I think it’s been pretty well established over the past couple of years that I read a lot of comics, but man, some weeks I even suprise myself with how many I’m getting.
I mean really: When five Archie titles ship in a single week it’s never a good sign for my entertainment budget, and when you throw in a mini-bust and a ridiculously expensive hardcover… well, allow me to explain with the following visual metaphor, wherein my desire to own everything I want is represented by the excitable little girl, and my impulse control is represented by the policeman:
Oh, kicks to the face. Is there nothing you cannot teach us?
Yes, despite the fact that I had to hire a team of oxen and a Sherpa to get them back into my house, it’s Thursday night, and that means that it’s my sworn duty to provide you with the Internet’s Most Fiscally Irresponsible Comics Reviews! So let’s quit wasting time and get to it! Here’s the senses-shattering list of what I bought this week…
…and these are my spine-tingling snap judgements!
Comics
All Flash #1: When Dan DiDio announced at the DC Nation panel at HeroesCon that Flash: The Fastest Man Alive was being cancelled and replaced with the return of Mark Waid to the title, it was met with a pretty enthusiastic round of applause from most of the folks in the audience. I, however, was a little apprehensive. It’s not that I don’t like Mark Waid on The Flash, though; I think that his run is easily one of the best super-hero comics of the ’90s, with an eight-year run that rarely dropped off in quality.
But that’s the problem: I’ve already seen Mark Waid on the Flash, and while I know we were all excited when Animal Man showed up in Grant Morrison’s JLA, I’m still a little leery of creators returning to characters they were done with, especially since I distinctly remember reading an interview back in 2000 where Waid talked about how he was having trouble relating to the character.
Still, it is Mark Waid on The Flash and while that’s enough to get me to check it out, I still don’t know whether to look forward to next month’s restart or not. Waid’s up to his old tricks in the dialogue right from page one, and while those are enjoyable enough, the story’s de rigeur Ironic Punishment for Bart’s murderer makes Wally come off as more vindictive than heroic. It’s par for the course in a DC Universe where people get their arms ripped off every week, I guess, but I was hoping for more from the character that Waid consistently wrote as, well, the most likeable member of the Justice League.
The art, though, is a different story: Karl Kerschl–who’ll be doing the regular series, if memory serves–is absolutely on top of his game, with a style that’s simultaneously surprising and darn near perfect for the story. I haven’t seen him do work like this before, but it’s bright, colorful, and just beautiful in the way that it captures both emotion and movement. His backgrounds are completely static, but Wally’s always dynamic, moving through them so fast that everything else stands still. Even Ian Churchill’s pages were pretty surprisingly well-done, given my feelings about his work on Supergirl.
Those last two pages, however, were eye-searingly horrible, and I say that as someone who doesn’t really mind Daniel Acuna in general. This, though, is literally some of the worst comic book art I have ever seen in my life. It’s jumbled, flimsy, and I’m pretty sure he used the same face for Wally and his daughter, which adds a whole new level of laziness to it. It’s two pages, Acuna. Try to give a crap next time.
Avengers: The Initiative #4: I’ve often lent my voice to the chorus of readers clamoring for tie-in heavy “events” to just stop for a while–which probably seems hypocritical of me, given that virtually every Marvel comic I read has a banner across the top identifying it as a tie-in to Annihilation, World War Hulk, the Initiative, or Endangered Species–but the truth of the matter is, the big crossovers aren’t necessarily the problem in and of themselves. Instead, the actual annoyance lies with the way that they steamroll over everything like the literary equivalent of Katamari Damacy
But then there’s books like this one, which manages to pull double duty as both a World War Hulk AND Initiative tie-in and actually pulls it off beautifully. Dan Slott does an incredible job here, telling a story that has a huge impact on WWH and still manages to advance his own ongoing story in a seamless example of crossovers done right. It’s huge, fun stuff, and while I still wish the coloring was a little better, it’s well worth the read.
