I -heart- the 90s

My good friend Vasilis unwittingly made me remember the most unforgettable comic book geek TV minute of the 90s: the Rob Liefeld Levi's ad.


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Madman Summer Fun

My latest geek-cred comics-related order:

Make the most out of those warm summer days this year with the Madman Summer Fun Playset. Features the huge ( almost 3' x 6') heavyweight Madman Beachtowel together with two different sets of Madman Magnets. Be the coolest dude out on the beach this year with Madman at your side.

I don't really intend to take this to the beach (mainly because of the lack of beaches - or summer- in the UK), but this will make an amazing full-wall poster/decoration on my wall. Plus, MAGNETS, you can never go wrong!
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Inking Casanova

The last issue of Casanova: Gula (#14) is out today, and artists Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba have released a video showing their inking process for the last issue.



I was impressed with the fun fact differences between the work process of the two twin brothers:

"[the video]shows a little of Fábio Moon inking the last page of Casanova 14, while Gabriel Bá inks the pin-up he did to go on the back cover of that issue, to wrap the series so far. Fábio is left-handed and inks with a brush, while Bá is right-handed and uses pens."
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Real Men Don't Cry

Source: Erik Larsen / Fantastic Comics #24 (Image Comics)
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March '08 H-O-T Grade

1. CRIMINAL v.2 #1 (ICON)
   
   
2. GHOST RIDER #21 (Marvel)
   
   
3. SUPERMAN BATMAN ANNUAL #2 (DC)
   
   
4. CASANOVA #12 (Image)
   
   
5. WOLVERINE #63 (Marvel)
   
   
6. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #120 (Marvel)
   
   
7. CROSSING MIDNIGHT #17 (Vertigo)
   
   
8. LOCKE & KEY #2 (IDW)
   
   
9. TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE #3 (DC)
   
   
10. MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #7 (Image)
    
    
11. PROGRAMME #9 (Wildstorm)
12. X-MEN LEGACY #209 (Marvel)
13. FABLES #71 (Vertigo)
14. SECRET HISTORY AUTHORITY JACK HAWKSMOOR #1 (Wildstorm)
15. YOUNG LIARS #1 (Vertigo)
16. DARK IVORY #1 (Image)
17. COMIC BOOK COMICS #1 (Evil Twin)
18. WOLVERINE ORIGINS #23 (Marvel)
19. BOYS #16 (IDW)
20. THOR #7 (Marvel)

Very late posting these, but just done catching up. Going from the standard top 10 into top 20 mode from now on, as I just feel too bad leaving quality stuff out of the Grade!

There were no clear-cut favorites this month, and the top 7 could really go in any order. Criminal 2 #1 gets the honors because I was late in discovering the gem it is, and the new volume deserves mad props!

Rundown: 7 Marvel titles, 3 Image, 2 IDW and 2 DC, although the latter share grows if we include all imprints to an equal 7.
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Real Men Don't Cry

Source: Erik Larsen / Fantastic Comics #24 (Image Comics)
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Panel of the Week Voting 30.01.08

A very close call, by only two votes, last week! But still Long Beach Iron Man is our winner with 33%!

This week's selection has a very clear winner, and I've only included Fell's amusing panel to break up the Marvel-ness of the past few weeks! It's not my fault DC can't seem to publish even a single decent amusing panel between her titles lately...

CoolWebPoll

Panel A
X-Mansion Iron-Man (Marvel Adventures Iron-Man #9)


Panel B
A Fastball Special, FAST! (Astonishing X-Men #24)


Panel C
King of Pimp-Slappers (Fell #9)


Panel D
The CCA, Spidey Style! (Amazing Spider-man #548)


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Holiday Roundtable: Looking forward to 2008

Welcome back for the last part of our Holiday special!

What are you most looking forward to, for 2008?


Cecil Castellucci: More NORTHLANDERS by Brian Wood. All of the new MINX books (including Emiko Superstar, NY Four, Burnout, Token, All Nighter, and of course my own Janes in Love!) THE GOOD NEIGHBOURS by Holly Black. CHIGGERS by Hope Larson. RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE by Shannon Hale. And anything SUPERMAN.





Cliff Chiang: Just getting more issues of GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY under my belt!




Paul Cornell: I'm most looking forward to the rest of DAN DARE, Gail's WONDER WOMAN, and Marvel's big event.





