Thoughts on books for 6/10

Haven't done one of these in a while, so let's ease on into it, shall we?

-Flash Rebirth #3: I still don't really know what's going on here. Barry's still all mopey, he's got some sort of Midas Touch except he turns things into blackened ashes instead of gold, and Barry's costume is now black and made out of the Speed Force. I think. Oh... and he tried to commit suicide. I think. I'm pretty sure on that one. Geoff Johns is writing this, right? (Yes. He is.) I feel like I'm reading a Grant Morrison story where I'm not going to understand anything until the last page of the last issue and then I'll have to reread it all again so my head doesn't explode. Plus it doesn't help that I don't really understand anything about the Speed Force. The last few pages were pretty damn cool, though. I'm just going to avoid overanalyzing it and ride this thing out. We'll see where it goes.

-Batman #687: This was actually quite a bit better than I was expecting. The lesson, as always: keep your expectations low. For as bad a rep as Winick has, he has a few characters that he writes very well. Luckily, Dick Grayson is one of them. Alfred is pretty good, too. (Although he called Dick, "Sir," entirely too much for my liking...) Damian... meh... could use some work, but it sounds like he's not going to be in this too much, so... problem solved. Other than the fact that this book probably should have come out last week, or Batman & Robin #1 should have been held until this week, I really didn't have much too complain about. 

Oh, I'm going to complain about more stuff, just because I can score some easy jokes off of it, but the following didn't really hurt the overall quality of the book: 1) Young Dick as Robin told Bruce that he had been "served," which was totally unnecessary. Look, I'm 23 and I think the first time anyone "got served" was five years ago. Dick was, what? 8? 9 when he became Robin? Even using the comic book sliding timeline (or whatever that's called), there's no way he should be saying that. At least not until books published in 2024 start showing those flashback scenes. 2) The solemn reaction to Alfred saying, "my son has died," where everyone is looking down at different parts of the floor all at the same time and avoiding eye contact with each other made me laugh out loud. That's probably not the reaction Mr. Benes was going for, but come on. And 3) Could the Scarecrow have any lamer evil plans? All he ever wants to do is release his toxic fear gas into Gotham City's air and/or water supply. The rest of the rogues gallery must get sick of him throwing out ideas whenever they get together. Okay... after you release the gas, then what, Mr. Crane? Are you going to rob people? Kill people? Punch some puppies? Blow up a building or two? I guarantee you the Joker scares the bejesus out of people while he's carrying out his schemes. His goal isn't to scare people. (Well, maybe sometimes.) That always just happens anyway.

Two more things I really liked while flipping through again: 1) When Dick told Damian to "get in the damn car!" I laughed out loud for the right reasons on that one. and 2) I really like that this is going to be about Dick as Batman, not Dick impersonating Bruce as Batman. I'm really really looking forward to that.

-Red Robin #1: Ugh... This was a rocky start, to say the least. Look, I really like the idea of Tim going out on his own and being his own man. I do. Doing his own Nightwing-esque journey, if you will, albeit under vastly different circumstances. (Dick to escape Bruce's shadow... Tim desperately clinging it.) That idea could work really well. But the execution here was just... I dunno... sloppy, I guess. For one thing, for all the talk Tim does about his conviction that Bruce is still alive and investigating his whereabouts, we see none of that. He takes down some kidnappers in Madrid and some armed robbers in Paris. And really, admirable and all, but it's sort of the exact opposite of the "no distractions" theory Tim keeps inner monologuing about to himself. (And really, Parisian criminals... If you can't shoot a guy on the hood of your car from the passenger seat with a machine gun, you really need to hand in your armed robber card and go into a different line of work. Might I suggest unarmed robber? More along the lines of burglar type work?) And that scene that supposedly takes place in Prague, Czechoslovakia? Come on. I don't really even care what happened there, but Czechoslovakia isn't a country anymore. Prague is now in the Czech Republic, which borders Slovakia. This isn't exactly a new international development either. It happened in 1993. Hey, I love saying "Czechoslovakia" as much as the next guy. It's fun to say. But so is "Zanzibar." Doesn't mean I can set stories there that take place in the modern day. Also, wasn't a big fan of the art... everyone's faces were too gaunt and malnourished looking. And come on... nobody's hair is that mussed up all the time. I don't think you could physically get hair to do that even if you tried to style it that way.

Other than that... Yeah, that may have been a little harsh. But I love Tim Drake (Tim WAYNE!!!) and just want to see him treated right. Here's hoping the book picks up a bit from here.

-Amazing Spider-Man #597: I kind of enjoyed this issue, despite the glaring fact that I couldn't figure out how Peter was making his costume do the "Venom-y" things like grow teeth and a tongue and whatnot. Is he actually wearing the symbiote? He can't be, right? That would be crazy. Right? I dunno. It bugged me the whole issue. And there was two page spread (the fight scene between Peter and New Wolverine) that I could not follow at all. It felt out of order somehow. Maybe it was just me. But I really have no other witty observations or snarky remarks to make about the issue. That may be good or bad for me. Hard to tell. Oh, except that Harry Osborn is clearly an idiot. But we've all known that for quite some time. And I have a very bad feeling about J. Jonah Jameson the Elder. It's just one of those "too good to be true," situations that always end up messing up Peter's life. (And yes, I realize that I probably sounded like a tween girl calling JJJ Sr. "soooo dreamy..." right there. I know it. But you know he is.)

Alright, I'm pretty exhausted, and that's all the books I had time to read for today. There will be a Fables, Green Lantern Corps, and Action Comics update sometime tomorrow.

Aaaaaand We're Back!

Well it was a crazy month. Graduated, got married, went on a honeymoon. Graduation was a waste of time. The actual ceremony that is, not the whole college thing. Although I have plenty of complaints about the amount of wasted time there too. But I'll be here all night if i get into it. The wedding was great, as was the honeymoon. We went to an all inclusive resort in Jamaica for five days. It was fun, but I probably wouldn't go back. There's only so much laying around on the beach doing nothing that I can handle before I get bored. I need sights to see and stuff to do. Although all the free drinks I could handle was nice. The rum there has something like 65% alcohol, so that took some getting used to. And thank God for SPF 100 sunblock. I don't tan. I'm either white as a ghost or pink as a panther, so I prefer the white look.

ANYWAY... I'm somewhat behind on my books for the last month. So far, nothing's really jumped out at me as something that I really missed. Nothing internet shattering anyway. Dick and Damian are Batman & Robin? BLINDSIDE! I'm not complaining, that's what we all wanted, but that whole miniseries was kind of a waste of time since we all saw it coming. "Battle for the Cowl" - No. But "Batman & Robin" - Yes!

What else...? Green Lantern was a bit "meh." The last scene was a bit confusing but I believe Hal lost a hand. Him having a glowing green replacement hand would be kinda cool. Oh, and remember when Hal as the Spectre demolished Black Hand's, er, hand way back in Rebirth? Yeah, karma's a bitch, Jordan. Although I still think Agent Orange is kind of lame, as was the "controversial" deal the Guardians made with him. Seemed reasonable to me. I'm just waiting for Hector Hammond to take the Orange Lantern. Come on! Do it already! That reminds me, I really want to do a "re-reading GL" segment sometime, seeing if i can glean anything from the earlier pages as we lead up to Blackest Night. Maybe next month. (More on that later.)

And I can't really think of any other books worth mentioning, sadly. Captain America has been shamelessly spinning its wheels until we get to #600. (Well, for the last issue or two... Alright, "shamelessly" was too harsh. But I'm not backspacing.) Spider-Man has really sucked lately, although American Son has me moderately interested. Supes and all related titles have stayed the course, no other Batman books, and I've dropped all the X-Men books. So that's all I can think of off the top of my head without my stack in front of me.

But since I'm back and have some free time now, we'll be hitting up the Character of the Month once again. June's winner is Daredevil. I have no real reason for picking him other than I just picked up the Brubaker Omnibus and I have a ton of DD books: Frank Miller's Omnibus & Companion, Bendis's Omnibus, Smith's Guardian Devil, Loeb's Yellow, and The Man Without Fear and Born Again by Miller. I'll be reading some of those for the first time and rereading others, so it should be a fun month. (I'm thinking Green Lantern will be July's since Blackest Night kicks off then.)

Plus it's a big week for me, issues and collections alike:

Issues:

Action Comics #878

Batman #687

Flash: Rebirth #3

Green Lantern Corps #37

Red Robin #1

Amazing Spider-Man #597

X-Men Forever #1

Collections:

Final Crisis

X-Men: Phoenix Rising MPC

X-Men Noir

Ultimates Omnibus

Phew... good thing I got all that cash for wedding gifts...

