What Looks Good?

I may be in Minnesota, but new comics are STILL coming out! I know, I'm shocked too!

Batman: The Brave And The Bold #1 -- You love the TV show, now read the comic book!

Final Crisis #7 -- FINAL CRISIS! *clap-clap-clapclap!* FINAL CRISIS! *clap-clap-clapclap!*

Justice Society of America #23 -- Black Adam's back and this time... well, I guess he's always kind of mad, isn't he? I mean, that's his thing, right?

Unknown Soldier #3 -- Into the flood again.

The War That Time Forgot #9 -- Leave it to this title to take a simple concept like soldiers fighting dinosaurs and make it all complex.

Nova #21 -- The Nova Corps is back, Ego the Living Planet just showed up, and DARKHAWK! Oh heck yes!

glamourpuss #5 -- Anything that isn't "The Eighties!"

Journey v.2 -- Holy crap, I haven't even started the first one yet!

So, what looks good to YOU?

Hiatus

Well folks, I am in beautiful (as well as freezing cold!) Minneapolis, MN for business this week, so updates will be spotty at best. Things should return to (relative) normalcy next week.

Now I need to figure out how I am going to read Final Crisis #7 with my local comic shop several hundred miles away...

Crisis On Earth-Blog: The DC Challenge

Boy, are you in the "Black!" I guess the answer really is "Unknown" to you! Sorry, but you are going to have to check out some of these other blogs involved in the DC Challenge if you want to solve the big one!

The Anti-Didio League of America
The Aquaman Shrine
The Atom: Tiny Titan
Being Carter Hall
Comics Make Me Happy
The Continuity Blog
Crimson Lightning
Dispatches from the Arrow Cave
Firestorm Fan
Girls Gone Geek
I Am The Phantom Stranger
The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Justice League Detroit
...nurgh...
Once Upon a Geek
Pretty, Fizzy Paradise
random picture day
Reilly2040's Blog
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
Toyriffic
when is evil cool?

What I Read This Week

Black Lightning Year One #2 -- Principal Jefferson Pierce has work to do, but he takes some time out to talk to Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet about his progress.  Meanwhile, Tobias Whale and The 100 react to the new "Lightning Vigilante" who seems intent on eliminating their presence on the streets of Suicide Slum!  Hamner and Van Meter do a good job of capturing the strength of our hero as well as the grit and grime which he has to move through at this early stage of his career.  I think it helps to be a Black Lightning fan (as well as being familiar with the original issues) to really like this series, but that's what I am.

Tiny Titans #12 -- Get ready!  The Tiny Titans world will never be the same!  Because when Darkseid takes over as temporary principal, he decalres that everyone will take their final exams today... that's right, it's a FINALS CRISIS!  Also, tremble before the clash of The Hall Monitor and Tthe Anti-Hall Monitor!  DC readers who don't normally read this great AA title should definitely read this one!

Guardians Of The Galaxy #9 -- It's Assualt on Precinct 13, if Precinct 13 was in the Negative Zone and filled with super-powered freaks, and it was under assault by Blastaar's forces of Negativze Zone weirdos.  Plus, naked Star-Lord.  DnA have really hit their stride with this title and they do a great job of juggling the ensamble cast, even with them as split up as they are right now.  Fun title month in and month out.

War Machine #2 -- Rhodey is on a mission, and it's going to take more than an army of mercenaries and cutting edge military armor to stop him!  The story and the art are both over the top, but in a sense I really like that -- War Machine is such a 90s character, that him being over the top is almost a given.  Rhodey's new ability to acquire and utilize his enemies' weapons give the title a sort of arcade game feel, also appropriate.  Manco's art is a sort of photorealistic style, but the action is so unrealistic that it makes for a nice contrast.  I was disappointed that the fourth volume of Iron Man had to end, but so far I am pumped up about War Machine.

X-Men: Kingbreaker #2 -- Let the space opera continue!  Shi'ar Emperor Vulcan let loose a band of dangerously unstable criminals to hunt down Lilandra, Marvel Girl, and Korvus, while Havok makes his move to bust the Starjammers out of captivity and take his brother down for good.  Maybe I am just prone to liking cosmic stories, or stories with Havok and Polaris in them, but I enjoyed this issue much like I enjoyed the first.  The War of Kings stuff is building nicely and I am very interested in seeing what role the Starjammers will play in it.