Birds of Prey #108: You know, just when I was starting to think that Gail Simone had lost her touch–given how boring I’ve found Gen13 and Welcome to Tranquility lately–she goes and writes a story like this one, which consists almost entirely of a brutal, beautiful throwdown between Oracle and the new Spy-Smasher, and I find my faith restored anew. It’s a well-done punch-out through and through, and Nicola Scott’s art for the actual fight boasts some of the hardest hits I’ve seen since Holly fought it out with Blitzkrieg over in the pages of Catwoman, and with as much as I liked that issue, this one’s close behind it in terms of pure entertainment value. It’s the perfect resolution to the storyline, with Oracle finally breaking out with the anger that’s been building ever since Katarina Armstrong made her bid to take over, balancing the combat with a great scene explaining why one should probably think things through very carefully before taking on someone who used to be the information center for the Justice League. It’s a great bit of fight comics, and makes a great high note for the end of Gail Simone’s run.
Black Canary #2: My opinion on this book hasn’t changed that much since I wrote about the first issue, except that I’m feeling even more positive towards it now that the “Lone Canary and Cub” aspect of the story seems to have kicked into high gear, but there is something I’d like to say. I’m enjoying it an awful lot, but if you’re actually coming here for information that helps to inform your own purchases, you may want to consider the source here. After all, as you can probably tell from the image that led this post, this book contains a lot of kicking, and, well, that’s not exactly something on which I can give an unbiased opinion.
Brave and the Bold #5: Lately, I’ve been finding myself gripped with the increasingly popular opinion that a DC Universe built around Countdown and a series of purely nonsensical “teaser images” is quickly going to devolve into an unreadable mess marked with endless tie-ins that do their level best to crowd out the bright spots in the line, but every now and then, a book comes along and reminds me that as bad as things might be getting, the DCU still has the potential for boundless action and fun.
Brave and the Bold is that book.
If All Flash was Mark Waid going through his standard bag of tricks, this is him putting the same tricks together better than he ever has before. Even the instances where Waid allows himself to indulge in scenes that rely on forty year-old references to make the joke work–in this case, Batman tying up Triplicate Girl in the Siamese Human Knot–it’s done in a way that comes off as fresh and unexpected rather than the pointless wallowing that drags so much of the line down these days. And that’s not even the high point; it’s honestly like he sat down and made a list of every awesome thing he wanted to see from the characters and then somehow managed to write a story that pulled it all off in the most entertaining way possible. It’s all here, too, as a half-robot Batman travels to the 31st Century, gets turned back into Normal Batman, steals the Flight Ring right off Brainiac’s hand, takes out Legionnaires with the most low-tech weapons possible, and then fights Karate Kid in midair in a scene that is easily fifteen times more awesome than the Batman/Karate Kid fight in Justice League.
And I can prove that. With math.
George Perez’s art requires no further boosterism from me than the fact that it’s drawn by George Perez.
It’s the epitome of fun comics, but in an effort to temper my shameless love for this book, I will point out that Batman shouldn’t have been able to use Brainiac’s flight ring, since those things are keyed to the wearer’s DNA. I wouldn’t even bother to mention it, but since Waid’s the guy who actually created that feature in his run on Legion of Super-Heroes, it struck me as an odd contradiction. Even so, it hardly broke the book and did very little to distract from the fun of the comic, and besides, there’s always that possibility that either a) Batman’s a perfect genetic match for Brainiac 5, or b) the need to see Batman engaging in anti-gravity karate battles supercedes every other rule of comics.
I think you guys can figure out which side of the debate I’m on here.