Bits & Pieces, This & That

Hoooo boy... It's been a bit of a busy few weeks for me lately. I'm graduating (college) this weekend and finals have been this week. Plus I'm getting married next weekend. So I haven't had nearly as much time as usual to get my comic book fixes satiated. Luckily things should be settling down pretty soon and I'll actually have some free time for the first time in a long time. But while I've got a break in my studying today, I thought I'd share some quick thoughts on the last three weeks' (has it really been that long?) worth of books.

-I'm still not entirely on board with Flash: Rebirth. I don't know Barry at all, and am having trouble feeling any connection with him. It probably doesn't help that pretty much every character who had a strong connection with him (Batman, Aquaman, Superman, Martian Manhunter) is dead or MIA except for Hal. Well, and Wally and Jay, I guess, but they have more of mentor/student relationships rather than colleagues. Spoiler Alert... Barry ends up wearing the Black Flash costume at the end of #2. How crazy would that be if they brought Barry back, and then made him a villain? I really don't think DC has the balls for something like that, but it sure feels like this series could go that way. Barry hasn't really been likable at all in this; from what I can tell, fans haven't been connecting with him all that much (or were clamoring for his return...), and he has been disintegrating people by touching them. Plus, Van Sciver said there would be some new Flash uniforms drawn up for this to differentiate them (although I think he said it would be for Wally, not Barry) so we've already accomplished that if Barry wants to stay in the black. By the way, I have absolutely no expectations that any of this "Evil Barry Allen" stuff will actually happen (like one tenth of one percent), especially after the Disastrous Journey of Hal Jordan in the '90s, which Johns himself had to come in and fix, but man... that'd be a hell of a curveball, wouldn't it?

-Blackest Night #0 was a bit of a let down. I guess I don't really know what I was expecting since it was a free comic book and all, but it didn't seem like it would pull in many new readers and it didn't really satisfy the diehard fans. However, I do think I have gleaned a tiny bit of information on how the Black Lanterns work from this. To me, it seems like all Black Hand needs to create a zombified Black Lantern is a corpse. Aquaman, Earth-2 Superman, Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, the Dibny's... they all have corpses sitting around somewhere. This seems to be the part of critical importance when it comes to Batman. Judging from this and the covers for the June books, Bruce Wayne is going to be a Black Lantern. It's gonna happen. Or, perhaps I should say, his corpse is going to be a Black Lantern. We know Bruce is living out alternate lives at various points in history (well, as much as we can know something like that) so it most likely won't actually be Bruce as a Black Lantern. Just his body. (And all of his body's abilities, I'd guess... otherwise there's not much point in superhero zombies...) That seems like a pretty nifty way to turn heroes into villains without holding them accountable for their actions later on. This lets them have Batman be a villain for this series, return later, be horrified to learn of the desecration of his body and its use for evil, and then either be tortured by that knowledge and work to redeem himself or just dismiss it as "it wasn't really me." I don't know when that'll happen with Batman, but I can almost guarantee that scenario plays out with Superboy/Conner Kent. Especially since Johns is writing Blackest Night, Legion of 3 Worlds, and the forthcoming Adventure Comics starring the resurrected Superboy.

-Speaking of Green Lantern, I was again underwhelmed by the latest issue. #40 I think. I'm still just waiting for Blackest Night to roll around now. But it does make perfect sense that Larfleeze would keep all of the Orange Lantern power for himself. That's kinda how greed works. (Seriously though... Larfleeze? You can make up any name you want and you went with Larfleeze?) But I was almost certain Hector Hammond would be involved with the Orange Lanterns somehow, considering how jealous he is of Hal's life, how prominent he was early on in this series (and in Secret Origin), and that his caption boxes are highlighted in orange... You know what, looking at all that evidence again, there's no way he's not involved with the Orange Lanterns somehow. I'm sticking to my guns on this.

-Oh, and if anyone's keeping track, we now have Ghost Lanterns (Orange), Zombie Lanterns (Black), and, while this technically isn't a horror villain, Nazi Lanterns (Yellow). Any takers on what color the Werewolf Lanterns will be? My money is on Silver.

-Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? was very good, albeit a bit misleading. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet, but I will say that the death of Batman discussed in this book isn't necessarily the result of Batman RIP/Final Crisis. It could happen at any point in continuity, making it both timeless and heartbreaking once you realize the implications of the final page.

-Speaking of Batman, I really hope the Batman books coming out of Battle for the Cowl (yeech...) are as strong as the Superman books have been out of New Krypton, although there are going to be almost double the Bat Books as the Supes ones. Hmm, I should really do a "State of the Superman Books" sometime when I've got the time... (hint: 2 are excellent, 1 is good, 1 is 'meh,' I'll leave it up to you to figure out which is which) then I could do it again when Batman starts up again.

-I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I am done with X-Men until Fraction leaves. I felt I may have been a little harsh with the last issue, but instead of rereading it, I bought the next issue. And I had the same reaction. So, yeah, I'm done with that book until he's done with that book.

-I think that leaves the only Marvel books I'm currently reading are Dark Avengers and Captain America... I'll have to double check on that, but off the top of my head, that's it. So, a question to anyone who's reading this... should I be reading anything else? There's gotta be more than two quality books out there from Marvel that just happen to be flying under my radar...

-I haven't seen Wolverine yet, and after all the awful reviews I've seen, I'm not sure I want to... But I will. This weekend for sure. Already got tickets, so there's no turning back. Then, as soon as that lets out, I'm turning right back around and going in to see Star Trek. No exaggeration. I got those tickets too. It's probably the movie I've been looking forward to most since The Dark Knight. (Star Trek, not X-Men Origins: Wolverine.)

-Speaking of Wolverine, I don't know if I have any "regular readers," mostly because my posts haven't been "regular" yet, but just in case I do, what did you think of the "Character of the Month" idea? I didn't get to put as many reviews as I wanted to just because of my hectic schedule, but that's about the same ratio of character-centric to general stuff I was thinking about keeping. Just more of both. May probably won't have a character, since I won't have much time for a little while yet to read and write, but if you guys like the idea, we'll pick it up again in June. (And I may pick it up again anyway... I had fun with it. I just may have trouble finding too many more characters with as many books that I'm willing to buy as there were for Wolverine.)

-Okay, that's it for now. Thanks to everyone for checking this page out while I've been trying to figure this whole "blog" thing out. It's been a lot of fun, and I hope you guys are enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it.

Wolverine: Not Dead Yet Review (Marvel Premiere Classic)

Wolverine: Not Dead Yet (MPC Edition)

Writer: Warren Ellis

Penciler: Leinil Yu

Inkers: Edgar Tadeo & Gerry Alanguilan

Collects Wolverine #119-122; originally published 1997-98

I learned a couple new Wolverine facts by reading this book. Well, not directly by reading this specific book, but it made me do some research on the character because I was a little confused. First, Wolverine apparently was lacking adamantium from late 1993 until late 1999. Magneto removes it and Apocalypse restores it. And second, it was during this time that Wolverine's bone claws were originally introduced (not during the much more recent Wolverine: Origin miniseries as has I had originally thought.) I cannot, for the life of me, figure out the editorially logic or reasoning behind this change. So, he still has claws, still has heightened senses, and is slightly more vulnerable to damange... but he still has a healing factor, which apparently is even more powerful without the adamantium in his body. Basically, he has the exact same powers, except that he can sustain more injuries and can heal more quickly from said injuries. Okay... Hey, while we're at it, why don't we blind Cyclops, but give him cybernetic eyes that can see, maybe even better with a Daredevil-esque radar sense, and that shoot lasers? Oh, that would be stupid? All right then.

Anyway, on to the actual review. This was a pretty good story, with exceptional art. I'm not sure how deserving it is of the Premiere Classic treatment... specifically the "Classic" portion of that name since it's only about ten years old. But I guess when Wolverine: Origin was the second volume in the line, written in 2005, anything is possible. But I'd much rather have Marvel giving us too many of these rather than too few. Nobody made me buy it. However, if you're going to do a more modern story, I'd expect some more extras than what we got here. As in, anything at all. All we got for extras in this volume was a brief introduction by Ellis and a cover gallery with 18 additional covers by Yu. Not exactly overly insightful.

The only other complaint I have, though, has to do with the villain, the White Ghost. He's Scottish, and Ellis decides to spell out the man's speech phonetically (i.e. "head" is "heid," "on" is "oan," etc.) It just always bothers me when writers do that. Just tell me he's Scottish. I can figure it out from there.

Other than that, though, I have no complaints. The dual stories of flashbacks/modern time were easy to follow, and the flashbacks were insightful rather than superfluous. And it's hard to argue with a short arc that's basically Wolverine carrying out a vendetta. Those are always fun in small quantities. Plus, the art is fantastic, which only makes those kind of stories all the more enjoyable.

