New Comix! - Week of 9/28/11

Tonight I read one of the most repulsive comic books I have ever read. Luckily I was able to follow that up with 4 really great comics. I'll start with the worst one and get it over with.


Kick Ass 2 #4
The whole idea behind the Kick Ass book is to see what the life of a real-life vigilante might be like. It's dirty. It's painful. It's often times pretty funny. This story arc has focused first on a team of like-minded vigilantes, and then on a new team of villains. In the last issue the villains found the leader of the vigilantes and brutally murdered him. In this issue, they upped their game to a disgusting level. The villains, lead by a guy calling himself Mother%&#$er goes after Kick-Ass's crush from the first story arch. The things that hey do once they get to her neighborhood are so horrendous that I won't be going into details. It was truly disturbing.

Not only will I not buy a Kick-Ass book again, but I will probably be throwing the last 2 issue straight in the garbage. To quote the movie, Billy Madison, "I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul."

- WORST BOOK EVER!


Now to cheer it up a bit.




Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #2
This issue continues the story of how young Miles Morales gets his spider-powers and how he reacts to them. So far he can run fast, jump high, stick to walls, turn invisible, and zap people with his "venom blast". While he has a long heart-to-heart with his dad in this issue, it's his dorky friend who he tells everything to and the dorky friend does some research online. Miles assumes that he is a mutant, but his buddy looks up how Peter Parker got HIS spider-powers and puts 2 and 2 together and suggest to Miles that he just might be Spider-Man 2!

There is a lot of talking in this issue, and hardly any action, but they are setting up this new character and the dialogue is good enough that I didn't mind all the word bubbles. Bendis is doing a great job with the story and character building and I was really sucked into this book. I sincerely like this Miles kid and am excited to see him take on the mantle of my favorite comic book hero.

- Close 2nd to Book of the Week





The Mighty Thor #6
This issue wraps up a pretty cool story arch, so I'm going to try to put the pieces together for you, even though it's likely to be confusing.

The Summary: The "World Tree" that holds the 9 Realms was split apart during a war in the last story arch. Odin sends Thor in to fetch the "World Seed" from the tree's heart (Yeah this is all very abstract stuff). The seed has immense power and Odin hopes to use it to break the cycle of Ragnarok (i think that was his point). Galactus and the Silver Surfer show up because they believe that eating it would sate Galactus' hunger forever. The Asgardians won't part with it, so an awesome war breaks out between the 2 forces. In the meantime, citizens from nearby Broxton, Ok have approached the Asgardians to tell them that they have to leave because the Oklahomans are tired of all the danger around their town. They are led by a preacher named "Mike". Suddenly Galactus and Odin fall to Earth, both wounded from their battle.

In this issue: Galactus stands up ready to destroy both the Asgardians and the Oklahomans. Preacher Mike tries to beg for mercy, but Galactus says "No!" Just then Thor's hammer flies from his hand and into the hand of the Destroyer armor that has emerged from Asgard. Galactus grimaces and decides not to challenge the power of the Destroyer weilding Mjolnir and powered by the seemingly unconscious Odin. A this moment it is known that the World Seed has vanished. Loki (who is now a boy of about 10 years old or so...I'm not getting into that right now) was working behind the scenes during this whole series and hid the seed away were not even HE knows where to find it. This stops the conflict and saves Asgard, since the item Galactus wants is not longer present. The Surfer, though, was touched profoundly by Preacher Mike's quest for peace and wants to stay on Earth longer to be reconnected with that human spirit. He asks Galactus if he can remain on Earth to make sure the Asgardians never re-aquire the World Seed, until after they have all passed away, in which case Galactus can then come consume the seed with no conflict. In his stead, the Surfer recommends Preacher Mike to be the new Herald...and the big guy agrees! Since the Surfer likes humans so much, Galactus turns him into flesh, like a human, instead of his silvery form, and tells him that he is tethered to Earth. The further he ventures from it, the weaker he becomes. Preacher Mike then goes with Galactus to become "The Praetor".

My take: This was a very fun storyline with a lot of twists, turns, and sweet cosmic action! The turn of events with Preacher Mike going with Galactus was just great and seeing the Surfer argue against wearing clothes, even though he's not silver anymore was hilarious! A lot of cool character moments happened in this issue and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

- Book of the Week!





