couldn't afford Joker.... but i did get...

final crisis rage of the red lanterns
1985 6
no hero 2
ultimate spider-man annual 3
astonishing x-men ghost boxes 1
streets of glory 6
battlefields 1
the boys 24
the sword 12
superman 681
trinity 22
thor secret invasion 3
thor 11
immortal iron fist 19
avengers initiative 18
x-men secret invasion 3
solomon kane 2
madame xanadu 5
justice league of america 26
hellboy in the chapel of moloch
kick drum comix 2

rage of the red lanterns has NOTHING to do with final crisis. if you're reading gl right now pick it up, if not, then don't.
1985 ended well, with one twist ending i liked and one i didn't.
i wish the sword came out everyday.

-neg man

What I'm Getting (10/29/08)

It's that special time of the week. Here's what I'm getting:

Joker hardcover
Justice League of America #26
Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes #1 (of 2)
Immortal Iron Fist #19
Marvel 1985 #6 (of 6)
Secret Invasion Thor #3 (of 3)
Thor #11
Battlefields Night Witches #1 (of 3)

Not bad.

- TFM

Charles Burns Discusses Black Hole Feature

Charles Burns was interviewed by Shock Till You Drop and, amongst other things, he discussed his almost Zen outlook on the pending Black Hole movie:

Shock: How involved will you be in that movie considering that you are the original creator?

Burns: I made the decision when I signed the option that I didn't try to negotiate and gain any control because ultimately I think it would've been a kind of frustrating process in that I just want to kind of move onto something else. I want to move onto another story.

Shock: Right, you've been working on "Black Hole" for over ten years.

Burns: Yeah, and I think that I could've tried to write the script, I could've tried to negotiate being involved more, so I think that there's a possibility that I'd be involved, but I don't know.

It's a good interview. Read it!

- TFM

What I'm Picking Up Today!

Not a huge week, but a solid one (hehe.)

Secret Invasion #7
Scalped #22
Daredevil #112
Criminal 2 #6
Runaways #3

I think I may be taking Runaways off of my pull list. I have the first 2 issues of this run that I still haven't gotten around to finishing. I dislike the art and really can't get myself excited about it anymore. We'll see.


-AR

how are we spending our wednesdays?

or else #5

final crisis #4

final crisis submit

superman: new krypton

secret invasion #7

criminal #6

invincible #54

new avengers 46

trinity #21

unknown soldier #1

captain america #43

daredevil #112

ultimate spider-man 127

runaways #3

x-factor #36

hellblazer #248

x-men legacy#217

thunderbolts #125

Aetheric Mechanics

northlanders vol. 1

i live here

I had assumed Kevin Huizenga would be spending all his creativity on his Ignatz series "Ganges," so seeing Or Else #5 on the shelf was a pleasant surprise. This issue includes stories on spiders, turtles, sentence diagraming, wasting time, tuesdays and, of course, Glen Ganges. Instead of the usual scenario of Ganges and his wife analyzing some aspect of life, this issue gives him the lead role in an adaptation of a story in Giorgio Manganelli story about political oppression . I enjoyed "The Spiders around the House: A Special Report" the most and "Which Sentences are we Diagraming?" the least. They are both about exactly what you think they are.

In Final Crisis #4, the world is being overrun by the Anti-life equation. Kalibak returns as a tiger, the Tattooed man starts looking like Metron, and, in my favorite moment of the issue, Terrible Turrpin becomes Darkseid. In the midst of this were a couple of scenes of Wally West looking useless next to Barry Allen, which saddens me. Mark Waid's run with Wally really changed the way I look at super hero comics and I'm very unhappy this character is being swept to the side. I've been enjoying Final Crisis, though the first 3 issues really felt like an a long prelude. I hope we are finally on the cusp of something REALLY HAPPENING here.

Take a look at I Live Here if your comic store carries it. At first glance I thought it was a large hardcover, but it is actually four volumes in one case that folds out like a dvd box set. The four books include journals, comics paintings and fabric art telling the tragic stories of people living in four overlooked regions of the world: Ingushetia, Burma, Ciudad Juarez and Malawi. A full review will follow later this week.


