Showing posts with label new comic content wednesdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new comic content wednesdays. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"Atomic Robo: Last Stop" needs your help!- NCCW



This is a pretty cool idea and it has some pretty cool incentives.  Check out the kick start page.  If you haven't read the graphic novels, they are a lot of fun and I would recommend them.  

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Lady MechaniKa- NCCW



Steampunk is going strong in the cosplay world, but, in my opinion, there haven't been any very good fictitious representations of a steam punk world.  I have read a few novels set in the genre and a few comics as well, and haven't been impressed by either.  Don't get me wrong the genre is visually stunning, but there hasn't been any good writing to go along with it.  That is until I picked up issue zero of Lady Mechanika.  Lady Mechanika is also very visually stunning, both the comic and its namesake.  The world building is also good.  All steam punk takes place in a Victorian or  Neo Victorian setting where dirigibles and steam power coexist with amazing scientific breakthroughs and sometimes a touch of magic.  The worlds are more fantasy than science fiction.  Lady Mechanika seems to fit pretty squarely into the genre.  It sits there with somewhat of a fresh feeling to it.



The dialogue does not seem forced and the story seems layered and sets up a mystery and implied history right from the get go.  The character is an Enigma, even to herself.  I have read three issues and not very much has been revealed about her, but it works because the writer (also the artist, Joe Benitez) is fleshing out the world around her and giving the character and side characters texture.  Most comics will give you the origin story in the first issue, but Benitez is holding back and strengthening that mystery.
 It is a really good book and I would suggest picking it up.  It is an Aspen Comics title, so you may need to special order this through your comic shop, but most good shops should have an issue on hand.  I liked it and passed it on to my 10 year old to read and she also liked it.  Being with Aspen will give this comic some freedom to breath, but it might not get the distribution it would get with some other companies.  Hopefully people pick it up and a good buzz starts forming around the title. 

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

X-Men Schism



It isn’t every Wednesday that I can tell you that you should be reading an X-men comic.  This one is pretty good and if you haven’t picked up an issue of X-Men in a few years, it is a great place to catch up.  These are professor x-less X-men.  I think ole chuck is off on his honeymoon/retirement in the Shi’ar or something, but he hasn’t been running the show for a while.  Running the show would be Emma(white queen) via Scott(Cyclops).  Scott thinks he is in charge though. 
With around 200 mutants left on Earth, Scott sees Mutants on the verge of extinction and feels the need to protect mutant interest.  This sets the framework for Schism.  Wolverine starts getting all mentory on new girl and doesn’t like how Scott is running things.  When the new girl is very nonchalant about taking a life at 14 years old, Wolverine snaps and decides that kids should be allowed to be kids. 
I have always liked Logan and mostly always hated Scott.  I think I am in the majority with that sentiment.  Scott is just too type A for me, and for a guy that uncontrollably shoots a force beam out of his eyes, the writers and Scott himself seem to think of Scott as all powerful and God’s gift to mutantdom.  Wolverine, who they have pretty much made all powerful, is a lot more grounded.  Must be the age difference. 
Anyway, Schism was a pretty good story and had really good artwork.  As much as I love to hate Emma, I love to see her drawn well.  It was fairly well paced and the story had real implications and touched on philosophical ideals.  In other words it wasn’t just mindless battle scenes and Scott and Logan didn’t just shake and make up at the end.  This is the title that ended the Uncanny run(Uncanny was the longest running monthly title until that point, a distinction it held for exactly one month). Not to worry I am sure all the Marvel and DC numbering will revert back in due time. 
If you have been away from the x-books for a while, you should probably pick up Schism and check out what is going on.   

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Marvel Zombies- NCCW

Before there were black lanterns or even red lanterns, before there was Zombie Land, there was Marvel Zombies.  It wasn't riding the coat tails of the zombie craze, it was at the forefront.  This one is old enough that I am going to throw out spoilers.

The basic premise is simple; what if zombies infected superheroes.  The answer provided by the comic is super zombies causing global devastation in their quest for ever more food.  Most companies would have went safe here and infected some lesser heroes to have the big names come in and safe the day.  Marvel infected the big names and just when you thought the next big name would save the day, he/she is infected as well.  It looks as Reed Richards' scientific mind is the only hope. While researching the virus, Reed falls in love with the beauty and simplicity of it and infects himself.  The series ends on a familiar note.  The heroes of the marvel Universe teaming up to face Galactus, to make him a zombie as well.