Catwoman #69: I know I say this virtually every month, but if you’re not reading Catwoman–and statistically, you’re not–you’re really missing out. Will Pfeifer routinely turns in some of the sharpest scripts in comics (which explailns why I’m still reading Amazons Attack, even though I’m only getting half of the story), but the real star of this issue is the art team of David and Alvaro Lopez. Their work’s always gorgeous, but this one’s got a scene Selina walks into a room to find Batman holding her baby, and there’s a little smile on his face that’s… well, it’s just perfect. It’s a great piece of a great issue of a great run, and if you’re one of the poor suckers who’s missing out, jump on
Cover Girl #3: Given that Cover Girl co-writer Kevin Church is the current sponsor of the ISB, I am contractually obligated to say something nice about this comic book, so here goes: Despite allegations from certain parties, Cover Girl is a fast-paced action adventure with a great Hollywood twist that will not–repeat: NOT–give you “cancer of the soul.”
But I kid. In all honesty, Kevin, Andrew Cosby and artist Mateus Santolouco have been doing a bang-up job with this one, making it a series that hit the ground running and just gets better with every issue. It’s highly enjoyable, and if you buy it, Kevin will get more money that he can then give to me, and really: That’s a Win-Win-Win situation.
Dark Xena #3: Oh, John Layman. You are the wind beneath my wings.
Giant-Size Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #1: I feel silly for even bringing it up again like it actually matters, but weeks like this make it crazy difficult to actually pick out a Best of the Week. Sometimes its’ really clear-cut, and sometimes I feel like a moron for doing it in the first place and limiting myself to one comic that stands out above all the rest, when there’s so much great stuff out there.
Needless to say, Marvel Adventures: The Avengers is consistently one of those books, and with this issue’s team-up with the Agents of Atlas–characters that Parker seems bound and determined to work into every single book he touches in the most noble goal in comics since Wally Wood drew Power Girl–he turns in what may be the most solid story he’s done for the title. It doesn’t have the flash and mind-blowing joy of the All-MODOC issue, but it does feature Leonard Kirk’s always-fantastic pencils, and as we learned this week from the saga of the Marvel MegaMorphs, everything is better when it’s Giant-Sized. I have, after all, been singing Jeff Parker’s praises for months now, and believe me, he’s one of those rare writers that earns it every time he puts pen to paper with stories that embody the pure fun of comics. I mean, how else could you describe a comic where a talking gorilla saves the future by putting Wolverine in a headlock and making fun of Spider-Man? Plus, as the record will show, Kang is totally awesome.
One thing I’m confused about, though: When Venus uses her powers to calm everyone down, how come she doesn’t appear to the other super-heroes as a giant floating naked woman? I mean really, Parker: if there’s one thing kids love, it’s nudity. And you can take that to the bank, Frank.
The Goon #19: SAINTS BE PWAISED! Eric Powell has returned!
Of course, it’s not like he was ever actually gone. Even in the months since the last issue of the Goon, he’s done work in Dwight T. Albatross Presents the Goon Noir, not to mention the perfect, unrepentant beauty that was Satan’s Sodomy Baby, and with an upcoming arc on Action Comics and the first original Goon hardcover in the works, there’s a lot more to look forward to. Still, even with SSB, it just wasn’t the same, so it’s nice to see things back as they should be: With Eric Powell taking on Oprah and The Goon (with a hatchet) taking on a hobo (with an aligator) in scenes that are even more awesome than you expect. Man, I love this book.
The Order #1: After Punisher War Journal, Immortal Iron Fist and Mantooth!, it’s become pretty clear at this point that Matt Fraction is a writer whose style appeals to me on such a fundamental level that he could write a four-issue mini-series called Gambit and Wonder Man Read Dianetics and I’d buy it, read it, and scan panels for Friday Night Fights.
Fortunately for me, Gambit, Wonder Man and comics in general, that won’t be necessary, as Fraction has instead turned his efforts to The Order. It’s a book whose premise reads like a cross between X-Statix and Strikeforce Morituri: A team of TV-friendly celebrity super-heroes tasked to Los Angeles who get powers for one year and one year only before they burn out and head back to civilian life. Throw in Pepper Potts recast as the team’s coordinator in a role reminiscent of StormWatch‘s Weatherman, and you’ve got something that at first strikes as, well, pretty derrivative.
