Monthly Archive for April, 2011

The Week of April 25th

Published on April 25, 2011 in Comics. 1 Comment

Free Comic Book Day…

Less than two weeks until Free Comic Book Day 2011.  Nearly all of you know what this day is, but in case there is one lone person on the planet who doesn’t… FCBD is a special day, the first Saturday of May (This year May 7th), set aside to celebrate the medium of comics.  A day when comic shops give away comic books to everyone… those who love our medium and collect regularly, those who haven’t read in years, but remember fondly and youngsters who are getting their first taste of comics and hopefully will become lifelong lovers of comics.

This year we are trying a few new things.

On Friday night, May 6th, we are going to have a little pre-party and signing. The event will happen after regular hours at 9:00pm.  We will have free beer, coffee drink specials and in-store comic sales.  The fun will run until 12:01, when I put out the non-kid oriented Free Comic Book Day books.  I hope that this will create a fun adult atmosphere on Friday where we can sit around and bull sh*t about comics and a kid atmosphere on Saturday morning.  Some of the people who are coming on Friday the 6th:

Phil Hester, who seems to be either writing or drawing every other book on the rack right now will triumphantly return to the store after a many year absence.  (Actually, he is currently working on the art chores of Godzilla at IDW, writing Wonder Woman for DC and overseeing Firebreather at Image, but he has several collections of stuff, including a hard cover of Deep Sleeper and collected trades of Golly and Holy Terror coming soon.)  If you have never had a chance to meet Phil, or have meet him a hundred times, he is a great guy who always has time for fans.

Also, Tyler Walpole and Adam Van Wyk will be in to sign and sketch until their fingers bleed or your heart is content, whichever comes first.  Tyler has been doing some fantastic work on the covers of IDW’s Dungeons and Dragons book.  Adam, though you aren’t seeing his work on the racks is still busier than anyone, doing constant story boarding for all the super hero related animation projects that have been coming out… and there have been a lot over the last year.

And, I hope to get the elusive Ron Wagner to make an appearance.  Ron has worked on a ton of great titles including GI Joe, Conan, Batman and, my personal favorite, the Nam, just to name a few.  Ron is easily one of the nicest guys in the industry and has a million awesome stories.

We will also start our silent auction to benefit Animal Lifeline, the no kill animal shelter here on the south side.  I have accumulated several great signed, sketched and rare comic objects over the last couple months, all to be released for this good cause.  The auction will run into Saturday afternoon.

So, that is the in-store stuff, what is happening outside the shop?

We are also teaming up with Mayhem comics this year to get comics to the four corners of the Des Moines metro area.  We are going to take comics to every library in the city, as well as all the suburbs, for give away on Saturday.  We are also trying to hit all the children’s wings of local hospitals too.

You might ask, “why would you team up with your competition?”  Well, three reasons, one is our love of comics supersedes any financial competitiveness.  Have you ever seen a kid get a comic?  It actually makes all the tough times worth it.  It really does.  Two, FREE comic book day isn’t cheap for us.  We want to blanket the city, but it would cost too much to do on our own.  A nice partnership cuts those costs down substantially.  And three, Jeremy, who runs the Des Moines Mayhem store, is a hell of a good guy.

 

Next week, I’ll have a list of some of the books coming out this year.  There are a couple of pretty decent titles, with new material, but I’ll highlight all that next week.

 

Vertigo invades(?) DC… again…

If you have read the most recent (#23) issue of Brightest Day, you saw that a long time member of Vertigo is now a prominent member of the mainstream DC super-roster.  Swamp Thing was revealed as new avatar of death and the body of Alex Holland was birthed (or regurgitated) form the Star City forest.  Why, I don’t know, guess you’ll have to read issue 24 which comes out on Wednesday.

What is more important than avatars and white lanterns and super hero storytelling… is that the mature reader character is now walking, again, amongst the “kids” books.  It was a little shocking, I certainly didn’t expect it (a tip of the hat to what has been overall fairly good writing.)  But does this mean he is done with Vertigo and are their others?

