Hi-de Ho, CBJ!!!
It's your Creepy Uncle Stephen, back for another round of "Don't Tell Mom and Dad"!
So, who's going to be making the trek down to Baltimore Comic Con next weekend? Because I know that I'm going to be there, along with many of my Alterna Comics cohorts, all schilling our funny books and hobnobbing with those poor souls unfortunate enough to get too close to the booth.
I haven't spent a lot of time in BMore, so having the friendly faces of CBJers popping up now and then sure would be nice... And besides, this may be your only chance to see me until December.
"But Creepy Uncle Stephen, what's in December?"
All will be revealed in due time, my sweets. ;)
~ Stephen
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Previews and Reviews with Gore Jones
What's up world!
Back in the saddle for another edition of Previews and Reviews. Some cool stuff happened in the past week. My band (The Grieving Process) released a new song on our myspace page, head over there and check it out and leave us some love. After 4 years in the waiting Rob Zombie's cartoon movie based on the comic series "The Haunted Adventures of El Superbeasto" finally came out!! For those of you in the NY area with Time Warner Cable, you can order it on the Movies on Demand channel. Definitely worth the wait. This week in comics wasn't too shabby either, some seriously good stuff came out...
Spider-Woman #1
This week we finally got the comic book version of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's Spider-Woman. We catch up to Jessica Drew post Secret Invasion to find her having a very hard time coping with everything that's happened. Poor Jessica, she's one of the most notorious people on earth now because of The Skrull Queen posing as her. Abigail Brand head of S.W.O.R.D shows up randomly to offer her a job with S.W.O.R.D hunting down alien species living here on earth. Her first mission is hunt down and find the remaining Skrulls who went into hiding after the end of Secret Invasion. I loved this book and I'm glad to finally have it in my hands as opposed to the Itunes Digital Comic that Marvel has had out for sometime now. Bendis loves this character and you will too. If you passed this one up, forgot it or just didn't care, make it a point to scoop it up now before you're scouring comic shops for a copy of it!
5 out of 5
Blackest Night Superman #2
This weeks offering for Blackest Night and goddamn was it good. The battle between Earth-2 Superman, Superman and Superboy was awesome. In the middle of the fray who shows up but newly resurrected Psycho Pirate. As you all may or may not remember the last time we saw him was in Infinite Crisis as he was having Black Adam's fist smashed through his face. Last seen at the end of Blackest Night issue #3 being part of the resurrected villians from the JLA masoleum. Now, Psycho Pirate is having a grand ole' time toying with the citizens of Smallville while watching on as the SuperMen battle it out in the sky above. Eddy Barrows artwork really makes the story pop and it's almost sad that the book only has 22 pages.
5 out of 5
Superman Secret Origin #1
Geoff Johns and Gary Frank bring us the 3rd and hopefully final retelling of Clark Kent"s beginings in Smallville and his ascent to becoming Superman. Very much like the past tales of Clark's childhood, we see him growing up in the small Kansas town. This time around though Lex Luthor is a member of the town and he still has hair..haha.
I personally thought it was a great issue but the fact is that Johns has almost already told this story in his run on Action Comics. I think it's a little unnecessary for DC to have another book with stories we've already read before and it's a concept that's already been done, MANY TIMES. Those of you who remember that DC relaunched many titles after Crisis on infinite earths to streamline the universe and make things flow but like all of us know, they f'ed that up pretty bad with not keeping the continuity of stories together and due to changes in writers a lot was lost. They attempted to again re-do their mistakes with Infinite Crisis but again lost the whole point of the story; which was again to stream line the universe and make it all cohesive. I can appreciate how Johns is trying to makeup for these mistakes with this book but really what's the point other than to have Gary Frank draw a Superman book.
3 out of 5
Giant Sized Old Man Logan
After months of missing shipping dates due to Mark Millar being ill and then Marvel deciding to give Daken the Wolverine title, We get this Giant Sized finale to the "Old Man Logan" story. At the end of the last issue we saw Logan kill the Red Skull, watch Hawkeye die and come home to find his family murdered by The Hulks. It picks up with Logan not caring anymore and being the best at what he does and this time around it's slaughtering The Hulk Clan. There really isn't much information given about anything other than Bruce decided to "mate" with She-Hulk and have this red neck hills have eyes clan of deformed Hulklings. Logan guts and claws his way to Banner, They duke it out and well.... I still feel like the story ended off before it should have. I think there should've been something more to the story. I would've liked to see more explained on how all the villains got together and took over America, how all the heroes died, how Bruce Banner just up and decided to become a monster once and for all. I really feel this issue was done just to finish the story at hand and maybe dip into it at a later date.
