Interview with Robert Kirkman on 'The Walking Dead' TV show

Do you like zombies????? Of course you do!

The news of a 'Walking Dead' TV series (based on the critically acclaimed post-zombie apocalypse comic book series from Image) has been floating around for a while now, but this nice little interview over at MTV with creator Robert Kirkman goes a little into how things are actually shaping up with the TV adaptation.

Check it HERE.

I think a this could be great, the comic book series is written like a TV drama anyway and with Kirkman's involvement the transition should hopefully be pretty smooth and honour the source material well.

This reminds me that I need to pick up Walking Dead Vol.10 TPB soon or I'm gonna get behind.

Man.... why are zombies just so cool??

Hex's Pull List - 09/30/09

DC
Green Lantern #46

MARVEL
Secret Warriors #8
Spider-Man Clone Saga #1
X-Factor #49
X-Force #19
X-Men Forever #8

Nice size week, this is more like it, I don’t feel too bad or guilty each week if I’m only buying six books, It allows me to free up some cash and maybe I can get round to picking up one of TPB’s from my long lists of must buys, that just keeps growing and growing, or grabbing some older x-men back issues from e-bay.

I’m looking forward to reading the Clone Saga, just for the subject matter really. I never read the original but have always been fascinated by the idea of it and how it is universally hated, so the idea of the Clone Sage revisited and (apparently) told as it was intended intrigues me.

What are you guys picking up?

X-Men Legacy Annual #1 – Review

X-Men Legacy Annual #1 – Review

Story by
Mike Carey
Art by
Daniel Acuna, Mirco Pierfederici

Emplate the mutant sucking vampire is back people, yes the same one from the Generation X days. Apparently he has been starving since M day and is on the hunt for some mutants to sustain his hunger, it’s pretty handy for him that all the mutants are now all cooped up in one place on Utopia Island, it’s like a mutant drive through.

There are some really good action scenes as Emplate battles and dominates against Cyclops X-Men. Another highlight are the scenes between Cyclops and Rogue as they discuss the future guidance of the younger mutants on the island.

Daniel Acuna’s art is just simply gorgeous, and I love his rendering of all the different X-Men characters and designs.

There was a second feature following Gambit on a mission to destroy Norman Osborn’s mutant power sucking machine (as you can tell the name for the machine escapes me right now). Gambit runs into a spot of bother and what’s very interesting is we find out that his Death powers (the ones given to him by Apocalypse) are still bubbling under the service and are activated during the battle, very unfortunately for Gambit’s foe.

This is a great issue. “Bold new direction!” says the cover and while it's not quite 'bold' the story threads with Emplate, Rogue’s leadership concerns and Gambit’s power issues make this a very interesting book going forward.

Hex's score: 4 out of 5

The most bad-ass cover of the year!

And Hex's award for the most bad-ass cover of the year goes too.... well, we don't know yet, but it features one of the current Atoms (could be Ray or Ryan) about to be eaten like a Snickers bar by the older now zombiefied Atom. I found this image posted over at DC's blog the Source, it's obviously a Blackest Night tie-in but we don't know what issue it relates to yet, possible JSA or JLA? Any way the sheer awesomeness of this literally made my jaw drop when I saw it. Fantastic stuff.

Matt's Mini Reviews

These books are weeks old now but I’m just catching up. As they are older ones, I’m sure I want be spoiling to much for you guys, so I’m just gonna do a quick ramble on what I though of each issue.


Batman and Robin #4

A real shift in art here as Philip Tan starts his arc. The panel lay outs are great, the coloring is dark and suits the mood of the book, Morrison picks up on various plot threads from his previous Batman work and I cant get enough of it. It’s like a long soap opera, he really is a complete master of the comic book form especially his work on Batman. Each issue needs to be studied like you would a text book, each phrase and action and re-action is there for a reason, nothing is included without lots of thought. Genius at work here, but that is just my opinion. The Red Hood & Scarlet were totally terrifying too, is the Red Hood Jason Todd? It certainly seemed like it at the end of this issue, but maybe there were some clues in there that it’s someone else?

4.5 Out of 5

Blackest Night #3

Wow, you got to feel for Firestorm after this issue, it was really messed up. That’s why Geoff Johns is so great. I love the use of other characters from the DCU, not just the GL’s. The Indigo Tribe make there presence known and it’s about time. A solid issue, good action and good character work, I’m sure all the goodness will continue to the next chapter.

3.5 Out of 5

Captain America Reborn #3

Some of the art feels really rushed on this issue. I am enjoying this series overall, but we need to be getting somewhere a bit quicker. There is a really cool action scene on the airplane where the Falcon stages a rescue of Bucky, probably one of the highlights of the mini-series so far. This series is good but I wanted the return of Steve Rogers to be great. 2 issues to go let’s hope it can get there.