Well, now the 275 issue plus, recently married, John Constantine is confirmed to be coming back to DC too.  However, current Hellblazer writer, Peter Milligan, is saying he is coming, but not staying.  As stated on BleedingCool.com, he will be his usual self, but it won’t affect his regular Vertigo book.

Many months ago, Madame Xanadu, who recently had a regular VERTIGO series, was also moved back to DC proper too and The Unknown Soldier moved from DC to Vertigo and then was cancelled.

None of this is new either, we’ve seen this before.  Wesley Dodds, the original Sandman, appeared for several different storylines in DC and had a long running Vertigo mature reader series and a few superheroes and one Justice League villain (Dr. Destiny) were in Neil Gaimen’s early issues of Sandman.

But still, for some reason, this kind of bothers me… It isn’t like DC doesn’t have more characters for their stories, why do they need all the magic users or occultists of Vertigo too and especially the most surly ones?  I just don’t think John Constantine needs to be blowing smoke in the face of Superman, or having an uncomfortable talk with Batman.  He is great… in a world with plenty of evil and NO superheroes we see regularly.

Vertigo is a great place for content that doesn’t need the filter the regular DC brass puts on their “heroes,” but with this movement it starts to blur those lines of what is and is not acceptable and why?  Superman can’t drink or even appear to possibly drink a beer, but he can interact with the hard drinking, swearing foul anti-hero, John Constantine.  If this doesn’t matter, then why not just publish comics and actually make it so it DOESN”T MATTER!!

For whatever reason, it all sort of reminds me of issue eight of Planetary… You know the one, shifts of sexual orientations and exploding entrails…  let’s hope that is NOT what all these shifting Vertigo characters mean for any of our regular beloved DC heroes and let’s hope the quality we expect from Vertigo is not affected by this either.

 

Week of April 18th

Published on April 17, 2011 in Reviews-comics and Ronnie's Reviews. 0 Comments

Lots of reviews this week, but first…

3XWrestling..

Wanted to remind everyone of 3XWresting’s return to All Play this Friday.  First bell is 7:30.  The main event will feature Marc Sterling against 3X Heavy Weight Champion Brian Ash.  We have tickets for sale through Friday morning.  I’ll see you there.

Coming this Week…

I am very excited about one book in specific this week, Dark Horse Presents #1.  If you know me, you know the immense support I have for the company Dark Horse.  The third largest publisher in the industry has been keeping their level of superior comic books coming out for over 20 some years now.  The first book they published, Dark Horse Presents.

This is THE anthology book.  It has had Hellboy, Aliens, (Art Adams drawn) Godzilla and Concrete among many, many other characters grace its pages and by some of the industries greatest creators.  The new incarnation will be no different.  Here is the solicitation for the book:

The legendary, premiere anthology is back! The 80-page spectacular, Dark Horse Presents returns with all-new stories by Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, and Richard Corben; a new Concrete story by Paul Chadwick, a new Crimson Empire story from the Star Wars universe, and an exclusive sneak peek of Frank Miller’s highly-anticipated prequel to 300, Xerxes!

The celebration continues with a brand-new, all-color Finder story by Carla Speed McNeil, a prose piece from science fiction legend Harlan Ellison, the return of Michael T. Gilbert’s Mr. Monster, and much, much more!

There is one drawback, the price.  It is a $7.99 comic, however, that is for 80 pages with NO Ads.  So, I think it is more than fine.  I can tell you this is a great labor of love for the company and the publisher/owner, Mike Richardson.  He is personally editing the book.  I can’t wait for this one.

 

Ronnie and Matt’s Tag Team Reviewing…

Ronnie and I are going to review a bunch of books this week.  I have a trade and a Hardcover to review for you this week, but first Ronnie and I both wanted to mention one of the oddest books we’ve read in some time.

Hellboy: Buster Oakley gets his wish, was on one hand very funny, the other super strange and on one more proof positive that Kevin Nowlan is one of the best artists not actively working right now – and we wish he was.