And yet it all seems fresh: This is, after all, the first work that Fraction’s done for Marvel that focuses on new characters, which means that instead of just going all-out from page one with an RPG upside Stilt-Man’s head or a giant metal spider from HYDRA, he’s focusing on establishing the characters, and it makes for some fantastic pieces. The scene where the potential recruits to the Order are discussing what they most want out of their super-powers alone features some great characterization, with one exchange telling you everything you need to know to get started with the group, and the book’s almost worth it for Henry Hellrung’s stories of boozing it up on the town with Tony Stark. And speaking of Tony, there’s actually a concerted effort made to him come off as someone who actually believes in responsibility, and for the first time in a while, it actually works.
Plus, I’m pretty sure the next issue’s going to have someone fighting a bear. So, y’know. There’s that.
Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #4: So Captain Marvel grows to a hundred feet tall and then punches something so hard that it creates a black hole.
I, uh, don’t really have a review here or anything. I’ve just wanted to type that sentence all day long.
Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK’s 11 #1: You know, I like to think that I’m doing something useful with these little chats we have every week, but occasionally I just have to drop the pretense of “reviewing” and admit that I’m only mentioning something on the off chance that you forgot it was coming out and didn’t pick it up yourself. And that’s what we’re working with here.
This, my friends, is a book where every single thing about it just screams “READ ME.” Let’s take it by the numbers, shall we?
1. Fred Van Lente (of Action Philosophers, The Weapon and the surprisingly dark Fantastic Four/Power Pack) writing a story where
2. MODOK
3. recruits a gang of d-list “super”-villains
4. Including Rocket Racer
5. For a heist
6. To avenge his broken, grotesquely oversized heart.
7. Also appearing: Monica Rappacini, the new Scorpion’s mom, and
8. Super-Human Lucha Libre.
Congratulations, ISB reader: You now have an itemized list of reasons to buy this. You’re welcome.
And with that bit of friendly public service, I’m done. After all, all I can say about World War Hulk is that there’s a bunch of fighting and it’s pretty awesome, and that WWH: X-Men pulls off a joke about the Juggernaut that just cracked me right up when I read it. If you still want more, though–assuming that there’s someone out there with the burning urge to talk about how nice it was to see Nite Lite show up in Checkmate or how mind-blowingly awesome Darwyn Cooke’s The Spirit is every month–feel free to leave a comment.
As for me, I’m going to go try and figure out why the Wonder Woman encyclopedia has no entry under “bondage.” Come on, Fleisher: Who do y’think you’re foolin’?
Gambit and Wonder Man Read Dianetics?…
…That could work.
“Are they two-fisted? We’ll do it if they’re two-fisted!”
Unfortunately, Acuna is going to be the regular artist on FLASH. Take those last two pages of ALL FLASH and multiply them times twenty in just 30 short days.
Wow… and I thought I bought a lot of comics this week.
Is Robin still good? I bought the first several Beechen issues but stopped picking it up when I found out he was leaving the title — I found it harder to invest in knowing that Beechen was taking off and most of his plots would doubtless be doing the same. I can’t decide if I want to backtrack and pick up the last few issues, though.
My store didn’t get Cover Girl this time around. For which I was sad. But they said they’d order me one so hopefully I’ll get it soon. Then I will be happy again…
Also, I know you had a metric ass ton of comics this week, but no written love for G0dland? A bug woman eats half the army!
This week is a good example of why my best efforts to cut back on the weekly comics are failing over and over again. In spite of themselves the big two keep hiding good comics in the middle of otherwise hideous dreck.
Must not rant about the word “weird” being misspelled on the cover of “Cover Girl”….must not rant…
I have had no money to buy comics for the last month.
It is killing me.
