DO UPLOADS

In our last episode we left you at M.  Picking up where we left off . . .

M is for Josh Milland’s take on O Superman (Laurie Anderson cover).  Laurie was one of those weird thoughtful chicks that girls with hairly legs liked.  And Peter Gabriel liked her.  For a while at least.

M is also for mash up: To the Taxmobile!-Beatles vs. Batman.

N is for No One Likes Superman Any More-I Fight Dragons. I just love the name of this band. And the name of this song.

N is also for New World Symphony’s Theme from Wonder Woman. Maybe the greatest campy theme song of all time.

O is for one hit wonder (sort of).  Superman’s Song-The Crash Test Dummies. This song was released independently in Canada before a major label picked the band up. It was a minor hit. Then they released that hugely popular “mmm mmm” song, and went to shit. The rest of their catalog is Godawful. I hear they’ve got a new record coming out soon, but I haven’t heard the music.

P is for Paramore’s cover of “My Hero” by The Foo Fighters.

P is also for Pocket Full Of Kryptonite-Spin Doctors (live-direct link)

Q is for nothing. Sorry. I got zero here.

R is for Red Krayola’s Portrait of Wile E. Coyote. This is just weird. Not superhero, cartoon. But ok.  And really, with all his devices from Acme, he’s kinda like the Looney Tunes version of Batman.

S is for Da Superfriendz-MF DOOM. The Masked rapper draws his name from Victor Von Doom, so you can always count on him. His “Hey!” song samples Scooby Doo, he’s got tons of cartoon soundbytes and drops . . . And then there’s this typically esoteric, conceptual song about a battle that has little to do with the Superfriends, other than it’s name and the last two words of the songs. Instead, there’s references to JLA, Doomsday, Inspector Gadget, G.I. Joe, The Little Rascals . . . Lots of folks. A terrific rap, featuring Vast Aire.

S is also for Sub Mariner. One of a few classic themes I’m tossing in here: Namor, The Submariner.

T is for Time Loves a Hero-Little Feat (live version).

T is also for Libby Johnston’s “Twenty Superheroes.” Her new album, Perfect View, is a nice collection of female singer-songwriter folk, on Wrong Records. For more information, go to her site.

U is for the umlaut I can’t type in Husker Du’s bandname. They, like a bunch of people, covered Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman.” In the zipfile, you’ll find the Husker Du version along with Bob Walkenhorst, The Films, and Charlie Hunter’s jazz jam version.

V is for versus: Jukebox Hero versus the 1980s, by DJ John. One of my favorite extended mashups. Is a jukebox hero a superhero? I guess not. But it’s fun anyway.

W is for probably my favorite true Super Hero rap ever. I’ve posted it here before. Who’s a Hero?-MF DOOM and Trunks. I have no idea where you can find the EP it’s off of, “Unicron,” but if you can, I highly recommend it. Haven’t heard of this Trunks chap before or since, but dude spits fiya.

W is also for Will Power’s “Spider Man” song. From that great old TV show, The Electric Company.

X is for the X in Coxon. A Time for Heroes (Libertines cover)-Graham Coxon.

Y and Z are for Your Zip file! Hoo-rah!

Finally, Ekko! That’s what you’re saying, right? It’s about time you combined the two things you dig most in life! Here goes a superpost . . . I limited the inclusion of “themes” because, frankly, that’s just too damn easy.

And this post is just too damn big to be contained in one single day . . . So this is just part one.  You’ll find some of the songs here, but you’ll have to wait for part 2 for the zipfile.

A is for Adam Selzer’s nerd ballad, “Stop Talking About Comic Books or I’ll Kill You.”

A is also for Art Brut-D.C. Comics and Chocolate Milk Shakes. “Some things will always be great! Even though I’m 28!” I’ve never been a big AB fan, or a big DC fan for that matter, but this song is hilarious.

B is for Backyard Tire Fire and Batcapes . . . Walking Up Wearing a Batcape.

C is for comic books.  “Basement bw Comics” by MC Esoteric is pretty much my life story.  See also E.

C is also for Casper the Friendly Ghost-Mike Doughty. Not a super-hero per se, but I couldn’t resist including it.  And what’s the deal with this picture of Casper, anyway.  Just what kind of pictures are they taking?

D is for Tenacious!  Spider-Man-Tenacious D (direct link).

D is also for Superman-Drive-By Truckers (direct link) You know, researching this post taught me that there are a boatload of songs about Superman that have nothing to do with Superman.  This is one of them.  I only posted it because it’s the Drive-By Truckers, and Patterson is like a God . . .

E is for Esoteric.  MC Esoteric is a lot like MF DOOM in that he uses sueprhero themes with frequency.  He’s also a deft producer and skilled rapper.  It was hard to pick just one song of his to throw up here, so I picked two.  The first is under “C” and the other one is “Selling Spidey.”  Fantastic stuff.

F is for the Foo Fighters-My Hero.  See, I’d do Flaming Lips’ own version of Waiting for Superman here (covered under “I”) but I don’t have a bootleg of it and, sadly and surprisingly, the band is part of the RIAA mafia.

G is for David Gillis’ acoustic guitar take on the Spidey theme.  Love this song.

G is also for Superman-Grateful Dead (direct link)

G is for a third thing, too!  Super Hero Brother-G Love and Special Sauce.

H is for the hip hop superhero gang-bang of Super Heroes-Planet Asia. A great name-dropping rap.

H is also for Heroes (David Bowie cover)-The Magnetic Fields.  No, not superheroes.  But I couldn’t resist posting some MFs.  Other than MF DOOM, of course.  Or not:

H is for ho!  Space Ho’s-Danger DOOM. I could probably fill this page with MF Doom songs . . . I love this song, and the whole “DangerDOOM” album.

I is for Iron and Wine!  (Betcha thought I’d post Iron Man, didn’t you?)  Waiting for Superman-Iron and Wine. A Flaming Lips cover.  Not happy with that.  OK, fine . . .

I is for Iron Man.  Turns out I did post it.  But this is the Four Tet song.  Cool electronic instrumental.

I is for, alright, already!  The classic Iron Man theme song! 

