Here are a bunch of links.

Here's Dynamite Entertainment CEO Nick Barrucci admitting that yeah, they probably published way too many Green Hornet comics last year. I think it's fair to say that there's nothing too terribly surprising about that opinion, and that it's probably pretty widely held, but it's still pretty interesting to hear him saying it out loud in public. The above linked-to interview with ICv2.com is actually sort of wide-ranging and candid sounding, and worth a read if you're terribly interested in the publisher or its place and in the direct market.

Here's a neat little online comic from Pearls Before Swine cartoonist Stephan Pastis, entitled "Five Places You Never Seem to See College Mascots." The mascot he draws in each of those places looks like our old friend Brutus Buckeye.

Here are some great redesigns of superheroes, "Amercianizing" them ala Marvel's "American Panther." I was really struck by how many of them you might think shouldn't work—like Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Red Skull or Yellowjacket—totally do. Those four were probably my favorite, although I sorta dig the American Canary and American Goblin one's too, the latter for it's sheer insanity. I also love how cool some of the names sound (American Arrow, American Jacket, etc).

Here are some cool superhero re-designs, from Project: Rooftop—Karl Savage's "Incredible League of America", which gives the "Big Seven" Leaguers hrybridized costumes based on those of Pixar's Incredibles, Toks Solarin's Japanese-style Red Robin, which is several hundred times cooler than the current Red Robin costume, and Jason Adenuga's Wonder Woman, which seems to accomplish several of the goals of the recent Jim Lee pants-and-jacket costume, but does so much, much, much better. All three are pretty great artists too; I'd especially like to see Adenuga's art on the cover of or inside the pages of the official comic book of his chosen subject.

Here's Ben Morse from The Cool Kids Table blog discussing his first Justice League. I think my first Justice League, barring Superfriends cartoons and a single drug store-purchased gift issue with a striking cover, was the same Dan Jurgens-written, Superman-lead version of the team, the one that fought Doomsday. I still have a very vivid memory of sitting in study hall in the school library my freshman year and hearing a couple comprised of two of the more popular kids in my class discussing the line-up of the Justice League of America. I remember them really struggling, and the female half suggesting characters like Captain America or Spider-Man, and the male half saying, "No, I think he's a Marvel guy." This went on for minutes and minutes, and I felt a growing frustration as I overheard them, furiously debating with myself whether I should jump in or not, since I had just recently read an issue of Justice League of America and knew the current line-up. When I just couldn't take it anymore, I wrote down a list of the Leaguers' names in a column on a piece of notebook paper—Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Maxima, Fire, Ice, etc.—and slid it over to them, explaining I happened to have just read a JLA comic. They weren't impressed, and, in fact, seemed genuinely befuddled by my entry into the conversation and what I had to share. They politely looked the list over, and a brief conversation ensued about how they had never heard of any of these guys, and didn't remember any of them, and weren't Fire and Ice friends with Spider-Man on his cartoon, and then rather quickly abandoned the topic altogether, and I felt foolish—not only had I butted into their conversation, I did so with nothing of any real value to offer, and I made them feel awkward in the process. In retrospect, I guess they were trying remember who was on the old Superfriends cartoons, not who was on the Justice League in the comics appearing that month. I will never forgive you for making me feel that foolish, Dan Jurgens! (No, it's cool; I forgive you). That particular couple is still together, and have been married for many years and have two kids. And, as for me, I still know the current line-up of the Justice League of America.

Here's something of possible interest to someone. Three nights a week I skim through Comic Book Blog Updates and Update-A-Tron looking for interesting posts to link to in my linkblogging for Blog@. I do that in addition to my usual, own, personal usage of the comics blogosphere. In the first few days after the release of Fear Itself #1, the beginning of Marvel's major publishing initiative for the majority of the year, I only came across three reviews of it (here, here and here). In that same time I found three reviews of Chester Brown's Paying For It (here, here and here...Those are from three good writers, so I imagine they're three good reviews, but I'm waiting to read 'em until I write my own of Paying For It). Anyway, is that an exceptionally small number of Fear Itself reviews, perhaps reflecting event fatigue, or is that an exceptionally large number of Paying For It reviews, reflecting excitement over it?

Here is a Newsarama article entitled "The Five POOREST Comic Book Characters." It's meant as a bit of a lark, so I hate to take exception with it, but as a Newsarama contributor, I can't help but feel a little ashamed by the appalling lack of Sluggo on the list.

Here's Joel Meadows' photo-filled coverage of Mark Millar's recent Kapow convention. It seems like there were either more and better cosplayers there then at other conventions of that size, or else Meadows did a swell job finding and photographing the cream of the crop. Also, Mark Millar seems like he should be better dressed in these photos, if it's his con. I would think he should wear a coat and tie and the least, although, were I him, I would add a top hat and a sash reading "Founder."

Here's Laura Hudson responding to a somewhat disturbing piece of weird-ass Batman and Catwoman art. Where is that piece even from? It doesn't seem like it could possibly be something DC Comics would publish—as much because Catwoman looks more like the Halle Berry movie version than the Selina Kyle of the comics version—but Batman is wearing his new comic book costume, which isn't a very cool one, and not the one I would imagine many folks wanting in a commission of their very specific fetish. Oh, and that's an odd Catwoman costume too, as it's neither Berry's movie version nor the current comics Catwoman costume. Anyway, just curious about the origins of that image.

