Punk Rock Jesus #2

Chris, the supposed clone of Jesus, is the focus of a monumentally successful reality TV show — and also a figure of great controversy, with scientists denying his divinity and Christian fundamentalists demanding either his release from the island where he and his mother Gwen are kept — or his death. Slate, the slimeball who runs the show, sets out faking some miracles on Chris’ behalf, while Gwen starts to drift into depression and alcoholism. Dr. Epstein announces that she’s conveniently pregnant with a girl — she claims she’s used her cloning expertise to get around her inability to have children. Gwen wants to see her parents again and persuades Thomas McKael, the show’s taciturn Irish security chief, to take her on a secret field trip. But there’s no way to take one of the stars of the most popular TV show in history out into the world without attracting a lot of attention.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Sean Murphy’s art is just fantastic, and the characterization he’s doing is also great fun. Slate is turning into a wonderfully despicable villain, and even minor characters, like the hacker, Tim, are given good personalities. This is great fun, so far — hope it continues being so enjoyable.

The Massive #3

The Kapital repels some pirates trying to board the ship, we get a quick flashback of how Callum Israel and his crew decided whether to stick to nonviolence after the global disasters destroyed the environment and the economy, and everyone docks back at one of their secret bases, a small town called Unalaska. Plus we get more details about some of the catastrophes that have befallen Earth’s populace in the last few years.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent storytelling, good development of characters, strong mood and worldbuilding. I know, that’s all kinda dispassionate, but I feel like I have to say more about this than just “Me like comic, it am fun.”

American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares #3

Dracula — who may not be the historical Dracula, but is at least the leader of all of the Carpathian vampires — has been awakened and is able to control the mind of Gus, Felicia Book’s son. Agent Hobbes believes he’s trying to turn Gus into his new Renfield — a human servant who is utterly dominated by the vampire’s will. The Soviets think they can contain Dracula, but they don’t know how much danger they’re in. And Felicia and Hobbes run into a vampire organization called “The Firsts” which consists mainly of the last surviving members of vampire clans killed off by the Carpathians.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Not bad — lots of vampires, lots of mystery, good action. The only problem has gotta be that the Carpathian vamps just aren’t as charismatic and fun as the American ones…

Today’s Cool Links:

• Here’s a really interesting analysis of body diversity in comics and real life.
• Hmm, this Olympic ticket scalper seems familiar…
• What happened at one convention where there weren’t any women on the “Strong Women in Fiction” panel — and why it actually turned out okay.

Daredevil #16

Daredevil has been rescued from Latveria, but he’s not out of the woods yet. The Avengers are trying to rid him of the nanobot infestation that’s robbed him of his senses. This mainly involves a miniaturized Ant-Man running around Matt’s brain shooting nanobots with a blaster gun. As a side effect, both Daredevil and Ant-Man are getting mental bleedover — briefly sharing each others’ memories and senses. Tony Stark and Stephen Strange are trying to assist, but they’re hampered by patchy communications and by not being miniaturized inside Daredevil’s brain with a blaster rifle. Will Ant-Man be able to cure Matt and escape from the nanobots? And what kind of surprises are waiting for Matt back at his law firm?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Great art and writing. A nice cool-down issue — or at least the first half of the story is. After that, the tension and surprises ramp up pretty quickly. As always, a great read, and one I hope you’re reading.

Worlds’ Finest #4

Power Girl and Huntress now have to deal with a highly radioactive Hakkou who’s now Godzilla-sized and wrecking ships in Tokyo’s harbor. While Huntress rounds up ships to help get survivors out of the water, Power Girl works to clean up the oil spills. While they try to neutralize Hakkou, we get another flashback to the heroines’ past, as they clean up some riffraff in Rome and Helena reminisces about her parents.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s all pretty good, but this one really scores with a few smaller details — it’s cool to see Helena effortlessly trash a bunch of thugs without even dropping her ice cream, it’s cool to see her Batman T-shirt and her interaction with the cat, and it’s cool to see the brief return of Power Girl’s cleavage window. The art by both George Perez and Kevin Maguire is fun, exciting, expressive.

