Spider-Man on the Huffington Post

An article on Spider-Man's recent unemployment was posted today on the Huffington Post with some quotes from Joe Quesada on how this happened and how this status is going to affect him.

I always find it kind of funny when events in comic book universes make the news, like all the hubbub that occurred when Captain America died. I assume most of these readers or viewers don't actually follow the comics. So do they actually care about hearing things like this presented as news? I'm also vaguely curious about what other sorts of events have made the news in the past. Did Spider-Man's unmasking during the Civil War make the news? What about the Hulk declaring war on all the heroes? The near extinction of mutants during the House of M?

Still, I could see it as a little bit disheartening that a fictional character losing his job is making the news as opposed to stories about real people who are actually unemployed.

No surprise: Wolverine is a New Avenger

Just as I predicted yesterday, it was announced today @ CBR that Wolverine will remain as part of the new New Avengers lineup.



Other predictions for the team:

- A new Ronin
- Iron Fist
- Moon Knight
- Marvel Boy
- Songbird
- Mockingbird

I swear I'll post something not related to New Avengers soon!

Another New Avengers Announcement

This time, the announcement (from CBR) is that Spider-Man's going to be on the New Avengers roster.


I figured it was safe to say that a lot of the more modern, more gritty characters that have been members of the New Avengers previously are going to be in the relaunch. We have Luke Cage and Spider-Man, and Wolverine seems like a safe bet as well. However, it has been confirmed that Bendis favorite Spider-Woman is going to be on the ordinary Avengers team.

But seriously... "I take responsibility for my actions"? What a square.

Just how many Avengers books are there going to be?

Marvel has announced that in May, after the conclusion of the events of Siege, a new age at Marvel is going to begin... The Heroic Age! (cue a trumpet)

Allegedly all the grimness that has been going on over the last 7 years, like Avengers:Disassembled, House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Dark Reign - events that generally showcased conflicts and disagreements among the major superheroes of the Marvel universe, will all be in the past as a new age is ushered in that shows the heroes at the top of the food chain again. Awesome! All I can say is that I sure hope this starts off with a Heroic Age one-shot that shows the whole Avengers roster having a big picnic together.

This announcement was accompanied with the news that all of the current Avengers titles would be canceled (New Avengers, Dark Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and Avengers: Initiative) with a new Avengers title debuting in May that would be titled, well, just Avengers. It's going to have a brand new #1 issue, be written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by the dependable John Romita Jr., and (from the looks of it) be a bit more of a classic-feeling Avengers title. The current Avengers era is going to get it's own personal goodbye in a one-shot issue entitled New Avengers Finale, and is said to wrap up a lot of the plotlines that have been developing since the title began.

Okay! One Avengers title instead of four!

Then, shortly afterward it was announced that there was going to be another title: Secret Avengers. It's going to be written by Ed Brubaker and just about anything about the roster or the concept behind it is all hush-hush (a secret, get it?). Judging by Brubaker's history with the crime and spy genres, however, it does seem reasonable to suspect that the book is going to have an espionage flavor. And just for the record, I'm willing to bet money that Steve Rogers is going to be on the team.

Nobody was surprised that a second Avengers title was announced, as it's now one of Marvel's biggest selling franchises. But then just today, news were announced at CBR that there's going to be another title, and it's going to be entitled.... New Avengers?


So, how is this different from Avengers? Or Secret Avengers? What does this have to do with the New Avengers title that is ending in May? And for that matter, just how exactly does Bendis have time to write all these books anyway?

SIEGE #2 Review

I hate eating my words.

It was when Marvel was publishing [i]Secret Invasion[/i] that I decided a rule that I thought would better my reading experience, my comic book spending, and my emotions all at once. I decided I was going to boycott major comic book crossover events forever.

They all came out the same way: Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, what have you. They start with this hook that gets you reading, you get curious enough to buy some tie-in issues, and a few issues in it starts to run out of steam. I kept buying issues, thinking it might get better, only for the remaining issues to be total disappointments that made me regret buying into the hype in the first place. The final issues would always contain these cop-out endings that really, in the end, were just marketing teasers for books being published after the event.

I mean, look at Civil War #7. Each page was almost an advertisement for a different title. "Spider-Man's in black! The Punisher is going to become the next Captain America! The Initiative is being assembled!" The end of Secret Invasion: "Norman Osborne's in charge! Look at how many books this is going to affect! Don't forget to buy the Dark Reign one-shot!" The gist of each of these endings? Buy more books. And each time I think: This is what the pressure was leading up to? This is what I've been conjecturing about for months? The experience is almost akin to that moment in A Christmas Story when Ralphie eagerly decodes a secret message from Little Orphan Annie only for it to read "Be sure to drink your ovaltine."

