Comics and More

Another week with plenty of floppies... New Avengers #21 - This issue kicks off the "New Avengers: Disassembled" arc, a Civil War tie-in. Howard Chaykin takes over pencil duties as Captain America attempts to put together a team to resist the government's Superhero Registration Act. The team as we know it is obviously at odds with one another, with Iron Man and Spidey conforming, and Cap not. Perhaps we'll see a new team altogether at the end of this arc, led by Captain America? The renegade superheros? Well, we'll have to wait and see. This issue was awesome though, focusing pretty exclusively on Cap. In the next issue, Luke Cage is the star attraction. I think it's kind of a fun idea to go through all of the characters in this book... A X-Factor #8 - The other Civil War tie-in I got this week guest-starred Quicksilver as well as Spider-Man, both of whom had pretty small roles. The next issue seems to be pretty Quicksilver-heavy, if the end of this issue ...

Cartoon Books: Bone One Volume Edition SC - The complete Bone gets a new printing, for those of you who missed it the first time around. Only $40 for the whole saga! Buy it if you haven't already. DC Comics: I took a look at DC solicitations separately . Fantagraphics Books: Popeye (Volume 1): I Yam What I Yam HC - The next comic strip series to be collected by Fantagraphics is E.C. Segar's classic Popeye . It's been collected before, but not since the new trend of comic strip collections. Patrick only got his hands on one volume of the past editions, and loved it, so we're excited about this. Volume one will collect material from 1928 through 1930. Mome (Volume 5) GN - The last one just came out, but this anthology is always a treat. Shadowland GN - And here's a new graphic novel from Kim Deitch! It sounds weird but really cool. Tales Designed To Thrizzle #3 - The hilarious comic from the mind of Michael Kupperman has left a huge impression on Patrick. I don...

I'm not a big Superman fan. Never have been. I just find the guy dull, especially in light of other more complex superheroes out there presently. But man, I loved Superman Returns . Sure, he doesn't have the most exciting powers, but this story has heart. It focuses on his relationship with Lois and dealing with the fact that she's moved on since his absence. Lois Lane, for the record, is awesome in this movie. She's an extremely capable woman and Brian Singer reminds us all over again why we love her. And he does something similar with Superman. Clark Kent's kind of a non-entity in this film, but Superman is someone that I really liked, boring powers and all. I think the fact that Superman returned from a five year absence and had to earn the respect of the populace all over again made him vulnerable, especially given Lois needed said convincing as well. It was an interesting situation to see Superman in, and it made his character maybe seem a little more ...

Video games were a huge part of my youth. I remember opening my Super Nintendo on Christmas one year (or rather me AND my brother's Super NES) and being blown away because I wasn't expecting it. Needless to say, I didn't go outside much for the rest of that Winter Break. The following is a list of my favorite video games of all time, most of which...or rather, all of which, pre-date the Playstation 2 and Gamecube. What can I say? I have a fondness for the less flashy. 1. Final Fantasy II - The second installment of the ironically-titled Final Fantasy franchise released in the U.S. was actually Final Fantasy IV in Japan, but the previous sequels didn't make the cut to be released to American audiences (until collected on the Playstation years later). This is a turn-based RPG with a quality story and monsters that required real strategy to defeat. My problem with the later Final Fantasy games, beginning with the mega-seller Final Fantasy VII , is that they sacrifice s...

Here are the highlights of the week...full list at Diamond . Polly & the Pirates #6 (of 6) - The final issue of Ted Naifeh's wonderful tale of a prim and proper young lady pulled into a life of piracy comes out on Wednesday! The collection can't be too far behind, but for those of you who've been following the series in floppies like I have, a treat to the series' conclusion! Eternals by Jack Kirby HC - Collecting the entire run of Jack Kirby's Eternals , this hefty book goes for $75, and brings another classic by Jack Kirby back into print. Oz: The Manga (Volume 1) - The wonderful world of Oz gets the manga treatment, and when you think about it, Oz is damn weird and...manga may be a perfect fit. Dragon Head (Volume 3) - The next installment of the awesome survivalist tale makes its way to comic stores! If you like Death Note , this is on the same level of suspense and quality. Lady Snowblood (Volume 4): Retribution Part 2 TP - The Kill Bill -inspiring ma...