Today’s Cool Links:

• I’m not all that big on Doctor Who, but here’s a short episode — a spoof, really — that stars Rowan Atkinson, Jonathan Pryce, Julia Sawalha, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, and Joanna Lumley.
• Sometimes you just get to meet awesome, unexpected people and learn from them.
• Gail Simone and Jim Calafiore are looking to fund a new comic through Kickstarter.
• Here’s something I never would’ve dreamed up — Christian fundamentalists apparently hate mathematical set theory.

Love and Capes: What to Expect #1

Tom Zahler is back with a new mini about Abby Spencer, her husband Mark — better known to the world as the superhero Crusader — and their assorted friends and family. Abby’s pregnant, which brings many changes to their lives. Not even considering the mundane concerns — no alcohol, no caffeine, getting good prenatal care, putting aside money for college — there are other things to worry about when the baby’s father is a superhero — namely, what do you do about the danger of a super-baby kicking a hole in mama? In addition, we get to meet the second Doctor Karma, we learn if Mark can keep his big secret from Darkblade, and we get to sit in on the scene when Mark and Abby break the news to their parents.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent humor, characterization, and dialogue. Really, I’m looking forward to this series so much, and I don’t know what else I can say about it.

Avengers Academy #34

Apparently, this is going to be the final storyarc before the series cancellation, which is too danged bad.

In the aftermath of the closing of Avengers Academy, the students are mostly on their own, until teenaged CEO and all-around shady character Jeremy Briggs calls Hazmat and Mettle to let them know he’s discovered a way to remove their powers and let them live normal lives. The rest of the students come along, mostly to make sure Jeremy isn’t planning on doing something rotten to them. But as it turns out, Jeremy’s “Clean Slate” formula returns Hazmat and Mettle to the forms they had before they got their powers. Unfortunately, he’s decided he wants to dose everyone in the world with Clean Slate — he thinks superheroes and supervillains are a huge problem, and he wants to make sure that the only people with powers are himself and whoever he decides is suitably loyal to him. And they’ve all been breathing in the Clean Slate formula ever since they got there.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent intensity and characterization. We always figured Jeremy was a bad guy, but it’s nice to see that his level of villainy got cranked up extra high for this storyarc. I am disappointed, however, that the other teachers from the academy won’t be around for this arc.

Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch

A quick one-shot for fans of Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson’s great “Beasts of Burden” series. This collects the three stories that appeared a few months ago in “Dark Horse Presents” — so if you don’t shell out the bucks for DHP, you can still read them. So we’ve got a light-hearted story with the gang forced to deal with a chicken-stealing goblin, and second one with the wise dog telling some puppies about a heroic dog who fought against evil, and final one, particularly creepy, about a lost herd of sheep.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent stories, with the last one being my favorite because it really is wonderfully eerie. Wonderful art and wonderful empathetic storytelling. These stories aren’t just about monsters and ghosts — they’ve got concerns about heroism, friendship, philosophy, and mortality.

Today’s Cool Links:

• What do you get when the Mini Marvels meet the Tiny Titans? You get pure whole-grain awesomeness.
• What did some of the greatest minds in science fiction think the future would hold?
• Here’s one of the really important stories to come out of this year’s Olympics.
• I don’t care what anyone says, this made me laugh and laugh and laugh.

Well, alright then, it’s Friday, and that’s awesome. But it’s impossibly hot, and that’s not awesome. That’s so very not awesome. And there’s not a durn thing we can do about it, other than try to stay air conditioned and shaded and hydrated. But we can lessen the agony of all this heat with… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes from January 2010’s Justice Society of America #33 by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, and Jesus Merino, as Power Girl faces off against a villain called Blue Moon, whose strength waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon.

