Herogasm #2 cover

The first issue of The Boys spin-off, Herogasm, isn't even out yet but Dynamite Entertainment has already released the Darick Robertson cover for #2.

Will this comic be even more over the top than it's parent series? That's too tough to call right now (The Boys has DEFINITELY had it's "Holy fuck!" moments), but judging by the two covers we've seen so far it will certainly give it a run for its money.

Herogasm #2 is out in June. Look for #1 in May.

- TFM

Planetary #27 on its way?!

Yesterday @warrenellis posted a Twitter saying he received notification from DC that John Cassaday had uploaded the completed art for issue #27 of Planetary.

Now Warren has posted on his official site that this is indeed a fact. He even uploaded the below page to prove that this isn't some April Foolery:



Nerds everywhere are rejoicing.

- TFM

Image Releases Pherone Graphic Novel In April

Everyone likes spies, right? When the spy in question is a sexed up hot cakes that just might be losing her shit, well count me in!

Comic Book Resources has alerted us to the new original graphic novel called Pherone that will be released by Image in April.

CBR discussed Pherone with producer Philo Northrup. Here's a snippet of what Philo had to say:

“Pherone” is the story of Eve, a spy undergoing a breakdown. “Eve is a stunningly beautiful, highly trained espionage agent on the edge of her sanity. We follow her as she dispatches her missions with great skill, but it soon becomes apparent that Eve has lost her way,” Northrup told CBR. “She has doubts. She blacks out after missions. She's falling apart. This story follows Eve as she puts herself back together and finds out about her past. A lot of action happens because people keep getting in Eve's way.”

Fans of classic crime and modern espionage will likely be drawn to “Pherone.” It follows Northrup’s characterization of the graphic novel as “Raymond Chandler meets Jason Bourne, starring a sexy woman.” “’Pherone’ is dark and Viktor Kalvachev's artwork is charged with tension,” he continued. “Themes of trust, perception, and redemption underpin the action. I think that's why this story resonates so well.

I'm digging the premise as well as the Sin City-esque art.


Click over to the original article to read more and to see more previews.

- TFM

Wanna Write The Doctor Strange Movie?

Fanboys everywhere, including yours truly, always like to play Monday Morning Script Writer when it comes to comic book movies. Well, now's our chance as it appears Marvel is looking for a few good nerds to help with some of the upcoming "lesser-known properties" feature films.

Our friends over at Latino Review bring us the news:

According to the trades, Marvel is looking to expand its writing talent pool in order to get help with its upcoming Comic Book Film Bonanza that will fill the film slate for the next four years. Apparently they are gathering scribes that will help Marvel come up with creative ways to launch its lesser-known properties, such as Black Panther, Cable, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Nighthawk and Vision.

-----------------

Marvel will look for these scribes in house, picking up to five writers per year. I think this is smart; this is a good way to get some new blood and new ideas into the mix and get away from the stale story telling that seems to be plaguing Hollywood as of late. The story goes on to say that “So far, it has focused its efforts on more popular superheroes like Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America.”

Our guess is they will be looking for some sort of previous writing experience to fill these positions, but I think at least one hire should be someone who just happens to be a long time comic reader. There's no one better to help steer your ship then a small piece of your audience (as long as you pick the right one...me!).

Not sure exactly how one goes about submitting their resume for this, but we might suggest non-stop Twittering to the Marvel higher-ups until you get their attention.

- TFM

Wolverine 2 Already Being Prepped?

Although this is entirely pure speculation at this stage, it should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that this is probably the case. Why wouldn't Fox, who has already made an ass load off of the three X-Men movies and will all but assuredly make another shit ton off the upcoming Wolverine movie, not already be planning a sequel to it so they can make fuck loads more? It makes complete sense.

What doesn't necessarily make sense is who is being rumored to write the script. Ain't It Cool News is reporting that the man with the adamantium testicles this time around is none other than Slumdog Millionare scribe Simon Beaufoy.

Wha?

Nothing against Simon, even though I didn't really care for Slumdog Millionaire, but why? If this report is to be trusted, Simon admitted to not even knowing what a "wolverine" is.

Score another one for the Hollywood best and brightest.

Again, at this point this is almost fifth hand information but it is the internet so that kind of makes it half true by default, right?

Sorry to be so cynical. Honestly, the upcoming Wolverine movie looks really well done and a sequel has got to be at least a year and a half away at this point. At least. That should give Simon some time to either realize that he isn't the best person for the job or to get really serious about it and make a ridiculously great second installment.

