The All You Can Eat Buffet of Comics

One thing that you come to learn when you read a whole bunch of comics is that not all of them are going to be great or even good for that matter, but a large majority are. So, having a bunch of comics I still had not read I was back to checking out my stash.

After reading the current run of Brian Michael Bendis on Daredevil, I decided to check out a new series called Kingpin. So, Kingpin 1-2 was a good start on the series and the only ones released so far. It starts early in Wilson Fisk’s run as a mobster. It shows how his small street gang joined forces with another similar gang under the guidance of the one that many were beginning to call The Kingpin. He then began to set them up to sell the junk that they sold to the black kids to white kids and completely open up a new market. He also showed how far he would go to get ahead when in order to gain the new market and a 2nd man he was forced to kill one of his own and a new guy that he had brought on board.
This series has a good bit of potential to it and is really writing a full history for the Kingpin.

Next up was Outsiders 2. In this issue, the newly formed team are the first to respond to the attack of a super intelligent ape. He has attacked New York City and the President, Lex Luthor by ape bombing Air Force One and setting in an electronic disruptor that wouldn’t let any military jets near him. However, he didn’t plan on this young team to foil his plan. In this issue, they get deep in the battle with the apes and in the end the two leaders of the team, Nightwing and Arsenal are besieged by the leader of the apes.
I am still trying to decide on this one, but I really want to read more about Nightwing and Arsenal so I’ll stick with it for a while.

In this issue, Route 666 14, we find the two main characters in the young girl’s home after the attack by two spirits and two demons. The girl had absorbed one of the spirits and the other one fled. This issue mostly had to do with two things. The first was her finding out that her gift was more than she knew. While the spirit was absorbed into her they were in her playing field and she could manipulate things. So, she sees that that man was a serial killer and shows him his first murder. She then lets him see it through the victims eyes and then through her own. He then realizes that what he had done was wrong and is able to throw off his life as an evil spirit. The second part is when the local law battled the demons and his partner disappeared he feared for his job. So he called the guy who knew what was really going on in the FBI and made sure that he was ok.
This was an interesting turn for the series with her new powers coming out, but nothing huge continuity wise. This is interesting though, and I wonder how the feel will change in the near future with the new path of helping the evil spirits arising.

I will start off by saying that I am getting sick of this type of art, but so far the story is good enough to keep me checking it out. In Criminal Macare 1-3, we meet detective Cal MacDonald who takes all sorts of drugs, drinks, and hangs out with the undead. We find out in these issues that Vampires and werevolves hunt for food and companionship and that is about it. They don’t hunt in packs, they don’t commit crimes, they are basic creatures. However, that has all changed and they are beginning to do all of these. Plus they are becoming territorial and have given the ghouls an ultimatum to get out of the sewers. The leaders of this new group have stolen a specific type of the bubonic plague that was never known to kill a single person and give it to a guy. He becomes the biggest Werewolf that Cal has ever seen and the bullets that should put him down seem to go right through him. So, as a last chance, he steals the badge off of an officer and throws it at the beast. He hits it in the forehead and it falls dead.
This series has begun to pique my interest, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t follow with some of the crappiest art in the business today. I hope that this fad quickly leaves the business, but the good stories remain.

Finally came a four part miniseries, Blackburne Covenant 1-4. This opener started with a guy who finally writes the book that had always said he would. It quickly becomes a best seller, but there are odd rumors that the fiction isn’t as fictitious as the author would make it seem. In all actuality the events are real and the author begins to see why. He is the reincarnation of the most powerful of the hippies of the past. They had learned to work with mother nature to have a near perfect experience of life. However, they were put down by the forgers who had changed the course of humanity forever. However, now that the power is back inside of the young man, the hippies have a second chance to lead us back to a more peaceful existence.
Despite all of the hippies, this was a decent read. Nothing great, but I am interested to see if they will follow this with anything since it has nothing close to an ending. It is also an interesting idea that we could have easily been more nature oriented than the metal and technology oriented society we now are.

How to Hook Someone Who is already Addicted

Comics are like a drug. There are casual users, part time users and then those that are hooked. However, there are so many levels of comic addicts that you can even surprise yourself from time to time as you reach the next plataue of addiction. The reason that I say this is because when I first started collecting comics it was in passing, research for the upcoming X-Men movie. However, as I read a bit I realized that some comics were really good. However, I didn’t really collect a whole lot until Spider-Man came out. I had gotten some comics over the years, but mostly in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer line. However, I now began to branch out a lot more. So, I was trying new comics and really needed a place where I could experiment with some comics and get some good suggestions from people who really knew what they were talking about. At this point I moved from one comics place to the one that I use now Comics and Cards Trading Post. The guys that work there are awesome and have really led me in the direction of some great books.

At this point I began to become not only a collector and part timer, but was now a full time fan. I would read comics some and collect even, but only about a month ago did I really start to get hooked on reading comics. Since movies are still my number one passion I have to give myself nights to read comics so that I am able to keep up with what I am buying. This went on, off and on, for a while and now I am finally beginning to recognize what I like and what I don’t and pick out stuff that I like from the monthly previews. So, this week I decided to check out some #1’s and some openers to series that I hadn’t had the chance to check out in the past.

First up is Sandman, Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes. This is the story of a man who gave his life to learn the forbidden magics and in his search he came upon a way that he thought he would be able to obtain immortality. However, this plan was not a sound one. He planned to capture death in a circle and hold him there. However, he didn’t get the right figure and accidentally captured Dreams. So, the man grows old and dies and the three pieces of otherworld materials that Dream had when he was captured are separated and go away. So, years later he is able to escape and go back to his world where he has little power. So he must get his artifacts back which he has contained a lot of his power in so that he can again shape and control the dream world. He must go to hell and beat a demon in a battle of wits, find a jewel that was being used by an insane man and battle him, and then go into a dream house to get the dream dust that a superheroe named Sandman had used for a few years. This was a good read and was crazy enough to really peak my interests. I am really looking forward to the next volume of the series when I get the money to add it to the collection. This is one of the best comics that I have read recently.

Second on the roster this time was Marvel Masterworks: Here Comes DareDevil, The Man Without Fear TPB (1-11). This is a volume of the first eleven issue of Daredevil ever created and printed in a softcover format at a great price that was put together by Barnes and Noble. So big props to them for taking what would have probably been a $50 dollar book and making in affordable to the average Joe. It was cool to take in the early efforts to bring the character to life. It was also interesting to read the forward by Excelsior! Himself, Stan “The Man” Lee. There were some fun early villains for him to deal with like The Matador, The Purple Man, The Owl. One of the coolest things about this are the tie ins to things that I have currently read. In the new Daredevil, the villain for a while was The Owl who was much more different than the old owl. Also, the Purple Man is the current focus of one of my favorite comics Alias. However, I would not suggest this volume for the casual comic fan. This is a good read for fans of the series or of other early Marvel characters.

Next up is a series that I am really proud of. When I saw the ad for Runaways in the Previews a few months ago I thought to myself, “This is a really good idea. You’ve got these kids who are more or less good kids that find out that their parents are supervillians and must respond quickly. So what do they do, form a group amongst themselves and try to get to the bottom of what is really going on. Sounds good to me.” So, we are now up to Runaways #4 and so far things are going really good. We have come to find out that one of the kids can absorb physical objects, another is an alien with the abilities, so far, of flight and a starburst thing, anoher has a super smart and enhanced raptor from the future as a guard dog, another has super gloves he stole from his parent and then there is the guy who is the main focus, as of yet nothing, but he is still running the show. So, in this issue, they have their first run in with the parents and find out that they are more powerful than they would have guessed. They also find out at the end that their parents were waiting to bestow their gifts and knowledge on them, but they received it before they were ready. They also find out how far their parents will go when they threaten the life of the youngest of the children who didn’t really even know what was going on. If any of this sounds even remotely interesting to you, give it a check. Even if you don’t like it I have a feeling that these early issues are going to worth the chance down the road a bit.

Possessed #1 is the beginning of a new series by Geoff Johns, Kris Grimminger, and Liam Sharp. The story follows a group of people who were possessed by demons as children and were able to survive the encounter. They now travel around performing the exorcisms and then destroying the demons when they are released from the body. When they are released, they become corporeal and therefore can be all shot up… and are. So, here we get a brief show of how the exorcisms are performed and a small bit of background into the main characters.
This was an interesting first read, but nothing huge to start it off. I liked the idea of these people forming together to stop what had happened to them from happening to other people, but the dad part was a bit over the top. I am assuming that he will be biting it quickly or there wouldn’t be much use for him.

What can I say about Strangers in Paradise, Volume 1 TPB except for “Jesus Fucking Christ.” This is some messed up shit. So, this girl is going out with this guy and he keeps bringing up the sex issue. She doesn’t want to have sex with him because she is scared that he will run off as soon as he gets it. This pisses him off even more. So, finally he has had enough of her crap and leaves. This really gets to the girl who is so upset that the relationship ended over sex anyway that she propositions him in the park and bares it all to the world. She then goes all hysterical and wrecks her car into her garage when she returns home. Her roommate, Katchoo is a psycho. She shoots her alarm clock, hangs people naked in storefronts, and many other insane things. She also has the hots for her roommate, but at the same time is being sought after by a guy who met her at a museum.
I hope that the local shop will carry some of these at some point in Trades so that I can explore it a bit more. I am also ordering a little guide that they are offering in this month’s previews.

I was really surprised when I finally sat down with this one. I had picked up the first issue a bit late and paid ten bucks for it, but was able to catch up with all of the remaining issues for cover price after that. Hero #1-6 is the first part of the ongoing series by DC about a mystical box that changes a normal person into a superhero simply by pressing the four buttons H-E-R-O in the simple order they appear in. The first five issues have to do with a young man working at a fast food resteraunt where he hates his life. One day he finds the HERO device and punches the buttons. He immediately becomes a superhero and flies around for a while. He goes back to normal, but finds out that he will change into a variety of heroes unless he wills himself to be one specifically. He goes around doing things until he decides to try to make his neighborhood better like the other superheroes. However, he is new to it and rather than do any good, he nearly kills a kid selling drugs. The woman who lost the device eventually comes looking for it and finds out that the boy had been using it. He gets rid of it and that starts the next arc.
In this one, a young girl finds the contraption and starts it rolling. She does some things and it eventually gets around to some ofhte other little girls who all take turns becoming super powered. They pull a fast one on the principal and have lots of fun. However, they too loose the device out of the window of their car.

