Silver Surfer #1

Another re-read from my collection.

Title: Silver Surfer
Issue: 1
Date: March, 1987
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Marshall Rogers
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Marshall Rogers
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Michael Higgins

Silver Surfer escapes from the barrier that kept him trapped on Earth and mends fences with Galactus by rescuing Nova (the Frankie Raye version of Nova), who is a hostage of the Skrulls. Along the way, he gets some much-needed help from the Fantastic Four and teaches the Champion a lesson in not bringing one's fists to a cosmic-power-blast fight.

The artwork here is gorgeous, particularly on the space scenes, which are given plenty of, well, space. Surfer and Nova look great. The interaction with the FF is a bit on the wordy side, with a lot of recap that seems mostly aimed at catching readers up on developments in the FF book (wait... Alicia married WHO?).

The portrayal of Galactus is a bit too humanized for a being that really needs to be an unfeeling cosmic force, but it does serve the plot, and accomplishes the important main objective of this first issue. Surfer is now free to seek out new adventures across Marvel's cosmic settings. This was a solid reboot for the character.

Rating: 7/10

True Believers: Star Wars: Lando #1

I can now say that I've been to comic conventions in three countries! This past Friday, I attended the Shanghai Comic Con with the Kiddo. We had lots of fun, and I brought back a small haul (working on a somewhat limited budget):

Those two Thor comics are promos for the con, and they're in Chinese, so I won't be reviewing them here. I found a vendor selling recent American comics and picked up three Marvel books. I also bought comics from two small-press creators. Those were also both English-language (actually one is bilingual, with all of the dialogue in English and Chinese).

You may have noticed that I have not been reviewing much in the way of standard-format comics since we headed back overseas. This has mostly been an organizational issue. I brought a stack of over 100 comics with me from the US to read and review. Some of those were new purchases over the summer, while most are from my supply of unread comics in storage.

I've added these items from the Shanghai Comic Con to that stack, and I'll be starting to review them on a regular basis, beginning right now.

Title: True Believers: Star Wars: Lando
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July 2016
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Alex Maleev
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Alex Maleev, Edgar Delgado
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

What a fun book! This is a Lando Calrissian solo story (without Solo! Ha!), and it really nails Lando's personality as he charms his way into not even having to perform the heist he's originally set out to do.

Unfortunately, debts in the underworld of the Star Wars Galaxy tend to add up, and Lando sets his sights on one more job to get himself free and clear. Not surprisingly, he finds that easy money is never really easy, as the ship he steals is going to cause him a lot more grief than he had ever planned for.

This had some good character development that never felt like it got away from the Lando we know and love. It also heavily featured Lobot, who gets some good screen time as Lando's partner-in-crime. The setup of the new heist flows smoothly, and the final complications at the end set up when should be plenty of fun in the issues ahead.

Rating: 8.5/10

Star Wars #33

Our travels in the US continue. We spent last weekend in Annapolis MD, where we attended my cousin's wedding. In addition to wedding-based activities, we toured the US Naval Academy, saw Spider-Man: Homecoming (loved it!), and stopped by Capital Comics, where the Kiddo picked out this recent Star Wars issue.

Title: Star Wars
Issue: 33
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: September, 2017
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos
Cover: Mike Mayhew

This takes place between episodes 4 and 5, with Luke and Leia are stranded together on an uninhabited island located on a mostly-ocean planet.

Making the wise decision to completely ignore any potential awkwardness resulting from this scenario, the story focuses on Leia, whose narration adds some depth to her character while at the same time explaining how the Princess ended up with some wilderness skills.

This is a nice interlude without a lot of major plot implications. The visuals are good and the insights into Luke and Leia are interesting. There are enough twists to make a decent self-contained story.

Rating: 6/10


 

Darth Vader #21

Back to the random stack of unread comics. This is a fairly recent one that I got this past summer.

Title: Darth Vader
Issue: 21
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August, 2016
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

I am not ashamed to admit that the variant cover with the awesome action figure packaging design totally sold me on this comic. I love this cover theme! So much childhood nostalgia!

That being said, I knew nothing about the Darth Vader series going into this. Apparently it takes place between Episode IV and Episode V, and Vader is trying to get back into the good graces of Emperor Palpatine following the destruction of the Death Star. He is tasked with capturing Cylo, a mad scientist type who turned against the Empire (not to the rebel side, mind you, this guy appears to just be out for himself).

Meanwhile, there's a second plot involving Vader sending a pair of droids who are essentially heel versions of C3PO and R2D2 to retrieve a former ally of his who has gone into hiding.

The bad-guy droids are a little goofy, and it was odd to see Vader in a sort of solo-adventurer heroic role (although it's really no different than things he did all the time as Anakin).