Final Verdict: 7/10 (only because I'd expect more extras from a book in this line.)

(Oh, by the way, can anyone clue me in to why the paper in the more modern books in this line, like this one, Wolverine: Origin, Avengers: First to Last, seems to be flimsier and thinner than the older stories? All I can think is that it must have something to do with the ink, but I really don't know how that relates to the paper quality.)

Marvel's Solicitations for July 2009

-How long do you think it'll take before "Ultimate Universe, Take II" starts to get ridiculous, too?

-Do we really need a Dark X-Men team? Aren't they supposed to be outcasts anyway? It doesn't matter since I've dropped Uncanny anyway, but still...

-Other than Dark Avengers, I am picking up absolutely none of these Dark Reign titles.

-I'm getting a bit skeptical as to how almost all of Marvel's major titles (Spider-Man, Thor, Cap, Hulk) are all hitting #600 right around the same month. Can someone do some journalistic sleuthing on this? I think Marvel may be fudging the issue count a little here...

-I'm not going to get the Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 2, but it does get my hopes up that I'll see an Uncanny X-Men or Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 in the near future.

-This months Marvel Premiere Classics - X-Men: Wolverine/Gambit... I don't know how "Classic" this is, but it could be fun. And the longest, most ridiculous title yet, Mephisto: Vs. the Fantastic Four, X-Factor, the X-Men, and the Avengers. Really? Just look at that cover... The title takes up almost half of it. They couldn't come up with a better name for this collection. Like Mephisto: Deals with the Devil? I dunno, that's just off the top of my head.

That's really about it for items of interest for me this month. A bit of a disappointment, really.

DC's Solicitations for July 2009

Alrighty, it is time once again for Day One of my favorite two days of the month. Or, as my fiancee likes to call it, "How Luke will be wasting his money three months from now." Let's get on with the show.

-Blackest Night #1 - Sold. I need to read absolutely nothing about this. Sold. Sold. Sold. I'm also pretty pumped that this is its own mini series, eight issues even, so we should, theoretically, get twice the GL for the next eight months. Of course, we could just end up with the same amount of story with shoddier pacing for twice the price, but let's try to stay optimistic here, people.

-Green Lantern #43 & #44 - Two in one month? Hot damn. And boy, oh boy, are those covers pushing my Geek-O-Meter to 11. Let's see, Black Hand fondling Bruce Wayne's tombstone? Uh, yes please. Recently resurrected (and zombified) J'onn J'onzz fighting a recently resurrected Barry Allen and recently resurrected Hal Jordan into the open (empty?) grave of (possibly soon to be resurrected) Bruce Wayne? Where do I sign? 

By the way, anytime you can work four once dead cornerstone characters onto a single cover and have it make complete sense, you know you've probably got a winning storyline.

Double by the way, Black Hand is about 30 seconds away from going Dr. Light on Bruce's tombstone.

-Green Lantern Corps #38 and Tales of the Corps #1-3 - Here's where I think we reach our dilution point with Blackest Night plotlines.

-Wednesday Comics - Pass.

-Final Crisis Aftermath Books - Still?

-Batman Titles - Yes to Batman & Robin, Batman, Detective Comics, and Red Robin. No to Streets of Gotham, Gotham City Sirens, Confidential, and Outsiders.

And these can't start up soon enough. Battle for the Cowl has been simply horrendous. And I think we're all in agreement over how it's turning out: Dick is Batman, Damien is Robin, Tim is Red Robin, and Jason is still a dick. The only questions are what costume will Jason be wearing, and how long until Bruce comes back?

-Superman Titles - Yes to everything. (Except Superman/Batman... which doesn't really count anyway.)

-The Flash: Rebirth #4 - Great cover. That's really I can say. DC's playing this one real close to the vest, and even after the first issue, I can surmise nothing about what this is going to be about. Still pumped for it though.

-Justice League: Cry for Justice #1 - Wasn't this supposed to come out, like, a year ago? And wasn't it originally supposed to be an ongoing? (The answer to both of those is yes.) I'll buy it because I like the line up, and the writer, but I have a hard time believing Hal is still going to be on such a crusade to avenge J'onn's death (the rumored reason for starting his own team) when he's fighting the guy's reanimated corpse in his ongoing title.

-Justice Society of America #29 - Sure. Why not?

-Nice to see DC finally wised up and put Hush into a single trade paperback. I have it in Absolute Edition, so it doesn't make much of a difference to me, but it was just completely unnecessary to have that storyline be in two volumes.

Speaking of Absolute Editions...

-Absolute New Frontier (New Printing) - I really didn't like this story. At all. Maybe I'll go back and reread it before this comes out to make a final decision on whether to pick this up or not. But the real reason I point this out is because it gives me hope that I may see a "new printing" of Absolute Planetary or LXG. It'd be nice to get a copy of those without having to pawn off the rights to my future first born on eBay. You hear that, you vultures? You better hurry up and dupe somebody into paying $250 for a $75 book fast... you're days of piracy are numbered...

-DC Comics Classics Library: A Death in the Family - Hey! A DC CCL that seems like it might actually be worthwhile. I won't get it, cause I'm boycotting these, but still, a step in the right direction.

-Gotham Central Vol. 2: Jokers and Madmen HC - Yes, please.

-Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 6 - I don't buy these, but it's nice to see DC hasn't completely given up on them.

-After Watchmen tanked at the box office, is a second round of "After Watchmen, What's Next?" titles really such a good idea?

-Tom Strong Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 - I have no idea what this is about, but I will almost certainly buy it.

-Fables Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 - Finally! Fables in hardcover! DC, if i may be so bold, can I humbly request that you crank these out faster than whatever your current pace is for the Ex Machina Deluxe books? I'm still waiting for even a solicitation of volume 2 of that one.

-Transmetropolitan Vol. 3 (New Printing) - I've heard nothing but good things about this series. Why aren't these getting the Deluxe Hardcover treatment?

Well that's it for DC's offerings of note this month. Check back tomorrow for Marvel's.

This Week's Books

Oh boy... I'm going to throw my back out coming out of the comic shop this week...

Books:

-X-Men Omnibus (I'm very excited about this one)

-Wolverine: Not Dead Yet MPC (Marvel must know it's Wolverine month here at the Manifesto. An Omnibus and an MPC? They're just lobbing me softballs right over the plate. What? There's a movie coming out? Oh, please, I doubt that has anything to do with it...)

-Dark Tower: Treachery

-BPRD, Vol. 10: The Warning

(I had briefly considered picking up the DC Comics Classics Library Edition of The Batman Annuals, but I've decided to stop throwing away my money. At least with that line of books. $40 for 3 issues that are reprints of earlier Batman issues from the early '40s? Um, no. I'll pick up the Chronicles for $15.)

Issues:

-Detective Comics #853 (I'm very excited about this one as well. The conclusion to "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader," and if you missed the first issue... Come on... What's wrong with you?)

-Justice League of America #32 (I don't particularly like this series, but, similarly to a horrifying car wreck, I just can't seem to look away.)

-Thor #601

-X-Force #14 (This story arc's last chance to wow me.)

Wolverine: Weapon X Review (Marvel Premiere Classic)

Wolverine: Weapon X

Writer & Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith

Collects Marvel Comics Presents #72-84; originally published 1991.

Hoo, boy... And I thought Brian Michael Bendis wrote some dialogue that was hard to follow. He's got nothing on Barry Windsor-Smith's running conversations in this book. I'll admit, I was a little put off by it at first, but stick with it, because this is one of the best Wolverine stories you will ever read. The basic plot of this story is Logan being abducted and turned into "Wolverine" by the Weapon X program. But this book should really be looked at as three distinct acts, each with a very different voice and focus, that create a very unique reading experience.

First off, we've got Logan being abducted and experimented on by the Weapon X program. The focus here is really Wolverine and his hazy, pain-filled, drug-influenced perceptions and recollections of the experimentations on him. He spends most of his time lying on a table or in a vat of some sort of liquid, wires and tubes coming in and out of his body all over the place, while faceless voices, somewhere above him, carry on conversations about him as if he's a car being worked on in the shop. (Page 58 is a really good example of this.) This is why I said not to worry too much about following the conversations... The details of what the Professor and Cornelius and the rest of them are saying isn't really overly important. You just need to know they're operating on Wolverine as if he's an object, instead of a man.

