I haven’t really had time to post my quick thoughts on the new #1s from DC that I’ve bought this month, but I was looking forward to Grifter, as it’s being created by one of my favourite comics writers Nathan Edmondson (Olympus, The Light), with artist Cafu.
My entire review of the premiere issue can be read here at Broken Frontier. In short, it’s awesome.
13 of DC’s 52 issue relaunch hit shelves this week. We didn’t get any new comics this week in Western Australia, thanks to the Labour Day holiday in America though. AARRGGHH! Oh well. At least customers who buy digitally don’t have to worry about that sort of thing.
Here’s a few reviews though, including all 13 #1s at Bleeding Cool, and Broken Frontier, 8 of them at CBR, Batgirl and Action Comics at Newsarama, Action Comics at ComicAttack and finally Action Comics, Detective Comics and Batgirl over at Luke Milton’s site, (who’ll be joining us on the Extra Sequential podcast next week!).
It’s interesting to see what Marvel fans, long-time DC fans, and newbies have to say about this.
Comics Alliance also has a handy look at the continuity changes that this first week’s offerings have shown us.
And now, here’s a look at some of next week’s releases including Superboy #1, Batman and Robin #1 and Legion Lost #1.
At Broken Frontier is my review of the sixth volume’s debut of Red 5’s flagship hero, Atomic Robo.
77 mins. After a few brief news items we launch into comics we’d like to see some day. This involves dream projects, concept variations and fond memories of 80s cartoons and forgotten 90s TV shows. We also sing. A lot and mention Gerard Depardieu, She-Hulk and Mad Max.
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2:24 NEWS
Brian Wood at Marvel
Alpha Flight ongoing series
Conan’s failure at the box office
17:14 THEME-COMICS WE WANT TO SEE
Carnivale
Nowhere Man
ThunderCats
Star Trek comics NOT based on any of the movie/series characters, and New Frontier
Bionic Six
Asterix and Obelix from new creative teams, ala Spirou and Lucky Luke
Marvel and DC combining forces into one mega-publisher
Peter David returning to Hulk
(good) Indiana Jones comics
Original Phantom stories from Australia
Different iterations of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, such as this great ’80s one
The Ultimates Volume 3 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch
Hard science fiction comics
Tom Neely for a new Popeye series, like his surreal “Popeye: Doppelganger”
More Elseworlds tales from DC Comics
Also, comics that do exist but that you may not know about, such as Dark Crystal, X-Men Forever, X-Factor Forever and Buckaroo Banzai.
Check out Project Rooftop and Superman 2000 too.
I must admit, I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. The latest OGN from Aussie publisher Gestalt is a scary and entertaining mix of the Western and supernatural genres. Read my review here.
Star Wars Invasion: Revelations #2. The latest issue of the third arc in Tom Taylor and Colin Wilson’s Invasion series packs a whollop. Most surprises in comics these days are to do with which superhero is now (temporarily) dead, but I gotta say Taylor pulls two linked shocks in the latter half of this issue that come from nowhere. Of course, I may very well have missed some well placed clues in previous issues, amongst the multitude of comics I read each week, but this was a pleasant surprise, and with this arc only just beginning, the stakes and expectations are now high.
To create another intriguing family in the huge Star Wars mythos is no easy feat, but Taylor has done it with the Galfridians. Of course, Wilson’s art is as fluid and crisp as ever, and this pic makes me admire him even more.
More violent and intense than previous issues, there’s also a heap of Stormtroopers, AT-AT Walkers, a Star Destroyer, and some foolhardy choices by arrogant Empire officers. Yes, this issue does have it all.
Check out a great preview here.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. Another much loved property finds a home at IDW and joins their Star Trek, Transformers, Doctor Who, etc line-up. Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman provides the story and layouts, while Tom Waltz and Dan Duncan handle the script and art respectively. Closer to the original early ’80s comic rather than the cartoon, purists will be pleased with the foursome wearing red bandanas, and April O’Neill showing up as a lab assistant, rather than being a reporter.
