Archive for October, 2009

Gigantor Lives!

GigantorStatue

I mentioned a long, long time ago that a 60-foot-tall statue of Gigantor was being built in Kobe, Japan — looks like it’s finally been completed.

Designed as a permanent tourist attraction, the Gigantor monument was organized under the NPO Kobe Tetsujin Project to honor the work of the late cartoonist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, a Kobe native and the genius behind such manga classics as Sally the Witch and Giant Robo.

Gigantor is also a symbol of the rebirth of Kobe after it was devastated by the 1995 earthquake that killed more than 6,000 people. January 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of the tragedy.

Ironically, Gigantor was inspired by Yokoyama’s experiences in World War II, specifically the awesome sight of U.S. B-29 Superfortresses flying over Kobe, which was bombed to ashes.

This comes after Japan recently completed a giant Gundam statue — a Gundam statue that actually moves, let me add. Come on, America, we’re falling way behind — there is now a significant giant-robot-statue deficit here!

Comments off

The Justice Stooges

JusticeSociety31

Justice Society of America #31

Holy bananas, how far this comic has slumped.

Wildcat and Magog get into a completely pointless fight that should’ve ended with Magog getting kicked off the team, but for some stupid reason, they let him stick around. Dr. Fate breaks it up by reminding everyone that Mr. Fantastic Terrific is at death’s door, and that everyone is required to line up to give blood — he’ll use his magic to make sure that it’s changed into the right blood type. The mansion security tapes finally reveal that Mr. Fantastic Terrific was stabbed by one of the new recruits, the All-American Kid, who still insists he didn’t do anything. The villains who attacked the JSA try to regroup, the other new recruit, King Chimera, acts like a jerk, and Magog acts like an even bigger jerk.

Verdict: Thumbs down. I’m pretty much stacking the blame for this one on Bill Willingham. He does outstanding work on “Fables,” but almost everything else he’s written lately has been a big fat bag of fail. Let Matt Sturges take over the writing full-time — he’s shown he has what it takes to handle high-profile writing assignments without embarrassing himself or screwing up the characters he works on. But this series, which used to be one of DC’s best, is in dire need of rescue, fast.

JLA80PageGiant

Justice League of America 80-Page Giant #1

The Lord of Time has attacked the Justice League and has dispersed them throughout time. We follow Hal Jordan and Red Arrow to the Wild West (teaming up with Wild West gunslinger Cinnamon), Vixen and John Stewart (and the Shining Knight) to Camelot, Black Canary and Zatanna teaming up with the Crimson Avenger in the late 1930s, Firestorm and Green Arrow meeting up with the Bride in WWII’s Pacific Theater, Steel and Wonder Woman fighting Starro in the pirate-filled high seas, and Superman and Dr. Light running around 13th-century Japan.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A lightweight but cute story. Some of these stories are better than others — the best ones were Zatanna and Black Canary running around during the Golden Age, Wonder Woman masquerading as a pirate captain, and the WWII story, just because the Bride is such a wonderful character. Take it for what it is — a bit of time-travel fun — and you’ll get the most enjoyment out of it.

(Thanks, WizarDru, for corrections of my very, very silly mistakes)

Comments off

Friday Night Fights: Kick Beetle!

So we got another long work-week over with, and it’s time to start the weekend. You know what that means, right? It’s time for another session of FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes from April 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, as the Blue Beetle takes out a bunch of crooks:

FNF-Beetle1

FNF-Beetle2

FNF-Beetle3

Nothing too complicated, but it’s a nice way to get our weekend festivities started.

Comments off

Under the Gun

BatmanandRobin5

Batman and Robin #5

The Red Hood and Scarlet have got the drop on Batman and Robin, who are trying to stop them from wantonly slaughtering criminals. They make their escape, and we learn that the Red Hood is actually Jason Todd, the second Robin, back from the dead, with yet another new costume, and the same old rotten attitude. For some reason, he now has red hair with a white streak down the middle. He looks like a younger, angstier Jason Blood. What the heck is up with that? Anyway, there’s a new villain who’s come to town — an assassin named Eduardo Flamingo, who just flew in on a pink plane from South America with a whole bunch of beautiful women — all of whom he’s killed by cutting off and eating their faces. And the guy’s gunning for the Red Hood and Scarlet.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not real thrilled with the odd revamp of Jason Todd’s hair color. (And a tad disappointed that it’s Jason under the hood and not the Joker) But the rest is pretty good. Wow, who woulda thought a guy named Flamingo would be so creepy?

GreenLantern46

Green Lantern #46

Zamaron, the homeworld of the Star Sapphires, is under attack by the Black Lanterns and the Sinestro Corps. Sinestro and Carol Ferris are sniping at each other when Hal Jordan and members of the Indigo Tribe arrive. They reveal how to defeat the zombies — expose their rings to light from more than one color of power ring, and the Black Lanterns collapse. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop everyone from fighting each other. And even more unfortunately, the Black Lanterns are able to resurrect the crystallized, embracing skeletons that the Star Sapphires revere, prompting the near-total destruction of the Star Sapphires.

