This February writer Greg Rucka and artist Marco Checchetto pit the Punisher against a soldier “who is more like him than either of them realize,” as a group of former Hydra and AIM agents work together to bring Frank Castle down. It all happens in The Punisher #8, and courtesy of our friends at Marvel Comics, we’re pleased to bring you an exclusive preview of that issue.

Check it out, along with the solicitation info, below.

Solicitation information:

THE PUNISHER #8
GREG RUCKA (W) MARCO CHECCHETTO (A/C) The face to face you’ve all been waiting for as ex-Hydra and AIM agents work together to bring down the Punisher.
• Frank is up against a soldier who is more like him than either of them realize.
32 PGS./Parental Advisory – $2.99

Props: Arune and James!

Tom Brevoort, photo by Luigi Novi

Let’s not mince words, the online presence of Tom Brevoort has provided hours of great reading for Robot 6 readers. Given his constant and unflagging willingness to interact with consumers via social media, Brevoort is a quote machine (His Twitter bio? “A man constantly on the verge of saying something stupid–for your entertainment!?”). There’s always a directness (some would say bluntness) to his manner online–making him the ideal subject for an interview. Last year saw Marvel promote Brevoort to senior vice president for publishing. 2011 was a year of some major successes for Marvel, as well as a year where some hard business decisions were made. In this interview, conducted in mid-December via email, I tried to cover a great deal of ground (we even briefly discuss DC’s New 52 success)–and Brevoort did not hold back on any of his answers. For that, I am extremely grateful. Like any high profile comics executive, Brevoort has his fans and his critics (and many in between), but I like to think this exchange offers some perspectives everyone can enjoy.

Tim O’Shea: Whether it’s in your job description or not, fan outreach via social media is definitely part of your job–clearly by your own choice. What benefit or enjoyment do you get from interacting with the fans/consumers?

Tom Brevoort: I’m not sure that I get a particular benefit, except maybe just being the center of attention for a few minutes—maybe everything I do is motivated by ego! I’m a whore for the spotlight! But I started doing this kind of outreach back in the formative days of internet fandom, largely because I like the idea of internet fandom. I know that, if the internet had existed when I was a young comic book reader, I’d have been on those message boards and in those chat rooms all the time, obsessively—just like a certain portion of the audience today. So I like the idea of giving back, of being accessible enough that anybody who has a question or a concern knows where to find me, or at least to find somebody with an insider’s track who might have the background and knowledge to speak to their point. In a very real way, it’s all an outgrowth of what Stan Lee did in his letters pages and Bullpen pages. Joe Q, I think, was really the first person to perfect that approach for the internet age. As EIC he was incredibly available to the audience in a myriad of ways. It’s a philosophy that’s very much woven into our DNA at Marvel. And for the most part, our fans are interesting, vibrant, cool people, especially when you meet them in person.

O’Shea: Much has been made of the miniseries cancelled in mid-arc, or announced projects killed, but I am curious to learn how it impacts you to see co-workers being let go in the recent round of belt tightening? When I ask this I don’t necessarily mean on a personal level, per se, but rather in terms of the loss to Marvel’s collective creative/editorial talent, how challenging is it to deliver the best product Marvel can produce when you lose some talented editors?

Brevoort: It’s terrific, I love seeing people let go into one of the worst job markets in recent memory! I’m sorry, Tim, but I don’t think it’s possible to answer this question in anything other than a personal way—or if it is, I’m just not that dispassionate about it. I certainly understand that a business is a business, but there’s also a very human face on all of this. The people who were let go were my co-workers and friends, none of them were dismissed for cause, they’re all great, talented people. But that’s the economic world we find ourselves in right now, and as somebody who has to keep an eye on the business as a business, I understand and accept that. And it definitely means that those of us that remain have to work harder to do the same thing—that’s just simple mathematics. An editor who was once dealing with six projects maybe now has to cope with seven, or eight, at least until we’re through the backlog of material that was initially in the hands of those editors no longer on staff. So it’s definitely a lot to ask—but we’ve got the best crew in the business at Marvel, and though we may all grumble from time to time, everybody steps up to get the job not only done but done with the greatest level of excellence that can be managed. It really is an extraordinary group of dedicated people. And, on the flipside, there’s now some editorial talent out in the marketplace with super-strong skills that any other company could benefit enormously from. So a word to the wise there.

O’Shea: When 2011 began, could you ever have envisioned Marvel having cancelled a miniseries before it even finished?

Brevoort: It’s an unfortunate thing, but yes, I could. I’ve seen it happen in the past, though not quite in the way it happened on All-Winners. And some of that is my doing. We could have gone in at the last minute and tried to hack up the climax of the story, bringing things to a truncated resolution in issue #5. But with three whole issues left to go, I didn’t want to do that. Admittedly, that would have given the readers some kind of resolution, but it would have been a bad and unsatisfying reading experience. So I made the argument that, with so much story still left to tell, we should simply stop. That way, if market conditions improved down the line, and there was enough sustained interest in the project, we might eventually be able to return to it and finish it properly in the future. Hey, the last issue of Ghost Rider that I edited saw print ten years after it was created, so anything’s possible. I’m also a child of the 70s, where books would often be cancelled mid-stream, with no warning and no resolution, so I may be more immunized to this happening than a lot of other people, because I’ve seen it happen before. It stinks, nobody likes it, but again, that’s the marketplace in which we seem to find ourselves. The one thing I know for certain is that putting out issues that lose money is a good way to get to the point where you can’t put out any issues at all.

O’Shea: At the beginning of 2011, you assumed your senior VP role. With almost a year under your belt, I am curious what have you most enjoyed about your increased responsibilities? With your increased executive duties, is there an aspect of your pre-2011 responsibilities that you wish you still had time to do?

Avengers: X-Sanction #1

Brevoort: People, I think, get dazzled by the title, which maybe sounds like a lot more than what it actually entails. I’m still very much doing all of the things I was doing last year, just with a bit more stuff added on top of it. I’m maybe looking at the whole line more, rather than just half of the line. But I’m still directly editing a good number of books—Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Fantastic Four, FF, Captain America, Children’s Crusade, X-Sanction, Defenders at least for the first two issues, and a lot more. So there isn’t a whole lot of down time, and there are definitely days when I feel like I could use another me to handle all of the stuff that’s stacked up while I was on the phone talking to a creator or off in a planning meeting of some kind.

O’Shea: While clearly a main focus of 2011 was Fear Itself, what were the other main successes of the past year?

Brevoort: I think we had a bunch of successes this year, and I’m probably going to forget all kinds of things as I run down the list. But certainly the death of the Human Torch and the rebranding of Fantastic Four as FF was a bigger success than we would have imagined. The Death of Ultimate Spider-Man and the introduction of Miles Morales. The “Spider-Island” crossover and just Amazing Spider-Man in general, a series that not only has been garnering all kinds of good fan reaction but has also consistently come out twice a month. Schism, and even more so the relaunching of the core X-titles as Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & The X-Men. Waid, Rivera and Martin’s Daredevil, probably the best-reviewed title we’ve got right now, Remender and Co’s Uncanny X-Force—I feel like our line is very strong overall right now, even though it’s easy for people to sometimes take that for granted. You take a book like, say, Fraction and Larroca’s Invincible Iron Man, and it comes out like clockwork 12-16 times a year, with the same creative team telling highly-polished stories. After a while, people start to overlook it because it’s so consistent. Also, the steady growth of our digital initiatives. That’s a world that’s going to become steadily more important to us, and to the business in general. We had a couple good movies, too.

Miles Morales

O’Shea: In terms of “the steady growth of our digital initiatives,” what kind of milestones or successes did Marvel see in the steady growth?

Brevoort: I don’t know that there are any specific milestones I can point you to, in that most of our data about the digital world is confidential. But especially in instances where we had mainstream coverage on a particular storyline—Miles Morales, say, or Fantastic Four #600—we saw a pronounced uptick in our digital sales, with each new one besting the sales records of the previous. And all without having a measurable impact on our tangible copy sales. I think that everybody has still only scratched the surface of digital as a delivery platform for the kinds of material that we do, and that it’s only likely to grow further into a cornerstone of our overall publishing business.

O’Shea: You don’t work for DC, but you clearly have an opinion about the other major industry publisher, so I have to ask: Did DC’s 52 perform beyond your expectations, or is their success (still potentially short term, only time will tell) along the lines of what one might expect from a major line relaunch?

Brevoort: I don’t think we have good enough optics yet to predict the long term—we’re only now heading into the period of time wherein retailers can return their unsold copies, so the numbers for those months aren’t finalized yet. But there’s no two ways about it, regardless of how many books they get back, DC did a great job of getting their message out to the world and getting excited readers new, lapsed and existing into the stores to check out what they had going on. I don’t know how, at least judged in those terms, it could have been any more of a success. And I’m very happy about it—not just because we’ve seen an uptick in our sales for those months as well, but because increased competition leads to more excitement and better books. A lot of people have maybe misunderstood my message over these months, and maybe that’s my fault for not getting it across as clearly as I might have. But my biggest complaint and concern for the longest time was that it often felt as though DC had given up the fight, that they were content to just drift along, doing business as usual and not making waves. And a marketplace that Marvel is half of or more isn’t healthy—it puts too much weight on one part of the machine, too much responsibility. So I couldn’t be happier that the new DC team is stepping up to the challenge and hitting the field ready and willing to play the game. And that’ll force us at Marvel to up our game as well. The question now, of course, will be whether and for how long they might be able to maintain that increased readership base.

O’Shea: You recently discussed Marvel’s plans for the 2012 Free Comic Book Day. In reading your Formspring discussion of FCBD, I was left wondering, what is the main goal/point of FCBD to you? And while you think FCBD is being served in 2012 by a reprint, for those who are disappointed, do you understand when they may strongly disagree when you characterize them as potentially “petty”?

Avengers/FCBD 2012

Brevoort: Well, in fairness, I characterized a single question-asker’s question as possibly petty, not the audience as a whole. But as I understand it, Free Comic Book Day is an outreach program that enables local retailers across the country to mount the kind of mainstream promotion and local event that potentially draws new people into the stores. The existing fan base is served by it, sure, but it’s not really aimed at them, but at everybody who doesn’t regularly make the trek out to their local stores. So on that level, I want our FCBD entries to be entry-level friendly—not unsophisticated, but self-explanatory in terms of the story presented. And I want them produced at the highest level of quality possible. But I don’t know that there’s any pressing need for them to be all-new material. Certainly DC’s had no problem with running repurposed material in their FCBD entries the past couple of years. I mean, it’s great to be able to give people an all-new story by our best guys absolutely for free, but we’re talking about an economy in which we had to let a number of people go—it’s an expense that doesn’t recoup itself in any way, and one that isn’t even really necessary in terms of what the goal of the event is. So sure, I’m sorry that our regular readers will have to make do with “only” an Avengers comic written by Brian Bendis and drawn by Bryan Hitch that they may have purchased previously. But, y’know, this even isn’t really about you!

O’Shea: With the news of Brian Bendis of departing the Avengers franchise, after his long and very successful run, it got me wondering. When faced with the prospect of finding a new writer for a successful book like the Avengers, what kind of criteria do you use in your search?

Brevoort: Well, it’s different every time, in that you’re working with a completely different array of variable each time. But to paint the process in broad strokes, you need to assess where the series is at, what’s been strong and working and indispensable about it and what it might be lacking. In other words, and this is pretty obvious, you want to try to maintain the appeal that a book has under its current creative team and then build upon it by accentuating those areas or aspects that haven’t been explored as much. To point to a specific example and provide you some context, when Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch were finishing up their run on Fantastic Four, I needed to line up their successor. In looking at the series as a whole, having come off of JMS and Dwayne McDuffie before them, and Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo before that, I felt like the time was right to try to get a younger voice into the mix—the book had been done by apex talent for a long run, but Fantastic Four is a series that’s got a strong almost gravitic pull towards its past, those initial 100 issues are so seminal. So I wanted to bring in somebody who would have something new to say, and who maybe wouldn’t be as shackled in his thinking to the past. At the same time, I wanted to maintain the overall positive/optimistic flavor that the series has always had when it’s been really clicking, in my opinion. Given those parameters, it didn’t take me long to start speaking with Jonathan Hickman, with whom I was working on Secret Warriors at the time. Jonathan went away, pulled together his ideas, and came back with a strong pitch for the series—and away we went! So it’s very much the same kind of thing on Avengers. Brian is leaving behind a legacy that it’s going to be very difficult for somebody else to equal or surpass, but that’s the challenge of the incumbent. As it happens, I’ve already got the next Avengers writer lined up, though it’ll probably be several months before you all learn who it is—Brian’s still got about a year’s worth of great stories to tell before that switchover happens.

O’Shea: You tapped Hickman to write Fantastic Four partially because he was someone “who maybe wouldn’t be as shackled in his thinking to the past”. Am I right in thinking you also do not mind tapping writers who can partially mine the past and find new story potential, given what a writer like Ed Brubaker has been able to do with James Bucky/Winter Soldier Barnes (as well as some elements of Hickman’s work on Secret Warriors)?

Brevoort: Well, yes, sure. One of the strengths of the Marvel Universe is the conceit that it’s one vast, interconnected place in which all of these stories co-exist, going back to 1961 and beyond. So sometimes you want to take advantage of that fact. But you always need to keep the bigger picture in mind. There have been times in Marvel’s history when whole stories have been written to explain some gaffe in an earlier story—those tend to be “comics about comics” and only of interest to our most hardcore audience. The continuity and the history is meant to be there to service the stories, not the other way around. At times, people at Marvel have lost sight of that. But there’s no problem with mining the past of our characters and our publishing history, so long as the stories that you do with that material are genuine, and have some compelling emotional touch-point for a modern reader who may not have read the earlier stories your tale is based on. In other words, you can do Star Trek II: Wrath Of Khan, but like that film, you need to do so in such a way that an audience member can have a great experience even if they’ve never seen the earlier Star Trek episode that Khan was introduced in.

O’Shea: How do you avoid burnout in your demanding job–how and why are comics still fun for you?

