Comic Books

House ad for DC Special #4 (July-September 1969); printed in Batman #213 (July-August 1969) Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Neal Adams, letters by Gaspar Saladino Ad designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

Posted On Today at 04:01:34 pm EDT by Reverend Meteor [Reply] [Quote] [New] Quote:I don't think it made sense at the time or now. Perfect clones don't melt and Kaine had degeneration and when he was killed his body stayed intact. Clones don't melt post death unless they die of degeneration. Quote:All this proved to me at the time was that another clone had died, not Ben. It may be lame but the way they wrote it was. It was unnecessary to have Ben melt unless dead clones do that and they don't. THE FREAKIN SKELETON IN THE SMOKE STACK SHOWED THAT FOR PETE SAKES! Ironic. They tried to have him melt from clone degeneration to definitively prove he was the fake when in actuality that left room for doubt because he was supposed to be the perfect clone who didn't suffer from degeneration. Quote:I think he died a hero but he should have stayed as Spidey and not been killed off. Ben as Spider-Man was my favourite run of Spidey stories ever and the mad rush to get Ben out and Peter back in was a totally gutless move by editorial. Having Peter back just brought back all the reasons why they got rid in the first place and brought us the horror of OMD and OMIT. Quote:Seriously, they dropped the ball. They blinked. Quote:Now? Quote:I still want Ben back, if only out of a sense of justice to the poor guy. Yes. An injustice was done to him. It must be fixed. I've given this theory before on why I think Ben isn't dead but here it goes again. The Ben that melted was in fact...Spidercide. This was all a long con by Norman. Here's my illogical reasoning. 1. Spidercide was killed when he fell off a building? A being who could shape shift, had complete control over his own molecules and Peter's powers could not survive falling off a building? He could survive a plague, being shattered into a million pieces, and being caught in the explosion of a propane truck but he can't survive a fall off a building? 2. Spidercide whether he was alive or dead his body was taken somewhere. This body that looks exactly like Peter Parker. The same man who had just recently been heavily featured in the media when he was accused of being a serial killer. Yet from what we can tell a corpse with spider powers that looks like the guy who just got off of a serial killer rap didn't raise any eyebrows anywhere. I'm thinking Norman Osborn could have had the influence to ensure Spidercide would be delivered to a facility that had people working for him. 3. We know Spidercide worked for Scrier(s). Scrier was the minder for Judas Traveller. An highly powerful telepath AND psychiatrist who was apparently being manipulated by Norman. Spidercide would not have Ben's memories UNLESS they were implanted into him. We also know the Jackal had the technology to record memories so that's two ways Norman would have to give Spidercide Ben's memories. 4. Peter and Ben were knocked unconscious before Spider-Man 75. This is when the substitution of Ben for Spidercide would be made. Spidercide was given Ben's memories and made to think he was Peter. I'm assuming in the months in between Maximum Clonage and Revelations Spidercide underwent a dehumanizing amount of brainwashing into thinking he was Ben but the actual memories came from right before Spider-Man #75. 5. In Amazing Spider-Man #404 Scrier appears to Spidercide touches his forehead and Spidercide is given an epiphany about his true purpose in life. We were never told what this purpose is. 6. Spidercide like Ben shouldn't be able to melt from clone degeneration right? Scrier removed the clone degeneration for Spidercide. BUT Spidercide also had control over his own molecules. He could APPEAR to melt and probably even survive as ashes and reconstitute himself later. 7. Baby May. Norman's an evil heartless shit but would he really kill Peter's own infant daughter? Not saying he isn't heartless but wouldn't