That’ll do it for me. See you guys on Monday!

iZombie #28

So it’s time for the final issue of Chris Roberson and Michael Allred’s wonderful supernatural soap opera. Xitalu, an eldritch monster-god from between dimensions, is preparing to devour the entire world, starting with Eugene, Oregon. The treacherous mummy Amon has a plan to Xitalu away for a few centuries by having our heroine, intelligent zombie Gwen Dylan, absorb the souls of everyone in the city — including her friends and family — then he can then feed her to Xitalu so he’ll go away. Equally treacherous mad scientist/Frankenstein monster Galatea wants to download Xitalu into Frankenteen so she can gain all of Xitalu’s power for herself. As the seconds tick by and everyone gets closer to being eaten alive by Xitalu, is there any way for Gwen to save everyone?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A nicely-done ending, with lots of suspense and tension — and everyone in the cast gets at least a brief moment in the spotlight. I’m still not sure if this one got cancelled because it wasn’t selling well enough, because DC didn’t like Roberson talking smack about them, or just because DC is a bit dim (though I’d bet on that last one). But I’m glad it got 28 fun issues.

The Hypernaturals #2

In the distant future, the newest Hypernaturals superteam has just been wiped out by an unknown foe. The temporary replacement team — Bewilder, Thinkwell, Halfshell, and Shoal — finds themselves under assault by a flesh mob, a bunch of regenerating monsters made of all the debris around them. They’re able to escape — barely — but it leaves them with some serious problems: one of their greatest foes, Sublime, is apparently back, their current team is missing and presumed dead, and the replacements include two rookies, one who overthinks everything and another who’s too hotheaded. Bewilder and Thinkwell go out to recruit some former team members, including the down-on-his-luck Clone 45, who doesn’t even have his powers anymore.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I think I’m having quite a lot of fun meeting these characters. It’s very much a Legion-of-Super-Heroes thing with the serial numbers rubbed off, but it still comes off fresh, interesting, and a lot of fun. Looking forward to plenty more.

Dial H #4

Abyss, a creature of pure darkness, has appeared in the city, and Nelson Jent, Manteau, Squid, and Ex Nihilo are unable to stop it. Abyss disappears temporarily, Squid gets shot full of holes, Manteau is captured by Ex Nihilo, and Nelson gets left behind without powers. It turns out Ex Nihilo is a doctor at the local hospital, as well as a “nullomancer” — a sorceress who specializes in magically altering nothing — literally nothing. While she tortures Manteau for information, Abyss starts wrecking downtown, and Ex Nihilo, using Manteau’s dial, goes to try to capture him. Squid, meanwhile, goes to Nelson for help — he’s wounded, maybe dying, and he wants Nelson to help him rescue Manteau and then get back to his own homeworld. But what can Nelson do when he can’t get his dial to work anymore?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Tons of stuff happening here, and it’s all wonderful fun. Scary, surreal, intense, even inspiring. China Mieville is a pretty dang good comic book writer, ain’t he?

Today’s Cool Links:

• A plenty interesting article — at least partly tongue-in-cheek — calling for fantasy writers and game-makers to start working on “humanizing the orc.”
• What if every Olympic sport was photographed like beach volleyball?
• It is always troublesome when someone calls you a bigot because your chicken sandwich tastes like Fred Phelps.

Chicks in Capes, edited by Lori Gentile and Karen O’Brien

It’s always great to have a chance to review something that’s not a comic book, ain’t it? What we got today is “Chicks in Capes,” edited by Lori Gentile and Karen O’Brien.

We’ve got a pretty wide-ranging collection here — several well-known comics writers have stories — including Trina Robbins, Barbara Kesel, and Valerie D’Orozio — as well as plenty of other writers who aren’t as familiar with comics readers. This collection’s particular gimmick is that all the authors are women, and all the stories are about female superheroes.

So what do we have in the table of contents?

