2-27-11 A Practical Application

I fucking hate the winter. Everything about it. Except hockey season. A handful of times I've thought about investing in some killer Hoth fatigues to at least get some enjoyment out of such miserable tasks as shoveling snow.


-Gint

02-27-11 Uncle Spidey

After reading the exchange between these two in the final issue of The Fantastic Four it became clear to me that Peter Parker is one awful grief counselor.

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Gint's Pull-List Review 3-23-11

The books for the week of 3/23/11 were a little strange to review being that 2 of the 3 were essentially parts of the same story. But I'll do my best...

Finishing 3rd:

Supergirl #62

What's keeping this issue in 3rd place isn't so much about the issue, but DC's lack of keeping continuity in order.

When Supergirl #62 starts, its anyone's game as to whats going on because the editors of the book don't let you know in #61 that the story isn't picking up in #62, but its picking up in Teen Titans. Since I don't get Teen Titans I had the familiar feeling of, "did I miss an issue?" Turns out I didn't. DC just failed to give a heads-up that a crossover was happening.

Aside from having to do some detective work to figure out what was what, it was a solid issue. I'm tempted to pick up that issue of Teen Titans just to get the whole story cause it seems like a pretty good one.

While Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle's run was fantastic, it left Supergirl very indecisive and in a limbo as to where she belonged. James Peaty closes that up and presents a strong, confident Supergirl who knows who she is and what she needs to do.

Now if we can just get the story in one title, we'll be all set.

In 2nd:

Green Lantern Corps #58

Part 2 of War of the Green Lanterns wasn't as exciting as Part 1. Maybe that's because I'm more interested in Hal Jordan and Sinestro than I am Kyle Rayner and John Stewart. Tony Bedard and Tyler Kirkham have been good, but Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason were great. The new team is still trying to live up to the previous standards.

Part 2 keeps the feeling of a story contained in the Green Lantern Universe like Part 1 does and they flow pretty seamlessly from one issue to the next.

To start, all of the Green Lanterns have been brainwashed via their rings. Since this has happened so quickly in the story, I'm hoping there's something else around the corner and this isn't going to last through out the event.

There were a couple nice surprises that could pay off later in the series. So... so far so good.

And in 1st (not surprisingly):

Green Lantern #64

As far as opening issues of an event, mini or otherwise go, Green Lantern #64 jumps right into the action. Before you know it Hal Jordan is getting arrested, the New Guardians have disappeared and the old Guardians are in mortal peril.

What felt really good about this issue was that it had the same contained feel of the Sinestro Corps War. Sinestro Corps War had a very personal feel. Blackest Night was incredible, but it was so far-reaching through the DCU that it just couldn't keep that tight focus on a handful of characters. After one issue of War of the Green Lanterns I'm excited that this will be held within the Green Lantern mythos and give us the really cool Green Lantern story that Blackest Night and Brightest Day strayed away from.

-Gint

2-22-11 Where Have I Seen This Before?

If you're familiar with your late 90s Batman action figures, you'll recognize Arctic Batman. It not, trust me that I didn't make him up. He exists. It remains to be revealed whether or not Marko Djurdjevic used this "classic" Batman figure for his Future Foundation inspiration.

-Gint

2-19-11 Its About Time

A handful of movies have been made in Pittsburgh. Some actually did pretty well at the box office. But if you take a poll around the city you'll find the movie that gets the most mention is Jean Claude Van Damme's Sudden Death. Maybe its just the movie's connection to the city's hockey team that endears it to Pittsburghers, but regardless, The Dark Knight Rises has some serious shoes to fill if they're filming in the Steel City.

-Gint

Gint's Pull-List Review 3-16-11

My early prediction for 3-16-11 is split: 2 good books, 2 bad books. Off to the BAD!

In fourth place:

DCU Legacies #10

This wasn't so bad. For real.

There was some serious struggle to get through this series at times. Well, most of the time. But the final chapter was interesting the whole time.

While I really had a hard time getting emotionally invested in Paul Lincoln and his family, this issue pulled me in. While it could have been Peggy Lincoln succumbing to cancer, I think they were just better written this time around. More real dialogue, less Leave It to Beaver.

I also liked how they tied Paul Lincoln into a major DC storyline of the past. It was a somewhat realistic story to be tied in to.

