TOP O' THE WEEK
FANTASTIC FOUR FANFARE #1 (OF 4, MARVEL, $5.99) is by Jonathan Hickman, Mark Waid, Dan Slott, Alan Davis, J. Michael Straczynski, Chip Zdarsky, Mike Allred, Mark Bagley, Andrew Wheeler, Ramon Rosanas, Sara Pichelli, more.
I miss Marvel Fanfare, even thought it was uneven. VERY uneven. I was pretty sure a lot of it was, like, inventory material or try-outs for new creators. "Hey," some editor probably thought. "I bet we can get the fans to subsidize our training program."
But I liked it, kinda. More in retrospect than at the time, I suspect. It was so all over the place, you didn't know what to expect. Long-unused characters, humor on occasion, baffling out-of-continuity nonsense. And occasionally a really good story that could neverr happen in the protagonist's regular book. Or some bit of implicit continuity suddenly made explicit, which made me smack my head and go "of course!" I had to wade through a lot of amateurish junk to find those gems, but they were worthwhile.
That's not what I expect here. In fact, with the lineup listed above, you can see Marvel's putting its best talent forward to make this a memorable reading experience. They're probably gearing it a bit toward non-comics readers, hoping the movie will draw in some new fans. That never happens, of course, but a corporate behemoth can dream.
Here's the table of contents for the first issue:
- Mark Waid and Ramon Rosanas depict an escalating prank war between the Human Torch and the Thing!
- Alan Davis sends the team into hazards deep underground!
- Andrew Wheeler and Sara Pichelli reveal what happens when the Mole Man interrupts Johnny Storm’s star-making turn on reality television!
In addition to the regular covers, artist Nicoletta Baldari has crafted an unusual polyptych. Instead of four variant covers that make a single image when joined horizontally, Baldari's four variant covers make a single image when joined vertically! Here are his variant covers to Fantastic Four: Fanfare #1-4, separately and as a single image. Warning: I couldn't reduce the vertical image without blurring, so prepare for some LOOOONG scrolling!
MORE ITEMS OF INTEREST
ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN #2 (DC COMICS, $4.99): Abin Sur arrives to pass judgment on Evergreen. Green Lanterns as Celestials? That's new.
ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #7 (DC COMICS, $4.99) reveals the secrets of Absolute Brainiac. He still loves his bottled cities. but now he tortures them.
BATGIRL #7 (DC COMICS, $3.99) is going to tell the origin of Lady Shiva. Since I know nothing about her past, that could be interesting.
BLACK CANARY: BEST OF THE BEST #6 (OF 6, $4.99): This Tom King story has been so good, I regret buying the individual issues — because at some point I will buy it a second time, in collected form, for what is becoming my "Tom King shelf."
BLOOD & THUNDER #1 (IMAGE, $3.99) is by Benito Cereno (Invincible Presents: Atom Eve) and E.J. Su (Tech Jacket).
Blood is a bounty hunter set in a far future, where aliens and humans have integrated. Thunder is her talking gun. There will be, of course, shocking discoveries about her past. (Thanks for nothing, Wolverine.)
“Blood & Thunder is a concept I’ve been dying to share with the world for quite some time. I'm so thrilled to be on the cusp of debuting what Benito Cereno, E.J. Su & I have cooked up,” Robert Kirkman said. “Monsters! Aliens! Space! Talking Guns! I dare you to find a comic that’s more exciting! Blood & Thunder! Shut up!”
“What happens when the best fighter in the colony finally finds something to fight for? That’s what we’re hoping to find out in Blood & Thunder, a book where E.J. Su and I have been given room to stretch our legs in exploring strange new worlds and the people who inhabit them,” Cereno said. “I can’t wait for everyone to see the vibrant and explosive energy E.J. brings to each new environment, alien and familiar all at once.”
“I am thrilled to be partnered up with my old friend Benito, and working with Robert again is icing on the cake,” E.J. Su said. “If you love monsters, aliens, creatures, and going on adventures in strange new worlds, you're going to love this. It was a blast dreaming up different environments and the inhabitants of those particular environments. There is also a lot of action, what else can you ask for? I can't wait for everyone to see what we have been cooking up.”
"You can immediately tell how much the creative team loves sci-fi storytelling,” said Nachie Marsham, Senior Editor at Skybound. “Blood & Thunder brings a mix of high-octane asskickery with epic scope and a deep desire to grab readers and keep them guessing. The world is big, the story is focused, and the art is a blast."