Brevoort: I just love comics. I love the characters, I love the stories, and I love the form. And not just any one style of comics, but all sorts of comics. I still go to the comic store every week like clockwork and drop crazy money on assorted new releases. And while what I do isn’t always easy or always fun—it is a business, after all—I never lose sight of the fact that, in a very real sense, I get to sit around and make up stories about people that fly all day, and then they pay me for it. And that’s pretty great! I also get to collaborate with a broad spectrum of supremely talented people, from our assorted creators through our incredible editorial staff, our promotions guys, online, the film and television folks—just about everybody. So yes, the hours are long and the days can be grueling, and there are those times when things aren’t breaking the way you’d like them to or there’s some difficulty that has to be worked through. It’s a high-pressure situation, keeping this many trains on the tracks every month and getting to their destinations on time. But it’s also a considerable amount of fun. There’s never a better feeling than when the printed copy of an especially good issue comes into the office, and you get to look it over before anybody else.

Fantastic Four #600

O’Shea: The death and return of the Human Torch this year (and the saga that transpired along with it) has clearly resonated with readership. From your standpoint, what is it about series writer Jonathan Hickman’s approach to Marvel’s First Family that enables him to click with readers?

Brevoort: I think that readers are only now starting to get a sense of what Jonathan’s been doing, not just on Fantastic Four but on all of his books, and that is to create long-form stories in which the individual parts all mesh together with mechanical precision to create a much greater whole and a much grander reading experience, one that truly rewards multiple rereadings. In a world of short attention spans, Jonathan is one of the few guys who comes onto a series with years’ worth of concepts, and he’s able to set things up in such a way that events past a certain point continue to build and build and build in a logical way, and then ultimately pay off great. Now that folks can look back at all of Secret Warriors as a whole, it’s easy to see just how much of the overall story Jonathan had in his head when the book began, and how even events in the first teaser short story we did in the Dark Reign: New Nation book fold back into the climax 28 issues and three years later. On Fantastic Four, I just gave him a sense of the kind of thing I was looking for and set him loose, and he came back with a gameplan that we’re only now, almost three years later, getting to the climax of. I think it was beneficial as well that Jonathan had never really been a Fantastic Four reader beforehand, in that he was able to come to the characters and the material fresh, to look over the entire history of the series and figure out for himself what he thought worked best about it without any personal nostalgia coloring his viewpoint. He clearly loves writing the kids, to the point where they would often threaten to take over the series.

O’Shea: This past year also saw Daredevil endure a great deal through Shadowland, as well as Daredevil: Reborn. But when all was said and done, the new Daredevil series by Mark Waid (along with Paola Rivera or Marcos Martin on art) is a major shift in tone that has been embraced by critics and fans equally. How satisfying is it to see Marvel take such a creative shift and pull it off so effectively?

Daredevil #1

Brevoort: It was a gamble to break with the past so severely in terms of the tone and the style of Daredevil, but it’s definitely a gamble that’s paid off big time. And that’s all thanks to the efforts not only of Mark, Paolo and Marcos, but especially those of editor Steve Wacker and his team. For my money, Steve is the solidest line editor in the business today. He’s great to work with, he’s got a strong point of view and a vision for what he does, he thinks about the whole package even beyond just the story and the artwork, and creators love working with him. And maybe it’s just that his sensibilities and mine are similar, but his batting average in terms of the content of his titles has been tremendously good: Avenging Spider-Man, Daredevil, Punisher, Venom, Scarlet Spider—those last three are books that, by all rights, I shouldn’t be enjoying anywhere near as much as I do. And, of course, keeping the juggernaut that is Amazing Spider-Man on the rails and successful both commercially and critically for such a long period of time. Getting back to Daredevil, obviously Marcos Martin is a genius, and Paolo Rivera’s an incredible talent, but it’s especially nice to see somebody like Mark Waid gathering such kudos. Like we were talking about with Invincible Iron Man before, Mark’s been around the industry for so long and has such a track record for producing excellent work that I think it’s easy for people to overlook what he does; “Oh, it’s another good Mark Waid comics again. Yawn.” Whether it’s just ageism or familiarity breeding contempt or whatever, the fact remains that Mark’s been a power hitter of great consistency for two decades now—so it’s very nice to see him getting the sort of attention and praise often reserved for new hot young guys.

O’Shea: We have talked about some of the great writing of Marvel in the past year or so, and while we have briefly touched upon the greatness of Paola Rivera and Marcos Martin’s work, I wonder if you’d like to discuss some of the other artists that really seemed to hit their stride in 2011 (and/or you look forward to knocking it out of the visual park in 2012)?

Brevoort: It’s truly an embarrassment of riches at Marvel in terms of artistic talent, so this is something I could go on about at length, and never run out of material. But focusing more on promising up-and-coming talent, there are three or four creators who seem to really be hitting a stride, beyond the ones we mentioned earlier. Sara Pichelli has been a revelation on Ultimate Spider-Man, her sense of environment and character acting is second to none. Nick Bradshaw harnesses the detail-craziness of an Art Adams around an appealing, bouncy, energetic penciling style. Jerome Opena is a terrific action artist, with a subtlety of line that I’m not sure entirely translates into ink. Ryan Stegman draws great , appealing characters with a lot of bounce, very much in the spirit of Joe Madureira or J Scott Campbell. And there are plenty of others, of course—but that’s a smattering of folks that come to mind this morning.

O’Shea: Looking ahead to 2012, if response is strong enough to the Marvel Season One books, would there be a possibility of pursuing an ongoing series with those creative teams, or is the focus solely on original graphic novels of the characters’ origins?

Brevoort: I wouldn’t rule anything out—every option has been discussed, doing follow-up volumes (“Season Two”) or serialized follow-ups, and every other option in-between. But it’s all a moot question until we can see how people respond to the initial books. At this point, I’ve read the completed Fantastic Four Season One volume front to back, and it is outstanding! I couldn’t be more pleased with it—and I say that having had nothing particular to do with it. All of the credit goes to Roberto Sacasa, David Marquez, Lee Duhig and editor Lauren Sankovitch. These guys understood the mandate of the line and really delivered the goods, in a way that I think will be appreciated by fans old and new. The X-Men Season One book is similarly looking and reading well, based on the 40 or so pages I’ve gone over so far.

Brevoort's Twitter photo

O’Shea: Any closing thoughts you’d like to leave Robot 6 readers with?

Brevoort: I think that my general message for comic book readers of all kinds right this moment would be: relax! It’s so easy to become overly anxious or overly outraged or overly agitated about all sorts of aspects of what we do, the characters we create and the worlds we build. And we love that sort of emotional investment! But keep in mind, these are just stories! It’s all just entertainment! If you’re being entertained, then everything is fine! And if you’re not, try something else! Try something new! Reading comics shouldn’t be a job, and neither should it be a series of existential crises on a month-by-month basis. Also (and I know that this isn’t something that most readers are going to be willing or able to do), stop being so concerned about what’s going to be happening three or six or nine months down the line and try to focus a little bit more on what’s going on right now! Don’t miss the precious moment in the anxiety about what tomorrow will bring! None of what we do is life-threatening, it’s not likely to change the world in any but the most subtle of ways—the drama need not be quite so overblown!

Also, it’d be nice to get into a blog entry headline from time to time for something other than saying something provocative.

PunisherMAX #22

PunisherMAX will end with February’s Issue 22, Newsarama reports, ahead of what Marvel characterizes as “a big change” coming to its mature-readers imprint.

Although the conclusion follows January’s “final brutal confrontation between the Punisher and Kingpin,” it’s unclear whether this is the planned ending for the series. Writer Jason Aaron told Comic Book Resources in August, just as the current arc was beginning, that, “This is the culmination of the Punisher/Kingpin story, but it’s not my last story on the book. There are definitely plans in place after this next arc, but I can’t talk about them without spoiling what’s coming up.”

PunisherMAX, by Aaron and artist Steve Dillon, debuted in November 2009, following the end of the 75-issue run of the original mature-readers Punisher series (retitled The Punisher: Frank Castle during its final year). PunisherMAX and Deadpool MAX are the imprint’s only current monthly series.

News of the title’s end arrives just a day after CBR reported that X-23 will be canceled with January’s Issue 20. It’s the latest in a string of abrupt cancellations at Marvel that includes Alpha Flight, Victor Von Doom, Destroyers, Iron Man 2.0 and All-Winners Squad.

Update (5:47 p.m. PT): Aaron commented on Twitter, writing, “PUNISHER MAX is ending, the way I always intended it. It was not canceled.”

Art by Marco Checchetto

This afternoon on Twitter, Marvel Editor Steve Wacker teased two pages of stunning art by Marco Checchetto from “the next Punisher.” Presumably that’s Issue 4, with writer Greg Rucka, which arrives Oct. 12. “Easily one of the best books around,” Wacker wrote. Check out both pages below.

Big Questions

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly column where we successfully answer the question in the title. Our special guest this week is Janice Headley, events coordinator, publicist and “ambassador of awesome” for Fantagraphics.

To see what Janice and the Robot 6 crew have been reading this week, click the link below.

*****

Michael May

Justice Inc.

A while back I got interested in the old pulp character The Avenger and picked up everything my local comic shop had on him starting with DC’s Justice Inc. They only had a couple of issues, numbers 1 and 4, but I felt like I got a good indication for what the series was like. The first issue was an adaptation of a the first Avenger story from the pulps and since I’ve also read that it was pretty rough reading Denny O’Neil try to condense it into a single issue. Given that impossible task, he did a pretty good job of it though. Much better, say, than M Night Shyamalan’s trying to condense an entire season of Avatar: The Last Airbender into a two-hour film.

Justice Inc #4 is an original story (also by O’Neil) with some fun Kirby artwork and a couple of nice set pieces featuring a zeppelin and a fight on a bi-plane. It’s too bad the villain’s scheme is a sad scam in which he blows up his own passenger-filled planes for the insurance. If you’re going to kill massive amounts of innocent people, at least have the guts to try taking over the world or something.

In the “more recent, but still not exactly new” category, I saw the old DCU out with Supergirl #67. I’d pretty much given up reading comics in single issues, but was making an exception for Kelly Sue DeConnick’s brief, but extremely enjoyable run. I almost missed the significance of Supergirl’s asking a new friend not to forget about her in the last couple of pages. A sweet end to not only a fun story, but this entire version of the character. I hope to see Kelly Sue on more superhero stuff soon.

A couple of other periodical-issue exceptions I’ve been making have been Mystery Men and Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown. I just finished the fourth issue of Mystery Men and am loving the team as it’s finally coming together. I feel like they’re only just going to form in time for the climactic fifth issue and then I’ll have to say goodbye, but hopefully the series is doing well enough to warrant a sequel. I understand there’s already plans for a collected version.

As for Frankenstein, the third issue wrapped up the Flashpoint era of Frank’s story very nicely and – just as important – completely. According to friends who’ve been keeping up, that’s more than can be said of the rest of the comics in the event. Jeff Lemire and Andy Smith finish the story they began without making me buy anything else, while just teasing the New 52’s Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE enough to get me to want to check it out. It’s one of several comics I’ll be buying as single issues again thanks to the reboot.

Marvel’s also benefiting from my renewed interest in single-issue comics. As long as I’m reworking that format into my budget, I decided to check in on some favorite Marvel characters starting with Rogue in X-Men Legacy #254. Though it’s Part One of a story, it’s very much continued from whatever long epic space search the Legacy X-Men have been on for however long they’ve been on it. Part of the fun though was diving back into the X-Men feet first without trying to catch up ahead of time. That’s how I got into them in the ‘80s and it worked pretty well this time too. There are some new characters I don’t know, but I had Rogue, Gambit, and Magneto to lead me around and it was just fine. Also, the story about the team’s getting accidentally split up and searching a giant space station for Havok and Polaris while dealing with factions of warring aliens was pretty cool.

Carla Hoffman

Batwing #1

Let me first publicly apologize to DC Comics and everyone who worked on Batwing because I am more than willing to eat my hat on this: Batwing #1 is everything I have wanted from a detective comic and some things I didn’t. That issue was awesome, from the smooth, emotional artwork to the very casual but directed level of storytelling, to the costume design in action… they even changed the logo to look more clear and less I-broke-it-with-a-hammer. Within three pages, we know everything we need and no one stops the whole book to repeat origins or bother with long exposition. The supporting cast range from ‘hey, African Alfred!’ to a cop who could be better and is slowly being fostered by Batwing’s alter ego to strive for more than what little justice they can get. I expected absolutely nothing from this book and it worked its little comic book butt off making me invest in it. I’m going to make sure we sell out of Batwing by the end of the week because this feels more like a new fresh start than anything I’ve read yet in the reboot.

Back in my home country of Marvel comics, the third issue of Greg Rucka and little mentioned superstar Mark Checchetto’s run on Punisher came out this week also and man, if that isn’t a good story. Checcetto is becoming the name I want to spell because his artwork is both strangely apt and far too beautiful for Frank Castle. A street level crime story has a certain look to it, or so we have dubbed in modern comics: there’s going to be a lot of blacks, shadowed faces, newspaper clippings, narrow panels of just someone’s eyes, etc. Things you don’t look for but know will be there when someone says “There’s been a murder.” Not only does Checcetta’s art fit the bill with some moody dark pictures, violence and artistic representations of pain, but people’s faces are remarkably beatific. It’s something in the eyes I think, but Frank Castle is probably the best looking I’ve seen him ever. Best of all, it doesn’t take you out of the story; Greg Land’s art might remove you because you’re trying to figure out where he took that photo reference from, but Checcetto’s work seems organic. Like all this darkness has some light within it as well? Man, that sounds corny, but it’s the best analogy I got.

Tom Bondurant

Batman Annual #1

I’ve been enjoying the reprints in the DC Comics Classics Library: Batman Annuals Vol. 1, and specifically the first Batman Annual (Summer 1961). These stories were collected around the theme “1,001 Secrets Of Batman And Robin,” and by and large they’re well-crafted little tales shedding light on particular aspects of the Dynamic Duo’s methods. “How To Be The Batman” finds Robin re-educating his amnesiac mentor; “Untold Tales of the Bat-Signal” strings together vignettes about the signal’s role in various cases, “The Origin of the Bat-Cave” takes readers back to the pre-Gotham frontier times, etc. Nothing too complicated, and each like catnip to the Bat-fan hungry for whys and hows. I was surprised at how many of these stories I’d read years, if not decades ago — not in the ’50s, of course, but in previous reprint collections — and they hold up pretty well.