3 out of 5

Dark Reign List Daredevil One Shot

This surprised me and I liked it much more than I thought I would. Daredevil really is the human punch bag of the Marvel U. Just when you think things cant get any worse for him, he decides to play cat and mouse with Bullseye and as a result, Bullseye is let loose and able to blow up a huge building full of innocent families, just to give a big two fingers up at Murdock. Man that Bullseye is evil! There was a great twist at the end also, with Master Izo being captured by Ninja clan the Hand, sure to face the death penalty as one of Daredevils tests to become leader of the Hand. I hadn’t planned on picking up Daredevil now Brubaker had left, but Diggle MIGHT have just pulled me back in.

3.5 Out of 5

Mini reviews of X-Factor #48, Blackest Night: Batman #2, X-Men Legacy Annual #1 & Sword #19 coming soon.

Read Surrogates #1 for FREE!

So the Surrogates movie staring Bruce Willis is out at the cinema, anyone seen it yet? I haven’t but I do plan on doing so at some point. But if like me you didn’t really know much about it (I knew it was based on a comic and Robots were involved, that was about it) Newsarama have made available the full first issue of the comic book series available to read for free HERE.

I read and really enjoyed the issue. It’s a futuristic noir/ detective type story and although at first I wasn’t sure about the scratchy style art, after a few pages I felt it totally fit with the style and tone of the book and made it feel darker and more mysterious and intriguing, and definitely of an alien/ futuristic setting. I'm definately considering picking up the rest of the series in TPB and look forward to seeing the movie, now I know a bit more of what it's about.

If this sounds like something you’re gonna dig then you can read the full first issue for free just by clicking HERE.

Enjoy guys, and let me know what you thought, of both the film and comic, do they compare? Which is better? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Hex out.

Revisiting the "Phalanx Covenant", and why it rocked!

So recently I’ve been re-reading my old x-men comics in chronological order, and just last night I read the Phalanx Covenant, specifically the ‘Generation Next’ story featured in Uncanny X-Men #316 – 317 & X-Men #36-37 (I’ll be reading the concluding parts of the Phalanx in the other x-titles next). I haven’t read these in a while, but basically I thought they rocked. Here’s why:

1. This story line introduces 'Generation Next' to the Marvel U.

Basically this storyline was set up for that exact reason. A new title was being born called Generation Next by Scott Lobdell & Chris Bachalo. These characters were the next generation of mutants, and were a real sorry looking and weird bunch, but that was also their appeal. I have the first 15 or so issues of that series and from what I remember they were pretty good (they’ll be re-read soon also.) The Phalanx Covenant introduces most of the young mutants that will feature in the new title and they were; Skin, Synch, Husk, M & Blink (who didn’t actually make it to ‘Generation Next', but more on her later).

2. A change in writing style.

This was the first few issues where I could generally sense that style in which comics were written were beginning to change. Especially X-Men comics. From the late 80’s through to the early 90s there was a lot of inner monologue from each character and a lot of over explaining everything. For instance it seemed in every issue every time a mutant/ X-Man was seen on page we had to have 3-4 captions explaining their mutant powers and their back story. I can understand this is helpful for new readers, but reading virtually the same text issue after issue got a bit tiresome. In these few issues though I started to get the fell that the writer was moving away from this, dialogue was more realistic and the feel of the book was moving more towards how today’s comics read.

3. Joe Madureira on pencils.

Well, on Uncanny at least, and it really is stunning work. He had already done a couple of issues for uncanny but this is where he started hitting his peak. The forms of characters are much better than they were before this and are later in his career (Ultimates 3!). But overall I adored his work on Uncanny X-Men and Age of Apocalypse. His slight manga style mixed with traditional American superhero work look fantastic, and really influenced other artists (both good and bad). Andy Kubert a few months later noticeably adjusted his style on ‘X-Men’ to look more ‘Jo Mad’, and I think it looked awesome . Check out the images for Uncanny I have posted here for an idea of Joe's work then.

4. Foil Covers.

These issues had a card stock cover with a foil/ metallic strip down the front of them to resemble the robots of the Phalanx. I am a sucker for foil covers for some reason (and the x-titles in the 90’s had quite a few). I think its probably just a total 90’s nostalgia trip, I would never pay full wack for a new comic with a foil cover when I can have the same new issue at normal price, but for back issues that you can pick up cheap... why not?.


5. Blink’s sacrifice.

The character that just got introduced, sacrifices her life to save the rest of the next generation of mutants. It’s a great moment. We do see her again a few months later in the parallel universe of Age of Apocalypse, where she becomes one of the most popular characters in the AOA universe amongst fans.

