The Authority

I was startled by how quickly I was able to rattle off a list of gay super heroes when asked this very question. Upon further thought into the question I find it comforting that there isn't just one character but a variety that populate the various comic universes.

The genre of comic's generally is associated with shallow storytelling with it's super powered street fights and voluptuous vixens. The truth of the matter is that you can find some the most layered and interesting characters in all of literature in these books. Film and mainstream television could learn something from comics about moving away from stereotypes and building more realistic characters.  -Soss

Soss' Pull List Reviews 11/29/12

The Amazing Spider-Man #698 

As Gint always says “ quit fucking around and do those characters some damn justice”. This is the issue where Peter Parker and Dr. Oct switch bodies and it's just as bad as that sounds. I couldn't be more disgusted with this idea. What a half-baked crook of shit this is! 

Let me get this straight, we are looking to update one of our flagship characters for new readers. So to do this we transfer the personality of an 80 year old deranged criminal into his body? Yeah, that will get the teenagers RUNNING into the comic shops. I can't wait to see the monthly adventures of Peter Parker as he knits sweaters. 

Dan Slott is overrated. I've truly given him a chance and at a friends urging read Spider Island but there was nothing there for me. After the events of Brand New Day I stopped reading Amazing for approximately 4 years. I came back just so I could see the abomination that is this arc for myself. I'll be on hiatus from my favorite hero indefinitely. 

Captain America #1 

Well I didn't see this one coming. It's strange that Captain America works so well when he is fighting aliens or trapped in an alternate dimension. This is the exact route Jason Aaron takes with the Sentinel of Liberty. A far departure from Ed Brubaker's James Bond-like run. I felt that I could jump right into this story with no prior knowledge to the Cap lore and still be entertained. 

The book starts of with an aspect of Captain America's early life that is rarely touch upon. Who knew that Steve Rogers' dad was a no good wife beater. The book then fast forwards to Caps battle with eco-terrorist The Green Skull which results in a jump to another dimension. 

The art really steals the show with John Romita Jr. on pencils and Klaus Janson on inks. However, the brightest star is the colorist Dean White. His palette reminds me of an excellent oil painting. The strange alien world that Cap is transported to looks amazing. Marvel NOW! Has been hit an miss but this book definitely is a quality work. -Soss

Panel of the Week: Captain America book or crazy 50's sci-fi movie? You decide! 

DIY

Giving yourself a haircut isn't as easy as you'd think. Especially if you're giving yourself an actual haircut and not just the I'm-a-six-year-old-buzz. Being as consciencious of my hair as I am, I've never attempted it. But I know enough people who have to say with confidence, "just go pay the $12 and get yourself a decent haircut."

The big comic news this week is **SPOILERS** Spider-Man and Doc Ock pulling the old Vice Versa (for the Judge Reinhold crowd) or Freaky Friday (for you Lohan fans out there) in the latest issue. #698 I think? There's a lot of speculation as to whether or not Marvel will kill off Peter Parker and just leave Otto Octavius in his body. Otto by the way has a life-threatening disease and will die in a hospital bed with Peter Parker trapped in that body.

They could easily play this out into Marvel NOW!'s Superior Spider-Man and have Otto seriously be the new Peter Parker. BUT, if you've been around the comic block once or twice, you'll know this is no big deal as Peter Parker and the status-quo will be put-right before you can say Aunt May.

Spider-Man, even with the Avengers getting so much attention, is still Marvel's flagship character and title. They'd do right, as would DC with Superman, to quit fucking around and do those characters some damn justice.

-Gint    

Gint's 11-21-12 Pull-List Review

Some good books this week, but nothing that really knocked me off my feet. Except negatively due to that shitty Voltron artwork.

Sixth Place:
Supergirl #14

This is kind of a throwaway issue. Its part of the H'El On Earth crossover, and since I'm not getting the Superman issues because they're not good, I'm entering this one kind of lost.

The issue opens with Superman and Supergirl in some secret lab with a giant space dragon being dissected. If you're not keeping up with H'El On Earth, you'll be as lost as I was. Mike Johnson does as good a job as he can getting everyone caught up. Soon after, H'el pays a visit to Supergirl offering to kill the already captive Superboy and take her back to before Krypton explodes.

Had Mike Johnson (and Michael Green) constructed H'El On Earth I might be interested. But I've seen enough from its creator Scott Lobdell to not want any part of it.

Mahmud Asrar is his usual strong self on art, but I'm patiently waiting for H'El On Earth to be over to get back to our regularly scheduled Supergirl.

Fifth Place:
Voltron #9

If I were Dynamite, I would buy out whatever contract they made with N. Steven Harris and get a new artist on this book. Its really awful. For something coming from a "professional" comic publisher, its embarrassing.

