Not signed in (Sign In)

Welcome, Guest

Want to take part in these discussions? Sign in if you have an account, or apply for one below

Vanilla 1.1.10 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

Welcome Guest!
Want to take part in these discussions? If you have an account, sign in now.
If you don't have an account, apply for one now.

Reviews of things: This week I have mostly being reading.......

Bottom of Page

801 to 900 of 1000

  1. <
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. >
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2011
     
    I love it when the last issue of a cancelled series suddenly becomes the final issue of a limited series. Surely it'd be better to launch as a mini and keep going if anyone buys it?
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2011
     
    i agree. i've never understood why marvel have reversed a situation that always used to be common practise for them once upon a time. mind you, they fanny about with the numbering as and when the fancy takes them for no good reason (does it really help sales, or just put people off thinking titles are being endlessly relaunched or as #65878 part of some long running arc that they can't be arsed with..?)
  3.  
    Can I recommend "Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel" which coincidentally I'm reading but notice it's offered again in the latest Previews. Whist I couldn't categorise it as a comic or even I suppose a graphic novel, it's a well written book in the steampunk style and definitely worth the purchase. Don't know where it was bought for me but I would have thought JM could order it for you.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeFeb 27th 2011
     
    Deathlok's in Uncanny X-Force #5, should any Forum frequenter be a fan... He'll be in the next ish too, I'd warrant.
  5.  
    Cyberpunk! My money was on Splatterpunk lasting the distance not Cyberpunk and see how that worked out! Good job I'm not a betting man.

    Deathlok's in the future singing Neal Diamond songs, shurely sho!

    T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS #4 (DC Comics, £2.25) by Nick Spencer, Cafu, Bit and George Perez. This a cracker of a comic book. Yeah, I know - T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is a dusty old property and thus like those creepy old people should just be ignored on general principle. But, hey, young fella, slow down a lick and listen a spell as DC have only done and gone got some of those young’uns to have a go at this here comical malarkey.

    Yeah, swelte and sexy Nick Spencer writes it. This embryonic sensation being, as I’m sure I need not explain, the sh*t hot and gland throbbing fan crush of the moment with his breakout splash hit MORNING GLORIES, interesting work on INFINITE VACATION and also his initial attempt to stick his head in the jaws of Marvel with Iron Man v.2.0 (out last week, bairns!). Here he’s giving you a slippery espionage plot with just enough tights and fights for your mind to hang onto. It’s a thrilling mix that has plenty of momentum and fresh twists in its dirty tale. Cafu and Bit draw it and not only are they entirely fine with moments that suggest they could well develop quickly into solid and satisfying talents but they are so young, hot and s*xy they only have one name each. Freeeeeeeeesh!

    There’s also a Guest Spot each month for some old dude like Howard Victor Chaykin (#3) or George Perez (#4) in which they basically just show up and either steal the show or don’t actually spoil anything, y'know, depending on your age. As a sort-of-nod backwards this series also appears to be aping the old timey series in structure. Thus far each issue has spotlighted one of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in order to tell us who they be and how they come to be the way they be and it looks likely they will all combine in one big old munchy crunchy twisty turny tighty fighty climax. Like the old series, right? Nice touch that. Sadly, no one has yet said "Who's that clown?!"

    So, yeah, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is a pretty neat read, the kind that reward re-reads and has, so far, had at least three bits in each issue I liked enough to take note of. Difficult to spoil anything but I will say this issues personal highlight was when the Dynamo candidate tinkled down the wall in public. You definitely get VFM with this one and I’m as shocked as anyone that its turned out that well. I mean, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents? Really? Apparently so. Heed the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. – buy T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS! (Before it gets cancelled!)
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2011 edited
     
    Tra La! i have read some of my stuffs...

    Batgirl # 18 - An alternative Valentine's Day issue spent in the bizarre company of Klarion the witch boy who has ill advisedly cast a spell on his familiar to prevent it mating and leaving him on his lonesome. Wackiness ensues, as does an awful lot of sweet sweet kitty love. Oh how I love this book! It's such fun month in month out :)

    Birds Of Prey # 9 - More serious stern face happenings as Oracle's plan to fake her own death continues to hit the skids and looks like it might end with the real thing as Calculator rounds his goons on Huntress, Black Canary, Dove and um...the other one in black. Nice art by Inaki Miranda. Ends with Oracle piloting a helicopter gunship (surely Batman wouldn't approve, rubber bullets or not) and a big explosion..and...TO...BE...CONTINUED!!! A book that's all about the story, and despite the characters all being generally well realised, there's no let up in the ever escalating stakes which makes this a hard book to warm to.

    Hotwire # 3 - Great techno-exorcist series from Warren Ellis and Steve Pugh, who's artwork here is gorgeous and reminds me of old Dan Dare type stuff. This second mini-series has revolved around a 'blue light' (the ghost form of a human - a walking heap of electrical impluses able to sustain itself after death due to...um...stuff) finding his way back to the city and attempting to save the life of a heavily pregnant woman who was in a nasty accident and has most of her head missing (urgh!) but is hovering between life and death. Reminds me of the stuff I used to like when I was about 14. So I like it!
  7.  
    Invincible Iron Man # 500 - What If? style adventure featuring Iron Man's descendants battling the Mandarin who has harnessed a load of Stark tech and laid waste to the world in the future, whilst in the present day, Tony Stark 2.0 remembers that there was something very important that used to be in his head before his reboot that now isn't. Its okay, but not terribly great. The nice mix of art styles for the future / present day stuff works well though. Very inconsequential for an anniversary issue (although it feels horribly false, because this isn't #500 to me).

    Invincible Iron Man #500.1 - F**k's sake Marvel, stop p*ssing about with your bloody numbering!I mean, really! It's pointless and annoying. This very much feels like the back up story in an anniversary issue, with Tony at an AA meeting basically recounting key moments in his life through the use of the metaphor. Which comes across in a lsightly comedic fashion with repeated use, which I'm not sure is quite the effect Matt Fraction was aiming for. All in all, a pretty flat celebration for Iron Man's alleged (but not really) 500th issues.

    Invincible Iron Man # 501 - (its not 501, ints volume 2 or 3 # 3something!!!) Back to business with a dying Doctor Octopus (bet he doesn't end up dying) kidnapping Tony Stark and uh, that guy who helps him do tech stuff who turned up a few issues back with a bunch of other big brains we didn't get to know much about. A good attempt to make Doctor Octopus a dangerous foe, rather than a comical boob like usual culminating in the best line I've read in comics for a while "I'm going to fix you, you sad weird bastard."
  8.  
    Punisher Max # 10 - Its been a long time coming this one, and the yawning gap only makes the current Bullseye arc feel painfully long. Too much titting about from Bullseye has infruiated me as much as it has the Kingpin, although there's a nice (er in that its a rather good realisation) suggestion the Frank Castle might have actually murdered his own family to allow him to become the Punisher.

    Scarlett # 4 - Soundtracked by Rage Against The Machine, this 'fight the power' series is very much lacking in originality, but it is still a jolly good read, nonetheless. Alex Maleev's art has never looked better, with every panel leaping from the page and a good colour palette (unlike the sickly mess of the lack lustre Spider Woman).

    Widowmaker # 4 - Second string crossover effort fizzles out with a big fight between some armoured goofballs. Probably the best thing I can say about this. Competent but uninspiring art and writing with some fella from Black Widow's past as the main villain (and he was supposed to be dead). If this is the end of the road for Black Widow, then it's probably a good thing. There seems to have been a growing realisation that Black Widow is an excellent supporting character, but just doesn't have enough about her to support an ongoing of her own. That said, surely doing some detective-y stuff with her, rather than goofball super spy stories might be a more interesting direction.
  9.  
    CLiNT # 5 - Despite the rather purile nature of the title, i am enjoying the strip content and interviews. If only Millar could drop all the pointless crap like 'Sex With Cats' or whatever useless space filling features garabage then the title may actually have a chance.

    Kick Ass II - Enjoyable, but still lacking the same impact as the original mini-series. Perhaps not too suprising, but there's nothing about this so far that's really got my attention which is a real shame given that the core cast remain strong. The sidelining of Mindy (so far) feels like a bit of a mis-step though.

    Turf - Still great. Really it is. Best thing in the mag by far.

    The Pro - Hmm. I was twelve, I'd find this the most brilliant thing ever. Nudity, swearing, sex, punch ups and taking the piss out of superheroes. It's knockabout fun, and beer sodden Nuts readers will no doubt find it amazing. I like that Amanda Conner has suitably 'roughed up' her line work for this series though.

    American Jesus - Some great discussion and debate on what the world would be like if Jesus actually returned...which is then spoilt by the foreboding thought of what if the Antichrist appears. Which gives me the sickly feeling that I might know where this will be heading. how disappointing. I hope i'm wrong...

    Nemesis - Ends with lots of shooty death and the aggrivating revelation that there was someone behind this all along. Will probably work well as a film.

    A final one page strip rounds things out with a typical stern monologue of fighting talk revealing that its just some kid playing with toys at the end. Woo.
  10.  
    I too read some stuff as well but mostly different stuff as I am a different person with different hopes, dreams, wants and needs.

    PUNISHERMAX#10 (Marvel, £heyitturned updidntit!)
    I guess this wasn’t delayed while Steve Dillon slaved over those backgrounds. (My favourite: the never far away vertical line for room corners). Like Cap’n Si says; too much faffing. Bullseye basically does that bit in Red Dragon where Will Graham watches the home movies and he’s all “You knew they had a dog. But you didn’t know it was dead. How? Why? You saw them. You saw THESE FILMS! You sonavamunkey!” He does this for so many pages Kingpin has to just throw men at him like bread to a duck so that something will be happening. Next ish: fighting time! All the time!

    CAPTAIN AMERICA #616 (Marvel, £ whatevertheywanttochargepallyboy)
    Ah yes, the thorny question of superheroing and the judicial system treated with all the finesse and nuance as only a comic featuring a man who can communicate with a falcon using his mind can produce. That is to say: none. There was this little comic once that basically said that if just one superhuman appeared (maybe a bald, blue one?) then everything would change. So superheroes and legality? That question was answered nearly thirty years ago but everyone still ignores the answer (they’d either have to work for the gubbermint or be illegalised) and pretends the question is new. Fake realism – interesting concept. Next ish: Buckaroo in the Gulag! Hopefully this means we can have One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich but, y’know, with a guy who can communicate with a falcon with his mind!!!

    And BuckyCap? Is it just me or does he always do everything wrong? I know for a fact that he has a nasty habit of trying to jump after flying things and falling short (do you SEE what they are doing there?! Do you SEE?!) It’s okay this comic but it’s no better than a lot of CAPTAIN AMERICA comics and it’s a lot worse than CAPTAIN AMERICA comics where he makes Richard Nixon take his own life or has to roller skate or DIE!!! The art? It’s okay too. It’s like Gene “The Dean” Colan a lot of the time but more desiccated, as though it might shed crisp flakes onto your lap if you turn the pages too quickly.

    Mind you, I miss it when Cap said stuff like “I’m loyal only to THE DREAM!” So, y’know? A bit of a fruit loop?

    NEW AVENGERS #Doesitmatter (Marvel, £hahahaha). Wow. Clownshoes 101. An object lesson in how to fill a comic with the minimum of effort. I’m not going to go on about it because it just diminishes me even in my own eyes but, really (yes, really), this is rubbish. The last page of the cheapskate gibberish-fest backup is 9/10ths blank. That’s the best bit in this comic. The blank bit. People still take this guy seriously don’t they? That’s depressing. Hey, have a ticker tape parade just for showing up! Hell, have two! I’m being unfair every generation needs its Joe Gill, I guess.(Sick Burnnnn!) No, I don’t know what that means.

