Category Archives: Comics
So Many New Comics!
Apparently the time has come for Marvel and DC to start announcing new comics for the Fall. DC has a slew of new titles, while Marvel is relaunching Captain America yet again – but this time with a pretty big twist!
In All-New Captain America #1, Rick Remender will be writing about a new hero taking over Captain America’s mantle. Apparently in the latest Cap stories, the Super Soldier Serum has been pulled out of him, leaving Cap as a 90-year-old man stuck in a hospital bed. He’ s still as sharp as ever, and determined to be a leader, but it’s time for someone new to take on the mantle.
Let it be Cyclops!
Remender had this to say about Cap:
“He’s a man in his 90s now without the frame or physical strength, but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the fight. He’s basically orchestrating things and playing tactician, fighting against Zola, using his friends in the Avengers to try and do so. He’s waging a war from a room rather than the front lines, which is new for Steve. There might be some shuffle boarding in his future. I do like the idea of giving Steve a bit of a break once the new Cap steps up and takes the mantle for a while. Steve’s going to continue to play a role in the series as mentor and tactician and eye in the sky, running ops and things. He’s got all of his faculties and is still the super soldier he earned the right to be called; he just lacks the physical form.”
Obviously Steve Rogers will return to the role of Captain America before too long. Probably in time for the Avengers next year, or his next movie. Hopefully Remender will get an awesome story out of the change, like Ed Brubaker did when he had Bucky take over as Captain America for awhile, or when Dan Slott wrote about Doctor Octopus taking over as Spider-Man. Both were great comics.
I haven’t been reading the series, so I don’t know who’s in the running to be the replacement, but Bleeding Cool has a pretty good idea. Don’t click if you don’t want to be spoiled…though it’ll probably be spoiled on the Internet at large before too long.
Bleeding cool also seems convinced that a Spider-Woman and an Ant-Man comic are on the way. The latter one is guaranteed, considering the movie. And if it really is drawn by Chris Samnee, then count me in thricefold!
Meanwhile, DC Comics is doubling down on titles that will surely be cancelled within the year. First there was Arkham Manor and Gotham Academy announced a few weeks ago, which I foolishly forgot to write about. The latter of the two might actually be pretty neat, considering Becky Cloonan is writing. I’m pretty sure she’s awesome.
Then DC announced yesterday a new series called Trinity of Sin starring Pandora, Phantom Stranger and the Question.
She’s missing her fedora
I have no idea what would possibly compel DC to publish this comic. For some reason, they still seem to think that anybody cares about Pandora. I don’t think anybody has ever cared about Pandora. And it didn’t help when the big reveal of Pandora’s Box and the Trinity War turned out to be nothing but a prologue to Forever Evil. The big secret behind the New 52 was nothing but a prologue!
Is anybody reading the Pandora or Phantom Stranger comics? Not that every comic needs to be about Batman, but these characters are just so boring! And I can’t imagine DC doing anything interesting with their new cosmic version of the Question. That may be my least favorite New 52 character revamp.
There’s an interview with writer J.M. DeMatteis at that link. I can’t bring myself to care enough to search through it for a good quote. Nothing against the guy, I know he’s a great writer, but I can’t imagine there’s one iota of interest in this comic from the reader community.
The other DC trainwreck is going to be Lobo, by Cullen Bunn, starring that new Lobo DC created that everybody either hates or forgot existed.
A gun and a sword? He must be cool!
Remember him? I do, barely. What I remember most is that everybody hated the design. And when I read his comic, I was completely underwhelmed. And that was, what, a year ago? Why didn’t they give Lobo a comic back then? Why wait all this time? Were they specifically waiting for everyone to lose interest in a character they never liked in the first place?
Is my bias showing through? I’m excited for what Marvel has to offer, and I’m pretty sure DC are still just throwing crap at the wall and hoping something sticks.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/5/14
Happy Day after Independence Day! Did everybody watch the movie, Independence Day, like I do every year? Or should do every year…I need some Fourth of July traditions. I need to be more patriotic. And there’s nothing more patriotic than reading comics! Especially Captain America comics…which I didn’t do this week. Man, I’m bad at this.
Anyway, I mostly read Marvel comics this week, because DC didn’t have much of anything to tickle my fancy. We’ve still got new Batman Eternal, because I’m still subjecting myself to that series. But we’ve also got new issues of X-Factor, Magneto, Moon Knight, Original Sin and the first issue of Legendary Star-Lord. If you’re wondering why they added the word ‘Legendary’, well, it’s kind of obvious once you read the comic, but not for the reason Marvel probably wants.
Thor: God of Thunder #24 wins Comic Book of the Week for another one of those quieter, talking heads issues that Jason Aaron does so well with this series. I tell ya, Thor has never felt so grand and yet so personable.
Needs more Beta Ray Bill.
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Factor #10, Batman Eternal #13, Legendary Star-Lord #1, Magneto #6, Moon Knight #5, Original Sin #5 and Thor: God of Thunder #24.
Review: Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #3
Now things are starting to heat up! Last issue was definitely build-up, with Miles preparing to tell his girlfriend the big news, and bad guys moving around the background. Well in the new issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, Brian Michael Bendis shifts into a higher gear, setting up what will no doubt be an exciting climax! The new Spider-Man vs. the Green Goblin! Katie Bishop panicking! Ganke proven right?! The tension ratchets up in a big way this issue, from a threat that’s actually born from the Spider-Man universe. Not since Prowler or Venom has a battle felt so important in this comic.