Hal, Carol, Sinestro, and Indigo-1, the leader of the Indigo Tribe, retreat to Korugar, Sinestro’s home planet, which has been taken over by the guy who’s trying to take control of the yellow rings, Mongul. Of course, there’s a huge struggle between Sinestro and Mongul. But the Black Lanterns are in hot pursuit, leading to the arrival of the newest zombies — some of the most important people in Hal’s and Sinestro’s lives.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The zombies are a bit less over-the-top, which is a good thing, because it gives our main players a lot of great chances to interact, conflict, and play against each other. The characterizations here are really wonderful, as is Doug Mahnke’s stellar artwork. And I gotta say, the best moment of this issue was the revelation of who the crystallized skeletons on Zamaron originally were…

MarvelMysteryHandbook

Marvel Mystery Handbook 70th Anniversary Special

Like all the Marvel Handbooks, this is a collection of biographies and stats for various Marvel characters. The emphasis in this one, obviously, is on many of the characters from Marvel’s Golden Age during World War II. This includes everyone from well-known heroes like Namor, the Human Torch, and Toro to much more obscure ones like Philo Zog, Taxi Taylor, Flexo, the Phantom Reporter, Mister E, and the Black Widow, a Satanic superhero.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Lots of goofy Golden Age fun to be had here, and reading all of it will take days. Even with the sky-high five-dollar price tag, that’s a pretty good bargain.

Comments off

Planetary Triumph

Planetary27

Planetary #27

It’s the last issue of “Planetary.”

To some of y’all, that don’t mean anything. Heck, in the entire time I’ve had this blog active, there has not been a single issue of “Planetary” that’s hit the stands. Some of y’all who aren’t comics vets may have never heard of it at all. Y’all have never gotten to hear me sing this comic’s praises. Let’s remedy that now.

“Planetary” is written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by John Cassaday. It focuses on a team of superhuman archaeologists out to explore the secret history of the world. They include Elijah Snow, a century-old hardass with ice powers; Jakita Wagner, a superstrong, superfast brawler; and the Drummer, a flake who’s able to mentally interface with computer systems and just about any other informational system, including radio waves, TV signals, and even genetic information. They’ve been witness to giant monsters in Japan, ghost cops in Hong Kong, the secret of Ayers Rock in Australia, the atomic monsters of the 1950s, the warped metahuman tragedies of Thatcher’s England, America’s first pulp heroes, and more. Ellis works in references to dozens of different books, comics, TV shows, and movies, all with a few twists to make our most familiar characters from fantastic fiction just a bit less familiar.

In the most recent issues, Elijah and the rest of his team have successfully defeated the Four, a secret conspiracy of superpowered tyrants, ruling the world in hiding and keeping the miracles of the universe to themselves to keep from benefiting  mankind. With the Four out of the way, the global Planetary organization has begun to sift through the Four’s secret knowledge, releasing cancer cures, miracle machines, energy wonders, and more for the rest of the world. But Elijah doesn’t care about that — he wants to save an old friend, Ambrose Chase, who vanished during a mission that went bad years ago. Ambrose could control the flow of time, and he theorizes that he froze himself in time to keep from dying of gunshot wounds. The Drummer thinks they can save him if they build a time machine — but building a time machine could have the unfortunate side effect of, well, ending history.

Verdict: I’m gonna have to do this in two parts — once for the “Planetary” fans and another for those who aren’t as familiar.

For the fans: HUGE thumbs up. Go get it. There’s not a ton of action, but the point of “Planetary” has never been about action anyway. In a series that averages at least one Crowning Moment of Awesome per issue, this issue pulls off one of the best. You get to see Elijah being Elijah, Jakita being Jakita, the Drummer being the Drummer. There are miracles and surprises and beautiful moments galore. Warren Ellis kicks ass in this one. John Cassaday kicks ass in this one. Go get it, fans, and don’t let anything get in your way.

And for the non-fans, the folks who aren’t familiar with “Planetary”: Don’t go get this comic. I’m serious. Do not get this comic. Why would you want your first exposure to this series be the final issue? No, go get the first trade paperback instead. And when you’re done with that one, go get the rest. Get in at the beginning of the ride so you enjoy the entire thing all the way through.

Comments off

Links… and Pie!

IWANTPIE

Sorry, there will not actually be any pie.

Oh, okay, here’s some pie.

Comments off

Tales of the Wild West

ReedGunther1

Reed Gunther and the Steak Snacking Snake!