Here's Greg McElhatton reviewing the recently published Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Trial By Fire. I never sufficiently got it together to formally review the trade after writing an excited post about Ronald Reagan's role in it, so go read McElhatton's review instead. I agree with most of what he wrote. The only thing I'd really disagree with is his assessment of Luke McDonnell's art as "fine but ultimately nothing special," describing thusly: "It’s in many ways the epitome of mid-’80s superhero comic art; clean lines, solid page layouts, good but not very memorable character designs...it’s easy to follow, and I never felt from start to finish like the art was working against the story; it’s just that McDonnell’s art will also never turn your head." Maybe I'm just used to seeing too much bad art at this time, because to me typical mid-eighties art practically means masterful, since in the decades since expressiveness of style and the popularity of the artist doing the drawing came to be more important than basics like clarity. Suicide Squad—a very good comic. Now let's hurry up and finish collecting the rest of the damn series, DC!

Here's Joe McCulloch writing a long, smart, incisive piece on Frank Miller's The Spirit and Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch. I'm not gonna lie—sometimes I just straight up hate that Joe McCulloch character. Why's he gotta be so damn good at writing? Jerk.

Here's a bunch of pictures of that goofy Batman Live thing. Batman, Robin and The Joker all look like hybridized designs drawing equal inspiration from comics versions and film versions of the characters (With Batman looking more movie-like than the others). Interestingly, many of the other characters who have appeared in films—The Penguin, The Riddler, Catwoman, Poison Ivy—look like their designs come straight out of the comics. The Harley Quinn looks completely unique.

Here's a Comics Alliance link-blogging post which references Marijuanaman, and part of the headline reads "Marijuanaman Soars."Why doesn't it say "Marijuanaman Flies High" instead of "Soars"...? They mean the exact same thing, but one if funnier. This really, really bothers me for some reason.

Here is a Golden Age superhero named Airmale.

Here's a review of Boom's Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown graphic novel I wrote. I thought it was pretty good, both as a what-would-it-look-like-if-someone-other-than-Schulz-drew-some-Peanuts-comics curio and as a comic to be enjoyed on its own terms. The only thing I didn't like was the back-matter pertaining to the animated special (style guides, character designs and so forth). Scratch that—I liked those, but I kinda wished they weren't in there, as it seemed like a book I'd really like to buy my nieces (she has an object with which she has a relationship that's quit analogous to Linus' with his blanket), but the back-matter seemed like it would only confuse her.

Attention Columbusites!

Do you have plans for this weekend? Well, if you're not already booked solid, then I'd suggest you check out this show.

And if for some reason you haven't already read Joshua Cotter's comic series on which the show is based, I'd suggest you visit one of your fine town's fine local comic shops (I used to use this one at least once a week) and buy it, read it and then attend the show.

What's that? Can't afford the $20 a copy of the collection will cost you? Or they don't have any copies in stock? Well, a quick looksee around the online catalogs reveals that the Columbus Metropolitan Library system has four copies of Skyscrapers of the Midwest in their collection, although it looks like they're all currently checked out. The Grandview Heights Public Library owns a single copy, which is currently available. The Upper Arlington and Bexley Public Libraries don't have any copies though.

I'll have much (much, much) more on the adaptation in the very near future, but in the meantime, I wanted to let you locals know this was going down starting this weekend so any of you who weren't aware wouldn't miss out on what looks to be a pretty cool comics-related event.

For more on the show, you can click here. For more on the folks putting it on, you can click here. And for more on Cotter and his work, you can click here.

Marvel's July previews reviewed

The Fear Itself line-wide story/event will continue to be Marvel's major publishing priority in July of this year, as even a cursory glance at their solicitations for that month will attest.

It's interesting that they're trying to keep the identities of the various characters who will apparently comprise "The Worthy," those characters who get big magic Thor hammers and redesigns and apparently go on hammer rampages, a secret, blacking out some of their images on some of the covers and replacing their names with a series of X's in the text. It's interesting because I thought at least some of them were already made public, like Juggernaut and The (Green) Hulk, yet some of these continue to treat even those characters' participation as a secret.

Anyway, here are some things that jumped out of me from Marvel's July, the fourth month of Fear Itself...



ALPHA FLIGHT #2
Written by FRED VAN LENTE & GREG PAK
Penciled by DALE EAGLESHAM
Cover by PHIL JIMENEZ
Variant Cover by DALE EAGLESHAM
FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN!
Alpha Flight... traitors??? After saving their country from the hammer-wielding XXXXX, The Flight are captured by the newly risen Unity Party and branded as traitors. Now they must escape from the bowels of the top-secret facility, Department H, they once called home. In doing so they must confront the shocking betrayal of one of their core members -- and discover an imprisoned hero readers have clamored to see since this series was announced! The red-hot writing team of Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and artistic legend Dale Eaglesham continue their highly-anticipated resurrection of one of Marvel’s most beloved super hero teams in a story that absolutely cannot be missed!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99


I guess I didn't notice when I read through last month's solicitations for June releases, but the latest attempt at an Alpha Flight revival is going to be written by the Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente team, responsible for Marvel's various Hercules books over the last few years.

Strange to see Dale Eaglesham drawing it, as Alpha Flight seems like a bit of a step down from some of his more recent assignments, like Fantastic Four and Justice Society of America.

