Gint's Pull List Review - 11/25/09

On a big week with some heavy hitters like Blackest Night #5 and Cry for Justice #5, it was Superman: Secret Origin #3 that was the big winner.

Superman: Secret Origin #3 - A+
Our big winner this week. With Geoff Johns staples like Blackest Night and Green Lantern also being released, I had this book picked to finish in 3rd place. But Geoff Johns and Gary Frank (along with a few others) have created an almost perfect comic book. I never get enough of Frank’s Christopher Reeve inspired Superman. But aside from such an iconic vision of Superman himself, Frank also pegs the rest of the cast. Along with classic characters like Lois Lane, the creative team makes minor characters like Ron Troupe feel like they’ve been working in the Daily Planet since 1938.

The only disappointment is that we don’t actually get to see Lex Luthor. But its only a disappointment because I can’t wait to see how Gary Frank does him up right.

The issues greatest highlight was the full page splash of Clark Kent opening his shirt to reveal the Superman logo. I’ll catalogue that page with all the other pages/panels in my comic-reading history that remind me why I love reading them.

Justice League: Cry For Justice #5 - A
5 issues in and I’ve been positive and negative about James Robinson and Mauro Cascioli’s mini-series. Mainly because Robinson’s Hal Jordan is a little different than Geoff Johns. He’s a little meaner and I can’t see the Hal in Green Lantern justifying torture to get his way. Aside from that, its been a really enjoyable book. Cascioli’s art has been top notch and the integration of so many characters, especially all the Z-list villians has been a lot of fun. But this story all clicked into place when someone, we don’t know who, burned the right side of Red Arrow’s body and ripped his arm off at the bicep. A full page spread just as disturbing as Frank’s Clark Kent in Secret Origin was inspiring.

Blackest Night #5 – B
A good solid book. Some great character moments, some humor and some action all worked together, but some slightly predictable moments may have taken away from this issue being as strong as #4.

Wonder Woman #38 – B
This has been a perplexing book. Its not a book that I can’t wait to read every month and its by no means a book I plan on dropping. Its always intruiging and entertaining, and whether its Aaron Lopresti or Bernard Chang, it always looks beautiful. Though there seems to be something missing that’s preventing this book from entering my top echelon of books.

The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #6 – B
If I had to pick a favorite artist, it would probably be in the vein of Ivan Reis or Gary Frank. Traditional superhero artwork. But Jae Lee has been more of a driving force on this book than I ever thought. The rest of the creative team has remained, and Richard Isanove has done an admirable job aping Lee’s style, but its just not Jae Lee. This has easily been the strongest issue as a whole since Lee left the series chief art duties.

Green Lantern #48 - B-
As a hardcore Green Lantern/Geoff Johns fan, it pains me that this is a B- book. But I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I gave it a good grade based on favoritism. While we learned some interesting things, like Sayd pledging herself to Larfleeze for his help, or the Indigo Tribe’s connection to Abin Sur, the overall review of this book was kind of “eh.” It was more of a setup book for Blackest Night #5 than anything.

Justice League of America #39 – C
This issue was a Blackest Night tie in, but this book still feels really disjointed from everything else in the DCU. The McDuffie/Milestone really balled up the flow of this book and is still suffering. Robinson and Bagley are on the right track, but they still have some repairs to make.

Superman #694 – D
A throw away issue. I’ve really been a big supporter of this entire Superman saga/crossover/event/thing, but this issue just wasn’t necessary. I don’t really need to know why Mon-El is wearing a new suit. I would have liked the relationship between Mon and Connor to be a little more awkward. All of a sudden they’re buddies, but you don’t see how that happens.

Teen Titans #77 – F
Its been 3 days since I read this issue and I don’t even remember what happened in it. Oh yeah, the Deathstroke issue. I guess it might be important to see how Jericho is coming back, but I guess I’m just tired of all the Wilson family drama. I’d rather Deathstroke just kick some ass instead of dragging all this family baggage around with him. I do want to make it known that this is no fault of J.T. Krul. I’ve enjoyed his books so far, but I’m just tired of the Wilson drama.