But then along came Siege. I'm a little older, a little wiser, so I know not to buy into this "AN EVENT SEVEN YEARS IN THE MAKING" bullshit. Sure, it may use the last seven years of continuity, but I highly highly doubt that seven years ago, the whole reason why Bendis was disassembling the Avengers and planning the House of M storyline was just so he could have Norman Osborn and company invade Asgard.

So why am I buying this then? The event just seems like too much fun not to. The whole concept - Norman Osborn leading the Dark Avengers up against Thor, the Asgardians, and the Avengers, will only lead in disaster. Everyone knows that this enormous hubris is going to end with his ass getting handed to him. Even Bullseye, possibly the most fearless allies Osborne has, were like "Hell no!" when Osborn gave the orders. It's like when Hitler tried to invade Russia.

This whole event has been really well paced. It's been packed full of action, illustrated by none other than the amazing Thor artist Olivier Coipel, whose art is so big and yet so clean that he even rivals greats like Bryan Hitch and John Cassaday. Thor was taken out in the first issue, and now the recently revived Steve Rogers is leading the Avengers after a rousing speech about taking back America. And in this issue, we see just exactly how powerful The Sentry really is. Turns out that whole power of a thousand exploding suns thing wasn't just an expression.

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out. Check back after Siege #4 is released to see if I end up resuming my boycott on crossover events.

Review: Ages of Thunder

Comic book fans aside, who the hell wants to read about Thor?

Aside from his silly colorful costume and winged helmet, he's a freakin God for Chrissakes. An actual Norse god. What the Hell is he doing in the Marvel universe? Not to mention the fact that he says "thou" enough to make you wish he could get kicked in the gnads a few times.

Most people that haven't read comics don't want to read about a character like that, which seriously makes me wonder if the Thor movie will have any success with a mainstream audience. People want to read about badass superheroes with cool costumes and powers. People want to read about Wolverine and Spider-Man. People don't want to read about a character that wears an American flag on his costume, a blaxpoitation superhero, or a kung fu superhero that compresses chi into his hand.

And yet, a funny thing has happened at Marvel over the last 5 or 6 years. Imagine if Republicans started coming out in support of gay marriage and supporting socialized medicine and Democrats reacted by merely slapping the cover of a leatherbound bible with the backs of their hands. It would be a topsy turvy world, which is exactly what was happening with the characters at Marvel. Loser characters were being handled by the best talent in the company and consistently making the top 10, whereas staples like Spider-Man and the X-Men stagnated and slipped into the 50,000's in sales.

Bendis started throwing Luke Cage into all his books and made people realize he's actually cool. Fraction and Brubaker took on Iron Fist and turned a campy 70's kung fu hero an turned his book into a multi-generational mythological machine. Brubaker started scripting and "death and return of..." story for Captain America that brought people to tears. And just a few years ago, J. Michael Straczynski took on the Norse god of thunder in a revamp for the ages. The book sold in the 100,000's, earned JMS a "Best Writer" nomination at this year's Eisners, and had people scrambling for collections of the classic Thor stories from the heyday.

Thor was cool again.

I must confess that as much critical acclaim as JMS's new THOR reboot has been garnering, I still haven't read beyond the first six issues. I know, I know... that's a big blow to my credibility as a comic book blogger. But I just have a sneaking suspicion that his whole run (which will be concluding shortly) will be collected in a giant gorgeous hardcover omnibus edition. One so pretty that all my friends will want to come over and just look at it, touch it. Okay, maybe not. But I do like to fantasize about things like that sometimes.

But then, at a comic book store, somebody warned me that there was critical plot information contained in the series of one-shot Thor stories that Matt Fraction had been writing, all collected in the Ages of Thunder volume. So I had some catching up to do. I also kinda figured I could pretend I was a real scholar researching a mythological figure while I was at it.

Now, Thor was an entertaining read and all, but he still seemed like a goody two shoes. I mean, what the hell was a god doing on Earth on the Avengers, getting involved with Earthly drama? It just doesn't seem like a god's style. Then, I read these stories, which take place in Asgard before Thor ever got involved with the Earth.

Man, was that guy badass.

This guy puts every man to shame. You could write more facts about this guy than you could about Chuck Norris. I can't remember how many times his face got completely covered with the fresh blood from a Frost Giant's corpse. And as if leaping through a Frost Giant's head with his hammer wasn't enough, I just can't tell you how awesome it was when Thor single handedly won a war against entire armies of the Undead when he single handedly piloted a giant Blood Colossus.

Oh man. Just that image slowly sinking into the blood from the battlefield, about to rise within the Colossus's skeleton. Chilling, I tell you. Chilling!

But the biggest surprise wasn't Thor's toughness. Everybody knew he was strong. What this story surprised me about is that the guy was actually a huge asshole. The three one-shots contained within are all essentially three acts about Thor's arrogance and the detriment it has on Asgard and the humans of Midgard. I mean, during Asgard's famine, the guy had hoarded golden apples and refused to share them with his starving comrades. What a cold-hearted bastard.

