“The story of a *child* rocketed to Earth from a doomed planet…”

“In brightest day, in darkest night, no evil shall escape our sight…”

Yeah? Prove it.

“Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible…”

“Flash Fact.”

Just writing these phrases gave me chills. As I sit here, eating my 7-11 banana, my mind boggles at the wealth of powerful story material that DC Comics has to work with and play with. Truly iconic figures and an army of beloved (and lovingly behated) supporting characters, all with strong character traits and flaws, are available to work with and mingle across the entire DC Universe.

So why, I ask you, are comic fans getting stuck with a dead Batman that we have already been assured will come back with nary a scratch, two simultaneous summer events that have nothing to do with each other, one of which is essentially a serialized Elseworld, and story lines that, when set side by side, contradict each other without validation or explanation?

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This review will be quick, because it is late, and I haven’t started it yet. Well, I guess I have now.

Ladies and gentlemen, your AVENGERS!

Reviewing this book is kind of a pain, because you’ve already read it, and you already liked it. I wanted to wait until I got my hands on Thunderbolts #128 to see if there were any super-secret important tie-ins, but Marvel, in their brilliance, have left both titles as excellent stand-alones.

Also, if you haven’t read Thunderbolts #128, you are much poorer for it.

However! Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato came at us last week with Dark Avengers #1 and it was amazing. Norman Osborn assembled his own team of Avengers in such a way that brought clarity to *how* the choices were being made, but left the *why* a tantalizing mystery. We get better insights into characters such as Ares and Ms. Marvel, while extending a questioning tendril towards such luminaries as the Sentry, Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel.

You heard me.

Deodato brought back his magnificent work with the Thunderbolts, including his ‘Tommy Lee Jones’ depiction of Osborn, which Bendis writes for with alternating touches of depth and humor, especially his ‘monster’ work with Venom.

Norman, I wouldn’t want to stick my hand in there, either.

Dark Avengers #1 is deliciously pulpy, action packed, and frankly ties into about four other series that you probably follow. If you’re reading any Marvel comics, you’ve already picked this up and agree with me that it’s fantastic. Thanks, yes-men!

I’ve decided that if it came down to it (which it very well might given how insanely broke I am lately) that I would SO drop all other Marvel comics and just buy the X-titles. This issue of X-Factor proves why I would do such a thing.

And damn it all, I should have had this review out last Wednesday or Thursday when I started it because you honestly have no idea how effing good this issue is (unless you read it). As I’ve expressed all over the web and maybe here once or twice, I am so happy with where Peter David is taking X-Factor. He’s done such a damn good job up through this issue, I can’t see him doing any wrong.

But let’s continue with a spoiler-free review (per Peter David’s wishes).

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This comic is old school. Writer Len Wein wrote his first issue of JLA back in 1972 (Vol. 1, Issue 100). Earlier that year, Starbreaker, the “cosmic vampire,”  made his debut in JLA. Both the writer and the villain make their returns to the pages of JLA in a Bronze-colored story that will make some feel warm and nostalgic and make others simply roll their eyes.

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A while back I saw this trade on the shelves at Borders and thought “I must have it!” Unfortunately at the time I didn’t have enough doughski but thanks to Jesus’ birthday and all I came into a little cash and decided to make this purchase. A re-telling of Superman and Shazam’s avatar Captain Marvel written by preeminent scribe Judd Winick and drawn by Joshua Middleton of NYX fame; is it as sick as it sounds? I’ll tell you in a hot minute.

———-SOME SPOILERS AHEAD———-

First off the opening couple of pages really grabbed me. I don’t really know why but I think it has something to do with me enjoying Winick’s alluding to Marvel’s epic nature. Anyway the wizard heralds the second coming of an age of heroes in the DC universe with the rise of Batman and Superman in Gotham and Metropolis. Captain Marvel is third in Fawcett City, “before the amazon, the speedster, and the space knight.” That just sounds cool to me. (more…)

Final Crisis #7 Cover

Not a terrible week in comics this week. Not a whole lot of really big releases, but a few interesting end of arc issues are worth  noting. And guess what? I’ll be noting them right here. So don’t move. Here comes your Weekly Previews!

