If you had asked me a year ago, a month ago or even a week ago, which major comic company has their ducks in a row dealing with podcasts for the fans, hands down it would have been DC with their DC Nation podcasts. DC Nation is informative, timely and entertaining. Just do a search in i-tunes and you will find it.  Well worth your time if you are a fan of any part of the DCU.

Marvel also had podcasts but some of them were literally nine months old, with podcast content like “The Upcoming Civil War”. The bottom line was that Marvel had let the ball drop. “Had” might be the key work there. According to their latest press release, Marvel is stepping up their podcast game. Marvel’s newest cast “State of the Initiative” should give fans up to date info on what is happening in Tony Stark’s New World Order. While you are searching for the DC Nation cast, now do a quick search for Marvel and you too will be informed. Only time will tell if Marvel keeps these up to date and worth your time.

Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born HC (Marvel - King / David / Furth / Lee / Isanove) - Okay, first I want to give a disclaimer on why I didn’t read this when this first came out in single issues. It’s quite simple, I have a thing about Stephen King… he is masterful storyteller and no one can beat his descriptions… it just, well, his endings. I don’t know if he has some sort of random ending generator, or he gives up in the last thirty pages or if asks his pets to finish… I’m not quite sure what it is, but his endings are usually not up to snuff with the rest of his story. It’s just the way it is. So, I have yet to pick up the Dark Tower book series and I looked the other way when The Gunslinger Born was getting non-comic book Stephen King fans into the stores to buy this seven part series.

I read the hardcover in two sittings, and it was an outstanding book. Comic legend Peter David interprets King’s books into the comic format. Obviously he has to leave out some of the book’s details, much like when they make a good book into a movie (except with those the movie sucks in comparison to the book). If the book is better than the comic translation, then I definitely have to put the Dark Tower on my Christmas list! Mr. David does a superb job of channeling the narrative of Mr. King.  Jae Lee and Richard Isanove produce some haunting and beautiful pages throughout the entire series, as we learn the origins of Roland Deschain, he who will become the Gunslinger. Because of what I perceive to be missing details, there were a few plot holes for me, but I still enjoyed and bet you will to. The $24.99 price tag on the hard cover does make me think some will way for the soft cover trade to appear. But as bonuses in this edition you get maps, a letter form Ralph Macchio, a letter from Stephen King, Richard Isanove’s painted process, maps of Mid-World and a portfolio of all the variant covers and sketches.

Grade: A-

Awakening #3 (Archaia - Tapalansky / Eckman-Lawn / Mauer) - From Archaia’s site - “A series of missing-persons and gruesome murders has begun to unfold in the city of Park Falls. Derrick Peters, a former member of the Park Falls Police Department, receives a visit from Cynthia Ford one January afternoon. Cynthia, well known as the town crazy, seems to have finally lost her mind. She claims to have information about the murders…but does she hold the key to unlocking the mystery or has she truly gone insane? To Derrick’s disbelief she utters one word: Zombies.” I have been a fan of this series since I got my hands on the copy of issue #1. The combination of in-your-face top-of-the-line stylistic art and a well-thought out narrative is what has made Awakening the premier horror series this year. With the third issue, we are now past the “setting up” of the plot and the audience gets some hardcore meat of the story. With an anticipated “gulp” feeling in their stomach, the reader takes a side seat next to Derrick as he unravels what is happening. Nick Tapalansky & Alex Eckman-Lawn expertly piece this mystery together and unveil the right amount of information with every issue and every page turn. Just like the first two issues, number three leaves you wanting more.

Grade: A

Okay, I’m looking forward to this. It looks to be a solid direct to DVD movie that has huge talent behind it.

Here’s the press release:

The next installment of the DC universe original ANIMATED movies soars onto shelves when warner home video releases - justice league: the New frontier ON February 26, 2008!

The Title is the Second DC Universe Original PG-13 Animated Movie and the First Ever HI-Definition Animated DVD from Warner Premiere

Read the rest of this entry »

 
She-Hulk #23 (Marvel - David / Moll / Olazaba) - Shulkie has always been one of those interesting characters in the MU… never quite taking center stage, but never far from it.  And almost always being a harbinger of interesting things to come.  She became the Thing’s long-term replacement after Secret Wars and brought forth the idea that a female character could be powerful yet sexy in the MU… then you have her position at the beginning of Civil War, showing the readers how someone could stand on both sides of the position… and even her giving Dan Slott the break he needed to show all the fans what a phenom he is as a writer.  And Now we have the legend Peter David writing the “Jaded” story arc right before the Secret Invasion crossover event starts to break.    Without giving away too much of a spoiler, he find out how Jen and She-Hulk can be at the same place at the same time… and we find out that some heroes have made friends with certain green shape-shifting aliens.  ‘Nuff of the spoilers though… If the quality of the book stays as is, this is great time to jump on the bandwagon, because She-Hulk will be whisking out of the back issue bins soon.

