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Marvel Comics Review: Amazing Spider-man #600
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,
Rating: ****
After last week’s excellent Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36, I decided it was time to get back into Spider-Man. For all of us fanboys who rant and rave about never collecting a title again because of something that is done to our favorite comic book character, I think very few of us are ever able to hold onto that promise. Let’s face it, if it’s a good story and great artwork, we always come back and I’m sure that’s why Marvel had no problem making the “Brand New Day” decision a few years back because they knew we always come back.
This issue of Amazing Spider-Man is of course a huge milestone as it’s the 600th issue of the title. I know that the original title was canceled and this is part of the renumbering that was done a few years ago, but still it’s amazing (no pun intended) to see that Spider-Man continues to wow us after so many issues of Amazing and various other Spidey titles.
This issue marks the wedding of Peter Parker’s Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson Sr. The issue opens up with long-time Spider-villain Doctor Octopus talking with a doctor about all of the blunt force trauma he’s suffered over the years in fighting Spider-Man and various other heroes and villains in the Marvel Universe. The prognosis? He’s got about a year or so left to live. With this news, Doc Ock decides that he must do something worthwhile before he dies. Doc Ock decides to use his “brilliant” mind to benefit mankind. He will use the technology that he has to enable him to control the city of NY. He wants to make the trains run on time like Mussolini. Gee thanks, Ock!
Click to continue reading Marvel Comics Review: Amazing Spider-man #600
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Comic Book Retailers In Trouble sounds like a great title for a must-read graphic novel – something that maybe Drawn & Quarterly, Oni or even Fantagraphics might publish, drawn by Dan Clowes or Seth.
These kinds of stories don’t happen very often – most retailers are a swell bunch of guys who would prefer to peep only in the inside of a longbox. So when crimes allegedly involving a retailer, a convention promoter or a comic book creator suddenly make the news, well, it’s at least as newsworthy as those World’s Biggest Tomato stories your local evening news.
But riddle me this, Bat-fans: if you’re allegedly going to allegedly indulge your alleged fetish for watching women go to the bathroom, why would you choose a low-traffic area like the bathroom of a comic book store?
I don’t know John Ostrander at all. If I’ve met him at a convention, I’ve surely forgotten it just as he’s surely forgotten me. I’ve only read his comics.
And I’ve really liked the comic books he’s written. His Grimjack – with artist Tim Truman - was one of the Top 10 independent comics to explode out of the Direct Market back in the 1980s. And a long run on The Spectre with artist Tom Mandrake remains a favorite, topping the Michael Fleisher run for me. Star Wars: Republic and Wasteland are just a couple of his other works. John was one of those early First Comics creators who seemed to come out of nowhere and then moved over to DC, Marvel and Dark Horse afterwards.
Now, the word is that he’s struggling, fighting off glaucoma and doctors are rallying to save his eyesight. But like most people these days, he lacks both insurance and the money necessary to pay for the continuing treatments out of pocket.
Click to continue reading JOHN OSTRANDER Could Use Your Help
WEEKEND READING: WATCHMEN’S MALIN AKERMAN, WAYNE BORING, WOLVERINE, and MEGAN FOX
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
How can it be anything other than a great week when the internets are packed with Malin Akerman swimsuit pictures, an appreciation of classic Superman artist Wayne Boring, a look at best and worst futuristic cop cars, British comics legend Leo Baxendale talking about himself and Bash Street, and Shaolin Robots? Well, it just doesn’t get any better. Read and click your weekend away!
WATCHMEN’S MALIN AKERMAN: The boys (and girls) over at Short List know exactly what fanboys want. They’ve put up a five-click gallery of Malin Akerman (you might know her as Silk Spectre from Watchmen) in the latest swimwear. She looks like she eats right, gets her precious eight hours of sleep, and exercises. It’s the next best thing to Watchmen 2.
Marvel Comics Review: Captain America #601
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,
Rating: ***
With the release of Captain America: Reborn the main ongoing storyline of the death, and now rebirth of Cap will be told there. With issue #601 of the regular monthly title we get a stand alone story by Cap writer Ed Brubaker and veteran comic artist Gene Colan. I’m going to put my neck out and say I didn’t like Mr. Colan’s artwork here. I did a Google search and was checking out some of his previous work on Daredevil, Howard the Duck and Tomb of Dracula and thought his work then was very good, but I just wasn’t digging his work here. The cover of this issue is a good example of what I didn’t like. Cap almost doesn’t seem to have a neck in this illustration and the wings on his mask protrude out too much for my taste.