There is also an issue of flavor that can be a problem for me with some Star Wars comics. Cylo's organic-mechanical ships didn't feel authentically Star Wars to me, for reasons I can't pin down to more than just "vibe". To be fair, I think that keeping the flavor of a tie-in when you're being asked to expand on the universe is really difficult. But the stuff involving Cylo still didn't feel to me like it fit.

That being said, the action was good, the dialogue was good, and the ending cliffhanger at least looked entertaining.

Rating: 5.5/10

Jessica Jones #2

Last of the small batch of comics I bought in the US (at Newbury Comics, Braintree MA) in November during my short trip home.

Title: Jessica Jones
Issue: 2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January, 2017
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Gaydos
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort, Alanna Smith
Cover: David Mack

Luke Cage confronts Jessica over the whereabouts of their child, and Jessica tries to find a safe place to rest after the case she's working on falls apart around her.

There was a lot to like in this story. The conflict between Luke and Jessica is great because there is no clear objective right or wrong, just two parents who love their child and are trying to protect that child as best they know how.

I also love the appearances of superheroes in the background, keeping the story gritty and street-level while constantly reminding the reader that Jessica Jones resides in Marvel's New York City, which super-powered beings are part of the background of everyday life.

There were some intriguing plot twists and good pacing as the story moved along. A flashback added some depth to the relationship between Luke Cage and Jessica Jones without overstaying its welcome. Ending was a solid cliffhanger.

Rating: 7/10

Astonishing X-Men #13 (Variant)

From the random stack of unread comics. This is the second of two (close, but not consecutive) issues of Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men that found their way into the unread comics stack. I reviewed #10 here. Not sure where I got these. This one is marked as a variant cover.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 13
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: April, 2006
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts, Sean Ryan, Nick Lowe

Black-and-white variant cover on this issue.

This is something of a catch-up issue, that manages to be a lot more satisfying a read than #10 was, in spite of #10's emphasis on plot and action.

The focus here is on character development, particularly on the romance between Kitty and Colossus, and the conflicting forces influencing Emma Frost.

There is also a very amusing reveal of the new low-tech version of the Danger Room (after the room ran amuck over several issues around the previously-reviewed #10). Now that Ms. Room has been officially "future-endeavored" (or whatever happened to her), the new plan for combat training is simpler, more elegant, and far more dangerous: The trainees are simply put into a darkened room in which Wolverine kicks their asses. Why did they not think of this in the first place? It seems like it would have saved everybody a lot of grief, and the quality of training would not have suffered.

In addition to that amusing bit, there is lots of Emma-intrigue, some seeds planted for future storylines involving SHIELD, some dream sequences, and a very shock-value final scene.

This is moving in the right direction.

Rating: 6/10

Ms. Marvel #10

As promised, here is the new stack of to-read comics that I brought back to Vietnam from the US following our recent visit. The majority of these came from a box of pretty random unread comics in our storage unit, but I also attended two conventions and visited several comic shops during my time in the States, so there are some new items in this stack too.

Here is the new stack nicely organized...

...And spread out on the sofa.
















Today's review is a comic I bought off the rack at Double Midnight Comics & Games in Manchester NH. I've been hearing a lot of good things about the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, and this is my first chance to read a story featuring her.

Title: Ms. Marvel
Issue: 10
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: February, 2015
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Adrian Alphona
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Kris Anka
Editor: Sana Amanat, Devin Lewis

This is part 3 of a four-part story entitled "Generation Why". The basic premise has a villain named the Inventor enslaving teenagers and using them as power sources (think The Matrix) to provide energy for his power-armor and other machines.

But when some of them are freed by Ms. Marvel, she discovers that they may not have been enslaved against their wills at all. What follows is a fairly interesting conversation on the role of the young generation growing up into an economy and an environment ruined by previous generations, who still view the teenagers as parasites, unwilling to work for the same materialistic goals that served in the past.

While a lot of it echoed some internet memes that I have seen floating around, it still made for a good discussion and gave a chance for Kamala Khan to share some of her philosophical ideas.

There was some action here as well, but it was mostly setup for a big final battle next issue. Oh, and Lockjaw from the Inhumans is a guest star here. Kamala Khan's origin apparently has her down as an inhuman, I would assume as a result of Marvel's pushing of the Inhumans as the new version of mutants that Marvel actually owns the cinematic rights to.

I loved Kamala Khan. She's thoughtfully written with a fun and distinctive voice and perspective. I was less impressed with the villain. The Inventor would have been more interesting if he'd matched Kamala philosophically, rather than doing generic villain-ranting while his teenaged followers handled the debating. Given the questions and issues raised here, a villain who could contribute more to the intellectual argument would have been a nice addition.