“It’s always a pleasure being asked by Robert to draw a cover for one of his new projects,” said J. Scott Campbell, who drew a variant cover. “Having previously created images for The Walking Dead, The Infinite and Oblivion Song, Blood & Thunder looks to be another fantastic opus. Akeldama was a blast to draw!”
CAPTAIN PLANET #1 (DYNAMITE, $4.99) is by David Pepose and Emmanuel Casallos.
Captain Planet came along waaay past my Saturday morning TV years, so I have no warm tinglies for the concept. But I'm sure that for fans of a certain age, this is genuinely exciting.
FREE PLANET #1 (IMAGE, $3.99), by Aubrey Sitterson (No One Left to Fight, The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling) and Jed Dougherty (Savage Hearts, Worlds’ Finest), is another new Image science fiction book. It's described as "a kaleidoscopic blend of the emotional space opera stylings of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga set against the intricate speculative history and political machinations of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta’s East of West. That sets a pretty high bar, which I doubt many books could reach.
"Free Planet is the shape of comics to come, Jed and my effort to elevate our craft and chosen medium with a truly literary comic, its rich complexity presented visually,” Sitterson told IGN. “Whether it's intense military action, intricate geopolitical machinations, or heart-rending soap opera, every page of Free Planet contains an overwhelming amount of visual information; we're giving you your money's worth, with a book meant to be read slowly, again and again. It's a complex rumination on what everyone — no matter where they fall on the political spectrum — truly wants: Freedom. In light of this, it's fitting that Free Planet has found a home at Image Comics, a publisher founded for the express purpose of affording comics creators the freedom to make their best, most personal works, completely unfettered."
Dougherty added: "Aubrey and I have collaborated on several comics with fantasy and comedic tones. Free Planet is our foray into a more serious work: An internally conflicted force of revolutionaries defending their planet’s resources from the depredations of interstellar powers. In keeping with the rich, involved script, I’ve modified my artwork with grittier tonal rendering as well as experiments with page layouts and graphical elements. In the course of drawing this book, the wide cast of characters has come alive for me as they battle on land and in space, as they rebuild a society from the wreckage of revolution, and as they seek out vengeance, justice and even love."
HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE #1 (MR, MASSIVE, $14.99): Teen Captain and College Captain read the original Heavy Metal magazine avidly, although "read" isn't really the right word. More often than not, I couldn't figure out what the narrative actually was. Which fascinated me. I was certain that I was reading something so deep, so couched in mysterious metaphor, that it was simply beyond my young experience. In the years to come, I thought, I will experience enough life that I will finally understand what these drenched-in-history Europeans are trying to tell me.
Well, I'm pretty old now, and pretty sure that I was over-thinking it. Phillipe Druillet's material was and is surrealistic nonsense. A lot of Moebius' stuff was just drawing whatever he felt like drawing, narrative be damned. And so on. There was no deep, intellectual secret. I couldn't figure out the narrative, or the hidden meaning, or the mysterious metaphors, because there were none.
I still like those old Heavy Metal magazines more now, because I can simply look at the pretty pictures without any mental anxiety that I'm missing something. It's just the European version of underground comix; artists that appear to be on various substances just drawing whatever their fevered brains cough up. But, unlike America's underground comix, they were really good artists!
So I'm certain to give this new effort a look. If it's up the level of wildy beautiful nonsense of its predecessor, I may stick around.
HELLO DARKNESS #10 (BOOM, MR, $5.99) is by Genevieve Valentine, Becky Cloonan, R. L. Stine, Robert Hack, David Hazan, Francesco Francavilla, Stefano Nesi and Ming Doyle.
I default to the "A" cover when ordering without much thought, because I'm lazy. Most of the time the "A" cover is the best anyway. But in the case of Hello Darkness I might have erred. Take a gander at this gallery of "B" covers from Hello Darkness #1-12 by Jenny Frison, which get progressively creepier with each issue. Issues #6 and #9-11 are particularly alarming:
I did get the Frison cover to Hello Darkness #7 (the one with the boobs), specifically because Westfield and Diamond wouldn't show me the cover. That annoyed me — I'm a grown-up, dammit — so I bought it sight unseen. Which might serve as evidence that I'm not a grown-up. Anyway, I think the series ends with Hello Darkness #12, and if so, the issue is moot.
LADY BALTIMORE: DAUGHTERS OF MEDUSA #1 (OF 3, DARK HORSE, $4.99): I miss Lord Baltimore — his unique visual, with the peg-leg and harpoon; the weird concepts, like his heart in a tin box. But his story is told, with a definitive end. (So rare in comics.) And I genuinely like Lady Baltimore, even though she's a totally different character in just about every respect. Onward.
