DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for May 22, 2013

COMICS

Aw, Yeah New 52! Our favorite all ages comic artist/writer team and famous cartoonists Art Baltazar and Franco put down the pen and pick up the typewriter for Green Team Teen Trillionaires #1 this week. Let the 1% finance your next important project! They’ve got more money than Scrooge McDuck! Art by Ig Guara … What’s going on with the glitchy tech in Mega City One? Judge Dredd investigates while being targeted for being killed by a fellow Judge. Judge Dredd #7 from Duane Swierczynski is THE LAW this week! … A new take on Little Red Riding hood takes the form of Akaneiro #1 from Dark Horse, based on American McGee’s new Spicy Horse video Game and Japanese folklore. … Picks LeaguePodcast.com.

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TRIPLE SHOT: SOLID STATE TANK GIRL #1, DOOMSDAY.1 #1 and DREAM MERCHANT #1 - FORCES OF GEEK

Three shots of comics are served down and neat for you today, burning up and investigating the insides of your body and soul!  We start off with the return of Tank Girl, John Bryne singes the Earth with a solar flare, and Nathan Edmondson delivers another story that branches out into a new fantasy genre, the mysteries of Dream Merchant.

SOLID STATE TANK GIRL #1 (of 4)
WRITER: Alan Martin
ART: Warwick J. Cadwell
Publication Date: May 15, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Titan Comics
UPC: 07447028032301
Buy it HERE


Remember Tank Girl? I sorta do. There was a 1995 movie, right? With the guy from Body Count and SVU.

Do you remember rock and roll radio, The Clash, Love and Rockets? The creators crammed all of that into a dyke role model with post apocalyptic kangaroo sidekick that live in a tank in Australia.

Jamie Hewlett went on to form Gorillaz, and original creator Alan Martin sort of wandered the countryside (seriously) looking to uncover ancient mysteries.

Martin has since resurrected the character in 2007, and Titan Books has released his latest story, Solid State Tank Girl with art by Warwick Johnson-Cadwell.

We see familiar faces—Booga, Jet Girl and Tank Girl.

We’re in a radio repair shop, something likely useful I the ‘80s or in post apocalyptic times. Booga zaps himself on an old radio and Tank Girl is put to task to revive him.

How do they do it? Honey I Shrunk the Kids style.

There’s a delightful few pages of ball humor before they do the Osmosis Jones bit and float into the gross kangaroo insides.

To cram just one more Netflix classic in there, perhaps the reason Booga has fallen ill could be found in the plot of Three Men and a Baby.

A fun, punk rock read with a female leading cast.

A backup story pits Tank Girl against Dick Strangeballs!

Tank Girl is Dead. Long Live Tank Girl!

DOOMSDAY.1 #1 (of 4)
WRITER/ARTIST: John Byrne
Publication Date: May 15, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: IDW Publishing
UPC: 82771400459500111
Buy it HERE


Master of storytelling and the comic book form John Byrne reboots a classic concept of his from the ‘70s withDoomsday.1 this week.

The four issue limited series is a post apocalyptic tale of solar flares wiping out the most of the habitable places on Earth.

Stuck in orbit on an international space voyage, a crew of seven watches helplessly as the planet is decimated by fire.

On the ground, The President, The Pope, a prison and a submarine crew hunker down away on different parts of the planet to save themselves. This gives us an idea that some pockets of humanity will survive the destruction.

A sacrifice is made in space to return the astronauts home after many orbits and the flare subsiding. A crash landing in the southern United States leaves the crew to to survive on a familiar an foreign planet.

I am a fan of John Byrne’s polarizing artwork and storytelling, and follow his work at IDW closely—from Angel to Star Trek. This book is for fans of The Walking Dead, Planet of the Apes, and Mad Max. Will these astronauts survive past the four issue mini-series, or will they bake on the surface of a planet they used to call home? I’m along for the ride!

Dream Merchant #1 (of 6)
WRITER: Nathan Edmondson
ART: Konstantin Novosadov
Publication Date: May 15, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Image Comics
UPC: 70985301362400111
Buy it HERE

Nathan Edmondson is no stranger to poking around in someone’s head.

His spy-fi action comic Jake Ellis takes place somewhat in protagonist Jon Moore’s head, as the specter of Jake Ellis guides him through missions. The Dream Merchant mini series is off to a strong start here.

Winslow has been plagued by persistent and recurring dreams, that preoccupy his waking moments. He’s checked for observation into a mental hospital in Burbank.

While there he befriends the cafeteria worker, juvenile delinquent Anne, who has a fondness for Wilson and lends him many books on dreams.

Sleep demons chase the two out of the hospital and they are guided by a mysteriously shrouded mentor with a staff, one who seems to have control over the dream state. The two hop a train and escape onto the road, following the bizarre figure.

This is a different type of story that Edmondson’s other work, The Activity or Jake Ellis in that there is no spy action or military tech involved yet.

This is more of a teenage adventure story that half takes place in the realm of dreams. The flavor of the dream world is more Harry Potter than it is ‘The Dreaming’ of Sandman books, and a bit more fun. Chapter 1 has the heroes on their journey, with no hints at where the roads may take the three next.

Art by Siberian Konstantin Novosadov is more Disney cartoon than Darwyn Cooke ‘50s illustration, but the solid black line work and facial expressions are seemingly influenced by both. 

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

EARTH PRIME TIME: SUPERMAN: UNBOUND

Superman: Unbound is the latest DC Universe Animated Original Movie based on an Action Comics arc written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank. Though not bogged down by New 52 continuity or pre-Flashpoint Superman Family architecture, the movie does a fair job at retelling the story of the five part Superman: Braniac in 75 minutes. Rumors are that this could be the last DCAU movie set in the old timelines, so continuity buffs and those wishing to celebrate Superman’s 75th birthday this year should give this a chance if you have not already. Since the story references Silver and Golden Age Superman subjects like the Bottled City Of Kandor and Collector of Worlds, this is both a movie for new fans anticipating Man of Steel and those with the House of El’s shield tattooed on their arms. Speaking of which, Supergirl is in for the action too.

 
Our story opens with Lois being abducted by some bad dudes in all black swat outfits from The Daily Planet. Perhaps a nod to our favorite Superman joke, Lois is in a pink outfit (and later has a pink phone and a pink laptop). She’s amazingly calm, because in this version, Lois and Clark are boyfriend and girlfriend. He has a way of saving her from these things.

It turns out that she’s not going to be rescued by big blue because he is dealing with an earthquake elsewhere. High over Metropolis, Miss Lane is in the back of a helicopter, almost helpless if not for her wit.

Heeding the call for action Supergirl uses her powers to defeat the bad guys until Kal shows up.

Cousin Kal reprimands her for using excessive force. This serves the story as an opportunity to introduce the villain of the movie, Braniac. Though not a direct sequel to Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, one can see this as the introduction of the character of Kara-El, cousin to Kal-El Superman.

Lois and Supergirl - Superman Unbound

Both movies rely on Supergirl’s motivations to drive the main story, in fact my girlfriend pointed out to me that the first film should really have been called Superman/Supergirl Apocalypse, as Batman and Wonder Woman were secondary characters.