    Actually the best bit might be the slight smudge at the bottom of the third page of the interminable and defiantly pointless (except for page filling) chase sequence. Said smudge could be the result of Howard Victor Chaykin’s tears as he manfully chokes down his pride and earns more alimony money or it could be a bit of Mai Tai that slopped from his glass as he boozed his way through this in order to kill the pain. I’m lying, there isn’t even a smudge. Do you see, Howard Victor Chaykin, do you see the frankly disturbing strength of my creepy love for you?! I read this for you and only you but, fair warning, I’m thinking of getting together with members of your family and staging some kind of intervention. This isn’t doing anyone any good. We have to break the pattern!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2011
     
    Having already read The Pro, Nemesis, American Jesus and Kick-Ass 2 (all one issue of it) there doesn't seem to be a good reason for CLiNT...
    • CommentAuthorhes2010
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2011
     
    does any one working at ok also produce there own indipendant stuff (if so forgive my ignorance please and enlighten me)
  13.  
    After punching myself in the face with a Royal Wedding Commemorative Mug until I eventually passed out I awoke ready to read three Wolverine comics! (Or was it 2.1 Wolverine comics, eh?)

    WOLVERINE#5.1 (Marvel,£2.25) by Aaron, Palo and Fairbairn
    A fantastic jumping on point for new readers! My hairy plantain it is. Certainly not an excuse to disingenuously over saturate an already choking market, eh Marvel? Eh? What it is, despite everything, is a nice enough done in one about Wolverine’s surprise birthday party. It’s got action, romance, character interaction, Deadpool singing Neal Diamond and a fair dollop of cannibal comedy. It’s pretty good stuff. Solid writing and well above decent art, ayup, it’s a good comic alrighty roo. The only problem I had (because I’m all about having problems with stuff and telling you about them, just pretend you care it’ll be like a marriage) was that the Cannibal bros. Seemed a bit lightweight as Wolverine foes, still it was saved by the high comedy of a final page splash of a bunch of The Hand stood in a doorway throwing Mad! Ninja! Shapes! Despite the fact they were just basically talking to two guys in a cell. I bet they go down the shops like that and are all Mad! Ninja! Shapez! in the aisles of Netto and stuff. This was the best there was.

    WOLVERINE#6 (Marvel, £2.99) by Aaron, & Acuna
    If an imaginary new reader had picked this up they would notice a) it cost more for no real reason and b) they had just joined a story that was well into its flow and could have just stuck with the other comic since it was better and self-contained. Anyway this one is fascinating because it shows just what a difference being a good (decent?) writer can make. Structurally this is the kind of comic I would usually set fire to and then beat the fire out with a machete but...I mean, c’mon, it can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that what we have here is 20-odd pages of a bunch of people stood at the bottom of some steps talking while Wolverine just stands at the top of the steps stabbing himself. Really that’s pretty much it. And it’s...
  14.  
    ...okay for some strange reason. There’s a page eating sequence at the beginning but unlike other writers Aaron gives it significance by making it the crucial hook on which his cliff hanger depends. I thought that bit was pretty swell. We know what isn’t going to happen next issue but how is it not going to happen since he’s already shown us how it would in fact happen. You get me? No, well that’s because I’m not a writery man.

    It’s worth mentioning the art because I really liked a lot of Acuna’s work here but for my taste he should trust his talent to carry the art a bit more and rely less on his photo referencing. I mean there’s a couple of places where it just really doesn’t work at all which is jarring. Unless of course that picture of Wolverine at the top of the steps stabbing himself and going HAHAHAHAHA! Is supposed to look like something from TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE in which case I’m full of hot poop and goodnight, Mary! So, yeah, almost despite itself this was pretty good. The second best there was in fact.

    WOLVERINE; THE BEST TEHRE IS #3 (Marvel, £2.99) by Huston, Ryp and Mossa
    I was genuinely delighted to get the opportunity to read this. Sadly I was incredibly, crushingly perhaps, disappointed. The Internet (that lying, lying beast of a million lies) led me to expect a truly terrible thing, a thing of which to say it was squalid and nonsensical would be to extend it an almost Christ-like compassion. Sadly, I quite liked it. Yes, it is squalid and nonsensical but sometimes that’s alright, Mama. It seemed in some strange way to be as to Wolverine as BATMAN: ODYSSEY is to Batman. That is: all the stereotypical excesses and idiocies (rightly or wrongly)associated with the character in the public consciousness are amped up and thrown at the reader in much the same way as napalm is thrown at a village. Naturally this is in no other way comparable to BATMAN: ODYSSEY atop which Neal Adams stands Ahab-like in his pursuit of The Great White Absurdity. I’m not a big fan of Ryp’s artwork, look if I want Geoff Darrow I’ll buy Geoff Darrow. Hey, Whatever happened to SHAOLIN COWBOY anyway? Ryp's women's faces are particularly off putting. I keep expecting a valve to be poking out of their neck at some point.

    Of course the whole selling point of this classy act is the XXXX-treme! Violenz! Parental Advisory! Violenz! and before thinking better of it I was going to bang on about how its typically of our weird western societal norms that its a-okay to just go innards-a-go-go and just generally getcha gore on in a comic but the slightest hint of pubic thatch or normal-sized man thing and, well, that sex stuff just isn’t natural is it? Killing violently and sadistically, why everyone does that all the time, usually for recreational purposes or as an expression of the deepest and most loving connection two intrinsically separate creatures can ever hope to achieve. That sex stuff though? People who do that sick mess oughtta be locked up! Wait, I think I got confused. Or somebody did. So yeah, soapbox off and W:TBTI was third best there was. But third ain’t too shabby this time around.

    Wolverine - don't leave his cake out in the rain, because it too so long to make it and he'll never have that recipe again, BUB! I don't know:<Snikt!>"Every! Time!" End.
    • CommentAuthorhes2010
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2011
     
    I need to know more about axe cop please enlighten me
  16.  
    That violence/ sex issue of which you speak Lamont, is a tick peculiar to the good ol' USofA. I remember a particularly illuminating documentary on the BBFC once upon a time, and we brits are more inclined to edit a film for rather grim acts of violence over scenes of sexiness. In the eyes of Americans, that probably makes us 'fags' or something, but then we're not the ones with the stupid gun problem, just a teenage pregnancy one. so swings and roundabouts...
    • CommentAuthorhes2010
    • CommentTimeMar 10th 2011
     
    fantasic four 588
    i allways enjoy the fall out from a death more than the deaths themselves this was brilliantly done to my mind know speach in the first half just watching the fall out only intensified the sence of loss. Yes i know he will be back we all know it. the end was slight let down with the conversation between franklin and spiderman a little clunky.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2011
     
    Guys whats with Silver Surfer?i'm sure i read a graphic recently with him dying at the end.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2011
     
    Death is only the beginning, greg75...
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2011
     
    I suppose so Lee I suppose so...

    Anyway!Has anyone seen the CSI:Miami Season 4 Episode with Nicholas Hammond in who actually turns out to be the murderer?His wife in said episode is named as none other than Felicia Hardy!!!

    Are there any Deathlok fans on here?I'd really like Marvel to do a film about him...
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2011
     
    oops no it's not it's a bloke called Linden Ashby...
  22.  
    Hang on...you mean you're not really a Deathlok fan but a Linden Ashby fan and you want Marvel to do a film about him? That's a bit of a niche audience you're aiming for there, Greg75.
  23.  
    I haven't read this and it should be on the TRY SOMETHING NEW bit but the work filter won't let me onto that one as it is classified as a 's*x' site. Which seems a tad overprotective but hey! I shouldn't be doing this anyway!

    So if we all just agree to pretend we are on the TRY SOMETHING NEW thread:

    XOMBI #1 by John Rozum and Frazer Irving (DC Comics, £2.25) is out this week so I guess it is already out and sat on the shelves at OKCOMICS. Unless of course OKCOMICS has sold out of XOMBI #1 because from what I hear it is totally special and well worth trying. If FRAZER IRVING isn’t reason enough to fill OKCOMICS palm with silver then there’s the fact that there’s a character in it who, apparently, is a nun with shrinking powers and is called…wait…here we go…NUN THE LESS! If none of that is enough then I just can’t help you anymore but maybe purchasing a copy of XOMBI#1 from OKCOMICS will bring you some small measure of closure.

    If OKCOMICS has, justifiably no doubt, sold out of XOMBI#1 you can ask them to re-order it and you can tell them the Diamond Order Code is JAN11 0259. They eat that stuff up at OKCOMICS. They are all about those Diamond Order Codes. But remember if you do order XOMBI#1 from OKCOMICS you must make sure you go back and buy it otherwise unhappiness is the order of the day for OKCOMICS.

    XOMBI #1 (DC Comics, £2.25) is out NOW! Don’t shilly shally!
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMar 19th 2011
     
    Currently reading Gotham Central Book 2-Jokers and madmen..also on my shelf are-X-Men Forever 2-Back in action.Green Lantern Corps-Emerald Eclipse,Superman/Batman-Finest Worlds,Superman/Batman v.Vampires and Werewolves,Avengers-Citizen Kang,Siege-Mighty Avengers,Ultimate Armour Wars,Siege-X-men,Iron Man-Stark Resilient,Marvel Platinum-Definitive Wolverine and recently bought Civil War Frontline books 1 and 2,Showcase Presents-Metal Men vol 2,and Vengeance of Moon Knight vol 1 and 2.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMar 19th 2011
     
    Currently reading Gotham Central Book 2-Jokers and madmen..also on my shelf are-X-Men Forever 2-Back in action.Green Lantern Corps-Emerald Eclipse,Superman/Batman-Finest Worlds,Superman/Batman v.Vampires and Werewolves,Avengers-Citizen Kang,Siege-Mighty Avengers,Ultimate Armour Wars,Siege-X-men,Iron Man-Stark Resilient,Marvel Platinum-Definitive Wolverine and recently bought Civil War Frontline books 1 and 2,Showcase Presents-Metal Men vol 2,and Vengeance of Moon Knight vol 1 and 2.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMar 22nd 2011
     
    Just finished reading SIEGE-MIGHTY AVENGERS-I'm not a big fan of this team and Hank asking Loki to be in the team was ridiculous to say the least,Ultron turns up again,but defeated in one issue?Maybe i just long for the 80's when Ultron took at least 2 issues to defeat.Poor old Hercules..again.Anyone know what issue shows his latest demise?and then i read ULTIMATE ARMOUR WARS..and wish i hadn't i'm a big IM fan but this was poor and crass.It was childish..well apart from Ultimate MODOK stating "one day i will rule this world and also win Dancing With The Stars"and then finally SUPERMAN.NEW KRYPTON BOOK 4-Which i didn't mind as i'm an Adam Strange fan,and also it was a change to see Jemm,Son Of Saturn.BUT...it finishes with a cliffhanger and i don't know where it continues!
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMar 22nd 2011
     
    And i also got these from the library today-AVENGERS/INVADERS,SOLOMON GRUNDY,ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 16-CABLE,SECRET SIX-DANSE MACABRE,DAREDEVIL-HELL TO PAY VOL 2,JSA ALL-STARS-CONSTELLATIONS and Wildstorm's The X-Files.
    • CommentAuthorhes2010
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2011
     
    death of spiderman assorted comics

    its only just getting started thats all i can say
    • CommentAuthorhes2010
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2011
     
    ff #1

    loved it great start just enough refference to johnny storms death just enough movement for ward and great new costumes
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMar 29th 2011
     
    I seem to be reading a lot of independent graphics at the mo and my latest one from Wildstorm-MODERN WARFARE 2-GHOST ticked all the boxes for me and also takes me away from the 'nicey,nicey' superhero stories with gore thrown in.Next up was Marvel Max's Destroyer i don't know if this is the guy who was in a few of the old Invader's issues but it could well be as this guy is um.,nearly a hundred years old and he's trying to kill all his enemies before he kicks the bucket himself.I have also been busy on e-bay getting issues of FATE and Adrian Chase's Vigilante (why didn't he get a black ring?)and finally i ended up finally reading CIVIL WAR FRONTLINE where i thought Bill Foster's death was a bit harsh.I know he was always a second rate character but still..
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeMar 30th 2011
     
    i has read lately...dum de doo..let's see...

    Batgirl # 19 - I should have read this after Birds Of Prey really, as it gives away the 'Death Of Oracle' storyline by showing Oracle to not be dead really. Who knew? Anyway, it's as perky and upbeat as ever and probably just nudging Iron Man as my current favourite comic

    Birds Of Prey # 10 - Oracle isn't dead. There's a showdown with the Calculator (they take his batteries out) and all's well that end's well. This book desperately needs some downtime and a chance for those of us new to the Birds to get to know the characters. By not reading the previous series to this, a lot of what's going on is passing me by and I'm not sure that's the point of a newly launched series...or am I a mad old fool?

