Veteran's Day Reads

Yes, new comics DID come out today, even though it's Veteran's Day!


Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #1 - Not bad. I haven't kept up with Marve's cosmic stuff as much as I'd like, but I'm enjoying Gladiator as the new Shi'Ar Majestor.

Dark X-Men #1 - Oh, well. Okay. Let's just re-introduce a whole bunch of forgotten X-Men family characters, like the Mimic, Weapon Omega, and... The X-Man?

Green Arrow/Black Canary #26 - Wait, what? Two Ollie Queens? ...did I miss something? I thought I've been reading this series since #1.

Deadpool #17 - Deadpool continues to try and join the X-Men. Good fun, but Daniel Way uses too many censored swear words (#&%@!). More than once per issue is really distracting, and takes me out of the story.

S.W.O.R.D. #1 - A solid start for the SWORD series, but what's up with Beast's face? I'm not sure if this series is necessary, but more info on Abigail Brand is certainly needed for casual Marvel readers.

Amazing Spidey #611 - The banter between Spider-Man and Deadpool is always exquisite!

Strange #1 - Quite fun. Emma Rios & Christina Strain KILL on the artwork chores. I wish more comics were like this; everything is far too epic and crossover-y, right now. I like simple, fun, one-off adventures.


Batgirl #4 - Ah, yes. This is what I was waiting for the last three issues to get to. Stephanie with Oracle backing her up. Wonderful issue.

Batman & Robin #6 - Wait, whaaaat? So, is this out-of-continuity? Or are the DC editors just THAT out of touch with each other...?

Red Robin #6 - I read about half the issue and gave up. I just don't care. Glad to see Marcus To getting work, though.

Batman #693S - Intriguing.

Quick Reviews

My apologies, dear readers, for the lack of updates. My computer has decided it no longer wishes to operate correctly, so my Internet access has been cut rather drastically over the last few weeks.

To make up for that, here are some quick reviews of some things I've been reading:

- Gotham City Sirens: In a word? INCREDIBLE. This is THE best thing to come from the Batman: Reborn stories, thus far. Of course, Paul Dini writing Harley, Ivy, and Catwoman is a recipe for awesome. And the art's gorgeous, too.

- Green Lantern 36, 38-41, Green Lantern Corps 32-38 (We're completely sold out of GL issue 37): Good times, right here. The Rage of the Red Lanterns, Hal Jordan becoming a Red Lantern, and then half a Blue Lantern, and then dealing with Agent Orange and becoming an Orange Lantern... and finally, the origin of the Black Hand leading into Blackest Night. If you've missed any of the issues, I'd definitely recommend picking them all up to get caught up before heading into Blackest Night #1, which came out today.

- Oh My Goddess! vol. 1-3: A sweet, adorable manga series about a college kid who wishes for help and gets his own personal Goddess. The girl in you will love it.

- X-Men: Forever 1-3: Still an interesting change on what happened to the X-Men comics in the early 90s, but I still question "why" this series exists, other than just for the sake of releasing Claremont's scripts. But, for now, it's fun, so I'm gonna keep reading.

- Detective Comics #854: Batwoman is pretty cool. I know nothing about her except what's in this issue, but I'm on board for the next few issues, for sure.

- Red Robin #2: Not really where I wanted to see the series go, but I'll stick with it for a couple more issues.

I'll be back later this week with a review of Blackest Night #1!

Gen 13 #30

Gen 13 #30

Written by Scott Beatty

Art by Mike Huddleston

$2.99

DC Comics/Wildstorm Entertainment

So, the new Gen 13 series is interesting.

I was a big fan of the original Gen 13. Five super-powered teenagers trying to escape the government and deal with all of the 90s angst that was going on. It was very much a product of its time, and the visionary minds of J. Scott Campbell, Brandon Choi, and Jim Lee really caught on with what was happening at the time.

And when Adam Warren took over for the last couple years of the series' run, I'm not sure if I've ever had so much FUN reading comics. Ed Benes was just getting his start, and was putting out some incredible artwork, the likes of which hadn't been seen since the Image Comics "X-odus." The stories were fun and light-hearted, but still had that sense of angst that the 90s were so filled with.

And then the book got cancelled and everybody died.

About a year later, Chris Claremont and Alé Garza resurrected the title, but with an entirely different cast, and it bore very little resemblance to what had come before.

So, the new series is born out of Wildstorm's "Worldstorm" event from 2006, where everything got reset. So, while they've gone back to the original team (Fairchild, Freefall, Rainmaker, Burnout, and Grunge), it's not a continuation. It's a complete reboot.