The next comic was one that when I put it down on my list I had very low expectations for. All that I knew was that it was going to b e the first in the relaunch of Epic Comics as an offshoot of Marvel. I then found out that the rumor was that the characters in the story would be the eventual parents of Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker.
After taking a read of the book it is very possible that this is so. All four kids are from the same town and decide to go to a resort of sorts for their summer in order to make some money and still get a vaction. From the first moments it reminded me of a PG-13 Saved By the Bell (When they worked at the beach for Mr. Carose.) The four are quickly getting into trouble when they sneak off late one night and head down to the freezing water where some begin to skinny dip. They are nearly caught by their boss, but luckily use the shadows and the dark to make it back to their rooms, one male and one female each. Also the boss is put in a bit of a pickle when he is found holding one of the girls’ bras.
So far I really like the feel to this comic. It was one of my favorite #1’s to read. It was fun and free like summer should be. It was light and paved the way a bit for future issues. Nobody will say that it is the most revolutionary thing in the world, but not all things have to be. I am highly anticipating the next issue and quickly grabbed the drawing cover of issue #1 when it was released a week or two later. I like it a lot better than the photo one, but the choice of one or another could be good for the comic.

The next in my trying out a bunch of #1’s was Emma Frost #1 which was an interesting little bit of page that was one of the most ready comics to stand on its own. In the story, Emma is a young girl attending a private school where she is the only one who is allowed to live off campus. This is due to that prowess of her father and the money he pours into the school. So, she starts feeling weird at times and things get stranger and stranger. Besides the weird physical things that are happening, she is also ridiculed at school by her fellow students and even gets her dress mangled by a classmate at a dance. This was not any dance, but a dance that she wasn’t supposed to even be at. She was helped by her brother who dressed, groomed, and transported her against her father’s will.
This book had a lot of story for the number of pages and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next in the many aspects of her life.

This is when the comcs really started kicking my ass. I had to stay after close one night for the carpet cleaners and had a few hours to spend and then some afterwards so I pulled out something that I had been trying to start for about a week and ended up going through a pretty long run. It was Daredevil: Vol. 4(Underboss), Vol. 5(Out), Vol. 6 (Lowlife), #46-49)
. In Underboss, Daredevil plays little role. The majority of the story has to do with the new guy in town who was accepted into the Kingpin’s inner circle as a favor to the boy’s father in Chicago, where the kids had quickly messed up his life. So, the kid gets into town and his ambition soon begins to get the better of him. So, he finds out that the one catchin the Kingpin’s being able to run the city is Daredevil. He also finds out that the Kingpin knows who he really is, but refuses to act on it. So, the boy puts a hit out on Matt Murdock and then goes for the big man himself. The now blind Wilson Fisk doesn’t see it coming as the boy had talked Fisk’s son into joining him. They pull a bit of a Caesar and make with the stabbing and leave him for dead. However, he is a very resilient man and survives. His wife soon finds out what happened to him and that her son was involved and it infuriated. She had never messed with the business before, but felt she had no choice. She had each of her husband’s Capo’s quickly killed off and then did the job on her son herself.
This TPB was good comics. It felt a good bit like the Sopranos and was the first comic that I offered to my brother when the idea that he might want to read some came to me.
Next up was Out. As the end of Underboss, the new guy in town that initiated the hit on the Kingpin gave himself up to the FBI for hopefull protection for whoever was killing everyone else. However, the only information that really was unknown was that Matt Murdoch was Daredevil. They call in the police captain who tells them to sit on it, but one of the guys tells the Globe. When it comes out, Murdoch’s apartment is surrounded by the media and the only one there for him is his partner Foggy Nelson. He tries to convince Matt to hang up the costume, but its no use. Matt sues the paper for 100 million dollars and eventually goes to the financer of the paper to settle out of court. But something isn’t right to the financer and he calls it off. So, Matt is stuck with the case he is trying to make against the paper. At the same time, a bodyguard of his gets Matt to defend a friend of his who as a superhero is known as the White Tiger. He is passed down the power of the white tiger which multiplies preexisting abilities. He goes through the trial until the end when the jury finds him guilty of murdering a police officer. He cannot understand how it could happen and questions his lawyers as well who said that he would be set free. He is so shocked that he grabs a bailiff’s gun and runs out to the courthouse steps where he is shot dead in a matter of moments. This really gets to Matt who knew that the man was innocent, but despite this fact he could still not save him.
In the next TPB (Lowlife) a new player steps up to plate. But this new player is really as old as you can get. The Owl is back in town and being chaperoned by the former lawyer to the Kingpin who is changing him completely. Instead of being at the forefront and doing the dirty work himself, the Owl has been caged. The lawyer has talked him into taking strips of himself which are mutant enhanced and selling them as the new drug. He is forced to sit back and let others do his work. Meanwhile, Daredevil has done an act in passing that may be one of the most important in his recent history. A girl had walked out in the middle of the road and nearly been hit by a truck when Daredevil swoops down and saves her. She is blind as well and she has to a much lesser extent the extrasensory abilities that he does. She tells her friend that she wants to meet him again, so the friend tells her that the rumor is that he is Matt Murdock. She goes to the law office to meet him and immediately knows that it is him. So, he dodges a bit but falls for her as well. So, they begin to date, but things go badly as he is quickly picked up by the police. The man who owns the paper has been killed and Matt Murdock was the last to see him. Everyone knows that he didn’t kill him, but he is picked up nonetheless. He is upset, however, that it was while he was with the girl, Milla. So, as Daredevil, he had one current objective, to wipe out the seeming resurgence of drugs in the kitchen. He eventually traces them back to the Owl who is being tracked by law forces as well. Daredevil kicks the Owl’s butt and he goes away.
Next came the first four issues of Hardcore, Daredevil 46-49. In this run, so far, Matt Murdock has continued his relationship with Milla and this has brought out two of his most feared foes from his past. First Typhoid Mary shows up under the direction the Kingpin. Mary is a schizo and went from soap opera star one minute to homicidal lackey of Kingpin the next. She does some dirty work and eventually goes after Matt Murdock while he is walking with Milla. Luckily, he had Jessica Jones from Alias Investigations following him as a bodyguard at the time. She helped to get her away before either of the “civilians” could be harmed. The second piece from the past was Bullseye. He was the one who really murdered the millionaire newspaper owner and was now back to finish the job with Daredevil and his new girl. Daredevil jumps from his skylight only to have Bullseye walk in on Milla in Matt’s apartment. However, Daredevil knew that something was up and is able to get back in and stop him before he hurts her. The fight carries out to the street where Daredevil kicks the crap out of Bullseye and allows the feds to apprehend the #4 most wanted man in the country. He goes back to Milla expecting her to leave him, but instead she is grateful for his protection.
I must say, Daredevil has gotten a bit “Hardcore” in the past two storylines. First he kicks the crap out of The Owl and then does the same times two to Bullseye. It seems that he is currently at his peak as a crimefighter and happiest he has been in a long time with Milla. Things must be gearing up for a mighty big fall.

Well, i’m kindof mixed at the moment as to whether or not I care for the new style of adding half issues of comics into the magazines. It is good when the story is good and gets you started on something good. But if it is bad then it is a waste of space, but I guess the chance is worth it. In this issue of Wizard 143: August 2003 they have two of these previews. They also had a bit of a breakdown of the Teen Titans which was interesting followed by a bunch of stuff on Dr. Doom. They had a breakdown of the comics with him to watch for price, cover appearance, overall comic. This is good stuff when one of the characters that they talk about is one that you are interested in. It gives you a good, quick jumping off point with some interesting ideas of where to land. This was followed by a pretty decent run down of the 10 years of Vertigo. This line currently give me some of my favorite monthly titles like Fables, Y: The Last Man, and Blood and Water as well as some interesting back story to catch up on like Sandman. Although it is not up their with the giants like Marvel and DC (although it is technically an adult targeting off shoot of DC) it is pulling in ever more fans. Then came the biggest point of the mag this month, the top 50 comic book movie of all time which ended with Blade, Batman, The Rocketeer, Ghost World, X-Men, Road to Perdition, Superman, Superman 2, Spider-Man, and #1 X2. As always, Wizard was a decent informative read with lots of little features inside. Nothing really jumped out this week, even the top 50 films thing, but next month should be a biggie with them relaunching the mag with Wizard Zero.

At this point in the week I was sitting around wanting to read comics, but with few Trades and not huge interest in anything. However, I had some old comics that I had bought a year or so ago and was thinking about buying some more to link to the current run, so I read Sojourn Prequel-10. The story in Sojourn takes place in the CrossGen Universe where all of the titles are known to run together and cross into each other. Sojourn begins three hundred years before the current continuity. In this time the five lands had been united under an evil ruler who had chipped away, one land at a time until he controlled them all. However, there was a Sigil bearer who came to the aide of the remaining resistance. He was able to pull them together and they were able to defeat the evil ruler. However, when we go back to the present day there are strange figures that have brought the evil ruler back to life with the Sigil and he has again quickly taken over the five lands. He also has special powers, mostly with fire, due to the Sigil. The last town to have fallen to his wrath contained a woman archer named Arwen. She tried to save people in the village, but ultimately was unable to save those closest to her, her husband and daughter. Arwen swears that day that she will be the death of the evil tyrant. So, she storms the castle and is actually able to get a shot off on the guy when he turns around and melts the arrow. She is captured and taken to the dungeon where she meets a man who wants to help escape. So, the two of them and her dog escape and are quickly followed by the troll guards. They were saved by one of the strange figures that was involved with bringing the evil tyrant back to life. She tells him that her partner had been the one to do the other thing and it was time to again balance the scales. So she stole the bow of the three century old Sigil bearer and gave it to Arwen. She received it with the task of reuniting the arrows of the arrow used to kill the tyrant the first time and by doing so bringing the ancient Sigil bearer back to the five lands. For the first piece they decide to go for the one in the land that they are in. They have heard rumors that a dragon guards it. So they go where the rumor says and attempt to stay at an inn where nobody will tell them about the dragon except for a girl. They are forced to fight for their lives for the opportunity to hear the story. So, they go where the girl tells them and find the huge treasure. The dragon then shows up out of an underground water source and the battle begins. The man, who is renowned with a bow is unable to phase the creature and Arwen is knocked unconscious. So, the man eventually finds a sword that he uses to stab the dragon. It has special abilities and turns the dragon back into the beautiful young girl that had led them there. They make an agreement that if the dragon can kill the evil warlock that Arwen will give her the bow. She also has the first piece of the arrow, so either way things are going ok.
This appears to be a pretty good story. Especially the character of Arwen is believable in her actions which is a bit odd for comics. I enjoyed it and believe that I will enjoy the interaction between her and the guy that she I running around with. I went and got most of the comics to bridge the gap to the present and will dig into them soon.