Even with the amazing Andrea Romano as voice director there are still old fashioned gender issues in mainstream media.

Back on Krypton, before the explosion and Kal being sent to the Kent Farm, older cousin Kara witnessed a ship helmed by Braniac invade the capital of Kandor and slaughter many innocents. As the collector of worlds, Braniac bottled the city after shrinking it and he put this among his collection. Kara’s parents survived the blast and live in the bottle. Kara now can’t stand bullies, so she feels justified using so much force.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for May 15, 2013

COMICS

John Byrne (Superman, Star Trek, Next Men) takes a page from Marvel NOW! and gives us a Point One reboot of his post-apocolyptic space race 1975 Charlton comic Doomsday +1. The new book is Doomsday.1 #1 from IDW, taking place on the International Space Station with astronauts looking to return home to an Earth decimated by a solar flare! Hot Stuff! … The JSA Liberty Files have only been cracked this once since the New 52, and this issue of The Whistling Skull #6 marks the end of the miniseries. Written by B. Clay Moore and drawn by Tony F’n Harris, this steampunk via Hitler-smashing Sherlock Holmes type story is a masterpiece of the bizarre and macabre featuring the Whistling Skull and dimwit sidekick Nigel. Hard to put into words, really. … We haven’t forgotten about the all ages comic picks, this week we have Regular Show #1 from Boom! Studios. Mordecai the Bluejay and Rigby the Raccoon are just chillin’, yo. Whoa-Oh-Oh! Join ‘em for a regular day! … Picks LeaguePodcast.com.

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TRIPLE SHOT: TWELVE REASONS TO DIE #1, X #1 and ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG #0 at FORCES OF GEEK

It’s a numbers games as we dip into the 36 Chambers of Death with Ghostface Killah in the new book Twelve Reasons To Die.  Travel back in time with Archer and Armstrong #0 and take a dark turn with Dark Horse and Duane Swierczynski punishing the criminal bosses in city of Arcadia for a new number #1 of cult anti-hero, X. 

TWELVE REASONS TO DIE #1
CONCEPT: Ghostface Killah, Adrian Younge
WRITER: Matthew Rosenberg, CE Garcia, Patrick Kindlon
ART: Breno Tamura, Gus Storms, Kyle Strahm, Joe Infurnari, Dave Murdoch
Publication Date: May 8, 2013
Price: $3.50 
Publisher: Black Mask Comics in association with Soul Temple Entertainment LLC
UPC: 045778022014
Buy it HERE


“Up from the 36 Chambers…it’s the Ghostface Killah”, these lyrics from Clan in Da Front weren’t what I expected to yell when I went into the LCS on Wednesday, but I did, scaring some kids there getting some leftover Free Comic Book Day swag.


As you can tell from the credits, this hip-hop comic comes to you from a creative team that goes all the way up to the executive producer RZA.

Accompanying this book is a record and tour of the same name by hotshot producer Adrian Younge and Ghostface. 

The comic starts off with words like ‘pussy’ and ‘motherfucker’ and that sets the tone for the book.

Like Ghost’s lyrical flow, the comic references gangster history going back to the 40s through the 60s, and it isn’t too long before we are introduced to his alter-ego and star of the book, gang enforcer, the “other” Antony Starks. From La Costa Nostra to modern day nightclub drug deals, it’s grim and gritty. The artwork, benefitting from different artists in the first issue is dark and breaks off chapters well. Just like a RZA beat, nothing here is extraneous. All tells the story.

From the solicit as we find out that Anthony Starks is an enforcer for the DeLuca crime family in the 1960s. The family murders him after he falls in love with the kingpin’s daughter. You won’t know this from the first issue, but it is helpful background.

Starks remains are pressed into a dozen vinyl records and when played, the record invokes the spirit of Ghostface Killah, exacting revenge on his murderers.

High concept, great art and all accompanied by a soundtrack album that is already highly regarded? I am so down. This really is the summer of Ironman.

I didn’t even get to tell you about Black Mask Comics, a new publishing company from creator Steve Niles. We’re expecting great things from this new venture as well.

X #1
WRITER: Duane Swierczynski
ART: Eric Nguyen
Publication Date: May 8, 2013
Price: $1.99
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
UPC: 76156822527300111
Buy it HERE


Just last month, we re-introduced you to X from Dark Horse Comics.

Yes, another reboot. No, we don’t care.

Yes, we’re buying it. No, it’s not a cash grab.

Wait, am I answering questions in my head again? No? Good.

The masked vigilante has more in common with a Punisher of the MAX variety than any other character. He’s a strong, smart and capable vigilante that sits like a snake and plots his attack before doing so. His enemies are tipped off when he sends them a picture of themselves with a red giant X over their face. Most don’t take it seriously, or try to protect themselves from the vigilante when they know he is coming. Good luck, pal.

X has a particularly bloody streak, bloodlust and determination for meting out justice in his hometown of Arcadia.

Unlike Frank Castle, little is known about this cold killer’s origin. Hopefully Swierczynski will tap into that as the series rolls on.

The book opens on a warehouse full of corpses. Investigating detectives and officers on the scene prop up the heads of two of the dead laying in a nearby Caddy. The ominous red X from the photos is mirrored on their flesh, accompanied by multiple nails from a nail gun. Yeouch, X does not mess around!

As police check out the scene, a young blogger, screenname Muckracker aka Leigh Furgeson is poking around, tipped off by an old drunk about the massacre near his home. He flees Arcadia and leaves the detective work to Muckracker. 

Leigh opens her mailbox to find a message from X, crossed-out photos of some bad dudes including one of Leo Pietrain, the unfortunate villain locked in his panic room in issue #0. Ambulances take Leo away as Muckracker gets to the crime scene to see Leo’s piehole bleeding a red X through his ambulance stretcher sheet. 

In the third act of the issue, reader’s adrenaline levels spike as X springs into action once again. Though, this time it appears he’s been set up by the police. 

After a firefight and explosion, X and the snoopy Muckracker find themselves in an alley together. This might be the time for Leigh to either expose X or to lend him a hand. Tune in next issue for more pulse pounding action.

This book has the feel of a Batman: Year One, and obvious nods to the Frank Miller story in the art by Eric Nguyen are not off-putting but set a familiar tone. The action and blood is definitely more mature (not for kids) than your average Punisher story but all of the tropes here work really well to acclimate the fan to a newly rebooted, but never wildly popular anti-hero vigilante.

Swierczynski is on some great books right now with tough dudes as the lead roles. Check out his take on IDW’s Judge Dredd for more rugged justice!

ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG #0
WRITER: Fred Van Lente
ART: Clayton Henry
Publication Date: May 8, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Valiant Comics
UPC: 85899200306200011
Buy it HERE


Valiant Comics started the whole ‘prequel’ comics numbered “Issue #0” way back in the nineties.  Since then, companies have copied their style and in fact, DC’s New 52 had a whole series of “0” issues incorporated into their relaunch. It should come to no surprise to fans, speculators and collectors of the classic Valiant characters that Valiant has started to release prequels to their relaunched books as well.

Fred Van Lente (Spider-Man, G.I. Joe) brings his humor and well researched historical references to the latest, Archer and Armstrong #0.

