What You Should Have Read #41

Last Week’s Comic Book Awesomeness

Spider Island: Avengers #1 – Love it! I can’t say I’m thrilled about an event while there are two other events (Fear Itself and Schism) going on in the Marvel Universe, but I’m enjoying the creativity of what’s happening. New Yorkers getting spider powers? Sure! Why not? I’m loving the light-heartedness of Chris Yost’s story, and I REALLY like that Mike McKone keeps on getting Spidey work (even though this one doesn’t actually have Spider-Man in it). And Frog-Man. I don’t remember reading anything about him during the Initiative period, but I thoroughly enjoyed the one-off Spectacular Spider-Man story (#185) by J.M. DeMatteis. At the time, I didn’t appreciate DeMatteis’s stories or Sal Buscema’s art. Looking back, these Spider-Man stories were some of the best I’ve ever read. I liked Amazing Spider-Man more at the time, but these have held up so much better. And smack dab in the middle of these great stories is a story about Spidey having dinner with not one but TWO Fabulous Frog-Men. And now FFM the younger is calling himself an Avenger, and he’s having a damn good time. Between that, Hawkeye’s frustration with his new powers, the Ultimate Spider-Men, and Squirrel Girl’s new foe, there was absolutely NOTHING to dislike about this book. Kudos to absolutely everybody involved, and I want them to do more comics together.

Thunderbolts #163 – Wooooooow, Mr. Jeff Parker. Let’s start at the beginning. The cover? What the hell. How are Namor and Cap members of the Thunderbolts? How will this play out? I’m sufficiently intrigued. Where did the missing ‘Bolts end up? I assumed, since they were in Austria, maybe they’ll be found by Baron Zemo. There ARE Nazis, so that’s not completely ludicrous. But time travel? Sure, that’ll work. Even bad guys LOVE kicking Nazi ass, so I’m in the storyline for the whole ride. Great new direction, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

Thoughts on the first full wave of DC’s New 52 titles:

Action Comics #1 – I’ve always wanted to like Superman, but I can only take him for a bit, usually less than a year, before I just get bored with him. I liked this issue, so I’m hoping Grant Morrison will be able to give me the Superman stories that I’m craving…even though I don’t know what those are.

Animal Man #1 – I really liked Grant Morrison’s run on Animal Man, but really, who didn’t? I tried to keep up with the hero after that, but it got too weird for me. The past few years he’s just been kind of thrown around. Nobody really knew what to do with him. Hell, he spent a good chunk of time in space. So I hope we’re going to get a firm direction going for this hero with potential. I like the little “interview” that kicks off the issue. It seems to suggest that the broad strokes of the past are pretty much intact. I like that. First off, I like the new costume. I never was a fan of orange and blue. I like where the book is going, but wasn’t this something that happened in the original series, or something similar? Maybe during Delano’s run? Can’t remember. I am interested in seeing where it’s going to go, though.

Batgirl #1 – I picked this up because I absolutely loved Secret Six, and I hoped Gail Simone would be able to bring me into the Batman Universe. Didn’t happen. There wasn’t a single thing I enjoyed about this issue, except for the bit of continuity that was kept regardless of the universe-wide reboot. That’s it. Maybe Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman can get me interested in this corner of the DCU, because this title sure didn’t.

 

Stormwatch #1 – This might be the book I’m most looking forward to. I absolutely LOVED Warren Ellis’ (shock there, right?) run on Stormwatch and The Authority. I think his run on these books are perhaps the best bit of superhero storytelling I’ve ever read. I then enjoyed Mark Millar’s Authority, but that’s about where my enjoyment of the title ended. I like the team, I like the premise, I just didn’t enjoy the stories. Now they’re fully enmeshed in the new DC universe. So let’s see what happens when we’ve got two Supermen and two Batmen (not counting the rest of Batman Inc. [is that even part of the New 52?]) running around the same universe. The first issue looks good enough. Old characters, new characters, a good explanation with still enough mystery to keep me coming back.

Swamp Thing #1 – I liked Scott Snyder on American Vampire, and I like what he’s doing here. I think it’s going to bring the good creepiness of Alan Moore’s “Swamp Thing,” the best of “Hellblazer,” and Jamie Delano’s “Animal Man.” As with all of these titles, though, I really hope I can separate old Swamp Thing from new Swamp Thing.

Firedrill Friday Constitutional

 

 

 

 

Want to kill some time at work? Or an entire week? How about playing Super Mario Brothers Crossover?