• “Inanna: Witchwoman” by Trina Robbins — A woman living in an oppressive religious dictatorship learns that she has illegal superpowers.
• “Mischief” by Elaine Lee — A shapeshifting heroine has a really, really, really bad day.
• “The Birth of Lady Sekhmet” by K.G. McAbee — An Egyptologist finds herself empowered by the ancient gods to stop an immortal sorceress.
• “Nightingale” by Valerie D’Orozio — A look at what it’s really like inside an insane superheroine’s head.
• “Diary of a Superchick” by Jennifer Fallon — Proof that superheroines come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes have the weirdest powers.
• “Kirby Girls” by Barbara Randall Kesel — A bunch of superpowered galpals hang out in a coffee shop and dish about life.
• “Carpe Noctum” by Cathy Clamp — A heroine battles burglars and tracks down the secret villain who killed her mentor.
• “The Survivor: Coming of Age” by Gillian Horvath — An immortal with precognitive powers takes a proactive approach to evil.
• And another half-dozen more…

Verdict: Thumbs up. With some reservations. A lot of the characters in these stories aren’t really very heroic. Several of the characters may actually qualify as outright supervillains — D’Orozio’s Nightingale may be insane enough that we can’t trust her observations about who the bad guy is, Horvath’s Survivor is taking down bad guys before they commit the crimes she’s pursuing them for, and Kesel’s Kirby Girls seem more like the characters in “Sex and the City” than superheroes. There are other stories where the characters skate the line between right and wrong — or just sail right over it into gleeful evil — and non-heroic superheroes are one of the things that’ve always bugged me about a lot of prose superhero stories.

But for that complaint, it’s still a pretty good bunch of stories. The stories by Robbins, Fallon, McAbee, and Clamp are outstanding and thrilling superhero tales, and even if the lead character isn’t particularly heroic, D’Orozio’s “Nightingale” is a wonderful story with plenty of zing.

The other stories aren’t about cookie-cutter characters, either — some of the heroines are comic-book heroic, some are less so, some are tricksters at heart, some are more interested in the finer things in life, some are obsessively devoted to their quests for justice, and some actually do think a lot about shoes or gossip about their boyfriends when they’re not kicking ass. Thank goodness — I would’ve been weirded-out if all the characters were exactly the same.

And with one of the Big Two comics publishers so often going out of its way to diss superheroines and female creators and fans, it’s nice to see so many excellent women writers putting together a huge collection of stories about superheroines. There’s a lesson there for any publishers willing to listen.

Go pick it up.

American Vampire #29

Pearl Preston and Skinner Sweet are tracking vampires in ’50s Hollywood, hiding out in the mansions of directors and stars. Claiming to be investigators for the House Un-American Activities Committee, they pay a visit to producer Wells White, who shows off his pet lions before Pearl and Skinner catch sight of his vampire guest. While Pearl takes care of the vampire, White turns his lions loose on Skinner — not that a bunch of lions have much of a chance. But who’s behind the sniper who kills White? And what kind of hold do the Vassals of the Morning Star have over Skinner Sweet?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Just a good issue. I like the vamps’ cover of “Oh, hey, we’re with HUAC — you got any shady connections we need to know about?” Makes it a perfect fit for the paranoid ’50s.

Justice League Dark #11

Felix Faust is trying to get into the government’s vault that contains all of the most powerful magic items in the world, while the JLD struggle to contain him and his pet demons. Meanwhile, Madame Xanadu seeks out Timothy Hunter, a kid in London who may be the only magician in the world powerful enough to safely use the Books of Magic — but he insists there’s no way he can help them. Can John Constantine prevent the Books from falling into Felix’s hands?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Ehh, it’s alright. Mostly a big punch-up. Still not sure I’ll ever get used to the idea of John Constantine and Timothy Hunter running around on the superhero side of the DCU.

The Amazing Spider-Man #690

While Spider-Man tries to corral Morbius the Living Vampire, Dr. Curt Connors is back at Horizon Labs trying to turn himself back into the Lizard — and using the rest of Horizon’s staff as guinea pigs. Can Spidey capture Morbius and make it back to the lab before all of his coworkers are turned into giant lizards?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Worth it more for Connors’ internal monologue than for just about anything else.

