NEWS! (Maybe a little old news . . . )

Posted on September 4th, 2010 by ekko

It’s been a few weeks—I’ve been busy—so some of this may be old . . . But at least there’s a lot of it!

1. WALKING DEAD. Of course this is the lead story . . . AMC released a 4-minute trailer, and confirmed that the show will launch on Halloween for a special 90-minute episode directed by Frank Darabont, followed by 5 more episodes for the first “season.” (They’re already in pre-production for season 2.) If you’re not saying you can’t wait until Halloween, you are hereby forbidden to read my blog ever again.

2.  SMALLVILLE. Buzz is starting about the September 24 debut of the final season of the [pretty good, then bad, then really good, then pretty good, then dull] series “Smallville,” which has been around long enough to wear out its welcome. The final season will be not-Superman-or-Superboy’s battle alongside Green Arrow and probably at least half a dozen others (not-Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman, Hawkman, etc.) against Darkseid. Also, the incredibly hot prudish nudist Erica Durance (anybody who heard her interview with Howard Stern a few years ago knows what I mean), who plays Lois Lane, will also play Isis(?) this season. Oh, and Supergirl will be back. Could be good, but keeping Clark out of the tights has gone on too long. Folks are asking what to replace this series with? Howzabout Superman??? ‘Cause this show never had him.

3. ANT-MAN. Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim flick got a mixed reception (but I loved it!) and was a box office dud, but he’s still the only guy attached to an Ant-Man movie. Wright wants to make it a spy thriller. Really? Ant-Man (to me) is kind of a silly character. I only really liked him when he went inside Iron Man after Tony’s systems were fried during a battle with the Hulk (I think that was Iron Man #153, but I’m doing this off the top of my head) during the terrific Roger Stern days. (I did like Scott Lang’s appearances in the brilliant Brian Michael Bendis series, “Alias.”) Other than that, he’s a b-lister who should stay off the a-list. If they’re looking for lesser-known folks to get the spotlight, a Giant Man/Wasp movie would be more interesting, or more Blade flicks! Hell, I’d rather see a whole slew of guys: Power Man and Iron Fist, a Daredevil reboot, Moon Knight . .

4. IRON FIST. Marvel Studios hired Rich Wilkes (of the horrible “xXx” action film) to write a screenplay. Of course, we all know that “write a screenplay” rarely translates into a movie that human beings can actually see. But if the chi is with him, Danny Rand will be the first star of a Disney film about a Marvel character (the currently slated Marvel movies are all Marvel Studios productions, started before the merger).

5.  DEADPOOL. You have to give it to Ryan Reynolds. Despite all indications to the contrary, he’s pushing to get the Deadpool movie made and talking it up constantly. As Rob Liefeld tweets, “There needs to be a &^%# Deadpool movie NOW!”

6. NEIL GAIMAN’S SANDMAN. Sandman, a most excellent comic book series under any criteria that ran from 1988-96 and was partly responsible for the creation of D.C.’s Vertigo imprint, may be coming to T.V. I know, you’ve heard that before (it was supposed to be coming to HBO), but now it looks like D.C.’s bigger sister, Warner Bros., sees a market on the CW—which is starving for material and is owned by (of course) Warner Bros. The odds, then, of the project actually reaching completion seem a lot greater.

7.  BATMEN. If you were a fan of Batman: International (I wasn’t) then you may be excited by the news that when Bruce Wayne is done returning, he will wear the Batsuit. But Grayson will, too. Apparently, Batman is going to incorporate himself around the world—kind of like the Avengers: Initiative idea. Se, we’ll have Batman, Detective, Batman and Robin, Batman Inc., and Batman: The Dark Knight. Every month. Marvel should do this with Deadpool, since they can’t seem to publish enough of him every month, either.

8.  DAREDEVIL AND GAMBIT. Looks like Gambit will be the new Daredevil. I’m not psyched about it, but my son is apeshit. Daredevil and Gambit are, respectfully, his two favorite heroes. So for him, this is like a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup: Two great tastes that go great together. Daredevil will be ending at the end of the Shadowland arc in November with issue #512. Andy Diggle will return with Daredevil Reborn #1 in January. How much you wanna bet Daredevil Reborn” lasts about 13 issues, and then they go back to the regular numbering with #525? (Or later with #550?) Murdock will be back, that’s for sure. Reborn will feature the art of Davide Gianfelice, who is currently impressing the world on the indie ”Northlanders” series.  Here’s the cover of “Reborn,” drawn by Jock:

And to close this out . . . Nuthin’ but:

SPIDER-MAN NEWS

Yeah, Brand New Day is ending and the book will drop to a twice-a-month schedule.   As of now, I don’t think Marvel plans to fragment the Spider-Universe the way it was before BND by having half-a-dozen Spider Books each month (thank God), but major changes are afoot.  I hope so, because BND is going out with an uncharacteristic whimper.  The usually great series’ concluding arc “OMIT,” is not just silly, it’s lame and boring and doesn’t even seem to fit in with the overall BND story.  Here’s some of the changes a’coming that I’ve heard:

- Spidey will get new tech.

- The next storyline, “Origin of the Species,” was originally called “The Sinister 666” as it features several classic Spider-Villains like a new Scorpion, Rhino, and Electro.

- Norman Osborn, Carnage and Spider Girl (a.k.a. Arana) will be getting their own titles, although Oz and Carnage’s will be miniseries. One will be Oz in prison, the other will be Spidey and Iron Man vs. Carnage. No announcement yet about creative teams.

Tags: Comic books, Daredevil, Deadpool, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader, Zombies

THE BEST OF DAREDEVIL (The Top 20 DD Stories Ever!)

Posted on August 4th, 2010 by ekko

With Shadowland reviving the classic DD vs. Bullseye rivalry, and Matt Murdock continuing his decades-long slide from the superhero side of the spectrum towards the Punisher/vigilante side, there’s been a lot of talk about The Most Important Superhero Comic Of This Era. Why do I call it that? Becuase in my lifetime we’ve seen two major movements in how comic stories are told, and both occurred in Daredevil. First, there was the movement away from the emphasis on words, with panels representing still-images in time–illustrated stories. Frank Miller and Klaus Janson brought fluidity between panels (and a maturity in storyline) that made comic books something more than picture books. They were now like movies. Then, Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev advanced the neorealism movement by basically telling one long story: A life. Their work on Daredevil was a biography, not a series of 4- or 6-issue stories chained together by theme or a few ongoing relationships. The character changed slowly, gradually, until he hit bottom. Their Daredevil wasn’t about events, it was about the person.  That’s why I’d argue that Daredevil is the Marvel comic that matters most in the history of the medium.

So, when a blogger I enjoy reading published his top 10 list of Daredevil stories, I thought, I should do that too.

Is it copying? A little. But this one goes to 20! Plus, they copped out by saying that the Bendis/Maleev run is one long story. It isn’t. Yes, it’s best to read it like a long-form novel, but there are definite story arcs within the series.
Here’s my favorite DD tales . . .

THE TOP 20 DAREDEVIL STORIES

20.  Daredevil: The Man Without Fear. Miller + Romita Jr. retelling, and adding much detail to, Daredevil’s origin.  Widely recognized as the definitive version of this story.

19.  Pawns of the Purple Man (Marvel Team-Up Annual #4). Every comic nerd has to have his quirky pick, and this one is mine.  Written by Miller (who also did the cover), and drawn by Herb Trimpe, this is just a fun superhero story with a truckload of my favorite heroes (including, of course, Spider-Man and DD, along with Power Man, Iron Fist, and Moon Knight).  This wasn’t reprinted in the “definitive” three-volume “Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson” series.  Too bad.

18.  The Murdock Papers. The end of Bendis/Maleev’s run allows Kingpin to triumph.  But not without some irony involved.  A brilliant end to a brilliant run.

17. Duel (Daredevil #146). When I was a kid, I put Gil Kane’s terrific cover of this issue on my wall. The story—Bullseye vs. DD in a TV studio—is a little dated. It’s written by Jim Shooter, after all. But it’s drawn by Gil Kane with Klaus Janson, so the art is terrific. It’s also got a behind-the-scenes big bad, The Purple Man, who proves to be a recurring problem for DD and DD’s side characters. (For the best use of Purple Man, see Brian Michael Bendis’ “Alias” series.)