Otherwise, I’ve been re-reading the first several issues of American Flagg!, simply because it had been a while, and there’s never really a bad time for Flagg!. I just finished the second arc, “Southern Comfort,” which spans issues #4-6. Not that I think the series peaked early, but this has always been one of my favorite Flagg! arcs. It opens up the book’s scope beyond the Chicago Plexmall, it introduces a few significant supporting characters (and Flagg’s standard disguise, Pete Zarustica), and it kicks off with a nifty, almost standalone story about Flagg and his friends foiling a blimpjacking. Flagg! went on the road a few more times, including to Canada, England, and Russia, but none of those stories were quite as tight and fun as “Southern Comfort.”

Brigid Alverson

Americus

Although I had read the first few chapters of Americus in webcomic form, for an interview here at Robot 6 last year, when the finished copy arrived I read it in one sitting. The story that drives the book is about a religious fanatic’s attempt to have a series of fantasy novels removed from the library of a small town in Oklahoma, but I found that to be the least interesting part of the book. The “Christian” character seemed like a caricature taken from internet postings, rather than a real person with thoughts and emotions (and even doubts), and in a book filled with quirky, nuanced characters, her lack of depth is noticeable. What makes this a great book is Hill and Reed’s portrayal of their protagonist, Neil, a teenage boy making the awkward transition from middle school to high school and losing his best friend (who is shipped away to military school) at the same time. Neil starts out being the Mikey of Americus, Oklahoma — he hates everything, and not without reason‹but as the book moves along he finds more and more kindred spirits. The authors intersperse sequences from their fictitious fantasy novel into the story, switching the drawing style to differentiate them from everyday life. Despite its one flaw, this book is a great coming-of-age story with a (mostly) likable cast and a host of small subplots. The book issue is resolved neatly (and predictably), but some of the other stories look like they will continue beyond the boundaries of the book, and I’d love to see an Americus 2 that leaves controversy to the side and simply continues to tell the stories of these characters.

Shutterbox, by Rikki and Tavisha Simons, seems like the sort of book that the fundamentalists of Americus would try to ban. It’s a fantasy tale about a girl who travels in her dreams to an alternate universe that is the home of the muses who inspire humans. Megan, the likable everygirl heroine, is a sort of supernatural exchange student who arrives at Meridiah University in pajamas and bunny slippers and encounters elf-like creatures, a ghost in her camera, and several handsome young men who don’t seem to be telling the truth. It’s a good example of an American graphic novel that picks up on the styles and tropes of manga and reinterprets them to make something completely new. The first four volumes of the series were published by Tokyopop, and the Simonses are now self-publishing them, along with volume five and an eventual sixth volume, digitally.

Tim O’Shea

Batgirl

So my regular comic book store since 1977 (Book Nook, no link because it’s an established Atlanta store that has no interest in the Internet) sold out of many of the DC new 52 fairly quickly–and I had been unable to make it to the store on Wednesday. Hankering to check out the new Batgirl, I called nearby stores on Thursday around 6 PM. The first store did not even pick up the phone. I dialed twice just to make sure I had not misdialed (and checked their posted hours, they were open for another hour). And the phone rang off the hook. I am not naming the store because, hey everybody can have a bad night. The second store I called, Galactic Quest, answered the phone on the third ring–and quickly I found out they had a copy of Batgirl.

Galactic Quest strikes me as the kind of store that will win a lot of new customers from the new DC books (and having just celebrated its 20th year in business, it’s a known business in that part of town). The clerk who answered the phone was even more helpful when I got to the store (it was a 15 mile drive in rush hour traffic, so I was pushing my luck just getting there). She directed me to the new releases and when I expressed pleasure that they had a copy of Batgirl, she immediately (but not in a pushy manner) informed me of their pull policy, if I’d like to sign up. When I explained I had a regular store–she backed off on the sell, but was still very friendly. When I noted that Stormwatch had sold out she snagged me a copy from the back that had been set aside, “but not spoken for.” When I thanked her and admitted I was afraid I was not gonna make it before closing, she offered (mind you, to a first time customer): “Give me a call if you are going to be five minutes late, I can keep the store open for you.” That is customer service that keeps a store open for 20 years, folks.

On to the books, Action Comics #1 was a pleasant surprise for me. Based on the advance art, my expectations had been lowered (and fortunately Rags Morales delivered a solid visual tale). But really this is a story that benefits from the reboot. Rather than being about the iconic Superman, this was a street-level hero Superman–and I like it. I will be back for issue 2.

As for Batwing #1, I concur with Carla’s assessment. And I have a hard time liking a Judd Winick story these days typically, unless it involves Barry Ween.

Stormwatch #1: I bought this because Paul Cornell is writing it, plain and simple. Cornell was really trying to cover a lot of ground and introduce all of the cast (a thing that Justice League failed to do last week), so that did win me into coming back.

Batgirl #1: “Feeling a creep crumble under my feet,,,I didn’t even know how much I missed it.” That line may alienate some, but for me it’s the Gail Simone written line that hooked me.

Janice Headley

Where do I even start?!?!  I’m a voracious reader and, as anyone who’s ever met me at the Fantagraphics table at a comic-con can attest, an excited chatterbox when it comes to books I love!  So, I was thrilled to be invited to share my recent comix loves for Robot 6!

So, I recently finished reading the gorgeous Big Questions collection from Anders Nilsen.  I followed the series here and there during its decade-long run, but admittedly missed out on a few earlier issues, so I’m grateful to Drawn & Quarterly for this incredible 600+ page book.  Honestly, I wish there were 600+ more pages to read.

Don't Go Where I Can't Follow

When I finished Big Questions, I still wanted more from Anders.  I’d already read his Fanta titles, Monologues for the Coming Plague, and his Ignatz title The End, but for years I had shied away from his acclaimed memoir Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow.  Y’see, I cry… easily.  I cry at commercials, I cry at video games, I cry when I’m doing long division and I have a remainder left over.  Mike Baehr (Director of Marketing at Fantagraphics, and Director of Being My Husband) reluctantly pulled the book down from the high shelf, and handed it over to me with great concern.  And yeah.  Of course.  I cried.  Who didn’t???  But, god, I’m glad I finally got around to reading it, and it was the perfect companion to Big Questions, whose title page has the owl simply saying, ” You must live every day as though it might be your last.”  Um… sorry… there’s something in my eye…

And while I’m on a teary-eyed thread, Love & Rockets: New Stories 4 pretty much wrecked me.

On a more chipper note, I picked up some new work from Esther Pearl Watson at the San Diego Comic Con. Her Fun Chicken booth with her husband Mark Todd is always on my “must-visit” list at any convention. This time around, I picked up their collaborative comic Nubbin & Nutz, a hilarious and wacky adventure at the grocery store.

I also picked up another collaboration Esther did with Martha Rich, the 2008 mini-comic Beauty Across America, which documents a cross-country trip they took, interviewing people along the way about their feelings on what makes a woman “beautiful.”  I’m bewildered that I had never picked this mini-comic up before, because the topic of “society’s definition of beauty” is one I tackled myself in an old issue of my zine, copacetic.  Their findings were truly inspiring, and, well, beautiful!

The Wolf

I thought I had caught up with the Invincible Summer series by Nicole J. Georges when I picked up Issue #18 at the Stumptown Comics Fest earlier this year.  But, apparently, she just released Invincible Summer #20, a split with Clutch, so I clearly need to get on it.  Speaking of Stumptown, I’ve been loving the “Living Things” series that I picked up there from PDX publishers Little Otsu.  My favorites in this series of mini-art books include Lilli Carré’s and Jo Dery’s.

And speaking of art books, Tom Neely’s “painted novel” The Wolf is a stunner!  We passed around a copy excitedly behind the Fantagraphics booth at San Diego Comic Con, and we’re over the moon that the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery gets to host his signing on his upcoming book tour.  If you live in Seattle, please join us for that on September 24th!

Casanova: Avaritia

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

I’m very excited to read Casanova: Avaritia ($4.99), the first new Casanova storyline in what seems like a dog’s age. There’s something about this series that seems to bring out Fraction’s best, perhaps it’s the mere fact he’s working with Fabio Moon and (this time around) Gabriel Ba allows him to rise to the occasion. That and The Boys #58 ($3.99) will probably round out my initial purchases.

If I had $30:

I’m curious about Seymour Chwast’s adaptation of The Canterbury Tales ($20), given that his adaptation of Dante’s Inferno garnered some attention, but in reality, I’m saving my money to get Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot ($18.99), the latest Jacques Tardi book from Fantagraphics, another hard boiled (and ultra-violent) noir in the same vein as West Coast Blues, which is not terribly surprising considering its the same writer, Jean-Patrick Manchette.

I should also point out that the final volume of Mome is out this week and easily the best volume of an already excellent series, featuring stellar work by folks like Eleanor Davis, Josh Simmons, Chuck Forsam, Tim Hensley and more. A steal at $20.

Splurge:

My splurge of the week is easily Cats, Dogs, Men, Women & Clowns: The Lost Art of William Steig. Though he remains a popular children’s author, thanks largely to Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Shrek, Steig is often overlooked by cartoonists, which is a mighty shame. This book collects over 450 never-before-published cartoons, along with anecdotes from Steig’s widow.

Graeme McMillan

Action Comics #1

If I had $15 this week, there would be no way I could avoid the New 52 hitting stores with its first full wave, picking up Action Comics #1, Batgirl #1 and Stormwatch #1 (Each DC Comics, $2.99) with something between eager anticipation and fear of disappointment. That would also describe my feelings about Casanova: Avaritia #1 (Marvel, $4.99), Matt Fraction’s return to the series that made me a fan, after many projects of his that have had the opposite effect.

If I had $30, the DC mania would continue with Animal Man #1 and OMAC #1 (Both DC Comics, $2.99), two reboots of one-time favorite series that have one creator getting me excited, and one making me nervous. More nervous-making than exciting, I find myself drawn toward Rich Veitch’s The Big Lie #1 (Image, $3.99), which is already finding itself described as a “truther” book, but… Veitch can be worth reading when he’s got his satirical hat on, so I’ll probably pick it up.

Splurgewise, my Kirby-love is mixing with the same love of gimmickry that makes the OMAC revival fascinating as soon as I see the hardcover collection of Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine (Marvel Comics, $34.99), the Erik Larsen-led attempt to imagine how Kirby would’ve continued on the FF if he hadn’t left the book back in 1970 (Other artists include Bruce Timm, who does a mean Kirby homage, Keith Giffen, Bill Wray and Steve Rude). I’ve never read it, but the weirdness alone seems like a siren song, drawing me in…!

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d dig into some New 52 series that have my attention. I’m picking up Action Comics #1 ($3.99) to see if Grant Morrison really has something new to say about Superman: The Early Days, but I’ve seen that time period covered so often that I’m skeptical. He needs to grab me with this issue to get me to buy the next. I’m more excited about Batgirl #1 ($2.99) and Static Shock #1 ($2.99), series about two characters I know I like by writers I love. Finally, I’d add The Spider #2 ($3.99) from Moonstone because the first issue was awesome.

Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #1

If I had $30, I’d add some issues that I’ll end up buying in collected editions anyway later on. Like Chris and Graeme, I’m excited for new Casanova with Avaritia #1 ($4.99). And of course I want the new Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #1 ($3.50). I’d round off the pile with bear-riding cowboy Reed Gunther #4 ($2.99).

I’m waffling between three different splurge items this week. First Second’s Bake Sale ($16.99) looks wonderful (and delicious), but my son and I just started reading Amulet, Volume 1 and found it nearly impossible to put down, bedtime be damned. That makes Amulet, Volume 4: The Last Council ($10.99) very tempting even though we’ve got a couple of volumes to catch up on first. I think though that my mad money would go to the new edition of Astro City: Life in the Big City ($17.99), because I haven’t read that story since it came out in single issues and I’ve been wanting to reacquaint myself with Astro City for a few years now.

JK Parkin

New Avengers Annual #1

I was thinking it would be really easy just to say I was going to try all the relaunched DC titles coming out this week, but that would cost me more than $40, which is outside my spending limit. And besides, the first issue I’m most excited about this week isn’t even published by DC — it’s New Avengers Annual #1 ($4.99), featuring the stunning debut of the Revengers! This is sort of the perfect storm for me, as I’ve always loved Marvel’s annuals, I’ve got a soft spot for Wonder Man and I enjoy seeing old C- and D-grade characters get a makeover. That leaves me $10, which I’d spend on three of the new DC titles — Swamp Thing #1 ($2.99), Animal Man #1 ($2.99) and Static Shock #1 ($2.99).

If I had $30, I’d add a few more New 52 titles to the pile — Hawk and Dove #1 ($2.99), Batwing #1 ($2,99) and Stormwatch #1 ($2.99). I’d round it out with Punisher #3 ($2.99) and Morning Glories #12 ($2.99). Because, y’know, man can not live on relaunched titles alone …

There’s a lot to choose from this week, both on the comic front and the splurge front. For my splurge, I’d be hard-pressed to pick between Americus ($14.99) by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill, and The Hidden by Richard Sala ($19.99).

Spider-Man can be on every team!

So, yeah, it looks like Fantastic Four, one of the most important comics to come from the House of Ideas, will return for its 600th issue. A momentous occasion to be sure, as a little less than a year seems to be about enough time for people to understand Johnny Storm’s place on the team, what makes the Fantastic Four different without one of its founding members and, hopefully, we’ll all appreciate him a little more now that he’s … well, on the cover. Gotta wait for the issue to be super-sure, but let’s give the boys in the Bullpen the benefit of the doubt and say that the Human Torch is back to stay.

