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

YOUR WEEKLY SUPERNERD NEWS!

Posted on June 7th, 2010 by ekko

1.  THE WALKING DEAD. I’m leading with this story because (a) I love zombies; (b) I love comics; and (c) I’m starting to love AMC’s original productions.  Oh, and (d) because “The Mist” is one of the best horror films of the past 10 years.  And this story combines all of this, and more!  AMC released still shots of what the zombies will look like in their Frank (Shawshank Redemption and The Mist) Darabont helmed adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s brilliant, ongoing epic, The Walking Dead.  The bad news: Season one will be just 6 eps.  No release date yet, either.  The picture, above, does a very nice job at mirroring Adlard’s brilliant art from the comic.  If they can do an equal job at paralleling Kirkman’s scripts, we’re in business!

Go here to see all the pictures.

2. GREEN LANTERN’S BIG AND SMALL, AND OTHER D.C. MOVING PICTURE NEWS. Here a Hal, there a Hal, everywhere a Hal Hal! Not only were plot points about the movie recently leaked to the internet, but Cartoon Network has announced a cartoon coming in 2012.  The leaked details weren’t huge (or unexpected), but they confirm that the film will feature the entire Green Lantern Corps, the threat will be Parallax, and characters will include Sinestro, Abin Sur, and Amanda Waller.  DC is also saying that their next live-action flick will be Batman in 2012, and then The Flash after that, but Wonder Woman and Aquaman are also in development.  Vincent Chase is up for the lead in the latter film.  Seriously, though, my question is, is Justice League dead in the water?  I wonder whether the abysmal failure that will be called “Jonah Hex” will have any effect?  And another thing: Why does it take so damn long to release all this stuff?  At least DC isn’t making the 1-a-year mistake Marvel keeps making: Both Batman and Superman will come out in 2012, with Bats getting Independence Day and Supes taking Christmas.  Still, it seems nobody has learned from Peter Jackson that it is easier and more economical to film three movies at once and then stagger the post-production and release dates.

3.  SPEAKING OF GREEN . . . I was a big advocate of the Rulk series when it started: Big, muscular McGuiness artwork and Jeph Loeb at his Bruckheimer best, but the series floundered under its own weight.  It started taking itself too seriously, created a whole conspiracy thing, and stretched out the central question: Who is Red Hulk?  Turns out, it is General Thunderbolt Ross.  Which we all pretty much knew anyway.  This series had a promising, fun start but ended up being some of the worst work these two extremely talented individuals ever put out.  Sad.

4.  X-MEN FIRST CLASS. And speaking of movies, the “X-Men: First Class” movie appears to have begun casting, so it may actually be a “go.”  James McAvoy has signed on to be the young(er) Professor X.  They’ve also got a director (Matthew Vaughn) and a release date of June 2011.

5.  TEEN TITANS . . . Hasn’t been good since Geoff Johns left it several years ago.  In fact, it’s been awful.  To try to save this once venerated franchise, D.C. is bringing in JT Krul.  Krul wrote the Blackest Night Titans spin-off, which wasn’t horrible but was pretty much dispensable.  He says he’s going to try to make the team stable and relevant again.  That would be nice.  During both the Marv Wolfman and Johns runs, it was one of my favorite reads.

6.  THE RETURN OF THE LIZARD. If you don’t know that Amazing Spider-Man has been revamping and reintroducing Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, one crook at a time, then you haven’t been reading this blog enough.  Spidey’s enemies are by far the most engaging group of baddies in comic history.  Yeah, Batman has a bunch of foes, but they’re not nearly as distinctive as the ones created by Stan Lee so many years ago, which included a zoo crew (Lizard, Vulture, Rhino, Scorpion); hunters, thieves and killers (Kraven, Chameleon, Shocker, Mysterio); mob leaders (Hammerhead, Kingpin, Silvermane); forces of nature (Molten Man, Electro, Sandman, Hydro Man); and of course the evil geniuses (Green Goblin, Tinkerer, Doc Ock).  The latest three-issue arc featured The Lizard, reimagined now as a Jeckyl/Hyde type who can control little lizards like Aquaman speaks to fish.  The plot itself was fairly simple, and not nearly as interesting as the Rhino and Sandman arcs, but it was well-written.  For example, the internal dialogue is on a par with Daniel Way’s work on Deadpool.  The star here, though, is artist Chris Bachalo.  Amazing work on a title that is surprisingly solid and consistent considering it publishes thrice monthly.

