Reading festival here I come!

A friend of mine has been extremely generous and offered me a free ticket to Reading Festival this weekend. You can see the line up above (click to enlarge). It's huge and there are loads of great bands. I am ecstatic to say the least. It starts today and I'll be off in a couple of hours to grab the train after I sort out a tent and a sleeping bag etc. I plan on getting wasted and seeing the Prodigy, Radiohead, Eagles of Death Metal, The Rakes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many many more.

The weather here has been really nice for the past couple of weeks so I hope it stays that way to make the weekend even better. Have a great weekend guys whatever you are doing, and Ill see you on the other side

Marvel previews - Comics on sale Sept 2nd!

Marvel Comics has provided CBR with advance looks at new comics on sale next Wednesday, September 2, 2009.

Click the links below to be taken to the preview of your choice.

"Agents of Atlas" #10
"Black Panther" #8
"Cable" #18
"Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special"
"Deadpool" #15
"Exiles" #6
"Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire" #2
"House of M: Masters of Evil" #2
"Immortal Weapons" #2
"Invincible Iron Man" #17
"Iron Man & The Armor Wars" #2
"Luke Cage Noir" #2
"Mystic Comics 70th Anniversary Special"
"Starr the Slayer" #1
"The Torch" #1
"The Trojan War" #5
"Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" #2

Megan Fox is Catwoman in Batman 3!?!

(Just imagine that body in the cat suit!)

According to British tabloid the Sun, Megan Fox will be in the role of Catwoman in Nolans Next Batman movie. How accurate is this? Who knows? But I woudn't count the Sun newspaper amongst the most reliable sources when in comes to movie news. Most of the news they print is rubbish, slightly entertaining, but mostly rubbish nonetheless.

So what do you guys think about Fox as Selina Kyle, she certainly is one of the most sort after actresses in Hollywood at the moment and I think if Catwoman was to be in the next Batman, I've got no probs with Fox in the role, and Nolan done an amazing job with the first 2 films so I trust his judgement, unless he's just thinking with his dick!.

Late (if you live in the US) DC previews

So I’ve been bit slack this week at posting all the previews for this weeks books, seems there has been a lot. I know these comics were released yesterday in the US, but for guys like me who get there comics a little later, these DC previews still might help you with your purchasing decisions this week. Just click the title of your choice to be taken to the preview:

Detective Comics #856

Wonder Woman #35


Superman #691

BATMAN: THE WIDENING GYRE #1

"Wolfman" trailer and more Werewolf wackiness!

(Awesome poster for the new Wolfman movie. The werewolf looks fantastic!)

The trailer for the new Wolfman film is here! Unfortunately embedding on the trailer had been dissabled so I can’t post the video, but you can check it at Empire's site here.

I do like the look of this, I hope it doesn’t rely too heavily on CGI for the actual Wolfman. But It’s got a great cast and I am a bit of a sucker for a werewolf flick.

It’s quite weird that I came across it yesterday as last night they were showing the classic ‘American Werewolf in London’ on the Sci-fi channel. It’s probably the best werewolf movie I’ve seen, as well as being a great horror flick it’s really humerous and has brilliant visual effects (it has an absolutely amazing transformation scene), and is basically a must see film imo.

Here’s a quick little trailer I found on youtube with some great highlights from the film.



And here is the amazing transformation scene that I managed to track down on youtube. The effects are so ahead of their time.



And as I’m now in a wacky Wolfman type of mood it reminded me of a hilarious scene from one of my fav films as a kid “The Monster Squad”. If you haven't scene it, think the Goonies with monsters. They really need to release this film on Region 2 DVD so I can buy it.

So here for your amusement (well mostly mine) is the infamous “Wolfman’s Got Nards!” scene. Classic!

DC Previews

There’s a couple of nice previews over at The Source for you DC fans.

First up a preview of Flash Rebirth #4. I stopped picking up this title after the second issue as I wasn’t really enjoying it. I’m normally a big fan of Johns work but ironically for a Flash book I found this was really slow at moving the story along. I’m not really a Flash fan though so that might be another reason I didn’t enjoy it. I’ll see what the reaction to the title as a whole is once it’s finished and if its’ good I might pick up the trade. Anyway, you can check the preview here.


Next up is JSA #30. The last issue was really good with the JSA getting their butts kicked by a group of super-villains so I look forward to reading the issue this week to find out what happens next. Check the preview here.

Hex’s Pull List – 26/08/2009

DC

Batman and Robin #3

Batman Widening Gyre #1

Detective Comics #856
Green Lantern #45

Justice Society of America #30

Red Circle The Shield #1

Superman #691

Supermans Pal Jimmy Olsen Special #2

Wednesday Comics #8

MARVEL
Dark Avengers #8

Dark X-Men The Beginning #3

Deadpool #14

Incredible Hulk #601
New Avengers #56
Secret Warriors #7

Wolverine Origins #39

X-Force #18

X-Men Forever #6

18 FUCKING BOOKS! FUCK ME!

Man that is a lot of comics, I was worried about how I could afford to buy all them books but I just found out I’m being paid this Friday, instead of the usual end of the month as next Monday is a Bank Holiday here in England. So basically this means I should have enough money this week to see me through to pay day and to pick up all the comics I want. But damn, maybe I should start cutting back…..nah, fuck that!

