For British Eyes Only

Many people don’t pay attention to a series after the first issue. The marketing departments of big companies hype the launching of the first book, but never really follow up. What I mean is that each issue deserves attention, and while a series looses its popularity as it goes on, comic readers should follow the entirety of a series, not just the first issue.

So how is Paul Cornell’s Captain Britain and MI-13 doing since it’s first issue?

This is the British book and practical in terms of the Marvel Universe. We needed this book to address what the British super heroes are doing during the Skrull invasion. The Marvel universe is a universe of implications, where one thing from one comic can affect the course of another. The excuse for this series is to explore Bendis’ Secret Invasion implications, but also slightly addresses issues presented in Cornell’s Wisdom, the newer Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos miniseries and in my mind, the end of Marc Guggenheim’s Blade run. Read the rest of this entry »

They Decide 2008

The purpose behind this series is to ride the 2008 Election bandwagon and identify the political affiliation of every major DC character.

I know, right?

The series is being written by the best DC has to offer - Bill Willingham of Fables (the Right) and Judd Winnick of Green Arrow/Black Canary (the Left). I love these writers (sans Winnick’s butchery of Captain Marvel), and the story will no doubt be fantastic, but the idea behind this series is just dumb.

Let’s go back to Marvel’s Civil War. This was an overly political fare asking “Whose side are you on?” But this was alright because the characters where dealing with the hypothetical political debate over superhuman registration. While Iron Man clearly was Bush and Captain America a liberal, the issues dealt with were imaginary and real world political allegiances were not directly revealed. Dare I say Marvel handled this more artistically than DC will? Read the rest of this entry »

courtesy DC

The Literati of the internet and comic fandom have spoken - Final Crisis is too confusing! They don’t know what is going on, or what writer Grant Morrison is trying to prove with dozens of storylines that have yet to converge. People are angry and vocal about how “bad” this crossover is, and I can see the logical assertions they are making.

To wait seven months to read one story is problematic, and the random characters to follow, some of them brand new, is annoying. Grant Morrison doesn’t need to re-invent the wheel. But at the same time, comic fans are complaining just to complain.

Yes, the story doesn’t make a lot of sense, but with this recent third issue, some of the random elements are beginning to merge and make sense. The payoff for waiting to see this book come together in the end will be far greater than demanding a traditional, linear and boring story’s momentary payoff. On its own, Final Crisis may seem like a mess, but most comic fans read a lot of comics a week - so if Final Crisis is nontraditional, chances are they are reading ten to fifteen titles that are traditional.

Trust Grant Morrison - you’ll save yourself a lot of time angrily blogging if you do. Ahem…

I Am A Thousand Of Them

I’ve always been a fan of the Magic: The Gathering worlds - even when I stopped playing the game I continued to read the novels based on each expansion. The Magic worlds are influenced by mythology and modern concepts, and the stories that take place in them are always good reads.

Magic.com has posted the first of three webcomics focusing on the planeswalker Garruk Wildspeaker. Written by Flavor Text Editor and recent Eventide development head Doug Beyer, this is a great short story that helps to expand the Magic mythology.

I made a promise I couldn’t keep. Covering Comic-Con by oneself is impossible. The convention center took days to explore, and each panel had a line so long, you would have had to be there an hour before hand to ensure attendance. I thought I’d have free time, but at night when I thought I’d post, I was occupied by parties.

As far as the Con went, I have mixed feelings. As a comic fan, everyone and everything you’d want to see would be there, and lines in teh comic book area wouldn’t be too horrible. But, the movie and TV and video game and toy stuff really stole comics’ limelight, and filled the con with tourists and kids who admittedly didn’t read. Harold & Kumar were there, for example, and their booth put Marvel’s to shame. But once I stayed out of the entertainment section and kept to the comics area, I had a good time meeting with publishers and creators.

