Monthly Archive for November, 2010

Over the next month and a half we have a bunch of events and special days happening at the shop.

Welcome Back, Batman.

November 17^th 5 to 8:00

Grant Morrison’s run on Batman is only just beginning, but before we can get to that we need to welcome him back from the dead.

This summer when we had our Superman birthday party we were asked “when are you having a Batman party?”  I responded that he was dead, you would have to wait for him to return.”  Now you get your party.

On the 17^th, there are a slew of Batman books coming out.  The two biggest are Batman, the Return one shot (this is Batman’s actual return to the DC universe) and the new ongoing Batman, Inc (which will be Grant Morrison’s next take on Batman – I’ll have more on this later in the post.)  Also shipping that day are Batman #704, Batman Beyond, Batman Streets of Gotham, and Batman Odyssey (not to mention Flash and Green Lantern are also both scheduled to arrive that day too, as well as a new Mignola/Corben Hellboy one shot!!! – Far better than any Batman comic.)

Giveaways and Door prizes from DC Comics, Batman related drink specials, discounts, costumes and a special coupon I can’t tell you about.  We’ll also have Free Beer for those who get there early.

If nothing else, come down, hangout and talk comics!

3XWrestling’s Holiday Havoc Pre-Party

December 1^st, 6 to 8:00

Join us for wrestling shenanigans and  comic madness!

We’ll have Free Beer, Drink Specials and Door Prizes.  Several of the stars of 3XW will be on hand for you to meet and greet and it provides a great opportunity for you to pick up last minute pre-sale discounted tickets.

I also have it on good authority that the Outside the Ring crew will be there and where they go, chaos follows!

Geeky Christmas Live in 3D

December 4^th, 11am to 4pm

This is our annual charity drive to raise money and support a number of good local charities.  I am but a helper to my friend Kathy Scott who puts this on every year.  Last year we shattered the old year’s total dollar and toy collection counts, we want to do the same again this year.

This is just some of the things we will have:

A Needs Drive (like we did with our X-mas in July event) for Animal Life Line of Iowa, the no kill animal rehabilitation shelter here on the South Side.

The Geek Boutique to raise money for Iowa Public Television.

The shop will become a Toys for Tots drop off site for several weeks.  Have unwrapped toys for needy kids, bring them in and we will get them to the Marines.

Gift Baskets for those to give to win.  You donate, you get a ticket.  We draw your ticket, you win the basket.  These are always some very nice winnings that can be turned straight into gifts… or enjoyed on their own.

Gift wrapping for donation.  If you are like me and can’t wrap a gift to save your life, but your mom won’t let you put gifts under the tree at home in the plastic bag it came in… well, Kathy is here for you.  Bring in your gifts and for a free will donation they will be wrapped for you.  This saves me every year.

Appearances by the 501^st and Spider-man, plus some kids crafts, Santa, story time, drink specials and who knows what else.

Additional Gift Wrapping Day…

December 18^th, most of the morning and afternoon.

One week before X-mas, a special day of holiday cheer and gift wrapping all for free will donations to Animal Life Line of Iowa.

Hopefully, Superman in Central Iowa…

AND, we hope to have Superman coming to Iowa in Superman #706.  No official release day is set on this, but it should happen sometime in December.  I’ve been keeping in touch with DC on this and want to really blow the roof off this.

It is not every day the first and the greatest superhero comes to your home town and that will be taking place come December.  Read him or not, enjoy the character or, well, maybe you like the inferior Batman (that’s for you Ronnie and Jimmy) this is still a pretty big deal.

I will have a lot more on this as we get closer to the mid way point in December.

Batman and Awesome #16…

I kid when I talk about not liking Batman.  I’ve been reading Batman, non-stop for longer than any character.  He almost always has one book that is top notch.  Granted when one is really good the others suck, so, you always have at least one really good bat-book.  I think we have just seen the best.

Batman and Robin #16, and this entire run has been something very special most characters only wish they could have and we aren’t even done yet.  Ronnie has his review of the issue and I’ll let him go to town, but for me, what sounds so very interesting is what is to come.

Batman, Inc is going to be great.  In an interview I read last week on Wired.com Morrison talks about his intentions with Inc.  He references the Joe Casey restart on Wildcats from a few years back and that is what made me sit up and take notice.  If you’ve read this, you know what I’m talking about, the idea of a benevolent corporation – or the impossibility of such a thing.  Great and different ideas, love him or hate him, Grant Morrison DOES NOT just write the same old sh&t.