I’m really looking forward to Batman & Robin 3, seems like a long time since the last issue. Batman the Widening Gyre is a maybe for me. I loved Kevin Smith work on Green Arrow but his last Batman mini-series wasn’t that great, so maybe I’ll check the reviews on that and get it next week. Superman #691 will have the last chapter of Codename: Patriot, so I look forward to seeing if and how that will shake up Superman’s world. Finally I’m looking forward to Greg Pak back on Incredible Hulk along with one of my fav artists right now Ariel Olivetti, who I think was born to draw that book. Let’s hope it meets my expectations.

What are you guys picking up?

Marvel's FREE comics - 08/24/09

Here is this weeks five free digital comics from Marvel Digital, with some quite recent releases. Just click the link to view the comic of your choice.

PUNISHER (2001) #25
NEW AVENGERS #51
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #550
SQUADRON SUPREME (2006) #7
WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #31

Red Circle: The Web – mini review

Red Circle: The Web #1 - Review

Writer: J Michael Straczynski
Artist: Roger Robinson

Well, after two pretty slow Red Circle One-Shots, this just got good. This was actually the issue I was least looking forward to because I thought the idea of the character was pretty stupid, i.e. a superhero who can be contacted via the internet to help solve your problems. Well I was wrong and this issue was great. It sets up some personal tragedy for our main character, features him finding out what a real hero needs to be and introduces a couple of cool arch enemies for the character. Our hero is a mega rich playboy whose invested his wealth into a hi tech command station and a costume that has more gadgets than Iron Man including increased strength and flight, just a shame about the colour scheme. This was a great one in done superhero outing and I hope the great work continues for the last Red Circle one shot featuring The Shield.


Hex's Score - 4 out of 5.

Daredevil #500 - Review

Daredevil #500 - Review

Another anniversary issue for Marvel hit our shelves last week, this time for the “Man without Fear”; Daredevil. With a price tag of $4.99 it had to pack a lot in to make it worth the price tag. So, what did we get for our money?

1. The first story was from Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark and will be the last chapter in their run on Daredevil. It is the concluding part to the “Lady Bullseye” and “Return of the King” story arcs that were for me, the highlight of Brubaker’s work on the title. The huge cast used in this story was handled perfectly, we had Daredevil, Master Izo, Black Tarantula, The Hand, The Owl, Kingpin, Lady Bullseye and Foggy all having their individual parts woven together masterfully by Brubaker. The pacing between story parts was perfect, a page here, two pages there, moving the story along swiftly and generating anticipation for the climatic battle between Matt, The Hand & Kingpin. Daredevil make a tough choice in story to sacrifice his personal life totally in order to make amends and deal with the Hand and the Kingpin the best we can, and it’s a strong, bold move that Brubaker takes here. The twists were great and I really can’t fault this story in any way. While I didn’t enjoy Brubaker's earlier arcs due to lack of pace and action, this story packs plenty of punch, owing a big debt to the great art of Michael Lark, whose dark moody, noir-ish work on this title has been nothing but excellent from the start.

2. The second part was a preview of Daredevil: The List, which continued directly from the previous story. It will be the first chapter from new writer Andy Diggle, but this preview doesn’t offer much until the end, where it looks like the full issue will see a familiar DD villain, now disguised as Hawekeye, being sent to take out Matt. Daredevil vs. Bullseye – Round 1 million!?!? Could be worth a look.

3. Speaking of Daredevil vs. Bullseye, the next story was by Ann Nocenti and David Aja and featured exactly that. After the battle an injured DD is taken in by a local bar owner/ boxing fan and a local kid with parent issues. This is a nice little tale with great conversations between the three characters with layers of meaning to DD’s own personal history. Aja’s work is great, though not as sleek as his work on Iron Fist, the ink is heavier, but the style and action sequences still look fantastic with loads of energy.

4. Next up is a pin up gallery with some great art of DD but this is just really filling space.

5. Finally we have a reprint of Daredevil #191 written and drawn by Frank Miller. I have always heard that Miller’s run on Daredevil was some of the finest work ever done on the character but hadn’t yet gotten round to reading any of it so I was pleasantly surprised to find this issue including and... it was brilliant. It was a very street level DD story and a really strong emotional piece which sees Daredevil playing a game of Russian roulette with a paralyzed Bullseye, with DD trying to understand whether the violence he uses to stop criminals like Bullsesye actually has the opposite effect he intended and effectively breeds more violence. It’s a great thought provoking piece with some of the best pencils and writing I‘ve seen from Miller. It’s absolutely made me want to go back and read all of Millers’ work on the title which I believed is collected in the Daredevil Visionaries TPB’s, now at the top of my “must buy” list on pay day.

