Archive for the 'Censorship' Category

Who would have guessed that two of the best books you would read in a week would be Westerns?  Crazy times we collect in these days.

 

 

 

 

Again, if you missed out on any of the new number one issues and don’t care about them being first prints, let me know and I’ll get you a second print.  None of these number one issues (except a few of the variants) will be worth anything more than cover price in a few months, so, please don’t look at this as your child’s college fund.

However, if you do want to try them, need a read or just want to see what the hype is all about, we will have second prints or have access to get them.

 

Hate it, Return it Policy…

Related subject – We are still offering you the ability to return any of those pesky DC New #1 comics you bought and now regret.  Want to help fund the second issues of the ones you liked, brig in the number ones you hated and we’ll give you a dollar of in-store credit for each one that is in re-sellable condition, i.e. you didn’t chuck across the room because an overrated writer felt they needed to downgrade the main character of the new book rather than show how strong of a character he is… can you guess what book I hated last week?  I think it will get better and both of my reviewers LOVED it.  I had some issues with the writing.

 

…but I’ll get to those reviews, some links and some pod casts in a bit, but first I want to showcase some interesting news and preview of a book shipping next week.

 

CBLDF owns Comics Code…

In one of the most bizarre twists of comic history, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund assumed control of the intellectual property rights of the Comics Code Seal of Approval last week… during Banned Book Week.

The CBLDF will now use the image and license products for sale to help fund the organization.  CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein says, “It’s a progressive change that the Comics Code seal, which is yesterday’s symbol of comics censorship, will now be used to raise money to protect the First Amendment challenges comics face in the future. That goal probably would have been unimaginable to the Code’s founders, who were part of a generation of comics professionals that were fleeing a witch-hunt that nearly trampled comics and any notion that they deserved any First Amendment protection.”

For more information go to CBLDF.org.

 

Dave Stewart, Color Master…

There is always a lot of discussion about who is the best artist in comics.  My tastes are not the same anyone else.  We can be similar, but no one is the same.

However, there is one person working in the industry that there is NO argument on his greatness, Dave Stewart.  If you are saying, who is Dave Stewart, you don’t read enough Hellboy.  I know Kyle and I have opened a book and said, “Wow, this art looks… oh, it’s colored by Stewart, no wonder.”  You can see his style and work instantly and realize it is his, he is that good.

Dave Stewart has won the Eisner Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Area of Coloring every year for several years now. Editor (the best editor in the industry too) Scott Allie over at Dark Horse has a fantastic write up about his friend and the superior work Stewart puts in on every book be works on.

It reminds you that colorists and letterers are important parts of this medium and should not be over looked.

 

Next Week, Orchid #1…

There is a book I’m very high on that releases next week called Orchid.  It is from Dark Horse and written by Tom Morello of Rage against the machine fame.  Each issue will come with a download for a free song that will play as your “soundtrack” for the issue and issue one will only be a dollar.

If you need more coxing, go check out the “trailer” for the comic up on Dark Horse’s website.

 

The Wake…

Not so much a Pod-cast as it is just an episode of stupid geekiness, I offer to you The Wake in honor of the fallen DC continuity.

You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/user/SouthSiderStudios or for free download on Itunes.

When we did it, it was little more than jest, but now a month into the NÜ DC Universe, this might be more relevant than I thought at the time.  It is also pretty funny.

Long Live the Parliament of Trees!

 

DC’s New Standard of “Excellence”…

Last week I made a few comments on the Catwoman and Red Hood books that were released.  Both of these issue ones were, in my opinion, the sexist, stupid typical lowest common denominator that exists in today’s world of comics.  What we should be moving away from, not offering to “new customers,” especially when you put an inappropriate suggested rating of the content inside the book.

And it seems I’m not alone in my thoughts.  I posted a long review from Comic Book Resources last week and I add to it with a podcast and another link.

Every year I go to Chicago for a retailer summit before C2E2 in the spring and have become friends with the manager of the northern most Graham Crackers Comics.  (It is nice to have someone else to mock the BS being shoveled by the publishers in this industry.)