“We’re thrilled to jump back into the Outerverse with this new Lady Baltimore adventure,” says Christopher Golden. “This world continues to evolve and surprise us all as we create it, and what a gift it is to have Bridgit Connell bringing these stories to life. It’s a lot to ask of an artist to give us pages that are both beautiful and horrifying, sometimes in the same panel, and Bridgit nails it every time. I can’t wait till readers get their hands on this story!"
Artist Bridgit Connell adds, "The script for this story is one of my favorite monster stories I've ever read. Not only does Chris know how to pay homage to the lore of the gorgon, but the work he does with the characters involved is so meaningful and heart-wrenching. I think readers are going to enjoy this adventure, I certainly did!"
LOOK OUT (ONE-SHOT, MR, AWA, 48 PAGES, ) is by writer Dan Baillie and artist Tim Bradstreet (The Punisher, Hellblazer). Foreword by Roy Lee,movie producer and head of Vertigo Entertainment (Barbarian, It, Late Night with the Devil).
This started life as a Reddit thread by a former police officer in Scotland, and somehow became a graphic novel. How? Beats me. But it's about a fire lookout who finds a set of instructions to keep him safe when night falls. You can guess bad things happen then. For some reason, this reminds me of The Gorge.
Still, it's of interest, even though I never expect to see a copy.
LOS MONSTRUOS #1 (OF 4, DARK HORSE, $4.99) is a Los Angeles-like city in the 1950s, except that it's entirely populated by monsters from movies and folklore. Our hero is a werewolf (who looks more like Marvel's Jack Russell than Universal's Larry Talbot on Cover A) who has to deal with mummies, gill-men, vampires and so forth. Could be fun!
"Writing the first arc of Los Monstruos has been one amazing ride for me,” said Robinson. “Firstly, I get to work with co-creator Jesus Merino, whose incredible art on this series is something to behold and who collaborating and exchanging ideas with has been a joy. And also the series itself has utterly captivated me. This is just the start, I promise, as there as so many more stories to be told in the 'City of Monsters.' "
SPACE GHOST / JONNY QUEST: SPACE QUEST #1 (DYNAMITE, $4.99) is by Joe Casey (WildCATs, Superman) and Sebastian Piriz.
Why has it taken 60 years for this beyond-obvious crossover to happen? My inner 8-year-old is so excited he needs Adderal.
STAR WARS #1 (MARVEL, T, $4.99) is by Alex Segura and Phil Noto.
This series is set after Return of the Jedi. That's pretty comfortable ground for most Star Wars fans, I think, myself included. Luke, Leia and Han are at their peak, and the abysmal events of the sequels are in the far future (and can be ignored). Writer Alex Segura proved his galaxy-far-away chops on the recent "Battle of Jakku" series of miniseries, and is a writer I enjoy in general. If you're a Star Wars fan, I think this series will be worth your time and money.
But not mine. I staunchly collected Star Wars comics until Dark Horse lost the franchise in 2008 or so, and that felt like a good jumping-off point. I had read every novel and comic book to that point, and realized I had read all the Star Wars I needed for one lifetime. I dropped both, and haven't regretted it. (Unlike so many of my collecting decisions!)
“Now that we've put the period at the end of the Galactic Civil War with the Battle of Jakku, we can speed ahead into a new, uncharted era, with some new galactic threats, foes, and mysteries for our beloved heroes to grapple with, blending the familiar with the new and shocking,” Segura told StarWars.com. “These stories will be packed with action and the character moments Star Wars fans have come to expect, featuring twists on the galaxy and landscape we know, with an eye toward making sure people can jump in easily and with any issue. We can't wait."
ULTIMATE WOLVERINE #5 (MARVEL, $4.99) is by Chris Condon and Alex Lins.
Sabretooth vs. Wolverine. Ho-hum. What else is on, honey?
GOLDEN AGE OF REPRINTS
ALLEY OOP MEETS EARLIE OOP: COMPLETE SUNDAYS 2000-2002 GN (ACOUSTIC LEARNING, $34.99)
ANNIHILATION OMNIBUS HC ($125.00) collects Drax the Destroyer #1-4, Annihilation Prologue, Annihilation: Nova #1-4, Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1-4, Annihilation: Super-Skrull #1-4, Annihilation: Ronan #1-4, Annihilation #1-6, Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus #1-2, Annihilation: Nova Corps Files.
I was actually mildly excited about this when it first came out, because I was hoping it would correct what I saw as a flaw in Marvel's outer-space status quo, which was the Nova Corps, an obvious and embarrassing swipe of the Green Lantern Corps. Which itself is a cumbersome and poorly-thought-out Silver Age concept that DC doesn't know what to do with and ought to discard. Not the baby with the bathwater, necessarily, but the idea that there's unauthorized police force somehow patrolling the entire universe, whether the universe likes it or not.