Story-wise, what can I say, it was an alien abduction story staring Hellboy, yes, not what you expect from an occult investigator.  It was… strange, but great.  Like a typical one shot Hellboy story, there is some plot development, a fight and some weirdness at the end.  It isn’t brain surgery, but close to perfection.

The Art, man oh man, Kevin Nowlan’s work is so damn good.  He does everything in this book, but the story.  Pencils, Inks (which are fantastic), color (I thought it was Dave Stewart it was such a good job) the lettering and found time to do the cover too.  In the back of the book is a fantastic look at how he did the cover, with commentary.  A great extra.

Hellboy is going to be the main man over the next couple months.  The Mignola/Corben Hellish Hellboy team re-unites again for Being Human, which will see Roger the homunculus return… to Hellboy, sorry, this one is set in Hellboy’s past, Roger isn’t coming back from the dead.

In the next couple months we will see three issue arc The Fury released.  This is the final arc of the major saga that has seen Hellboy learn he is an heir of King Arthur, now wields Excalibur and readies for war.  This is what all Hellboy stories have been leading to and with The plotlines in BPRD and Hellboy getting ever closer to coming in alignment, could Hellboy be headed back to the BPRD?  Yes, I’m excited and you should be reading it.

Now for Ronnie’s thoughts:

Oh yeah, I love Hellboy one shots. Last year’s Hellboy en Mexico was one of the best single issues of the year. Sadly, I have been (slowly) catching up in trade, so I only get to read these one-and-dones as they come out. I wish I had the money to remedy that, this universe is awesome. Even my female partner in crime loves it.

This issue places Hellboy in the midwest investigating some cattle disappearances. While talking with the devastated farmer, he begins to piece together what has been going on. Then he gets abducted by the greys. I’m not sure how much of this issue takes from previous stories, or even adds to them at all, but it was alot of fun nonetheless.

This book was solicited as the weirdest Hellboy story of the year, but I think it was the weirdest I have read. The bulk of the issue is Hellboy and a teenage boy with a cow’s head beating up on aliens and robots. You can guess how that turns out, but the ending still has a tasty, yet disturbing, surprise.

The art by Nowlan is just frickin awesome. The creatures are creepy, the farmers are crying, and the cattle portraits are hilarious. This guy does his own inking, and has a similar style to Mignola. There is a heavy use of angular thick black, but adds more detail to his subjects and backgrounds. Fits right in to the Mignola-verse. He can draw my Hellboy anytime.

I love seeing Hellboy in the midwest. Hopefully next time we will see him battling ghost bison in Beaverdale.

5 Stars.

 

Ronnie also wanted to mention:

Superman 710 Straczynski/Roberson & Foreman/Barrows

Ah Superman, what has happened to you? I read the first handful of the ‘Grounded’ storyline, and then dropped off due to boredom. This issue I flipped through off the rack, and was surprised that some of the panels made me want to read it.  (COME ON RONNIE – it had Batman in it, that was why you picked it up?)

The premise of 710 is Bruce-Bats hunts down Superman during his Emo-Walk 2011 to tell him he is back, and that Clark is wasting everyone’s time. Before he can get to that, they begin to reminisce about their first meeting and team up. The 12th completely different incarnation of this by my count.

Then it happened, something missing in this whole storyline. Action! Big dumb, out of continuity action!

We get to witness Bruce and Clark, pre-spandex, protecting a temple in someplace called Bhutran from Vandal Savage and paid off Chinese soldiers. Tanks get thrown, swinging ropes take five guns out at once, swarms of bats and lazer eyes. Good times. Plus I am a sucker for folks in black masks beating up on soldiers. Gets me every time. Back in present time, we get a decent dialogue between the two friends. There is a heavy emphasis on friend here too. Bruce is honestly trying to help someone he cares about, and then buys a mountain. Really.

