All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #5 (DC - Miller / Lee / Williams) Let’s put aside for the moment that it has taken DC almost two years to put out five issues, let’s put aside that so far the story has been sort of a rehash of Miller’s other works (no disrespect to Mr. Miller - one of the main architects of the modern comic tale) and let’s also put aside that there seems to be no continuity at all in-between All-star titles… even with all that under the table, the chunk of this issue is filler. We get a great couple pages of the All-Star version of Diana interacting with Supes, Green Lantern and Plastic man… we get to see what most of the fanboys envision an amazon and her attitude looking like. But beyond that, we get Batman beating up thugs, a monologue from Alfred and a young Dick Grayson looking around the the batcave. You would think after the long wait, we might have gotten more. In the light of truth, Lee’s art is fantastic (as usual) and the writing is exactly what would we would expect from a Frank Miller Batman story… but that’s the issue… too little, too late and exactly what we expect. With the talent attached to this book, I hope this series advances soon.
series grade: C
issue grade: C+
New Avengers #30 (Marvel - Bendis / Yu / McGaig) In the post-Civil War geography of the Marvel universe, Marvel Comics is releasing a slew of books to try to show the readers a new world map. New Avengers is one of these “Initiative” books that are serving as part of the atlas. This issue opens up with Luke Cage’s Avengers in hiding from Tony Stark’s official “Mighty Avengers”, and a real question about what being a hero means. Bendis does a great job with the writing, in particular the dialogue, the readers immediately buy into the interactions between Logan, Luke and Peter. A very typical example of this is at the front end of this issue while Brother Voodoo and Dr. Strange are having a scrying match, a magical version of “hide and go seek”, Peter flips out with “A dollar for whoever tells me what’s going on…I swear a whole dollar”… it bring’s a smile to the face of the other heroes in the story and to the reader. While the art of Leinil Yu can be sketchy at times, it moves the story along and seems to fit well in the battle sequences. This issue deals with a returned Hawkeye, a battle with a brainwashed Elektra and a stabbed Dr. Strange. Given the strength of story and characterization, it makes me wish I didn’t drop this book as a monthly title.
If you are someone who enjoys Dork Tower or is into gaming or geek culture in whole, you will really enjoy Misadventure Comics. If you don’t know what Dork Tower is… or you don’t game… or maybe you aren’t into geek culture… well, perhaps you won’t get it. But then again, maybe you will :) To be honest, there are only a few web comics I follow with any regularity at all, but now I have another one to add to my list. RPGs, Online gaming, sci-fi fanhood… what does this stuff look like when you’re in your twenties? The folks over at Misadventure comics are giving you a taste here. Check their con schedule, if you are there… check them out, you will not be disappointed!
Seven Soldiers of Victory vol 4 (DC/Vertigo - Morrison /Mahnke / Williams / Paquette / Bair) I’m taking a break from sifting through the Motor City stuff to tell you about this trade I read last weekend. Last Christmas break I read Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory Vol 1-3 and was spellbound and could not wait for the fourth volume to be available. In this series Grant Morrison, through his character development and unexpected plot lay-out once again proves is one of the greatest storytellers of this generation . The story opens with an interdimensional, time-travelling dark-fairy alien race looking to enslave earth and all of it’s citizens, the only problem is that according to the prophetic beliefs of this race, a group of seven will stop them. So, they travel throughout history killing heroic groups of seven. As it turns out, The Seven Soldiers of Victory (Bulleteer, Zantanna, Frankenstein, Klarion, the Manhattan Guardian, The Shining Knight and Mister Miracle) are able to stop the alien race, but only because while they are working together in the common good, sharing their clan destined goals, they only have a slight glimmer of who each other is and hardly interact with each other at all and never in a large group. Morrison does an incredible job of telling each of the stories in a different way, using a different voice and style. You really start to care about some of the D-list characters (one of Morrison’s many talents). This four volume set of trades is a collection of the 30-part series (yup seven four part series and a bookened on each side). The only criticism I have of this wonderfully drawn epic is the quick and abrupt conclusion. This is the same criticism I bring to Stephen King novels… great set-up, great characters, lousy ending. Even with the less than par ending, this series is worth the read for any DC/Vertigo or Grant Morrison fan.
Well apparently… Matthew Atherton, Nell Wilson and the ever-winsome Chris Watters do. These are the alter egos (Feedback, Fat Momma and Major Victory respectively) of the top three contestants in last season’s Who wants to be a Superhero? on the scifi channel. All three of them were at the Motor City Con and all three were there for the families and the fanboys. Greg and I have video interviews which each of these wonderful superheroes… here are the videos over at Jotham’s Round table… Feedback…Major Victory… the video interview with Fat Momma is below. If only all the guests of the con were as personable and outgoing as these three gems. Yes Lou, I’m talking to you. From going out of their way to talk to families and children, even if they families and children weren’t looking to buy a picture… to raising awareness of bullying in the classroom and the playground… to raising money for the blind and dyslexic… Stan Lee did well when picking his top three. While I know we are off to a second season of scifi’s superhero show, I hope we see a lot more from Matt, Nell and Chris.
One of the up and coming artists I was lucky enough to meet at the con was one Kevin Leen. I saw him Friday morning and his portraits stood out amongst his peers down on independent artist alley. I hope we get to see more of Mr. Leen’s work soon… and if he gets a little grassroots P.R. I predict companies will see him as a talent to pick up on. Check out his work here.
If costumes are at the heart of con, then a guy like Scott Crawford is the cardiologist. We have posted pics of Scott throughout our con coverage. Scott designs costumes, models costumes and runs his own shop, Alienated Productions. Odds are, if you are at a con and go “Wow, what a fantastic costume… and it’s authentic to the character”, it very well could be one of Scott’s designs. Scott’s passion for detail started when he was young and he got frustrated with lame store costumes (remember the vinyl sheets and the rubber band straps, and they came in boxes) and he kept bugging his parents and getting them to modify the costume to better fit the characters… finally his mom had enough and told him to start designing his own… and the rest is comic-con history. Scott has enough recognized credentials within the con culture, that he runs the Motor City Con costume contest every year. His work has also appeared in Mark Hamill’s “Comic Book: The Movie”. On his site, he has a gallery of his creations, check it out… if you are inspired to do costuming, Scott shows you what to shoot for. Watch for our video interview of Scott coming soon. If you have any costume needs, Scott is the man to call. If you do end up in contact, please let me know heroestv.com sent you.
What’s the number one reason non-geek-culture people go to cons? The answer of course is to see the members of the geek culture (it must be geek envy!) Or as at least one soccer mom put it last weekend “The nerdfest”. Now, as you observe members of the geek culture in their natural habitat, one of the things you might observe is… COSTUMES! It is a beautiful thing (well most of the time it is) to see a fan get into it. I’ve already mentioned the 501st and how they, in character and costume, brought a heart beat to the con and a smile to people’s faces. This is true of the rest of us too… families, infants , elderly, couples… everyone (well almost everyone) looks good in a costume. Next time you are at a con… bring the love, bring a costume!
So we are walking down one of the aisles and right away we catch sight of this really cool looking pirate guy… come on, can you really ignore a pirate? I had seen him before at cons and just sort of walked by. But for the first time, I sat down and talked with Nigel Sade, Pirate at your service and saw what he had to offer. At first I thought he was just selling pirate-ish stuff (which he was), but as it turns out he is also an artist who does some really great prints. Think Jack Sparrow meets Alex Ross. If you are looking for that out-of-the-box gift or unique print, you might want to check out this one of a kind artist here.If you end up in contact, please let him know Heroestv.com sent you.