As for the story, Brubaker tells a nice little stand alone story about Cap and Bucky fighting vampires during World War II. The story is presented as a flashback where we see Bucky as the Winter Soldier talking to Nick Fury relating a story about soldiers turning on their own. The story takes place in Bastogne, Belgium in February of 1945. Bucky and Cap find an American soldier dying in an old house. The soldier tells Cap how much he admires him as Cap tries to comfort him as he dies. But the soldier is not truly dead, he was bitten by a vampire and the “dead” body is resurrected into a vampire. Cap and Bucky battle the vampire soldier and end up killing him.
Click to continue reading Marvel Comics Review: Captain America #601
DC Comics Review: Blackest Night #1 - Todd’s Take
Posted by Todd Matthy Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Two years ago, “The Sinestro Corps War” ended with a teaser…a teaser for an event called “Blackest Night”. Two years and one “Final Crisis” later, the “Blackest Night” is here and starts off with a bang. The opening salvo of “Blackest Night” is action-packed, emotional, and downright creepy. It begins with the heroes of the DC universe paying tribute to fallen heroes. Johns shows how each hero is affected by the death of their comrades or their loved ones. At the same time, the “War of Light” the Guardians of the Universe have been trying to prevent has erupted. Unfortunately this part is brief, but serves its purpose because the Guardians are too distracted to realize the danger soon to be heaped upon the universe. So far the “War of Light” is being covered in the “Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps” title. Then all hell starts to break loose.
The Black Lantern rings have swarmed across the universe like a plague of locusts, picking dead heroes and villains as their bearers. The dead have risen and will begin their assault on the living, targeting Hawkman as their first victim.
The Black Lanterns are DC Zombies with a similar mission as Thanos - to spread death across the universe until everything is dead. The resurrected heroes and villains are mangled and ghoulish, a gross distortion of their once noble forms. The most disturbing are Ralph and Sue Dibny. While this is clearly a set up issue, their is enough character interaction and story to hook you. Johns has been building this event since “Green Lantern: Rebirth” and it shows. I can’t wait for the rest of the story when we find out more about the Black Lanterns and how the heroes of the DC Universe react to their fallen comrades resurrection before realizing that their friends serve the forces of death.
The Blackest Night has arrived….
For more of my thoughts on various subjects, check out my web site: Sledgehammer Productions.
DC Comics Review: Blackest Night #1 - Dave’s Take
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: *** 1/2*
I’m not a huge Green Lantern fan. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I was a Marvel Zombie for a long time. Even when I started reading DC Comics it was just Batman and nothing else. It wasn’t until the early 90s with the Death of Superman that I started reading other DC books. For the majority of the time I’ve been reading DC, Kyle Rayner was the Green Lantern, not Hal Jordan. I liked Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern: Reborn, but I wasn’t crazy about his regular ongoing work on the new GL title. I can appreciate why many people like it and the art has been amazing, but I preferred other titles.
I liked the Sinestro Corps storyline and I’ve been reading the lead up to this month’s big event: Blackest Night. This first issue was very good. The GL issues have been a bit hard for me to follow because I know very little about GL history and its been hard to connect with these characters. I also don’t really understand all of the multicolor lantern corps that are popping up and what is the purpose of the Black Lantern Corps which at the center of this storyline the Blackest Night. All I know and understand is whoever or whatever is behind all this is recruiting the bodies of deceased super-heroes and super-villains. The Black Hand who is a long standing GL villain, killed himself only to be resurrected as a Black Lantern and he’s become the unofficial squad leader of the corps.
Our story begins on the anniversary of Superman’s “death”. When it was believed that Superman was dead, the government declared it a day of national mourning. When he was resurrected, the day became a day to honor the deceased super-heroes who’ve fallen in the line of duty. In Coast City, the day takes a special meaning as they honor the dead civilians who died at the hands of Mongul and the Cyborg Superman.