The second segment of this story is, what can probably best be described as, a horror story. (Page 58 is also where it really shifts gears into this second act.) Now, our focus is on the Professor, Cornelius, and Hines as Wolverine gets loose, hunts them down, destroying everything and killing everyone in the process. Think the movie Alien, where Wolverine is the alien, and Canada is outer space. Again, Wolverine isn't a person here. He's just a ruthless, mindless animal who only wants to hurt those who've hurt him. (Although I'm not sure "revenge" is necessarily an animalistic trait... but either way, he's not a reasoning, logical individual here.) There's also a cool twist where it's implied that someone higher up than those who worked on Wolverine is now controlling him, and is ordering him to wipe out all traces of anyone or anything involved in the creation of him as a weapon.

And, finally, for the final act, Wolverine becomes a man again. A very angry, severely disturbed man. But a thinking, reasoning human being nonetheless. He makes his escape, and we see that our favorite "hero," even when he has his sense and mental faculties back, isn't above some good old fashioned revenge. (And with good reason... I certainly can't fault him for it.) Which makes the case that Wolverine really isn't all that heroic, and when we get right down to it, is probably why we all love the character so much.

Alright, now we get to my tiny, little, almost insignificant critiques... I really did have to force myself to get through the first 20 or so pages of this story, simply because of the aforementioned dialogue issues. If I hadn't been determined to write this review, I probably would have stopped reading it without ever realizing why Windsor-Smith was writing it like that. I'm not exactly sure how this could've been made clearer, but I'd be willing to guess this story's lost more than a few readers because of it. Which is really a shame. Push through it. It's worth it.

Also, why does the Weapon X facility look like a third-rate meth lab? (I guess I'm really not sure how much difference that is than a first-rate meth lab, but I think you get my drift.) It does lend itself to a real Frankenstein-ian feel, which is kind of cool, but I have a hard time buying that a project of this magnitude would take place in a university science lab surrounded by barbed wire. Like Wolverine isn't going to break out of that place...

Oh, and Wolverine's hair was just a mite ridiculous. I mean, really... I know it grows fast, but he looks like lion crossed with Martin Van Buren crossed with Chief Standing Bear.

And, finally, while this is in no way a knock against this particular book, it is a pretty big slam against Marvel editorial. We have here, on page 105-109, the greatest reason why Wolverine should absolutely not have "bone claws." Page 105 is really where the third act starts up, and Wolverine's humanity resurfaces. He wakes up in the aftermath of his "horror story" rampage, surrounded by blood and gore and carnage, having no memory at all of what's just happened. He's looking around, noticing all the dismembered body parts and stab wounds, and wondering just what the hell could've possibly caused this. Then, the horror gradually dawns on him, his claws slowly pop out, and he realizes that he was the savage animal responsible. Come on! How cool is that! You can't have that if he already knows he has claws! AAAAGGGHHH!!!! (That was frustration on my part.) I realize that sequence is part of a simulation, but I don't care. I don't care how Marvel wants to retcon it. It doesn't matter. That was freaking badass. Bad. Ass. It makes him human. It makes him real. And it provides all the justification necessary to explain why Wolverine is the way that he is today. End of story.

(Whew... okay... give me a minute to calm down...)

(All right... I'm good now.)

Okay, on to the extras. We've got a brief introduction by Larry Hama that was written in October 1992, shortly after the story was finished. We've got a cover gallery with all 12 covers, the original hardcover cover, two trade paperback covers, and a pin-up from Windsor-Smith. Then we've got a "flashback sequence" from Wolverine #166 and the cover to #167, both done by Windsor-Smith, detailing Wolverine's escape from the Weapon X facility. This was a pretty cool sequence, but it just left me wanting to read the rest of the story. Still, I can fault Marvel for throwing in extra stuff. It never hurts anything to have a little more.

Final Verdict: 9/10 (only because the opening dialogue sequences threw me off so much)

Thoughts on Comics for 4/15

Captain America #49 - Well, nothing really "happened" in this issue per se. Basically, Sharon Carter had some freaky dreams, made out with George Lucas, got her memory back, and then had another weird, freaky dream/flashback. Oh, and Falcon is still hunting down "Fifties Cap." (Apparently we're supposed to say "Bad Cap," now, but I'm not buying into that.) And Fifties Cap is pumping Sharon's elderly Alzheimer's suffering aunt for info on Steve. I guess I just didn't really know what to make of this issue. The plot didn't really advance at all, and it's been quite a while since Sharon's even made an appearance in the book. It just seemed like a weird place to put a "character piece" issue about her in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't a bad issue, but I really wasn't impressed as I usually am with this title. But hopefully we got all that out of the way and can get moving on with the rest of the story. (By the way... does anyone else think Sharon looks approximately 14? I feel creepy any time she does anything even remotely sexual...)

Fables #83 - I had no idea this was even coming out this week. That's always fun when you go into the store and are completely surprised by a title you're looking forward to being unexpectedly on the shelf. I really like where this storyline is going. I was soooo disappointed with the way the war with the Empire ended. It was just way too easy and inconsequential. It felt like such a let down. But now we're back to imminent danger at every turn and zero predictability. Plus, it'll be nice to see Jack back in these stories. I always thought it was a mistake to write him out of the book since he's such an interesting character.

Action Comics #876 - Well, well, well... I rarely like books that are nothing but one long extended fight scene, but this one was an exception. I don't know what it was about this issue... well, I do, it was the art... but I'm not sure what exactly about the art made this such a fun read. Everything just seemed so dynamic and vivid. My hat's off to Eddy Barrows and Sidney Teles. I've never heard of either of you, but keep it up.

We also get some interesting questions about Kryptonian genetics in here, too. Chris/Zod's son apparently doesn't have all the powers/strength of regular Kryptonians because he was born in the Phantom Zone. So we can surmise either one of two things... either a Kryptonian's powers are a factor of their birthplace and/or place of conception, or the Phantom Zone has some crazy effects on pre-natal development. I'm leaning towards the second option. Superman grew up on Earth, but was born/conceived on Krypton, so he still fits that typical mold. But I think it's more likely some of the properties of the Phantom Zone were absorbed by Chris while he was developing in the womb. (And it has to be in the womb since Zod, Ursa, Non, and Mon-El don't have those powers.) And they must also dampen his Kryptonian powers to some degree... We shall see... Just know, DC, I'm watching this verrrrry closely...

(Oh, and stop putting those "free previews" at the back of your books. I hate getting to the end of an issue and thinking I still have 4 more pages of story when I've really got one long extended ad that I have no interest in reading. At least warn me by putting some kind of notice on the cover.)

Uncanny X-Men #508 - Ugh. I think I'm going to be dropping this book. Some of the issues on Fraction's run haven't been too bad, but then there are issues like these. There isn't really any coherent plot. There are like half a dozen different story beats being told throughout. And to top it off, we've got snarky attempts at meta-humor in the narration boxes. As in, when a character first appears, the box might say: "Name. Power. Lame Joke Clearly Trying to Illicit a Laugh from Famously Critical Comic Fans." Look, I wholeheartedly encourage a writer of a superhero comic trying to make me laugh. But do it like Whedon did on Astonishing X-Men through genuine character interaction. Mocking characters as a omnipotent narrator does not work. Sure, "Professor X. Telepath. Kind of a Douche." might make a few people laugh... but I'd appreciate it if you took this a little more seriously, and instead tried to write a story that will still hold up 30 years from now.

Green Lantern Corps #35 - Where this week's Action Comics succeeded as a "fight issue," GLC sadly failed. The battle sequences were just kind of chaotic and hard to follow. The plot was still pretty good though, and I'm developing an interest for Sodam Yat, which was completely lacking prior to this story arc. (Can someone please tell me how to pronounce that, by the way? Thanks.) Oh, and did we know that Sinestro was Soranik's father before this? Or is that just a misleading statement at the end... as in, "Hello, Soranik. I want to have a little heart to heart between a father and his daughter... Do you happen to know where she is?"

This Week's Books

Alright, here's what's on my pull list for April 15... man, I wish I could write-off comics for my taxes.

Books:

Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come, Part III - I really loved this story, even if it did seem a bit plodding in the monthly books. I'm excited to read it all at once to see how it holds up. (Although I wish they had waited and just done one massive hardcover of Thy Kingdom Come... and I'm sure they'll get around to it... and I'm sure I'll buy it despite having the monthlies and these hardcovers... sigh... I'm such an idiot...)

Superman: The Coming of Atlas - Here's a book that I actually DON'T have as individual issues. I really got tired of Busiak's run on Supes, and just stopped paying attention to the book, so I missed when James Robinson started on it for his first few issues. So I didn't get on board with him until New Krypton started up. (By the way, I love that my spellcheck has no problems with the word "Krypton," and yeah, I know it's an element, but just let me have this, okay?)