16. Redemption (Daredevil #200). The issues leading up to this, #196-199, have Daredevil going to Japan to try to figure out where Bullseye is being holed up and healed up. They’re good, but not great. But in #200, with a fantastic John Byrne/Terry Austin cover, a script by Marvel editor Denny O’Neil, DD and Bullseye meet in the same ring that Battlin’ Jack fought in when Matt was a kid and, with a broken hand, Daredevil beats the living crap out of his greatest adversary. The William Johnson period isn’t a great one artistically, but this story has merit as a chapter in the Bullseye/DD legend, and also for its use of Matt’s personal history.

15. Return of the King (Daredevil #116-500). The final arc in the Ed Brubaker/David Aja run, a worthy successor to Brian Michael Bendis, brings back Kingpin and sets up Daredevil as as the leader of The Hand. The reason this is one of the greatest stories ever is the introduction of Master Izo, an immortal ninja who was Stick’s sensei—making him sort of like DD’s grandpaw. Izo’s character is hilarious and scary, and this tale recalls Brubaker/Aja’s amazing work on the Iron Fist title.

14. Devils (Daredevil #169) (Miller/Janson). Not only does Frank Miller make fun of one of the most obnoxious talking heads of his day by renaming Tom Snyder “Tom Snyde,” but this issue manages to show the lighter side of a terrifying, hallucinating, homicidal maniac. In this issue, Bullseye goes on a killing spree when he thinks that everyone he sees is Daredevil. This issue marks the first (of many) times that the reader has to ask: Why is Bullseye still alive, let alone out of prison? Bullseye is to Daredevil what Spike is to Buffy: A perpetual pain in the ass who just can’t seem to disappear.

13. Daredevil vs. Doctor Doom (Fantastic Four #39-40 & Daredevil #37-38). The sole silver age DD tale worth getting, here Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Gene Colan tell the tale of Dredevil switching bodies with Victor Von Doom in a bizarre turn of events that also features Spidey, Thor, and The Trapster. Lots and lots of fun.

12. Blind Alley (Daredevil #163). The one where Daredevil uses his brains to defeat The Hulk. Frank Miller was the artist, and it’s cool to see him draw something you don’t normally think of when it comes to Frank Noir: One long, extended superhero battle in the daylight. And Roger McKenzie, a fairly traditional author, did a good job with the Banner/Hulk sequences.

11. Guts (Daredevil #185). Wherein Foggy Nelson takes over as narrator but has the same internal voice as Daredevil; Turk tries to become a powerbroker; Foggy faces down Wilson Fisk; and all kinds of fun and games ensue. It’s a done-in-one comedy break, but at the same time it advances the storyline and shows that when it comes to women, Matt Murdock is kind of an asshole.

10.  Lowlife (Daredevil #41-45). The big bad here is The Owl selling mutant growth hormone, and we get to see Bendis take on Luke Cage for one of the first times.  But the best part is the introduction of Milla Donavan.  She’s smart, sexy, blind, and Matt’s future wife.  A great little story that relates heavily to the surrounding arcs, but still can be read on its own.

9.  Daredevil: Love and War. This graphic novel, written by Frank Miller and beautifully illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz, is reprinted in “Daredevil By Frank Miller & Klaus Janson Vol. 3,” and the entire book is worth buying just for this story.  (The rest of it is awesome, too, of course.)  Miller’s writing has never been so taut and emotional, and Siekiewicz manages to make water-colors chilling.  It tells the story of how and why Vanessa Fisk left the country for Europe, and marks a high point in both of the creators’ careers.  An important chapter in the life of Daredevil’s mortal enemy, but also in the work of two of the best comic-book creators of the 1980s.

8. The Deadliest Night of My Life!/Blast From the Past (Daredevil #208 and 209). There are a few comics I’ve read more than 20 times. Spider-Man vs. Juggernaut. Uncanny X-Men #143. And Daredevil #208. The tale, written by Harlan Ellison and Arthur Byron Cover with pencils by David Mazzucchelli, concerns a booby-trapped house and a creepy, suicidal “girl” robot. It’s got some of the best non-combat action sequences I’ve ever seen, and it’s just a rollercoaster ride that never lets up. Arguably, this is really just a great adventure book, not a great Daredevil book, but remember: Before Frank Miller, Daredevil was more of a swashbuckler than a street soldier. This story was more in the former tradition. To my knowledge, it, like the rest of Mazzucchelli’s great run on DD, has never been reprinted in color. For shame, Marvel, for shame.

7. The Devil in Cell Block D (Daredevil #82-87). This was Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark’s first DD story (they’d previously worked together on the Noir-ish, amazing, Gotham Central series for DC), and Bendis had really left them in a pickle, with Matt’s secret identity revealed, and the character in prison. The team showed how Matt navigates the dark world, where he’s locked in with all of his enemies. Plus, it’s got Punisher. Note: This is sold in trade as The Devil Inside and Out Volume 1.

6. Out (Daredevil #32-40) (Bendis/Maleev). This makes my list just for the ballsiness of changing Daredevil forever by outing his identity. An amazing story arc that shocked everyone.

5. Born Again (Daredevil #227-233). Frank Miller returns to the character after a several-year hiatus, with David Mazzuchelli on art chores, to tell the story of how Kingpin completely levels Matt Murdock. The character work is tremendous—the best examination of Wilson Fisk since Love and War (see above).  And Miller does it without being dialog-heavy, like Bendis.  This arc accents the difference between the two writers’ styles.  Born Again is the perfect end to Miller’s run.

4. “Child’s Play” (Daredevil #183-184). The two iconic covers–#183 (Punisher shooting Daredevil in the belly) and #184 (DD aiming pistol at the reader with “No More Mister Nice Guy” in huge capital letters)—announced immediately that this was not going to be your every day Daredevil story. Even by Miller/Janson standars, this is pure gold. The story—about kids using PCP—could easily have come off as a morality play, like an afterschool special, but it was handled without condescension. Punisher was a perfect foil for Matt Murdock, particularly in retrospect–knowing where Miller (then Bendis, then Brubaker, then Diggle) would take the character later–and their rooftop dialog on whether justice requires death or prison, is startlingly prescient.  (Note: I’m not the only one to respect these covers–#183 was picked as the second-best DD cover of all time here!)

3. “Underboss: Part One” (Daredevil #26). Bendis and Maleev begin their run by introducing the Machiavellian Mr. Silke and a style of words-complimenting-art/dual storytelling that hadn’t been seen since Miller.  Maleev adds texture, atmosphere, and reality by using photorealistic backgrounds and pervasive, heavy darkness. All of the major themes of the team’s multi-year run are introduced: identity and privacy; the power vacuum left by the departure of Wilson Fiske; and the time-hopping style.  You can’t casually read this. You have to pay attention. Brilliant.

2. Daredevil: Yellow. Back before Jeph Loeb became a Buckheimer hack, he used to be able to write characters. Daredevil: Yellow was part of Loeb’s terrific “color” series, in which Loeb reexamined the motivations for Marvel’s main characters (if you haven’t read Hulk: Grey, do it now). He retold their origins, but from a modern perspective. Here, Daredevil struggles to come to terms with the death of Karen Page. In so doing, Loeb shows how Daredevil went from his generic Silver Age persona to a darker character, more willing to tread the edges of justice.  And Tim Sale is always fantastic. There are few artists whose work alone will make me buy a book, regardless of the content or author, but Sale is one of them.

1. Bullseye Kills Elektra (Daredevil #179-181). Featuring Elektra’s death, the most iconic moment of the Miller run, and the biggest love-to-hate moment since the death of Phoenix, it’s easy to forget that Elektra “killed” Ben Urich during this story as well. And Bullseye figured out that Matt was Daredevil. And Bullseye ambiguously “fell” when Matt “lost his grip.” There was a lot going on here, and it’s definitely the ultimate Daredevil story of all time.