J is for Jimmy Swift Band’s romantic-then-jazzy take on the Spider-Man theme.  A seven-minute exploration(!)

J is also for Spiderman-Jill Sobule. A song about those dudes on Hollywood and Vine who dress up like heroes. There’s a great documentary about these folks called “Confessions of a Super Hero.” Highly recommend it.

K is for Kiss the Girl-Undercover Superman.

K is also for Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, a band that posed the question: Hulk or Thing?  (Clearly it was Hulk.  Any comic nerd who read that great Fantastic Four two-part story knows that.)

L is for Lost in the Sauce by Foul Mouth Jerk, featuring Breeze Evahflowin.  “Streetlight Music” is a fantastic record.  This is the only song about Batman on it.

L is also for Los Lobos-Superman (live version).

M is for . . . More in part two!  But here’s today’s ZIP FILE!  (If any of the above-listed songs are missing, it might be because I accidentally put them in the part two file.  Catch that post, unzip it, and see if it’s there before you complain.  Not that complaining will get you much of anything.)

It’s been a while, due to snow and slush and sludge and general hell here on the East Coast, but the News is back . . .

1. DVDs COMING SOON . . . DC and Marvel have been outdoing themselves, and sometimes each other, quite a bit lately. Marvel’s DVD movie line has been of exceptional quality, with the latest solid release being Planet Hulk (co-starring Beta Ray Bill!). DC’s new Justice League DVD “Crisis on Two Earth,” arrives in a few days (can’t wait!), and it will be followed by “Batman: Under the Red Hood.” The script is actually penned by Judd Winick (who authored the 2005 comic book story arc upon which it is based). This was one of the best, and least nonsensical, Batman stories of the past decade, and I think it’s going to be the first DC DVD featuring Nightwing as a main cast member. The next Marvel DVD will be Thor. Not looking forward to that so much—it’s very hard to make Thor good. Only two creators have succeeded, in my book: Walt Simonson and JMS. We’ll see how Matt Fraction does on the book, post-Seige . . .

2. THE BOOK OF AKIRA. All of the reviews I read of The Book of Eli were bad, but I liked the movie. I thought the way it was filmed was interesting, the story was as inventive as post-apocalypse stories can be (sort of a cross between Fahrenheit 451, Road Warrior, and The Road), and who doesn’t like Denzel? Of course, I think most Hughes Brothers projects are good—but I admit that they can be hard to get into. The team is now negotiating an adaptation Atsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira” done as a futuristic Western.

3. SPIDER-MAN IN 3D. The reboot will be in 3D. Ugh. I hate 3D. Stupid glasses. The screen is enough for me, thank you very much. I may actually have to sit this one out. I can’t believe I just wrote that.

4. ANT MAN! Stan Lee discussed (via Twitter) Edgar “Shaun of the Dead” Wright’s work on the Ant Man movie. With him at the helm, it will have to be good, right?

5. NOT ULTIMATE, ASTONISHING! Marvel has announced a new “Astonishing” line, geared towards new readers. Joss Whedon and John Cassaday did this with the X-Men a while back, to great effect (best X-Men run ever, in my view). I’m not a huge Warren Ellis fan, which may be why I haven’t thought much about the Astonishing X-Men post-Joss, but the new books will be two miniseries. The first is Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis by Ellis and artist Kaare Andrews (3 issues). The second, a 6-issue miniseries called, “Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine.” The book will be created by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert. I’m a big fan of Kubert but Aaron, not so much. I don’t get all the hubub over his Wolverine stuff. I find it pretty unimaginative. The Astonishing mini will take place within the regular Marvel Universe continuity but will be self-contained, so new readers can jump right in. Seems like Marvel’s real plan to attract top talent to do a short stories about their favorite characters, which, if true, is a terrific idea.

6. TOO FAT TO FLY. Lastly, I couldn’t resist reporting that director/former Daredevil scribe Kevin Smith was ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight on Saturday because he was too fat to fit in one seat. The airline later apologized. Apologized? I wish they’d do this more often! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat next to someone who pushed me half into the aisle!

Wherein I opine, and you can comment on how stupid I am . . .

Caveats and regulations:

1. For a show to be on here, it has to have sustained quality for its entire run—not just have had a few good episodes or one good season.

2. This list is accurate and scientific, and if you disagree, you’re just wrong.

3. If you think Heroes is one of the best series, you must not have seen the last two seasons.

4. If you think Smallville is one of the best series, you must only watch every third episode. Because, like Harrison Ford movies, that’s about how often this show is actually good.

5. There are only two reasons that Wonder Woman even came close to making this list. And neither of them was Lyle Waggoner.

6. If you think Bill Bixby’s Incredible Hulk series should be on the list, you must not have watched it since you were, like, nine years old. Because by any modern measure, it’s stupid.

7. If you think Batman Beyond should have been on this list, you’re almost right. It was number 11.

Now, let’s do this:

THE TOP 10 T.V. SUPERHERO SHOWS OF ALL TIME.

10. The Greatest American Hero (1981-83). This show turned the notion of campy superheroics on its ear. It was silly, yes, and campy, yes, but the actual characters took themselves seriously—unlike on the live-action Batman series of the 1960s (see #6). This show, about a regular guy with an extraordinary pair of pajamas, is ripe for a comeback.

9. The Super Friends (1973-1986). Because there’s nothing wrong with superhero shows being made for kids. And this show turned an entire generation of kids into lifelong comic-book fans.

8. Batman the Animated Series (1992-95). Based on the brilliant artwork of Bruce Timm and coproduced by Paul Dini, both of whom have made their bones in actual comic books, this show took Frank Miller’s Dark Knight and made it reasonably accessible for children, without sacrificing serious, noirish stories. Incidentally, this show was on at the same time as another quality animated program, Superman: The Animated Series, and even had a cross-over with that show. A truly iconic show.

7. Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (1981-83). Yeah, the 1960s Spider-Man animated series had the theme song that’s been covered by everyone from The Ramones to Aerosmith to MC Esoteric, but the show itself? Meh. SP and HAF, on the other hand, was consistently cool—especially for its time. It could be corny, and some of the made-for-T.V. villains were maximum lame (Video Man, anyone?) but the show could also be counted on for guest shots by Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, and The X-Men, not to mention all the great Spidey supporting characters and villains like JJJ, Electro, Doc Ock, Mysterio, Kingpin . . . And it’s not just a nice piece of history. For younger viewers, the show is still captivating.

6. Batman (1966-68). The best show never released on DVD is the one that set the pattern for all Superhero TV shows until Tim Burton’s Batman smashed the pattern. Yes, it’s corny and silly and the costumes are ridiculous. But it managed to regularly feature A and B-list actors including Burgess Merideth, Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis, Vincent Price, Jr., Don Ho, Edward G. Robinson, Art Linkletter, Cesar Romero, Eartha Kitt, and even Bruce Lee. It was “The Love Boat” of supershows!

5. The Tick (1994-1996). No, not the live-action one starring David Putty, the hysterically funny and completely demented cartoon, featuring a supporting cast of clowns like Moth Boy, Chairface Chippendale, Dinosaur Neil, Paul the Samurai, Chainsaw Vigilante, and many others. I know the comic was good, but this is the singular historical moment when a T.V. show was better than the comic it was derived from.  And don’t confuse it with the horrible live action Tick from Fox.

4. X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1998). Five seasons. 76 episodes. Multi-episode arcs telling fairly faithful, if tamer, versions of Days of Future Past, the Apocalypse story, the Dark Phoenix saga, and the Legacy Virus. A willingness to include lesser-known mutants like Longshot, Forge, Snowbird, Banshee, Master Mold, Archangel, Psylocke, Cable, Bishop, Mister Sinister, and others. This is the most faithful translation of comic book heroes ever. Period. It even used the same logo. Plus, it had a kick-ass theme song.

3. Justice League: The Animated Series/Justice League Unlimited (2001-2006). With more superheroes and better writing than The Superfriends, this is the cartoon to beat as far as translations of DC comics are concerned.

2. Teen Titans (2003-2006)–a.k.a. Teen Titans Go! Based on the Marv Wolfman/George Perez 1980s reboot of the team, this show was heavily stylized (borderline anime) and emphasized humor—by which, I mean real humor not cutesy jokes for babies. The vocal work and scripts were flawless and meticulous, with one-and-done episodes seamlessly woven through ongoing storylines (like the betrayal of Terra and the team’s ongoing battles against Trigon and The Hive). This was the T.V. show that got my kids into superheroes, really. We were flipping around and the Master of Games episode came on, our jaws collectively dropped, and we were hooked forever. Since then, every member of my family, regardless of age or gender, who has bothered to watch this with us has become a fan. If it’s possible for a T.V. cartoon to be perfect, then this is what that must look like.

And how about this: Two D.C.s and no Marvel in the top 3?  And I’m a Marvel guy!  Step it up, Ari Arad.

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). Smart, funny, provocative, scary, genre-breaking, and musical. I’m not gonna say anything more about it, ‘cause if you don’t know by now, you probably never will.

And the worst:

FAT SHAZAM!

Yeah, I ran a chronological “Best Comics of the Decade” post already, and tons of bloggers have done a decade retrospective, but I haven’t seen one that focuses exclusively on Marvel. Marvel is the most important comic book publisher out there, and not just because it controls the market share. When it comes to superhero books, they have consistently proven that they can tell (and sell) stories to the mainstream that don’t (always) offend their base. And the last decade showed a company willing to take risks as well. Here begins the decade retrospective, to help you figure out what trades you want to run out and buy (hint: PunisherMax by Warren Ellis and the Ultimates hardcover omnibus by Millar and Finch are great places to start). I decided also to do this in order of what I think the impact of these events were. Sure, some items may be interchangeable, but generally I think I’ve ranked ‘em correctly.

As always, praise and bellyaching is welcome in the comments section.

25. THE RISE OF THE MINOR CHARACTER. Between Brubaker/Fraction/Aja’s work on Iron Fist, Bucky becoming Captain America, the inclusion of Luke Cage and Spider-Woman in New Avengers, the reinvention of folks like Captain Britain, She-Hulk, Punisher, Moon Knight, and Ghost Rider, and the explosion of Deadpool, Marvel has done a great job at keeping its minor characters in the forefront this decade. And with such a rich cast of supporting players, this is a welcome addition. They’ve even done a great job at establishing some new characters, such as the afore-mentioned Young Avengers, The Sentry, and The Immortal Weapons.

24. JLA/AVENGERS. All right, this may not have been that important, but come on. You know you wanted it. But don’t buy it for the story—it’s one of those cosmic space epics that doesn’t make a lot of sense. George Perez is the master of large group shots—he’s not an intimate artist, he’s a “stand back and watch the widescreen” type—and that’s exactly what this book needed.

23. KICK-ASS. Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.’s creation on Marvel’s Icon imprint was the first comic to sell movie rights—and get the movie made, to boot–before finishing its first story arc. Marvel deserves kudos for supporting these creators in their vision.

22. THE ADVENT OF THE YOUNG AVENGERS. Why is this on my list of decade-defining events? Because it is almost impossible to get people to spend money on new characters. Think about it. How many new hero books get launched and last more than a year? Almost none. And those that do, are usually independent. Here, Marvel took a pretty dumb idea (baby Cap! baby Vision!) and turned it into something pretty cool. The creative team, Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, deserved their Harvey award for best new series by creating characters who modeled themselves after Marvel’s JLA but who were individuals—nothing like the persons they based themselves on. Not to mention, they won an award from GLAAD for portraying a gay character in a positive, well-balanced way (I won’t give away who it is) and formed the basis (kind of) for a surprisingly good Marvel all-ages DVD (“Avengers Next”). The book lasted only 12 issues, but four miniserieses later,
there are hints that the group will return. Let’s hope it does. I mean comics are about icons, but Marvel’s icons are, well, old. It’s great to have a book about kids again.