7.  THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE. Between this title and Batman and Robin, I’m actually turning into something I never thought I’d be: A fan of Grant Morrison.  His narratives are still a little too random and insidery for me, a casual Batman reader, but they’ve gotten much better than they used to be.  And the stories are constantly intriguing.  I know where this miniseries has to end, but I have no idea how it is going to get there.

8.  THE DEATH OF DRACULA/X-MEN #1. By now most of you probably know that Victor (Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth) Gischler and Paco (Deadpool) Medina has written the next big X-Event, “Curse of the Mutants,” which is about mutants and vampires.  Basically, Lord Drac dies and the rest of the bloodsuckers scramble for a new leader.  Wow!  That sounds . . . Stupid.  No, not stupid: Blatant and pathetic.  We know all the teens are digging Twilight, and True Blood is the only popular show left on HBO, but come one.  The one-off Claremont did, years ago, where Storm hooked up with Dracula in the Uncanny X-Men title was good.  But no more ever needed to be said on the topic.  I’d say I’ll keep an open mind, but that would be a lie.  I won’t.  X-Men books have been too convoluted, intermingled, intermixed and complicated for decades now, and just starting at an issue #1 simply is too little, too late.  How did Claremont’s brilliant vision get so off track?

9.  AVENGERS MOVIE. Last but not least, one of my favorite new actors, Jeremy Renner, may play Hawkeye in The Avengers.  Combine that with Joss Whedon in line as director and you’ve got The Best Superhero Movie Ever Made.

Tags: Avengers, Comic books, Filthy Muties, Green Lantern, Hulk, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader, Zombies

NEVER GETTING TIRED OF BLOGGIN’ ABOUT SUPERHEROES…..

Posted on April 25th, 2010 by ekko

1.  AMAZING!  SUPPORT OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN . . . AND THE BIG O.M.I.T. REVEAL. Finally!  Matt at Multiversity defends Spider-Man: One More Day, something I’ve been doing for a long, long time (and have received more than one negative comment about it).  He says:

Forget the fact that One More Day isn’t really that bad at all (it was written by J Michael Stracynzski, come on people!), but the fallout of One More Day and Brand New Day was absolutely fantastic an absolute boon for Spider-Man and Marvel Comics. . . . Whether you like the story or not is irrelevant at this point. What’s done is done, and I honestly feel that rather than spend forever and a day obsessing about why making a deal with the devil is stupid, it happened.

Exactly!  You can find the whole article here.  And now that enough time has passed, Marvel has announced it’s new O.M.I.T. project–”One Moment In Time.”  Specifically, the moment that Peter and Mary Jane got married, which was erased by “One More Day.”  The story will appear in “Amazing Spider-Man” #637-640.  This is a credit to Marvel’s thrice-monthly plan: They continue to include nearly all relevant Spider-stuff in one book, rather than spread it out across several titles and miniseries.  There were hints that this plan was deteriorating with the launching of Web of Spider-Man and Peter Parker, but both of those titles seem nonessential.  (And pretty bad, frankly.)  In O.M.I.T., Marvel promises to answer all the lingering questions about what Mary Jane knows (and doesn’t know) about the past, and about what she whispered to Spider-Man so long ago . . . This title just keeps getting better!

2.  PACK IS BACK! I love Power Pack, and think they should be the next subject of a Marvel movie.  That said, Marvel’s kid-friendly line of miniseries starring the foursome has been uneven at best.  The ones with Spider-Man and Franklin Richards were great.  The ones with Iron Man and Wolverine, not so much.  The latest installment, “Thor and the Warrior’s Four” looks to be the best of the lot.  Which is ironic, because I’m not a fan of Thor.  But he’s not even in it!  Instead, we find Frog Thor and the Pet Avengers, with a teaser that next issue will bring us Beta Ray Bill.  There’s also a laugh-out-loud second feature starring The Mighty Babysitting Hercules.  If your kids are between 6 and 11 and they don’t like this book, disown them.