Batman The Dark Knight #1
The only Batman-related book I bought from the "New 52", The Dark Knight proved to be a good choice. The series continues with the always-awesome David Finch drawing and co-writing and the fun just keeps rolling. We open up to see some cool action shots of Batman, who quickly changes to Bruce Wayne and makes a public appearance (very Tony Stark-like) at some gala event. Things are going smooth until a new hothead at the GCPD accuses Bruce of funding the Batman's activities. He's going to be a problem. Then news comes out that there is a breakout at Arkham Asylum and Batman is on the scene. There are several fan favorite villains in the breakout, but Batman is most concerned with Two-Face. By the time he finds him, something has happened to Two-Face and he comes out of the door looking like the friggin' Hulk! He then says something stupid which makes for the only lame thing in the whole book, "Call me One-Face".

Finch's art continues to amaze me. He's the perfect Batman artist. Story was nothing special, but then it was a solid Batman story, so that's not a problem. Good book.







Green Lantern New Guardians #1
This is the book were my favorite GL Kyle Rayner landed after the new #1 shakeup and I really wanted to like it. Luckily it turned out to be a lot better than the GL Corps I read last week.

First off, let me explain why I like Kyle so much. First off, he's a cartoonist/graphic designer just like me. He also designs his own unique GL uniforms and they are always crazy cool. His mask is probably the coolest in comics. More than that though, he's a very optimistic person, who has fun being a superhero and it shows. He's also been called a dreamer (not in a good way) by other Green Lanterns, but that's just why he's my favorite. He keeps things fun and awesome.

The story starts off re-telling Kyle's origin story about how/when/why he got the last Green Lantern ring after Hal Jordan went nuts and killed off the Corps in Emerald Twilight. Then the scene changes to multiple ring wielders losing their rings across the universe. A yellow lantern loses his ring and gets killed by the victims he was threatening. A red lantern loses his ring and dies (because the red lantern's ring is his heart). A Star Saphire (pink ring) loses her ring and would have suffocated in space if another SS hadn't come along. The rings all converge in one place, right in front of Kyle on Earth. All the rings say that he has been chosen and he has NO idea what's going on. Just then representatives from each of the other Lantern Corps show up furious with Kyle for stealing one of their rings! I've got a feeling a big fight is coming up next!

Okay, I'm partial to this comic because i think Kyle is so dang cool, but I really enjoyed this issue. It was just plain fun. The story is a little vague so far, but I think it will make a lot more sense as subsequent issues come out. The art is very fun and pretty high quality, for the most part. There are a few places that the artist has some weaknesses, but overall I really like his style.

New Comix - Week of 9/21/11

This week was full of great comic-y goodness! Let's get to it!



Ultimate Comics X-men #1
Marvel's Ultimate Universe has gone through some huge changes as Marvel tries to re-invent the line as something other than standard Marvel 2.0. In "Ultimatum", Magneto attacked mankind with a savagery the regular Marvel Magneto has never shown. He caused a tidal wave that flooded Manhattan, killing many Marvel heroes right off the bat. Many more died in the mission to take him down, not least of whom was Wolverine. Most of the X-men died in the event as well. Since then it has been revealed in the Ultimate universe that Mutants are not the next step in human evolution. They are, in fact, a result of a US military experiment that leaked out and spread. Humans across the globe reacted poorly and the government started rounding up mutants and putting them in camps. If they didn't come peacefully, they are killed.

This issue sets up the new status-quo for the X-men. Jean Grey has gone around using the name Karen Page, and is trying to round up mutant children before they get incarcerated or killed. In the first part of the story she visits a family and the mother is acting very weird. She says her daughter is a mutant is upstairs asleep. She then says that her husband is up there as well. Then there's a gunshot! The dad walks downstairs crying, spattered with blood and says, "She's gone, Mother. It's okay, she was asleep and didn't feel a thing." YIKES! Jean has a look of utter horror on her face.

In the meantime, Wolverine's son, James (who was raised by some of Wolverine's friends and didn't know his father) has developed identical mutant powers as his father and is traveling with Jean Grey and a couple of other mutants that I did not recognize. While Jean is out trying to recruit that poor girl, James and the others see the announcement about mutants being created, about how the US government created the first mutant, Wolverine, in a Canadian lab. Furious, James leaves the group to visit the lab where his father was genetically manipulated.

Then the story switches to a mob and a small sentinel-type robot hunting down Rogue. Kitty Pryde, the Human Torch, and Iceman had been living down in the Morlock tunnels, vowing to stay hidden and safe, but when they see Rogue in trouble, they get ready to intervene.

It looks like Kitty's group and Jeans group and Wolverine's son will meet up soon and form the new X-Men and it should be a pretty cool ride. The art is well done. The story is well-paced and interesting. Though this was basically a set-up issue, I'm interested to see what happens next.







Wonder Woman #1
Another in the "New 52" relaunched series from DC, I picked up Wonder Woman for the artwork alone. I mean, that cover art is just cool! I'm glad the inside pages matched the awesomeness of the cover. Here's what happens.

