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Weekly Comic Shopping List 9/23/09

So I guess I'm back writing for Pop Syndicate, with my first review of Blackest Night #3 up last week.  While I've been writing all summer, I felt really rusty writing that review so hopefully this week's review (most likely for 3 Story) will be much tighter. 

  • 3 Story Secret History Of The Giant Man HC--  I actually picked this up at Windy City Comicon over the weekend and it's a wonderful book.  Kindt tells the story of the Giant Man through the three women in his life; his mother, his wife and his daughter.  In a year of great comic stories, this is up there.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion Shinji Ikari Raising Project Vol 2 TP--  This seems too much like Angelic Days, which I kind of enjoyed.  I read the first volume of this and wasn't that impressed.  If this volume doesn't blow me away, I'll probably drop this manga for the plenty of other excellent titles out there right now.
  • Detective Comics #857--  Here's a series I need to sit down and read.  I've got all of the issues and agree with everyone who says that JH Williams is just killing the artwork but the story hasn't engaged me as much yet.  This title is on the verge of getting dropped to wait for the eventual hardcover collection.
  • Wednesday Comics #12-- It's over. 
  • Bart Simpson's Tree House of Horror #15--  I actually haven't read any of these Tree House of Horror's and gave up on the Simpsons around the turn of the century I think but I'm looking forward to getting my hand on this issue which has a number of alternative and indie cartoonists creating Simpsons stories.  If it's half as good as Marvel's Strange Tales, it'll be excellent.
  • Al Williamsons Flash Gordon A Lifelong Vision Of The Heroic HC--  Another book that I got through Amazon a month or so ago.  I love Al Williamson and this is just a handsome looking book. 
  • Wasteland #26-- With how long the 25th issue took (and well worth the wait,) I've lost a bit of track of this story.  I've got all four volumes sitting in a pile on my desk at home and I need to sit down and read the whole thing.

Never Enough... #11 (Great Spider-Man art)

There's never enough Paolo Rivera Spider-Man artwork.  I first remember seeing Rivera on the recent Punisher 2-parter in Amazing Spider-Man and he just had another story in the 24/7 collection that's been recently released. 

I think you're seeing two types of artists working on Amazing Spider-Man (and this is greatly generalizing the artwork.)  You have a very super-heroey style in the guys like John Romita Jr., Mike McKone and Phil Jimenez.  And then you get the more expressive, playful styles in Rivera, Marcos Martin and Javier Pulido. 

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Ed Hannigan: Covered

One of my favorite under-appreciated artists from the 70s and 80s is Ed Hannigan.  His Spider-Man on Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man is up there as some of my favorite Spider-Man comics.  Newsarama has the preview solicits for Marvel's December books up and I was excited to see a book  dedicated to Hannigan's covers.  Unfortunately, that excitement is tinged with some sadness to learn that Hannigan has multiple sclerosis and this book.  All the proceeds from this book go to Hannigan which is fantastic.

It's great that Marvel Comics and Hero Initiative work so closely on projects like this.  Here's the solicit:

ED HANNIGAN: COVERED
Master artist Ed Hannigan did many of Marvel’s cover layouts of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Over that time, Ed created some of the most innovative cover designs ever. His covers for The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man still stand today as some of the finest of all time!

Today, Ed is 58 years old and has multiple sclerosis. Through special arrangement with the Hero Initiative, Marvel is offering Ed Hannigan: Covered, a massive 48-page collection of Ed’s covers, designs he created for other artists, and even rare glimpses at licensing and merchandising art Ed did. Best of all, proceeds benefit Ed Hannigan directly!

This volume also features a new cover by Ed, and new tribute pieces from Mark Millar, Michael Avon Oeming, Jim Valentino, Herb Trimpe, and more!

NOTE: There will be ONLY ONE PRINTING OF THIS BOOK EVER! Get it now so you don’t blow your chance!

48 pages...$5.99
UPC: 5960607056-00111

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@ Pop Syndicate-- Blackest Night #3

"With the third issue, I’m stuck trying to figure out what the story that Geoff Johns is trying to tell is.  Is he reminding us to treat each other well as the dead League taunts the Flash and Green Lantern with the wrongs that were done to them?  Or is some memento mori, reminding us to live each days as if it may be out last, like it was for Hawkman and Hawkgirl?  Johns seems comfortable keeping this an above average superhero story, featuring a simple good versus evil story.  This whole issue is an entertaining brawl but he does finally introduce a new aspect to the book—the Indigo Lanterns.  The Indigo Lanterns main purpose in this battle is to unite the other Lanterns to fight against the Black Lanterns."