6. Banshee becomes a Bad Ass!

Seriously, in this comic, he is really cool. I never cared for him before, but this is a great way of re-introducing the character to a new generation of readers and making fans care about him again before him becomes the new mentor and lead character in Generation X.

7. Villains do good.

Sabertooth is a major player and helps Banshee battle the Phalanx, and Emma Frost AKA The White Queen, begins her path to redemption. She ends up becoming the second mentor for Generation Next which basically sets her on the path for the character she is today.

So thanks for bearing with me on my trip down memory lane. I would say if you’re a fan of the x-titles today or just like great artwork these issues are definitely worth a look.

Those of you who have read these (X-Man75 i know you must have) hit me back and let me know what YOU thought of these issues.

Hex Out

Pull list - 23/09/09 - Already?

I've been feeling pretty ill for the past week and have been off work (yay!), so sorry for the lack of posts (not so yay!). Anyway, I haven’t even got round to reading most of last weeks books yet, but here we are again; new comic book day. So this is what I’ll be getting:

DC

Blackest Night Superman #2

Detective Comics #857

Superman Secret Origin #1

The Web #1

Wednesday Comics #12

MARVEL

Dark Reign List X-Men One Shot

Dark X-Men Confession One Shot

Immortal Weapons #3

Incredible Hulk #602

New Avengers #57

Wolverine Giant-Size Old Man Logan #1

Wolverine Origins #40

Pretty big week for me. Superman: Secret Origin #1is definitely my highlight of the week. Johns & Frank back together on Superman! I hope it's as good as their Action Comics run.

What you guys getting, and which book are you looking forward to the most?

War of Kings: Who Will Rule? #1 - Review

War of Kings: Who Will Rule? #1 - Review

Story by
Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning
Art by
Paul Pelletier, Andrew Hennessy

I was a bit annoyed at having to pick this issue up to complete the recent ‘War of Kings’ storyline from Marvel. I’d bought the complete six issue mini series expecting the story line to be resolved within the last issue, but with what seems to becoming more and more of a trend (obviously to get more cash from us fans), we are told that this extra one shot will bring an end to the War of Kings saga. So I reluctantly parted with my hard earned cash and bought the extra issue. But was it worth it?

If you want true finality to this story arc then I would suggest yes.

Just a quick re-cap for those who didn’t pick up the ‘War of Kings’ mini:
- The Kree /Inhumans won
- The Shi’ar lost.
- Lilandra of the Shi’ar is killed and both Vulcan and Black Bolt die in the huge final battle which causes a tear in the fabric of space and time itself.

This issue dealt with the aftermath, and is a slow paced but good issue. The Shi’ar Empire is in Civil War and the Inhumans are mourning the loss of their king Black Bolt. The Inhumans arrive in the Shi’ar to appoint a new ‘Majestor’ the day of Lilandra’s funeral and end up in conflict with the Imperial Guard who still fight against the Kree/ Inhuman rule as they believe that Vulcan could still be alive. The battle between the two groups provides the action for this issue and is quite enjoyable. The main part of the story however is told from Gladiator’s perspective, who after the battle with the Imperial Guard, reluctantly decides to take up the mantle of ‘Majestor’ to the Sh’iar to try and bring some order to the empire. I like the idea of Gladiator finally stepping out of the shadows and coming to the forefront as ruler. His character has great potential as the pride and strong will he constantly has to battle against makes him an interesting read.

Another great story potential is the tear in space and time caused by Vulcan & Black Bolts final battle. As mentioned in the beginning of this issue, this rip in the fabric of space could possibly serve as a doorway to other dimensions and universes, so the potential for exploration story lines and other new threats is huge.

In the end this is a true epilogue to the recent War of Kings mini series but that should not put people off buying this issue if it interests you at all, as it also serves as a stepping stone to the next cosmic chapter in the Marvel U, Realm of Kings. Seems like Gladiator will get his time in the spot light for a little longer yet, so I’ll have my head in the Marvel U star’s for a little longer too.

Hex's score - 3.5 out of 5

Marvel previews - Comics on sale 09/23/09!

Marvel Comics has provided CBR with advance looks at new comics on sale next Wednesday, September 23, 2009.

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

"Anita Blake, The Laughing Corpse - Necromancer" #5
"Avengers: The Initiative" #28
"Dark Reign: The List - X-Men"
"Dark X-Men: The Confession"
"Ender's Shadow: Command School" #1
"Fantastic Force" #4
"Fantastic Four" #571
"Guardians of the Galaxy" #18
"Immortal Weapons" #3
"Incredible Hercules" #135
"Incredible Hulk" #602
"Ms. Marvel" "45
"New Avengers" #57
"Nova" #29
"Riftwar" #4
"Spider-Woman" #1
"Uncanny X-Men" #515
"Wolverine First Class" #19
"Wolverine Origins" #40
"Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size"

Checking the previews I was really happy to find that Immortal Weapons #3 is drawn by the brilliant Tom Green II. He previously did a great stand alone issue in the Iron Fist series about a futuristic Iron Fist and it was awesome work. He also penciled a previous Star-Lord mini series prior to Guardians of the Galaxy and again it looked great, his style is so unique.