Mike Sterling did a post on all things Kitty Pryde, including links to fan fiction, discussions on the character, quotes from Joss Whedon, interviews with Ellen Page and more! Go check it out!

Volume six of the ever-popular Death Note offers what we come to expect from the title: quality story-telling and smart, fast-paced action. This book brings events from the previous volume to a head, with some very exciting moments in terms of both plot and character development. I know it's been said that with the fifth volume, the authors kind of wrote themselves into a corner and everything changed. However, the way things were set up by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, things can return to how they were previously, and it seems that that's the most likely thing to happen in coming volumes. While the tone of the series did shift with the major event from the last book, the quality has been consistent nonetheless and the world created is as fascinating as ever, even with the shift in perspective. I wish I was as excited about other comics I read as I am about this one, particularly other genre books like superhero titles, but really, Death Note is a step ahead of most offer...

A few items of interest were uncovered by Patrick on some down-time at work... Tom Spurgeon, of The Comics Reporter and editor of The Comics Journal Library, is publishing a book called John Romita: Generations this November from Dynamite Entertainment. The Description, as provided by Amazon : While Steve Ditko and Stan Lee may have created Spider-Man , it was John Romita Sr. who defined him... Romita brought his clean, romantic style of illustration to the book. And his story is fully explored by writer Tom Spurgeon! From his days before Marvel, through the Silver Age and his days designing and creating the characters we know and love still today (including Wolverine , The Punisher and many, many more), Romita: Generations covers it all. Also available in a hardcover edition (1-933305-28-2, $29.99) (Paperback edition 1-933305-27-4, $19.99) Also, the first volume of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys will be available on October 3rd!

The new six issue mini-series Eternals kicked off this week, from the minds of Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. And although steeped in a history that I am completely unfamiliar with, this issue did a great job of introducing the concept of the alien race and porpelling an interesting story forward. Basically, the Eternals, an immortal race who've shaped the course of humanity, have been brainwashed by a group they've been at odds with since the beginning of their races, when they were both created by the galactic beings known as The Celestials. This race that they are at odds with are the Deviants, a despicable species who once enslaved humanity. And once some Deviant agents have discovered that one of the Eternals has gained some insight into his true origins and is trying to awaken it in others, they do their best to remove that individual from the scenario. It sounds a little complicated, but the characters are very recognizable and the main conflict is told through tw...

Slave Labor Graphics has launched a new comic book series based on Disney's hit cartoon Gargoyles . The series, written by the creator of Gargoyles , Greg Weisman himself, takes place following the second season of the cartoon, but dismisses The Goliath Chronicles , which he doesn't consider cannon as these comics intend to be, as he did not work on that season. Art on the book is provided by David Hedgecock, Will Terrell, Greg Guler and Stephanie Lostimolo, Guler being the man who actually originally designed many of the characters that appear in the Gargoyles universe. Gargoyles is really a cartoon that stands up years later if you watch the DVDs (the second half of the second season is not available yet, nor are The Goliath Chronicles , but with any luck this comic may spurn a demand for at least the rest of the second season to become available), and the series has quite a fan base, with conventions and costume contests and the like dedicated exclusively for it. It's ...