Still, I found this to be a clever, all-ages-friendly story, and I look forward to reading more of Kamala Khan's adventures.

Rating: 6/10

 

X-Men #1

Back for the summer and hopefully beyond!

I had to drop this review blog for a few months when things got a bit too busy at the day job. Now that school is out (I'm a high school teacher), I've got the time. And I am certainly not lacking in unread comics.

For my big return to reviewing, however, I stopped by my local Newbury Comics to check out the recent releases. This seemed like a good one to start with.

Title: X-Men #1
Date: July, 2013
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Olivier Coipel, Laura Martin
Editor: Jennifer M. Smith, Jeanine Schaefer


I picked up the "sketch-cover" version of this. The blank cover (that is available for drawing on) is made of a cardstock that helps the book hold together better, and the regular cover is underneath. Nice. I'll probably be buying more of these versions when looking at new comics.


This is the (upteenth) relaunch of X-Men, and it got a fair amount of attention in the press due to the fact that it features an all-female cast. Specifically, the team lineup is Storm, Rogue, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, and whatever Rachel Summers is calling herself these days.


It's set at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning (for those not up on your X-Men lore, that's the current incarnation of Xavier's School), so there is a huge potential supporting cast. In a sense, this is not precisely an all-female X-Men team, but rather a comic about the X-Men as a whole that heavily focuses on the six female starring characters.


The story here concerns John Sublime, who is actually a telepathic microorganism who has the ability to possess human bodies. It seems Sublime has an even worse sister who has similar abilities with technology, and she's back on Earth and looking to make trouble.


There's a train-imperilment sequence that showcases the current X-Men working as a team, which they do quite well so far, and a lot of set-up for future plot, but the whole thing moves along with a reasonable mix of character development, suspense, and enough action to keep it from dragging.


Nothing shocking or groundbreaking, but a good solid X-Men story that does a great job of focusing on the new lineup without it ever failing to feel like the X-Men.


Rating: 7.5/10

Uncanny Avengers #1

I stopped by my local Newbury Comics recently and picked up a couple of the recent Marvel Now debut issues. This is the second of those. My review of Thor: God of Thunder #1 was posted yesterday.

This week I'm gearing up for the Arisia convention this weekend in Boston. My small-press comic company, Dandelion Studios will be in the dealer room all weekend. In addition, I'll be doing a reading of some of my prose fiction (along with authors Resa Nelson and Daniel P. Dern) at 10 AM on Saturday, and I'll be on a minicomic panel Saturday at 10 PM. I'll also hopefully be picking up some new comics to review throughout the weekend.

But for now, on to the business at hand.

Title: Uncanny Avengers #1
Date: December, 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Rich Remender
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC's Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Daniel Ketchum, Tom Brevoort, Axel Alonso

First issues of team comics tend to fall into formula, simply because there is limited space and a fairly fixed agenda that needs to be accomplished. Team members need to be introduced and recruited, and by the time that is done there is usually just about enough space to introduce the villains and jumpstart a bit of plot.

This book was further saddled with a load of continuity baggage as it worked through the aftermath of the recent Avengers vs. X-Men storyline.



SPOILER WARNING



Charles Xavier is dead.

Well, actually he's Marvel-dead, and since his name isn't Uncle Ben that means he's not really dead. But we're all supposed to pretend that he is so that characters like Wolverine and Havok can wax emotional. There was nothing wrong with these opening scenes; it just all felt like going through the motions.

From there Captain America and Thor show up to recruit Havok to lead Cap's new mutant/nonmutant super team. Cap is handled well. Thor plays big goofy comic relief, which in this case is actually fairly funny. About halfway through coffee, a villain starts wrecking the neighborhood, and the heroes leap into action in what was essentially a jobber squash to show off the heroes doing their thing.

We move on to Scarlet Witch and Rogue, who have a well-written and genuinely intense verbal confrontation. Wanda is a character that I really haven't ever seen featured all that much here, and her response to Rogue's righteous bluster is really good.

Sadly the whole thing gets interrupted by a group of generic villains, and a character is mauled because, well, there really hasn't been any gratuitous gore so far, and we can't have one of the female character go and steal the show, now can we?

Ends with a big villain reveal that was okay for what it was.

This has potential, a fact that I may not have actually conveyed all that well. Unfortunately, the limitations of the Marvel Universe (even the sorta-rebooted Marvel Now), and the fallback to cliches keep this from getting me interested enough to want to read any more of it.