21. PRESIDENT OBAMA APPEARS IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. First of all, to have a world leader admit that he enjoys reading comic books was a truly amazing event. But Spider-Man’s team up with the POTUS ended up being the best-selling comic of the entire decade. Not to mention the great hype Marvel generated behind the cross-over. Their publicists deserve a standing ovation for this, along with their promotion of the Death of Captain America, The Spider-Man/Colbert team-up, and all the creepy posters they used as the “Secret Invasion” campaign.

20. PAGE ONE RECAPS. Another editorial decision that has made comics more readable and accessible is the one-page recap, which Marvel now does for nearly all its titles and, at least in the Deadpool and Spider-Man books, inserts creativity as well, making the recap a must-read even for regular subscribers.

19. ROBERT KIRKMAN’S “THE WALKING DEAD.” No, that’s not a misprint. Without Kirkman’s indie title, there would have been no Marvel Zombies, which served as the jump-off for several horror-fusion titles and characters, from Zombie Headpool to Frankencastle and the revival of the Legion of Monsters. And probably Marvel Apes, too. A lot of campy fun!

18. MARVEL DIGITAL COMICS UNLIMITED. Perhaps this is more likely to be an important event for the 2010s than it was for the 2000s, but Marvel’s attempt to provide on-line back-issues and some new content deserves a mention not because it successfully changed the game, but because it showed how the game might change in the near future.

17. THE RISE OF TRADE PAPERBACKS. Along the same line as “growing the hell up,” Marvel in 2002 launched an aggressive trade paperback program that today has all but superseded the monthly serialized format. In some ways, this is sad. It’s led to comic books being worthless as collector’s items, killed the back-issue industry, and led to markedly decreased monthly sales. On the other hand, the trade books put comics into bookstores and made them viable in online markets like Amazon. In short, the trade format may have saved the industry by killing it.

16. GROWING THE HELL UP . . . By 2000, everyone pretty much knew that kids weren’t the main readers of comics any more. But in 2001, Joe Quesada took official notice by launching the MAX line and dumping the outdated and condescending Comics Code Authority, which was designed originally to establish that comics were okay for little ones to read. The first action allowed Marvel to take in the team responsible for the indie book “Preacher”– Ennis and Dillon—who made The Punisher into a character worth reading about for the first time since . . . Well, ever. He was no longer a lame Batman ripoff, and although the stories Ennis told were generally straightforward violent crime sagas, they had the kind of grit that made them cinematic. Dropping the Comics Code was a signal to the world that comic books were now grown up, and could be seen as legitimate literature—not as pulp to occupy the kids. I’d argue that this trend really began way back
with Frank Miller’s Daredevil, but it wasn’t until Quesada had the vision to transform not just individual series but the entire Marvel Universe that it really took hold. This change in perspective made just about everything else on this list possible.

15. . . . BUT STAYING YOUNG AT HEART! Yeah, Millar and Bendis are serious cookies with an eye for bleakness and major change. But at the same time, Joe Quesada gave Chris Eliopoulos a license to make us laugh with his charming “Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius” series. The books get a little stale after a while, but there’s at least seven issues of wonderful reading here. Add to the mix the rebirth of Power Pack in a series of kid-friendly mini-series, the Marvel Adventures line, Mini Marvels (brilliant!), the Super Hero Squad, and X-Men and Wolverine First Class, and you’ve got some solid books for all ages that don’t dumb down the Marvel Universe.

14. GRANT MORRISON AND FRANK QUIETLY TAKE OVER THE X-MEN. Many credit Morrison’s “New X-Men” run as a game-changer. I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of the series, but I recognize that he was able to make manageable the convoluted, unwieldy, ridiculous and boring X-Universe, and completely reorganize it—just like Chris Claremont did in Giant-Size X-Men #1. What did Morrison do? He turned the Sentinels into something savage and uncontrolled; hooked up Cyclops and Emma Frost; killed thousands of mutants in one fell swoop and one single issue while at the same time reversing the polarity of the North and South poles; and made the first Shi’ar space saga worth reading since Claremont introduced them all back in the ‘80s. One more thing: nobody interprets Morrison better than Frank Quietly, whose crisp art often adds clarity to Morrison’s more obtuse tendencies. He was the perfect artist for this series.

13. MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE. Marvel makes the first super-hero video game that doesn’t suck, and Deadpool’s popularity quadruples.

12. DISNEY. The possible implications of the Disney/Marvel merger are alternately fabulous (more movies and cartoons, and maybe even more kid-friendly superheroes!) or terrifying (the House of Mouse were key members of the anti-Communist censorship movement in the 1950s). But right now, it’s hard to tell whether it will affect the Marvel Universe at all—or even whether it will pan out for stockholders—but the fact that a company like this could ever buy a company like that . . . Was surprising to all.

11. SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY AND THE SPIDER SUMMIT. In 2007, Marvel took an action that many considered brutal and awful: They ended Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage not by divorce but by deus ex machina as Mephisto erased much of Straczynski’s generally celebrated run on the series. The story itself, though, was unimportant. The critical part of Brand New Day was that Joe Quesada was right: Spider-Man had become too dark, and too married. He needed to be a young, single, geek-about-town, and this was the way to do it. Regardless of what you think of brand new day, it’s impossible not to notice that The Amazing Spider-Man, as a thrice-monthly title, is worlds better now than it was in 2006. Or 2005. Or pretty much any time since the Roger Stern era. It also marked the first time Marvel went three-times-a-month with a book, rotating the creative team under one editorial board and holding regular “summits” about the character. This has
worked much better than having several different Spidey titles coming out each month, each with their own continuing storyline. In fact, I think they should do this other over-exposed characters like Wolverine and Deadpool.

10. DAREDEVIL. Beginning with Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s run and all the way to the end of the decade with Brubaker, no other character left the 2000s so much better than he’d come in—and this was a decade marked by radical reinvention and reinterpretation. After Frank Miller essentially defined Daredevil as Marvel’s darkest street avenger, nobody seemed to be able to step in and tell a good DD story. Bendis’ work on Daredevil showed that old, stale characters could become rich despite the baggage they carried around. This is another example of a reboot, in amy ways, but the themes Bendis played with (and Brubaker built on later) became the ones that helped shape the decade: The purpose, value, and function of a secret identity; the thin line between hero and villain; the inability to escape inner demons; and difficulty of being heroic in a violent, desperate world.