Technically, he’s been gone for nine months, an auspicious amount of time as the rest of his team has somewhat given birth to an absolutely new idea: the Future Foundation. A sort of in-house Illuminati, if you will; the same old adventuring team paired off with its greatest villains, looking to safeguard all their interests at once. The white-and-black uniforms don’t really do that idea justice, do they? That’s a lot of gray area to be working with. And in the end, it was all masterminded by a little girl named Valeria.

The Richards’ kids have their own plot, their own motivations and their own secrets to keep. These two supporting characters have taken a lot of the center stage, both in Future Foundation and even in Fear Itself (seriously, go read Book Five and tell me these kids don’t deserve their own title). Franklin’s been around for years, an interesting new generation that actually was born and grew into an independent character as we read. He’s like the child actor who grows up and gets his own prime-time TV show.

Tell me that’s not cool. Tell me that seeing background or supporting characters step into the foreground and, sometimes, even get their own books is not a masterful trick of storytelling. Writer Jonathan Hickman wasn’t telling the story of the Death of Johnny Storm, he was telling us of the Rise of Franklin and Valeria. And now when November hits, Future Foundation stories will have gotten their foundation, so to speak, and support themselves as their own title while the newly reformed FF can go have a different style of adventure.

More about character balance, the size of your supporting cast and M.O.D.O.K. fighting Nazis after the break …

Character balance is difficult to maintain, not just in writing or artistic display, but in editing and publishing a book. The guy whose name is on the cover better be in the book or readers have a right to be angry. But on the other hand, sometimes the name on the cover requires a lot of help to keep up his reputation. Take the Punisher: Without someone to punish, he’s an angry guy with a gun going nowhere. Peter Parker could take a day off and his everyday life and struggles are enough to keep me entertained for 28 pages or so. But with Frank Castle, no one wants to see him do laundry. We want uncompromising justice. Certainly this spreads out more on the Marvel characterization map and, as Ray Stevenson said at the Comic-Con before Punisher: War Zone, was released, “No one should want to be the Punisher, but you should be glad he’s there.” So some of my favorite Punisher stories have been from the perspective of the hunted, the cops who show up after the scene went down, the one wronged voice in the night looking for someone to punish those who have done them wrong. The Punisher flourishes in a supporting cast, as everything he can’t be is reflected in the lives of those he comes into contact with. We can see more sides to him if we get more perspectives and, through those perspectives, we come to relate to him more.

from Hulk #38

Have you ever read a book with a main character you hate? My guess would be yes and that it, at one time or another, was an X-book. Readers seem pretty divided on those, and the sheer abundance of characters makes for a variety of your favorite characters getting never enough screen time. So you pick up an issue from time to time, hoping that Character A is just on the cover and Character L is the guy who has all the panel time.

Personally, I just can’t bring myself to like the Red Hulk. Not only does saying ‘Rhulk’ make me feel like a bad episode of Scooby-Doo, but Jeph Loeb’s introduction of him and my fond memories of the real Thunderbolt Ross from pages past don’t jibe and makes the current story, while masterly crafted by Jeff Parker, still taste a little sour. On the other hand, I thought Hulk #38 was ingenious enough for me to purchase and take home. Surprise! It had very little Red Hulk actually in it, and the two villains of his current adventures, Zero/One and M.O.D.O.K., take center stage and all of this rests in the backdrop of Fear Itself. Pummeled off screen thanks to the events of Fear Itself (tell me you’re reading this), M.O.D.O.K. and Zero/One meet in the rubble of Washington, D.C., where Nazi mecha roam the streets. Seeing that they have a common enemy and would rather conquer the world themselves than let these old gods have their way, they band together to destroy everything for the new science regime. It’s a little wacky, to be sure, but honest: After all, villains never like anyone else stealing their show. M.O.D.O.K.’s glee at killing Syn’s mechatroopers, Zero/One’s stand-off, that weird Black Fog guy lurking in the edges, all get their time in the spotlight while the Red Hulk is off-screen. I may not want a M.O.D.O.K. ongoing (or so I tell myself), but seeing him get some great moments and further the plot is far better to me than watching the Red Hulk punch someone.

nope, not from an Iron Fist book, from Iron Man 2.0 #6

And then there’s the Fear Itself tie-ins in Iron Man 2.0, in which the Immortal Weapons head to China to try and stop the Absorbing Man and Titania from getting one of the hammers of the Worthy. Between everyone and the hammer is a mythological creature known as the Monkey King, a formidable opponent to them all. In fact, Iron Man 2.0 #7 ends trying to lure you into following this story in the new Monkey King #1, due out in September. I think poor Rhodey has been done a disservice in this one, as not only has his more traditional moniker of War Machine been kicked off the cover — Iron Man 2.0 does not make me think of James Rhodes, sorry folks — but he’s been bombarded with a sudden and certainly non-traditional supporting cast, facing a foe that has apparently already has won (Avengers Academy says that Creel got the hammer), and it looks to be promoting a book that has nothing to do with his modus operandi. So, to recap: An originally supporting character (Rhodes) who earned his own title joined another supporting cast (the Immortal Weapons) to fight villains whose victory was assured in other comics, all to introduce a guy who will be getting his own series in September.

Sometimes background characters can go too far and drown out their title’s star. It’s a shame, and speaks more to me of editorial than any specific writer’s faults; if a book isn’t doing well, a few guest stars might liven it up. Too many guest stars and you have no idea what you’re reading. Like I said, character balance is difficult for everybody in the creative department, so seeing Hickman, Steve Epting and Tom Brevoort find a smooth transition from major cast to minor cast, weigh them both equally and then find two different titles so that the most story can be told to all of us, well … it’s pretty fantastic.

Therefore, Oklahoma City University professor Marc DiPaolo’s War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film is probably going to be something you’ll enjoy curling up with or reading on the beach, even if it is a college textbook with the words “politics” and “ethics” right there in the title. (And, if you’re already pretty conversant in superheroes, it’s worth noting that DiPaolo never talks down to readers, so his work is easy to engage with even if a Superhero and Politics 101 book seems like something you’re well beyond).

DiPaolo defines “superhero” rather widely, including not only the capes and codenames crowd popularized by DC and Marvel, but also Captain Kirk, James Bond, Dr. Who, Rambo, Xena and Jack Bauer and other such idealized heroic figures from genre entertainment. His cast assembled, his book contains a series of chapter-length essays, each dealing with a particular character or group of characters and various political readings of their various adventures.

Broadly, the thesis is that superhero adventures comment on, react to and even shape American public opinion and government policy, a discussion largely divorced from the opinions or intentions of their creators (With a few obvious exceptions, like the way the various worldviews of Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita shaped the original Spider-Man comics).

The chapters can sound a little heady. Here, for example, are a few of the titles: “Batman as Terrorist, Technocrat and Feudal Lord,” “Spider-Man as Benedict Arnold, Objectivist, and Class Warrior,” “The Punisher as Murderous Immigration Officer and Vietnam War Veteran” and “The Special Relationship: Britain and America in James Bond, Doctor Who, and Hellblazer.”

But the arguments DiPaolo makes, and the examples he cites, are of the sort you’ve been reading on comics blogs and message boards for years, albeit more elegantly written, more reasonably argued and a good fifty pages longer.

The book’s greatest value is probably in its systemization, the way DiPaolo manages to boil certain aspects of certain characters and franchises down into bullet-points, organize them and set up a reasonable way of looking at the characters and their adventures in a new way.

In the introduction, “Are Superheroes Republicans?”, for example,  he lays out four stages of narrative development that most long-lasting fictional characters go through:

1.) A passionate creator designs a superhero character for a publisher on a work-for-hire basis, putting a lot of work and creative energy in and infusing it with his or her personal beliefs.

2.) The original creator stops working on the character, and the replacements work o mimic the previous run, but generally watering down due to lack of passion and investment.

3.) The publisher notices this watering down, and allows a new writer to come on board “to provide a radical, deconstructionist take on the character.”

4.) At a loss, the publisher turns to “Fan writers, who grew up reading the characters and know by heart all of the adventures produced during stages one through three, and have a complete vision of the character as it was originally intended to be, as it was mass-marketed to parents and children, and as it was psychoanalyzed, killed and dissected during the 1980s.”(DiPaolo cites the likes of Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek here, and mentions “greatest hits” versions of the character).

You can probably plug any superhero that’s been around long enough into that system and find plenty of examples to support such a reading, and that is what makes this book rather useful to people who talk about superheroes. Beyond the specific points or arguments made, beyond the history offered (which is thorough and valuable, although because its secondary to the function of the book, there’s better books on different bits of history), I think perhaps the greatest value in the book is that it helps give us new ways to think about and talk about superheroes.

In that same chapter DiPaolo also defines three broad categories for politically-themed superhero adventures (establishment, anti-establishment and colonial), and the different ways in which ideology and subtext can be recognized and processed.

The main focus of the book is the millennial and 21st century boom in superhero entertainment, including the ongoing, second wave of superhero movies and the comics from that period, but the parameters are pretty wide, stretching back to the birth of Superman all the way up until Blackest Night and the then imminent release of the Green Lantern and X-Men: First Class movies.

It’s hard to get much more timely and relevant than that—at least in a book published on paper.

**************************

Before class lets out, let’s review some discussion questions that will be on the test:

—Was Zack Snyder’s 2009 Watchmen adaptation a “masterpiece,” as DiPaolo says, and did Roger Ebert “rightly” declare it one of the best superhero films ever made? Should DiPaolo’s high opinion of the film call into question his judgment on other matters?

—In his discussion of the history of Wonder Woman, DiPaolo notes that, “Since the dominant cultural mood of the McCarthy-era 1950s suggested that it was not possible to be both a progressive and a patriot, Diana chose patriotism over feminism and socialism. She fell silent on political issues and became more of a fickle flirt.” If this is true, which post-war villain is more responsible for ruining Wonder Woman, Fredric Wertham or Joe McCarthy?

—In the sub-chapter “Where are All the Black Superheroes?”, DiPaolo discusses Green Lantern John Stewart’s brief tenure as the Green Lantern of public consciousness in the first decade of the 21st century, and then writes this: “While Hal Jordan was written out of the Green Lantern comics for years, giving Stewart and Metrosexual Green Lantern Kyle Rayner the spotlight, Jordan’s return to prominence as the central Green Lantern in the DC universe in 2004 took much of the attention away from Stewart.”  Is Kyle Rayner really metrosexual? His creation and heyday predate the existence of the term, and have you seen what he used to wear when not in costume? His closet is half t shirt and half flannel!

In the endnotes referencing chapter two, “Wonder Woman as World War II Veteran, Feminist Icon, and Sex Symbol,” DiPaolo mentions Donna Troy:

Some stories—in comics and in the 1970s television series—have featured Donna Troy, who is sometimes presented as Diana’s sister…but not always. The explanation for Donna’s presence has changed repeatedly and is, frankly, confusing beyond belief. In any event, the character more often appears outside of Wonder Woman comic books (as a major figure in the pages of The Teen Titans, for example) than she does in the Wonder Woman title proper, so I like to disregard her presence when I can.

Is this funny, and, if so, why? Will Donna’s existence be less confusing or more confusing after September, when DC kinda sorta reboots their comic book universe?

War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film by Marc DiPaolo, McFarland & Company, 330 pages, $45

This concludes the inaugural edition of “Balloonless,” my new books-about-comics review column, which will stick around if you guys like it. Publishers and authors can contact me regarding covering their books at jcalebmozzocco@gmail.com; readers can also feel free to make suggestions for books to cover.

Fear Itself #2

Publishing | May marked the worst month of the year for the direct market since January as sales of comic books and graphic novels fell 11.21 percent versus May 2010. Chart watcher John Jackson Miller chalks up the decline to a combination of retailers ordering more Free Comic Book Day titles than “for-profit” books and publishers’ summer events heating up a little later this year. Marvel led Diamond Comic Distributors’ list of top comics for the month with Fear Itself #2, followed by the first issue of DC’s Flashpoint. Avatar topped the graphic novel chart with Crossed 3D, Vol. 1. [The Comichron]

Legal | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has joined a coalition that includes booksellers, media companies and the ACLU of Utah in seeking to permanently stop enforcement of a 2005 Utah statute that would regulate Internet speech that some consider “harmful to minors,” including works of art, graphic novels, information about sexual health and the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth. The law has not gone into effect because Utah consented to a temporary injunction until the case can be decided. [press release]

Awards | A reminder: Online voting ends today for the 2011 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. The winners will be announced July 22 during Comic-Con International in San Diego. [Eisner Awards]

Archie Comics

Publishing | Tom Spurgeon talks at length with Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater about the publishers’ marketing strategy, digital initiatives, and how recently introduced gay character Kevin Keller fits into Riverdale: “You know, with all of the bullying going on in the world today, and all of the issues young people grow up with, it just proves the point that kids are kids, and that Archie, the gang, Riverdale, it’s all-inclusive. That’s how kids are in high school today. The point of his being gay, he’s just another kid. That’s the point of putting him in there. He’s accepted, and everyone should be accepted wherever they go. That sounds a little bit utopian, but why not? Why can’t we at least put that forth? Put forth the fact that everyone no matter what their orientation is, what the color of their skin is, what their religion is, whatever it may be, everyone’s accepted: there is no divisiveness. When you turn on the TV and you hear all this vitriol back and forth between political parties and all this nonsense it’s enough to get you nuts. The point of Kevin was ‘Hey, stop with this craziness. Everyone’s included. We’re all part of the human race no matter who you are or what you are.’” [The Comics Reporter]

Wizard

Conventions | Jerome Maida previews Wizard World Philadelphia, which returns on Friday to the Pennsylvania Convention Center. [Philadelphia Daily News]

Conventions | Lisa Allmendinger looks toward the third annual Kids Read Comics! convention, which kicks off Saturday in Chelsea, Michigan. [AnnArbor.com]

Conventions | On a related note, Snow Wildsmith offers tips on taking children to conventions. [Good Comics for Kids]

Creators | Greg Rucka talks about his upcoming run, with artist Marco Checchetto, on Marvel’s Punisher: “You find yourself in the position of going to your editor and saying, ‘So, who can I kill? Who is on the list of characters we can put a bullet in and is not going to horribly destroy what’s going in the rest of the universe?’ You never want to take a character out of play. It’s easier to take stuff away from the universe than to put it back into the universe.” [USA Today]

Broadway | The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society has filed an arbitration claim against the producers of the $70-million musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark for failure to pay royalties to original director Julie Taymor, who was fired in March. [The New York Times]

C2E2

The second C2E2 convention, hosted by ReedPOP in Chicago, wrapped up yesterday. Here’s an attempt to round up all the comic-related news that was announced at various panels during the show. I’d be surprised if I didn’t miss something.