Rating: 4/10

Thor: God of Thunder #1

Title: Thor: God of Thunder #1
Date: January, 2013
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Esad Ribis
Colorist: Dean White
Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino
Cover: Esad Ribis
Editor: Lauren Sankovitch, Jake Thomas, Axel Alonso

Thor is often at his best when he's interacting with the characters of Norse mythology, rather than the modern mythology of the Marvel Universe. This story proves to be a fine example of that, as Thor is kept firmly in his own continuity for the duration.

The story is really three stories, taking place in the past, the present, and in the (possible) future. The villain is Gorr the God Butcher, a murderer of gods and entire pantheons.

The opening story, set in medieval Iceland, has Thor encountering some of Gorr's handywork while visiting a Norse village. Thor has defeated the frost giants that were menacing the region, and he's getting the rock star treatment from the locals. Thor is presented here as a brash young adventurers, and when he finds the remains of a slain Native American god, his young confidence is shaken for perhaps the first time.

The second segment, set in the present, but on a distant planet is the best part of the book. One of the things we seldom get to see with Marvel's gods is them actually functioning as gods. In this segment, we get to see Thor actually answering someone's prayer. It's a really interesting scene, and it leads to Thor's second crossing of paths with Gorr.

Now, Gorr himself never appears in this issue, but that is part of what makes the storytelling effective here. The villain is given sufficient time to be built up as a very serious threat, which is necessary to make the final segment, which takes place in a possible future, credible.

That ending segment is a bit Elseworlds-ish (or at least reminiscent of a What If? story), but it was effective on the strength of the first two segments.

Good start to this new series.

Rating: 8/10

Avengers Assemble #1

Title: Avengers Assemble #1
Date: 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inker: Danny Miki
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Alex Alonso, John Denning, Lauren Sankovitch, Tom Brevoort

This is the (cute!) Newbury Comics cover variant. The team looks like pretty much the lineup from the upcoming movies (and Hawkeye spends most of his scene contemplating his own mortality! Uh, oh!). For the six or seven of you out there who haven't seen the trailer, that would be Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, and Hawkeye.

We open with the formation of a rather lazily designed villain team based on the signs of the zodiac. Conveniently, they are also named the Zodiac. Apparently they all have star-sign-related powers, and they are after some unknown maguffin which will give them even more powers.

Aquarius steals the thingy from the Army in a battle that Hulk gets involved in. The thingy then ends up in Latveria, where Clint and Natasha are doing some covert... um... taking out of sentries, I guess. It's never really explained what they're doing there, but they end up hijacking the truck carrying the thingy ("The Ark has been put on a truck." "WHAT truck?"). This brings in Zodiac member Taurus, and the Avengers retaliate with Iron Man and Thor. Brawl. To be continued.

The rest of the book is the same preview pages for Avengers vs. X-Men that appeared in the X-Men Vs. Avengers Program Guide.

I liked the fact that the Zodiac were depicted as inexperienced with their powers. That was fun. But the entire Zodiac concept is just such lazy writing that it raises the goofiness factor of this book to the point that it detracts from the story.

Rating: 4.5/10

X-Men Vs. Avengers Program Guide

This is a freebie that I picked up with this week's new comics.

Title: X-Men Vs. Avengers Program Guide
Date: 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman
Artist: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Frank Cho
Letterer: VC's Chris Eliopaulas
Cover: Jason Keith
Editor: Alex Alonso

Preview freebie for the upcoming X-Men vs. Avengers mega-crossover.

There are two actual story segments in here, along with a lot of filler.

First up, Cyclops takes Hope to task for, well, for acting like a super-hero, basically. Scott is being the overprotective father-figure, and he's not exactly thrilled with Hope jetpacking into the city to do the masked vigilante thing (well, technically she's doing it without a mask). What Hope really wants is to know the whole truth about the Phoenix, which is apparently going to be at the core of the upcoming schmozz. It's actually a pretty reasonable request. Scott clams up. Jerk. But we knew that about Scott, didn't we?

Scott ends the scene by admitting it could have gone better. Yeah, that's the problem when your idiotic insistence on not telling the truth to your kid becomes a useful plot device.

Choose your side, huh? Definitely rooting for the Avengers after that nonsense.

Second segment is the announcement that the Phoenix is heading for Earth. The Avengers are going to attack it in space, but they are so convinced that that plan is hopeless that I was left wondering why they would even bother. Meanwhile, Cap decided to go chat with the X-Men. First stop is the current version of Xavier's School, run by Wolverine. Cap wants to know if he can "count on" Logan. Logan replies with the silent sulking of deep conflict. Then it's off to visit the regular X-Men team. For those keeping score, that's Cyclops, Hope, Magneto, Namor (really?!?), Colossus, and Emma Frost. And now Scott has moved away from the moron role he had in the first scene and is dropping hints of a full-on heel turn. Magneto is amused. Cap shows up on the scene, but we cut before anything of consequence happens.