They almost did it in this story, too, by (spoiler) killing off the Corps except for Richard Rider. It didn't take long, though, for various writers to resurrect the whole Corps, and now both Marvel and DC universes are again saddled with a huge number of identically powered, over-powered, vaguely fascistic space policemen, whose only authority is what they say they have, who go through cycles of destruction and rebirth that have become so predictable and boring that I almost fell asleep writing this sentence.
My solution would be to turn the Nova Corps into an ordinary police force with ordinary police officers (no super-powers) who are the authority in Xandar space. And ONLY Xandar space. And then forget about them. Our only concern would be the Nova with the Worldmind in his helmet, the only super-powered Nova. Richard Rider or Sam Alexander (pick one) would be unique, avoiding the Green Lantern problem of hundreds of characters with identical super-powers. This singular, unique character could be used in whatever manner a writer thinks will work for a series, without all that Xandarian baggage. Hey, maybe he'd want to set up his own empire, comprised of refugees from the other ones. Well, maybe not. But you see my point: A writer could do anything with a singular Nova with no corps or pre-existing mission, limited only by his or her imagination.
Meanwhile, the Shi'Ar already have something simliar, which works. I assume they have an internal law enforcement organization, which we never see, because why would we? We don't care about traffic tickets or domestic violence calls on Shi'Ar Prime, or whatever it's called. Externally, we see their Starfleet-like "Navy," and they have a a super-powered rapid response force to handle or delay cosmic threats, called the Legion of Super-Heroes Imperial Guard. Marvel should follow that model for other empires, like the Skrulls, Kree and Badoon — maybe not exactly (variety is the spice of life), but each governmental system should have its own, culturally distinct methods of protecting its territory and projecting force.
But you know what we don't need? A military force with vaguely defined magic rings/helmets that nobody voted for, and answers to a foreign authority. That's called "occupation."
This book is pretty good, but has been rendered largely moot by later events. Marvel is now basically having to clean up its cosmic characters again, with Jonathan Hickman's Imperial.
Well, I've blithered on here quite a bit. To paraphrase Emily Litella, I've got a lot of opinions for a guy born in New Jersey.
BETTY & VERONICA #320 FACSIMILE EDITION (ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS, $3.99): First appearancer of Cherry Blossom.
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #57 FACSIMILE EDITION (DC COMICS, $3.99): First appearance of Metamorpho.
BUZ SAWYER VOL 5: ISLAND OF THE LOTUS EATERS HC (MR, FANTAGRAPHICS, $39.99): Comic strip collectors alert! BTW, didn't Conan the Barbarian also go to an island of lotus-eaters in a Robert E. Howard story? I haven't read the REH canon since high school, so I may be misremembering.
DC FINEST: EVENTS — ZERO HOUR: CRISIS IN TIME PART 2 TP (DC COMICS, $39.99): Jeff of Earth-J and I have gone 'round and 'round on this, beecause we come at it from two different angles. From my POV, DC destroyed more than two decades of the continuity I loved with Crisis on Infinite Earths, and stories like Zero Hour were just patches on all the tangled continuity problems Crisis caused, reminding me all over again of how I angry I was. (Plus, it wrote off my favorite super-team, the JSA, again.) If I understand Jeff's POV correctly — and I hope he'll correct me if wrong — his more than two decades of beloved DC continuity began with Crisis, and stories like Zero Hour were fascinating additions to the mythology. So if you're a bitter old Silver Age fart like me, Zero Hour probably isn't your thing. But if you're a young (ish) Bronze Age Turk like Jeff, it's probably in your wheelhouse.
EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS VOL 1 TP (ONI PRESS, $19.99): If you're interested, you can see what Jeff and I have been talking about (and compare your thoughts to our comments).
KINGDOM COME TP (DC COMPACT COMICS EDITION, $9.99): As reported, Compact Comics doing well for DC.
MOONSHADOW DEFINITIVE EDITION EXPANDED GN (Dark Horse, $29.99) is by J.M. DeMatteis (The Girl in the Bay, Spider-Man, Brooklyn Dreams), and Jon J Muth (M, Silver Surfer, The Mystery Play, The Seventh Voyager) is aninterplanetary coming-of-age story rendered entirely in watercolor.
This "fairy tale for adults," which DeMatteis calls "Dickens' David Copperfield meets Siddhartha in space," never did anything for me. Maybe I'm just too shallow. But because of that, seeing it again (and again and again) doesn't make me think "evergreen;" it makes me think "milking it for all it's worth."
