Tuesday, August 28, 2012

American Banned

A quick follow-up on Black Kiss 2 which I mentioned a couple weeks back. I mentioned that the first issue had some pretty fucked up stuff in it (for a mainstream comics anyway). Apparently it's so fucked up that British customs held it for a week. To avoid further complications, Diamond has cancelled all future issues including a second printing of the sold out first issue.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Happy Endings

A year ago I loved this series so much that I wrote:

"It's what Disney and Warner Brothers comics would be like if they had any balls and didn't just publish stories aimed at little kids to generate supplementary sales for their big budget summer garbage."

Which I still stand by. Any hero published by the big too comes off as a pussy in comparison.

Unfortunately after seven monthly issues, this one had a ten month delay. On the up side, it's very good and I'm kind of glad that it ended since it can't keep up a schedule. Six years ago, Godland was my absolute favorite book and I wore my Basil Cronus t-shirt (on a side note, the only person who ever recognized it was Patton Oswalt) out faster than any shirt I have ever owned. Now it comes out twice a year and I still love it, but a lot of the excitement's gone.

Anyway if you missed this, there's a hardcover coming out soon. And Godland only had one issue left (although 36 just came out earlier this month, so probably not until next year) so that should be collected sometime. There both great.

Friday, August 10, 2012

A Valiant Effort

I really enjoyed Valiant Comics during their first go-round about 20 years ago. It was a new tightly-knit sci-fi based superhero universe that focused on good stories in a period when comics centered around flashy art, claws, and guns. I was a lot younger, but I remember that first wave of Valiant titles to be really high-quality. Like anything else, the line got spread thin when expanded, and the company eventually got bought out by Acclaim who really only wanted the characters to make video games.

Especially after the article I wrote yesterday, it's hard to imagine any publisher outselling the big two, yet Valiant and Image both had top-selling books. Anyway, they've tried to reboot a few times over the years. This summer they've put out four books, and seem to be off to a good start.

X-O Manowar
I'm enjoying this book quite a bit. I vaguely remember the Valiant characters and kind of their deals, but it's been a very long time. My friend tells me that the opening arc is just an expanded retelling of the original zero issue (a gimmick that Valiant started for those who don't remember) which I have read, but again, a long time ago. But whatever. It's barbarians fighting bug aliens. What's not to like?





Harbinger
This is easily my favorite. And it's a really great way to start a team book. It focuses on one character at his very lowest point until he eventually meets the rest of the team. It sets a tone as opposed so that you essentially get to know the character and develop pathos.






Bloodshot
Bloodshot wasn't one of the original characters, and like some of the other Valiant additions, seemed more centered around guns as was the zeitgeist. He's pretty much an invincible soldier. This kind of stuff generally doesn't appeal to me.







Archer and Armstrong
This was OK. I remember the original series being more of an odd couple humor-based thing. Without giving away the plot, I guess my biggest problem was the very overt social commentary. As much as I enjoy satire, it seems out of place in an action-oriented book. But it's only one issue. Maybe as it goes on, it will flesh out the buddy dynamic.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

A Whole Nother New World

Marvel (who's used to being on top) has been having a little trouble keeping up with DC this past year since their line-wide relaunch. They do have a plan though. So first let me recap.

While DC lowered the page count to drop prices a dollar, Marvel followed. Only they just dropped the page count and left prices. They know that comic fans will complain about anything but will never stop buying.

Next thing, they cancelled any books that weren't Avengers, X-Men, or Spider-Man related. And all minis. Some got cancelled before they were finished, and some solicited books were cancelled before an issue came out. Then they started double-shipping most of their top selling books. 

Next is the big one. They needed a blockbuster. So they really brought out the think-tank for this one. I'm sure the meeting went something like this: 

What sells big? Crossovers. What do comic fans love? Superheroes fighting each other. Who are biggest superheroes? Avengers and X-Men. What do we call it? Avengers Vs X-Men. Brilliant. We'll double-ship it and it'll end in a line-wide relaunch.

And they promise that it's a relaunch and not a reboot whatever that means. And it's a slow relaunch. They say over twenty titles in four months. Marvel pretty much always relaunches titles, sometimes there's not even a change in creative team. So really what's the big deal with that?

While DC expanded their universe and tried to bring diversity (They gave some fringe books a chance. Some caught on. Some didn't.), Marvel's essentially playing musical chairs with their top books and top talent.

And that's not entirely a bad thing. People were pretty skeptical about DC's relaunch, but I think after its debut most people would agree that they're putting out a lot of quality stuff. A year ago I was buying no DC books, now I buy seven monthly titles. Right now I buy no Marvel books. Maybe they'll put something out worth buying. A lot of them seem interesting. They have only announced about half of the new titles so far, but as of now these are the ones I'm looking forward to:

Thor
Jason Aaron on Thor. If you don't realize how badass Jason Aaron is, perhaps you should look at this beard:



Hulk
I've loved the Hulk since I was a wee lad and he scared me on the TV lookee box. Although it's been nine years since I've read more than three consecutive issues, I always check it out whenever there's a writer change. Besides I bought Hulk #1 last year, I bought Hulk #1 in 2008, and I bought Hulk #1 in 1999.

Deadpool
Brian Posehn writing any comic and I'm there. Deadpool should be particularly awesome.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

This was just sent to me. Too funny not to post:


Black Kiss 2

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it on here, but I love Howard Chaykin. He's possibly my favorite artist, and I buy nearly anything he draws.I think American Flagg! is way better and more innovative than Dark Knight Returns (and predates it by three years).

For those unfamiliar with Black Kiss, it was a black and white erotic hard-boiled neo-noir. Published in 1988, Vortex Comics gave Chaykin complete control to push boundaries with really graphic and some pretty weird sex scenes, and to  his surprise, nothing was censored.

I actually only got around to picking it up earlier this year. It's surprisingly dense for a story that's essentially centered around blowjobs. Like much of Chaykin's writing, it takes re-reads to get everything. You can read a synopsis upon completion and realize that you missed half of what went on. Anyway this is very cool and enjoyable even beyond the X-rated content (which is also pretty awesome). The only problem is that Chaykin's stories can be difficult to follow since a lot of his characters look similar, and black and white doesn't make that any easier.

So last week Black Kiss 2 #1 was released by Image Comics. Even though Chaykin's said he's not trying to top the original, this has some pretty wild stuff in it. Trust me. You don't want to read this on the subway. I'm not even sure exactly how it ties into the original, but it's pretty awesome.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Wednesday, August 1, 2012