Tags: Comic books, Daredevil

THE TOP 10 MINOR CHARACTERS IN COMICS

Posted on July 26th, 2010 by ekko

This week, I’m introducing a new feature of “top 10s” (or “Top 20s” or “Top 5s” as the case may be) for the comic world.  I hope to be publishing one a week, but I may be getting ahead of myself.

This week, my ten favorite non-powered bit players.  In other words, minor characters.  Aunt May?  Lois Lane?  Foggy Nelson?  Too major for this list.  They’ve got to be someone you might see a few times a year, or who might appear in a few pages every couple months, and who rarely if ever gets a full story.

Here’s my list; drop me a comment and tell me who I missed!

10.  Jeryn Hogarth (Marvel). The lawyer for Iron Fist made many appearances in the classic 1970s title, “Power Man and Iron Fist,” always trying to keep the boys in line and get them to go on actual paying gigs.  Sometimes, Hogarth was the only indicator that the duo was actually trying to run a business, not just be superheroes.  First appearance: Iron Fist #14.

9.  Terror the Dog (Dynamite). In Garth Ennis’ gritty and often pornographic series, The Boys, Terror can always be counted on for a laugh.  Especially when he’s sexually assaulting cats on rooftops and/or the legs of people that his master, Butcher, doesn’t like.  First appearance: The Boys #1.

8.  Bambi Arbogast (Marvel). Tony Stark’s heavy-set, no-nonsense executive assistant during the Bob Layton years.  She was like Moneypenny from James Bond, which helped establish the “secret agent” vibe that Layton brought to the series.  First appearance: Iron Man #118.

7.  Malcolm Powder (Marvel). That persistent “kid” who kept annoying Jessica Jones in the pages of Brian Michael Bendis’ brilliant Alias series.  Malcom’s groupie worship was the perfect foil for Jessica’s neurotic insecurity.  First appearance: Alias #6.

6.  Bertrand Crawley (Marvel). A homeless man who provides information to The Moon Knight, Crawley was great because he drank tea with his pinkie up and spoke with an affected air, while Bill Sienkiewicz always drew him with flies all around him.  First appearance: Marvel Spotlight #28.

5.  Space Cabbie (D.C.). He’s a dude with an old beat up spacecraft.  The idea is so stupid, it’s funny.  He appears in random books at random times, making him a bit player for an entire universe, not just a single title.  First appearance: Mystery in Space #21.

4.  Eugene “Flash” Thompson (Marvel). Flash was the bully who helped inspire Spider-Man.  My only qualm with this character is that recently they made him all sympathetic by showing him as a veteran with a double amputee.  We aren’t supposed to like this guy!  First appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15.

3.  Harvey Bullock (D.C.). Bullock might be considered a major player in some storylines, but mostly he’s just a rough, brutal, bribe-taking cop with a heart of gold.  His character is so interesting that he made it into Tim Burton’s film, and was a semi-major player in Gotham Central, where was revealed to be an alcoholic.

Turk even got an action figure!

2.  Fabian Stankowicz (Marvel). A good bit player should bring something new to the table, and Stanky, who won the lottery and built the “Mechano-Marauder” fit the bill.  In his first appearance, in Avengers #217, he stands between the heroes and the door to the mansion, and each character must “defeat” him to gain access.  But most simply ignore him and go around his unwieldy weapon, which eventually sinks under its own weight.  Hilarious.

1.  Turk Barrett (Marvel). The rat fink from the docks who’d sell out Kingpin just to avoid a beatdown from Daredevil was often the source of comic relief in a series that desperately needed it, being that the main character is constantly beset with ills and maladies.  A lot of folks may not realize it, but Turk dates back to 1970 when he first appeared in Daredevil #69!  Haven’t seen nearly enough of Turk lately.  Hey, Andy Diggle, bring Turk back!

Tags: Comic books, Daredevil, The Caped Crusader

MUTIES AND GODS AND MACHETES, OH MY! Your weekly comicworld news.

Posted on July 21st, 2010 by ekko

1.  X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. Of all the upcoming cape flicks, this is the one I’m second-most-looking-forward-to (first is Avengers, natch!).  Despite the title, the film will include not just the original 5 muties from the Stan Lee era, but also will have Banshee, Magneto (of course), Emma Frost, and Havok.

2.  ULTIMATE THOR. The “Ultimates” line used to be the gold standard for Marvel comic storytelling.  The relaunch, not so much.  But one of the most interesting, complex authors of our time, Jonathan Hickman, is beginning work on an Ultimate Thor title.  With art by Pacheco, I just don’t see how this can be bad.

3.  SHADOWLAND. I’ve read some pretty mediocre reviews for the debut of Marvel’s street-level, post-Siege, summer “event,” titled Shadowland, and I disagree with all of them.  It blew me away.  The new Daredevil costume is wicked cool, Andy Diggle did a terrific job at setting up the series as a stand-alone, so you don’t have to know what’s been going in the pages of Daredevil to understand it, but at the same time he made the book flow at a breakneck pace.  And Billy Tan might not be the best choice for this, but he’s still very good.  (Yeah, Maleev or De La Torre would have been terrific, but Tan’s no slouch.)  All in all, I can’t wait for the next one.  Of course, I’m a complete Daredevil whore.  I even bought that terrible Luke Cage/Daredevil Cagematch one shot from last month.  Ugh.

4.  THE END OF BRAND NEW DAY. If you’ve read my blog for any period of time, you know I’m a big fan of the thrice-monthly, rotating creative team behind Amazing Spider-Man, Brand New Day.  It was a great way to reconcile Marvel’s desire to make money with the character by publishing multiple appearances every month with the chaos that came from having several different Spider-titles, each with ongoing story arcs.  Marvel is putting a period on this experiment, however, with issue #647.  That will be a giant-size story with contributions from all the creative people who have worked on Brand New Day over the previous 100 issues.  The title will then go twice a month with one writer (Dan Slott).  Twice monthly is definitely enough Spider-Man (take note, Deadpool!), but my fear is that we’ll start to see a rising number of companion books, like the lame and poorly selling Peter Parker monthly.

5.  THE PREVIEWS BEFORE PREDATORS. Predators didn’t suck.  But it wasn’t great, either.  The big problem for me was Adrien Brody trying to sound like Clint Eastwood.  It would have been a lot better with a real “action hero” type in the lead.  But it was a solid release.  Best thing, though, was the preview for Robert Rodriguez’s next film: Machete.  Now, that looks awesome.

6.  R.E.D. (Retired—Extremely Dangerous). DC Comics seems to be making movies based on its imprint books more than its major heroes.  Another one is coming out in October, starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren (in an action role!), Morgan Freeman, and others.  It looks like it’s gonna be a scream.

7.  RUNAWAYS. And speaking of film projects about lesser-known comics, Marvel is ready to begin filming the Runaways movie at the beginning of 2011. The comic is a pretty cool book by Brian K. Vaughan (Ex Machina) and Adrian Alphona about six children of supervillains who become superheroes and try to defeat their parents.  Yeah, it’s borderline Oedipal, but it worked for the first several issues, at least.  And Vaughan wrote the movie script.

8.  3D THOR AND CAPTAIN AMERICA. Yeah, they’ll be 3D.  Headaches abound.  But this pic is pretty cool.

9.  BATMAN #701. And last but not least, this week Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel produced Batman #701, which fills the gap between Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis, explaining how Bruce survived the helicopter crash at the end of R.I.P. only to be R.I.P. at the end of Crisis.  I always suspected Morrison intended to kill Batman in the ‘copter explosion, but D.C. wanted their Crisis to end with a bang so they made Bats survive, without explanation, only to get “murdered” by Darkseid.  I can’t prove it, but that’s always been my hunch.  Otherwise, why was that storyline called “Batman R.I.P.”?

Tags: Captain America, Daredevil, Filthy Muties, Thor

BEST RE-MAKE OF A COMIC CHARACTER: THE ALSO RANS

Posted on July 1st, 2010 by ekko

Continuing from yesterday’s megapost, today we have the not-quites…..

