June 2009 News Posts (35)

Deck Log Entry # 86 Cap's Kooky Quartet (Part 2): Dysfunctional, Thy Name is "Avengers"

In the span of twenty pages, Stan Lee had almost totally repopulated the Avengers Mansion. Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man and the Wasp were gone, leaving Captain America in charge of three former rogues who had been inducted as Avengers with less effort than it had taken me to scrounge up two Ovaltine seals and a dime to join Captain Midnight’s Secret Squadron.

As discussed last time, filling up the cast with…

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Added by Commander Benson on June 27, 2009 at 5:00pm — 8 Comments

Girl Power: An Interview with Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti

"Everyone has preconceived notions about the character: 'She’s a component of a team and not a star,' 'she’s confusing and redundant,' 'she’s a breast joke' and so on. The challenge and goal is simply to make an enjoyable comic book and not worry about anything else." -- Justin Gray

See what else the writers of DC's new Power Girl series say about the character re-launch on our sister site,… Continue

Added by Captain Comics on June 27, 2009 at 2:30pm — 4 Comments

Why Anthologies Don’t Work (And Why Wednesday Comics Might Be an Exception)

Americans like choice. And when it comes to our entertainment, we want what we want when we want it. Some cultural critics might complain that this shows a deficiency of character in the American people. I’m not making any moral judgments on that subject today. I’m simply noting that’s the way it is, and any entertainment companies that fail to reckon with that reality will find themselves in trouble.

We see this in the music industry. Fans want their music affordable and accessible.… Continue

Added by Chris Fluit on June 27, 2009 at 1:35pm — 1 Comment

Comics for July 1

Here's what's coming out on Canada Day. Except in Canada.

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

Dark Horse

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vol 2 #26 (Season 8) Georges Jeanty Cover $2.54

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vol 2 #26 (Season 8) Jo Chen Cover $2.54

FCBD 2009 Aliens Predator Aliens Day Edition - FREE - Limit 1 Per Customer TBA

Goon 10th Anniversary Print Signed By Eric Powell $17.00

Goon Vol 8 Those That Is Damned TP $13.56

Solomon Kane Vol 1… Continue

Added by Chris Fluit on June 27, 2009 at 12:18pm — 7 Comments

Summer is a Great Time for Comics

My love affair with comics started during the summer. Every year, my family would go on a camping trip for several weeks. My mom knew that she had to find ways to keep us kids occupied for several hours in the car while we drove from the city to one national park after another. She’d buy us hidden ink books and crossword puzzles. She’d make sure the car was stocked with snacks like red licorice. She taught us the classic road games, like keeping track of license plates from different states and… Continue

Added by Chris Fluit on June 27, 2009 at 7:01am — 1 Comment

The Art of the Re-Launch: The Dan DiDio Interview

"If you’re going to spend more time explaining time who the character is, you’re never going to be able to move the story ahead. You’re always going to have to go backward and explain over and over again. When you have that simple, clear definition of a character, you’re able to explain the story outward." -- Dan DiDio

See what else the head honcho of the DC superhero universe says about not just the re-launches of Flash and Power Girl, but his philosophy of how a character… Continue

Added by Captain Comics on June 26, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Flash Facts: The Geoff Johns Interview

"Flash: Rebirth when you look at it, is a detective story, a mystery. Someone has perpetrated the worst crime ever on The Flash and the Flash family. And that’s what Rebirth is: It’s the solving of that crime." -- Geoff Johns

See what else DC's superstar writer has to say about the Scarlet Speedster's re-launch on our sister site, cbgxtra.com. I post my entire interview… Continue

Added by Captain Comics on June 25, 2009 at 11:00am — 3 Comments

Green Lama: Super-Champion of Civil Rights

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

June 23, 2009 -- A lot of comics from the past are offensive to modern sensibilities, reflecting as they do the derogatory racial stereotypes prevalent at the times. Not so Green Lama, a 1940s character being reprinted by Dark Horse.

In some ways, the Lama is fairly… Continue

Added by Captain Comics on June 25, 2009 at 11:00am — 6 Comments

Let's get Wonder Woman the big numbers!

She's beaten everyone from the Cheetah to Darkseid but there's one foe Wonder Woman is finding truly implacable - Dan DiDio.

DC's Executive Editor has so far resisted all calls to give the Amazon a 600th issue, reflecting her position in comics history - even though recent years have seen such books as Superman, Fantastic Four, Thor and, soon, Captain America, dump the new volumes for big numbers.

On Newsarama.com Mr DiDio recently… Continue

Added by Martin Gray on June 24, 2009 at 6:37pm — 1 Comment

Happy Anniversary to Sally Warren

Happy 14th anniversary to my lovely wife Sally!!!!!