It starts with a fight against mad cat Old Hob, who, as Splinter’s narration suggests, is a common foe. The three Turtles take on the eyepatched feline and his goons and win, before Old Hob jumps over a fence, making a quick mention of Raphael’s absence. A flashback to 18 months previous shows O’Neill working alongside Chet Allen (who annoyingly “um’s a lot) at Stock Gen Research. The four turtles are kept in a glass cage and a rat roams free in the lab. We then meet their boss Baxter Stockman who is talking to an unseen General Krang, who is eager to get the results he wants from his experimentation on the animals, including the super soldier mutagen. There is a war waiting, after all.
Cutting to the present, we see a hoodie wearing Raphael looking for food in an alley dumpster, and not being impressed at a “Cowabunga” shirt he finds. He then happens upon a father beating his son. His son called Casey. Filled with nice nods to previous Turtles continuity, and leaving a few intriguing questions hanging, this is a very welcome return for the shelltacular heroes.
IDW are also releasing the TMNT Ultimate Collection which collects the first 7 issues, plus the Raphael one-shot from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It’s over 300 black and white pages and is out on October 1.
The Bionic Man #1. I suppose six million dollars doesn’t buy as much cybernetics as it did in the ’70s, so this comic based on The Six Million Dollar Man TV series (which ran from 1974-78) gets a new name and other updates in keeping with the times. Based on an unproduced Kevin Smith screenplay, like his Green Hornet comics are, this also reunites the filmmaker with his Hornet team of publisher Dynamite, co-writer Phil Hester and artist Jonathan Lau. I liked Smith’s Hornet comics better than the eventual film so had high hopes for this debut and it met them. I also remember watching reruns of the Lee Majors-led TV show, with that awesome intro, which, by the way, taught me how to raise one eyebrow as a kid as I imitated Mr Majors.
Colonel Steve Austin is a test pilot, and Smith wisely sets him apart from comics’ other test pilot Hal Jordan, by making him a confident, well rounded man about to retire early, who’s engaged to schoolteacher Jamie. Jaime, as you may recall is the name of the TV spinoff, Bionic Woman, who married Austin.
Testing the experimental stealth bomber Daedalus Five for combat readiness, things obviously don’t go as planned. Parallel to Austin’s tale is a robbery of a lab, in which a swordsman steals a sub-fusion chip and prototype robotic arm. Expect these two plots to collide next issue. This is a great re-entry (pun intended) to this well remembered franchise and the team has done a marvellous job of updating the story to today’s audience. Well paced, with tantalising hooks hinting at future tragedies and a kinetic visual style, this is another entertaining win for Dynamite.
See a preview of this ish right here.
Teen Titans #100. A fitting, and fond farewell to the Teen Titans before next month’s relaunch is this extra-sized issue. I’m only a casual reader of the Titans, but it’s always good to see Nicola Scott drawing them, or any superheroes really, and J.T Krul has written many of their recent adventures, and will scribe Green Arrow, and Captain Atom in the relaunch. It opens with the evil Superboy Prime battling the teen heroes near the Golden Gate Bridge. Armed with clones of Superboy in his past costumes, and a bunch of villains unfamiliar to me, the battle involves a host of Titans.
Robin goes nuts with a kryptonite dagger and the team gang up on Superboy Prime in a cool page filled with “T” shaped panels. Weirdly they do discuss not killing Prime after doing so to his clones, but I guess clones aren’t real. There’s also some simple, but well written emotional moments between Superboy and Ravager, and Beast Boy and Raven. Finishing with an 8 page gallery from various artists such as Rob Liefeld and Karl Kerschl showing the various iterations of the team over the decades, it’s a nice close before the new series by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth begins in September.
This 120 page, black and white OGN from Aussie publisher Gestalt (Rombies, The Deep) puts a good twist on the werewolf tale. Sure, I know you’ve probably heard that before, but I actually found myself enjoying the simplicity and barbaric, full on take on offer here. Written by newcomer Andrew Constant, and with art by Joh James (whose work you may have seen in the new series I.C.E from 12 Gauge Studios), this reminded me of the kind of films I grew up loving in the ’80s. It’s bold and unapologetic and lets us know who the baddies and goodies are straight away, urging the reader to cheer for he sympathetic hero as he serves out toothy justice.