Ronnie’s Reviews…

Batman and Robin #16 Grant Morrison & Cameron Stewart/Chris Burnham/Frazer Irving
Awesome.  Really, Really Awesome.  The issue many of us have been waiting for.  Even Matt! (Admit it you old grump) This issue wraps up Grant Morrison’s run that began with the explosive #1, which is another chapter of his years long Batman saga.
Yes, I do believe it has earned Saga status.
Reviewing this issue without spoilers is gonna be hard, so let’s just say Grant has found a way to tidy up his entire multiple title run, surpass the hype, and have an ending that effectively added a whole new original dynamic to the 70 year old character.
The story finally reveals the truth about Dr. Hurt, which makes a fine 90’s Peter Milligan story relevant.  We also get a finale and explanation to whatever it was Pyg was rambling about for so long, and get a good look at The Joker’s motivations for his really out of character behavior. I still don’t get the dominoes, though.   It also shows Bruce’s first interaction with Damien as Robin, which was priceless.  This interaction and the one following also show the new Robin’s growth as a character, which has been darker, more fun, and funnier than any in recent memory.  Especially for a Boy Wonder.  OH, and Commissioner Gordon in a tutu!
The art was split up between 3 very different artists, which gave it a kind of hodgepodge feel.  (Why is this happening so much lately?) Frazer Irving has earned a lot of respect from me for his beautifully dark imagery, especially of the Joker.  I’m not huge on Stewart, as his people are a bit child-like to me, but it doesn’t distract me enough to take from the story.  Burnham does a good impression of a cleaner Quietly, but he of course is not him.  The three artists mixed together feels off centered, but not too jarring. I wish Irving would have done the whole issue like the previous two, but I will take what I can get, the writing more than makes up for it.
The last few pages made me feel as excited as an 8 year old, something a superhero comic hasn’t done to me in way too long.  (Editor’s Note – Maybe since he was 8?)  This series was full of moments that almost reached that, that feeling that something really cool was happening in front of you.  I really can’t recommend this series enough.  There are currently two hard cover collections out, and then only 5 issues after that, which will make this really easy to catch up on.
I hope Grant Morrison hasn’t raised the Batman bar too high.
This issue – 5 Stars.  Series as a whole – 5 Stars.

(Editor’s Note – Ronnie raises one very important question, why do we not know why these books are late?  These debacles in scheduling, editing, writing, drawing and the whole system in general do happen too much and have harmed the legacy of several great series of late.  I feel there needs to be more transparency in this and wish the companies would let us know who is messing up the works.)

Quickies:
Unknown Soldier #25 Joshua Dysart & Alberto Ponticelli
This issue marks the premature end of a great series.  How this got canceled before Jack of Fables or Greek Street is beyond me.  The last few issues attempted to give the series a credible ending and tie up a lot of the story threads that had been building brilliantly since the beginning, but sadly had to resort to a few cliché ‘end of story’ tricks that would of gotten you a C in high school.  I am honestly angry that this title was reduced to this, and hate capitalism even more now that this author will not be able to share with me what he was trying to create because of pre-sale unit numbers and profit margins.  Aargh!  Do yourself a favor and get the trades, this series was an excellent example of storytelling.
This issue- 3 Stars, Series as a whole- 5 Stars.

(Editor’s Note – …and if you don’t want to see the same thing happen to great books like Sweet Tooth, start encouraging your friends to read good Vertigo and Indy published books!!!  Speaking of Sweet Tooth…)

Sweet Tooth #15 Jeff Lemire
Another incredible issue of one of my favorite series.  This massive puzzle is starting to become clearer, but also seems to be much bigger and more complicated than originally thought. The pacing is impeccable and the art is haunting.  Almost familiar themes, but executed masterfully.  5 Stars.

Freedom Fighters #3 Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gray & Travis Moore
This is an interesting series that seems to be getting the hang of things.  The first two issues were less than stellar (erratic pacing, semi racist caricatures, lack of depth), but it is picking up.  This issues gives us a ton of story through equal parts condensed dialogue and big bang fighty fighty.  The art is pretty good, with a lot of cheesecake butt shots that come with any Palmiotti/Gray (or Birds of Prey) book, and The Black Condor looks awesome.  The most interesting aspect of this series is the political point of view that would not be expected by the title and covers.  I am gonna keep an eye on it to see where it might go.  2.5 Stars.

Tia’s X (rated if we get more descriptions of Angel) Review…

Generation Hope #1 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Espin

To say that I’m disappointed in the reveal of the X-Men’s “Five Lights” would be an understatement. Not only am I a little bummed from a costumer’s perspective, but these are the very first mutants to emerge from M-Day…writers have had more than a few years to come up with the top, most amazing characters and power ever…and one of them is a glorified dog.

The excitement I felt at the conclusion of “Second Coming” was practically tangible- the promise of five new mutants was nearly too much to handle, and I spent…practically hours…speculating on what their powers could be.

The Five Lights have been slowly introduced in stand-alone stories and snippets tacked onto other X-books, and I had been, at the least, unenthused at their back stories and powers.

