Tagged: Superman

The Weekly Haul: Reviews for April 17, 2008

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  • April 17, 2008

This past week in comics wasn’t anything too special, with DC essentially laying an egg. Luckily a handful of independents rose to the occasion, and Marvel had some strong offerings, including a big surprise for best of the week. On that note…

ghostrider22cover-5750318Book of the Week: Ghost Rider #22 — Any time a comic is so good I have to read it three times before I can move onto the next book, it’s a lock for the top spot. This is darn close to a perfect issue from the first page, which starts off brilliantly ("I’ll never forget the first time I saw a dead body").

Jason Aaron continues the story of Johnny Blaze searching for answers from the angel who turned him into Ghost Rider, a quest that has led him onto a highway filled with evil, cannibalistic demons. It’s an epic fight, overloaded with crazy elements in the way of Quentin Tarantino (yet less self-obsessed).

In addition to the demons, there are evil gun-toting nurses on motorcycles and a still-living cannibal slowly feasting on a deputy. Aaron slowly pulls all of these elements together, leaving off just as they’re all about to literally collide. Oh, and did I mention it also has the line of the week? "The day I can’t catch a dead horse… is the day I give up and rot."

Lastly, I have to give a ton of credit to Roland Boschi for his art. It’s kinetic and loose in the way of Leinil Yu, though not as busy. Combined with Dan Brown’s colors, it makes for some of the best superhero art on the rack.

Runners Up:

X-Factor #30 — I promise this high ranking isn’t just to placate the great Peter David, who took serious umbrage with my review of She-Hulk #27. No, the latest issue of X-Factor (like most of the run) is worthy of serious praise on its own merits. Arcade’s plans for destroying the team, and all of Mutant Town, play out with expected brilliant insanity, and the weakened X-Factor can barely keep their heads above water (or remaining on their shoulders).

In the previous run of this series, one thing David did exceptionally well was crafting great stories without ever bringing in stock villains. Here, he brings in a stock villain but does it in keeping with the series’ tone. Beyond that, the last page is one of the best I’ve ever seen, with an emotional stomach punch that humanizes one of the Purifiers and a true "Hey, May!" cliffhanger.

Fear Agent #20 — The best of a good crop of small-press titles. I’ve always heard this series praised for its goofy sci-fi plots and fun elements, but this issue is one long emotional swan dive that’s surprisingly touching. Rick Remender intertwines his characters’ harsh pasts with their bleak futures to explain their confused ambitions. A very small story in the grand scheme of things, but a very well done one at that.

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Onion News Network Spoofs ‘Iron Man’ Film

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  • April 17, 2008

 Ever like the trailer more than the movie? Yeah, me too. If I wasn’t sneaking into half  of those movies, I’d be upset.

News parody site The Onion took that concept and added typical comic fan anti-buzz to the Iron Man movie trailer. Wouldn’t you have loved it if Superman Returns stayed a trailer?

 

Wildly Popular ‘Iron Man’ Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film

ComicMix Six: Top Political Campaigns in Comics

smiler2-1805729It happens every few years, just like the Olympics or locusts: People lucky enough to live in democracies hold an election.

Sometimes they’re voting for a President or a Congressman, and sometimes they’re voting for a mayor or dogcatcher. People in comics vote, too, and their choices are often as stupid as ours.

That’s why, with primaries on the horizon and campaigns dominating the headlines, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the most notable attempts (successful or otherwise) at obtaining political office in the comics world… in typical ComicMix Six fashion.

*Sigh* If only it were that easy to ret-con a disappointing election in the real world…

6. Myra Fermin, Mayor of Hub City (DC): In the most corrupt city in the DC Universe, Myra ran on a platform promising to clean up the mess. And she won, because there had to be a reason she couldn’t sleep with the Question.

5. Gary "The Smiler" Callahan, President (Vertigo): This mayoral candidate gave Spider Jerusalem a lot to write about in Transmetropolitan. At first, Spider liked him more than his predecessor, "The Beast." And then, Spider learned the truth. Basically, The Smiler was sort of like Rudy Giuliani, but without the combover.

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Joe Staton Honored With Exhibit

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  • April 13, 2008

joe3dicktracy-7749746Legendary comics ace Joe Staton will be honored with an art exhibit at at the Storefront Artist Project in Pittsfield, Massachusetts from August 2nd through the 31st.