Jesus Saiz art doesn't hurt either. This guy is solid and draws a comic book like its supposed to be drawn. Note to DC: get Saiz on a good monthly title! Superman would benefit greatly from his talent.

Besides the dud of a Blue Beetle story to wrap up the series, Legacies finished on a high note. I wish the whole series could have been as interesting as this issue was.

Surprisingly in third place:

Red Robin #21

Fabian Nicieza has been hooking up Red Robin. But this particular storyline about the the Ünternet if fucking confusing. Not so much from the readers' standpoint. If you've been reading Red Robin up until this point, for the most part, you know what's what. But there's a lot going into what makes the Ünternet tick. So much so that it seems to take about four pages an issue to explain what Tim Drake is doing.

Aside from rehashing how you got here, this is just a silly issue. The antagonists and their reason for being seem to come unhitched from any foundation of science the DCU might have. It really doesn't feel like its part of this Red Robin arc at all.

The Red Robin team has been doing a great job thus far, so I'll let this issue slide. Lets just pretend it didn't happen and get back on the horse next month, huh?

In second place:

Superman #709

For starters, Eddie Barrows' art WASN'T terrible. It was actually pretty solid. Barrows has had some real whack panels thoughout this run, but this was his most consistent performance. Perhaps he's finding a groove? Or maybe he was just feeling it the day he drew this one.

As for the story, the majority of the issue is Clark and Barry Allen talking in a diner in Colorado. But it works. It sounds like a conversation Superman and the Flash would have.

Along with this weeks' Legacies, I was really surprised I liked the issue as much as I did. While this issue doesn't have a lot of fierce competition in this arc, this may be the best issue of the Grounded storyline.

And in first place:

Brightest Day #22

As far as being a good story? Right on. Johns and Tomasi have been hitting all the right notes. They've taking us through some truly touching, emotional times with Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond. This issue is another good example of that and its what makes the issue work. Because the art doesn't.

I'm going to assume its Scott Clark on pencils because it certainly isn't Ivan Reis. The artwork kept pulling me out of the story again and again due to poorly rendered backgrounds and a half-assed Dustin Nguyen feel. I really dug Nguyen's art when he was on Detective Comics and Clark's just feels like its trying to be that good, and not really getting there.

What we've learned this week is that two books that I thought would have been bad (Legacies and Superman) weren't, and two books I thought would be good (Red Robin and Brightest Day) were just mediocre.

One of the many reasons I love comics. You never really know what you're gonna get.

-Gint

02-19-11 No Excuses

How long would it take before "But honey, I had to save New York from Doctor Octopus" started to sound like a steaming pile of bullshit? No wonder MJ took his ass to Mephisto's Divorce Court. 

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The Shutterbug Follies Review

Shutterbug Follies
Written and Illustrated by Jason Little
Doubleday Graphic Novels

I don’t make a fuss about hiding my dislike for all things "indie." “But, Gint, Mc$oss isn’t published by a major company, so that makes you indie.” Yeah, yeah... the irony isn’t lost on me. But that doesn’t mean just because I’M indie my natural tastes are going to change.

So when a buddy lent me Shutterbug Follies I was skeptical. By its artwork and its 9.25” x 6.5” size it just looked like an indie book. I thumbed through a couple pages and its non-traditional page layout and my hopes for liking this book were slipping away.

While it wasn’t awful, it wasn’t inspiring either. I had a hard time liking the main characters due to their trendy-hipsterness. “We eat at ultra-cool ethnic places in New York City!” Go to fucking McDonald’s. Its not gonna kill you… immediately anyway.

The most impressive parts were the backgrounds. The angles and perspective on the locations, rooms and cars were pretty sweet.

What was really odd was that it’s a brightly-colored book with a pretty light illustration style that doesn’t fit the dark subject matter of the story. There’s some gruesome visuals that would really be captured better by some shadowy, gritty art.

And like most books of this style, I felt there was some inside joke going on that I just wasn’t getting. Maybe I’m just not that highbrow. Oh well.

Shutterbug Follies gets a D+. I won’t be picking up further volumes.

-Gint

2-15-11 J. $oss Campbell

J. Scott Campbell. Ever the enigma. $oss and I are both big fans of his work, but wish he'd actually DO more work. I'm still haunted by how awesome the Spider-Man book would have been had he and Jeph Loeb actually done it. Guess we'll never know.

