Check out the great interview with Mike Perkins (Pencils, Inks, Variant covers)
It’s happening folks! The gunslinger series has paid off and now a new era of comics has arrived. Stay tuned for all the adaptations to come. I do wish the series would be a little longer, but so far they have done a great a job. I just went to the comic store and picked up Gunslinger: The long road home #4 today and I have to say I am still happily surprised that they had the idea to and got the permission to tell a piece of the story that was never really elaborated on in the books. Thankie sai.
Its true. Colbert has entered the marvel universe. Questionable movie soon to follow! Here is what marvel has to say.
America, it’s an election year. As the candidates duke it out in our existence, they’re also going toe-to-toe in the Marvel Universe! Ladies and gentlemen, that means Stephen Colbert’s candidacy for President is alive and well in the Marvel Universe. Stephen Colbert in the Marvel Universe…? On the Jan. 29 edition of “The Colbert Report,” Joe Quesada, Marvel’s Editor in Chief, informed Mr. Colbert of this development to the host’s obvious delight. Meanwhile, citizens of the Marvel Universe depicted on the pages of recent and upcoming Marvel comics have been diligently wearing “Colbert ‘08″ t-shirts, seeing “Colbert ‘08″ campaign signs and more! We’ll keep you up to date with all of the “Colbert ‘08″ comic book references and post links to the exclusive Colbert campaign blog at Indecision2008.com written by the Marvel Universe’s own Ken Ellis, a staff reporter with the DB newspaper!
Okay, so imagine that America’s not a Democracy but a nation built and ruled by a Hierarchy known as Mega. These peeps are elite and distinguishable by their snow-white hair and their lily white noses thrust to the sky. There’s even a special investigation unit dedicated to ensuring that the Megas, in their seeming greatness, don’t somehow float above the law. Interesting concept, but I gotta admit that at my first glance of The Megas I wasn’t dancing in my undies at the prospect of spending time with this book created by Jonathan Mostow (U-571 and T-3:Rise of The Machines). Still, I gave it a fair shot.
Let’s talk art. Peter Rubin’s cover is good but it does set the tone for a verrry slow and very uneventful ride. Rubin does the inside artwork as well which is also respectable.
The problem here is…well, this book is kinda like dating a Republican: nothing really happens. John Harrison’s story has potential given the metaphorical premise; however, it never quite delivers. Mostow and Harrison attempt a modest mystery/thriller attack, but that means that there’s virtually no action whatsoever and we find ourselves shaking like a crack-head for a hit of something remotely exciting. It’s not even that the dialogue doesn’t have compelling value but at some point it becomes undeniable that we need more in this comic book. In the end, I found the The Megas wanting for a promising ride to a promising destination. There is real promise in the potential; however, this slow paced drama needs urgency. Given that the members of the Mega hierarchy look incredibly like the long descendants of Santa Clause, perhaps Mostow could add some items to his Christmas list: some immediacy, a little more conflict, and definitely a shit-load more of action. Thanks Santa.
Let me tell you what I like…no, love about great comic books specifically: daring art fortified by a writer who knows how to cook a wonderful blend of mystery, intrigue, witty dialogue and forward motion all in the same stew. The Stranded is my first real “high-five” to Virgin Comics and I’d love to tell you why. Let’s begin with the art. First, I grab issue #1 and I am immediately seized by the cover art of whom? That’s right baby, Marc Silvestri. If you don’t know Silvestri then you’ve got no business reading this review and should just return to your MySpace page and leave the hard stuff to us geeks. That said, Silvestri dammit!!! Then, the variant cover is smashed by She-Hulk favorite Greg Horn. Same rule applies if you don’t know Horn. But wait, it gets better. Not only is Siddharth Kotian’s story art refreshingly unique but it moves almost in cinematic fashion that gives an amazing lift to the action. Visually, this book is spectacular.