Great Wolverine week next week. Wolverine Origins #40 is the conclusion to the “Romulus” arc which has been pretty good, but I really hope we get some answers, and it doesn’t lead into some other storyline. I mean I think Romulus was first mention in Wolverine 50 a couple of years ago. The mystery has gone on long enough. I want to know who Romulus really is, i.e. some history about him, and why he keeps messing with Logan.

The “Old Man Logan” conclusion is also here, and again the artwork looks fantastic. I’m sure this issue will be all out mayhem, I can’t wait to read that one.

Checking the preview for Uncanny X-Men #515 I see Greg Land is back on art unfortunately, so I probably wait this story arc out until Dobson returns on the next one.

Spider-Woman.... well, I'm on the fence about that one, but the art does look really dark and beautiful. You guys picking it up?

So have a look guys, and let me know what is listed above that you just can’t wait to get your grubby little hands on.

Robinson's new JLA roster

Interesting line up, it seems the main theme is that the younger heroes are getting their shot in the BIG super hero team. A lot of Titans seem to have been promoted.

Im happy to see Ollie there and the Guardian is a cool pick, he has been the best part about Robinson's Superman run imo. But as interesting as the line up is I probabley wont be buying this book as I'm not loving the creative team at the moment.

What are you guys thinking about the roster? Happy, sad, surprised?

Read The Sword #15 for FREE - You lucky, lucky people!

Image have allowed Newsarama to post the full issue of The Sword #15 for you to read for FREE! But I should warn you this comic is for Mature readers.

This is one of my favorite tiles on the shelves right now. So if you've ever thought about checking it out, but didn't want to risk your hard earned dollars, now's your chance.

If you do give it a read, let me know your thoughts, or if you have any questions on the series, I'd be more that happy to answer them for you.

Anyway enough of me, go ahead and check out The Sword #15 HERE.

District 9 – Review

District 9 – Review

Well it’s been a couple of weeks now since I went to see District 9, and everyone else has probably seen it so I don’t want to bang on about it too much. Basically I just wanted to say that if you haven’t seen it, I think it’s one of the most important films of recent years and definitely deserves your attention. That’s not to say I think it’s perfect, I don’t. The first half hour or so with the documentary style filming was pretty boring and I didn’t think I was going to like this film at all. After the lead character is infected in the ‘prawns’ camp however, and slowly begins to change into one of the ‘prawns’ (think The Fly) the film takes a completely drastic and brilliant turn, switching gears and completely upping the excitement. This movie is part horror, part sci-fi and part action. The film deals with racism, fear of the unknown, love and determination.

The effects are mind blowing for the relatively low budget used. I actually felt really moved by the story of the main ‘prawn’ and his son, I really wanted them to make it home alive, bearing in mind that they were, from what I can gather, completely computer generated, that gives a real sense of how strong the effects were and how well the actual story was written.

As I said, District 9 is not perfect, but it IS a great film, and one that I can’t help but feel that will be kept in very high regard by both sci-fi and general film fans alike, for many years to come.

Previews please!

Dark Reign: The List - X-Men - Preview

Batman and Robin #4 - Preview

Brave & Bold #27 -Preview

R.E.B.E.L.S #8 - Preview

Check out Streets of Gotham and Action Comics

Batman: Streets of Gotham #4

I love that freaky cover. Creeps me out. I’m sure the main story will be as good as ever, I just hope the Manhunter back up gets better this issue, it’s the worst back up story from DC I’ve read so far.

Check the preview here.

Action Comics #881

I’m not gonna be buying this, but if you guys want to see the preview before you step in to your stores tomorrow, check it here.

Hex’s Pull List – 09/16/09

Loads of good stuff shipping tomorrow. I'll be getting:

Batman and Robin #4
Batman Streets of Gotham #4
Blackest Night #3
Wednesday Comics #11
Captain America Reborn #3
Dark Avengers #9
Dark Reign List Daredevil One Shot
X-Factor #48
X-Men Legacy Annual #1
Sword #19

Action Comics is out this week. But I won’t be picking it up. I’ve had enough of the current Superman Universe for the time being. Action Comics was one of the best titles on the stands when Johns & Frank were on that title, but since they left Action Comics, and with Robinson on ‘Superman’, the books have been on a very large downward spiral. I;ll just ge my fix from Superman: Secret Origins when that hits.