While Marvel and DC Comics were both in attendance and held multiple panels, Marvel dominated in terms of the number of announcements, which is no surprise — DC tends to favor announcing new projects and creative teams on their Source blog rather than at conventions these days. I only point this out after seeing the long list of Marvel announcements and the far fewer DC ones in my summary below.

• Marvel confirmed earlier reports by officially announcing the creative teams for the two “Big Shots” titles they’ve been teasing, Daredevil and The Punisher. Irredeemable/Amazing Spider-Man writer Mark Waid will pen Daredevil, with Amazing Spider-Man artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin illustrating.

“Tonally, it’s still very much a crime series, but we’re toning down the noir a bit and playing up the high adventure a bit more,” Waid told Comic Book Resources. “He’s the Man Without Fear. I want to see that constantly. I want to see him diving face-first into perils that would make Green Lantern shriek like a little girl.”

• Detective Comics/Whiteout writer Greg Rucka and Amazing Spider-Man/Daredevil artist Mark Checchetto, meanwhile, are the creative team for the new Punisher series, which is set in the Marvel Universe.

“At the start I’m less interested in dealing with the Punisher’s gallery of established rogues than I am with establishing a status quo,” Rucka told CBR. “Where I’m coming from will allow us to bring a couple of new organizations into New York and to set up some other criminal enterprises and adversarial forces that he could be facing, because frankly if you’re in the mob and you’re in New York you’re terribly dumb. At this point you really do know how that ends.”

• With Daredevil returning, what does that mean for the Black Panther, who took over his book after Shadowland? Fans of T’Challa have nothing to fear, as the Black Panther: The Man Without Fear series by David Liss and Francisco Francavilla will continue. The next story arc will feature Kraven the Hunter and Storm.

• Liss is also working on a new miniseries called Mystery Men for Marvel, which debuts in June. Drawn by Patrick Zircher, it features the Marvel Universe of 1932.

• Marvel also announced that writer Rob Williams and artist Matthew Clark are working on a new Ghost Rider series, which launches in June.

• That’s not the only new project announced for Williams — he’s also working on an Iron Man project called The Iron Age with artist Rebekah Isaacs.

• The Ultimate Spider-Man team of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley are teaming up for a creator-owned series that will be published through Marvel’s Icon imprint. The book, called Brilliant, is about science students trying to create superpowers in a lab. It begins in July.

• At the Dynamite Entertainment panel, writer Garth Ennis revealed he’s working on a new Marvel book starring Nick Fury for their more adult-oriented MAX line.

Supreme POwer #1

• In other MAX news, Kyle Higgins and Manuel Garcia are working on a four-issue miniseries Supreme Power series that continues the stories began in J. Michael Straczysnki’s series of the same name.

• The Sixth Gun writer Cullen Bunn and Batgirl artist Lee Garbett are working on a Fear Itself tie-in called The Deep. It sort of stars the Defenders, as Namor calls on Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer and She-Hulk to help him out against some secret villains. “Suffice it to say, there is a villain Namor has faced before, a powerful group of villains with ties to the Defenders and some new threats who will be harrowing our heroes,” Bunn told CBR.

• Fred Van Lente will write another Fear Itself tie-in that hasn’t been officially announced yet. It will star Amadeus Cho and the new Power Man.

• Greg Pak will end his very long run on The Incredible Hulk with a storyline called “Heart of the Monster.”

• DC Comics revealed that as a result of the upcoming Flashpoint event, The Flash will end with issue #12.

• Dark Horse announced a new Star Wars: Dark Times miniseries, by Mick Harrison and Doug Wheatley. Like the previous one, it’s set in the time between Episodes III and IV of the movie franchise.

• Dynamite announced that Jesse Blaze Snyder will write a new series starring the Chaos Universe character Evil Ernie. Publisher Nick Barrucci said Evil Ernie will be the lynchpin of the new Chaos Universe, with other writers following Snyder’s lead.

• Dynamite also teased a possible Bionic Man comic book.

• DC Comics, Image, BOOM!, Dynamite and a number of other publishers have signed on with comiXology’s Digital Storefront Affiliate program.

• Dark Horse will publish another Mass Effect comic later this year.

• IDW announced that their Doctor Who comics are now available digitally.

• Avatar’s Boundless imprint will publish War Goddess by Mike Wolfer and Pao Rodrix, which stars Avatar heroines Pandora, Widow and Hellina.

• Oni Press announced a new graphic novel, One Soul, by Possessions creator Ray Fawkes.

And these of course are just the news bits … to find out who said what at which panel, check out CBR’s complete coverage of the con.

Deadpool Team-Up #886

Hello and welcome to a special “birthday bash” edition of our weekly “What Are You Reading” feature, where the Robot 6 crew talks about what books we’ve read recently. Usually we invite a special guest to share what they’ve been reading, but since today isn’t just an ordinary day for us, we thought we’d invite a whole bunch of special guests to help us out — our friends and colleagues from Comic Book Resources, Spinoff and Comics Should Be Good!

To see what everyone has been reading, click below …

*****

Brigid Alverson

Fables Deluxe Edition Hardcover, Vol. 1

I’m trying to catch up on some of the books I missed during the long stretch of my life when I was away from comics, so this week I picked up the first volume of Fables. I like the idea a lot—taking the characters of fairy tales and children’s literature and putting them into adult situations—and the stories are interesting enough to keep me reading. The art bothers me a lot, though. The character designs are fine, but the different elements of each panel don’t work together to create a coherent space. Snow White’s office for example, is in a vast room filled with all sorts of clutter—a flying ship, a toppled column, a suit of armor—but it’s as if every piece was drawn separately and then pasted down, like a Coloforms kit. It’s not as obvious in other parts of the book, but that early scene made me aware of it. Also the characters in this first novel don’t wander far from standard stereotypes—the icy executive woman, the bad boy, the slut, and of course Prince Charming. That’s the cost of using fairy tales as your source material, but I hope the characters develop a bit more complexity. Anyway, it’s a very witty take on the topic and the stories are fun to follow, so I’ll be sticking with it.

Manga-wise, I read the first chapter of Mizuki, a shoujo manga that Digital is publishing on their eManga site. It’s a pretty standard story about a girl who transforms into a devil to fight ghosts; as she is in high school, she tries very hard not to transform because her friends are frightened and revolted by her other form (they don’t know it’s her) and she doesn’t want to scare off the guy she has a crush on. That’s a pretty transparent metaphor for teenage life, and I can see why a book like this would have some appeal for the young-adult crowd. The art is not very distinctive but it is nicely done; I’ll be sticking around for chapter 2 of this one.

Sean T. Collins

Oh, sweet Christmas break! I did a ton of cramming to be properly equipped for doing Best of 2010 lists and now I can kick back and catch up on my prose reading. Right now I’m working my way through an old favorite fantasy series, Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising Sequence. Re-reading it for the first time in years, I’m struck by how much of it is basically info-dumping, yet somehow its tale of the eternal, Arthurian conflict between the Dark and the Light in Britain and Wales still feels immediate and epic.

But there have been plenty of comics on the docket as well. Click the links below for full reviews!

H Day

* H Day by Renee French (PictureBox): French’s elliptical, silent tone poem about her struggle with migraines and ants is a fantastic showcase of her considerable gifts as a crafter of images.

* I Want You #2 by Lisa Hanwalt (Pigeon Press): Body horror, gross-out humor, and insanely detailed drawings of horses and birds and stuff. It’s quite a combo.

* Boy’s Club #4 by Matt Furie (Pigeon Press): Another uproarious installment of Matt Furie’s chronicle of the unrepentant dude-dom.

* Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines (AdHouse): Despite its rapturous reception elsewhere and my sympathies for its subject matter of animal rights, I found this graphic novel a classic case of reach exceeding grasp.

* The Wrong Place by Brecht Evens (Drawn & Quarterly): Evens uses color like you’ve rarely seen elsewhere to tell the tale of two friends, one a livewire and one a wallflower, and their shared social scene.

* Big Questions #15 by Anders Nilsen (Drawn & Quarterly): The decade-in-the-making conclusion to Nilsen’s haunting series about a flock of birds who were tragically ill-equipped to deal with the incursion of humanity into their world offers no big answers.

Timothy Callahan

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, by J. W. Rinzler
I’ll admit that the combination of the leaden prequels and video-gamish Clone Wars theatrical release nearly killed my interest in anything Star Wars-related. But I used to be a total Star Wars geek, even going so far as to submit a Star Wars RPG adventure to West End Games in the mid-1990s, though my adventure was rejected because it (a) wasn’t very good, and (b) had what the editor called an “inappropriate title” for something in the Star Wars line. The title? “Attack of the Energy Beasts,” a purposely goofy classic sci-fi homage. I guess, when the second prequel title was announced, years later, that editor probably realized his mistake. Or he said to himself, “Yeah, Lucas doesn’t get it, either.”

Anyway, Rinzler’s massive “Making of…” tomes are the kinds of things that can rekindle interest in that far, far away galaxy. This book focuses on Episode V, of course, and it not only has fascinating behind-the-scenes photographs, and a compelling overview of the struggle to make the movie at a time when no sequel had ever made as much as the original film (Godfather II only did half as well as the original, for example, and that was the best sequel ever made), it also has a great sequence which transcribes a day in the directing life of Irvin Kershner, based on a recording of that day’s events leading up to the famous Han Solo in carbonite scene. Kerhner was wearing a mic all day for another “Making of…” project being completed at the time, and the transcription of the on-set script revision and fragile egos of the performers is a clear look at what really happened when the cameras weren’t looking. The whole book is a pretty great, and engrossing, read.

Captain America #613 by Ed Brubaker, Butch Guice, and Friends
I read ten to twenty new comics every week, so why single out this one? Because sometimes I forget how good Brubaker’s Captain America can be, and this was a particularly good reminder of what has been one of the best mainstream superhero comics of the past five years. From Guice’s chiseled artwork (best embellished by Stefano Gaudiano) to the sometimes dynamic vividly nightmarish layouts to the rapid cross-cutting between Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and the daughter of the Red Skull, this looks to be a comic that’s back on track after a year of slightly disappointing issues (though by the high standards of Brubaker’s Captain America, even weaker installments are better than most). I liked this one a lot.

The Art of Jim Starlin, by Jim Starlin
Quite early in my comic book reading days, I picked up a copy of Dreadstar and Company #2, which reprinted the second issue of the Epic Comics series focusing on Dreadstar’s blind female compatriot, Willow. It was a shocking issue back then, and rereading the entire Dreadstar saga these days, trying to follow along with CBR’s Chad Nevett in “Dreadstar December,” has reminded me how much I’ve always enjoyed Jim Starlin’s work. I’ve been devouring his other comics, and I have an essay on Gilgamesh II that I keep promising to write.

Jim Starlin’s art book, which features highlights from his career and a lengthy retrospective written by himself, is a good primer on the man’s career and it’s also a good reminder of all the projects he’s tacked over the years. It doesn’t go into nearly enough detail about the conflicts he’s had with various publishers (he frustratingly hints at juicy stories of poor treatment by the Big Two, but politely declines to name names or provide specific blow-by-blow accounts), but it does show Starlin to be a man who has always been ahead of the curve, trying to do his own thing in an industry that wants bland conformity.

Timothy Callahan writes the regular column When Words Collide, as well as reviews for Comic Book Resources. He does a lot of other stuff online, too, even talking about comics on the Splash Page podcast with CBR’s Chad Nevett.

Josh Wigler

Morning Glories #2

It’s probably no accident that the books I’m enjoying the most these days are coming from Image Comics, given the fact that I’ve covered the Image beat on CBR for the better part of two years now. But that’s just the state of things, I guess — it’s a good time to be a comics fan, and an especially great time for Image’s creative output.

The two books at the top of my buy pile every month are Chew and Morning Glories, and not just because I’m running monthly columns on them (though that certainly doesn’t hurt). With Chew, John Layman and Rob Guillory are constantly evolving the story of FDA agent Tony Chu in exciting new directions, almost effortlessly taking the series from its initial premise of a guy who gleans psychic impressions from the things he eats to it’s current end-of-the-world-by-fiery-alien-sky-writing status quo. There’s no telling where the book is going to go next, which is exactly why I love it so much.

Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma’s Morning Glories is entering the new year in great shape as well, with the first arc officially concluded in last month’s breathtaking fifth issue. Having already read this month’s installment a couple of weeks early, I can already tell you that Morning Glories is off to an excellent start in 2011. I can also say with no bullshit that this series is one of the most consistent edge-of-your-seat reads you’ll find anywhere in comics today. If you’re not picking Morning Glories up already, do yourself a favor and dive in while it’s still early — trust me, you don’t want to miss this boat.

Some other current favorites include:

- Artifacts … the best event series of 2010, trucking strong into 2011 thanks to Ron Marz and the enormously talented people at Top Cow.

- Orc Stain … I’m pretty sure James Stokoe couldn’t make a bad comic if he tried, certainly not when crafting the disturbingly detailed world that “Orc Stain” inhabits.

- Proof … recently relaunched with a new number one, but it’s the same hairy Sasquatch you know and love.

- The Walking Dead … as the world wakes up and smells the coffee thanks to the hit AMC series, the rest of us already know how amazing this series is thanks to the increasingly devastating monthlies. After eighty issues, Kirkman is still at the top of his game and showing no signs of slowing down.

That’s barely scratching the surface of what I’ve been reading and loving lately, and judging by what’s on the horizon in 2011, the new year should be an equally crowded one. Here’s hoping, at least!

In addition to covering Image for CBR, Josh also can be found blogging regularly for Spinoff. He also writes for MTV and ComicsAlliance.