Extras included a few sketches by John Romita Jr. of upcoming action. I didn't find any of them to be all that intriguing, although Cage landing a right hook on Namor in the water was a pretty gorgeous piece of art.

There is also an extended roster of the various people involved, each with a summary of powers, and a "role" presented somewhat in the style of MMORPG roles ("Leader", "Tank", "Striker", etc). Some of these designations get a bit goofy. I particularly liked the fact that Logan's role is listed as "The Best There Is".

Rest of the book is ads, essentially. Well, really, the whole book is an ad, of course, but the rest of the book is more obviously ads.

I'd never seen the character Hope, and this teaser succeeded in getting me interested in her as a character. I also liked the portrayals of Wolverine and Cap, but I still didn't feel there was enough here to hook me into wanting to read a massive crossover. The Dark Phoenix Saga has already suffered from too many sequels, and this did nothing to justify yet another one.

Rating: 4.5/10

Fear Itself Sketchbook

A freebie I picked up at a comic shop earlier this year.

Title: Fear Itself Sketchbook
Date: 2011
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: James Viscardi, Hunter Gorinson
Designer: Jeff Suter
Editor: Arune Singh

Introductory freebie for the current Fear Itself storyline. In spite of having some sizable blocks of text, this book really doesn't give away all that much about what the plot of Fear Itself is. We are told that it has to do with the Norse god of fear (was he the guy who kinda functioned as a (bad) male version of Hit Girl during the Siege crossover?).

Anyway, Norse mythology is involved and there will be global chaos. And it will be different from the global chaos that occurred during Civil War, Siege, World War Hulk, or Secret Invasion (or even Acts of Vengeance, although Loki was behind that one, so maybe there's a connection).

The full color center spread is nice, although it appears to mostly show a bunch of superheroes holding a press conference, so it's not exactly the most exciting moment in the series. The dialogue is redacted, so it's really just a whole bunch of capes standing around. They look good, and there are lots of them, but that doesn't change the fact that they're just standing there.

Most of the other sample art is reduced to fit 3-4 full original pages onto a single page of this book. Coupled with it being in sketch form and lacking dialogue, this makes it very difficult to make out much of what is happening in any of it. I did like the full-page sketch of Skadi (formerly Sin, daughter of the Red Skull), and the teasers on the last two pages contain some interesting insights into the greatest fears of some of the superheroes.

This was released back in the spring, and the storyline is now in full swing. I flipped through the most recent issue in a comic shop today (didn't actually buy or read it, so no review), and it did look pretty good. Unfortunately, this freebie does not do that great a job of selling the product.

Rating: 4/10

30 Day Comic Challenge Day 13

Day 13 - A Book You’ve Read More Than Five Times.

I'm not lucky enough to own the original printing, but I've read Amazing Fantasy #15 many, many times in various reprint editions. It was one of the first comic book stories I read as a kid when I used to pour over my copy of Marvel's Origins of Super-Heroes (along with the classic collections Son of Origins, Bring on the Bad Guys, Marvel's Greatest Superhero Battles and The Superhero Women). I've read it as recently as a couple of years ago when early issues of Spider-Man were reprinted as part of a newspaper promotion.


What makes the Spider-Man origin great is that the character doesn't just gain super-powers. Peter Parker goes through a transformation of character through a tragic lesson that takes him from being a normal teenager who's looking out for number one just like everyone else to a character who truly feels a calling to do good with the gifts he's been given. It's the change in the character of Peter Parker that really makes the origin of Spider-Man resonate. Compare it to the Fantastic Four: They start out as a group of adventure-seekers who are trying to do good for humanity even before they get their powers. Peter Parker's story is the story about a young man who makes a terrible mistake and has the courage to decide he's going to try to do better in the world. Most of us can relate to that in some way.

From My Creations

I Believe is a quick read. It's just a little collection of things that cats believe in. Gynn did it as a 24-hour comic and it was published in the 24-Hour Comic Day 2005 anthology. We sell the minicomic for $1. It's Dandelion Studios' best-selling product. I've read it dozens of times. Sometimes you just need some cats in your life.