-NM

News You Probably Read Elsewhere (10/21/08)

FirstShowing.net has a user submitted review of a Brian K. Vaughn script for a movie called Roundtable. A quick Google search shows articles from as far back as June talking about this, but I didn't know about it so it's news to me. Here's what they had to say about it:

"The script begins with a medieval battle; peasants are running through the countryside yelling and screaming, but as the camera zooms in closer, we see worms crawling in and out of the bodies and discover that these are actually zombie peasants. Then enters a proud knight wielding a broadsword, gallantly mowing down zombies on horseback. But he is swiftly atomized by a magical blast from behind as we are introduced to the story's curvaceous antagonist, Morgana. She is levitating over her army of zombies, magic electricity sparkling from her hands, black hair blowing in the wind. Three other knights enter and stand with their swords at the ready in defense against the witch and her army. Morgana gets in a few cocky lines touting her own inevitable victory, when the knights reveal they have a magician on their side as well. A falcon swoops in from the sky as the legendary wizard Merlin materializes, the bird landing gracefully on his arm. He is described quite differently than a typical storybook Merlin. While he still has his swirling black robes and his white beard, he is portrayed by an American comical actor (the script suggests Jack Black or Seth Rogen). Merlin uses his superior magic and restrains Morgana as the remaining three knights plunge their swords into her. Morgana's body swirls and transforms into a looming tree and the zombie army disintegrates, leaving our heroes and Merlin alone on the top of this English hill. One knight asks what will happen if Morgana ever escapes, Merlin replies that new knights of England will be needed and at that time be called the defend the empire. And so the stage is set for our modern day 'knights.'

Kind of lost me at the "Merlin is played by American comical actor" part, but hey I'll always give BKV the benefit of the doubt. On second thought though, Hollywood usually screws the pooch on stuff like this so I don't have the highest of hopes.


J.G. Jones is running late on his art for Final Crisis. Fuck dude, seriously? Doug Mahnke will handle pencils on the last issue.[Source: Comic Book Resources]


And finally, an open letter to whomever is in charge of these things on a topic I've remained silent on until now:

Dear whomever is in charge of these things-

If you decide to go forth with a Green Lantern movie, please do not let this guy play Hal Jordan:



Nothing against him in the slightest, but if you cast him the shit is going to suck. Thank you. - The Floronic Man

Sleep tight.

- TFM

Review: Greatest Hits #2

While issue #1 was engaging it also seemed slightly overambitious about the story it was trying to tell in only a half dozen issues. #2 sees things starting to come together nicely and is shaping up to be a classic Vertigo mini.

Taking the larger than life status of British rock n roll bands in the 1960's and applying it to a superhero team, Greatest Hits centers around The Mates: four young lads fighting crime and becoming the world's biggest celebrities in the process. That means dealing with all the trappings that superstardom brings- the press, the parties, the groupies...the blumpkins!

The story is told with a split narrative. Nick Mansfield is a present day director and the son of Archie Sugg, one of The Mates. He's reluctantly making a documentary about his father's team, so one half of the story is the trials and tribulations involved with working in the midst of a large familial shadow. The second half of the story is flashbacks to the heyday of The Mates as we experience their growing pains as they happened- drugs, lineup changes and the death of a former member.

All in all when the last panel is done, it left this reader wanting more right away. You gotta respect when a comic that could have gone either way after the inital issue decides to take an emphatic turn down Awesome Street. Can't wait for the next four chapters!

- TFM

Batman: The Cult

See what happens when you keep a positive attitude? Check out what I found at my neighborhood comic shop:

Four issues. Prestige format. First printings.

Batman: The Cult was written by Jim Starlin. Jim Starlin wrote the Batman storyline A Death In The Family in the late 1980's, which to this day is one of my most cherished comic book memories as a little nerd. I've never read this mini and I'm not sure how rare finding first printing single issues is, but that isn't the larger point. The point is I'm excited to take a trip back to my personal comics golden age, the 1980's. These moments are few and far between so you have to cherish them.

From Wikipedia:

The story follows the machinations of Deacon Blackfire and his band of homeless followers who have kidnapped Batman before the events of this story. Following a lengthy period of captivity Batman slowly succumbs to brainwashing. This eventually leads to him committing a murder in what proved to be controversial events among fans of the range. Under instructions from Blackfire, Batman opens fire with a machine-gun upon a man he believes to be Two-Face but ultimately turns out not to be. Batman is eventually freed from the cult but takes a long time to recover from his treatment at their hands. The story also delves into other territory. Gotham City politicians are assassinated by Blackfire's party of followers. An attempt on Commissioner Gordon's life is tried by Blackfire's group, leaving the commissioner in a hospital. Beyond Gotham authorities to protect the city, the National Guard is called in, then the Military and Martial Law is declared on Gotham. The series also features the second Robin, Jason Todd.

