This week in the life of comics 4/28/11

I'm going to propose an idea to you all. What if the Infinity Gauntlet had to be worn on your head instead? Well wonder no more, BEHOLD!

I'm probably in the minority about this, but I feel like this is the direction they should have gone in.

Anyways, let's talk about comics.

Action Comics #900

I understand some people took exception to me booing Action Comics #900 in our Tuesday night video. If you're unfamiliar with this video, then I recommend you become a fan of our facebook page. We film a video every Tuesday night where we showcase comics that are available for purchase the next day. I routinely make an ass of myself on a weekly basis, it's good times.

I digress, I ended up booing Action Comics #900 because I was bummed Superman was coming back into the regular story line. It's not the most professional thing to do as a manager of a comic shop (I mean, I am in the business of selling books), but it is my honest reaction as a fan of the series. I really enjoyed how the book become Luthor only and was sad to see that go. I've always approached this job as a fan first, and a salesman second. I could tell you everything is wonderful and fantastic in order to get you to buy things (which I did at a soul crushing phone job in the past), but that's just not how I do things.

To the point! I really enjoyed this issue. Paul Cornell is a great writer and he writes Superman better than most writers have in a while. He tied up the story arc well and even managed to touch upon all the guest appearances that have occurred throughout this series. It was full of action and a very intense situation which really touched at the core of Superman and Lex's relationship. The Doomsday bits were pretty crazy as well. It was a lot of fun, albeit bittersweet for me. I'll be giving #901 a chance when it comes out. Hopefully Cornell's Superman will keep me as interested as his Lex Luthor has for months.

Secret Avengers #12.1

I'll be the first to admit that I was a little nervous when I heard Nick Spencer was taking over writing duties for Ed Brubaker. I am a huge fan of Brubaker's writing and I was a little underwhelmed by Iron Man 2.0 (written by Spencer), so I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. With that being said, I thought this book was awesome.

Has Nick Spencer been waiting forever to write Steve Rogers? After reading this issue, I'm thinking so. In fact, the rest of the cast is written well too. I really feel like he's bringing his A-game to this book. It reminds me of how well Rick Remender is doing on X-Force. This seems like a project of love, not work.

Scot Eaton delivers the goods on pencils as well. The book maintains its gritty, action packed look. I especially enjoyed his take on Valkyries outfit. It's been needing an update for a while now.

If you were worried about this book changing hands, please don't. Nick Spencer is keeping up the awesome pace of this book.

Other Stuff

Venom #2 felt like it was a "part 2" of a story that never had a part 1. It still really liked it, but it felt out of place. SPOILER WARNING. I am heavily intrigued by the last page though. I interpreted is as the symbiote is learning from Flash Thompson, and may even enjoy its new role. Seeing the symbiote grow as a character is intriguing to me, and I hope that continues.

I feel like I've read three preludes to Flashpoint in the pages of The Flash at this point, but this issue was still good. FF continues to be amazing and full of Doom. Spider-Man was a lot of silly fun. Captain America really delivered this and Brightest Day blew the damn doors off the place. It was a good damn week.

Mutant Manimals with Guns

My word, how awesome was the 90's?!






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This week in the life of comics 4/22/11

Since today is Earth Day, I wanted to let everyone know that two homeless men planted seeds in front of our store today. They wanted to make this city a more beautiful place and thought that planting flower seeds was the best way to do it. They then drunkenly stumbled down the street, satisfied with their labor. Given that they didn't water the seeds, or plant them more than an inch deep, I'd say their chances of survival are slim. However, at least they tried. At the end of the day, I guess that's all we can ask for. Happy Earth day everyone.

It was an interesting week for comics, but there were two books that stead above the rest for me. They were Super Dinosaur #1 and Avengers #12

Avengers #12

The Hood is mere inches away from finding the last of the infinity gems. If he manages this, the universe as we know it will cease to exist. Luckily, The Avengers have put together a pretty crafty plan in order to get them back, but will they succeed?!

Well duh, of course they succeed. I don't think anyone needs a spoiler warning for that. The final battle between The Hood and The Avengers was satisfying and full of action. I liked the page where they made the distinction about why The Hood is such a horrible human being. So many villains are likable nowadays, that it's good to have some that are just plain evil. The conclusion to the battle was a good twist and the last page provided a good "no way!" moment. I was really into the conclusion.

