Bargain books ( and some links )

This was supposed to be just a quick post but as usual it took me far longer. I just wanted to do a post about the new bargain priced books I have added to my amazon store.


I really should be doing something else like finally starting on the english version of the next HORST story. But it took me extremely long to find out the regular prices for the items. In some cases I couldn´t find any. Now I´m always feeling a bit guilty when doing this amazon posts but in Today´s economy you have to save whenever you can. Not only with comics. And if you can get the new CAPTAIN AMERICA - MAN WITH NO FACE hardcover for 8.40 bucks I think it is my obligation to inform my readers. If they take that offer is up to them.

There are a few items to which I wanted to add a few things but I didn´t write about all the new items. Just check out my amazon store and I hope you can find something for your collection.

INCREDIBLE HERCULES / AGAINST THE WORLD trades

One of the best series at Marvel right now is INCREDIBLE HERCULES. As one of the few books still at 2.99 the art has been a bit lacking during the trial of Zeus storyline but has improved in the latest issues. Anyway it´s worth it for the story alone. There are too many books out there who takes themselves way too serious so it´s a breath of fresh air to read a book that´s entertaining, action packed and funny at the same time.

If you haven´t checked this book out here´s your chance to get the first trade - in which the whole story began - for a measly 7.90 EURO instead of 14.99. It´s written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Gary Frank and collects issues 106 - 111. And to top it all off the second trade AGAINST THE WORLD collecting issues 112 - 115 and the " Hulk Vs. Hercules : When Titans Collide " is priced at 5.90 EUROS instead of 14.99. It has beautiful covers by Arthur Adams and the Ares / Wonder Man team up is one of the funniest ever. But you shouldn´t think too long about it as there are only three copies left.

edit : the AGAINST THE WORLD trade for 5.90 has sold out


INFERNO hardcover

Now this is one of my favorite storylines of all the X - Men books. When I added this item to my amazon store I wondered why this is regularly priced at 75 US Dollars. But through some research I found out that it has about 300 pages more than the trade edition I have. Apart from the issues in the trade it also has X - FACTOR 33 - 35, X - FACTOR annual 4 and X - TERMINATORS 1 - 4. If you don´t have it in your collection you can get it now for 31.40 EUROS.

edit : the INFERNO hardcover for 31.40 has sold out

MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS first trade

There is not much to add to what I wrote in my big MADMAN post :

In MADMANS ATOMIC COMICS the whole issue of finding out who we are, where we are coming from and where we are going to becomes the center of the story. But MADMAN is not only one giant headtrip into the frontiers of human existence, a rollercoaster ride to unknown metphysical and religious heights. It´s also an adventure full of weird science, rocket ships, space aliens, superhero teams like the Atomics, birth, death and rebirth ( and cloning ). It has action, drama, romance, adventure, phylosophy and spirituality. It´s full of crazy ideas, wonderful concepts and a pure love for life and the comic medium which you can see on every page.


The trade is usually priced at 19.99 I think but you can get it now for 8.40 EUROS at amazon. It´s already in my amazon store and there are only.......no, it´s also already gone. I hope you got your copy.

SPIDER - MAN / HUMAN TORCH : I´M WITH STUPID hardcover

This five issue mini series by Dan Slott and Ty Templeton is one of the best Spidey stories I have read. It takes a look at the rivalry turned friendship between Spider - Man and the Human Torch through the ages. Not only does it manage to evoke the flair and art style of the different areas the issues take place it also manages to include such craziness like the Spidermobile and the Twinky ads. And it has a great story to boot. So if you want to have a great Spidey book from back before all this BRAND NEW DAY madness started you should check this out.

The regular price for the hardcover is 17.99 $ and it has 128 pages. There is a digest size versiona vailable for 7.99 $ but with the hardcover available for 8.90 EURO at amazon you should spend the extra buck.

edit : this bargain priced book has already sold out


WOLVERINE WEAPON X trade

There is not much anyone can say about this that hasn´t already been said. Barry Windsor Smith´s mini series that first appeared in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS is one of the quintessential Marvel classics and should be in every comic collection - not only X - Men fans or Wolverine fans. Normally selling for 16.99 it´s now available for 7.40 EUROS.

edit : the bargain priced version has also sold out

Also in the bargain book section :

ANITA BLAKE GUILTY PLEASURES 1 trade 11.20 EURO instead of 14.99 ( hardcover at amazon 13.99 ).
ANITA BLAKE GUILTY PLEASURES 2 trade 9.90 EURO instead of 15.99.
ANITA BLAKE FIRST DEATH trade 10.99 EURO instead of 14.99.
CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE MAN WITH NO FACE HC 8.40 EUROS instead of 19.99.


CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI13 1 trade 9.40 EURO instead of 15.99 ( 5 copies left ).
CLOAK AND DAGGER : CHILD OF DARKNESS, CHILD OF LIGHT HC 11.90 EUROS instead of 19.99 ( 5 copies left ).
MIGHTY AVENGERS SECRET INVASION 1 HC 13.99 EURO instead of 19.99 ( 3 copies left ).
MIGHTY AVENGERS SECRET INVASION 2 HC 14.99 EURO instead of 19.99 ( 1 copy left ).

edit : a few items have already sold out :

52 AFTERMATH - THE FOUR HORSEMEN trade 8.90 EUROS
NEAL ADAMS MONSTER trade ( 68 pages ) 6.90 EUROS
STAR TREK - ASSIGNMENT EARTH trade for 8.40 EUROS

As I said, you can get them from my amazon store. And don´t wait too long since they can go rather quickly. You can also find more bargain books right here in the bargain section of amazon.de

the link section

As usual a few assorted links of interest :

Robot 6´s comic book college takes a look at Jack Kirby´s work


APE has a spotlight on Jeff Smith. In related news Jeff Smith announced new Bone projects ( this news is a bit older ).

Today´s links are a bit like SESAME STREET. Today´s letter is J. J is for Jack Kirby. J is for Jeff Smith. J is for Jim Steranko. Comic master and graphic visionaire Jim Steranko did a Q & A at the Big Apple Comic Con

J is also for Joe Quesada who also had a Q & A at the Big Apple Comic Con

As is Jim Lee´s Q & A at the Big Apple Comic Con

So I guess this was the reason they were not at the Marvel panel at the Big Apple Comic Con ( only kidding ) which in turn became a conversation between fans and Carlos Pacheco and Mike Choi

The Baltimore Comic Con had a spotlight on Stan Sakai

AVENGERS - THE INITIATIVE headwriter Christos Gage speaks about what happens beyond issue 28


MIGHTY AVENGERS writer Dan Slott talks about his plans beyond issue 29

Geoff Johns PRIME is back and talks about his writing on various books like FLASH REBIRTH, SUPERMAN SECRET ORIGIN and BLACKEST NIGHT

In related news there is a road to blackest night, the daily news on blackest night ( with some spoilers ), an article about blackest night titans ( spoilers ) and a spotlight on Geoff Johns

In the sales charts DC´s BLACKEST NIGHT is picking up speed, some titles are even going up around 1,000 copies from the previous issue like Green Lantern 46, and the second issues of two titles ( Blackest Night Batman and Blackest Night: Superman ) actually selling more copies than the first issues, a very rare occurrence.

With Marvel it seems that the price increase to 3.99 is starting to take it´s toll as the Ultimate 2s ( Avengers and Spider - Man ) dropped a around 25,000 copies each from the first issues. Another title recently converted to 3.99, Hulk, is also down substantially, with issue 15 down about 18,700 copies from the previous issue. I think this has something to do with the decline in the quality of the stories and Ed McGuiness departure as regular artist. Read the full coverage of the September sales charts


It´s been a while since I posted links for new episodes for ComicGeekSpeak because I´m soo far behind it´s not even funny anymore but they have two new ones that might be interesting. Dan Jurgens is currently writing and drawing the immensly popular and successful ( at least I hope it is ) BOOSTER GOLD series and Sal Buscema is providing inks for SPIDER - GIRL which has recently moved in to the new WEB OF SPIDER - MAN anthology title. Both are longtime comic veterans and have interesting stories to tell.

a conversation with Sal Buscema

a conversation with Dan Jurgens

To finish this post here´s the first clip of the Dr. Strange movie. The TV series pilot movie ( 1978 ) originally aired on CBS, and starred Peter Hooten as Dr. Stephen Strange, Sir John Mills as Lindmer " The Ancient One ", co - starring Jessica Walter as Morgan Le Fey. It seems they changed Dr. Strange from a snobby bastard to the medical version of Ghandi in this one. I think you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. IF you want.



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This is Morgan Edge signing off by saying : God bless America. And God save Metropolis !

You´re fired !

Yes, like I figured I got the call Yesterday that my new life as a working class stiff is over before it had really begun. Which may be for the best.


Yesterday I was too bummed to do a post so I wrote some new reviews for amazon for the things in my shop. I wanted to add my reviews directly in the part where I can write stuff but they have a limit of how long it can be. I have used what I have written on my blog so far.....which I have to confess has to be edited somehow. Here I´m used to get on a tangent and talk about all kind of things which have nothing or very little to do with the comic. In my amazon reviews I have to stick to the topic and just put in what the reader needs to know.

