All things they want you..

JLA: The Obsidian Age, Book One by Joe Kelly

My review

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first half of Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke's second story arc on JLA.
Read this last night.
It's been a little while since I read "Golden Perfect", but I'd say Kelly has a more comfortable (if not slightly better) handle on the characters here.
Still nowhere near the heights the team would reach with "Trial By Fire" (http://hiptoday.blogspot.com/2008/02/shell-see-im-not-so-tough.html), but you can see that they're a good creative pairing.

View all my reviews.

If I can take a fire..

COMIC REVIEWS IN UNDER A MINUTE!


Amazing Spider-Man #585
Character Assassination Part 2 of 4
Writer : Marc Guggenheim
Artist : John Romita Jr.

Wha happa?
HEY KIDS!






COMICS!

And the verdict is?
If you like seeing Spider-Man get the shit kicked out of him, this is the comic for you!

When I was a child..

My (spoiler free) thoughts on Final Crisis #7 :


You said it.

This comic (with it's one penciller and SEVEN inkers) really illustrates what a difference an inker can make.
I'm not sure who inked which parts, but I do know that while the whole thing essentially looked drawn by Doug Mahnke, the quality shifted wildly from inker to inker.
I know that has nothing to do with the story itself which is what people really want to talk about when it comes to Final Crisis (right?).

Well, as far as the story goes, I liked it.
Would I have liked to have seen more of some characters or to have had a little expansion of some of the scenes? Yes. Very much so. But I know that's not the kind of story Grant Morrison was trying to tell, and having read all of the interviews he's done about the book, I understand and appreciate what he was going for, so I can't fault him for the choices he made.
Well, I could, but I won't.
Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that I think Grant Morrison knows what he's doing a lot better than I do. I mean, I'd never even heard of "superluminal" speeds before Final Crisis.

Timothy Callahan has done a fantastic analysis of the entire series here, and if you're interested in intelligent comic discussion I definitely think it's worth your time. I generally feel that way about everything Timothy Callahan writes though, so maybe I'm biased.

The most pressing question on my mind now is how will DC follow up on all of the ideas Morrison introduced or concluded in this series. While I think that not running with some of the balls he was playing with (this was a terrible choice of metaphors) would be a huge waste, the idea of writers of a lesser quality or vision mucking up his ideas (read : Countdown) seems just as bad.

So where does DC go from here?

Thoughts?

I'd like to give you a surprise..

For those of you who perhaps did not read the Secret Invasion : Dark Reign One-Shot I reviewed last week and thought I was perhaps exaggerating about how prominently (and ridiculously) featured breasts were throughout the story I decided to go back and add googly-eyes for comedic effect to every panel that seemed to feature a character staring at the chesticological region of Emma Frost.

Let's see what we came up with..


Sigh. Oh, smelly, ugly Namor. You wouldn't catch Aquaman oogling Wonder Woman like that.
But then again, since she can read your mind and already knew what you were thinking, I guess there's no reason not to be obvious.


You know that saying, "Watch where you're pointing that thing"?
At least no one can accuse The Hood of not following that advice.


This one may be my favorite because with the addition of the googly-eyes, it seems as though Dr. Doom is delivering these lines to Emma's chest.


The Hood has to get in one last ogle before he leaves the meeting.


It seems even Emma herself is not immune to her chest's charms.

Now I hear ya..

Comic Reviews in Under a Minute!


Secret Invasion : Dark Reign One-Shot
Writer - Brian Michael Bendis
Artist - Alex Maleev

Wha happa?
Emma Frost has recurring nightmares and wears very little.
Doctor Doom is in a bad mood.
Namor stinks and is suddenly one of the ugliest men in comics. Also, he is apparently forgetful.
The Hood likes to jump around on tables and point his guns at people.
Loki is now a very pretty lady.
Norman Osborne has a plan and it involves them all sitting in a very boring room.
He also has a mystery partner that everyone is scared to mess with. Sooooo scary.
Everyone talks as though they are actors playing these parts who have never heard of the characters or who were given the most basic of information about the characters two minutes before they started shooting the scene.
Boobs are awkwardly showcased at every possible opportunity. (Hey, kids! Comics!)
Namor and Doom have super-secret plans because they are SSEBB (Super-Secret Evil Best Buddies)!
Norman Osborne is still goblin-shit insane.

Show us how you warm your voice up before the big recital, Norman..


And the verdict is?
I could not roll my eyes hard enough at this comic.

For one last time..

Comic Reviews in Under a Minute!


Action Comics #872
New Krypton - Part 7 : Brainiac Lives
Writer - Geoff Johns
Artist - Pete Woods

Wha happa?
Superman gets mad when his wacky, just-got-here-from-out-of-town relatives kill people.
Zod's troops are dicks.
There is a group of "military monsters".
Metallo is back with a goofy new outfit!
Metallo and Reactron are KBF (Kryptonite Buddies Forever)!
Brainiac is so naked and Lex spends all his time staring at and/or touching him. (A whole new take on the old Luthor/Brainiac team-up.)
This happens..

There is some fighting.
Something bad happens. (No spoilers here, folks.)