Totally didn't notice this while watching Community last week. Damn, now I've got to watch what's going on the background.



Oh, Charisma, what has happened to your career? I think I need to focus my lustful energies on other Buffy cast members. Thank God for How I Met Your Mother.



Yay!! It's another Between Two Ferns!! And it's got Bruce Willis!! Go see Red!!

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Bruce Willis from Bruce Willis

I thought The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance was an almost perfect album. I'm pretty sure that there's not one song that I skip when I play it. So they've got a video out for the first single, "Na Na Na," from their fourth studio album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. The leader of the group that's fighting MCR? That's legendary comic book writer Grant Morrison. I think we can safely assume that soon we'll have a massive throwdown between Coheed and Cambria with Peter David and My Chemical Romance with Grant MOrrison. Why? 'Cause that's just the way my mind works.

My Chemical Romance - New Music - More Music Videos

This video is amazing. It's of a father/son project to put a camera into space using a weather balloon and an Apple iPhone as a GPS device. The video is somewhat long at just shy of seven minutes, but it's worth your time. I was transfixed for the entire time. I WISH I had the ability to do something like this with my kids. They'd love it.

Comic Book Reviews for the Week of Dec. 10, 2008 (Limited Series)

Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #2

Now this looks like it’s going to be a good series. Last month I made a comparison between Blue Marvel and Sentry, noting how they were both extremely powerful characters that were written into Marvel’s past. Now a comparison can be made between Blue Marvel and Isaiah Bradley (I think that’s his last name), the black Captain America. Not necessarily their powers or their situations, just that these two black men had very important roles in history, but they were covered up. It didn’t take Tony all that long to dig up the dirt on Adam, though. Let’s see how it’s going to be used.

Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #2

Well, this was a thoroughly depressing comic. Nothing like suicide and murder in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future to get you going in the morning. While the stories were good, I’d rather read about what’s actually going on in AXM rather than what might have happened.

Civil War: House of M #4

I understand how the mutants took over in the House of M universe, I just don’t understand how there became so many. In the Age of Apocalypse universe, the death of Charles Xavier led to a more level headed Magneto. Really, though, can you blame the guy? I guess there’s no compromising with bigots, though, so diplomacy goes out the window. I guess we’ll see next issue how the HoM universe of yesterday becomes the HoM universe that we were first introduced to.

Final Crisis #5

I have no idea what is going on. Darkseid is back, and I get that. He took the body of Dan Turpin. I’ve got no clue about anything else. Grant Morrison is just getting too weird for me. I love Carlos Pacheco’s artwork, though. I would like to see a lot more of it on a regular basis.

Final Crisis: Revelations #4

So Vandal Savage was Cain all along, or Cain was reborn IN Vandal Savage? This whole damn event is just messing with me. At least Marvel tries to keep theirs somewhat simple. I’m hoping for a great and heaving explanation next issue.

Punisher: War Zone #1

The only time I ever liked the Punisher was when Ennis was writing him humorously, so it’s great to see him and Dillon back (even though Ennis stayed around, but used a totally different writing style). And it really picks up right after that mini, and I’m no worse the wear for not having followed Frank since then. He’s back to nipping the comeback of the Gnucci family in the bud before anything sprouts. Not really any humor this issue, but some decent gore.

Death Defying Devil #1

Continuing some solo stories from Project Superpowers, where some classic heroes were brought back into the mainstream. I would imagine it would be difficult to write a book with a silent main character, hence everyone else explaining everything. I’m not sure if these little spin-offs are on-going series or mini series. I don’t know if there’s enough here for a monthly series, across the whole line not just with the Devil, but I’ll probably stick around as long as Alex Ross is involved.

Trinity #28

I’m just about ready for all the alternate reality wackiness to be over with. I guess we are making some progress in that direction if the Trinity’s friends are starting to get a bit of their personalities back, and they’ve stumbled upon where the trio might be. That part is the more interesting out of the two stories. It’s got the characters using their brains (or at least Alfred is) instead of a bunch of fighting, which is what’s going on in the second part of the issue.

X-Men/Spider-Man #2

I like how the mini is tying very well into the past. Spider-Man is my #1 hero, and the Claremont/Silvestri X-Men (the Australia X-Men) are my favorite team, so this issue was a great treat. It looks like Gage is setting up a pretty good surprise for us, and I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the Kraven that recently showed up in Amazing Spider-Man. And I’m enjoying Alberti’s art. It can be a bit muddy at times, but it’s still very vibrant and exciting.

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Listening to: Beck - Clap Hands
via FoxyTunes