Ryan K Lindsay

Franken-Castle

Franken-Castle
It’s a concept nearly everyone scoffed at and while many enjoyed it just as many would never admit that it was fun. I missed the boat but that only means I get to enjoy it in one big HC instead. While the end of the tale may have lost its way, the start of this strange monster filled romp by Remender and Moore was one of my picks for comic of the year. A shame not enough agreed with me and it missed out on a mention on the CBR Top 100. I absolutely loved the art and the writing here and while it wasn’t really the Punisher I kind of dug that about it. It wasn’t afraid to try something new and completely succeed in totally new ways.

I can only imagine what a youth would make of Franken-Castle if s/he found it squirreled away at home (which is the optimal way for every generation to discover comics). The sensational art by Tony Moore is something indeed and matched with Rick Remender cutting loose in a way that the Big Two just don’t do enough is the sort of mind-expanding four colour drug that every formative stage should be exposed to. This is comics the way I always imagine them through the magical and misty lens of the golden years of my youth. There should be more titles out there like this.

Secret Dead Men
I love Duane Swierczynski. I’ll just come out and say it, I think he’s a damn fun writer. I really liked his Immortal Iron Fist Run and I would have loved to see him do just a bit more on Black Widow. But the man also writes novels and very good ones so I’m slowly catching up on them all. I recently finished The Wheelman, which is a stellar heist story, and I’m now elbows deep in Secret Dead Men, which is about a sort of wandering PI who collects souls and stores them in his brain. It’s the sort of zany idea that must be read to be believed, and once you’ve read enough Swierczynski you will become a believer. I have no doubt.

Proof
John Prufrock is a very cool character. A Bigfoot (perhaps the Bigfoot) who works for a shadowy government agency tracking down other cryptids. It’s a perfect high concept but shocking in that the execution is actually better than you think it might be. There’s erudition to the words, and beauty in the art, and a certain spirit between the panels that just makes you fall completely into the world created. This is a title you can get lost in.

I initially picked this title up in trades but I’ve switched to floppies for the new relaunch and I’m glad I did. The latest issue was a whole barrel of cool and I’m so very glad I don’t have to wait months between my Proof fixes. This comic deserves to be read by more people so become the next one and pick up a trade, or the latest #1 issue, today. You won’t regret it.

Ryan K Lindsay is a weekly reviewer at CBR. He is also a staff writer for comic news and reviews site The Weekly Crisis. He also runs a comic scripting challenge site called thoughtballoons where each week a character is picked and every member of the site must write a one page script about that character (and play-at-home scripts are encouraged in the comments). He’s also been known to throw a think piece up at Gestalt Mash and is hoping one day to have his many comic pitches drawn by people with pencils.

Greg McElhatton

All Clear

All Clear by Connie Willis: I’ve been a fan of Connie Willis’s writings ever since I first picked up a copy of Doomsday Book, back in the day. The second half of what was supposed to be a single novel (but so big it got split into Blackout and All Clear), it feels like it’s the final word on her time travel novels. A book about World War II is rarely cheerful, but this one pulls your heartstrings with both despair and hope. It’s a book I was a little unsure of early on, but it comes together beautifully for a strong conclusion.

Justice League International Vol. 1-4 by Keith Giffen, J.M DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, Ty Templeton: I have a confession to make–aside from the odd issue here and there, I’ve read almost none of the “classic” Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire JLI. I recently went on a binge and read all four collections to date, and unsurprisingly I loved them. Sure, I could’ve done without the inevitable line-wide crossover every five or six issues, and the rotating door of cast members is a little hard to keep track of at times, but it’s still a lot of fun. Looking forward to picking up Volume 5 shortly!

Voodoo Heart by Scott Snyder: I’m about halfway through this collection of short stories, and if there was any doubt that Snyder’s adept at multiple genres (he’s already proven that by writing both American Vampire and Detective Comics with completely different voices), this should seal it. The opening story (“Blue Heron”) about a man chasing a zeppelin across the country to catch the love of his life will hook you, and three stories later the quality hasn’t dipped. Really looking forward to sitting down with the rest before long.

Greg McElhatton writes reviews for CBR and Read About Comics, and also has a fun personal blog.

Kiel Phegley

X'ed Out

Over the past few weeks, my reading has been divided up on two very specific categories. First up, I’ve been going back over a ton of great comics while working on CBR’s top 100 of the year list. Aside from some of the books I wrote up for the countdown including Brandon Graham’s King City, Hope Larson’s Mercury and Mike Dawson’s Troop 142, I’ve been going back over the big books of the year like Wilson an X’Ed Out as well as some killer stuff that didn’t quite make my top ten or the top 100 including Jason Lutes’ latest issue of Berlin and Kathryn and Stuart Immonen’s Moving Pictures. And in case you’re wondering, my #1 book of the year was totally Love & Rockets New Stories #3. That one has been banging around my brain box since the moment I first picked it up. We live in an age of wonders.

The other stack of stuff I’ve been tearing through are a slew of novels I have to read for my upcoming residency as an MFA student at Hamline University. My program is in Writing for Children and Young Adults, so my required list is a metric ton of middle grade and YA prose with a few picture books thrown in. I’ve read Jack Gantos’ Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key, Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Deborah Heiligman Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith. Most importantly for the comic folks out there, I’ve been asked to re-read Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese because, get this, Yang will be at Hamline next week while I’m in my first residency to give us students a workshop in writing and graphic novels and what not. How rad is that?

Kiel Phegley is the news editor for Comic Book Resources, and one of the folks I should probably thank more often for all the help he gives us. Check out his interview with The Comics Reporter.

Brian Cronin

The last five comic books that I read were Deadpool Team-Up #886, a well-told action story by Shane McCarthy and Nick Dragotta featuring Iron Fist. Dragotta’s art was fantastic and McCarthy had a lot of funny dialogue.

Secret Warriors #23

Secret Warriors #23 was the rare issue that gives you an extreme amount of singular character development while still moving the over-arching plot along. Great job by Jonathan Hickman, and it is awesome that Alessandro Vitti is going to finish out this series on art.

Justice Society of America #46 was an intriguing look at the idea of a superhero team devoting itself entirely to one city and not letting ANY crime occur. Meanwhile, Marc Guggenheim and artist Scott Kolins do strong work in establishing the mysterious villains in the comic as a formidable and scary threat to the cast of this book. One drawback in the issue to me was a scene featuring Obsidian that did not ring true to me.

Hulk #28 was another entertaining issue by the impressive duo of Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman. Hardman has not had a bad issue yet, and Parker gives him a lot of really cool stuff to draw in this issue (and the previous issues, as well).

Finally, Flash #8, by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins, was an effectively eerie look at the origin (or should I say originS) of the Reverse-Flash. Seeing him cruelly change time around himself makes him a rather terrifyingly disturbing creature.

That’s my list!

Brian Cronin runs our sister blog, Comics Should Be Good! and was part of The Great Curve team way back in the day, before we were ever Robot 6. He’s also an author.

Alex Dueben

Apollo’s Angels

Apollo’s Angels by Jennifer Homans. Writing about comics and art has its challenges, but it’s a cakewalk compared to writing about dance. For centuries, the only real record we have of dance has been through writing. The facility with language required by good dance writers is part of what I love about the genre (sometimes more than dance itself) and as I think and write more about the history of comics I know that Homans’ cultural analysis and history of ballet is something that’s going to stick in my head for some time to come. This is the gold standard of arts writing.

Berlin: City of Stones and Berlin: City of Smoke. I’ve been meaning to reread the first volume and read the second one of Jason Lutes’ epic series ever since I picked it up months ago but I wanted to read through it all in one sitting and finally got a chance this week. I can’t help but feel that like Love and Rockets, the problem isn’t that we love the series any less or that the quality has dropped – it’s better than it’s ever been – the problem is that we’ve run out of adjectives to describe it. There’s nothing new to say. How many times can we say it’s a brilliant piece of work and one of the greatest comic series ever?

Bad Machinery: A Feral Flag Will Fly. I picked up this limited edition book of the beginning strips of John Allison’s new comic at Webcomics Weekend and hadn’t gotten around to reading it. Part of the problem with buying the books of webcomics is that I’ve already them, which means they drop to the bottom of the pile quickly. The truth is that I love Bad Machinery. I think it’s Allison’s best work. And it was great to OD on the comic for an afternoon without staring at the screen.

The Butterfly Mosque. G. Willow Wilson is best known to comic fans for her graphic novel Cairo and the series Air. This new memoir will likely change all that. It’s a beautiful book that I can’t recommend highly enough, detailing Wilson’s conversion to Islam and her time in Cairo, falling in love and her young married life. Wilson conveys the culture she found herself a part of and the essential separateness that one feels in a culture unlike that which one is born and raised in. Through it all there is a greater understanding and love.

Alex Dueben writes about the kinds of comics that I know Sean and Chris dig for CBR.

Sonia Harris

The Essential Moon Knight

The Essential Moon Knight Vol 1 & 2
by Doug Moench, Bill Sienkiewicz and others
Love Bill Sienkiewicz, I have ever since New Mutants and then Elektra Assassin. Because of his genre-altering work , I thought it would be interesting to see how his style evolved. This book definitely show his early work, you can see the change and watch him move towards something more communicative. Still, his line is always characteristic, easy to spot even when he’s trying to hide his inherent craziness. To be honest, I’m not reading the words, I’m just in it for the art. I might go back and read them if I get stuck in bed sick one day or something, but there isn’t a lot of draw.

http://www.freakangels.com/
by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield
I tried reading this online when it started, but the short episodes meant that I couldn’t really get into it. Then I forgot about it for a few months and came back with plenty of story unfolded. Elis writing a screwed-up, post-apocalyptic London is very compelling, especially with a dysfunctional, neo Village of the Damned (but nice, sort of) angle. Duffield’s art is quite lovely, and it’s become one of the few comics that I don’t mind reading online. Having said that, it does look good in print – the colors sort of do slightly better things in print – but knowing that it is up online, how can I wait all those extra weeks for the book?

Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
by David Lynch
A funny little, chunky, blue book. Although I read sequentially, it would be a great book to dive into at any point for inspiration, a sort of random divination kind of a thing, to set the mood for a project or day. David Lynch talks gently about his creative process and the role transcendental meditation plays in that (which may or may not be your cup of tea, but I think it is interesting, regardless.) He’s very candid, talks openly of his feelings about major projects, which is really interesting to me. He discusses about how some films are made, what it means to him, and what he intends in making them… It’s nice, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of his films. The book is less dry than that, more an aspirational piece for the creative mind.

Sonia Harris writes for Comics Should Be Good every wednesday and sometimes writes convention coverage for CBR.

James Hunt

Hopeless Savages: Greatest Hits

1. Hopeless Savages: Greatest Hits – Jen Van Meter, Christine Norrie et al.
Many of my favourite creators have admitted being influenced by Hopeless Savages, so when the omnibus edition came out recently, I took that as my “now or never” moment to see it for myself. Working through the book, I’m not sure I’ve been entirely won over by the “punk family” premise, but the characters are lovingly-crafted and it’s easy to see why it had such an impact on those who read it.

2. Generation Hope – Kieron Gillen, Salvador Espin.
With its central theme of teenagers accepting themselves as mutants, Generation Hope feels more like the X-Men than any other X-Book does right now. I’ve loved Gillen’s work ever since the days of the original Phonogram series, and this is no exception. The market might feel a little over-saturated with mutant titles, but this had an incredibly strong launch, and it’s a series that I’m looking forward to seeing more of in 2010.

3. The Fabric of the Cosmos – Brian Greene.
Sometimes it’s good to get away from fiction and be reminded that actually, the universe we live in is strange enough even without superpowers and cosmic beings. I figure if I can understand DC continuity, quantum physics shouldn’t be much harder to grasp, and Greene’s informative yet approachable style keeps me from feeling overwhelmed by the hard maths – just when you think it’s getting a bit too complicated, out come The Simpsons references.

James Hunt reviews comics for Comic Book Resources.

Greg Hatcher

Well, to be honest, what I’m reading is usually listed right there in the column every week. But today we have….

Crossovers: The Secret Chronology of the World, volumes one and two, by Win Eckert. This is kind of the ultimate continuity-geek book, working out the chronology of every single literary crossover ever, including comics. It might be a little uber-nerdy for some folks but I’m pretty nerdy and I think it’s great fun. I’m a Wold Newton guy from way back, I bought Philip Jose Farmer’s biography of Doc Savage new off the stands back in the seventies, so this is totally my thing.

Coils, by Fred Saberhagen and Roger Zelazny. Picked this up on a whim not too long ago, on one of our bookscouting road trips. A man discovers that his memories are false computer implants… when he tries to discover the truth his fiancee is kidnapped and the chase is on. Sort of a cross between The Bourne Identity and Total Recall.

The Liberty Project by Kurt Busiek and James Fry, collecting their short-lived comics series from Eclipse way back when. I remember this series fondly from the 1980s and it’s nice that it’s back in print again.

Greg Hatcher can be found writing every week for Comics Should Be Good!

Shaun Manning

20th Century Boys

20th Century Boys vol. 12

I’ll admit that I thought 20th Century Boys went off the rails a bit when the “New Book of Prophecy” was introduced, but volume 12 reveals a bit more about the origins of this second deadly tome and ties together a lot of really fascinating threads. Urasawa is utterly brilliant, managing to string out the big reveal of the Friend’s identity for a full twelve volumes and keep things interesting at every step of the way.

Doctor Who #1

I got a preview copy of the new IDW series starring the Eleventh Doctor, and this standalone issue was a hell of a lot of fun. Basically, the TARDIS is infected with every spam email Rory has ever received and brings to life the various charlatans and con men embodied in each. The 419 man is a special treat. My only gripe is that it drives me nuts when recognizable entities like Facebook are tweaked just to avoid naming them directly, and there was a bit of this.

Shaun Manning covers Dark Horse, BOOM! and a lot of other comic news on CBR.