While this does leaves me scratching my head a bit, I do remain ultimately optimistic for the best.

- TFM

New Wormwood Prints For Sale

The always amazing Ben Templesmith has put some beautiful, and more importantly affordable, new Wormwood prints up for sale.

Here's what Ben has to say:



The time has finally come. I'm clearing out my Cafepress store. From tomorrow, all the old prints will be gone and a whole bunch of new ones, which are already up, will be what's left. Put up quite a variety this time. Cafepress isn't too bad for prints, though be advised these aren't the fine art prints I do up myself, these are a POD type deal. Give em a click and see what you think. This here is a new image to celebrate it. Next step is to finally have some t-shirt/extra stuff up. I've neglected this sort of stuff for too long! I have plans...oh do I have plans...



Grab the bank card and head over to Ben's CafePress store. Trust me, these will look really rad on your wall.

Credit goes to www.warrenellis.com for bringing this to our attention.



- TFM

American Jesus movie details emerge

So I picked up the first American Jesus trade yesterday (true to my word!). Haven't cracked the cover yet, but details of the pending movie have surfaced today.

The Hollywood Reporter...um...reports:

Fresh off their collaboration on "Kick-Ass," filmmaker Matthew Vaughn and comics creator Mark Millar are in talks to reteam for another comic-book adaptation.

-----------

A summer start is being posited, though Vaughn also is developing another project with Millar, a still-in-the-works actioner. Millar, while also writing such titles as "Wolverine" and "Ultimate X-Men," has written creator-owned comics that have caught Hollywood's fancy, including last year's summer hit "Wanted." He also has "War Heroes" set up at Columbia.

Mark has got to have more movies in development right now than Apatow Productions. OMG Spoilerz, Plz! can also confirm that Mr. Millar had quote "a great idea in the shower today" and Sony has already optioned the rights to it.

No- not really. We are still awaiting confirmation from Mark's publicist on that.

- TFM

The Pull List (03/25/09)

Aside from the aforeposted American Jesus trade, we also have a double dose of Garth Ennis and a few other quality products this week.

The pull:

Justice League of America #31
Madame Xanadu #9
Unknown Soldier #6
Captain America #48
Immortal Iron Fist #24
New Avengers #51
Crossed #4 (of 9)
Battlefields: Dear Billy #3 (of 3)

Happy Wednesday!

- TFM

Mark Millar's American Jesus Rerelease In Stores Today

I wasn't reading comics in 2004. It was during one of my many few year long sabbaticals from the medium, so I missed Mark Millar and Peter Gross's American Jesus the first time around.

Thanks to the fine people over at Image Comics, I won't miss it the second time. Book One, entitled Chosen, is getting a rerelease today.

I think Mark Millar is a brilliant writer, but that's not news to anybody. He can be a bit hit and miss for me (ie. wasn't really into 1985 but LOVE Old Man Logan), but who isn't? Answer: Warren Ellis. But that's off topic.

American Jesus seems right up my alley. For those of you out there who are like me and didn't catch this when it originally came out, here's the brief synopsis from Image:

"From the writer of WAR HEROES, KICK ASS and the Universal hit, WANTED! It’s the next MARK MILLAR graphic novel set to become a feature film! AMERICAN JESUS, VOL. 1: CHOSEN follows a twelve-year-old boy who suddenly discovers he's the returned Jesus Christ. He can turn water into wine, make the crippled walk and perhaps even raise the dead. How will he deal with the destiny to lead the world in a conflict thousands of years in the making?"

I'll be picking this up today and will let you all know what I think.

- TFM

Watchmen: Tales Of The Black Freighter on DVD Today

I wasn't too impressed with the Watchmen movie. I think Zack Snyder did the best he could with it and it could have been a helluva lot worse, but I certainly didn't love it by any stretch.

Obviously, due to time constraints and more importantly trying to make the narrative of a film version as non-confusing as possible the comic within the comic was cut. Warner Bros. does fanboys everywhere a solid though and has released Watchmen: Tales Of The Black Freighter on DVD today. Judging by the above clip I'd say this looks pretty fucking rad. The animation looks beautiful and I'm guessing it will be a pretty faithful adaptation.

If you've seen this already or end up seeing it in the near future, let us know how it is.