And, y'know, it was going pretty well for a while. And then Wildstorm: Armageddon happened.

Now, these lighthearted, spunky teenagers aren't living in 2009 with the rest of us. They're living in an alternate, post-apocalyptic world where society has been reduced into mini-societies. It's almost tribal. And the kids are just out for survival.

Which, I suppose would be all well and good, if there was ever a chance that they'd be able to come back to the regular 2009. But since the entire Wildstorm universe is in this post-apocalyptic land, I don't see that happening any time soon. At least, not unless the Gen 13 kids are shoehorned out of the Wildstorm universe and brought into the DC Universe proper. But I don't see that happening...

The book itself is okay. Mike Huddleston's art is always interesting (though also a great departure from the hyperrealism and gratuitous T&A of the original series - which may be a plus to a lot of readers, actually). It's very stylized, and he doesn't really draw like anybody else. And Scott Beatty's writing is about as interesting as it can be, given the setup he was left with. Although, it's possible that he just doesn't "get" what made Gen 13 so popular to begin with, and he's doing his best to keep it going.

Or, maybe because the kids have been updated into '00s teens, from '90s teens, my inner teenager just can't connect with these kids. Whoever would've thought I'd be "too old" at 26, huh?

At this point, I'm still collecting Gen 13 out of a sense of duty, really. I've got every issue of Gen 13 published, so far (and most of the variant covers, to boot!), and it would be a shame to break up the collection, especially after 11 years of reading the series. But if it doesn't get better, I might need to consider dropping this one...

Batman 687

Batman #687
Written by Judd Winick
Pencils by Ed Benes
Cover by TS Daniel
$3.99
DC Comics

(image ganked from IGN.com, because nobody else had the final version)

"A Battle Within - An epilogue to Battle for the Cowl"

Last week's Batman and Robin #1 was the launchpad for the new status quo in the Batman family of titles. But it left me feeling like there was something... missing.

Don't get me wrong. It set out to do a straight Batman story with Dick and Damian in the roles of Batman and Robin, and it pulled that off quite well. But there was something strange about it. It didn't feel like there was an answer to "Battle for the Cowl." Who will be the new Batman? Well, Dick Grayson was just thrown into the role, without any exposition.

But this issue of Batman serves to answer all of the questions I would've had. It opens with a flashback to a the first time Dick Grayson (as Robin) was able to get the jump on Bruce (as Batman), and then transitions to Alfred and Dick trying to figure out what to do.

Superman and Wonder Woman make appearances in a flashback scene to show when they returned The Cowl, and asked what Bruce's contingency plan was for when he died. It seems as though he didn't really leave one...but Alfred and Dick decide that Batman cannot die, and as the Justice League (Clark, Diana, Ollie, and Dinah) are gathered around Bruce's grave, he informs them that the world can't know Batman is dead.

The Phosphorus Man attacks a subsidiary of Cadmus, and is met by the new Robin, who quickly begins getting punked out, 'cause he's ten, and wasn't prepared for this. Nightwing shows up to save the day, and considers the future of the mantle of the Bat.

In the final scene, the Scarecrow (who is rendered beautifully, by Ed Benes) is attacking the Gotham Bay Bridge, and is too much for the police to handle. Suddenly, he's stopped...By Batman.

And that's Just the Beginning!

I've been a fan of Ed Benes' work for nearly 10 years (since his run on Gen13), and it's good to see him doing a solo title, again. I haven't read too much from Judd Winick, but this is exactly the story that I was looking for, to fill in the gap between Battle for the Cowl #3 and last week's Batman & Robin #1.

If you've never followed Batman before (I haven't), there's no better jumping on point than right here. This is going to be the solo Batman book, where Dick Grayson grows into the role of playing-- no, BEING-- Batman. I'm pretty excited to read the next issue.

Don't miss this one.

Witchblade Annual #1

Witchblade Annual #1
Top Cow Productions/Image Comics
Writer: Jay Faerber
Pencils: Eric Basaluda
$3.99



It seems funny to me that a comic that's been running for over 10 years is just having its first Annual issue, but I suppose that's a product of Annuals falling out of favor in the late 90s and early 2000s.

So, I've always had a passing interest in Witchblade, and I've read the first dozen or so issues, but that's about it. I know the basics - super-hot Sara Pezzini is this generation's chosen bearer of the mystical artifact known as the Witchblade (and when the Withblade activates, Sara goes from being super-hot to almost super-naked). The New York Detective uses the Witchblade to help her solve supernatural cases, and gets her into trouble because there are other people who want to wield the Witchblade for themselves.

