Silver Surfer

This week sees the debut of a new Silver Surfer mini (5 issues), written by Greg Pak with art from Stephen Segovia. On the lovely cover from Carlo Pagulayan, we have the Surfer juxtaposed with Galactus, his on-again/off-again master, and the High Evolutionary. Now, I had suspected that inclusion of this meant something to do with the Iron Man/Thor mini from Dan and Andy, but I can only get further into that next week when I read through all 4 issues.

This week, we get a great issue set up with the Surfer shortly after the events of the Thanos Initiative, and find him contemplating on Earth. I haven't read (though desperately wish to read) the John Buscema Surfer series from the sixties (yeah!). However, what I do know about it from reviews is there was this fascination with the Earth and its various inhabitants, specifically with the aspects more natural. If you've read any interviews, you know Pak is a huge Surfer fan, and he hits every note perfectly. This honestly seems a great premise for a mini, and just as good a set up for an ongoing if necessary. Pak knows his stuff, and Segovia knocks it out with power cosmic and the powers of another character who I honestly did not recognize.

And then one our cover features shows up and does something unexpected that should probably set the tone for the rest of the book, and appropriately so. Should you be going and checking this out? I say yes. Some of the best cosmic heroes, such as the Silver Surfer and Captain Marvel, are best juxtaposed against the simpler Earth and its occupants, rather than getting lost in the shuffle of the great beyond. I'm inclined to put this off to read until I have all the issues, but I'm far too curious as to what happens after the last page, and see where the rest of the mini will go.

Yourself? Go check it out.

Top Ten for 9/23, Looking forward to on 9/30

Wow, I'm doing a terrible job of keeping this up. Must persevere!

Anyway, for this past week, THE TOP TEN!

1. Detective Comics 857
2. Incredible Hercules 135
3. Guardians of the Galaxy 18
4. Fantastic Four 571
5. Avengers: Initiative 28
6. Nova 29
7. Echo 15
8. New Avengers 57
9. Immortal Weapons 3
10. Dark Reign: Made Men

One of the main books I'm looking forward to (aside from Green Lantern, cause y'know, Blackest Night) is Superman 692. We've already seen what happens with Supergirl, Nightwing, and Flamebird, after what happened with Codename:Patriot, and I'm really looking forward to the turn around with Mon-El and the Guardian.

Additionally in the DC world, I'm anticipating Blackest Night: Titans 2, because it's always nice to see someone write the Titans well.

The world of Marvel is still running around in the middle of Dark Reign, and I'm looking forward to the end of Dark Reign: The Hood 5, which will close out Jeff Parker's continuation of elements from The Hood's original story by BKV. The rather entertaining Sinister Spider-man 4 drops this week, and I'm hoping there'll plenty of Bachalo to go around. Not to mention the absolutely fantastic Secret Warriors, which has actually had alot going on outside of the main series, in both Dark Avengers and Thunderbolts. Of course there's lots of other awesome, but the black and white one shot Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu should promise interesting results.

Oh god, where did the month go. Quick note, Incredible Hercules has had me giggling at work lately. It's that funny. And I'm still mentioning many of the gags to my friend.

This past week (which had a lot of books for me) was pretty decent. Nothing overwhelming funny, but some good stuff from books we've established as being good. Of note: This is what Philip Tan's artwork should have always looked like, here in Batman & Robin #4. There has consistently been an inking problem with much of his work, with occasional brilliance shining through. But here it is. Finally, Tan done right. Also of note were backup/co-featuring stories this week. The co-features in Action Comics and X-Men Legacy were fantastic, Action Comics really adding to the Project 7334 storyline.
Here's my list.

1. Batman & Robin #4
2. Blackest Night #3
3. X-Men Legacy Annual #1
4. REBELS #8
5. Dark Reign The List: Daredevil
6. Action Comics #881
7. Batman, Streets of Gotham #4
8. Air #13
9. Ex Machina #45
10. Agents of Atlas #11

I'd like to have a talk with you son...

So folks, as promised, let's have a little discussion. It's about these books you're not buying. Mmhm. Not buying them at all. The first thing I want to look at is a wonderful book, and much better handled than a similar book released at the same time.

I'm talking about Proof, following the adventures of John Prufrock and The Lodge, which is a secret organization that catalogues and protects cryptids of various sorts. In fact, Prufrock, or Proof, is a sasquatch himself, and has been with organization for a very long time. As a big cryptozoology fan, I love this, but generally speaking its a very good book, as opposed to a similar book, The Perhapanauts, which I could just not get into at all. It has a very grimy, sketchy artwork that accentuates the dark backdrop of these hidden worlds within our own. And y'know what? It ships on time. Every month. Now, just this last week it wrapped up a very touching storyline dealing with some of Proof's past, so the next issue should be prepared to start a new arc, allowing you folks (I'm talking to you!) a good opportunity to jump on.