Added by David Warren on June 24, 2009 at 10:41am — 2 Comments

Captain Britain and MI13 #14 review

Well here's a turn-up for the books and no mistake - the apocalyptic events of last issue were a feint, a dream sparked in Dracula by the demon Plokta as a favour to Pete Wisdom. My first reaction was 'jolly cheap, wot?' but writer Paul Cornell quickly won me over. OK, so Faiza and Pete aren't dead but that means Faiza and Pete aren't dead. In a vampire-filled storyline they are, in the nicest possible sense, undead.

And while the 'it was all… Continue

Added by Martin Gray on June 22, 2009 at 8:54pm — 1 Comment

Action Comics Annual #12

I've been critical of recent issues of Action Comics, mainly for a level of violence that's alien to the Superman Family. I've also felt we weren't getting to know our new protagonists, Flamebird and Nightwing, well enough. While this extra-sized issue is still somewhat grislier than I'd prefer, the violence is dialled down. And equally good, the characterisation is dialled up.

What's remarkable here is that while most of the issue is told in the… Continue

Added by Martin Gray on June 22, 2009 at 7:57pm — 1 Comment

Deck Log Entry # 85 Cap's Kooky Quartet (Part 1): A New Broom

It’s considered an urban myth now, but the story goes something like this:

One afternoon in 1961, Marvel Comics publisher Martin Goodman was playing golf with a DC executive, either Jack Liebowitz or Irwin Donenfeld. Liebowitz or Donenfeld was bragging about the success of DC’s new title Justice League of America, a book about a team of super-heroes. As soon as he got back to the office, Goodman ordered his… Continue

Added by Commander Benson on June 21, 2009 at 1:00pm — 8 Comments

Comics for June 24, 2009

ACTRESS AND THE BISHOP #1 (MR)

ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER TP VOL 01

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #598 DKR

ARCHIE #598

ASTONISHING X-MEN #30

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #25 DKR

AVENGERS INVADERS #12 (OF 12)

BARACK THE BARBARIAN #1 A CVR OBAMA

BARACK THE BARBARIAN #1 B CVR RED SARAH

BART SIMPSON COMICS #48

BATMAN COSBABY BATGIRL FIGURE (NET) (C: 1-0-0)

BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD… Continue

Added by Doc Beechler (mod-MD) on June 20, 2009 at 3:33pm — 6 Comments

Heroes Convention 2009

After a late start, spent almost seven hours at the convention. I attended one panel discussion: "The New Power Generation of Comics" with Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Brandon, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction. Matt Brady of Newsarama attempted to moderate, with limited success (at one point Fraction turned a question around and basically interviewed Brady instead of the other way around). These writers all know each other, and had a good time tossing the questions around,… Continue

Added by Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) on June 19, 2009 at 11:26pm — 2 Comments

The Greatest of Them All!

No, I'm not talking about Muhammad Ali.

Hal Jordan has often been called the greatest Green Lantern of all time. Why is that? Other Green Lanterns stand on the verge of greatness; Kilowog, Tomar Re, Katma Tui, G'nort. Well, okay, maybe not G'nort. What makes Hal Jordan stand out among the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of others who have worn the Power Ring?

Longevity? Hal Jordan has been a Green Lantern for almost 50 years real-time and 8-12 years in, what I lovingly… Continue

Added by Mark Stanislawski on June 18, 2009 at 12:53pm — No Comments

Martians, Jungle Queens and a 'Little Fat Nothing'

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

June 16, 2009 -- Some say the future ain’t what is used to be. But those folks clearly haven’t read Science Fiction Classics: Graphic Classics Vol. 17 ($22.50), where the future is just like we remember!

The Graphics Classics line of anthologies has, for 16 volumes, adapted famous works of literature to comics, including entire books devoted to an eclectic array of authors, such as Ambrose Bierce,… Continue

Added by Captain Comics on June 17, 2009 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Captain America: Reborn

It's official: A previous Captain America is coming back, and it's Steve Rogers. Here's Marvel's press release, complete with the three (so far) covers. Let me know what you think about this, Legionnaires.

CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN!

The one true Captain America, Steve Rogers, returns in Captain America Reborn #1

Five-Issue Series Chronicling the Return Begins July 1, 2009…

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Added by Captain Comics on June 16, 2009 at 1:48am — 43 Comments

Star Wars on Trial Revisited

A couple of months ago, I wrote a pair of articles in which I addressed some of the issues raised in the “Star Wars on Trial” book by Benbella Books. I admittedly hadn’t read the book at the time but was wading into the debates in advance. Since then, I’ve finally gotten…

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Added by Chris Fluit on June 12, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Power Girl: Back to the Future

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

June 9, 2009 -- For one of the most attractive and popular characters in DC’s superhero books, Power Girl is a bit of a mess. But two writers have vowed to clean her up.

“The fans were demanding [a Power Girl book],” said co-writer Jimmy Palmiotti, “DC Comics wanted to try it and the guys in charge liked what we did on a few other books and rolled the dice and gave us a shot.”…

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Added by Captain Comics on June 12, 2009 at 10:00am — 20 Comments