Issues:

Action Comics #876

Green Lantern Corps #35

Captain America #49

Dark Tower: Sorcerer #1

Uncanny X-Men #508

Look for thoughts on those tomorrow. And I have BIG (that's right, all caps big) plans for some Wolverine trades reviews by the end of the week. Starting up a blog and getting consistent time for it is a bit more complicated than I thought... But there will be reviews for Wolverine, Wolverine: Weapon X, and Wolverine & Kitty Pryde by the end of the week (one a day, maybe?) and as many of the one-shot/standalone stories in the Wolverine Omnibus that I have time for.

Thoughts on Comics for 4/8 (and 4/1)

Alright, I was lazy last week, but I only read three books (Flash: Rebirth, JSA, and Cable) and there were plenty of thoughts on Flash across the web that I hope nobody was significantly harmed by my lack of initiative. ANYWAY, I'll put some quick thoughts here on those too, but first, this week's books.

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2 - Ugh. Tony Daniel. What are you doing? I think the job description 'writer/artist' may have one too many occupations in it for him. Look, I love Daniel's art, but it's pretty evident this is his first foray into writing. This issue was rife (RIFE I say!) with horrible dialogue, ugly cliches, and some pretty awful puns. I mean, come on, I think we all knew that Jason Todd. I had it figured out from the "I AM BATMAN" teaser image he drew. And even if you do want to spell it out for people, there's absolute no reason for both Dick and Tim to say, basically, "I've figured out who you are... JASON TODD!!!" Why would they say his last name. Which other Jason are they differentiating him from? And for as much of a badass as JT is, he still wouldn't kill Tim. (Or Dick.) Or beat him to the brink of death. And why would Jason have a crowbar just laying around his "Batcave" just waiting for someone to re-beat him to death? I'm sorry, Mr. Daniel, but no. Just no. Stick to the art.

When this was solicited, I thought "How are they going to tell this story in 3 issues?" Now I'm wishing this was a one shot, tops. Or even skipped altogether. Although, to be fair, I just recently read an interview with Judd Winick on Comic Book Resources, and apparently, he was supposed to do this mini, and at the last minute they decided to shift his entire plot into the Batman ongoing he'll be doing and left something like the first 1/8th of the previous plot for Battle for the Cowl. So, Daniel probably didn't have a lot to work with here.

But still, that's no excuse for someone saying, "I love the way you light up a room," to Firefly. Or writing Damian as a complete wuss. Morrison's Damian would have killed this one a long long time ago. I think Talia would have, too. Anyway, if this had any more than one more issue, there would be no way I'd be picking up any more.

Green Lantern #39 - Look, I love Johns' run on this title as much as anyone, but, honestly, can we get on with it already? I was expecting something ridiculously cool with these orange lanterns but it's pretty much the same thing as the red ones. Sure, different "emotion" (although I'm not entirely sure "avarice/greed" is an emotion) but it's just a one track villain. This sort of feels like a "color corps" thrown in just to get the full rainbow effect. I dunno. He has a few issues left to wow me. (Not that I'm going to drop the book or anything, that's just how long this arc is supposed to last.)

Superman: World of New Krypton #2 - Wow, I'm just Mr. Negative today. (No, not the lame Brand New Day Spidey villain... I just wasn't into these books.) There weren't really any major developments in this issue. And I hate it when Supes is embracing his Kryptonian roots, even though I know it's basically a ploy. But Clark, er, Kal as a military commander is a cool idea, but all he does here is herd psychic alien triceratops. I'm almost positive that's what they were, anyway. Even cooler is seeing him as the Kryptonian Gandhi. But regardless of which road he ends up taking, (can he take both?) I am MUCH more optimistic about the next issue of this book than the two books above it.

Wolverine: Weapon X #1 - This is a pretty standard Wolverine book. He's surly (possibly drunk), dismembering thugs, and his past is coming back to haunt him. If that's your thing, you'll probably enjoy this title. I wasn't a big fan of the art, but Jason Aaron has shown himself to be more than a competent writer of surly (possibly drunk), angry, violent characters on Scalped, so this could be a fun ride for you guys that just can't get enough of Wolverine. I think I'll be passing on it, but I might check out a trade if i hear enough good things.

Okay, last week's books...

Cable #13 - Meh.

JSA #25 - It really is a shame to see Johns' JSA run come to a close with this.

Flash: Rebirth #1 - Okay, Barry Allen has never been my Flash. He died a couple months before I was even born. However, just as long as Wally doesn't get the shaft (and I'm fairly certain he won't), I have absolutely no problem with Barry being the Flash again. The only problem is, I don't really like him all that much, yet. He's just kind of moping around the whole issue. I know he's a little shocked and all, coming back from the dead, but you'd think he'd be a little happier about it. And why is he moping around with Hal instead of spending time with his wife? That part just bugged me. Barry had time to tour the Flash museum with his buddy, but not to touch base with his wife? I dunno. Weird. And although this was only one page, why was Bart being such a dick about Barry's return? Didn't he just come back too? Oh, the art was fantastic; Van Sciver is at the top of his game.

I'm almost positive I'll enjoy this a bit more once the series gets into full swing. I just have to get to know the characters first. One major plus, though, is that it's very clear Barry is not Wally. Which I'm really glad is the case. I'd hate to replace one character with another in name only, just for nostalgia's sake, but not have him actually be a different character.

Wolverine and the X-Men

Well, I didn't get any suggestions for a "character of the month," so screw it. Wolverine will move up a month and become April's Character of the Month. We'll just say we're building up to the midnight showing of the movie on May 1.

Anyway, to kick things off, I'll start out with some thoughts on the new animated television series, "Wolverine & the X-Men." Now, if you read my Wolverine: Origins review, you can probably guess my feeling on that title, and on the show's premise in general. Basically, the story goes that some sort of "telepathic bomb" went off at Xavier's and all the telepaths disappeared. I say ALL, but the only ones I can think of are Professor X and Jean Grey. Because of this, the X-Men disband. This is all backstory, because the series starts off with Wolverine getting the band back together, and, using telepathy, Professor X, who is trapped 20 years in a Sentinel dominated future, tells Wolverine he must be the one to lead the X-Men to prevent that future from happening.

So, yeah, I hate the idea of Wolverine as leader of the X-Men. Vehemently. Cyclops is supposed to be the leader. Although, in the show he's just busy moping about the loss of Jean to command a razor and hot shower, let alone a team of mutants. However, as much as I hate that concept, the characters and plots are so strong, that I love this show anyway.

I just watched episode 12 (I've been watching them all online), and the most interesting thing about Logan being the leader, is that Scott basically gets to fill the "Wolverine Role." And let me tell you, Cyclops is a friggin' badass in that role. Cyclops has always been my favorite X-Men (which might be why I have a moderate predisposition to dislike Wolverine since the two characters are almost alwlays at odds) and it was just awesome to see him blasting the bejesus out of everyone and everything standing in the way of his one man crusade to find Jean. I'm not a big fan of the trench coat the animators decided to give him, since it's always got this weird "popped collar" that hangs open exactly the same way always, but his costume looks awesome otherwise. The only thing I didn't like with this particular episode was Wolverine scolding Cyke like a child at the end, but, whatever. What goes around comes around, I guess.

A couple minor complaints with the series (other than Wolverine getting top billing): I don't like that Iceman is one of the "Kid X-Men." He's an original. Someone needs to start showing him some love and stop skewing his age to be eternally 15. I'm sure they need age appropriate "Kitty-Bobby sexual tension," but I just don't like them as a couple. I keep thinking how upset Colossus is gonna be whenever he finally shows up. And I'd really like to see some more Angel. There's another original who gets absolutely zero respect.

But, what I find to be the coolest aspect of this entire show, is that watching it feels exactly the same as jumping into X-Men comics right now. What I mean is that the very first episode already has a backstory that you have never read/seen. You're diving into the middle of these characters lives and just fleshing things out for yourself as you go along. The characters all know each other, all have histories with each other, but you, as the viewer, are thrown right into the middle of it. Which, if you think about it, is exactly what most life situations are like as well. The only real "origin story" you know is your own, and you just have to put together the pieces of peoples' pasts on your own as best you can with the information available.

Overall, I'd say this is easily the best representation of the X-Men that isn't in comic books. Better than any of the movies, and infinitely superior to the other animated show in the 90's. (And I loved that show.) If you haven't had a chance to watch it yet, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 1 Breakdown

Here's a (relatively) quick look at what you'll be getting if you decide to pick up this massive 1064 page beast. And the writer/artist/contributor pages are just ridiculous, everyone's had a hand at voicing or drawing this guy, so I'm going to omit most of that for now and save it for the actual review. Anyway, here's the stories you'll be getting, in order (original publication date in parentheses):

-"Weapon X" by Barry Windsor-Smith from Marvel Comics Presents #72-84 (1991) ... yes, that's right, all 13 of those issues were published in 1991, March to September to be exact.