MOUSE GUARD #1 FACSIMILE EDITION (ONI PRESS, $4.99): Mouse Guard is beautifully written and drawn. But as I've said before, the novelty of medieval fantasy with mice wore off fast for me. But it is a gem of a series, if you want to sample it right here.
TRINITY GENERATIONS TP (DC COMICS, $17.99) collects the Trinity backups in Tom King's Wonder Woman (co-starring Damien Wayne and Jon Kent), which are delightful.
PRESTIGE PUBLISHERS
Has Diamond picked up Abrams as a client? I thought they already were, but this week there's just a ton of Abrams material. So much so, in fact, that I may have to re-think having this section.
ADIEU BIRKENAU: GINETTE KOLINKA'S STORY OF SURVIVAL GN (SELFMADEHERO, $24.99): A nonagerian survivor of Birkenau returns with a journalist and a comic book artist to record her story. Interesting. Here's a PREVIEW.
ARISTOTLE: GRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY HC (ABRAMS COMICARTS, $25.99): The question with books like this is, do they enhance what little is known about Aristotle sufficiently to make a comics-reading experience significantly better than just reading a biography. Here's a PREVIEW.
BLACK LIVES: GREAT MINDS OF SCIENCE GN (ABRAMS FANFARE, $15.99) is educational (i.e., boring). Here's a PREVIEW.
CAPITAL & IDEOLOGY: GRAPHIC NOVEL ADAPTATION SC (ABRAMS COMICARTS, $22.99): I need this historical view of how we got where we are. Here's a PREVIEW.
COMPLETE CREPAX VOL 9: CITY STORIES HC (FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS, $85.00): I tried to read Crepax's Story of O once, but lost interest. So I don't know much about his work. Is there anything more to it than the nekkidness?
CORMAC MCCARTHY: THE ROAD ADAPTATION GN (ABRAMS COMICARTS, $26.99): The movie was depressing enough. I hear the book, and this faithful GN, are even more depressing. I'm not sure I can take that. Here's a PREVIEW.
DRAFTED GN (ABRAMS COMICARTS, $24.99): Didn't we talk about this book once already? Maybe that was the HC, and this is the GN. I seem to remember Richard Willis having some cogent, well-informed points, but maybe that was a different book. Here's a PREVIEW.
DUCKS: TWO YEARS IN THE OIL SANDS TP (MR, DRAWN & QUARTERLY, $24.95): This won a bunch of awards, so most comics readers are probably aware of it already. I haven't read it, tho. Here's a PREVIEW.
FRANK MILLER’S PANDORA VOL 1 HC (ABRAMS COMICARTS, $24.99): Dark fantasy by Miller and Emma Kubert. I'm curious, but not curious enough to buy it. Here's a PREVIEW.
FRANK MILLER’S RONIN RISING MANGA EDITION ()ABRAMS – KANA, $12.99): I thought Ronin was Miller's attempt at manga to start with. This is MORE manga-y? Hard to imagine. Here's a PREVIEW.
GRAND SLAM ROMANCE VOL 1 TP (ABRAMS COMICARTS – SURELY, $18.99): Lesbian softball coming-of-age romance. Here's a PREVIEW.
HONORIA HC (FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS, $39.99): Coming-of-age for two girls who are daughters of the F. Scott Fitzgerald circle of literary lions in the 1920s. I've posted about this before, so this is probably the GN to the previous entry's HC. Here's a PREVIEW.
MADAME CHOI AND THE MONSTERS GN (SELFMADEHERO, $22.99): This is apparently a true story about a South Korean actress and her director ex-husband, who were both abducted by North Korea and forced to make films celebrating the Hermit Kingdom. They escaped at the Venice Film Festival. How come I have not heard this story before? Here's a PREVIEW.
MYTHMAKERS: REMARKABLE FELLOWSHIP OF C.S. LEWIS & J.R.R. TOLKIEN (ABRAMS FANFARE, $24.99) tells this true story. Here's a PREVIEW.
NATHAN HALE’S HAZARDOUS TALES: TREATIES, TRENCHES, MUD AND BLOOD — A WORLD WAR I TALE BIGGER AND BADDER EDITION GN (ABRAMS FANFARE, $19.99): True-life tales from World War I.
PRECIOUS RUBBISH HC (FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS, $29.99) tells a horrific tale of mid-century poverty, abuse and incest, drawn in the style of children's stories of the time.
SQUEAK CHATTER BARK TP (FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS, $24.99) is for middle-school readers. Here's a PREVIEW.