Grade: A

Titans East: Special #1 (DC -Winick / Churchill / Rapmund) - DC’s website has this to say about it’s new Titans special, “Titans Tower is back up and running on the East Coast as Judd Winick, Ian Churchill and Norm Rapmund assemble an explosive new team of Titans under the leadership of Cyborg! But their first mission may be their last as powerful forces gather to destroy all Titans past and future!“ Spoiler Warning!!! It is their last mission! Actually, is not even a mission, it’s a training op. The book opens with Vic Stone (Cyborg) calling former Teen Titans from the Wolfman/Perez era trying to get them to come to the east coast to train a new set of Titans. They turn him down and we continue on. This book also introduces you to a group of young heroes, then kills them in them all in the last three pages. Well, at least it looks like they are all dead, even long time Titan, Cyborg, looks to bite it thanks to a big red fire ball from the sky. Hmm, I wonder if he’ll turn up big, red, and enraged in Marvel’s new Hulk title… Kidding

In reality, this is the set up book for the new Titans mini-series coming in January. I was going to pass on this upcoming Titans books because I never was really into the classic Titans, but the mystery set down in this intro book has me intrigued. Of course, have Judd Winick and Ian Churchill involved is a giant plus.

Grade: B

Grendel: Behold the Devil #1 (Dark Horse - Wagner) - From the Dark Horse site “This is an untold chapter in the life of the greatest criminal mastermind in history–a thrilling and horrifying glimpse into a time when Rose’s novels were at the top of all the bestseller lists and rumors of the assassin Grendel were on the lips of every terrified mobster unfortunate enough to present an obstacle to Rose’s utter domination of the city’s underworld.” For those of you that don’t know, Grendel is a sociopathic, violent, power-driven anti-hero (think Dark Knight meets Judge Dredd with a ton of style and class) born from the 80’s and his alter ego is Hunter Rose, best selling author. In this mini-series, For the first time in over ten years, Matt Wagner returns to the character he created over 25 years ago. As someone who has not followed the journey of Hunter Rose for any period of time, I went with trepidation into this highly anticipated series. Fanboys of Grendel are solid to core, and given the level of Wagner’s ability and his relationship to the wide fanbase, I knew he wouldn’t let them down… but what I worried about was the non-long term reader, could I jump right into what could be the fifteenth Grendel storyline? The answer is a resounding yes. Matt Wagner masterfully weaves together this narrative that jumps between the interaction of supporting to characters to Hunter Rose’s personal journal to a journalist writing about Grendel’s reign of terror to a first person perspective from Grendel himself. While having the Grendel history might very well add flavor to this series, it is not necessary to enjoy it.  The only reader negative is that the issue’s story was so well put together it seemed to be over before I was ready for it. Issue #2 and Grendel trades here I come. Pullbox Warning: heavy violence and straight-out sexual content takes this off the middle school reading list!

Grade: A

Marvel Comics Presents #3 (Marvel - Various)- From Marvel.com “The premiere comics anthology gets invaded—by Magneto! Witness a tale of the beginnings of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch guest–starring. Meanwhile, Hellcat continues battling for her very survival, Weapon Omega faces down demons both internal and external, and a routine murder investigation has lead to something—or someone—called…the Vanguard!” The third issue of Marvel’s anthology series is out, and it’s more of the same… although slightly better. The Vanguard storyline still stands out as the only plot that could hold it’s own book (part 3 of 12).  As an Alpha Flight fan, I am happy to see the Weapon Omega story finally going somewhere (part 3 of 12).  The third ongoing storyline Hellcat is goofy, but at the very least it’s entertaining watching Patsy literally wrestle with all of her inner-egos.  And regardless of Marvel says in their summary, the one-shot Magneto is a throw-away, nothing new revealed at all (this has been status quo for the one-shot stories so far… Thing and Task-Master).  This series has the potential to help Marvel fill in story gaps and spotlight characters who can’t carry their own series or mini…  I hope the powers that be behind this series don’t get into a habit of random stories just to see if the fans out their will buy it.