9. DARK REIGN. Norman Osborn saved the world and became the new face of S..H.I.E.L.D., reworking the secret agent agency in his own image. This made the MU a sad and depressing place, but it also made possible so many big changes in tone, and allowed younger creators to reshape old heroes like Iron Man and the cast of all of the Avengers books into newer, more modern versions. Yeah, it was hard to let go of the past, but Bendis and Millar had been bracing us for this ever since the Civil War. This was just the next logical step. It was hard to pick between this and “House of M,” but since Grant Morrison already killed a ton of muties in New X-Men, I knocked M off the slot here. But M did prove that big events could be self-contained, and it was the first event that Marvel handled really, really well with regards to creativity and maintaining the integrity of the affected characters.

8. SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIES. Sam Raimi is the one to credit with finally delivering a live-action Spider-Man worth watching, and with making superhero films for all ages that are not at the same time infantile. Eschewing the “adult” orientation introduced by Tim Burton’s Batman and avoiding the cartoonish pitfalls of Clooney’s Dark Knight, Raimi did for superhero movies what Stan Lee did for superhero comics: He made a film that could speak to young(ish) kids and (not overly serious) adults at the same time. It also established that superheroes could still bring in dollars without sacrificing their nerd integrity. I’d put X-Men (the 2000 movie) here, too, because it made tremendous amounts of money and showed that team-live-action is feasible, but it was really Spidey who broke down barriers.

7. JOSS WHEDON ON ASTONISHING X-MEN. Why is this 2004 series important? Because it was one of the early examples of Hollywood coming to Marvel, rather than the other way around. Celebrated T.V. and film writer Joss Whedon teamed up with artist John Cassaday to expand upon Grant Morrison’s work on the New X-Men and create 24 of the best comic books of all time. It gave comics a little more legitimacy—they could be works of art on their own, not just serve as inspiration for popcorn flicks.  Plus, it was funny.  Funny X-Men.  Think of it!

6. AVENGERS DISSEMBLED/NEW AVENGERS/MIGHTY AVENGERS/DARK AVENGERS. During the 1990s there were some decent Avengers stories, but the book wasn’t the flagship title it was always intended to be. When Brian Michael Bendis took a hold of it, he killed off several characters that he didn’t want to play with (including fan—and person—favorite Hawkeye) and reintroduced the team with a cast that, while it included the biggest names in Marvel, also included some seemingly mismatched and/or minor characters. But the book has become the most important book at Marvel in terms of both continuity and sales statistics. More importantly, New Avengers became one of the most fun superbooks on the market. And the Marvel Universe showed that it was so big, it took several books to really tell the story (although Might A is pretty dispensible).

5. THE IRON MAN MOVIE. Everyone knew Spider-Man with Tobey McGuire would be a hit. It was a no-brainer. But this is the movie that made Marvel attractive to Disney. If they could do this for one B-Lister, then why can’t they do it for their whole stable? To be clear: I liked X-Men, X2, and Spider-Man a lot more than I liked Iron Man, but there were several things that made Iron Man special. First, it was made by Marvel. Sony proved long ago that it could make a blockbuster, but with this film Marvel Studios established that it could attract top talent and sell a movie to the public that would be enjoyed by fanboys, critics, and even (gasp) ladies! Second, it wasn’t about Spider-Man. Most of America didn’t know Tony Stark from Tony the Tiger, and if they’d heard of Iron Man they probably thought he was the dude from the Black Sabbath song. Finally, although Tobey McGuire was somewhat of a name before he became Peter Parker, the Iron Man
crew were really out there. Jon Favreau was an indie director with no action cred and Robert Downey, Jr., was best known for getting wasted and dressing up as Wonder Woman.

4. BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS INTRODUCES ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN AND THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE IS BORN. In 2000, one of Joe Quesada’s first (and most important) acts was to hire Brian Michael Bendis and unleash the first “Ultimate” book. Ultimate Spider-Man may have been more “realistic” or “modern” than the initial Lee/Ditko take on Spidey, but it was still light fun, as Spider-Man needs to be (and hadn’t been, arguably, since Clone Wars). In this way, it’s quite distinguishable from Millar’s Ultimate universe, a categorically dismal and menacing world. Bendis also introduced a different way of telling stories: One that focused on intimate close-ups rather than pan-shots and widescreen action. As a reboot, this book (and, obviously, Bendis) was one of the most game-changing plays of the last fifty years. Where previous reboots (D.C. has retold Superman’s origin how many times?) ignored aspects of a hero’s history to suit a creative
vision, Bendis took Spidey into a new universe all together—without relying on Uatu. This became a pattern for Marvel in double-O decade, and many of the decade’s most interesting books are examples of that (e.g., Neil Gaiman’s brilliant 1602). In fact, I bet D.C.’s acclaimed All Star Batman/Superman books wouldn’t have come to pass without it.

3. CIVIL WAR. With The Ultimates, Mark Millar had established himself as a man with a decidedly dark vision and a willingness to take beloved characters and make them, well, assholes. In Civil War, it was Iron Man’s Millar moment. Unlike similar “events” that preceded it, Civil War not only incorporated every single hero in the MU, it changed them, fundamentally. It’s a testament to the editorial coordination in Marvel that this thing worked at all. Many have complained that the ending was weak—that Cap should have died here, not in his own book—but I dispute that notion. Yeah, ending a war with a surrender is a little anticlimactic, and it certainly made me stand up and shout angrily when I read it. But looking back, Civil War paved the way for the rise and fall of Iron Man (the most compelling take on the character since the 1980s), turned the New Avengers into antiheroes (a status far more normal and acceptable for members like
Spider-Man, Cage, and Spider Woman), and for Dark Reign—certainly an important storyline in its own right. You can’t say Civil War ended with issue 8—the series, in retrospect, was actually a prequel to Siege.

