I Show How Big A Nerd I Really Am

Credit: DC

In this week’s installment of the 52 part Countdown to Final Crisis series, issue #14 featured a very large mistake. It was a typo, but with pictures.

On page 22 (I counted the ads), Panel 3 a Monitor tells Batman: “Too late… too many… we cannot prevail…” Batman is in the frame with the Monitor.

Panel 4: Batman tells the Monitor “You don’t know me at all, do you?” and the Monitor is in frame.

Panel 5: But then, Batman is in another position looking back to someone and says, “Unless you hid an army in that utility belt, the Monitor might be right.”

Batman suddenly changes positions and seems to be replying to his own comments. What this panel was probably supposed to show was Robin, and, the way the panel is shown it could very well have been Robin (the “ears” of the mask are cut off), but instead of a red arm sleeve, it is gray. It’s more likely an inker messed up here, not the writer or illustrator.

I don’t really know why I like Deadpool. Long story short, he is a mercenary who is a few bullets short of an ammo clip. He has a healing factor and was a subject of Weapon X, the program that gave Wolverine his adamantium claws. For the past few years, writer Fabian Nicieza (New Thunderbolts) scribed Cable & Deadpool, a book that paired the off-the wall metafictional antihero with the would-be world savior from the future, Cable.

Unlike most of the X-Men titles, which are harder for a comic reader to get into than size 30 pants (oh no he didn’t) due to crazy backstory, Cable & Deadpool was very accessible even though there were dozens of cameos. Sadly, the title suffered a giant blow when Cable was recruited for the Messiah Complex story. Deadpool teamed-up with other Marvel characters, like Doctor Strange and the Fantastic Four, but none could fill Cable’s void. Next month’s issue #50 will be the series’ last.

Marvel gave me the opportunity to talk to Mr. Nicieza about these developments. Read the rest of this entry »

Credit: DC Comics

I love this series. Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters is not bogged down in all sorts of crazy tie-in crap, even though there are passing references to other happenings in the DCU. A series that is totally invested in its characters, we see these new Freedom Fighters as people while simultaneously staring in awe at the god-like spirit of America, Uncle Sam. I am always hesitant about new characters taking on the costumes and names of older characters, but to be honest, I have no exposure to the older Freedom Fighters (though I wish there would be a Showcase), so for me, these are the original.

Series writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti took time to talk with me about Uncle Sam. Read the rest of this entry »

Turok You Like A Hurricane?

Remember playing Turok on N64? I do. Remember that Turok was a 50s comic book character? Not really?

Turok: Sone of Stone will be released straight to DVD on February 5th. An animated film, this movie is “timed to coincide with the property’s landmark re-launch” the press release stated. What they mean is the XBOX 360 Turok game. You can tell out of the game and the movie where all their energy went…

The movie wasn’t that good. There were some cool fight scenes, but on the whole the dialog was cliché and the plot lacked substance. And the animation wasn’t very unique, I hate to say reminding me of those knock-off Disney movies you can buy in the discount bin, made specifically for grandparents to mistakenly buy. This surprises me because the people that worked on the movie have a combined resume of X-Men: The Animated Series, Ultimate Avengers, Batman Beyond, Hellboy: Animated and Invader Zim and was written by Tony Bedard, who worked on Marvel’s Exiles.

I get the feeling this was released only to make people think Turok has more pop culture pull than just the games (which was really all I needed).

Image © Genius Products, LLC. and Classic Media

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #5 (DC) - GO BUY THIS COMIC! I got to interview this series’ writers, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and they told me that due to low sales Uncle Sam may not return (I’ll post that later this week). This can’t be! Uncle Sam is the most creative and well-written title amongst a myriad of sub-par tie-in crap. Don’t wait for the trade for this one! Read the rest of this entry »

hellboymovie.com/

The best part of this trailer is how it makes you think it’s for Pan’s Labyrinth 2. It’s magical and the creatures look the same. Is that a nice little fairy on the ground? How sweet. The forces of magic are unseen and exist around us.

And then Hellboy is going to kick their ass.

This movie is going to be phenomenal visually and I can’t wait for it. The monsters look awesome and is that Johann Kraus I spy?

Image courtesy Universal Studios

I had a negative predisposition going into Cloverfield. It was Godzilla, but The Blair Witch Project. Neat. I figured that the movie was all hype, that for the movie to make sense, we would have to participate in a Lost Experience-like website. My expectations were not dispelled as the movie began, the unnecessary character development recorded by a drunk baby that apparently has minor arm spasms every two seconds. We get it. The movie is from the point of view of a hand held camera. Move on. Read the rest of this entry »

A Cape By Any Other Name

Cape (left) & Cowl (right)

Hey kids! This was Cape & Cowl’s first week in print, not only at the U of I in the Daily Illini, but in my artist Shane Smith’s college paper, The Northern Star at NIU. That means my strip has a circulation of about 48,000 statewide!

This week Cape looks for a new name, apparently dissatisfied with it after one strip! He is foiled time and time again until he decides to adopt a lesser known moniker (lesser known for obvious reasons). Read the rest of this entry »

The last issue of JLA, #16, left a really bitter taste in my mouth. The issue was a waste of writer Dwayne McDuffie’s time, if you ask me. It was a set-up prequel issue for the Tangent: Superman’s Reign maxi-series. As pointed out on Rich Johnston’s Lying in the Gutters column, McDuffie admitted on chat boards that DC didn’t explain the project to him that well. It seems more and more like DC doesn’t know what it’s doing.

There is a core, ideal series of events going on in the DC Universe. Imagine it as a beam of light. The light hits a prism and fractures into individual colors. Like Marvel’s Civil War, DC is infected with tie-in madness and each series somehow reflects these events. The only way to know what is going on is to read everything DC has put out, but even then the central story slips between the cracks. I’m not saying DC is the only one that is doing this, Marvel does it too and both publishers end up angering fans more than pleasing them with this publishing model. Read the rest of this entry »

alexrossart.com

Mark Waid is an author whose books are staples in many (like mine) comic collections. His most popular work, Kingdom Come, was illustrated by Alex Ross and continues to shape the direction of DC today (Current issues of Justice Society of America feature the Superman from this series). He has worked for DC and Marvel, taking the reigns of characters like the Fantastic Four and helping write 52, DC’s weekly series detailing the fallout from Infinite Crisis.

Currently, his work includes Brave and the Bold, a relaunch of DC’s team-up book as well as the limited series, Potter’s Field, which he wrote for BOOM! Studios, the comic publisher where he is now Editor. I spoke with him about his work and BOOM! Studios for an upcoming article in The Buzz.

There is EXCLUSIVE information here about an upcoming project! Okay, it’s just a title, but let me have my moment. Read the rest of this entry »