First, the ones who were bubbling under.  It took 19 votes out of the 200 to make the top 10, and these just didn’t make the cut—but I was surprised they didn’t get more attention:

Ed Brubaker/Matt Fraction/David Aja’s Iron Fist (2 votes)
JMS’s Thor (3 votes)
John Byrne’s Superman: 15 votes (oooh!  So close!)
Grant Morrison’s Batman: 4 votes (a shocker, by the way—I thought it’d be a lot more)
Barr/Boland’s King Arthur (Camelot 3000): 2 votes

And now, my personal top 10. I tried to pick the runs that most engaged me with characters who previously I found boring, or who I’d never bother to read about before, in addition to being transformative for the titular hero.  It was hard to limit myself to 10.  Like, I took Garth Ennis’ Punisher off my list because although the run is one of my favorite runs ever, it didn’t really change my understanding of the character.  Ennis just told great stories about him.
Here’s my list: I only wrote a blurb if the run didn’t make it on the list of the “real” winners.

10.  Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s X-Men (2004-2007) (6 votes)
Astonishing X-Men 1-24

I’d given up on the X-Men right about the time Claremont brought the Morlocks in.  It was just too much—the stories were frayed, there were a million characters to know about, and then this book came along.  I’d give this props based solely on their portrayal of the Danger Room, using the computer to tell the best evolution story in the history of science fiction.  After reading the “Danger” story arc, I finally understood how a computer could become self-aware.  And talk about reinvention—Whedon made a room into a character!  The characterizations of Kitty Pryde (and her relationship with the resurrected Collossus) and The Beast were tremendously powerful—as three-dimensional and touching as Whedon’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer series.  The entire run has recently been collected in a beautiful hardcover.  Oh, and John Cassaday’s artwork.  There, I mentioned it.  It’s . . . astonishing.

9.  Bob Layton and David Michelinie’s Iron Man (1978-1989) (zero votes)
Iron Man #114-157, 215-250

Really?  Not a single vote for the man most responsible for the Tony Stark in the Iron Man movie?  The first run is better than the second, but I think I like them both better than even Matt Fraction’s terrific, current work.  Why?  Four words: Demon in a bottle.  Why else?  James Rhodes, Justin Hammer,  Stealth Armor, Ant Man, Iron Man versus Hulk, Doctor Doom, the Mandroids, War Machine, Machine Man . . . That’s enough, innit?

8.  Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis’s Justice League (1986-89) (1 vote)
Justice League #1-6, Justice League International #7-25, Justice League of America #26-60.

Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis took a bunch of lame characters (Black Canary , Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Mister Miracle, etc.) who either didn’t have their own books or whose books were on the edge of cancellation and made them a team.  A good team.  And, usually, a hilarious team.  In the first issue of their run, they set the tone with Batman punching Guy Gardner in the nose.  Possibly the most famous punch in comic book history?  Not only did they reinvent the hero-team dynamic, but they managed to give personalities to folks who had previously been little more than concept-heavy ciphers (like Martian Manhunter and Captain “Shazam” Marvel).  It’s a crime that this book never got an omnibus.

7.  Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz’s Moon Knight (1980-84) (2 votes)
Moon Knight 1-38

Of course, it was Sienkiewicz who was the reason I loved this book.  As it progresses, we see his art transform from “standard” styles clearly influenced by Gene Colan into the more abstract, conceptual work he would perfect on works like his Elektra miniseries with Frank Miller.  The Moon Knight book never sold well, and for a while it was a direct-market exclusive, but there was never a book I looked forward to more as a kid.  Previous appearances of MK were as a novelty act in Werewolf By Night and Marvel Spotlight.  In his own book, he got a much more elaborate backstory and went from being the poor-man’s Batman to a full-fledged, fully functional schizophrenic.

6.  Walt Simonson’s Thor (1983-1986) (12 votes)
Thor #337—382

What made Walt Simonson’s Thor so great?  Well, he started by bringing in Beta Ray Bill, which was an invention and not a reinvention, but the character served as the perfect foil for the usually-better-than-everyone-else Thor.  It injected new life into an extremely stale series, and also gave Simonson the opportunity to explore Thor’s relationship with his father and other Asgardians.  For the first time ever, Thor was a fully realized character, not just a big hippie with a hammer who could beat up anybody else on the planet.  Plus, Thor into a frog.  And if that ain’t reinvention, I don’t know what is.

5.  John Byrne’s She Hulk/Fantastic Four (1983-1986) (6 votes)
Fantastic Four #232-293

Ejecting Thing was a bold step.  But even bolder was introducing cheesecake pin-up gal She Hulk as a feminist who wasn’t afraid to sunbathe topless on the Baxter Building.  She Hulk actually became interesting under Byrne’s run.  It’s possible that without it, she would have disappeared from the Marvel Universe forever.  Like Teen Hulk.  But Byrne also got votes for his work with the F4 in general, turning Sue into a woman (she changed her name from Invisible Girl to Invisible Woman); forcing Reed to come to terms with the indirect consequences of his interdimensional meddling by bringing him to court in an alien world; having Johnny date a future herald of Galacus; and making Superman-with-a-mohawk rip-off Gladiator, of the Shi’ar Empire, the foe in issue #250.  Perhaps the greatest fight sequence ever to grace The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.

4.  Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s Dick Grayson. (#10 on the “real” list)

(This run was the inspiration for this entire idea for this post, actually.)

3.  Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing (1983-1987) (#2 on the “real list)

2.  Roger Stern and John Romita Jr.’s Amazing Spider-Man (1983-1984) (3 votes)
Amazing Spider-Man #224-252

I suspect this didn’t get more votes because it has NEVER BEEN REPRINTED IN COLOR.  Shame on you, Marvel.  This run includes the greatest Spider story ever told (Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut); introduces The Hobgoblin and the Black Costume; and included the “Kid Who Collects Spider-Man.”  Stern also tended to focus on side-characters and villains, adding a depth to the Spider books that I hadn’t experienced before.  It was a like an entire world was created—one that existed even when Spider-Man wasn’t on screen.  A run of pure genius that transformed Peter Parker into a three dimensional, sensitive 1970s man.

1.  Frank Miller, with Klaus Janson and David Mazzucchelli, on Daredevil (#3 on the “real” list)

Tags: Comic books, Daredevil, Filthy Muties, Frank Miller, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Swamp Thing, Thor

THE TOP 10 REDEFINING CHARACTER RUNS (MARVEL/DC)

Posted on June 30th, 2010 by ekko

Call it a retcon.  Call it a reboot.  Call it a revamp.  Just don’t call it a comeback.  I asked for your votes a few weeks ago on the writer and/or artist who most “redefined” a character.  The main criterion was that the character had to be someone else’s creation, not their own.  Between e-mail and blog comments I got about forty responses, with a total of about 200 votes for various characters.  Of course, many books got just a few (or even a single) vote.  Some were worthy of more (which I’ll discuss tomorrow in my also-rans/runners up post).  Others . . . Not so much.  (Did “Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth” really reinvent that character?  And Jeph Loeb’s General Ross/Red Hulk?  Really?!?)

To paraphrase Jeff Probst: I’ve tallied the votes.  The votes have been announced, the decision is final.  But feel free to drop a comment about who is missing . . . But you might want to wait.  Tomorrow, I’ll run an also-rans post.  Please come back!  Read!  Stumble!  Digg!

Here’s the TOP 10 CHARACTER REBOOTS!

10.  Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s Dick Grayson (1980-1986). 
Votes: 19 (all votes for Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans were counted here)
Run: The New Teen Titans 1-50; New Teen Titans (oversized, glossy book) 1-5.

It always confused me back when I was a lad that a guy named “Marv” worked for D.C.  But I’m glad he did.  The Teen Titans of the Silver Age were a group of obvious spin-offs and sidekicks, led by their poster-child, Robin.  The reboot included a few original characters (Raven, Starfire, Cyborg), it also took on some of the most cliché characters of the DCU.  It was intended to be D.C.’s response to Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men reboot (and the rumor is that Claremont was offered the project in 1986, right about the time Wolfman was fired from D.C.).