-Gint

6-1-08 Shia LaBeouf Is Awesome

Since his turn as Louis Stevens on "Even Stevens," Shia LaBeouf has been destined for greatness. To some degree, I've been a fan of everything he's been in. I hate to admit it, but this even applies for Transformers. Blech. I think the real ire I feel for this movie isn't so much pure hatred for the movie itself, but aggravation with myself because I kind of liked it. I hate myself. -Gint

5-26-08 Meanwhile in The Suburbs of Woodcrest

As much as I am a fan of comic books I am also a long time reader of comic strips. Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, Pearls Before Swine are all on my bookshelf, but I'd say the nearest and dearest of them all would have to be The Boondocks. There's just something about little Huey and Riley Freeman that makes me laugh extra hard. -$

5-23-08 Miscommunication

Pretty enthusiastic of us to dress up as Indiana Jones and his old man, right? As you can guess, I wrote this BEFORE I went to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" or "Indy Fights the SpaceMen". -$

5-23-08 An Unfortunate Moniker

I'm pretty sure the reason I've never taken Elektra seriously is because her name sounds like nachos. What's funny is that I love nachos, but think ninjas are stupid. Huh. -Gint

5-23-08 Holy Happy Birthday

The funniest part of this strip is knowing that in real life Brizzle and I are FAR too lazy to set something this elaborate up for Gint's birthday. The best I could do was draw him this goofy cartoon. -$

5-22-08 A Serious Schooling

I'm a douche. I should just be happy that comic properties are getting their due visibility in the public eye, but the uber-nerd part of me wants to make sure these people are aware of what they're wearing, and not just wearing it because the lighting bolt is cool. Teenagers with the Thundercats t-shirt (you know the one I'm talking about) are the biggest violators of this. I promise I'm trying to be less judging and more accepting. Its a hard road. -Gint

5-21-08 The Opening Stages of Alien Invasion

Marvel's blockbuster event of '08, Secret Invasion, made a very strong impression on me.....for about 3 issues. So much so that I wrote a review of the first issue that was so positive you would think that I would have asked Brain Bendis for his hand in marriage by now. I wrote this strip at a time when odd things were happening in the world.......like the government giving money away! I'm still pretty certain that someone on Capital Hill is from the homeworld of Skrullos. -$

5-21-08 Mainstream 4 Life!

In general, there's a certain pretentious nature about "indie" things. Be it music, movies or comics, its way cooler to like the oddball item that you have to be an in-depth fan of the genre to know about. I don't subscribe to this line of thinking. Like what you like. Just because DC and Marvel sell well doesn't mean they're not good. Quit being too cool for school and go read a good comic. -Gint

5-14-08 I Am Iron Man

Iron Man hit movie theaters in May of '08 and was well received by the mainstream and nerds alike. This film proved once and for all that you don't have to be an alien farm boy, a rich orphan obsessed with flying rodents or a hairy Canadian who is the best at what he does even though what he does isn't very nice, to have a hit superhero movie. Alcoholics make great movies too! -$

5-18-08 On The Road Again

Inspired by There Was No MapQuest in 66, this strip follows Galactus as he stumbles through the universe in search of his New God brethren. A burned-out surfer is pretty poor choice for a "herald" if you ask me. -$

5-11-08 There Was No MapQuest in '66

Are you telling me Galactus WASN'T an unused New Gods design? -Gint

5-11-08 Halloween '97

$oss had a deep comic resume by the time I started reading on a constant basis. His patience was tested in the early years. -Gint

5-10-08 No Evil Shall Escape My Sight

How fun would it be to have a Green Lantern's ring? Probably not much fun at all. -$

5-8-08 brY The Last Man

Brizzle (Brian) is the "everyman" character of Mc$oss. He represents the point of view of a person that is not deeply entrenched in the dark, and nerdy world of comic books. To date, Brizzle has appeared in 7 strips and steals the scene in each one.
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4-20-08 Star Trek vs. Porno

Every so often you can pull inspiration from an actual occurrence. For some, Star Trek and pornography aren't that far apart. -Gint

4-18-08 The Devil and Mr Soss

This strip voiced my continued displeasure for the One More Day story arc that took place earlier that year in Amazing Spider-Man. I always envisioned Mephisto to actually be a likable guy, like a friend that gets on your nerves but you just can't bring yourself to ever be mad at him. -$

4-14-08 In the Throes of Madness: Part III

I never want to meet Frank Cho because I don't want to find out he's a normal guy. I'd rather live in ignorant bliss that he's as weird and mysterious as I like to think he is. -Gint

4-4-08 What I Would Do

I'm a DC fan. At least 95% of my weekly comic funds go to DC Comics. But from 2002 to 2006, I was fully engrossed in J. Michael Straczynski's Amazing Spider-Man. The Straczynski/Romita Jr. issues were the pinnacle, but I loved the Deodato and Garney stories as well. JMS' run opened me to a world of Spider-Man that I never knew existed. I've read the old 60s stuff. I've read the 90s stuff. But this Spider-Man spoke to me. It was a natural and organic maturation of a character that was entirely logical. That is until the Marvel brass decided, "Eh, we like the Spider-Man we grew up with," and the good 'ol days were over. Just like that.