Reed Gunther is a rough, tough, fast-talking cowboy who rides a bear named Sterling. What kind of cowboy rides a bear instead of a horse? He’s either the toughest cowboy in the Wild West, or his bear is unusually pleasant and vegetarian. Reed and Sterling are camping out on the range when Reed runs afoul of a woman rancher named Starla — he tried to spy on her while she was bathing in the river, and she didn’t take too kindly to that. Starla is soon distracted by Sterling, who she thinks is about to eat all her cows. And soon enough, they’re all severely distracted by the thing that’s really got Starla antsy — there’s a giant rattlesnake living in the river, and it’s been all she can do to keep it from eating her whole herd. Can the three of them figure out a way to stop the monster snake? And if they do, will the solution be worse than the original problem?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Shane and Chris Houghton have cooked up a very funny and accessible most-ages comic (“most ages” ’cause there’s a little killin’ here and there, and some young’uns could get upset). Reed and Sterling are very entertaining characters, and Starla makes a great action heroine. The dialogue is excellent, the action is exciting, and the artwork is the best kind of cartoony — fun and funny while also pushing the story onward and upward.

ReedGunther2

Reed Gunther in a Stalac-Tight Spot!

The second Reed Gunther adventure finds the cowpoke and his ursine sidekick venturing underground on a quest into a cursed cave to find gold. Unfortunately, the shady character who organized the expedition is looking for riches that have nothing to do with gold, and everything to do with capturing a few of the rampaging, underground, monsters in the cave to display in a circus. And worse than that, he doesn’t care what happens to Reed as long as he gets his monsters — and Sterling — for his show. Starla makes another appearance, rescuing the one person who could help save Reed and Sterling, but his idea of a solution doesn’t have much to do with saving anyone — more like “blowing up the caves and the whole town,” which isn’t really a good plan of action.

Verdict: Another thumbs up. Reed, Sterling, and Starla are still lots of fun, but even the supporting cast gets some great characterization, without being turned entirely into Western stereotypes. The action is even better here, with several outright cinematic moments, and the suspense, even for a mostly-kids’ comic, is first-rate.

Y’all go hunt these down.

EDIT: I got Sterling’s name wrong all the way through both reviews. How hyoomiliatin’.  :/

Comments off

The Graduate

Astro City Special: Astra #1

About a decade ago, we were introduced to Astra Furst, youngest member of Astro City’s celebrated First Family, experienced superhero but a complete novice when it came to being a normal elementary-school student. Well, the “Astro City” comic advances in real-time, so Astra is now graduating from college, dealing with life as a super-celebrity, trying to decide what to do with her future. If anything, the ensuing hijinx are a greater trial for Astra’s boyfriend, Matt, who is a perfectly nice, down-to-earth guy, but is completely unable to deal with superteams on recruitment drives, diplomatic delegations from Monstro City, most of the members of Astra’s family, or interstellar nightclubs.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The First Family is always good for some good Fantastic-Four-style fun, and it’s great to catch up with them after all these years.

MarvelDivas3

Marvel Divas #3

Angelica “Firestar” Jones’ cancer treatments are going about as well as you’d expect them to — chemotherapy is no picnic, superpowers or not. Patsy “Hellcat” Walker, Monica “Photon” Rambeau, and Felicia “Black Cat” Hardy rally around her and do what they can to take her mind off her troubles — Patsy sets her up with the best hairdresser in New York, and Angelica opts for a good ol’ fashioned buzzcut. Meanwhile, Monica has been roped into standing in for Doctor Voodoo in an auction for the Monkey’s Paw, and Felicia gets in a fight with her boyfriend, the Puma, because she wants to go back to stealing jewels from museums to pay her bills. And Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, makes Patsy another deal to cure Angelica’s cancer.

Verdict: Thumbs up. One of the things I ended up enjoying the most was the descriptions of some of the side effects of chemo — we’ll still need to wait on official word from Polite Dissent to see if they pass the sniff test from an Actual Doctor, but they do seem to give you some idea of just how unpleasant chemotherapy can be. Other than that, great art, great dialogue, good action — this one is worth getting, whether you’re a female or male comic fan.

Comments off

Big Zombie on Campus

CityofLivingDead

Okay, most of y’all saw the news story on Friday about the University of Florida making a humorous emergency plan for dealing with a zombie outbreak. But most of y’all didn’t get to see the actual emergency plan itself, mainly because UF came over with an attack of “Oh crap, people think this is awesome” syndrome and removed the PDF from their site.

But Google automatically makes HTML documents of all PDFs they find.

Here it is.

Go read it, it’s hilarious.

EDIT: Oh, poo, it’s been deleted for good now. C’mon, Google, it’s worth keeping around…

Comments off

Friday Night Fights: Bad Pun Theater!

Another week over, time for another couple days off. If you’re anything like me, you need a decent trigger to really get the weekend started — and there’s no better trigger for the weekend than FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

This week, we turn to November 1966’s Batman #186 and the story “Commissioner Gordon’s Death Threat” by Gardner Fox, Sheldon Moldoff, and Joe Giella. Here, we see Robin taking on some generic mooks:

FNF-RobinBW

“A helping of soles”?! Dagblast it, Boy Wonder, I could forgive a bad pun, but not a colossally inept one!

Thanks a lot, Robin, now my whole weekend is ruined. RUINED! I may as well go back to work now.

Comments off