Uncanny X-Men #10 cover by Chris Bachalo. Nick Fury was and always will be the face of S.H.I.E.L.D., but writer Brian Michael Bendis just revealed a new and surprising member to Marvel’s spy outfit: Dazzler. As revealed in today’s Uncanny X-Men #10, Dazzler has been recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. by Maria Hill in an attempt to counter-balance Cyclops rebellious talk of a mutant revolution. “That’s why she’s a perfect candidate. She’s on nobody’s side,” Bendis told IGN. “She is looking at this with eyes wide open. Even though her relationship with Cyclops has been very good in the past she doesn’t know how she feels about what he has turned into. Dazzler’s previous relationship [with] Scott Summers is part of the reason Maria Hill recruited her.” It’s not the fact that she’s a mutant that makes her a surprising choice; fellow X-Men alums Kitty Pryde and Danielle Moonstar have been agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at one point or another. What’s surprising is the prominent position the former pop star has moved into. Most recently seen in the pages of X-Treme X-Men bouncing around to alternate realities, the singer-turned-X-Man Alison Blaire has never been that much of a major player in Marvel Comics — but for a time, she was planned to be. Introduced in 1980′s Uncanny X-Men #130, Dazzler came about when the record label for the band KISS partnered with Marvel to create a transmedia tie-in where the publisher would create a fictional superheroine/singer that the record label would then cast with a real singer, who would go on to star in a Dazzler movie. Decades before Gorillaz, this unique partnership failed to reach those haughty ambitions and instead worked just to introduced a disco diva named Dazzler into the Marvel Universe. Dazzler went on to star in her own monthly series that balanced her real-world problems, like her career and love life, with superhero guest stars like Power Man and Iron Fist, the Hulk, Spider-Man and Angel (one of her love interests), as well as battles against Klaw, Dr. Doom and Galactus. After her series ended, she eventually joined the X-Men — becoming an official member right after the Mutant Massacre storyline — but was never much of a pillar to the team the way others introduced around the same time, like Kitty Pryde, were. Storyline-wise, this is interesting; seeing this pop act go all super-soldier on us has some interesting potential, especially in the hands of Bendis. Also, you have to factor in that when X-Men: Schism took place, Dazzler openly sided with Cyclops over Wolverine, but now sits on the opposing team against Cyclops.

In an abandoned Manhattan warehouse, the world's richest teens gather. They're at a 'poxpo' - a pop-up expo - at which inventors with lunatic, potentially great ideas show them off. And if they impress organiser Commodore Murphy, they'll get the money to develop the products into a marketable state - and perhaps seriously rich.But not as rich as Murphy, oil heir JP Houston, film star Cecilia Sunbeam and the 'Green Team's' potential new member, Prince Mohammed. It's 'Mo' who is our point of view player, motivating the introductions of characters and concepts, and it's Mo's mistake which put everyone at the poxpo at risk from terror gang The Riot Act.The intruders provoke an outbreak of action at the end of this issue; before that, it's almost all talk - but because the talk comes courtesy of writers Art Baltazar and Franco, it's very smart and very entertaining. Characters are introduced one by one without it feeling as if someone brought an exposition machine to the poxpo, and we get a sense of one very big conflict that threatens the Teen Trillionaires (the earlier minted mob, created by Joe Simon and Jerry Grandenetti, were Boy Millionaires). As well as updating the original Green Team from Seventies DC tryout book 1st Issue Special - with Cecil becoming Cecilia, and Abdul Smith promoted to Prince Mo - we meet JP's sister, LL and Mo's bodyguard, Abisha. Altogether, they're a charismatic crew, and while we don't get a clear idea of where this book is going - though a superhero thread is present - there's more than enough here to bring me back. Like Art and Franco's DC Kids' books, Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures, the Green Team is fun from beginning to end.The artwork of Ig Guara really gets behind the script, saying something about our spotlight character - look at Mo on the first couple of pages and it's all there: the burden he feels as heir to a demanding father, the awe at the poxpo, the desire to belong (click on image to enlarge). This is attractive, intelligent stripwork and I hope Guara continues to find the sweet spot as we get to know the other players; meanwhile, there's a vibrancy to the characters that makes me want to spend time with them. As the story walks Mo through the warehouse and into a new world of adventure, Guara never skimps on the backgrounds, constantly showing us what's happening at the tech show.While the Green Team - Cecilia apart - are based visually on the originals, Guara takes a more naturalistuc approach than did master stylist Grandenetti, but it works well; there's a real warmth to his illustrations, and JP Mayer's finishes maintain a pleasing delicacy of line.Then there's Amanda Conner's eye-poppingly good cover, which suggests that once this comic gets into its stride, big and mad will be the order of the day. I can live with that!And kudos to whoever designed that logo, one of the best since DC's New 52 relaunch gave most everybody a fresh masthead. It's perfect and, like the rest of the cover, coloured by the excellent Paul Mounts. Interiors are toned by Wil Quintana and lettered by Travis Lanham, both of whom contribute to a superior first issue. Any Teen Trillionaire would be happy to pay $2.99 for it.