Now, let’s tackle the issue which often is the most grueling aspect of new comic books: the penning of the piece. Ever heard of a couple books by the names of Lucifer and Hellblazer? Yeah, then you just might be familiar with the work of the amazing Mike Carey. C’mon, you’ve got to be salivating by now! In this book, Carey’s sci-fi heroine Tamree investigates the mysterious murders of 7 fellow “sleepers” that are geographically clustered. As she races to gather information that might save others of her kind, she finds herself the target. There’s a wonderful conversation between Tamree and a neurotic professor whose brain has been grafted to that of a rodent. ‘Nuff said. Often sci-fi comic writing is so weighty that it becomes something of a chore to plow through in search of a climax. It becomes more about the writer than the story and after awhile you’re exhausted and longing for the Archie books of old. Carey doesn’t saddle us with his ego, instead he moves his story with amazing speed and coherence. The collaboration of Carey and Kotian put us directly in the passenger seat of the piece side by side with their heroine. If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m pretty enthralled by The Stranded. It’s a boldly ambitious book that more than proved its salt in the first issue. Any lover of sci-fi or comics in general should definitely give it a read. It has all the ingredients of a very tasty sci-fi experience. And if you don’t like it…well, then there’s always Archie.
Ah, Ms. Jameson, who has done the unspeakable and thrilled porn-lovers on a global magnitude in the process has finally embraced us comic geeks into the fold. Being a fan of her past (and well documented) exploits, my eyes widened and heart raced at the prospect of a J.J. comic book. What sucks however (no pun intended) is that not only does the unspeakable not happen in Shadow Hunter but there is little thrill in this well illustrated tale of Jenna’s heroine.
Ok, let’s examine the pros (again, no pun intended). I don’t know how many of you are fans of the most recent She-Hulk line (which I confess is a heavy guilty pleasure of mine) but gracing the issue 0 cover art of Shadow Hunter is none other than the amazing Greg Horn. Greg’s covers are part of what got me hooked on Shulkie in the first place. Now, he works his mojo illustrating a Jenna-like character coolly unzipping her leather top (revealing that famous cleavage, I must add) while we get a dose of that wanting gaze that has hustled millions of DVD’s worldwide. Sold. Inside, while Mukesh Singh’s art does not pack the fleshy punch of Horn’s work, it is no less striking and Singh shoulders the book with his amazing imagination and his mastery of powerful colors.
If the art alone doesn’t suck you in (sorry, I can’t help it), then little else will. And so, this brings me to the con of this little piece and ShadowHunter’s true Achilles’ heel. As much as I eagerly wanted to love this book with every fiber of my being and while I thoroughly enjoyed the images, there is no denying that the writing is a problem here. While Witchblade’s Christina Z wisely does not attempt to over-intellectualize Jezzerie’s narration, the writing lacks any real flair and I found myself distracted from the wonderful art when forced to choke down the very uneventful dialogue. With Singh’s artwork, the story-line of a woman strangely linked to a demonic shadow-world is forgivable if not compelling at times; however, I’d like to hear something a little more inventive from our heroine than “Creatures, monsters, they all want something from me.” The story is co-conceived by Jameson herself, so perhaps she should assume some of the blame. Good thing she has nothing to do with Witchblade. In all, the artwork itself is well worth checking out, only don’t expect anything too arresting from Christina Z’s pen on this one. Also, don’t expect any of the devilishly delicious antics that we would expect from Jenna, but that just might be a good thing. I’m amazed that the Heart Breaker tattoo didn’t find itself in the pages. That might’ve been fun at least.
Ok, let me first begin by stating that I read every comic w/ the highest intention of liking it, loving it actually. As a true comic geek, I love nothing more than being violently swept away by the imaginative collaborations of writers and artists. That violent sweeping, might I add, is what has kept me hooked by the genre since I picked up my first book at age 7. That said, let me take a moment to breathe (and shake off the shakles of utter boredom) after spending some “quantity” time with Frank Hampson’s Dan Dare.