The 30 Day Comic Challenge Page on Facebook is here. Here is the complete list of daily topics:

30 Day Comic Challenge
Day 01 - Your first comic book.
Day 02 - Your favorite character.
Day 03 - A comic that is underrated.
Day 04 - Your guilty pleasure comic or character.
Day 05 - Comic character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).
Day 06 - Most annoying character.
Day 07 - Favorite comic couple.
Day 08 - Best series being published right now.
Day 09 - Most touching comic book/comic book scene.
Day 10 - Dream versus match.
Day 11 - Favorite comic book cartoon series.
Day 12 - A comic everyone should read.
Day 13 - A book you’ve read more than five times.
Day 14 – Most awesome single comic book image
Day 15 - A Picture from the comic you’re reading right now.
Day 16 - Funniest comic book/comic book scene.
Day 17 - Most useless Villain.
Day 18 - Favorite B-list character.
Day 19 - Comic book city/universe you wish you lived in.
Day 20 - Favorite super power or skill.
Day 21 - Favorite writer.
Day 22 - A series that you liked but stopped reading
Day 23 - Your favorite artist.
Day 24 - Dream character team up.
Day 25 - A book you plan on reading.
Day 26 - A comic you wish they would make into a movie.
Day 27 - Favorite comic book movie.
Day 28 - Favorite comic publisher.
Day 29 - A comic you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Day 30 - Your favorite run or series of all time.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1 (New York Comiccon 2008 Edition)

Another leftover promo book that I picked up at Free Comic Book Day 2011. This one is a NYCC promo from 2008.

Title: Iron Man: Legacy of Doom
Issue: #1 (New York Comiccon 2008 Edition)
Date: 2008
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: David Michelinie, Bob Layton
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inker: Bob Layton
Colorist: Moose Baumann
Letterer: Artmonkeys Studios
Editor: Molly Lazer

This is a "lost" adventure of Iron Man, a series of events that Tony Stark discovers was wiped from his memory. The first third of the story is a pretty tedious setup along with a recap of a very silly-sounding previous story that had Stark and Viktor Von Doom doing their take on A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. I suppose that story needs to be dredged up every so often if only to prove the point that you can't improve on Mark Twain.

Apparently this is a sequel to that story. Stark gets summoned to Latveria with the threat that "millions of lives hang in the balance", which I suppose is a threat that Doom could make pretty much any time he wants. Stark takes the bait, and then has to fight some soldiers who are attacking Doom's castle. This sequence serves no purpose other than as a kind of random encounter of the type you see in poorly plotted D&D adventures.

Once the soldiers are dispatched with no actual casualties, we get down to business. Doom is on to a sinister plot by Mephisto. And Iron Man has "proven adequate against mystic dangers in the past" (Wait. What? That makes no sense at all; Iron Man is like the least mystical hero in the Marvel Universe).

Anyway, there's an amusing bit of counter-trickery involving a device to return Doom and Stark from Mephisto's dimension, which is actually the only good moment in this book.

Then it's off to Hell, which resembles the mine cart roller coaster at Jordan Furniture's "Motion Odyssey Movie (MOM)" ride. With some rather unthreatening-looking blob creatures in what is basically another random encounter. Then the big plot twist is revealed, which is surprising in the sense that I wasn't expecting it because it was way TOO obvious and I figured there had to be something more clever going on.

Nope.

Rating: 3/10

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures #1 2007 Convention Exclusive

This was another piece of my 2011 Free Comic Book Day haul. It's another leftover, a convention promo freebie from 2007.

Title: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures
Issue: #1 (2007 Convention Exclusive)
Date: 2007
Publisher: Marvel Comics, Dabel Brothers
Writer: Laurell K. Hamilton, Stacie M. Ritchie
Artist: Brett Booth
Colorist: Arif Priyanto
Letterer: Bill Tortolini
Editor: Sean J. Jordan

Writer Stacie M. Ritchie adapts Laurell K. Hamilton's first Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel, Guilty Pleasures. This particular edition was a convention freebie with a sketch cover.

Adaptations are always tough. I thought that artist Brett Booth did a great job with the look of Anita. The artwork depicts a dynamic mix of strength and vulnerability that matches what comes across in the writing. This first issue does a decent job of introducing the world of Anita Blake, a world where vampires and other supernatural creatures are a known part of life in America. The comic is heavy on dialogue and narration, as might be expected from an adaptation of a novel. Sometimes it works well, but it breaks down a bit when it gets into the mental/telepathic struggles for domination that occur between Anita and the various vampires she encounters. Hamilton places a very heavy emphasis on this aspect of the vampire myth, and it's the type of thing that is just more suited to prose that really gets inside the character's head in detail rather than abbreviated captions on top of visuals.

I like the fact that the vampires are a threat to be taken very seriously, and I enjoyed the portrayal of Anita herself. This was better than I went in expecting, but it still feels like it was forced into the comic format.

Rating: 6.5/10

30 Day Comic Challenge Day 02

Day 02: Your Favorite Character

This is really a tough one, with so many iconic or just plain fascinating characters in comics. I decided to go with a character that I've always liked, one whose adventures I read as a kid and a character who has had some really quality writing that I appreciate to this day.