Archer is a teenager, raised by extreme religious freaks on a compound. He escapes to find the truth about his parents. Armstrong is a nigh-invulnerable immortal warrior that is centuries old. This issue deals with Armstrong’s past through a retelling (reboot!) of the classic tale of Gilgamesh. How do we get there? Armstrong was part of the story and recounts it firsthand! Raised a poet among warriors with brothers Gilad (Eternal Warrior) and Ivar (Timewalker).

Some Vine-like tech is discovered in ancient Mesopotamia and the brothers go to investigate. They are greeted by men in robes who introduce them to the Boon device, the supernatural tablet that grants Armstrong his immortality. There’s dinosaur fighting, alien tech and ancient history rolled up into a delicious story that’s way better than junior high history and literature classes. 

This issue is part Jurassic Park, part Rome and equal parts the origin of pizza in G.I. Joe Yearbook#3 — My Dinner With Serpentor.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

EARTH PRIME TIME: USAGI YOJIMBO: WAY OF THE RONIN GAME & LECTURE AT MFA

Stan Sakai created the rabbit ronin Usagi Yojimbo nearly 30 years ago. Usagi may seem familiar to hardcore fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for his guest appearances there. This weekend, as part of a special event and samurai exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Sensei Sakai and game developer Mike Levine of HappyGiant are slated to talk about the first Usagi video game in over 25 years, Usagi Yogimbo: Way of The Ronin (iOS / Android). We spoke with Mike about what to expect about from the game, the exclusive MFA Samurai Saturdays level, and about working with a master of the comic book form by way of bringing this fun side-scrolling sword and slashing game to market.

 
DIGBOSTON: Hi Mike – Thanks for coming! Can you tell me please about HappyGiant and what your role is there?

MIKE LEVINE: HappyGiant is my company, most of the company and myself have been in the games industry for 10-20 years. I worked for LucasArts in the ’90s for most of it and worked for some startups out in San Francisco. I came back here and started my own companies includingPileated Pictures, which was well known in Massachusetts for working with Hasbro and other properties. We were lucky to make some money and we’re now focused on mobile and the new company, HappyGiant.

Have you been a developer for a long time, or writing games for that long?

At LucasArts, I worked in the art department, constantly developing new techniques to create art. I would sit between really amazing artists and the programmers and we were in the middle making it all work in the games.

I’ve been a writer, designer and art director. We’re a small company so we all wear many hats.

Is this your first mobile game?

No, we’ve been doing it for a few years. We slowly crawled into it. We’ve done Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters and last summer we did the app for The Dictator film. We are also known for our high end pet sims Dolphin Paradise: Wild Friends. There’s another one that just came out, Orca Paradise: Wild Friends. We did Orca at the same time as Usagi. We used the Unity game engine to make both the games.

Very cool. Can I ask…are you a comic book fan?

Yes I am.

Usagi Yojimbo No. 1 - Stan Sakai

Have you been a Usagi Yojimbo fan for as long as I have?

Probably not. I grew up reading comics, now my kids are reading my comics. I was a heavy Marvel guy, Walt Simonson’s Thor, Frank Miller’s Ronin and Dark Knight Returns. I read all the Lone Wolf & Cub books. I knew of Usagi, but don’t remember reading it. The story goes that a couple of years ago, my friend brought me 5-6 Usagi books and urged me to read them.

As soon as I started reading them, I couldn’t put them down, I read one after the other. When I got to Book 10 or 12, I decided, “This needs to be a game”!

It came together very smoothly with Dark Horse and Stan and getting in touch with them. I like to think when things are meant to be, things go smoothly, and this was one of those cases.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for May 8, 2013

COMICS

They Trojan-Horsed the villain in the new Iron Man movie, but you know what we get as a result? A bizarre marketing ploy (that worked) that moves from Marvel NOW! to Marvel THEN!. Coordinated with the new flick, Marvel releases an untold tale of Ol’ Shellhead in Iron Man #258.2, harkening back to the days of 8bit computer graphics and mullets, the glorious 90s and Armor Wars II. Written by David Micheline and Bob Layton, with art by Bob and David Ross we are treated to a pre-RDJ Iron Man being attacked by a computer virus. … We’re sort of scared of the spy-fi black helicopters showing up if we don’t plug Nathan Edmondson’s Where is Jake Ellis #4 (part 9). Check out our EARTH PRIME TIME interview with Nate! … You’re All Just Jealous Of My Jetpack from The Guardian and NYT cartoonist Tom Gauld gets the hardcover treatment from Drawn and Quarterly this week. It’s the perfect gift for Mom (she just has to be funny, not necessarily into the history of comics—though that helps)! … Picks LeaguePodcast.com and Samurai Saturdays at the MFA..

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LeaguePodcast FCBD 2013 - YouTube Playlist with Clay & Stacey

TRIPLE SHOT: TEN GRAND #1, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #9 and IRON MAN 258.1- FORCES OF GEEK

TRIPLE SHOT: 
TEN GRAND #1, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1 and IRON MAN 258.1

Has JMS grounded himself to a new imprint, Doc Ock has really messed with the wrong Spider and to celebrate Iron Man 3 (we guess), Marvel takes us back to the Roaring ‘90s for a David Michelinie, Dave Ross and Bob Layton retread Armor Wars II with a flashback story arc starring Tony Stark in Iron Man #258.1.

TEN GRAND #1
WRITER: J. Michael Straczynski
ART: Ben Templesmith
Publication Date: May 2, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Image Comics
UPC: 70985301360000111
Buy it HERE

J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) is responsible for one of the best sci-fi shows on television, prior to the Battlestar Galactica reboot, Babylon 5.

He has also upset fans with controversial runs on Amazing Spider-Man and Superman. The latter got him summarily dismissed from DC Comics and he handed the Grounded storyline over to Chris Roberson. Not many people were happy with a Superman ‘walking the country’.

He stays on the character with his equally controversial series of original graphic novels for DC, a grittier two volume Superman: Earth One hardcovers with the Shane Davis on art. 

Not many books have graced the shelves since Superman: Earth One Volume Two written by JMS. This is likely because of his plan to revisit his Top Cow imprint Joe’s Comics with some creator owned series. 

The first of this rebooted imprint’s titles is Ten Grand written by JMS with art by horror spooksmith Ben Templesmith. The story is based on the noir trope of having a dame walk into a private dick’s office, with an insolvable case. Here in issue #1, at the start we realize that former mob enforcer Joe Fitzgerald has touches with an angel figure, summoned by necromancy and demonology. Joe spends most of his days awaiting freelance assignments from a neighboring watering hole.

Joe is also entered into a deal with the demons haunting his world. His woman was killed in front of him, and to reconnect with his Laura, he has become an enforcer for the dark spiritual world. 

This book is great, if a little heavy on the recurring themes. It is a successful matchup of noir, horror, gangster and necromantic genres. Though not a funny book, this draws similarities to Chew. This is also recommended for fans of Sandman, Lucifer and Death.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #9
WRITER: Dan Slott
ART: Ryan Stegman
Publication Date: May 2, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
UPC: 75960607912400911
Buy it HERE
 
Does anyone besides me remember the Prince album,Controversy?