So to summarise, this collection of stories meant this was definitely the best comic I read last week and a must buy for any DD fans. Don’t miss it.

Hex’s score – 5 out of 5

This week I've been mostly listening to.... Lady Luck by Richard Swift

Marvel Previews Day!

The usual weekly preview from CBR for next weeks Marvel titles can be found below. There’s a huge amount here which is great. I’m really looking forward to reading the work of the new creative team on Incredible Hulk #601, as well as the next chapter to one of my favourite new series; X-Men Forever.

What are you guys looking forward to from Marvel next week?

Click the links below to be taken to the preview of your choice.

"Anita Blake, The Laughing Corpse: Necromancer" #4
"Avengers: The Initiative" #27
"Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter" #3
"Dark Avengers" #8
"Dark Reign: Elektra" #5
"Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man" #3
"Dark Wolverine" #77
"Dark X-Men: The Beginning" #3
"Deadpool" #14
"Fantastic Four" #570
"HALO: Helljumper" #2
"Hulk" #14
"Incredible Hercules" #133
"Incredible Hulk" #601
"Marvel Adventures Spider-Man" #54
"Ms. Marvel" #44
"New Avengers" #56
"New Mutants" #4
"Nova" #28
"Runaways" #13
"Secret Warriors" #7
"Skrull Kill Krew" #4
"Son of Hulk" #14
"Timestorm 2009/2099" #4
"X-Force" #18
"X-Men Forever" #6

Geoff Johns for Captain Marvel film + my thoughts on too many comic book movies

So all the usual sites have been reporting that Geoff Johns (along with Bill Birch) is set to write the screenplay for a Shazam/ Captain Marvel movie. He has already been confirmed as writer the Flash movie for Warner Bros. and I got to say I’m sure he’ll do good work with both films and stay close to the source material. But because we keep hearing about all these films being made by Warner Bros. for DC characters, I’m sort of over it, we are always hearing rumours about all these comic book films that might or might not see the light of day, I kind of don’t really care anymore.

I get the feeling that the information for these movies get released on the net way before they should, when the films are still just little ideas of the writers, directors, producers, whoever, which makes me think who actually leaks this stuff?

The market place for comic book movies is going to be vastly over saturated very soon. Some have been great (Iron Man, Batman Begins/ Dark Knight) but a lot more have been really bad (Wolverine, Superman Returns, Catwoman...I could go on).

I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t get too excited anymore when I hear about a new comic book movie being made (or might be made). Do you think we’ll ever see Green Arrow: Supermax of whatever the fuck it’s being called now. I’m not so sure, but no doubt we’ll have a Superman reboot again soon, we’ve also got loads coming out from Marvel over the next few years and while I know I should be looking forward to most of them films, based on previous experience, more often than not the films are awful and I wish I hadn’t wasted my time or money.

I sound a bit bitter and sure I’m not going to love every comic book movie, or hate every one, but the way thinks are going I’m caring less and less either way. I just think it makes the industry look bad when every other bad movie is based on a comic book.

So guys, agree or disagree? Are there too many comic book movies now being made? Do fans still get excited about the announcement of the next comic based adaption? Do fans care any more, or am I on my own here? Please comment and let me know.

Thanks guys.

Matthew Hex

More Mini Reviews - Last weeks books

Uncanny X-Men #514

A good chapter in this cool little cross over. Summers steps up and starts putting teams of various X-Men in tactical positions for the final show down. Emma’s true involvement with Osborn is still unclear to me. The Daken/Bullseye ruck was fun, it’s only a matter of time before that really boils over. The art and coloring are really great, writing too, but I would like to see more of Dark Beast and the captured mutants to find out what’s going on there. Hopefully that will be explored next chapter.

Blackest Night: Batman #1

Ummm… I was a bit disappointed with this. It was okay but I think after two great chapters in the main Blackest Night series I was expecting more of the same big action and dark horror, but this didn’t really have it. It mainly sets that up for next issue, and there was too much focus on Deadman for me, and him jumping from body to body. He could easily been given a co-title. Not sure if Tomasi’s writing of Dick and Damian was right for me either, I know the action will be coming next issue, so I look forward to that.

Red Circle: Inferno #1

Really nice art, sketchy and dark, but no real story of how Inferno ended up the way he is, or why he looks completely different when he changes to Inferno (i.e. goes bald and grows a moustache!). Could have been another chapter of Hangman as he was featured a lot, and used well, though the extent of his powers seem unclear. I’m not sure on this series. First issue is all origin for Hangman, this issue has none at all for Inferno. The Web is featured next. Lets see how that issue turns out, but this one is probably another pass.

Nomad - Preview

CBR have a special early preview of the New mini series Nomad: Girl Without a World that you can view here.