- TFM

Cleaning Up My Pull List (And What I'll Be Buying This Week - 03/18/09)

Well shit. I recently cleaned up my pull list to include only the essentials. Things that I'm really excited about reading and that I can't wait to get to the week they come out. There are a bunch of great comics out there right now, but when I start to have little piles of three or more issues of a title pile up around me it's time to be honest with myself. Do I really LOVE this or can I just wait for the trade to come out and read it then?

I guess what I'm getting at is doing this has caused my pull list in recent weeks to be pretty small. Kind of a bummer, but hey- I'm approaching my comic reading with a quality over quantity mentality. I'm sure most of you probably already do this, but it's a new tactic for me so let's see how it works out.

Anyway- without any further ramblings, I give you my pull list for this week:

Dark Avengers #3
Wolverine #71
Alan Moore Light Of Thy Countenance

And that looks to be about it. Maybe there will be a few surprises.

Happy Wednesday!

-TFM

The Boys spin-off, Herogasm, set for May release

The first (of many?) spin-offs from the popular, controversial Dynamite Entertainment hit series The Boys is set for a May release.

This reunites Garth Ennis with longtime collaborator John McCrea.

From Dynamite Entertainment:

The first-ever spin-off mini-series from Dynamite and The Boys is coming your way in May - get ready for your first-ever Herogasm

Exploding from the pages of The Boys, Herogasm features the pairing of Garth Ennis with Hitman artist John McCrea and covers by Boys artist and co-creator Darick Robertson!

An evil so profound it threatens all mankind... the mightiest heroes on the planet uniting to defend us all... a secret crisis of such utter finality that a countdown to civil or infinite war seems unavoidable... but have you ever wondered what really happens during Crossovers? The Seven, Payback, Teenage Kix, Fantastico and every other supe on Earth team up for an annual event like no other... and where the supes go, can a certain "five complications and a dog" be far behind? Vought-American prepare to make their move, in a story that will change the world of the Boys forever: Herogasm #1.

"Garth has a few special surprises for The Boys planned for the back-half of his story and this mini is the first," explained Dynamite Associate Editor Joe Rybandt. "While Darick works on the main series, we're especially pleased that we were able to reunite Garth and John McCrea for this mini which will shock even the most hardcore Boys fan. Guaranteed."

About the series, Ennis stated, "What really happens during crossovers? What do superheroes do when nobody's looking? And what does the Vice-President of the United States have to do with any of this?"

Herogasm will make you laugh, it will make you cry and it will make you…. well, this Garth Ennis and The Boys we're talking about, so you know what to expect. Or at least you think you do.

The Boys: Herogasm ain't just breathin' heavy, it's coming at you this May from Dynamite. And be sure to ask your local retailer about our incentive covers so that you can have multiple Herogasms.

Should be pretty great. And fucked up.

- TFM

Phonogram #2 preview

Phonogram: The Singles Club #2 is apparently on sale next week. This issue is entitled "We Share Our Mother's Health" which is a song by The Knife. Coincidentally, Karin Dreijer Andersson (one half of The Knife) will release her first solo record under the Fever Ray moniker next week as well. Nice!

Check out a one page preview below.

(via McKelvie on Twitter)


- TFM

Mmmm, pull list...

What a good week! How exciting:

Walking Dead #59 (now even more depressing!)

Invincible Iron Man #11

Ex Machina Special #4

Immortal Iron Fist #23

Northlanders #15 (now with even more raping and pillaging!)

Scalped #26

Young Liars #13 (now making even less sense!)

All and all, I am excited.

Obligatory Watchmen review: I thought it was okay. Not in a rush to see it again, but not sorry I watched it.

-AR

happen to be in austin, tx this weekend?

then you should be at staple, our local indie comic convention. this year hosts the best line up ever: chris onstead of achewood, stan sakai of usagi yojimbo and jeffrey brown of my favorite auto-bio comics  ever.

friday night, these cartoonists and more will be at the annual pre-party at austin books and comics. saturday is the convention with a post party that night.  the post party will be at red7, located by 7th and i-35. this is really my favorite part, as the artists will be drawing live and selling their work to benefit local independent radio station koop.

for more info see

austinbooks.com

staple-austin.org

this weeks list

mome 14

black jack hardcover 3

legion of super heros the life and death of ferro lad

kabuki: the alchemy hc

the mighty 2

superman world of krypton 1

the boys 28

daredevil 116

trinity 40

cable 12

agents of atlas 2

secret warriors 2

ult. wolverine vs. hulk 3

haunted tank 4

back to brooklyn 4

deadpool 8, fucking thunderbolts crossover!

the goon 32

no hero 4

batman cacophony 3

madman 14

no hero: my favorite issue since the first. i'm glad they are done treading water with multiple splash pages of gross and back into an interesting perspective on a classic superhero idea.

the mighty: my bromance with peter j. tomasi intensifies.

