Weekend Reading: Smallville, Big Nate and Star Wars
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Movies, Reviews,
I know that we’re all thinking the same thing: how great it is that Michael Rosenbaum is coming back to Smallville for the big series finale. I’m stocking extra Doritos for my goodbye party.
Now that you’re sitting down, why not read a few things:
England: I missed this end of the year interview with head of brand marketing for DC Thomson John Paul Murphy. DC Thomson publishes, among other things, the British comics the Beano, the Dandy and Commando.
Art: After looking at these paintings from Britain’s War Picture Library, I can only conclude two things: (1) Giorgio De Gaspari is a terrific painter and (2) I want to see more!
Nate: Comic Strip Of The Day takes a look at Big Nate. “It is self-deprecating, self-reflective humor delivered on an adolescent level. And it works.”
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Smallville, Big Nate and Star Wars
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My New Year’s Resolutions For 2011
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, IDW Publishing, Independent, Marvel Comics,
I don’t like NYR’s for the simple reason that I never keep them. Lose weight, eat healthier, start smoking just so I can fail at quitting.
But this year, well, this year, I’m sure to keep some of these resolutions. Won’t you join me?
10. I will read many more webcomics, bookmark them and recommend them.
9. I won’t buy a Marvel or DC comic at a price point greater than $2.99.
8. But yet I will buy all the hardcovers from The Library of American Comics.
7. Read even more independent comics. I think that’s where the real interesting stuff is and has always been.
6. I will download more comics to my iPad. I’ll pay for them, too.
5. Figure out which movie will make less money: Green Lantern or Thor.
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Grounded: Superman’s Walking Tour Diary
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,
Superman‘s been grounded. No he hasn’t been sent to his room without supper, but the Man of Steel is taking a walking tour of America. The year-long adventure, called “Grounded” began in Superman #700 but really picks up steam in #701. It’s written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated by Eddy Barrows. Supes will be using his cross-country hike to try to reconnect with the people of this great nation.
Naturally, he’s keeping a diary and we got our hands on some excerpts. Up, up and away…on foot.
Day 6
Batman called to laugh at me. Said even Terra-Man used a horse. Ha-ha. Prick.
Status: Facebooking an embarrassing panel of Bruce and Dick getting massages in old comic book.
Lunch: A&W’s Uncle Burger. Stupid name for a pretty good burger.
Day 9
Met another guy who wants to talk about the “brown skins.” I said he had me confused with Green Lantern. I don’t see skin color. I have enough trouble with Kryptonite’s colors. And don’t get me started on the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
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DC Comics Review: Superman: Secret Origin #2
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: ****
Wow! Fantastic! For someone who didn’t grow up reading the Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes stories, I have nothing to compare this issue to. However, I must say that this is a great story that I think longtime fans of those stories will agree that it can stand alongside those classic tales. If you didn’t read issue one, first off, go now to your comic store and get it; second, this issue can stand alone as a great story with some amazing art work. The creative team once again is Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. They introduced us to a teenage Clark Kent living in Smallville adjusting to his super powers and discovering where they came from. We’re also introduced to a teenage Lex Luthor who has an abusive, alcoholic father whom Luthor tries kill in the beginning of our second issue.
The issue opens with Lionel Luthor driving down a highway. There is rubble on the road and he tries to swerve and hit the breaks - unfortunately the breaks are out thanks to Lex. Lionel’s car goes over the side of the highway and is about to plunge into the water when Superboy saves the day. A beautifully drawn scene by Frank, but my one complaint is that I think Superboy looks more like a 10 year-old than a teenager in that scene. Lionel survives, but not for long as Luthor is successful in murdering his father at the end of the issue.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Superman: Secret Origin #2
DC Comics Review: Blackest Night: Superman #2
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: ***
The Black Night continues its reign of terror in Smallville in this issue of Blackest Night: Superman. I really enjoyed the first issue of this series, but I felt a bit let down with this second one. One of the things that I felt hurt the first issue of this series continues here and that’s bad dialogue. As you know, Earth 2 Superman has risen from the dead as a Black Lantern and is fighting Superman and Superboy. As they are fighting, Earth 2 Superman taunts Superman with this “amazing” piece of dialogue,“My world was better! I was better! Earth 2? No, it was Earth mine!” Bad. Just bad. I can’t believe that this is the same writer - James Robinson - who wrote one the best comics ever in Starman. What the hell happened?
The story is still decent enough for me to have been entertained along with the solid artwork by Eddy Barrows. This guy is great. I look forward to seeing more of his work, hopefully on bigger projects for DC.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Blackest Night: Superman #2
DC Comics Review: Superman: Secret Origin #1
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: ****
There have been numerous Superman origins in the character’s 70 year history. From the original Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster origin, to the more recent John Byrne and Mark Waid origins or Superman’s early adventures that we’ve seen over the past 20 years. Now we get another new “origin” tale by Geoff Johns with this week’s Superman: Secret Origin. When I heard that they were doing this, I said to myself, “Is this really necessary?” Well with the recent continuity changes that have been made over the past few years, I guess you can make an argument for it. If it were any other writer doing it, I would not be picking this mini-series up, but since it’s Geoff Johns and I loved what he and Richard Donner did with their recent run on Action Comics, I decided to pick it up. Well, I’m glad to say that I’m not disappointed.