The title track is the one to listen to on Spotify halfway through this book! Warning: this review (though not typical of me) contains spoilers! If you love Peter Parker, but have not read this book yet, please skip below to my benign Iron Man review. Seriously!

Dan Slott loves getting us all worked up, doesn’t he? The reason he does is because he likes Spider-Man more than anyone!

There is even a very obscure reference to a Spider-Man lettering blooper from Amazing Spider-Man #1, where Peter is called Peter Palmer for one panel! 

He’s killed Peter and Doc Ock has taken over Peter’s body, and making a Superior Spider-Man (hopefully you’ve caught up to that story, that’s not my spoiler). Old eight arms is swinging around, being rude to everyone, but sort of being a better — superior — Spider-Man, and one that uses lethal force. Fortunately for the 616, Doc’s intentions albeit with different motivations are in line with the whole ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ thing.

In this issue, Doc has discovered that an avatar of Peter’s memories (we’ve seen Peter as a blue ghost) exists in his head! Oh. Noes. Like a splinter, Octavius seeks to extract this menace from his brain, and has the right tools to do so. Uh-oh.

A psychic battle ensues as Peter (and an awesomely drawn by Ryan Stegman Amazing Spider-Man) happens in the brain space of Peter Parker’s memories. On Peter’s side we have J. Jonah Jameson, Captain Stacy, Gwen, Uncle Ben, you name it. Over on Ock’s side are visions of Uncle Ben’s killer, The Kingpin, The Sinister Six, Kraven and Chameleon. 

The constructs are knocked away by Superior, as his Neurolitic Scanner connected to a tablet is about to run the “Delete Peter Parker from My Brain” app. Peter’s memories fade. They fade, eventually to black. Slott has crushed everyone’s hopes that Peter will take back control of his body and be The Amazing Spider-Man once again.

Search twitter to see everyone’s mind blown after this issue. Haters are coming out of the woodwork. Thankfully, we think the death threats to Dan Slott have gone away.

Make mine Marvel NOW!, if this is what we can expect. How do you keep a 51 year old property fresh? Give it to Slott. He’ll kill it, extract it, build it up and then take your toys away. 

Is Peter still out there, somewhere? He’ll be back before Amazing Spider-Man 2 hits the theaters.

IRON MAN 258.1
WRITER: David Michelinie / Bob Layton
ART: David Ross / Bob Layton
Publication Date: May 2, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
UPC: 75960607421100111
Buy it HERE

This is a shellhead scratcher if we ever saw one. We know our comics. We love our Armor Wars. We love our Marvel. We love our movies.

Marvel goes back 23 years on the Iron Man 3 box office debut weekend for a Point One initiative two-shot set in the time of Armor Wars II. We’d have loved to see M.D. Bright or John Romita Jr. on a cover but Bob Layton will do.

This is just weird enough for us to be in love with it a little bit.

Who doesn’t love a superhero with a mullet, or computers with 8-bit fonts and dial-up modem sounds?

Also, suitcase armor. The once forgotten about, impossibly heavy, but resurrected for Iron Man 2, suitcase armor. 

Tony is recovering from back surgery and paralysis. It turns out, that Justin Hammer is behind implanting him with nanites to control his body under the guise of recovery.

A drone attack on Stark Enterprises riles Rhody to the company helicopter, and Stark’s body guard, Iron Man takes flight. The autopilot takes over and is on a collision course. Iron Man saves James Rhodes from the crash and destroys the drones.

Back at his doctor’s office, Iron Man investigates the biomass removed from his spine, only to discover he is being played by a computer energy form. Will these bits and bytes spark the nextArmor Wars? Travel back in time or wait until next month to find out!

A detail that made me nostalgic for old comics was thought bubbles. Can’t have too many, in my opinion. And now in modern comics we have none! OK, back to playing Zelda 2 for me!

[READ MORE at FORCESOFGEEK]

EARTH PRIME TIME: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 PREVIEW

Whoa what a couple o’ weeks, amiright? Did you know that nearly every comic book company worth a gosh darn gives out free comic books on the first Saturday in May? That’s right, I think we can all use a little outing this Saturday. Here are some of our most anticipated free comics to pick up at your LCS (Local Comic Shop) this weekend. Don’t be greedy, take only one! We previewed the free books last year…and we’re still into comics. Who knew?

 
One thing is for sure, publishers look forward to unleashing their swag on this geek high holiday every year, and they always pull out all of the stops. Free Comic Book Day means many different things to many different people. The day was brainstormed into being in 2001, and came to be the following year in 2002 to coincide with the release of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. This year’s movie of course is Iron Man 3, opening Friday.

The manifesto is three parts simple, and found on the font of knowledge, Wikipedia:

To introduce everyone to the joys of reading comics.
To call back former comic book readers.
To thank current comic book buyers for their continued support.

Many stores have signings, candy, costume contests and more to celebrate the day, so if you are like us (which you aren’t), you’ll be hopping on your bike or the T on a virtual tour of the city, high-fiving your favorite shop owners, buying some trades and collecting an issue of all of your favorite free comics. Clay’s favorite part of this weekend is that even 25-cent bins are sometimes cleared out gratis. LeaguePodcast likes deals!

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for May 1, 2013

COMICS

There was a time when we thought Gail Simone’s departure from DC Comics was permanent. The talented writer is back on Batgirl and now gives us the comic book take on #occupy with The Movement #1. A citizen’s army strikes back against greed! … We’re still amazed at our interview with The Activity’s Nathan Edmondson. For true to life military and service drama, complete with all the tech gadgets you see on the news and strategic exfils and infiltrations, join Nate and guest artist Mark Laming on The Activity #12. … Shadowman was also featured in an EARTH PRIME TIME last year, and nothing is better than a Zero Issue from the company that invented them, Valiant Comics. Go way back twenty-five years to learn the mysteries of sorcerer Master Darque and the nightmare realm of Deadside in >Shadowman #0. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com episode #150!.

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TRIPLE SHOT: ADVENTURE TIME #15, ULTIMATE COMICS: WOLVERINE #3, DAREDEVIL: END OF DAYS #7

Oh My Glob. Whatever! 

A Triple Shot full of surprises and WTF moments, but not over at DC this week.  

Adventure Time flips the script as the princesses save Finn and Jake, we find out the secret of the Mothervine from Ultimate half-brother Quicksilver in the Ultimate Wolverine, and in the future we see someone else behind the devil horns in the penultimate issue of Daredevil: End of Days.

ADVENTURE TIME #15
WRITER: Ryan North
ART: Shelli Paroline, Braden Lamb
Publication Date: April 18, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Boom! Studios
UPC: 84428400279001511
Buy it HERE

FREE SIGNING, in lieu of BOSTON COMIC CON panel on SUN. 4/21 at COMICAZI.

This is changed to a SIGNING at COMICOPIA! #BOSTONSTRONG - Shelli Paroline (Adventure Time) x Braden Lamb (Adventure Time, Ice Age, Duck Tales)

FACEBOOK EVENT

Magic Man is such a butt. He thinks it’s cool to crash Princess Bubblegum’s Princess High Tea Party with his Magic.

Meanwhile, outside Jake and Finn wish they could get in but at least have the respect to honor the only rule—princesses only!