Jesus, God, this is getting long, but I have one more review this week and it is for Brath Prequel-5. This series has a bit of the Braveheart feel to it, but not as much as I expected that it would. The story is about Brath, who is leading the combined clans of the land against the invading British horde. He is doing a magnificent job due in part to the Sigil given to him by the Deer God in the forest. However, things change when the night before a major battle he has a dream where the Goddess of the forest takes the Sigil away from him and he must still go into battle. His methods are strong and he is able to divert the main plan of the enemy by scaring away the elephants. However, he didn’t plan on one the major clans betraying him to the enemy and allowing the archers past setting up the slaughter of the other clans.
This is where we currently sit in the series, with another clan bonded to the British and the remaining ones quickly dying on the battlefield. It is a decent read, but so far nothing great.

Damn Good Comics (Losers #1, Runaways #1-3, Green Arrow TPB: Quiver and Sounds of Violence, Blood and Water #1-5, Fables #15, In the Shadows of Edgar Allen Poe GN)

First up on the reading list this week was Losers #1. This book is a good idea that I am surprised hasn’t been done like this on the big screen and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else gets the same idea. The basis for this comic is that there are a small group of CIA agents that realize that the agency has turned against them and the ideas of the United States. So, they join together and begin to try to expose the agency and what they are doing. In this issue, they steal a helicopter and a van guarded by the government to find out that it is full of cocaine. Good start, but it is going to be one of those things that start in the middle and show you the beginning later.

Runaways is a really good idea that hasn’t been explored very often and seems to really work so far. The basis is that a group of families meet once a year and have a discussion. The parents talk in a separate room and the kids are never aloud to hear what is going on. However, one of the kids (the one whose house they are meeting at) has found some secret passages in the house and is able to find the room where the parents are meeting. She see what is happening through a one way mirror and see as they (all dressed up in costumes) kill a young girl.

They sneak out later that night and meet up at a museum. They are trying to find out all that they can about who or what their parents are. At one of the girl’s houses in the basement, they find a secret passageway. In this, they discover an odd reptile that acts a lot like an intelligent dog. They then go to another of the girl’s houses where she finds something odd in her parent’s will. She snaps a bracelet that she had since childhood and all of a sudden strange things begin to happen. For one thing she can fly.

This is a really neat little story about teenagers that find out their parents are evil and it forces them to grow up prematurely

I was looking at my upcoming comic list and saw that the second Green Arrow TPB was coming out so I decided to finally sit down with the 10 issue behemoth by Kevin Smith. The story begins as Ollie McQueen (Green Arrow #1) has been away for years. However, he shows up and stops a politician from doing crude things with a 15 year old girl and is back on the scene. He then helps Aquaman take care of a menace in front of the press, so they all know that he is back. After a brief encounter with the Justice League where both sides think the other is crazy, Batman knocks him out and brings him back to the Batcave to inspect him. Batman deduces that it is really Ollie and everyone is relieved. When Ollie came back, he had nothing and was taken in by multi millionaire who made everything in his house as it would have been in the 1980’s. He also took in the young prostitute who Ollie is becoming a father to. At the same time, Ollie must deal with his old relationship with Black Canary and with his son who he has never really known.

Then things really heat up when the old man really turns out to be a sorcerer who wishes to exchange bodies with Ollie. He has both Ollie and the young girl tied down when Ollie’s son charges in and rescues them. This was a pretty good story with a lot going on. I also forgot about the whole bit where Ollie was gone so long because Green Lantern brought back his body, but not his soul to make amends for himself and this was also the reason that the sorcerer could take over his body. He also eventually decided to reunite soul and body to help to victory.

In the second trade, Sounds of Violence, I found one of the best story arcs that I have read so far. After all that happened in the first books, I wondered what they would go for next. Well, in the next few issues things changed a bit. There was a quick issue about a date between Ollie and Canary where they end up in bed and Ollie ends up in screaming match with Hawkman and some more about the young girl wanting to train as Green Arrow’s new Speedy. However, he decides that the days of teen sidekicks is over and that he will not train her. She hesitantly agrees and tells him that when she reaches age, he will have to.

The biggest asset to this trade, however, is how good the villain is. This guy goes around killing people, just shooting them in the head. He wears a black ski mask with a kind of bullseye over his face and makes the sounds of what he does. This man is bad news eventually shoots Ollie’s son in the head. Queen is able to get his son to the hospital and gives blood to help him. However, when he is supposed to be resting, he sees and strange figure who ends up being the killer. He runs into his sons room and is able to stop the man for really killing his son only to have him escape the room having killed a few doctors.

The villain was really creepy and hardcore, I enjoyed it. Also, the young girl and Ollie’s son are quickly becoming strong characters as is the titular character himself. This has quickly become one of my more favored series.

Next to one of the coolest quickies I’ve recently read. In my opinion, this five issue series is beats the 30 Days of Night stuff hands down. This story is about a young man who was class president in high school and after having by Indian food goes from having Hepatitis B to Hepatitis A. His life dwindles and he retains water. He is a horrible visage of a man. One day, he finds out that he is going to die soon. That night, he only two friends in the world tell him a big secret… they are vampires. They tell him the basics: all you do is drink vampire blood and it happens, you don’t have to drink human blood, it is actually frowned down upon to do this because it is a worse drug than any known to man. So, he drinks their blood and goes through three hours of spasms and wicked dreams to wake up a vampire. However, he then spends the next few vomiting up his former human parts. He finds out that vampires eat, but you crap what you swallow so you need to chew well. He then goes around the city and finds out about the vampire use of pheromones.

Then comes the twist, as his friend or bits and pieces of him come flying in through a window. His girl vampire friend immediately knows and flies back from Europe to see her dead lover. She knows that it would take very much to kill him and blames the new vampire for it and isn’t too far from the truth. However, the two head into the woods to burn the body or else it come back as a zombie. There, a hundred or so vampires await them to pay their respects to one of the nearly immortals passing. However, when the girl sees one she knows, one of the oldest and most powerful, she asks him to look into her lover’s death and he says that he cannot. The new vampire is pissed and calls the guy on it who tells him to learn his place and tries to smack him down, but the new vampire punches him into the woods. The quickly find out that he is one of the few of a long lost bloodline. These vampires hunted other vampires for sport and blood and this became so intoxicating to them that they only hunted them, until the realized that to hunt each other would be more fun. However, their numbers dwindled and soon they fell dormant. This was until one of their kind was born. So they search him out and attack him only to be destroyed by the him and girl (with a little help from the old vampire guy.

By the title of the final issue of the series (The end of the Beginning) I hope that this series will continue, and I know that a bunch of us around here hope that it does. I liked this alternate take on vampires it was cool to see it done on level where it seemed that someone had asked, “What would it really be like if I was being turned into a vampire?” I really recommend to check this one out.

The next comic up is Fables #15. In this issue of one of the greatest comics on the market, Bigsby Wolf and Snow White find themselves in the woods camping. They realize that they have been there a few days but can’t remember anything about it. They realize that is was a powerful charm that did it and go for their car. They finally find where it was parked and take off. They get a flat and go over a cliff only to have Wolf tell Snow that he heard a gun shot right after the flat, so he thinks that someone was shooting at them. Of course, we know it was Goldilocks again and that she is searching for them. So, wolf reverts to Big Bad Wolf form and lets Snow ride him for a while so they can put some distance between themselves and their would be killer. It ends with Snow asking Wolf why he has fallen for her. So, next issue will probably involve some flashbacks. Meanwhile, one other thing to note is that Boy Blue helps a few of the mounted mouse police escape from the bad guy after he captured them. He is in charge of the investigation on them and must pull back on some of the surveillance since they were caught.

The final comic of the evening was In the Shadows of Edgar Allen Poe. This was an interesting Graphic Novel about a book that was supposedly found, a journal of Poe’s later life up until his near demise. The man who is reading it is a Poe scholar and is trying to decide if it might be real. The book explains how Poe sleeps with his aunt and marries his cousin. He is also possessed by demons who control his writing and who can kill his family and friends. It is with their help that he writes his great works. Poe is forever tormented by them and barely lives. However, the big kicker in the end is that they tell him that they did nothing. They could only see the very near future and told him what they saw to scare him and this fear kept him from being any good except when he thought they were near. In the end, the guy believes that he understands the diary and that Poe was really just insane a bit through his lost love that he knows similar feelings. So, he throws the diary into the fire and walks away.

This Graphic Novel was an odd one where the images were not drawn, but pictures that had been manipulated or put in whole. This was a lot different from the comics that I am used to. It was a decent change and some good history on a great writer, but I think I’ll stay with my “regular funny books” for now.

So, check out most of these, but Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence and Blood and Water are excellent. And I look for great things from Runaways and have hopes for Losers.

 

Super-Books

This week’s books and comic books fall into three separate types; Spider-Man, X-men, and Y: The Last Man.

The first book that I read this week was an actual novel. It was called Mary Jane and runs about 215 pages. Mary Jane is a nice looking small hardback book with a nice cover and great sketches to open up every chapter. The dust jacket is a powder blue with a heart shaped spider-man face on the front.

The story itself is a pretty good one, although obviously written for the young teen crowd. In the story Mary Jane and Peter Parker are classmates at a prestigious private school in New York. He is the nerd and she is fairly popular. However, when they are teamed together for a science project, the two begin to have feelings for each other. Those feelings take a back seat when Mary Jane’s father shows up to the Science Fair drunk, wreaks their project, and jets out never to be seen by Mary Jane again. She becomes drawn in and doesn’t want to talk to anyone.

However, she is forced out of her shell when the unthinkable happens. The Parkers, who she had grown very fond of during the project days die in a plane crash leaving Peter parentless. She goes to console him, but it is very tough on him. Soon, Mary Jane is forced to leave her private school because her mother has run out of support and they must move into a cheaper apartment. So she goes from school to school until landing in Queen. There, they get a small apartment and she is forced to stop taking ballet lessons. So, she starts taking cheap lessons down the block.

When she arrives at school, she quickly makes a friend of another girl who had recently come to the school. In her first day of school she discovers the unbelieveable, she has a class with her former friend Peter. Guess what, it is science class. He is still the class nerd and is very awkward. However, the are soon paired together again to do science projects.

