Took a trip over to Mr. K's last week, armed with my monthly 20% off email coupon, to see what I could find on the shelf. I was armed with the memory of several very cool-looking Superman collections, but as the stock is always changing, I didn't have much of an idea what I would go home with. And, true enough, I certainly didn't see this one coming!
The Chronicles of Kull v.1 -- Whoa! Dark Horse's "Chronicles" series reprint the old Marvel comics for the Robert E. Howard heroes, including Conan, Solomon Kane, and yes, my favorite barbarian Kull. Now, yes, I do own a lot of the issues contained herein (Kull The Conqueror #3-9), but the ones I don't have are exceptionally hard to find. I have been looking for copies of Creatures on the Loose! #10 and Monsters on the Prowl #16 for a few years with very little luck, and the ones I have found have been way out of my price range. Conan The Barbarian #10, and Kull The Conqueror #1-2 are more readily available, but still very expensive. Considering that I paid a mere $7.60 for this collection, pretty much any one of those books would have cost me the same, let along all five of them. Plus now I get to ogle the Severin's insane art with the colors very nicely restored, plus I don't have to bust out singles. At this point I think I am only missing 3 or 4 issues of Kull's third Marvel series to have the entire run. Not too shabby considering it all started by finding a random issue at a Borderlands Sale!
Left for next time: Superman: World of Krypton and Superman: Man Of Steel v.1 were still there. There's also a Showcase Presents: Justice League of America v.1 which I am now wanting to go back and buy. The Wonder Woman stuff I was considering for my wife, however, was gone, as was every single one of the near-complete run of Geoff Johns' first stint on Flash (of which I picked up Blood Will Run, the one I was missing, last time).
Rush in and die, dogs... I was a man before I was king!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
What Looks Good?
School's back in session, so the traffic is picking up like crazy. Lucky for me I get my comics during my lunch break, so the kids are still in class!
Outsiders #32 -- The team is shattered, but things are apparently going to get even worse!
Avengers #4 -- Can this new team of Avengers survive their first mission?
Namor: The First Mutant #1 -- I might check this one out. I hope every other line is "Imperious Rex!"
Robocop #6 -- Murphy has lost his partner, so where does he go from here?
Zeroids #1 -- ROBOTS! From SPACE! Fighting ZOMBIES! How can you go wrong?!
So, what looks good to YOU?
Outsiders #32 -- The team is shattered, but things are apparently going to get even worse!
Avengers #4 -- Can this new team of Avengers survive their first mission?
Namor: The First Mutant #1 -- I might check this one out. I hope every other line is "Imperious Rex!"
Robocop #6 -- Murphy has lost his partner, so where does he go from here?
Zeroids #1 -- ROBOTS! From SPACE! Fighting ZOMBIES! How can you go wrong?!
So, what looks good to YOU?
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Outsiders #32 Preview
Anyone who has been following the Bunker knows that I have been veery much enjoying Outsiders under Dan DiDio. I approached his run with a lot of trepidation, considering how much I dug what Peter Tomasi was doing, but DiDio has put his own stamp on the title and given it a very unique perspective. The splitting of the team into two factions is crazy fun, with Geo-Force pretty much gone gaga in Markovia, while Black Lightning and his crew fight for their lives back in the USA. Every issue has a lot of different plots being spun and the book almost always makes it to the top of the pile the week it comes out. So give it a shot, why don't you?
Monday, August 23, 2010
What Looks Good?
Brightest Day #8 -- After the revelations of last issue, the resurrected are driven forth on their missions: Deadman is teleported away, along with Dove, by the White Lantern, Martian Manhunter learns what happened to Miss Martian, and the Hawks learn more about Hawkworld. Strong issue featuring lots of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and a lot of mythos for Hawkworld which raises a lot of questions regarding the history of both Earth and Thanagar, which is begging for more exposure over at Being Carter Hall. This series has been a real treat for me.
Tiny Titans #31 -- It's the All-Super Issue! At the Fortress of Solitude, Superboy and Supergirl are gathered for Match's birthday, but uninvited guests keep popping up. Featuring the Legion of Superheroes, the Brainiac Club, and the Phantom Zone criminals (!), this one has laughs the entire way through.
Image United #3 -- The world is going to hell, quite literall, as Fortress, the Youngblood, the Dragon, ShadowHawk, and others try to stem the tide of evil. We finally get the third issue of the epic crossover, and we get... not much, really. Mostly a running battle with lots of characters I don't recognize who are not named; this is mostly for those who read all of the old Image titles to pick out who is who. The one nice piece for me was seeing Vendetta in her battlesuit out there. Why the hell Vendetta would help Chapel and his army of lunatics is beyond me, but hey! Vendetta! The art still looks good, at least. Things look like they should pick up next issue, hopefully.
The Last Phantom #1 -- Ugh. Check out my critique, and avoid this book.
Darkwing Duck #3 -- Gone missin'. Appropriate, as #2 is also on backorder for me.
Re-Read Pile: Brightest Day.
The Pick Of The Pile is Brightest Day. Not the strongest week ever, unfortunately.
Tiny Titans #31 -- It's the All-Super Issue! At the Fortress of Solitude, Superboy and Supergirl are gathered for Match's birthday, but uninvited guests keep popping up. Featuring the Legion of Superheroes, the Brainiac Club, and the Phantom Zone criminals (!), this one has laughs the entire way through.