Even so I have noticed that my reviews are still a bit too long for my taste so I have to see if I can make them shorter. Now I´m not going to write a review for every article that I put in my shop. I know, if I make a recommendation then I should explain my reasons but on one side that´s what the blog is for. On the other side there is always the short info text that is sometimes followed by one or two reviews. In that case I don´t think it´s necessary to add a third, fourth or fifth review. Especially if everything important is already said.

I will still be doing reviews for comics that have none so far. A few of the reviews I wrote are already up and there will be more in the days to come.


Besides writing reviews I didn´t do much Yesterday. I was still hurting from Monday and my whole left back was aching. Today it´s a bit better and I can move almost normally. I already got my tax card back but I still got the working shoes the temp agency left me. At the moment I think I´ll just keep them. Maybe I will bring them back if they want to bill me for it. They said they will give me a ring when they have another job offer that doesn´t involve as much physical work - which could take a few months.

In the meantime I´m still waiting on a few comics I ordered because there was a snafu in my order. Apparently I ordered some issues twice because at first they didn´t appear in the shopping cart and I forgot to check how many copies I ordered. It´s all cleared up now but as usual it takes longer to get here.

One of the comics I ordered is AMAZING SPIDER - MAN FAMILY which contains the Spider - Girl comics. For months I tried to order them but I couldn´t find them because I thought they were included in the SPIDER - MAN FAMILY comics and didn´t know there was a AMAZIN SPIDER - MAN FAMILY. Yes, it´s not easy following Spider - Girl. I´m thinking about giving it to my brother as a Christmas present as he is the one who has all the other Spider - Girl comics. But that depends if he´s interested in following her over to the new WEB OF SPIDER - MAN title. If not I will buy them for myself. I just hope there are no gaps between the FAMILY issues and the WEB issues.


Is it just me or is Marvel making it extremely difficult to read Spider - Girl ? I can see why it´s so difficult ( meaning nearly impossible ) for readers outside the comicscene to follow certain characters.

And speaking about comics I ordered and which DID arrive in the meantime. The INVINCIBLE trades have finally arrived and I have already read them. So I´m looking forward to delight my readers with the awesomeness that is Invincible. I just got two words for you : totally Airwolf !


Another comic that has arrived is MARVEL MASTERS : THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE from PANINI UK. Looking for comics to put in my amazon store I came across this thing which had no details on the amazon page about what it is. I also couldn´t find anything through Google, PANINI UK or the website of the printer of the thing. My brother told me to order it anyway as he always buys all kind of how - to - draw stuff. Well, as it turns out THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE is really not so much about the art of John Byrne but rather the comics of John Byrne so I´m the one who´s stuck with it.

Meaning that MARVEL MASTER : THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE offers no drawings, sketches or interviews - only comics. It´s priced at 17,99 has over 300 pages and includes comics from all over his career at Marvel. Which seem to be selected rather randomly. It includes some number ones, some specials and some odd comics. For a selection of number ones they should have included his first issue of Fantastic Four, Uncanny X - Men, Captain America, Alpha Flight and X - Men : The Hidden Years. For a BEST OF THE BEST they should have included the THIS LAND IS MINE story from Fantastic Four or the story with the Beyonder and Johnny Storm. Or something big like THE TRIAL OF GALAKTUS. And another issue from She Hulk like the one with Santa Claus or where she´s skipping rope.


There also were some issues of NAMOR where he experimented a little with his art style that would have been more fitting for a collection called THE ART OF.

So for my taste it is quite a lot of reading material but the selection seems rather random. There are other tomes available about Alan Davis, John Romita, John Romita Jr. and John Buscema. But without knowing which comics are included I´m not inclined to order more. I just can´t risk twenty bucks without knowing what I´m going to get. Okay, in the case of John Buscema that´s not much of a gamble since most of his comics are good. But I thought the same of John Byrne and there are some comics in the trade ( which is strangely labeled as Graphic Novel on every page ) like the Kyle Baker inked Avengers Annual 14 that are really not his best work.

I already have most of the comics in this volume in one form or the other as I said for a special edition the selection is just too random. If you are new to Marvel comics and John Byrne you get a good overview of the different stuff he did and the way his style changed over the years. Just don´t give it to non - comic readers as a present since most of the stories are continued elsewhere. If you are a longtime reader you probably have most of this stuff and should skip it.


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As there´s precious little water to be found, I see it as our civic duty to drink beer.

working for a living

Yes, I have joined the ranks of the working class heroes - at least for a little while. And right now I feel like Aquaman......before he was reanimated as a Black Lantern.


On Friday I got a call from one of the work agencies I had sent my applications to that they were looking for somebody. Since it´s a temp agency it´s only for eight weeks but that beats doing nothing. The woman from the agency wanted me to meet with her today but I was so anxious to work that I went on Friday.