However, the big change happens when the science class is taken on a field trip to Oscorp. This is one of the best science facilities in the world with some of the brightest minds on hand. There, they are walked around the huge facilities with little excitement. They are then shown the new sports drink developed by the company called Oz. This drink is supposed to be the ultimate in sports drinks. Soon after they are aloud to test the product, which they find highly tasty. They are then brought past a display of spiders where Peter is quickly bitten. The class quickly leaves the facilities and Peter is sent to the hospital where is checks out fine

He then goes home where he begins to discover his new talents. However, one of the first things that he does with these powers is to upstage Flash Thompson and break his hand in self defense. He then goes on to become the star player on the basketball team. During this time, his relationship with Mary Jane is strained, but it is made strong again shortly after his fight with a local wrestling legend. He gets some money for winning and pays for her to go back to ballet. He also has a great distress in his life at this time. He comes home one night to find out that his Uncle Ben had been murdered.

This act really starts Peter’s crime fighting career as Spider-Man.

The other Spider-Man book that I read was a TPB. Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 1: Power and Responsibility was the first grouping of Ultimate Spider-Man that mostly gives the origin story of Spider-Man for the Ultimate universe. This book was very similar in content to the Mary Jane book that I had read days earlier. There were very few differences, just obviously a lot more pictures. It was a decent story, but I didn’t like it as much as the original Stan Lee one.



Well, next on the list was X-Men, however this isn’t the normal everyday x-men, it was the New X-Men issues number 134 and 143. These are the earliest and latest issues of this particular comic that I have. #134 is the beginning of the rise of a young mutant known as Kid Omega. He is a very powerful mutant that could eventually prove to be even stronger than the professor. However, he has come upon some difficulties. He has just found out that he was adopted. The girl that he likes laughs at him, and then he finds out that his body is burning off a great amount of energy. They believe that he may be undergoing a secondary mutation. At the same time, a mutant fashion designer is brutally murdered and many of the mutants are extremely angered by this. Then Kid Omega (real name Quentin) discovers a new mutant drug called Kick.

In issue 143, I was a bit off course as somehow I missed out on picking up issue 142 at the shop and was therefore an issue behind. This issue was a bit odd due to this. However, I did find out that Cyclops had left the X-Men at the same time that he was one of the key suspects in the murder of Emma Frost. He had disappeared into sex and drugs only to be pulled out by Wolverine of all people. They then discover that the same people that made Wolverine are attempting to further their research into even more advanced weapons. Not a great story, but a decent read that might be made better by reading the previous issue.

The final installment of my reading this week was in the TPB Y: The Last Man, Volume 1: Unmanned, which collected the first five issues of the critically acclaimed Vertigo title. This was a very strange book that impressed me a bit by the idea, but let down in a few other areas. The story is about how at a specific time, every male on the earth (human and all other animals) dies. These are violent and bloody deaths, but alas all are gone. All except our main character Yorick. He is an escape artist/magician who recently proposed to his girlfriend in Australia over the phone. Only he and his pet monkey live as males and they are forced to try to figure out what to do next.

After escaping the clutches of a corpse collector, he heads to Washington D.C. where he finds his mother is the new President of the United States. She was one of the few women in the higher levels of government as Secretary of Agriculture and after the only other woman ahead of her dies in a plane wreak she becomes Madame President. They decide that the best hope of survival of the human race is to send Yorick to a cloning specialist in Boston. Along the way he comes face to face with a group of the women called Amazons. These are fierce women who believe that the rule has always been rightfully that of the women. They mark themselves by cutting off a breast for better shooting.

He finally arrives in Boston where they attempt to take blood from the monkey. However, the monkey flees and they are forced to chase after it. While they are gone, foreign warriors arrive on the scene and burn down the building, forcing them on what will be a great trek across the country to California where the doctor’s backup files and samples are.

I really liked the idea of the Amazons and especially the Secretary of Agriculture becoming the President. It was also funny when said President is attacked by “The Republicans” who are a group of former congressmen’s wives who believe that they have the rightful claim to their husband’s seats. They think that the now mostly Democratic congresswomen are trying to make the government a one party system. Good book, but a bit goofy at times.

 

Super-Books (continued)

Oops, I almost forgot about one other comic that I read the other day. This comic was Alias #24. Alias is one of the best comic series that I have been reading. This is one of those book that when I am cataloguing my comics I must stop and read it before I put it in the system, I just can’t wait to see what they will do next.

In this issue, the former super-hero, turned PI Jessica Jones is asked to come to Nelson and Murdock attorneys at law for a meeting with Matt Murdock. He has represented her in the past and so she trusts him. However, when she arrives, she finds out that it is on business. She is asked to take the case of a man who traveled to the land of the past where dinosaurs still live and such. He was lost there as a child and was raised by a tiger. Now this tiger had gone missing and he wanted Jessica Jones of Alias investigations to help him find it. She quickly refused and is upset by the insinuation that she would do it in the first place.

When she returns home, she is confronted with a message stating that there are a group of people that seek a specific man and that they were referred by her friend from the Avengers. This upsets her as well. She doesn’t like this unasked for help and goes to the mansion to tell her so. Once there she begins her rant only to be stopped when Captain America shows up and says that he was trying to help her as well. On her way back, she is confronted by her boyfriend Antman in both ant and man size in her taxi. She finally decides to take the case and goes to the address. When inside, she realizes that there are a hundred or so people that were waiting for her to show and that they want to know for sure rather or not their relative’s deaths were caused by the evil villain they seek. He has admitted to many crimes, but not to those. So, this is where the first part of the story arc Purple begins.

 

The Comic Man
For the longest time the only comics that i ever bought were to fuel my frenzy for anything buffy. Now that I have started a collection I have been going a bit overboard. Here is the list of the items i bought today:
Daredevil Lowlife 1 of 5
Amazing Spider-Man 50
Avengers Masterworks Volume 1 TPB
Ultimates Volume 1 TPB
Hulk / Wolverine Six Hours 1-3 of 4
Batman 612
Superman 10 Cent Adventure
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 51-53
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer GN
Fables 8 and 10
Brath Prequel and 1

This batch involved hanging around the shop with the guys working there and trying to learn more about the industry and storylines. Most of the guys working there are really cool. We got some lunch and talked about some upcoming issues and stuff.

I offered my services over the summer if need arrised. I will be off of school and i will need another parttime job to keep me busy. This could be just what i need to supplement my new habit and learn more about it at the same time.

Goody Box O’ Comics
Well, back I went on Wednesday to check and see what was new at the comics shop in town and to try to buy the remaining stash of comics that had built up over the three months where I was not able to buy anything that was being held. I started a couple of new titles that I have never read before and picked up issues to continue others that I do. Here is a list of the comics that I ended up getting.

Amazing Spider-Man 510
Avengers 500
Astonishing X-Men 3
Excalibur 3
New X-Men: Academy X 2-3
X-Men 157-159
District X 1-3
Rogue 1
She-Hulk 2-5
Batman 625-630
Superman/Batman 11
Sojourn 33-34
Army of Darkness: Ashes to Ashes 1

I also put in some orders for a few issues that I had misses such as Superman/Batman 8-10, She-Hulk 1, Demo 4-5, and Ex Machina 1-2. I also added a few series for a while: Ultimate Electra (mini), NYX, Avengers, Batman/Superman, Identity Crisis, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Rogue, and Sylvia Faust. There are a few others that I saw in previews that I am still trying to decide on: Powerless, Jubilee, Witching, Ultimate Nightmare, Black Widow, Bullseye: Greatest Hits.

I also picked up the latest Wizard, which had a nice dark cover of Batman and Superman that I am very interested in reading soon.

Fantastic Four, not fantastic but pretty damn good
I had never read any Fantastic Four in the past, but with a few different series in the box and nothing pressing to read I decided to give it a shot.

My first introduction to the series came from a line of comics that I had been a bit skeptical about until the past couple of weeks, the Ultimate line. However, after reading many good issues under demigod Brian Michael Bendis’s pen I deduced that I should give this series a glance.

So, the series just began a few months ago and it only up to #3 for any out there who are interested, so you can still get in on the ground floor, which I highly suggest after the amazing runs of Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Spider-Man.

In the opening storyline, we get the Fantastic Four as young children, especially Reed Richards and how they are brought together in a group of genius children and the experiment gone wrong that eventually gives the team their super powers.

I must say that it was another good beginning for an Ultimate line and leaves me wondering when Ultimate Daredevil will finally get unveiled after only a miniseries so far in the new universe.

So, a few issues in and I was finding myself drawn in a bit to the characters and picked up another very new series about the group simply called 4. This series is to deal with the social and familial aspects of the group more than the battles and superpowers spotlighted in most series. So far only a pair of issues has been released and I was more than a bit skeptical after reading the premise.

So, we start out on a birthday at the Baxter building, home of the Fantastic Four, where when they should be celebrating another year, they are given a shocking blow. A financialist or lawyer of sorts employed by the Four as well as Oscorp and Stark Industries has funneled money away for years and has decided to skip the country. So… the Fantastic Four are broke. This wouldn’t have been an issue except that the government had just cut their funding to them and to add insult to injury, the city is now telling them that they must be repaid for the damage caused during their battles.

Therefore they are forced to sell the building as a settlement to the city, get jobs as substitute teacher and construction worker in order to afford a small two-bedroom room.
We also find out that Reed is having the most difficult time adapting to the change as he drifts away for hours at a time into his logic and even forgets to pick up his child. Meanwhile, Johnny Storm has just lost his girlfriend who dumped him to be with Keanu Reeves.

So, nothing great so far, not even much that is very good. The highlights included Reed attempting to crack the stock market (reminding me of Pi), Sue Storm warning her students that sabotaged her chalk that she can turn their clothes invisible, therefore leaving themselves exposed to the rest of the class, and Johnny being dumped for Keanu. So far it is only average, but there are only two issues to date, so we’ll see.

Now that I’ve had a bit of a warm up I felt ready to tackle the main series itself. I had about ten issues in a line, but was missing one here or and there, but I did have a couple of stories complete, so I dove in.

I started with issue 496 and ended with issue 510. Over the span of this run man a things happened. First we have a bit of the story of the young Victor Van Doom, back in his early days where he was in love. However his love was split between a beautiful young girl and the need for vengeance for the murders of his father and mother. The vengeance outweighs his lust and in his choice down this path between the magic of his mother or science, he chooses science. That is what brought him to America and eventually to cross paths with eventual nemesis.