Image United #3 -- The world is going to hell, quite literall, as Fortress, the Youngblood, the Dragon, ShadowHawk, and others try to stem the tide of evil. We finally get the third issue of the epic crossover, and we get... not much, really. Mostly a running battle with lots of characters I don't recognize who are not named; this is mostly for those who read all of the old Image titles to pick out who is who. The one nice piece for me was seeing Vendetta in her battlesuit out there. Why the hell Vendetta would help Chapel and his army of lunatics is beyond me, but hey! Vendetta! The art still looks good, at least. Things look like they should pick up next issue, hopefully.
The Last Phantom #1 -- Ugh. Check out my critique, and avoid this book.
Darkwing Duck #3 -- Gone missin'. Appropriate, as #2 is also on backorder for me.
Re-Read Pile: Brightest Day.
The Pick Of The Pile is Brightest Day. Not the strongest week ever, unfortunately.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Everybody's Linking For The Weekend
Whoa...
DC75: The New Wonder Woman Is Here! (Thanks to Frank!)
Also, check out Frank's thoughts on The Brave And The Bold Annual #1!
BONUS GAME! The Top 5 Miss Martian Covers! (I own 40% of these... guess which ones!)
Michael shows us the only Matrix which matters. Well, besides the Autobot Matrix.
rob! gives us a nifty Justice League/Aquaman house ad.
BONUS GAME! This Probably Won't End Well
And finally, Draining The Pitcher.
DC75: The New Wonder Woman Is Here! (Thanks to Frank!)
Also, check out Frank's thoughts on The Brave And The Bold Annual #1!
BONUS GAME! The Top 5 Miss Martian Covers! (I own 40% of these... guess which ones!)
Michael shows us the only Matrix which matters. Well, besides the Autobot Matrix.
rob! gives us a nifty Justice League/Aquaman house ad.
BONUS GAME! This Probably Won't End Well
And finally, Draining The Pitcher.
Be A Winner In The Game Of Life!
Blame this on playing The Game Of Life with my wife and another couple last weekend! Should be SFW but this is from Robot Chicken so its more for the grownups!
(Click here if my embedding doesn't work.)
(Click here if my embedding doesn't work.)
Thursday, August 19, 2010
This Just In!
Dynamite's The Last Phantom is not very good.
This rant contains SPOILERS.
Scribe Scott Beatty was no doubt charged with creating a "new take" on the Ghost-Who-Walks for a "new generation" of readers or some such. And things start out pretty decently in that direction, too. We are introduced to a new take on Kit ("Kitteridge") Walker, a man who helps the African nation of "Bengali" through fundraising and awareness. His wife is an African doctor, and their son, Mobi, helps her as she gives medical aid to remote villages. We also see that one of his colleagues and confidants is conspiring against him, and makes his move to eliminate Kit.
And then everything comes off the rails. In short order, Kit's family is murdered by mercenaries in invisible tech-suits (it's subtly implied that his wife is raped for good measure), and Kit's plane is blown up with a bomb, with him thought dead in the jungle. And so he puts on a loincloth, pulls out twin automatics, and, yes, covers himself in blood to set out to get revenge.
Where do I begin? Why bother to introduce such an intriguing familial setup, ripe with potential, just to throw it all away? Why make the Phantom just another wronged hero out for revenge? Did we really need to rape his wife to drive home how nasty these guys are? What kind of Phantom would protect his land through raising money and foresake his ancestry? What the hell is up with wearing BLOOD as a costume?! The list of queries goes on and on.
This is especially frustrating in light of the way that Moonstone has handled the character for the last several years, which built upon what Lee Falk had created, but still managed to be modern and timely -- without going completely bonkers like this comic does. The Phantom is not a blood-soaked (literally!) avenger. He is the protector and defender of the jungles, of his people, and of his family. After reading this last night, I told my wife that I'm done with Phantom comics once the last few Moonstone issues come out... at least until we get some version of the Ghost-Who-Walks which is recognizable as such. What a waste.
This rant contains SPOILERS.
Scribe Scott Beatty was no doubt charged with creating a "new take" on the Ghost-Who-Walks for a "new generation" of readers or some such. And things start out pretty decently in that direction, too. We are introduced to a new take on Kit ("Kitteridge") Walker, a man who helps the African nation of "Bengali" through fundraising and awareness. His wife is an African doctor, and their son, Mobi, helps her as she gives medical aid to remote villages. We also see that one of his colleagues and confidants is conspiring against him, and makes his move to eliminate Kit.
And then everything comes off the rails. In short order, Kit's family is murdered by mercenaries in invisible tech-suits (it's subtly implied that his wife is raped for good measure), and Kit's plane is blown up with a bomb, with him thought dead in the jungle. And so he puts on a loincloth, pulls out twin automatics, and, yes, covers himself in blood to set out to get revenge.
Where do I begin? Why bother to introduce such an intriguing familial setup, ripe with potential, just to throw it all away? Why make the Phantom just another wronged hero out for revenge? Did we really need to rape his wife to drive home how nasty these guys are? What kind of Phantom would protect his land through raising money and foresake his ancestry? What the hell is up with wearing BLOOD as a costume?! The list of queries goes on and on.
This is especially frustrating in light of the way that Moonstone has handled the character for the last several years, which built upon what Lee Falk had created, but still managed to be modern and timely -- without going completely bonkers like this comic does. The Phantom is not a blood-soaked (literally!) avenger. He is the protector and defender of the jungles, of his people, and of his family. After reading this last night, I told my wife that I'm done with Phantom comics once the last few Moonstone issues come out... at least until we get some version of the Ghost-Who-Walks which is recognizable as such. What a waste.
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