Nicola Scott (Secret Six) does the art for prologue and even though it features a half naked man, and a bloody battle, it all looks very pleasing to the eyes. Having James provide the bulk of the book’s art is an interesting choice, as his frenetic, hard edged line work is in spectacular contrast to Scott’s delicate pencils. It makes sense though, as Torn is, as the title suggests, a rip roaring action/adventure story. James’ slightly rough, sketchy style uses the page creatively and he creates diverse layouts and dynamic action scenes rather well. He uses things like texture, silhouettes, and a flowing design that doesn’t often rely on traditional approaches to panels in sequential storytelling. It’s a dirty, harsh world in the pages of Torn, but it looks great. I wouldn’t want to live there though.
The cast of characters is streamlined, meaning Constant can focus on the also streamlined story. There’s some deft discussions on identity as the lead character, whose narration guides us, loses someone he loves, before being changed from a lycanthrope to a long haired man, and discovering the dangers of the new city he inhabits. The wolf/man meets Sarah, a young homeless girl and gets embroiled in the danger and dirt of her life before his past claws its way back to him. Even though he hardly speaks, the pair hit it off and he begins to see the power of friendship and humanity, with the memories of death and brutality that he’s witnessed not far from his thoughts. It could’ve easily been over the top and soppy, but Constant keeps the dialogue grounded and although it’s often bleak, it’s not depressing.
Given the thumbs up by scribes Greg Rucka and Gail Simone, I hope this catches people’s attention on the shelves. Sure, I’m a sucker for Australian made comics, but Torn is another good example from Gestalt, in showing that horror, action and drama can all sit together in an entertaining brew.
Check out some great preview pages from Torn here. Also out now from Gestalt is the Western OGN, The Eldritch Kid: Whisky and Hate.
61 mins. We focus on genre mash-ups in comics. The movie trailer marketing for the DC 52 Relaunch, writer Brian Wood leaving DC, the workings behind film-rights at Vertigo, the Death of Hellboy, and our quick thoughts on the new Conan the Barbarian & Iron Man: Extremis motion comic. Also floating moustaches, zombie cows and Herman’s Head.
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1:19 NEWS
The DC Comics ad at cinemas
Why Brian Wood’s DMZ didn’t become a TV show
Colleen Doran speaking at Sydney in November
Farewell Hellboy! (sort of)
Cola-Con – Comics and hip hop together at last
Ridley Scott directing another Blade Runner film
16:29 THEME: GENRES MASH-UPS
We yak about various properties that either ‘meet’ or ‘vs’ each other. Superman, Batman, Aliens, Predator, Tarzan, Judge Dredd, Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello, zombies, robots and many more.
Image’s Cowboy Ninja Viking
Geof Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy
Abraxas and the Earthman
Heavy metal film – submit your ideas!
Robots vs Zombies
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Antarctic Press’ Pirates vs Ninja
Here’s a bunch of stuff I’ve seen and read recently that I recommend checking out.
Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro. Cooper plays a lazy writer lacking motivation, until an encounter with and old friend gives him access to a super drug that unlocks his brain’s full potential. Better than it could’ve been, it starts with a Fight Club-like approach with its visual trickery and subversive attitude, has a predictable middle, and then ramps up for an exciting conclusion.
Secret Six #36. It’s sad to see this series starring a bunch of baddies (Bane, Ragdoll, Catman,etc) go, but this is a satisfying farewell from Gail Simone and Jim Calafiore. Having pretty much all of DC’s big heroes show up in the stand off that ends the ish is cool, especially with Calafiore’s pencil behind them. I hope we see these characters again soon though in DC’s new plans.