From my understanding, Chris Roberson (Cinderella mini’s, IZombie) is finishing Straczynski’s run from notes after he abandoned the title. Why he gets his name on the cover I don’t know. But if the end of this issue is any indication, maybe this trainwreck is about to change tracks and get on with a new direction? Hopefully.

3 Stars.

 

My second review today is the Vertigo Hardcover Aaron and Ahmed from Jay Cantor and James Romberger.

The story is about a psychologist, Aaron Goodman, who goes to work at Guantanamo Bay as a interrogator/torturer.  Though he wrestles with the methods being used to extract information, Aaron is driven by the loss of his wife, who was on a plane that hit one of the towers on September 11th, 2001.  Aaron tries to understand what would make men become suicide bombers.

Aaron develops a theory it is related to memes, a mental thought that can make people do things, more so than suggestion and hypnosis, something more in the realm of a virus.  As his commanders take interest, Aaron is allowed to experiment on Ahmed.  From there he will make his way to a jihadist camp and eventually to ground zero in New York.  Did I mention that this is a love story too?

I’ve read very little from Vertigo I have ever disliked, so, I was not surprised I liked this.  I’m still trying to wrap my head around why.  I have some strong feelings about “The War on Terror” and I think the clouded what I was reading.  Comic Legend Jim Steranko said “Aaron and Ahmed is no easy read, and even less easy to forget.”

I think the thought of Memes (defined as – A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another) is very interesting.  The idea revolves around the thought that our cultural ideas, symbols and or practices are transmitted somehow, perhaps through our social rituals or practices.  The term was coined by Richard Dawkins, a man who I can say has had a lot of influence on my thinking in the last several years.

In the book, it is presented that the thought of god could be a meme.  Is a perceived system of directed violence a possible meme?

However, there is a lot more than that in this book too.  There are some really interesting ideas presented on post 9/11 “war on terror” thought too.  The interrogators and the sense of “experimentation” they were doing to these prisoners was not lost on me.  I think you could look at the overall political feelings are one against both sides, but supportive of the people on both sides (“I don’t support the war, I do support the soldiers who are fighting it.”)  You just don’t see this.  It is almost always one side or the other.

The art is not the driving force in this book, but is in no way disappointing.  James Romberger’s work reminds me of Guy Davis, and that isn’t a bad thing.

Overall, I really liked it and actually will probably re-read it.  I like being challenged when I read comics and when you finish something and immediately head to the net to do research on the theories presented in it, that is a good thing.  If there is any dislike, I would like to have read more about memes in the book.  Put even more science in my fiction.

 

And finally, Marvel’s trade paperback release of Steven King’s N by Marc Guggenheim and Alex Maleev.

This is, without a doubt not only one of the best horror stories, but one of the best reads last year.

Things you like in a horror story, you want that nervous feeling in your gut.  You want the shiver.  You want the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up.  You want to be scared.  N is scary.

The premise; there is a place, shockingly in Maine, where some great evil lurks.  It is marked by seven stones or is it eight?  When you see the stones, there are faces in them, or are there?  After you are not sure what you’ve seen, you will start to obsess with what is good and bad numbers that will push you to the brink of death.  Can you look and not be overcome?

The story is, in some ways, similar to that of Aaron and Ahmed.  Not necessarily a meme, but could you catch insanity?  Can you develop an obsessive compulsive disorder for simply seeing something?  Are memes, not similar to this.  Can or do memes, if they are real, move through our civilization by gestures and rituals… can evil move similarly?

This King story is very Lovecraftian, as his work is often compared to, with a evil… thing are work, but it is not the monster you are afraid of in this.  It is most certainly the numbers.  YOU will count how many stones there are in a panel.  YOU start to become obsessive compulsive while reading this.  It is scary when you start getting pulled in like that.

Now, the art… oh, man.  This some of, if not the best work Alex Maleev has ever done.  It is photo reference, but it is done pretty well.  The work that I like in N is the total creepiness of these stones.  Every time you see these seven (or eight) stones, you get creeped out.  He makes STONES scary.