Otherwise I would have been thinking about it the whole weekend and probably might have passed. Well, maybe I should have. Because if I WOULD have gone there today she would have accompanied me to my new workplace, I wouldn´t have gone off the train one station too early thus arriving too late and make a bad impression. Talk a bout a sucky start.

To top that all off I already got the first warning from my new boss and my body is hurting all over. Especially my shoulder and my back. Maybe I´m really too old for this kind of work. What was I thinking ? I don´t know if I can go to work tomorrow. And I mean that quite literally. The way my body is hurting right now I don´t know if I can even move tomorrow or get out of bed.

But who knows ? I may already be fired. Anyway, I´ll ( hopefully ) know more about the whole deal tomorrow IF I can get to work and IF I still have a job. So it´s just a quick post today. Maybe I will have more time tomorrow to write about comics. I´m trying to sleep a bit and hope I can still move tomorrow.


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John knows that when you´re in the military, death is part of the job. Guy and Kyle know when you´re in the Green Lantern Corps, death is the only retirement.

And we all know when you´re part of the caped community, death opens your front door...

...and walks right in.

Under construction and some links

The last few days I have been busy with stocking my new amazon shop.


So far I have added some items but I wanted to make sure I included all the stuff I recommended in my posts which meant that I had to go over all posts I ever did. Then I had to add amazon links, preview links, review links or pictures in some cases.

A few of the reviews I did were really short but since I probably won´t do another review on the subject they will have to do. There also were some links lacking in cases where I did extensive reviews because I thought I had already added them. In any case since I had to go over all the posts anyway I also added CIVIL WAR banners to all the posts as well as the links for my new readers. The only thing that´s now missing on some posts are the funny quotes I like to include. But one day I´m going to do that.

The next step for my store is to include some excerpts from my reviews and include a link that leads you directly to my review of the item. Because I don´t feel comfortable with other people´s reviews. Not that I have anything against it. But if I recommend something I feel I have the obligation to present my reasoning for that. That´s just how it is.I have added partial reviews to the first two items before noticing that in the LOVE AND CAPES collection the review was shown I had written. So I have just written another review for the HULK - RED AND GREEN collection which will take 48 hours to be accepted or not. If this works I will add reviews to all store items that have none.

So I will try a few things in the next days and I will make an announcement when it´s ready. I just hope my readers aren´t already sick of it.

HULK - RED AND GREEN - part 2


Just a quick note about the hardcover edition I ordered. I ordered the book on Saturday and it arrived here on Monday. It´s really the hardcover that includes the stories by Arthur Adams, Frank Cho and Herb Trimpe. It also includes all the covers, the LITTLE HULK comics by Chris Giarrusco and a few sketch pages by Arthur Adams.

It´s printed on nice,glossy paper and the only defect I could find were two pages ( one with the LITTLE HULK feature and another one that was a sketch page ) that were slightly wobbly. But I don´t think anybody who hasn´t worked at a printer would notice. I just hope you have already ordered it because the hardcovers for 8 bucks have sold out and now you have to pay 13.86 for it.

the unavoidable link section

Because I haven´t posted as much as I´d like in the last few days there´s another big pile of links. So let´s start with a few ones right now.

CREATOR`S CORNER

Over at ComicbookResources there´s an interview with Brian Michael Bendis who talks about the upcoming issues of DARK AVENGERS. If you haven´t read the book till issue 9 there are some spoilers included so you better avoid this. If you are Marvel´s bitch - like me - you will read it. And judging from this preview picture of issue 10 so will Mike Sterling.


I swear I´m such a hypocrite. In my posts I´m all : " Boycott Marvel ! Don´t buy their overpriced 3.99 books. Vote with your wallet ! " And when I´m at the comic shop and it´s time to get my monthly comic diet I buy them all. CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN, MARVELS PROJECT and ULTIMATE AVENGERS. And DARK AVENGERS. First I tell you that I only will buy the first six issues and then...maybe....I´ll follow the book in trades.

But the second Mike Deodato is back I forget about all that and buy the damn thing. I´m such a wuss ! Anyway, here´s the link :

bendis talks dark avengers

And here are two more :

bendis interview

bendis on new avengers

On a related note Ben Morse over at THE COOL KID´S TABLE remembers the SECRET DEFENDERS about which he writes that it wasn´t very successful. The thing really took off when Brian Michael Bendis substituted the changing roster with a steady one consisting of such fan favorites like Spider - Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage and Iron Fist and rechristened the team as the NEW AVENGERS. I´ve said it for years and now you can read it all here. If NEW AVENGERS is not the illegitimate lovechild of SECRET DEFENDERS I don´t know what is :

secret defenders ( and justice league task force too )

One of the industries all time greatest and a personal favorite of mine - George Perez - held a panel at the Baltimore Comic Con.


