Archive for the 'Comic News' Category
— June 20, 2006
There are 3 titles at the top of my current reading list of comic books, Astonishing X-Men, The Ultimates and New Avengers, every month. Astonishing X-Men and The Ultimates are bi-monthly, so they don’t even ship one a month, not including delays. Well, this Wednesday, Marvel somehow managed to ship all 3 of these books on the same week! How lucky am I? See what else is shipping this week from Marvel.
What books are you looking forward to this week?
— June 19, 2006
My spoiler free opinion of this issue is that it is was a really good read. Secondly, it explains a lot of what is going on in Civil War. I wish I had read this issue before reading Civil War #2. The rest of the review contains SPOILERS, so don’t read on unless you want to know what happens. You’ve been warned.
Now that that is out of the way, this issue is about why Tony Stark is for superhero registration. This is the explanation that I have been looking for, BECAUSE IT MAKES NO SENSE. Since reading Civil War #1, I haven’t been able to understand why Iron Man is supporting the superhero registration act. After reading this issue, I still don’t agree with Tony’s stance but at least I understand it. The first half of the issue is actually spent giving a detailed explanation of why Tony Stark believes he should back the registration and why he should be the one to round up those that are against it.
The second half of this issue deals with Peter Parker and the unmasking of Spider-man. Tony actually asks for Peter’s support and tells him that if he stands with him he will back the amendment and he will reveal his identity to the world. Peter struggles with the decision, but at the end of this issue, it is obvious that he is about to reveal his secret identity. This issue also explains the reason why Peter reveals his identity. It comes from Aunt May and Mary Jane, and they actually do a good job of convincing the reader why he should do it. I don’t agree with this decision either, but I do understand why Spider-man does this at the end of this issue.
The only other negative I have is the artwork. This story is illustrated by Ron Garney. I have to say I don’t usually complain about Marvel’s artwork, but I don’t like the cartoony style that I have seen a lot of lately. That is the problem with Garney’s artwork here.
Other than that, it is a really good issue, and it looks like this will be a good storyline. I actually enjoyed this book more than ‘Civil War’ 1 & 2. If you are reading ‘Civil War,’ this issue is really needed to help understand the recent events that take place in that storyline. It always bugs me when Marvel makes a separate book essential reading to understand what is going on in another book. But I guess now that they have blockbuster storylines that crossover with 30 other titles every year, this is just part of the comics world we live in.
— June 18, 2006
Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman aired yesterday on A&E. I stumbled upon it as it was coming on, or I would have missed it myself. It is a 2 hour special chronicling Superman from his beginning in comics to becoming an American and later worldwide phenomenon. It focuses more on the history of Superman in the media from comic strips, radio shows, early movies and televsion shows, Saturday morning cartoons, a sitcom and the more recent television show and upcoming movie.
I really enjoyed watching it, and I think that anyone who is a fan of comic books should see this. Superman is the only DC superhero that I happen to like, and it was very interesting to see the origin of the comics and the history of Superman. It was also interesting to see the making of the movies in the 70’s and 80’s. The last 15 minutes or so features the new movie and a behind the scenes look at the next Superman. Here is the synopsis from A&E’s web site.
Here’s the story behind the phenomenon of Superman, the most merchandised and imitated superhero of them all. Through interviews with the key creative talents responsible for seven decades of thrilling Superman adventures, we’ll follow the Man of Steel’s path from Depression-era comic book hero to George Reeves’s TV portrayal in the 50s, Christopher Reeve’s movies in the 70s and 80s, and the TV shows Lois and Clark and Smallville. There’ll even be a sneak preview of the new film, Superman Returns, to be released this summer.
If you missed it, A&E will be airing it again the week that ‘Superman Returns’ will debut in theaters across America. Look for it on Thursday, June 29 @ 9pm/8C and Friday, June 30 @ 1am/12C. Visit the link above to view the trailer.
— June 17, 2006
The second issue in Marvel’s “Civil War” arrived in stores this Wednesday. Apparently, there was a lot of hype surrounding this issue that had escaped me. As a result, I wasn’t informed enough to try and avoid the spoilers long enough to go ahead and read the issue to see what the fuss was about. Anyway, the big reveal that was planned for this issue was spoiled for me on the Sideshow website. They have since taken down the offending post, but the damage has been done.
It seems that I wasn’t the only one that had the issue spoiled for me. The New York Post published an article Wednesday spoiling the issue. Other web sites, mainly Yahoo!, picked up the story and ran with images on the front page. So it was spoiled for lots of other people. Newsarama even had a blog post asking where were you when the issue was spoiled.
Having said all that, I want to talk about this issue anyway so here goes. Remember this post contains SPOILERS so if you don’t want to know what I am talking about, don’t read any further!