In an attempt to silence the rantings of our favorite purple princess, Lumpy Space Princess (LSP), Magic Man casts a spell to silence her!

We could have used like, a few more panels of like, LSP calling her friend Melissa who by glob just needs to hear about this lumping party, but Jake wearing Finn as a suit dives like James Brady to stop the spell.

This saves the princesses’ voice but Finn and Jake fall silent!

The boys are able to communicate using pictures in their speech balloons, a technique only possible in comic books! Much like the recent A Glitch is A Glitch episode, AT continues to effortlessly push boundaries of all mediums. Fans of the show should be all over this book!

Our video game pal BMO is able to communicate with the boys because he is the best at emoticons. After some sammiches, they meet up with the Action Hero princesses defeat Magic Man! Princess Bubblegum has the plan to recover their voices and it totally works!

The Princesses get to save Finn and Jake for a change and LSP is among the heroes!

Don’t skip the Downton Abbey referencing 8 page BMO backup story by Jeremy Sorese. BMO’s memory banks are full, but Princess Bubblegum and Peppermint Butler have a crash plan to recover BMO from defensive mode!


 

ULTIMATE COMICS: WOLVERINE #3 (of 4)
WRITER: Cullen Bunn
ART: David Messina
Publication Date: April 17, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
UPC: 75960607887500311
Buy it HERE

Jimmy Hudson (Ultimate X) has family secrets. Many family secrets. Raised by adoptive parents James and Heather Hudson he is on a mission to find out more about his past. His biological father is Wolverine, who died by the hands of Magneto in Ultimatum.

The story is told half in flashbacks with Logan as the star. The previous Ultimate X storyline had me a bit interested, mostly because we had just gotten through Ultimatum and legend Art Adams was on art duties. I fell off after a few issues.

This mini-series written by Cullen Bunn caught my eye because I am a fan of Cullen’s work onVenom. The man can write thoughtful stories that are full of action and cool plot points. The subplots here and the flashbacks are on par with the pacing and storytelling of the Venom book and there are always great cliffhangers at the end.

Many years ago Logan is investigating Project: Mothervine, a secret government project to produce mutants, when he meets The Witch, Magda Lensherr. Magda was at one point married to Magneto, and they sired creep Quicksilver and his sister Wanda (Scarlet Witch). After Logan and Magda hook up, it is revealed that she is Jimmy’s biological mother. Meaning, if you follow the genealogy strings that Jimmy and Quicksilver are the not only brothers, but the only surviving members of the family.

The end of the issue leaves Jimmy and mutant travel companion Black Box imprisoned in an undisclosed Quicksilver jail. They plot their escape and overthrow of Pietro. Next issue will be the last of the mini, and we are rooting for our new Ultimate Wolverine to take on the strength of his father’s legacy to face the evil Lensherr as he rises as a powerful evil mutant.

DAREDEVIL: END OF DAYS #7 (of 8)
WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack
PENCILS: Klaus Janson
FINISHED ART: Bill Siekiewicz
COLORS: Matt Hollingsworth
Publication Date: April 17, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
UPC: 75960606046700711
Buy it HERE

This is a future tale, a Dark Knight Returns for Daredevil written and drawn by creators who have had a long history with The Man Without Fear.
This is a true masterwork, years in the making, that delivers on so many levels with each issue. The collected edition of this book will be a recommendation for years to come as an example of how to tell a story.

Daredevil has been murdered, in the public eye, by Bullseye.

Matt speaks one final word, “Mapone”, and it is up to Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich to write the story of Daredevil and find out what Mapone might mean. Is it a name, a hideout, an enemy or a long lost son? We’re no closer to discovering the answer as issue #7 rolls around.

While visiting The Church of the Hand, Incorporated, Urich is telekinetically overtaken by Tanaka after inquiring about Mapone. Tanaka demands to see Ben’s notes and asks him what he knows about Daredevil’s trainer, Stick. Urich narrowly escapes, but is he unharmed?

Ben makes his way to an address he was tipped off about, and finds some information but only before being trailed by The Hand ninjas. 

A young Daredevil rescues Urich with the aid of The Punisher. In the fracas, Urich is struck by an arrow, and in a soon to be classic reveal, the new Daredevil unmasks and comforts the reporter.

We’ll be both sad and satisfied when this story is done. Bendis and Mack have included all of the rogues, most of the ladies and tropes of 49 years of continuity in this limited series set in the future.

Next April will be Daredevil’s 50th, and this collection will be a great way to commemorate that anniversary. Masters Janson and Sienkiewicz know the dark world of Hell’s Kitchen well, and rival only Frank Miller himself in drawing countless ninja on a page.

Well done, sirs. 

 [READ MORE at FORCESOFGEEK.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME: COMIC CON ASSEMBLES TO BRING HOPE AND SUPER-HEROISM TO BOSTON

Can we bring some hope, some superheroes to the Back Bay this weekend, please? Obviously the true heroes, the first responders, runners, Back Bay workers, reporters and real actual people are more important to have in your thoughts this weekend. We’re fighting back the tears as we write to tell you to make it to Boston Comic Con this weekend to celebrate togetherness, hope and fictional heroes that give so many hope in even the darkest days. If you think it is a silly endeavor, that’s fine too. In fact, most adults enthusiastic about the convention’s announcement on Tuesday recognize the convention as a place to cosplay and embrace a passionate hobby, and to take a well deserved break from watching the news. As for the kids, please let them enjoy this day dressed up like The Flash or Wonder Woman and think that heroes are real. Because they are. I met a few on Monday.  

You know the day started pretty regular for me on Monday, and enjoying the holiday meant some quiet time in the office. My boss’s young nephew was playing Marvel Super Hero Squad and we talked Spider-Man of course. Before leaving with his aunt, to catch the rest of the race and experience the Boston Marathon for the first time, I slid him last year’s Free Comic Book Day Ultimate Spidey and Avengers comic to say goodbye. Luckily, they turned around before making it downtown and headed home. I stayed working until all of our days were destroyed by the bombings.

I won’t apologize for expressing my feelings on the day here, this particular Earth Prime Time is a coping mechanism.

The rest of the day was phone calls, cancellations, making sure staff was safe and watching twitter and Facebook feeds, along with WCVB’s coverage on television.

I rightly was dealing with the present, and remembering walking down a barren Boylston St. on 9/11 on my way home to Mission Hill from Milk St. Close friends were dropping into the Middle Eastwith stories and encounters with the blasts. After being reassured that Cambridge Police would check in on the club, I went home to restlessly attempt to sleep.

Tuesday, the same news feed from Facebook greeted me immediately. Boston Comic Con group declared,

“Boston Comic Con is happy to announce that the convention will go on this weekend as scheduled!”

Damn hell frakkin’ right, it will. Right there. Where it all went down. And you know what else is happening? Our party at McGreevy’s on Saturday night. What more protection could the League and pals need than the Dropkick Murphys associated sports bar just 1,200 steps from Fenway Park.

As the President said, “If you want to know who we are, who America is, how we respond to evil—that’s it: selflessly, compassionately, unafraid.”