M…Modok’s…11…I…must…buy…itttt…
I’ve got the Katamari music stuck in my head now, damn you!
There is a parallel universe still undiscovered by Reed Richards.
It is composed entirely of solidified enthusiasm.
Only one man has managed to contact this universe and harness its energy.
Chris Sims.
Supercharging your enthusiasm for comics every day.
Is it wrong that, after this exchange between Batman and Karate Kid:
“You should talk less while fighting.”
“Why? Does it distract you?”
“No. You.”
That I want to see Deadpool beat the crap out of Batman?
One of my favorite bits from the old Deadpool series was when he fought Cable right before Dead Reckoning.
Cable (thinking): Must get techno organic virus under control! If I can just keep him talking!
Deadpool: A variety of inane comments that prove that there is no filter between my brain and my mouth and that speech requires no conscious effort for me and that, quite probably, shutting up would give me some sort of hemmorhage!
Cable: Talking. Deadpool. Right.
All quotes are highly inaccurate but basically capture the spirit of the thing.
in the current Legion run, there have been at least two instances of people using someone else’s Flight Ring.
1. on Naltor where Brainy gave it to that Naltorian kid
2. when Shrinking Violet gave Supergirl Dream Girl’s ring
they might not count, though, since all #1 accomplished was letting the kid sleep and Supergirl doesn’t actually need the ring.
If you’re picking holes in Brave’n’Bold you could also ask why Batman doesn’t know about the Legion. Compare this to the recent Lightning saga if you want to make your head hurt. But as with the ring snafu it’s nice to see a book that doesn’t let continuity get in the way of a good time.
Seriously, speaking of The Order, how awesome was that last panel? Answer: so awesome.
And I absolutely loved the way that the whole issue was tied in with those interview clips of Henry Hellrung. Yet another reason why Matt Fraction is in my “Can Do No Wrong” club. (Although really The Five Fists of Science alone was enough to earn him a lifetime membership.)
B&B has an honest-to-god old-fashioned editor’s note saying that this story (which must therefore mean the whole crazy opening arc of the book) takes place before Lightning Saga– placing the possible continuity error of “why didn’t Batman seem to recognize them and mention there was another version of them?) back into JLA where it belongs.
Note that we don’t know when it happens in LSH time– they’ve met the Fatal Five (which hasn’t happened in the books), and Supergirl is not in evidence.
Brave and the Bold is that book.
It really is.
I had the same feeling this week. Got to the store and saw Countdown and Amazons Attack splashed all over everything and still went home a very happy DC camper with great issues of B&B, BOP, and Catwoman, and a good issue of Checkmate. (I let “buy Busiek” beat “don’t buy Countdown crossovers” and ended up with a pretty bad Action Comics, though.)
Damn, B&B and BOP were great. I don’t care how awesome Simone’s Wonder Woman is; I’m gonna miss her on this book.
[oh, yeah, and WWH is by far the best big-2 crossover event of the year– a category that unfortunately now draws on a double-digit pool.]
——-
I accidentally got JLA– I added it to my pull list after the McDuffie announcement, but didn’t mean to buy it until then. And I have to admit: it was a *lot* better than any of Meltzer’s other issues– actually not bad, though it didn’t at all feel like a League story to me because I don’t believe Roy as a Leaguer. Not much happens, but it’s still done in one (though maybe it’s fallout from Amazons Attack– if so, that’s not mentioned). One apparent major screw-up from a past issue now appears to have been deliberate.
And Speedy and Vixen don’t have the kinds of histories about keeping the secret IDs secret from other super-heroes that make me get hives from the first-name chatter.
Makes me wonder what might have been with a *deliberately* no action, all-conversation occasional fill-in or backup by Meltzer– a JLA equivalent of the old “Talking With David” from Starman. Would probably still have sucked. But it would have sucked less.
As a wise man once pointed out, when he needs to, Batman can fly through sheer force of determination.
He stole Brainy’s flight ring just to be a tool.