2 out of 5
Marvel Zombies Return #4
This issue was alright in comparison with last issue, after dealing with Spider-man possibly having a cure for the zombie virus, The "World War Hulk" story line comes into play as everyone's favorite green monster comes home looking for the Illuminati with his newly formed WarBound. It's all good and well until the Sentry shows up to stop him and is bitten transforming him into the catalyist of world wide infection. The Hulk gets bite trying to escape the hordes of zombies and he himself sees the same fate. I really hope they wrap this book up tight this week with the final issue. I love the concept and the characters but I don't want this idea to become Marvel's dead horse they love to beat.
3 out of 5
With that said and done, now onto what I'm Jonesin' for this week in comics.
BLACKEST NIGHT TITANS #2
PUNISHER ANNUAL #1
X-FACTOR #49
X-FORCE #19
CYBERFORCE HUNTER KILLER #2
Back in the saddle for another edition of Previews and Reviews. Some cool stuff happened in the past week. My band (The Grieving Process) released a new song on our myspace page, head over there and check it out and leave us some love. After 4 years in the waiting Rob Zombie's cartoon movie based on the comic series "The Haunted Adventures of El Superbeasto" finally came out!! For those of you in the NY area with Time Warner Cable, you can order it on the Movies on Demand channel. Definitely worth the wait. This week in comics wasn't too shabby either, some seriously good stuff came out...
Spider-Woman #1
This week we finally got the comic book version of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's Spider-Woman. We catch up to Jessica Drew post Secret Invasion to find her having a very hard time coping with everything that's happened. Poor Jessica, she's one of the most notorious people on earth now because of The Skrull Queen posing as her. Abigail Brand head of S.W.O.R.D shows up randomly to offer her a job with S.W.O.R.D hunting down alien species living here on earth. Her first mission is hunt down and find the remaining Skrulls who went into hiding after the end of Secret Invasion. I loved this book and I'm glad to finally have it in my hands as opposed to the Itunes Digital Comic that Marvel has had out for sometime now. Bendis loves this character and you will too. If you passed this one up, forgot it or just didn't care, make it a point to scoop it up now before you're scouring comic shops for a copy of it!
5 out of 5
Blackest Night Superman #2
This weeks offering for Blackest Night and goddamn was it good. The battle between Earth-2 Superman, Superman and Superboy was awesome. In the middle of the fray who shows up but newly resurrected Psycho Pirate. As you all may or may not remember the last time we saw him was in Infinite Crisis as he was having Black Adam's fist smashed through his face. Last seen at the end of Blackest Night issue #3 being part of the resurrected villians from the JLA masoleum. Now, Psycho Pirate is having a grand ole' time toying with the citizens of Smallville while watching on as the SuperMen battle it out in the sky above. Eddy Barrows artwork really makes the story pop and it's almost sad that the book only has 22 pages.
5 out of 5
Superman Secret Origin #1
Geoff Johns and Gary Frank bring us the 3rd and hopefully final retelling of Clark Kent"s beginings in Smallville and his ascent to becoming Superman. Very much like the past tales of Clark's childhood, we see him growing up in the small Kansas town. This time around though Lex Luthor is a member of the town and he still has hair..haha.
I personally thought it was a great issue but the fact is that Johns has almost already told this story in his run on Action Comics. I think it's a little unnecessary for DC to have another book with stories we've already read before and it's a concept that's already been done, MANY TIMES. Those of you who remember that DC relaunched many titles after Crisis on infinite earths to streamline the universe and make things flow but like all of us know, they f'ed that up pretty bad with not keeping the continuity of stories together and due to changes in writers a lot was lost. They attempted to again re-do their mistakes with Infinite Crisis but again lost the whole point of the story; which was again to stream line the universe and make it all cohesive. I can appreciate how Johns is trying to makeup for these mistakes with this book but really what's the point other than to have Gary Frank draw a Superman book.