3.  MIGHTY MARVEL CARTOONS! At the Chi-town convention, Marvel announced new seasons of “Superhero Squad” and “Iron Man: Armored Adventures,” neither of which matter to me personally, but also mentioned a 2011 series: “Ultimate Spider-Man,” and confirmed that this September’s new series, “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” will feature Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp, Hulk, Black Panther as the main lineup, with episodes including guests and baddies like The Red Skull, Ultron (of course), Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow.  He also indicated that the “Black Panther” cartoon, which was produced by BET cable network, will eventually be shown in the U.S.  Finally, he hinted that “Spectacular Spider-Man” would not return (but that’s a Sony project, not a Marvel Studios one) and said “Wolverine & The X-Men” is kaput.  No great or unexpected losses there.

4.  THE EXPENDABLES. Before Kick Ass, I had to suffer through around eight stupid and boring trailers.  But then came the one with Arnold, Sly, Willis, Lundgren, Rourke, Jet Li, and Jason Statham.  I said, out loud, “Is this for real?”  Apparently, it is.

5.  IT’S A BIRD!  IT’S A PLANE!  IT’S A CONSOLIDATE, SINGLE STORY LINE! James Robinson has commented that his “War of the Superman” will actually replace all the Superman books in May, and the war will actually take only 100 minutes in “real time” to fight.  Kinda makes it like a season of 24, only in a comic.  I applaud Dan “master of chaos and disorganized crossovers” Didio for replacing all the Superbooks with the one story—it’s much likely to get me to read it.  It only took Marvel half a century to figure out that centralizing all the Spidey books was a good idea (see item one, above).  Maybe DC can figure that out, too.  Because it looks like the return of Bruce Wayne is going to be another Morrison-helmed tangled mess weaving through several titles, with no clear indication whether (and which) particular titles are essential to the storyline.

6.  THE FANTASTIC 3. In a desperate attempt to get attention, the F4 will lose a member this fall.  Prediction: It’ll be Thing, who is joining one of the Avengers teams and who has a history of quitting the team anyway.  I’ve heard that under Jonathan Hickman this title has become interesting again, but it’s hard to imagine.  The FF haven’t been worth reading since 1985.

7.  THE FLASH #1. Geoff Johns and the brilliant Frances Manapul were behind last week’s relaunch of a Flash title.  The Flash: Rebirth series was horrendously complicated, so I wasn’t expecting much here.  I read the first issue and I zzzzzzzz.

Tags: Comic books, Movies, News!, Spider-Man, Superheroes

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

WHAT MONTHLY SUPERHERO COMICS SHOULD I BE READING?

Posted on April 3rd, 2010 by ekko

I recently said I’d be dropping a bunch of my monthlies to wait for trades.  Why wait for trades?  Lots of reasons: They’re cheaper, easier to store, and in many cases it’s just more fun to read a whole story in one sitting.  But at the same time, comics are designed to be told in quick bursts, with momentum building to the cliff-hanger, and buying serialized books is the surest way to prevent spoilers.  So, which books are worth reading, and which should you wait for?  Obviously, I can’t have opinions on every book out there, but here’s a few suggestions—mostly Marvel, because they’re the ones I dig the most:

Adventure Comics. When Geoff Johns was on board, this was a monthly must-buy.  Since his departure, we saw a strong (but fairly meaningless) Blackest Night tie-in and an issue containing three prequels.  I can’t endorse that for four bucks.  Barely any story there!  The jury is still out on where they’ll take this book, but it doesn’t look good.  Verdict: Wait for a trade to see if the book is worth getting.

Amazing Spider-Man. I do enjoy this series very much, but sometimes you’ll find an issue that’s half-full of a Flash Thompson sob story.  Boring.  Or there’s a one-and-done with Black Cat that’s better than it ought to be, but still ain’t worth three bucks.  Buying monthly lets you avoid those occasional missteps in an otherwise strong series.  Verdict: Buy monthly.