I’m telling you, man… Nick Cannon is going to be Rocket Racer in Spider-Man 4.
And, yeah… I totally expect at throwdown with (what I’m assuming is) Ursa Major in The Order #2.
Oh, come on! After months (or was it years?) of waiting, not even a mention of the Madman HC outside of the shopping list? What gives? I know, I know, it should go without saying that the thing is every kind of awesome, but still! I gots to have me a taste, man!
I seriously like the idea that somehow Brainiac Five is the perfect genetic match of Batman. There is a story here, dammit!
There’s probably something wrong with me, but my only complaint about MODOK’s 11 was that , as much as I like Eric Powell’s art, I didn’t really dig on his MODOK. I prefer a more squarish, boxy looking MODOK, with a bigger head. BIGGER HEAD!
My therapist is having one of those ‘someone just stepped on my grave’ shivers right about now.
My problem with the Flash is this: 90% of all Flash covers (not All Flash covers, but it seems off to a good start) are exactly the same: The Flash is running fast on an abstract background, with lightning.
Yes, that’s basically the Flash in a nutshell, but really. does that need to be re-iterated every issue? Maybe the cover should, like, have something to do with the issue?
All I know is that if The Dragon doesn’t get a second copy of Madman Gargantua, there will be a battle.
Consider yourself warned.
If Batman–and, like, everybody–knew about the Legion before they came back in time for “Lightning Saga” though, he shoulda known about them before he met them here too (even if it was just from his pal Kal’s creepy statues of them), whether this occurred before “Lightning Saga” or not, right?
Not that I mind. I’m perfercly content to go about ignoring the last ten issues of JLoA.
No Amazons Attack write-up? I was kinda looking forward to that. I picked it up and flipped through, saw Superman fly in and grab the wrong Amazon and put it back down. I’ve only read #1-#3 and no Wonder Woman, so maybe I’m missing something, but I can’t make any sense of it at all.
(I let “buy Busiek†beat “don’t buy Countdown crossovers†and ended up with a pretty bad Action Comics, though.)
I wasn’t nuts about the Olsen stuff either, Jacob. But you have to admit that the new villains were terrifically fun. A Shakespeare reference (The Rude Mechanicals) and a terrific visual pun (The MacHinery)? That’s genius.
I wasn’t nuts about the Olsen stuff either, Jacob. But you have to admit that the new villains were terrifically fun. A Shakespeare reference (The Rude Mechanicals) and a terrific visual pun (The MacHinery)? That’s genius.
Drunk Scottish robots! With kilts!
But you have to admit that the new villains were terrifically fun.
You’re right, they were! But I found myself wishing KB had saved them for Astro City.
I’ve been loving B&B since the very beginning, and it seems like it just keeps getting better and better; if it gets much better than this, my head might explode. Anyway, I loved this issue, too!
I suppose someone might be able to make an argument that some artist elsewhere in the industry is actually better than George Pérez. But even if Pérez were still coasting on his Avengers series with Kurt Busiek, I think they’d have an awfully tough case to make. With Brave and Bold on his resumé, I think it’s just about impossible. Especially with Bob Wiacek – an artist’s inker if ever there was one – paired with him.
Maybe if Mark Schultz started drawing regularly again… but even so…
The only thing that makes me sad is that I hear Pérez only signed on for one year’s worth of issues.
“No Amazons Attack write-up? I was kinda looking forward to that. I picked it up and flipped through, saw Superman fly in and grab the wrong Amazon and put it back down.”
You have no idea how much I wish I’d done that too.
Dan Slott does an incredible job here, telling a story that has a huge impact on WWH and still manages to advance his own ongoing story in a seamless example of crossovers done right.
Dan Slott’s quite good at doing things like that. She-Hulk 2 #3 or 4 managed to be a great story on its own, as well as a great explanation/epilogue to the “Avengers: Search for She-Hulk” storyline, while still making great use of prior continuity from his own title.