I’m reluctantly going to pick up Dark avengers #9, to help follow the new story arc in Secret Avengers, and with the hope that Ares will face off against Nick Fury, as the cover suggests.

And Philip Tan on Batman & Robin. I’m looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

What are you guys reading this week?

DVD's - What I'm buying.

I loved the latest Star Trek film, and I can honestly say before that I never had any interest whatsoever in watching Star Trek the Next Generation of any of the previous films Star Trek films. I always liked the original series. I wasn’t a die hard fan or anything but the campness amused me and it definitely had better characters than later series in my opinion.

Anyway as I said before I really dug the new Star Trek film, one of my fav films of the year so far. I felt it really done an amazing job of bringing the franchise to a new audience (i.e. me) so I was eagerly awaiting details of the DVD release from various companies in the UK trying to decide what exclusives you get from each company etc. Anyway after doing a bit of research there wasn’t too many exclusive out there. With the Iron Man film last year I was able to get a 2 disc Steelbook version with a mini sized Iron-Man #1. Basically an awesome package, so I was looking for something similar. This is what I went for in the end, and ordered for the November release date:

Star Trek XI (2-Disc Edition) with Free Comic Book (from IDW) (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk)




I decided to go for this as it came with the free mini comic book (shown above - I believe it is issue 1 of the Prequal series from IDW -Star Trek: Countdown). I’m a comic book fan, so it was ano brainer really.

Terminator Salvation was also available to pre-order, a film that I though as a stand alone action flick was really quite enjoyable. I had a search around on the net for exclusives again and Play.com have a steelbook available but it seems only single disc. In fact the only 2-disc edition I could find available to pre-order in the UK was over at HMV.COM, it just so happens that it came with this amazing Terminator head packaging.

Terminator 4: Salvation: 2dvd: Hmv Exclusive


How cool is that. I normally don’t like this type of casing (I have seen previous ones for Iron Man, Dark Night & Watchmen) as I always though they looked quite cheap but this one by far has the best detail. I think it will look pretty evil peering off my DVD shelf. Again this will be shipped to me in November when the DVD is released here in the UK.

So I was wondering, I always see amazing DVD exclusives over in the US and wondered if any of you guys got any cool deals on these on any other DVDs? What’s your favorite DVD exclusive you own, or plan on getting?

Hex out.

Dark Avengers/ Uncanny X-Men: Exodus - Review

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus – Review

Written by: Matt Fraction Art by: Terry Dodson & Mike Deodato

Well the final chapter of Utopia arrived in an extra sized format for an extra sized showdown between the Dark Avengers & the X-Men, it’s the confrontation we have been waiting for in this whole story arc, but unfortunately this issue left out too many plot threads, the characterization was off and was pretty much all round poorly executed.

The issue starts with a flashback (I think) of Cyclops and Emma in their bedroom contemplating whether or not to reveal their individual secrets to each other about their recent shady actions (i.e. Scott forming X-Force and Emma meeting with Norman). But this is not resolved, this is basically a quick advert, and if we want to know the outcome on their discussion we have to pick up Dark X-Men: The Confession. How annoying!

We then switch to the Dark Avengers attacking the X-Men on their island; Utopia, and this pretty much occupies the remainder of the issue. While the action is enjoyable enough, we are let down on previous plot points, such as; we don’t find out what happens to Beast (he was recently depowered in previous issues and started loosing his blue fur, but we don’t yet know to what extent this has affected him), and we also don’t see anything of Mystique at all, who had been deceiving the public as Professor X.

Speaking of Professor X I felt Fraction really wrote him out of character. There was this one scene where Emma rescues Charles and he gives the impression that he and the X-Men must make sure Osborn pays for what he has done. That’s not the peace loving ‘All humans & Mutants need to learn to live together’ guy I know, that’s not the same guy who takes in feral killers like Wolverine & Sabertooth under his wing to try and rehabilitate them. And I’m pretty certain this was not Mystique in disguise as Charles’s telepathy powers were displayed.
One of the better scenes was the start of the confrontation between Angel & Hawkeye/ Bullseye. Warren flies the villain off the Island to keep him out off the way but just as they start to get into a great match up, annoyingly we cut away from the action. Then inexplicably at the end, Warren and Bullseye are seen back on the Island, with no explanation how they got there!

As for art duties, they were split between Terry Dodson & Mike Deodato. The two have very contrasting styles, but I didn’t mind so much as Deodato was used for the main story, and Dodson used for flashback/ side stories. While I think Deodato is a great penciler, I really didn’t like his panel lay outs on this, that really let him down.

All in all, this had sloppy execution, but quite an enjoyable big fight finale. It was just frustrating that a few plot points were still left dangling, but I suppose Marvel need to sell more X-Men books, right? They really do drag these stories out these days, and no last chapter is ever the last chapter. And likewise this story will continue next in Dark Reign: The List – X-Men & Dark X-Men: The Confession. I hope that those titles perform a bit better than this one.