2. JOE QUESADA ASCENDS TO EDITOR IN CHIEF. Far and away the most important Marvel staffing event of the decade happened at the beginning. In 2000, Joe Quesada took over as EiC of Marvel Comics, after starting the “Marvel Knights” line, a moderately successful “reboot” franchise, in the 1990s. Unlike many EiCs (in fact, unlike all since Jim Shooter, I believe), Quesada was a creator first, executive second, so he understood the connection artists have to their work. His reign has been characterized by hiring bold talent and allowing them to completely dismantle all of Marvel’s conventions. And remember, the company had declared bankruptcy and was all but dead in the 1990s.

1. THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA. Can there really be any question here? Cap was always important to fans of Marvel, but he was hardly as iconic as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Superman, Batman (or pretty much any JLAer).. Yet his death was front page news (at least in New York) and got mentions in every form of media—including extended segments on The Colbert Report. It made Cap a bestselling series (and it had deserved to be one already, if only for the 25 issues Brubaker and Epting did prior to killing Steve Rogers). It also brought back many people who’d stopped reading comics because they’d gotten stale and boring. It was proof that anything can happen. Even more tremendous were that the news didn’t leak—the event was a true shock to the world, just like a real assassination—and the fact that later issues proved that the series was even better without its title character. It was one of the few comic books that almost made me
cry. Almost.

1.  SOMETIMES IT ENDS IN APRIL. As expected, Marvel has confirmed that all four Avengers books are ending in April, with the end of Siege.  The most amazing part of all that is that these books are regular big sellers, and Marvel is not known for leaving money on the table.  I groused a lot about the Death of Cap, Avengers Dissembled, the creation of Dark Avengers, but I’ve learned to trust Joe.  To make the bittersweet sweeter, there will be a one-shot finale for New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis and artist Bryan Hitch (who I thought had gone over to D.C. exclusively?).  What’s next?  The “Age of Heroes.”  Hopefully, this means we can get a little more levity and optimism from our heroes.  Also, I hope Cap punches Tony Stark in the face.  At least once.
2.  THE RETURN OF THE TITANS. When I was a kid, The New Teen Titans was my favorite comic book.  I’m talking about the Marv Wolfman/George Perez title; the one that introduced Raven and Starfire, turned Robin into Nightwing and Kid Flash into Flash, established the creepy (incestuous?) relationship between Terra and Terminator, and served as inspiration for one of the greatest cartoons of all time: Teen Titans, Go!  The book turned sidekicks into stars, and made spin-off characters more interesting than the big-boys they were based on.  D.C. has announced that they’re going to publish a new graphic novel by Wolfman/Perez, that was actually begun in 1987.  It will feature the Teen Titans from that era—when they were at their best.  I wrote a few weeks ago about D.C.’s plans for Superman and Batman Graphic Novels as well.  I think they’re recognizing that serialized issues aren’t as appealing to collectors any more for many
reasons—paperbacks are easier to store, tell whole stories in one sitting, and are much, much cheaper.  Perhaps D.C. will do for this format what Marvel did for trades in the 2000s?  At the same time that Marv and George are returning, DC has announced a “Titans: Villains for Hire” team headed up by Terminator, which might(?) be good (although recent Titans titles have pretty much been underwhelming).
3.  SPIDER-MAN 4. What a week!  The fact that Spider-Man 4 news is this low on the list of items you need to know about shows how many cool things are going on right now.  Plus, I’m sure most have already heard that the new Spidey director is in fact Marc Webb, a rumor I reported on last week.  He directed one of the Greatest Chick Flicks Of All Time and one of the best movies of 2009: (500) Days of Summer.  Can a quirky romantic director capture Spidey in high school?  Probably.  Sam Raimi did wonders for the character, and changed supermovies forever, but maybe it is time for new blood.  I’m actually feeling optimistic—I’m not sure Raimi had much left to say about Spider-Man, and new creative blood might do the franchise some good.  Now we’ll see if Twilight star Taylor Lautner is indeed the new Peter Parker . . .
4.  ADVENTURE COMICS. I’m going to give a special shout-out to the first six issues of Adventure Comics, which conclude the story arc introducing the “new” (old) Superboy.  Issue one started with Superboy’s diary, in which he began checking off important events in Superman and Luthor’s lives, to determine which of his two genetic fathers were most important to his character.  I’m not going to give anything away, but I am going to say that Geoff Johns has (again) reinvented the way hero/villain stories should be told.  It shows how evil a villain can be, and how hard it is for a hero to act heroic in the face of such evil.  This is a terrific story arc that reboots a character while simultaneously reconciling with his convoluted past.  And the art by Francis Manapul is some of the best I’ve seen.  This is the last issue for the Johns/Manapul team, who are moving to the Flash title, and I can’t imagine how the book will maintain its quality in the future.  Although I know that, as for the weaker Legion of Super Heroes stories that have been second features in some of the first 6 issues, Paul Levitz is relaunching a new Legion book soon.  And I have hopes for that, because he’s far and away the best Legion writer of all time.

5.  WHO’S IVAN REITMAN GONNA CALL? Ivan has agreed to do Ghostbusters 3, and there are indications Sigourney Weaver could be on board.  I like Siggy and all, but without Bill Murray . ..
6.  CHICKS WITH PECS! In the spirit of Pet Avengers, Marvel is turning women into novelty items with a new book, Her-Oes, an out-of-continuity book featuring hot Marvel ladies like Wasp, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Namora . . . In High School.  The sample art from
http://www.comicbookresources.com/
Comic Book Resources looks very Power-Pack-ish, so I’m guessing this will be an all-ages book, but the author is comparing it to Ultimate Spider-Man.  The only hope for this book is that it’s written by Grace Randolph, the woman behind BOOM’s “Muppet Peter Pan,” a decent quality kids comic.  I reserve judgment . . .

7.  WALKING DEAD REDEMPTION. I reported last week about AMC picking up a Walking Dead series.  Well, they’ve approved the pilot, and it’s written by Frank (Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) Darabont.  Couldn’t think of anyone better.  We’ll end on that!