Given the nature of the story and Batman's apparent murder of an innocent civilian this story proved to be controversial among fans of the range. There were other graphic depictions in this series: the scarred face of a hooker victim leaves Batman in shock, while the comic panel clearly shows the reader what her scarred face looks like. Also the decapitated head of a Gotham City politician is tossed out of a sewer hole onto the street. The main villain Deacon Blackfire is seen bathing in a pit of blood from the dead corpses he has hanging above him.^[2] Due to the prestige format, DC was able to surpass the Comics Code Authority.

IGN Comics ranked Batman: The Cult #6 on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels, saying that "the story is told with callous brutality that makes it all the more powerful."^[1]

P.S. This is why I love Secret Headquarters. If you live in the neighborhood of Los Feliz / Silver Lake / Echo Park make this your go to place.

- TFM

Stuff and Nonsense

What the heck, people? I am getting ONE BOOK this week. Astonishing X-Men #27, pick up the pace plz kthnx.

In other news, The Floronic Man got hell of quoted by Avatar for his Crossed #1 review. Way to go, guy!

Also, a big hello to new contributor Negative Man, my pal in Austin, Texas. Hopefully his presence here will motivate me to start reading some more indie comics again (well, other than Jason, Jame Kolchalka, Adrian Tomine, and Jeffery Brown. I have those dudes COVERED.)

A reminder to all you fellow geeks who stumble upon our humble little blog: write for us! Email us at Spoilerzplz@gmail.com if you've got something on your mind, a review you want to share, some secret spoilerz news, etc etc. We know you've got something to say, and we'd love to hear from you!

-AR

PS. For some eye candy, here's one of my favorite pictures in comic book history (from Frank Miller's deliciously fucked up "Hard Boiled".)

What I'm Getting (10/15/08)

Here's what I'm excited about this week:

Booster Gold #13
DC Universe Decisions #3 (of 4)
Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds #2 (of 5)
Greatest Hits #2 (of 6)
Justice Society of America #19
Astonishing X-Men #27
Ghost Rider #28
Mighty Avengers #19
The Punisher #19
Grant Morrisons Doctor Who #1
Stephen Colberts Tek Jansen #3 (of 5)

Ok- so maybe I'm not super excited about a few of these, but I always go in with a positive attitude.

- TFM

Dead Space / Superman / Iron Man 2

I was already finding it a little difficult to not run out and buy Dead Space. Then I discovered this two month old article about how Warren Ellis contributed heavily to the plot and backstory. Not enough time or money to be both a video game geek AND a comic book nerd! [Source: Wired]

Richard Donner spoke with the L.A. Times recently and mentioned that they should let Geoff Johns write the next Superman movie. Dear Warner Bros.- please, please, please listen to him! He knows what he's talking about. [Source: Newsarama]

Don Cheadle is replacing Terrence Howard as Col. James Rhodes in the Iron Man sequel. While I really dislike when they switch actors in mid-stream, I understand how it's really easy for that to happen. Oh- and Don Cheadle is awesome. [Source: Splash Page]

- TFM

Joker set for October 29th release / New Punisher: War Zone clip

Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo will release Joker on October 29th.

From Newsarama:

"Here they seek to redefine a character that is perhaps the most well-known character of the year. They made him even more recognizable by going for a look that combines the movie look and his traditional comic look. This book doesn’t technically take place in any strict continuity, but allowing for only a couple tiny changes, this could be smack dab in the film world. Herein you see the perfect way to introduce Killer Croc, Penguin (though with a different first name), and Riddler into the films. There’s also a unique take on Harley Quinn, and a fantastic supporting character (who’s also narrating) that grounds Joker’s insanity in reality."


There's a new clip of Punisher: War Zone up over at www.punisherwarzonemovie.com. The sound wouldn't work for me and the video stalled halfway through. No matter. There's an overwhelmingly possibility that this movie will, in fact, suck.