The solictation reads:

In her world, RIKKI BARNES was the modern-day BUCKY, teen sidekick to CAPTAIN AMERICA. In this world, the Cap she knew is dead, she never existed, and very little else is as she remembers. With no home, no income and no legal identity, what's a girl to do? How about tracking down the new Cap, reconnecting with her brother, and running afoul of the SECRET EMPIRE? Sounds like a plan to us!

Matt's Mini Reviews - Last weeks books

Action Comics #880

Codename: Patriot continues in good fashion, good action, and nice interaction between characters. Supes comes back to Earth in hunt of Zod’s shooter and Flamebird and Nightwing get it on. I’m loving General Lane as the villain, and much better work on the art this issue. Captain Atom back up still looks amazing and has me intrigued as to WTF is going on.

Cable #17

Improvement on the last issue but I’m bored with just Bishop chasing Cable now. Nice idea to bring in a love interest for Hope. Cable manages to track down Hope this issue and posing as Stryfe collects a small army and leaves the dying earth for the stars with Bishop hot on his tail again! We’ll see if a bit of space adventure next issue will improve things. I really want it to, I love these characters.

X-Men Forever # 5

Loads of fun still but the story has a reveal that mutants are dying out due to their x-gene. This series is meant to be on a different path to the normal Marvel U but mutants are near extinct in the regular Universe too. That pissed me off a bit as I love the fact that mutants were supposed to be the next stage in human evolution, but this book is now going against that. It’s still a very enjoyable read though and Grummets artwork gets better every issue. The story ends with the X-Men questioning their future. Who ill stay and who will go? Great book for classic x-fans.

Adventure Comics #1

Beautiful art. But bit of a boring start story wise. It was good, but the story basically focuses on Superboy settling back in Smallville, and not much else. There are a few little plot lines seeded and continued from other books including that weird alien thingy from ‘Superman’ (remember the Guardian’s buddy) by Johns that also tied into the Legion back up which was cool. Starman was the focus of the back up and he is such a great character. The back up rocked.

Blackest Night #2

I had an absolute brilliant time reading this. You will all know by now, as you’ve probably read it, this books is fantastic. The artwork is phenomenal; it really is one of the best looking superhero books around. Hawkman is just so creepy, I love it. High point for me was Barry & Hal vs. the Martian Manhunter, that was awesome. But Hal crashing into the bat signal and that last page with the Black Lantern Justice League! Some of the coolest pages ever!

Hex's Pull List - 08/18/2009

Big week for me, and I still have to get the new Walking Dead TPB at some point! Pay day please come sooner!

DC

Batman Streets of Gotham #3

Blackest Night Superman #1

Red Circle The Web #1

Supergirl #44

Superman Annual #14

Wednesday Comics #7

MARVEL

Amazing Spider-Man #601, #602, #603 (playing catch-up)

Daredevil #500

X-Factor #47

X-Men Legacy #227

AND....AOD Ash Saves Obama #1 – As Elliot over at Comic Culture Warrior has written it so I’ll give it a go. You can check out the preview for it here.

JSA vs. Kobra is a maybe also? I might hunt down the previous issues for this as I’ve heard good things about it.

So lots more to get through there when I still haven’t read half of last weeks books as I get mine delivered and the postal offices in London keep going on strike! Bastard! Damn Union’s! I’m all for fucking with the ‘Man’ but when it interferes with me getting my comics on time, well that’s a different matter altogether. I might have to go break some knee caps!

What will you guys be getting?

Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 - Review

Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 - Review

Story by
Mark Millar

Art by
Carlos Pacheco, Danny Miki

From the start I’ve never been a fan of the Ultimate Universe, I’m not sure why but the idea just never appealed to me, and even though I’m a fan of most of Mark Millar’s work, I thought his and Bryan Hitch’s Ultimate’s Vol. 1 & 2 were a bit over rated. After the critically panned Ultimate’s Vol. 3 and Ultimatum (both by J. Loeb) the whole line was to get a reboot and I thought I should give the line another go.

Leading up to this relaunch all the things I was hearing about Ultimate Comics: Avengers really grabbed my attention. Firstly Millar was this time being joined by fantastic artist Carlos Pacheco, secondly this was to be a stripped down Ultimate Avengers, focusing on the Ultimate’s Nick Fury, Iron Man, Hawkeye & Captain America, with the lead story focusing on Cap’s world being turned up side down by a big reveal at the end of the first issue. So I had to pick this issue up.

(SPOILERS ON!)

We start a few weeks after Ultimatum. Fury is asked to rejoin the Ultimate’s by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Carol Danvers and Hawkeye for a Black Ops mission to bring in an AWOL Captain America. We then flash back to find out the reason Caps gone missing; Hawkeye and Cap are on a mission to stop A.I.M breaking into the Baxter Building, the action that ensures is great, Cap and Hawkeye engage a couple of A.I.M Helicopter as the villains try to escape, the banter between our heroes is written really well by Millar and the splash pages of art make this feel like a big action movie (think True Lies, only a lot cooler). Both our heroes come across as no non-sense, military bad-asses, and it suits the feel of the book and the action perfectly.