Score: 2.5 out of 5.

The next Batman & Robin artist is...

A new Batman & Robin artist has been announced to follow Phillip Tan’s arc on the title. The person in question is Cameron Stewart, who has previously worked on CATWOMAN and Vertigo’s SEAGUY.

I thought I wasn’t familiar with Stewarts work but after a quick look on the net for more of his previous stuff it turns out that his was the artist on The Other Side series by Jason Aaron. If you haven’t read it it’s a great Vietnam story about the horrors of war and the effect it has on soldiers, and more importantly here, it’s a really nice looking book. There is some fantastic haunting imagery in the book as the soldiers are constantly hallucinating and experiencing some frightening scenes. So basically I’m pleased with this news. Morrison obviously likes working with Stewart as they are already collaborating on Seaguy, so no doubt Morrison will write to Stewart’s strengths and hopefully the serious will continue strong. A cover sketch for Batman & Robin by Stewart can be seen above.

Marvel Previews - Comics on sale 17/09/09

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

"Agents of Atlas" #11
"Captain America: Reborn" #3
"Dark Avengers" #9
"Dark Reign: The List - Daredevil"
"Dark Wolverine" #78
"Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth" #3
"Dominic Fortune" #2
"Invincible Iron Man" #18
"Mighty Avengers" #29
"Punisher" #9
"Thor Annual" #1
"Ultimate Comics Armor Wars" #1
"Uncanny X-Men: First Class" #3
"Vengeance of the Moon Knight" #1
"War Machine" #9
"X-Factor" #48
"X-Men Legacy Annual" #1

I love Daniel Acuna's art and from the preview it looks as good as ever, so I'll make sure I pick up X-Men Legacy Annual. X-Factor looks to be good as usual (though the cover is hideous). Not much else there that's too exciting for me from these previews.

Anything you guys like the look of?

Mini Reviews! - JLA -BLAND Justice #3 & Sweet Tooth

Justice League – Cry for Justice #3

On the strength of this appalling issue this title is now being dropped. This had the single worse dialogue of any comic I have ever read. I cannot believe a well respected writer is producing this crap. (But maybe I should have seen this coming as the only work of Robinsons I think I have ever enjoyed is the Jimmy Olsen: Superman’s pal one shots, which says a lot. I blame myself for buying his work for this long.) Some of the most stupid and cheesiest lines are used; “Are you a hero or a villain?” & “I’m good, not evil” and still more of; “I want JUSTICE!” (Jesus! We get the point!) but yet all the characters do is continuously stand around talking shit. I’ve decided while the art looks pretty, it is not right for the interior of a comic book, everything is far too static and boring. I will not be picking up any more issues of this or Superman (another title by Robinson that has been on the verge of being dropped by me for some time now) nor will I bother with JLA when he takes over on the main series. This comic was just complete crap. I can’t believe I paid $3.99 for this. Avoid if you value your intelligence.

0 out of 5

Sweet Tooth #1 - Review

This was an absolute pleasure to read. This is a real heart warming tale of a boy who is born different, and is kept away from the rest of the world by his father for fear that the boy may be hunted by others and taken away (It seems our lead character is not the only animal/human hybrid and it appears they are very valuable to hunters). In this issue we learn that the boy has already lost his mother to illness, and his father soon goes the same way. The boy’s curiosity for the out side world takes him away from the safety of his home where he is met by immediate danger, and then saved by a strange man who our lead has been having recurring nightmares about.

This was a really good read and at a cost of only $1 I definitely would tell everyone to pick this up. If you don’t like it, what the hell it’s only cost a dollar. I can’t praise Vertigo enough for their pricing on no. 1 issues when companies like Marvel stick a $3.99 price tag on all their no. 1’s.
I’m not going to buy each issue as I believe Vertigo titles read better in trade paper back, but on the strength of this issue I can’t wait to have the collection on my shelf.

4.5 out of 5.

Blackest Night: Batman #2 - Preview

Nice preview over at IGN. You can check it HERE.

I wasn't crazy about the first issue, but Tomasi is a good writer and it looks like we'll get some Tim Drake action this issue too, so I look forward to reading this.

Hex's Pull List 09/10/2009

DC

Adventure Comics #2

Blackest Night Batman #2

Green Lantern Corps #40

Red Robin #4

Secret Six #13

The Shield #1

Wednesday Comics #10

MARVEL

Dark Avengers Uncanny X-Men Exodus

Dark Reign List Avengers One Shot

Kick-Ass #7

Ultimate Comics Avengers #2
War of Kings Who Will Rule #1

X-Men Forever #7

13 this week, but out of that I believe 7 are $3.99 books. All of the Marvel books this week are $3.99 except Kick-Ass. I’m really starting to feel these price increases each week.