3 out of 5
Giant Sized Old Man Logan
After months of missing shipping dates due to Mark Millar being ill and then Marvel deciding to give Daken the Wolverine title, We get this Giant Sized finale to the "Old Man Logan" story. At the end of the last issue we saw Logan kill the Red Skull, watch Hawkeye die and come home to find his family murdered by The Hulks. It picks up with Logan not caring anymore and being the best at what he does and this time around it's slaughtering The Hulk Clan. There really isn't much information given about anything other than Bruce decided to "mate" with She-Hulk and have this red neck hills have eyes clan of deformed Hulklings. Logan guts and claws his way to Banner, They duke it out and well.... I still feel like the story ended off before it should have. I think there should've been something more to the story. I would've liked to see more explained on how all the villains got together and took over America, how all the heroes died, how Bruce Banner just up and decided to become a monster once and for all. I really feel this issue was done just to finish the story at hand and maybe dip into it at a later date.
2 out of 5
Marvel Zombies Return #4
This issue was alright in comparison with last issue, after dealing with Spider-man possibly having a cure for the zombie virus, The "World War Hulk" story line comes into play as everyone's favorite green monster comes home looking for the Illuminati with his newly formed WarBound. It's all good and well until the Sentry shows up to stop him and is bitten transforming him into the catalyist of world wide infection. The Hulk gets bite trying to escape the hordes of zombies and he himself sees the same fate. I really hope they wrap this book up tight this week with the final issue. I love the concept and the characters but I don't want this idea to become Marvel's dead horse they love to beat.
3 out of 5
With that said and done, now onto what I'm Jonesin' for this week in comics.
BLACKEST NIGHT TITANS #2
PUNISHER ANNUAL #1
X-FACTOR #49
X-FORCE #19
CYBERFORCE HUNTER KILLER #2
Friday, September 25, 2009
Honest George - The People's Friend
Smallville starts season 9 tonight . What a run for the latest “Superman” television show. Of course Superman has always had very successful runs on TV. Lois and Clark was a huge hit with it’s focus on the romantic triangle of Lois, Clark and Superman, Superboy did very well as a syndicated show, The Animated Superman set new standards for what an animated show could be. In fact it is hard to find a time when The Man Of Steel was absent from the small screen.
Which brings us to the grand daddy of them all, The Adventures Of Superman (1951-1958) and Honest George, The People’s Friend – George Reeves.
Which brings us to the grand daddy of them all, The Adventures Of Superman (1951-1958) and Honest George, The People’s Friend – George Reeves.
For millions of fans Tom Welling is the embodiment of Superman. If you are slightly older it is Dean Cain. A bit older and it is the great Christopher Reeve who made us all believe a man can fly. And later, through his remarkable courage, made us truly believe in Superman. But if you were born before 1960 it was George. To me and those of my generation George Reeves WAS Superman.
Even today, George is the blueprint for Superman on the screen. Square jawed, sober and earnest . That’s it in a nutshell. But what George brought to the role is that wonderful touch of gentle humor. The twinkle in the eye. Chris Reeve and Dean Cain most certainly brought that element into their portrayals of Superman. Welling not as much because of the whole teenage angst thing, but he did double up on the earnest.
I think what sets George apart from all the others however is how comfortable he was being Superman. He was always so relaxed. It was not uncommon to see George, in his Superman uniform leaning against a wall, delivering a line to Lois or Jimmy. He often joked with the crooks he was capturing and he SMILED when they shot at him. George’s Superman had a lot of FUN just being Superman. And he often broke the fourth wall to give us kids a wink and a smile. George was like the perfect dad or uncle. In my generation, when being a role model was actually a good thing, George was one of the best.
I learned a lot from watching George in those old shows. I learned about the importance of honesty, looking out for my friends, helping people less fortunate than I am. Most importantly I learned that it was ok not to take myself too seriously. I learned ALL of that from Honest George, so I figure I owe him one. I am going to set the record straight on a few things regarding my old friend.