This storyline concluded with Doom in Georgia in a small town full of psychics and mystics as he is trying to ascertain the whereabouts of his one time love. He eventually succeeds even though she was using counter magic to stay hidden. Once she is found he attempts to woo her again and it works. This culminates in him giving her an old locket with pictures of the two as youths. However, their reuniting wasn’t what she had hoped for, as the locket had a powerful spell on it and when she grabbed it her soul was taken and her body was used to make his new magical armor.

This was good stuff. The demon powered locked that stripped her skin and stole her life was pretty shocking for comics.

Next we get a glance at one of the great battles between Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom. In this, the Fantastic Four along with the entire Richards family are captured by Doom and taken to hell where Reed is trapped in a library with no way out, Ben Grimm is being beaten by powerful demons, Johnny and Sue are helpless as well. However, the one most affected is Reed’s son who is getting some of the worst treatment.

With a little help from Dr. Strange (who appears to be making a comeback with a similar helping role in Amazing Spider-Man recently), Reed is able to escape and get a device powerful enough to defeat Doom. Reed gets everyone out, but as the portal is closing Doom reaches out and grabs Reed’s face leaving a horrible scar on the left side of his face.

After Reed goes into a funk, Johnny brings him along on a time trip into the past where they see a young Doom, flirting happily with his girlfriend. Reed has a free shot at him with a laser gun. He could end it right there. End it before the pain begins. However, he cannot. Or can he? He turns and fires, but only severs a lock of the boy’s hair before going back.

Once they are back the Four head off to Latveria, the old kingdom of Dr. Doom. Once there, Reed Richards takes over the castle and declares himself king. The group is dumbfounded and many are left wondering if something sinister isn’t going on. But through many crazy events they group becomes loved by the country in the end for their fairness.

Meanwhile, the UN, led by Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D. is verbally attacked by the nations of the organization and after days of no response from Reed they prepare to retake the country. The other three members are not aware of this until the last second and attempt to get to the bottom of Reed’s strange behavior before the war starts. Upon arrival back at the castle they find a time/space/dimensional rip and follow it to a world created by Reed as an infinite holding cell for Doom and himself for the rest of time. However, with the other three emerging before the rip closed, Reed had to quickly change directions and attempt to get them all out quickly.

Only the Four make it through, or at least that is what they think until it is discovered that he is actually in the body of Sue. He tries to ascertain his situation before jumping (ala The Fallen [Denzel Washington movie]) into the body of Johnny. He does a bit of damage and discovers that all of his assets used to fight Richards are gone accept the most basic and vital, the other members of the Fantastic Four. So he jumps bodies into The Thing where a battle of strength takes place long enough for Ben to tell Reed to kill him. Reed lasers him in the chest, getting rid of Doom’s spirit and morally wounding Ben as well.

Finally, Reed finds out that Ben is not actually Dead and that they must go towards Heaven in an attempt to keep the angels from taking Ben before his proper time. After a long journey, they reach the gates of Heaven where they find that Ben has been waiting, trying to open the door to perfection that won’t budge. We then find out who made the door… Reed Richards.

This was a really interesting story that amazed me. I didn’t expect much, but I must have entered on a good storyline. It was right up there with the x-men stuff that I have read ands some of the Spider-Man.

All of the plot points in Latveria were good. The issue about the young Richards kid getting over his fears was also really good. I would definetly recommend this series to others and am looking forward to advancing my knowledge on the team considerably. Fantastic Four barely beat out The Ultimate Fantastic Four in my opinion, at this point, but we’ll see a year from now.

24 hours and 64 comics later…
I will start by saying that I have been away from the medium for a pretty long time. After spending hundreds of dollars weekly for about six months in the middle of last year and reading a decent bit of them as well as immersing myself in comics I found myself drifting away from this. This falling away began in August when I went on a trip to Florida and decided to cut back on my spending on comics. However, when I returned I realized how far out I had gotten and even after spending a couple hundred dollars I still had to put back half of my comics that I realized that I really didn’t want that much to begin with. I also had a large stack of Batman Graphic Novels that I had to pick up when money fell into place. As time went on I significantly shrunk my hold list and got rid of my hold stack. However, during this time I was reading a very small amount of the comics that I was picking up. The last time that I had read a comic was in mid September and even after that I only managed a few books before I finally decided that one reason I seemed to be having a tough time with life was due to my lack of reading. Way too much time was spent on watching movies, proven correct by my 60 movies logged in January and not nearly enough time on reading. Then a few comics caught my eye. I picked up an interesting looking HERO 12, a new story arc about a man who gets the HERO device and is changed into a woman electro. I have always had an affinity for this kind of stories with my gender studies background and was interested by this issue. So, when hearing of an upcoming on in NYX and having read an excerpt from issue one I decided to read the second and third issue of the series. It ended up being about a young girl who is able to either slow down time to a near standstill or move through it at such a speed that everything else seems to be standing still. She also has to deal with a widowed mother, bullies, and other hardships. The story seems to be heating up, but is not onto great things as of yet, I give it a 6+ as it appears to be gaining speed.

At this point I picked up my first book in about two months and quickly sped through the first Lemony Snicket book. It was ok, but after all that I had heard about it I was genuinely disappointed by the second grade feel to it. I know that it is meant for children, but so is Harry Potter and it never seems to be too childish for any audience and will transcend its initial run to become one of the few books of the day to maintain popularity throughout the ages like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. However, Lemony Snicket has a better chance of become popular through its upcoming film project. I give the book Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book One: A Bad Beginning a 4, a truly bad beginning.

So, I was back on the ball, back to one of my many vices. I began to frequent the comic shop weekly again and actually read through my Wizard magazines and Previews. I began to remember how much fun I had reading comics in the past. How I had spent hours wading through the old Daredevil TPB’s and how fluidly I glided through the newer version with Brian Michael Bendis pounding out great, powerful masterpieces month after month. I remembered the surprisingly good finds such as Route 666, Runaways, and Fables as well as following critical favorites Ultimates, New X-Men, and Blood and Water, while having the master of comics and hospitality at the comic shop turn Dave and I onto Teenagers from Mars one afternoon and having it blow me away. It was a black and white comic, which I really didn’t enjoy often and having it open me up to a whole new range of comics was a great eye opening event. So, I decided that if I was going to really get myself back into comics I should start by catching up on some of the comics that I loved the most.

I had a plan for my combined two days of blissful non-work over the weekend. I would watch all of my rented movies and also read a couple of comics. However, after spending some time with my folks and some homemade pizza, I found that I was even more stoked than I realized to be reading some of the gems that I had built up over the months. So, as I flipped through my boxes of comics I pulled out the best runs and my most anticipated series in huge stacks in hopes of reading a couple of them.

Night one: start by chugging a couple of new titles.

The first title on the list for my comic-a-thon was Sandman Presents: Thessaly: Witch for Hire. This was the first of a small series of the comic being released by Vertigo, a name that had risen with stock very much to me, up to third place in quality in my mind with titles such as Fables, Y: The Last Man, and Blood and Water. So, I opened the pages and discovered a quirky take on a young girl who had great powers as a witch and had been force to continuously move around the globe where she was being found out at every turn by various monsters and creatures. She finds out in this issue that these beasts had been sent to her by a ghost that she had known in an attempt to goad her into a little business that he was attempting to open where he would find the baddies, send them her way, and she would snuff them out. However, in the end she doesn’t seem to keen on the idea and is actually very angry at his ways of opening the conversation. I give this first issue a 5+ as the comic was mildly amusing but has a decent premise to build a short series on, we will see if it picks up any steam next issue.

Next on the list was one more single issue before I would attempt to tackle the huge stack of series that I had pulled out. This comic appeared from the cover to be similar to the series mentioned above called Teenagers from Mars and I found out only an hour or so ago that it was actually put out by the same company. The title is Demo and is actually the second issue titled “Emmy.” The story is very sparse on dialogue, but comes off very powerful and interesting. It is about a very androgynous young person who we find out has the ability to make people do what he/she says. This immediately finds a warm spot in my heart as it reminds me of the few issues of the Alias: Purple storyline that I really loved. So this young person doesn’t talk and in the narrations tells us why. We have to guess at allot of things until while pumping gas he/she has a run in with some jerks passing through and tells one of them to in effect die, and they do. So, the person runs home to cry to the mother who appears to be completely hollow inside, apparently due to something the child had done. The kid is forced to flee as the cops arrive and the child runs away. From the mail column it appears that Demo is a series of one-shot comics. I hope that this is not the case for I would love to see more of this story, but by the way it appeared to look, this seems to be the case. I give Demo #2 a 9+ and would immediately buy the next issue if I see it. I am actually now writing it down to remember to add it to my hold list and to pick up the first issue.