Throughout the course of the book, Wolfman and Perez added depth to these characters—Wally West struggled with becoming a man, and eventually became Kid Flash.  Wonder Girl didn’t struggle against her role as a hero and junior Goddess, but she did struggle with having powers and loving a “normal” guy.  Changeling/Beast Boy rebelled against his own dark past and Doom Patrol roots, which, like his teammate Raven, kept coming back to haunt him.  But nobody grew and changed more than Robin.  Over the course of the series, we saw Dick Grayson go from boy to man, eventually turning into Nightwing.  More importantly, we see how the process of maturing as part of a team makes him a better leader than his mentor, Batman, which has had a clear effect on his relationship with the new Robin in Grant Morrison’s current title.  You won’t go wrong scooping up reprints of these books—I treasure my original, single issues, and have read (and re-read) them
with my kids over and over.  The book is also the inspiration for Teen Titans Go!, one of the best supercartoon series of all time.

9.  Ed Brubaker’s Captain America (2005-Present).
Votes: 22 (for either Cap, Bucky, or Winter Soldier)
Run: Captain America 1-50, Captain America 600-Present.

Whether it is with Steve Epting, Luke Ross, or even Butch Guice, Brubaker’s vision of the flag-waving hero represents the first cynical version of Marvel’s most hopeful hero.  Talk about change: In the first story arc, Brubaker killed off Cap’s greatest foe, the Red Skull, leaving Cap a little rudderless.  Then, of course, he killed Steve Rogers and replaced him with Bucky Barnes, after reinventing the “dead” character as an anti-American agent (Winter Soldier).  So clearly this was a complete reinvention of the hero, down to the molecular level!  Not only has Brubaker’s run redefined the “look” of the series from a star-spangled herofest into a dark, noir-y spy book, but Brubaker’s intricate plotting is evident from issue one.  Careful re-readers, with the benefit of hindsight, can already tell what the future will hold for Steve Rogers.  This was an absolutely brilliant reinvention of a character who wasn’t dark enough for Marvel’s pseudo-realistic universe of the 2000s.

8.  J. Michael Straczynski’s Spider-Man (2007)
Votes: 26
Run: Amazing Spider-Man 544-545, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 24, Sensational Spider-Man 41.

During his 6-year run, JMS restored The Amazing Spider-Man to its rightful place as one of Marvel’s tentpole comic books.  He started with “The Spider-Totem,” which provided magic as an alternative to radioactivity as the basis for Spidey’s powers, but after that he got good.  Aunt May discovered that her nephew was really a superhero, Mary Jane married him, he got a new suit of armor and was unmasked.  Although I do agree with one voter, who signed his e-mail “Goat Boy,” that JMS’ run wasn’t really reinventive until the final, One More Day story arc, because all the invention that came before it was basically erased.  I have to agree, and described it thusly, above.  I think this got votes because people liked the run, not because it constituted a reinvention of the character.

7.  Garth Ennis’ Punisher (2001-2008)
30 votes
Run: Just get the Punisher Omnibus volumes.  There’s three different series and several one-shots all told.

Let’s get one thing straight: Other than the two-issue Frank Miller “Angel Dust” story in the pages of Daredevil, I never liked Punisher.  He was basically a really pissed off Batman who used guns and wasn’t nearly as smart.  Enter Garth Ennis’s relaunch with (one of my least favorite artists) Steve Dillon on a brilliant maxi-series called “Welcome Back, Frank,” that attempted to explain why there had been no Punisher comics for so long.  The team went on to the darkly comical Marvel Knights series, which was solid as well, during which Dillon left the book.  At was at that time that Ennis moved the book to Punisher MAX, and the true redefinition began.  He took a gritty, dark, cinematic approach to the character, which focused more on the evil-doers than the vigilante himself.  Each story arc got worse, too, moving from drugs to prostitution to terrorism to desecration of Frank Castles’ family gravesite, and each villain grew increasingly evil.  We thus gained an understanding of Punisher’s motivation, and a sympathy for his hopeless, antisocial, violent world view.  These MAX books have been collected in a series of oversized volumes, and even though they’re a little more pricey than the paperbacks, I highly recommend them.  The artwork, by folks like Leandro Fernandez, Howard Chaykin, Richard Corben, and Goran Parlov, is brilliantly reproduced, and the larger size gives the book an even greater sense of drama.  This is probably one of my favorite series of all time.

6.  Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern (2004-present)
31 votes
Run:  Green Lantern: Rebirth #1-6, Green Lantern #1-present

Other than Frank Miller’s portrayal of GL as a patsy in All Star Batman, I have never liked—or even made it all the way through—a Green Lantern story.  This run made me care about him for the first time.  It also wove-in existing legend without leaving new readers (like me) in the dark.  A very good example of renewing old history for the benefit of comic-nerds by creating a story that is full of lore and arcane facts, but still new-user-friendly.

5.  Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s Daredevil (2001-2006)
36 votes
Run: Daredevil #26-81

A no-brainer.  If you haven’t read, or re-read, this run in a while, it’s time to do it again.  I think they’re re-collecting it again this year, so it’s a perfect time to get it.  Even knowing what will happen to our hero at the end won’t spoil the tale.  And not only did they transform Daredevil by focusing more on Matt than the suit, but they transformed a whole bunch of B-listers like White Tiger and Foggy Nelson and Iron Fist and Power Man and . . . The list goes on.  A run that is arguably as good as Frank Miller’s (but not as action-packed), and that was head-and-shoulders above any other long-form story of its decade.  Incidentally, Ed Brubaker’s run got only two votes, and I agree. I loved that run, but all it really did was continue the downward slide that Bendis started.  Brubaker was a worthy successor, but he didn’t change the direction of the character.

4.  Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men/Wolverine (1975-1985)
44 votes
Run:  Giant-sized X-Men #1, Uncanny X-Men 94-192; Wolverine 1-4 (with Frank Miller)

There were many votes for Claremont’s revisions of particular members of the team.  The most common vote was Wolverine, but Cyclops got two votes for turning him from milksop to strategist, and Jean Grey got 5 votes for, well, dying and all.  Quite a few people mentioned runs with specific artists (Byrne/Cockrum/Romita, Jr.).  But I’m collapsing it all together into this one category.  X-Men was perhaps the defining comic book of the early 1980s, and in it Claremont reinvented tired old characters like Cyclops and Xavier; turned Wolverine from a kinda silly character into a samurai/ninja/Marvel-money-making-machine; and turned Jean Grey into Phoenix, one of the most transformative reinventions in comic book history.  And then he killed her.  If you’re going to make a list of iconic recreations of classic characters, this has to be number one.  Period.  Claremont has recently returned to the book with X-Men Forever, which is actually pretty good, but his style (words over pictures, tell don’t show) is harder to translate in the modern, slicker medium.  The art from has grown, but Claremont hasn’t.  Too bad.
3.  Frank Miller, with Klaus Janson and David Mazzucchelli,-Daredevil (1979-1983; 1985-86)
51 votes.
Run: Daredevil 163-191, 227-233.  (Frank Miller did three issues solely as penciler before taking over the writing duties.  I’m not counting those issues, as they do not reflect Miller’s vision.)

Miller’s run begins with a new “look”—something bridged the gap between the sketchy work of Gene Colan (the previous artist), whose characters often seem squat or low to the ground, but with more shadow and movement.  Miller’s pencils are like dances, with the character’s movement from panel-to-panel sketched with ballet-like detail.  Klaus Janson, a brilliant artist on his own, played Dave Grohl to Miller’s Kurt Cobain, allowing Miller to define the look of the book but punctuating the sketches with powerful, bold inks.  Like most iconic runs, Miller’s Daredevil was marked as much by the supporting cast as by the titular star.  Elektra.  The Hand.  Stick and Stone.  The use of Foggy as the perfect foil for Matt Murdock: A man afraid of everything, but highly competent behind a desk.  The repurposing of Bullseye from a pretty standard, one-note enemy to a driven psychopath determined to rise up the hierarchy of the underworld.  And, of course, the complete hijack of Kingpin from a big fat strong guy who could fight Spider-Man to a coldly calculating underworld leader with eyes everywhere.  Oh, and Turk, of course.  Turk, the thug who gets beat up in just about every issue, bounced (literally) off of Daredevil’s hard-boiled, no-nonsense attitude to bring a sense of humor to the darkest comic of its time, but also to show DD’s human side.  DD clearly sympathizes with the minor tough on some level: Turk is an underdog, just as Murdock is really a minor player in Marvel’s “big” New York superhero universe.  Miller also added some depth to Murdock in the classic “Guts” story, in which DD watches over an adventure starring Foggy Nelson, letting his best friend feel powerful while protecting him from the shadows.  It was stories like this that made us feel like we knew Matt Murdock—he wasn’t just some cipher who had to put on a costume to be interesting. Then, after his history-making run, Miller returned to completely break Daredevil down into nothing, dissolving his secret identity and reducing the character into a bit player in his own book.  The second Miller run plants the seeds for Brian Michael Bendis’ run, in which the lines between hero and secret identity break down completely.