You all know that George died from a bullet wound to the head. Some say it was suicide (that is the official line), others believe it was homicide. Frankly no one will ever know for sure. But what IS true is that, in the wake of his death a lot of misconceptions about George began to surface. There was a rumor that George was just plain nuts and thought he WAS Superman and jumped out a window. It was generally accepted that he was despondent over being type cast and could not find work which drove him to suicide. People said he was an alcoholic and killed himself in a booze induced haze. It is generally accepted that he hated playing Superman and was miserable on the set.
None of this is true.
1) George NEVER lost his sense of reality. Never jumped out a window. The only think he would jump into is the occasional martini at a party.
2) George was NOT out of either work or prospects. He had directed the last few episodes of The Adventures Of Superman from the 6th season and was slated to direct more in the NEXT season that was signed for before his death. He was delighted to be back at work (according to Noell Neill) and saw directing as the next phase of his career. George was optimistic about his future.
3) George liked to drink! No doubt about it. Once shooting was over for the day, cocktail hour began. But he was not an alcoholic by any stretch. George was a product of his times when afternoon cocktails were a normal thing. In fact he was very much into physical fitness and took his body very seriously.
4) Was George sometimes frustrated by Superman. Yes! After the first season the scripts became more and more juvenile. On the other hand, he liked to stand outside camera range, mugging at the other cast members to see if he could break them up. According to Larson, Reeves took on-set photos with his camera and handed out prints. By all accounts, there was a strong camaraderie among the show's actors. He maintained close friendships with Jack Larson, Robert Shayne, Phyllis Coates and Noell Neill. To this day when they speak of George a smile lights their face. Hardly the memory of someone who was miserable and hard to work with.
There you go George. I set the record straight on that, but there is one more thing that needs clearing up. Over the years when George would get frustrated he often wished that he could have at least one ADULT fan. He did not feel that he had been successful. George was wrong.
That generation of kids grew up to be millions of adult George Reeves fans.
Mention George to Mark Hamill, or Bill Mummy, or Ron Perlman and watch their faces light up.
He spent the last years of his working life giving a lot of kids joy and thrills.
We loved him for that.
That is what I call successful George.
Somewhere I like to think he knows this and is giving us all that famous wink and smile.
That’s 30!
Mitch
War…What Is It Good For?
As anyone who follows Marvel titles knows, the consequences of the Civil War over the Superhero Registration Act continues to impact the entire Marvel Universe. From the death (and coming resurrection ) of Captain America, to the disillusion of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the ascendency of Norman Osborn, the continued issues with Tony Stark, The Illuminati, and the crisis of conscious of Reed Richards, we are seeing a world where nothing is certain. A world where the superhero is less effective then when he or she was free. While the Civil War did coerce US based heroes who want to operate within the law, to register you can make the argument that it actually compromised the very security that it was designed to protect.
So what was the Superhero Registration Act about anyway?
Simply put the SRA was a knee jerk reaction to a tragic accident. It was a fascistic and unconstitutional attempt to mollify a panicky public in the wake of World War Hulk and the tragedy at Stamford. Driven by Tony Stark, the SRA was seen as a panacea that would prevent such things from happening in the future by insuring that all “heroes” were properly trained. Ultimately this was completely naïve at best, and fatally flawed logic at worst.
If we look at the performance of the Superhero community as a whole over the life of the Marvel universe, they certainly have done far more good than bad. How many times have The X-Men, Avengers and FF saved the world? How often has Spiderman brought down murders, thieves and super villains? Was it not Daredevil who brought down The Kingpin? What happened here is that Stark and those who followed him gave a disproportionate weight of one or two tragic failures against hundreds, even thousands of successes. I submit that the success rate of the Superhero community is probably akin to that of the police force or fire department. That is to say very high. While Policemen and Firemen are highly trained, they do from time to time have tragic failures as well. It comes with the hero territory…sometimes you fail.
By splintering the Superhero community and pulling the teeth from Shield in the power vacuum that ensued, start opened the door wide for a Norman Osborn to dance right through. Think about it. THE GREEN GOBLIN is running the candy store!