This is what happened when the great Stan Lee wondered what you would get when the emphasis wasn't on the superhero's power, but on the character's defining weakness.

You get a blind man who's a superhero. You get Daredevil, the Man Without Fear.

I remember reading the Daredevil vs. Namor story that was reprinted in Marvel's Greatest Superhero Battles when I was around 10 years old, and even then appreciating the story of a guy who's pretty hopelessly outmatched in a fight and just refuses to quit. I went back an found the reprint of Daredevil's origin story and read some of the early adventures of the blind superhero.

Then in the 1980s, I rediscovered the character as scripted by Frank Miller in stories that are as intense as anything that's been done in comics.

Around the two Miller runs were great story arcs by Denny O'Neil and Anne Nocenti. Sure, it would occasionally degenerate into crossover silliness, but much like Batman, Daredevil is one of those characters where you can pick up a random issue and have an above-average chance that any story involving him will be good. And when it's at its best, it's among my favorite comics of all time.

From My Creations

Picking my favorite character in comics was a pretty tough choice. Picking my favorite of my own comic characters is even tougher.

It comes down to Donna Stone from Stone and Kaeli from Kaeli & Rebecca. I'm going to go with Kaeli because I've thought about her longer and because she's often the more challenging character to write.
















Kaeli is my flower-child. She's the character who (back when she had her beginnings as a roleplaying character) objected to a plan to torment a demon for information with a simple "You're not going to hurt it, are you?"

And she's my death-priestess. Kaeli understands exactly what she is doing, and she faces the dangers of being a pacifist in a hostile world with the kind of insane bravery usually relegated to warriors who charge in against impossible odds.

Kaeli is a character who thinks about the consequences of her actions because she has to. She doesn't have the option of grabbing a weapon and fighting her way out when things go against her.

The 30 Day Comic Challenge Page on Facebook is here. Here is the complete list of daily topics:

30 Day Comic Challenge
Day 01 - Your first comic book.
Day 02 - Your favorite character.
Day 03 - A comic that is underrated.
Day 04 - Your guilty pleasure comic or character.
Day 05 - Comic character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).
Day 06 - Most annoying character.
Day 07 - Favorite comic couple.
Day 08 - Best series being published right now.
Day 09 - Most touching comic book/comic book scene.
Day 10 - Dream versus match.
Day 11 - Favorite comic book cartoon series.
Day 12 - A comic everyone should read.
Day 13 - A book you’ve read more than five times.
Day 14 – Most awesome single comic book image
Day 15 - A Picture from the comic you’re reading right now.
Day 16 - Funniest comic book/comic book scene.
Day 17 - Most useless Villain.
Day 18 - Favorite B-list character.
Day 19 - Comic book city/universe you wish you lived in.
Day 20 - Favorite super power or skill.
Day 21 - Favorite writer.
Day 22 - A series that you liked but stopped reading
Day 23 - Your favorite artist.
Day 24 - Dream character team up.
Day 25 - A book you plan on reading.
Day 26 - A comic you wish they would make into a movie.
Day 27 - Favorite comic book movie.
Day 28 - Favorite comic publisher.
Day 29 - A comic you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Day 30 - Your favorite run or series of all time.

30 Day Comic Challenge Day 01

This meme seemed like a good fit for this blog. Keeping up with this will be a second priority to daily reviews, but I'm going to give it a shot.

Day 01: Your First Comic Book















This may be a bit off, but this is definitely among the first comic books I ever owned. Avengers #169 came out in 1978. I was 9 years old and I would spend several weeks each summer with my grandparents in Newport RI. My brother and I would walk to the newspaper store a few blocks down Broadway (that store was located two doors down from the current location of Annex Comics!). I'm not sure how we reached the decision, but we were both firmly in the "Make mine Marvel!" camp. We wouldn't even look at a comic by the "Distinguished Competition".

This particular issues was a self-contained story about a dying man who has planted nuclear bombs in various locations triggered to go off when his heart stops beating. The Avengers split up to locate and disarm the bombs. It's essentially a set of solo stories for Cap, Iron Man, and T'Challa. The issue had a very Cold War feel to it.

From My Creations

Interpreting the meme to apply to the comics I've written, rather than the comics I've collected/read.

My first comic work to see print was the first installment of Exiles, which ran in Kinships magazine in the late 1990s. At the time Marvel had a new comic called Exiles, but I figured it would get canceled in a few issues. No such luck. After Kinships ceased publication, I changed the title of my Exiles to simply the names of the lead characters. It's now the third title in Dandelion Studios' Quarterstaff Comics line under the title Kaeli & Rebecca.