The art on this book has been a matter of contention at the shop for a while. I'll always love John Romita Jr. for his work on Amazing Spider-Man, but that only carries him so far in my eyes. You can see where shortcuts were taken, especially during the scene where they fight between different realities. I know he can do amazing work, but this isn't it. It's not terrible, but it could have been better, especially given the material. That's all I'm saying.

Super Dinosaur #1

I feel like some of you guys still don't know this, but Super Dinosaur is an all ages book. That means kids can pick it up and not have to worry about anyone being bludgeoned or raped to death. It's a sad thing to admit, but there really aren't a lot of books out there that I can say that about. Which is why this is now my top book to recommend to kids and adults.

The premise is simple, boy finds dinosaur in middle of the earth, dinosaur gets armor upgrades, boy and dinosaur battle bad guys on Earth. There's obviously more to it than that, but that's the short version of it.

When reading this issue, I couldn't help but feel like I was watching Ninja Turtles as a kid again. The heroes are cool looking, the bad guys are ugly, and it's a lot fun to watch them throw down with each other.It's written from a child's perspective, and that helps amp up the "OMG this is awesome" factor. It reminds you why you thought dinosaurs and jet planes were cool as a kid. If I was ten years old, I'd probably be freaking out a lot more about this book.

The art on this book is fantastic. The dinosaurs look great, and the action scenes are actually quite a sight to look at it. The human characters are full of expression and detail as well. It has a great look overall. If these characters don't get made into toys, then I don't know what to think. The designs scream "awesome toys" to me.

Buy this book for your kid, but make sure you read it to them so you can get in on the action as well.

Other Things...

Other books that I thought were cool this week were Uncanny X-Force (duh), Generation Hope, and Invincible Iron Man (I'm alone on this one). The Green Lantern books were okay, but I'm getting tired of everyone switching rings. It takes away from the the unique way each ring selects it's wearer. That's just my nerd side complaining though. Plus John Stewart was stuck with compassion (purple) and they gave him the dumbest costume to go with it. It's terrible, we can argue about if you want. I'll be the guy who's right and you can be the one that's wrong. Fun!

I've also become a big fan of Teon in Generation Hope. Something about this dog boy has warmed my heart.

I would also like to thank the Boston Red Sox for finally getting into the swing of things. My heart palpitations should be going down now. Peter Parker's favorite team, The Mets, aren't faring as well this year. Since Peter is making so much money now, he could probably buy the Mets. I should tweet that at Stephen Wacker.

That's all for me right now! Bye!

This was considered to be crazy at one point...

..snort.. yeah, like THIS would ever happen.

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This week in the life of comics 4/15/11

Salutations everyone! I regret to inform you that I have lost another of my superhero themed pint glasses this week. One of my cats, Brooklyn, knocked over our Wonder Woman glass with his bulbous behind, causing it to shatter on the floor. He showed no remorse for his actions. My fiancé, being a huge Wonder Woman fan, was devastated.

The Red Sox continue to bludgeon my heart with a rusty crowbar, but I won't abandon them. I've been through worse times with late 90's Spider-Man titles. I can handle this nonsense. Thankfully the Sea Dogs have been faring well, so I can relax a little bit.



As for comics, I've had a hard time deciding what my favorite book was. It's come down to Carnage #4 and Uncanny X-Force #7, and I think I'm just going to call it a tie. Both were gorgeous, well written, and left me insanely satisfied. You should be reading both of these titles, if you're not already.



Flash #10 was the big issue before Flashpoint begins, but I was a little underwhelmed by it. I'm not too sure what to think about Flashpoint period. I know it's supposed to be a big event, but it doesn't feel like it. That's me anyways, I'm sure there are some Flash fans excited about it. I just have a very wait-and-see attitude about the story.

Spidey was fun this week. I especially enjoyed Sue Storm imprisoning a mime in an actual invisible box. I didn't care for the opening scene with the new costume though. There's no need to re-write a scene that already occurred, and was written better, in FF #1.

Other books that were cool are Daken, Batman and Robin, and Birds of Prey. Each provided me with copious amounts of joy.

Also, what's happening in Age of X is enough to give me a panic attack. It's insane!

I also managed to get 27,555,000 on the new pinball machine here, Scared Stiff. Deal with that!

Until next time everyone!




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The New Future?

Did anyone else freak a little bit when they saw this in Batman Beyond #4 last week?