Batman and Robin. Not only is this the only Batbook worth buying right now, it’s the only Grant Morrison you need.  True, all of his work ties together in a big, nonlinear mess.  But it’s still not going to add much to your experience here, unless you study Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis like the Torah.  Just hop in and accept everything you see, and you’re guaranteed a great ride.  Morrison makes use of all the classic Bat-tropes like gadgets; a two person, father-son-ish partnership; and over-the-top corny villains.  It’s like the Bob Kane Batman through the eyes of Frank Miller.  Or Rob Zombie.  Verdict: Buy monthly because you need time to digest between issues.  Morrison is nothing if not dense and obtuse.

The Bendis Books. Obviously, if you want to know what’s going on in the Marvel Universe you have to read these books.  But I much prefer to be able to experience them in larger chunks, because Bendis will often have entire issues devoted to nothing but dialogue and build up with no payoff.  I find this less annoying when I’ve got the next issue to follow up with immediately.  That said, this is the best Cape work on the market today, bar none.  Verdict: Either way, you won’t go wrong.

Captain America. I think Brubaker’s run on this series has been the best run ever, so I say it’s a must-read.  However, Brubaker’s stories tend to be intricate espionage novels, and although they are affected by events in the MU, the story arcs best read in chunks.  Verdict: Buy the trades.

Daredevil.  It’s a little to early to say whether Dan Diggle’s rollercoaster ride will maintain its quality, but for now it’s a gas to see DD doing superhero stuff instead of dodging reporters or cooling his heels in prison.  It’s pulpy, action fun that is perfect in 40-page installments.  Verdict: Buy monthly, because it’s fun to have the excitement build between issues.

Prelude to Deadpool Corps. We’re now 2 issues deep in this weekly miniseries that appears to be a prelude to another miniseries about a character with at least 3 other books out at the same time.  Too much Deadpool?  Undoubtedly.  But at the same time, Victor Gischler take on the alterniverse versions of the character is fun and funny, and gets a recommendation from me.  My advice: If you buy this as a weekly book, you can avoid the first issue (with Rob Liefeld—a great guy and generally a terrific artist—doing his absolute worst art ever) and just buy the Kidpool, Severed Headpool, and Dogpool issues.  I predict they’ll be the best.  Verdict: Buy monthly, and buy selectively.

Deadpool Team Up. All team-up books are heavily character driven: If you want to see what’s up with US1 these days (and I think you should want that) then buy that issue.  If you could care less about the Zapata Brothers, you can skip one (and I think you should skip that one).  And if there’s a DP series to skip, this is the one.  Verdict: Buy based on a browse.

All the other Deadpool books. You can wait for the trades here.  To the extent that they jump in and out of “regular” Marvel continuity, it’s nothing you need to know about.  And both Deadpool and Merc with a Mouth tell stories, with fairly self-contained arcs, so you can jump in where you want.  Moreover, some arcs are clearly better than others.  Deadpool Secret Invasion was great.  Deadpool as a pirate, not so much.  And the current Hit Monkey story is very thin.  Verdict: Buy the trades,  but if you’re going to buy one monthly, make it Merc With a Mouth.

Ex-Machina. Most indies can be bought as trades because they are self-contained and they don’t get a lot of press so any surprises aren’t likely to be ruined for you.  Moreover, this indie super-politician book is clearly a long-form story.  Verdict: Buy trades.

All the Hulk Books.  Dude, just don’t buy them.  Boy did Jeph Loeb go off the rails here.

Invincible Iron Man. Matt Fraction’s book has been nothing short of amazing.  My thing with Fraction, though, is that I tend to like to read his stuff in one sitting.  I did it with Iron Fist.  I did it with Punisher.  However, what goes on in Tony’s world is relevant to the Bendis books, so you may want to be current.  Verdict: Toss-up.