If you couldn´t attend ( like me ) you can read all about it here :

george perez panel at baltimore comic con

And speaking about convention Mark Waid was at the Long Beach Comic Con where he answered 56 questions in 50 minutes. That´s not bad.

mark waid 56 questions

And for people who don´t like to read here´s a video interview with NEW UNIVERSE inventor Jim Shooter courtesy of ComicBook Resources :

jim shooter video

Now talking about creators you may have all heard about Alan Moore´s comments regarding BLACKEST NIGHT and the lack of innovations in today´s comic books. I haven´t read the whole thing but as far as I can ascertain I think he´s not as much bashing BLACKEST NIGHT as he´s just disappointed that the comic revolution everybody expected after WATCHMEN never came.

Now personylla I have long gotten over it and in my eyes SQUADRON SUPREME was far more groundbreaking since it worked in an already existing universe instead of a seperat little bubble like WATCHMEN that had no repercussions on other books. A lot of people are of a different opinion and that´s their prerogative. By the way...did this issue ever ship ?


The only reason I´m mentioning all of this is that in an article about it there was a link about Robert Mayer´s 1977 novel SUPERFOLKS which seems to include a lot of ideas that were later picked up on by Alan Moore and other comic book writers. Talk about originality.

robert mayer´s superfolks

Originality or not is also the topic at Todd´s Blog where he just released the 5th part of his stury of the different Legion logos. Since I have added GET A LIFE BOY´S LEGION OF SUPER HEROES BLOG I wanted to add something Legion related.

legion logo study - part 5

We couldn´t finish this post without the popular countdown link so here is the list of Top Five superheroes rendred ridiculous by gritty reboots. It´s two pages long and really funny although I have to cry " Foul ! " on Wonder Dog. He kicked ass on Titans !

5 superheroes rendered ridiculous by gritty reboots

So that´s all for today.


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comicbabe battle four fantastix finalists

The time for science is over. Now it is time for......vodoo !!!

new feature : my amazon store

You may have noticed that I have added a new feature to my blog : my amazon store. Yes, you can get your comic fix now right on this website.


Originally I thought it would be enough to put up some amazon links for the comics I cover in my reviews. After all I started including those links long before hooking up with amazon. And I thought " If I´m putting them on the blog anyway this is practically the same. Only now I could get a few bucks for some extra reading material. It´s not like DC and Marvel are burying me in review copies. " I still don´t know where people get their review copies and I even sent e - mails to DC and Marvel. Well, as it is I still have to pay for every comic I write about myself which is the reason why I don´t feel the need to sugarcoat things.

I have also from time to time put up a notice about special bargain prices at amazon.de for my german readers. Comics are pretty expensive here in Germany and you have to take every chance to get cheap comics. But apparently that´s not enough for certain people so to be able to continue with the HORST translations I have now opened my own amazon store. So far I have just made one list called SUBZERO´s recommendations which only include comics I can personally recommend - in a few cases I have already covered them in my blog - and which I have in my own comic collection.

A lot of them are the hardcover version since they are especially cheap compared with the usual store price. Above all when you come to the upper price class of Absolute or Omnubus editions. But even apart from those you can get hardcovers for small money at amazon.de.

Like the one I wanted to feature in this post : HULK - RED AND GREEN Premiere Hardcover.


Normally priced at 19.99 amazon sells this 120 page collection for 8.40 EUROs. When you want to order the trade you have to pay 11.99 EUROs so you better get the hardcover version.

As usual here comes my spoiler warning that there are some spoilers included in the following. If you want to be surprised just skip the rest and jump to the order link at the bottom or use the link for ma amazon store. The hardcover collection is on the first page together with Dylan Dog 50 which was the recommendation from my last post. As I keep adding books to the store I will keep the newest recommendations on the first page.

When the issues were published I didn´t get to do a post about them even if I was just dying to post the pages by Arthur Adams and Frank Cho. But finally my prayers have been answered and I have gotten a second chance. By the way, is it just me or is Frank Cho one of the few artists who can make She Hulk´s non - dress look good ?


The collection contains the issues 7 - 9 from the new HULK series as well as King Size HULK 1. Which makes sense because not only are the artists the same but the stories in Hulk 7 to 9 follow up on the ones in Kig size Hulk. I don´t know if the two stories from King size Hulk that are not connected to the issues 7 - 9 are included since I only oredered it Today but as long as the other stories are included who cares ? Any way you slice it you get slam bang action with She Hulk and the Lady Liberators / the New Avengers courtesy of two of the best artists at Marvel. If I had to sum it up with three words I would say : Frank Cho ! Arthur Adams ! Wendigo !