    Punisher Max # 11 - GAAAH!!! What does he say?!! What does Bullseye say?!!! Impossibly tiny wiritng that find's Frank's 'off switch' and ends with his capture. It's been a long time coming, but a great finale to the Bullseye nonsense.

    Sigil # 1 - Nice teen related destiny type adventure yarn involving far away times and lands from Mike Carey and Leonard Kirk.

    Lenore # 2 - Good, but not as laugh out loud funny as previous Lenore outings, this issue focuses on Mr Gosh's obsession for Lenore and what happens when he finally gets the girl of his affections. A cupcake factory is involved.

    Heroes For Hire # 3 & 4 - Oh. Looks like we might be getting to the Puppetmaster sooner than I thought. The appalling reveal of someone pulling the Puppetmasters strings is also a bit disappointing.

    Clint # 6 (i think. its downstairs and i can't be arsed checking) . Content wise, A much improved line up for Clint with the debut of Superior (pretty good - although Space Monkies seems a bit familiar...), the ongoing excellent Turf, American Jesus and The Pro which is just purile fun. Kick Ass II definately needs longer chunks reprinting here, as it is clearly not a story that breaks down well into five or six page chunks. Only the continued presence of some daft features (the interviews are fine and a worthwhile inclusion) and the 'guest writer' strip are continuing to drag the mag down.
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeMar 30th 2011
     
    I've also been re-reading Marvel UK's Overkill. It still amazes me that they had a suprising amount of female readers for an action orientated adventure title, and then piss all that goodwill away with a dreadful relaunch at #30 that jettsons Hell's Angel and Motormouth in favour of Universal Soldier rip off Super Soldiers and Black Axe. And gives us a cover with Tuck falling out of her leotard just to put off any female readers still picking the title up. Even more depressingly, reading Marvel UK's puff piece for new titles launching in 1993 does not bode well. Every title involves genetic manipulation (Gene Dogs, Genetix), cyborgs and time travel (Death Wreck, Death Metal, 'Roid Rage, Shadow Riders), and muscley men with big guns (Bloodrush, Gun Runner). It all smacks of a lack of imagination and is quite disappointing, given how UK-centric and original a lot of their original launch titles (and Overkill itself) felt only a year previous. In some respects, with such Image-tastic fare on offer - and a lot of it - it's not suprising they went to the wall. Sigh.

    On a more upbeat note:

    Marvel Heroes # 33 - Death's Head vs The Hulk. UK newsstand title from Pannini UK, which is of a suprisingly high quality for a title aimed at nippers. I say that, as it really showed up Titan's Transformers as the embarrasment I thought it was. A nice, grown up layout, less shouty design work and relevant features. The strip itself is light weight knockabout fun, and SImon Williams is clearly relishing drawing this face off (much as he did in his own fan produced Hulk v Death's Head comic). Simon Furman nearlyy goes and spoils things though, with a few panels of waffly technobabble (I do wish he'd knock this on the head. It makes things so dry and lifeless), but otherwise it's great to see Pannini utilising some of their heritage. It even finishes off with a nice dedication to all those who worked at Marvel UK, which is a nice touch. Plus - free poster!! Woo!!
  33.  
    I like it when Cap'n Si educates me about Marvel UK. 'Snice.

    But I read some stuff too and depite the counsel of my most trusted advisors I decided to tell you about them:

    JONAH HEX #64 (£2.25, DC Comics) by Gray, Palmiotti and Nelson.
    I have no idea what that was all about! I enjoyed reading it but I don’t know if it was a story as such. It’s a bit dangerous really I mean some wonderful human being unable to differentiate between a single story and an all-encompassing world-view could interpret it as saying that s*xy ladies are all mental? I mean, there’s some truth in that; unless you are Margot Lane reading this in which case there is no truth in that at all. Women fall in love with you if you give them a not entirely consensual seeing-to? Nope, I ‘m not going near that one. Never interrupt a Mexican wedding? I don’t know that could be true they appear to be a feisty people and death is an emotional time for everyone. Maybe it would make more sense if I could understand the Spanish bits? Maybe I should look them up? I could do that, I mean, I have The Internet! But I didn’t! And that right there is why we all don’t live on the moon. Maybe that’s the real point of this comic. I enjoyed but it was a bit befuddling. Jonah sez: “Boys nowadays don’t seem to love their mothers enough.”

    JOHN BYRNE’S NEXT MEN #4 (or #34) (IDW, £2.99) by Jiminy bloody Cricket, didn’t you read the title!?
    One day John Byrne is going to just set his characters on fire for 22 pages. I think he is a very strange individual John Byrne. I enjoy that strangeness. I enjoy seeing it peek out from behind his classy old school storytelling. It’s kind of pleasurably unsettling. Like biting into a Jaffa Cake and tasting mint. Whenever I read a John Byrne comic I try and get a handle on the mind behind it but I never quite latch onto anything solid enough to satisfy me. I’ll keep trying though. John Byrne’s NEXT Men say:”I was…SCREAMING the whole time…”

    NEW AVENGERS #whatever (Marvel, £2.99) by some people who really, really care very deeply about “craft”.
    Howard Chaykin draws this. Well, bits of it. Those bits are awful. Really bad. People’s heads look like they have barely started evolving, the hands look like fat flesh flowers and the colouring just slaps another layer of awful over the top. Now, you know I love me some Howard Victor Chaykin but, y’know, he clearly can’t be arsed here. Which is okay because neither can anyone else. Howard Victor Chaykin is a consummate professional and here he proves it by lowering himself such a level that none of the others involved need look bad in comparison. It’s sacrifices like that that found religions, people! “For Howard Victor Chaykin so loved The World that he drew New Avengers.” (The Book Of Lamont.) The New Avengers say: oh, who gives a chuff. Nobody who made this thing, pal.

    NEONOMICON #4 (Avatar, £2.99) by Alan “Is that a Shub-Niggurath in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me? “Moore and Jacen “Corpse-like” Burrows.
    You may have heard of this one. There was a lot of rape in it. A lot. I mean, a great deal. It was horrible. Really quite upsetting. It was made worse by the oddly humorous dialogue surrounding it. I felt quite sick, really, and it’s still in there , in my head, upsetting me in unguarded moments. The Internet predictably reacted calmly and waited until the series ended so that the whole thing could be placed in the proper context, because it was quite possible that Alan “Business Time” Moore might just know what he was doing. And so it has proved. This was fantastic. A real horror comic in that horror is sometimes, um, horrific? And it had proper depth, too. It was About Stuff. Primarily it was about the cycle of abuse and how people deal with terrible things. And how cruelty can maybe, if left unchecked, undo us all in the end. Oh, yeah and reality and fiction and how…look, it was beautiful. It was Alan “Library Saver” Moore. Oh, yeah I was lying back there: The Internet tried to flense Alan “Hampers For All!” Moore because y’know, rape? That I should live to see a world where Alan Moore is taken for granted! Shame on that world! I say: "Shame!"

    Then like Keyser Soze - I was gone!
  34.  
    And because men and women have very different ideas about what exactly constitutes “doing something useful” I came back to tell you about these things I read:

    THOR #620.1 (£2.25, Marvel) by Abnett, Lanning, Brooks, Oback & Rauch.
    There was a time, not so very long ago when a comic like this would just be deemed okay and probably just the kind of workmanlike thing held in inventory for when a scheduling snafu occurred. Now though the times they have a-changed. Thor’s own book is usually a place where not a lot happens exceedingly slowly but very beautifully so having a comic like this one where stuff happens in a solidly illustrated fashion appears actually jolly good indeed. I liked it well enough and the photo-shopping of real fur FX made me chuckle. No, I don’t know why, but it did. Remember: it’s a POINT ONE INITIATIVE comic, kids! So jump onboard here all you New Readers!

    FEAR ITSELF PROLOGUE BOOK OF THE SKULL (£2.99, Marvel Comics) by Brubaker, Eaton, Morales & Gho.
    A professional, perfunctory and not inexpensive experience which by the laws of dodgy analogy makes reading this a bit like hiring a hooker. To be fair though it’s unlikely that while you’ve got your head between its covers Ed Brubaker is going to kick in the door and threaten you with a knife while alternately demanding you give him everything in your wallet and telling the comic to get it’s skanky pants on and get its skanky ass in the car, bee-yotch! That would however be far more entertaining than this lifeless piece of product.

    COMIC BOOK COMICS #5 (ALL-LAWSUIT ISSUE!) (£2.99, Evil Twin Comics) by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey.
    Another enthusiastically informative issue of the best independent B/W comic which seeks to depict the history of comics in an entertainingly educational manner. Art-wise poor old Dunlavey has to ape every comic style ever and, unsurprisingly, it’s a bit much for him. It’s a good try though. This issue Van Lente informs us of all the scurrilous shenanigans that underpin the very fabric of the comicsverse. It’s pretty depressing but, I’d argue, essential if you have any interest in the form other than using it to occupy your mind when you aren’t doing anything else. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Of course Van Lente becomes a wee bit selective (Cockrum/Quesada anyone? Nope?) as he gets closer to the present and I don’t think anyone can blame him really. A fascinating labour of love type of thingy.

    Keep watching Sky! Ooops! I mean keep watching the skies!
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeApr 6th 2011
     
    Last week i gave away all my independent and wildstorm,image etc on freecycle as i had to make room for more stuff.i often get boxes of comics off e-bay and this time i had SPECTRE 10 the last issue from the 1st series in the 60's.When i was in Australia in the 80's i got a comic that was i guess a reprint of a Brave and Bold story with Bats and Spectre published by someone called Planet Comics this comic though was more the size of a beano comic rather than the normal size american comics were planet an offshoot of Dc? Also does anyone want to see a film of Sgt.Rock?i'd like to know how he can be fighting in world war 2 and be seen in the last series of Suicide Squad!Finally has anyone read the CHASE series from dc?
  36.  
    Greg75! I would like to see a film of Sgt Rock? Are you offering? No knee touching, sir, I’m spoken for.

    Sgt Rock questions! Allow me to brief you, sir. At ease and listen up! According to the original intentions of Kanigher and Kubert Sgt Frank Rock and the combat happy Joes of Easy Co. (“There ain’t nothing easy in Easy co!”) were to be killed to a man on the last day of the war. Seems a bit harsh but I guess it does send some kind of useful message about stepping into the meat grinder of war. That story was never created because…well, many reasons I guess, but that was the intention. So, no, Frank Rock couldn’t have appeared in SUICIDE SQUAD.

    However…because no one actually printed the story where Sgt Frank Rock and Easy Co. bit the big one Bob Haney had Batman team up with Frank Rock post WWII in BRAVE AND THE BOLD. But Bob Haney would have probably done it anyway because Bob Haney was a law unto himself. He don’ need no steenkin’ continuity! Which was okay because he was Bob Haney and Bob Haney? They don’t make ‘em in that size no more! Also I think Superman teamed up with Sgt Frank Rock and Easy Co in DC COMICS PRESENTS. That’s okay, that works, because I’m pretty sure Superman achieved Cher’s fondest dream and was able to turn back time in this case. So, Yes, Frank Rock could have appeared in SUICIDE SQUAD.

    However in a recent issue of DC UNIVERSE: LEGENDS the final tale of Sgt Rock was told! It was drawn by Joe “Mac Daddy” Kubert. Which is awesome. He died saving a small child. Which, in a very real way, is awesome too. All the combat happy Joes of Easy Co. met up in a bar and got drunk. That was awesome as well. Turned out they had a free tab on behalf of the bartender who turned out to be…the man no one knows but is known to everyone! Yes! The Unknown Soldier! Which is awesome upon awesome I’m sure you all agree! (So, UnkSold didn’t die in that bunker in Berlin!) So, no, Frank Rock couldn’t have appeared in SUICIDE SQUAD. But…someone disguised as Frank Rock could have! Someone who no one knows but is know to everyone! So, there I have solved the continuity conundrum! It was the Unknown Soldier! Thanks, I’m sure my parents are proud of me.

    In all likelihood Planet comics were an Australian company and licensed the rights re-print DC Comics. I think that’s usually the case in these things.