Frank Miller’s Daredevil transformed the comic book world, and after it, nothing was the same.  There’s a good reason he’s got two titles in this top 10 list: He may be a pain the ass, but he’s a genius.

2.  Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing (1983-1987)
53 votes.
Run: Swamp Thing 20-58, 60-61, 63-64.

I recently did a long piece about Moore’s reimagining of this classic Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson character.  The work wasn’t just good for Swamp Thing—it was good for comics in general.  Moore and a series of artists including Veitch, Bissette and Totleben revolutionized horror comics by taking them away from shock/TnA and revolutionized the anti-hero by making a plant . . . Human.  Through this series, Moore retold the origin (but this time, instead of a human becoming a plant, we saw a plant becoming a human), and took fringe characters like Phantom Stranger, Deadman, and Demon and made them relevant—and, more than that, gave them unique personalities and depth.  He also forced us to reconsider established heroes like the JLA and Batman (who is portrayed as a vicious bully when positioned against the sympathetic, heart-broken, but raging Swamp Thing).  Yeah, this entry is to give credit to Moore’s vision of Swamp Thing himself, but as everyone from Jerry Seinfeld to Kermit the Frog knows, a star is only as good as his supporting cast.

1.  Frank Miller’s Batman (1986-87)
76 votes.
Run: The Dark Knight Returns (inks by Klaus Janson); Batman 404-407 (“Year One”) (with art by David Mazzucchelli); Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again.

It won’t be clear for a long time—perhaps ever—if the Batman of Miller’s Dark Knight is the Batman of the DCU, but it does seem apparent that Batman: Year One is in the “regular” continuity, so Miller’s Batman qualifies for this list.  Moreover, his vision and revision of the hero received a staggering amount of votes—nearly everyone gave credit where credit is due—to the man made the Batman’s peculiar form of psychosis make sense.  These three stories have been collected and recollected at least a dozen times over.  If you don’t own them, you should be able to get  them pretty cheap on Amazon.  All-Star Batman is pretty damn good, too, but it does not appear to be part of the regular DCU so, like Marvel’s “Ultimate” universe, it’s disqualified under my kind of random rules.

Tomorrow: The Also Rans!!!

Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Daredevil, Filthy Muties, Frank Miller, Punisher, Swamp Thing, The Caped Crusader

THE STATE OF HELL’S KITCHEN FINEST: DAREDEVIL.

Posted on June 17th, 2010 by ekko

One of the few books I still buy in issue form is Daredevil.  I also just finished re-reading the entire Bendis-through-Brubaker runs.  It’s some of the best work you’ll ever read.  The Bendis run is best read in chunks because nothing much seems to happen in any one single issue, despite the fact that the art is groundbreaking and the “wordless” issue, early in the run, is fantastic.  But over the course of the run, the story develops inexorably, gradually, and surprisingly.  It’s longform storytelling unlike anything in comics (other than, perhaps, Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead).  Through his term, Bendis brought Murdock to his knees, exposing his dual identity to the world (way before Civil War got the idea) and gradually turning him from a morally “chaotic good” character in to a chaotic neutral one.  At the end of the run, Bendis put DD in jail.  Which is where Ed Brubaker came in.  Now frankly, I think they could have kept DD in jail a lot longer—I think there were a lot of story elements that could have been explored there—but Ed’s run is solid nevertheless.  He continued to show Murdock’s slide down the moral scale, ending by positioning him as the head of his lifelong enemies—and Elektra’s compatriots—The Hand.  That’s where current writer Andy Diggle signed on.  Diggle is doing a good job so far—he may actually be better than Brubaker.

But here’s the rub: It’s so good, the editors have noticed.  And never ones to leave money on the table, Marvel will be expanding the brand in July to include, “Shadowland” and “Shadowland: Blood on the Streets.”  It’s kind of annoying, frankly, because I feel like I’m being forced to buy more stuff.  It may make me go to trades on DD.  I can’t tell if reading the Shadowland books will be essential to understanding the main title.  But griping to one side, the various series actually look like they’re going to be great.  I love “street” stories, and that’s what it’s all about.  For those who don’t know, Daredevil is now the leader of The Hand, and he is cleaning all the corruption that Osborn allowed into Hells Kitchen during Dark Reign.  In so doing, he’s built a prison under the city for all the folks he captures.

Blood on the Streets will be written by Antony Johnston and penciled by Wellinton Alves, and will feature the intriguing line up of Misty Knight, Paladin, Shroud and Silver Sable.  The crew are trying to stop Daredevil’s Hand from killing unconvicted mobsters.  For the uninitiated: Misty has a bionic arm and sword and was a partner of Power Man and Iron Fist back when.  She also appeared in the Iron Fist series by Brubaker and Fraction.  Paladin’s name tells you pretty much what you need to know about him.  Shroud is a mystical dude who is kinda like Cloak, and Silver Sable is a karate kinda character from wayback.

Marvel also revealed that Elektra Natchios will figure into the main “Shadowland” story and will even get her own one-shot, “Shadowland: Elektra,” written by Zeb Wells.  Zeb did a decent job on the “Dark Reign: Elektra” mini, but I wouldn’t say that that series was a total keeper.  The book will also feature Bullseye and the great old drunken ninja, Master Izo—one of my favorite Brubaker characters.

So, there’s certainly good talent lined up here for the various series and tie-ins.  But it’s not clear how much they’ll tie in with the main DD book.  Diggle has revealed that Murdock won’t appear in “Blood on the Streets,” but clearly the Hand will be in there.  Marvel has made some disastrous continuity screw ups lately, revealing in tie-ins the endings of Siege #4 and Heroic Age #2 before those books came out—let’s hope they figure it all out here.  And let’s hope Shadowland/Blood can be read on their own merits as well.  Because I intend to wait for the trade collection to read it.

Tags: Comic books, Daredevil

WHO SHOULD WIN THE EISNER AWARDS?

Posted on April 20th, 2010 by ekko

The prestigious (for comics anyway) Eisner awards have been nominated, and, of course, I haven’t read most of the books on there because I mostly read capes, and mostly Marvel at that, and the Eisners tend to be about indie creativity rather than mainstream popularity or hot-fun action. But that doesn’t stop me from having some opinions about some of the major categories . . .

Best Limited Series or Story Arc.

Nominees: Blackest Night (DC); Incognito, (Marvel Icon); Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka (VIZ Media); “Old Man Logan” story arc (Marvel); The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Marvel).

First of all, I haven’t read “Pluto,” so it shouldn’t win. And at the risk of committing sacrilege, I like Brubaker’s superhero work but his crime comics leave me a little cold, so that takes out Incognito. Blackest Night was a lot of fun, but the first three (and a half) issues were lengthy exposition that made for good reading only if you were a DC Nerd of the highest order. And it’s final payoff—that DC won’t resurrect dead people anymore—is completely unbelievable. I’ve only read parts of Old Man Logan, and I loved what I saw, but I have to go with Oz. Eric Shanower’s knowledge of the original books is bottomless, and he managed to create original characters here that didn’t simply crib from the iconic film. And Skottie Young’s art is some of the best kid-friendly but adult-savvy art I’ve ever seen. And I do mean EVER. If you haven’t picked this up just for the pictures alone, shame on you. I’d also pick Oz for the Best Publication for Kids category, but Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, another nominee, is a very close second.

What should have been nominated: Tony Stark’s mind melting story, or Geoff Johns’ Adventure Comics run, even though that one had a few missteps.

