X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – Mutants vs. Vampires Who doesn’t love a good vampire story, right? Even better if it includes any of the seminal X-Men. One of my coworkers is the ultimate American comics fanboy and he knows that (although I’m not quite as invested as he is) I like comics, too. One day during a free moment (and after I mentioned that … Continue reading X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – Mutants vs. Vampires
Air #10
Vertigo
By about the sixth issue of G. Willow Wilson’s and M.K. Perker’s Air I thought I had a pretty good handle on just what in the hell was going on. Amelia Earhart showed up in a floating city in the clouds and made everything clear to me. Now I’m in Mexico before the French conquered England and I feel like I’m just starting over again. While I may have lost the path of the story the comic continues to be fresh, crisp and smart. This series is definitely worth your time but this isn’t the time to jump in.
The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #2
Marvel
To tell you the truth, I’m just slogging through most of these tragic bits until I can leave the tales of Roland’s adolescence and move on to the parts of the stories where he’s a bad-ass ninja with cowboy boots and a revolver. Much like watching Titanic, we know Gilead will fall, we know Roland will live and his father will likely die. All that happens later though. For now Stephen King fans will have to make do with Roland going to jail. I get the feeling this is just leading up to a mountain of tragedy in the next four issues.
Executive Assistant Iris #1
Aspen
This comic is a steaming plate of bad-ass. While most of the issue is turned over to the task of demonstrating just how epically bad-ass it is, there is a kernel of a story in there. David Wohl seems to have an interesting story going for him but so far it’s obfuscated by a lot of business speak and ass kicking. Eduardo Francisco’s art lives up to the high standards set by Aspen’s other works and John Starr’s colors are visceral and vibrant. This isn’t a must have but you definitely need to take a look because there won’t be very many copies of these laying around.
Anna Mercury 2 #1
Avatar
Hooray! Anna Mercury is back! In this new series one of the constellation worlds has sent something into our world and it’s Anna Mercury’s job to recon this previously unexplored world that inhabits a dimension next to ours. The hottest red head in comics since Mary Jane Watson is in it up to her neck almost as soon as she hits the ground. I’ve got nothing but wonderful things to say about this comic. Buy this comic. Subscribe to it. You’ll thank me.
Berserker #0
Top Cow
Okay Milo Ventimiglia, thanks for the new comic series and all but weren’t you supposed to be working on Rest. Did that series ever finish? I don’t think so. Essentially Berserker is exactly what I thought it would be: a dude going crazy from blood lust killing anyone he meets. The surprise is that I enjoy the setup to what I know is coming. If Top Cow can keep that up, I’ll stick with the series.
The Boys #31
Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s dark and darkly humorous superhero story consistently meets or exceeds all of my expectations and #31 in the series – the first of a new storyline – is no exception. Expect plenty of ass kicking and even a bit of tragedy in this issue. Supes get put in their place and The Boys learn that they, too, can be hurt. A new storyline starts here so this is a great place to jump in with the single issues if you’ve only been reading the trades up till now.
Dead Irons #4
While I feel that this series lost its stride somewhere in the second issue, it does a fair job of picking it back up for the conclusion to the series. The story suffered most from not explaining its own mythology. It’s a mish-mash of monster traditions rolled into one comic miniseries with only the barest of explanations. The gritty art style absolutely lends itself to the western motif but is often found wanting when it comes to fine anatomical details like eyes. Having roundly criticized the comic I have to finish by saying that this conclusion was deftly executed and I would absolutely read a follow up series were the team of James Kuhoric and Jason Shawn Alexander to make one.
I finally watched Iron Man. And because of it, I am writing the AO response. It was cool. Very cool. I do not know if Tony Stark was ever that cool in the comic book since I never picked it up. My version of the Iron Man origin comes from a kiddie book on tape and accompanying storybook which also featured the origin of Victor Von Doom, aka Dr Doom.
In the brief origin I read, there was not any room for Tony to be the Bruce Wayne on steroids playboy that he apparently is, just enough space for him to get injured, get saved by the Vietnamese doctor (this was an earlier version) and blast his way out of the cave in his going-out version of the Iron Man suit. The sound effects on the audio tape were fun. And honestly, I always remember Tony Stark having that creepy Steve Buscemi/John Waters style pencil thin mustache. Definitely not so cool.
Continue reading “Iron Man”This comic born of some of the best talent at Marvel and the dark mythos of Stephen King’s Dark Tower is one of the most visually stunning series I’ve seen in a while. It’s obvious a lot of work goes into the art and the story is lifted directly from King’s novels, so we’re given an impressive and expansive world to explore.