IDW Limited Launches Line of Star Trek Deluxe Hardcovers STAR TREKTM LIMITED-EDITION TO INCLUDE SIGNATURES AND ARTWORK FROM A FEDERATION... Related posts: IDW Publishing launches their new division: IDW Limited IDW Limited releases first book in a series of Transformers Deluxe Hardcovers As “Star Trek” Celebrates its 45th Anniversary, Boldly Go Where No Reviewer Has Gone Before with THE CAPTAINS, William Shatner’s Doc Feature Beaming onto DVD on 10/4

The GoodAquaman hires the Others to go and find some Atlantian weapons which the Scavenger has been selling on the black market. They team up with a woman named Sky who is connected to some of the dead members of The Others.The only thing I really got excited for was the overall concept and story in this issue. I really like the idea of The Others working for Aquaman, having to find all these Atlantian weapons and relics, even if they fall into the wrong hands. We get to see one of these weapons called "The Power Glove" (see below) and it's concept is extremely cool, which is that it can punch through any object. The Skinwalker takes it in hopes of breaking an ancient seal to command an undead army.While Sky is the new character focus here, I found the Skinwalker much more appealing. Native American lore and mythology is not as explored in modern day comics as it should be since it's such a larger part of the United States. He had a very cool look, and I liked his simple, yet enjoyable motivation for the overall story. The BadDon't let the cover fool you. This is not written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Paul Pelletier. It's written by John Ostrander, pencilled by Manuel Garcia, colored by Pete Pantazis, and inked by Sandra Hope, Rob Hunter, Ray McCarthy, and Wayne Faucher.There is so much time spent on setting everything up that by the time we get to the final confrontation, it's over in just a few pages. A part of this problem is because the creative team is only given so much time to set up this story. The overall pacing of the book is a bit of a mess. The concept here is far too big for one issue.Everything about this issue feels a tad rushed, whether it's the pacing of the overall book or the fact the art is inconsistent, we get a great concept that falls a bit flat. This is a solid creative team too. There are times where Garcia's art, with whoever was inking on that page, really shined. Over on the next page, the inking would wash out the pencils, and then a few pages later, faces would be strangely distorted.I can't take an item called "The Power Glove" seriously. I grew up in the 80s, and I'm thinking of something completely different when I hear those words.The VerdictHopefully, someday, The Others will have their own stand-alone book. This is a team that could pull it off. Aquaman is a consistently great book. Sure, there's been a couple bumps in the road, so far, but overall, this has been a stellar series, but this issue was a big let down. Concept-wise, this is a fantastic book that gives DC a reason to use the characters from the Others without just shoehorning them into a book because there was already a connection made between these characters and Atlantian artifacts, but the execution of the actual issue is a bit of a mess. It feels rushed, and it's inconsistent. It has a solid writer and artist, but they needed more pages to work with to make this the issue it needs to be.

Gail Simone's RED SONJA #1 isn't on sale until July but we've already reviewed it HERE. The idea is all the covers will be done by female artists. The covers to issue #1 can be seen HERE and the covers to issue #2 can be found HERE.Dynamite Entertainment has given us an exclusive first look at the covers to #3 by Jenny Frison and Pia Guerra.Jenny Frison coverPia Guerra coverIf that wasn't enough, Dynamite also released a teaser video for the first issue: If you haven't been reading RED SONJA, now is the time to start.

