Let's Get Ready To Rumble

Comic Pants has started a new Rumble Pants tournament. Go over there and vote for Taskmaster. I don't know who the hell is voting for Deathstroke but there need to be more voices of sanity and propriety over there.

Heidi Meeley's got some good stuff to say about Kyle vs. Hal both present and past. Check it out! I have gone on and on about my love for the GLC and ambivalence towards the human GLs and I will, no doubt, do so again. Make Mine Mogo! Also, Soranik Natu rules.

Comics Should Be Good has an excellent interview with Jimmy Palmiotti who is may favorite comics writer right now.

Finally, other people walk the walk when it comes to The Transformers but Tom Foss talks the talk.

Linkity-link-link-link: The Sequel

Of all the old-school teams who could be brought back, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters is the one I least want to see. However, this article about Palmiotti and Gray's limited series about them (the trade is out this week) has me considering a change of heart.

My favorite Onion AV Club writer, Tasha Robinson, has some suggestions for further '80s toy movies.



Speaking of the AV Club, their latest Inventory lists 12 famous living recluses including Bill Watterson and Steve Ditko.

The Spirit #7 - DC (2007)

Darwyn Cooke drew the excellent cover but otherwise he took this month off. Fill-in issues are always a crapshoot but when your backup team includes Walt Simonson, Chris Sprouse and Jimmy Palmiotti you're doing something right.

This issue is divided into three stories. The first is by Simonson, Sprouse and Karl Story. It captures the feel of The Spirit in the same manner Cooke does. It features a socialite who reports the theft of a HUGE diamond. The Spirit investigates the crime in his usual manner and it's a blast to read.

Next up are Palmiotti and Jordi Bernet with my favorite story of the three. The Spirit chases a crook into an apartment building which is straight out of Batteries Not Included. As he chases the crook around, our hero inadvertently improves the lives of the residents. It's so much fun I read it twice.

Kyle Baker's story is a mess. Normally, I really like Baker's art and writing but I was turned off by both in this story. I read this one twice, too, in an attempt to figure out what was going on but it's so disjointed that I wonder if the panels were arranged in the right order.

This Summer Special was entertaining and you don't even have to know anything about The Spirit to enjoy it. If you like any of the creators mentioned above, (maybe you'll even like the Baker story) give it a look.

Heroes for Hire #7 - Marvel (2007)

I'm gonna get all "reviewery" in a minute but first I want to say a couple of things:

DOOMBOT!

HEADMEN!

SHANG CHI!

If someone had asked me for a list of things I wanted to see in a comic book at the same time, well, I would have said Monica Rambeau, Machine Man and Boom Boom. But if someone had asked me what else I'd like to see in a comic book I would have listed the three things with the exclamation points above.

Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray are rapidly becoming my favorite writing team. They're doing Jonah Hex now, too. Seeing The Headmen at the end of issue #6 made me happier than anything in comics since Thor's unfettered might attack back in Secret Wars.

For those of you with social lives, The Headmen are evil science geniuses who are so evil and science-y that they have all replaced their bodies or heads with other things. Seriously. They consist of:

1. A woman with the body of a porn star and a head made out of one of those reflective balls people put in their gardens

2. Professor Gorilla-For-A-Body

3. Chondu The Mystic (who will put his head on anything)

4. A guy whose skeleton is too small for the rest of his body. OK, he didn't do anything with his head but that's because they couldn't figure out how to work with his little, tiny skull.

And these people are supposed to be intimidating. Well, I guess they are intimidating in an "I will do anything for world domination including cut off my own head" sort of way but they were just asking to be put in a humor title. Ellis was busy finding new, horrible things to do with MODOK so Gray & Palmiotti grabbed The Headmen and put them up against Humbug. Yes, the guy who can control roaches and stuff. This shit just writes itself!

There's another story involving Man-Ape, The Grim Reaper and Grindhouse which yielded the following line:

"We're villains...we don't roll over on each other like Captain America and Iron Man."

Ohh! Burn! Man-Ape vs. Mark Millar! Flawless Victory!

The art is nearly up to the writing on this issue. Alvaro Rio's pencils are spot on but the inking was better in #6. The credits list the inkers for #7 as "Tom Palmer & Terry Pallot" whereas #6 was inked by "Scott Koblish with Tom Palmer". There's some quality of the inking in this issue which is not as good as it was in the last; things look flatter. It didn't knock me out of the story or anything but I noticed it and it was a minor speedbump. The action scenes are well done and the "visual storytelling" (as the kids call it) is effective.

This one stays in my hold box. It's fun, cool and well done.

Yesterday's Comics Today!

Here's a quick rundown of my opinions on my latest haul. It was a light week so there aren't many.

New Universal #3 - Marvel (2007)

Salvador Larroca's art continues to blow me away. Warren Ellis is giving Larroca some really good things to draw. This issue establishes more of the history of the world and makes it even cooler than the first two issues did. The extended infodump/argument partway through the book was the only speedbump.

Behold the art!



Johah Hex #16 - DC (2007)


Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are the new Giffen and DeMatteis. They are an awesome writing team with incredible range. They are this close to being on my "I will buy anything by these guys" list. This new story is your typical "woman with incredibly bad life becomes a one-eyed badass" tale and it's off to a damn good start. The art is spectacular, as well. The only thing that keeps me from completely enjoying this book is the way they write western accents. I have no problem with dropping all the final g's but the frequent use of "yore" for "your" is getting on my nerves.


Fell #7 - Image (2007)

This issue has Ben Templesmith's best art yet. Check out the cover:



The interior has more of the same.

Speaking of more of the same, Warren Ellis's writing on this issue is just that. Which is to say it's good. We learn a little more about Snowtown, a little more about Fell and we get to see him out-clever himself. Good stuff all for a buck 99!


Astro City: The Dark Age Book 2 #2 - Wildstorm (2007)


This book gets better with every page. The Apollo Eleven show up and everyone freaks out. Well, as much as anyone in Astro City is able to freak out anymore.

"Another giant spectral figure, you say? Is this one setting anything on fire? Then let it be."

The "everyman" reaction to superhero antics has been done many times but the way the two main characters are hooked into the action makes for a compelling read. Excellent art, too.