Now that Max Lord ensured that Kingdom Come will never be, is the Batman Beyond world the new "future" of the DCU? Crazy!

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Comics 4/8/11

I'm going to level with you guys, this has not been a fun week for me. Moving all last weekend, merchandising, the Red Sox losing, and my Black Lightning glass broke. My cats have been mad at me too, but there's nothing I can do to appease those drama queens sometimes.

Thankfully, comics come out once a week and restore bits of my sanity. If it wasn't for them, I'd probably be in a padded room somewhere screaming about Coke and Pepsi being the same thing.




It's not too often, that when I'm unpacking books, that I scream "yeah! F&$@! Yeah!!". I did when I saw this book. I've been beyond excited about it for a while. I talked about it so much that Tristan warned me that my excitement may cause me to be disappointed when I finally read it. Well he's wrong. I loved this book.

I already knew what the story was going to be about, The Norse God of Fear has been released from his prison and now all hell is going to break loose. Having prior knowledge of the books events didn't stop it from being awesome though. It felt epic and had me hooked on every page. It has that "big fight" feel to it. The feeling that this story will be big. Fraction's writing has lived up to the insane amounts of hype in my head.

I'm a huge fan of the artist Stuart Immonen and he's done his best work in this book. Whether it's Sin battling undersea dragons (yes, that really happens) to Thor having a screaming match with Odin, Immonen hits all the right spots. It's great to look at and it's paced well.

I can't wait for the second issue.

Other books that made me gush this week were Brightest Day 23, Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth 2, and Ultimate Captain America 4.

Brightest Day finally let us know who the guardian of the Earth was, and it didn't disappoint. It's now the shop consensus amongst employees and subscribers that we can forgive all that other crap because of this issue. I don't know if it's enough to help me cope with the loss of my Black Lightning glass though ..sniff..

That's all for now! I typed this whole thing on my iPod! My thumb is tired now, but it was worth it.

Until next time folks!

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Comics! 4/1/11

I've been put in charge of protecting all of the basement long boxes today. I'm not sure if there are roving hordes of nerds looking to pillage such a collection, but I stand here in defiance of their possible existence. Juggalos too, those wretched creatures will not steal these comics! No sir!

There's also a snowstorm on the first day of April. I know we're located in Maine, which has a history of unpredictable weather, but this is bananas. If this is some ethereal beings idea of an Apil Fools Day joke, then I must say to thee "not funny".

Anyways, let's talk about some comics that came out this week!


Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1

With the exception of the 90's American version, Godzilla movies are awesome. The delightfully low budget films have developed an insane following and has led to Godzilla being a houseold name all over the world. When a series of films is that popular, it typically leads to a comic book series. The transition to the comic book world has never really been that great though. It's always seemed rushed and lacking the polish of a seasoned comics professional. What works for film (low budgets) doesn't work for comics.

That changes now! Eric Powell (The Goon), Tracy Marsh, and Phil Hester have decided to make an action packed, humorous, monster comic that is sure to delight any fan of the movies. It should also delight comic book fans too, which is good because that's who they're selling these too.

The only detriment to this issue is that it's a little short. There are four pages devoted to different variant covers of the comic you're reading. I would have rather had four more pages of story than a thumbnail gallery. Either way, the story is a blast and the art is great. It's monster mayhem in a comic, the way it always should have been.

Batman: Detective Comics #875

Despite all of the amazing books that came out this week, this book was my favorite. Scott Snyder already made this my favorite Batman title on the shelves, there's no argument about that. With this issue he's written one of my favorite Batman related issues ever, and the caped crusader doesn't even show up until the next to last page.

Memories are haunting Jim Gordon on a snowy night in Gotham. The issue opens with him tracking down a killer from a case that originated back when he was a lieutenant on the force. As he tries to apprehend the criminal, we view scenes from Jim's past. A summer camping trip with his family, which includes his recently returned and criminal son. The past and present are weaved together seamlessly and should cause anyone with a pulse a good level of anxiety. By the end of the issue you don't know who is more terrifying, the killer in the present or Gordon's son in the past. The moody art from Francesco Francavilla is the cherry on the top of the crime noir sundae that is Snyder's writing. He makes children look so scary. I'm not sure if that's something to be proud of or not, but it works perfectly here.

After reading it, I immediately tweeted at Mr. Snyder to let him know that I loved it. It blew me away and I can't encourage you enough to read this series. It is fantastic.