And the verdict is?
Great issue! Check it out!

UPDATE! - This was my 2,001st post.

No farther than you'd normally go..

A Series of Images Wherein I Review a Comic : Hulk #6

Let's do this thing!

This review thing!

Glass houses won't burn..

Quick-style!

- Saw Eddie Izzard last night. It was both hilarious and awesome.
- The new Weezer album is fucking wonderful. Hard-to-believeably so.
- We leave for New York today! Hell of nervous!

So, no updates for a little bit, I imagine.. unless NY is really boring.
Wish us luck and all that.
If I don't come back because we've become super-famous, it's been really great getting to be a part of your digital lives.

xo
ch

It's gotta go..

I think anyone who's even casually visited this blog knows that I think comics are awesome.
The thing is though, sometimes they are not.


All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder #9
This comic used to just be horrible.


Now, it's utterly reprehensible.
If you haven't read it, and don't know what's going on there, that's "the goddamn" Batman (TGB) beating the shit out of Robin.
Robin (whom I don't mind reminding you and Frank Miller) is a 12 year old little boy.
It was one thing when they were just having TGB be a jerk to Robin and a total asshole to everyone else, but this really crosses a line.
Between this and what Frank Miller thinks passes for gender relations (the scenes between Wonder Woman and the male JLA-ers, TGB and Black Canary's make-out session, etc.) this comic is an abomination and a blight on the comics industry.
This issue really makes me wish Curt and I had followed through on our plans to find Frank Miller at Comic-Con and punch him in the face.
It would have also been nice to have called him a "little snot" while doing it.

She'll see I'm not so tough..

It's time for yet another new feature.

My Favorite Comics Ever.


JLA #84-89 (collected as JLA Vol. 14 “Trial By Fire”)
Joe Kelly writes a perfect Batman, shows just how powerful a player Martian Manhunter is in the DCU, and comes up with multiple Grant Morrison-sized/OMG/character defining moments for pretty much every member of the Justice League.

Doug Mahnke’s art is absolutely incredible. I mean, there’s no other way to say it. There are totally scan-worthy panels on pretty much every page of every issue.
The guy is just an amazing artist capable of making Superman look “super” whether he’s sitting in a lawnchair at J’onn’s backyard BBQ or racing across the planet to chase down the last of several hundred nuclear missiles the JLA must stop.
Even more importantly perhaps is the fact that he makes characters like The Atom and Major Disaster look every bit as epic and impressive as Superman and Batman. (And Joe Kelly does his part to make them seem just as important and integral to the story as “The Big Guys”.)

Oh, and did I mention that the only person who can save the JLA and the Earth itself is Plastic Man?
Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.

I don’t know that it’s the best Justice League story, but it’s definitely top notch on every level. I can't say that it's my favorite JLA story of all time, but it's certainly my favorite JLA story at the moment and one of my favorite comics ever.

Movies Released in 2007 That I Saw

(in order of release)

Ghost Rider
300
Meet the Robinsons
Grindhouse
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters
Spider-Man 3
Pirates 3
Knocked Up
Fantastic Four 2
Ratatouille
Transformers
The Simpsons Movie
Hot Rod
Superbad
Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Wow.
This must have been my slowest movie-going year ever.
This is headed somewhere, so naturally, there's more to come...

And love dares you...

Green Arrow and Black Canary #3
I'm not going to spoil it or anything, but I will say that Rachelle summed things up perfectly : "Congratulations, Judd Winick. You've ruined Christmas."


Green Lantern #25
The only DCU book published in 2007 that seems like it was made by the same company that publishes All Star Superman. Well done.

That is all.


For now.

It's the terror of knowing...

If it's okay with you, I'd like to tell you (briefly) about two comics I read today.
Neither of these are (brand) new comics, so this isn't really a review, but they are two comics I read today.. so there.


The All-New Atom #17
This comic sucked.


Fearless #1
This comic did not.

That is all.
Thank you.

I'm losin' it...

Ahh, comics.
I haven't done so in a while, so I thought I'd post some quick reviews.
Very quick reviews.


Death of the New Gods #3
Every bit as awful as it looks.


New X-Men #Whatever : Messiah Complex Part Something
Who the hell cares?


Sub-Mariner #6
The only reason anyone even noticed this comic exists is because of Namor's crotch-fist on the cover. Well played, Mr. Turner.


Invincible #46
As usual, this book is great and feels like it's only 5 pages long. I need more Invincible every month.


Blue Beetle #21
DC to readers : Spectre still around! Also still black guy!


Thunderbolts #118
Marvel to readers : This (bad) joke of a story is still going! Please care!


Lord Havok and the Countdown Blah-bibbity-blah!
DC to readers : This is a real comic! Really!


Spider-Man : One More Day Part 3
The middle-aged men in charge of Marvel to readers : We're having our mid-life crisis and we're taking you with us!


Green Lantern Corps #18
DC to readers : Isn't this Sinestro Corps War awesome? Please care about Sodam Yat! Please? PS - Fuck Kyle Rayner.


