America’s Best Comics Returns!!!

Yes! This is it! I’ve been waiting 4 years for this! Top Ten: Beyond the Farthest Precinct was a travesty, a book too bizarre and random, undercutting the serious human issues Moore presented in his original series.

This new series, the second season, is what Farthest Precinct should have been. The characters are set up; old, new and underused alike to get set loose in a brilliant maze of story that all converges at one glorious end.

America’s Best Comics are the best modern comics readers can find, and naysayers need to read Top Ten to prove them wrong. Everything a super hero book should be - bizarre, epic, emotional - Top Ten is. Zander Cannon and Gene Ha know what they’re doing, and we should listen when they speak.

courtesy DC Comics

Stop Crying Wolf!

courtesy Image

Why do we read comics? Is it to read a good story, to be moved like we would if we were reading literature? Or are you an art connoisseur, and you read to see illustrations?

While many comic fans pretend to understand and be art experts, the main reason we read comics is for the good story. And good stories need characters we care about, characters established so the writer can then utilize them in new situations that tell great stories.

I’ve defended Robert Kirkman’s use of large sections of dialog because I know that all the talking has a legitimate point. He had to take time to wind up his toys so he could let them go, and Astounding Wolf-Man #8 panders to those people who read but hate reading. Compared to other Kirkman titles, this issue has little dialog. The characters are already established so long-winded speeches aren’t needed.

Kudos, Mr. Kirkman. Now let me interview you!

Tonight at midnight players can create characters and begin playing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the newest MMORPG, a fantasy multiplayer game in the vein of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. This game looks very cool visually and many gamers are planning to start playing or switch from WoW.

But Warhammer poses some marketing problems. The first is about the world of the game itself. Warhammer is a collectible game played on tables with figurines produced by Games Workshop. The world is generic fantasy with heavy Tolkien influences. Maybe more darker than most fantasy worlds, but it’s traditional fantasy at its core. The same can be said of Warcraft, Magic: The Gathering and many fantasy properties. The reason these properties can coexist is due to their different mediums. Warcraft has always been video games, Warhammer as tabletop games, Magic as a card game, and so forth. But these properties are essentially the same sort of world, only riffed slightly for copyright issues. Warhammer is fresh and unique because it’s a tabletop game, not because its story is so badass it transcends mediums. There is a reason WoW shouldn’t have been made a card game, and why Magic’s video games never really caught on. To each his own.

But the biggest drawback to Warhammer is its presentation. Yes, if you are a PC gamer with all the right cards and hardware you can play the game. Everyone else is out. Warcraft can be played on PC or Mac, and while lower graphics, playable on most recent computers, including my 5-year-old iBook, which is saying something. Blizzard has the right attitude towards this sort of gaming, trying to get a multitude of customers. Maybe Warhammer will be this way, but so far all that game has done is alienate me from playing with its hardware restrictions and unimaginative premise.

Now, Warhammer 40K would be an amazing game…

Daniel Shows Us The Way!

I was skeptical. Fabian Nicieza really defined the character and brought him to the zany, fourth dimensional limits we all have come to expect from this character. Daniel Way’s run of Wolverine: Origins was lackluster, having what seemed like a single fight taking five issues.

I read those Wolverine issues, and I swear that this Deadpool is almost from a different writer. This new Deadpool is on par with Nicieza’s. What I mean is Way’s previous Deadpool read like watered down Nicieza, almost what Way thought Deadpool should be written like. But this Deadpool from the new Secret Invasion tied-in series is brand new and rustic old.

If you are a fan of Deadpool, I highly recommend this continuation. This series was always one that recognized the craziness of comics, and having a reality check from time to time again is essential for us nerds. Plus, reality checks are always best accompanied by big guns and pop culture references.

Marvel’s Monkey Business

No seriously, what where they thinking? There is a lot to be said for premise based writing - pitching a concept or gimmick and running with it, fleshing out the story and plot as you go. Many comic projects begin with the premise - Captain America fights so and so, etc. But this premise?

Marvel Apes is clearly following the success of the alternate universe stories of Marvel Zombies. But the stark difference between these series is not the cheap gimmick - the heroes as X. No, the main difference is that Marvel Zombies was done, dare I say, more artfully? Read the rest of this entry »

courtesy DC

I was excited about this issue when I heard about it in San Diego. I’m less excited about the Page sisters, and more interested in the forgotten Fables - the legends and stories erased from the collective unconsciousness.

The cover and interiors are riddled with these invented legends, like Captain Scurvy the pirate and the bipedal camel. Writer Bill Willingham continues to amaze me with his crazy, off the wall stories that still have a touch of humanity to them (which is really the crude and campy humor).

I’d say at the beginning the series would only be fun to read for fans of Fables, but now Willingham has put enough time and development into these past few issues that Jack of Fables is something non-Fables fans can enjoy.

courtesy DC

While many of you know about Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta and Watchmen, no one outside of comics will have heard of Moore’s sub-imprint of DC’s Wildstorm imprint, America’s Best Comics.

These stories are the best comics have to offer. What Moore did was instead of write a single title, he wrote a dozen series all part of the same universe. With each title, he could use different artists to tell different stores. Tom Strong was a campy Superman/Doc Savage pulp hero, while Promethea was a dark fantasy exploration of Moore’s religious philosophy. Each title had a different theme, but the characters shared a central universe.

America Best Comics’ was Moore’s attempt at saving comics. He gave different writers and artists the chance to play in a unique toy box of characters that homaged the wonderfully stupid legacy of comics. But, all of the series were eventually canceled, and ABC was left on hiatus.

Hopefully, with this trade paperback that reprints all the title’s first issues and the announcement of a Top Ten (the super hero police title) sequel, ABC may be back on the rise. If sales and interest justify it, these brilliant series may soon return.

Plus, this book is only $5.

When “Jokers” Go Wild In A Full House

There’s a point when a comedian stops being funny and starts being crude. In last night’s Roast of Bob Saget, the traditional group of roasters - like Jeff Ross - crossed the line, as they usually do in these shows. Bob Saget has reportedly taken offense to how the Olsen twins were ridiculed by these acquaintances, and I’m inclined to agree with him. Read the rest of this entry »

I Love The Smell Of Humor In The Morning

I went into this movie thinking it would be racist and offensive, and yes, it was. The movie has sparked controversy over the use of the word “retard” and of course, Robert Downey Jr. playing a stereotypical African-American. The movie was offensive and slightly racist, but it had a point.

This movie was mocking Hollywood. The trailers at the beginning were an indicator of how the movie would satirize every genre of movie and every type of actor. The film covers directors and corporate backers, and even talent agents by tacking on Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey’s characters awkwardly into the plot.

The use of offensive terms and stereotypes was meant to show how Hollywood uses those elements un-artistically all the time. Ben Stiller poked fun at the very industry he works for, and you might find that circular logic troublesome, but this movie is a sort of reality check to show America how dumb and pointless entertainment actually is in our country today.

Plus the scene after the credits when Nick Fury showed up and invited Ben Stiller to join the Avengers was great, too.

Read the rest of this entry »