I can’t make you enjoy this book… but if you read it, you will.

The Week of April 11th

Published on April 11, 2011 in Reviews-comics. 0 Comments

Another Comic Illuminati…

My buddy Mike has another Comic Illuminati posted over at www.youtube.com/user/SouthSiderStudios.  This month I take a look from a fan’s point of view while in the world of retailing.  It is true I am actually a fan of comic books and I look at some of the bigger issues facing this industry.  This is easily the funniest of all of the Illuminati episodes we have done and it shows how good of an editor Mike is.  Jebus, why doesn’t someone in Hollywood give this guy a job.  Oh, right he has actual talent.

Eisner Awards Announced…

Speaking of Talent…

So, the Eisner awards were announced last week.  Below I have a list and I want you to look at it.  This is a great way to find that new book you don’t even know you’ve been looking for.  For the most part, the Eisner nominations are usually pretty good.  Usually, they get a good group of stuff on these lists.  They can’t get everything nominated and in the end, they don’t always make the best choices for the winners (last year Walking Dead won for best continuing series – makes you wonder why?  Anything to do with a TV show coming out?  Seriously, that book hasn’t been BEST anything for some time, but that’s just my opinion.)  …but for the most part they do a pretty good job.

I can get almost all of the stuff listed if there is something on here you would like to try.

I put two stars next to the ones I think are most deserving of the ones listed.  Who are yours?

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

  • The Cape, by Joe Hill, Jason Ciaramella, and Zack Howard (IDW)
  • Fables #100, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and others (Vertigo/DC)
  • Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)
  • Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom #1: “Sparrow,” by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
  • Unknown Soldier #21: “A Gun in Africa,” by Joshua Dysart and Rick Veitch (Vertigo/DC) **

Best Continuing Series

  • Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)
  • Echo, by Terry Moore (Abstract Studio) **
  • Locke & Key, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
  • Morning Glories, by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma (Shadowline/Image)
  • Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)
  • Scalped, by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra (Vertigo/DC)

Best Limited Series

  • Baltimore: The Plague Ships, by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Ben Stenbeck (Dark Horse) **
  • Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love, by Chris Roberson and Shawn McManus (Vertigo/DC)
  • Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (Vertigo/DC)
  • Joe the Barbarian, by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy (Vertigo/DC)
  • Stumptown, by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth (Oni)

Best New Series

  • American Vampire, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC) **
  • iZombie, by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred (Vertigo/DC)
  • Marineman, by Ian Churchill (Image)
  • Morning Glories, by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma (Shadowline/Image)
  • Superboy, by Jeff Lemire and Pier Gallo (DC)

Best Writer

  • Ian Boothby, Comic Book Guy: The Comic Book; Futurama Comics #47–50; Simpsons Comics #162, 168; Simpsons Super Spectacular #11–12 (Bongo)
  • Joe Hill, Locke & Key (IDW)
  • John Layman, Chew (Image) **
  • Jim McCann, Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia)
  • Nick Spencer, Morning Glories, Shuddertown, Forgetless, Existence 3.0 (Image)

Best Writer/Artist

  • Dan Clowes, Wilson (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit (IDW)
  • Joe Kubert, Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965 (DC)
  • Terry Moore, Echo (Abstract Studio) **
  • James Sturm, Market Day (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Naoki Urasawa, Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys (VIZ Media)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

  • Richard Corben, Hellboy (Dark Horse) **
  • Stephen DeStefano, Lucky in Love Book One: A Poor Man’s Story (Fantagraphics)
  • Rob Guillory, Chew (Image)
  • Gabriel Rodriguez, Locke & Key (IDW)
  • Skottie Young, The Marvelous Land of Oz (Marvel)