-Incredible Hulk #180-182, otherwise known as Wolverine's first appearance (1974)

-"At the Sign of the Lion" from Marvel Treasury Edition #26 (1980)

-"The Hunter" from Marvel Comics HC (1987)

-Wolverine #1-4 by Claremont and Miller, Wolverine's first solo miniseries (1982)

-Uncanny X-Men #172-173, basically a two issue follow up to the miniseries (1983)

-Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #1-6 (1984-85)

-"Tess-One" from Captain America Annual #8 (1986)

-"High Tide" from Spider-Man Versus Wolverine (1987)

-"Vicious Circle" from Incredible Hulk #340 (1988)

-"Save the Tiger" from Marvel Comics Presents #1-10 (1988-89)

-"Wolverine" from Marvel Age Annual #4 (1988)

-Wolverine #1-10 (1988-89) I don't know if this is one big storyline or several small ones, but it's the first ten issues of Wolverine's first ongoing series.

-Punisher War Journal #6-7 (1989)

And that's it for issues. I'm not familiar with all of these stories, but as far as I can tell, these appear to be in chronological order for the character of Wolverine, rather than by publication date. As in, "Weapon X" happens before Wolverine's first appearance in Incredible Hulk which happens before the Claremont/Miller miniseries, etc. As far as extra's go, we've got:

-Introductions to "Weapon X," Best of Wolverine HC, Wolverine, and Kitty Pryde & Wolverine by Larry Hama, Chris Claremont, Claremont again, and Al Milgrom respectively interspersed with the stories.

-Sketches and the covers to the various trade paperbacks that the above stories have been reprinted in.

-The pages from Wolverine #166 and cover of #167 that were drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith that were flashbacks to Wolverine's time in Weapon X.

-An essay on the evolution and development of the character from Peter Sanderson.

Now, if you're like me, and you collect all the Marvel Premiere Classics, you already have at least three of these stories: "Weapon X," the Claremont/Miller miniseries, and Kitty Pryde & Wolverine, which is a pretty big chunk of this book, (422 pages to be exact, or roughly 40% of it) so you may want to consider passing on this one... Don't worry, I knew this before I bought it. I bought it anyway. Omnibuses are my kryptonite.

Anyway, this thing is basically a comprehensive "Wolverine in the '80's" bible. And I have a feeling that, with the movie coming out shortly, this may sell out relatively quickly. I can't say how good the stories that aren't in those Marvel Premiere Classics are, but those three stories are all very good. "Weapon X" is excellent, the two miniseries are both solid, and the cost of those three hardcovers will run you $60 anyway. I'd say that if you're even slightly interested in the character or in getting this book, it's probably a good idea to pick it up sooner rather than later. Marvel doesn't seem to like to do second prints of this stuff, and the resale value of these things on eBay is just ridiculous.

This Week's Books

Here's a quick look at the books I'm picking up this week.

Books:

-Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 1 - I will be picking this up sooner or later, just not sure if I'll getting it this week or holding off until I can find it on sale somewhere.

Issues:

-Flash: Rebirth #1 - Alright, the Flash is, without a doubt, my favorite superhero of all time. I may have this read between the time I leave the store and the time I reach my car.

-Justice Society of America #25

-Cable #13 - Like I said in my reviews last week, I'll give this and X-Force one issue each to see if I keep going with them.

-Invincible Iron Man #12

-Pride & Prejudice #1 (kidding...)

Another relatively small week for me, hopefully I'll get some thoughts put up early on Wednesday afternoon.

Thoughts on Comics for 3/25

Captain America #48 - Well this was disappointing. There really wasn't anything wrong with this issue, or arc in general. But I feel like this series is sort of spinning its wheels at this point until Steve Rogers returns. Which is a bit of a shame, since I really like Bucky as Cap.

Justice League of America #31 - Well this was interesting. An issue basically admitting that the entire series up to date has been a waste of time. Yet I liked this issue of JLA more than any other issue since #9 (I think that was the one where Red Arrow and Vixen were trapped underwater in a collapsed building.) One thing that McDuffie does really well is character moments and interactions. There were a lot of nice Hal/Ollie, Clark/Bruce, Dinah/other JLA members moments in this issue. That was a definite plus. It would've been nice to know WHY Hal was forming his own Justice League, and I'm far more interested in reading about that team than the remnants of this one, but we'll see where we go from here.

Superman #686 - Meh. This was really just a set up issue. Supes is gone. Mon-El, the Guardian, and Steel are watching over the city now. Although the scene where Guardian meets Mon-El was a bit ridiculous, where Guardian says, "you're lucky she's still breathing, or else I'd be arresting you instead of recruiting you." Hey, Guardian, how about you shut the #*$% up? Superman already vouched for him, and you're going to throw him in jail because he tried to help you and might have accidently killed a dangerous criminal? I hope the men on your force never have to fire at anyone. But I did really like that Officer Harper, a minor role player from Robin, resurfaced here. Plus, she can now resume having some sexual tension with the main character without it being extremely awkward this time around. Because, you know, the hero in this book isn't 17. Although I don't know how aging works in the phantom zone, so maybe she's out of luck again. We'll see.

Oh, I almost forgot. I don't mind that Mon-El's secret identity's last name is Kent. But Jonathan? Really? The man just died. Was Clark okay with this? You couldn't have picked any other first name in the world?

Amazing Spider-Man #589 - Alright, I'm done with this book. There wasn't anything particular about this book, but I've been reading it for a year, and I just don't care. I don't care about anything that happens, and I don't care about any of the characters, even Peter. He just doesn't even seem like Peter anymore. He's like a caricature of what someone things the "iconic Peter Parker" should be. Good luck, Pete, I hope you get back on your feet soon.

X-Force/Cable Messiah War #1 - This was actually a pretty intriguing book for me. The only characters I care about are Wolverine, Angel (or Archangel... I don't know if he changes his name depending on which team he's with), Cable, Bishop, and maybe Deadpool. I don't know anything about Deadpool, but I'm kind of interested by a guy who's 1000 years old and apparently unkillable. The rest of X-Force doesn't matter to me one way or the other, and I'm still a bit skeptical about Wolverine leading a group of 'murderous misfit mutants.' It seems like as soon as one of them did something he didn't like he'd tell them to '@$%* off' and do the job himself. I do like the fact that Cyclops is willing to sanction a squad of killers, but I think he'd remove any whiny kids from the group, regardless of their powers. Wolverine, Archangel (I really like him on this team... Warren definitely needs a bit of badass action) and maybe that Warpath and Domino. I'd be good with that team. The stealth suits seem a bit gratuitous, especially with the red glowing eyes, which don't really seem suited to stealth, but I'll overlook it... they make at least as much sense as the brightly colored normal outfits.

I'm going to have to do some research on this whole Cable/Bishop feud, why Cyclops is hunting down Cable, and who Stryfe is, but I'm intrigued enough to pick up the next issue.

Character of the Month

Earlier this year, Chris over at the Collected Comics Library introduced me to the concept of "adopting a character" for the year, where you basically just pick a character and then read/learn everything you can about him/her throughout the year. I decided to go with Daredevil in 2009... and then proceeded to read everything I could by around mid-February. I really like that idea though, so I think I'm going to try a "Character of the Month" theme here at the Comic Book Manifesto. I'll do some reviews for all the character's trades that I have, and try to pick up one or two books featuring that character that I haven't read before. It should be fun.

So, I'm thinking May will be Wolverine month, with Hugh Jackman sporting the claws on the big screen May 1. But that leaves April wide open. So what do you guys think? Batman? Superman? Spider-Man? Maybe some team books like Justice League or Avengers? I'm wide open to suggestions on this one.

And come back later today for thoughts on today's books.

Thoughts on Marvel's June 2009 Solicitations

As promised, here's a quick look at Marvel's offerings for June:

-Contrary to popular belief, Marvel's Dark Tower books do not tie into Dark Reign.

-1939 Daily Bugle? What? I guess it's free. But still... what?

-Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus is one i'll probably be passing on. I'm not big on Namor or the Human Torch, and I don't know any of the other characters. So I'll probably have to save the $125 for something else farther down the list.

-By the way, is Marvel having some sort of anniversary this year? I may have seen something about that around here somewhere...

-I haven't picked up any of these Noir books. I'll probably pick up the first hardcover and go from there.

-Pride & Prejudice? What? This one's not even free... Jane Austen and comic book readers seem like they'd mix like oil and water. I'm interested to see some numbers on this one.