- TFM

Crossed #1

Holy cow. Aren't people supposed to get softer as they grow older?

Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrow (Chronicles of Wormwood) return to Avatar with Crossed. Crossed falls into the survival horror genre, but it's Garth's take on survival horror so it's...uh...REALLY FUCKED UP! I mean one look at the cover will probably clue you in as to whether or not you'll want to steer clear but I'm guessing there has got to be at least a few people who picked up this first issue that probably won't be reading on. And 98% of the book is low key story set up. It pretty much all comes down to a splash page near the end of the comic that will determine which path you take. But no matter who you are, no matter how much Ennis you have read...you will stop and say to yourself "Holy SHIT! That is FUCKED UP!"

As for plot: if you are familiar with one survival horror plot structure, you have the gist of this one. If anything it will be the minor details and twists here and there that will make this stand out. The antagonists don't appear to be full fledged zombies, although they are zombie like. Most likely there will be some tie in with religion (duh- right?). Anyways- you have a small town being ravaged by a group of undetermined infected beings. You have the small group of non-infected survivors banding together to find a way out. And that's about it so far. Oh- and that FUCKED UP splash page.

Based off of issue 1 is this series going to be great? It's still too early to tell. Will I keep reading? You bet your sweet bippy. After all- it's Garth Ennis, ain't it?

- TFM

Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows

Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows is in stores on October 21 for Xbox 360 and PS3. Looks kind of fun, although the next couple of weeks are pretty huge for video games (I'm looking at you Fable II, Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2). If anyone plays this let us know how it is!

- TFM

Changeling

I've been seeing television spots for this new Clint Eastwood movie Changeling, which just so happens to have been written by J. Michael Straczynski:



The premise, from Wikipedia:

The film is set in late 1920s Los Angeles and is based upon a real-life incident related to the Wineville Chicken Murders, an infamous kidnapping and murder case that spanned 1928–1930 and received nationwide attention in the United States. When single mother Christine Collins (Jolie) returns home from her job as a telephone operator, she finds that her nine-year-old son, Walter, is missing. An exhaustive search for the boy proves unproductive, but five months later a child claiming to be Walter is returned to her by police. Despite knowing that the boy is not Walter, overcome by conflicting emotions in the crowd of police and reporters, Collins is persuaded to take the boy home. When Collins urges the authorities to continue looking for her son, she is vilified as an unfit mother and branded delusional. With the help of Reverend Gustav Briegleb (Malkovich), Collins confronts the city authorities and corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department to find out the truth.

Looks like it might be pretty good. Here's hoping JMS has a bundle of success with this and it leads to more film projects. Just don't take him away from comics!

- TFM

the new guy!

hi folks. i'm Negative Man. i'm going to radio energy punch all of my comic opinions in your animal-vegtable-mineral-man-faces.
this week i picked up:

action comics 870
detective comics 849
green lantern 35
green lantern corps 29
final crisis revelations 3
walking dead 53
invincible iron man 6
twelve 8
trinity 19
i kill giants 4
young liars 8
the goon 29
crossed 1
x-men manifest destiny 2
x-men original sin 1
secret invasion inhumans 3
we lost the war but not the battle
sulk 1

jeffrey brown is my favorite favorite favorite cartoonist. his relationship books are touching, his superheros are hilarious and his kittens are adorable. this book is all about the death and return of brown's hero parody Bighead. i was really happy to see the revenge of Cycloctopus, the sequel to my favorite story from the project superior anthology, "aw shit it's Cycloctopus!"

we lost the war but not the battle is a "revengeful comic" by Michel Gondry. it has a lot of the awesome creative weirdness of one of Gondry's films but none of the emotional depth. but who needs feelings when you have a tank made out of a tractor and a bazooka or a car ride through a vagina?

geoff johns is still entertaining me by fleshing out silver age stories and ideas. peter tomasi continues to knock me on my ass with glc every month. this issue is the first part of the new star sapphire arc. guy gardner has girls problems, mongul attacks a spaceship and inadvertently creates a new star saphire and the guardians send kyle, arisa and sodam as ambassadors to the previously mentioned sapphires. patrick gleason draws an awesome mongul, especially now that mongul is using his sinestro rings to hold his severed arm in almost the right place....

x-men original sin is about including an idea mark millar did in ultimate x-men years ago into the regular continuity. if nothing more interesting than this is planned i'm going to be very disappointed in mike carey. i rarely enjoy the x-men, but he, brubaker and fraction are doing great things. if he starts sucking, i'll let you know...