After taking out the first chopper, Cap leaps to the second, only to be confronted by Ultimate Red Skull, a fight ensures and Steve gets taken out bad by the new villain, and is thrown to certain death only to rescued by Hawkeye at the last minute who leaps to aid Steve by pulling his parachute open just before they crash land. The last page reveals the shocking truth that Red Skull had revealed to Cap on the Helicopter, that Ultimate Red Skull is in fact Ultimate Cap’s son! Fucking awesome.

All round this is a great read and a really good looking book, lots of action with great characters and an awesome last page reveal to keep me coming back for more. The only negative comment I will say is that with all the splash pages the book reads a bit too fast for my liking and for a $3.99 price tag, bet hey, I definitely recommend this book, and if you are interested in the new Ultimate Universe, this is a great place to start.

Hex's score: 4 out of 5

Blackest Night News!

There is some great Blackest Night news over at IGN.

First, they have part one of the November Blackest Night tie-in issues, and there are quite a few of them (with all but one title costing $3.99 unfortunately)! Check out all the issues here.

I especially like the idea of Ted Kord coming back to face his old buddy Booster Gold and also throwing down with the new Blue Beetle. The cover for that issue is shown above.

Plus in an interview with Geoff Johns, the mastermind behind Blackest Night is revealed. Check it here.

If you dont want to know who it is stop reading now as I'm going to talk about this spoiler!

You still here?

Good, okay. So Nekron. I didn't have a clue who he was but reading the interview then doing some research on the character it totally makes sense, and I'm sure a lot of long term Gree nLantern readers saw this coming a mile off, and is probably why Johns is revealling it now, so early on in the series. There must be other, even bigger reveals coming in the book that obviously we wont know about until we've read the issues. I've got so much faith is Johns when it comes to GL and I think he is gonna make Nekron an absolute bad-ass! I cant wait!

Question for you guys, as I dont know anything about Nekron and have never read anything with him in, could you recommend some comics I should read to give me some background on the character or just some cool stories where he is the featured villain?

Thanks guys.

Marvel previews for comics on sale 08/19/2009

From CBR. Click the links below to be taken to the preview of your choice.

"Daredevil" #500
"Dark Reign: The Hood" #4
"Deadpool: Suicide Kings" #5
"GeNext: United" #4
"Marvel Adventures The Avengers" #39
"Mighty Avengers" #28
"Punisher" #8
"Punisher Noir" #1
"Punisher: Frank Castle" #73
"The Stand: American Nightmares" #5
"Wolverine" Weapon X" #4
"X-Factor" #47
"X-Men: Legacy" #227

Ray Park as Iron Fist?

(Image from comicbycomic.com)


Ray Park has said at Chicago Comic on that he is very interested in bringing the Immortal Iron Fist to the big screen.

The martial artist and actor, whose roles have included Darth Maul in “Star Wars; The Phantom Menace”, Toad in “X-Men”, and more recently Snake Eyes in "G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra," expressed his excitement at possibly playing Danny Rand in an Iron Fist movie. He’s quoted saying "I actually want to be Danny Rand -- I want to be Iron Fist, I want to do it,"I want to have an excuse to take my top off and show off my abs," he joked. "

There were rumors of an Iron Fist film back in 2001, by Artisan Entertainment, and apparently Park was in talks as far back as then. Obviously no film was made but now the rights have returned back to Marvel could the kung fu corner of the Marvel U be heading to the big screen?
There are also rumors of a Heroes for Hire film instead, teaming Iron Fist with long term friend and fellow crime fighter Luke Cage, which could be a cool idea.

Now while I would love to see an Iron Fist big screen adaption from Marvel and have no doubt s that Ray Park could handle the physicality and the martial arts and kung fu skills that would be required for this role, my problem would be with Parks actual acting ability and whether its good enough to carry the films lead role. Looking at the past projects we’ve all seen him in, he carries the action well, but doesn’t exactly get a lot of lines does he? Is there a reason for that?

So what do you guys say? Do you want to see an Iron Fist movie with Park starring as the main man himself? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Full Issue: WEREWOLVES ON THE MOON: Versus VAMPIRES #1 - FREE

The good guys over at Newsarama teamed up with Dark Horse and have posted the whole of the first issue for free. and its pretty fun, I love the cartoony art (fucking awesome cover), and just the idea of the series makes me laugh. Its not normally something I'd look to pick up, but I'll read anything for free. I'm cheap like that!

You can check it out here and it wont cost you a penny (or cent)!

Previews for comics on sale today.

As well as the Marvel previews that I had previously posted, CBR also have a lot more previews for comics on sale today from various other publishers. Just click the title of your choice to view.