Best known for his work on (please hold your applause until the end) Batman, E-Man, Femme Noir, Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, The Huntress, Jonny Quest, The Justice Society of America, Michael Mauser, Munden’s Bar, Power Girl, Rugrats, Scooby Doo, Superman, the Wild Thornberrys and about twelve thousand other creations, Joe’s most recent effort is the “new-look” Jughead four-parter that debuted in Jughead’s Double Digest #139 last week.

Joe’s online collaboration with writer Christopher Mills, Femme Noir, will be debuting as a pamphlet-form mini-series in June.

A long-time supporter of Manhattan’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, The Art of Joe Staton is being produced by the Storefront Artist Project in cooperation with the Museum. A series of related free workshops and programs is also part of the deal.

In association with the exhibit, Joe will also be conducting a free day-long workshop on August 3 which includes a drawing demonstration, sketch-a-thon, and discussion. For more information contact the Storefront Artist Project at 413-442-7201 or go to their website.

It’s very, very hard to imagine a guy who deserves this more than Joe Staton. Congratulations, ol’ timer!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday: Linda Danvers, Supergirl

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  • April 11, 2008

Kara Zor-El was born and raised in Argo City on the planet Krypton. The entire city survived the planet’s destruction, separating itself and floating to safety, but most of the inhabitants were soon felled by their homeworld’s remnants, now transformed into deadly Kryptonite.

Kara’s father Zor-El sent her to Earth for her own protection, hoping she would be found and protected by her cousin Kal-El, better known as Superman. Kara landed on Earth on April 11 and her cousin welcomed her with open arms. He also helped her create a secret identity — that of orphan Linda Lee.

As Linda, she was adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, and it was as Linda Lee Danvers that Kara attended high school and college and later began several careers. Her Kryptonian nature gave her the same powers as Superman, however, and Kara often fought crime both at his side and on her own, becoming renowned and admired as Supergirl.

Sadly, Kara sacrificed herself during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, bravely giving her own life to protect her cousin and the rest of the multiverse.

Brian Bendis, Warren Ellis and Other Creators Reveal the Comic That ‘Hooked Them’

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  • April 10, 2008

fantastic-four-1-9918333

As a reader of comics, there’s probably one book in particular that got you hooked in the first place and kept you reading. Whether it was Superman, Batman, Fantastic Four or, like it was for me, Captain America, you always remember fondly that first one. Successful comic book creators such as Brian Bendis, Warren Ellis and Jim Lee also have a first one that inspired them and over at Entertainment Weekly, they share which comic book was "The One That Hooked Me!"

Among the comics that inspired these creators are Fantastic Four #1 for Brian Bendis, Tarzan for Jim Lee and Countdown, a british comic series, for Warren Ellis. Some of the other artists and writers who detail their first comic book experiences include Robert Kirkman, who counts Amazing Spider Man #314 as the one that "hooked" him and Matt Fraction, who finds it interesting that his first comic book was Batman #316.

If you do read comic books — and lets’s face it, if you’re here at ComicMix, you probably do — what was the comic book that first "hooked" you?

The ‘Paper Comics Deathwatch’ Continues

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  • April 6, 2008

In the recurring "Paper Comics Deathwatch" feature over at Flashback Universe, the blog’s authors chronicle the events they believe to be hastening the demise of comics in printed form. It’s an interesting read occasionally, and I can’t help but laugh at the way "PCDW Points" are assigned to each event.

Recent subject matter for PCDW includes all of the love publishers are showing MySpace around the comics scene, an analysis of Joe Field’s address at the recent Comics Pro retailers conference and the Wizard crew pimping an advertising partner’s scanner as "Comic Book Collectors’ Heaven."

Heck, they’ve found so much fodder for this feature that they’re taking art submissions for a PCDW logo and awarding some prizes for the winner.

(DISCLOSURE: Readers can always get free, online comics published every every day of the week here at ComicMix, so there’s a distinct possibility that we might be showing up in that PCDW feature at some point, too.)

