Comics

New Comics for 3/12/08

Here we are again kids. I hope you’ll agree with me when I say it’s a good time to be a comic book fan! Let’s take a look at what we’ll be seeing on Wednesday.
MARVEL

AVENGERS FAIRY TALES #1 (OF 4)
C.B. Cebulski continues Marvel’s critically acclaimed adaptations of fairy tales from around the world. In the first installment of the Avengers Wanda and Pietro are whisked away to Never land to play with Indians and fight with pirates. This series has been absolutely beautiful with a variety of top quality artists joining Cebulski to tell these tales. We’ve already seen fairy tales told through the eyes of the X-Men and Spider-Man and I can’t wait to see what he does with Iron Man, Captain America and Thor.

FANTASTIC FOUR #555
In case any of you missed the last issue the big news here is that Ultimates team supreme Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch have come to leave their stamp on the world’s greatest comics magazine. The world has become a scary place and some of the biggest brains in the world have decided that the Earth is running out of time. Kind of like a car with a weird clunking sound coming out of the engine, it’s a good idea to have a spare. An old collegue of Reed’s comes back into his life to recruit him to help in the final stages of building a whole new artificial Earth complete with everything we have now only no talk shows and Jerry Springer isn’t allowed to come to the new world. He’s like Moses in that way.

LAST DEFENDERS #1 (OF 6)
I’ll admit to not being a big fan of the Defenders, they always seemed a little too silly and nonsensical. I understand that most people are drawn to the team due to it’s status as a non team but if I want a team up that makes less sense than a Roman Polanski movie I’ll read the Great Lakes Avengers. That being said Nighthawk is an interesting character as he seems like a guy dripping with insecurities and almost chronically lame trying so hard to be a real hero. He genuinely wants to help people and make a difference to the innocent people of the world. In this series Nighthawk asks Tony Stark to allow him to put the Defenders back together under the Initiative banner. Stark gives him the OK with a twist. Nighthawk is teamed up with people who don’t really listen well and his big gun wants nothing to do with the team or the initiative. On top of all that they are officially the New Jersey Defenders. A fate worse than death as anyone who has been to Jersey can tell you.

NOVA #11
Query: If self is infected with virus of a techno organic nature and self spends all of self’s lifeglow to get to the homeworld of techno organic beings who would self run into at the mall? Exclamation: Warlock!

DC

BOOSTER GOLD #7
Booster did it! His goal in joining Rip Hunter in fixing anomalies throughout the multiverse was to save his best friend from a bullet in the face. Last issue (#0 for those without a score card) Booster finally managed to save his friend but how did that change the time line? What horrible things are in store for our heroes? Max Lord in charge of the world? Cats living in harmony with dogs? Monkeys using toilet paper? Oh Booster, you fail so gloriously it really is hard to look away.

GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #6
So when I got married it was a quiet little affair with family and close friends. We didn’t have a band or spend ten grand on flowers but it went fairly smoothly and nobody got kidnapped and replaced by supervillains. Sadly that is not how things went for Ollie and Dinah. Now that Ollie has been rescued from the evil Amazonians the newlyweds finally have a chance to figure out who did what and why. Connor is still in a vegetative state and it looks like that will be the new status quo for a while. I do have to wonder about Winick’s political feelings here. He’s known for writing storylines that push forward an agenda. Wether you agree with him or not his stories always generate debate and push the envelope of how comic books tell stories about current events. Will Connor become a metaphor for the Terry Shaivo’s of the world and if that is the agenda here will he educate or alienate? Is Winick a good enough storyteller to write that story with the same kind of voice he had when writing about hate crimes in Green Lantern? I have to say I’m looking forward to finding out.

TINY TITANS #2
And now for something completely different! Tiny Titans is a welcome breath of fresh air that smells like bubblegum and ferris wheels. The first issue was some of the most fun I’ve ever seen my kids have while reading. It elicited the same response from my six year old as my ten year old as my wife. It’s an all ages book with a universal appeal for anyone who enjoys a little silly with their spandex.