Wednesday Comics is nearly finished, and I’m quite glad. What started off as a fantastic series has been a bit of a let down the last couple of weeks, with all the stories becoming a bit bland, and I think the whole newspaper novelty thing has now worn off. But I’ve bought the last 9 issues, so I’ll keep at it to the end (12 issues in total), hoping that it will finish strong.

'Kick-Ass #7' finally! I’m sure it will deliver the goods.

I hope we get some good Gladiator action in 'War of Kings: Who Will Rule', I love the idea as having him as the new Shi'ar ruler.

I hope we’ll find out what happens to the big blue fur ball Beast in; 'Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men- Exodus' and whether he retains his blue fur or not. It’s been quite an enjoyable cross over by Matt Fraction over all and I hope the story threads are tied up nicely in this issue.

What are you guys getting?

X-Force #18 - Review

X-Force #18 - Review

WRITER: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost

PENCILS: Mike Choi

COLORED BY: Sonia Oback

This may be a little harsh but, I think Mike Choi may be the new Rob Liefeld. Why? Well because the guy draws a human torso with like a million muscles on it. It is really ridiculous. Warpath looks like a Native American girl (all be it a very muscle bound one) as he has the most feminine of facial features and the butt muscles on Rahne Sinclair in her Wolfsbane mode…well, they need to be seen to be believed. And who could of missed the last page arm incident…Ha! But we’ll get to that in a bit, what did I actually think if the story? Well, I liked it actually.

We jump straight into the action following last issue. The premise is that young mutants (in this case Surge & Hellion) are being kidnapped and infected with a strain of the Legacy Virus that will make their powers flair out of control and in effect become walking time bombs. This is a story that started back before the X-Force/ Cable cross over “Messiah War” and in this issue; X-Force, back from the future, get to the two mutants just in time to save them and other innocent by standers from certain death. It’s very handy having Elixir on your team who is a mutant healer as he is then able to use his mutant power to remove all traces of the Legacy Virus from the two young mutants.

Elsewhere, X-23 is captured by supposed S.H.I.E.L.D agents after rescuing Boom Boom (or whatever she is being called now) last issue. Now I don’t know about X-23’s background, but from what I gather it appears to me that she may have ended up as a captive of her original creators who at the climax of the issue proceed to torture her with a chainsaw – chopping off her right arm, as shown in one panel – but which actually appears to be her left arm in another panel, hence supporting my Mike Choi = New Rob Liefeld argument.

Yes this book has a lot of mindless violence, but the team leader is Wolverine so what do you expect? If you want a good action packed X-book with mutant mayhem every month, this is the title for you, if you don’t mind all the male characters looking like Miss Universe contestants that is.

Hex’s score - 3.5 out of 5

Previews day

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

"Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus"
"Dark Reign: The List - Avengers"
"Enders Game: Command School" #1
"Hulk Team-Up"
"Incredible Hercules" #134
"Kick-Ass" #7
"Marvel Adventures Super Heroes" #15
"Marvel Super Hero Squad" #1
"Models, Inc." #1
"Nomad: Girl Without A World" #1
"Punisher Frank Castle" #74
"The Marvels Project" #2
"Thunderbolts" #135
"Ultimate Comics Avengers" #2
"X-Men Forever" #7

Kick Ass 7 is nearly here- finally!

Plus from DC

Red Robin #4 preview - HERE

Adventure Comics #2 preview - HERE

Have a great weekend guys, I'm off to see District 9 tonight as it's released in England today and I'll do a post on my thoughts of that another time. I've heard nothing but good things so I'm really excited.

Laters

Incredible Hulk #601 - Mini Review

Incredible Hulk #601

WRITER: Greg Pak Fred Van Lente
PENCILS: Ariel OlivettiMichael Ryan

He’s back! Well not really actually.

This was pretty much what I expected, it’s a fun ride with great art by Olivetti, but his style is very much love it or hate it. After a long time of just the Hulk it’s really good just to have Banner back. There are some great scenes between the smartest men in the Marvel U as they discover that the Hulks Gamma is missing from Banners blood stream. Other highlights include Banner coming to the rescue of a young boy who is about to get a beating from an abusive father and another where Bruce come face to face with his own son Skaar and decides to help train and prepare him for the inevitable return of Hulk. Cool idea. Next issue will feature Skaar vs. the Juggernaut! Awesome.

The back up feature starring the Savage She Hulk feels like you have landed right in the middle of the story, which is off putting. I have no idea what is going on and who any one is but it was quite fun nonetheless.