There are times when a bad property and a bad brand come together to create something truly putrid, the exact opposite of, say, the first set Marvel Masterpieces. The 1992 Youngblood trading cards from Comic Images are just such a vortex of suck, somehow managing to take a person that loves comics and cards and turn them into a devout hater of both. You can add this to the indictment list for that beleaguered whipping boy of all things wrong with the late-20th century comics, Rob Liefeld. Another triumph!   Comic Images issued a number of low-budget sets during the early 1990s trading card boom, licensing individual characters from Marvel and independents and in general leaving company-wide, multi-hero/villain/team sets for the bigger boys like Impel. Their selling point, if you could call it that, was that they had little to no original artwork amongst the cards, instead reproducing panels from comic books. Though lazy, this sounds like a halfway decent idea. The execution, however, left much to be desired. Panels that seemed lush and action-packed on a page with their pals became cramped and indecipherable when imprisoned in a single cardboard rectangle. Put it this way: One of the sets they produced (which will one day be featured here, I’m sure) was a 30th anniversary Spider-Man set, and amongst the artwork was some of the classic Steve Ditko material. It wound up looking odd and foreign when put on cardboard. Underwhelming in the extreme. Now just imagine what it does to Mr. Liefeld’s work. Or don’t just imagine it. Let me show you. YOU’RE WELCOME. Youngblood, you’ll of course recall, was a book about a highly paid team of celebrity superheroes, one of the first wave from the game-changing, then-new, creator-owned Image Comics. YB launched with great fanfare, and fizzled out faster than any of its contemporaries, both due to the poor quality of the storytelling and the congenital inability of anyone in that publishing confederation to meet a regular deadline. But the launch hype was enough to sustain interest in a trading card set, so that’s what we got. We’ve delayed long enough. Take your medicine, eyeballs. Here’s a “portrait,” if you will, of Shaft (Richard Roundtree – and Isaac Hayes, for that matter – should have pummeled Liefeld for this), the bow-wielding leader of the Youngblood team. Someone not acquainted with the team, the character, or comics in general might look at this and ask Is that a face? A baboon’s inflamed ass? Is that hair or flame? Are the eyes closed? Open? Welcome to the head-numbing world of Liefeld’s art: You want a giant, unnecessary gun, with phallic undercurrents that even us non-Freuds can decipher? There are plenty of those on display. Here’s one in the hands of the notorious killer of Al “Spawn” Simmons, Chapel: The card backs are a light blue with some text that tries in vain to drum up interest in the Youngblood universe. Here’s the back from card #1: MY GOSH WHERE DO I SIGN UP. There are, natch, chase cards. The de rigueur chase style for Comic Images was distracting, eye-straining refractor cards, which turned the pic on the front into a holographic shattered mirror. There are six in this set. They’re all unfathomably unattractive: Plus side: If you put these chase cards in your bicycle spokes, then VOILA, no need for reflectors. I’ve said before on this site that I have no great problem with Liefeld. He did what he did and people bought it — that’s called market economics. Also on the plus side for him, he’s always had some perspective about his style and its place in comic book history, not to mention a sense of humor about his limitations, both as artist and publisher. He seems like a nice enough guy — no personal knowledge of this, but from a distance at least. I saw something recently where he’s trying to get a Kickstarter camp

Matthew Price[img]2100042[/img] Brian Winkeler and Robert Wilson IV, creators of the comic “Knuckleheads,” will donate their proceeds from this week’s second digital issue to tornado relief following the recent tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. Winkeler is from Yukon; Wilson is formerly of Oklahoma City. (Colorist Jordan Boyd is also an Oklahoma native.) “Robert and I decided to donate all of our profits to tornado relief,” Winkeler said in an e-mail.Read more on NewsOK.com