Today’s Cool Links:

• This was pretty entertaining: “Heroes Rise: The Prodigy” — they call it an interactive novel, but think of it as a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book where you get to be a superhero. Go give it a shot — it’s free.
• What’s wrong with the Big Two? Kevin Church and Benjamin Birdie bring the truth.
• Here’s the most depressing, but still most amazing, essay you’re going to read all day.
• The Humble Bundle, previously known for offering independent video games at a pay-what-you-want rate to help charity, is expanding to music.

The Goon #40

Let us step back to those terrible days, long years ago, of Prohibition, when some drunkard with a goat fetish roused the ire of the temperance societies and got hooch banned in Lonely Town. While the Goon and Franky were just teenagers back then, they still knew how to earn a dishonest buck, and they set about brewing their own rotgut whiskey. Alas, their truck was too broken-down to outrun the cops and make their deliveries, so they upgraded their vehicle and were soon keeping Lonely Town awash in low-grade liquor. But they ran afoul of the other bootleggers in town, the Boyles — Rev. Papa Grits Boyle, the snake-handlin’, wizardin’ patriarch, Randal, the stitched-together hot-rodder, Moon Pie, the knife-wielding psycho, and Snakebite Verna, the rotten black-widow sister. There commences a moonshine war that culminates in Franky and Papa Grits accidentally summoning the Devil by dancing the Charleston. The Devil figures  they’re all awful sinners and demands a hot rod race to determine who will go to Hell.

But that’s not all! While Franky’s brewing up a particularly vile batch of firewater, a wild skunk-ape is attracted by the stench and drinks the whole vat dry! And then it mutates into a green-skinned, pop-eyed, snaggle-toothed monster hot rod! Can the Goon capture the hooch monkey? Or will it continue to terrorize the world?

Verdict: Thumbs up. So very, very many thumbs ups. A comic that nearly perfectly replicates both the hot-rodding hoodlums genre and the Kustom Kulture artwork of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth? This is drop-dead glorious stuff. Why aren’t you reading “The Goon” already? Do you hate glory!?

B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – Exorcism #2

BPRD Agent Ashley Strode is visiting the spiritual plane with Father Ota Benga, a priest who has kept the demon Andras imprisoned within his soul for over a hundred years. They must engage in spiritual contact with the demon, drive it from the priest’s soul and into the waiting body of a goat. Does Ashley have a chance of vanquishing the demon and saving Ota’s life?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent story from Mike Mignola, excellent art from Cameron Stewart. A nice short two-issue series with plenty of pop, shocks, and horror. Go get it, you’ll like it.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Are superheroes today’s new cultural myths? I’ve got my doubts, but this article is a good read anyway.
• John Scalzi lays down the law about who gets to call themselves geeks.
• And finally: Our species is simply not fit to live any longer.

Axe Cop: President of the World #1

Hot dog! I was not expecting a new Axe Cop series! Y’all remember Axe Cop, right? Art by 31-year-old Ethan Nicolle and written by eight-year-old Malachai Nicolle, these brothers turn out some of the craziest, funniest, most awesome comics around at the Axe Cop website. And sometimes, they put out some regular comics, too.

When last we saw Axe Cop, the dedicated crimefighter had wiped out all the bad guys and had been made president of the whole wide world, with a direct prayer line to his personal pal, God. Now he’s gotten his new executive mansion, the Gold House, built in Axeville, Washington, and people are asking when or if the bad guys will ever come back. After checking up with God, Axe Cop announces that the bad guys will be gone from Earth for one million years! But that means the bad guys will be back eventually, so Axe Cop sends all the other crimefighters and superheroes in a time machine to one million years in the future.