-negative man

Puuuuull List!

Naughty nerds! We have been bad with the updates. 

I spent 3 hours bagging, boarding, and alphabetizing  on Saturday and BOY did it feel good.

Here's my pull this week, much better than the paltry selection of the last 2 weeks or so.

Hellboy: Wild Hunt #4

Daredevil #116

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1

The Goon #32

Back to Brooklyn #4

The Boys #28

So, are y'all enjoying all this Dark Reign business? So far so good, I think. I'm just itching for Osborn to get his comeuppance, but I'm sure I'll be waiting awhile for that.  

-AR

i got super hero pajamas for valentines day!

in non-valentines news, my internet is broken.
in better news. the rabbi's cat, volumes 1 and 2, are unbreakable and amazing.
read them if you haven't!
more from me soon, time-warner willing.
xoxo, the negative-man

Night Of The Beasts! At SHQ Tonight

Since first posting about how the first Beasts book was my favorite non-purchase of the last year, I've gone ahead and picked up the Beasts 2 hardcover. The first one sold out so quickly that I learned my lesson and snatched this one up as soon as I saw it was available at Secret Headquarters.

And what a beautiful book. Tonight Secret Headquarters will be gathering together a bunch of the excellent artists that helped contribute to both Beasts books for a celebration and signing. The first Beasts is also in softcover now.

You can learn more about beasts over at the official blog and at publisher Fantagraphics.

If you are in the Silver Lake / Los Feliz area tonight, stop by SHQ and say hi.

- TFM

Michael Chiklis To Release Original Graphic Novel Through IDW

Being a huge fan of The Shield, this news is welcomed with a large amount of...skepticism. Michael Chiklis is an amazing actor and for as much attention as The Shield seemed to get the first couple of seasons, that show never let up and never got bad and never aired a dull episode. I feel like it wasn't on many people's radar for the last few years, but it will remain for me one of the best shows I've ever had the pleasure to watch.

But acting and comic books are two different worlds, so I'll take the "wait and see" attitude with this one and we'll see how it turns out.

Here's what the graphic novel is about, according to publisher IDW:

"Dark and stylized, Olympus tells the story of ancient Greek Gods returning to a ravaged, chaotic present-day earth where they battle for the future of mankind. Olympus features Zeus' Olympians against the Titans in an epic battle of good vs. evil, and father vs. son. Breaking The Golden Rule of Greek mythology - never to reveal themselves - the supposedly mythic Gods Zeus and Aphrodite, Pandora and Cronus, Prometheus and Jason, have returned to renew their timeless battles ... as Armageddon beckons."

Honestly? Doesn't sound that interesting to me. And Chiklis is listed as helping to "develop" the graphic novel, so it's hard to say how involved he'll be exactly in the actual scripting of this...but we'll give it a look when it finally hits shelves. No real release date has been mentioned.

-TFM

Fuck Yes!

More over at FirstShowing.net.

- TFM

Battlefields: The Tankies set for April release

To say that Battlefields: The Night Witches was one of the most enjoyable Garth Ennis stories I have read in quite some time says kind of a lot. I love Garth Ennis. I read everything that has his name on it. Not all of it is spectacular, but a lot of it is great and all of it is at the very least pretty good. I can't say that about too many comic book authors.

So the fact that Dynamite Entertainment keeps rolling out more Battlefields stories makes me happy. The first chapter of the second installment, Dear Billy, debuted a couple of weeks ago and it continues the trend of the intense, exquisite storytelling found in The Night Witches.

Even though Dear Billy just started, the next installment has already been announced for April. The Tankies reunites Ennis with his old partner in crime Carlos Ezquerra (The Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, Just A Pilgrim, A Man Called Kev, etc).

Here's a synopsis from Dynamite:

"After D-Day came the battle for Normandy, when largely untried Allied soldiers met the seasoned veterans of the German army. As Panzer units and SS troops turn the French countryside into a killing ground, a lone British tank crew struggle to rejoin their squadron. Cut off behind enemy lines, their only hope lies in their fearsome commander, Corporal Stiles- but no one in the crew can stand him, and Stiles isn't too fond of them either. And there are Tigers lurking in the undergrowth..."