Admittedly, both statements got me worked up and woken up and ready to do this thing. Critiques of false patriotism, faux hometown pride mixed with partisan and religious opinions of the bombings and how they affected our city are all swept away like tiny Roman numerals from a Risk board for me to sort out when this weekend is over. I’ve got strong counters to most of what I’ve been hearing people soapbox about for the past few days but I am going to concentrate on actively participating in a highlight of my year each year, the Boston Comic Con.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

TRIPLE SHOT: X #0, INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE #1, G.I.JOE: COBRA FILES #1

Triple Shot stays independent this week with some violent first issues to get the blood flowing through your veins and onto the street.

We start with the resurrected X from Dark Horse and move toward the expanded Invincible Universe and finally ending with Volume 4 of Mike Costa’s spyfi G.I.Joe: Cobra Series from IDW.

X #0 - “THE PIGS”
WRITER: Duane Swierczynski
ART: Eric Nguyen
Publication Date: April 10, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
UPC: 76156822568600011
Buy it HERE

Duane Swierczynski can write us a violent comic book with dark dark and violent leading men. His work on both the Punisher and Valiant Comic’s reboot of Bloodshot are proof of this recently. We begin to wonder if he reflects on the real life corruption and violence of his hometown of Philadelphia.

X #0 from Dark Horse Comics debuts this week, originally printed in the popular anthology comic Dark Horse Presents, this one-shot introduces the city of Arcadia and the upper echelon of the criminal underworld running the city.

Missing an eye, and with a cool costume with a red ‘X’ on his hood (look out, new Cyclops, X was here first!) the character is foreboding and intimidating. Our boy is similar to Frank Castle in this way, with one exception. If you are a bad buy, and you receive a picture of yourself in the mail with a red-Sharpied ‘X’ across your face, get out of town. This is X’s warning….he’s coming for you.

X uses a variety of weapons from swords to fists, car bombs, machine guns, serrated knives and crowbars to get various jobs done and wipe out the major players in Arcadia in this issue.

X is as cunning as Batman and Punisher, and seems to have the upper hand on the criminals in the book from unseen detective work. Swierczynski even works in the obvious parallels as boss Pietrain is taunting him from his panic room.

This book reminds me of ‘90s Punisher War Journal and War Zone, in the best way possible. Lone vigilante, spilling guts and getting the bad guys. The X reboot is off to a great start, with an ongoing promised on the last page. Be careful, though, you may be off of spaghetti and sausage for a few days after reading this book. The Arcadia Meatpacking District sausage ingredients are very ‘fresh’.

INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE #1
WRITER: Phil Hester
ART: Todd Nauck
Publication Date: April 10, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Image Comics
UPC: 70985301354900111
Buy it HERE

Phil Hester continues to expand on the Invincible Universe with a new #1 issue this week. Formerly a spinoff ofInvincible, Guardians of the Globe (or Guarding the Globe) spotlighted the popular superhero team featured in the original series.

A hybrid of Avengers or Justice League, and led by Invincible’s sometime boss, Cecil Stedman, the Guardians are protecting the globe from the usual—Viltrumite mustaches, underwater monsters, prison breaks—that sort of thing.

Let’s also point out that Invincible is in no way a leader to the team.

Sometime’s he’s just getting in the way of Robot and company doing their real work anyway and it always seems like there’s some resentments brewing on the Guardians side, with Mark directly or indirectly putting the world at risk with his actions, constantly.

Cecil is barking orders at his new assistant who he wishes to call Agent Edelman, not her given name at all. Taking action across the world are The Guardians, cleaning up after the events ofInvincible #100. Cecil observes remotely and strategizes his chess moves. Disappointingly, the team is not ever assembled properly in this setup issue, but seen in vignettes of them in action across the world.

The title change from Guardians to Invincible Universe seems to be including more of the Skybound! imprint’s properties like The Astounding Wolf-Man, Capes, Inc. and Tech Jacket. 

Overall I’m curious to see where the story is headed, with a new villain introduced toward the end of the issue that reminds us of Fin Fang Foom! 

Phil Hester is great, and so is Todd Nauck on art, and I understand the expansion of the property to more than one book, but Invincible by Kirkman will always be the canonical Invincible story. Lee and Kirby created the Marvel Universe, but with many other collaborators introducing stories along the way to weave the fabric. With only a few writers and artists interpreting the Kirkman vision for the Invincible Universe, the side stories feel like they don’t mean much or fall flat sometimes. 

Two thumbs up for this book, for sure, but let’s blow this thing out with more mini-series and some new heroes. This is a great alternative to mainstream superhero team books like Teen Titans, Justice League or any of the Avengers books.

G.I.JOE: COBRA FILES #1 (COBRA Vol. 4)
WRITER: Mike Costa
ART: Antonio Fuso
Publication Date: April 10, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: IDW Publishing
UPC: 82771400452600111
Buy it HERE

It’s a new season of G.I.Joe: Cobra kicking off this week under a new title. Mike Costa continues his espionage book on the G.I.Joe franchise that caused a great reaction to the repurposing of Hawaiian shirt wearing Chuckles in 2009.

Chuckles assassinated Cobra Commander with a gunshot wound to the head, and sacrificed himself to nuke Cobra Island in the pages of this book.

Basically, there is no messing around here.

Fans of the new G.I.Joe: Retaliation movie would be confused by picking up these books, whereas fans of 24 and Homeland will be delighted.

By the end of the last volume, there is a new Pit headquarters in Las Vegas for a cadre of Joes and a very important prisoner, Tomax Paoli. The surviving crimson twin has been providing insider Cobra intel for the Joes upon striking an agreement with them. In this first issue of the new season, Tomax is plotting his escape or purposefully leaking info that will benefit him, such as tracking down his personal Cobra enemies, therefore putting his deal in jeopardy.

On the Joe team, Chameleon, half-sister of the Baroness is having an identity crisis. A defector from Cobra and also someone with insider Cobra intel is being psychoanalyzed on the first pages of the book. When she heads out to the field on a mission to tackle Copperhead, things go FUBAR when the ex-Cobra officer’s son points a shotgun at her.

Flint resolves the situation with quick legwork. 

In an attempt to self-treat her PTSD, Chameleon rushes to the comforting arms of a fellow soldier, but this very well could affect her relationships with the rest of her team.

We’re off to another great run on this non traditional licensed property book. People love G.I.Joe: Cobra, and for good reason. There is espionage, tech, business at a multinational level and great action. It’s especially cool to see a updated versions of previously silly action figures Croc Master, Copperhead and Tomax/Xamot (RIP). 

A teaser from last season’s closer is dropped on us at the end. The mystery of the late Cobra Commander’s son, in a coma. We hope his name is Billy and he can recall Arashikage training. 

“Cobra-La-La-La-La-La!”

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for March 20, 2013

COMICS

COBRA! With G.I. Joe: Retaliation holding strong behind the debut of League favorite Evil Dead this weekend, it’s time to hit the comic shop for a New #1 of G.I. Joe Cobra Files, written by Mike Costa (Transformers, Smoke & Mirrors, G.I. Joe: Cobra). Nathan Edmondson checked into our secret DigBoston lab a few weeks ago to spill some state secrets, but Where is Jake Ellis? Issue #4 of the acclaimed second Jake Ellis spyfi series hits shelves today! … Punisher’s Duane Swierczynski reboots Dark Horse ’90s ultraviolent protector of Arcadia, X in a new issue of X #0 with art from Eric Nguyen. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Pass the Daily Dig along! Your friends can sign up here!