In related news, Vaneta Rogers recently tackled the best ways to attract new readers to comics in her always interesting Q&A feature over at Newsarama. A variety of industry creators weighed in with their thoughts on how to get a foot in the door with readers outside of the hardcore comics scene.

Christos Gage offers up some of his thoughts:

Like, if you rented a film noir movie, then there would be an ad at the beginning of the DVD, just like you have ads for other movies, but it would be for Criminal by Ed Brubaker, or something like that. I’d like to see ads that tie-in not only with comic book movies — like if you enjoy the Iron Man movie, then you’ll like Iron Man comics. But something where it says, "Hey, if you like James Ellroy, you’ll like Criminal."

Chuck Dixon also makes a nice point:

I wish someone other than Archie would make a digest-sized comic for the "impulse" aisle at the supermarket. A Batman/Superman or Spider-Man or Star Wars comic would go nicely in the pocket recently vacated by the cancelled Disney Adventures digest in thousands of market checkout lines. Disney cancelled their book because it was only selling a million copies a month!

 

(semi-via Journalista)

Happy Birthday: Brainiac

brainiac-7308724

Though not truly alive, Brainiac can date his creation to April 6, the day the Computer Tyrants of Colu created him. The green-skinned humanoid wreaked havoc across the galaxy, including shrinking several cities to subdue their populaces.

One of those cities was Kandor of Krypton. Years later, Brainiac encountered the man who would become his chief nemesis, Kal-el of Krypton—better known as Superman. It was a battle with Superman that forced Brainiac to destroy his original body and create a new, metallic skeleton form.

Brainiac has taken on several different forms since then, and his origin story has changed several times as well—sometimes he is an actual Coluan man instead of an android—but his twelfth-level intellect and his hatred for Superman continue unchanged to this day.

GraphicAudio Adapts Three ‘Justice League’ Novels

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  • April 5, 2008

We’ve opined previously on GraphicAudio’s full-cast adaptations of DC Comics’ Infinite Crisis and 52. Well, actually, of Greg Cox’s novelizations adapting DC Comics’ Infinite Crisis and 52. They must have sold pretty well, as they’re expanding their offerings to include at least three more projects.

They’ll be adapting a trio of Justice League paperback novels from a couple years ago: Christopher Golden’s JLA: Exterminators, Alan Grant’s Batman: The Stone King and Roger Stern’s Superman: The Never-Ending Battle. These adaptations feature a full case with music and sound effects, not quite like Big Finish’s original Doctor Who offerings in the sense that the stories are driven by each book’s narrative voice. While they fall slightly short of being full-blown audio dramas, I’ve enjoyed their work on Infinite Crisis and 52 and I hope they are able to maintain the same cast members for these CD presentations.

JLA: Exterminators comes out in May; the others follow in two-month intervals. They are released on CD and mp3 discs and are readily available at Interstate truck stops. Previous DC adaptations were distributed by Diamond to knowing comics shops, so you might want to do a pre-order. Of course, they’ll also be available at GraphicAudio’s website, where you have the option of buying them as downloads.

The Rights Stuff, by Martha Thomases

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  • April 5, 2008

This has been a stimulating week for any discussion of artists’ rights in the comics field. The courts awarded a share of the Superman copyright to the heirs of Jerry Siegel, and Warren Ellis left Marvel’s Thunderbolts series, saying, “It’s as simple as this – if I don’t own it, I’m not going to spend my life on it. Joe Quesada and Dan Buckley know that, they’re fine with that, and they hire me on that understanding.”

It’s my temptation now to brag, to tell you about the time I walked around the San Diego Comic Con with Joanne Siegel, how Warren Ellis is not only someone I know, but also my Facebook friend. Then you’d envy me for my fabulous life, and my weekend would be that much better. However, that’s not really a very good premise for a column. People haven’t worked so hard, risked being blackballed by major publishers and put their careers on the line just so I can feel better about myself (although, perhaps, they should consider doing so, since it would make me very happy).

The artists and writers in the comics community face the same trials and tribulations as the creative talents in any of the popular arts in this, our American capitalist society.

The blues musicians who created the tunes still used in popular music never received the copyrights for their work. If they were lucky, the assigned those rights (in contracts they never read) to the producers of their work. In that case, they at least got paid for their recordings. More likely, a white man heard the song and sold it as his own. (more…)

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