MORE COMICS
AMADEUS CHO: 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 (MARVEL, $5.99): Wait, this character still exists?
FARMHAND #21 (IMAGE), by Rob Guillory (Chew), starts a new story arc.
“Farmhand’s been a labor of love from its inception," Guillory said. "And I’ve been hard at work making sure this final arc gives readers the most satisfying payoff to this long-running story possible. These are by far the bloodiest, most intense six issues I’ve ever done, and I can’t wait for folks to see how it ends."
G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #316 (IMAGE, $3.99) is by guest artist Paul Pelletier (Aquaman), Larry Hama (Wolverine) and Tony Kordos (Batman & Robin Eternal).
HERCULOIDS #3
IT’S JEFF: JEFF WEEK #1 (MARVEL, $5.99): I swear, the industry spent decades recovering from the Comics Code, which enforced grade-school-level entertainment. Books like this just take us backwards. If you're going to make comics for kids — and I would encourage that, actually — brand them and market them that way. Don't throw this junk in the deep end of the pool, where Wolverine and Punisher hang out. That's going to disaffect adult readers, and alarm the same unholy trinity of parents, preachers and politicians that love to use pop culture as a scapegoat.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE ATOM PROJECT #5 (OF 6, DC COMICS, $3.99): I thought having two Atoms would make the character less boring. Instead, it's twice as boring. (Plus, they're writing Ray Plamer as kind of a jerk, so that Ryan Choi can look better by contrast. I'd rather they just killed Ray off, rather than do this to him.)
JSA #7 (DC COMICS, $3.99): They've killed Wildcat. Look, DC, I don't know what your animosity is to the Golden Age JSA, but stop killing them off. Or sending them into battle against Valkyries for eternity. Or writing them out of continuity. Or bastardizing their continuity by shoving them into Earth-One. It rarely satisfies. So, to quote Orange Julius Caesar, "Vladimir, STOP IT." And, good grief, you choose Wildcat to be the sacrificial lamb for temporary* drama? He's just about the only one with a real personality, and he's connected to just about every puncher and shooter in the DC Universe. Sure, as a team member he's superfluous (with Yolanda around) and his brand of '40s, blue-collar macho isn't PC any more. But that's what makes him charming. He's everything that was right with mid-century, white American men (can-do spirit, never say die, mental toughness) minus what was wrong (casual racism, misogyny, religious extremism). Plus, he's got a lot more of a basis for being a superhero than, say, Atom or Dr. Mid-Nite. As a former heavyweight champ, he can beat just about anybody in one-on-one, hand-to-hand combat**. (The link I used is just one of many on the Internet. Evidently, boxer vs. kung fu master is just no contest.)
* You know he'll be back.
** Black Canary: Best of the Best does him a serious disservice in this regard, which I am choosing to ignore.
LOVE LANGUAGES TP (IDW, $19.99): Two young women from different countries end up in France, becoming friends and then lovers. The title arises from the fact that neither speaks each other's language, and are both learning French. So they generate a pastiche of three languages that only they understand.
MARK SPEARS' MONSTERS #4 (KEENSPOT ENTERTAINMENT, $5.99): I have never known who Mark Spears is, or why he gets his name in the title of a comic book. But this series has always had great covers, often silly homages crossing monsters with just about everything. So this week I looked it up. And lo, Mark Spears is not very well-known, which makes me feel better that I didn't know him. His greatest claim to fame is probably a series of Spawn covers which, again, makes me feel better for not knowing him, because I avoid anything Todd McFarlane-related like the plague. But he's basically self-publishing, launching this book through Kickstarter, writing and drawing and editing and doing everything, and paying Keenspot to publish it. And THAT is how you get your name in the title. Here's this week's covers, and I can only guess at some of the homages. The first is obviously Dark Shadows. The second maybe Elvira? Vampira? Vampirella? The image (especially the hat) looks familiar but I can't place it. The third ... maybe a spaghetti Western movie poster? A Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" series movie poster? Again, the image is familiar. The fourth is Amazing Spider-Man #300. The fifth is Batman: The Killing Joke. The sixth just seems like a standard, non-Karloff Frankenstein image to me, but given Spears' track record, it probably is a visual reference of some kind.
RED SONJA ATTACKS MARS #2 (DYNAMITE, $4.99)
SILVERHAWKS #3
THUNDERCATS: LOST #2 (DYNAMITE, $4.99)
WORLD OF ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #150 (ARCHIE, $9.99)
Complete classic story by Paul Castrilla, Barbara Jarvie and Fernando Ruiz.