    Many people have read the CHASE series from DC Comics. But not enough to stop it getting cancelled. I wasn’t among them but I think DC did (or are doing) one of those comic size SHOWCASE PRESENTS recently wherein they bundled together some issues of CHASE – the series some people read! I think JH Williams III did some art for it. People can probably buy it from OKComics and find out!
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeApr 7th 2011
     
    Sgt Rock the movie is,as of February last year in the hands of Joel Silver and apparently he's wanting Bruce 'yippee ki yay' Willis to play him.However Mr.Silver has been quoted as saying 'it won't be set in World War 2 but a later battle'what's the betting it would have been Desert Storm?Sorry Mr.Silver but stick to the history or leave it alone!Let's have a Crisis on Infinite Earths movie with real people in it. I keep ringing Swamp Thing but he's always in the bog!
  38.  
    Why not just make SGT ROCK a pirate, Joel Silver, eh? Or a monkey with a secret? A singing cropduster? Justin Bieber could play him! Get your people to call my people, Joel Silver!

    I read some stuff and then I wrote about it and put it on here. Maybe someone will see my words and make them into a movie? That'll show everyone they were wrong about me!

    JOE THE BARBARIAN #8 (£2.99, DC Comics) by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy.
    Yeah, well, let’s hope they get that movie deal this was quite obviously specifically written to snare. That’s okay, that’s fine but it seems a waste of one of the rare instances when Morrison is actually allowed to work with an artist who can keep pace with him, and maybe outstrip him. It was nice enough stuff but, Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy? Could maybe have been a bit more. Still and all I guess he’s earned this one. I say: Nice.

    XOMBI #1 (£2.25, DC Comics) by John Rozum and Frazer Irving.
    Listening to the Internet you’d think this was the second coming of Christ. But with boobz. And he’ll let you touch ‘em! It isn’t. So don’t go in expecting that, because this is a really entertaining madcap romp that doesn’t need to be undermined by inflated expectations. Remember DOOM PATROL when Morrison was just shaking your face with the sheer relentless pop burst of nonsensical but really weirdly sensical in a way idea lava? This is like that! Really. Maybe a bit too much like that? No, not, really because in an age where superheroes eating pancakes is seen as innovative we need XOMBI more than ever. And the art? It’s Frazer Irving. I shall not sully his work with my meagre words. I say: Doubleniceplusgood!

    INCOGNITO #3,#4 (£2.99, Icon (Marvel Comics)) by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
    Fair disclosure: I find Brubaker’s work less and less appealing. I can pretty much mark that as beginning with the aftermath of DeadCap and the start of this series’ first go-round. The first series was problematic because Brubaker was so chuffed with his meta-conceit that he failed to see that he’d got it the wrong way around. Working in an office for The Boss Man is like being indy but putting a mask on and doing whatever the hell you like is like the beautiful freedom allowed by writing for the Corporates. Really? It’s that way round is it? Maybe, I’m wrong. (Clue: I’m not.) And now we have his super-lame Ditko homage/piss-take. Clearly, he thinks this is super awesome stuff (he points it out in the back matter and it takes up way too much of the book). It isn’t. It’s tediously obvious stuff. Also: a lengthy hallucination sequence is a warning bell even my ears can heed. So, Mr. moano entitlement comic book hater, you say, why are you still reading it? Sean Phillips. That’s how good Sean Phillips is. I say: Looks nice!

    But my post was too long so...
  39.  
    ...I cheated!

    iZOMBIE (£2.25, Vertigo (DC Comics) by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred
    I have no explanation as to why I am still reading this. None. It just floats about and sometimes things threaten to happen but then…don’t. And then sometimes things happen but it feels like they…didn’t. It tries to be funny but it’s just…there. It brings in horror but it’s…cuddly horror? It’s an oddly weightless confection of pop culture and youth ‘tude that has me struggling to remember any of it seconds after I’ve closed the cover. I don’t know I guess maybe (Hah! "Maybe", he says!) I’m too old to get any depth out of it. I mean its okay and all but the weird lack of any weight is disconcerting. I say: Hey Kids, comics!

    CASANOVA: GULA II (£2.99, Icon (Marvel Comics) by Matt Fraction and Fabio Moon.
    Got to say the art on this thing is outstanding! I don’t know how it happened but it seems like one day we were just suddenly hip deep in awesome artists carrying mediocre-to-dreadful writers around, but the writers still kept getting the credit? What’s that about? Look at this art! Look at Stuart immonen! Look at Francesco Francavilla! Moritat! Paolo Rivera! Marcos Martin! John Romita Jnr! Each and every one of them saddled with the task of making a corpse look good enough to get up and give you a rocking good time. What a waste. I can’t even bear to read most of the books these people are on. It’s a sin. What? A point. Yeah, that’s going to happen. So, CASANOVA is pretty much what a young capable turk who had fond memories of Steranko’s S.H.I.E.L.D., Morrison’s anything, Kirby’s late ‘70s work etc etc would create to show what he could do . Oh, and obviously there’d be a hot pink sexy buzz to it all, because, well, that never hurts. It’s okay, it’s good. I say: But, young sir! That art!

    (Oh yeah, the backmatter. Look, I don’t think Matt Fraction wants me to bother him with my Amazing Life Journey, do you? I sure don’t think he’d want me to ask him to pay for it. Look everyone’s got a life and everyone thinks it’s special. And it is. Truly. But just to you and, maybe, the people who care for you. Flaunting it across the printed page just makes you look, at best, like someone with some serious self image problems and, at worst, like someone trying to create some fake-o connection with the reader they can they exploit to get said reader to support their career in some weird unhealthy kind of messed up way involving money and emotions and a total lack of self respect. I liked the one where he interviewed Howard Victor Chaykin, though. So, yeah, I’m a heartless ###head. Shocker!)

    DOC SAVAGE #12 (£2.25, DC Comics) by Brian Azzarello, Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein.
    I love this book! I love this book so much! Sure, I can totally see why no one else does. But I do. It is so totally straight faced in it’s ludicrously outlandish over the topness. Which is Pulp all over! The writers totally get Pulp! This issue not only does Doc Savage return from the dead (and if you think he wasn’t really dead, you don’t know Doc. He was dead but he’s so awesome he came back to life to save everyone! I love that ###! I take that ### and I bake a cake with it! A big ### cake! Oh, you know what I mean.) he hides inside a missile and when it is in the air he climbs out and down it and bends the little finny thing at the side so it misses its target. It’s awesome! Those missiles are fast! Doc Savage doesn’t miss a beat. Doc Savage is awesome! This comic is awesome. It’s like AXE COP but written for forty year olds. “And then…Doc Savage came back to life because his father wired up his heart so that if it stopped it would start up again! He designed his own son to never fail! Not ever!” Hahahahahaha! I read this book at least four times in between the next issue arriving. I'm not lying either. I love it! The art is okay, it tries. Sometimes it achieves moments of near Sienkiewiczy-ness. But not often and only in small places. But still it has an impossible job trying to do Doc Justice. There are only words. No, one word: Awesome!

    Anyone for cake?
  40.  
    I has still been reading Overkill. I have re-read # 30 - 42. And what a chore that felt. Super Soldiers wastes the not unimpressive talents of Andrew Currie on a dull, overlong punch up. Whilst there's a small part of me that enjoyed this - there are some nice biting political statements - it is largely a load of silly bollocks. Death's Head II quickly slides into mediocrity, not helped by Dan Abnett struggling to deliver on the promise of that very strong mini-series (which I recently found out was 'fine tuned' by Paul Neary), not helped by Simon Coleby's uncomfortably blocky artwork. Black Axe shows a lot of promise, however. An immortal warrior who carries a giant can opener gets imbroilled in...well, i'm not sure what. Some weird experimental A.I.M. base guarded inexplicably by Death's Head II. Nice wibbly wobbly artwork by edmund Perryman who has an interesting approach to anatomy.Before the title gives up the fornightly publication, we get a rather drab outing for Motormouth & Killpower. Two characters whose popularity in the UK wasn't matched in the US, and quickly saw their US comic axed at # 12 and their quiet dropping from Overkill.

    Then I've got through # 43 - 45, when Overkill was relaunched as a monthly title (never a good sign). Perhaps attempting to reach out to female readers, as well as a full Death's Head II adventure (yeah, cheers for that, but at least Salvador Larocca comes on board to bury memories of Coleby's cubist renderings), we get Wild Thing and Dark Guard. Wild Thing is quite a revelation. We're not rushed into getting to know main character Nikki Doyle, she's just introduced as part of a specialist tactical police unit charged with rounding up illegal VR operations (herself a former VR junkie). It's a really interesting and suitably grimy set up and much more interesting than a lot of Marvel UK's other output. Simon Jowett writes it and it is great. Duke Mighten does the drawings for Wild Thing. I rather like Mighten's work, having been made familiar with it through Accident Man and Brats Bizarre in Toxic! However, the inks are far too heavy on his delicate, fashion design like drawings. The final strip, Dark Guard, is an attempt to do Avengers for Marvel UK. Basically, its a home for characters with cancelled books - Warheads, Dark Angel, Motormouth & Pendragon all feature. As well as Death's Head II, now seemingly propping up Marvel UK's entire output and his appearance in other Marvel UK strips being as tiresome as a Wolverine 'guest appearance'. Nice art by Carlos Pacheo though.
  41.  
    I've also picked up a bunch of other Marvel UK comics, but have yet to get to them. But I have read Paul Neary & Liam Sharp's Bloodseed # 1 & 2. Part of Marvel UK's Frontier imprint which was a belated return to the sort of mature readers direction that Marvel UK were heading in prior to 1992. Having read and enjoyed Children Of The Voyager last year, I've been keen to track down the other Frontier titles.

    Bloodseed is a bit of a disappointment. It's kind of a weird space Conan. Liam Sharp's artwork, whilst undoubtedly stunning here, doesn't help tell the story. It's more of an illustrated story. It's quite a woolly story too. The publicity blurb about a man 'with a secret genetic code that he has to deliver' doesn't really square with what actually happens, where two naked people wake up in the snow, stumble about fighting things before discovering a sort of terraforming space craft where they bump into some space monkies. The space monkies make the naked man and naked lady fight each other to show whom is the strongest. And both the naked people have the same memory. And that is what happens. It's a bit like a poor man's Heavy Metal strip and thinks it's cleverer than it actually is, but as it remains incomplete (it was supposed to be a four issue series, but was split into two two issue mini's when Neary and Sharp fell behind), it's difficult to make a fair judgement. The nudity seems pointless and just there for titilation, if you'll pardon the pun.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2011
     
    What an emotional night last night!Not only did I watch the Season 4 opener to Quantum Leap,but I also read.

    1MONTH2LIVE(MARVEL)

    One of the best graphics I've read.A normal everyday human being becomes transformed into FLUX!!!!
    Not the best way to become a superhero however,having medical waste rammed down your throat.Spidey and the Avengers,and the FF pop by with Ego the Living Planet thrown in for good measure with Hammerhead also.A nice emotional story that sadly ends with an inevitable conclusion.Well done Marvel!

    PUNISHER YEAR ONE

    I like my Punisher graphics and this was no different from the others in the fact that i say "i'll just read one chapter a night"and then I end up reading it all in one go.I thought i knew most stuff about Frank but clearly not.Revealed here is the fact that Frank was labelled as dead after the shooting.No super baddies in this just the Mafia.

    Also I know,i know I still have 20 odd graphics to read from the library on my shelf.However on the new additions at my local library I picked up the Marvel Pocket Book of the Kulan Gath saga from X-MEN 85-191,sorry I should put UNCANNY in front of that.I only read the conclusion of the saga before so I shall look forward to reading this all the way through.Also featuring Spidey and the Avengers.

    SHADOWLAND

    I've not read any Daredevil for years so to see Matt being nasty was an exciting read.Lots of guest stars Iron Fist,Luke Cage,Daughters Of The Dragon,Spidey,Moon Knight and Shang-Chi.Best line in this story is Shang-Chi stating "I am no longer the master of kung fu".And also featuring the death of Bullseye.Look what he could have won.....
  43.  
    Say, Captain Si, um. Are you sure that the nude lady and the nude man were, y’know, fighting?

    Hey, Greg75! Well done! I was always curious as to whether you actually enjoyed what you read and there you go – you done gone and told me! Super smashing great super! Now if you could just tell us who did them that would be great. I mean I can’t remember PUNISHER:YEAR ONE at all and I doubt if I’d bother reading it. But…if you’d said it was by Alan “Downtown” Moore with art by Bill “Slinky” Sienkiewicz I probably would.