Quite a week for floppies: Astonishing X-Men , All-Star Superman, New Avengers, Manhunter ...and I'll have reviews of Gargoyles and Eternals later in the week. Manhunter #23 - This is a great title. Really. It's life has been extended a little, but people, come on, pick up the damn book and give it a chance. In this issue, Chase fights for her life against a knife-wielding maniac and Kate Spencer kinds out a little more about her family ties. A- All-Star Superman #4 - I personally think that Superman is just a boring character, but the All-Star series, I like. This issue's the Jimmy Olsen issue. If you've read Showcase Presents Superman Family lately, you'll probably find that this has a lot in common with those cheesy Jimmy Olsen stories from the 70's. Out there and whacky. But Grant Morrison isn't so highly-revered for nothing. There are some really cool moments, including a new kryptonite and a really neat take on the crappy Death of Superman comic...

Contains spoilers! The first perfect issue of a comic book this year. Joss Whedon...okay, I've said this before, but he is just a master storyteller. It's The Hellfire Club vs. The X-Men in this issue, with some of the best fights, moments and dialogue of the series thus far. The opening scene was four panels of Emma Frost with the same expression on her face, and it conveyed a different emotion with each panel, and I felt each of them in turn. I mean, that's just genius. Then it's Cassandra Nova vs. The Beast and Wolverine, with Wolverine acting like a little girl, scared of the "moose." It was hilarious. I love what Cassandra Nova says about the situation later: "My two were simplicity itself. A beast who thought he was a man...and a frightened little boy who fancied himself a beast." The scene with Hisako and Blindfold was just as exciting as the ones with the X-Men battling the villains. Whedon has already made me care a lot for the secondary ch...

Nightwolf #0 is a prequel to a mini-series coming from Devil's Due Publishing next month called Nightwolf: The Price . I thought that the covers and solicitations were interesting, so I wanted to check it out. Little did I know that I would get a sneak preview into the world of Nightwolf a month early at a mere 99 cents. Now, Nightwolf is written by Stephen L. Antczak with art by Nick Marinkovich, and the talent of the latter I think far outdoes the former. The story here is muddled and murky. As a reader, I had to do a lot more work than I should have for a straight-forward genre work. I didn't get that there was a family curse involved or anything from the work itself, but from things I read about it. That being said though, the art is really something. I don't know who Marinkovich is, but he's the perfect artist for a book like this. It's really the quality you'd expect to see coming from IDW nowadays, with moody, realistic pencils. The opening pa...

Hot on the heels of DC, Marvel has released their solicitations of books shipping in September. Here are my highlights (full list at Comic Book Resources ). Ultimate Spider-Man #100 - The ultimate version of Spidey reaches his 100th issue. This a great series and I'm glad to see Bendis and Bagley reach this milestone on the series. Blade #1 - I distinctly remember Joe Quesada saying that horror didn't work in comics (after a failed Blade mini-series had concluded) at a convention when asked of any Blade books in the works (an outlook that I completely disagree with). I guess a new hit TV series is enough to change his mind anyway... Union Jack #1 (of 4) - The British superhero comes back for a four issue stint. Art by Mike Perkins. Captain America #22 - I don't read Captain America anymore, but I may come back to it for the Civil War tie-in. It focuses on Agent 13 in SHIELD, and I thought that the SHIELD stuff was what really worked in the first issue of Civil War . ...

The DC solicitations are up for books shipping in September. The full list is up at Comic Book Resources . Here are the highlights... All-Star Superman #6 - This book's always a treat, and I love that cover. Absolute DC: The New Frontier HC - If you really, really loved Darwyn Cooke's series, you can now pay DC $75 for a nice hardcover... I'm sure there are plenty of extras and all, but there's no way I'm paying that when two little trades are out there for $30. Anyways, this is not actually on sale until October. Showcase Presents The Phantom Stranger (Volume 1) - Yeah, I don't know much about the DC Universe, so I have no idea who this is, but the Showcase collections are great. This is also an advance solicitation, available in October. Krypto the Superdog #1 - Krypto makes the leap from his cartoon series to a new all-ages book! The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier HC - Here it is! Alan Moore's last work for DC is an original gra...