King works as creative director on the series with help from his long-time research assistant Robin Furth, so it has been held to a higher standard than some of the more notorious movie adaptations of his works (think Langoliers or Cujo). The script was adapted by Peter David, who has been writing for print, television and comics for years now, including work on Incredible Hulk and Babylon 5.
Considering David has worked extensively on expanding the ideas of others, it’s no surprise that he captures perfectly the dark tone and oppressive mood of King’s Midworld – the primary setting for The Dark Tower. Continue reading “Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born”
By Ahmad Chaudhary
I remember my first X-Men figure. It was made by a then new to the scene Toy Biz who is now known as Marvel Toys but no longer produces Marvel Comics figures (Hasbro has the license now). Strange. Anyway, it was a Wolverine model whose method of acquisition has been forgotten. Emphasizing, for the time at least, the “action” part of action-figure, I was not a fan of the brown and tan colors of his costume because it wasn’t in line with the lemon-yellow, black and royal-blue tiger-stripe garb he wore on the Fox Animated “X-Men” show. The sculpting made the little bruiser look a little too much of a ruffian for my tastes, he didn’t have an “X” on his belt buckle and his retractable claws looked clumsy, reasons that in retrospect show how little I knew about him. Also, for some reason he had a samurai sword that he couldn’t even hold and a mask that didn’t fit his face. I was further confused when I saw their 24-inch vinyl model – which also shared the mysterious costume colors, sword and ill-fitting mask. Continue reading “Wolverine”
By Ahmad Chaudhary
I loved this book. Maybe because it only took me a week to read it. Maybe because I don’t know much about the Marvel Universe or maybe because I’m just in a good mood today!
You’ll have to decide for yourself whether this book is for you or if it will be a good gift. Hopefully my review will help you make an informed decision. I got it free from a friend who worked at a discount book store and it was worth more than the free “Transformers” ticket I got over the summer.
Luxuriously finished in thick, black, padded, full-grain leather-like vinyl, the cover features a 3D matte-finish image of some of Marvel’s finest flanking the Thing – featuring Spider-Man leaping above, Wolverine and Captain America lunging beneath, Invisible Woman floating on the right, Elektra poised with sais ready to the left and the Incredible Hulk supplementing with his own heavy hitting close behind the pack. In a subdued Daredevil Crimson above the eye-popping image, it decrees in a stately font in all capital letters, “MARVEL”, while below it says “The Characters and Their Universe.” A direct linear history, it masquerades as something more due to the fact that the dimensions coupled with the weight of around five pounds give it a tome-like presence. Continue reading “Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe”
Guest Post
When we last left our favorite Summers brother, Alex, he was on the run from his wife, Maddie, who had fully embraced the Goblin Queen persona. Is this Inferno all over again in this strange new world? Or could it be something much more sinister?
As the saga of the Goblin Queen unfolds, Alex finds himself up against his former teammates, now under the nefarious control of Alex’s wife who is poised to take over the U.S. Hope rests in the combined might of Havok, Magneto’s X-Men and the U.N. forces led by Dr. Doom. Havok leads the charge on the Empire State Building, where the Goblin Queen is being held up. With impending doom, Havok and his son Scotty eventually defeat the Goblin Queen in what I consider the cop-out of the century (or at least the series thus far). Still, the ending does make me believe in the power of a child’s love for his mother. Yeah, I just puked a bit too. Issue 13 is a filler issue detailing the background of Bloodstorm. Personally, I would have preferred a Fallen centric issue, but oh well. We can’t always get what we want. Continue reading “Mutant X 8-13: All Hail the Goblin Queen”
Guest Post
This debut issue of Wild Thing is bad, seriously bad. I’m not sure how many issues it lasted; but since the Marvel UK imprint folded in America about a year later, I can imagine it didn’t run too long. The cover promises the appearance of Venom and Carnage so, of course, it’s a must-buy.
But before you track it down, let me explain this is the furthest thing from a must-buy. Venom and Carnage (who only appears in three panels) are only virtual-reality bad guys. Yes, Ms. Doyle fights virtual-reality bad guys. Actually, she fights illegal virtual-reality programs that are more addictive than heroin. It seems that in an effort to capitalize off the somewhat success of virtual-reality programs, Marvel created a virtual-reality warrior.
Being a former VR junkie, Doyle has cleaned up her act and is working with the NYPD to bust these underground video game dens. The concept is laughable (especially looking back from over a decade later) and the execution is rather terrible. Doyle has acute knowledge of the VR world, and as Wild Thing she is able to navigate this world and save those addicts.
Why can’t they just unplug the game machines? Because in a move much like The Matrix, anyone jacked into the other world can also die because of the virtual world. If the junkie is unplugged, he’s a goner. Thankfully, Wild Thing is their savior. The whole issue follows this set-up; it includes her busting a den and then plugging in to a particularly devious program to save one of the addicts.
