and you'll see that it's unique while not being confusing or messy.

So check it out if you're not broke after paying for the rest of your pull list.

Secret Invasion v. Final Crisis

2008-06-25T10:52:00.001-07:00

So, hi and welcome. This is the first post to our little comics (and other stuff) blog. I'm shadow and my co-host is called gish. I won't bore you with much introductory stuff, except to let you know a little about me. I'm 30 going on 31, a 3rd year law student, and former writer. I more familiar with the Marvel Universe but I've been growing somewhat more acquainted with the DCU. In my pre-adult years I read mostly Punisher comics. In college I moved over to the DC Vertigo titles. And now I'm mostly into comics of the super hero variety, but really I'll read anything. You can see our current pull list over on the right.

So enough of that. Completely unsolicited, I'm going to give you a few of my thoughts on this summer's two big events: Secret Invasion and Final Crisis.

Secret Invasion -- Pros:

Tight storyline with good continuity across titles;
Excellent tie-ins, some of which, like Captain Britain and Incredible Hercules, are better than the main book;
Easy to follow for new readers. Abhay at Savage Critics lamented (to be polite) the third issue's focus on "obscure" Young Avenger and Initiative characters, but even I -- who has just recently returned to comics -- had no problem identifying all the major players. People who haven't read Young Avengers or Avengers: The Initiative are really doing themselves a disservice by ignoring or writing these characters off as inconsequential. Plus, you've got a list of all of them on the first page so you can Wikipedia them if necessary.
Some good shock value from the initial reveals, though I definitely think it could use a few more major ones. The best choice is Iron Man but we all know that ain't happening;
Super skrulls are cool -- how could you not like a feral green alien with Thor's hammer, Wasp's wings, and Iron Man's armor? The technological replication of super hero powers is tres cool.
Good tie to Civil War and World War Hulk. The skrulls are clearly taking advantage of those situations, but Bendis has yet to explain how they were involved. Of course, if they would just make Iron Man a skrull, this would be easy.

Secret Invasion -- Cons:

A little too derivative of BSG. Shapeshifter sabotages planetary defenses... yawn.
Not enough big-name characters replaced by skrulls, especially given the lead-up hype (see, for example, the "Who Do You Trust?" sketches)
Death of the Vision. I see why this was done -- we need a reason to hate the skrulls. But there was no real build-up and in fact many philistines who didn't read Young Avengers didn't even know he was alive again.
Nick Fury's New Howling Commandos. Is the answer to the invasion yet another band of teen superheroes who have no experience or training? Because of it is, I'd sure as hell rather see that role played by the Runaways, Young Avengers, the Initiative, or the New Warriors. How cool would it have been to see Nick Fury team up with these guys?
Lenil Yu, who is only saved by his inker and colorist. He's getting better, but I would've preferred Jim Cheung or someone like that.
The pace is way too slow. From Abhay:
"The plot has advanced another 10 minutes, which-- if the life expectancy of the average American is 77.8 years, assuming this pacing holds, according to my rough calculations, one human lifetime is the equivalent of 408,968 issues of Secret Invasion. A comic telling the story of a single human life at this rate would thus take 34,080 years to be published. Not including annuals."
Bendis' dialogue is just awful sometimes. I can see he's going for realism, but it often comes off as annoying and choppy.

Final Crisis -- Pros:

The death of the Martian Manhunter and one of the New Gods. This gives you the feeling that anything could happen. I'm not a DCU devotee, but hearing that the Martian Manhunter got killed really sparked my interest in this book. You get the felling that something big is happening.
Dark Sied is a great villain.
Great art.
Morrison is a master storyteller, even though sometimes he doesn't explain things well enough for casual fans like myself.

Final Crisis -- Cons:

I had no idea what was going on. Seriously. Who the fuck are the monitors? That part just draggeed and couldn't see the relationship to the other events. And what's the deal with the first boy/last boy scenes?
Too many D-list characters. I didn't know who hardly any of the villains were. I know people have the same complaint about Secret Invasion, but those characters at least have or had their own series, all of which are actually pretty good. Is there a Human Flame series I'm unaware of?
Not enough action.
I heard somewhere that it contradicted existing continuity from Countdown to Final Crisis. I also heard that Countdown was awful so... who cares? The lesson here: you shoudn't waste your money on crappy comics just so you can keep up with the continuity.

Side-by-Side:

So it's a little early to compare the two. On the whole, I've found the SI tie-ins to be more exciting than the main book. Captain Britain does a much better job of portraying the scale of the attack. An alien invasion should give you a feeling of hopelessness and despair -- the aliens are just too strong, too powerful, and too prepared (see Independence Day, War of the Worlds, etc.) The Savage Land business has kept all of Marvel's heavy hitters from really getting into the thick of the invasion. Final Crisis looks like it could be really interesting, but I think it just presumes far too much familiarity with obscure bits of history of the DCU. The first issue was all set up, but I don't even know what was being set up. If I had to chose, SI wins based solely on the strength of its tie-ins and strong cross-title continuity.

My two cents. What do you think?