-I'm so 'meh' on Spider-Man these days. I really should stop picking it up, but I just can't help myself. I really haven't liked a whole lot since Brand New Day, but my hope springs eternal that the next issue will be the one that blows me away.

-I dunno if this was just the site I was looking at (Comic Book Resources) or what, but the text for ASM #598 reads, "That cover pretty much tells you what you need to know." And there's no cover image. Hmm...

-Dark Avengers + Uncanny X-Men? I'm sold.

-As fun as Dark Avengers is, I'm not buying any of these Dark Reign tie in minis. I have no interest in Lethal Legion, Mr. Negative, or Zodiac. Elektra probably doesn't merit a five issue series. The FF series involves time travel, which always ends up irritating the hell out of me in FF stories. I'd consider getting the Hawkeye/Bullseye mini, but I love that character so much in Dark Avengers right now, and I don't want him ruined by a sub-par tie in story. We'll see on that one.

-Oh, wait! There's more! Young Avengers (no way), The Hood (I don't know who that is... I haven't been reading Marvel long enough), and the Sinister Spider-Man (see above comments on Hawkeye/Bullseye.)

-I dunno if its just me, but I'm liking Iron Man a heckuva lot more since he quit running SHIELD.

-Captain America #600? Did I Rip Van Winkle away 500+ issues somewhere along the way? How long has Steve Rogers been dead? How long have I been asleep?!? (Yeah... that was a joke. I'm guessing they're giving this series the recent Thor treatment. Probably has something to do with that anniversary thing.)

-Marvel Zombies IV? Isn't the third or fourth installment in any horror franchise where things start to go downhill? And fast?

-Marvel Pets Handbook? What? (Okay... I'll stop...)

-Runaways #11 is apparently CLASSIFIED. So don't ask.

-I dunno what War of Kings is about, but it looks pretty badass. I may have to look into this...

-Nothing really jumped out at me for the X-Books this month. Except X-Men Forever. That's either going to blow my mind or be a train wreck. I'm pretty excited either way.

-Ooohh. Astonishing X-Men Omnibus. And only $75. Hang on a second while I preorder this...

Okay. I'm back. I was pretty sure this would be coming out eventually, but I wouldn't have guessed this soon. And I'm pretty sure this puts X-Men, by far and away, the leader in Omnibi. X-Men Vol 1, Uncanny X-Men Vol 1, New X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, and that Inferno hardcover which I'm not sure if its technically an omnibus or not. Plus that upcoming Wolverine Omnibus should probably be thrown in there too. Still, I'm getting mighty impatient for Uncanny X-Men Vol 2. What are you waiting for, Marvel!?!

-Hopefully with this Captain America: The Man with No Face (and that's quite a title, right there) hardcover taking us through issue #49, we can get a second Cap Omnibus fairly soon.

-Ah, and here's our first Noir hardcover. Ask and ye shall receive. The X-Men volume, no less. Should be interesting at the very list.

-I love how much the Marvel Premiere Classic line has taken off. Three in 2006. Four in 2007. Eleven in 2008. Thirteen already announced through the first half of 2009. We've gone from getting one a quarter to two a month. Can't argue with that. This time around we've got Hercules: Prince of Power, and Spider-Man: Sinister Six. Good stuff.

That's about it for points of interest this month. Check back later this week for another review. Probably either Batman RIP or Justice League International Vol 1. We'll see what kind of mood I'm in.

Powers Vol. 12 - The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time Review

Powers Volume 12 - The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time

Script: Brian Michael Bendis

Art: Michael Avon Oeming

Collects Powers (Vol. 2) #25-30 and Powers Annual 2008; originally published 2007-2008

I'm not a huge Bendis fan, but I really dig Powers. There's just something inexplicably cool about Christian Walker/Samurai Jack investigating 'powers crimes.' Actually, I think this is the only series that I got hooked on primarily because of the art, rather than the story. Oeming's art is just fascinating: bright, simplistic, cartoonish characters juxtaposed against eerie, gritty, dark settings. I just can't get enough of it. But I generally like the stories, too.

This collection, though, was a bit all over the place. Granted, I haven't read anything Powers related in quite a while, but there were way too many plot threads that were attempted to be woven together in this volume. Walker's Green Lantern like duties made a brief appearance. Deena's 'evil powers' showed up. That weird white chick from Internal Affairs's dislike of Deena turned into a vendetta. The Commissioner with the handlebar 'stache reappeared. (I had completely forgotten he existed.) Triphammer returned. The Johnny Royale murder was finally solved. Oh, and there was entire issue where Walker was a monkey/caveman again... I could do without seeing another one of those. Ever.

There was just a lot going on, and it didn't really tie together all that well. Although I do appreciate the fact that Bendis is shaking up the status quo on this series, it seems like he's changing things a bit too much. Character development is one thing, but this is going to be a completely different series now. Where am I going to get my Walker & Pilgrim: Powers Detectives fix from now on? I really don't care to read Christian Walker: Millennium Guardian/Sex God. I'm already reading Green Lantern.

My only other complaints were typical Bendisian characteristics: the two page spreads that I never realize are two page spreads until I get done reading the first page and the second page suddenly doesn't make sense. And the ultra simplistic dialogue that wraps around the whole page. For example:

'What?'

'Yeah,'

'Huh?'

'Exactly,'

'Ah. 'Kay. Thought so,'

Well, that's not actually a direct quote, but you believed me that it was, right? But I knew those things were going to happen when I picked up this book, so I really can't complain too much about it.

Two major bonuses to the book though: I actually laughed out loud when Caveman Walker/Gor punched a boar in the throat. And not just punched its throat. His fist was literally inside the pigs mouth, punching into its esophagus. And I loved it when they asked Deena what was going on with the Powers Virus, and she said, 'It works exactly like you think it does,' and then proceeds to give the most complicated, convoluted explanation ever that I reread three times and still don't understand. That just killed me.

This book really just felt like the end of an era, tying all the loose ends together before moving on. Not terrible, but I think I'm going to be a bit nostalgic. I guess we'll just have to see where we go from here.

Final Verdict: 6/10

This Week's Books and DC's June 2009 Solicitations

Well it's my favorite week of the month... new solicitations from DC and Marvel! Even though I can't buy these books for another three months, it always feels a bit like Christmas to me just looking through the list.

But first, the books I'll be getting this week, via Preview's website:

Books:

-Avengers: Hawkeye (I'm a sucker for these Marvel Premiere Classics books)

Issues:

-Justice League of America #31

-Superman #686

-Amazing Spider-Man #589

-Captain America #48

-I may check out the X-Force Cable Messiah War Prologue, I haven't decided yet. I liked the Messiah Complex crossover, but I read 1 issue of X-Force before dropping it and 2 issues of Cable, so we'll see on that one.

All in all, a bit of a light week for me, so I should hopefully have some time to put some thoughts on the books up here.

On to the DC solicitations. I'm not going to mention every book listed, just some thoughts on the books that caught my attention (for reasons good or bad).

-I have absolutely no interest in any of these Final Crisis Aftermath books...

-Morrison + Quitely = Comic Gold, so Batman & Robin #1 should be a slam dunk. Although I think they may have given away that Damien is going to be Robin with that cover.

-Judd Winick is back on Batman. Say what you want about the guy, but at the very least, the man is consistent. You will either always like his stories, or always hate them.

-Rucka on Detective with Batwoman should be intriguing.

-I'll pick up the first issue of Red Robin, but whether or not I stick around is going to depend a LOT on that first issue. Wow me, Yost & Bachs.

-That's probably going to be it for the Bat books this month. My apologies to Paul Dini.

-I'm just as surprised as you are that I enjoy ALL of the Superman titles (even Supergirl... I know!), especially since they're almost all sans Superman. Although the one book Supes is in, World of New Krypton is easily shaping up to be the best of the bunch.

-I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for Flash: Rebirth... You've got my expectations sky high, Mr. Johns, and I have full faith in you. Please don't disappoint me.

-As much as I've been loving Green Lantern by Geoff Johns, I really don't think Hal Jordan needs to wear every single color of ring throughout this series. It's just getting a bit improbable that he'd be in that situation, what? 7 times? Can John or Guy or Kyle snag a new ring at some point? Hell, throw the indigo one to Kilowog. I don't care. I just don't want to see a repeat of 'Hal gets/doesn't want/fights off a new ring' this many times. I know there's a lot of speculation on the internets about Hal becoming the 'White Lantern,' but I can't see it. I can't see DC bringing back Hal as the 'definitive GL', and now Barry as the 'definitive Flash', just to change Hal's role again. Kyle would be a perfect White Lantern. John would work pretty well, too. Not so much Guy. But definitely not Hal.