Okay, that are more than three words but you get the meaning. It´s Frank Cho drawing She Hulk, Thundra and Valkyrie. As well as a whole bunch of other hot Marvel babes as they go up against the red Hulk in HELL HATH NO FURY in the aftermath of the King size Hulk story WAIT UNTIL DARK. Frank really knows how to draw the female figure ( as well as everything else - let´s face it ) and this is is another fine example.


And Arthur Adams gives us WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS as Hulk battles the New Avengers battling Wendigo. Or make that Wendigos. A whole lot of Wendigos !


Of course no Hulk Vegas story would be complete without an appearance by Mr. Fixit one of the more popular Hulk personas. Now some people have accused Jeph Loeb of adding too many characters to his stories. On the other side if I can get Moon Knight, the Sentry, Ms. Marvel and even Brother Vodoo ( one of my favorite cameo characters even before he became the new Sorcerer Supreme ) in one book I´m not complaining.


It´s the kind of brawling action the Hulk title has been missing for a long time on top of featuring Thundra and Valkyrie, two Marvel characters who hadn´t been much in the spotlight before this.

I would even dare to say that this story was the reason that Marvel did the whole She Hulk / Thundra thing in SAVAGE SHE HULK. Maybe someone at Marvel remembered that there is still a lot of untapped potential with Thundra.


To quote myself :

If Greg Pak´s psycho trip PLANET HULK was good for anything ( besides WORLD WAR HULK ) then it´s got to be the new Hulk series by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness. This slambang nonstop action movie shows what the Hulk has always been about : less talk, more smashing. I already said that Marvel needs a Hulk that lays the smack down and is the meanest mother on hte block - in fact I did when I saw the first preview image for the new series.

And so far the series didn´t disappoint. The mystery of the real identity of el toro rojo ( I think it sounds waaay cooler than Rulk ) is still not solved as Doc Samson was obviously a red herring. If you ask me it´s Glenn Talbot. I mean someone with military training who uses guns, knows all the secondary characters and hates Hulk as well as Banner ? That all fits Glenn Talbot.

Additionally Marvel has sweetened the deal by having Arthur Adams and Frank Cho drawing the book now. The only problem with that is : what took them so long ? For years I´ve been writing that they should just get top notch artists on their books....even if they can´t do a full issue. They can put more than one artist on an issue because as long as they´re good nobody will complain. Back in the day Marvel did it all the time and had two or more stories running in one book. Maybe the anthology is making a comeback.


Now while I´m not so sure about Glenn Talbot being el toro rojo it´s just great to have Arthur Adams and Frank Cho on this book. Both of them should do more interior work even if they can´t do a monthly title. I mean Marvel has given Arthur Adams an exclusive contract but so far no book has come out. What´s up with that ? He single handedly sold TOM STRONG´S TERRIFIC STORIES with his six page JONNI FUTURE stories. Give the man something to do.

As for el toro rojo my money´s on Thunderbolt Ross now that the LMDs are being used again in the Marvel universe. Which means that just because you saw Thunderbolt Ross somewhere it doesn´t mean it´s got to be the real one. The whole mystery of the red Hulk has become kind of weird and a lot of people are beginning to look back with a tear in their eye to when you didn´t care who the red Hulk was.


Back to the stories in HULK - RED AND GREEN it´s not really highbrow entertainment but fastpaced action entertainment when the new HULK title was still good. And when the guest artists on the book were real heavy hitters. I mean there may be people who are fans of Ian Churchill or Whilce Portaccio who are drawing the next chapters. But for me the only thing keeping me on the title was Ed McGuiness. And I´m not even sure about that since the last two issues were really bad.

So if you want a good Hulk story as well as some nice art I can really recommend this collection especially at this price. And who knows maybe Marvel really tried to get the female audience with these issues since they not only included a lot of female characters but also a winged horse. And we all know that if you want to get female readers you got to have a horse in the book.


So in the words of the immortal philosopher : Hulk - Red and Green. I allow it ! You can use the direct link here or go to my amazon store if you want to look for other cool comics. As usual you shouldn´t wait too long since there are only 4 copies left.



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comicbabe battle avengers winner she hulk

None of us thought we´d ever be envious of Guy Gardner.

Of german rabbits, italian dogs and other things

A new month has begun so it´s time once again for one of the popular ( or not ) link and news / comic reviews posts.

Horst - the blog


Deja vue. The strange feeling you´ve seen or experienced something before. Okay, only kidding. I know I already did a post to announce the HORST blog. The thing is in my last post I mentioned the next step in world domination of HORST and that I would make an announcement when the time is ready.

Well, the time is now. HORST is being translated into english and spanish since there has been a lot of traffic on the german HORST blog from abroad and especially Spain. The translations are done by Yours truly and will appear as fast as I can finish them. The english and spanish version of the first story is already online with much more to fallow as soon as I can finish them. Here are the links :

horst the bloggeth

horst el bloggo

There is also a german trade in the works which I will have to buy because of something I only realized when I went back to my old issues of HORST for the translation. Starting with the first translation I was working on the computer for almost 15 minutes till I realized that I have all the issues and don´t need to strain my eyes with the computer screen.