Chad Nevett

Invisible

I got some really cool books for Christmas and have been reading those, prose and comics alike. On Wednesday, I had a bunch of time to kill and wound up reading all of Invisible by Paul Auster in the process. It’s not dissimilar to his other books with a narrative within the narrative presented to us by a friend of the original author. I find Auster’s prose engaging and it always makes me want to write. It’s writing that requires you to be active and read between the lines. He’s also a writer I love just for the fact he’s almost at the point where he’s releasing one novel each year.

I arrived home from the holidays to find a shipment of comics I bought, including Jack Cross #1-4 by Warren Ellis and Gary Erskine. It’s one of the rare recent Ellis-penned minis that I hadn’t read and I missed getting a copy of the recent DC reprint. It fits nicely into his larger body of work with his interest in intelligence work. The protagonist is an interesting fellow with his idealism and pacifism in the ‘real’ world, but his utter brutality when he’s called on to do a job. It’s a cynical book, but definitely one for the Ellis fans.

And, finally, just today, while at work, I read Parker: The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke (on lunch and during breaks, of course). I picked this up during the week with a gift card and loved it. Much more of a COMIC adaptation of the prose than The Hunter was. Cooke is more playful and inventive here, willing to change up styles and storytelling approaches when it suits him, not just during the heist scenes. It’s a shame we’ll have to wait until 2012 for more.

Chad Nevett talks about comics in several different places around the web — at his personal blog GraphiContent, at Comics Should Be Good!, as a reviewer for Comic Book Resources and on the Splash Page podcast, with Mr. Callahan. He also writes about wrestling for 411mania.

Man... or Monster? U DECIDE!

My Distinguished (and Ghoulish) Colleague said Thursday that “there is a fundamental tension between the horror and superhero genres.” Or, as I see it, when Superheroes and Horror room together, one of them winds up taking up the living room. Mania.com went further and compared the horror comics of Marvel to those of their Distinguished Competitors. They came to the conclusion that DC has a stronger horror line, mostly because of the Vertigo imprint. “We don’t normally associate Marvel with horror comics”, said Chad Derdowski . “When you hear the words ‘Marvel horror,’ you probably have to scratch your head and think about it for a bit and nearly everything you come up with is ultimately going to fall into the superhero category.”

Which is probably the best argument for Marvel having just as strong of a horror element in their titles as DC. Because let’s face it: what scares you? The idea of ghosts and goblins, or that drunk driver swerving uncomfortably on the road in front of you? What terrifies you more, the dark thoughts of a killer or the threat of unemployment? There’s horror, and there’s personal horror, and both are frightful.

Marvel’s core stories are steeped in horror. Terrible things happen with shocking results to ordinary people every day in the Marvel universe. There are terrible creatures living under your sewers called Morlocks who resent the surface world and the pretty faces that walk above them. Science and mysticism create animal men, and your best friend’s father can turn into a maniacal genius who murders your loved ones. Do I have to mention the man who rides out of Hell with a skeleton face or the Jekyll and Hyde birthed from a bomb? No, that’d be too easy. How about the (*sigh*) devils that tempt and torture man? Please, let’s just skip that one. Out of all of Marvel’s macabre tales, the most terrifying one to me is the one that wears no mask, has no superhuman powers and only works his dark will against the guilty.

Putting the impractical ‘Franken-Castle’ aside, the idea of the Punisher is a terrifying thought: a one-man army that uses anything at his disposal to see crime dead in the streets. He is the moral line that decides the wicked from the just, the executioner that dispatches who he pleases with ruthless force. He cannot be stopped from his objective. Sorry, Heroes for Hire, he’s not a team player. There are his rules and no other, and if he wants you dead, then running will only make you die tired. We have how many issues that show Frank sees evil, Frank stalks evil, and Frank murders evil in cold blood? Then we turn to the next issue to see how the next grizzly fate will be made. Civil War tried to bring him in to the superhero fold and he, in short order, shot to death two people who were surrendering. It didn’t matter that they might have wanted to cut a deal or reform, there was no trust for the criminal element and that was that. Frank’s world is black and white, and he wears a Skull as bringer of death.

Is it cool? Yes! This isn’t supernatural or the unexplained haunting your steps and leaving you breathless with scary images or dark dealings. Frank Castle as a character is a very terrifying thought. If this was real, the massacres he leaves behind would be the best fear-striking headlines the news had ever seen! We would debate his morality, talk about vigilantism, the right and effectiveness of the criminal justice system, but I promise you, the idea that Frank Castle might find you for your crimes is enough to make you lock your door at night.

But The Punisher is not considered a horror comic. He’s a guy you root for secretly, someone you want to watch “get those guys.” This all comes back to personal horror, when the monster is not chasing you, but when you are the monster and you understand the need to chase. Personal horror is a little more insidious, it works slower and it lures you into a false sense of security. Frank Castle is like any other man; he worked hard, served his country, had a wife and kid, and lost them in tragedy. Jason Voorhees drowned at camp and his mother sought hard revenge against Camp Crystal Lake. When she died, Jason himself came back to avenge them both. Jason was just a kid and now he stalks camp counselors.

But while we may thrill to his murderous rampage, you want the hero to escape. Like Tom says, you want the hero to beat the bad guy and save the day. Well, how often does that happen anymore? How many stories are left with ambiguous defeats, the villain lurking in the shadows, licking his wounds while the heroes stand united, but the battle having taken a toll? Spider-Man’s life is a mess, but the fact that he gets up every morning and puts on his suit and fights crime (with action as his reward) is inspiring and uplifting as any triumph over evil.

Superhero stories and horror stories aren’t mutually exclusive. One doesn’t have to be more capes and tights or capes and fangs than another. The key here is story: you can be a hero who is also a zombie and use elements of both to communicate your tale. Superheroes can be horrific, they can tell tales of personal horror without putting on the airs of an imprint, just as vampires can be used in the superheroic context. Look at the X-Men: in the Rise of the Mutants, Dracula and his new crew aren’t scary. You gasp as Jubillee has been taken over not because she’s a monster now, but because of survival. And in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about?

Previously, film rights to the Punisher had belonged to Lionsgate, which made two Punisher movies — 2004′s The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane, and 2008′s Punisher: War Zone, starring Ray Stevenson. The latter film was the source of much behind-the-scenes controversy, with Jane departing the franchise and rumors of strife with director Lexi Alexander. Like the Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Blade, and Daredevil films, Lionsgates’ Punisher movies were made outside of the control of Marvel proper. (As was, of course, the infamous Roger Corman-produced, Dolph Lundgren-starring version from 1989.)

Feige’s brief statement appears to be the only info about the Punisher making his Marvel that’s out there, so it remains to be seen exactly how and when he’ll join the fray.

King City #9

Happy Comic-Con week, and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest contributors are Jim Demonakos and Kyle Stevens from the Seattle nerd rock band Kirby Krackle. The band, whose newest video features Wolverine, is currently in Florida for Nerdapalooza, and will be in San Diego later this week at booth #1803. So stop by and say hi if you’re going.

See what the boys from Kirby Krackle, as well as the rest of the Robot 6 crew, have been reading lately after the jump …

Chris Mautner

Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1

Having gotten through Blackest Night the other week, I spent some time with Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1 and 2. These are the books that collect the various non-GL tie-ins, like Black Lantern: Wonder Woman, Black Lantern: Teen Titans, etc. It’s about as up and down in quality as you can imagine, most of it being rather bad. The Teen Titans and Wonder Woman sequences struck me as being particularly noxious due to poor storytelling. The only one that really worked for me was the Flash tie-in; I suspect that’s because Geoff Johns was the writer in that instance and therefore had the best affinity to the material. For the most part, this felt like a long run of placeholder comics, warming the bench until the next chapter in the main saga, which, I suppose, is the case for just about all tie-in comics in these multi-part crossover stories these days. Though I seem to recall Zero Hour had a lot less baby-killing.

Tom Bondurant

There won’t be a lot of specifics from me this week. If this feature were called “What Are You Planning To Read?” I would be a lot better at it. This is because I am planning to read the 15 issues of Secret Society of Super-Villains — if there’s no Showcase Presents, I might as well buy the back issues — as well as the last volume of Diana Prince: Wonder Woman. Comics I have enjoyed in the past seven days include the four issues (so far) of American Vampire and Superman #701 (to which, of course, I devoted Thursday’s GOF). I am also re-reading the five Scott Pilgrim books and regretting once again coming to that particular series so late.

Gorilla Man #1

I was very disappointed that Atlas has been canceled yet again, especially since this week’s Gorilla Man #1 was so good. I don’t think Jeff Parker has written a bad issue of anything Atlas-related, and if there were any way I could pay him directly every month to tell me stories about these characters, I would.

Otherwise it was a pretty good week for the superheroes: I liked Batman #701, the first issue of the Astro City: Silver Agent two-parter, the double-shot of JLI with Booster Gold and Generation Lost, and X-Files/30 Days Of Night #1. I thought Girl Comics #3 was fairly well-done, but I didn’t recognize either of the characters featured in the last two stories.

Finally, I have to say that the Watchmen Ultimate Edition DVD set is an impressive package. It’s about as thick as two or three Scott Pilgrim books, and it has 5 discs: one for the extended (‘Black Freighter”-ized) version of the movie, one for the regular version, one for special features, and two for the motion comic. I had mixed feelings about the movie when I saw it in the theater, so I’m driven mostly by curiosity here….

Michael May

Captain Long Ears

I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say that Diana Thung’s Captain Long Ears is not a rip-roaring adventure about a rabbit-hatted space ninja and his bowler-wearing gorilla pal. I mean, it’s not marketed that way or anything and even the cover is much more sweetly playful than aggressively awesome. But even so, I wasn’t prepared for how dark the story actually was. There’s no twist ending or anything; you figure out very quickly that Captain Long Ears is actually a young boy named Michael who has an active imagination, that Jam the ape is actually a stuffed toy, and that the Captain Big Nose they’re searching for is actually Michael’s missing father. The mystery is in what actually happened to Big Nose (though that’s not hard to guess either) and – more importantly – whether or not Michael will survive the search. There may not be actual monsters and pirates to threaten him, but Michael is sick to the point of being feverish and he’s been missing from home for almost a day. I worried about him in a way I never would’ve worried about a space ninja with an ape sidekick. It’s a powerful book, but reading it was an emotionally wrenching experience.

The Aviary reminded me a bit of Lost. Crazy, non-linear storytelling, but everything comes together in the end to not quite make sense. At least it had a gin-swigging robot, a talking dog, and some genuinely deep observations about love and loneliness.

from pood #1, by Sara Edward-Corbett

Sean T. Collins

A couple of anthologies and the coolest Swedish import this side of Ikea were what I read this week. Click the links for reviews!

pood #1, edited by Geoff Grogan, Kevin Mutch, and Alex Rader: I really dig the format and production values in this Wednesday Comics-sized newsprint alternative-comics anthology, but I’m lukewarm on the content overall.

The Troll King, by Kolbeinn Karlsson: I was hugely impressed by this ballsy (in more ways than one) and beautiful monster-comic parable from Top Shelf’s Swedish Invasion.

Mome Vols. 17-19, edited by Eric Reynolds and Gary Groth: Fanta’s venerable anthology series turns a corner with three issues’ worth of darker, stronger material.

Brigid Alverson

You'll Never Know Book One: A Good and Decent Man

I picked up Carol Tyler’s You’ll Never Know, Book One: A Good and Decent Man from the library on the strength of recommendations I have seen for it all over the web, and it didn’t disappoint me, although I feel it could have been better edited. Tyler has a nice diary style that seems intimate and friendly but is also quite sophisticated. The book is ostensibly about Tyler’s father, and how he experienced the trauma of war and was left with deep psychological scars, but the book ends before the climax, the terrible thing that left him scarred for life. At the same time, a lot of the book is about Tyler—her curiosity about her father’s experiences, her attempts to cope after her husband leaves her, her relationship with her teenage daughter. In the end, I felt the book was too much about her trying to get her father to talk and not enough about what happened to him. Still, that criticism aside, I really enjoyed the book. There aren’t too many comics about middle-aged women, and it was nice to read about something other than youthful rebellion and angst for a change.

Two Cents Plain is another memoir by a contemporary of Tyler’s, and it touches on the war in a different way. Martin Lemelman’s parents were Jews who lived through the Holocaust and met in a resettlement camp after the war. They moved to New York and eventually settled in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn, where they ran a candy store. Memoirs of growing up Jewish in New York used to be so numerous that they were practically a genre of their own, but mostly they were heartwarming and glossed over the bad stuff. Lemelman tells his story matter-of-factly, sparing no detail—his father’s drinking, his mother’s attempts to shield him from the evil eye, the cramped quarters they lived in behind the store, and eventually, the animosity that sprang up between them and their new neighbors, as the neighborhood changed and mutual acceptance turned into violence. Lemelman breaks the book into a series of vignettes, and his realistic style, peppered with photos of real documents and knickknacks from the store, brings this bygone era to life.

Kirby Krackle’s Jim Demonakos

B.P.R.D.

B.P.R.D.

Having been a fan of Hellboy for what seems like forever (I actually bought it when it first came out in… (wait while I check the always accurate Wikipedia), yes, confirmed as forever, 1994!), it’s been really great that more and more of Mike Mignola’s universe is being explored in the pages of B.P.R.D.

The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense’s history spans all the way back to 1944. The B.P.R.D. comics are cleverly presented and easily digestible in basically a monthly miniseries format, anything from one-shots to six issue arcs. In fact, there have now been more B.P.R.D. comics than Hellboy comics! What’s great is that, with Mignola at the helm co-writing most everything along with John Acrudi, the B.P.R.D. has created a massive story that both intertwines with Hellboy’s own story, but also lives on its own with fantastic stories and an array of characters who I’ve come to know and care about. Not to mention the fabulous art by Guy Davis, who has illustrated a majority of the stories.

I’ll also add that it’s been cool the last couple years that B.P.R.D. has explored the past history of the organization with it’s 1946 and 1947 miniseries’ (and soon to come, 1948), adding weight to the entire Hellboy mythos and enhancing the current comics at the same time! Great stuff!