The story opens with a creepy looking guy talking to, and then apparently possessing 3 women as he tells them the story of his womanizing father and his rival siblings. The creepy guy is Apollo, god of the Sun, BTW. The scene cuts to a farmhouse where a woman is greeted by the god Hermes, and then is attacked by 2 centaurs. Hermes transports the woman directly to Diana (Wonder Woman) who assesses the situation, transports back to the farm with the woman, and proceeds to kick centaur tail (literally). She saves the woman and then tries to help a wounded Hermes. Hermes then explains to the woman that she is in terrible danger because she is pregnant with Zeus's son. The story ends back with Apollo killing the 3 women as he talks about an upcoming conflict with the unborn baby.

Wow. Really WOW! This is not a superhero book at ALL! It's more mythology/horror! There were some very gruesome scenes, fast-paced action, and Diana comes across much more as a warrior than some star-spangled do-gooder. At one point she headbutts one centaur, then throws her sword and cuts the arm off the other! This is one BAD chick! By far the coolest take on Wonder Woman I have ever seen. I've gotta have more!

- Book of the Week!!!





Green Lantern Corps #1
This is the only other DC #1 I bought this week. The Green Lantern Corps focuses on the Corps as a whole, but mostly on Earth Lanterns John Stewart (not the Comedy Central guy) and Guy Gardner. They try to juggle a normal life on earth, but neither of them have conceiled their true identity like Hal Jordan did, so everyone knows they are Green Lanterns and thus, it is pretty difficult to convince an employer than you can really keep a full-time job. They then fly to OA, hear about a string of GL murders and proceed to investigate. The rest isn't really worth getting into.

If you've been reading my earlier posts, you know I've been on a big Green Lantern kick this year. I thought I would want to keep up with this book for the supporting characters, if nothing else, but I just don't enjoy reading about John and Guy that much. I don't care that much where the story is going and I don't like the main characters. If they had made the series focus on Kilowog and Arisia, or Sallak and Soranik, or Stel and Isamot...that'd be fine. These two guys, eh, no thanks. My favorite Lantern, Kyle Rayner, has moved over to the book, Green Lantern: New Guardians, and I will be picking that up next week. This book is dropped.






Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2
The second issue of the new TMNT series deals a little with quest of the 3 turtles and Splinter who have been searching for Raphael in New York for over a year without any success. We get more of their updated back story which is pretty fun, and involves April O'Neil as an intern at a genetics lab instead of being a reporter. The turtles and splinter were involved in some research to try to grow exoskeleton-type shells on humans for military purposes using DNA from turtles. Some ninjas break in, some vials get dropped, some turtles roll around in it...you see where this is going. Lastly, we get to see a great scene where Raphael (who has been wondering the streets as a hobo with amnesia for the past year) confronts a drunken, abusive father in a nearby apartment and tosses the guy out of his own house. The man's son, Casey Jones, thanks him and offers to go find him some food. Then he puts on his hockey mask! Fans of TMNT and Casey Jones will understand how awesome that is.

What can I say? I love some Ninja Turtles, and the fun continues with this issue. The art isn't fantastic, but it works well with these indie comics heroes. I don't mind it at all. A very fun read.

New Comix - 9/14/11

There were no comics in DC's "New 52" #1's that I just had to have, but luckily Marvel had a few big books come out this week and I picked up 2 fun quasi-indie books from IDW as well.



Fear Itself #6
Marvel's Summer Crossover event moves closer to it's 7th issue conclusion. Odin's evil brother, "The Serpent", has regained all his former power and is marching on Asgard. His chosen warriors have beaten down Earth's defenders at every turn (killing Captain America a.k.a. Bucky) including Thor, who almost killed Evil Possessed Thing and almost killed himself putting down Evil Possessed Hulk. The Avengers physically pick up and carry Thor to Asgard where classic Cap (Steve Rogers) verbally lashes into Odin for not fighting his own battles. Odin calles them apes and sends them away in a flash, then takes Thor inside to heal his wounds and give him an ancient suit of armor that Odin wore the last time he defeated The Serpent. The issue ends with Tony Stark presenting the weapons that he created for the Avengers using Asgardian tools. Odin prepares to bless the weapons, which are a mix of Stark tech and magic Uru steel, and all are dropped into a vat of molten Uru, including Tony inside his Iron Man suit. That's gonna leave a mark!

Like the previous issues in this series, there are a ton of cool scenes in this issue made all the better by incredible artwork by Stuart Immonen. I enjoyed reading this book. For some reason this series just hasn't grabbed me (or anyone I've heard about) like House of M, Civil War, or Secret Invasion. I don't know why. It seems kinda cool. It just doesn't seem to hold the same weight. That being said, it's a fun read with cool art, so I don't see why this story is getting so much bad publicity from fanboys.






Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1
This issue relaunches the always-excellent Ultimate Spider-man series. Peter Parker died on his front yard after defending his friends and family from the Sinister Six. Here we have the story of new Spidey, Miles Morales. The story opens with a laboratory scene at OzCorp where Norman Osborn is tasking a scientist with the job of recreating the experiment that genetically altered a spider that went on to bite Peter Parker and gave him his spider-like abilities. Norman tells the scientist that it was he who created Spider-Man, but that he has no data to recreate the effects. Then he threatens to kill the scientist if he ever tells anyone. As the scene ends a test spider escapes...again. That night a burgler breaks into OzCorp to nab some cash and hi-tech items. The burgler turns out to be the Ultimate Comics version of The Prowler. While he's filling his bag with stolen goods the spider crawls into the bag without him noticing. The scene then changes to a new charter school in downtown New York where we're introduced to Miles Morales and his mixed-racial parents. Miles is lucky enough to have his name drawn from the lottery of 700 children and gets to attend the new school. Afterwards he goes to visit his shady uncle, who likes to moonlight as a burgler in a purple mask. While his uncle goes to get popsickles, the spider crawls out of the bag beside Miles and puts the bite on him. Miles starts to seize on the ground as his uncle comes back in. When he wakes up his father is there and the two men are arguing about the uncles bad influence as Miles' dad accuses his brother of giving him drugs. Miles runs out upset and is followed out by his father. When his dad runs right by him shouting his name Miles looks down in surprise to see that he's blending in with the wall behind him!

Despite the complete lack of super-heroics, masks, fights, or web-slinging, this was a great read. Brian Bendis works his magic once more creating characters that are interesting and relateable. Miles is a good kid whose parents are caring and hard-working, but can't seem to catch a break to escape New York's low income neighborhoods. Norman Osborn desperately wants to recreate Spider-Man, so you know he'll be all over this kid. This story has a lot of potential and I'm excited to see where the story goes next.

- Book of the Week!




Danger Girl and the Army of Darkness #3
I'm a big fan of the Army of Darkness and the "Ash" character in general. There are a lot of comics starring Ash these days and I can't get them all, but this one looked fun to me, so I've been following it.

In previous issues the Danger Girl team has been alerted to impending supernatural dangers stemming from the book of the dead (a.k.a. Nekrinomicon). They aquire one page of the book on a mission and featured on that page is a drawing of Ash, so they are on a quest to find the man in the book and see what he has to do with the evil book. In the meantime, Ash is trying to live a normal life after coming back to the present from the year 1300 AD, but a series of visions are causing him to attack innocent people, because to him they look like deadites (possessed humans). This, as is no surprised, lands him in lockdown in a mental hospital.

Issue 3 picks up with Danger Girl, Sydney Savage, breaking into the hospital, commandeering the clothes/identity of a doctor and breaking Ash out. During the story there are multiple flashbacks showing Syndey's childhood, trainging, and all the reasons she decided to get into the spy business.

While the interactions between Syndey and Ash were pretty funny, most of the story was about her, and I don't have a whole lot of interest in the Danger Girl characters. It was kind of boring. The promising thing is that the book got a lot more fun after Ash finally started interacting with Syndey, and now that he's been found and broken out of the hospital, the fun level should just go up from here. The artwork was about average, but definately not bad. I'm looking forward to issue 4 when the action should really pick up!






The Legend of Drizzt #2
Issue 1 picked up right after the events of the novel, Gauntlegrym, which saw Drizzt's dwarven ally Pwent crawl from his grave as a vampire. As Drizzt and his new elven companion, ???, travel the area hunting for Goblins, the vampire dwarf beats them to a goblin tribe and dispatches them, sating his blood hunger for the first time. Drizzt finds the goblins the next day and is confused because they look like they were killed by both a dwarven battlerager AND a vampire.

In issue 2, we see that Pwent is haunted by the voice of the vampire who turned him and it is trying to get him to attack humans. Pwent refuses to give into the voice in his head and instead finds and attacks an owlbear (see cover image). He drinks it's blood, but is not very filling. The voice tells Pwent that eventually he will have to give in and drink the blood of thinking creatures, instead of beasts. Drizzt is hot on Pwent's trail and finds the body of the owlbear the next morning. It remains to be seen if he will find his friend in time to help him deal with his situation.

This story is not terribly exciting and aside from the images of Drizzt himself, the art is pretty sub-par. This artist can't seem to draw women much better than I can! If I were not a huge Drizzt fan, I would stop buying this book. If you're not a Drizzt fan, steer clear.