So I went and searched all the issues ( there are two I couldn´t find but I´m sure they will appear as soon as I start looking for something else ) and to see them in the classic black and white version is quite a shock. The colored versions just look soo much better. Thank god Geier colored them. Anyway, I will do an announcement when the german trade will be available.

Darkness / Pitt 1 for free !

Yes, it´s true. Dale Keown´s signature character The Pitt is back. As an old fan of the series - that was more famous for the long periods between issues and the huge jumps in the story due to the publishing schedule - I had to get the issues. I have to say that Dale Keown does his usual magic although I found the " The first PITT comic in a decade ! " blurb on issue 1 pretty hilarious. I mean, whose fault was that ? Come on, Dale. If you don´t get the book out there is none.


Okay, for the first five years or so you could probably live from the money the trades brought in. But PITT 1 - 4 must be the issues that hold the world record for " comics most often re-packaged for a trade ". How often can you sell the same four issues to the same readers ? But okay, that´s all water under the bridge. Dale Keown did the first issues of the relaunch of THE DARKNESS but as soon as he was gone ( or his contribution to the book shrank to less than four pages per issue ) I was out.


There were some sporadic issues by Dale like the DARKNESS / HULK crossover but now PITT - the real deal - is back in a new mini. For new readers there is the world of PITT to discover ( I´m pretty sure you can find the old PITT trades cheap or the old issues in dollarbins ). And for old readers it´s like coming home. The comic has the usual high level of writing and art one has come to expect so no surprises there. Of course there´s one point I don´t like but that´s the inclusion of Jackie Estacado a.k.a. The Darkness.


I have never liked the idea of a professional killer as the hero because for me the hero should also be a role model. Don´t get me wrong, he doesn´t have to be the shiny hero without flaws. He´s allowed to stumble and fail. But he has to be a good guy deep down inside who at least tries to do good and not harm other people intentionally. And for me that´s just totally opposite to killing people for money. It´s not so bad when the character is someone likeable like Thommy Monahagan in HITMAN but Jackie has always come across as a bit of a whiner and someone who kind of lies to himself. The life of a killer is most often a short one and whoever they come in contact with is bound to get sucked into their world.


To think you can have a relationship to someone outside of that world that won´t end in violence and bloodshed is illusory. But hey, that´s just me. Aside from that I really liked the first issue which is the reason for the post ( not to do a short review ). The interaction between the three main characters is pretty hilarious as Timmy ( the Pitt´s travelling companion ) and Jackie hit it off pretty good while Pitt and Jackie - not so much.

There´s an uneasy atmosphere of mistrust and not without reason. They are both killers and as the old saying goes : it takes one to know one. While Pitt is a warrior who has killed in battle for honor but who can be ruthless when it was deemed necessary. Jackie on the other side has killed for money or revenge and probably knows every trick of the trade. So I guess each one has his own opinion or preconceptions about the other guy.I wonder if that will change during the course of the story. Issue 2 has already hit the shelves and is also already available in Germany but it seems the first issue has sold out.


I have no idea if a reprint is planned but for those who have missed the issue TopCow has put the entire issue on the net together with a link to a preview of issue 2. So there´s no excuse not to check it out :

darkness pitt 1 - complete issue

jenkins on darkness pitt

waiting to be Invincible

Last week I spent a lot of time opening the mailbox because I had ordered some comics online. Since the end of the month was getting closer and closer I didn´t want to go to the comic shop. Usually I empty my bank account at the first of the month and then go to the comic shop to get the newest comics from my pull list. But I had already read all the comics from my last visit so to have something to read I ordered a few comics online.

For that I went to Andi´s Comic Express which - as the name implies - is usually pretty fast. Or I always had the luck to fall into a period where they are not very busy. Anyway, of course the more you need comics the less you get. I waited and waited and waited. The order confirmation arrived on Monday ( last week ) but the comics didn´t. So on Friday I had to go to the comic shop anyway if I wanted to survive the weekend.

Aside from the FLASH issues I have almost completely diminished my backlog but I bought the first two issues of BLACKEST NIGHT SUPERMAN because Eddy Barrows does the art. He´s the reason why I´m still reading TEEN TITANS even if he has left the book in the meantime. I also got the LIST : X - MEN issue which has terrific art by alan Davis. I really would like to see more art by him and I still can´t wrap my head around the fact that he´s not doing his creator owned character.

As the comics still hadn´t arrived before I went to the comic shop I also ordered some INVINCIBLE trades online.