Here's the original intro page as well as the cover of the first issue of Kinships.

























The 30 Day Comic Challenge Page on Facebook is here. Here is the complete list of daily topics:

30 Day Comic Challenge
Day 01 - Your first comic book.
Day 02 - Your favorite character.
Day 03 - A comic that is underrated.
Day 04 - Your guilty pleasure comic or character.
Day 05 - Comic character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).
Day 06 - Most annoying character.
Day 07 - Favorite comic couple.
Day 08 - Best series being published right now.
Day 09 - Most touching comic book/comic book scene.
Day 10 - Dream versus match.
Day 11 - Favorite comic book cartoon series.
Day 12 - A comic everyone should read.
Day 13 - A book you’ve read more than five times.
Day 14 – Most awesome single comic book image
Day 15 - A Picture from the comic you’re reading right now.
Day 16 - Funniest comic book/comic book scene.
Day 17 - Most useless Villain.
Day 18 - Favorite B-list character.
Day 19 - Comic book city/universe you wish you lived in.
Day 20 - Favorite super power or skill.
Day 21 - Favorite writer.
Day 22 - A series that you liked but stopped reading
Day 23 - Your favorite artist.
Day 24 - Dream character team up.
Day 25 - A book you plan on reading.
Day 26 - A comic you wish they would make into a movie.
Day 27 - Favorite comic book movie.
Day 28 - Favorite comic publisher.
Day 29 - A comic you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Day 30 - Your favorite run or series of all time.

The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz Sketchbook

This was a leftover freebie from 2008 that Jetpack Comics had in their selection of freebies this year.

Title: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz Sketchbook
Date: 2008
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower, Scottie Young
Artist: Scottie Young
Editor: Arune Singh, Ralph Macchio

This freebie introduces Marvel's adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic, a flagship title of Marvel's latest incarnation of the Classics Illustrated concept (called "Marvel Illustrated"... to distinguish the series from the rest of Marvel's offerings, which lack illustration, I suppose).

The opening introduction discusses the history of adaptations of Baum's work other media, particularly comics, and describes the background of the new Marvel adaptation. From there we get the concept art for Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Woodsman, the Scarecrow, the Good Witch of the North, the winged monkeys, and Toto, all with commentary by the artist.

The book finishes up with the first issue cover (and artist commentary), followed by three pages of completed art without the dialogue.

The illustration style is interesting, and it is clearly meant to evoke the original illustrations from Baum's first edition. The concept art samples do a nice job of showing the transition from early ideas to final concepts, with substantial changes made in most of the characters. The accompanying commentaries give some good insight into the design process, as well as the challenges involved in adapting a classic.

The three pages of finished art are gorgeous and tell the story nicely even without the dialogue in place. This series clearly has some impressive work in it, and this preview does a nice job of showing it off.

Rating: 8/10

2099 Limited

Title: 2099 Limited
Date: 1993
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Pat Mills, Tony Skinner, John Francis Moore, Peter David, Gerard Jones
Penciler: Tom Morgan, Pat Broderick, Grant Miehm, Rick Leonardi, Ron Lim, Dwayne Turner
Inker: James Palmiotti, Tom Florimonte, Bud La Rosa, Al Williamson, Adam Kubert, Dwayne Turner, Kyle Baker

Ah, the bright and shiny days of the early '90s, when comics were, well, shiny. This is a preview ashcan giveaway that was packaged with issue #7 of Hero magazine. It previews the full line of 2099 titles from Marvel, which feature one of the many zillions of possible alternate futures of the Marvel Universe. The world is a fairly generic dystopia that is played for laughs half the time (a thirty-mile long mall in California, and so on). The X-Men 2099 story looks like it has the most potential here, with a young mutant named Fitzgerald making his way across the desert to a refugee city that exists outside of the corporate totalitarian power structure.

Punisher 2099 had a generic fight scene featuring what had to be the dumbest "smart" weapon ever. It's a guided needle-bullet that never misses, but always lodges in the target's arm and then burrows to the heart, which of course gives Punisher time to remove it. Um... Why not just program it to always shoot the target in the head? Oh, right. Because that would make sense.

Spider-Man 2099 concentrated on character interactions. The spider-man character doesn't appear in costume. Much like the Doom 2099, Ravage 2099, and 2099 Unlimited (featuring Hulk 2099) bits, there really wasn't enough story to get a sense of what it was all about.

None of these titles rose above the level of generic in these previews, and the editors might have been better off devoting the space to show a bit more from one or two titles rather than trying to preview the whole line.

But the cover is shiny.

Rating: 4/10