Down, But Not Out

The past couple of weeks I've really been reading some excellent stuff. As I believe I've mentioned before, I wait until the end of the month to receive my shipment from Mail Order Comics, so I'm pretty late on all this.

But there were a few comics from last month that really stood out:


Parade (with Fireworks) #1

Parade (with Fireworks) is a very nice change from the super-hero, action-packed stuff I'm used to and that's a good thing. Mike Cavallero is telling an interesting tale of family, violence and prejudice. I'm very interested in seeing where it's going.

You can check out an excerpt HERE.


Brit #2

Brit is a Robert Kirkman creation and when Robert Kirkman does super-hero comics, he does them over the top, even when he's not writing them! That's right, Bruce Brown, whom I've never heard of, does an excellent job picking up where Kirkman left off in the original one-shots.


Terror, Inc #2

Yeah, pretty much the same comments I had for the first issue. It's a really fun, twisted book featuring one of my favorite, underdog characters. Oh yeah, David Lapham is writing it. 'Nuff said.

The teaser trailer from this year's San Diego Comic Con for Jon Favreau's Iron Man movie has been posted in all its official, non-grainy-fan-uploaded glory.

Haven't seen it yet? Click HERE and make sure you've got QuickTime, suckers!

The minute Sabbath's "Iron Man" kicks in, it's totally awesome; it's a fanboy's wet dream. And then the dream ends when it finally gets around to that cheesy, filtered "I am Iron Man." It takes me out of it altogether. Fortunately it's at the end, so I'm able to enjoy the song and the trailer for being too damn cool before it gets to that point.

But wow, Robert Downey, Jr. seems incredible as Tony Stark. I'm a fan of him, thinking Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is one of the greatest movies EVER, along with most of the other stuff he's been in, so I'm not surprised.

The very likable Jeff Bridges as a villain? I gotta see that!

Thumbs up, sirs.

Okay, did anyone read the first issue of the new Terror, Inc. miniseries?

David Lapham is the writer and if you've read any of his stuff (Detective Comics or Stray Bullets, which I've been reading lately) you know the quality (high) of his work.

David manages to stay true to the character; it's not a real reboot, which I was afraid of, more than it is just a story involving the character with an expanded backstory that includes more detail than the original. So that means, if you enjoyed the original series or at least thought the concept for the character was cool, then you'll love that first issue.

It felt like something actually happened in the first issue, which is kind of rare for, well, ANY first issue of a comic book these days. It was fast-paced, full of action and no scene really felt out of place.

Good stuff all 'round.

Click HERE for a preview of the book and stay tuned to this horribly neglected blog for a future post about the original series.

Can it really be true? Have I become so jaded that the "huge" things announced and discussed at comic book conventions don't excite me in the least?

I'm not that far gone yet!

Thankfully.

Anyway, here's a list of the things I did find interesting:

First up, Newsarama covered this story: Image Comics revives the Kirbyverse!

Being a huge Jack Kirby fan, this news is pretty damn exciting! They're bringing in two Kirby characters, Silver Star and Captain Victory, as well as other creations from "The King".

Okay, next is the Mark I Iron Man Armor from the Iron Man movie. It looks friggin' fantastic! This is easily one of my most anticipated movies. I can't wait!

Ahem, Creepy & Eerie return @ Dark Horse!!!!

There's not much more that needs to be said about that other than I hope that they're leagues better than the let-down that was the first issue of the new volume of Tales From The Crypt (ugh).

Okay, honestly, that's about it. There are a few odds and ends here and there that are kind of interesting, but nothing that has me foaming at the mouth like the things above!

See you soon!

My interest in the super hero genre of comics continues to wane. Hell, it's taking a nosedive! I've made more cuts to my pull list, replacing titles with new books of the non-spandex flavor. I'm in a very experimental mood.

I'm not completely done with the genre, however. I'm just sticking to the stuff that I'm absolutely 100% loving and attached to. I will still pick up any non-traditional super hero books (After the Cape is a prime example) and stuff that pays tribute to a lighter age of super heroes (Invincible and Godland).

As far as the stuff I cut, if I were on the fence about any book, I went ahead and kicked it aside. Some of the books I knew were on the chopping block without any hesitation.

In other news, I'm on the fourth trade paperback of Neil Gaiman's ''Sandman'', Season of Mists, and I find it completely refreshing!

I placed an order for Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell manga. I chose the 2nd Edition released by Dark Horse because I hear it's completely uncut (American companies, apparently, tend to do a wide variety of edits to manga).

More to come...

Proving again that I am great with finding a series when it's already deep into publication, I've discovered the greatness that is Dark Horse Comics' Conan. It is absolutely one of the most breathtakingly awesome comics being printed today.