JMS put on a good face and stayed as PC as he could about leaving (being thrown off) the book. I know a huge company like Marvel won't miss my $4 every week, but I refuse to buy a Spider-Man book (Ultimate not withstanding) until they right their wrongs. If it takes until Joe Q isn't the EIC? Fine. I'll wait.

-Gint

4-04-08 Doctors Appointment

I really wish my medical insurance would allow me to go to doctors that didn't specialize in "World Domination."

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3-30-08 In the Throes of Madness: Part II

Does $oss really have the power and talent to kick down a door? If provoked properly, yes. Yes he does. -Gint

3-28-08 The Not So Amazing SpiderMan

Yes, Spider-Man REALLY fought a "Meth Smoking Sewer Monster." Don't believe me? Read for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Brand_New_Day#Freak.
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3-27-08 Gone to TRU

Garth Ennis’ and Steve Dillon’s Preacher series is hands down my favorite comic series of all time. I was introduced to it at a time where I was slowly getting disillusioned with the "capes and tights" of the Marvel, DC and Image universes. The world of Preacher represented everything that I never knew comics could be. To this day I’m a sucker for anything Ennis writes. An all-girl unit of fighter pilots in WWII? Sign me up!
Also, guest appearance by the great Joe Saxman in this strip!
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3-25-08 Ghost Rider: The Review

I love all those old Nick Cage movies of the mid to late 90’s, Snake Eyes, Face/Off, The Rock, Con Air... if only Ghost Rider was half as good as any of those.
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3-21-08 The Evil Forces of

Transformers, for better or worse, has been a huge influence on both me and Gint. It was one of the first things that we really had in common back in '00, besides being miserable about girls, so it has a special place for me in the context of Mc$oss. This is one of the first of many strips that includes everyones favorite Robots in Disguise.
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3-20-08 The Mysterious & Downright Juicy

Another shout-out to our buddy, Radcliffe.
Do yourself a favor and check him out:
http://radcliffe.comicgenesis.com/d/20070805.html
-Gint

3-19-08 In the Throes of Madness: Part I

Much like the One Ring, Frank Cho's Women harnesses its own dark siren's song luring fans of beautifully drawn naked women to their ultimate doom. Take heed my friends, for I speak from experience. -Gint

3-17-08 The Mysterious and Downright Weird Houseguest

This strip as well as a later strip are both inside jokes between me and Gint. As we were weighing our options as per how to get Mc$oss on the internet one of the things we checked out was a web comic hosting site called comicgenesis.com. As we looked through the comics that this site had to offer we came across a strip called Radcliffe. We both found him and his pleasantly plump sidekick "mysteriously" humorous and I ended up putting him in a strip. You can check this dude out here http://radcliffe.comicgenesis.com/d/20070805.html.
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3-8-08 Clone Wars: Episode II

Now, I wasn't reading comics during the big "Image" boom of the '90s. So I'm not looking back through rose-colored glasses with affinity for those characters or creators from my youth. I can look back at those books, art and creators with an absolutely subjective opinion. And in my humble opinion, I think it all kind of blows. -Gint

3-9-08 The Madness of Didio

When early reports for the plotline of Final Crisis started surfacing in early '08 it sounded like it was gonna be another rough go for the Scarlet Speedster. Turns out I was totally wrong.
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2-24-08 I Dream of Geoff Johns

A brief story about Geoff Johns and Green Lantern: I started reading comics in 2001. When I started reading, Hal Jordan was the Spectre and Kyle Rayner was Green Lantern. "MY" Green Lantern. So when I heard some guy named Geoff Johns was bringing back Hal Jordan I thought, "What the fuck?! KYLE is Green Lantern! Not this 'Hal' chump!"

