Saw this outside the DC booth...

Ever since I moved to San Diego in 1993, I have never missed a Comic-Con. It has always been huge for as long as I’ve been going, in the last decade, it has become a monster. People complain that Hollywood has completely engulfed the event, but it still says Comic-Con on the marquee, and I spent the majority of my time there either buying graphic novels and Black Lantern T-shirts, or attending panels devoted to comics. Hell, in a lot of cases, the big movie studio panels drew people away from the panels I actually wanted to see, so Hooray for Hollywood! Anyway, since the days blurred together a bit, I’ll just give you a list of some of the highlights:

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Scott Pilgrim is a six-part graphic novel series written and illustrated by Canadian author Bryan Lee O’Malley.  The novels follow the adventures of a 24-year-old Toronto resident named Scott Pilgrim as he attempts to win the heart of a rollerblading Amazon.ca delivery girl named Ramona Flowers by defeating her seven evil ex-boyfriends.

The plot sounds fairly contrived, and it’s hard to argue against that assessment.  However O’Malley quickly finds his stride in a strange sort of alt-lit/manga mashup.
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Secret Six #10

Secret Six #10 Cover

Written by Gail Simone
Art by Nicola Scott and Doug Hazlewood
Cover by Daniel LuVisi

After a couple of breather issues a new arc starts with issue 10 of a continually excellent series.  This issue brings a bit more darkness and serious tone to the series, yet still maintains tension breaking humor and continues to grow these characters individually and as a team.  Ms. Simone has written these characters in such a way that we start caring for them, we get invested in their lives.   Then she reminds us that they are amoral at best and they aren’t the “do-gooder” heroes that we normally read.

I’m excited to see where this arc takes us.  Character issues from the first arc are being addressed here. Character motivations, especially Deadshot’s, are being examined more closely.

Plus a new mystery around an old name surfaces.

In depth review spoilers abound

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Yeah, it’s serious business with Deadpool. This issue was the last in a small arc (3 issues) that ties into all of this Dark Reign stuff. The tie-in isn’t so much tied in like every other comic where the Dark Avengers simply show up and try to kick the hero’s ass, but instead it’s just one of the Dark Avengers: Bullseye.

If you didn’t know, Bullseye and Deadpool have a bit of history. They’ve worked together in the past, they’ve fought in the past, but now… it’s the final battle… because Norman Osborn wants Deadpool gone (If you’re not sure why, see also issues #1-4 of Deadpool). Of the three issues, this last issue tops the other two in the arc by far.

In case you missed it last month, we were left with a big ass battle that ended with Deadpool kicking Bullseye’s ass via a sickle through the back out the front. Mind you, Deadpool did rock a bad ass meat suit, but it all ended with Deadpool appearing pretty damn victorious.

More after the break… (spoilers abound)

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The cover is sheer elegance in its simplicity...

Last summer, some of you might have missed The MiddleMan while it was showing on ABC Family. This year, you have a chance to correct that oversight. On July 28th, Shout! Factory is releasing this instant cult favorite on DVD. Based on the comics by Javier Grillo-Marxuach (the show’s executive producer) and Les McClaine, this show should be required viewing for any comics or science-fiction fan. Parallel universes, talking gorillas, zombie fish and evil luchadores are but some of the threats faced by the titular hero (Matt Keeslar), his protege, Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales), and their robotic “assistant” Ida (Mary Pat Gleason).

The show had so many strengths. First and foremost is the creative vision of Grillo-Marxuach, whose boundless enthusiasm and optimism is omnipresent throughout this series. Each episode was full to the brim with byzantine plots, over-the-top concepts and pop-culture references. The cast of telegenic and talented actors admittedly needed a few episodes to really find their characters, but the chemistry between all of the leads was evident from the first scene. Keeslar does an excellent job bouncing between playing a tough guy, a nice guy and the straight man. Morales shines as the Audience Surrogate who grows more and more accustomed to the increasingly bizarre situations she is put into each week. And Gleason was the first of the actors to really “get” what kind of show she was on, and as a consequence, steals every scene she’s in.  Special mention should also be given to Brit Morgan, who plays Lacey, Wendy’s best friend and roommate. Her character remains oblivious to the insanity, but she is not depicted as stupid, a credit to both Ms. Morgan and the writing staff of this show.

Since this is a Shout! Factory release, one can expect a lot of special features. A few of the episodes feature commentary, in which Grillo-Marxuach’s good cheer is both obvious and infectious. My personal favorite extra is a collection of every scene in which the “Wilhelm Scream” is used. Table readings, podcasts, and gag reels are also included in the box set.

And should you enjoy this series, you will soon be able to pick up “The Doomsday Apocalypse Armageddon”, the graphic novel adaptation of the unfilmed season finale, at comic shops everywhere.

And if you’re one of the lucky few who made it into Comic-Con this year, you can pick the DVDs up at the Shout! Factory booth (#3749), and the comic should be available at the Viper Comics booth (#1903).

Recommended for: comic-book fans; fans of Men In Black, The Tick, or the old Batman TV series with Adam West.

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DC’s big summer crossover for 2009 is here at last. Geoff Johns has teased this comic since 2007, since the end of The Sinestro Corps War, and appears to have laid the groundwork for it since 2004′s Green Lantern:  Rebirth. Issue #1 finally made it to the stands, as did the first issue of the Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps miniseries. So how were they?

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It’s 1990-ish. I’m 15ish. I’m sitting in my friend Colin’s room, reading some issue of Uncanny X-Men while I wait for Colin to get the crap beaten out of him by his younger brother. I’m flipping through this and I’m noting that the colors are getting better, the art is getting worse, and the plot involves a bunch of people yelling at each other from cover to cover.

MOM! HE STARTED IT!

None of this matters, of course, because, in 1990-ish, I’ve just discovered local alt-punk shows, my body is a roiling six foot cosmos of life altering chemical reactions,  and I’m going to live forever.

Chris Claremont clearly felt the same level of exhilaration when writing X-Men the first time, because he’s trying to recapture his long faded creative prime with X-Men Forever. I gave it three issues to see what it was going to do, which was the same thing as waiting three hours after feeding food to someone else’s baby: I wound up giggling at silly crap.

(mild spoilers, but seriously, who cares)
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Me being the Kirkman-loving fiend that I am, I picked this series up as soon as I could and read it every week as soon as I can (unless there’s a good X-title that comes out that week…), and the thing I simply love about Destroyer is it’s ability to just kick ass non-stop from page one to page 22.

If you don’t know what Destroyer is, know this: Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker have teamed up again (previous team-ups: Invincible #1-7), but this time it’s for Marvel’s MAX label and boy oh boy they take advantage of that “For Mature Readers Only” warning. Basing the story of this comic off of an old Timely Comics character, this story follows the last adventures of the character and it’s just amazing. For the sake of all that is awesome and spoilerrific, I’ll give a brief summary of the previous 3 issues after the break because this series is so good, I don’t even want to spoil basic plot points for you guys.

*spoilers and love after the break*

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I know this isn’t a review, and I know that writers throw letters in their books and such, but to me this is an incredible feeling. MY letter got printed in a comic book, and definitely one of my favorite books: Astounding Wolf-Man #17.

I’m pretty excited that Robert Kirkman answered my questions (see below) and other than that, I just wanted to share with everyone the fact that if you send a letter to a comic that prints letters, there is a chance it will get printed!

Thanks to Robert Kirkman and Image for printing my letter! I will definitely be writing to more comics (ie. Invincible, Amazing Spider-Man, Walking Dead, etc.) now!

My letter (part 1)

My letter (part 2) -- Kirkman's response

Full letter pages after the break!

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