Now this week, there's a few things to note. First of all, Booster Gold. Booster Gold was at 93 on the top 100 in terms of sales for July. Which worry me a bit, since they might go down further. Now I know, Geoff Johns isn't writing it anymore. And yes, Johns is an amazing writer. But really, given credit where credit is due, Jurgens is quite capable and has provided a very enjoyable and more importantly fun series since Johns' departure. Additionally, Matt Sturges has been doing some great stuff in the Blue Beetle co-feature that seem like they will loop into the ongoing story with Booster Gold, making the co-feature all the more appealing.

Not as far down as Booster Gold is Secret Six. The Six have been doing marvelous and hilarious things thanks to Gail Simone. Do you like humor? Sure you do. Do you like dark humor? Of course (okay, so maybe you don't, but work with me here). So why aren't you picking up Secret Six? I would see you people on the internets claiming how serious comics are getting and how you hate that. Well, Secret Six is fun. It is a fun comic. For you. And the artwork is just great. Nicola Scott plays off Simone amazingly. So go fall in love with some bad people and get it, dammit.

And Incredible Hercules is back on track after a bit of an excursion to the underworld that was lacking just a bit. And these issues are coming out bi-weekly right now, with alternating Herc and Cho stories. This week is a Herc, and lord knows what crazy him and a Zeus dawning on adolescence will get up to. Featuring another awesome Rafael Albaquerque cover.

What I'm curious this week? Marvels Project (which I'm behind on), Nomad: Girl Without a World (I just love this concept, despite my dislike of Heroes Reborn), Titans (will it get better with Winick gone??), and Shield (Eric Trautmann has the ability to make this awesome, and JMS paved the way. Not crazy about Scott McDaniel on art though).

In addition, I'm really looking forward to Adventure Comics, House of Mystery, Superman: World of New Krypton, The Unwritten, Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus, and War of Kings: Who Will Rule?

Busy week. See you on the other side of We-err.. Thursday.

The Return

Last time I posted anything, the year was different. But I felt inclined to inform you of... stuff. Things. Important things! Here goes:
In the past year, I've had a few titles I really enjoyed cancelled. Blue Beetle. Manhunter. Captain Britain & the MI:13. Exiles. And Agents of Atlas is ending soon. Not to mention a few others. I understand it can be hard to keep up with the "little titles." The big names are being written well or the big event is going on. Gotta keep up with what's current. And I agree. Captain America, Green Lantern, Uncanny X-Men, Iron Man, Batman & Robin: these are all great titles. Delivering consistently. You wanna pick them up. So do I! Here's the thing though: some of these titles sell on name alone. Except when things get REALLY bad, these titles tend to do well on name alone. People do still buy books based solely on character, or when Greg Land does a cover. I remember buying Chris Bachalo covers wherever I saw them.

But really, you can buy the trade of this, or borrow your friend's copy, and instead contribute to a GREAT title that could be greater if it was given the chance to run longer. for example, Agents of Atlas will probably get a second chance before long. You can help guarantee this. How you say? Well, it's simple. There's a 2 issue mini-series coming up, Agents of Atlas vs. the X-Men. The writer, Parker is handling it. It's in good hands. Tell your X-Men friends. Get them interested, loan them your Agents of Atlas trade/issues. Then, when they start running the backup in Incredible Hercules, buy that too. You'll be supporting two books! In fact, those two are probably two of the best Marvel books coming out every month.

I am a bit concerned about Incredible Hercules. It's still in what I would consider a safe range, according to July sales estimates. So is Son of Hulk, for the moment. But these books are starting to creep into the "danger zone" of Marvel's titles, wherein permanent resident Ms. Marvel seems to linger every month. Sadly, Marvel's two main cosmic books, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, are currently in this realm. Considering there's a big space crossover goin' on right now, you'd think they'd be doing a bit better. It worries me as that has just come to an end, and as always, some of those readers will move on.

But dear reader, don't move on! Stay with them! You know who else is gonna pick up that copy of X-Men? Your friend, or perhaps your local Borders or Barnes & Noble. You can go and read their copies until they kick you out. And then buy the trade when it comes out, instead of waiting on the trade for a book that might not make it long enough. In fact, Exiles is a perfect example of this. Cancelled by issue 6. That's your normal trade length, six issues. Your plan has failed, sir. I blame you, guy who bought Jeph Loeb's Hulk instead.

This is just the beginning. I have more to say. Just didn't want to wear you out right away. But, on a final note, here are my top 10 books from this past week. There's a few things I haven't been able to read yet (Wednesday Comics, Magog, Buffy, The Authority) but regardless, BAM:

1. Agents of Atlas 10
2. Cable 18
3. Strange Tales 1
4. Invincible Iron Man 17
5. Final Crisis Aftermath: Run 5
6. Exiles 6
7. Proof 23
8. Supergirl Annual 1
9. Northlanders 20
10. Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire 2

Oh, and hello to the folks at the Clockwork Storybook forums who actually look in on my blog for reviews when I do them. Thanks guys!