So I bought Green Lantern: Rebirth because it was kind of an event, and I was curious. I didn't know anything about Hal Jordan or why it was so awesome that he was coming back. Until Page 22 of issue #4. In that one page (rendered beautifully by Ethan van Sciver, Prentis Rollins and Moose Baumann), Hal Jordan became MY favorite hero, and I knew why he was always referred to as "the greatest Green Lantern." Geoff Johns hooked me and I've never looked back. -Gint

Ps. I only had that dream once.

02-23-08 Tonights Listings

Back in early '08, NBC rolled out a lineup of shows that resembled the shows that where on the airways when I was 8 years old. The results were not very good and I'm pretty sure all of these shows were canceled after 1 season. They tried for "Ultimate Spider-Man" and ended up with "All-Star Batman and Robin" Like I said, bad results.

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2-22-08 To The Movies

As a comics fan, its been awesome seeing so many great comic movies come out over the last few years. As a DC fan, it burns my ass that more (any) of them aren't DC movies. Granted, they hit a couple home runs with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but I think those were largely on accident. Seems like they might have some positives coming down the pipeline, but I'll believe it when I see it. -Gint

2-22-08 The Fantastic Marriage

I've always had a feeling that living with The Invisible Woman would be a royal pain in the ass.-$

RED, White & Blue

I always imagined that there would be some tension between Cap and Bucky after Mr. Barnes spent the better part of the last 50 years in Siberia.

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The Old Smoothie

When you have the natural talent to fill the boots of Lando Calrissian, I think you should run with it. -Gint

The Clone Wars:Episode I

This strip came to me in the middle of the night in early February 08. I was so excited about the basic premise of this strip and I wrote out a whole 3 strip long story. But I never seemed to get back to actually COMPLETING this story arc. To this day it’s still unfinished, but don’t worry loyal Mc$oss fans, I’ll finish it for you!

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The Penis Finger

This is all true. Except the Empire Strikes Back part. And I can't validate that the doctor was really into tube steak. But I did need 4 stitches in my finger and had a bandage shaped like a wiener for about a week and a half. -Gint

Why So Serious

Early in 08' the awful news that Heath Ledger had passed away proved to be motivation for this strip. I knew The Dark Knight would be great, but had no idea how much of an impression Ledger's rendition of The Joker would leave on the pop culture landscape. I’ve had people that have never picked up a comic in their entire lives ask me "if I’d like to know how they got these scars" or ask a room full of people if they know where Harvey Dent is.
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The WB & David Goyer

With all the good writers out there with the talent to bring DC's heroes to theatrical life, I can only imagine Warner Bros. PURPOSELY prevents these movies from seeing the light of day. -Gint

Greg Land Tribute

Ah, Greg Land. Does his art look like it's traced from photographs of models? Yes. Yes it does. But lets be fair. I still really enjoyed his issues of Ultimate Fantastic Four. -Gint

Observing the Holiday

This is one of my personal favorite strips. The humor is just what I was looking for and the art was coming along pretty good too. $oss and Gint would later repaint the walls blue and hang posters. -$

Custody Trial

I wrote this strip shortly after Grant Morrison introduced Damian, Bruce Wayne's illegitimate son, in the pages of Batman. Let’s just say that I feel Mr. Wayne is not the most qualified person in the world to be taking care of children.

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$oss' Women

No one draws super hot chicks like Frank Cho. Adam Hughes and the Dodsons come close, and I have a particular affinity for Bernard Chang's Wonder Woman, but we here at Mc$oss believe Frank Cho is the unabashed master. I raise my glass to you Mr. Cho. Keep 'em coming. -Gint

Countdown Halloween

Ah, Countdown. With Paul Dini overseeing the writing I thought, "How could this go wrong?" I learned a hard lesson those 52 issues. -Gint

Outrage

This is a quick one that I did at work one day. As you will come to learn, I hate Rob Liefeld, not as a person or even as an artist, it's more based on the trends that he set in motion in the early 90's (glowing eyes, gigantic guns, lots and lots of pouches, etc.). I'm apparently not the only one that feels this way http://progressiveboink.com/archive/robliefeld.html. So naturally I was thrilled to hear that a new version of Youngblood was being released.

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$oss-Sense

Here is another very early attempt at fleshing out what would become Mc$oss. I wrote and illustrated this strip then passed it over to Gint for colors and lettering. In these first few strips there were a lot of things that we had to figure out, this was colored in PhotoShop but we later decided the best look for the strip would be to lay the colors down in Illustrator. Other details, Gint's hair and my wardrobe, were changed in later strips as well.

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