Nate Cosby: The football season. Mississippi State's winnin' EIGHT this year, baby!!!!!
Oh, you mean comics? Huh. Well, I hope the IRON MAN movie's good. And DARK KNIGHT. I don't really know what's coming out as far as non-continuity stuff, so I couldn't tell ya what I'm excited about yet. That's the nice thing about reading comics that don't tie into other comics: You can go to the store, see a cool cover, open it up, just start reading without having to catch up on the lore.

Oh! Mike Kunkel's SHAZAM'll end up being good, I bet. That guy's awesome.





Jason Aaron: Reading NORTHLANDERS from Vertigo and '76 from Image.
Writing more SCALPED and getting my hands on GHOST RIDER.





Nicola Scott: Whatever's next.



Mike Carey: THE BLACK DOSSIER, which I haven't managed to pick up yet. I know, I know, that's an evasive answer. How about SECRET INVASION?




Manolis: Thanks again to Mike, Tom, Nicola, Christo, Paul, Cecil, Cliff, Nate, Heidi and Jason; and a Happy New Year to everyone from me and the Comics Nexus team!
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Holiday Roundtable: Creators' Best of 2007

Which stories and titles stand out as your favourite from 2007?

Jason Aaron: THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST, DMZ, CRIMINAL, CASANOVA, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, FEAR AGENT, SENTENCES: THE LIFE OF M.F. GRIMM, LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: THE BLACK DOSSIER.



Cecil Castellucci: I loved ALL-STAR SUPERMAN. DMZ. Y THE LAST MAN. ASTONISHING X-MEN. THE ARRIVAL. ROBOT DREAMS. CURSES.






Cliff Chiang: SCALPED, DMZ, GREEN LANTERN, any of the SHOWCASE editions





Paul Cornell: This year I particularly liked: The AVENGERSs titles; CAPTAIN AMERICA; Gail Simone's ATOM (and all her work); Morrison and Dini's BATMAN books; 52; DAN DARE.




Nate Cosby: Hrmmmmm…hang on, I gotta check what came out this year. SPIDERMAN FAMILY #7 was really good (Chris Eliopoulos' Frog Thor!). Everything Jeff Parker did (X-MEN FIRST CLASS, his issues MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS), everything Fred Van Lente did (MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN - FANTASTIC FOUR - SPIDER-MAN, SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP, FANTASTIC FOUR/POWER PACK). THE SPIRIT was REALLY good. Hmmmm…oh! ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN keeps being good.





Christos Gage: I'll mention five that I really enjoy and think should be getting more attention: I think CROSSING MIDNIGHT from Vertigo is an extremely well done horror/fantasy book that should be on more peoples' radar. JONAH HEX continues to be top-notch, as it has been since it began. WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY is something every fan of Gail Simone should check out; it's up there with her best stuff, and you don't need to follow any other books to enjoy it. Ed Brubaker's CRIMINAL is bringing hard-boiled crime back to comics in a brilliant way. And Oni's RESURRECTION is off to a very promising start. There are many more, but I've only got so much space!






Nicola Scott: Gail's start on WONDER WOMAN and Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory, particularly the ZATANNA and KLARION stories lines.






Mike Carey: I got a lot of pleasure out of CIVIL WAR. If you're going to do big event comics, then you should do them like this: really huge and epic, and with a real-world significance hiding behind the super-heroics.

I was blown away - as most long-term BUFFY fans were - by Joss Whedon's triumphant continuation of the Vampire Slayer's story in season eight.

I read a weird, haunting, silly but poignant manga called THE CLARENCE PRINCIPLE that I liked a lot. And I loved the first volume of the re-released Parasyte.


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November 2007 H-O-T Grade

At the close of every month, LYSAD will be putting out the absolute and final word on what was H-O-T in comics.


1. SCOTT PILGRIM VOL 4 SCOTT PILGRIM GETS IT TOGETHER GN (Oni Press)

2. Y THE LAST MAN #59 (Vertigo)

3. ASTONISHING X-MEN #23 (Marvel)

4. GIRLS COMPLETE COLLECTION Deluxe HC (Image)

5. WONDER WOMAN #14 (DCU)

6. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #8 (Dark Horse)

7. CASANOVA #11 (Image)

8. SUPER VILLAIN TEAM UP: MODOKS 11 #5 (Marvel)

9. THE ORDER #4 (Marvel)

10. IMMORTAL IRON FIST #10 (Marvel)
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BICS Report part 3: Photo Parade - Creators

Photo Round-Up: Creators

Part 3 of our BICS coverage

Kieron Gillen (Phonogram) and Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram, Suburban Glamour),
winners of the charades award

Dave Kendall (Bad Planet) drawing on the ImagineFX booth,
winner of the second tallest -after me- award

Rich Johnston (Lying in the Gutters)
dedicating the newest -colour- edition of the Flying Friar


Guest-of-Honour Kevin Nowlan
sketching for his fans, and mrs Nowlan


Mike Carey... and Mike Carey on the limited edition cover of his first novel The Devil You Know,
winner of the fan-friendly award for his hours talking and drinking it up with our great unwashed lot


Alan Davis and Mark Farmer,
a penciller and inker team even in the sketch sessions


Adi Granov (Iron Man),
winner of the biggest sketch queue award (take that, Mignola!)


