Hey Fantastic Four school starts tomorrow.

What should I do?

Oh. Okay!

Have a good Labor day and a great first day of school! From Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 12: Superstars.

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Best of July 2012: Batman, Inc, The Goon and more

It looks like we're going to skip June and get right into July's comics. It's been a rough time for me, and I'm going to be moving soon, so you're going to have to settle for this.

Besides the comics in this list, I also got Batman #11 and The Flash #11. I didn't find the panels too remarkable in either, so I've omitted them.

Batman, Inc. #2

by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham

Dig that second panel! He is literally seeing bats. That last panel delivers a good joke in the otherwise serious issue. It's something of a biography of Talia al Ghul, and it made me interested enough to get a copy of Batman: Birth of the Demon. This was just in time for The Dark Knight Rises, which was fairly al Ghul-centric.

This issue came out in June, but the July issue was delayed for August, and this page was good enough that I thought I'd show you it.

Chew: Secret Agent Poyo #1

by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Chew also skips the month of July for a Poyo one-shot. And it's worth it! Poyo escapes the clutches of Satan, in Hell by straight up taking them down. And that's just the prologue. Women want to be with him, men want to be him. Poyo.

The Goon #40

by Eric Powell

The Goon engages in a hot rod race with a family for the right to deliver booze in a prohibition-era town. Powell delivers some great vintage humor in this edition.

Punk Rock Jesus #1

by Sean Murphy

As soon as I saw the preview I knew I wanted to pick this up. I love the confidence in Murphy's lines. It's really great to look at.

This panel takes a rib at corporate America, trying to engineer a "designer baby" in the way of Jesus' clone.

The New Deadwardians #5

by Dan Abnett and I.N.J. Culbard

If most comics took on the pace of this one, most comics would be far too slow. But, I think I get what they're doing here. It's a whodunnit that reveals information slowly over time. I'm pretty sure this story could be told in six, but I'm not a comic book writer =/.

In this panel, Inspector Suttle speaks with the murder victim's daughter, who's a "throat suffragist," a woman who argues for the rights for unmarried women to also receive "the cure," ie, becoming a vampire. It adds another wrinkle to the world of infested Victorian England.

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Best of May 2012: Action Comics #9, The New Deadwardians and more

Action Comics #9

by Grant Morrison, Gene Ha and co.

I haven't been following the nu52 Action Comics at all, but the preview for this done-in-one sucked me right in. It's the story of Calvin Ellis, President of America (and Superman) of Earth 23! Clark, Lois and Jimmy of another Earth take refuge in his, running away from "The Curse of Superman," an idea that they sold to a corporation which ran rampant with it. Read this two-pager:

Do you get it? Morrison is explicitly having a jab at corporate cape comics. What started out as an ideal became a brand, to be marketed. It's the extreme transition from art to commercial, using the Superman story as an example. I'm really surprised they let Morrison run with this. Here's a last two-pager. I really like Lex Luthor in this issue:

By any means, you should pick this up. It's a good comic book issue that engages one of the major issues in the comic book industry.

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures #2

by Clevinger, Cody, Reilly, Brogila, Speroni and Powell

There are four installments in this issue: a 4-pager, an 8-pager, 4-page, and then a 5-page reprint. I expected Clevinger to take advantage of the tighter space to tell tighter stories, but it's really only one beat per installment in this issue. The 8-pager has this last-page reveal that only regular readers would understand. That's frustrating to see in a comic that I want to enjoy.

Anyhow, more Bruce Lee:

Batman #9

by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, James Tynion IV and Rafael Albuquerque

The "Night of the Owls" crossover event is literally one night, and that night ends here in issue 9. Snyder weaves this cute narrative about the bats in Wayne Manor, that frames the action. You get the impression that Bruce is at the end of his stick here, and it's the narrative that brings "Night of the Owls" to an exciting conclusion.

Batman Incorporated #1

by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham

I picked this up on a whim. I haven't read any of the first volume of Batman, Inc., and this issue did a fine job of telling a story independent of that first volume.The threat seems to be a terrorist organization called "Leviathan," which feeds devil-branded cattle meat to their clients. . . or something. I'm not exactly sure what's going on with the bad guys yet, but it's certainly an exciting story to look at.

Check out this splash page! It's so creative, putting the panels of the comic book on the sides of the buildings that they're passing by. I love Burnham's design sense, and hope he can keep up with the shipping schedule.

Chew #26

by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Tony Chu takes a sabbatical. . . in the hospital. . . for this issue, so it's up to his siblings to hold the fort -- and hold it they do. Toni and Chow Chu take on the case of the kidnapped recipes in this issue, and it's a nice diversion.

Daredevil #12

by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee

This one is a nice done-in-one that tells the story of Matt and Foggy's time in college, as a story-within-the-main-story of Matt going on a date with D.A. Kirsten McDuffie. It's a bit contrived, but cute nonetheless.

The ending is pretty random, and issue 13 came out the next week, so I decided to forgo that issue. I have no regrets!