This week, Generation Hope #1 came out  to introduce us to the new ‘team’, led by Hope Summers.

I’d say that Kieron Gillen did a pretty passable job with the material he was given, which isn’t exactly gold. Throughout the issue, I enjoyed the incorporation of each character’s ‘inner’ monologues featuring the fact that they are a “light”. A particular standout in that regard  is the X-Men’s new resident speedster Gabriel. His inner narration was a decidedly clever bit of writing incorporating “light” and providing the most cohesive look into what this character’s personality is, and will be.

The issue opens in Tokyo, (SPOILER ALERT – DO NOT READ FURTHER, YOU ARE WARNED) Japan where we meet the Fifth Light. An artist named Kenji Uedo is introduced in an awfully creepy way (though, after reading “Crossed”, very little makes me uncomfortable), as his powers seem to manifest as some type of…tentacle creature?

(Editor’s Note – It is Tetsuo from Akira – but Tia is too young to remember this animated film/Manga/Marvel Epic line adaptation.  It is a blatant rip off, see below for a link to pictures showing just how blatant.)

Currently en route to find Kenji are the other four Lights and Hope Summers. The first narration is given to Idie Okonkwo, a mutant from Nigera who apparently has the power to produce both ice and fire. In my personal opinion, that power would be pretty cool if Idie wasn’t quite so whiney. If you followed her backstory, Idie was raised very religious and when she manifested, it was believed she was  a ‘monster’ (a belief she still carries with her.

Generation Hope, babysat by Rogue, approaches Tokyo where Kenji’s tentacles have completely overtaken his building and spilt into the street. During their landing, we get the second Light-Laurie’s narration. Apparently her skin is ‘shifting crystal’, but all I’ve seen from this Canadian mutant is the ability to fly…which seems to be completely unrelated to crystal skin. Also – she looks like Mystique. And Mercury. An obvious stroke of character design “genius” by the X-artists over at Marvel. This character is very boring as well, but again, the writing in her bit of inner-narration is clever and relevant. Nonetheless, the team is forced into action as Kenji’s tentacles attack the Blackbird!

Now, I’m still struggling to understand the character of Teon. To me, he seems to be some obedient, feral dog/child…as if he was just raised in the forest by wolves, and not actually a mutant. Earlier on, it’s speculated that he rubs himself against things inappropriately, and frequently urinates on things. I’m not really sure that his attributes constitute a mutant power by any stretch, but since this is pretty much our introduction to him, I’ll keep an open mind, and hope the writers will somehow manage to make him relevant to mutants.

As the team makes a hasty retreat from action, we are introduced to Gabriel, the witty speedster. As I said previously, his personal narration is likely the most enjoyable piece of the issue for me – but it’s widely known that I like my X-Men to be funny. Thanks to those couple pages…it looks like I’ve got a nice new mutant crush. There’s a brief scuffle between Rogue and Hope, as Hope needs to remind Rogue that she’s not actually a ‘kid’ and that the current situation is ‘kindergarten compared to where I grew up”. Hope then commands her (apparent) pet, Teon, to detain Rogue so she can go and…touch…Kenji. I’m not really a subscriber to Hope’s ‘ability’ to touch, and jumpstart the Light’s powers, and in this situation, she’s eluded briefly, so she’s forced to enter the building and confront Kenji personally.  Kenji’s narration is a bit confusing to me, as he constantly refers to himself as ‘art’ and ‘ideas’…but he’s mostly just tentacles. The only conclusion I can draw is that he has the ability to make his flesh into any design he can imagine, and as he uncloaks and reveals his form to Hope, it’s fairly obvious he’s got a sick imagination. There’s a brief, disgusting attack on Hope (or is it Kenada), then a huge freaking explosion (the first ten seconds of Akira the movie or pages two through five of issue one), with Kenji as ground zero. I also don’t really understand that.  (go rent the movie Tia!!)

Obviously, I’m not completely on board with Generation Hope, and I have a boatload of apprehensions, but this IS only the first issue, and there is plenty to be revealed. My only wish is that they don’t make the entire series all action. I’d like to see it go the way of New X-Men: Academy X, and have some character interaction driven shorelines.

I did, however, really like Salvador Espin’s artwork in the issue. It was clear, and I was able to follow the action easily.

Overall, Generation Hope #1 was a fine, entertaining read, but it leaves a lot of gaps in the story and character development that will hopefully be rectified in future issues.

X-Men vs. Akira…

So, what was I blathering on about above? check out the post on Bleeding Cool.com about the swiping/blatant ripping off/stealing from the Manga/Anime Akira.  It is so apparent I truly hope someone gets their asses sued.  You would have thought Greg Land had done the whole book not just the variant cover.