TRIPLE SHOT: MISS FURY #1, INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #6 & HARBINGER WARS #1

Sometimes triple shot might mean to you 3 shots of espresso over ice, with caramel, whipped cream and salt. 

Before exclaiming “Ew!”, you gotta realize that too much of a good thing is still many good things all jammed into one big awesome thing. 

This week’s stack of comics is the $8 coffee drink of the springtime, worth every delicious penny.

MISS FURY #1

WRITER: Rob Williams 
ART: Jack Herbert
COVER: Alex Ross
Publication Date: April 3, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
UPC: 72513020398400111
Buy it HERE

The Shadow, Green Hornet, The Spider and more are fighting The Justice Party over in the pulp superhero book,Masks.

They are joined by a proto-Catwoman (Black Cat, Hellcat, take your pick) Miss Fury to add a bit of feline finesse to the team.

Here at the new #1, we’re given a fresh origin story of the character and some insight into her powers.

The story opens in 1943 atop the roof of a museum wherein lies the Rwandan Diamond Crown. Miss Fury takes on a cadre of goons and a time traveling Nazi. She’s saved by Harmon, an O.S.S. (CIA) man who she promptly punches before falling through a skylight and into a time portal, waking up in modern day Manhattan.

At this point we’re given her African safari origin story and hallucinogenic ritual that grants her powers before returning to America to find out her father is dead, leaving Marla Drake all of his fortune. Miss Drake returns changed from her experience abroad and sets her eyes on stealing the crown. The cat burglar gene runs strong in her trope!

The burglar aspect of the story is not the strong point, the real hook is the Butterfly Effect time travel reveal at the end. Why is Miss Fury traveling through Nazi time portals and what kind of world does she confront in the present? Read issue #2 to find out. This book for fans of Black Cat, Catwoman, Doctor Who and of course Dynamite’s Masks team book!
 

INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #6

WRITER: Mark Waid
ART/COVER: Walter Simonson
COLORS: Andreas Mossa
Publication Date: April 3, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
UPC: 75960607908700611
Buy it HERE

Alright, we’ve been blowing up Mark Waid a bit here but for good reason.

He’s cranking out the hot stuff lately. While Waid’s storytelling is intelligent and moves the industry forward in ways (Daredevil, Thrillbent) the real news about this issue is his collaboration with longtime Thor artist Walter Simonson on art in Indestructible Hulk #6.


The setup for this book is that Dr. Bruce Banner is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as a research scientist and top brainy guy. You know who also works for S.H.I.E.L.D.?

The Hulk.

While we’re not certain on the overtime pay for a split personality, we do know how Hulk is employed. When something needs a good smash, send Hulk in, and he smashes away. It’s controlled chaos, Hulk used as a weapon for the government. Only now realizing this is pretty similar to the current Venom premise, whereby Flash Thompson is given monitored access to the Venom symbiote to give him powers as a super soldier.

What better use of Walter Simonson’s talents than to put him on a Hulk book and to include our good friend Thor Odinson. That’s right, boys and girls, Banner travels to Jotunheim (you may remember the land of the Frost Giants from the Thor movie) to gather up some legendary energy source of some kind or another. Who cares? The excitement explodes on the facing page when the Thor we grew up with in the 80s swoops down with Mjolnir to ask what they are doing there.

It seems the Son of Odin does not recognize his friend Banner, and Bruce is also wondering in his narration why Thor is not wearing his modern costume. Perhaps we have a doppelganger Thor here?

At this point the Frost Giants show up, and attack Thor and the team. Banner is encapsulated in ice, a familiar place for an Avenger, before getting super pissed and having his growth spurt. Luckily it’s easier for him to fight Frost Giants as Hulk, but he can’t do it without assistance. The Asgardian at this point is separated from his mighty hammer.

I started off getting Waid’s first issues, with Lenil Yu on art and it was great, but dropped off. If we get two masters on one book for a while this will be a no-brainer and an easy recommendation to anyone that’s not on the Wednesday comic book cycle.

HARBINGER WARS #1

WRITERS: Joshua Dysart
STORY: Joshua Dysart & Duane Sweirczynski
ART: Clayton Henry, Clayton Crain, Mico Suayan
COVER: Lewis LaRosa
Publication Date: April 3, 2013
Price: $3.99
UPC: 85899200308600111
Buy it HERE

The relaunch of Valiant Comics was an industry shot in the arm with it’s Summer of Valiant last year.

A strong suit of the ‘90s Valiant Universe was it’s similarity to the Marvel Universe, as there was a shared history of the fictional universe, with diverse characters and story lines ranging from aliens to psionicly powered children, ninjas and voodoo.


This made for easy crossovers and guest appearances in the books.

Miming the success of these crossovers, we have had Ninjak appear in X-O Manowar in the reboot and now we have the first official event comic or crossover in the modern takes on the characters in Harbinger Wars #1.

The Harbingers are close to an X-Men type team with super powered kids of all different ‘psionic’ abilities, lead by corporate mastermind Toyo Harada. The Harbinger Foundation has been colluding with the government’s Project Rising Spirit program to imprison some of the most powerful young psiots and use them for deadly immoral missions.

A new cast of young psiots are introduced with cool codenames like Chronos, The Telic, Traveler and Hive (we’re Legion of Superheros fans here, Chronos-Boy has a nice ring to it, too!). Of course we see Harbinger Peter Stanchek here with his rebels and he even has an encounter/vision of The Bleeding Monk (still the creepiest).

Bloodshot, a product of Project Rising Spirit liberates some of the imprisoned psiots from their facility, and Harada is in hot pursuit of losing his precious weapons.

It’s Bloodshot teaming with the rebels to protect these kids, as Toyo Harada and the rest of the Harbinger team players are seeking revenge. And this is the action only in issue #1 of four.

Amazing art, story and crossing over of characters we have been waiting for since last summer in these fine looking books. Starting Valiant launches an 8-bit campaign with pixelated covers of all of their books. Only weeks away is Harbinger Wars: Battle for Las Vegas, an 8-Bit Game tied into the series coming to Android and iOS. I can’t wait to shoot guns as Bloodshot!

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for April 3, 2013

COMICS

I huge complaint about the New 52 reboot was about the numbering for the issues. As a fan service, DC will recognize it’s flagship title’s 900th issue in Detective Comics #19, which would have been a landmark issue had the reboot never happened. It’s Batman vs. the ManBats in “What is the 900”? by John Layman and Jason Fabok. … Legendary artist and amazingly nice guy Walter Simonson (Fantastic Four, Thor) picks up the mighty pen for art duties on Mark Waid’s Indestructible Hulk #6. Guest starring a familiar blond Norse God! … The spotlight is turned onto Autobot Trailcutter in the latest in the series, Transformers Spotlight: Trailcutter. Autobot ship Lost Light has been boarded by Decepticons, can Trailcutter’s force field protect his shipmates? … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

Pass the Daily Dig along! Your friends can sign up here!

TRIPLE SHOT: GREEN HORNET #1, DARK KNIGHT #18 & DOCTOR WHO #7

Let’s line ‘em up boys. 