WONDER WOMAN #18
Do you guys remember back in the late 80’s when there was a big invasion in the DCU and those dominator guys with the giant red circles on their heads attacked earth and they used those stocky guys as foot soldiers. Well apparently the stocky foot soldier guys are on their own now and messing with Wonder Woman. Diana heads out into space to deal with the threat of the Khund. I think the threat of the Khund is nothing when compared to the charming man who flirts with you all day every day and being stuck in an enclosed space with him. DC promises that this issue could completely change the relationship between Wonder Woman and Nemesis forever. This two part story bring in Bernard Chang for the art chores. This is a two fold blessing. On one hand Chang is a fantastic artist in his own right and on the other this will help the Dodson’s keep their schedule.

INDY

ABE SAPIEN THE DROWNING #2 (OF 5)
Ok, first of all there is no way for Abe to drown. He is part fish after all so the title of the book it a bit of a mis-lead. I also don’t remember Abe trying to drown anyone in the first issue so either I am actually remembering an episode of the Snorks and putting Abe in it or the title just doesn’t make any sense at all. Oh, Abe is investigating a drowning in his first mission ever for the B.P.R.D. and that’s where the title comes from? I knew that.

BPRD 1946 #3 (OF 5)
Speaking of first missions, this series shows the early days of the B.P.R.D. and how much trouble all those pesky Nazi’s were after the fall of the third Reich. Even with the help of some dirty commies it might be more than the B.P.R.D. can handle when dealing with Poject Vampir Sturm.

LONE RANGER AND TONTO #1
The Lone Ranger and Tonto together in the first one shot special from Dynamite! There is something dark and evil rauuning around the frontier with murder in its heart and it’s up to the original dynamic duo to take care of business. But once they find this mysterious evil will they be able to stop it? This special sports a cover by Astonishing X-Artist John Cassaday.

SERENITY BETTER DAYS #1 (OF 3)
Joss Whedon is going for the trifecta of creator owned properties in a comic series. He’s been hitting it out of the park with both Buffy and Angel and I don’t see him slowing down a bit with Serenity. This series picks up where the last Dark Horse series ended, with the crew of the Serenity barely scarping by and trying to avoid the law. It’s an odd thing I would imagine to never seem to catch a break. Always one step in front of the law and trying with all your might to put fuel in the ship and food in your belly. I guess it would be interesting to see what would happen if a job went smoothly and everyone got paid. I imagine everything would be peachy keen. Well I would imagine a happy ending if Joss Whedon weren’t behind this. Having a job run smoothly with no problems seems like the kind of place Joss loves to make a mess in.

TRADE PAPERBACKS

AVENGERS INITIATIVE TP VOL 01 BASIC TRAINING
Let’s throw some kids into some combat situations and see what happens! C’mon, it’ll be SO much fun. Oops, that kid has no head! Thus I have explained the pathos behind the first story arc of the book that broke off more than spun out of Civil War. The characters are sometimes familiar, often times intriguing but always entertaining. I wanted so much to dislike this book but Dan Slott just won’t let me. He keeps buying me candy!

DMZ TP VOL 04 FRIENDLY FIRE (MR)
I really believe that DMZ is going to be viewed as an incredibly important snapshot of where our culture is at this moment in time. Brain Wood has an amazing ability to take some far out there theories and situations and make them feel as though you are watching them on the news. It’s brilliant storytelling that’s intelligent, appalling and mesmerizing all at the same time. This is probably the most important piece of social commentary being published by any of the major companies (I include Dark Horse and Image in that). DMZ really is a book that everyone should be reading.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL HC
What was once my favorite time in Justice League history has been marred by the betrayal of Max Lord. His dark turn rivaled that of Dark Phoenix, Darth Vader, Spider-Man’s marriage and that little kid in the Good Son. What a creepy little dude. Ah, who am I kidding, nothing Max Lord could ever do (up to and including shooting Blue Beetle in the face) could make me love these stories any less. I am positive that these early adventures of the Super Buddies will make me BWAHAHA just as easily as they did the first time.

MARVEL ILLUSTRATED
I have to admit I’m more than a little impressed with how well done the new Marvel Illustrated books have looked. Roy Thomas is a fantastic writer and his adaptations of literary classics have been spot on. The art teams on each book seem to have been picked to offer the right kind of mood rather than just pulling in someone to fill the space. Marvel is doing a great jobn with these brand new classics and I’m excited to see what comes next. This week we get nice hardcovers of the first three of the new Marvel illustrated; Last of the Mohicans, Man in the Iron Mask and Treasure Island.

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