For a second, I was sort of surprised to see this launching out of Fear Itself, given that the previous attempt at an Alpha Flight revival also launched out of a big crossover event thing. That was 2007's Omega Flight, which used the post-Civil War status quo of the Marvel Universe as part of the premise, and that lasted only five issue, downgraded from an ongoing to a miniseries. But then I remembered most new Marvel or DC series launch out of some sort of crossover or big event in another book.


I really like this Amazing Spider-Man cover. That is all.


BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #521
Written by DAVID LISS
Penciled by FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA
Cover by PATRICK ZIRCHER
FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN
You've read about it, and may have even argued about it...but here it is: The debut of the American Panther! What does his arrival mean to Hell's Kitchen? Find out in the series that Aint It Cool News hails as "one of the best titles Marvel is putting out!"
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99

I have absolutely no idea what's going on with this title and this new costume, but I like the prhase "American Panther" and I like the look of that costume (I like the only Liss-written story I've ever read too, and I like Francesco Francavilla's art).

The only downside is that it's kind of too bad that the Panther is appropriating elements of Captain America's schtick while still using Daredevil's sub-title, numbers and setting. It would be kind of cool if he just went around replacing heroes in their own titles for a while, like Captain America (Which is, you'll see in the solicitations, having its name changed to Captain America and Bucky, while a new Cap title just called Captain America, starting with a new #1).


CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY #620
Written by ED BRUBAKER & MARK ANDREYKO
Penciled by CHRIS SAMNEE
Cover by ED MCGUINNESS
Variant Cover by TBA
Think you know the story of Cap and Bucky's origins? Well, think again. The secret story of the early days of Captain America, told from Bucky Barnes's point of view. From co-writers Ed Brubaker and Marc Andreyko with artist Chris Samnee (Thor: The Mighty Avenger).
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99

See? Interesting creative team too. I'm on the fence about this one; I haven't been following Captain America since...well, Bucky was still Winter Soldier during the last trade collection of it I read. I really like Samnee's art though. And I generally like Andreyko's writing, and would be curious to see how it meshes with Brubaker's. Hmmm... Well, I've got three months to think about it, I guess.


DAREDEVIL #1
Written by MARK WAID
Penciled by PAOLO MANUEL RIVERA AND MARCOS MARTIN
Cover by PAOLO RIVERA
Variant Cover by John Romita Sr.
Variant Cover by NEAL ADAMS
Variant Cover by MARCOS MARTIN
Blank Variant Cover also available
THIS SUMMER, THE DEVIL IS REBORN. RENEWED. RESSURECTED.
With new enemies, new friends...and that same old “grinnin’ in the face of hell” attitude, The Man Without Fear is back in a double-sized first issue and leading with his face! Mark Waid (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, Irredeemable, RUSE) joins neo-legendary artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin for a new spin on Daredevil that will leave you gasping for air. Having turned his world upside over the past several years, Matt Murdock realizes that justice may not be blind to his past and villains may not be the only ones looking for answers. Bring it on. If Matt Murdock could see what he was doing...he’d be terrified.
40 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

We're still early into con season, but I've already forgotten which convention it was announced at that Waid would be writing a new Daredevil story, and would be doing so with a new attitude, returning Matt Murdock to his more action-packed, devil-may-care daredevil attitude, rather than focusing on the death, darkness, depression and human misery that have defined the character and the title since Frank Miller was working on the book.

That actually sounds exciting, and you can't ask for a better art team than that. Unfortunately, Marvel's launching the book with a double-sized, extra-expensive first issue, which strikes me as a silly way to tempt new readers to try a new book out.


DISNEY • MUPPETS PRESENTS: MEET THE MUPPETS
Written and Penciled by ROGER LANGRIDGE
Cover by ROGER LANGRIDGE
The Muppet Show is out to corrupt a new medium as all your favorite Muppets return in this giant comic! Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzy, Gonzo and the gang revive their variety show and bring back favorite sketches like “Pigs in Space” and “Veterinarian’s Hospital!” Kermit misses the swamp, and the gang tries to cheer him up. Fozzy revamps his standup act, but everything he tries gets the same boos as his original routine. Scooter attempts to figure out once and for all what species Gonzo belongs to. And a psychic tells Miss Piggy she’s going to lose something green.
96 PGS./All Ages ...$5.99
NOT FINAL COVER

It sounds like Marvel is simply reprinting part of Roger Langridge's first few issues of Boom's first Muppets miniseries with this, albeit it's going to be at a different size. I wouldn't mind seeing his art in a bigger, magazine-sized format. I don't know what this means for the future of Boom's Muppet comics, but I went ahead and ordered the few collections of Langridge's Muppet comics I don't have yet, just in case.

I hope this is an indication that Marvel will eventually be publishing Langridge's last Muppets comics, which were apparently written and drawn but weren't yet published by the time the license apparently went from Boom to Marvel.


FEAR ITSELF: FEARSOME FOUR #2 (of 4)
Written by BRANDON MONTCLARE
Penciled by RYAN BODENHEIM & SIMON BISLEY
Cover by MICHAEL KALUTA
FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN!
Fear makes us do terrible things—but it will also make the Fearsome Four BECOME terrible things! Twisted by their own terror as well as the reality-warping powers of a fear-drunk Man-Thing, Marvel’s Strangest Heroes transform into horrendous versions of themselves. Howard the Duck, Nighthawk, Frankenstein, and She-Hulk mutate from hero to monster freaks—and instead of saving the city the foursome just might end it. It’s a mad tale told by Brandon Montclare, Ryan Bodenheim, with
covers by living legend Michael Wm Kaluta. And joining the ghastly crew of creators and characters, the one and only Simon Bisley illustrates a special in-story Spotlight!
32 PGS./Rated A ...$2.99

Pretty neat cover, even though Kaluta's Frankenstein is pretty emaciated and the body on his Howard looks just plain weird.