Punisher. The Frankencastle book is lots of fun, but you definitely can get it in trade without losing anything.  And unlike Daredevil and Amazing Spider-Man, it isn’t really parceled out in 40-page cliff-hangers.  It all kind of flows.  As for PunisherMax, I just can’t endorse anything with Dillon’s art.  Sorry.  (But the Garth Ennis stuff was some of the best street-level crime stories I’ve ever read in comics—go buy those!)  Verdict: Buy Frankencastle in trade; skip PunisherMax.

All the Ultimates books. It’s a different universe, so you won’t be behind in anything essential.  Verdict: I’m waiting for the trades.

The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead is one of the greatest long-form comics I’ve ever read.  That said, I can’t see how anyone can read it in issue form.  It’s a long, never-ending novel, that must be (ahem) digested in big chunks.  Verdict: Get the gigantic softcover (issues #1-48), and then let a few trades pile up before digging in again.

Tags: Comic books, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader, Zombies

THE AMAZING ROGER STERN!

Posted on March 31st, 2010 by ekko

A long time ago, I wrote that 1982′s “Amazing Spider-Man” #229 to 230 was the third-best comic book story of the 1980s.  Those two issues, written by Roger Stern–the greatest Spidey writer in history (yes, even better than Stan Lee)—with art by Marvel’s greatest artist, John Romita Jr., was a simple battle that spanned two issues: Spider-Man versus The Juggernaut.  Titled, “Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut,” the two-issues quickly became collector’s items, and have never been reprinted (to my knowledge) in color form.  Damn shame.  What made the tale so fantastic was that the action sequences were so well plotted.  Spidey has never been a super-powerful character.  (If you read Bendis’ New Avengers, for example, you’ll see that Spider-Man never really does much of anything—he’s completely nonessential.)  He’s always struggled to keep up with others who can leap (or smash) tall buildings, are invulnerable to bullets, mind-meld, etc.  That vulnerability was part of his charm, which was a fact that Roger Stern understood better than just about anyone.  In that Juggy story, Spider-Man had to outwit the invulnerable maniac as much as overpower him, which made the story as intelligent as it was exhilarating.  Yet is was simple, too, which can be a key element to an exciting story: It was just Spider-Man trying to stop Juggernaut from moving forward, and Juggernaut plowing ahead, through any and all obstacles in his way.  If you haven’t read it, get a hold of it.  Even if you have to read the black and white “essential” reprint.
In case you can’t tell already, I think that whole Stern-Romita run deserves hardbound, oversized reprints.  That’s when Hobgoblin was introduced, Spidey got his black costume, and we saw Peter’s relationship with MJ begin to deepen.  It was a peak not just for Spider-books, but for serialized storytelling as a whole.  Indicative of how great it was, the other Spidey books rose to keep up.  In Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man, we saw the Sin-Eater storyline (a.k.a. The Death of Jean DeWolff) and through Web/PPTSS/Amazing, we read about Kraven’s Last Hunt.  It was a great time to be a kid reading the funnybooks.

Well, I’m happy to say that Roger Stern will be returning to the Juggernaut tale with a three-part arc: “Something Can Stop the Juggernaut,” beginning today, March 31, in Amazing Spider-Man #627.  Based on the solicits, it looks like Spidey and Juggy may be more on the same side in this one, facing some kind of mind-powered villain.  So it’s unlikely to be a simple, long battle.  Sadly, the art will by Lee Weeks and not Romita, Jr., but Weeks is damn good, too.  So mark your calendar: Even if you’re not a regular reader, starting today, there’ll be three issues you’ll need to buy.

Tags: Comic books, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man

SUPER HERO SONGS A to Z (part two!)

Posted on March 9th, 2010 by ekko

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!

Tags: Comic books, Spider-Man, Superheroes, Superman, The Caped Crusader

SUPER HERO MUSIC A to Z! (Part One)

Posted on March 4th, 2010 by ekko

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.)

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

THE RETURN OF THE NEWS

Posted on February 17th, 2010 by ekko

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!

Tags: Comic books, Movies, Spider-Man, Superheroes, Television, The Caped Crusader

THE 10 BEST SUPER-HERO TV SERIES OF ALL TIME (and the 1 worst)

Posted on February 9th, 2010 by ekko

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!

Tags: Comic books, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader, X-Men