I also know that Witchblade is the only superhero comic series with a female lead to run for over 100 issues, with the exception of Wonder Woman and She-Hulk (and I think Catwoman has had about 100 issues total, over various series), which is both impressive and sad. Sad, because that says something about the mindsets of comic readers, and impressive because its one of very few series in 70 years of Superhero comics to have that distinction.

So, without a clearly-defined jumping on point in the series, I thought I'd check out the annual. And, really, it wasn't bad. Armed with just the knowledge that I've given in this review, the lead story totally makes sense, and is easy to follow. Beautiful young women are having short-term amnesiac attacks, and during those periods are committing crimes and murders. Sara Pezzini and her partner do some detective work (imagine that!) and relate all the women to the same plastic surgeon. They question him, and he claims innocence. But after some incongruities in the doctor's story, the detectives realize he's not exactly what he claims, and visit his house. And what they find isn't, well, typical...

Jay Faerber tells a basic, straightforward, one-shot superhero story, told outside the confines of the regular Witchblade title. The artwork from Eric Basaluda has solid storytelling, and his beautiful women are actually beautiful.

I dig it. It's not ground-breaking by any means, but if this is the quality that Witchblade has been experiencing over the last 10 years, then I totally understand why it's lasted as long as it has. I might just need to start checking out the regular series, after this...

Secret Invasion: Front Line TPB

Secret Invasion: Front Line TPB
Writer: Brian Reed
Pencils: Marco Castiello
$14.99



Starting with Civil War, Marvel started including a Front Line tie-in book with their major crossovers (so, Civil War, World War Hulk, and now Secret Invasion). While the main crossover title deals with the major events, and the other tie-in issues deal with individual characters' reactions to the events (i.e., Secret Invasion: Ms. Marvel is about Ms. Marvel's story during the Invasion), the Front Line books have a unique take:

They deal with regular people in a Super world.

Secret Invasion: Front Line follows the stories of Marvel Universe citizens during the few days of Skrulls invading Earth. Ben Urich, from the newspaper Front Line narrates the story, through recordings he's made as the events unfold.

I've really enjoyed the Front Line comics so far, and Secret Invasion's version doesn't disappoint. In just five issues, we're invited to see the worlds of a police officer who's been burned in the leg, a young nurse trying to do her job, a cab driver whose day went from crap to worse, and a teenage girl whose parents are separating. And we witness all of these characters coming together, and how they survive (or not) the Skrull Invasion.

It's good times. Reading these tales, writer Brian Reed really brought more weight to the insanity of the Skrull Invasion - Rather than just seeing how Iron Man dealt with losing his StarkTech, or how Ms. Marvel was destroying monsters from another world, or how other heroes dealt with it, we get to see what would happen to you or I. Because, let's face it; in the threat of an shape-changing alien invasion, I bet a lot more folks would run away than stand up and fight for the safety of the planet.

It's also great to see Ben Urich's reaction to people's reactions to Norman Osborn taking control, and the beginning of the Dark Reign. Urich, as you may remember, wrote a book that ousted Norman as the psychopathic Green Goblin, and Mr. Osborn's dealing with the situation is rather impressive.

So, if you want a complete picture of the Marvel Universe's dealing with the Skrull invasion, I'd highly recommend checking this TPB out. But it's mostly for completists and Marvel Universe uber-nerds, like me.

It seems as though I've only reviewed things I've enjoyed, so far... Maybe next time, I'll review something that I think sucks...

Transformers: All Hail Megatron

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #s 1-4, 6-10
IDW Publishing
Written by Shane McCarthy
Pencils by Guido Guidi and Robert Deas (issue 9)

"What a quizzical selection of issues," you might be thinking to yourself.

Well, what had happened was, between shopping at my previous regular shop and opening my own store, I sort of missed a few comics, and apparently TFs: All Hail Megatron #5 was one of them. So I totally didn't get to read it. But IDW released a 5-page teaser of that issue, and tfwiki.net is pretty much the ultimate Transformers resource, so I read their synopsis.

Anyways.

THIS is the Transformers comic I have been waiting for IDW to produce. Don't get me wrong; the Infiltration, Stormbringer, Escalation, Devastation, and Revelation mini serieses, and the Spotlight one-shots are cool. Really cool. Some of them are amongst the best Transformers comics I've ever read. But, All Hail Megatron is the epitome of making this silly little child's franchise a piece of mature entertainment.