1.  SPIDER-MAN 4. Seems like there’s a new rumor every week.  Or, in this case, several.  First, John Malkovich said he’d been been cast as The Vulture for Spider-Man 4.  But at the same time, Sony was putting its foot down and saying it wouldn’t pay for a movie with a lead villain who was . . . Old and in green tights.  And now, in an incredible turn of events, Sony is saying the entire project is scrapped.  That’s right.  They’d rather leave Raimi, Maguire and Dunst behind than make a movie with Oscar-winner Malkovich.  Great thinking, Sony!  Way to kill a billion-dollar baby!  Now, they’re going to revive the franchise as Ultimate Spider-Man.  Great.  So now we have to sit through ANOTHER origin movie?  Sam Raimi said it best: The origin story is the one everyone has to sit through before they get to the story they really want to see.  Even if the reboot is great, there’s no way anyone can re-tell Amazing Fantasy #15 better than Raimi did in SM1.  There’s no way to make an origin fresh and exciting after what Sam and Tobey did—that was pure genius.  Top that off: Sony’s top choice for director is Marc “(500) Days of Summer” Webb.  A music video director who made a brilliant but cute-as-hell love story?  The whole reason SM1 and 2 worked was Raimi’s eclectic horror/action perspective—his ability to find humor in the darkness is exactly what makes for a good Spidey comic.  David Fincher’s name is also being kicked around, which isn’t bad, but I can’t think of anyone who would do better than Raimi.  Except maybe Joss Whedon.  And they want to shoot it in 3D, with those godawful glasses.  What a lousy way to lead this week’s news roundup post.

2.  In better news: No date is announced yet, but AMC—home of one of my favorite shows (no, not Mad Men—Breaking Bad!)—will be serializing Robert Kirkman’s “Walking Dead” comic book.  Comic is a ton of fun . . .

3.  I saw my first movie of 2010—Daybreaker.  Was it great? No.  But it was amusing, and definitely had its moments.  My main problem with it was that it was too well produced.  Stylized monster movies just don’t tend to be scary to me.  I prefer the grit of Romero and Carpenter.  Did see a preview for The Crazies, though, and it looks vile.  Can’t wait to see it.

4.  Did you hear that David Finch, the genius artist of Millar’s Ultimates run, recently signed exclusively to DC?  How did that happen?  I can’t believe Marvel would let him go like that.  Anyway, he’ll be the cover artist for the post-Blackest Night event, titled “Brightest Day.”  It’s not entirely clear what the even will mean, but it will have lots of cross-overs so that you can spend your money on titles you wouldn’t normally buy just to get a page or two of necessary continuity.  The series will start in April, will last a year and be published biweekly.  Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi are the writing staff.  I know lots of folks praised 52, but I guess I’m just not enough of a DC guy to get all wet about this.  I do dig BN, though.  In fact, Newsrama ran a great interview with Geoff Johns, where he explained about Blackest Night and the fight between mortals and Nekron: “We [mortals] age because we’re not supposed to be here. So we grow old. It’s the universe fighting against us. We age and die because we aren’t wanted here. Space was here then life came and messed up everything. In truth, life is chaos and death is order.”  I never read the series that way before.  It’s kinda deep.

5.  Why aren’t you all reading the hilarious, ultraviolent, carefree and insane Punisher comic book yet?  It’s like Deadpool, only way more wild.  Seriously.  Punisher isn’t a stupid idea anymore, not since Warren Ellis did the “serious” PunisherMax series.

6.  There’s an A-Team trailer out, with Liam Neeson as Hannibal!  The real key to this film will be whether Quinton “Rampage” Jackson can fill Mr. T’s bejeweled shoes . . . And believe me, I have doubts.

7.  Joe Johnston, director of The Wolfman, discussed the Captain America movie with BOXOFFICE.com recently, and showed that he doesn’t know much about Cap. First, he says, “The great thing about Captain America is he’s a super hero without any super powers.”   Really?  So that super soldier serum was a placebo?  Then, Johnston says that after Steve Rogers was turned into Cap, “You’d think he got everything he wanted. Well, he didn’t get everything he wanted.”  Yes, he did!  He wanted to be a hero!  One of the best things about Captain America is that he never, ever doubts being a hero.  He doesn’t let a burglar run by him and kill his uncle; he doesn’t miss his mommy and daddy as a drive for vengeance; and for a long time, he hasn’t even had a secret identity!  The movie will be an origin story, and I’m not real psyched about that.  I’d much rather see him and Bucky tearing ass through the Nazis than skinny-boy-gets-big.  Cap is probably my second favorite superhero, so I hope to God they do right by him.  Or at least pattern him after Brubaker’s Cap, not Bendis’ or Millar’s.

8.  And finally, in the advance hype section, I don’t know if I’ve told y’all that Animalogic Studios (Happy Feet) is working on a movie of Jeff Smith’s wonderful, all ages appropriate “Bone” comic.  Hope it’s good!

1. The lead story has to be the indefinite hold put on Spider-Man 4. Various reports indicate that Sam Raimi wanted to use The Vulture as the lead villain, but Sony wanted to young it up and was foisting a Black Cat storyline on the project. You may remember that Raimi had also sought to use Vulture in SM3, but Marvel’s Avi Arad convinced him to use Venom. Raimi apparently isn’t oblivious to the serious decrease in quality from SM2 to 3, and must be viewing this project as a way to redeem the franchise. Stick to your guns, Sam, we trust you. This has forced Sony to push the release date back, and Marvel’s movie house is scrambling to fill the void. Thor is now scheduled for May 6, 2011, the date previously occupied by Spidey. In response, Disney moved up the next Pirates of the Caribbean toy commercial, I mean movie, to May 20^th (the date that had been occupied by the thunder God). Read that last sentence again. It’s the last time you’ll read a mention of Pirates on this ipage. (I’m not a fan of the franchise, just the first one.)  BY NOW, YOU’VE ALL HEARD THAT THE FILM IS OFF.  I’ll report on that next week.

2. In the useless information that you might be curious about, Barack Obama’s guest shot in Amazing Spider-Man was the bestselling comic of the entire decade. Too bad it wasn’t a better comic overall, but as far as celeb shots go, it was a decent one.