I talked to Slott at a con a while ago and he said that he was glad he had the chance to do a crossover with Civil War in She-Hulk because he could make all his mistakes there and learn how to do it right. Seems he learned well.
So, I may be a little dense… But what was the joke on the juggernaut? I read the thing cover to cover twice, and couldn’t find it…
I just wanted to say that I was quite pleased to find the MST3K joke in your alt tag. Thank you, Chris Sims, for making us laugh about love… again.
Fuz: When the Juggernaut is defeated he says “But I’m the ju-” and gets cut off. Clearly gonna say the internet meme of “I’m the Juggernaut, Bitch” which was also in the movie, y’know?
I got a chuckle of it, hell I was excited of the issue because it was Hulk vs. Juggernaut, but Juggernaut went down so fast I found it hilarious.
Honestly, the week’s greatest moment of Pure Comics Joy (PCJ) was seeing BoP’s nice 2-page spread of Barbara Gordon’s friends backing her up, then turning the page to find… another 2 solid pages of heroes just waiting to pummel the all-new, all -different, all-gangly Spy Smasher. Simply sublime.
Hey Chris Sims, would a man not intimately familiar with Marvel’s D-List villains still be able to follow Modok’s 11, do you think? Because I want to buy it, but don’t enjoy confusion that much.
“occasionally I just have to drop the pretense of “reviewing†and admit that I’m only mentioning something on the off chance that you forgot it was coming out and didn’t pick it up yourself.”
That describes me! I forgot about it and now I’m a-gonna get it!
Maybe this B&B takes place in the Waidverse like the original existed in the Haneyverse.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of my life was that Chris somehow did NOT show Batman kicking Lightening Lad in the face.
Question regarding The Order: We’re told that over 5 years ago (this is AFTER his “fifth soberversary”) and well before Tony Stark was on the wagon, Henry Hellrung played both Tony Stark and Iron Man on a TV show. So, the entire Marvel Universe knew Iron Man’s secret identity back then?? Just asking…
Unfortunately, Acuna is going to be the regular artist on FLASH.
Well, that just cut my interest in that book by about half. Bummer.
Is Robin still good?
It is! This issue finds Dodge putting together a small army of disaffected young Gotham City metahumans for the express purpose of killing Robin. Aside from the fact that Dodge clearly hasn’t thought this through, it makes for some fun reading.
Also, I know you had a metric ass ton of comics this week, but no written love for G0dland? A bug woman eats half the army!
It was fun as always, but Kevin already covered the notable change in the art, so I didn’t feel like I had much to add. For the record, though, I’m not as big a fan of the change as he is; I think the big black outlines around the characters make the whole thing look jumbled and pasted-together. Still a fun comic, though.
B&B has an honest-to-god old-fashioned editor’s note saying that this story (which must therefore mean the whole crazy opening arc of the book) takes place before Lightning Saga
That was my second-favorite footnote this week!
Oh, come on! After months (or was it years?) of waiting, not even a mention of the Madman HC outside of the shopping list? What gives?
Oh, Cody. Do you really think that it’s within even my power to read 31 comics and an eight hundred page hardcover that doesn’t have the words “Harry Potter” in the title in one night?
Given that I’ve never read Madman (and thus took a pretty big risk dropping that kind of change on the HC, based soley on my affection for Allred from other stuff), the only things I can tell you about it are: 1) It’s a pretty hardcover, and 2) mine’s #64 of 500.
No Amazons Attack write-up? I was kinda looking forward to that.
I think the record will show here that I absolutely love Will Pfeifer’s work, and while I think his stuff in the Amazon’s Attack series is well-done and enjoyable, it’s only half of what seems like an unapolagetically stupid crossover.
That said, Pfeifer and Woods do a bang-up job with their bits. I just wish I didn’t have to choose between not knowing what was going on and reading Wonder Woman.