Shanna and a friend have started a female opinion based podcast called Geek Minded Broads and launched it last week… “shockingly” with plenty to talk about.  They also were none too pleased with the lack of intelligence displayed by DC either.  Go check them out, Geek Minded Broads on Facebook and you can listen to the podcast here on their website: geekmindedbroads.libsyn.com.

Also, a friend sent me a fantastic blog post about her daughter of seven and what these comics mean to her.  It says a lot about what is important.  You can find it here.

 

Reviews…

The four best books I read last week actually included a New DC book… that had nothing to do with the current “whatever you call this” continuity.  It was All Star Western.  Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey have been putting in superb work on Jonah Hex for years, so this came as no shock.  Maybe the shock was that we sold out of over four times what I would normally sell of Jonah Hex.

The story diverges from their typical Hex storytelling of single issue, one and done style.  This is a murder mystery set in late 1800’s Gotham City and has Jonah Hex working with the ancestor of Doctor Jeremiah Arkham.

I hope that if you enjoyed this issue you will take a look at Palmiotti and Grey’s previous series Jonah Hex.  If you didn’t get a copy of issue one, let me know and I’ll get a second print in for you.

The other Western I loved was American Vampire #19.  What was even better about this comic though was the back story between two main characters, yes, but the art by Jordi Bernet.  Freak’n awesome!!  If you are not reading American Vampire, you should be.  We have a trade paperback of the first story arc, the one that includes Stephen King’s work, in this week.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and read this book.

The other two books that rose above the rest were both of another genre, horror.  The new Abe Sapien miniseries was started with a very scary bang and a whole lot of Lovecraft – not that BPRD and Hellboy don’t drip with it already – thrown in for good measure.  A great read with little back story of the characters needed.  There is a BPRD, they investigate monsters and strange sh!t.  Done, now read the book.

…and then there was Rachel Rising #2.  I am reluctant to mention this as I sold out and need more copies to even cover the initial orders, but this book was the best thing – by far – that I read last week.  I liked the first issue, but it was the second and all the developing back story laid down with-in conversations two characters are having that made me believe this will be another fantastic read from Terry Moore.

 

Now for some comments about a few books released in the last week of DC’s big bold new re-start.  RJ and PAT, take it away:

 

Aquaman #1

RJ:FINALLY!  This is the first Geoff Johns written book of this entire reboot that I read and ‘got’  why DC has so much faith in him as a writer!

Aquaman is a character that I’m only familiar with because of the cultural zeitgeist.   I’ve read comics that he’s been in, but I’ve never read an Aquaman comic or a comic with an Aquaman story.  To be fair, I’m much more of a Mera fan than I am Aquaman, and the only reason I picked this up was because I knew she’d be playing a strong supporting role.  She doesn’t sneak in until near the end of this book, but even if she hadn’t made an appearance in this first issue I would have been happy to have picked it up.

Not only will I label this a ‘fun’ book to read, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Geoff Johns had fun writing it too.  There’s a real bit of meta-commentary going on here that plays itself very tongue-in-cheek for the majority of the story.  Johns addresses a lot of the criticism and dismissive attitude that plagues the title character and delivers it in…well, maybe not a ‘laugh out loud’ manner, but if you still have a bit of joy left in your soul, you’ll at least chortle audibly.

I can’t even tell you the last time Aquaman’s had a solo series, or how much time he’s spent as a solo hero lately, but I’m sure these moments will produce ire in continuity driven hardcore fans (if there truly are any), but coming in with only the broadest idea of what Aquaman is capable of  and a decent notion of how he’s perceived, I found it very entertaining (though I’m worried about it being a continuous plot point…it helped to introduce Aquaman, but I can imagine that it will get really old if every issue from here on out is as heavy handed with the fish out of water comments as this book was at times).

The antagonist seems new (or at least new to me), and seems like a legitimate sea-born threat to the surface world so Aquaman’s new role will keep him out of his undersea kingdom and in the sunlight for the time being (and if you stick strictly with super hero books, it may very well be the most gruesome villains you see this week).