    What? What’s that? Okay I’ll tell you all my exciting thinkery about all the Batman comics that are currently available. Well, all the ones I bought that one time. Which isn’t all of them but is most of them.

    BATMAN #707 by Tony Daniel & Ryan Winn. (£2.25, DC Comics)
    This is a Batman comic. There is a magic mask. A bad man is after it. The chase is on. The bad man gets the mask. Batman tells him it will destroy him. Bad Guy ignores him. Batman is right. The mask is destroyed. It huffs and puffs and grunts and moans and tries out almost-ideas that are stale before they hit the page (lady equivalents of all Batman’s arch-foes!) but the talent involved is insufficient for it to escape the gravitational pull of its own mediocrity. It’s just another issue of BATMAN. Just holding the fort, keeping BATMAN on the stands. A caretaker comic at best despite any higher intentions. Look, I’m sure Jack Torrance thought he was unique. But it turned out? He had always been The Caretaker.

    BATMAN AND ROBIN #20 by Peter J Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray (£2.25, DC Comics)
    Yes! The long running adaptation of Joel Schumacher’s visionary Bat-film reaches its 20th great issue. It’s “ice” to see you! Ho Ho Ho! No, not really. This is the Batman comic Grant Morrison did but now he doesn’t do it but since there just aren’t enough Batman comics in the marketplace it’s been continued with a different..Holy ###! What’s up with that kid’s face! Is that Robin? He’s got like one giant arse cheek instead of a head! How did that happen? Um, anyway. I didn’t like this one. I think I was massively let down by Gleason’s art, which in the past had been the highlight of my brief experience of that Green Lantern comic he did. Anyway I think this arc has been delayed so he’s probably been ill or something. He does get some good stuff near the end of the comic but the final splash is spoiled a bit by looking as though Chemo has done a big jizz over Batman and Robin. Heh. Splash. That’s some sophisticated comedy there, kids! Hope you’re taking notes! Oh yeah, and there’s a totally WTF bit at the beginning where Brooce gathers all the Bat family to watch the film he watched the night his parents died. Brooce? Seriously now, get help. Great day in the morning though! That kid’s face. Just like a big old ass!
    Oh, and Editors? To say, “NEVER talk as flippant like that in front of me…” is not really correct, I think.

    NEAL ADAMS’ BATMAN: ODYSSEY #6 by Sir Neal Adams (£2.99, DC Comics).

    ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    DETECTIVE COMICS by Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla. (£2.25, DC Comics)
    This one was pretty good if a bit schizoid. On the one hand you have a tense little psycho-drama involving Jim Gordon and his son and whether or not Sonny boy is right in the head or whether Pops is going to have to get all Abraham on his ass. And on the other Batman and Red Robin are running around learning bird facts and hallucinating talking Killer Whales. It’s like two great flavours in one! Francavilla’s art is very pleasing. I don’t think he’s quite there yet, but he has oodles of promise. Ooodles. He even manages to impress despite a colouring job that tries to hide pretty much every detail from the eye. Worth a shot this one.

    BATMAN INCORPORATED #3 by Grant Morrison, Yanick Paquette and Michel Lacombe. (£2.25, DC Comics).
    So you’re not interested in a comic that blends a streamlined version of the dense-ertaining SE7EN SOLDIERS narrative style and goofy poptastic Batman antics? That doesn’t sound to you like one of the top three genre comics currently being produced? No? I fear you hate life.

    THE ALL NEW BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD by Fisch, Burchett and Davis (£2.25, DC Comics).
    It doesn’t really matter does it? It’s for kids! So you’ll avoid this like the seat next to the guy who keeps licking his lips and giggling on the last bus home. Fine! Anyway Batman and Wonder Woman get married and have a big wedding and all the super heroes turn up at their wedding and then all the super villains and everybody fights and there are bad jokes and there are good jokes and it turns out it was just a trick because after all Batman couldn’t marry Wonder Woman as the only lady in his life is…Justice! Doo be doo doobie doobie doo!

    Have you read any Batman comics? Why?
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeApr 15th 2011
     
    Apologies Mr.Cranston for not noting the artists,i shall have info for you next time!currently i am waiting for Secret Wars 2 omnibus that i've ordered through my library as there's only a few stories that i've not read.i was told by the librarian that as its coming from the british library that if i lose it i shall be liable for the cost of replacing it(one hundred pounds).How on earth am i going to lose it?Tis bible size,when i put in a request for a book i don't expect a spanish inquisition.Any chance of a Who's Who in comic form from Dc?and finally is there a british office for Dc?
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeApr 19th 2011
     
    DAREDEVIL-HELL TO PAY VOL 2(BRUBAKER/LARK/AZACETA) This volume collects DD 100-105.Always my favourite DD villain Mr.Fear drugs Matt's wife Milla with something that makes her go schizo.Whilst DD goes after Mr.Cranston he tries to flambe the Ox and the rest of the Enforcers also appear along with the Wrecker,Razorfist,The Hood,and Thunderball.If you like nice stories with happy endings,then don't read Daredevil! The ending in this story is put simply as DD catches up with Mr.Fear and demands a cure for Milla's madness only to find there isn't one.Yes it's bleak but its still an 8/10 for me.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeApr 26th 2011
     
    I just read Uncanny X-Men 534.1 and 535. Both were thoroughly enjoyable and give me high hopes for Kieron Gillen's tenure. The .1 issue was also the best issue by far of that particular, misguided initiative and achieved what they were meant to - it's a neat intro to the current team and the status quo without being dauntingly continuity-heavy like Mutant books often can be. But for people already reading the book, it's a good, self-contained story. To any lapsed X-Fans on here, I say: go buy these comics from OK Comics and read them. They're fun.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeApr 27th 2011
     
    Hi people!Is everyone leading normal lives apart from me and Lee?Shame on you all.Right. LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES-ENEMY MANIFEST-This story brings to an end the latest series of LOSH and to be honest i wasn't interested at all.LOSH to me was the 80's version and the series that kept coming after were to me well poor.LEGION 89.90 etc,nah.LOSH to me is Star Boy and Dream Girl,Mon-El and Shadow Lass etc,etc heck even Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl.But no maybe i've just outgrown the Legion and i don't like the characters being redone.May i also state for the record how much i'm enjoying Booster Gold at the mo and good to see Rip Hunter back.
    • CommentAuthorhes2010
    • CommentTimeApr 29th 2011
     
    Just read the spirit book one (DarwynCooke) from the libary as you would expect the art is just great and a wothy to follow on from Eisner. To me it reads like great caper stories but i wounder if simple stories are made more intresting by telling them in a nonlinear way.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeApr 30th 2011
     
    Allow me to express how i'm feeling before i literally implode!i have just bought a guy's comic collection for 250 quid that may sound a lot but wait!1800 comics all imports and other stuff as well am i a big kid or what?WHEEEE!
  50.  
    I has been reading stuffs. Overkill # 46 - 52. Bleugh. The expansion to a monthly format adds Wild Thing and Dark Guard to Death's Head II. Of the strips, only Wild Thing is of any particular interest. Death's Head II has a rare upsurge in quality thanks to the inclusion of Death's Head II : Gold # 1 written by DHII's creator, Liam Sharp. An imaginative and expansive space opera, with a small well developed cast. It's the best thing to carry DHII's name. Shame editorial didn't bother to print the prologue DHII : Gold # 0 which was on the flip side of the character's US book #14. Wild Thing is an adventurous and imaginative strip that plays with the concept of Virtual Reality and gaming. Its a bit like Existenz, but better. Dark Guard is just nonsense. The only thing it has going for it is the debut comic book work of Carlos Pachecho, whom along with Salvador Larrocca, would go onto make big names for themselves in the States, following the collapse of Marvel UK.

    Other Marvel UK stuff I have been dabbling with:

    Cyberspace 3000 # 1 - 5. A crap title that bears little relation to the contents, frankly. This is a suprisngly excellent book from Marvel UK. It starts in the 30th century with Galactus causing problems for a space station/ craft thing, which is a bit like the Ark, in that it has loads of scraps of alien races living on board. He eats half the ship and things start getting a bit weird, as his herald Dark Angel shows up (a rather grim future for one of Marvel UK's flagship characters) and the lead character flits in and out of existence as she tries to lead the survivors against Galactus. Its quite mad, and if it weren't for the author and editor's admissions that they basically devised the series based on whispers at the time of what Star Trek : Deep Space 9 would be about, then it would be marked out as a highly original concept. Gary Russell writes a great sci-fi story, but isn't particularly well served by Steve Tappin's rather ugly art, which is a strange mish mash of Ron Lim and Rob Liefeld. There's lots of cross hatching which doesn't cover up Mr Tappins inability to tell a story clearly.

    Shadow Riders # 1 - 3 John Freeman & Brian Williamson pen a tale of a bunch of big gun wielding techno-bikers who ride against the evil Mys Tech organisation (the protagonists at the heart of the entire MArvel UK sub-verse). It's a good, solid actioner, but is let down by poor characterisation and a lack of identity for each of the main leads (whom all have stupid names : Boot, Roadie and Stranger..god help us). None of them come across as particularly likeable, and the groups leader Vorin is quickly revealed as a shouty villian in waiting, having had an interesting back story for five minutes (he has been battling Mys Tech since they gained their immortality centuries ago), he just turns out to have 'lone survivor issues' . It also treads on the toes of Marvel UK's own Warheads, which was pretty much heading in the same direction as this. There also an unwanted US 'co-star', this time in the form of Cable who gets involved for no good reason and, as with all Marvel UK 'co-stars' gets far too much page time for an already established and recognised character - just why are we picking up these books anyway? The big plus point of the book is the nice, rough and ready art work by Ross Dearsley, who uses a chisel to ink his work. It looks great!
  51.  
    From Marvel UK's Mature Readers imprint, I have read : Mortigan Goth : Immortalis # 1 -4. This preripherally ties into Excalibur and is written by Nick Vince. It features Mortigan making a deal with the devil over a game of chess and living as an immortal thereafter. It all goes a bit awry for Mortigan when he attempts to intervene in a ritual sacrifice and looses his soul to Mephisto. The best issue of the series is #3, which deals with Mortigan's love life, as his true love Katherine Falsworth is turned into a vampire at the hands of Baron Blood. But Mortigan finds her too cold and dead to love anymore. The concluding chapter is a limp affair, with Mortigan's soul coming back to claim his physical body via some gruesome killings of other immortals. It's a really flat and limp ending to a series that showed some promise. Mark Buckingham's art is nice, although all those years of inking Chris Bachalo's penicls has clearly rubbed off on him.

    Frontier Comics Special # 1 - Debuting in 1994, this quarterly sized digest features strips with additional background material on each of the four main Frontier books. All the stories slot into their respective continuities, but occur during each series individual run. So its a bit odd to go back and uncover salient plot points when most of the characters from the lead books are dead or otherwise incapacitated. A strange one. The two bonus strips Evil Eye and The Fallen are just Tales From The Crypt style morality plays and pretty inessential reading, but a nice extra feature.

    The its down hill all the way for my final (for the time being) delve into Marvel UK with Gun Runner # 1 - 6. Is Dan Abnett the worst thing to happen to comics? Sure he's capable of turning out work on time - and a lot of it - but like a lot of his stuff, its derivative and excessive, with violence and spectacle over-riding plot, character and interest. Andy Lanning is onboard for this book, but clearly neither of them can be arsed despite having turned out some reasonably strong work for Battletide. This book reads and looks like an awful 1980s sci -fi action movie with a ridiculously attired fella running around with what looks like a traffic cone stuck to his right arm shooting things. Part of Marvel UKs Gene-Pool imprint (mutants. yawn.), its a weak and inspid comic that even the likes of Valiant would be ashamed of putting out. After turning up for one issue, artist Terry Clark thinks better of the whole affair, leaving poor old Marvel UK stand by Anthony Williams to pick up the slack. His nice, clean style is the best thing about the book, but its just a shame to see such a capable artist wasted on piffle like this. Its all coloured in with stabilo highlighters too, just to top it all off.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMay 4th 2011
     
    I've been thoroughly enjoying Abnett and Lanning's recent stuff in Marvel's space stuff.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMay 4th 2011
     
    No need to say 'stuff' twice in such a short post. Apologies. And stuff.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMay 7th 2011
     
    With all the hoo-hah about Thor at the mo,can I just say I had the ultimate displeasure to watch "Man-Thing"why Stan Lee had ANYTHING to do with this i don't know but stay away from it.
    • CommentAuthorhes2010
    • CommentTimeMay 7th 2011
     
    I just read harley and ivy from the libary a fun romp but do super villenesses really cheer each outher up by having a shower together and washing each outhers hair????
  56.  
    Yes, Hes2010, they do. In Paul "I will MAKE you like Hush!!!" Dini comics anyway. And telling stories in a nonlinear way is also a great way of disguising terrible writing (this does not apply to Darwyn Cooke, who is ring-a-ding-ding!).