Our first issue opens in Smallville of course with Clark Kent as a teenager about to begin a pick up game of football with Pete Ross and some other Smallville teenagers. Clark catches the ball and runs into Pete, which breaks Pete’s arm. Distraught over the incident, Clark is confused by what’s happening to him. There to comfort him is his childhood sweetheart Lana Lang. She kisses Clark which gets Clark all hot and bothered, resulting in his heat vision to shoot off—he almost burns the school down.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Superman: Secret Origin #1
DC Comics Review: Blackest Night: Superman #1
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: *** 1/2*
The Blackest Night makes its way to Smallville in this first issue of Blackest Night: Superman as Black Lanterns resurrect the deceased Earth 2 Superman and Lois Lane. Our story begins with Pete Ross and some local Smallville townsfolk talking amongst themselves when they notice something flying in the sky. Being a Superman comic, someone is guaranteed to utter the famous “Is that a bird?” quote. Well it’s not a bird of course, but it’s instead the resurrected body of Kal-L, the Superman of Earth 2 as a Black Lantern. He arrives in Smallville and makes his way to the Kent farm where Superman, Superboy, and Krypto are sitting down for coffee with Martha Kent.
I love that Conner is back and Superman has a “brother” of sorts; I love the little family that DC is developing here. I would have Supergirl start to develop a yearning to become a part of this family and have her mother become jealous—this would cause a big rift between them, resulting in a throw down with Superman and Allura with Supergirl caught in between. Speaking of which, we see Zor-El become a Black Lantern on New Krypton later in the issue.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Blackest Night: Superman #1
DC Comics Review: Adventure Comics #1
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: *** 1/2*
By the end of the mini-series Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, writer Geoff Johns resurrected two recently deceased super-heroes: Kid Flash and Superboy. With this issue we see another resurrection as well with the return of the long running DC title Adventure Comics. The original book ran from 1938 to 1983 and featured numerous adventures of secondary DC super-heroes. Some of the characters that were featured in the title were stories about Superboy and the Legion of Super Heroes. With the return of Adventure, we will be seeing new stories featuring both Superboy and the Legion once again.
The difference here of course is where the original Adventure Comics showcased tales of a young Clark Kent as Superboy, this series will focus on Conner Kent who is a genetically created clone of Superman and Lex Luthor. In this issue we see Conner return to Smallville to live with Superman’s mom Martha Kent. Since he’s partially a clone of Superman, he’s also calling her Ma.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Adventure Comics #1
Is Lex the Bad Guy?
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Television, DC Comics,
Someone has to stand up for Lex Luthor in Smallville and it might as well be me. I believe that the only honest person on the show is Lex and here is why.
We have to assume that the real fans of the show have watched every episode. It would be very easy to say that Lex is a power-mad psychopath who is only interested in accumulating power for himself. Crazy maybe, but crazy like a fox, I say. See, Lexie has a motive that is pure. He believes that there are aliens out here and they do not have the best intentions towards our planet. And guess what? He is right.
Lex has had exposure to aliens and they all seem to want to conquer Earth. From Brainiac to Maxima to Zod, all these guys have bad intentions towards Earth and its people. He wants to create a super-powered army to oppose them. All his efforts have been to accelerate this goal. Sure, he wants to be the top banana, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else that recognizes the threat and taking measures to counteract it. It is his money and intellect that propels every project to create this earth defense force. Even paranoids have enemies.
Let’s face it, everyone on the show is lying in one way or another. Sure, they are mostly lying to help Clark. But Clark was Lex’s BFF and his secret is not that he has super powers like every one else in Smallville exposed to meteor rocks, but that he is an actual alien. Imagine how life would have changed if Clark told his BFF the truth early in the relationship. Now Lex knows for sure there are good aliens as well as bad ones and they could work together to defend Earth. And another thing. Jor-El, from Krypton, sent John Jones, from Mars to help protect his son from, TADA, bad aliens who would do harm to earth. So I guess Lex isn’t so bad, afterall. Even though he threw his father through a window all the way to the Hero’s Universe to track down people with super powers.
Ironic huh ?
Friday Follies
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,
We are two episodes into Smallville, so a few comments are in order. Saturn Girl looks a lot better on TV than she did in the Wizard photos. I guess you don’t have to be telepathic to figure out what’s on the mind of every guy that meets her. Plus there were quite a few inside references. No flights, no tights for one. And why is Clark so uptight about even trying to fly? Tess, or as I prefer to call her MISS TESSMACKER, is talking merger with Ollie. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. With Lana back are they doing the deed? Saw the photo of Serinda Swan who will be playing Zatanna. Have they grabbed every good looking girl in Vancouver? Clark talking about teaming up more with Ollie and John Jones? How about teaming with guys who actually have super powers? You know, Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman who have already been introduced? And Martians lose their powers under a yellow sun? Since when? Jones is played by Phil Morris, who is the son of original Mission Impossible star, Greg Morris. And Chloe calling John ” My favorite Martian”? Where’s the antenna?
If you want the best explanation for Batman that I have seen click on the comment Bubba made about my Deaths of Batman posting. It is far better than anything I or my DC rep could come up with.
Whoa… I just got it, Faces of Evil is Foe’s. F O E. Took me awhile.
When I went to reorder the second printing variant of Amazing Spider-Man, I was told by Diamond that I already missed the third printing variant, but I could get the 4th printing in early February. How did I miss the third?
Over on Battlestar Galactica we now know the 12th cylon is the XO’s slightly dead wife. Of course she would have been resurrected had not the humans and renegade cylons not blown up the resurrection ship. Mind you, he killed her for betraying her people,which, of course, she isn’t and neither is he. And why, if you are making human looking cylons, would you make them susceptible to alcohol? No wonder he drinks so much. And where are they getting all this not home brewed liquor anyway? Assuming that there are only the 12 human looking cylons that they have told us about, that makes Starbuck not a cylon. People who remember the original Galactica remember the Lords of the Light who rescued the almost dead Apollo instead of Starbuck and sent him/her/it back in a brand new white viper. Well,they have borrowed quite a few plot devices from the original so why not one more?
Toon in Tuesday for the famous Tuesday Preview.
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