Batman #671
Ra's al Ghul, who's whole deal is that he keeps coming back from the dead, has come back from the dead again. For some reason we're supposed to care.
Also, Tony Daniels? Really? Really? I'm sure Grant Morrison's loving that.


All Star Batman #8
Frank Miller continues to write one of the worst comics ever.
Jim Lee continues to draw it with a straight face.
DC continues to pay them both truckloads of money for it.
Even if you're enjoying the comic on an ironic level and treating it as a comedy/parody, it still reads like it was written by a group of 8-13 year olds trying to make it sound tough and cool.
Child writer to bully : "Comics are not for little kids! Look at how many swear words Batman can say!"

Just one more kick..

So, I never saw that awful looking Balls of Fury movie, but Tuesday night I did watch Ping Pong.
As you might already know, table tennis is a big deal in Japan.
That poster might make the movie seem kinda silly, and parts of it are, but it's more a "coming to terms with who you are / what friendship means / light drama" kind of movie than a comedy.

Anyway, the point is I really liked it.
While I was watching it I found myself thinking, "I'm going to have to do some fan-art for this to put on the blog."
Here is that fan-art.

This is the main character, Peco.
My goal when drawing this was to get it done as quickly as possible without too much thinking so that I could go to bed. To that end, my goal was accomplished.
His arm is intentionally very long, but (stylistic choice or not) I think I went a little too far with it.
I'd be lying if I said I hadn't already started thinking about doing more fan-art with this movie's characters.

Who's here?

I was out way too late last night drinking gin and singing karaoke with some of my fellow Legionnaires.
I got like two hours of sleep before I had to drag my ass to work, head still slightly swimmy with alcohols.
I feel not so great.
But I will push on, for you, and update.

And now for what I'd like to call, "A Series of Images Illustrating Why You Should Be Buying Invincible".


The following panels are all from Invincible #45.
As always, click the pictures for a closer look.



Nolan's growing as a person. I mean, seriously, look at this guy's character arc from issue one to now. From Superman archetype to murderer to traitor to planetary savior to deserter to prisoner.. and that's leaving out a lot and doing what I did mention no justice whatsoever.


Allen the Alien is one of the most likeable characters in comics. Ever.


Look at him playing possum!

And most importantly..

Inter-species bred, super-powered, purple alien children in this comic use correct grammar.

Know what else is incredibly impressive?
None of these images featured the star of the comic.
Robert Kirkman has created a wealth of supporting and secondary characters and then fleshed them out so deftly that this book could easily be Mark Grayson-less for months without losing any momentum.
Well, that's what I think at least.

UPDATE : I forgot to mention that none of this book's greatness would be possible if not for how well Mr. Ryan Ottley draws the thing month in and month out. The guy does big time comic action, unbelieveably brutal violence, humor, tender emotional moments, and all points between in equal levels of absolute awesomeness.

So there you have it.
Go buy Invincible!

Something evil's watching over you...

So, I saw a sneak preview of TRANSFORMERS last night.
I'm not sure if I want to write any kind of review, but I wanted to at least mention that I've seen it.
And I have opinions.

UPDATE
Speaking of movies, Robert of Ye Olde Comic Blogge has a great new post up about comics and movies and the state of both.
You should read it.

Every night is the last night.

So, I know I'm late, but here's my quick reviews of some of last week's comics.


Flash v.4 #13 - Winner of the "Worst comic I've read since the last issue of All Star Batman" award. This issue, as was the case with the 12 issues before it, stars a character DC tells us is "Bart Allen", but who is not Bart Allen by any stretch of the imagination. I have every issue of Impulse and Young Justice, I know what I'm talking about. This issue differs from the previous 12 though, because they kill this character they claim is "Bart". This would have really upset me if the character that died was the Bart Allen we've known for all those years prior to Infinite Crisis (aka "Psshh! Man, fuck Young Justice!" as Mr. Didio calls it).
By amazing coincidence, this happens at the same time that the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes of America are over in JLA #10 bringing back Wally West.
I'm more than happy to have Wally back, but that's because he never should have been taken away from us in the first place.


Justice League of America #10 -
Your first assignment for Clusterfuck 101 : Write an issue of JLA.
Due date : Whenever you get around to it.
Extra credit : Get Michael Turner to create another artistic abomination for the cover.


Countdown 45 - With a cover like that you'd think some really awesome stuff happens in this issue.
You'd be wrong.


Captain America #27 - Who knew Bucky was going to grow up to be such a badass? Godspeed on your mission to kill Tony Stark since the big, bad, scary, super-angry, Green King version of the Hulk couldn't get the job done.
Also, Buck, nice job on nailing Black Widow. All the better if it was while she was involved with Tony.


Incredible Hulk #107 - This ish was definitely a better read than the first issue of World War Hulk #1, and I'm really glad to see Marvel show that there would be people on the Hulk's side.


Iron Man #19 - I just liked this cover.


Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #3 - I think there were 4 or 5 books with Spider-Man in them last week, and this was the only one you should bother reading. There's really only one thing to complain about with this book, and it's the same complaint I have with Jeff Smith's Shazam, and that's that it's going to be over after only 4 issues.


The Spirit #7 - You don't really need me to tell you this is good, do you?