Captain America was correct in his judgment. You simply cannot protect freedom by limiting it. Free societies pay a price for that freedom and it is often paid for in blood. It is easy to defend individual rights when things are all hunky dory. It is when we as a society are under the MOST duress that protecting those rights becomes vital because it defines our character as a people. Nations are very much like individuals when their survival is perceived as threatened. Then our ideals go out the door and it becomes about doing the expedient thing. Survive.
Which raises the question: “Survive as what?” Who are we, what worth do we have if we abandon our beliefs as a people for the sake of expedience?
In this arena Tony Stark had a good heart but not the stomach, the character, to defend freedom when it became most difficult. Tony Stark was weak and his failure was far more catastrophic than Stamford.
And make no mistake, the defense of freedom was the crux of the Civil War, it was not about the superhero registration act per se. It was about setting a precedent whereby ANY minority group can be forced to register simply because they belong to that group. If you can force Superheroes to register, you can force Superheroes with a certain power set to be segregated from the rest of society, if you can do that you can force Black Superheroes to register, or Jewish Superheroes to register, or gay Superheroes to register. If you can do on you can do it all. And Cap knew THAT was more dangerous than The Skrulls, Galactus and Dr. Doom combined.
With the release of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 fans are going to be able to take sides in The Civil War. As for me I intend to be Cap.
Comments? Are you Pro Registration? Anti? Let’s hear from you troops!
Next – Gentleman George The People’s Friend
That’s 30!
Mitch
So what was the Superhero Registration Act about anyway?
Simply put the SRA was a knee jerk reaction to a tragic accident. It was a fascistic and unconstitutional attempt to mollify a panicky public in the wake of World War Hulk and the tragedy at Stamford. Driven by Tony Stark, the SRA was seen as a panacea that would prevent such things from happening in the future by insuring that all “heroes” were properly trained. Ultimately this was completely naïve at best, and fatally flawed logic at worst.
If we look at the performance of the Superhero community as a whole over the life of the Marvel universe, they certainly have done far more good than bad. How many times have The X-Men, Avengers and FF saved the world? How often has Spiderman brought down murders, thieves and super villains? Was it not Daredevil who brought down The Kingpin? What happened here is that Stark and those who followed him gave a disproportionate weight of one or two tragic failures against hundreds, even thousands of successes. I submit that the success rate of the Superhero community is probably akin to that of the police force or fire department. That is to say very high. While Policemen and Firemen are highly trained, they do from time to time have tragic failures as well. It comes with the hero territory…sometimes you fail.
By splintering the Superhero community and pulling the teeth from Shield in the power vacuum that ensued, start opened the door wide for a Norman Osborn to dance right through. Think about it. THE GREEN GOBLIN is running the candy store!
Captain America was correct in his judgment. You simply cannot protect freedom by limiting it. Free societies pay a price for that freedom and it is often paid for in blood. It is easy to defend individual rights when things are all hunky dory. It is when we as a society are under the MOST duress that protecting those rights becomes vital because it defines our character as a people. Nations are very much like individuals when their survival is perceived as threatened. Then our ideals go out the door and it becomes about doing the expedient thing. Survive.
Which raises the question: “Survive as what?” Who are we, what worth do we have if we abandon our beliefs as a people for the sake of expedience?
In this arena Tony Stark had a good heart but not the stomach, the character, to defend freedom when it became most difficult. Tony Stark was weak and his failure was far more catastrophic than Stamford.
And make no mistake, the defense of freedom was the crux of the Civil War, it was not about the superhero registration act per se. It was about setting a precedent whereby ANY minority group can be forced to register simply because they belong to that group. If you can force Superheroes to register, you can force Superheroes with a certain power set to be segregated from the rest of society, if you can do that you can force Black Superheroes to register, or Jewish Superheroes to register, or gay Superheroes to register. If you can do on you can do it all. And Cap knew THAT was more dangerous than The Skrulls, Galactus and Dr. Doom combined.
With the release of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 fans are going to be able to take sides in The Civil War. As for me I intend to be Cap.
Comments? Are you Pro Registration? Anti? Let’s hear from you troops!
Next – Gentleman George The People’s Friend
That’s 30!
Mitch
NEWS & EVENTS FOR THE WEEK OF 9/30/09
Hey ya'll, another great week of comics is upon us! Also, if you're a Magic player make sure you come down to the store on Friday, October 2nd at around 6:00 PM for our Zendikar release party! For more information on this and other events as well as the list of all the new stuff coming in, keep reading!