After reading issue #2, I am still confused about what is going on. I don’t understand why Tony Stark and others are so supportive of the registration law. But later in the issue we see that Stark is struggling with the issue after all. He is struggling with it so much that he is willing to take down Captain America?
All that aside, the issue was pretty good. We learn about something called 42, which appears to be a Superhero incarceration device constructed by Reed Richards. We also learn that Nick Fury is back and supporting Captain America and his crew. Personally, I was thrilled to learn that Daredevil is part of the resistance.
Okay, on to the final panels, Spider-man reveals his identity publicly at a press conference held by Tony Stark. So now we add Peter Parker to the list of publicly known superheroes. Is there any heroes in the Marvel U that have secret identities anymore? I can probably count them on one hand.
Joe Quesada claims that this is part of a larger story that will have a big impact in the next year, but don’t they say that about every story line? I really don’t see the point of this. It used to be that the secret identity was something that was prized above all else, especially Spider-man’s. What happened to not wanting to endanger the lives of his wife and Aunt May? Well, that is most assuredly coming soon.
I thought that I would enjoy this book because Mark Millar was writing it. Right now, I am still undecided. There are very strange things going on here that cause me to be suspicious about what Marvel is up to. I plan to keep reading it just see what is going to happen next, which I guess is Marvel’s plan all along.
— May 22, 2006
I’m not sure if anyone paid attention to this or not besides me, but I noticed that New Avengers #19 and Squadron Supreme #3 were listed on Diamond’s shipping list for last Wednesday. When Wednesday came, those 2 issues did not show up.
I asked my comic book guy what happened to them. He said he had no idea. I tried to find out myself to no avail. Well, I checked tonight, and those 2 issues have been added to this weeks shipping list. Looks like they were a week late for some reason. I was dissappointed they were late, but I was glad to find out they were shipping. You can see Diamond’s weekly shipping lists every week here on their web site.
— May 18, 2006
Am I the only person who is not that thrilled with the first issue of Civil War? I actually enjoyed the second half of the story more, but several things in the first part of the book annoyed me. [SPOILER ALERT] In this review, I am going to talk about certain parts of the story line. If you haven’t read it yet and don’t want to know what happens, then don’t read any further. I think you pretty much get the gist that I am less than thrilled from the above anyway. Moving on…
Okay so, in the first part of the story, a villian called Nitro explodes taking out a school. This causes outrage against superheroes across America. After the explosion, several former Avengers show up in costume to clean up and discuss the issues at hand. This is my first problem. The Avengers were disbanded and then a new group of Avengers were formed. Why are all the old Avengers showing up now all of a sudden? I guess I can buy that this recent tragedy brought them together, but it was also tragedy that made them all leave.
Next, is the outrage of the American citizens. The whole thing feels contrived to me. On the east coast, where this is all taking place, most Americans are liberal, peace-niks. It is middle America, where most conservative Americans reside, that I would believe to be more upset about something like this. Instead, we are led to believe that a bunch of club-goers beat the crap out of Johnny Storm and call him a ‘baby killer’ because he is a superhero? These people would probably be mostly college students. When has this ever happened? I am not buying it.
Immediately after that, we see the heroes all together discussing the current events. In the last 3 issues of Amazing Spider-man, Tony Stark travels to Washington to convince the Senate not to enact a superhero registration act. Now we find out he is in favor of it. What is going on here? I find this again hard to believe.
The second part is where it gets good. Now we see Captain America taking on Shield after they try to force him to arrest superheroes that defy the government. To me, this was totally believable, and the ensuing action sequence is great. This redeemed the story for me.
Finally, I won’t spoil the last page, but if you read it, you will know what I am referring to. This to me is only more confusing, and it seems like something fishy is going on here.
Initially, I wasn’t going to buy this book, but once I found out Mark Millar was writing it, I broke down and signed up. There are several things that annoy me but for now I am going to read it all the way through. I don’t plan on buying any of the other 20 tie-ins though, except for Spider-man, Wolverine and New Avengers, which I normally read anyway.
If you are thinking about picking up Civil War, you probably should. Even with all the problems, the important events taking place in this storyline will have huge effects in the Marvel universe. Therefore, I think it is too important to pass up.
— March 9, 2006
I was initially going to pass on Marvel’s newest blockbuster summer time comic event, Civil War. These kinds of things are growing old with me. Then I learned that Mark Millar was writing it. End of discussion. Mark Millar is one of those writers where I have to read what he writes no matter what it is. So, Marvel got me again. Anyway, Marvel has created a ‘trailer’ for this event. I am pretty impressed with it having learned a bit more about what will happen in this series. You can view the trailer at Marvel’s web site here.
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