-Gint

Gint's Pull-List Review 3-9-11

Three books on 3-9-11. I'm fairly confident as to which one will be the best of the week and which will be the worst. So lets get right to last place...

Wonder Woman #608

Had I not finished reading this I would have missed out on some cool shit at the end. Much to my surprise.

The first half of this issue was the same crawling along, boring story that I've come to expect from this run. Then it hits you with the slight twist ending and gives you the illusion that this story is actually going somewhere. AND that the real Wonder Woman might be returning soon. My fingers are crossed.

I like the addition of our mystery savior at the end. I also like the fact that they made Cheetah and Giganta former Amazons. I'd like to see that brought over to regular Wonder Woman continuity.

Don Kramer, who's art has been a saving grace on this book, takes this issue off. While I initially scoffed when I saw that, Geraldo Borges does a great job filling in.

While this book is still unimpressive, there was at least a light at the end of the tunnel this week.

In second place:

Superboy #5

Maybe its me lately. Maybe its not the stories that are dragging ass, but maybe I'm just impatient.

This was a cool issue. Not a whole lot happens to further the plot of the story arc, but we get a really good look inside of where Superboy is mentally. We also get some good Connor/Bart character moments. Lemire deftly handles their relationship. Since I don't currently get Teen Titans, its nice to see these guys together in a book I AM getting.

And our top finisher:

Doom Patrol #20

Doom Patrol (like Secret Six) is a perfect example of how good a comic book can be when its run like its supposed to. With a steady writer/artist team who not only work their craft well but do it ON TIME, it gives the reader a solid bedrock to read their comics on. With the oftentimes revolving door of writers and artists and late books, Doom Patrol is a book you can count on.

There isn't a whole lot (if any) action in this issue but that doesn't matter. Giffen has found such individual voices for these characters it could be 22 pages of sitting around a table talking and it would be a good read. This issue finds the Doom Patrol kicked off of Oolong Island and looking for a place to live. Giffen knows how to write a serious story with all the right touches of humor.

Matthew Clark continues to stay strong on art with some help from Ron Randall.

It blows my mind that books starring B (and most likely C and D-list characters) can be so consistently good when such icons of superhero-dom like Superman and Wonder Woman struggle to find anything resembling good, steady storytelling.

2-1-11 A Mid-World Halloween

I've been a Stephen King fan for a long time, but it took an impressively long time for me to pick up the Dark Tower books. Now that I have, I can't put them down.

If you're a fan of the sci-fi genre in any way, I suggest giving these books a try. But make sure you get to the second book. The first one isn't all that, but damn does it get rolling afterward.

-Gint

01-28-10 The New Man of Steel

Zack Snyder is a fine director. I enjoyed the adrenaline rush that was 300 and thought that he did an admirable job of filming the unfilmable movie Watchmen. Sure, he changed the end of the movie essentially altering the entire story, but it takes big balls to film 3 hours of giant, blue penis.

With that said I'm not so sure he is the right director for the reboot of the Superman franchise. Superman is grandma's apple pie, classic, warm and rich with tradition. You know, “Truth, Justice and the American way.” With Snyder at the helm of this film, we all could be eating said apple pie while doing cocaine on a roller coaster during a thunderstorm.

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Gint's Pull-List Review 3-2-11

In theory, the week of 3-2-11 should have dropped 5 solid books in the Pull-List. Lets see how they played out.

5th Place:

Annihilators #1

A Marvel book in Gint’s Pull-List?! Yep. The only one you’ll find too.

After being disillusioned by One More Day and unimpressed by Secret Invasion I was done with the Earth-bound Marvel U. Then I was turned on to Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova. Goddamn were those good books. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning know how to write a good space story.

There have been ups and downs, meaningful deaths and universe threatening danger all leading up to Annihilators.

There's definitely a hole in the Marvel cosmos without Star-Lord and Nova, but I trust Annihilators is a step in the right direction to bringing them back.

I like the idea of this super-team of Quasar, Silver Surfer, Ronan, Beta-Ray Bill and the Guardian, but so far their chemistry is pretty flat. This isn't surprising and I suspect DNA have a future plan for these guys and this 4-part mini-series.