Oh, Fear Itself: The Deep will be featuring that She-Hulk, the one who's kind of Thundra from the future and green now or something...? That dulls my enthusiasm for this almost-Defenders reunion series, for some reason.


GHOST RIDER #1
Written by ROB WILLIAMS
Penciled by MATTHEW CLARK
Cover by ADAM KUBERT
Variant Cover by NEAL ADAMS
Wraparound Variant Cover by Arturo Lozzi
Blank Variant Cover also available
FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN
IN THE WAKE OF “FEAR ITSELF”, THE SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE GETS A NEW LEASE ON DEATH!
The hottest, most rocking thing on two wheels returns! Start pumping your fists and banging your head for GHOST RIDER # 1, by writer ROB WILLIAMS (DARK WOLVERINE) and featuring the long-awaited return of superstar artist MATT CLARK (Outsiders, Superman, INHUMANS). Witness the violent birth of the all-new Ghost Rider...come to cleanse the earth in a firestorm of Blood, Oil, and Vengeance! Johnny Blaze has been chained to Hell long enough. With the world thrown into chaos in the events of FEAR ITSELF he is given a chance to rid himself of the Spirit of Vengeance forever...and he takes it. The curse is passed onto a new host but Blaze has no idea what nightmares his action has wrought upon the world. Will the new Spirit of Vengeance bring us salvation...or send this world of sinners to a flaming death?
40 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

Marvel apparently released images of all the covers mentioned above save the Adams one. You can see Adams variants for some of the other books though. Aside from Ghost Rider, it looks like he's doing ones for Daredevil and Captain America as well. Is that a big deal? Whenever I think of Adams and superheroes, I always think DC ones, so it seems like him drawing for Marvel might be sort of a big deal to me. But I may just be ill-informed of matters Neal Adams.


THE MIGHTY THOR #4
Written by MATT FRACTION
Pencils & Cover by OLIVIER COIPEL
ASGARD RISES AGAINST GALACTUS! The World Eater has come for something buried deep within the heart of Fallen Asgard. As Odin leads an assault wave of gods against Galactus, a wounded Thor must contend with the Silver Surfer once more! All of which leaves Volstagg and Kid Loki in charge of the Shining City for an afternoon. What could possibly go wrong?
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

Wow, has no one ever done a Galactus tries to eat Asgard story before...? That seems kind of hard to believe, actually.


WOLVERINE & BLACK CAT: CLAWS 2 #1 (of 3)
Written by JAMES PALMIOTTI
Pencils & Cover by JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER
James Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Joseph M. Linsner return to right where their classic “Claws” storyline left off to bring us an all-new tale of action, intrigue and razor-sharp appendages. Two of Marvel’s most beloved and be-clawed heroes, Wolverine and Black Cat, have barely had time to catch their breath from defeating the villainous mastermind Arcade and his sidekick White Rabbit when the two evil schemers find an escape from their exile in The Savage Land, and an entryway into revenge! Watch the fur fly as these four fight it out in an all-new, no-holds-barred Claws adventure!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory ...$3.99

I really enjoyed Lisner and Palmiotti's first miniseries, and was actually quite surprised at how much I liked it. I'm a little surprised they're doing a sequel of it instead of trying something else with some different characters, but I can't imagine this won't be worth looking at.

DC's July previews reviewed

DC Comics has released their full solicitations for the comics they intend to publish in July of this year, and perhaps the most noteworthy initiative contained within them are the just-announced Retroactive one-shots. (I discussed them briefly here, and I’d recommend this article by Don MacPherson, which offers a little overview of the publishing initiative, and contains references to some artists who have confirmed their participation).

The gist is apparently that each of DC’s biggest franchises—Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and The Justice League—will each get a decade-specific one-shot, featuring a writer from that era telling a story set in that era. The decades are the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

DC had announced the writers (and logos) at the same time as they announced the project, but didn’t announce any artists until today, when they rolled the information out on their blog prior to the release of the solicitations.

The artists chosen are…interesting. I assumed the artists, like the writers, would have been ones associated with the characters during those decades or, if not always possible, then perhaps at least be artists who could have worked on those characters back then. Given the visual nature of comics, getting a decades-specific artist is actually more important than a writer (I have to assume that JT Krul or Gail Simone or Tony Bedard or whoever could pick up a Showcase to study and do a passable Denny O’Neil or Len Wein impression a lot easier than many artist could do a Dick Dillin or Gil Kane or Neal Adams impression).

Apparently, that’s not going to be the case, though.

A couple of the “The ‘70s” sub-titled books will have artists who were working in the 1970s: Eduardo Barretto is drawing Superman and Mike Grell is drawing Green Lantern.

But the others apparently will have artists of more recent vintage. J. Bone is drawing Wonder Woman, and the solicitations list the artists on The Flash, Batman and Justice League as TBD (The Source says they will be drawn by Benito Gallego, Tom Mandrake and Andy Smith and Gordon Purcell, respectively.)

