Archive | June, 2012

Is it a spoiler if it’s in the title?

21 Jun

By Ayo

“The Butler Did It”
Legends of the Dark Knight, No. 1
Damon Lindelof & Jeff Lemire
DC Comics for cell phones

Hey, the butler did it. There is literally zero purpose in reading this story because the title isn’t a clue, it’s the solution to the mystery. So YOU are fired. The real reasons to read this comic are 1) Jeff Lemire art. Fans of his /Sweet Tooth/ will want to see his Batman pages. And reason 2) to test out DC’s Digital First program to see if these cell phone comics are right for you.
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2012-06-20: comics reviews. All-spoilers, all-excitement edition

20 Jun

By Ayo

Wednesday evening, June 20, 2012. Status: drenched in motherfucking sweat!

Let’s go!
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Frank.

20 Jun

By Ayo

“War of the Monsters pt. 1: Monster Town, USA”
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. No. 1
Jeff Lemire & Alberto Ponticelli
DC Comics, Nov. 2011

This one is okay. Blah blah blah, “The New 52,” blah blah blah blah blah, new directions, greater diversity, blah blah blah, you don’t care. This comic is about the Frankenstein monster killing larger monsters with a sword. Will YOU read a comic about the Frankenstein monster killing larger monsters with a sword? Well, get on it then.

THE.

END.

Hits From the Bong.

20 Jun

By Ayo

“Operation: Annihilation”
“Part One: Journada del Muerto”
Deadpool, No. 37
Marvel Comics, July 2011
Daniel Way & Bong Dazo

Actually don’t know how I missed this when it came out last year. I like Deadpool and I love the Hulk. Not artsy, deep-story Hulk but Smashmaster Green Hulk. Invincible, frothing at the mouth, you-will-know-me-by-my-trail-of-dead Hulk.
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Batman created by Bob Kane.

19 Jun

By Ayo

Ami-Comi II: Batgirl, No. 1
Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Sanford Greene
DC Comics, 2012

Looking through my saved favorites in Tumblr, I came across some sketches from Sanford Greene that I liked. Then, since the planets are in alignment, turns out that Sanford Greene is drawing the second Ame-Comi miniseries. Enter the Batgirl.
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You wanna make some poor bastard look bad, put him on after Amanda Conner.

19 Jun

By Ayo

Ame-Comi I: Wonder Woman
Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner and Tony Akins
DC Comics, 2012

Or: “Akin to nothing.”
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Pretty Ugly

19 Jun

By Ayo

“Septic Beauty”
Weapon X: The Draft – Marrow
Marvel Comics, 2002
Christina Z. & Brandon Badeaux

For some strange reason, this comic begins with the modern Marvel Comics recap page, telling you the concept of the comic and a quick bio of who the main character is. Even though the main body of the comic is written in the old style which has enough narration to provide the same information in-story. It made sense that comic book writers (and editors) hadn’t adapted to the recap page in 1998. It’s totally inexcusable that they were still unequipped to handle this storytelling tool in 2002.
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To be perfectly honest with you I didn’t read every word in this comic and I’m a better man for it.

19 Jun

By Ayo

“Bittersweet Reunions.”
X-Force, No. 76
Marvel Comics, 1998
John Francis Moore & Mike S. Miller

We could talk about Mike Miller’s art in this comic book, billed as “THE BATTLE YOU NEVER EXPECTED TO SEE– DOMINO(TM) VS SHATTERSTAR(TM)!” We’re not going to talk about Mike Miller’s art because that’s the least of what goes wrong in this tremendous disasterpiece.
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In 1995 I paid a dollar and ninety-five cents for a copy of X-Force # 44 and seventeen years later it occurs to me that nobody fights anybody in that comic book.

18 Jun

By Ayo

“…Already in Progress…”
X-Force, No. 44
July 1995
Marvel Comics
Jeph Loeb & Adam Pollina

Seventeen years and fifty additional cents. I bought another copy of this comic from a local fifty-cent bin. Much of it reads the same as it did back then: overly gestural art, body language more theatrical than real people ever would display. Fascinating graphic approach for a comic series that was born as a more hardline, rough edged X-Men. High school drama club, the comic book. A much greater focus was placed on facial expressions and emotive storytelling. Unfortunately, for all of his graphic ambition, Adam Pollina is undermining the script which is fairly undramatic.
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The superhero genre will never attain the thematic purity or unaffected honesty of 1950s-70s Jimmy Olsen stories.

17 Jun

By Ayo

20120617-101646.jpg

Happy Father’s Day.

At some point, relatively early on, in the retrospect of history, the people who make and published comic book stories realized that nobody would buy a story about Superman struggling to beat somebody up. Those rivers had long dried. He’s Superman. Nobody can beat him up. The people behind the comic book stories of the 1950s-1970s (roughly) had a pretty good idea: take the focus off of Superman’s ability to succeed and place the focus on Superman’s ability to cope with puzzling, unpunchable disasters.

The Superman comics of the time: Superman, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen and Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane were specific answers to a question that has since gone on to stump comic writers in the decades after their publication: “how can we get people excited about the adventures of an invincible guy?”

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The answer is simply this: the writer doesn’t confront his characters with problems that they already possess the skills to cope with. The writer confronts his characters with problems that the characters haven’t yet learned how to cope with, regardless of those characters expertise in other talents.

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