The art is very nice on the eyes.  Mera is drawn very regally and lovely while Aquaman…godhelpme…is rather quite hot.  Like ‘makes up for last week’s disappointing not-sexy Nightwing’ hot.  One of the greatest things about Reis’s art though is that he really seems to capture emotion on everyone’s face, not just the main characters.  You can see the embarrassment the cops feel in the beginning, the disdain and smug superiority in the hipster blogger’s eyes, and the sheer joy of the waitress…none of whom will probably be seen again.  So, big points to an artist who understands that the background characters are not just there to fill space.  Aquaman didn’t make my Top 5 books of the relaunch, but it secured a place on my Pull List with the hopes that going forward it stays as fresh as this debut was.

 

PAT:

I need to get this out of the way: HOLY S***, THIS WAS SO ****ING AWESOME!

Ok, I’m good and composed now.  The team that did Blackest Night (and who didn’t enjoy that?) makes Aquaman cool again.  This was so great.  Geoff Johns takes every single thing you can use to rip on Aquaman about and uses it to such a great effect.  I mean, he helps cops out and they are embarrassed that they had to have help from him.

Loved the art. The designs of these new trench monster/creatures are awesome.  They look exactly like what a deep sea creature would, with the gigantic eyes and lots of pointy teeth.  I was waiting for this all month and the build-up was totally worth the wait.  Geoff Johns needs to stay on this for as long as possible because it could turn into the best comic of the re-launch.

 

 

Justice League Dark #1

RJ:  52 books.  52 new DC Comics this month, and I’ve read 38 of them.  And out of those 38 comics, this, this book right here?  It’s the best of the bunch.

I fell in love with this comic when I saw the cover.  Apparently it’s by someone named Ryan Sook (I want to marry him because of this cover…) but until I saw that in the credits I would have bet my next paycheck on it being Adam Hughes.  And honestly, there’s so much ‘Win’ in this book, I don’t even know where to start.

The title has it right on the money: this book is dark.  Darker maybe than it should be with just a ‘T’ rating, but definitely not as dark as it could be if it were a Vertigo book.  There are some scenes that are implied that are just disturbing as all hell, and some things that happen that seriously make you wonder “Who the hell thinks up stuff like this!?”

The characters (to me) are vaguely familiar in so much as Madame Xanadu has popped up a couple of times already in these new books (Resurrection Man and Demon Knights), Zatanna has made appearances in the JLU cartoon and in Smallville, and both Shade and The Enchantress were solid parts of the 1980’s Suicide Squad book (though not at the same time, if memory serves correctly)… Constantine… well, I assume that this is the character that the movie Constantine was based off of, right?

Almost  every character here  is given at least a cursory introduction here since they’re not really all that well known by the general populace, including the actual members of the Justice League (and I just can’t *not* mention that there are more Justice League members in this book than there are in the actual Justice League book).  The only misstep that this book makes may be the general assumption that anyone going into it knows that June Moone and the Enchantress are/were/are? the same person.

It may seem like I’m (still) harping about the missteps that Justice League #1 had, but when I think the comparison here is as valid as it was with Justice League International back on Week One.  This book, with its cast of lesser known characters, could have almost been forgiven if it had started with a slow burn like we got in the Johns/Lee Justice League proper, but Milligan has once again shown that if you’re up to the challenge, a writer can properly introduce complicated characters and concepts in a first issue.  After reading this book, Red Lanterns, Demon Knights, Stormwatch, and Justice League International, the glacial storytelling pace of Justice League becomes less and less forgivable.

The art here by Mikel Janin is superb, and with the assist from colorist Ulises Arreola (wait…seriously, his last name is Arreola?!), it’s the second best looking of the New 52, next to Batwoman.

Bottom line here is this: There are a LOT of books out there right now from a lot of different publishers. It’s hard to say to someone who’s already reading a book like the Avengers or Alpha Flight “Hey, you should give Justice League International a try!” But, if you’re a superhero fan but in search of something different then Justice League Dark (along with Demon Knights) should scratch that itch to complete and utter satisfaction.

 

PAT: Well it certainly looks like DC is using the Justice League brand the way Marvel is the Avengers, meaning way too many books with one team name.  This one is infused with plenty of formerly-known-as Vertigo characters.  I’ll admit I never read Vertigo (yes I know, hurl your insults, I can take it.)  I really had nothing invested in characters like John Constantine or Shade.  Peter Milligan’s effort in this book still doesn’t make me want to care about these characters.  They’re the Justice League that’s needed when magic happens!  Oh my!  I don’t get how they can get away with using the League name, other than the fact that DC hopes this label will help sell more issues.  This is a comic I just couldn’t really get into.