    I am so jealous of Greg75's newly acquired collection I could spit! Ptooo-OOOOoo! Keep us informed of what glories you have gathered, sir. Or is it 1800 Green Arrow comics?

    Has anyone read LORD OF THE ULTRAREALM? I don't know why, I just wanted to know all of a sudden.
  57.  
    I'm going to tell you what I've been reading. I'm going to be brief for I am a merciful anonymous internet commenter.

    FIRST WAVE #6. (£2.99, DC Comics)The two-fisted finale to The Series No One Bought! Well, I bought it and I blumming loved it. Fast paced, allegorical, brutal, silly, serious, obtuse and a big old ton of fun. Hey, a massive commercial failure? Hey, I got mine, pal! CHUNKY PULP!

    FIRST WAVE SPECIAL #1(£2.99, DC Comics) This was awesome. Jason Starr has really impressed me with his work on The Avenger (His face is dead and so is his family!) and this doesn’t change one damned thing about that. Basically Old Dead Face decides to kill the Head Bad Guy but Doc Savage and The Bat Man (yes, The Bat Man, it’s Pulp-Batman) know things are “complicated” and try to talk him out of it. In a bizarre turn of events the man who makes Travis Bickle look like Alan Bennet is unwilling to listen to reason. Talky and intelligent hi-jinks ensue. FUNKY PULP!

    INCOGNITO: BAD INFLUENCES #5 (£2.99, Icon/Marvel) It’s insult enough to waste my time with some half-baked uninspired semi-improv nothingness, but the real dirty shame is the waste of Sean Phillips’ time and talent. Anyway I’m sure they’ll get a movie deal so, hey, super for them! STINKY PULP!

    THE SIXTH GUN #10-11 (£2.99 ea, Oni Press). Elegant and clean linework nicely illustrates this well paced, characterful and pleasingly solid supernatural western which earns bonus points for having a female lead who is not just an angry man with tits. You aren’t buying it though, are you? Even if I say it's a bit like Jeff Smith drawing a kind of Hellboy in The West. No? Thought not. LOADED FOR BEAR!

    THOR #621 (£2.99, Marvel). Pascal Ferry’s Thor issue is as beautiful a visual bon-bon as ever. I wouldn’t bother trying to read it if I were you as the writer doesn’t seem to have bothered writing it. PRETTY VACANT!

    CASANOVA: GULA #3-4 (£2.99, Icon/Marvel). The highlight of issue 3 was the declaration that the pitifully needy and strangely upsetting back matter was ceasing. Then in #4 it was replaced instead by a story that seems to be there just so the writer can shout at the reader: “I’m not writing this for YOU! I’m writing this for ME!” Hey, guess what? I don’t CARE! Just make it GOOD! And by the way? All that MONEY? Your readers paid you THAT! For your WORK! Not for YOUR SHINING PERSONALITY! God, I can’t stand preciousness. Still, I shouldn’t be too harsh as adolescence is a very confusing time but don’t worry, Matt Fraction, it doesn’t last forever! BOY CHILD!

    S.H.I.E.L.D INFINITY (£2.99, Marvel) This just some filler bumph and we’re probably supposed to spend hours fretting about where it fits into the narrative interweaving that the writer is excreting over the long term. I just read it and then forgot it almost immediately. For a series that’s supposed to be serious it’s quite silly, and for something that’s supposed to be so mind blowing it’s a bit stale. Ah, but, it’ll all pay off in the long run apparently! Because here’s another one who’s just too damn talented and visionary to just write a good story. Oh no, that stuff’s for the hoi polloi not someone who occasionally designs a page a bit differently and whose narratives don’t ever end but are rather prematurely curtailed by being taken outside and beaten to death by an impatient mob. Art’s nice though. B.L.A.N.D.

    JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #622 (£2.99, Marvel) This was great. I won’t spoil it as I KNOW you will try it now I have assured you of its goodness, because after all we have so (so!) very (very!) much in common and I am ALWAYS right! Anyway Kieron Gillen writes it and Doug Braithwaite draws it. I wasn’t entirely convinced by the art but I was blown away by the writing. Remember when Neal Gaiman actually bothered? Remember when reading a comic felt like you’d read a satisfying chapter of a novel and couldn’t wait to see what happened next? Well, guess what! Those days are back! Of course it could all go South pretty quickly but at the moment I have no hesitation in recommending this eventful, humorous, dense, touching, thrilling and fantastical graphical periodical. KRAKAATATAKATHOOOOM!

    And then I ran out of time. Remember, my angels: love each other and if you can’t do that love yourself! But not near a school.
  58.  
    I’ve been trying to figure out why S.H.I.E.L.D rubs me so wrong. Because I don’t want it to. I don’t actually believe in paying money to be irritated. I have a family to do that for free after all. I think it is because i suspect it’s a very dull book hiding behind colourful concepts and as such is symptomatic of a damaging trend in mainstream North American genre comics. Namely a kind of an assumption that if it sounds awesome in the pitch then it will be awesome on the page with no work required. The Colossus of Rhodes brawling with a Celestial! Sounds awesome! Looks boring.

    What? But it’s about stuff! Yeah, yeah, I get it. Oooh! It’s Intellect vs. Art! but, whatever, the writer’s gone for Isaac Newton vs. Leonardo Da Vinci. Which just seems like a cheap-ass move to make this look more intelligent by association. I’d have gone for Alan Turing vs. Sammy Davis Jnr. myself. Anyway, there doesn’t seem to be any reason for Newton to be a Bad Guy, other than being English and not inventing a rubbish helicopter. And Leonardo Da Vinci’s the Good Guy because he’s what? Creative? Careful with his hair? Yeah, I know, neither Intellect nor Imagination alone is enough! There must be synthesis! Which I guess, is where whashishname comes in. Sure it’s about stuff but it isn’t about much and what it’s about isn’t very original.

    All the supposedly big ideas and spectacular set pieces just seem to be there to camouflage the essentially rote nature of the plot. Things happen because that’s how things happen in these types of stories not because that’s what a time-travelling Leonardo Da Vinci might do. Look, there’s a bit in the INFINITY one where Isaac Newton is revealed to be a serial killer who leaves apples at the scene of each crime. Why? What? Yes, I know: apples, gravity, Newton. I haven’t read the Principii Mathematica but I know that much. What I mean is why would he do that? The reason he does that is because in the films the writer has seen that’s what serial killers do.

    I can only hope this is taken to its logical conclusion and Isaac Newton is bearded in his lair by Jodie Foster. When faced with incontrovertible evidence from his carelessly discarded Sainsbury’s receipts that on the day before each murder he purchased a single…apple(!) Newton’s composure cracks and he lunges for the plucky heroine. Foster is faster though and she chucks a bowl of Granny Smith’s at him as he goes for his knife causing him to be hurled backwards through a huge glass window which shatters in slow motion. Foster tremblingly approaches the window and looks down to find Newton suspended from the branches of a tree which broke both his fall and his neck. She notices the tree is heavy with…apples and throws back her head and laughs. Undone by apples AND gravity! O! The Irony! Freeze frame! Credits!

    Do feel free to tell me how wrong I am after all it’s probably just me but, hey, that’s where I’m living now!
    • CommentAuthorhes2010
    • CommentTimeMay 13th 2011
     
    I feal i must make amends i did not mean to impliy darwyn cook would use nonlineer story telling to hide bad writing he is indeed a ring-a-ding-ding Lamont. I was just woundering if it was being over used to spice up simple story's. Nut i do love darwyn cook.
  60.  
    Sorry, Hes2010, at no point did you give the impression you were dissing the Darwyn. I’m sorry if I gave the impression I thought you were. I knew you weren’t and was just trying to make it clear that neither was I. Um, everybody loves Darwyn Cooke!?! Yeaaaaaaaaaaah!

    I read these and some words fell out of my head onto the screen:

    JOHN BYRNE’S NEXT MEN #5 (#35) (£2.99, IDW Comics) This comic could only be more John Byrne if he mixed flakes of his own dead skin into the ink. The only thing more John Byrne than “I am you—from the FUTURE!” would be a time travelling black character about to prevent the assassination of Abe Lincoln by shooting John Wilkes Booth in the head. What? That’s the cover to #6? Very John Byrne! Is it good? Is it bad? These questions are reliant entirely upon your feelings (feeeeliiiiings!) about John Byrne. Because JOHN BYRNE’s NEXT MEN is very John Byrne indeed. SICK BYRNE!

    ULTIMATE CAPTAIN AMERICA #3 (£2.99, Marvel) The Justin Bieber joke is funny but won’t age well, however, “…Richard Milhous Nixon…the most EVIL man who ever lived.” will always be funny. It’s a good job these jokes are here because there’s a bit at the end that consists of several pages repeated from #1. This is a very cinematic technique, sadly however comics are NOT films unless you believe things which have similarities are thus exactly the same. Still, it must be said that I previously scorned the basic plot as surely UltCap had heard all this Truth about America? Turns out he had! (Maybe he read BROUGHT TO LIGHT by Alan Moore! Ho ho ho! Ey, Jason Aaron? Alan Moore? Ey? Hahahahahahaha!) So I apologise but it does make Flagface look like a cretin. In the end the book is saved by the jokes but the best joke of all is the real life joke that there are now McDonalds in Vietnam. CHECKERS HAD RABIES!

    PUNISHERMAX #12 (£2.99) The prison sections are derivative and familiar but the solid execution carries them through. However the flashback stuff is pretty good. I like the way Aaron is making Punisher into the most unsympathetic and odious character ever. To be The Punisher he’d have to be a monster and that’s the fun here, seeing Aaron build his monster. I PREDICT A RIOT!

    FEAR ITSELF: THE HOME FRONT (£2.99, Marvel). This is terrible. The Speedball thing depicts the actions of a moron amongst morons using some kind of nightmarish fumetti stylee. Contains a photo realistic picture of a grieving mother’s big sad face with photo-realistic tears of weep cascading down her face. Sexy! Don’t forget to lock the bathroom door, boys! Also everyone with an angry face (and there are a whole lot of these) resembles nothing so much as someone straining to part with a particularly reluctant stool. The Peter Milligan penned Agents of Atlas story is okay but nothing more. The Howard Victor Chaykin page (yes, a whole single page which I bought this rap on the knackers for) is a narrative nothing (J Jonah Jameson doesn’t like super heroes – Hot Scoop!) but visually it is one of the nicest things he’s done for a while. Yay, Howard Victor Chaykin! Then there’s some old people being strong in the face of adversity in the way that only people composed entirely from clichés can be. CONDESCENSION ITSELF!

    CALIGULA #1 (£2.99, Avatar) David Lapham is at the helm so this doesn’t stint on unpleasantness and it certainly moves pretty quickly to a cliffhanger that suggests that either David Lapham has new findings at his disposal or this isn’t going to be totally historically accurate. Probably the latter. Also, it isn’t true that this comic will be used as the next Conservative Party Manifesto. If you have a strong stomach and a yen for the oddball you might want to pick this up. SICKUS FUNUS!
  61.  
    CAPTAIN AMERICA #616 (£3.99, Marvel) It’s the 70TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! So let’s have a ANNIVERSARY sized looky-loo!

    Origin - Remember Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s awesome one page encapsulation of Superman’s origin? Ed Brubaker does but he doesn’t remember what made it so awesome. Of note is the fact this whole page is drawn by Travis Charest which might interest some people as he is a good artist. It looks a little rushed. Maybe he only spent five years on it! Ba-da-BUMP! Joke for the Travis Charest fans there! Sorry shall I type it more s-l-o-w-l-y!!! Ho! That’s two! You’ve been a great audience, don’t forget to tip your waitress!