Grade: B+ 

The Bottled Imp

Here’s the lowdown…

• It would seem Countdown gets better the fewer the story lines they try to cover in the issue… and less Jimmy Olsen shows up
• This is a huge Superman-Prime issue… it opens up with SM-P at the Source Wall… the barrier that keeps the multiverse separated
• SM-P has traveled into the 5th dimension trapped Mr. Mxyptlk and Annataz Arataz (an alternate version of Zatanna from Earth - 3), he is now interrogating both them inside of a hidey-hole of the Source Wall
• SM-P needs Mxyptlk’s help in his quest to destroy all the “fake” Earths and in process gives a nice 4 panel review origin of himself
• While Mxyptlk continues to get tortured and have the tar beat out of him, he keeps on taunting SM-P with what is actually some pretty good writing
• Dini and Giffen both have well-deserved legend status… but the usual writing in Countdown has been melodramatic versions of their own work at best
• Mxyptlk shares that he has been haunting Earth for centuries in various names… Loki, Anansi, Coyote… that he is the trickster god and that he couldn’t help SM-P if he wanted to
• SM-P figures out because of his nature, he cannot kill Mxyptlk… SM-P then has a tantrum fit, re-emphasizing his lack of emotional maturity and destroys the hidey-hole they were all in, trying to bury both of his captives
• With the help of the Earth-3 witch, Mxyptlk escapes while Annataz chooses to stay and faces destruction to atone for cruel things she had done back on her own earth 
• Eclipso finds Mary Marvel, after her escape from Apokolips, and beguiles Mary into staying with her
• Lord Havok’s fleet continues cross-galaxy with Ultraman aboard, destroying everything in their way in the name of Monarch… which includes a Dominion Fleet of ships
• This cameo of the Dominion here is perhaps supposed to be symbolic of showing how this cross-over event really kicks the tail of yet another early 90’s throw-away DC cross-over event
• Scott Beatty writes a quick but entertaining origin of Mr. Mxyzptlk

This book is still not producing at the level is should given the amount of talent attached to it.  The story-telling devices in Countdown are starting to change, they are telling certain details of the big story through flashback between characters, this is a great touch… allows the reader to get the nitty-gritty without having to sit through twelve pages of it.  DC is learning from some of the mistakes of the first half of the Countdown series.  

Overall though, cheers to DC, Countdown is slowly getting better and seems to be trying to get it’s pace… so that maybe sometime soon it catch it’s stride.

Grade: C

Captain Marvel #1 (Marvel - Reed / Weeks) - Marvel.com has this to say about their new Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) book. “From the pages of CIVIL WAR comes the tale of a man out of time! An accident in the Negative Zone propels Captain Marvel from the past to the present day. Now he must come to terms not only with his own impending death, but with the way the world has changed in the time he has been gone. Brian Reed (NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI; MS. MARVEL) and Lee Weeks (DAREDEVIL; SPIDER-MAN: DEATH AND DESTINY) bring you the mini–series that returns one of Marvel’s greatest heroes back where he belongs.
Rated A …$2.99″

From the pages of Civil War comes Marvel’s newest time-travel excuse…er, I mean time-traveling hero. If you haven’t read Civil War and don’t know why this long dead hero is back, let me enlighten you. Kree hero Mar-Vell died in 1982 and was a big loss to the Marvel U. Since then, comic readers have been reading about the adventures of Mar-Vell’s children Genis and Phyla. Through some Negative Zone wormhole plot device, Mar-Vell is transported to our time before he engaged in the battle that would lead to his death.

The book read very well as we get insight into what Mar-Vell thinks of the human race. The scene with the painting, I felt, was genius. Well done Mr. Reed, well done. As much as I loved the metacognition Mar-Vell was engaged in, I really loved how he dealt with a pesky super-villain. This is not the light 1970’s version of a hero. Mar-Vell is a solider from another planet who’s ready to do what needs to be done to protect the public.

The art was very solid. I do have to mention that Ed McGuinness does not do the interior art, nor would I want him to. Don’t get me wrong, I love McGuinness style, I just don’t think it works well with Captain Marvel. Lee Week’s on the other hand made it feel like slipping on a comfy pair of shoes.

I look forward to the rest of this mini-series and hope to see a great ending.

Grade: A