The art is nice.  It was very cool to see Dove not drawn by Rob Liefeld, (we could use more of that in her own comic.)  I’m sure Vertigo lovers will like this, as it is probably what I imagine a Vertigo book may be like, but I, personally, am not going to see what happens next.

 

 

I, Vampire

RJ:  Vampires are done to death.  If you’re not sick and tired of them then you’re not paying attention.  True Blood, Twilight, Vampire Diaries… I’ve long thought that Popular Culture should get together and agree on a forced retirement of this genre for about a decade or so and everyone would be happy… but then I, Vampire came around.

Even more shallow than my Nightwing confession last week is this; I bought this book because the main character (Andrew Bennett) looks a lot like Nate Grey from the X-men books and Nate Grey is about the sexiest male comic book character ever.  I didn’t actually plan on reading the book though until I saw Gail Simone screaming at the top of her lungs on Twitter about how good of a book it is.

And surprise, surprise, this book is great.

There’s a line in this book, it’s not even a line of dialogue, but in a letter that one character writes to another, that made me stop and reread the book from the beginning with this …we’ll call it a ‘mission statement’ in mind.  It’s a line that completely changed my opinion about what this book can be and days later, (being the X-Men aficionado that I am) still find myself wishing that it would have been the driving force behind the dreadful trainwreck that was the Mutants vs. Vampires storyline Marvel used to launch the third X-Men book.

My only complaint though is that this book uses a “Then/Now” narrative without really telling you which is “then” and which is “now”.  And maybe it should be obvious, but I find it hard to believe that the ‘now’ part can honestly be happening ‘now’ and not have it spill over into other books.  (any by the way, f you’ve ever wondered what the Walking Dead would be like if the zombies were Vampires…and not Cullen six-pack-a-licious vampires, but really ugly and scary vampires, then you need to pick this book up RIGHT NOW. )

The art is dark, very very dark, but it fits the tone of the book dead-on.  It may be a little muddied in parts, but if you’re hoping or wanting Aaron Lopresti style art on a book like this, well…you’re doing it wrong.

Also intriguing is that there are two characters on the cover, Andrew and his lover/enemy Mary, and the story focuses a lot on their relationship which is both adversarial and romantic.  It almost successfully paints them both in the role of protagonist leaving you a bit unsure who to root for.  Imagine Professor X and Magneto, but instead of being stuffy geriatric men they were both sexy near naked vampires.  It’s an interesting juxtaposition.

Yeah, this book may have some flaws, but when you get right down to it, it’s a vampire book that made a vampire hater into a fan.  Not only is it officially on the pull list, but it makes my Top 5 for the reboot.

 

 

The Flash #1

PAT:  So we get to see one an artist attempt to shine with his writing abilities and he doesn’t do too badly either.

I don’t know if it may have been mandated to him by editorial, or if he just chose it himself, but this book takes full advantage of cherry picking whatever they want out of previous continuity.  Iris is still around (but not married to Barry) and director Singh makes it over from the Geoff John’s run.  We start off seeing Barry on a date, which is just weird to me.  Don’t want to go too much into plot, but we see an old friend of Barry’s pop up a few times this issue, and when he shows up in Barry’s apartment, you kind of know where it’s going and it spoils the end.  So the writing isn’t great, but not horrible.

Now the art.  It’s not that it was bad either, it is very fluid, lightly sketchy and probably much of it is done without inks, just colors under hard pencils.  It looks nice.

There are some issues though.  Seriously, how the hell does that new costume work?  And yes, I could buy the whole costume-coming-out-of-the-ring thing, but… what happens then?  Random pieces of costume fly out of his ring?  Are they under his clothes? I need to know the mechanics!

Also, where’s Wally?!  Wally West was my Flash, and now I don’t even know if he exists.  WTF, DC?  Start explaining yourself.