Staz Johnston (Underworld),
winner of the Best Hair award


Ilya (far right) and his army of writers and artists from the Mammoth Book of New Manga, vol. 2,
winners of the 300-UK award


Dean Ormston (Testament, Lucifer, Books of Magick),
winner of the bottomless pint award


Essad Ribic (Loki, Silver Surfer) ,
winner of biggest and sexiest artist award (phwoar)



Mark Buckingham (Fables) and Irma Buckingham,
winners of the friendliest bunch award


Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Green Lantern Corps),
winner of the Friends of Budgie award

BICS Coverage Archive:

Part 1: the Convention & Arrival
Part 2: Comic Artists Flip Out
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True Story Swear To God vol.2 #9

No, no, no!

After my glowing smilies review of #8 last month, I clock in again this month with my £2.50 and what do I get?

A week's worth of diary from Tom and Lily's life: Tom shifts through his old art and throws stuff away (hey! I'd love some original art!); they move in to the new house, and Tom meets Cristy, Lily's youngest sister who is going to be their lodger/freeloader. A lot of fuss is made about coke with no apparent subtext. Tom freaks out when he witnesses two random deaths in the same week. There is more fussing about coca cola. The drain pipe clogs up and they call a plumber. Lily's book gets published and Tom reassures Lily for her insecurities, returning earlier favors when he was preparing his own book. The drain pipe is fixed.

See the connecting thread in the above? Yeah, me neither.

I appreciate this book and support it each month because each issue so far has had a central theme; even though it occasionally veered into 'what happened today' scenes, it always connected it back to the central focus of the story and the theme of the issue. This issue was nothing more than a dear diary, random entries hat jumped around erratically with no connecting theme or scene transitions. When the scene jumped from the coca-cola subplot (eek), to the first death of the week (brrr), I was left leafing through the book to see if there was a missing page misprinted in the back, connecting the two scenes. I'd have preferred to have seen the three separate plots/stories in this issue as three actually distinct stories, instead of an intermeshed mess. American Splendor is a good example of that format.

Then again, if I had the choice, I wouldn't have bought a book about binge pop drinking and clogged drains. I hope next issue springs back into shape and the title's usual excellence.

Grade: 3/10
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Casanova #1 and #8 for FREE!

Are you one of those cheap bastards who won't shell out $1.99 (seriously, under 2 bucks! Why are you being miserable) to read one of the 3 best comics out there!

Please, say it isn't so!

Well, Image Comics are being super nice so they're now offering not one, but TWO (count it), two ways for you to get addicted to this crack.

CASANOVA #1 By Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba is available as an online comic on Image Comics' homepage

and now MySpace is offering the complete CASANOVA #8 issue for a download as a .CBR file (isn't that kinda 'extra cherry on top' cool?). Issue 8 kicks off the 'second season' of the title with new artist Fabio Moon and a perfect jumping-on point for new readers.

(Don't forget to also check out my review of #9 here)
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Review: Casanova #9

CASANOVA #9


Writer: Matt Fraction

Artist: Fabio Moon

Image Comics


'When is Casanova Quinn?'



That's the question-du-jour, as my favourite spy-adventure returns after a hiatus-- but the protagonist gets left behind... somewhen! Big sister Zephyr Quinn takes center-stage, as twin brother Fabio Moon takes over for Gabriel Ba who has moved to the big leagues with Dark Horse's UMBRELLA ACADEMY (review coming soon), and moody midnight beach blue replacing the mouldy green as the monochromatic colouring tone of choice.

What really interests us this issue though is Sasa Lisi, the sexy new cast member, the super-diva from th future with the wardrobe to die for and the optional extra four arms and vintage spaceman helmet. Love her! On the Y chromosome side, new hottie man-candy, jet-set terrorist and potentially crazy love machine Kubark Benday isn't as sexy as advertised, looking like 007 by way of Dragonball, trumping Wolverine on a bad hair day. Thankfully he packs enough witty to make up for coiffure-terrible.