So, I finally get to the meat and potatoes of my comics reading, the crème de la crème of my marathon. I start with one of my top ten comics of all time and one of the top ten series at that. Even though I had already read the first three issues of the comic I wanted to start from the beginning, so I began with Alias: Purple 1 or #24. My anticipation for the comic was raised even more by my reading of Demo minutes earlier, so I was revved up for what was soon to come. The story begins as Jessica Jones is still trying to come to grips with her super hero powers and her connections with other super heroes while at the same time trying to run an investigative office. Out of the blue once of these friends has given a group her number and they leave a message on her machine about how they need her help with the Purple Man. She is very hesitant in following up on this request in this manner and we are allowed through flashbacks to find out why. She had a past with him, a very dark history. We find out that she encountered him during her superhero phase as The Jewel. She had attempted to break up a little brawl that he had started and he decides to make her his slave. He uses his powers to make her do anything he asks which begins with a diversion of the police by tossing their cars around and eventually ends up with her begging him to have sex with him and crying when she cannot. Eventually, Purple Man tires of his little game and tells her to go to one of the big superhero headquarters and kill Daredevil. Even though she knows he is not there she does everything she can to try to find and kill the vigilante. So when she arrives she hits the next closest thing, the Scarlet Witch. After seeing this, The Avengers and Defenders that she had just come back from a mission with attack Jewel and put her into a coma in a really cool pissed off fight. She comes out of it with a little help by Jean Grey, but finds it hard to face the people that she had emulated in her career. Therefore, she decides to give up her career and the career offered to her by Nick Furry as the liaison between the SHEILD and the Avengers. Back to the present day she meets with the victims of Purple Man and tells them she will try to help. She later confides all of this to Luke Cage who she had been close with a variety of times over the years. She then goes to talk to Purple Man who doesn’t say much except to taunt her about the past. So, she goes back to apologize about the lack of information when she finds out that Purple Man has escaped the prison and she about breaks down. After falling asleep with her boyfriend Ant-Man we see her awake to find him very much dead with ants on the bed. However, we find out that it was all implanted in her mind by Purple Man who is sitting at the foot of her bed. He force her to do a few things before walking down the street and attempting to bring out a variety of the superheroes of the area by starting a massive brawl in the middle of the street. She then goes into a place deep in her mind, where Jean Grey had implanted a fail safe to keep Purple Man from controlling her again. She was able to realize what was going and when he demands that she attack the Avengers as they arrive on the scene, she wheels and knocks the cocky SOB on his face. Everyone is very impressed, but she shrugs it off. The conclusion has Jessica in a very serious conversation with Luke Cage about their relationship when she drops the news on him that she is pregnant with his child.
Man! This was a truly great storyline and the more I think about it, the more I love it. It is just so very powerful and fun and interesting at the same time. Jessica Jones is one of the best characters in the Marvel Universe and when I found out that the comic was changing and that the Purple Man storyline would be it’s last I was shocked. According to the recent news that I have scrounged up Alias will no longer exist and in its place will be a new ongoing series by writer Brian Michael Bendis called The Pulse. Originally it was not planned to have Jessica Jones, but after how much the fans loved her in Alias it was an obvious fit for the new story. In The Pulse, which I read most of in a Marvel Preview we find the premise for the new story. Jessica is dealing with her pregnancy when she gets a call to have a meeting with Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson. She finds out that he wants her to be the heart behind a new column in the paper called The Pulse. She will be a specialist, commentator, and reporter on super-human events and personalities. Teamed up with star writer Ben Ulrich the team will get to the bottom of the superhero events that take place in the city. Jameson was originally against the idea, but with support waning he is forced to take a new stance at the paper. This appears to be a step down from the quality of Alias, but could be an interesting addition as well. I give the Alias storyline Purple a 10 and the first issue of The Pulse, of what I have read, which is mostly prologue for the series, a 7.

Man, after that it was difficult to continue since it would be difficult to even come close to the greatness of the storyline, however, there was still allot of interesting reading ahead of me so I took up a comic that I had championed since issue one, when few people were reading it. I tried to get the word out a bit and told people that it would be hot. A few issues later, it started becoming one of the more highly sold series in comics. So, I picked it up and started from the beginning. Runaways is about a group of young children who witness their parents brutally murdering a young girl in a sort of sacrificial ceremony. They also realize that they are part of some super-group called the Pride and although they are obviously evil, the Pride believe otherwise. So, the kids decide to meet up later that night to figure out what had happened and what they should do. They meet, all but the youngest and decide that they cannot go back to their homes and must attempt to incarcerate their parents for the crime they committed. So, their first stop is a Gertrude’s house where they hope to find evidence that their parents are killers. However, instead they find Gertrude’s inheritance, a super-smart velociraptor brought from another time that has a mental link with her. They also find a book that has the history and plans of the Pride inside, however, it is encrypted.

At this point, I began to waiver, much as I do now, here at 3:30 in the morning, however, now I will try to be stronger than I was last night for there is much more to write. So, after waking up in the afternoon today, eating breakfast, and taking care of our dogs I sat down to my still huge stack of comics and began again.

I started back with issue four of Runaways. The Runaways have now stop by the house of one of the girls whose parents are out of time to find out if they can unlock the secret to her parents and to stay out of site. Eventually they find the will of her parents which has a picture with a circle and line through it. It is the same symbol that that is on her medical alert bracelet. So, they talk her into taking it off and she immediately begins to glow and shimmer. She is also able to fly. They are then off to one of the boy’s houses where they are quickly assaulted by members of the Pride which begins to become a theme, wherever they go they find trouble. The boy finds super powerful gloves or gauntlets during the fight and they discover the arts of his family. Next, they get a call from the leader’s, Alex’s, cell phone that if they do not turn themselves into the Pride they will hurt the youngest, Molly, who was the only one not with the group. This forces them to go on the offensive and they get together a plan to get her out of their grasp. Even though they cannot bring the plan to its full fruition they are still able to get Molly out without anyone dying, so another round won by the teens. From there they run to a hideout where they will stay low. This is due to Alex’s father pinning the murder of the young girl on Alex as well as the kidnapping of Molly using his news ties. However, the quickly find out that they need food and make a run to a Circle A where they catch a robbery in progress. They eventually decide to attempt to stop the robbery, but end up only scaring away two of the three robbers and adopting the other into their group. After hitting on Nico and one of the other girls and then pitting them against each other he ends up being a vampire and it takes the combined force of the Pride to take him out. The parents later find out about this and are very proud of the efforts of their children. However, they are still no closer at getting them back. So, one of the lackey’s of Alex’s dad does something very stupid, he calls in two former runaway superheroes to find the kids. He is promptly shot for his stupidity. However, the two supers find the children and are able to capture all of them present before realizing that something is not right. At that time Gertrude with her dinosaur and Molly or Bruiser as she has been dubbed show up to rescue their friends. Man, now that was allot to summarize about a great up and coming series. First off, I love the idea of the kids of bad guys not being raised that way and rebelling against them. I also like how diverse the group is and how diverse their powers are. Saying this, I loved the first ten issues. It was great all the way up to the tenth issue without a drop off. Then in the tenth issue when two former runaways are introduced and a new artist is brought on board near the end of the book I began to see a slight slip in the quality. I didn’t like the art of the new guy very much and it was obviously different than the old stuff that I liked so much. Therefore I give Runaways 1-10 a 9 and Runaways 11 and 8- as it appears to currently be on a downward turn.

So, after my first big series of the comic-a-thon I decided to go with a smaller run, a five part series that has a big secret about one of the biggest comic heroes today revealed, Trouble. Trouble is the story of Peter Parker’s parents and his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. The story begins as the four of them have just graduated from high school and are on their way to the Hamptons to work and play for the summer. However, their time begins with nearly all work and no play until the four get together and pair off into couples. Ben ends up with May and Richie with Mary. However, these pairings end up not being permanent as Richie who was upset with not getting anywhere with Mary ends up sleeping with May. They do this repeatedly until May finds out that she is pregnant and leaves the resort to be on her own. Eventually Mary comes to see her and is very upset with the news of her friend cheating with her boyfriend. However, the two eventually patch up their relationship. In the end a very strange thing happens. Mary takes responsibility for the child and goes to Richie with the child as if it were theirs and he goes along with it not knowing the truth. They soon get married and become the very happy family. During the wedding Ben and May see each other for the first time presumably since the resort and Ben secretly gives her his number. The really cool thing about this comic is that it tells a very surprising back story to Spider-Man’s life and the fact that although he believes both of his parents dead in actuality his birth mother is not only still living but caring for him like a mother, his Aunt May. The story was a bit awkward and didn’t have much substance to it despite an awful lot of trying. However, it was worth it in the end for the cool new take on the past of Peter Parker, way before Spider-Man, he pre-family dynamic. I do wish that the series had a bit more substance to it, but in the end that one little bit was worth reading for. However, I can only rate this as a slightly above average story and therefore give Trouble a 6.

Next up is another young series that appears to have started out as a short six part series, but has now broken through into a full fledged ongoing series. This is one that I must admit that I bought due to the provocative cover at first having very little idea who Emma Frost was or what her powers were about. I knew just a bit from reading some New X-Men, but the premise of the story as told in Previews seemed to be fairly good, so after having read the first couple of issues months ago I had it added to my ongoing list and therefore had it stockpiled when I needed it most. So…
Emma Frost is the origin story of the girl who eventually came to be known as The White Queen, a member of the X-Men and instructor of the New X-Men. However, she started off as a little rich girl who was struggling to fit in and keep her father’s oppression to a minimum. Emma was an average underachiever who had yet to find a place in life. She had recently graduated to all B’s, but often took a verbal and emotional beating from a fellow classmate both in the halls and in their fencing class. As if this was not enough she had also began to have migraine headaches which would lead her to pass out and have nose bleeds from time to time. As these began to become more often and more excruciating, Emma began to gain something from them, the ability to read other’s minds. This helped her to fight back against her evil classmate and then to ace a midterm. It was also during this time that she began to have a major crush on one of her teachers. The teacher had begun to tutor her after school and had begun to build up what her father continually knocked down. He seemed to really care for her. So, after her limo ran out of gas one night in the rain, he happened to drive by and offered her a ride home. She agreed and on the way read his mind and realized that he had feelings for her as well. So, as he pulled up to the house she gave him a deep kiss. He told her that he could not and sped away. However, this was not before their act was caught on a surveillance camera and by the time she got to school the next day the teacher was gone for good. Emma was very upset by this and decided to fight back against her father, so when her brother who had helped her before has a spat with his boyfriend, which she uncovers while bumping into him and picturing the breakup in her mind she tries to help him. During this time they are to go on their yearly family vacation where it is found out that the eldest girl has posed for a magazine, the middle girl was on drugs, the boy is gay and that the father was cheating on his wife. Therefore, the vacation is cut short as the drama all unfolds at one time and they head home. Her brother has his own place, but after the discovery of the boyfriend he is evicted and his money cut off by his father. So, Emma helps him to move in with his boyfriend. However, their father quickly has the apartment raided and has the police plant drugs in the boyfriend’s sock drawer to keep him away. Therefore, the brother is forced to move back into the mansion where he promptly attempts to kill himself. After Emma has a dream which allows her to save his life she finds out that her middle sister has been giving him drugs and tries to help him. Eventually she even tells her father who says he will get him help only to have him admitted to a mental institution. The arc ends with the father sitting the girls down and proclaiming that he will be giving the family business over to Emma who showed courage and tactics during her attempted busting of him on their vacation. The eldest girl is shocked as she had led her life to prepare and position herself to take over the business and was now being overlooked for the underachieving black sheep of the family.
This was a great little story without even talking about the dance where her evil classmate rips off her dress or her telling the truth about the girl soon to be kicked out due to the lack of her family’s funds or even Emma’s insistence on showing her mother what her father did and inadvertently implanting the images of her father’s adultery into her mind, forcing her into a brief coma. This series was pretty action packed, I loved it! It was a great story with lots of twists and turns and taking a character that I originally had no opinion of and making her someone I really care about and want to get to know more of. As I try to put this great comic into perspective I know that there are only two choices 9 or 10. I hate giving away too many tens, however, after thinking about it for a good bit, at this time I have decided to give Emma Frost: Higher Learning a 10. I must also say that I am really looking forward to more out of this title; it will be interesting to see if a title of this nature will be able to keep up the intensity of the first run of comics.