In the beginning of the issue we see Black Hand unearthing Bruce Wayne’s body and talking to his skull. In a perverse homage to Hamlet, Black Hand speaks and then licks Bruce’s skull and says that he is connected to them all. Does Black Hand know that Bruce is really alive?
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Blackest Night #1 - Dave’s Take
Vroom! Gentlemen, start your engines. Hot Wheels, the perennial car from Mattel for kids to race, is a natural property for a comic book. Back in the late 1960s, when Hot Wheels debuted, DC thought enough about it to launch a comic book illustrated by the great Alex Toth. Toontastic Publishing has been issuing Hot Wheels Magazine for quite a while (they’re up to #58 already) and I picked one up while I was in London because in addition to the usual assortment of puzzles, games, pin-ups and fan art, there are two comic book stories by Ian Rimmer and illustrated by Tim Perkins. Both star Hot Wheels test driver Chuck Speed, the guy with “the best job in the world” of toy cars.
The two 4-pagers pit Chuck against his nemesis, Diesel Darkclaw. The stories are brief, silly and perfect for kids who love their toy cars. The only drawback is that Tim Perkins’ art is really rough and the storytelling isn’t quite as clear as it should be, given the age of the intended audience.
Hot Wheels Magazine is yet another British newsstand magazine with a prize taped to the front. Mine came with its own Hot Wheels car, which helped justify the £3.99 cover price (which translates into just over $7.00US). Despite the high price, my son loved the magazine and his free car.
[Artwork: cover to Hot Wheels Magazine #58, ©Mattel]
Walking Dead #63 Moves Forward, Sans Shock or Surprise
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Reviews, Image Comics,
We have finally arrived at the second part of Robert Kirkman and crew’s “Fear the Hunters” arc, and I am once again quite disappointed. While the level of my sadness does not reach my opinion of the last issue, this book has yet to fulfill my expectations for this storyline.
Past Andrea’s heartbreaking and relentless search for Dale, the gang finally makes the trek to Gabriel’s church and uncovers the truth beneath his flimsy story. His confession is frightening; to think that he committed such an act against his brothers and sisters right under the eyes of his god truly unmasks the horror Kirkman was once so keen in illustrating for us. All the same, this makes me wonder whether God is watching after his children after all, considering Gabriel somehow managed to survive unharmed on his way to Rick’s group after such a contemptible deed. Granted, this is under the assumption that Gabriel’s confession is veritable… If so, the reveal reminds me more of Kirkman’s ability to portray humans’ true ugliness when mirrored against the undead (compared to the hunters reveal).
About those hunters… (spoilers after the jump)
Click to continue reading Walking Dead #63 Moves Forward, Sans Shock or Surprise
Continuing my sampling of British comic books, I picked up a copy of Toxic #143 (July 8-July 21, 2009). It’s another in a series of comic books disguised as a magazine, or is it a magazine disguised as a comic book? Either way, the editors at Toxic – and the publishers at Egmont - know their intended audience: the front cover boasts Ice Age 3 tie-ins, a Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen game guide, Lego Indy, and a Team Toxic comic. Plus, there’s a “Toxic Iceman” skeleton mold and ice pick in a blister pack that’s taped to the front cover. You can freeze him and then chip him out of the ice just like a real, well, a real guy who chips skeletons out of the ice.
There’s also an insert section of Ice Age 3 Battle Cards (on thicker stock) and directions on how to play the game. Inside are the usual magazine elements: photo features, pin-ups, games, puzzles, etc. Some of them tie-in to Ice Age 3, others into The Terminator, Transformers and Lego Indy. There’s a funny 2-page Team Toxic adventure where the gang takes on a Woolly Mammoth. It’s written and drawn by the great Lew Stringer. Jamie Smart contributes a poo-filled 1-pager featuring Super Von Poo and his sidekick Battleturd, and a silly Robin Hoodie 1-pager that’s uncredited.
For £2.50 (which works out to about $4.50US) it’s not a bad little package of silly stuff for the 7 or 8-year-old around the house. The layout is busy and every page is packed and it felt like money well-spent. Perhaps this is my gateway comic to Judge Dredd.
[Artwork: Cover to Toxic #143, ©Egmont Magazines UK]
Click to continue reading BRITISH COMICS: TOXIC 143 Ice Age and Transformers!
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