Best Cover Artist

  • Rodin Esquejo, Morning Glories (Shadowline/Image)
  • Dave Johnson, Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain (Dark Horse); Unknown Soldier (Vertigo/DC); Punisher/Max, Deadpool (Marvel)
  • Mike Mignola, Hellboy, Baltimore: The Plague Ships (Dark Horse) **
  • David Petersen, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard (Archaia)
  • Yuko Shimizu, The Unwritten (Vertigo/DC)

Best Coloring

Supposedly there were others nominated in this category, but only one guy is nominated EVERY year.  He is the best there is, he is…

  • Dave Stewart, Hellboy, BPRD, Baltimore, Let Me In (Dark Horse); Detective Comics (DC); Neil Young’s Greendale, Daytripper, Joe the Barbarian (Vertigo/DC)

You can look at coloring and KNOW right away what is by the great Dave Stewart.  This guy is THE BEST.  Period.

Quick Reviews:

Three books I enjoyed last week.

Fear Itself #1. By Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen

Yep, surprising, but I’m a product of the 80’s and have always liked the big Marvel events from Secret Wars to Mutant Massacre.  I haven’t enjoyed all the supposedly connected ones Bendis did over the last couple years and I think that is why I like this one.  It seems, after this first issue at least, to be tied deeply into what is going on to with Thor, Cap and Iron Man, but doesn’t seem, at least to me, that you would not understand the book if you weren’t reading these.

The story, by Matt Fraction, is one revolving around the daughter of the Red Skull obtaining what looks to be an evil Asgardian hammer and Odin taking control of the Asgardians themselves.  Art is being provided by Stuart Immonen and it is fantastic.  I’ve been a fan for a number of years and this is some of his best work.  I think what I like the most about his work on Fear Itself is how it looks like a superhero book, not forced reality.  Something so many artists just don’t get.  There is a place for realism in comics, it just isn’t in my superhero books.

I actually recommend this and I’m looking forward to the rest.

Annihilators #2. By D&A with art by Tan Eng Haut and Tim Green

This is two books in one.  The first half is about the group, the Annihilators, with such super cosmic bad-a$$es like Gladiator, Ronan, Quasar, Silver Surfer and Beta Ray Bill and they are dealing with old Rom, Space Knight villains Dire Wraiths.  It is big cosmic awesome like you remember from your childhood.  If you enjoyed it when you were 14, you will enjoy this too.

The other half is a fun and frankly quite silly Rocket Raccoon story with him saving Groot, his tree friend and trying to figure out a mystery of who and why someone is trying to kill him.  I liked the first story, but the second is far superior and the reason is because it is FUN, and we more of that in comics.

Both are written by the super writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.  These guys SO kick some major cosmic comic butt.

Usagi Yojimbo #136.  By the one and only Stan Sakai

This has been and will continue to be the best comic book being published.  I look forward to no comic coming out each month then this one.  Stan Sakai is a genius and does EVERYTHING on this book, writing, drawing, inking and lettering.  The only thing he doesn’t do is the front cover’s color (he does the back cover though.)

The book is about a wandering Ronan, a bodyguard rabbit – actual translation of Usagi Yojimbo.  All the stories are taken from Japanese history or legend or myth.  It is great storytelling for adults or children.

Currently, Usagi is heading into a storyline that has been building over the last couple months where there is a mysterious Red Scorpion gang terrorizing the country side.  Usagi, like usual, has wondered into the thick of it and is eventually going to have to deal with this problem.

I recommend this book above all others.  If you don’t believe me, I still have some dollar issues if you would like to give it a try.  Seriously, you can not go wrong with this book and your kid can read it too.

The Week of April 4th…

Published on April 4, 2011 in Comics and Matt's stupid ramblings. 0 Comments

Book Launch/Signing at the Cup Friday…

Local artist, great guy and customer Thomas Finley is celebrating the release of his first illustrated children’s book, Ace Ape, at the Cup (He says it is “the coolest place in the multi-universe.”  Thanks Tom, check is in the mail.) on Friday April 8th from 6-8 p.m.

Join the party and see how Ace Ape follows his heart.  Injury or angry parents won’t keep this adorable ape from attaining his amazing dream of flying.  This early adventure in Ace Ape’s childhood explores the letter “A” and how to rise above adversity.