At this point I was about half way through the comics I would read on this comic-a-thon, but I was already through a majority of the titles, so I was now getting down to a couple of the longer arcs I would tackle this day.

Next up came probably my favorite extended run of a series to date. The series is now up to 56 issues and to date only ten of them haven’t been that great. The series started with a great beginning by Kevin Smith and after a weird and silly story arc by David Mack, Brian Michael Bendis came on board to steer the series towards the great fame is has now received and it rightfully deserves. The storylines in this series are some of the most powerful and seemingly most personally that I have read so far.

I didn’t realized until after I had busted my first comic out of the bag #41, Part One of Lowife that I had actually already read the story before, but after getting through the first few pages I remembered how great it was and with the amount of free time on my hands decided that I would enjoy it all over again.

Lowlife begins as the gangs of Hell’s Kitchen are trying to put the pieces of organized crime back together again and once again make it organized. However one major player seems to be attempting it all by himself, The Owl. The Owl, led by the former adviser to the Kingpin is talked into taking a backseat this time around and letting the henchmen do the dirty work. This is after he has beat the rights to the sold off pieces of sold off organizations out of the various thugs to bring the old unit back together again. However, he is not ever to get the respect that Kingpin once held and is not eager to stand back and not do anything. However, for the time being he is stuck letting a doctor take samples of him for a new drug that they are selling. Meanwhile, Matt Murdock has been outed as DareDevil and has fought the charge vehemently with no signs of proof he is sure to win his lawsuit against the paper, but it forces him to be even more careful. However, when he finds out about the new drug his hand is forced and he must move in. Eventually the FBI come to bust the Owl, but he runs and in true DareDevil fashion he kicks the living crap out of the guy.
Next in Hardcore we get a heaping helping of goodness. Matt meets a blind girl as DareDevil while keeping her from getting run over by a truck. They fall for each other and begin dating. Meanwhile, Kingpin has begun his comeback. He takes Typhoid Mary out of her hypnosis and back into her psychotic state. She then attacks Matt, the girl, and Jessica Jones (his bodyguard). Luckily after setting Matt on fire and cutting Jessica, Luke Cage shows up and puts the smack down. Then Bullseye shows up but only long enough that DareDevil can beat the crap out of him physically and then mentally. He tells him that he knows that the only reason he keeps coming back is that he wants DareDevil to kill him. Next, Matt must come up against Kingpin himself. He decides to take a stand against Fisk once and for all and declare that he is the new Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen. He goes below the radar for two weeks and when he emerges again as Matt Murdock the entire city is clean.
In the next untitled run of the series David Mack better know to me as the hack that tries to kill DareDevil takes over the series for 5 issues rambling in both words and art about the character that he centered on the first time around near the beginning of the new DareDevil run. Her name is Echo and she and duplicate anything that she sees as long as it is physically possible for her to do so. So, he basically retells her story in a similar way to the first time he did it except it is even more incoherent and this time he adds in stuff about a vision quest and how stories last forever and some weird cycle with her film tying them in with Wolverine who makes an appearance.
Finally after I thought that I had read my final copy of DareDevil that I had and lucked out by looking in my database and noticing that there was still one more left, so I quickly looked around, grabbed it, and read it while my dinner was heating up. The food wasn’t the only thing heating up. The comic was great. They were able to go back to the Bendis stuff and picked up where the last good issue left off, sans echo. This one issue was Peter Parker, Reed Richards, Luke Cage, and Dr. Strange all pissed at Matt Murdock for declaring himself kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen, they thought that he overstepped his bounds and told him so, he basically told them to bugger off.
So, the first two series were awesome, especially the second where we also get a confrontation between Fisk and the new FBI agent in charge, we also get the defendant in the DareDevil identity case having his head pulled off while in his swimming pool. Great, Great ten issue run. I give Lowlife a 9 and Hardcore a 10. However the untitled next chapter wasn’t nearly as good. I actually really disliked the art and how they chose to tell the story. It wasn’t very interesting. I actually disliked it allot. So, I give that run of issues a 2. However, the one issue after that, The King of Hell’s Kitchen, was a great beginning to what appears to be another great storyline. I give it a 9+ with a strong possibility that it will turn into a 10.

After sixteen issues and a meal break I was ready to get back at it with another long set of comics. This time it was one that I had read a few issues of and loved and then put down for a while for no good reason. Ultimates was a really good series put together to launch an entire line of comics. It has now spun off into ultimate lines of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and X-Men as well as minis that take place in this world as well. As we begin, Nick Fury has just received double his Normal budget to fund a new superhero defense program. He is setting up a huge group to battle whatever the next evil idiot can come up with. He tells Bruce Banner first, but it is a win/loose as he is forced to step down to number two researcher due to his Hulk persona and all of the national attention. They then get Ant-Man to become the number one and he is able to perfect a new process making him the nearly 60 foot tall Giant Man. He brings along his wife, The WASP. It is also found out that Tony Stark has basically gone into business with the government and therefore Iron Man is at their disposal as well. Soon, Captain America is found in a block of ice and awoken to a new time although it seems like it was just yesterday that he was in WWII. The team has a lackluster go at it, failing to provide good PR and with no enemy in sight things look grim. It is at this point when Betty Ross taunts Banner and eventually the Hulk. Hulk goes on a rampage after Betty and the team is finally unleashed. Hulk smashes Giant Man up pretty good and then takes on and defeats Iron Man before taking on Captain America and is beating him up pretty good before Thor shows up out of nowhere to put the smack down, however, he even begins to loose footing with Hulk until the WASP who had flown in his ear and into his brain stung the Hulk part and reverted him back to Banner. The best part is that right after this Cap shows up and after seeming sympathetic brutally knocks him out.

In the second storyline more is going on. The team is still not staying together well, Banner is in a very high security prison section of the base, and Giant Man nearly kills the WASP and seemed to want to. Cap is having a hard time adjusting to his new life, Tony Stark has a brain tumor, and they are being attacked by doppelganger aliens. This is another fast paced, action packed comic with a very shocking beginning involving a team member. It is shown again that Captain America can do nearly anything, but also that he can get pissed and just kick the crap out of stupid people as well. Surprisingly, what really kept this part of the series on par with the first was the inclusion of Black Widow and Hawkeye. They were super cool in this run and I really liked them.

Both series were really cool, but seemed to lack a little something I couldn’t figure out, but something. Therefore I give the Ultimates, series 1 a 9.

Now onto the finale, this is the great comic that I mentioned earlier that I was turned onto by Mr. Supercool himself Jason employee of the local comic shop where I do most of my shopping. The series, called Teenagers from Mars, I something that I can easily say that I would have never head of let alone read without his recommendation. I am missing issue five out of eight so there is some continuity missing, but I’ll try to fill in the blanks.
Basically, the comics are about a group of kids in a small town called Mars. The main character works at MallMart where he gets his few kicks by being able to sell comic books. He has also created his own comic book that sells at a local shop for a dollar. So, as we open the kid is fired after selling a comic to a young child and pissing off his mother. He then talks back and has the crap beaten out of him by his boss. During this he sees a girl being escorted out of the building. Later, he goes to a Zombie Movie/beer party at a friend’s house where he meets her again as he is vomiting in the bathroom and she comes in a pees while he is still there. They meet up after the party and end up at MallMart where they break the sign, break the window, and then spray-paint the storefront. They continue to meet up and she finds out that he is an artist and is cool to the younger kid that he has practically taken under his wing. So when the city strikes back, seizes his comic, and tries to arrest him they fight back with bullets, rubber bullets. They steal the comic back and make a statement about the mayor before fleeing town and later showing up in another small town where they help another represses author.
I give Teenagers from Mars a 9 and I hope to dive into the fifth issue ASAP.

It was a great day of comics, the like of I have never seen before and probably never again. However, it is now 6:30 and I can barely see the screen through my blurry eyes, alas, I must now bid you all adieu.

Jesus for a new Millennium (Chosen #1)
I nearly caught this comic too late. After reading through some of the latest Marvel Previews and through the big Previews itself there was one smaller title that really caught my eye. This title is one about a young boy who finds out that he is the son of God.

Chosen is the story of a young boy who spends a majority of his time hanging out with friends and doing whatever he can to stay out of school. On one of this days he walks with two of his friends through the woods in an attempt to find a ripped up nudie mag. They are on a tight schedule since they must get back before school lets out so they are quickly traveling through the woods. The boy is trying to beat the high score on a wrist watch game and therefore doesn’t notice the eighteen-wheeler on the overpass above screeching to avoid a dog and slamming over the guard rail and right towards him. Everyone screams out, but he is not able to move.

We pick back up with the boy in the hospital and everyone talking about how incredible it was that the boy survived the crash without harm. Some try to write it off as adrenaline and the like, however, those close to him know different. He is even given a hint by the nurse, but something too cryptic to get any real information. So, he sits at home and at the neighbors for a month “recuperating” from the accident and getting his head right before going back to school. He spends most days at the neighbor’s watching cheesy horror films while his parents are at work. However, he must soon go back to school.

So, shortly after arriving back he is forced to take a major history test where he gets a perfect score. The teacher thinks this odd as the boy is a below average student who hadn’t even gotten all of the information while he was away. Therefore, he begins to question the boy in an attempt to catch his cheating. However, the boy knows the answer to every question and therefore the teacher picks the questioning up a notch. The child has the answer to all of these as well along with being able to spot his trick questions. Before long he ends up surrounded by teachers, taunting them for tougher questions.

Eventually his mother shows up and pulls him out of the school. On the way home she begins to tell him the truth. She and his father had never slept together. In fact they didn’t even sleep in the same bed. They were merely together in an attempt to give him a normal childhood. As this issue ends, we see his “father” staring out the window of the house as his mother finishes her story.

Chosen appears to be a really good new story about the second coming of Christ. It is done in a very interesting way while making it new and sticking to a bit of the biblical backing. This was nearly all that I was hoping for when reading the Previews; however, the biggest failing is that it is scheduled for merely a three issue run. The story was not amazing, but very interesting and I am looking forward to the next issue. I give Chosen #1 an 8.

Emma Frost gets out of the house and into the big city (Emma Frost 7 and 8)
After a great first six part storyline, the people behind the up-and-coming Emma Frost had a big change to make. The first series relied mostly on her crazy family dynamic and Emma’s discovering of her new powers to fuel the book. However, in the new series they would have to change things up a bit to be able to keep the story going strong.