    Gulag part 1 – in which Buckaroo fights a super bear in a Gulag! If Bill Mantlo had written it in the ‘80s everyone would say it was dumb. But this is 2011 so it is bookended with Buckminster whining about something (Gypsies? His sad, sad, life? Whatever?) and coloured in drab colours. Therefore Ed Brubaker is totally different from Bill Mantlo. Which is true because Bill Mantlo would have got straight to the super bear wrestling. Ed Brubaker knows that you save that to the last page because folk really read about people with bionic arms who can kill by spitting soup for the bits where people talk in brown rooms. This makes it super serious, obviously.

    Must There Be A Captain America? - Do you remember that awesome old Superman story Must There Be A Superman? Ed Brubaker does, but he’s forgotten what made it so awesome.

    Opaque Shadows – In which Howard Victor Chaykin initially appears to be telling a story about how Cap got his love ration by skeeving up to war widows but then wrong foots us by moving the focus onto penile dysfunction in post traumatic stress disorder sufferers before finally, via an exploding helicopter, swinging back to Steve Rogers skeeving up to war widows’ granddaughters. Also Howard Victor Chaykin gets to homage some of that old timey American portraiture he loves so much. I liked this one a lot.

    Spin- this was a nice story by Cullen (SIXTH GUN) and Jason Latour which has a go at the whole Cap Deals With Issues But With Daft Science And Enemies approach. The writing’s a bit unconvincing in places but shows potential by the pound while the art is by Jason Latour and is thus classy stuff, you betcha. I liked this one too.

    Operation: Tooth Fairy – The script by Mike Benson doesn’t seem to make a lick of sense but it is illustrated by Paul (JACK STAFF) Grist and would be totally great for that fact alone even if it didn’t deal with The Invaders vs. Baron Blood. Which it does and so I enjoyed this one as well. Hands up who misses Frank Robbins! Liars!

    The Exhibit – Despite not being the first (or even fiftieth) time Nature versus Nurture has been handled via the prism of clones and Hitler this is saved by virtue of that joke always being a winner!

    Crossfire – Man, I think we’ll just gloss over this one. Geeze.

    On the whole CAPTAIN AMERICA #616 was a pretty good deal for the dollaz. Verdict: POP A CAP IN YOUR ASS! Er......

    Then I had to go and do right by every man and wrong to no man. Because that’s how I roll!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMay 16th 2011
     
    I am half way through reading Moon Knight #1 and am sufficiently annoyed by Wolverine being depicted as taller than MK that I needed to post here to get it off my chest. I hope it is some height-ignoring dream sequence. The rest of the issue awaits...
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMay 16th 2011
     
    Ok, so, (barely even a) SPOILER ALERT, MK is nuts and Wolvie wasn't actually there. But still, isn't he 5'2", or thereabouts? That's a foot shorter than most Marvel heroes. Why would MK imagine him taller? He's defined almost as much by his stuntiness as he is by his temper or his hairiness or his sniktiness. Daft. Annoying.

    Anyway, Moon Knight #1 - it's alright.
  64.  
    I thought you were an X-Fan, Lee? Even I know that ever since Hugh Jackman danced into the hearts of audiences everywhere Wolverine has been tall and not unpalatable to the eye! Keep up, lad!

    Also I think that in MK the characters of Cap, Wolvie and Spidey are in all probability all Mark Spector in different uniforms. Do YOU see! Do you SEE!? They are he and he is they! DO you see! Whooooo-ooooh! Mind you I only think that and don't know that because I'm not reading MK. but you read it, Lee, you will let me know if I guessed correctly and get to go through to the next round won't you?
    •  
      CommentAuthorRob
    • CommentTimeMay 16th 2011
     
    But Huge Jackman is a tiny fan of musical theatre isn't he?

    Also: "Snikt bub bub snikt" http://mightygodking.com/images/Civil_War/cwp_01_12.jpg
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMay 16th 2011
     
    Well, Ultimate Wolverine certainly boasts a Jackman-esque physique, but 616 Wolvie is still usually closer to Puck than Punisher. Could they all be Spector? Well, that kind of delicate nuance is possible in a Bendis comic (maybe...) but...he was taller! Not just too tall, but taller!
  67.  
    Civil War! Aieeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm melting! I'm melting!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMay 17th 2011
     
    FF#3 was dead good - and everyone was an appropriate height! Yay!
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMay 22nd 2011
     
    Allow me to re-introduce myself hellooo!There that's that out of the way.Rarely do I read a graphic that makes me go "oh my stars and garters!"but BATMAN THE WIDENING GYRE has.A very cheesy Bruce Wayne runs into Silver St.Cloud and well they pass the time as young lovers do which make for a few funny references from Aquaman but I was finding that the book was at one stage turning into JLI and expecting Oberon to appear any minute.But they didn't,but CRAZY QUILT did and CALENDAR MAN and BAPHOMET appeared as a new hero and then BAPHOMET on the last page turns out to be.....HIM!!!Please tell me the next six issues have a release date.....
    • CommentAuthorsmiggy3000
    • CommentTimeMay 25th 2011
     
    I two read the Widening Gyre after Batman: Cacophony, but as far as I know the whole thing seems to have been forgotten...
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMay 27th 2011
     
    But they can't smiggy can they?i mean he was that...and then they said....and ooh that was a big knife
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMay 27th 2011
     
    meanwhile I have just finished reading a highly entertaining Avengers Forever graphic all 12 issues reprinted in this hardcover where Kang and Immortus once again spell trouble for The Avengers,highlights include the 1950's Avengers who include in their roster Marvel Boy and....3-D man.Little did i know that Rick Jones had been crippled and very nearly killed by his mate Bruce i'm sure it was an accident though and by now it has all come out in the wash.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeMay 28th 2011
     
    Scott Snyder's half-written (half by him, not half done) Batman: Gates Of Gotham is good. As was the most recent Power Girl.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2011
     
    FLASH:REBIRTH-Can anyone clear up a few things over this one?

    1.Is Johnny Quick(I always chortle to myself whenever I see his name in print)definitely dead?
    2.It mentions the Trial of Flash(which Showcase Presents are/have reprinted)where happily Flash and Iris walk off into the future before Barry gets killed in Crisis,but in FLASH 350.Barry's parents are still very much alive so does this mean Prof.Zoom changed Barry's past so his parents died?

    And yet another repeat in a graphic novel SUPERMAN:CODENAME PATRIOT which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't read WORLD OF KRYPTON first as WOK 6 is reprinted here.

    Also just finished SECRET WARRIORS VOL 2 GOD OF FEAR,GOD OF WAR,really enjoying this series and the conflicts between Ares and his son and yet another Nick Fury LMD gets laid to waste,although nowadays when Nick gets shot or beaten up i shout LMD at the top of my voice.

    But a letdown for me was AMAZING SPIDER-MAN - BIG TIME(SLOTT/RAMOS)and I really don't like the way these guys draw Spidey in fact it's like a Marvel Adventures comic.I took one look inside and didn't bother with it.If I don't like the artwork I don't read the story.I like my graphics to be serious stuff and this was too tongue in cheek.I like my stories to be along the lines of Peter Parker 75 where the Black Cat hovers near death and there's no messing about or perhaps The Sin-Eater storyline.Maybe i don't want Spidey to have a sense of humour maybe I want him to be like the Nicholas Hammond tv series from the 70's,maybe I need to go and have a lie down....
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeJun 11th 2011
     
    I have just started reading AVENGERS/INVADERS which has been on my shelf for some time.Also bought FLASH-TERMINAL VELOCITY for £3.I am however waiting now from the library for the masterpiece that is SECRET WARS II OMNIBUS packed with around a 1,000 pages but i'll only have 2 weeks to read it all...

    Where is the Beyonder now?Last time i remember seeing him was in the 90's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY series.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeJun 13th 2011
     
    Sigh come on guys am i the only one reading stuff?

    AVENGERS/INVADERS(Ross/Krueger/Sadowski)

    This book is awesome.The Invaders end up in present day America with Cap having recently been killed and it's all to do with the good old Cosmic Cube.Captain(bucky)America tells Bucky not to dismantle the bomb on the plane in World War II will he listen though?

    Best bit of the story-

    Dr.Strange-"By the hoary hosts of hoggoth..."
    Spider-Man-"Is that hoary with an "h"or a "w" "
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeJun 13th 2011
     
    I have been reading stuffs, but it is the same stuffs and it would probably be the usual 'Bat Girl is ace and lovely and fun' and 'Iron Man is still great', followed by CLiNT is getting there (it really is) and then uh, um...well thats about all i've been reading lately, apart from vol 9 of Transmetropolitan which one of my cats was sick on (I'm sure Spider would approve) and Transformers : Vault and Doctor Who Magazine ... which has a quite bonkers strip going on at the moment...
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJun 14th 2011
     
    Last night I read Iron Age: Alpha which, based on the cover, looked like one of those pointless one-shots that I buy and then get home and think "really, Lee, did you need this comic? It's going to be rubbish, you know it is." But, as it goes, it wasn't. The suddenly-everywhere Rob Williams has written a fun little intro to a mini that will, from the look of it, see Tony Stark of now interacting with comics megastars in their late 70s/early 80s guise. And when I say megastars, I mean Power Man & Iron Fist, drunk Iron Man and Dazzler!!!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJun 14th 2011
     
    I also read Ka-Zar #1 (7/10), Stand: No Man's Land #5 (8/10), Incredible Hulks #something big (5/10) and Supreme Power #1 (7.5/10).
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeJun 17th 2011
     
    My love affair with the Secret Wars II Omnibus will be soon coming to a happy end.Apparently the book is no longer in print although i did see one to buy in a comic shop in Leicester last year.Now my local library is borrowing it from a library in America where it's quite scarce over there too.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJun 17th 2011
     
    I considered paying circa £100 for a copy, greg75. However, I was then lucky enough to have a moment of clarity and remember that Secret Wars II was a bloated, badly drawn, rubbish story featuring a man with a jheri curl perm.

    Instead I read (and enjoyed) Wallking Dead vol 1. Curse Jared!
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2011
     
    Has anyone read an Image Comics title called Troll?Just wondering how Image can get away with an almost identitcal hero to Wolverine?

    If that's the case does that mean Marvel can say use an exact image of Bruce Wayne as long as they don't call him Batman?
  83.  
    Greg75 meet Moon Knight, Moon Knight meet Greg75!
    Greg75 meet Nighthawk, Nighthawk meet Greg75!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2011
     
    More reading:

    Ultimate Spidey #159. It's an issue-long fight but I still enjoyed it. I don't really look at the Internet (obviously I do, but not for comic news) so don't know - is he actually going to die in the suggestively titled Death of Spider-Man?

    Ghost Rider #0.1. I was just thinking to myself "Wouldn't it be nice for GR to get another lame re-start that ignores a load of recent continuity and leads inevitably to a stupidly convoluted story that tries to reconcile the continuity and makes everyone stop caring?" And then I read this. Result.

    Deadpool Max #9. Is this series rubbish, or am I simply not getting the joke?

    Punisher Max #14. Maintaining a less-than electric pace, but this arc is way better than the last one. And prison is (I guess) a plain, undecorated environment which suits Dillon's, um, economical backgrounds.
  85.  
    I've just finished Loaded Bible book 1, never really read any of the idependant stuff more mainstream marvel stuff, but thought it was ace really glad I picked it up looking forward to book 2.

    Also decided to pick up some DC comics well the Flashpoint story arc. Really enjoying it, think i'll be picking up at least one DC comic series come September.

    But back in the Marvel universe, I'm reading the Fear Itself story arc and the new Moon Knight.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeJul 1st 2011
     
    Just finished reading INVADERS NOW!(GAGE/ROSS/REIS)-A good story basically about a village in World War 2 where The Invaders had to kill everyone because the nasty Arnim Zola,without Doughboy(boo)turns the whole village into mutated freaks and they have no option but to kill everyone.The original Vision brings the original Invaders together in the present day to fight SHUMA GORATH!!!!!!