- TFM

Jonathan Hickman to take over writing duties on Fantastic Four!

Yes...I know. This is OLD news. It was announced at NYCC last weekend. But in case you hadn't noticed the lack of posts around these parts, I haven't been keeping up with my comics news like I should be. I mean, hopefully in the future I will be able to do nothing but read comics and write about them and write my own. Sigh. Maybe someday.

Anyways- I'm not a Fantastic Four fan. I like Reed Richards and his place in the Marvel Universe, but I've just never really been hip to the whole FF clan. Even when Mark Millar started writing it I didn't really care enough to buy it. But Jonathan Hickman writing this is enough for me to add it to my pull list TOUTE SUITE.

I only skimmed the article over at CBR, so as far as I can tell Hickman will be taking over "in a few months" with Dale Eaglesham on board handling pencils.

I recently professed my love for Hickman and even then I really didn't go into much detail about why I think he's so great. Call it lazy blogging if you will, but I really think you just have to go out and buy some of his past work to see what's so refreshing about it. You more mainstream people already got a preview of what he's capable of if you picked up Secret Warriors last week. One issue into it and he and Bendis are already shaking things up.

Great news Jonathan and congrats. I just hope writing these more mainstream titles still affords you the time to keep putting out your own original ideas. God knows comics needs more of what you are putting out there right now.

- TFM

Batman #686 (and other comics I will be buying on 02/10/09)

This week, Neil Gaiman asks the question "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" Let's hope he gives us a more solid answer than ol' Grant has so far.

Anyways, Batman #686 is this weeks most anticipated and it should be pretty awesome. I've been waiting for this one to hit since it was first announced. Looks like an Alex Ross cover too:



What else is this week?

Booster Gold #17
Scalped #25
Young Liars #12
Eternals #8
Incognito #2
Thor #600
Wolverine Manifest Destiny #4 (of 4)
X-Men Origins Sabretooth (Kieron Gillen!)
Gravel #9

Always excited about Scalped and Gravel. Thor might be one of the better comics you aren't reading. Or maybe it's one of the better comics you ARE reading. I honestly don't know how well that one sells.

I think I might be in the minority on my excitement level for Incognito. Seems like everyone else is bouncing off the walls about it. I do love Brubaker, but I didn't feel like the first issue was as awe inspiring as I remember feeling after reading the first issue of Criminal. It's Brubaker though and he does like to take his time and build his stories, so I'm sure this will be pretty epic by the time it's done.

That's it. Happy Wednesday!

- TFM

P-p-p-pull List!

Today is a pretty solid day to go buy comics.

Incognito #2 (YESSS)

Walking Dead #58

Young Liars #12

Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #3

Scalped #25

I go back and forth on Young Liars. Sometimes I really like it, and sometimes I'm ready to give it up for good. Lapham, can't you just go back to Stray Bullets? Pupulease?

-AR

the best 24 year old...EVER!

legion of three worlds 3
secret warriors 1
agents of atlas 1
the mighty 1
the boys 27
x-men the life and times of lucas bishop 1
30 days of night: 30 days 'til death 3
crossed 3
invincible iron man 10
cable 11
the immortal iron fist 22
trinity 36
haunted tank 3
sandman the dream hunters 4
adventure comics 0
comic book comics 3
zorro 10
madman 13

and finally
SCOTT PILGRIM VOL. 5-
each volume of scott pilgrim has been a breath of fresh air for me. the series follows the eponymous lead character as he battles all of his girlfriend ramona's evil ex-boyfriends in order to keep dating her. scott pilgrim is awesome: his friends are interesting and hilarious, his band has the best fake band name ever and he lives in a video game world where you can earn exp. points for getting a job, coins for beating people up, and should try to reach the save point before talking to your ex. the fifth volume it the empire strikes back of the series, fucking things up as much as possible so scott can fight for a happy ending in vol. 6. the art is drab in comparison to previous volumes, but it balances out with a shiny cover.

secret warriors- most retarded twist ever.

30 days til death- the most i've enjoyed lapham since stray bullets, yeah, including young liars. i don't know what the fuck is going on there anymore. this series is for all you romantics out there who have ever rescued a junkie, got mad at them, then driven to another city to suck the blood of someone who resembles them to deal with it. and THEN had your vampire relatives show up.

legion of 3 worlds: another super hero resurrection, though i'm honestly glad to see him back. this book is becoming less and less about the legion and more about 2 other major d.c./geoff johns books. it does keep the feeling of a crazy silver age super team up, but with superman getting a hole blown in him and another character being frozen and the smashed to death. but thats the beauty of having three legions: you've always got a couple of spare fill-in-the-blank boys.

the mighty- read peter tomasi. this book, about the men who run the support organization for the worlds only super hero, gives me a james robinson golden age vibe.

xoxo, the negative man

Ignition City #1 covers

I'm not going to shut up about this until it comes out. And even then I probably wont.