3. Siege has begun. All signs point to it being great–Brian Michael Bendis is teaming up with artist Olivier Coipel again—and it looks like the story will be Norman Osborn’s attempt to extend his jurisdiction beyond HAMMER and Earth, all the way to Asgard. Readers of this page know that the Thor book stayed out of Marvel continuity at the request of its brilliant author J. Michael Straczynski who later quit when he was told to be a part of Siege. Matt Fraction will be taking over the reins on Thor on or about the time of Siege, so I’m hopeful the Thor book will be able to maintain its staggeringly good level of quality. As for Siege itself, it promises to be more dynamic than the dark and sad Civil War or the all-talk/little-action House of M, and better thought-out than the slapdash Secret Invasion. So, again, I’m optimistic. My only complaint about Siege is that Spidey should take down the Green Goblin. As it was and should always be. Oh, well. However, the timing of all the various tie-ins has me confused. Can anyone tell me this:

- The Captain America one-shot that leads into Siege–It seems to take place after Captain America Reborn #6, which isn’t out yet. Should I read it?

4. In anti-Deadpool news, there are reports that Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool in the Woverine movie, and titular star of the upcoming Green Lantern flick) is being considered for the lead in a new Flash Gordon movie. Not only do we not need another FG flick, but this means that he’d be attached to three franchises. And out of those three, Deadpool is clearly the least commercial and, therefore, the most likely to fall to the axe. Especially since Warner Bros. recently hinted that the movie will begin filming in New Orleans in two months, and has a 2011 tentpole release date. Another recent GL development: Kilowog will be in the flick! Awesome. On the other hand, the writers of 2009’s amazingly brilliant film, “Zombieland,” are being paid to write a Deadpool script. So, there’s hope yet.

5. I’ve been re-reading my old Swamp Thing books so I was happy to read that Alan Moore will be returning to comics next year, and teaming up with one of the best indiebook artists out there–Jacen Burrows. The book, Neonomicon, will be some kind of Sci Fi book. Those old Swamp Things he did were recently bound, and I recommend you all go pick them up. Moore was doing things there (in 1987) that seem progressive even by today’s standards. In fact, I’ll be writing about it. Soon.

6. And just to end with what probably should have been the first story . . . At the end of this month, Apple has scheduled a roll-out of it’s version of the Kindle. The iPod changed music forever, the iPhone revolutionized telephones, and this may do the same for the print world . . . Including comics! It will be digitalized full-color, high resolution, and will have the ability to use iPhone apps. I’ve never subscribed to Marvel’s digital on-line collection because there’s no convenient way to read it. This may change all that.

7. Postscript: They have a lot of balls to charge me four bucks for the latest Blackest Night and then fill it with 10 pages of covers of other comics on sale. Fuckers. They haven’t drawn this even out long enough that they have to bleed me dry?

This will be the last news feature of the year.  If you want to see more of these in 2010, please drop a comment!

1. DEADPOOL.  The potty-mouthed lunatic assassin gets lots of mentions on this page, but deservedly so.  Unlike Spider-Man in the late 1970s, or Wolverine now, Deadpool’s appearances in 4+ books per month haven’t watered the character down.  In fact, the second of his three monthly series, Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth, is coming close to surpassing his original book in terms of quality, suspense, and balls-out action.  And that’s not an easy task.  In the most recent vanilla Deadpool, which capped off a story arc with the X-Men, Deadpool exposed some of the hypocrisy of the X-Men’s “mission” to serve mutantkind and wholly and believably outsmarted Cyclops, Marvel Comics’ greatest tactician.  He blindsided Summers so completely that even I, as the reader, didn’t see it coming.  Merc With A Mouth started out a bit slowly, but it’s turned into an hysterical read—what with Deadpool learning that he, himself, is a biological weapon sought by Hydra.  Or, at least his severed zombie head from another dimension.  If you’re not reading it, I can’t explain it, but this month’s issue (#6) concludes the first story arc, which means it should be out in a bound volume soon.  Get it.  Seriously.  Because it not only has zombies and a hot scientist chick, but it’s also got AIM versus Hydra, and Man-Thing.  Oh, and every cover is a take on a classic horror film.  Nice!

2. BEST OF THE DECADE. Comics Alliance posted the worst comics of the decade. Some are spot on, but Dark Knight Strikes Again and Identity Crisis? That’s a little harsh, dudes.

3.  X-MEN ORIGINS: FIRST CLASS. Okay, I couldn’t be more excited about this: Bryan Singer is signed with Fox to direct the next X-movie, and it will be a tale of the real original X-Men—not the version from the first (fantastic) X-Men movie (that Singer also directed)—and how Xavier and Magneto developed their frenemy relationship.  Singer’s super-credentials are strong, with both X1 and X2 to his credit (but Superman Returns to his debit), and God knows there need to be way more X-movies being made.

4.  MARVIN THE MARTIAN. Not to be confused with Marvin the Paranoid Android, Looney Tunes’ favorite disintegrator-ray wielding, broom-hatted, is getting his own feature film.  Okay, this could suck or it could be cool as hell.  It’ll be a Christmas movie, so . . . It will probably suck.

5.  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. If you’re not reading it, now’s a good time to pick it up.  The new story arc, “The Gauntlet,” is reintroducing all of the classic (sinister six) baddies revamped and renovated for a post-Brand New Day era.  You don’t need to know a whole lot about how Spidey got where he is to appreciate and follow the story.  The last three issues focused on Electro (via The Mad Thinking), and #615 is the new Sandman story.  It’s not a great comic, but it’s generally reliable.  And Mysterio and The Vulture should be coming soon.

6.  FRACTION ON THOR. Marvel has announced a Free Comic Book Day special starring Iron Man and Thor (who both have movies coming out in 2010—what a coincidence!) and will be written and drawn by—get this—Matt Fraction and John Romita, Jr.  I dunno if they’ve ever worked together before, but wow.  One of Marvel’s best new writers and Marvel’s greatest living artist, together.  Plus, after that Fraction will take over writing duties on the Thor book.  I’m just now beginning to read the JMS reboot of Thor in trade paperback, and I have to say it has completely blown me away.  Fraction coming on board can only be an asset—especially given as how he’s taken Invincible Iron Man to places that book hasn’t been since the David Michelinie/Bob Layton/alcoholic days.

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.