X-MEN #16 (MARVEL, $4.99) introduces the "3K X-Men." Oh, goodie, more new, lame characters I don't care about. There's been a population X-plosion of mutants since the Krakoan era, and I can't name a single new character I want to read about. Aren't there sufficient X-Men for X-citing stories as is? Look, I don't want to be Abe Simpson, shaking my fist at clouds because the world has changed since my youth. But honestly, I don't think it's just me. When you introduce a horde of half-baked characters, everybody just tunes out and waits for Wolverine to show up. And the name! It's probably trying to reference "Factor 3" from the SIlver Age, but to me 3K sounds like KKK.
Replies
FANTASTIC FOUR FANFARE #1
This is neither here nor there, but I read the FCBD FF offering yesterday and I was so incredibly disappointed that I read Alex Ross's Full Cirlce, for the second time, today. I liked it even more than I did the first time through. I probably would have have tried Fantastic Four Fanfare if not for your comments, but this promises to be a light week for me. The Alan Davis story alone will make it worthwhile.
ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #7 reveals the secrets of Absolute Brainiac. He still loves his bottled cities. but now he tortures them.
I thought you were going to say "but now he drinks them."
BLACK CANARY: BEST OF THE BEST #6: I regret buying the individual issues — because at some point I will buy it a second time
I probably won't duplicate this particular series in tpb, but you're right: it's good. Anyone who skipped the series should buy the trade.
HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE: Teen Captain and College Captain read the original Heavy Metal magazine avidly...
I saw the movie when it came out, but I don't recall reading the magazine to any great extent. No warm fuzzies for me.
I default to the "A" cover when ordering without much thought... Most of the time the "A" cover is the best anyway.
Agreed. Me, too.
SPACE GHOST/JONNY QUEST: Why has it taken 60 years for this beyond-obvious crossover to happen?
I'll disagree with you on this one. I like Space Ghost and I love Jonny Quest, but I have no desire to see them together... again. (They met for the first time back in 2016's Future Quest.) AFAIAC, together, each concept cheapens the other.
Tom and Jerry/Spy Quest didn't work (for me), either.
ANNIHILATION OMNIBUS HC: I was actually mildly excited about this when it first came out... Well, I've blithered on here quite a bit.
I pretty much ignored these series when they first came up... up until the time (IIRC) that Marvel put Adam Warlock, Mantis and Bug on a team. Then I went back to the beginning and "read up" to that point via tpbs. Ironically, by the time I got to that point, my interest cooled and my attention turned elsewhere. (Here's a link to my discussion of "Marvel's Cosmic Comics.") because I have all of these in tpb already, I won't be buying the omnibus.
DC FINEST: EVENTS — ZERO HOUR: CRISIS IN TIME PART 2 TP: If I understand Jeff's POV correctly — and I hope he'll correct me if wrong...
Close enough. I won't be buying this, though, because I already have the 2018 HC.
FRANK MILLER’S PANDORA VOL 1 HC: I'm curious, but not curious enough to buy it.
Same here. It has been my experience that most comics big name creators [Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Jack Kirby (posthumously)] lend their name but not there talent to aren't very good.
FRANK MILLER’S RONIN RISING MANGA EDITION: I thought Ronin was Miller's attempt at manga to start with.
Ronin was Miller's attempt to meld Lone Wolf & Cub with Moebius.
AMADEUS CHO: 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1: Wait, this character still exists?
Wait, this character has been around for 20 years? Amadeus Cho was introduced in Hulk's series (one of them, anyway). I remember when Hulk hit his own 20th anniversary mark. It seemed like a pretty big deal to me at the time (although I felt pretty much the same way Hulk did about "Rocket Raccoon").
I swear, the industry spent decades recovering from the Comics Code, which enforced grade-school-level entertainment. Books like this just take us backwards.
Well said! That's why I've always been deeply prejudiced against series such as Archie (for the most part) and "funny animal" titles. I just hope the one you cited doesn't start using the term "Earth-J." We've gone all these years without an "official" Earth-J, and I'd hate to think it would be this one.
I thought having two Atoms would make the character less boring. Instead, it's twice as boring.
Ha! Too true.
JSA #7: They've killed Wildcat.
I was going to recommend that you read Black Canary: Best of the Best instead, until I read you footnoted comment. I didn't notice that he came off that bad. I've been reading it in month-to-month installments, but I plan to sit down and read it in its entirety after issue #6 ships this week.
The first is obviously Dark Shadows.
I would say Dark Shadows crossed with Bela Lugosi... from his "Ed Wood" days.
The image (especially the hat) looks familiar but I can't place it.
This one, perhaps?