I don’t want to use the phrase “defeats the purpose” here, and I’m actually really excited to read some of those—I like both J. Bone and Tom Mandrake a whole lot, and while I’ve read plenty of Mandrake Batman comics, I can’t wait to see what Bone does with Wonder Woman in this particular context—but these artists on these books certainly confuses the concept quite a bit.

That and the fact that DC has those TBDs, no covers and doesn’t name the specific issues that are going to be reprinted as back-ups are all a little worrisome, like maybe this is yet another DC initiative that launched a little too quickly, and could have used a few more months of marinating before being announced and scheduled.

I look forward to being proven wrong, though. Of these first issues, I’m definitely planning on pre-ordering three based on the creative teams alone.

Also of note is what’s not solicited: The Geoff Johns-written main Green Lantern title. The two spin-offs show-up, and there’s a Tony Bedard-written one-shot entitled War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #1, but the “real” Green Lantern title is MIA.

That’s…probably not a great idea, considering that book is, along with Morrison’s Batman book, one of DC’s only reliably great-sellers.

Now let’s look a the rest of DC’s plans for July…


The cover for this month's Action Comics is of note because it features Superboy, a male character, with his costume torn up to reveal copious amounts of flesh. You generally only see that with female characters. So let's hear it for a step toward equal treatment of super-characters.


I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but that Guillem March sure can draw the hell out of things, can't he? Check out the look on Robin's face, or the Red Hood's red hood shattering into a million pieces...wow.


BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #4
Written by DAVID FINCH
Art by JAY FABOK
Cover by DAVID FINCH
1:25 Variant cover by ANDY CLARKE
Now featuring art by rising star Jay Fabok (Soulfire)!
Etrigan the Demon’s loyalties are stretched to their breaking point, and when he chooses sides, an epic battle ensues with Batman! The victor can only be decided with the help of a new friend, but there’s no time to spare for infighting, because Gotham City is being overrun by a demon horde...
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information. This issue is resolicited. All previous orders are cancelled.
RESOLICIT • On sale JULY 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Ha ha ha ha ha! Okay, now I’ll use the phrase “defeats the purpose.” What the hell is the point of giving artist David Finch his very own Batman book to write and draw if he’s not even going to draw it?

It’s not like this book needs to keep a schedule, as embarrassing and unprofessional as it might be if it only comes out every two to seven months or whatever. Like All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder or Neal Adams' crazy-looking comic, Finch's Dark Knight is a continuity-light, side-book, the entire point of which is to function as a showcase for Finch as comic book auteur.

Similarly, writer/artist Tony Daniel's Batman will have a guest-artist this month, however that's a horse of a different color—Batman has been around for like 70 years and Daniel's merely the current person working on it; it wasn't created specifically for Daniel to draw every month, the way Dark Knight was made for Finch.


BATMAN INCORPORATED #9
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art and cover by CAMERON STEWART
1:25 Variant cover by CAMERON STEWART
Is an exclusive girls’ finishing school a secret training ground for teenaged assassins? Find out the truth as Batgirl undertakes her most dangerous
mission yet at the request of Batman.
On sale JULY 20 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Grant Morrison + Cameron Stewart + British girls' finishing school = Comic Book Heaven.

Oh yeah, and I guess maybe Batman's in this comic too...?

Also, I guess we can add Cameron Stewart to the list of great artists who can't make Batgirl's utility garter look cool. Just ditch it already, Batgirl!


BRIGHTEST DAY AFTERMATH: THE SEARCH FOR SWAMP THING #2
Written by JONATHAN VANKIN
Art by MARCO CASTIELLO
Cover by ARDIAN SYAF and VICENTE CIFUENTES
1:10 Variant cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
Who has been cursed to find the Swamp Thing – and can Superman and the other heroes stop him?
On sale JULY 27 • 2 of 3, 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Er, that’s not really the cover, is it? Or, if it is, then this isn’t the cover for the first issue? Because that would be stupid.

I don’t know the writer’s writing work, I don’t know the artist (name sounds familiar though) and I don’t know the protagonist—Alec Holland? John Constantine? Mike Sterling?—so it’s kind of difficult to even get interested in this at this point, even though I’ve liked Brightest Day so far, and I like Swamp Thing.


Another boring-ass cover from Ed Benes. It looks like he attempted an expression on Superman, though, so it’s cool to see him working outside of his comfort zone.

And, as often I rag on Benes, I have to admit that he captures Hal Jordan’s dull-wittedness pretty well here:


DC COMICS PRESENTS: METAL MEN #1
Written by KEITH GIFFEN, J.M. DEMATTEIS and BOB HANEY • Art by KEVIN MAGUIRE, TIM LEVINS and others • Cover by KEVIN MAGUIRE
Collected from DOOM PATROL #1-7, don’t miss the Metal Men’s adventures against The Clique, living mannequins, an ancient god, at the Department of Motor Vehicles and more. Plus, from SILVER AGE: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1, the team meets Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary!
On sale JULY 20 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US

Boy am I glad to see this. I sampled plenty of DC's $3.99/30-page books with back-ups, but never found one in which I liked both the main story and the back-up enough to keep buying them. In the case of Doom Patrol, I liked the Metal Men back-up, but didn't care for the story in the front of the book and dropped it, hoping Metal Men would eventually get collected in a trade. I guess this is close enough. That's a weird choice of back-up for this, too, as it's a single chunk of a big, multi-book event/story from 2000 (Which I don't think has ever been collected, come to think of it, which, as I've pointed out before, is kind of insane considering it was written in part by Mark Waid, Mark Millar and Geoff Johns).