King City

I love this book and I’m pretty thrilled it’s been coming out regularly from Image Comics lately, saving it from limbo. I first discovered this book as part of TokyoPop’s line of Original English Language graphic novels and was totally taken by it from the get-go. Sadly, there was only ever one volume and then TokyoPop folded its OEL business. Thankfully, there was an agreement made with Image Comics who started re-publishing King City as a monthly book, starting with all the material from the OEL and then transitioning to all-new material!

Enough history, back to the book. It was like Brandon Graham (the creator/writer/artist) took a bit of all the things I love like girls, monsters, hip hop, video games, comics (both US and foreign), food, aliens, anime and so much more and put them in a blender to make King City just for me. Everything about it screamed ‘awesome,’ from the main character Joe’s use of a cat as his main weapon (he gives the cat shots to make it do what he needs it to do) to brain thieves, sexy girls, secret organizations, weird puns and so much more.

The book really grips you from the get-go and has an overwhelming sense of ‘cool’ to it. Graham’s art is also very open, no extraneous lines, I wouldn’t insult it by calling it simple, but it’s very graphic and the double page spreads are filled with a ton of hidden gems.

I could go on and on, it’s a top-of-the-pile book for me and I highly recommend it! Also, check out Graham’s blog — it’s perpetually entertaining and full of cool art, what more do you want?

Kirby Krackle’s Kyle Stevens

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead #17

When I was asked to contribute what books I’m reading, the first answer popped into my head, as it always does, was The Walking Dead.

It’s a book I’ve exposed many a new comic reader to and still years later, a series I must instantly read in the car after buying my books every Wednesday. Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard have done a beyond amazing job at taking the reader on a journey (next week #75 hits the stands) though the darkest and most tantalizing of human paranoia; what happens when life as you know it stops and you’re forced to pull your will to survive from a depth you never knew existed?

The black & white tone of a comic has never looked better in my opinion as it does in TWD, and month after month I find I care more and more about the characters that, as we’ve seen, can be wiped out without any time for regret. And really how can you when roamers could pop out of the bushes at any time? I can’t wait to see what the years ahead hold for this book, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone more excited than me about the upcoming TWD TV series.

Our song “Zombie Apocalypse” was a direct tribute to our love for TWD, and should be a must read for any fan of comics in general. I only wish I had the luxury of discovering it again for a long rainy day of trade reading. If you’ve been holding out, do yourself a favor and do the same. Lucky bastards…

PunisherMax

It feels just like yesterday when I had to hide my Punisher War Journal books from my parents behind the dresser in the room I shared with my sister, and despite what my KK bandmate Jim will tell you… that wasn’t last week. I grew up on Frank Castle and his special brand of crazy, and like you all, have loved his recent runs with Ennis and Way behind the writers helm.

Recently though, I’ve been made a revived believer of vigilante justice thanks to the new run by Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon. Dillon’s thin-line style and amazing facial expressions on paper have always been something special to the world of The Punisher, but has bloomed into something completely different thanks to Aaron’s take on the origin of The Kingpin and especially Bullseye. He’s made the character somebody who is actually scary again (cringing at the thought of Colin Farrell with the forehead scar), and taken us into the mind of the the killer.

The scene in issue #8 where he “joins” a family like Castle’s to “live like Frank lives, and think like Frank thinks” is truly disturbing right up until the meet their predictable if not necessary end. I can’t wait to see where this book goes and how it keeps up the already high bar of pace and creativity I feel it’s reached to all of our benefit. For those looking to fall in love with justice again…check out PunisherMax.

by Jim Rugg

This weekend’s HeroesCon will feature an art auction, and artist Jim Rugg is showing off his submission — featuring everyone from Lobo and Hellboy to the friggin’ Road Warriors — on his blog.

On an unrelated note, why the hell do I not have this convention in my travel plans every year?

Shadowlands

The news and announcements flowed freely on the first day of the brand new C2E2 convention, as well as at the Diamond retailer’s summit on Thursday. Here’s a quick summary, in case you missed anything …

• At the Diamond retailer’s summit, Diamond polled retailers on the possibility of moving from a Wednesday to a Tuesday ship date for comics. This would put them in line with DVDs, music and books.
• Marvel kicked off the con with a lot of announcements, not the least of which was two different Captain America mini-series. First up, Steve Rogers jumps into action in Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier, a four-issue miniseries by Ed Brubaker and artist Dale Eaglesham that kicks off in July. Eaglesham will no longer be drawing Fantastic Four as a result.
• That same month brings Captain America: Patriot, by Karl Kesel and Mitch Breitweiser. The four-issue series stars Jeff Mace, the former Patriot who took on the uniform while Rogers was frozen in a block of ice.
• Marvel also discussed the long-talked about Shadowland, a five-issue series by Andy Diggle and Billy Tan during their Mondo Marvel panel and their retailer presentation on Thursday. “You’re going to see a ton of heroes from Spider-Man and Wolverine to Luke Cage…some are fighting to keep New York safe, and some are fighting to keep it unsafe due to Daredevil’s takeover of the ninja organization The Hand,” said Editor Steve Wacker.
• Ultimate Mystery by Brian Michael Bendis and Rafael Sandoval will follow up on the Ultimate Enemy series and deliver “a really big change to the Ultimate Universe.” It will be followed by a book called Ultimate Comics Doom.
• The Punisher is going to war with the Marvel Universe once again in the aptly titled Marvel Universe Vs. The Punisher.
• Jonathan Hickman said that Secret Warriors would reach its natural conclusion around issue #27 or 28.


Thor: The Mighty Avenger

• The Muppet Show‘s Roger Langridge will team with artist Chris Samnee (who drew the recent Area 10 graphic novel for Vertigo) on an all-ages Thor title called Thor: The Mighty Avenger. “There’s a streak of hope a mile wide in the whole concept of super heroes that hasn’t been exploited much in recent years, doubly so in a comic where one of the central icons is a rainbow,” Langridge told Marvel.com. “So, yes, I’m all about the hope.”
• In other Marvel all-ages news, Brian Clevinger (Atomic Robo) and Brian Churilla (Rex Mundi) are working on an update of the classic Infinity Gauntlet miniseries called Avengers & The Infinity Gauntlet.
• And Marvel’s Avengers Academy book will feature Justice, Tigra, Hank Pym, Quicksilver and Speedball in teaching roles.
• I don’t think anything new was announced at the DC Nation panel today, but I do like this story about Jim Lee leaving a sketch hidden somewhere at the convention and tweeting about it to his followers.
• However DC did announce at the retailer’s summit a 30 Days of Night/X-Files crossover coming from Wildstorm. Author Peter Straub was on hand to talk about The Green Woman, his Vertigo series with Michael Easton and John Bolton that was announced a few years ago. And Fables #100 will be a 100-page issue with a board game insert.
• IDW has picked up the license to do comics based on the granddaddy of all role-playing games, Dungeons & Dragons. An introductory #0 issue if due in August, with a miniseries set in the “Dark Sun” campaign setting due in January. No word on whether Uni will make an appearance.
• Our own Brigid Alverson let us know that Carla Speed McNeil has signed a book deal with Dark Horse Comics. Dark Horse will publish the Eisner winner’s long-running Finder, Torch and three more books. She’ll also contribute to a revived Dark Horse Presents.
• Dark Horse also announced they’ve teamed up with Hammer Films to make comics based on their films. They are also working on comics based on the upcoming film Let Me In, the American version of the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In.
• Graphic.ly launched their digital comics software today.

That’s a pretty big day for a brand new con, so I’m sure C2E2 is sleeping well tonight. Check back tomorrow for more updates.

Frankachu

You might remember the promo image that Marvel released a few weeks back that shows the Punisher being turned into some sort of Frankenstein’s Monster. Well, now you can build your own Frank Castle … or at least give him a head. Head over to Marvel.com to download the template, add a head, then upload your creation to the Flickr set Marvel’s set up, where you can see such ungodly creations as Frankachu (above) and FrankenQuesada.

There it is.  Bask in its glory.  There is so much in so little that this teaser image can be dismissed as cheap marketing, stringing readers along, chasing after a dead horse in the form of the zombie bandwagon, even vaguely familiar.  But, the longer you look at it, the more you start to see and if you really think about it, turning Frank Castle into some sort of sewn together undead abomination is simply what’s left, America.

If we get honest with ourselves, the Punisher is pretty much what we make of him.  Originally a tiny sketch of a dude with a Skull where an alligator should have been on his shirt.  He was a moral allegory for Spider-Man to balance himself out against- no, that’s not true.  He was a one-note villain’s assistant who had a cool costume and managed to escape under the ‘misunderstanding fight’ trope.  Then he became someone that Spider-Man could measure himself against and find himself the better man.  Then he fired automatic weaponry on a jet-ski.

What happened?  What did we do?  Did a skull shirt really sell us on a guy who was one knit cap away from being a thug himself?  Personally, I think the 80′s showed up and the macho ideals of the thick-necked, gun-toting hero wading through the blood and guts of his enemies fit Frank Castle as much as anything would.  A man with a skull on his chest and gun in his hands looking a little like Sly Stallone isn’t going to be much else and with the titles running at the same time, his popularity was cemented.  He fought criminals of every shape and fired guns of every size and set himself up as sort of this action figure hero, a guy who could take on any criminal element imaginable, from drug cartels to Doctor Doom.

We fit the Punisher to our most relevant interests which were, at the time, pretty shallow but certainly action packed.  You would think with the holofoil 90′s, the Punisher would have thrived better but this when we had Castle run a mob family for a bit and then have his own private ‘Clone War’ so to speak where Frank Castle became an undead agent against the supernatural, sales declined.  If the Punisher was anything we make out of him, why didn’t these work?  Despite the obscene popularity of Spawn, the supernatural direction was rather out of left-field and not very well thought out.  I don’t have to tell you how awkward it is to think of the Punisher running a mafia family; even in the world of professional wrestling, sometimes you just can’t make a heel out of a face.  Even with our anti-heroes, they carry enough weight with the reader that the idea of them turning towards an even darker side is hard to follow.

By the time Garth Ennis came along, he was able to clear away the past directions and point the man with the gun at the bad guy.  His approach was so simple, so basic a character in his motivations that readers came back for the dark humor and gritty violence.  When he moved to a MAX imprint, Frank Castle was almost inhuman, this force of nature, an unflinching view of hard line justice that made for award-winning stories and the inspiration for two movies (like it or not).  But as all good things come to an end, Mr. Ennis left the title on a high note and left editors scrambling.  Matt Fraction brought back the dark humor in Punisher: War Journal and three different crime writers tried to find a place for their view of the Punisher but missing their mark enough for a ‘bold, new vision’ to be arranged.

i09 reminds us that the ‘Rest In Pieces’ banner refers to storyline starting in this month’s Punisher #8 wherein he’ll be facing off against the Dark Avengers and eventually Daken, Dark Wolverine.  Well, by the stitched up, tube-chest wearing semi-corpse we see in the promo art, we can get an idea of how badly this fight is going to go.  But really, isn’t some cobbled together corpse of the Punisher what’s left of a character that’s been dictated by fan whim and writing genius?  And isn’t it fitting that Daken, a sort of violent one-note character a step up from your common thug, gets Frank Castle back to his roots?

Punisher MAX #1

Today’s episode of G4′s Attack of the Show confirmed what’s been rumored for more than two months: that writer Jason Aaron and artist Steve Dillon will take on Marvel’s Punisher.

According to “Fresh Ink” host Blair Butler, the two creators will relaunch Punisher MAX with a new No. 1 issue in November. The current mature-readers title, the awkwardly named The Punisher: Frank Castle MAX, appears to be ending in September.

The new series reportedly will feature the debut of Bullseye and Kingpin in the MAX universe — can that be right? — with the first story arc focusing on the rise of Wilson Fisk through the ranks of the criminal underworld and the role Frank Castle plays in his ascent.

Word of the Aaron-Dillon teamup began circulating in early May after colorist Matt Hollingsworth listed “Punisher starting with issue #75,” along with the creators’ names, under the “Current Comics Work” header.

Dillon previously worked with Garth Ennis from 2001 to 2003 on the Marvel Knights imprint version of The Punisher, and later drew the Bullseye: Greatest Hits and Punisher vs. Bullseye miniseries. Aaron, who’s best known for his work on Scalped, Wolverine and Ghost Rider, wrote last year’s Punisher MAX X-Mas Special.

Update: You can watch the “Fresh Ink” segment here.

Marvel.com now has more details in an interview with Aaron: “The [Marvel Universe] Bullseye doesn’t work in the MAX Universe. You can’t have a guy running around in a costume killing people with toothpicks and playing cards. We’re not going to see that, but it’ll still be true to what we know about Bullseye.”

Punisher MAX: Naked Kill

The “Explicit Content” warning on Marvel’s MAX titles has long covered a multitude of sins: profanity, graphic violence, sex scenes, “adult situations.”

Now add to the list a string of puns, of the pornographic variety.

Before we go any further, let me offer a warning of my own: This post contains words — really just one word, used repeatedly — that may offend some readers. There’s also a panel from the comic in question that clearly shows that word. I’ll hide everything after the break.

Last night, CBR posted a preview of Punisher MAX: Naked Kill, a one-shot by horror novelist Jonathan Maberry and artist Laurence Campbell that sends Frank Castle on the trail of a “murderous snuff-film ring.” An adult situation, certainly.

On the first page we see a group of men — “a bunch of mooks on the distribution end of a torture porn ring” — watching one of the movies, which appears to star a … luchador? Sure, why not.

Scattered on the floor in front of the television is a stack of video cassettes sporting hand-scrawled titles: “Cock N Hole Hall Of Fame,” “Bad Day At Black Cock,” “Hard Cock Cafe,” “Cock-It Man” and “Old Time Cock N Hole.”

I can’t be certain, but I think they’re porn.

Not to spoil anything, but Frank Castle kills all but one of the “mooks” in apparent retaliation for the awful movie titles. (“Cock N Hole,” twice? Really? It wasn’t funny the first time, guys.) He’s the Punisher; that’s what he does.

Punisher MAX: Naked Kill goes on sale next week.

The luchador reacts to the movie titles in "Punisher MAX: Naked Kill"