Me (left) & the girlfriend (right) Photo: opacity

6 hours of driving, 4 hotel rooms, 120+ comic books, TPBs, autographs, standing in line, eating fast food, ordering pizza, sleeping, coffee, Slim Jims, panels, disappointment, anxiety, awesomeness, and lots of damn walking.

That was C2E2 for me.

It began on a Friday, ended on a Sunday, and I wouldn’t change a minute of it. I met a ton of awesome people (writers, artists, web comic dudes, and other random people) and I realized–like I always do at comic conventions–that I love comics with all of my damn heart.

Do I have comic news? Not really. Do I have some cool stories? Definitely.

Check more after the break.

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In December 2008, Marvel released a new series written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Dennis Calero entitled X-Men Noir. Now I haven’t read Marvel in quite some time, but this concept provoked me to pick up the first issue. Needless to say I wasn’t dissappointed. The art by Calero was sharp. He captured the black and white tones of the 1940′s film noir in full color, only highlighting pieces of the panel to stand alone. You can practically see it come to life. Van Lente’s story was a little hard to follow at first, moving quickly from scene to scene, but the artwork made it enjoyable for the second read. Together they create a wonderfully “dynamic-duo.”

*Spoilers after the break*

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War Machine #2 Cover

Alright, so I’m a little late on this one. Various factors have lead to me being a little behind on comics these last few weeks. Given that, I didn’t really intend to review War Machine #2. Then I read it and decided I needed to vent.

Why the frustration? Well, when I heard that War Machine (aka James Rhodes) was getting his own title, I was pretty excited. I can’t say that I really knew much about War Machine, but I like to see a secondary character given the chance to shine in his/her own title. Then we got a little preview of what an all War Machine title would be like when Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D was turned over to War Machine for a couple issues during Secret Invasion. And frankly, it wasn’t good. But still, I held out hope. Christos Gage wrote the Secret Invasion arc and Greg Pak would be penning the on-going, so I thought maybe Pak would speak through the character better. Just take a look and what he and Fred Van Lente have managed to do with Incredible Hercules. Unfortunately, through 2 issues, I can’t say that Pak has managed to find his voice.

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The Incredible Hercules #125 cover

If you haven’t been keeping up with one of the best comics Marvel has to offer, The Incredible Hercules finished off a great arc this past week: “Love & War.” What happened in the previous issues is simply this:

Hercules and Namorita were doing the big dirty when out of no where Namor shows up. Then, enter some Amazons. Namor gets his but kicked–yeah, I know, just go with me–and the story progresses: Amadeus Cho is abducted for his incredible intelligence. After some crazy realization of awesomeness, Hercules, Namorita and Hippolyta beat the living crap out of some Amazons, Amadeus gets a serious crush on one of the Amazons–a Gorgon named Delphyne who has mutual feelings–and the next thing you know the current head of the Amazons–daughter of Hippolyta aka Artume–gets a hold of a special rock called the “Omphalos” that grants whoever holds it their truest wishes. Can you guess what the leader of the Amazon’s would want? Yeah, a ‘utopia’ lead by women.

That’s where The Incredible Hercules #125 picks up. Find out more after the break.

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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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It’s been a while and frankly I have no excuse. Tuesday Twist-offs were much easier when I had more time and I really don’t have as much as I did when we first started this site. Even though it’s not Tuesday, I’m putting this out.

With that said, I’ve got a few gems for you people this week along with a mini-rating system (and yeah,’you people’ is pointing out the demographic you are in).

• Amazing Spider-Man #582
• Marvel Zombies 3 #4
• No Hero #3
• X-Men Noir #2
• Sub-Mariner: The Depths #4

My rating system is simply x/10 Twist-offs, so keep up. And five comics works, right? I guess we’ll see…

**probable spoilers after the break**

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I knew beforehand that this series was going to be fantastic. I mean, if Marvel knows how to do one thing right, it’s put great writers on comics that are dark. Case and point being this first issue of Spider-Man Noir (also, X-Men Noir was fucking fantastic). Written by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky this issue really blew me away with it’s early 1930s adaptation of the infamous Spider-Man.

Although a lot of this issue didn’t focus on Spider-Man or even Peter Parker, it’s a great beginning to what I feel is an incredible world of noir comics that Marvel is starting.

This month, you’re in for a treat kiddies. I promise you.

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Welcome, welcome, welcome back. It’s another week of comics and for you cool kids this week I have a small bunch of comics to present to ye.

• Avengers/Invaders #5
• The Helm #3
• Invincible Iron Man #6
• Marvel Zombies 3 #1

I was indifferent on three of comics but the forth was great and I want to explain my opinions on each. We’ll begin after a short break…

**spoilers and just crazy-fun after the break**

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The Incredible Hercules #121 cover

Last month’s finisher of the Secret Invasion tie-in was a big one… you know, with Hercules killing the Skrull god Kly’bn and kind of taking out a big part of the Skrull fight, but who remembers that? (Probably not the rest of the Marvel U! Because this title really doesn’t get the respect it deserves…) Nevertheless, this month’s began with a big fat punch right in your face.

I don’t know how much more love I can give to this damn comic. Now that its back to just Amadeus Cho–without a pup in tow–and good ol’ Hercules, nothing can go wrong… right? Take a step into this issue and you’ll see…

**spoilers and kick-assery after the break**

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