We’ll also have a drink special as well.  Why not stop by and support a local creator.

Monday the 4th is Japanese Earthquake Relief Day at the shop…

Reminder about Today (if you are reading this Monday, if not, well…) We have a one day special benefit for Earthquake Relief in Japan.  For every dollar of profits we generate today, we will donate fifty cents.  It isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but at least it is something.  We’ll be donating to Doctors Without Borders and The American Red Cross.

Fear Itself…

I would be remiss if I did not mention that Fear Itself #1 ships this week.

I try to look forward to major superhero comic launches and over the last few years it has become more and more difficult, but Fear Itself, I think I can just take it and enjoy it.  This looks to be just big dumb superhero fun, ‘cause really, what do we know about this thing?  What I can garner and have found out, it is Thor and Cap centralized (wonder why?) and will have something to do with a super-evil being bent of crushing all of the Marvel heroes.  Sounds like simple storytelling (by Matt Fraction) with some good quality art by Stuart Immonen.

I hope simple is the name of the game.  You don’t need every book to be the Invisibles, especially big superhero crossover stuff.  Though complicated on superheroes is nice every once in awhile, what are we really looking for when we open up our average superhero comic… a whole lot of punching and character development.  We want a conflict and a resolution, a little development of our main character and there supporting cast, but mostly just an entertaining story.  To many times this is being lost on our big name comic writers.  Hopefully, Fear Itself is a little more Atlantis Attacks or Evolutionary War and a little less anything to do with anything Bendis has done in the last seven years.

As an aside, I really liked the prologue, Book of the Skull, written by Ed Brubaker.  It was very much just a set up issue and though I’m sure it will play into what is going to happen in the main series, you could read it and be done.  It was just a good Cap story, mostly set in World War II.   And we happen to still have a few still on the shelf.

Cap is Cap… again?… (Duh, already knew this.)

So some pile of crap in New York, called the Daily News, is reporting they have an exclusive that Steve Rogers is returning to be Captain America.  SHOCK, GASP, EXCLAMATION… duh!!  Let me finish the “news” and then I’ll rip on this non-notice of shocking events.  So, these morons at the daily idiot think they are shocking the world by reporting this , even though Bleedingcool.com reported it a couple weeks ago.   Even though a blind person could have figured it out by reading (get it, blind… can’t see the panels… shut up) the latest issue.

The notice of such shocking developments is that it will be a new, new number one issue (actually like volume SIX!!), even though we just had a big 600th issue a little over a year ago.   There will be a bunch of covers and Ed Brubaker will continue to write it, Steve McNiven will be late on the art chores.

Now allow me to rip on this for a second.  Seriously, this is only news in how stupid Marvel thinks its readers are.  I swear they don’t publish comics anymore, they only publish gimmicks that have storys attached to them.  The new FF launch was pretty gimmicky.  This mess with Thor, no now Mighty Thor and the old book is Journey into Mystery, is much worse, but the Cap thing is the most insulting.  Can’t you just create a good story, add great art and publish it under the name Captain America?  Why does it need to be restarted again?

I think the most anger I have over this has to do with length of story.  Seriously, how long was Steve Rogers actually the “man behind the curtain” of the Marvel universe?  Like a year, if that?  Grrrr.  Changing stuff around is natural for comics, I get it, but not every week.  Marvel is like a hyper active child without drugs to calm him down, running willy nilly from storyline to storyline, restarting books, restarting books, renumbering, re-doing…. No wonder when the average old reader who has been out of comics comes in wanting to read a good Cap comic or Thor comic (probably because they saw some pile of crap ad for an even worse movie) they are lost beyond belief.

Just publish comics.  Simple, straight forward.  Would help get new readers reading a hell of a lot more than hype, gimmicks and sh!tty movies.

So, how long before Bucky dies or turns evil?  Gimmick Gimmick Gimmick.