ZENDIKAR MAGIC RELEASE PARTY
On Friday, October 2nd we will be having a release party and booster draft for the new Magic the Gathering set, Zendikar. The entry fee is $20 and registration will begin at 6:00 PM. Drafting will start at 6:45 and a tournament will follow directly after. THERE WILL BE NO LATE REGISTRATION SO PLEASE BE ON TIME! There will be prizes for the top 3 players and free promo cards for each player. We will also have plenty of Zendikar boosters, fat packs, intro packs and boxes available for purchase. Don't miss it!
CHOOSE YOUR OWN STATUE RAFFLE!
Yes, it's true! This week's raffle is a good one! We've been raffling off specific items since we started this raffle thing and now we're letting YOU choose what you want. Buy any amount of raffle tickets you want for just $1 a piece and if you win you'll be able to take home any statue you want. Big, small it doesn't matter. It can be the least expensive statue, it can be the most expensive statue we have in stock, it doesn't matter, it's all up to you! Be sure not to miss it, the raffle starts up on Saturday, September 19th and ends on Wednesday, September 30th. As always, one dollar for one ticket!
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
OK, you're our friend on Facebook. That's all well and good but if you followed us on Twitter you would be privy to all the daily sales we recently started doing. We've done some good ones over the past few days including 25% off all hardcovers, 50% off all manga, and buy one t-shirt get one 1/2 off! So be hip to our tweets and follow ComicBookJones!
BIRTHDAY COUPON!
E-mail us your full name and birthday and receive a special gift from us when your special day arrives! Send your e-mail to comicbookjones@gmail.com with the subject line "Birthday."
SHIPPING UPDATES
Criminal Sinners #1 - 10/7/09 (Old Date 9/30/09)
Dark Reign Young Avengers #5 - 10/28/09 (Old Date 10/7/09)
Dark Reign Zodiac #3 - 10/7/09 (Old Date 9/30/09)
Kick Ass #8 - 10/28/09 (Old Date 9/30/09)
Mephisto Vs. Prem HC - 10/14/09 (Old Date 10/7/09)
ZENDIKAR MAGIC RELEASE PARTY
On Friday, October 2nd we will be having a release party and booster draft for the new Magic the Gathering set, Zendikar. The entry fee is $20 and registration will begin at 6:00 PM. Drafting will start at 6:45 and a tournament will follow directly after. THERE WILL BE NO LATE REGISTRATION SO PLEASE BE ON TIME! There will be prizes for the top 3 players and free promo cards for each player. We will also have plenty of Zendikar boosters, fat packs, intro packs and boxes available for purchase. Don't miss it!
CHOOSE YOUR OWN STATUE RAFFLE!
Yes, it's true! This week's raffle is a good one! We've been raffling off specific items since we started this raffle thing and now we're letting YOU choose what you want. Buy any amount of raffle tickets you want for just $1 a piece and if you win you'll be able to take home any statue you want. Big, small it doesn't matter. It can be the least expensive statue, it can be the most expensive statue we have in stock, it doesn't matter, it's all up to you! Be sure not to miss it, the raffle starts up on Saturday, September 19th and ends on Wednesday, September 30th. As always, one dollar for one ticket!
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
OK, you're our friend on Facebook. That's all well and good but if you followed us on Twitter you would be privy to all the daily sales we recently started doing. We've done some good ones over the past few days including 25% off all hardcovers, 50% off all manga, and buy one t-shirt get one 1/2 off! So be hip to our tweets and follow ComicBookJones!
BIRTHDAY COUPON!
E-mail us your full name and birthday and receive a special gift from us when your special day arrives! Send your e-mail to comicbookjones@gmail.com with the subject line "Birthday."
SHIPPING UPDATES
Criminal Sinners #1 - 10/7/09 (Old Date 9/30/09)
Dark Reign Young Avengers #5 - 10/28/09 (Old Date 10/7/09)
Dark Reign Zodiac #3 - 10/7/09 (Old Date 9/30/09)
Kick Ass #8 - 10/28/09 (Old Date 9/30/09)
Mephisto Vs. Prem HC - 10/14/09 (Old Date 10/7/09)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Superman Week!!!!