Ultimate Spider-Man #3
But the best is yet to come! Bendis starts toppling over some of his dominoes in this issue, and we’ve still got more story to go!
Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.
The stakes just feel more real in this issue than they have in awhile. Every time Bendis is forced to add Miles to some big Ultimate Universe crossover, the stories lose that important tension. Who really cares about Miles getting thrown into a big Ultimates battle against Hydra? Or Miles swinging around helping people while Galactus threatens the world? Miles, and Spider-Man, are best left as street-level heroes. I’ve always said it, and I’ll continue to say it. Seeing Miles struggle to tell his girlfriend that he’s Spider-Man, or panicking in the face of the Green Goblin, is a great Spider-Man comic.
Miles Morales is a fun character. He may not be as iconic as Peter Parker, there’s no way he could be. But Bendis is doing a great job with Miles. He’s grounded, he’s human, and he’s driven to be a hero. He’s got a lot to learn ahead of him, and the story of that discovery makes for great comics.
Though once again, rumors of the Ultimate Universe’s destruction are on the wind. Apparently Miles is going to crossover with All-New X-Men in a few months? And something big and interdimensional appears to be on the horizon for next Spring. Bendis even drops a clue/tease in this issue, if you can believe them. I don’t know what to think. I still don’t want Miles to be shuffled off to the regular Marvel Universe. But, obviously, that decision is out of my hands.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
So Scott Lobdell Went and Changed Tim Drake’s Origin a Bit More, and Nobody Noticed or Cared
Three years later, I’m comfortable in saying I don’t care for the New 52 at DC Comics. There are a few good comics at the company – though only Wonder Woman really springs to mind – but for the most part, everything is kind of crummy, and there is no indication that DC has any long term plans. They’re just throwing whatever they can at any walls they can find. But I’m not here to mock DC Comics. I’m here to pound more nails into the coffin of Tim Drake, one of my most favorite comic book characters of all time.
Suffice to say, Tim Drake, otherwise known as Red Robin, is a character who suffered a great deal in the New 52 change. Before the reboot, Tim was Robin was nearly 20 years (in real time). He was great in the role, and quite honestly, he was the greatest Robin of all time. Hands down.
But DC isn’t done screwing with or retconning his origin, apparently.
Never is not enough!
In the New 52, DC and writer Scott Lobdell rewrote Tim’s origin story and they altered his entire history as Batman’s partner. No longer was Tim ever ‘Robin’, instead calling himself ‘Red Robin’ from the very beginning. And he was only Batman’s partner for a short while, seeing it more as a stepping stone in his career than anything permanent or worthwhile. Tim suddenly became a gymnastics prodigy. And instead of having a long, complex story involving his parents, particularly his dad, Lobdell shuffled them off into ‘Witness Protection’ before Tim ever even became Red Robin.
Also, New 52 Tim Drake is kind of an asshole, especially to Batman.
Most of these changes were laid out in Teen Titans #0, the flashback issue that first told us the new origin of Tim Drake. Among the changes, we learned that Lobdell also took away the fact that pre-reboot Tim Drake had figured out Batman’s secret identity all on his own. That was Tim’s thing. That’s one of the things that made him so special.
Batman has a bunch of creepy old man masks at the ready
That was nearly two years ago, after which Teen Titans became a terrible wreck that nobody read, prompting cancellation.
Well it seems DC wasn’t done letting Lobdell mess around with Tim Drake. Apparently everyone involved wanted to re-retcon a few things, so they put out Secret Origins #3 this week. I didn’t even know Tim Drake was going to be part of the issue until I saw a brief mention of it online. And further searching the web, I couldn’t find anyone who seemed to care about any of the new changes made to Tim’s origin. So perhaps it falls to me, of all people, to at least document that these changes have happened.
For example, guess who really did figure out Batman’s secret identity?
Fixed a mistake?
And Lobdell tried to fix that weird, unexplained part where his name wasn’t really Tim Drake.
Because this makes it better, I guess?
I dunno. I guess I just wanted to write this article for posterity. Somebody has to pretend to still care about Tim Drake, right? He still has fans somewhere…right?
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/28/14
Don’t look now, but I’m apparently in a crummy mood this week. I feel fine, personally. But going through these reviews, it began to dawn on me that I just didn’t feel all that excited about any of the books that were released. Last week was killer, but this week was kind of a bummer, even though we’ve got new issues of Batman, Amazing Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Justice League, and the debut of Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr.’s Superman. I thought I’d be happy!
Kind of by default, Ms. Marvel wins Comic Book of the Week. It’s one of my favorite titles these days, and it’s going to take a heck of a lot to knock it off its pedestal. Maybe I’ll get a week where Ms. Marvel, Saga, Hawkeye, Silver Surfer and a brand new Multiple Man #1 all come out at the same time. Then I’ll be in Heaven.
Though Amazing Spider-Man #3 wins moment of the week for the greatest J. Jonah Jameson panel of all time, courtesy of Humberto Ramos.
That needs to be on T-shirts!
Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #3, Batman #32, Batman Eternal #12, Justice League #31, Ms. Marvel #5 and Superman #32.
Henchman-4-Hire 