DC COMICS PRESENTS: SUPERMAN #4
Written by JOE KELLY and CHUCK DIXON • Art by DUNCAN ROULEAU, PASCAL FERRY, KANO and OTHERS • Cover by SCOTT MCDANIEL
These spectacular stories from ACTION COMICS #768, 771, 772 and 773 guest-star the Marvel Family and Nightwing, and include an epic confrontation between The Man of Steel and Ra’s Al Ghul!
On sale JULY 6 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US

I’ve read and liked all of these stories. I’d recommend this one.


Wow, another nice Johnson cover for the second issue of Flashpoint: Batman—Knight of Vengeance #2. The text mentions The Joker, although there’s no telling if that image is merely symbolic, or might suggest something about the Flashpoint altered version of The Joker.

Can I just buy the covers for Deadman and the Flying Graysons? Check out the dancing bear holding the space for the DC bullet?


Am I reading Joe Bennett’s cover for Flashpoint: Deathsroke and The Curse of the Ravager #2 wrong, or is that Clayface with dreadlocks in the lower right-hand corner…?


AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!


Holy crap, Guy Gardner’s ring is huge. I realize artist Felipe Massafera is implying the ring is closer to the viewer than Gardner, but even taking that into account, the ring looks to be at least as big as his whole hand.

Maybe that’s the aftermath of “War of the Green Lanterns” that all the GL solicits are referring to, though—Green Lantern rings will become 50 times bigger during the events of the "War."


HITMAN VOL. 5: WHO DARES WINS TP NEW EDITION
Written by GARTH ENNIS • Art and cover by JOHN McCREA
When both a group of British S.A.S. commandos and an avenging troop of mafia soldiers target Tommy Monaghan and his partner, Natt, the two assassins stand side by side in a fight they know they cannot win. Collected from HITMAN #23-28.
On sale AUGUST 31 • 144 pg, FC, $19.99 US

This six-issue arc is one of several high points of Ennis and McCrea's Hitman, the best comic ever. Prior to this arc, much of the series had leaned a little more heavily on zany comedy and the inherent ridiculousness of the DC Universe, but in this story things turn deadly serious—or as deadly serious as things ever got in Hitman, give that this arc does feature a scene where our heroes use a dead morbidly obese man in a fast food joint as a human shield during a shoot out.

Anyway, our heroes are in the fight of their lives against opponents who outnumber and outclass them, and are all-around better at killing people then they are. Given Ennis' already-demonstrated willingness to kill off key supporting characters, it was actually quite a tense read, as virtually anyone could go at any moment in a Hitman story.


RED ROBIN #25
Written by FABIAN NICIEZA • Art and cover by MARCUS TO and RAY MCCARTHY
If he’s going to avoid a fight against a psycho Super-Villain, end the 7 Days of Death, win the Assassination Tournament and discover ancient knowledge over life and death, Red Robin will have to survive a final battle against one of the world’s deadliest assassins. Her name? Cassandra Cain!
On sale JULY 13 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Hey look, it's Cassandra Cain! And look what's she's wearing! Aside from the shape of the mask and a few details, that's almost exactly what Dennis Culver dressed her in when he designed and redesigned like 50 Bat-people (designs which were discussed at great length on EDILW here).

Check it out: I like Culver's hairstyle better, though.

Anyone out there reading Red Robin? Should I check out this issue?


SUPERMAN #713
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI and CHRIS ROBERSON
Art by EDDY BARROWS and J.P. MAYER
Cover by JOHN CASSADAY
1:10 Variant cover by JEFF SMITH
What could possibly make The Man of Steel decide to stop being Superman? Superboy and Supergirl catch up with him in Portland, Oregon, and they want answers!
On sale JULY 13 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Hey look, "Variant cover by JEFF SMITH." Neat. Unfortunately, DC didn't show it off in the solicits, they just featured the boring Cassaday one.


SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE ARCHIVES VOL. 1 HC
Written by OTTO BINDER and others • Art by WAYNE BORING, KURT SCHAFFENBERGER and others • Cover by CURT SWAN and STAN KAYE
These whimsical stories are collected from SHOWCASE #9-10 and SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #1-8, including: • “The Girl in Superman’s Past” • “The Jilting of Superman”
• “The Witch of Metropolis” • “The Rainbow Superman”
• “Lois Lane – Convict!” • “The Ugly Superman”
Advance solicited • On sale DECEMBER 21 • 264 pg, FC, $59.99 US

A $60 Archives edition? Lame. Let's get these in Showcases, STAT!


TINY TITANS #42
Written by ART BALTAZAR and FRANCO
Art and cover by ART BALTAZAR
They said it couldn’t happen, but why did you believe them? It’s...young Bizarros in love! Who is the strange girl from a square planet floating in space? Join us as the Tiny Titans discover Bizarro World! Aww yeah!
On sale JULY 20 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E

I've said it before regarding this E-rated, kid-friendly comic and I'll say it again: Fuck yeah, Tiny Titans!