I'm still reading through Kurt Busiek's first issues on the series and I can not get over how good it is. I like Busiek, so the quality of his work (high!) doesn't surprise me.

Cary Nord's interior art has convinced me that he is one of the greatest artists alive today; it's just that good. Think of how awesome Frank Frazetta's Conan paintings are and then imagine if he'd done interiors for a comic. Yup, that good.

Anyway, in a time in which I'm grabbing any comics without a guy or girl in tights on the cover, Conan becomes a nice addition to my pull list.

Taking a dive into the old Down, But Not Out columns at Stumblebum Studios, I pulled out a book that deserves to be covered one more time: Darkhawk #1!



By the 90's, Spider-Man had grown up, married a super-model, and left his teenage years far behind. Without access to a large library of early Spidey stuff in the 90's, this teenager had to look to other heroes to relate to. Sure, the wall-crawler is the original down-on-his-luck everyman no matter what his age, but when you're a teenager, you need a little more than that.

I stumbled across Darkhawk in the local comic shop with little to go on other than the fact that he had a cool costume. I picked up the first issue and was immediately floored! This guy had problems! He had issues with his parents, just like I did (or any teenager!). Chris Powell was instantly relatable!

But unlike me, his problems were much worse than mine. While trailing his kid brothers to an abandoned amusement park across from his home, Chris Powell made a startling discovery: his dad, a police officer, was on the take, accepting bribes from a major criminal.

( Read on... )

Newsarama has posted an interview with Flight creator and editor Kazu Kibuishi.

Kazu is the artist/writer behind one of my favorite webcomics, Copper, which showed up in print in the first volume of Flight.

If you've never picked up a volume of the anthology series, then it's time you do. The whole premise behind the project was to create accessible, quality comics, which are, in my opinion, very rare. The majority of comics being published today are swamped in continuity that doesn't allow new readers much of a chance to get into 'em. Flight takes care of that by showcasing short, one-shot (generally) stories that only require the ability to read for you to enjoy them.

Check out the interview for more information.

Here's another entry into DBNO's Greatest Covers Ever!

Artist Clint Langley's cover to 2000 A.D. #1519. You can check out Clint's website for more of his frickin' awesome work.



( One More... )

The purpose of Fed Up With Super Heroes is to offer a look at the finest alternatives to super hero comic books, past and present. Today's particular entry comes originally from the year 1980 (reprinted in color in 1985) and there are absolutely no capes or cowls to be found.



Detectives, Inc. - A Remembrance of Threatening Green is one of writer Don McGregor's first foray's into the very new (at the time) graphic novel format. The story revolves around two detectives, Ted Denning and Bob Rainier, who both struggle with their own very real and distinct problems while attempting to solve a murder case.

We meet up with Ted, who is having trouble coping with his first and only time actually having to use his gun to kill someone. Sure, it was in defense of his partner, Bob, and he had to do it, but that doesn't make him feel any better.



As you can see from the panels above, the book goes to great lengths to examine the emotions of the characters. What's more is it's not just a flash in the pan type of thing. We see Ted deal with these emotions right up to the very end of the book, with surprising realism.

Bob Rainier is also dealing with his own demons. The recent divorce from his wife has been more than a little hard on him. It gets worse when she jumps back into his life with the case in which the graphic novel revolves around.

Bob's ex-wife explains that a friend of hers' girlfriend was recently murdered. Now she wants to hire Bob and Ted to look into her girlfriend's death a bit more intimately. Bob reluctantly accepts. Ted's response is even less enthusiastic about doing something for the woman that practically destroyed Bob's life, but they get down to it anyway. They need the money.

When Bob and Ted visit the clinic, we get to see Bob's thoughts about the lesbian, Ruth, whom he is about to meet. This is a place where the book shines; its mature look at homosexual relationships and the biases that people, men (Bob, here) in particular, have toward them. As the book progresses, Bob is able to see past his biases to the woman that exists as a person, not a homosexual, and finds a person he can relate to.

In the end, the detectives solve the case, as you might expect, but it's the journey to that end that's really interesting. Detectives, Inc.'s story is a lot about the case of the dead girlfriend, but it's much more about the characters. You get to know them intimately through character development the likes of which is hardly seen anymore. You come to really care about what happens to them and that's what makes the book so interesting and successful for me: the characters are served by the plot and are not there to serve the plot.

We see these characters with all their differences (Ted is African American, Bob is white; Ruth is a lesbian, Bob is straight and male) and then, as the story progresses, we begin to see these characters and all their similarities: they're all human. I won't spoil things because this is a book (or set if you get the reprints) that deserves to be sought out and read. It's a gripping and emotional book that makes you think, which is what all really good books accomplish.