Will non-comic readers watch Watchmen?

While I have to admit that I'm not exactly counting down the days until Watchmen hits theaters (I'm on Alan Moore's side when it comes to his work being made into movies), I'm still going to be one of the first in line to see it. Zack Snyder has agreed to stay pretty true to the text, so that's good news for us nerds. But what does that mean for non-comic reading fans? Sci-Fi has put together a list of ten reasons why Watchmen potentially might not appeal to everyone:

1. It's an alternate-history Cold War period piece.
2. Ridiculous-looking costumes.
3. Old Folks.
4. Zack Snyder.
5. Flashbacks and Allegories.
6. Lack of Familiarity.
7. Lack of Star Power.
8. Length.
9. A Lot of Exposition.
10. The Ending.

Do yourself a favor and click over to the article to read the explanations for each.

I do love this picture though:



Silk Spectre II, you are a stone cold fox!

- TFM

Young Liars #8

Dear David Lapham,

What are you smoking, and where can I get some?

"Young Liars" is seriously the weirdest book I have read since "The Invisibles". "Stray Bullets" was fairly normal, "Silverfish" was a bit bizarre, but I never would have predicted this kind of insanity from Mr. Lapham! That being said, I'm finally starting to really enjoy the book.

I guess all that crazy spider planet stuff from issue #7 wasn't a dream sequence as I assumed it would be. Who knew? Sadie is still in a coma with Danny sitting vigil by her side. Annie is about to call the Pinkertons to claim the reward money but...what's that? A change of heart! And, oh yeah, she's a rebel operative from the spider planet. I feel like nothing I could type will make this all make sense to anyone.

Though most of the characters are despicable and the plot frequently makes little sense, I am definitely interested to see where he's going with this. I'll keep it on my pull list.



-AR

Two things you should know...

1. Matt Fraction is helping out with the Iron Man sequel.

From Newsarama:

"NRAMA: What, if anything, does Favreau wanting to bring in your sensibility on Iron Man 2

mean for you? Have you been officially contacted or anything like that?

MF: Yeah-- I've already been out to LA for three days, working at Marvel West with Jon, the screenwriter Justin Theroux, Kevin Fiege, the head of Marvel Studios, and Jeremy Latcham, the film's producer. We went over the thing, basically, the spine of what Iron Man II is and how it moves and why and who's in it and what they want and how they get it and what happens and were it takes place and why and everything. Workshopped it all.

So, in a very literal way, it meant me, being in a room, with those guys. Which is brain-meltingly awesome. And the movie's gonna be amazing."

2. Batman: Black & White and Superman: Red Son will follow Watchmen in becoming animated comics. They will be distributed through iTunes, Amazon VOD, Xbox Live and a few other places. [Source: Again, Newsarama]

What I'm Getting (10/08/08)

Young Liars #8
Invincible Iron Man #6
Twelve #8

Woah. That's it? That can't be it.

- TFM

A few things...

Avatar will release the first hardcover of FreakAngels, the weekly webcomic by Warren Ellis, in November. As a rabid Ellis fan you might assume that I've already read this. You'd be wrong. I already have enough stuff to do on the internet and I read comics to get away from it. Looking forward to catching up with this.

Kick-Ass movie: As crazy as it seems that a comic that is only up to #4 has already been optioned for a movie, it seems even crazier that it's already in production and there are already pictures posted online.

Check out Jason Aaron's Flickr photostream.

Anything you've heard about Batman 3 is a big fat lie.

Nitey nite.

- TFM

What I'm Getting (10/08/08)

After last week's pathetic 3 book haul (The Authority, The Boys, Top Ten 2), tomorrow will be very nice.

Walking Dead #53
Invincible Iron Man #6
BPRD: The Warning #4
Young Liars #8
Goon #29
Twelve #8
Lone Ranger #14
Two Face: Year One #2


A quick note on Top Ten 2 #1: I wasn't sure how this was going to be. The original Alan Moore series was fantastic, so it's always hard to re-start a title following something like that. I enjoyed it, and Gene Ha's art was terrific as per usual. Definitely going to keep picking it up.

-AR