It’s been an unusually long work week so let’s knock back some Green Hornet from Mark Waid, Ethan Van Sciver’s take on The Dark Knight starring Mad Hatter and listen to Cracker’s Low as the soundtrack to the latest Doctor Who — in space!

MARK WAID’S GREEN HORNET #1
WRITER: Mark Waid
ART: Daniel Indro
COVER: Paulo Rivera
Publication Date: March 27, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
UPC: 72513020289500111


I wished to keep this as a two word review: “Mark Waid”, but we all know you deserve my usual insight and over use of exclamation points to extoll the virtues of another fine comic from the man that brought us Kingdom Comeand delivers every month with a fantastically positive and anachronistic Daredevil comic for Marvel. His digital publishing initiative under the Thrillbent banner continues to add value to the comic market by offering a platform for writers and artists to take advantage of the digital form.

Mark’s take on The Green Hornet is on pace with his Daredevil work. The changes to the mythos are subtle enough to pay tribute to the history all the while introducing elements of suspense and modern comic storytelling.

Newspaper man Britt Reid is the great nephew of The Lone Ranger and uses his financial resources to infiltrate the mob from the inside and do damage from the inside. Of course Kato is there as his chauffeur and confidante. 

This issue has it all in order of scale. The scene is 1941 Chicago. We go from Britt’s office to his lair to reveal his car Black Beauty. From there the duo hits the docks as the world’s first ‘super-criminal’. Britt uses his and Kato’s fists to clean up the city as well as The Fourth Estate to bring down criminals. Waid cites Citizen Kane as an inspiration for the story.

Get on board fast with this book. Mark Waid is the master of the first issue, leaving us with a serial cliffhanger while packing a rich storyline with resolution in the first issue.

I hope Dynamite is able to match Daredevil sales on issues and trade paperbacks with this book. It is a fun ride shotgun in Black Beauty. Newcomer artist Daniel Indro pleases us with his realistic storytelling and dynamic action.

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #18
WRITER: Greg Hurwitz
ART/COVER: Ethan Van Sciver
Publication Date: March 27, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: DC Comics
UPC: 76194130643801811


This book was the ‘adjectiveless Spider-Man’ of the New 52 at it’s inception.

DC gave David Finch a fair shot of writing a Batman book that he would illustrate. I was aboard for the first few issues then dropped it for lack of interest in the story. I mean, I was already going broke picking up Bat-titles from Morrison, Snyder, Daniel and Simone.

I joked around on my podcast as not considering Batman: The Dark Knight canon. 

This was a book I was picking up for the art anyway. A few creative team changes later I was delighted to see Ethan Van Sciver on art duties for the book written by bestselling author Gregg Hurwitz. OK, OK, I can recognize this as canon now!

Van Sciver and Geoff John’s Flash: Rebirth brought Barry Allen back to the DCU back when I was getting back into comic books after an unusual nearly 10 year break. I’d always loved The FlashTV show, so Barry coming back was a big deal to me! Van Sciver’s art is the kind I admire because I could never draw like him or McFarlane or Rags Morales.

More lines and detail please, thank you!

Here in issue #18 we go to the dark place of the New 52 Secret Origin of Batman rogue The Mad Hatter. As a pre-teen boy, Jervis Tetch is teased about his height but is given the choice of taking enhancing growth hormones. “One pill makes you bigger”. Hurwitz threw me for a loop with the subtle Alice in Wonderland reference. Jervis asks the girl he is crushing on, also an Alice, to the dance and ultimately gets friend-zoned. Let’s just say that years later when Jervis puts on his top hat that he doesn’t forget about poor Alice when he pays her a visit.

Catwoman makes an appearance and there is some flirty tension as she pulls a Jason Todd and steals a Bat-hubcap. Bruce obviously has a panic attack or lack of reason so he shows Selina all of his secrets and reveals his identity to her. Not really sure where that element of the story is going but we will see. Is it just a bad trip? We hope so!

Great issue and great art but I want to see Ethan Van Sciver draw more Bat-action. If he filled in for Capullo on Snyder’s book I think we would see more action but hopefully Hurwitz has more in store for The Dark Knight coming soon. I am on board and recognizing this as canon so bring it on!

DOCTOR WHO #7 (Vol. 3)
WRITER: Joshua Hale Fialkov
ART: Horacio Domingues/Andres Ponce
COVER: Mark Buckingham
Publication Date: March 27, 2013
Price: $3.99
UPC: 82771400379600711


Lots of Who stuff to be excited about with the return of Series 7 and the 50th anniversary this year.

So how about the comics?

Yes. Even more timey-wimey enjoyment can be found with The Doctor in the pages of your favorite four-color fare. IDW’s Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time showcases a one issue adventure from each of the Doctors, with an overarching story of kidnapped companions.


The regular ongoing Doctor Who from IDW starring the eleventh Doctor played by Matt Smith has a rotating roster of talent including Andy Diggle and Mark Buckingham.

The latest is a space race story written by Joshua Hale Fialkov (I, Vampire) and drawn by Horacio Domingues. 

The Doctor heeds a call from a cosmonaut in 1961 after he loses his comrade in a spacewalk to one of the most deadly species in the universe, Vashta Nerada. Vashta Nerada were last scene in the Tenth Doctor episode Silence in the Library. The shadow virus swarm traps the Doctor out of the TARDIS and they are forced in the tin can of the Vostok capsule. Life support is running out as we leave the Doctor and cosmonaut there to face the swarm cloud.

Domingues and Ponce deliver great and clean line work in the style of Jamie McKelvie or Ming Doyle, and the colors by Adrian Salmon are the right balance of subdued and flat without being boring. Looking forward to this creative team next issue and more from them in the future.

Cosmonauts are cool.

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK.com]

4/20 LeaguePodcast 4th Annual Boston ComicCon After-Party at McGreevys

League Podcast Comic Con After-Party 4

SAT. APRIL 20, 6-9PM
LEAGUEPODCAST 4TH ANNUAL BOSTON COMIC CON AFTER-PARTY.
MCGREEVY’S
VIP LOUNGE
911 BOYLSTON STREET
BOSTON MA (ACROSS FROM HYNES CONVENTION CENTER)
21+ FREE
WWW.MCGREEVYSBOSTON.COM

FACEBOOK EVENT

Chamillion Colors Facepainting (for a nominal fee)

EARTH PRIME TIME: MARVEL & DC VIDEO GAMES

Everyone that was at PAX EAST this weekend is still resting up, especially if they were out late at one of the many awesome after-parties around town. Comic fans can throw on their headphones on and get back to coding while they wait for some of the most anticipated video games in the industry where you get to control your favorite hero, even if that hero is Deadpool.

 
It is argued that as far as comic book characters are concerned, the real way a company like Disney or Warner can make money is by licensing the properties out to merchandise; the real money comes from video games, and of course, by selling movie tickets. I don’t think that’s wrong, and it is always a tickle in the back of the mind that hopefully the success of films like Dark Knight Rises orAvengers can prop up the floppy or digital comic book industry for years to come.

Both of The Big Two have announced some awesome games recently that we’re excited about, to keep our thumbs busy when not flipping pages.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]