 

 

Teen Titans

RJ:  The main buzz this title has gotten focuses solely on the supposedly flamboyant gay boy character that Brett Booth announced they were introducing on his Twitter a couple of weeks back.  What Brett Booth forgot to mention was: They aren’t introducing him in this particular issue.

The other item worth noting is that writer Scott Lobdell torched, burned, blew up, and condemned the X-Mansion in the opening pages of this issue.  Considering what he did while writing the X-Men, I find this to be an ironic metaphor rather than a snipe by a jilted writer.

Also, this book ends pretty much the exact same as Superboy #1.  It could have been a flip book.

Meh.  Lots and lots and lots of ‘Meh’.

 

 

Superman#1

PAT:  Wasn’t going to get this.  Was determined not to get it.  So, naturally, I picked it up.  I have to say I’m very glad I did.  What a fun comic.  I know that’s such a general term and you can say that about any comic, but man I had fun reading this.  It seemed like an old 1930′s radio show of Superman with all the narration that wasn’t a character’s voice.  We get to see the life of Clark and Superman in the new status quo.

We do get to see an interesting new villain who literally comes out of nowhere and this villain knows the word Krypton, so that’ll be an interesting development. I will probably keep going with this one, it should prove to be pretty interesting.

 

 

Blackhawks #1 and Green Lantern, The New Guardians #1

RJ:  The sad thing is, if either of these books had come out a few months back and someone had recommended them to me, I’d still be buying it (or planning to buy it). There’s nothing inherently bad about either of these books.  Both of them have rather engaging stories with decent casts of characters (tho, truth be told, I’d rather The New Guardians feature the Old New Guardians from Blackest Night…and Dex-Starr, but that’s neither here nor there) and solid art…but, it all basically boils down to priorities and decision making.

For my money, they’re both ‘bubble books’ or ‘cherry pickings’.  These, along with the previously reviewed Fury of Firestorm are books I’ll keep an eye on and pick up when I’ve got a spare $3 burning a hole in my wallet on any given Wednesday.  So, I guess it’s fair to say: they’re good, they’re just not good enough when put front and center with some of the other books out there (though I think Blackhawks is better than New Guardians).

PAT on Green Lantern, New Guardians #1:

Wally West was my Flash just as much as Kyle Rayner was my Green Lantern.  I definitely partake in plenty of Hal Jordan, but when I was growing up and getting into comics, it was all Kyle as the Green Lantern.  So seeing a new comic with Kyle as the main man is an awesome thing in my opinion.

Yes, an ensemble of various ring colors shows up, but he’s still the main guy. We get to see the origin of Kyle becoming a GL again, with a few new modern nuances like websites and such. Then we see a bunch of rings leave their users and seek him out. Think those various Corps might want them back? Probably.

As I stated last week, I am now a TBFFL, Tony Bedard Fan For Life, so this comic was a must buy for me.  I loved getting to see Kyle back to being a solo GL.  He’s been stuck with the Corps so long.  Really enjoyed the art by Tyler Kirkham too, but if there is one complaint about it, it’s that Kyle’s hair instantly gets gelled up when he puts the ring on.  Is it green ring energy, or does it come with its own hair gel supply? Anyways, if you liked Bedard’s GL Corps run, you’ll really enjoy this.

 

And RJ has a quick review of a series of fantastic Children’s books released last week:

DC Super-Pets – Super Hero Splashdown

(Shhh…we’ll just see if Matt misses this and I can sneak this in here at the end…)

This isn’t a comic so much as it’s a children’s book (on a reading level somewhere between ‘Goodnight Moon’ and ‘Harry Potter’), but the illustrations by Art Baltazar are adorable and it has Dex-Starr and B’dg the Green Lantern chasing each other around a water park and having to deal with Sinestro-Corps dogs and the gluttonous Globulus  from the Orange Lantern Corps (who sees more page time here than in Green Lantern – The New Guardians).

It’s a bit more expensive than your average comic ($4.95), but it takes a bit longer to read than one and it’s far more satisfying too.  I’m bringing this up because I really got some decent entertainment out of it.  It’s not going to blow you away as groundbreaking literature, but it’s worth the price of admission and it reminded me of how absolutely fun these characters can be when the individuals behind the scenes aren’t so intent on making them overly serious and joyless.