The full review is here.

L'il Wolvie

I love how after a big "event" like Utopia, when the mutant status quo is so shaken up, Marvel decides to bring back the corner masthead image to promote their latest kiddie cartoon.

What cross-demographic are they trying to reach here?  The reader who likes their grim and gritty "Dark" comics but with a sprinkling of a cute, l'il Wolverine tossed in?

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Weekly Comic Shopping List 9/16/09

Oh boy.  I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine last night.  I honestly think that buried somewhere underneath that mess of a movie were one or two good stories that deserved to be expanded on.  Of course, the whole thing ended up just being a set up for the eventual Deadpool movie. 

It's only a couple of days until the Windy City Comicon.  I'll be there for part of the day this year, with my son in tow.  We're both looking forward to a day to just hang out together.  I think today is the last day to pre-order tickets at the website.  It should be a really good time this year.

Onto the comics...

  • 3 Story: Secret History of the Giant Man-- I haven't read any of Matt Kindt's stuff but plan on picking up Secret Spy this weekend at the show and want to get this one as well. 
  • Blackest Night #3-- I just read a large chunk of this over the weekend and I'm still enjoying it.  The main series is a nice Justice League story, something that hasn't really happened in a long time. Sure it's pure spectacle but it's been pretty decent spectacle so far. 
  • JSA vs Kobra Engines Of Fate #4-- Don Kramer's artwork colored by Art Lyons has just been knocking me out on this series.  I really wish Kramer had been able to draw Johns' JSA relaunch instead of Dale Eaglesham, who I just can't get into.
  • Wednesday Comics #11-- Almost done.  I must be one of the few comic readers who just can't get into this series for the life of me. 
  • Dominic Fortune #2-- The first issue was pure Chaykin pulp and so enjoyable.  Can't wait to see what Chaykin can do with this series.
  • Oishinbo A La Carte Vol 5 Vegetables TP-- I've got to catch up on this series.  All I know is that whenever I read this book, I get really hungry for good Japanese food.
  • Pluto Urasawa x Tezuka Vol 5 TP-- Almost hard to believe that this series is half over. 

Never Enough... #9 (Toth)

There's just simply never enough Alex Toth.

Toth is one of those artists that I'm kicking myself over for not seeking out his work when I was younger.  A lot of my appreciation of comic art begins around 1975 or so, when I started collecting and I've rarely looked back, which is a shame.  Toth was an artist who looks like he just slapped ink on a page but created such luscious works of storytelling.  Now in the few books that I have of Toth's art, I get lost in his brushwork.  One brush stroke on a Toth page tells so much more story than most artists can tell in a whole comic book.

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Never Enough... #8 (Al Williamson Star Wars)

Of course I loved Star Wars comics as a kid.  From my Treasury Edition of the second half of Star Wars (I never had the first one for some reason) to Jax the green rabbit to Carmine Infantino's crazy art, it all served to fuel my love of the original Star Wars movie, the characters and the story that Lucas set up.  Other than the Chaykin artwork on the original adaptation (too heavily inked by Steve Leialoha I think,) the artwork by Infantino and one magical issue by Michael Golden is still burned in my mind whenever I think about how Star Wars comics should look.  Their exaggerated and stylistic choices played wonderfully with my imagination and probably helped foster my love of the original stories as much as Lucas' own storytelling did.

And then came Al Williamson. 

His first Star Wars artwork was on the Empire Strikes Back adaptation.  Where Infantino ran wild with the Star Wars visuals, Williamson's photo realistic comic firmly brought the visual identity of the comics right back to the movies.  Everything looked like it was right out of the movie but Williamson's line still added a lot of energy and excitement to the comic book.  He was one of the first artists I ever really noticed who could do such realistic looking artwork without making everything look stiff.  He made it look easy. 

After Empire, he would do other Star Wars comics like Star Wars #50 and The Return of the Jedi adaptation.  He also did a nice run with Archie Goodwin on the Star Wars comic strip, which Cochran Publishing put out a lovely 3 volume edition of years ago.  I recently just got the collection of all of Williamson's Flash Gordon work and it looks just as good as all of his Star Wars comics doe.

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Go listen to Sidebar talking to Michael Lark

I've been playing catch up on podcasts lately but one of the better ones I've listened to lately has been Sidebar's conversation with artist Michael Lark.  Lark has been an artist that I've followed for at least the last 10 years, since seeing his artwork on the first Terminal City miniseries, but never really knew anything about. Now I'm settling in to listen to the Sidebar guys talk with J.H. Williams III.