This is a GREAT week for superman fans! So many Superman related titles hit the shelves yesterday! There was Blackest Night – Superman, Superman/Batman, Supergirl, Justice league and two others that I will review here…Superman Secret Origins #1 and Powergirl #5…why those? Simple, I haven’t gotten around to reading the others yet!
Superman Secret Origins #1
Superman Secret Origins #1
I
can’t tell you how many times I 
have read different versions of Superman’s origin. From reprints of Action and Superman #1, to the silver age Superman’s Life Story in Superman #146, to Byrne’s Man of Steel, Superman For All Seasons and many, MANY more! Even for a lifelong Superfan like myself it was getting to be a bit much.So it was with a sense of resignation that I picked up the first issue of Superman Secret Origin #1 at CBJs last night. I knew that with the team of Geoff Johns and Gary frank that the book would look great and be a slick read. Nothing new or special but a passable page turner….
BOY WAS I WRONG!!!!
Geoff and Gary have given us a start to this series that has the potential to overshadow the great Green Lantern Secret Origin reboot! Johns has borrowed from nearly every era of the superman legend to give us a synthesis for the new century. There are elements from the Smallville TV Series, the Byrne reboot, the Chris Reeve Superman films , the Mort Weisenger Silver Age elements and of course there is the core Siegel and Shuster concept as the foundation. In very short order we are introduced to old friends Pete Ross and Lana Lang as well as a fascinating first glimpse at a young Lex Luthor. Unlike a lot of origin mini-series Johns has avoided the needles exposition that is typical of such runs. It is a great read and leaves you wanting to see issue #2 right now!
Frank’s illustrations are fluid and realistic. He gives us glimpses of Annette O’Toole as Lana and Chris Reeve as Clark. The style is completely modern yet it invokes the charming Silver Age look that Curt Swan brought to the book. Between Johns and Frank we are seeing a Superman origin tale that promises to be a joy to read.
I give this book TEN Yellow Suns!
Power Girl #5
I have been touting this book as the sleeper hit of 2009 since Issue #1! Why aren’t you Goldbrickin’ Yahoos rushing out to buy it???!!!
Issue #5 gives us more PeeGee goodness, sprinkling action , humor, wet cats, missing boots, Spice girls from another dimension and a great scene with one of New York’s Bravest. As always Powergirl goes from intensely intimidating superhero person to adorable girl next door. (I have to move into THAT neighborhood!). Amanda Conner draws such charming characters and imbues each with a distinct personality that is reinforced by the stellar writing of Palmiotti and Gray. I especially like the way that they make Powergirl so much more accessible to the ”normal” people that populate her world. She is not aloof and is just as concerned about getting her cat washed, and her company running as she is about beating up the next superbaddie. Of course there are the obligatory jokes about her ample “charms” but even these are quite endearing, celebrating adolescent fantasies rather than looking down at them. Amanda, unlike many other artists, gives us a protagonist who LOOKS comfortable in her own body.
C’mon people! Support this book. I promise it is worth your while!
I give THIS book 10 freshly bathed cats !!!!
Next – What was Marvel’s Civil war really about?
That’s 30!
Mitch
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
CBJ Did You Know
DID YOU KNOW THAT BEFORE BECOMING MR. MARVEL COMICS STAN LEE WAS A PIMP IN HUNTS POINT, BRONX? “I WAS JUST A KID BACK THEN BUT WE KNEW HIM AS STAN THE PIMPIN MAN BACK IN THE DAY, BUT WHEN HE STARTED ALL THAT FUNNY BOOK SH#T HE HAD TO DROP THE “PIMPIN” AND JUST GO WITH STAN THE MAN”, SAID DON MAGIC JUAN WITH A SMILE. “STAN INVENTED MOST OF THE PIMP TERMINOLOGY WE STILL USE TODAY! FOR INSTANCE, HE WAS THE FIRST TO CALL THE STREETS A HO WAS WORKIN’ “THE TRACK”. AND HE WAS THE FIRST CAT I EVER HEARD TELL A HO “B*TCH YOU OUTTA POCKET”! STAN WAS AND IS PIMP OF THE DECADE!”
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