So this week I´m not doing any gardening work and thankfully all the work is taking place inside. Because on Tuesday it was raining cats and dogs but not continually. It was more in little spurs to lure you into a false sense of security to bring you to leave your cover and then suddenly pouring down and getting you totally wet. Today I had to cut plastic foil which is more difficult than it sounds especially if the plastic foil is in a roll. So I pulled a McGiver and built a special contraption to cut the foil. When I have perfected it I´m going to make a patent application and spend all the millions of cash on comics. And women. And movies. Lots of stuff.Since I didn´t get to post in the last few days I have now read all the new comics. Also the new product solicitations for DC, Marvel and Image are out. Lot of stuff to talk about but first I should finish with the books I read. So let´s get to it.
Comics from my brother´s pull list :
BATMAN 652
More revelations about what happened in the 52 year with some surprises. Not really breathtaking artwise but an interesting read. It seems that the relationship between Batman and Robin has changed a little bit and DC is trying to get Batman away from all the grim and gritty stuff.SKYE RUNNER 1
So far I´m not sure what to make of the book. What was really realistic was the reaction of the other woman to the female main character. A good read if you like Ale Garza´s art.
BIRDS OF PREY 93
I read the first two specials of Birds of Prey but didn´t start with the regular series up till Jackson Guice started doing the art. He never was a favorite artist back in the day when he was doing one of the Superman books around the death of Superman storyline. I really began to develop a taste for his art on the RESURRECTION MAN series which by the way was one of the best comics DC published. It´s a really different superhero comic that has an ending and it should not be too expensive. You can probably find it in the 50 cent bin. It has not been translated to german like other comic milestones like the STARMAN series or MAJOR BUMMER. I had the series on my pull list but i left Birds of Prey when Jackson Guice did.But back to the new issue of Birds of Prey.Again the mystery of the 52 year deepens. Artwise I´m missing Ed Benes and stroywise I´m just wondering what the deal is between Black Canary and Shiva. And who is that new member ? Did I miss something here ? Anyway here are some previews to check out :
NIGHTWING 119
The second issue after ONE YEAR LATER. The art is still a bit strange for me but it seems that most of the books after the one year jump have not so exciting art. The story get´s deeper into what happened and the identity of the character that was introduced last issue gets revealed. Now I won´t say who it is because I´m not going to spoil it. I will write more when the third issue has come out. Come on, if you have not read the issues after three months you are not going to read them at all.
ULTIMATE SPIDERMAN 93
Another good issue of a series that almost has no low points. And all the issues so far have been by Mark Bagley. I whish more artist had that dedication to a title.SENSATIONAL SPIDERMAN 25
Okay, Marvel has to start giving out character sheets to artists. Or tell them to look for other appearances of the characters they draw for reference. Case in point : John Jameson as the Man-Wolf has white fur, okay ? I know mistakes can happen but this just took me out of the story. The story itself was good and the art of Angel Medina was very dynamic as always. This series almost ended on my pull list but my brother already had it on his list. And since he suffered through all of the Mark Millar mess and the issues after he deserves a little something something for all his pain.
Again : Next time just check out the She Hulk covers to see which color the Man-Wolf has.
BLUE BEETLE 2
I´m not sure about this series. So far the art by Cully Hamner is good, different from when I last saw his art on the MOSAIC miniseries but good. That Green Lantern spin-off series was really an interesting read that centered more on the main character John Stewart then on superheroics. I have to look if I can find the last issues I´m missing at the comic fair in Stuttgart this month or in Erlangen to find out how the story ends. I kind of stopped reading the series after issue 16 because of the many guest artists.The history of the new Blue Beetle is kind of interesting but I find it kind of boring to have to read about all this school stuff. I already get enough of this reading INVINCIBLE and all the " hero trying to find his place " has been done to death with Kyle Rayner as the screw up hero or Wally West as the guy who trained his whole life to become the succesor of the hero. And I´m still not too convinced on the idea of the new blue beetle armor. It just sounds weird that Ted Kord never got this " mystical " artifact to work right but now this kid pulls it off. And when did the scarab go from mystical artifact to sentinent talking Guyver armor battlesuit ? Just doesn´t make any sense.
MAJESTIC 16
Thank god, the story has moved away from making MAJESTIC into a second rate Superman. I mean here we have a superhero who is different from Superman because he says : " Yes, I have powers far beyond mere mortals so they should pray to me as they would pray to god. " And what is the first thing they do with him ? They make him more like Superman with a secret identity and all. For what ? Secret Identities are not necessary for all superheroes. Thor shouldn´t have one and Majestic doesn´t need one either.