Here's the basic premise: The Autobots have been exiled to Cybertron, and Optimus Prime has been severely damaged. The Decepticons, meanwhile, have decided to take over the Earth and use its natural resources to create Energon (the Transformers equivalent of food), and use it as a central base of operations in their quest for Universal conquest. The Autobots on Cybertorn are embittered, having petty arguments amongst themselves, and accusing each other of being traitors. Also, they're trying to remain a cohesive team and stand united in the face of adversity. Clearly, that part isn't going very well. Also, Starscream is up to his usual undermining tactics. Except, this time, he actually manages to convince some Decepticons that he's right. And, hoo-boy, does he seemingly convince the right Decepticons to convince!

But the best part about All Hail Megatron is that THINGS HAPPEN. One of the problems with most children's cartoons (especially the ones designed to sell toys, like Transformers), is that the main characters mostly always stay alive. But in AHM, nobody is safe. Especially not the humans. In issue 6, the evil Decepticon Skywarp claims to have killed the population of Beijing, China. That's over eight million people. Okay, even if he's exaggerating? That's a lot of people. The death toll is likely still in the millions.

Or, one of my favorite scenes is when some scared New Yorkers are hiding in the subway, and they hear a train. They're thinking that this is their way out of there. But when the train arrives, it's clearly Astrotrain, who transforms into his robot mode and KILLS EVERYTHING.

While you can totally see Starscream's betrayal coming a mile away (because, you know, it's Starscream), WHAT he manages to do, and the revelation of how the other Decepticons see him is somethingt that we never really got a chance to see, before this. And because IDW is allowed to kind of re-write TF history for this series, you may be surprised at who feels which way about the Decepticon Air Commander.

And when the Autobots find the OTHER faction trying to survive on Cybertron? Oh man, it's quite a treat.

The only downside to this story is that you need to know what happened to Sunstreaker during the Escalation and Devastation series, and it sort of requires that you have a working knowledge of who the Transformers are, and why the Matrix of Leadership is important. So full-on TransNewbies may be a bit confused at first. But if you, like me, watched the original Transformers when you were a kid in the early 80s, this is the comic that you want to read. It's literally as cool as you remember Transformers being, without too much stuff being changed.

I highly recommend this series if you have even a passing interest in the Transformers.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Movie Review

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

First off, let me make this clear: I did NOT watch the bootleg work print that's been all over the Internet for the last few weeks. I actually went to the theatre, paid in full for the movie, and that is the version I am reviewing. And how was it?

Well. I expected a very different movie.

See, I expected the movie to be based on Origin by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, and Paul Jenkins; and Weapon X by Barry Windsor-Smith. But, other than a few scenes with some elements from those comics, it's not.

Barry Windsor-Smith not included.

There's no crazy Weapon X helmet. There're no false memory implants. This is a toned-down, less sci-fi, and more human origin to Wolverine. But, as a result, I feel that it's also a lot less tragic. In the comics, Logan was captured and treated like a lab animal. In the movie, his personality traits were manipulated and played for the benefit of Colonel William Stryker.

But let's not talk about what the movie ISN'T. Let's talk about what the movie IS.

It IS an hour and a half of Hugh Jackman kicking ass and blowing things up. It IS a very Wolverine-feeling story. And it IS a good abridged telling of Wolverine's history for people who've only seen the three X-Men films.

Hugh Jackman is giving us the People's Eyebrow through about half the movie.

There ARE a bunch of Weapon X program mutants involved - Logan, Sabretooth, Deadpool, Silverfox, Agent Zero, Kestrel (John Wraith), and a couple others who didn't get named. Gambit, Cyclops, Emma Frost, and The Blob all make extended cameos, and these cameos all work, without destroying established movie continuity.

Yes, there are flaws, and there are things I would've liked to have seen done differently, but, overall? It's not a total waste of time. Or money. And it's easily as good as any of the other three X-Men movies. So I'm not going to tell anybody to NOT see it.

It's by no means a bad movie. In fact, it's a pretty good one. But it's not for the established Wolverine/X-Men fanbase. It's for movie fans. And it may not be the best at what it does, but it is pretty damn good at it.

Internettings!

So, I missed both Friday and Monday's posts because I was busy working on the store's new website, which is probably how you got here.

www.ComicZoneAZ.com - Check it out!

Also, my mom, Linda, has a blog about her experiences in being a co-owner of Comic Zone. You can read her musings at comiczonelinda.blogspot.com

In other news, my friend from across the pond, the incomparable Lord Mitz has been updating his newest webcomic, Plan B!. Check that out over on www.GoonPatrol.com/planb

And, finally, my cousin, Alex, and I have been working on our own webcomic for the past several weeks, Hawk & Kid. You can read our work over on my personal website, www.PsychoAndy.com