Hey Chris Sims, would a man not intimately familiar with Marvel’s D-List villains still be able to follow Modok’s 11, do you think? Because I want to buy it, but don’t enjoy confusion that much.
I think so, yes. MODOK explains what they can all do (and thus, why he needs them for the heist), and you get some nice backstory on most of them that’ll fill you in just fine.
Question regarding The Order: We’re told that over 5 years ago (this is AFTER his “fifth soberversaryâ€) and well before Tony Stark was on the wagon, Henry Hellrung played both Tony Stark and Iron Man on a TV show. So, the entire Marvel Universe knew Iron Man’s secret identity back then?? Just asking…
Okay, I wasn’t going to mention this to you guys, but since you brought it up, I actually talked to Matt Fraction about this and warned him that if I caught it, surely everybody else was going to.
Me, I just chalked it up to the show saving money by hiring one actor for two jobs (“Hey, did you guys notice Henry sounds an awful lot like Iron Man, too?”), which would seem to be supported by how cheap the show looks in Kitson’s backgrounds.
My pal Tug has an even better theory, though, that goes like this:
“Hey.. hey.. hey you guysh.. lishen… Okay serioushly, you CAN’T tell anybody, right? I mean it, you CAN’T. Okay. Okay. Lishen… don’t tell anybody… but I’m totally Iron Man. *hic*”
When I came back from lunch on Wednesday, reading MODOK’s 11, I turned to my boss and said, quote, “the four sweetest words in the English language are Super-Powered Mexican Wrestlers”.
He gave me a funny look and told me to get back to work.
True story.
>>Given that I’ve never read Madman…
WHAT?!?!?!? And when I said I was Columbia’s biggest Madman fan, you dared to challenge me?
I thumb my nose at you, sir.
Me? Say something just for the sake of cheesing someone off?! PERISH THE THOUGHT, PHIL!
Oh, Cody. Do you really think that it’s within even my power to read 31 comics and an eight hundred page hardcover that doesn’t have the words “Harry Potter†in the title in one night?
Given that I’ve never read Madman (and thus took a pretty big risk dropping that kind of change on the HC, based soley on my affection for Allred from other stuff), the only things I can tell you about it are: 1) It’s a pretty hardcover, and 2) mine’s #64 of 500.
Ah, I actually didn’t know that you had never read any Madman yet. Well, let me tell you, it’s good stuff. I have the collection of the original Tundra series, plus a few issues of the Dark Horse series, but I was wondering if it was worth plunking down the money for. I don’t need a signed version, but I wouldn’t mind having a copy of this. I am going to be getting the new Image versions of the trades, so I probably won’t get this HC anytime soon. Is it an oversized trim, or standard comic size? Sorry if I got a little too excited asking about this thing. That would have been the very first thing I looked at had I bought it.
Regarding the Stark/Iron Man thing in The Order:
Honestly, when I’ve been following Iron Man since the start of Ellis’ run, I’ve become quite used to the fact that the status of Iron Man’s secret identity is a revolving door the likes of which exists nowhere else in comics.
I mean, seriously, I distinctly remember in Extremis there being a comment about how often Stark’s gone back and forth with whether or not he’s Iron Man (in the public’s eye).
In Extremis he’s telling everybody he’s not Iron Man, and yet, now… well, everyone has to know he is, since he’s running SHIELD.
Seriously, the whole Tony Stark/Iron Man thing is such a clusterfuck I just don’t even think about it anymore.
Well, Tony has at least once used orbital mind control lasers to remove knowledge of his secret identity. Considering he maintains an arsenal of Atomic Machinegun and Batroc-Buster Iron Man suits, Tony seems like the guy who might just let his secret Id get out a few times to dust off the mindcrowaves.
There is actually a fairly long examination of slavery, bondage, and submission in the “Wonder Woman” entry of the Wonder Woman Encyc. Don’t mess with my man Fleisher!