More info about the comics reviewed after the break.

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This review is a bit terse, because I am wildly distracted right now, but I was completely struck by the beauty and simplicity of Astounding Wolf-Man #19. Comics can and ultimately should take a lesson from it.

ARISE!!!!

This is the most fun and most pure example of pulp fiction reworked for the 21st century. Jason Howard’s art and FCO/Ivan Plascencia’s colors go above and beyond the call of comic book duty, laying down a summer blockbuster feel in the span of 22 pages. Senseless doodles all, of course, if not for the love poured into the book by writer Robert Kirkman.

Kirkman is, as you may be aware, is closing shop on Astounding Wolf-Man with issue 25. It makes sense, he’s got a lot on his plate these days, and while AWM was a good idea, it may not be a Great Idea like Walking Dead or Invincible.

AWM 19 shows us what the series could have been, in a very distilled form. It also shows us how far Kirkman has come as a writer. If you look back even as far as his run on Ultimate X-Men, you’ll find interesting ideas and conflicts being executed by unfortunately similar voices.

Not so here. Even in this (to quote the author) “action packed extravaganza”, extraordinary events elicit unique emotional responses both courageous and cowardly from every player. This is wrapped snugly in the veneer of spontaneous and very believable interaction. The resolution is logical, very clever, and completely in character for the billionaire engineer. The storytelling is not telegraphed or over explained. Kirkman lets Howard do his work.

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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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Well everyone, since I’ve been lacking so much in my review count (seriously, what is my problem?), let me give you the insight into a gigantic 8 comics this week. That’s right. 8 comics!

Mind you, this week was pretty big–I myself read at least 18 comics–and here are a few I think you all may find a bit interesting:

• Squadron Supereme 2 #8
• Amazing Spider-Man #587
• Four Eyes #2
• Firebreather #4
• Invincible #59
• Uncanny X-Men #506
• Shrapnel #2
• X-Men: Legacy #221

Who’s excited? I’m excited. Are you excited? You better be.

**some spoilers after the break**

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Final Crisis #6 Cover... Alex Ross is amazing

It’s another slow week in comics. Perhaps the publishers are giving us a couple weeks off after barraging us with tons of books over the holidays. Or maybe they are preparing for big things in the next couple of months. It seems to me that maybe it’s a little of both. Anyway, there’s still some stuff you should look at this week.

Final Crisis #6

I’m only putting Final Crisis in here because this issue is suppose to finish off the Batman R.I.P. arc. DC, in a complete ass hole move, decided that you’d have to buy Final Crisis in order to get the full story of what happened to Batman. But, I guess you can’t blame them. They are in this business to make money. Screw the whole “telling good stories thing”. I guess they leave that for Marvel.

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Invincible #55 cover

In this world, only one man can satisfy me the way Robert Kirkman does… wait, that sounds really weird (then again I have been known to confess my love for Brian Reed before, so whatever)… but anyways, this month’s Invincible kicks ass as much as any other Invincible, but this month we get to see more of everyone’s favorite Invincible character: Allen the Alien! Yeah!

If you don’t know what’s going on in Invincible, this review is not for you, but if you do… wowzer. We’ll continue after the break, but let me tell you… this issue ends with one sweet revelation.

**spoilers abound** (more…)

To take a page from the posts of Fantastic Fan Girls, I am finishing off my series this month on favorites–though next week I may do something crazy–I want to discuss my favorite ongoing comic book series.

Before I reveal the great mystery that is my favorite, I really have to say this was a toughie. I think what I gauge my choice on is obvious: writing style, ability to keep interest, comedic effect (for me, this is always a plus), and art styling. In this case, it’s a series I’ve been reading since issue #1, and wouldn’t you guess it, it’s not even a Marvel title.

For me, my favorite ongoing series is: Invincible.

**spoilers of Invincible #1-55 will most likely be abound**

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So kiddies. This last week was a tiny one for Marvel and since I’m a biased little boy and read primarily Marvel titles I was a bit sad. Nevertheless, Image had some big stuff as did Avatar press: Invincible #53 (which I didn’t get due to some BS with Diamond), Four Eyes #1 and No Hero #1. So I was happy there.

Even still, there were 2 Marvel titles that caught my eye that no one else called for review and here they be for ye:

• Punisher War Journal #24
• Venom: Dark Origin #3

A small week, yes, but let’s proceed. I’ll indulge you with some coolness.

**blah spoilers blah more blah break**

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Astounding Wolf-Man Volume 1

If there’s one thing I love about Robert Kirkman it’s that he loves to play to the old-school way of the super hero world. His characters (namely Invincible, Brit and Wolf-Man) all live in a world where super villains and super heroes are commonplace. It reminds me of old Marvel comics where people just dealt with super heroes and it was semi-realistic because who else was going to fight Dr. Doom or the Green Goblin or Magneto? Not to say that where Marvel is now is bad, because I really do like the realistic style the universe hits where people challenge the necessity of heroes because villains only seem to come around because of the heroes (ie. pre/post-Civil War comics).

But back to what were here for: The Astounding Wolf-Man Volume 1. Kirkman, with the art of Jason Howard, manages to squeeze this comic into the “universe” of Image comics (see also: Invincible, Brit, Dynamo 5) and it definitely works. He has a fairly original origin for Wolf-Man and it really had me hooked. Here and there it hits kind of an early-Invincible-cheeziness but nevertheless, it’s pretty damn good.

**some spoilers and tons of fun after the break**

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A screencap of the Invincible series playing in iTunes

So I just finished reading Invincible #51 (because I’m cool and up to date on that series now–yea!) and I got an itch to go find some more Robert Kirkman/Invincible-related stuff when I stumbled upon the Invincible TV series website–it was in my history and yea. I was clicking around just making sure I didn’t miss anything on the site when BAM! I saw it was available on iTunes!

It turns out, the series debuted on July 22. How the hell did I forget that!? I mean, I blogged about it, I hyped it all up to my friends… I must be slipping in my old age… Nevertheless, I immediately got on iTunes (link opens iTunes) and bought the series.

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