Titans #37
Written by ERIC WALLACE
Art and cover by FABRIZIO FIORENTINO
“The Methuselah Imperative” continues! From the ashes of defeat comes the secret of life itself as Deathstroke’s master plan reaches its stunning
conclusion. Plus, this is it: Arsenal leads a Titans mutiny – but who will survive? Guest-starring The Mad Hatter, Dr. Sivana and Dr. Impossible!
On sale JULY 20 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+

Ever like a character so much you don’t ever want to see them turn up in a comic, because you’re afraid of what the creators are going to do to them? Of course you have! Especially if you read DC comics.

That’s how I feel about Dr. Sivana, appearing on this cover with the two characters I find less appealing than any of DC’s several thousand IPs—Deathstroke and stupid old Jericho.

Eric Wallace's Titans, you may recall, is the book which opened with a woman sexing a man to death with her super-powered fire vagina. And that was well before DC had a rating system, and everything was considered all-ages! Now the book is rated T+, a degree higher than the vast majority of DCU books!

Some thoughts on Feeding Ground...and on various depctions of werewolves

I didn’t really like the first issue of Feeding Ground, a still in-progress six-issue series from Archaia by Swifty Lang, Michael Lapinski and Chris Mangun*. That was the only issue I really tried to review here, and, as I said at the time, the book has its attributes—it’s a great value ($3.95 for an ad-free, 29-page story, which repeats in Spanish, forming the second half of a flip-book, for 58-pages total), it has really weird art, it’s unlike many of its fellow direct market comics and always boasts very striking covers.

Archaia has been sending me reviews copies of each succeeding issues—the fourth of six being the last to come out—and I keep reading them with interest, although I’m afraid my esteem for the series hasn’t increased any.

It’s very confusing, the art makes me uncomfortable in its degree of reference and little about either it or the verbal aspects of the story are very well communicated.

It wasn’t until somewhere in the second issue that I realized this is a sort of werewolf story, for example, something you’d probably want to get out there somewhere in your first issue.

Part of me thinks that Feeding Ground will be much easier to follow and thus enjoy when its all collected, and each chapter follows immediately on the heels of the previous one, so there aren’t weeks to forget what little I poorly understood between installments, but then, as I stated above, the packaging itself is kind of fun, and that aspect would be lost in the trade (although clarity is probably more important than packaging).

Here’s a pretty good example from what’s wrong, what’s right and what’s weird about the story, from issue #4, the one with this swell piñata cover:This is a two-page sequence from the climax of the book. To set it up, the man in the hat is seeking to protect the little girl in his arms. The pair of them and her family were first ambushed by border guards, and then by werewolves:See the first panel on page two? Yeah. What the hell happened there, exactly? Is the knife coming out of his chest, hilt first? Was it thrown into his chest? Did it appear there? Is it “real”? Is it subjective reality? Is it how he feels? Is the girl wolf hissing in reaction to the image, or did her hiss cause it?

I have no idea. And that’s kind of cool and exciting, and it’s definitely a nice-looking panel, but even still, that’s a lot of questions for a panel to suggest and not offer any answers for.

Here’s something I really liked about the book. I mentioned how awesome the cover is already, but look closely at the little winged insects on the bottom of the page; I think they’re supposed to be bees.I love how they’re drawn, like little signatures in the shapes of bees. I wish that sort of spontaneity and live was evidenced in more of the interior art.

One think I don’t really like about the book is the way the werewolves are drawn. This is from an early scene in Feeding Ground #4: Lapinksi creates a much more interesting monster in Feeding Ground #3, when he draws a failed werewolf that didn't quite take:Not much of a werewolf, obviously, but a pretty great, scary image, and some wonderful dialogue, too!

****************************

Have you ever thought much about werewolves, how they would look in real life, how they should look, and how you personally like them to look?

I think about that subject an awful lot. Pretty much every time I see a movie or read a comic book with a werewolf in it, which is fairly often, considering.

These werewolves are of the original, 1941 The Wolf Man variety, basically just hairy humans with sharper edges here and there (If you look close, I guess these are a bit removed from the heavily made-up Lon Chaney Jr. version, as they have little muzzles that give them a slightly baboon-like appearance).

I don’t like that sort of werewolf, and not even the impressive version of it in the 2010 not-really remake The Wolfman (which I just happened to watch a few weeks ago), a version which ran about on all fours as easily as it walked on two legs and had long fingernails capable of knocking dudes’ heads around like volleyballs really sold that version of a wolf man to me.

I prefer my werewolves with wolf-like heads—long pointed muzzle, and long pointy ears near the top of their heads. Troubled 2005 release Cursed** or, better still, 2002’s Dog Soldiers are pretty good examples of wolf-headed wolf-men style werewolves (actually, I think Dog Soldiers had one of my favorite designs for a movie werewolf…their height and skinny bodies and limbs really added to the alien, off-putting horror of the monsters).

The most recent comic book version of such a werewolf I’ve seen was in Driver for the Dead #3, another recent comic I didn’t really like, although the ways in which it was a poor comic weren’t as interesting as the ways in which Feeding Ground is a poor comic.

Anyway, here’s Leonardo Manco, Kinsun Loh and Jerry Choo’s Loup Garoux from Driver for the Dead:
The thing about those sorts of werewolves, however, is that they never seem quite right to me—like, even accepting the man-who-turns-into-a-magical-wolf-monster, for some reason the wolf/human hybrid look is just a inch too far for me to really embrace. Basically, they tend to seem very ape-like to me, particularly in film, and that’s an entirely different mammal, you know?