The Punisher #1. I’ve been an occasional follower of the surly Frank Castle and thankfully the creators attached to him have always pulled him past his one-note potential. This (yet another) relaunch for the ex-Marine by Greg Rucka and Marco Checcheto is as gritty as any of Castle’s previous series. It’s a great set up for a new tale, and even though the titular gun lover hardly shows up, and doesn’t even speak, the moody art and unique story approach (a silent wedding massacre opener, and a police interview closer) make this issue stand out.
Tucker & Dale vs Evil. Two loveable hillbillies are mistaken for psycho killers by a group of attractive college students. Hilarity, and accidental bloodshed, ensues. It’s such a great genre-nixing set up. Unfortunately the trailer has the best bits, though the chemistry between leads Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine results in some great dialogue and comedic moments.
DC Retro-Active-1980s. This series of one-shots by DC is a good idea, and will go some way to quelling the discontent from nostalgic superhero readers. They’ve done the ’70s and next up is the ’90s (which I’m looking forward to, as that’s when my comics habit became serious) and getting the original creators from that decade is awesome. Each issue also includes a reprinted tale from the time period. Flash stars Wally West (always my fave speedster) and is by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRocque. Flash rescued a girl from the clutches of the Trickster a while ago and she’s fallen hard for her hero and steals his enemies’ weapons to get his attention. The backup tale doesn’t make much sense as its from the middle of a story arc, but reminds us that colouring techniques these days are much better. Batman’s trip down memory lane features the return of the baddie Reaper from the Year Two storyline (a tale of which is the reprint) and features Jason Todd as bare legged Robin, Batman calling him, “chum,” and a genuine mystery about who the new Reaper is.
X-Men Schism #2. I thought I’d grab the latest issue of this mini-series as it has art by Frank Cho and that’s always a good reason. Wolverine and Cyclops are still yet to fall out and go their separate ways, so the remaining 3 issues must be pretty intense. Cyclops really looks like his nickname, “Slim,” when Cho draws him.
50 mins. We focus on two very different comics this week, in Gestalt’s The Deep and Top Shelf’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 1969. Also, comic shops in Sydney, ping pong balls, The Rock and more.
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4:30 NEWS
The Annotated Sandman Volume 1
The White Rabbit Batman villainess
Robert Crumb cancels his Australian visit
Tanarus, the new Thor
13:16 FEATURE REVIEWS-THE DEEP & CENTURY: 1969
From Tom Taylor and James Brouwer comes this fun all-ages adventure about the Nekton family.
Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill bring us the latest, and certainly not all-ages, instalment in their increasingly strange League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series.
58 mins. Celebrating World Cat Day, we take a feline focus on some of our favourite cat-themed characters. Catwoman, Black Panther, Doraemon and oh, so many more. Also, DC’s controversial approach to female creators, and race within superhero comics.
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You can email us at kris (at)extrasequential(dot)com and befriend us on the NEW ES Facebook page.
1:50 NEWS
George Lucas loses the rights to the Stormtroopers design
Bane from The Dark Knight Rises
Batman: Arkham City game costumes
First pic of the new Superman
Laurence Fishburne is the new Perry White
Miles Morales, the new Ultimate Spider-Man
DC’s reaction to female creators
The Vault, and Nonplayer have been picked up for potential films
Our very own trailer!
21:58 THEME-CATS
Black Panther
Catwoman, and Catgirl
Catman
Hellcat, Tigra and Cheetah
Blacksad
Apocalypse Meow
Cat Eyed Boy
Doraemon
Hello Kitty
Marsupilami
Krazy Kat
Catbert (from Dilbert)
Garfield
Hobbes (from Calvin and Hobbes)
Horse (from Footrot Flats)
The X-Men’s Beast
Black Cat
2 in We3
Fritz the Cat
ThunderCats
Streaky the Super Cat
The Deep from Tom Taylor and James Brouwer is now out from Gestalt Publishing. Catch my review of this all-ages adventure here at Broken Frontier. In short – it’s awesome and you should get it.
You can catch my interview with Taylor here.