-I really hope JSA can keep up its continuing level of excellence with a new creative team on board.

-I'll probably be picking up Absolute Justice. I remember liking it when it started out, but just lost interest with the shipping delays and whatnot. It'll be nice to read it all in one shot. Plus I'm a sucker for Absolute/Omnibus/Deluxe/Whatever Other Fancy Term Hardcovers.

-I really don't know what to make of the DC Comics Classics Library. I had high hopes for this line. But 6 issues of George Perez's Justice League of America... for forty bucks? I will politely decline.

-I love Fables, so this thrice monthly crossover shebang should be fun.

-Aaaand DC Direct gives away another Black Lantern's identity. Well, technically they did it last month, but it's officially solicited this time around. I hope surprise isn't a big element of that story.

That's about it for DC in June. Thoughts on the Marvel solicits tomorrow!

Wolverine: Origin Addendum

Just a quick afterthought to my Wolverine: Origin review. Wolverine was what? 12? 14 when his parents died? And Wolverine Origin probably takes us up to when he's about 18 or so. So, for a good 4-6 years, he's just moping around British Columbia, hauling rocks, running around with wolves, and getting his ass handed to him by a fat tub of idiocy named Cookie who would probably serve pretty well as the Kingpin's stunt double.

Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, witnessed his parents death when he was 8, maybe 10. I'm sure he did some crying in there, but the next thing we know, he's in Asia learning eighteen different types of martial arts and figuring out how to take down the Gotham City Mafia. Granted, Bruce Wayne had a lot more money than Wolverine, but if Wolverine had really wanted to man up and get some revenge, he could've done it.

For a character who's supposedly comics' ultimate badass, there was very little evidence of it in this story.

Thoughts on Watchmen

I saw Watchmen at its midnight showing with three friends. One had read the book, two hadn't, so I think we had a pretty good cross section of opinions. As we left, one of my friends who hadn't read the book said, "For a superhero movie, there sure was a lot of talking." I think that probably summed up its lack of mainstream appeal.

This may be the first time I've ever said this, but the movie was too much like the book. It was basically a perfect panel for panel/shot for shot reconstruction of the graphic novel, and it just didn't work.  My friend who had read the book and I decided that it was like taking a poem written and Spanish, and translated it word for word into English. Sure, you get the gist of the thing, but all the nuance and complexity is lost. This movie was a word for word translation, instead of an adaption. 

I really think they should have taken some more risks and taken full advantage of the different medium. Yeah, Alan Moore would've been pissed, but really, there wasn't any way he was going to praise the movie. And since it ended up being basically a moving comic book, why not just read it in its original intended format? 

The things I liked best about the book (for instance, Dr. Manhattan's life reflections while on Mars) just didn't work that well on the screen. There were lots of things I liked: the actors were great, the look of everything was excellent, and the soundtrack was amazing. (The opening montage explaining America's alternate history set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" was flat out awesome.) But even with all those things that I liked, overall, I didn't really like the movie. At the end of it, I just kept thinking, I wouldn't read a novelization of ANY movie as opposed to just watching the movie, so why would anyone want to do the reverse?

Wolverine: Origin Review (Marvel Premiere Classic)

Wolverine: Origin

Plot: Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, & Paul Jenkins

Script: Paul Jenkins

Pencils: Andy Kubert

Inks: Richard Isanove

Collects Wolverine: Origin #1-6; originally published 2001-2002

I should probably start off by saying that I'm more than a little biased against Wolverine. I really do like the character, and you're lying to yourself if you say you don't at least like the basic concept of an indestructible badass with claws. But he really works best as a supporting character. Don't get me wrong, I love the X-Men and am all for any additional stories they want to tell. But I love Lord of the Rings too, that doesn't mean I have any interest in watching/reading/hearing about Gimli: Origin. So, I guess I'm not so much biased against the character of Wolverine, but of Marvel's marketing him. He's really not that complex of a guy... does he really need four solo titles (Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins, Wolverine: First Class, and the soon to be launched Wolverine: Weapon X), plus starring roles in at least four other team books (Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, New Avengers, and X-Force... and I may be missing some)? That's not even counting one-shots, limited series, and guest starring roles in other books. That's almost 200 pages a month for an indestructible badass with claws. People are obviously buying them, but still, that's a bit ridiculous. Can I just throw out a suggestion that his next solo ongoing book be titled the Ubiquitous Wolverine?

Okay, that rant is over (for now). On to the review: I've had this book for a while, but was putting off reading it for a couple of reasons. I bought it because it's one of the Marvel Premiere Classics, and I love that line of books. Top of the line quality all the way. But I knew some vague details about this story which made me put off reading it. I knew it introduced the concept of Wolverine's claws being made of bone (which I hate) and I had a pretty good idea that it established Wolverine as being a foppish, prissy, sickly, whiny English boy. I was close. He was apparently a foppish, prissy, sickly, whiny Canadian boy. And the fact that the setting of the first three issues was in Canada wasn't really ever made clear either. His babysitter turned love interest kept wanting to talk about "what happened in Alberta," and I just kept thinking, "wait, what happened in Alberta? Should I know what they were doing in Alberta?" until I realized that Wolverine's childhood home was in Alberta instead of somewhere in England. I mean, I knew Wolverine was Canadian, but I just kind of assumed he adopted that nationality along with the name Logan while he was in British Columbia since he didn't know about his past, and since everything in the first few issues looked so Victorian-era-England-esque.

And for as much as this story supposedly touts itself as the finally explaining Wolverine's past, there sure was a lot left unexplained. For instance, what exactly was the relationship between Logan (the original farmhand one) and Wolverine's mother? I kind of got the impression he may have been Wolverine's real father. And who was it that had the other set of bone claws? The ones that slashed up Wolverine's mother's side? Logan? Wolverine's brother? According to his gravestone, he was 12 when he died which is when his mutant powers would've kicked in. If that's the case, did either of Wolverine's parents have mutant abilities? I'm assuming not his mother, since she freaked out and shot herself when she found out Wolverine had them, but what about his dad? It just seems unusual that two brothers would have the same powers if neither of the parents did.

Okay, on to the bone claws. Here's why I hate that idea. Wolverine's story seems so much more tragic to me without them. If Wolverine's only mutation is his healing factor (I'll include his heightened senses with that too), then Weapon X basically hunts him down and captures him just so they can do whatever kind of twisted experiments they want on him and see what happens. I mean, don't the people at Weapon X seem so much more sadistic if they're just sitting around thinking about experiments to do, and one of them sits up and says, "Hey! I've got it! How about we give him claws?" As if they could have decided to do absolutely anything to him. "Hey! Let's replace his blood with acid!" or "Hey! Let's see if another set of arms will stick!" or "Hey! I wonder if we can give him wings?" If he's already got bone claws, all Weapon X did was lace/replace his skeleton with metal. Like they just found him, started putting the adamantium in, and said, "Oh, how 'bout that, he's got claws. Better metal those babies up, too."

I just really don't like this notion that Wolverine has to be this tragic hero. As if he's not likable unless he's a tortured soul with a heart of gold. His tragedy is that he just wants to be left alone, but because of his mutant powers, people consistently want to use him just to achieve their own ends. And he finally has found a home with the X-Men because they accept him as a person, and treat him as family, not as weapon to accomplish their own agenda. I want to think of him as a loner who is fiercely loyal to his friends, but will just as soon claw your face off if you mess with him or those he's close to. 

This is a tragic story, sure, but it really doesn't explain why a man would end up that way. Weapon X does, Origin does not. I guess if Marvel wants a more "mainstream" hero instead of the traditional anti-hero Wolverine is usually portrayed as, Origin sort of establishes that. But when the anti-hero persona is what made the character popular enough to merit 200 pages of comics a month, I'm not sure why they'd want to change that.

Anyway, the art was great, and the presentation was excellent (nice hardcover, quality paper, lots of extras) but the story did nothing for me. I guess I just don't like thinking of Wolverine as a wuss.

Final Verdict: 4/10

Welcome!

Greetings fellow comic book fans. This is probably going to end up being a completely superfluous blog, since there's plenty more out there, but I love doing stuff like this, and it seems like a good time to start this up. (Primarily because I just finished writing a book and need a new outlet for writing, and I have no reason not to.) Anyway, I'm envisioning this blog to be a lot of reviews - mostly collected editions, and some actual issues. I'd say I'm going to be ambitious and write a review of every issue I read, but I already know that's not going to happen, so I won't tease you and lead you on. There will probably also be some essays and random thoughts about comic books and anything even tangentially related to them. Anyway, I'm planning on reading either Powers Vol 12 or Wolverine: Origin tonight, so check back later for a review.