The sixth just seems like a standard, non-Karloff Frankenstein image to me
Kinda looks like a Frankenstein/Hulk mash-up to me.
Cover B of "Mark Spears' Monsters #4" reminds me of DC's Enchantress from the Forgotten Villains and early Ostrander Suicide Squad.
Who was it called Heavy Metal "Naked Chicks With Wings Monthly"?
I don't know, but that's what I'm calling it from now on.
Doesn't Wildcat permanently have nine lives, so that unless you can somehow contrive to kill him ten times at once, he'll always come back?
I think he lost that ability when somebody did try to kill him 10 times in a row. It was in a series I didn't buy, so I only heard about it and don't know the details. But that's a pretty keen idea and it's just another reason they should've killed somebody else. Ted Grant is interesting, as opposed to, I dunno, either version of Dr. Mid-Nite.
"But now he drinks them."
Brrr.
I'll disagree with you on this one. I like Space Ghost and I love Jonny Quest, but I have no desire to see them together... again. (They met for the first time back in 2016's Future Quest.) AFAIAC, together, each concept cheapens the other.
Now that you mention it, I remember Future Quest. Weren't there a bunch of Saturday morning characters thrown together in that one? Like the caveman with the magic club and Birdman? I think it tried to give them all a common origin or something. Or at least a common foe, as they were fighting, like, a transdimensional amoeba or something. Yeah, that wasn't very good.
Ronin was Miller's attempt to meld Lone Wolf & Cub with Moebius.
So he failed on two levels.
I remember when Hulk hit his own 20th anniversary mark. It seemed like a pretty big deal to me at the time.
Funny how that works, innit? I remember when FF hit #100, and when Spidey hit #100, and when Avengers hit #100, and some others. But I don't remember very many #200s, and no #300s at all. Different milestone, but same concept. Really, those milestones start meaning less and less as the years go by.
I didn't notice that he came off that bad.
King changed the character conceptuallly. For all of my adult life, DC characters would mention how they were trained by Ted Grant. He was like a guru to all the punchy characters. But in Best of the Best, it's revealed that Black Canary II trained him. Which, I have to say, is just idiotic. Ted Grant is Dinah's mother's age, as they served together in the Justice Society. Grant would have been heavyweight champion of the world before BC II was born. But more importantly, it undercuts Ted for no reason.
King made a rookie error there, tearing down one character to build another one up. And King is no longer a rookie. He shouldna done it.
The image (especially the hat) looks familiar but I can't place it.
This one, perhaps?
That's pretty funny, because the cover above is EXACTLY the first one I thought of. But I looked it up and ... well, you can see that they don't match up very well. Even the hats are different. I think we both just really like that cover!
Cover B of "Mark Spears' Monsters #4" reminds me of DC's Enchantress from the Forgotten Villains and early Ostrander Suicide Squad.
That sounded good, so I did a Google image search for Enchantress. Struck out. Searched "Elvira" and "Elvira Halloween" for good measure, given the prominent decolletage. No luck.
Who was it called Heavy Metal "Naked Chicks With Wings Monthly"?
I recall a National Lampoon in the 80s referring to it as Naked Girls With Wings Monthly (or, possibly, Chicks). Whether they originated the term I do not know.
That must be where I heard it.
Really, those milestones start meaning less and less as the years go by.
Here's the one I always thing of.
And regarding "milestone" issues... titles such as Spawn and Savage Dragon are now in their 300s, whereas Marvel's "longest running" title is, I think, Fantastic Four (currently in its 30s and set for another "new number one" soon). DC's Irwin Donenfeld was once cited as saying, "If you go to a newsstand, you see hundreds of titles on display. If you are lookig at two of them side-by-side and one said number one and one said number one hundred and four, which is a kid gong to spend his hard-earned dime on? If the kid is smart, it will obviously be number one hundred and four and not an unknown number one because any comic that has gone that long must be worth reading."
More and more over the years I have come to identify with Donenfeld's "smart kid." My Fantastic Four and my Avengers and so on all ran into the hundreds of issues, but each of these "new" series "crashes and burns" after a couple of dozen, tops. None of these "new" series will ever be as "successful" one that scale. Let even one of them get past the 100 mark, then I'll give it a look. That may be a facetious way of looking at it, but one of Marvel's (formerly) "core" titles numbered in the double digits just doesn't impress me.
But in Best of the Best, it's revealed that Black Canary II trained him.
I hadn't considered that. I'll have to pay closer attention to that aspect on my re-read.
I think we both just really like that cover!
I think you're right. I'm wondering if it is the web and not that hat that is the key element. Could it be an Eisner homage?