Sunday, May 14, 2006
Zero to Infinite in 30 Seconds...
...thanks to Chris' Invincible Super-blog! In Spaaaaaace!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
A Cowardly, Superstitious Lot...
From the lovely and talented Kalinara, a typically thoughtful piece on what really motivates the Batman, my favorite DC hero.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Recent Comics I Have Read
Batman #652: Characters still look wooden; Robin's new costume still sucks (he's NOT named after Robin Redbreast; it's Robin HOOD!). I admit to being intrigued by the storyline of villains getting wacked and I'm keen to find out why the Batman put Harvey Dent in charge of the city while he was gone for a year.
Civil War #1: Surprisingly un-sucky. Very good artwork; I especially like the look of grim determination on Cap's face as he plows through SHIELD agents. The concept of a superhero-created tragedy involving mass civillian deaths frankly makes sense in a gruesome sort of way. How has this not happened before, with all the battles that have gone on in New York City? Millar has an excellent grasp on America's media-soaked, scandal-obsessed culture.
Detective Comics #818-819: The villain-whacking continues. Leonard Kirk's artwork is vastly superior to Don Kramer's and the coloring by John Kalisz really builds up the grim, moody feel. And the single dumbest villain in recent Batman history is finally wiped out, in a particularly grisly fashion. Take that, Larry Hama!
Infinite Crisis #6-7: It's over, thank God! I'm going blind trying to read George Perez' increadibly overloaded panels! These last two issues put me in mind of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I don't mean that as a compliment. I never saw the need for this "Crisis" in the first place, and it rapidly became a hyperventilating, overblown, bloated mess. But it's done. Now let us never speak of it again.
Invincible #31: Continues to plug along nicely. Wonderful ensemble cast. Even the villains are multi-dimensional, or at least entertaining. Sadly, another CAPES back-up with crappy artwork and annoying characters.
Justice #5: Alex Ross, what else can I say? VERY creepy scene involving the Atom and Jean Loring. It's awful nice of Alex to try to bail out the ludicrous ending to Identity Crisis by giving it something it lacked: a logical reason for being, some kind of backstory and context!
New Avengers Annual #1: Wedding of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, avoiding nearly all superhero wedding cliches. Artwork is a little uneven, but an excellent extended fight sequence.
Outsiders #36: Speedsters are really, really dangerous! Good art, good teamwork from the Outsiders in combat. The teaser is just, well, bizarre.
Ultimate Extinction #3: Okay, now I'm up to speed. The liquid metal/T2000 Silver Surfers are cool.
Ultimate Fantastic Four #29: A good end to a cool concept stupidly executed. I'm still unclear as to how altering the timeline turned Thor and Mister Fantastic into complete and utter drooling morons.
Villains United #1: Organized supervillains, always dangerous. Nice tie-in with Infinite Crisis #7. Fairly good artwork and excellent characterization of the villains.
Civil War #1: Surprisingly un-sucky. Very good artwork; I especially like the look of grim determination on Cap's face as he plows through SHIELD agents. The concept of a superhero-created tragedy involving mass civillian deaths frankly makes sense in a gruesome sort of way. How has this not happened before, with all the battles that have gone on in New York City? Millar has an excellent grasp on America's media-soaked, scandal-obsessed culture.
Detective Comics #818-819: The villain-whacking continues. Leonard Kirk's artwork is vastly superior to Don Kramer's and the coloring by John Kalisz really builds up the grim, moody feel. And the single dumbest villain in recent Batman history is finally wiped out, in a particularly grisly fashion. Take that, Larry Hama!
Infinite Crisis #6-7: It's over, thank God! I'm going blind trying to read George Perez' increadibly overloaded panels! These last two issues put me in mind of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I don't mean that as a compliment. I never saw the need for this "Crisis" in the first place, and it rapidly became a hyperventilating, overblown, bloated mess. But it's done. Now let us never speak of it again.
Invincible #31: Continues to plug along nicely. Wonderful ensemble cast. Even the villains are multi-dimensional, or at least entertaining. Sadly, another CAPES back-up with crappy artwork and annoying characters.
Justice #5: Alex Ross, what else can I say? VERY creepy scene involving the Atom and Jean Loring. It's awful nice of Alex to try to bail out the ludicrous ending to Identity Crisis by giving it something it lacked: a logical reason for being, some kind of backstory and context!
New Avengers Annual #1: Wedding of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, avoiding nearly all superhero wedding cliches. Artwork is a little uneven, but an excellent extended fight sequence.
Outsiders #36: Speedsters are really, really dangerous! Good art, good teamwork from the Outsiders in combat. The teaser is just, well, bizarre.
Ultimate Extinction #3: Okay, now I'm up to speed. The liquid metal/T2000 Silver Surfers are cool.
Ultimate Fantastic Four #29: A good end to a cool concept stupidly executed. I'm still unclear as to how altering the timeline turned Thor and Mister Fantastic into complete and utter drooling morons.
Villains United #1: Organized supervillains, always dangerous. Nice tie-in with Infinite Crisis #7. Fairly good artwork and excellent characterization of the villains.