11-12-08

Number Ones

Batman: Cacophony 1

And Kevin Smith comes back to comics again, with Walter Flanagan (of Walt Flanagan's dog fame) in tow. And while this issue is very interesting, I generally don't feel that it's the kind of standard I'm used to with Kevin Smith's work. Additionally, Onomatopoeia seems far goofier than I recall, which means I'm going to go back and read those issues of Green Arrow he was introduced in. Hopefully we'll see the next issue soon.

Push 1

This is about a group of psy-ops agents, and is fairly interesting, though really lacks the excitement that a series like this has the possibility of doing. However, there is a bit at the end that gives the whole thing a bit more dimensionality, and so I will be seeing how this continues to unfold.

Black Terror 1

This was fairly interesting, though less so than I expected. The writing is the same typical Alex Ross/Jim Krueger writing, which is enough to keep you interested, but not enough to really get you excited for when the next issue comes out. 

Sir Apropos of Nothing 1

I missed seeing this book on the diamond list, due to the fact that I had forgotten the title of this project in the first place. This is the one to pick up , of the number ones. It contains the constantly sharp and witty writing of Peter David, and additionally pokes fun at the Dark Tower (which incidentally David also writes the comic form of). The art may not be as flashy as we all are used to at this point, but it is quite adequate for purposes of the story told. WARNING: this is a fun book. If you don't like fun, don't buy it.

and now for everything else

There were two Batman RIP tie-ins this week, Detective Comics and Nightwing. Detective has done an amazing job of telling the best Hush story so far, doing much better than even the one he was introduced in. And while Hush has done an amazing job breaking Batman before the Black Glove can, he does a better job at breaking Catwoman (by removing her heart). And of course, before all is said and done, Batman breaks Hush. I'm starting to see where all these tie-ins fall in to place, in terms of the set up for post-RIP. Nightwing is quite extreme in this. While still showing bits of Dick Grayson, with his acrobatic flair, we're definitely starting to see what images and this issue in particular are starting to imply: Dick Grayson is ready, and moving in the direction of becoming Batman should the need arise (and that seems to be rather soon). Additionally, Two-Face is making his play at being far more prominent than he has been in the post-OYL Batworld. Alot of setup in this issue, very well written, and I'm glad to see that Tomasi will be taking over the Outsiders.

Now on to other things:

Green Arrow/Black Canary 14

This. This is one of those issues where Winick writes really well. He does this great issue. And you look back at the previous ones, some of which did not make any sense and say "what the hell Winick? Do this ALWAYS." Regardless, we see a bit of what's happened to Connor Hawke, deal with memory loss, and what Winick seems to be really good at writing, father-son bonding. The only problem I have is that shouldn't Connor's ability to magically heal be the result of, oh, i don't know, BATHING IN THE BLOOD OF A DRAGON? Hullo, let's read things. Still, good issue, farewell to Winick for this title, and we'll see how the next guy does.

Titans 7

Generally speaking, I have not been a fan of the direction of this new series. But at the very least, Howard Porter is now on the job ::cue horn flair:: so the wacked-out artwork is GONE. And generally speaking, this is a fairly well written issue. The only problem I have is I really don't like this new "Jerico's gone crazy" thing. Thanks, guys. Regardless, the explanation that has been given for the crazy at least makes sense, so points there.

Young Liars 9

If you are still reading this book, then more power to you. This is probably the most fucked up book I end up reading every month. And I read Gravel and Crossed. Additionally, I have very little idea as to what is going on most of the time, and the characters are almost entirely unlikeable when you actually find out about them. 

Captain Britain and the MI:13 7

This, on the other hand, is one of the most fun books I read every month. What I really want to note this month is the fantastic bit of back and forth between Blade and Spitfire, which to me seems to really cement Blade properly into the team. Also, Pete Wisdom's imaginary tea party on the moon? Gold.

Wolverine 69

I don't really care for Mark Millar. If you read this at all (which you probably don't, and you've only come here by accident, and are now wishing to leave), you'll know this already. However, I have to say, this is one of those instances where I do a slow clap and say "well done, Mark Millar. Well done." This storyarc in particular, not necessarily just this issue, has actually been really good. Not even to mention the Steve McNiven art, which is beautiful. In other Millar news though, it's been a while since a Fantastic Four issue, hasn't it?

In disturbing news, Blue Beetle is cancelled. This has been a fantastic series, and I'm very sad to see it go (as is Dan Didio, but y'know, sales). Additionally, it seems Grant Morrison is no longer writing the Battle for the Cowl series, but it is being written by artist Tony Daniel. WTF happened there?

Oh, and one last thing, since I noticed the only time I'm mentioned online is by a Fable community, here's what I have to say about Fables 78:

I like the character of Mr. Dark, very amusing. There's alot of things in the issue that sets up the future for the Fables now that they've won back the homelands, and I'm excited to see where it all goes from here.