    The only real problem I have with this story is the "original" Vision being part of the Invaders as I read the whole series of the 70's Invaders series and no sign of this bloke!Perhaps someone on here can fill me in on when this Vision became a member of the Invaders!!
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2011
     
    Just finished reading INVINCIBLE IRON MAN:STARK RESILIENT(FRACTION/LARROCA) and although I'm enjoying the title it's too droll at times I want to see fighting super villains not STANE and HAMMER all the time.

    Bring back the Grey Gargoyle,Brothers Grimm,Ultimo even.

    AVENGERS:PRIME(BENDIS/DAVIS)

    This story has Steve Rogers,Thor and Iron Man fighting Hela after being transported to another planet.Highlight of this story was Thor admitting he may have had a relationship with Hellcat for 5 mins.

    I read this purely because it had Iron Man in I don't like the new Thor and I don't think I ever will.Ever since he didn't turn back into Don Blake or whoever after sixty seconds without MJOLNIR.

    Next on my reading list are-

    MS.MARVEL-ASCENSION
    ZATANNA-MISTRESS OF MAGIC
    REBELS-SONS OF BRAINIAC
    SUPERMAN:NIGHTWING AND FLAMEBIRD
    MIDNIGHTER:ANTHEM
    SUPERGIRL:DEATH AND THE FAMILY
  88.  
    Death of Spider-Man was just a Death of Superman homage wasn't it?
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJul 6th 2011
     
    It was a bit. Is it a good jumping off point for Ultimate Marvel?
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeJul 7th 2011
     
    Just finished reading ZATANNA-MISTRESS OF MAGIC(DINI/ROUX/HARDIN)

    Zatanna fights Brother Night in this graphic and some good artwork make this a pleasure to read.However why villains don't just blindfold and gag her if they want to defeat her i don't know.Perhaps after re-reading JLA-TOWER OF BABEL again i am merely thinking how to defeat every super hero i read about.....
  91.  
    Why would you want to defeat a super-heroine who wears knee high boots, fishnet stockings and a basque!? You want her to keep coming back for more!!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2011
     
    Is blindfolding and gagging a super-heroine who wears knee high boots, fishnet stockings and a basque ok with DC?
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJul 16th 2011
     
    I just read Uncanny X-Men 539 and 540. I wish they'd have a consistent artist, but Kieron Gillen's writing some of the best X-scenes since Whedon's first Astonishing. Not quite that good, but best since. In my opinion (which isn't that humble, but is more humble than, say, Namor's; it's probably less humble than Colossus', though).
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2011
     
    And following on from those I read eight Fear Itself tie-ins, ranging from the valid (Thunderbolts) to the pointless (Ghost Rider). Overall though, I'm enjoying FI. I know 'events' get a bad rep, but I'm a sucker for them as one of the best things about the MU is the MU, so cross-universe events always please. Why not see if I am right by rushing straight to OK and buying all 1200 FI issues so far?
    •  
      CommentAuthorOK Comics
    • CommentTimeJul 19th 2011
     
    Just buy one. Just buy Fearsome Four. I'm going to be cooking those up and eating them at Christmas.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJul 19th 2011
     
    I'm sure I bought one. And if not, I meant to. And will.
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeJul 20th 2011
     
    Okays, Captain Si delves into his carrier bag of fun and produces...

    The Iron Age : Alpha (Williams / Isaacs /Mossa)

    So. Forgotten villian with an axe to grind against Tony Stark because boo hoo, his life didn't turn out the way he expected, decides it will be an excellent idea to amass technology that would make Steve Jobs come in his pants and one of Doom's time machine's to pluck Dark Phoenix out of her early '80s demise and use her to ,er, destroy the world. Brilliant. Stark jumps into the machine and finds himself trapped in the past, his armour off line with only his drunken younger self (whom weirdly looks well old) to save the Earth. It's well written and the art is great...but jesus h christ on bicycle another hoary old time-travel 'event' of no consequence? Yipee...

    Iron Man # 504 (really issue 39 or something) (Fraction / Larocca / D'Armata)

    Meanwhile, in the sensible present day (relatively speaking) the Serpent has awoken (early morning boners are such an irritation sometimes...) and spaffed unholy vengeance over the Earth for ... selling loads of comics or something. Yes! It's a 'Fear Itself' tie-in! Woo. And with Wayne Rooney on the cover too (Really! Check out the Larocca cover rather than the no doubt endless 'retailer incentive' covers or whatever ... is it really an incentive to order bucket loads of stock just to get a different cover? hmm...). Quite how this comic remains excellent month in month out is astonshing. Even in it's quieter moments its worth ten of your X-books with their interminable incestuous crossovers. A quietly horrible tale of the Grey Gargoyle going to investigate one of the Serpent's ...things and turning the fair (but expensive!) city of Paris into a mausoleum. The scenes of Iron Man crashing into the statues as he fights the uber Gargoyle and reminding himself they are people are one of the more horrific scenes I've seen in comics...as is the dreadful final image on which this book finishes. Superb.

    Fear Itself : The Black Widow One Shot (Bunn / Nguyen / Yeung / Hamscher / Gandini)

    That's a lot of names for a 22 page comic. Probably a critique in itself really. Not a bad book by any stretch, with BW taking on some terrorist types who make off with France's nuclear weapons launch codes (really, haven't they learnt from Chernoybl or Threads that no one wins in a nuclear war?). Just completely lacking on the 'fear' front, being about as tense and nail biting as your average episode of Neigbours. Such an inconsequential thing, you wonder why Marvel bothered, particularly as Black Widow's underwhelming ongoing series wasn't just axed on grounds of good taste alone.

    Punisher Max # 14 & 15 (Aaron / Dillon / Hollingsworth)

    Whilst I am enjoying the delving into 'the making of The Punisher', the book feels again like it is moving at a snails pace. I'm sure read as collected edition, this will all make much more sense, but if the trade paperback is the intended way in which to read the story, then why bother with the monthly? The story is very good, being the upsetting tale of a good man going to war and discovering that he is capable - and very good at (and also seems to enjoy) - acts of extreme , sadistic violence and coming home and being creeped out by himself and feeling out of step with normality, but I feel Marvel (along with a lot of other publishers) have got to take a step back and think about the format of the 22 page monthly comic. Stuff like this is a frustratingly fast read. If the story is to be red in one whole go, then bite the bullet and just print it as a trade and stop wasting resources and my time!
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeJul 20th 2011
     
    Birds Of Prey # 13 & 14 (Simone / Olos / Tucci / Melo / Meyer)

    The decent serial maimer storyline comes to an end, and in a less than successful way for the Birds, which is refreshing for superheroics. The book itself still suffers from having too large a cast with too little time devoted to the individual players. Blackhawk and Black Canary have been interchangeable throughout these 14 issues, and there's this odd 'block' approach to the storytelling. So far, we've had a lump of issues dealing with terrorists, one run dealing with The Calculator and another dealing with some white clad Asian chick that I still have no clue about. None of these seem to run into the ongoing lives of the characters and are forgotten by the time we roll into the next tale. It's very odd. The biggest turn off though, has to be the conclusion to issue 13, with the Birds swearing to track down their latest foe (a mumbling nut job who attacks ladies with a very large pair of scissors and goes for their genitals and other rude bits) only for #14 to start out with a completely new story detailing so ho-hum WWII Nazi flash back nonsense. Disappointing. Billy Tucci draws it though, so I suppose that's something.

    Batgirl # 23 (Miller / Perez)

    Thankfully, Batgirl is much more on the ball. This bright, breezy and cheerful comic is bringing to a head the long running Reapers saga (which started out as a forgettable sub plot but has turned out to have deeper ramifications for the cast - good show!). Whilst I'm not much of a fan of armoured goofballs (this sort of future technology available in the present day has never convinced me, except in Iron Man where great pains have been taken to show this stuff is at least possible, theoretically), they've been a good recurring foe for Batgirl. It's just a shame that they lack identity - which is kind of the point, but still... It all ends with a rousing Super Team- Up before Batgirl is reunited with her father the Cluemaster.

    From the jaws of the ongoing victory of this title comes defeat. The next issue is to be the last in the current run before the title is rebooted for no good reason and this creative team is jettisoned in favour of Gail Simone (and following on from her work on Birds Of Prey, I can see the title lurching into less cheerful and baffling fare) and some new artists. Sigh. It's the two year itch with all comic companies at the moment, isn't it? You're never far away from some needlss relaunch or a confusing numbering system or some great fart of an event that spews out more guff than anyone can cope with. I weep for comics, I truly do.
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeJul 20th 2011
     
    CLiNT # 7, 8 & 9 (The Mark Millar Fan Club Digest)

    I wonder who buys this, apart from me? And do they like it? I do. It's pretty good value for money.

    Kick Ass II - finally getting somewhere with his dad finding out what he's been up to and the reappearance of Red Mist..oooh!

    Turf - Flagging a bit as the climax is seemingly going on forever over these last three issues, but still the best strip in the mag.

    The Pro - Viz style fun from Garth Ennis. Wonder if Amanda Conner enjoyed wotking on this?

    American Jesus - AAAARRRGGGHHH! Millar you lazy b*st*rd!!! He was Satan's offspring all along ho ho ho I don't think. A potentially excellent series undermined by going for the easy option. VERY disappointed.

    Superior - Also suffers the same problem, with the Space Monkey turning out to be EEEEVIL. BOOOOO! Rather undoes all the good work done so far and takes the sheen off an intriguing premise. No wonder Grant Morrison is rude about Millar in his Supergods book.

    Who Is Jake Ellis ? Potentially very interesting spy drama / government agency cover up thriller. So long as the shadow doesn't turn out to be the Devil or something, this should be very good. Art reminds me of Steve Yeowell, if he drew with crayons.

    Jimmy Carr's dreadful commentary strip on school yard shootings and video games is the worst piece of salacious Tabloid fodder I've seen since nonsense like Evil Ernie. Utter bab.
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeJul 20th 2011
     
    And finally...

    Spider-Man / Ghost Rider : Motorstorm (Williams / Garbett /Sicat)

    Man, they sure don't write enough comics like this anymore. A great little yarn that sees Spider-Man and Ghost Rider take on The Servicer whom has come to Service GR's bike! It sounds really silly on paper, but it's great. Some witty dialogue (GR and Spidey team ups have always always been good value - apart from that hookum Todd McFarlane did anyway) and a good self contained story that although rolls onto GR 0.1 - in so much that it gives us a bit more of Johnny's current state of mind - isn't bound by having to deliver parts of some ongoing storyline. Great fun! Nice art by former Batgirl artist Lee Garbett who draws the best looking Spider-Man I've seen in a good long while.

    Ghost Rider 0.1 (Williams / Clark / Parsons / Schwager)

    Excellent primer issue for the GR ongoing. A weary Blaze frees himself of the Rider after a run in with Adam (beard, hat) and a lady he saves from a beating (pretty, makes breakfast). A very good start...


    Ghost Rider # 1 (Williams / Clark / Parsons / Schwager)

    ...slightly damaged by the opening issue of the ongoing. After comcially despatching two of the 1990s Rider's best villains (please let this be the M.O. for this creative team), we are introduced to the new Ghost Rider. Or rather we aren't. Instead of focussing on who the new host is - a dimunitive South American lady called Alejandra - we just get more of Blaze - albeit with an intriguing story of his own, but one that could have waited a good 12 issues or so, frankly (is that the sound of bets being hedged? surely not!) and a big fight scene that ties into ... Fear Itself (I reckon this Adam chap , he of beard and hat, is the Serpent, the way he keeps blithering on about sin and whatnot).

    One of the worst things you can do with any launch of any new series is instantly make it part of your latest capitalist summer bunfight. And so does the first issue of GR sucumb to this problem. It's a shame, as there's some superb stuff there, but between fudging Blaze into the book at the expense of the new character, you're wondering whose book you're reading, and why you picked it up. It's nowhere near as bad as X-23's recent #1, but this editorial decision has robbed the book of its identity and purpose.

    Worst of all, instead of setting out your stall with the new host from the get-go, you've got the unwanted baggage of Blaze hanging about which has straight away ignited the message boards (general reaction on Marvel's forums : bring back Blaze - a stupid thing to say seen as he's still in the damn book, but hey...) and will no doubt open the smae can of worms that dogged the last GR book: questions of continuity, where is character x, why isn't y in it blah blah blah blah blah.

    I just wish Marvel would have been braver than they have been, the fools!

801 to 900 of 1000

  1. <
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. >