From warrenellis.com:

Regular cover




Wrap





Retro



- TFM

Northlanders #15

From @BrianWood on Twitter, pages from the next Northlanders!

"Shouldn't be any spoilers, if you read this week's issue (#14). These are uncorrected lettering proofs and might have typos and other weirdness. Please ignore all that."

-AR

My Haul

Hey there sportsfans,

Last week I got one single, solitary book, so a pull list post was hardly warranted. Luckily, this Wednesday was far more fruitful.

Greatest Hits

Northlanders (ARE YOU GUYS READING THIS YET?)

Dark Avengers (Wow, way to go Bendis. Very solid.)

Lone Ranger & Tonto

Daredevil

Crossed (Despite the nice gore, it's not really captivating me. May stop picking it up.)

Umbrella Academy: Dallas (Consistently great at introducing weird, visually exciting characters.)

Runaways (Terry Moore's last. He did an okay job, but it's not a huge loss. Anyone know who's up next?)

Fantastic Four (Uh oh, Richards family, you're in deep shit.)

Siiigh. It's a good time to be a comic book fan.

-AR

The New Frontiersman

Oh sweet, sweet viral marketing. The Watchmen's marketing team been kicking serious ass. The fictitious newspaper from the novel now has a Flickr stream with some delicious, Dr. Manhattan-filled photos. Between this and the fake news casts (see below, holy cats) I am officially beyond excited for the movie. I was once an unbeliever, but now...now...

-AR

Review: Final Crisis #7

(Note: That is not the cover of Final Crisis #7)

In lieu of a review of Final Crisis #7, I'm just going to share a few thoughts I had while reading it (spoilerz of course!):

Huh?

What the fuck?

Man, I don't think I get any of this.

*Yawn*

Who cares?

Oh wait, I think it's making sense.

Nope. It's not

Ohhhh....it's a Final Crisis...but for the Monitors!

Huh? (in reference to the last page of the epilogue)

Look- bottom line is I feel like people either loved Final Crisis or they didn't. I'm not sure which category I'm in. I'm not as quick to judge something like this on first reading as I feel like it at least deserves a second look as a whole (instead of waiting a month or sometimes more in between chapters). The only problem with that is there are way too many great comics out there that are going on right now that I get and understand right away, so it's really hard to say when I will have the time to revisit Final Crisis. I think for someone like me this might be it's biggest letdown. The fact that I really want to "get" the grand scheme of what happened here but I just don't feel like I have the time right now.

CBR columnist Timothy Callahan actually wrote a nice concise article that helped me to somewhat understand the overall themes of what Final Crisis is all about. You can read the article here. Full disclosure: Mr. Callahan does have a book out called Grant Morrison: The Early Years. He's what the haters call a 'GM Fanboy', so keep that in mind.

- TFM

Transhuman TPB Hits Stores Today

Hey all- just a quick note on this. I don't think I've posted about Jonathan Hickman before, as I've only started reading him fairly recently. I've been following A Red Mass For Mars and just finally read The Nightly News last month. Anyways, this could be old news to everyone out there for all I know, but I feel like Jonathan is one of the more refreshing writers to land on the scene in the last few years and he's now on my list of must buy authors whenever I see he has something new.

Since I'm still playing catch up, I'm happy to see that the collected edition of Transhuman is in stores today via Image Comics. I'll try to write more about his stuff at a later date and maybe go into more detail about why I enjoy his work so much, but it's almost quitting time around these parts and I need to shove off to my shop and pick up my weekly bounty.

Next time you are perusing the graphic novel section of your LCS looking for something new and interesting, try to remember Jonathan Hickman. Pick up The Nightly News or Transhuman and flip through the pages to see what he's been doing. Hopefully you'll appreciate his stuff as much as I do.

Happy Wednesday.

- TFM

Final Crisis: 7 of 7 releases tomorrow, 5 page preview now

DC Comics has released a five page preview of the final installment of Final Crisis, in stores tomorrow. Will this end up being the great, amazing event many were anticipating when it first started? For me personally, it could easily go either way. Looking forward to seeing how this wraps up and where the DC Universe stands in the aftermath.