We've seen bits and pieces of these characters since DNA took over, but I'm not sure just 4 issues is enough to open these guys up and get some really good character moments out of them.

While some of the angles of the art slip and slide a little bit, Tan Eng Huat does a good job and nothing is so egregious it pulls me out of the story.

And I'd be remiss to say I'm not happy to see Rocket Raccoon and Groot back in my Pull-List. They were heart and soul of what DNA has built so I feel its only right that they're part of what's happening in the cosmos. A solid and entertaining start my hope is that this story dovetails with the Annihilators on the road to getting the band back together.

4th Place:

First Wave #6

Brian Azzarello and I haven’t really seen eye to eye. And I don’t really know or care about The Spirit or Doc Savage. But for some reason, I picked up this series when it started and wasn’t disappointed.

It was a damn solid series all the way through, but it lost some steam toward the end. That could have been story-related but I suspect it has more to do with a longer lag waiting for the last couple issues.

This final issue gives a nicely polished finish with big action and a thoughtful ending. Its probably my favorite thing I’ve read by Brian Azzarello. At some point I’ll sit down and read it all in one sitting. I think it will work even better that way without any issue delays.

Rags Morales blew me away with his work on Identity Crisis. His work between that and First Wave wasn’t all that impressive. I think he really found his groove again on First Wave. Well done.

If this team wanted to do another 6-issue arc, I’d definitely pick it up.

A surprising 3rd Place finish:

Green Lantern #63

War of the Green Lanterns begins! With a ... small bang?

Maybe I shouldn't expect too much from a kick-off issue. Or maybe my expectations for a Geoff Johns'-penned issue are so high, its hard to meet those expectations. Or maybe this issue was just OK? For whatever reason this issue wasn't gripping. It was good, but not enthralling.

As most set up issues are, there's some explaining to be done to get the story rolling. We learn a few big things and fear a little more for Hal's sanity. It WAS nice to get some Hal/Carol time. I'd like to see more of that through this event.

Art duties are split between Ed Benes and Ardian Syaf and they do a really nice job. I'd also like to give a nod to Randy Mayor who always knows how to color a Green Lantern book.

So a good start, but I'm eager for this event to get rolling.

A strong finish in 2nd Place:

Brightest Day # 21

I love me some J'onn J'onzz. But I love me some J'onn J'onzz as a supporting character. While he (much like Aquaman) isn't going to find a lot of success supporting his own on-going, a vehicle like Brightest Day is perfect for stories highlighting these characters.

Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi really have their pulse on who these characters are and what makes them tick. J'onn has struggled with his allegiance to his dead planet for so long, its nice to see him get some peace of mind (if breifly) in this issue.

The Brightest Day team is leading this story to a grand finish in an impressive way. We're going to have a really good story on our hands if they can wrap it up as excitingly as they've made the last few issues.

And our undisputed 1st Place finish:

Secret Six #31

If the rest of The Darkest House arc is as good as the first part (part 1 of 3) Secret Six is going to be in good shape.

For everything that happens to kick of this new storyline, the dialogue and art are pitch-perfect and get you through at a pretty quick read. Between story and art, everything is on-point and nothing is wasted.

If I had to pick something wrong with this issue I couldn't do it. Its a fine example of why I read comic books. There's a little bit of everything for everyone.

And how creepy is Bane on that cover? Besides the Resident Evil arm his head alone is terrifying. Dan LuVisi has been doing great work on these covers.

Ps Hilarious Secret Six commercial at the beginning of the book.


-Gint

1-25-11 Gint In Wonderland

When I thought Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland was based on the book, I wanted to read the original story to properly trash talk the movie. What I learned is that Alice's Adventures In Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass is the dumbest thing I've ever read.

For years Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy was the worst book I ever read. Alice In Wonderland SMASHED that record with flying colors. The only likable character was Alice's sister who's in the book for about a page.

Fuck that book.

-Gint

1-17-11 The Duplicitous Mr. Quesada

The wonderful world of Marvel is mainly $oss' forum, but I've read enough Marvel books to have been scorned myself.

When Joe Quesada announced his retirement, most comic media outlets trotted out the "Ten Best Things Joe Q. Ever Did" lists. While that list is formidable, we, alongside plenty of other comic nerds out there will be here to also remind the world of his failures.

-Gint