I guess it’s a byproduct of having been born and raised so long after Darwin, but bestial humans seem like they should be ape-like to me, rather than wolf-like. Part of this too may simply be because of the limitations of special effects that Hollywood dealt with for so many decades—as long as they wanted to have an actor under werewolf make-up, it was pretty hard to come up with anything that didn’t look a little like something somewhere in the spectrum between a petite-footed Bigfoot and a gorilla with pointed snout and teeth.

So werewolves that seem the most “right” to me are simply monstrous wolves that display human intelligence.

Like, a man that turns into a wolf isn’t that scary—a wolf could totally kick my ass in a fight, after all, but if I had a gun or a stick or was near a car I could climb on top of, I probably wouldn’t faint in horror or anything. A wolf’s not a bear or a tiger. So, it would have to be a man that turns into a really, really big wolf.

In movies, I think the best werewolves I’ve seen are, according to my own personal werewolf aesthetic tastes are the ones in the Twilight movies (I’ve only seen part of the second film, but those seemed like big, bear-sized werewolves) and the just-released Red Riding Hood, which was a huge, black, fast, nimble, cunning wolf.

My ideal werewolf design, if any one cares, would be a wolf the size of a horse, with something of a mane, and big paws like a bear’s paws, which would be able to manipulate some objects, without giving the beast the ability to, like, play piano or shoot a pistol. Also, like a bear, it would be able to stand. That would be a scary fucking werewolf. And one I could believe in as a super-scary, monster wolf that would legitimately threaten people in our post-scared-of wolves society.

I think werewolves that are just wolves that can talk and walk around on their hind legs would be scary as hell too, I guess. Like a whole pack of normal, regular-sized wolves, all running around on their weird, backward-kneed canine legs, their forepaws held in front of ‘em like kangaroo hands, crowding around you and snapping at you? That would be some freaky shit.

I haven’t seen either of these (personal) ideal werewolves in films yet. I think the scariest wolf I’ve ever seen in a movie wasn’t actually a werewolf, but the wolf Gmork in The Never-Ending Story, but that may have had something to do with me being seven-years-old when I saw him for the first time.

As for my favorite werewolf design that I have seen somewhere other than in the back of my head while I’m half-watching horror movies, I think that would probably be this one:It’s definitely of the human/wolf hybrid variety, but I really like how inhuman it is—with the exception of the torso and maybe parts of the hips and shoulders, there’s no part that you could really isolate as belong to a human being.

It would be fairly difficult to put that particular wolf in a movie and have a man inside it…unless maybe the actor’s head would be somewhere in the middle of the neck/mane area, with an animatronic werewolf head on top of the actor’s head, and they could do something with puppetry and CGI on the legs, maybe digitally erasing the actor’s human legs….?

The source of that image is a rather unlikely one, by the way. It’s a drawing by Ellisa Martin which was used to illustrated Narnia Solo Games #4, The Lost Crowns of Cair Paravel. These were something between a Choose Your Own Adventure book and a role-playing game for someone with no friends with whom to play. They were in the shape and form of slim paperback books, and were essentially playable prose novels written in second person, set in the world of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series.

I only had two of this series, and it’s that drawing of a werewolf that I remember most clearly about them. Flipping through the yellowed copies, I see they were copyrighted 1988, which would have made me 11 at the time of purchase. I see also that they were only $2.95 a piece—less than the cheapest 22-page comic books you can buy today!

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts on Feeding Ground, and some more of my thoughts on werewolves. Thank you for indulging me.



*Mangun is a great name

**Have you already seen Cursed, and think you’ve wrung all the enjoyment out of it there is to wring out? Well, try watching it again now in 2011, only pretend that Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg are Elizabeth Wurtzel and Mark Zuckerburg, respectfully. Wurtzel and Zuckerberg vs. werewolves is an entirely different movie

What the--is that Extrano?!

This is the cover of Flashpoint: Secret Seven #2, as revealed on DC's Source blog today: That's Amethyst, Princess of Gem World with the sword, and behind her is...is...is that really Extrano? Because it looks an awful lot like Extrano.

This is Extrano, the controversial openly-gay bundle of gay stereotypes/Peruvian superhero sorcerer/New Guardian introduced in DC's 1988 Millennium miniseries: Flashpoint: Secret Seven is written by Peter Milligan, features pencil art by George Perez and, as was revealed on the first cover, will feature the Vertigo version of Shade, The Changing Man, in addition to Amethyst and, perhaps, Extrano.

Man, I'm really glad I pre-ordered this Flashpoint spin-off series...

Plas, is that you...?

At DC's Source blog today. Kinda glad I planned on skipping that particular Flashpoint spin-off series now...

Meanwhile, at Blog@Newsarama...

I reviewed the first volumes of two new manga series from Tokyopop, Butterfly, which isn't all that great, and Clean-Freak: Fully-Equipped, which I thought was pretty great. You can read them by clicking here, if you want.

And speaking of Blog@, look who's back.

...as did her little sister, my other niece.

(Her work can be a bit...avant garde. I'm going to try to translate from memory. The title is...something about Spring. Oh, wait, "A Spring Day." Then she put her byline on it two or three times.)

It is a spring day

...

In spring you can go splash in the water

In the spring Easter is in spring

In spring it is people's birthdays

In spring it is April Fool's Day

In spring baby animals come outside

So my niece made a book and asked me to "publish" it...