I wanted to order all of them from amazon.de since they have them at a lower price than the comic shops but they didn´t have volumes 8 and 9 anymore. So I ordered volume 10 and 11 through amazon.de and volumes 8 and 9 through an online comic shop. Of course the volumes 10 and 11 have already arrived while I have to wait two weeks for number 8 and 9. Which means that I can´t read the ones I have for a full two weeks. But that´s one of the downsides of following a title in the trade format. If you don´t keep it up you have to get three or four trades at once.

Well, maybe I will get around to post the INVINCIBLE review I did for Phil & Lamond in the meantime.

A dog and his boy


When I was at the comic fair in Leonberg ( read all about it here ) there was one table that had the latest german issues of DYLAN DOG. I´m not more than acasual reader but that´s one series I always want to read more of but most times I just forget.

Well, when I was at the comic shop last Friday I reminded myself to check out the half price section because they have quite a few issues there. I even found one whose art I liked which is not so easy because they have different artist on the book and the one artist I like has only done three issues before moving to the famous TEX comic.


DYLAN DOG is the most successful comic in Italy and it is published by the publishing house Sergio Bonelli Editore. A few years back Dark Horse tried to publish the series. They even had Mike Mignola providing the covers but only 6 issues were published.


They also published two other series by Bonelli NATHAN NEVER


and MARTIN MYSTERY.


In Germany CARLSEN COMICS started the book but due to low sales numbers ( I´m guessing since in Germany sales numbers are not revealed under any circumstances ) they had to cancel it. Now the company SCHWARZER KLECKS is printing them. I guess a smaller publisher can be more successful but the downside to it is that the price is pretty hefty.

DYLAN DOG is the name of the main character, an ex - cop and recovering alcoholic, who got fired from Scotland Yard and who now works as a paranormal investigator calling himself The Nightmare Detective in his newspaper ads. He lives in a house with an actor who is the double of Groucho Marx ( whose mustache was shaved off for the american version to avoid legal troubles ) who is constantly cracking jokes. Aside from that his main function seems to be to throw Dylan Dog´s revolver at the last possible moment ( Dylan always forgets his gun ).



I had four issues so far and I bought my fifth - which was the german issue 50 - last Friday.


Dylan Dog is in the pocket book format and usually the issues have over 100 pages. The reason why the comic is so successful in Italy and not in other countries remains a mystery. It may have something to do that it pays homage to a lot of popular movies and other pop culture classics. Another strange thing is that 40 percent of the readers are female which is a pretty high number for a comic.

There are some speculations if this is because of the sensible nature of the attractive main character but as I have only read five issues so far I can´t say. Anyway, the issue I bought, the big 5o, has all kind of information about the series as well as interviews with the writers, artists and translators involved. It gives you a good overview of the series if you´re a newbie and it also includes a lot of interesting things for Dylan Dog afficionados. The stories all revolve about the background of the characters and show Dylan Dog´s beginnings as a paranormal investigator as well as how he wound up with Groucho.

Now if I had to recommend one issue to start reading the book for people who find the 12 EURO price tag for issue 50 a bit high ( I only could afford it because it was at half price ) it would probably be JOHNNY FREAK


a story that is reminiscent of the cult movie FREAKS ( as you might have guessed from the title ) and THE HEART OF JOHNNY which is kind of a sequel. There are some issues drawn by Claudio Castellini but I don´t think any of them have been released in german so far.


There is a movie being made starring Brandon Routh as Dylan Dog but it hasn´t reached theaters yet. As usual Hollywood has made it´s usual changes like relocating Dylan Dog from London to New Orleans so the question remains how faithful it will be to the source material. Maybe it will have only a few elements in common with the original concept like the JOHN CONSTANTINE movie with Keanu Reaves. There are rumors that italians have already called it a " kind of Dylan Dog movie ".

more info about Dylan Dog :

dylan dog wikipedia

an overview of dylan dog

hellboy vs dylan dog

italian dylan dog homepage

brandon routh on dead of night

artists corner

Over the last few months I have collected some links which might be interesting for my readers. But since I haven´t posted as much as I like they have started to pile up so it´s time to start posting them before they are outdated. Things like links for BLACKEST NIGHT or X - MEN FOREVER ( which I promised to write about ) will be posted accordingly but there are also other links that I will put in groups.

The first one are some interviews with artists :

joe kubert on the korean war

carmine infantino interview

in depth erik larsen

in depth darick robertson

in depth peter bagge

dave gibbons on computers in comics

drew geraci on why there will be no new inkers

german cover artist marko djurdevic

And that´s all for today. Next time I will possibly take a look at BLACKEST NIGHT, DC´s answer to MARVEL ZOMBIES or maybe I will write about why I´m still reading FANTASTIC FOUR after kicking it off my pull list.


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