Brandon Thomas' story can only make the book so bearable. And it IS a great story. Zarkon is dead and Lotor is trying to make up for all the evil his father has done. But the Voltron Force doesn't believe him. There's also another Voltron robot terrorizing the universe, and it could be REALLY COOL if it was drawn by anyone with even a little bit of talent.

I guess we only have to endure this horror for 3 more issues if Dynamite is doing a different issue for each six issue arc.     

Fourth Place:
Wonder Woman #14

Aaaand DC's revolving door of artists marches on. Cliff Chiang, who is few and far between on this book anymore is nowhere to be seen. His presumed back-up Tony Akins is present, but just does layouts leaving the bulk of the art chores to Dan Green and Rick Burchett. Their work is passable, but a step down from Akins and an even bigger step down from Chiang.

As for Brian Azzarello's story, well, its plodding along. There's a lot of talking. A lot of exposition and pretty much a lot of not too much happening. I suppose the story has moved forward, but it moving forward v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w-l-y.

Wonder Woman is a book that started incredibly strong and has trailed off over the run of the book. Something substantial needs to happen. And soon.    

Third Place:
Green Lantern: New Guardians #14

Tony Bedard has come a long way since he started writing in the Green Lantern Universe. His stories are starting to feel at home in the greater world Geoff Johns and Pete Tomasi have built.

Kyle Rayner continues his quest to master each emotion in the emotional spectrum. He gets about an issue to learn each one and I think in reality he'd need more time. I know he's been called the "torchbearer" and all that, and it SHOULD be him since he's the most emotional of the Lanterns, but it still feel like he's mastering these other Rings too quickly.

As far as the art goes, we get another split issue. Andrei Bressan and Amilcar Pinna share duties. Bressan's work is in the same vein as Pat Gleason and Doug Mahnke and fits well in the GLU. Pinna's is similar, but doesn't work as well. The bigger commentary is that I'm reading too many issues with split art duties and fill-in artists. Again, is it SO HARD to find artists who can produce good work in a timely fashion?

New Guardians is still a step down from Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, but its still a damn solid read month to month for the discerning Green Lantern fan.

Second Place:
Justice League #14

Tony Daniel can draw some shit. He puts that to work in issue 14. I'm not sure if he's the kind of guy that can hang on a monthly, but I'd love to see it.

Geoff Johns sets up some intrigue toward the end by introducing some twists that weren't part of the original story. Its nice seeing his Superman take Wonder Woman to a Smallville diner just to hang out. Its nice seeing a Superman that I actually care about since Scott Lobdell is doing such a terrible job.

The Johns/Gary Frank Shazam backup story is just as good focusing on Black Adam reentering society. Frank draws a really creepy Sloth.

Next month kicks off the Throne of Atlantis crossover and I couldn't be more excited.   

First Place:
Sword of Sorcery #2

We're only three issues into this book, so there's plenty of time for the artists to change and for fill-ins to ruin the great art run this book is on. When I found out Aaron Lopresti would be doing the main title, and Jesus Saiz would be on the backup, my mind was made up that I'd be buying it.

Christy Marx and Lopresti's Amethyst in the main title has been great. Marx and Lopresti have both been great at individualizing the characters, and besides all the crazy names, they make it easy to know who's who.

But I think the real surprise of the book is Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz's Beowulf backup. Saiz is one of the best artists in the biz right now and his work on Beowulf is top notch. What's nice about the story is that it takes place in some far distant Dark Tower-type future where it looks like a different land, but there are hints that let you know this is some far flung future of the DCU we know and love. Also, THIS is how DC's Masters of the Universe title should be being handled.

Its nice taking a chance on a book and having it exceed your expectations. 

Panel of the Week:

Tony Daniel can really throw some pencils around. It might be time people started mentioning him with the best currently working in the business.

-Gint
          

Acción de Gracias

If I were to tell you I wasn't bitter about the "holiday season" already this year, I'd be lying. For the first time in years I feel modern commerce has broken the unwritten rule about not advertising for Christmas before Halloween. Thus, Thanksgiving is falling by the wayside. Its not so much Thanksgiving anymore as it is Pre-Christmas. Well, fuck you, Christmas. You have your own whole fucking holiday. You don't need to trample the other holidays with your false good cheer and greed mongering.

On a separate note, over the years I've lost my taste for Thanksgiving dinner. There used to be a time when I'd be just as excited as everyone for turkey, taters and stuffing. Those days are long gone. The traditional Thanksgiving dinner is just bland. There's no excitement in it. Is there ever really excitement in turkey? I don't think so. If it was up to me I would be spending the day gorging myself on chalupas, burritos and the specacular volcano taco at my local Taco Bell.

Despite all that I am thankful for quite a bit. And even though the steamroller of Christmas is breathing down our necks, I won't forget the real point of Thanksgiving and be thankful for all that I've been afforded over the years.

Happy Thanksgiving, nerds.

-Gint