What else goes on? Zephyr shoots people in her PJs, Valomilk has a famous flowing centre, Kubark Benday is gonna get some, Sasa Lisi gets the Nth degree, Kaito robo-geek has sex with a robot inside a giant robot, Daddy Quinn suffers from over-exposition and Zephyr meets the new boss who's the same as the old boss.

Phew! All this in 16 blue pages with 5 pages of behind the scenes commentary and extras, and under 2 bucks. You're insane for not buying this already!

Grade: 8/10

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Indy Capsule Reviews 27.09.2007

This week in review:

• Fallen Angel #20
• Madman Adventure Comics #4
• Fables #65
• The Programme #3

FALLEN ANGEL #20

Write: Peter David
Artist: Dennis Calero
IDW publishing

The Fallen Angel's son, Jude, stars in this done-in-one exploration of the 5 stages of grief, trying to come to terms with his new role/curse as Bete Noire's magistrate. Bar fights, runaway nuns and seduction of the clergy.
Jude still hasn't grown on me as a character, although this issue is a step in the right direction. Peter David's exploration of the five stages doesn't break from the expected, even falling in the common misconception of what the Bargaining stage really refers to; it's commonly shown as literal bargaining with a third-outside party to alleviate the pain, while in reality it most commonly refers to a person bargaining with themselves: 'if I do this one thing today, it will help ease the pain'. Still better than the sum of FALLEN SON: CAPTAIN AMERICA.




Grade: 6/10



MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #4

Writer/Artist: Mike Allred
Colorist: Laura Allred
Image Comics

Mike Allred's return to the character who made him famous continues on an odd pace and with a novel spiritualist adventure bent. Madman's done with the soul searching, he's back to reality-- but a moment too late! His loved ones have already shot his body into space for burial - packed tight with his robot cloned body, AstroMan, for company -huzzuh! While Astroman races on low fuel to earth for help, Madman has a close encounter of the third type with a space hottie from a planet of multi-colour tuffy and gets tangled up in a vag-mouthed dendromorphic seer.

Does the story make much sense? Not at this point. Since the start of the new volume, with the first recap issue, Allred has been pushing Frank onto a larger path of destiny, trying to fit everything that's come before into a grander scheme (something that doesn't easily suit the character), while at the same time amping the weirdness with each stop of his Odd-yssey. As jarring as the plot is, the art has never looked better. This is the most beautifully drawn and coloured book on the stands, but I do miss the nonsensical adventures just for the sake of fun which littered the original run of the title. Some things are better left simple and fun without an overall purpose and direction.

Grade: 7/10



FABLES #65

Writer: Bill Willingham
Artist: Mark Buckingham
Vertigo

It's been taking more and more of an effort to sit down and crack this book open every month. When did Fables turn into Days of Our Fairy Lives? The current storyline has been dragging on way too long, feeling like an ongoing soap opera. Don't get me wrong, when I do manage to start reading, it's still engrossing and drop dead beautiful (deservedly Eisner-winning), but it doesn't have a central story in each issue to pull the reader in, instead offering the next part of the several ongoing plotlines.

The Frog Prince keeps marching with his army of Dead Fables, finally reaching his deserted Kingdom (Willingham's done wonders turning Ambrose into a true hero and convincing both the other characters and the reader of his valour and right to lead). In Fabletown central, everyone spends their days watching the Prince's exploits (told you it's like daytime soap over here). Frau Totenkinder reveals her true motivations and the nature of the coming conflict. Bigby trains more soldiers. The Snow Queen obsesses over beans. Prince Charming learns a foreign language. Khan schemes. Bluebeard still doesn't have any clothes on (roooowr)

Grade: 7/10



PROGRAMME #3

Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: C.P. Smith
colorist: Jonny Rench
Wildstorm

Superman Max is still on the run after his awakening. So who you gonna call to stop the big bad Russian super-terror? Well, turns out, neither of the super-people are unique, as neither side of the Cold War stopped at one when producing superman weapons. Now the Spirit of Lenin has already reached his Communist Superwoman: Pravda, while the American agents race to retrieve the secret location of their number two from a retired child-molesting piece of trash.

Milligan is in his best form here, providing a sharp and fast-moving story, with C.P Smith providing adequate (if sometimes confusing) art, but which is raised to drool-worthy heights thanks to Jonny Rench's pallette which simply make the book. Get this guy a raise and an Eisner nomination please.

Grade: 8/10

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