The Pick Of The Pile is Tiny Titans.  I'm sorry, but a Finals Crisis?!  You have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat that.

So what did YOU read this week?

Everybody's Linking For The Weekend

Rick gets us started with a sweet Secret Society of Super-Villians letterhead.

Bonus Game!  The Code!

Dixon takes a look at High Frequency Vision.  That's not how sight works!

Shag reveals the Secret Origin of Firestorm!  It's no so secret anymore, apparently.

G Kendall takes a look at Onslaught: Marvel Universe, a comic book which I have never read and hopefully never will.  He is a better man than I.

rob! shows off this super-sweet Craig Hamilton Aquaman painting.

And finally, Frank gives us the new "Black Terror" (SPOILERS!)

Weekly Dose Of Weird!

Twilight Zone #1 -- Women.  Just goes to show that they're all evil, I tells ya, evil!*  Meanwhile, Rod Serling looks on.

I. "Frozen Worlds of Space" -- Learn something about Jupiter and Saturn.  Well, conjecture, anyway.

II. "Perilous Journey" -- Skiers Larry and Ron make their way across the tundra when Larry falls into a pit.  He finds himself in a strange world, where a little girl saves him from snowball wielding punks and a polar bear.  In the girl's house of ice, her reflection is that of a beautiful woman, and like magic, suddenly she truly is.  Wanting to take her away from the place, Larry smashes the mirror, which causes her to age rapidly, as well cause a cave-in.  Trapped in the ice and snow, Larry is found by Ron, and the two make their way back to the spaceship for their trip back to Earth from... The Twilight Zone!

III. "Do Not Touch Exhibit" -- Chump changer criminal Mike is on the run from the law when he ducks into a museum to hide out.  Ducking behind an exhibit, he soon finds himself in Montana... in the 1800s!  Things, of course get worse, as Mike discovers that he's now going to be a part of history in the making at Little Big Horn... and The Twilight Zone!

IV. "Wings of Death" -- (Text Story) Two scientists run afoul (oy) of a vampire owl.

V. "Voyage To Nowhere" -- Buddies Dan and Roy are on a fishing trip when they spot a small sailboat piloted by a woman dressed in turn of the century garb.  The two men watch helplessly as the sailboat is dashed against the rocks.  Back on shore, they discover that the girl, Carlotta, is a ghost, who died 50 years prior in that very manner.  Roy becomes obsessed, and goes back to find her again.  Even as Dan pleads for him not to, Roy gets on the sailboat with Carlotta and is promptly wrecked on the rocks.  The police question Dan about Roy's disappearance, but the charges are dropped when they see Carlotta and Roy sailing together for all eternity... in The Twilight Zone!

VI. "Custer's Last Stand" -- A little history to go with your science.

Overall Weird Factor -- 1 (out of 5).

Nothing too outlandish in this particular specimin, although the weird "hidden world inside an alien world" thing in the second feature was a little strange.  These stories are sparse, sticking to a 5- or 6-panel layout pretty much the whole way through.  Rod Serling pops up tp introduce features #2 and 5, which is nice.  Not bad for the era in which it was produced (1962), and it is all original material, which is a change of pace from some of the stuff I have featured here.  Quaint little mystery comic book all told.


*Women are not evil.  Please disregard that statement.

Retro Review: What If? Special #1

This gem was given to me by my good friend Adama, who runs the finest Green Arrow blog I've ever seen over at Dispatches From The Arrowcave.  He has been known to collect What If?, and he came across this issue (along with another one featuring Shellhead) one day and picked it up for me.

Our story goes all the way back to hallowed antiquity -- that is, Tales of Suspense #39.  That issue, of course, is the debut and origin of Iron Man, where (as all of us now know) Professor Yinsen sacrificed his own life to give Tony Stark time to power up his crude first armor, allowing the injured industrialist to defeat their Communist captors and escape to become a great hero.  But Uatu The Watcher asks us to take a look on a different Earth, where Yinsen's gambit does not pay off, and Tony is captured before the Iron Man can rise.  So now let's examine what would have been if Iron Man Had Been A Traitor!