Click on each page to enlarge.






- TFM

Battlefields: Dear Billy Preview

Well hey- look at that. The first Battlefields story by Garth Ennis just wrapped up last week and we already have the first part of the next story hitting comic shelves tomorrow.

As I mentioned before, The Night Witches is one of the best war stories Ennis has delivered in a long time and hopes are high that the second chapter keeps with this trend.

CBR has a five page preview of Dear Billy. Check it out here.

- TFM

Ignition City set for April release

From warrenellis.com:



Damn this thing looks pretty. Gianluca Pagliarani did the art for Aetheric Mechanics, which I finally got around to reading this past weekend (and was also great by the way).

This is high up on the list of most anticipated anythings for 2009.

- TFM

Comic Movie News: Torso and The Green Hornet both in trouble?

First up- Torso, the 1998 crime comic by Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko. Paramount had aquired the rights to this and David Fincher was attached to direct, but it looks like the film studio has let let their option expire.

The Celebrity Cafe, via The Hollywood Reporter:

"Paramount has had the rights for "Torso" since January 2006. The project drew interest with Casey Affleck and Matt Damon with reports on Damon being Fincher's choice to portray Eliot Ness. Hollywood Reporter says the option for Paramount to extend their rights on the film adaptation expired. The studio still owns a screenplay written for the movie by Ehren Kruger. There are still discussions with Paramount and the comics' creators whom now hold the rights. Fincher still remains attached to the project at this time."


As for Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet, rumors abound that ever since Stephen Chow is seemingly no longer the director on this it looks like it might not end up happening for a while (if at all).

Once again The Celebrity Cafe reporting, this time via HitFix.com:

"According to Drew McWeeny of HitFix.com, "Ever since Stephen Chow started to waffle about his participation in the film, I've been hearing rumors that there were major hesitations at Sony. Then at Sundance, I heard several people say that the film was off completely. I spoke this afternoon with a source close to the film, and while they didn't call it completely dead, they did say it is 'highly unlikely' that the film will shoot in 2009 at all." Sony is still listing The Green Hornet for a June 25, 2010 release despite the rumors."

Lest anyone think that anything comic book related automatically gets a greenlight in ol' H-Wood these days, it appears there's still plenty of reservations and hesitation as there ever was at times.

In other news, Paul Blart II: Mall Coppier! is already in pre-production.

- TFM

"there IS a god. and he HATES us all."-ultraman, superman beyond 2

final crisis: superman beyond 2
battlefields: the night witches 3
green lantern 37
supergirl 37
dark avengers 1
mighty avengers 21
uncanny x-men annual 2
x-men legacy 220
astonishing x-men 28
x-factor 39
thunderbolts 128
x-men manifest destiny 5
trinity 34
conan the cimmerian 7
justice league of america 29

x-factor: on the opening recap page peter david begs his readers not to post spoilers about this issue. while i was turned off by a delusions of grandeur vibe in his self described plea, i will respect it. it's a good issue with a good twist and i'm eager for the next one.

superman beyond 2: grant morrison writes the best superman, though these two issues only exist to cram in a subplot that was apparently left out of the proper final crisis book.

thunderbolts: spider-man meeting obama? boring! andy diggle takes presidential cameos to a new level by sending the green goblin to attack obama on air force one!

uncanny x-men annual: matt fraction should write a namor monthly. and is there anyone in the marvel universe emma hasn't fucked? seriously.

i've also been reading a lot of little orphan annie vol.1 this week. the plots are funny, exciting and heartbreaking with beautiful, terrifying cartooning. little orphan annie makes me regret all my abortions.
well, almost.

-neg man

Battlefields: The Night Witches

Have we talked about Battlefields: The Night Witches yet? No? All right, let's talk about it.

This is a wonderful three part World War II story written by Garth Ennis with art by Russ Braun. Published by Dynamite. The last issue just came out this week.

Ennis writes a lot of war stories. Some of them are good. Some of them are better than good. And a few are kind of meh. I just finished the third and final chapter of his latest and it's not only one of the best war stories of his I've read, it's one of his best stories in recent memory.

It's the Soviets vs the Nazis. This story is told from both perspectives. The Russian side follows the fighter pilots, specifically centered around The Night Witches- women pilots who fly their missions under the cover of darkness and who also don't get much respect from their male counterparts. On the German side you follow a regiment made up of the obligatory scum of the Earth type we've come to expect in these types of situations- except this particular unit is interesting since it includes a solider who is far more inclined to follow his own moral compass than he is at taking the horrific orders he's given by his head of command.