Battlestar Galactica Complete Omnibus #1 [10 pages]Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Existence 2.0 #2 [8 pages]Published by: Image Comics
Hack/Slash #25 [10 pages]Published by: Devil's Due
Red Robin #3 [7 pages]Published by: DC Comics
Batman #589 [7 pages]Published by: DC Comics
The Killer #10 [6 pages]Published by: Archaia
GrimJack: The Manx Cat #1 [6 pages]Published by: IDW
Hercules: The Knives of Kush #1 [10 pages]Published by: Radical Comics
Toy Story: The Mysterious Stranger #4 [8 pages]Published by: Boom! Studios
Farscape: D'Argo's Trial #1 [8 pages]Published by: Boom! Studios
The Walking Dead #64 [5 pages]Published by: Image Comics
The Darkness #79 [6 pages]Published by: Top Cow Productions
G-Man: Cape Crisis #1 [4 pages]Published by: Image Comics
Adventure Comics #1 [5 pages]Published by: DC Comics
Atomika #10 [4 pages]Published by: Mercury Comics

Mega Mini Reviews – Last weeks books

Captain America Reborn #2

Better issue than the first. Steve is trapped in re-living his past, jumping from moment to moment (kind of like Quantum Leap actually), but without being able to act for fear of changing the future. In the present, Bucky Cap & Black Widow are captured by the Dark Avengers and Osborn. Norman Osborn is a key player in this series, as it seems he wants Captain America back as much as our heroes (if only for his own twisted purposes) but has more resources to pull it off. I think this title will only continue to improve, just that I’m not that crazy about Hitch’s art work.

Superman World of New Krypton #6

Still don’t like this series. I sort of had to pick this up to get the first part of Codename Patriot that runs through the other Superman books that I pick up. The writing was fine but I’m not a fan of the art at all, the inks and coloring are far too strong, and the pencils on smaller panels look really rushed. The story is okay, but this was mostly a set up issue and the action should be picking up in the next chapters. Nice last page though, (SPOLIERS!) “This is a job for…Superman!” Very cool.

Justice League: Cry for Justice #2

More talking of Justice! (We get he point)! This has pretty art, but not much of the story line has really grabbed me yet. But I am liking the dialogue between characters and I know this is controversial on the net but I actually really liked the joke about Hal’s threesome (come on, he’s an air pilot/ superhero cop with a magic ring, of course he’s gonna get laid!) Nice to see some Atom action too. I’ll keep buying this.

Hex’s Pull List – 08/12/2009

(Cover to - Blackest Night: Batman #1 )

My Pull List for this week is DC heavy again:

Marvel:
Cable #17
Deadpool #13
Ultimate Comics Avengers #1
Uncanny X-Men #514
X-Men Forever # 5

DC:
Adventure Comics #1
Action Comics #880
Blackest Night #2
Blackest Night: Batman #1
Green Lantern Corps #39
Red Circle: Inferno #1
Red Robin #3
Wednesday Comics #6

Big week for me, and a big Blackest Night week also. The Blackest Night titles are the ones I’m most looking forward to plus Geoff Johns new project; Adventure Comics. What are you guys picking up?

FREE Marvel Comics - 08/10/2009

This weeks FREE comics from Marvel Digital are:

ETERNALS #3 (2006)

HEROES RETURN #1

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS SPECIAL #1

THOR #600

WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS #13

Just click the title of your choice and be sure to check back next week for more.

Red Circle: The Hangman #1 - Review

Red Circle: The Hangman #1 - Review

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Tom Derenick

Hex’s score: 2 out of 5

I have been intrigued about the Red Circle line since it was first announced, having not picked up the previous Impact line from DC (which mostly featured the same characters) the idea of new vigilantes and heroes for the DCU written by J. Michael Straczynski appealed to me.

So the first issue arrived last week and started off with the Hangman. I liked the cool design of the character and looked forward to reading this so much that it was at the top of my stack, but by the end of the book I was a bit disappointed.

Why? Well it started pretty good, our main character Dr. Dickering is a doctor in the Union army during the American Civil War who is captured behind enemy lines by the confederates and sentenced to be hanged for spying, even though he was actually delayed by attending to an injured confederate soldier. This is where the story goes a bit down hill for me.

Upon his death he is met by a spiritual servant of either Satan or God, this is left unclear to our hero but he has to choose whether to continue to the after life, the risk that it could be Heaven or Hell, or take the chance to work for his unknown employer as an avenging vigilante for all time. He obviously decides the latter and we have a brief glimpse of his legendary tales through the ages battling evil. We jump to the present where the Hangman by day is a head doctor at a hospital emergency ward and at night morphs into the hangman to continue his work against evil.

Now the first thing that bugged me about this issue is that we see the Hangman battling some thugs and getting shot. We learn that he is basically immortal, and that right there limits the stories that can be told about him. Why are we really going to care about the dangers this character may be in if he can never die? The second irritating thing is that he only changes to the Hangman at sunset, like a Werewolf or Vampire; he can only come out to play at night? Why? The last thing that annoyed me was the main character has a Tony Stark style moustache by day, but when he turns into the Hangman the moustache disappears!?!? What’s the point of that? He either rocks the facial hair or not. It's just pointless.