Meanwhile, Axe Cop adds two new members to his crimefighting team — Goo Cop, a blob of green ooze who is able to control minds with his goo and needs Axe Cop’s help to save his family, and Junior Cobbb (yes, with three B’s), a talking gorilla who grow to giant size, has robotic gun fists, and can shoot anything he wants out of his tail. He needs Axe Cop’s help to save Planet Weird Gorilla (where gorillas stand on their tippy-toes and get dumber and weirder as they grow older) from an invasion of Evil Robotic Penguins.

Can Axe Cop save everyone? Will the heroes be able to stop the bad guys when they return after a million years? And what’s going to happen if the bad guys… don’t show up?

Verdict: Thumbs up. So much wonderful, mad fun. Beautiful artwork by Ethan, too — a lot of attention always goes to Malachai, ’cause hey, eight-year-old comics writer. But Ethan’s artwork is just plain awesome, every single panel. Be sure and pay close attention to all the wonderful details, too — lots of funny bits hidden away in the background…

Superman Family Adventures #3

Aliens are attacking Metropolis! Jimmy Olsen goes to call Superman on his signal watch — but why does he keep getting the Super-Pets instead of the Man of Steel? Fuzzy the Super-Mouse gets some training in his powers from Krypto. And Lois Lane gets a little suspicious about Clark Kent’s similarities to Superman, so he has Superboy send a Superman robot to help preserve his secret identity. But when more than one robot shows up, things are going to get a lot more confusing.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Cute, funny stories and artwork. I think it’s great that these are basically classic Silver Age stories, just tweaked to make them funnier than they were before.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Here’s a thoroughly depressing post about why the Big Two are so vehemently hostile to female readers and characters.
• And a somewhat more encouraging article pointing out that female creators are having great success outside of the Big Two.
• Nice article about comics, bullying, and the value of having a hero who’ll stand up for you.

Snarked #10

While the kingdom slides into bankruptcy and tyranny, the Gryphon has taken over the Mad Hatter’s pirate ship, and Queen Scarlett, Prince Rusty, Wilburforce J. Walrus, Clyde McDunk, the king, and the crew are stranded on Snark Island. Scarlett and Rusty wander off in the night, the Walrus and the Carpenter follow them, and the Gryphon constructs his secret weapon — a mechanical Jabberwock! Can everyone manage to escape? Or will they all fall prey to… a Boojum?

Verdict: Thumbs up. I love anything with a Jabberwock in it. And beyond that, it’s a fun story, good art, lots of humor, and even some fairly ominous mystery.

Daredevil #15

Dr. Doom’s underlings have exposed Daredevil to nanobots that have robbed him of all of his senses. But some of his senses seem to be coming back — including sight, which he lost when he was a child. When he finally manages to escape, he takes to the roofs to try to escape Doom’s underlings, but with his senses scrambled and confused, does he have a chance of escape?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Great art, great story, good characterization and suspense. I’m always amazed by how very, very good this comic is.

Dark Horse Presents #14

A extra-long comic — heck, it’s actually a double comic! You read one half, then flip the comic over to read the other half! As always, some good stuff, some not so good stuff, but the work that impressed me the most included: Bo Hampton and Robert Tinnell’s spooky “Riven,” Nate Cosby and Evan Shaner’s madcap “Buddy Cops,” Kim W. Andersson’s creepy “Love Hurts,” John Laymon and Sam Kieth’s “Aliens: Inhuman Condition,” Carla Speed McNeil’s always excellent “Finder: Third World,” Tony Puryear, Erika Alexander, and Robert Alexander’s “Concrete Park,” and short gag comics by Mike Russell, Patrick Alexander, and Jim Benton.

Verdict: Thumbs up. When it rocks, it rocks.

Today’s Cool Links:

• A nice article focusing on why DC feels safe continually blowing off its most vocal fans.
• Max has some good thoughts on the shootings at Aurora.
• A very rare snark-free post from Wonkette about what it’s like inside a random mass shooting, and why “MOAR GUNS” isn’t the answer. Read the comments, too — they’re very good.
• It’s been a rough few weeks. I think we all need some cute.