The Flash #9

by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato

I'm really impressed with this issue. The creative team uses the theme of fear, and a flashback to guide the main narrative of Barry Allen -- The Flash! Escaping from the loopy world of the Speed Force and into Gorilla City, it's this flashback of his mother that returns his identity to him, and helps him overcome the fear and escape Gorilla Grodd.

Good stuff. Here's an example of Manapul's (amazing) design sense.

The New Deadwardians #3

by Dan Abnett and I.N.J. Culbard 

Inspector George Tuttle takes a ride to Zone B (area of the "Bright," regular humans) in this issue, and the class differences rear their heads. Suttle explores a new aspect of his status as "Young," (a vampire), when he enters a boudoir in order to gain more information. His libido's been replaced with a thirst -- for blood.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #9

by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort

 Isn't that panel amazing? It convinced me to buy the issue, from the preview, and I only partially regret it. The story is not particularly compelling, and there's a one-page change of heart that's supposed to be meaningful, but fell flat to me.

BONUS PANEL:

Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #3

by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert

This is a three-page spread of Doom, the Living Planet staring down Wolverine, on top of the wreckage of the Statue of Liberty! In fact, the scanner at university wasn't big enough to scan this -- it cuts off the left side, which includes a narration box.

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I didn't know Bad Dog #4 was out today!

So apparently Bad Dog #4 was released today. It wasn't listed on the regular site I check, and Image's site continues to solicit it incorrectly. It was never solicited for May, so this is completely out of the blue, too.

Bad Dog is a title from Joe Kelly and Diego Greco, published by Image. It first debuted in August 2010 and ran for three issues before going on a huge hiatus, which apparently ended today.

I had to see for myself over at comixology's website, which lists it as a recently reduced digital comic.

This is pretty crazy. I'm very fond of the title, and even though I didn't know it was out today, it's exciting to see it back on the racks. I found out after I already made my trip, so I called my local shop. They said they were sold out, and they weren't able to tell me how many copies of issue 4 they had originally. For all I knew, they didn't even know about this title.

I called Graham Crackers, the chain in Illinois, and they said that they had copies since March 2011 (the Loop branch itself received no such title today).

But it's out there, and it does exist. Here are a few reviews for the issue (I'm not reading them until I read the issue itself, and I WILL).
IGN gives it a 9/10, "amazing."
CBR has 5 preview pages.
ifanboy gives it perfect marks.

Oh, and today I did get The Flash #9 and Chew #26. More on this, eventually.

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Watching the Avengers, and Free Comic Book Day at Graham Cracker Comics

This is going to be my last post for a while, and it's a doozy (what does that even mean?). Between a camping trip this weekend, problem sets and midterms, I'm afraid I won't have enough time to talk about that wonderful medium that we all love, comic books. So, for today I will be talking about my weekend of Marvel The Avengers and Free Comic Book Day. After that I'll be on hiatus.

Here's a photo of an Avengers promotional at the avenue! I went to the Evanston Cinearts cineplex. Look closely and you can see the sixth avenger.

An interactive ad for Johnny Depp/Tim Burton's vampire film:

Ads for upcoming comic book movies.

I enjoyed The Avengers, and it was certainly worth my movie voucher. My favorites were Captain America and the Hulk, and I'm really impressed with Mark Ruffalo's portrayal of Bruce Banner. His mannerisms were very well-done, and you got a good sense of who he is by the way he talked. I loved Ed Norton's Hulk movie, and I'd love a Hulk movie with this guy. Great team movie, great action movie.


Here's what I did the next day. I went to Free Comic Book Day in Graham Crackers Comics Chicago! Here's what the shop looked like: I went in the afternoon (1-ish), and there was a line -- check it out:

I've visited FCBD in that shop in a few previous years, and in none of those years have I had to wait in a line. Graham Crackers gave everyone a copy of the FCBD The New 52, which included a coupon for 3 free comics on any Wednesday from select boxes, and we got to choose 3 free comics that day from the FCBD selection! I brought my baby cousin and my friend. Here's my baby cousin on the bus ride back:

 Here's another guy toting his comics on the same bus:

Graham Crackers was offering finger painting, and I was very hyped to get Spider-Man's web shooters face-painted on my wrist, but my friend was in a rush, so I didn't get my wrist face-painted. . . that night I took some Crayola markers and did it myself:

I also spent that night putting an order down for a few comic books, including 100 Bullets vol. 1 and Hulk 100 Project.

Lastly, if you didn't get a chance to read as many free comics as you wanted, comiXology is offering a few digital FCBD books in their Free section. I don't understand why they don't advertise these free comics at all. You're much more likely to hook someone with something that they don't have to pay for, than for something that they do.

FCBD2012: Asylum Press Sampler
FCBD2012: Bad Medicine
FCBD2012: Spider-Man Season One
FCBD2012: Top Shelf Kids Club
FCBD2012: Witchblade

Now I'm off to debug code. I'll see you again in, I dunno, two weeks? Whenever I feel like it.

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