The art was pretty nicely done by Derenick (apart from the moustache issue) but all in all this was a pretty generic origin issue. I’m not sure why I should have expected anything else but I just wanted the issue to hook me on to the character a little more and get me more excited about his future adventures. Right now I’m only mildly interested. This is definitely not an essential pick up. I will continue with this Red Circle One-Shots to see how I feel after the introduction of all the new characters in the Red Circle family. Next up is Inferno, hitting this week.

Hey! Wait a minute Mr Postman!

No reviews of new comics today I'm afraid as the postman didn't deliver my new comics on Saturday like he normally does. Hopefully they will arrive today and I'll try to get some new comic book reviews up tomorrow, so be sure to check back. In the meantime, just sing a long to "Please Mr. Postman" by the Marvellettes (or Beatles for that matter, both good versions) for me to help him get his lazy arse over to my house with my stack!

Thanks guys.

Laters

Nate Grey returns! Plus all the other Marvel news from Chicago Comic Con!

Chicago Comic Con 2009– Marvel News Round Up!

So what did we learn this weekend from Chicago Comic Con 2009? Well there were a few Marvel announcements worth a mention. Read on for my quick round up:

- DARK AVENGER ANNUAL #1 was announced. Creative team will be writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Chris Bachalo, and the storyline will focus heavily on Dark Avenger Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy) and promises a Sentry versus Marvel Boy fight. Hmmm could be worth a look then.

- Iron Man’s troubles will continue from the “World’s Most Wanted” arc into a new story arc entitled "Stark Disassembled," beginning this November with issue #20. Series writer Matt Fraction states that the title character will be “making this ultimate sacrifice for the good of the many”!

- The writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning will continue their Marvel space opera by following “War of Kings” with “Realm of Kings”. Marvel says “In November, get ready to really explore the new Realm of Kings with the REALM OF KINGS one-shot with art by Leonardo Manco, which sets the landscape and tone for the event, two five-issue limited series with REALM OF KINGS: INHUMANS and REALM OF KINGS: IMPERIAL GUARD, as well as tie-in arcs in both GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and NOVA.”

- Beginning with November's issue #138, fan-favorite writer Jeff Parker takes charge of THUNDERBOLTS.

- ASSAULT ON NEW OLYMPUS PROLOGUE and INCREDIBLE HERCULES #138 will start a new and important story arc for the Prince of Power, both written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente. INCREDIBLE HERCULES #138 will also kick off a new series of Agents of Atlas back-up features, from writer Jeff Parker. So I take it this means the main series will be cancelled. Sorry AOA fans!

- Limited series DARK X-MEN will be hitting shelves this November, by writer Paul Cornell and artist Leonard Kirk, and will be bringing back one of my favorites from the great comic book shop in the sky, none other than X-Man Nate Grey! Can’t wait!

- S.W.O.R.D. was announced as a new Marvel ongoing series. Newsarama says” Spun out of the pages of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men, S.W.O.R.D. will follow Agent Brand, Beast, and Lockheed as they strike out for new territory unexplored thus far in the Marvel universe.” The creative team involved is writer Kieron Gillen and artist Steven Sanders.

- Lastly an almost pointless Spider-Man mini series was announced, “Writer Paul Tobin and artist Patrick Scherberger give readers a whole new perspective on the classic Secret Wars with SPIDER-MAN AND THE SECRET WARS, a four-issue limited series beginning this December. With each self-contained issue, Tobin returns to a different part of the Secret Wars saga”. I have no Idea why this mini series is needed at all.

So that’s the news round up guys. The big news for me here is the return of Nate Grey. I’m really excited for that. Anything here got your guys attention?

Whoah! That's a lot of previews!

Cover to Deadpool #13, gotta be a contender for cover of the week

Over at CBR we have the following Marvel previews for comics on sale 12 August.
Click the links below to be taken to the preview of your choice.

Cable #13
Captain America Theater Of War: To Soldier On One Shot
Deadpool #13
Dominic Fortune #1
Incredible Hercules #132
Lockjaw and The Pet Avengers #4
Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #14
Marvel Divas #2
Ms. Marvel #43
Pride & Prejudice #5
The Marvels Project #1
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1
Uncanny X-Men #514
Uncanny X-Men: First Class #2
X-Men Forever #5

Ultimate Avengers #1 preview can be found over at IGN here.

I’m looking forward to this. I haven’t liked any of the previous Ultimate titles that much but the art looks great and I’m a fan of Millar’s writing, most of the time. Plus the story sounds good (spoilers on!). From what I know Cap goes AWOL after finding out the Red Skull is his son! The rest of the Avengers then have to hunt him down. Sounds really cool to me, and I love the Red Skull twist.

IGN also has a nice 8 page preview of Daredevil #500. Including a back up story with art by David Aja, as seen above! That makes me very happy. Check out the full preview here.