Here's a highlight of books coming to comic stores this Wednesday (a full list of Diamond's books shipping can be found here ) Gargoyles #1 - Slave Labor Graphics are releasing a comic book series that follows the Gargoyles from the beloved Disney television cartoon series as they continue their adventures past the second season (ignoring the Goliath Chronicles debacle), with the original creative team behind the helm. Should be awesome - the cartoon really stands up well. Eternals #1 (of 6) - A new mini-series from Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. begins, examining the mysterious alien race. Showcase Presents Superman (Volume 2) - A second volume of that series that Patrick just couldn't get enough of... Champions Classic (Volume 1) - Another series comes out from Marvel's "Classic" line of graphic novel reprints, this one featuring talent from the likes of Tony Isabella and Chris Clairmont as they bring together the Champions in the 70's: Black Wido...

I had the flu this weekend on top of working full days, so I unfortunately had little time to read comics until this evening. But, it's all behind me now and I'm caught up on the floppies, and am able to eat solid food again. It's funny how Saltines taste so good when it's the only thing you can keep down... Superf*ckers #277 - The third issue of James Kochalka's wild superhero romp is great, full of blood, cursing, drugs, mutant cancers and a load of rip-roaring offensive material. Beyond all of this is a refreshing take on superheroes and warnings on the dangers of holding onto the past (which isn't exactly suggested in a subtle way, but is an appropriate place for commentary on superhero comics in general and their fellowship). This is an extremely funny book. Although I didn't think it was as good as its predecessors, it's still one of the best comics coming out. And there's a cute picture on the inside cover of James with his son Eli making f...

The fifth and final chapter of Dan Nadel's Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900-1969 is "Form and Style," where the six cartoonists worked with their medium to push the designs of their pages and charaters to make those elements as much a part of the comic as anything else contained within. Charles Forbell was constantly experimenting with the layout of his Naughty Pete strip, even though the strip always contained the same formula: the father of Pete tells the child not to do something or other, whereupon little Pete will do just that. Things will, of course, go wrong, and the last sentence of every page is of Pete saying "I guess Pop was right." Very basic, but each page is beautifully designed. I didn't really get the appeal of T.E. Powers Joys and Glooms . It was very bizarre, with these little imps appearing in the panels to portray whether certain characters felt joy or gloom (or another random emotion like worries or delight). The st...

I love Death Note . If not for Nana , it would be my favorite manga that I'm reading. I hear that volume six has come out, but I have yet to see it, so for all intents and purposes, I am caught up on the series. Oh, and there are a few minor spoilers ahead, so if you've procrastinated like I have, you may want to hold off on continuing until you're caught up as well. In volume four of the series, we are introduced to Misa Amane, the second Kira, who we got a glimpse of at the end of the third volume, but finally have a personality to attach to her. It's really cool to hear the motivations behind the people who are in possession of the death notes, and their intentions and philosophies. They're all varied. The fifth volume has yet another Kira who takes a completely different approach to the whole thing, one more adult-oriented and selfish, but very probable. And what I find extremely exciting about the series is that the concept of the death note is a tool that can...

Shojo Beat celebrates its one year anniversary this month with a new title, Vampire Knight , taking over the spot left from Godchild 's departure. Also, as advertised, the magazine is a full 235 color pages. Don't get too excited though. Their definition of color is printing the black inkwork in blue and pink, alternating by story. Nice and misleading, and at first, quite distracting, but I got over it. The first story I read, Vampire Knight , was the worst. It's kind of a strain to read a story in bright pink. My favorites, Absolute Boyfriend and Nana , were saved from that fate however, and appeared in a less obnoxious blue. Still, I say nay to this sort of format in the future. It does nothing to serve the art and at the very least, slightly hinders it. Okay, I'm officially over it now. So moving on... Vampire Knight . Much better than Godchild . It's in the same vain - all gothic and supernatural with hot vampires and the like, but good. I could s...