This book, written by the very talented Garth Ennis of Preacher and (my personal favorite) Punisher ‘Born’ fame, leaves very much to be desired. You ever feel like a writer sometimes writes just for sake of writing, when what he really needs is a more focused economy of words? There you have it. As much as I admire Ennis’ talent and vernacular genius, if I want snail-paced rhetoric that offers no sense of immediacy I’ll march down to Borders and pick me up a copy of…well, anything by Stephen Hawking. Just kidding…kind of. My point is that even a science-fiction style comic should at least try to be exciting. For my money, gimme actively witty dialogue that whisks me away towards something engrossing and undeniably compelling. This is where Dan Dare sadly falls short. From the first two pages, I literally couldn’t wait to put it down.
On the art side of this forgettable project, Gary Erskine bravely attempts to save the day as his images do draw the eye and did help numb the fact that I was bored out of my socks; however, in the end I was on my knees giving thanks that the torture was over. In fairness, I will admit that I’m not the biggest fan of science-fiction comics and although I fully realize that Dan Dare is a beloved icon of British Sci-Fi, I’m not much impressed. Often I find that sci-fi comic creators over-indulge in unnecessary jargon and underplay the action and exciting images that bring the necessary balance. If you are into sci-fi comics, by all means give it a try. But, if you get bored by onslaughts of masturbatory dialogue mixed with good but ultimately uneventful art, then you might want to pretend you’re Dionne Warwick…and walk on by.
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Updated:4/22/08 10:07pm
From MovieWeb:
A new contest has been unveiled for Watchmen, and it’s one where fans can create a commercial to appear in the film itself. Snyder posted the information about the contest to YouTube, along with downloads for assets to be used in the commercial.
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Okay, so imagine that America’s not a Democracy but a nation built and ruled by a Hierarchy known as Mega. These peeps are elite and distinguishable by their snow-white hair and their lily white noses thrust to the sky. There’s even a special investigation unit dedicated to ensuring that the Megas, in their seeming greatness, don’t somehow float above the law. Interesting concept, but I gotta admit that at my first glance of The Megas I wasn’t dancing in my undies at the prospect of spending time with this book created by Jonathan Mostow (U-571 and T-3:Rise of The Machines). Still, I gave it a fair shot.
Let me tell you what I like…no, love about great comic books specifically: daring art fortified by a writer who knows how to cook a wonderful blend of mystery, intrigue, witty dialogue and forward motion all in the same stew. The Stranded is my first real “high-five” to Virgin Comics and I’d love to tell you why. Let’s begin with the art. First, I grab issue #1 and I am immediately seized by the cover art of whom? That’s right baby, Marc Silvestri. If you don’t know Silvestri then you’ve got no business reading this review and should just return to your MySpace page and leave the hard stuff to us geeks. That said, Silvestri dammit!!! Then, the variant cover is smashed by She-Hulk favorite Greg Horn. Same rule applies if you don’t know Horn. But wait, it gets better. Not only is Siddharth Kotian’s story art refreshingly unique but it moves almost in cinematic fashion that gives an amazing lift to the action. Visually, this book is spectacular.
Ah, Ms. Jameson, who has done the unspeakable and thrilled porn-lovers on a global magnitude in the process has finally embraced us comic geeks into the fold. Being a fan of her past (and well documented) exploits, my eyes widened and heart raced at the prospect of a J.J. comic book. What sucks however (no pun intended) is that not only does the unspeakable not happen in Shadow Hunter but there is little thrill in this well illustrated tale of Jenna’s heroine.
Ok, let me first begin by stating that I read every comic w/ the highest intention of liking it, loving it actually. As a true comic geek, I love nothing more than being violently swept away by the imaginative collaborations of writers and artists. That violent sweeping, might I add, is what has kept me hooked by the genre since I picked up my first book at age 7. That said, let me take a moment to breathe (and shake off the shakles of utter boredom) after spending some “quantity” time with Frank Hampson’s Dan Dare.
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