Over at Newsarama they have a preview (art only) for the upcoming mini-series NOMAD: GIRL WITHOUT A WORLD #1 here. I know Flips the Page will be dying to see that if he hasn’t already.

Finally over at DC’s The Source you get a preview of Batman #689 here. Great cover by Andy Kubert as always. It’s a shame he’s not doing the pencils instead of Mark Bagley.

You also get a preview of Red Robin #3 here.

I’m not a fan of the artwork on this title so I was please to also find out at the Source that “Starting in November with RED ROBIN #6, Marcus To (Aspen’s Soulfire) will step in as the new ongoing artist on RED ROBIN, taking over for Ramon Bachs, who steps over to launch AZRAEL with writer Fabian Nicieza.”

So the good news is that Red Robin gets a new artist, the bad news is that Bachs steps over to Azrael, a series I’m looking forward to. Hopefully I’ll prefer his work on that title.

That’s wraps up previews day I think. Thanks for all your comments this week, they’ve been great. Seems I’m getting around 300 hits a week on my site and that is fantastic. I’m really glad people like to keep coming back to my little blog and I love chatting with you all and reading your comments.

Please also check out the other site I write for; A Comic Book Blog if you get a chance. There are lots of great writers and articles over there and is definitely worth a look.

Have a great weekend guys. What will you be up to? I’ll be reading loads. I've got the Ghost World tpb to read, I’ve also bought lots of old Detective Comics issues really cheap this week. Ones written by Alan Grant, who is one of my fav Batman writers, so I look forward to reading them and trying to catch up with my other huge stack of comics I haven’t got round to reading yet, all the while trying to avoid doing work in the garden that my girlfriend wants me to do!

-Hex

Top Ten Worst Marvel Superhero/Villain Costumes

What makes a bad Superhero/villain costume? That’s a tough question. Because in the world of comic books you’re favorite characters can get away with a lot without looking too silly. Capes for instance, bat ears and even underwear over trousers! But which comic book characters through the years has over stepped the line that little bit too much and committed some series fashion crimes?

Please read on for my opinions on some of the biggest fashion disasters to ever grace the pages of Marvel.
10. Mister Sinister – I kind of have a love hate relationship with this costume. From the tassel type cape and the ridiculously high collar to the cross breed pixie/ kinky thigh high length boots, topped of with a nice big red diamond on the forehead. How very S&M it all is. It’s so bad I can’t help but kinda like it! 9. Power Man- The hero of the New York ghetto didn’t look very “hard” in his original get up. Let’s face it; the rock hard man with skin made of steel wore a girly head band with a yellow blouse and looked more like a dancer from Fame than the street tough hero we all know and love. He has now thankfully updated himself to just a plain black tee and jeans, although I would like him to sport some sort of costume again, just not one as flamboyant as the original.

8. Yellow Jacket – It’s those black wing things. What the hell are they there for? They just look ridiculous. The antennae ears don’t look too cool either.

Joint 7th. Captain Britain/ Union Jack – I stuck these two in together because they are both as bad as each other. They are both rip off’s of Captain America and it seems not much thought was put into the names or the costume designs either. They are so corny, and being British myself, it’s kind of embarrassing that the UK has no really cool superheroes. Who says just because they’re British heroes that they have to have the Union Jack plastered all over them. What a couple of chavs!

6. Captain Wonder – From The Twelve series. Captain Wonder was brought from WWII to the present. Bet he wished he packed some trousers! And what’s with the fin too?

5. Stryfe – Rob Liefeld gets credit for creating this metallic monstrosity. That thing must way a ton. It just looks ridiculous and even beats out Galactus for the worst ever helmet award

4. Citizen V – There have been a few different people under that awfully designed mask, but most have worn a costume resembling the one shown in the above picture. It’s just so tacky, and clichéd with those stars and stripes and the cape, and its not a good cheese ball costume like the Captain America or Superman design, this is just so contrived.

3. Nighthawk –This is just a really bad Hawkman rip off. It looks so naff. Where as Hawkman’s outfit is uber cool, this just looks silly and cheesy. Surely no one takes him seriously.

2. 3-D Man – Red and green together do not make an attractive outfit. Add some crappy symbol on his chest and multiply that by some stupid looking goggles = A god awful costume! Makes me wanna puke when I look at it.

1. Stilt Man – So the lamest Marvel villain ever tops my list. The Inspector Gadget wannabe. Just because you have go go gadget legs does not make you look good or in anyway make you a respectable villain. It’s the worst villain gimmick ever, and the gimmick is all in the costume.

Honorable mention:
Hercules – Why? Because the womanizing, beer guzzling God of strength wears a skirt. He's cool and all, but he is still wearing a skirt. The gladiator boots are in fashion at the moment though, I do see a lot of girls wearing them. But is he so manly that he actually pulls it off!?

Thanks for reading guys. I'd love to know your thoughts on my list and would love to read your Top 10 Worst Marvel Costumes, so please comment below.

-Hex