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

Nominees: Brave & the Bold #28: “Blackhawk and the Flash: Firing Line” (DC); Captain America #601: “Red, White, and Blue-Blood” (Marvel); Ganges #3 (Fantagraphics); The Unwritten #5: “How the Whale Became” (Vertigo/DC); Usagi Yojimbo #123: “The Death of Lord Hikiji” (Dark Horse).

I don’t have a lot to say here because I haven’t read any of these except Cap, but I can safely say: Pick any of these except that one. I know it was a big deal to bring Gene Colan back, but all it did was remind me why I wasn’t so crazy about him in the first place.

Best Writer

Nominees: Ed Brubaker for Captain America, Daredevil, Marvels Project, Criminal, Incognito; Geoff Johns for Adventure Comics, Blackest Night, The Flash: Rebirth, Superman: Secret Origin; James Robinson for Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC); Mark Waid for Irredeemable, The Incredibles; and Bill Willingham for Fables.

This is the toughest category for me to pick. I’ve never been a huge Fables fan (I like it, but don’t get what all the hype is about), and ditto everything Mark Waid has ever done, so those two are easy to eliminate. Justice League hasn’t been good since the second nominee in this category left the book, so that leaves just two: Ed and Geoff. Both are great, and both are nominated for great work. But I’m giving the edge to Ed because he took his characters to places they’d never been before and, at the end of the day, Blackest Night didn’t change much about the DCU.   It resurrected a few characters, but there wasn’t any development of those characters.

Who should have been in this category: Garth Ennis, Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis.

Best Continuing Series
Nominees: Fables, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy et al. (Vertigo/DC); Irredeemable, by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (BOOM!); Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media); The Unwritten, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC); The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard (Image).

The answer here is so obvious it’s painful. The Walking Dead is like nothing you’ve ever read before: A long form story, with no obvious arcs or cliffhangers. It’s real life. With zombies.

What should have been here: The Boys, New Avengers, Batman and Robin.

Tags: Blackest Night, Captain America, Daredevil, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man, The Caped Crusader, Zombies

15 COMICS THAT NEED TO BE BROUGHT TO LIFE . . . Now!

Posted on January 7th, 2010 by ekko

Note: This list eschews the obvious (Justice League!), the pretty-far-along (Deadpool!) and the already done (even if you sucked, you were Superman, Brandon!) in favor of those books that need their adaptations developed NOW! As always, I favor capes over clothes and lean heavily towards Marvel and DC. Those are my personal biases. If you don’t like it, start your own blog.

15. The Falcon.

Medium: Movie.

Pitch: Like Batman, only with a poor black dude.

Dream lead: Derek Luke (Antoine Fisher)

Dream director: John Singleton

For the final 15^th slot, I struggled between Falcon, Green Arrow, and Moon Knight—all street vigilantes with solid box office potential. None of these would be huge films, but they’d do at least as well as Punisher—especially if they were handled better. I settled on Falcon because Green Arrow has cornball potential and Moon Knight is just too close to Batman. I still think the schizophrenic aspects of Moon Knight is ripe fodder for a brilliant, creative screenwriter, but The Falcon would also fill the too-small niche of African American superheroes, and films for an African American lead. I’d base the story around the great Falcon miniseries from the 1980s, which featured a Sentinel and Electro, and I’d definitely avoid a long, drawn out origin. It could even tie-in with Iron Man, if Marvel wanted to include Tony Stark as a co-designer of Falcon’s costume, or, more obviously, with Captain America. But with the economy being what it is, a movie with a ghetto-based antihero might be just what the doctor ordered.

14. ‘Mazing Man.

Medium: Art film.

Pitch: Iron Man for the indie crowd.

Dream lead: Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory)

Dream director: Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) or Zach Braff (Garden State)

‘Mazing Man was a charming little book that ran for one year way back in 1986. Published by D.C. and created by Bob Rozakis and Stephen DeStefano, it told the story of Sigfried Horatio Hunch III, a crazy midget from Queens who wore a yellow helmet, cape, boots and gloves, and red-polka-dotted boxers, and did good deeds like irritating guidos and teaching children to speak respectfully to their elders. ‘Maze’s best friend was a talking dog named Denton who was a comic book creator–something they never really bothered to explain. The book was so great that even Frank Miller agreed to do a cover. But it didn’t help. The book was cancelled quick. It would make a beautiful chick-flick superhero movie—maybe starring that Harry Potter kid. Note: If they make this film, better include the Letters to the Editor page. ‘Cause I had several printed, under my former nom-de-plume, “Nage.” Now go out-nerd me.

13. Power Pack.

Medium: Animated film or cartoon series.

Pitch: The Incredibles, with space action.

Dream studio: Pixar.

Perfect for kids, Power Pack launched in the 1980s to some success, and were recently rebooted in serialized mini-series that team the four kids up with various Marvel heroes. The simple tale is right out of Pixar: Dense scientist dad and mom kidnapped by aliens, white-horselike alien gives powers to their offspring, kids go into space and save the day.

12. Young Daredevil

Medium: Ongoing T.V. series on Fox.

Pitch: It could fill the void that was first occupied by Buffy, then Smallville.

Dream creator: JJ Abrams (Alias)

Okay, hear me out. The Daredevil movie flopped because it sucked, not because character can’t resonate with American audiences. A reboot would be great on its own. But what I’d really like to see is a series focusing on young DD. It could start with his accident, and show how he learns as a young man to adapt to having his powers in the “real world” of teenagers. If this idea sounds too lame for you, then I’d offer the Power Man and Iron Fist movie. But honestly, I don’t see that going anywhere, either.

11. Boris the Bear

Medium: TV (Adult Swim)

Pitch: Like Robot Chicken and Mr. Bill, but more violent.

Dream lead: Teddy Ruxpin

Dream director: The manager of a Chicago slaughterhouse.

Boris the Bear was a little black-and-white book about a teddy bear with a machine gun who basically went from panel to panel murdering lame rip offs of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Tell me Tim and Eric couldn’t do something with this concept. It’s like Monty Python’s knight-with-a-rubber-chicken, only way more bloody and violent. In fact, it could end with a giant foot crushing everything on screen.

10. Dreadstar

Medium: Sci Fi summer film.

Pitch: Star Wars meets Starship Troopers.

Dream lead: Russell Crowe

A man whose praises are too-often undersung, Jim Starlin created Dreadstar for Marvel’s first big imprint line, Epic Comics. Vanth Dreadstar was a blonde goateed swashbuckler who wore a blue hoodie and fought an evil empire that threatened to take over the universe. Although it trod ground familiarly plowed by George Lucas, it had enough “serious” elements to sustain it as a wholly original book, from cybernetic telepath Willow’s horrific origin to issue 10, in which Vanth loses his temper and beats an enemy to death with a thick chain, it was definitely aimed at adults, yet elements such as con-artist Skeevo and Willow’s monkey-like familiar brought a softer touch, and humor. An excellent early-1980s, genre-stretching book, it would make for a fun ride on the big screen.

9. Title: Hank Loves Janet

Medium: Prime time soap.

Pitch: Lois and Clark meets Jodie Foster’s The Accused.

Dream lead: Brangelina

In the spirit of Lois and Clark, it would tell the tale of a gigantic man and his tiny lady. Beyond exploring the physics of their relationship, the end of the first season would feature a Very Special Episode in which Hank beats the crap out of Jan, and she gets Captain America to turn around and beat the crap out of Hank. From which we learn that if you’re going to beat your wife, make sure she isn’t cuckholding you with a super soldier. And that’s one to grow on.

8. We3

Medium: DVD Animated Film.

Pitch: The Incredible Journey meets Terminator; unlimited stuffed animal/action figure potential.

Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly worked together on All Star Superman, which lots of people loved. To me, though, We3 reflects the peak of their collaborative process. The words back off enough to allow each panel to breathe, and, in turn, each panel pushes the reader forward to the next bit of verbal storytelling. We3 is about an adorable trio–puppy, kitten, and bunny–who have been bred to be killing machines. The paranoia mixed with cute sensitivity is a perfect fit for an animated film, even if it doesn’t bring with it the kind of audiences that would be drawn to a D.C. or Marvel superhero feature—or probably even to the nice little Hellboy animated film that debuted on Cartoon Network. Still, if a studio can manage to capture Quietly’s masterful artistic style, Morrison’s tale reads like a movie already. The heavy lifting is done. I’ve read that John Stevenson, director of Kung Fu Panda, is already attached to a We3 animated project. Sounds good to me.

7. Judge Dredd

Medium: R-rated action film.

Pitch: Think Death Wish, Blade Runner, Death Race, and Escape From New York.

Dream director: Rob Zombie

You can’t honestly tell me that you think Sly Stallone’s take on the character was the definitive word? Dredd’s book was futuristic ridiculousness, but it was also a roller-coaster ride to goretown. Dredd had a bitchin’ bike, knives, guns, clubs, and a hot slogan . . . “I am the law!” The violence was so over-the-top that parents complained. Therefore, Rob Zombie should direct.

6. Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius/Mini Marvels Power Hour

Medium: Kids cartoon on Disney.

Pitch: Calvin and Hobbes meets Nutty Professor, with short filler sketches featuring the Mini Marvels.

Dream lead: John Hodgman (The Daily Show) as the voice of H.E.R.B.I.E.

If the House of Mouse isn’t already looking into this, shame on them, especially now that the merger has been approved. The collected Franklin Richards one shots and Mini Marvels one-pagers are chock full of material that has the potential to be far more innovative, charming, and interesting than Marvel Super Hero Squad. And certainly more interesting than any supercartoons being done by Disney. Of course, the downside is that nobody seems to care about Saturday morning cartoons anymore . . .

5. Old Man Logan.

Medium: Major motion picture.

Pitch: Wolverine meets Terminator meets The Road.

Dream lead: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

Post-apocalyptic mayhem would be way more interesting, and would sell way more tickets, than Wolverine in Japan. Come on, guys!

4. Ex Machina

Medium: Indie film.

Pitch: Spin City meets The Greatest American Hero.

Dream lead: Rick Schroeder (NYPD Blue)

Jason Bateman would be perfectly cast as the star of Brian K. Vaughn’s superhero-turns-mayor story. I see the movie as taking a lighter approach to its topic than the book–perhaps even something like Spin City. Brian K. Vaughn’s brilliant poli-superhero book was never overly weighty on its own, but it does tend to take itself pretty seriously. Actually, it would also make a good TV miniseries.

3. Shazam!

Medium: Feature film.

Pitch: Big meets Hellboy.

Dream lead: Leo Howard (G.I. Joe) as Billy Batson; Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation) as Captain Marvel.

The notion of a child-man hero is one that hasn’t been fully explored in modern superfilm lore, Tobey’s Peter Parker notwithstanding, and there are so many narrative possibilities here. Not to mention an array of bizarre side characters and villains including talking tigers and worms, family members with powers, giant robots, and evil magicians. I can’t believe this hasn’t been done since I was a kid and there was that horrible Filmation show, Shazam!/Isis hour (which I never missed) where Michael Gray would caress a spherical Lite Brite to turn into the wooden Jackson Bostwick (or John Davey, depending on what season you watched) and go rescue Timmy from a well or something—there were never any villains or real conflicts. P.S.: Yeah, I know he’s called Captain Marvel, but that name hasn’t made much sense since Marvel Comics was created . . . And is nowhere near as cool.

2. Camelot 3000

Medium: Major motion picture.

Pitch: Knights in armor! Aliens! Lazers! Swords! Evil monkeybeasts!

Dream lead: Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker)

I can’t believe nobody’s tried this one yet. Barr and Bolland’s 12-issue series was a blast—one of the best books of the early 1980s. It helped move DC away from relying solely on playing off its existing stable of characters and towards more experimental, high concept books that took place outside of the DCU. More importantly, the story has swords and lasers, aliens and outcasts, lots of sex, magic, betrayal, and triumph. Plus, it’s got a large group of heroes, any of whom could later get spin offs.

1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8.

Medium: T.V.

Pitch: Joss Whedon has already done all the work, in comic book form.

Dream team: Joss and whoever the hell he wants to work with.

‘Nuff said.

Tags: Comic books, Daredevil, Filthy Muties, Grant Morrison Sucks, Movies, Superheroes, Television

WEEKLY SUPERDUDE RELATED NEWS . . .

Posted on November 26th, 2009 by ekko

An example of Maleev's brilliant art

1. Let’s start off with news about my favorite superhero . . . Brian Michael Bendis recently said that he and co-Daredevil-writing-partner David Mack will begin a new Daredevil series next year. Can’t wait. I’ve been re-reading the Bendis run on DD and I’m almost to where I’m saying it was even better than (gasp) Frank Miller’s . . . Even better: The new DD series will have art by Maleev, Sienkewicz, and Janson: Three of the best dirty/gritty artists alive today.

2. Moving on to what is probably my second-favorite hero, and news of Spider-Man 4. More and more rumor mongers are becoming convinced that Black Cat will be in the next one. Of course, one source for that rumor said that Felicia Hardy would be the daughter of a new villain called The Viper, but other sites have stated that the fourth film will feature an established Spider foe, not a new guy made just for the movie. So who knows if that’s true. Also, I’ve read that Rachel McAdams is trying out for the role. Rachel with white hair? Hmmm. Anyway, there could be no truth to any of this, but ain’t rumors fun?

3. And in DC news . . . The company’s animated DVD line has been top notch. The next one will be Justice League versus The Crime Syndicate, their evil Earth Two counterparts. Members of that group recently appeared on a two-part Batman: Brave and the Bold. Love that group.

4. Dark Reign – The List: Amazing Spider-Man #1 (and Amazing Spider-Man in general). Why am I folding a capsule review of this title into this News post? Because a lot of you might not be keeping up with Dark Reign: The List.

I’ve mentioned the Punisher and Daredevil one-shots here, and this is the one where Spidey gets to take on Norman Osborn mano-a-mano. It’s a decent story, but it’s hard to imagine how, at the end, this will really hurt Normie. Needless to say, he doesn’t get to cross Spider-Man off of his “kill list.” So far, the only listed item that I think he’s been able to complete is Punisher. And that’s not going so well for him, either. The art, by Adam Kubert, is terrific, but we’re already getting too much Spider-Man each month. I’ve been a cheerleader of the “Brand New Day” relaunch and Marvel’s compressing Spider-Man into one book published 3 times a month, but now we’ve got Amazing SpM along with “Web of Spider-Man” and now this one-shot. With Marvel trying to do a slow boil to its Siege storyline next year, it can’t do five Spider tales in a month and keep that level of suspense. Plus, it would have been far more gratifying to see Spidey take on Osborn in his own title, Amazing Spider-Man. It’s too fragmented. Again, the story itself is pretty good, but it’s a little anticlimactic—especially after Wolverine advised Spider-Man to kill Osborn during “American Son,” which was the last really good Amazing Spider-Man story arc we’ve seen. If the coming “Gauntlet” story isn’t much better than what they’ve been doing, I may be off his title. If you’re going to demand I shell out $10 a month on Spider-Man, it better be great with less filler.

5. Smallville. This year’s Smallville episodes have pretty much sucked. Having the Wonder Twins on last week was cute, but not having them do much of anything was pointless. I’m hopeful that Geoff Johns’ two hour “Justice Society/Legends” episode, coming in January, will put some energy into this show. It’s always been an uneven affair, but making it darker this season was a mistake. If a show is showing its age, you need to punch it up, not turn it into a bigger downer. There should be more Justice League and Legion stuff—the things that made last season so fun an surprising.

6. And speaking of Punisher (I mentioned it above), don’t miss Frankencastle and the return of the classic Legion of Monsters. I have no idea how Rick Remender is going to pull this storyline out and make everything “back the way it was” at the end, but so far the ride is fantastic. Although I’m sure fans of the Ennis run and those who like their Punisher noir-ish and pseudo-realistic will completely disagree with me, I’m a fan of comics that are . . . Comics! Wild, crazy, unpredictable and nothing like real llife.

Tags: Comic books, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Superheroes