Like I said the story has moved away from that crap and moved on to more of a scienc fiction adventure. I like the idea of the Kherubim as bad guys but the art just doesn´t work for me. Just looks weird and ugly to me. And most people in the comic have the same face although I don´t know if that is intentional with the members of certain groups.
HOUSE OF M SPIDERMAN TRADE
Well, I´m just glad I didn´t buy the comic. The story did not do much for me even if the art by Salvador Larocca was solid. So far the stories I´ve seen from House of M were all very boring for my taste. Maybe there are some interesting stories but so far not that much reasons to spend money on the trades.
THE AMERICAN WAY 3
This series is cool and infuriating at the same time for me. Cool because it tells an interesting story which is different from most superhero comics. On the other hand it picks up one of the ideas of POWER FREAKS ( the series I did with my brother ) namely the fights between superheroes and villains being just staged entertainment for the masses. I know that in this case it is for propaganda reasons not to sell products and the story takes place in the past instead of the future. But I just know that if issue 2 of POWER FREAKS comes out somebody will claim that we got the idea from THE AMERICAN WAY.
The series takes place around World War II and the heroes and villains all work for the american government to keep up morale at the home front. The art is not so action oriented and in your face like others but that fits in nicely because the story is more about the quieter moments. In this issue the tension keeps building and the cliffhanger is just well executed. During the whole story the New American ( who becomes the new team member in this issue ) is getting high approval from the public and his team mates but I think that´s about to change now that everyone knows he´s an afro american.Comics I bought myself :
YOUNG AVENGERS 11
In my opinion this is the only good that ever came from the whole AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED mess by Bendis ( and the two Spiderwoman issues by Frank Cho ) and it´s far better than the new NOT ANENGERS book. This is the best teen superhero book published by Marvel right now and quickly becoming as good as NEW MUTANTS before Liefeld came on board.Normally I´m not a big fan of writers coming from other fields into the comic biz ( because writing comics is different than writing books or movies ) but Allan Heinberg has won me over. Coupled with the art of Jim Cheung who does his best work since SCION at CrossGen. So how many reasons do you need to read the series ?
TUROK 31 ( 0,84 cents ) 32 & 33 ( 0,47 cents )
There is not much to say about the issues after their dissection and indepth analysis over at Dave´s Longbox. The only thing with Paul gulacy´s art is for me that his proportions or anatomy are sometimes wrong. This didn´t bother me so much when I didn´t know that much about it but it also distracts me if artists do the same mistakes I used to do. I guess I´m now a real man after reading the issues but so far I have not noticed any changes in myself or the females around me. Maybe it just takes some time. Anyway the story was a good read and well worth the money I spend. Because these issues have all the basic ingredients for a good comic : indians, dinosaurs, bikini clad hot chicks and aliens from outer space who want to mate with eart women. This one has it all, baby.So next time we will get to the solicitations for this month and how you can save 23 bucks, the question if comics really are written for their audience today and other things I´m reading right now like the MONOGRAPHICOS DOLMEN and other publications about comics. Maybe even a comparison between comic news magazines like Wizard and Dolmen.
Tomorrow my brother will be at the comic shop so there will be new comics to read since I have run out of new comics and am currently rereading some older series. But as said before more about that in the next installment of the TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN.
Strange but so it is written, so it shall be done.
New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN :
3 comments:
Since I´m writing this while i´m at work I have to post as anonymus.
Thanks for the compliment I try to write more often but that doesn´t always work out.
Thanks for the compliment but....." Good job GUYS ? "
I know I have a little weight problem....but calling me guys is not very nice.
No candy for you.
Your website has a useful information for beginners like me.
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Thanks, I´m trying to include some information for beginners since every issue may be someones first. There may be some things I mention that already everybody has heard somewhere but there is also a chance that it is news for someone.
So I´m trying to find a nice blend and you can always skip ahead if it´s old news to you. I´m trying to make some post in the future that are especially for beginners like the GREEN ARROW post I have in the works about Mike Grell´s GREEN ARROW series and the new incarnation. I´m also trying to get my new feature THE WORLD´S BEST COMICS off the ground which will take a look of some of the best series there has ever been like SHANG CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU or Walter Simonson´s THOR.
So many ideas and so little time. Anyway, I´m glad if people that are beginning with their comic reading journey find my site useful. It´s all about passing the torch, guys.
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