In three short installments, Ennis and Braun craft quite the captivating narrative. It's rich with history, violence, some interesting twists that you might not see coming and even brief glimpses of a love story. The idea of these "Night Witches" was so fascinating that one might think that ol' Garth had come up with a great fictionalized World War II story that seemed almost like it could have really happened. As it turns out, it's firmly grounded in facts. You can read more about The Night Witches here.

And as luck would have it, Battlefields continues on with a new story coming in a few weeks. If you haven't read this first one go and check it out. And be on the lookout for Battlefields: Dear Billy at your comic shop in the near future.

Can't wait.

- TFM

Review: Dark Avengers #1

(WARNING: If you don't want pretty much this entire issue to be spoiled for you, read the comic before you read this post.)

Wow. If I had to sit through the schlock that was Secret Invasion just to get to Dark Avengers #1 than that was a small price to pay.

I like Brian Michael Bendis, I do. But he's hot and cold with me. I either think it's really good or not good at all. I think his strengths are also his weaknesses. But when BMB is on he's really fucking on and no one can touch him.

Here- he's really fucking on.

Dark Avengers #1 deals with the aftermath of Secret Invasion. Tony Stark is no longer in power as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers, replaced by Norman Osborn. S.H.I.E.L.D. is quickly dismantled in favor of H.A.M.M.E.R. Now all that's left for Norman to figure out is who should make up the new Avengers team.

Here's the new cast:

Ares (played by Ares)
Sentry (played by Sentry)
Ms. Marvel (played by Moonstone after Carol Danvers rejects Norman's offer)
Hawkeye (played by Bullseye!)
Wolverine (played by Daken- Logan's pissed off son!)
Symbiotic Spider-Man (played by Venom!)
Captain Marvel (played by Noh-Varr)
and The Iron Patriot (played by Norman Osborn himself)

It was a real joy to read through this issue and see how each encounter between Norman and his team picks plays out. I'm especially excited to see Daken here. I was reading Wolverine Origins for a while and I really felt like he could be an epic character in the right hands.

I kept hearing how Bendis had ideas for Secret Invasion a long time ago and his whole time working on the Avengers titles was building up to that point. I would like to think that Dark Reign will be his true masterpiece, but he just had to set the groundwork with Secret Invasion. I guess I might be raving a little too much for only having read one issue, but this one issue is just that good.

All in all I think this is a genius idea by Bendis and I hope he keeps bringing the awesome. I had a lot of fun reading this all the way through and when it was over I immediately wanted more. That's always a good sign.


P.S. - Mike Deodato REALLY wants Tommy Lee Jones to play Osborn in some kind of superhero movie:



- TFM

omg spoilerz, plz! to Hollywood: Please do not fuck up the Preacher movie

More tidbits about that Preacher movie has surfaced on the nets. The news comes from Newsarama via Variety that John August will be handling the screenplay.

What's on John Augusts resume? Let's take a look:

Charlie's Angels (uh oh)
Minority Report - uncredited rewrite (I don't blame him for wanting to be uncredited)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (uh oh, pt. II)
The Rundown - uncredited rewrite (with The Rock?!)
Big Fish (ok, that's not bad)
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (fuck guys, we might be in trouble here)

Well, at least Newsarama is keeping a positive attitude. Oh wait:

"In the "things that make you go huh?" category, the trade describes the project as: centers on the preacher of a Texas town who is struggling to get by and is driven only by his strong moral sense. When the city is decimated by an otherworldly force, he embarks on a journey across the country to take on the evil. It's unclear if that's the studio's description of the storyline, or Variety's, but in either case it's...different than what was in the comics, as the years long storyline kicked off when Jesse Custer, a small-town Texas Preacher was imbued with the Voice of God during a church service, and the members of his congregation were killed. This kicks off a cross-country and ultimatley worlds wide search for God, physical rather than metaphorical."

What the shit is going on here? Listen Hollywood- you can fuck up Superman. You can make a shitty Spider-Man sequel. You can play grab ass with Marvel characters like Daredevil and Ghost Rider all day long. But do not- DO NOT - fuck with Preacher.

Consider yourself on notice.

P.S. At least Sam Mendes is still listed as director. We can cling to that for the time being.

- TFM