Naturally, I had some questions.  Wouldn't Wolverine's healing factor stave off infection?  Couldn't Colossus just stay in his steel form to prevent infection?  How can you bite something that intangible like Kitty Pryde?  The comic obviously works around these issues as it infects everyone.  If you want to know what your favorite marvel character looks like undead, this is the place to go.  

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Hearts and Minds- NCCW

As always I encourage everyone to post comic book content on Wednesdays.

I was able to pick up the hardcover trade of G.I. Joe: Hearts and Minds when Borders was in their final throws for about $3 after tax.  Yes true believers, for the price of a single issue, I got the hardcover trade.  As of writing Amazon has an edition for $10.

This book was penned by Max Brooks.  Yes, that Max Brooks.  It covers different members of Cobra and Joe singularly.  I think each issue of the comic was split in two and covered two characters.  It goes into the character's motivations or back stories that leads to them being either Joe or Cobra.

I thought it was a pretty good book.  It is very light on dialogue and really narrative in general.  Brooks put a lot of faith in his artist to convey what he wanted and I think it worked.  It looks into why a person would become a terrorist, what drives them.  You aren't going to see Duke or Cobra Commander.  This book takes a look at some of the characters that you wouldn't get to know otherwise.  One of the stories is even dedicated to random faceless Cobra troopers.

If you like G.I. Joe, you should enjoy this book, but I don't think it is a prerequisite.  You could go into this book just knowing that Cobra is a terrorist organization and Joe is an elite group of the military and fare pretty well.  It is appropriate for anyone that can actually read it.  Give it a shot.  

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Miss Martian-NCCW

After reading that issue of Teen Titans, Miss Martian has been on my mind a lot.  What is it with green girls that attract a guy.  Miss Martian has the added advantage of having red hair.  Sure Miss Martian is actually a white martian parading around in green face, but hopefully that gets retconned.







Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Teen Titans-The Hunt for Raven NCCW

Confession time:  Before this, I had never read a Teen Titans book.  I had watched the Teen Titans Go! cartoon and enjoyed the heck out of it, but had never picked up the comic that inspired it.  I say inspired, because based on The Hunt for Raven, they are pretty different.  I think Go is based on the team from the 80's. 
The Hunt for Raven was written by Felicia Henderson and illustrated by Joe Bennett. The artwork is pretty standard with some great individual pieces scattered throughout.  The writing suffers from super team writing.  It is hard to tell a story that includes a cast as large as the titans in 32 page issues and make it flow.  This is especially true when you are trying to make the team book about everyone on the team and while not necessarily giving them all equal time, making sure each character gets some developmental nugget.  The story comes across as rushed.

As a new reader, this issue is mostly accessable.  It starts on a crisis of leadership from some previous issue with Cassie being the reluctant leader.  There were some characters that I wasn't familiar with and I don't think I was properly introduced.  Anyway, the team doesn't seem like much of a team, almost like they are trying to pull together and develop the bonds that make them a team. 

Overall, it was an okay book, but I wouldn't recommend starting off here.  There is def. some character history going on in these pages. 

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Sluggy Freelance- NCCW

The year was 1998.  I was in the Army on a Gateway computer chatting with someone on ICQ.  This person was from outside of Canberra Australia and they said (typed) the words that would come to have great impact on me.  The asked, "have you been to sluggy.com?"  At that point I had not.  I went and started at the first comic and waded through six months worth of comics that night.  I have been hooked ever since.  Pete Abrams is the creator and he has taken these offbeat characters a long way.  His art has improved and the stories have gotten deeper and more intertwined as the years have gone by.  It started out as pretty much a joke a day type comic, but at some point it looks as though Pete gave up hope or desire of newspaper sindication and just started telling his stories.  13-14 years of comics may sound overwelming but Pete has put together a new viewer's guide to help you out.  below is the first comic and the comic for the date of this posting.  I encourage you to check out site and start reading through some back log, you should know pretty quick if you are a sluggite or not. 


Wednesday, July 06, 2011

All American Heroes- NCCW

Since Monday was Independence Day in the United States. I thought I would show some all American comic characters. See if you can Identify them all.















Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire- NCCW

Carol Ferris is the on again off again love interest of Hal Jordan and also his employer.  She is vice president of Ferris Air a company owned by her father.  She has known Hal most of her life.  She has been possessed by the Star Sapphires more than once.  Carol is a very powerful female character.  Enjoy the pics.






Except for every other issue with you, Hal.


Did Blake sell it?

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Star Wars-New Comic Content Wednesday

Today is Star Wars Day-May the 4th be with you.  Saturday is Free Comic book day and Dark Horse is giving out a Clone Wars comic as one of their offerings.  Here is a look at some of the pretty covers of Dark Horses other Star Wars comics.