The climax of the book is actually the match of eternity. Thor vs. his own father, Odin. If you thought Thor was menacing, just look at the fully armored Odin brandishing his gargantuan sword. Holy shit.


Pick up this book if you'd like to see an awesome badass big mythological fall from heaven type of story. Matt Fraction, I salute you.

Review: Detective Comics #854

I know, I know... I have not been posting in this enough. It's been what, two months?

As much as I could complain about being chronologically drained by my work, it really only takes about 45 minutes or less to crank out one of these posts. I had the time - that's not the issue. I just never had the inspiration.

See, I tend to get the most enthusiasm for writing in this thing whenever I read a comic I really really like, or have some ideas that have been making me think of comics, and at some point along the line I get narcissistic enough to think people actually want to read what I have to say about funnybooks. And lately, the comics I've been reading haven't been giving me that spark. And I regularly pick up DEADPOOL, UNCANNY X-MEN, ASTONISHING X-MEN (soon to be dropped), GREEN ARROW & BLACK CANARY, THE WALKING DEAD, INVINCIBLE, CRIMINAL, and probably a few others I'm not recalling at the moment. Sure, the best books like FABLES and SCALPED are missing from the list, but I pick up those in trades.

Lately, my trips to the comic book store have been about every month, so I tend to get all of these titles in one big bag. It's usually about 10-12 books, enough to give me a few hours of reading the day of purchase. And honestly, in those few hours, I get at most a surprise here, a chuckle there, and even, God forbid, the occasional "Gee whiz!" But honestly, not a whole lot else comes about. Nothing to write home about, and certainly nothing to write the one or two people that read this blog either.

I picked up DETECTIVE COMICS #854 for a couple of reasons. One, there's an awesome creative team at the helm, with consistently good Greg Rucka writing and the sublimely awesome JH Williams III, who wowed me considerably with his work on Alan Moore's PROMETHEA.

Second, it features Batwoman, a character who I always thought was cool ever since her introduction in 52 but has unfairly gotten a bad rap since.

Third, and most importantly, guilt.

I say that because I've found from my years of comic book shopping that you can't just walk into a comic book store without buying anything. You walk into a store that, if you're lucky, has about one or two other people in it besides you and whoever's working there. The owner greets you with a friendly howdy, asks you if you need anything, and maybe even chats with you a bit and asks you where you're from. You spend about ten minutes browsing the wares, maybe even get a recommendation or two, and then you just... leave?

No, that's not right.

You can't walk out empty-handed from these things. You just can't. So through a sense of guilt and moral obligation, I picked up the only book that looked halfway decent, which again, happened to be DETECTIVE COMICS #854.

Holy smokes, did this book surprise me.


I must confess, as much as I built up my enthusiasm for this book, I can't really say much about the story. The real kicker hasn't really hit yet - more than anything this book is just reacclamating everybody to her character. "Oh yeah, she's a lesbian!" must have been a response from at least one comic book fan who hasn't even thought about her since 52. But still, the script is packed with that classic Greg Rucka wit to it. Like, in case you were wondering how a any chick could effectively fight crime with that flowing red hair of hers, she loses it about six pages in, on a tip from Batman, no less, who says "do something about your hair. One pull, the fight's over for you."

But the real treat of this book is really JH Williams III's delicious art, which is absolutely spellbinding. Take note - that's a word I don't use often. I reserved it specifically for this moment.

I'm also going to go out on a limb and gamble a lot of my credibility when it comes to fiction and narrative and say that even if the story doesn't go anywhere, the art is so good it doesn't even matter. Saying this goes completely against my ego, as I hate, hate, hate it when people say "Comics are all about the art" or "I didn't like it because I didn't like the art."

"The art's meant to tell a story - dammit!" has always been my mantra, and I have to break the rhythm this time around because Williams' art is that fucking good. Rarely have I seen an artist that is so strong on all fronts, whether it's detailed photorealism, deeply communicative facial expressions, or even just quick pacing. He's even good at the really angular, dynamic looking grids that Bendis is famous for, something that even big time artists like Bryan Hitch and Alex Ross have never really been able to pull off well. Christ, even if the story bores you, if nothing else you're left with a dynamite 4 dollar art book.

And speaking of 4 dollars, while I've been really frustrated with the price point hikes that the publishers have been pulling (I mean seriously, couldn't they just have jumped to 3.25 or 3.50?), I have to hand it to DC for having the good sense to give us more value by giving us a second feature. That's right, kids - the story doesn't end with Batwoman in this book. At the very end, you get a bonus 8 page comic featuring none other than The Question, also penned by Greg Rucka.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to what's to come. It might not be something I'm going to be telling my kids about ten years from now, but hey, you just might see me talking about it next month.