The parties were by far the best part of the Con because I could meet and talk to people one on one. You’d turn around and Joss Whedon or Bruce Campbell would be chilling. I met Mark Waid, Stephen Baldwin, Bill Willingham, the heads of DC and Marvel, Keith Giffen, and Grant Morrison at these parties, and as a professional and a fan boy I had a great time just talking to people.

News: Read the rest of this entry »

For those of us wanting a quick refresher course on Deadpool before his new series begins in September, Marvel has set up the Deadpool Saga online, a quick comic designed to explore Deadpool’s history in the Marvel Universe. Take a look if you are interested.

p.s. I’m heading off to San Diego Comic Con, so I’ll be sure to update as the week unfolds.

The San Francisco Treat

Subscriptions be praised! Somehow, by “accident” I’m sure, the much hyped X-Men milestone comic was released two days before its typical Wednesday release date. This issue was written by Ed Brubaker (The Death of Captain America) and Matt Fraction (Punisher War Journal) and focuses on the X-Men now that there are only 198 mutants left in the world and forced to flee to San Fransisco as it has denied the Super Human Registration Act.

This issue did a great job of setting up the future of the X-Men and mutants, and hopefully those humans now dealing with losing their mutant heritage and powers. Magneto is hooked up with the High Evolutionary and with two those two together, who knows what could become of the X-Men. Personally, I want the mutants to come back through some experiment of the High Evolutionary, but I feel confident now that there are enough new items to explore to keep the different X-titles fresh for awhile while Marvel decides what to do.

X-Men is about surviving in spite of hatred and bigotry, the minority being exploited and eradicated by ignorance. It might seem like with mutants, who symbolically stood for African-Americans and most recently homosexuals, could not stand for the same things there are only 200 mutants around, but now there is potential to look at what happens when the ignorant are close to winning, what would happen if the little guy were about to be overwhelmed. The best part is, we’re going to see that story told with giant robots and crazy battles with a cast of colorful characters.

Plus I’m also looking forward to learning more about Pixie’s involvement in the team.

courtesy Warner Bros.

Those of you who went to see The Dark Knight this weekend saw the trailer for the highly-anticipated movie adaptation to Alan Moore’s Watchmen, the first comic book ever collected in trade paperback.

The trailer looks awesome, and I’m looking forward to this movie, even though Alan Moore doesn’t approve. The comic is about an allegorical set of super heroes now in retirement. It’s the 1980s and the height of the Cold War. The comic is a tome, 12 issues, but well worth the read. The storyline is brilliant, but filled with all sorts of homage and allusions to comics. In fact, the world of Watchmen is a reflection of DC’s history, and acts as a massive love letter to comics fans. The movie will most likely remove a lot of these nuances to make the film more appealing to a wider audience.

All in all, this will most likely be a box office hit. Comic fans have known about Watchmen for years, and hopefully hype up to the film’s release will send people to bookstores to see what it’s about.

It may seem a bit hasty to do a retrospective on a series still being released, but the third trade paperback of the series Punisher War Journal has just been published and the regular writer is soon to leave the comic, so I figure there is enough material to look at to make a fair assessment. I also think it’s good to examine the series as the comic media is goo goo for writer Matt Fraction. Is their undying praise justified?

In some way, it is. The idea of the Punisher, the bad ass human who fights crime with large guns and explosives, began in a super hero comic. But, as time progressed and Marvel became more “realistic”, Punisher fought human foes, and costumed vigilantes appeared less and less. Matt Fraction’s Punisher War Journal puts Frank Castle straight into the heart of the Marvel Universe in all its absurd glory.

From becoming the new Captain America to shooting the Rhino, the Punisher has gotten back to his roots as a vigilante out to fight vigilantes. Couple this nostalgic take on Punisher with the beautiful art of Ariel Olivetti that could give Alex Ross a run for his money and this is a great, fun series. There’s action, crossovers, humor, and character development - all the thing Marvel fans read comics for. Read the rest of this entry »

The following press release has shown up online. Released from BOOM! Studios, it leaves a lot to the imagination. Hopefully all the removed information will be revealed at San Diego Comic Con?