Released last month was this anthology from creator Howard Shum. His name might be familiar to some as an inker for various Marvel, DC and Dark Horse titles over the years as well as the writer of Image series such as Gun-Fu, and Gazillion. Here, he’s the writer of 8 short stories, all illustrated by different artists. That’s a good idea, especially as he’s chosen well (from all over the world), making sure every story is a visual delight.
Don’t be fooled by the kinetic, and charming art though, as it’s not an all-ages book, with its occasional blood letting and profanity.
My favourite tale is Water Lily with art by Antonella Dalena. It focuses on two young, attractive strangers on a plane. She, being the daughter of a wealthy man, gets kidnapped when they land, and he, being a former soldier, grabs his best buddy and sets out to rescue her, guns blazing. It’s a simple story, but the dialogue works well as does the intrigue in the closing pages. The twist from possible romance to tense actioner works well.
LoveQuest with art by Regis Donsimoni is the funnest, and funniest story within Fusillade. Set in a medieval world, bored Zaf wants to impress Sira by fighting village bully Raguur. He soon realises that reading a book on fighting just doesn’t cut it and undergoes training from Master To. He’s a slow learner, and To is most amused by his hapless efforts, but when three monsters tougher than Raguur show up, the real fight begins.
There’s also a gory Western tale, a tense action epic involving super powered cops and government experiments battling in L.A, opening and closing stories involving kid adventurers and more. All are easy to follow and are written well, with Shum showing great skill at creating life-like dialogue and likeable characters. Each story reveals a nice balance in humour and drama and with most of these, I’d like to see what happens next. That is one of the biggest problems though. There’s no “To Be Continued,” or intro from Shum stating that he’ll revisit these tales, and although some have more closure than others, hints from Shum about the future of Fusillade would’ve been nice, especially seeing that this could easily be someone’s first comic.
There is an obvious issue with the extra 25 non-story pages included too. Perhaps it made financial sense to bring the book up to 144 pages for printing purposes, but an explanation would’ve been nice, although I always enjoy seeing character sketches.
Half of the tales involve characters who are, or who dream of, having a career in Hollywood, and since Shum wrote and directed an indie film 5 years ago (The Secret World of Comic Book Artists), it makes sense that he’d have ties to the cinema world. It’d be nice to at least have an introduction as to why there’s 15 pages of interviews with actors Krysten Ritter, and T.J Miller and cinematographer Larry Fong though. They are very interesting reads, particularly the latter 2, but come from nowhere as the interviewees had nothing to do with the tales in the preceding pages, as far as I can tell. Unfortunately the issue of grammar/ spelling mistakes (I counted at least 6) that show up in some of the story’s text also continue in the chats. Yes, I’m being nitpicky, but it is noticeable.
Obviously this is a passion project for Shum, and it is something that could easily be given to anyone new or old to comics, who wants pretty pictures with engaging, stories with equal parts action and character, and the occasional laugh. Seeing as there’s a “1” printed on the spine, I’d only hope that the presentation issues could be resolved before volume 2.
You can check out 3 preview pages from each of the 8 stories within Fusillade right here.
49 mins. We discuss this year’s Eisner Award winners, including some surprises and a few faves, plus examine the recent OGN from Archaia, Giannis Milonogiannis’ sci-fi mash-up Old City Blues. Also, Home Alone 2, Garfield, the exclusion of Jedis and more.
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3:26 NEWS
The rather subtle DC Relaunch protest at Comic-Con
New Judge Dredd film images
Marvel gets the film rights back to Blade and Punisher
Nerdcore duo Kirby Krackle’s new album, Super Powered Love is now out
Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga
New DC animated films
Jack Kirby’s estate loses court case to Marvel
Captain America: The First Avenger is awesome. Here’s my full review
19:07 EISNER AWARD WINNERS
See the full list here
27:03 FEATURE REVIEW – OLD CITY BLUES
Set in Greece after a devastating flood, this sci-fi tale wears it influences proudly on its sleeve.
More info here and behind the scene commentary from writer/artist Giannis Milonogiannis here.
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