Final Crisis #7

This is the one issue that will probably overshadow everything else put out by any publisher this week. Finally, DC is finishing up their universe-changing event, Final Crisis. Did they really kill Batman? Are the heroes going to be able to defeat evil (yes)? Make sure you pick up this issue, DC fans, cause you will be talking (and probably bitching) about this issue for years to come.

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Originally posted on MikeRapin.com

Despite my normally going to the comic shop on Wednesday to pick up comics, I hit up the comic shop a total of three times this week.

Why? Well because 1) Tommy asked me to go on Tuesday, 2) Wednesday was new-comic-book-day and 3) Amra/Jared/Tommy wanted to go on Saturday.

So there I was, at Tardy’s and the four of us has been looking around at comics for a good 45 minutes or so talking it up and such when, as everyone was seriously ready to leave, I notice something… I noticed DC’s Justice Society of America Kingdom Come tie-in for Superman.

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G.I. Joe #1 Cover B

G.I. Joe #1 (IDW )
Writer:  Chuck Dixon
Artist:  Robert Atkins

G.I.Joe is the comic that started me down the long road to being a comic book geek.  It along with a few other 80’s properties are near and dear to my childhood.  The comic book that Marvel put out ruled over all that was produced in the name of G.I. Joe toys in the 1980’s.  The cartoons were great to watch, but ultimately they were cheesy and nobody ever died.  Between the lack of mortality in the G.I. Joe and Transformers cartoons I was woefully unprepared for Roy Fokker’s exit from Robotech.  On the other hand the comic books brought action, humor, character development, and even death.  To my 10 year old mind the stories they told drew me in deeper and had more of a lasting impact on my imagination than any 30 minute cartoon could.

I have the full run of the Marvel G.I. Joe, some more beat up than others, and I still find entertainment in their pages.  When Devils Due publishing announced they were bringing G.I. Joe back to comic books continuing the saga Marvel started, the 10 year old inside the 20-something year old me did a little jig.  I collected all of them as well, including the short run of FrontLine AND the even shorter run of G.I. Joe Reloaded.  The stories weren’t quite as satisfying at first, but they hit their stride and I was a huge fan by the end of their run.  Hasbro put the licensing back up for negotiations and IDW won the bid.  Last fall they put out a special Issue 0 that highlighted the three series they would be producing on a regular basis.  Issue 1 of the core series came out on 1/14/2009 and after reading #0, I picked it up with some trepidation.

Review and opinion forthcoming. (more…)

Wow. Usually, solicitations are the typical new issues of a series. Sometimes they are the start of an exciting arc, but mostly, there’s not a lot to get excited about. The few new series or mini-series are what are usually most exciting. This month, the comic book publishers (mostly Marvel) decided to pull out all the stops and bring out a bunch of really interesting stuff. Seriously, this post is going to be really long, as I have a lot to feature. So sit back, grab a drink and get ready to find out what comics are going to be making headlines as the weather starts to turn warm again.

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I don’t know how he does it, but Brian Wood keeps reeling me in further and further with his series DMZ. In this month’s issue, I was simply blown away as the series delves further into the story in the new “War Powers” arc.

In case you missed out:

The DMZ is crazy. There was an election to see who would run the DMZ after a lot of fighting and the DMZ candidate, Parco De la Gato, won despite an assassination attempt. Post-election, things are effing insane. Matty Roth, our lead character, is out and about and totally confused as to what’s going on, especially since 1) he’s a reporter who needs to know what’s going on and 2) he thought he was in with Parco. Last month, Parco sent Matty in to meet with the leader, Wilson, who Matty is friends with, of the Asian gangs in the DMZ to get the rumored “Chinatown gold” aka a shit-load of gold the Asian gangs took from a bank just as the fighting started in the DMZ because his new regime needs money, and fast.

And here’s where we begin issue #38.

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