After their escape plan was foiled, warlord Wong Chu intended to use the armor as a weapon himself, but his plans go awry when he received orders to send Stark into China and to the lab of Chen Lu!  There, Chen Lu implants a device into Tony's chestplate which allows him to turn the device on and off remotely.  Chen's plan is to allow Tony to be found by American troops and returned to the States, where he will become a pawn of the East.  Tony says he would die before he betrays his country, but Chen calls his bluff, taunting him, saying that while saying such words are easy, living up to them is not.

Soon, Tony is found by an Army patrol and flown back home.  Picking up where he left off as an industrialist, he soon is confronted by CIA agent Nick Fury, who suspects that Tony was compromised.  Tony angrilly thows Fury out, but then is contacted (via a miniature transmitter planted in his skull!) by Chen, reminding him who he serves.  Tony then "debuts" Iron Man on the superhero scene, and quickly is accepted as a defender of freedom.  Nick Fury, however, still does not trust Stark, and suspects that the armor might be controlled remotely.  When Reed Richards informs him that his theory could  be feasible, Fury is confident that he can expose Tony Stark as a red traitor.

Unfortunately for our favorite fed, Tony Stark receives a report on the new organization named SHIELD, including that Fury is nominated to be it's director, and is ordered by Chen Lu to kill Fury.  Shortly thereafter, Fury is attacked by an unknown terrorist group who calls themselves HYDRA!  Nick barely escapes with his life, and now is convinced that Stark is a traitor.  Taking his information to the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards devises a method by which Iron Man is tricked into a special powder, which reveals that there is a signal being beamed into the suit from a satelite.  Chen Lu observes this and orders Stark to kill Mr. Fantastic.  Breaking into the Baxter Building, Iron Man avoids nearly all of the automated defenses, and manages to slip a cassette tape to Reed.  The tape (made by Tony on the sly, by recording at a super-slow speed his meditation mantras, then played back at regular speed to translate the message) clues Reed in to Tony's situation, and the big-brained Mr. Fantastic quickly devises a plan.  Reed "traps" Shellhead in a new device, and quickly takes control of the armor, then removes Tony and performs some quick surgery on his heart, ending the threat.  While Tony recovers in the hospital, Reed Richards informs Fury about the situation.  Fury inquired about the armor, and Reed tells him that all weapons will eventually turn on their creator.  Meanwhile, the empty Iron Man armor streaks towards Chen Lu's laboratory, and crashes explosively into the building.

As a fan of the Tales of Suspense era of Iron Man, I was a prime candidate for this story.  Just seeing the early 60s Marvel crew running around was a lot of fun.  But on top of that, this is a well constructed yarn which examines the battle between saving oneself and being a hero.  Tony Stark fights however he can, but Chen Lu holds all the cards: it's hard to resist someone who can essentially put shrapnel into your heart at will.  But Tony figures out a way to stop Chen Lu, knowing that if he is taken out of his chestplate he'll die anyway -- Reed's quick thinking being the only thing which saves him.

Seeing Iron Man -- who along with Captain America was the most patriotic of the original Marvel characters -- betray his country makes for stirring reading for an Iron Fan.  This is America's best and brightest turned into a Commie lackie.  That's the strength of What If?, and while there are a lot of times where the title just goes a little too far into left field for me (there was one I read once involving the Punisher getting the alien costume instead of Eddie Brock, and that has to be one of the lamest alternate universe stories ever), in this case the twist is not so outlandish that it cannot be enjoyed.

The artwork is not able because of the breakdowns done by none other than Steve Ditko.  Pat Redding handles the finishes, but with all of the layout and panel work being done by an legend (not to mention one of the men responsible for inventing Marvel's visual look) really helps sell this as an alternate Silver Age story.  Art style may change, but good storytelling is good storytelling.  The same goes for scribe Peter B. Gillis, who's dialogue could have passed muster in the Silver Age, though admittedly it is mostly devoid of Stan Lee's legendary linguistic banter.

Overall this was a very cool oversized (38 pages) comic book.  A fun adventure with a nice twist of the classic Tales of Suspense story which I must have read at least a dozen times at this point.  The Ditko breakdowns are a very nice touch as well.  Totally worth picking up if you can find it for a good price.