We open up by finding out that Emma has flown the coop. She has refused to stay in her house one more day and tries to make it on her own. She gets job after job, but with her extravagant upbringing she finds a hard time trying to stay anywhere for long. We find her loosing another job after a rich woman, shopping in the store where she works, brings in her dog with her even though they have a no pets sign posted. The dog goes on to quickly relieve itself on the floor and it is her job to clean it up. She refuses and walks out of yet another job.

The upside is that she was just paid and therefore she is able to pay for her place of living. However, she is quickly told that the money is only enough to cover the back pay and that she will have to leave by the end of the day. At this point she finds out something very important, she has a Jedi mind-trick like ability to make people believe whatever she wants them to believe. She tries it out after going to eat at a fancy restaurant. She takes a strip of newspaper and makes the woman believe that it is a big bill. The waitress falls for it, but when the manager realizes that it is just a piece of newspaper, he forces Emma to wash dishes to pay for the meal.

There is an upside, though, she meets the normal dishwasher who helps her out and they become quick friends. After work they hand out and talk about things and he offers to let her stay with him for a while. She agrees, but shortly after arriving at his apartment they are attacked by a pair of thugs that state that the boy owes them ten thousand dollars. After being attacked, Emma is able to use her forming powers to mentally attack them and get them away.

The two decide in their tough situation to lay it all on the line. They go to gamble in hopes of getting the money they need. However, the boy is not very good at cards and looses a fair bit of his remaining cash. Emma, however, has been honing her psychic powers and is now fairly good at seeing things in her mind. She proves this to her new friend with a deck of cards. She is able to successfully “guess” every card he pulls. Therefore they go back to gamble some more and she rakes in the money with her powers. They soon have enough money to pay off the boy’s debts.

Emma Frost 7 and 8 have definitely changed the tone of the comic series. It has yet to come close to the first storyline, but is still fairly good with a good chance for improvement with all of the potential of her powers. I am still interested in the story, but the new line has dropped my interest a bit. I give Emma Frost 7 and 8, Mind Games 1 and 2 a 7.

It’s no secret that Secret War is going to be great (Secret War #1)
I had read up on the five part title Secret War more and more in the past couple of days. It seemed that the closer it came, the more hype it was generating. Most of this hype was concerning the new painter from Italy who would be doing the art for the mini series. This would be his first American project and all involved had spoken about how blown away they were with what he produced. Only this amount of attention could outshine the writer of the series Brian Michael Bendis who is leading the charge during this resurgence of comics in the popular culture.

Secret War begins with Luke Cage. Luke is coming home with new girlfriend Jessica Jones, as established in the great comic Alias. He strongly tells the local kids that he wants some information on a new person who he found out was dealing drugs in the area. He then heads upstairs with his girl. When they enter his apartment they find a young woman waiting there for them. She does something powerful and all that is seen is a streak through the sky by the teens.

We find out later that S.H.E.I.D. had been trying to get to the bottom of a problem that had been plaguing them for a long time. Of all of the super villains that they encountered, very few had the means to pay for the equipment that they used to attempt their illegal activities. They never were able to steal enough to get them their gear, so where did they get it from? They had found out that most of these criminals had been getting their supplies from someone known as the Tinkerer. So, after busting one of the lower level villains they set him up to bust the inventor. However, the man knew in advance that it was a set up and therefore set a trap for his one time client.

Tinkerer left town and was soon spotted getting off of a plane in Latveria, the one time kingdom of Dr. Doom. However, the new head of the government had good relations with the United States since he had come into power. However, when the Tinkerer entered the country and was quickly ushered into a car with government plates, the idea of betrayal became real.

Back to Cage, he is not killed but is in a coma near death with Jessica by his side. Nick Fury arrives to find out how bad Cage is and that it will be difficult to be able help him due to his impenetrable skin. Fury seems to take responsibility for it, but the question is why.

The story is a good introduction to the five issue story to span over a year to be told. This is due to the wonderful art, painted by Gabriele Dell-Otto. This is probably the best art that I have ever seen in a comic book since I began reading. It is amazingly powerful, a shocking punch to the eyes. I love that even after reading the great comics that I have over the past few weeks that I can still be surprised by this great art.

In addition, they have decided to have extras in every issue of the mini. This one contains a letter from Bendis, a file on one of the villains and finally some extra full page art by Dell-Otto. His art in all of these are beautiful. I am totally spazzing out about this issue, but it is one of my favorites so far. If you like Marvel, the new Daredevil line, or just great art or stories pick this one up immediately. I give Secret War #1 a 10.

The heroine keeps changing (HERO 13)
We start off hours after the last issue (HERO 12) with Electro Lass at a friend’s house. However, when she wakes up, she finds that she is in the same bed with him and that they had slept together. Now this could be a shock for any girl, but especially for one that has only been a female for a day due to the HERO devise and was previously a male construction worker.

So, he electrocutes the guy and flies off in search of the device in the water. She dives into the water and sees a glint on the floor of water only to figure out that it is a beer can. So, she flies back to the only person she has left, her girlfriend. She pleads with the woman to believe her and help her. She tries to convince her that she is her boyfriend, but even though she can give very personal information, the girl agrees to help her. She tells her that the first thing they have to do is to go shopping for some normal clothes. This is do to the fact that all Electro Lass has to wear is her superhero outfit.

So, they go and buy her a big Batman shirt due to her comic book proportions. She asks about getting sexy stuff like Victoria’s Secret stuff, but it laughed at and told to look for comfort and that her options would be limited due to her large “assets.” So, they get done getting some clothes, and making her a bit more inconspicuous. They begin to walk down the street when they are mugged by some kids. The “HERO” is able to beat up on a couple of them, but her girlfriend asks her to stay with her rather than chasing down the punks.

However, what she doesn’t know is that those punks have her wallet with her driver’s license inside. So, while Electro Lass is off chasing down a lead on the device only to find her ex-friend and current rapist madly in love with her, the boys go back for payback on the girlfriend.

HERO #13 was a decent read, not quite as good as the previous issue, but decent. The cover was an odd one though, nothing to do with the story not even a character from it. I don’t know where that idea came from. The story was actually pretty stagnant and boring, much more and better could have happened, but there is possibility to build from. I give this issue a 6.

The fans could not Hush about Batman, but Broken City breaks it dominance
The fans could not Hush about Batman, but Broken City breaks it dominance (Batman 608-623) [comic]

**SPOILERS INCLUDED!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK***
The most talked about comic last year had to be the 12 part Batman run by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams. They story seemed to set records in sales and at most times held the top two slots in comics sold, it was amazing.

The story begins with Batman attempting to save a child after being kidnapped by Killer Croc. After achieving this goal, he finds that the ransom money was stolen by Catwoman who he chases across the sky. After having his rope cut and falling to his near death, he is saved by the Huntress, but it takes the help of his childhood friend and top brain surgeon to keep him alive. He is soon back out on the job where he discovers that Catwoman was answering to Poison Ivy. So, Bruce Wayne follows the grapevine to Metropolis where he must confront a Superman who is being controlled by Poison Ivy. He is able to eventually snap Clark out of it and stop Ivy, but he knows that there is more going on than it looks like.

Next, he attends an opera with Selina Kyle who he kisses when they were both in their costumes. He knew who she was, but she did not know who he really was. So, Harley Quinn ends up using the high profile performance to rob people only to be stopped by Batman. They continue into the alley where a gunshot rings out and he Bruce finds his childhood friend dead on the ground with the Joker perched above him. Batman nearly kills him before former police chief Gordon steps in and talks him down.

Things continue to spin out of control as the Huntress goes crazy, robin is kidnapped and Batman is faced by the second Robin, who had been dead for years. He discovers during their battle that it could not be him and eventually comes to find out that it is really Clayface.

At the same time we find out that Harvey Dent has gotten plastic surgery to fix his face and it back as a lawyer, no longer the criminal. So, we come to a final confrontation on a bridge where we discover that the villain “Hush” is actually the childhood friend. He wasn’t really murdered by the Joker and he had implanted his name in Batman’s head through a contact before so that he get back into Bruce’s life through the surgery after cutting his line.

Man, this was a really good story with great art and bad guy, after bad guy, after bad guy, after bad guy. It was action packed and no stop through the majority of the issues. However, as the story wound up it left me hoping for more. The thing with the fake robin and then having it be his jealous friend with revenge issues backstory just seemed a bit weak for such a good build up. It reminds me of games like Halo on XBOX. The journey, the trip, all of the build up is great, but then you get to the end and it seems like the developers rand out of time and money and just released what they had instead of putting an ending on it that fit the story.

I did really love the relationship between Batman and Catowman. The villains were pretty much all cool, it was a really good story throughout most of it, so I give Batman: Hush a 9.

Next comes the first four issues of Broken City. This story is decent, but nothing near that of Hush. The art is more base, more old school comic art than that of Hush. Hush was so vivid that it makes this stuff look tame in comparison. The story has also been a bit weak as well with some new players coming to town. Well, next issue is supposed to be the payoff of those two characters so the series will have a much better chance after that issue. I will have a more detailed review upon the completion of the arc, but for now I think it is about a 6.

Blockbuster good and goofy, but not great (Ultimate X-Men 34-38)
There was big talk about a run of Ultimate X-Men called Blockbuster in my town at the comic shop. They were talking about it with such high regard that even though I didn’t read the series I decided to pick it up. Well, the first five issues anyway, I think the ending of it must have gotten lost somewhere; I will have to try to find it.

So, in Blockbuster we find out that there is some sort of government agency that is out to kill Wolverine. He is first set up in a diner where they shoot him numerous times, but he escapes and hides in the house of Peter Parker. Parker is shocked to find someone stowing away in his place and begins beating on him until he realizes that it is Wolverine. However, the team quickly shows up and the two must make a hasty getaway while overturning some of their vans. They end up in Hell’s Kitchen where Daredevil comes out to help them briefly, but only long enough to get them out of his town. Then the X-Men show up.

This was a pretty decent read; nothing like Bendis’s run on Daredevil or his first issue of Secret War, but entertaining nonetheless. I was really interested in the Ultimate Spider-Man character after this and will probably try to pick up some of those trades soon. It appears that there are more issues left to this or maybe another series that keeps it going, so this doesn’t appear to be then end to this story. If there is more I will add another post. However, from what I have seen so far, Blockbuster was a fun, light, semi-interesting story with little substance, so I give Ultimate X-Men: Blockbuster a 7.

Comics from a New Shop

The Journey for Drizzt

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