3.5 out of 5

Mini reviews - round 2

Blackest Night Superman #1 – Review

Because I wasn’t that crazy about the Batman tie-in to Blackest Night I wasn’t really in an urgency to read this issue, but I was pleasantly surprised, manly due to great art work by Eddy Barrows, he does a really good job here, and it makes me wish he was back on Action Comics full time. Robinson is a bit hit and miss with me, but I like the characters used here and the dialogue between them and it was quite an enjoyable read overall. Kal-L & Lois of Earth 2 are the Black Lanterns here, and we are left wondering whether Pa Kent will be next in line to be raised from the dead. It’s an obvious plot twist but one that still pulls on my heart strings a little and I look forward to see what does happen with Pa.

3 out of 5

X-Men Legacy #227 - Review

After a great tie-in to Utopia last issue, this one was a bit of a let down. It was more of the same, but something was just missing and I’m sot sure what. The Ms. Marvel fight takes up most of the issue which has some cool moments but there was no real progression story wise. The Utopia tie-in could have been one issue easy. The art was fine but again, I remember enjoying it more last issue.

2.5 out of 5

X-Men Forever #6 – Review

Total average filler issue. Grummett is off art for this one but this is still a fine looking book. Very boring story though, the danger room gets out of control and goes wild and nearly kills the X-Men but we have seen that story a thousand times. I don’t mind though. The first 5 issues were so much fun; I know that this was just filling in before we get back to the good stuff next issue.

2.5 out of 5.

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size Preview – First Look

IGN have a sneak peek of the art to the final issue of the fantastic Old Man Logan arc by Mark Millar & Steve McNiven due for release on 23rd September.

I’ve loved this story and can’t wait to see how Logan ends up. The art has been so fantastic, as you can see by the awesome cover shown above. Anyone else looking forward to this?

Check the preview by clicking here.

Hex's Late Pull List - 1/09/09

(Cover to Sweet Tooth #1)

It's another late post, but our comics in the UK are due out today, and here's what I'll be picking up.

DC
Justice League Cry for Justice #3
Wednesday Comics #9
Sweet Tooth #1 (Vertigo)


MARVEL
Cable #18

Ghost Riders: Heavens on Fire #2
Immortal Weapons #2
Incognito #6

YES! A nice small week to help me catch up. I'm mostly looking forward to the final issue of Incognito, it's been a great series and when I finally can get round to it I'll pick up the Criminal TPB's by the same guys.

I'll also check out Sweet Tooth as it's only $1. Did anyone else pick this up?

So yeah, this pull list is late, and most of you guys have probably got or ordered your comics by now, so what did you get?

Mega mini reviews!

I’m so behind on my comic books because there has been so many I’ve picked up in the last couple of weeks I haven’t got round to reading them all yet. Due to that some of these reviews might be for older comics (I’ve lost track to be honest), but I want to try and do as many mini reviews as I can from now on so here we go:

Batman and Robin #3 - Review

Really really great. The usual thick layering of Morrison’s Batman work continues. Like his run on Batman, Morrison’s comics don’t always read that great as single issues but read together they are fantastic. Pyg as a villain is insanely sick and brilliant and my fav Batman villain for a long time. Quitely also does great work here (and I’m not generally a fan). Stand out scene was when Pyg had Robin tied to the chair and danced provocatively in front of him before Damian responds by saying “You just redefined ‘Wrong’” – Fan-fucking-tastic. Damian rocks.

4 out of 5

Detective Comics #856 - Review

The great work here continues. This really is one of my favorite titles. It is just so beautiful. Rucka pulls no punches when it comes to Kate’s sexuality and I love that. The story is intriguing, but discussion with the supporting cast can be a little confusing, if like me you had never read any story with Kate Kane/Batwoman before. Like Pyg in the pages of Batman & Robin another great addition to the villains of Gotham is the haunting Alice.

Finally The Question back up should not be ignored, this is the best co-feature DC is producing, and like the books namesake is a great little detective story.

4.5 out of 5

Red Circle: The Shield #1 - Review

Ummmm…. It was okay, But I was expecting more after the last issue (The Web) that was pretty good.
So the story goes that the main character is injured in the army. The US government then save his life by attaching liquid armor to his skin that can be absorbed into his body. It allows for super strength and flight amongst about a hundred other things. It’s basically really ridiculous. The little story hook is that the Shield’s father is actually alive (when the Shield believes him dead) and appears to be connected in the background of the Shield project some how. An average read. I’ll try the first issue or so when the regular series hits but I’m not too excited.

2 out of 5

Dark Avengers #8 - Review

Cyclops as the new mutant Messiah! A bit hypocritical really, as at the end of this issue the X-Men raise their ‘Utopia’ island from the sea and declare they want mutants to be separate from humans on the main land, but isn’t that what Magneto did with Asteroid M and what the X-Men are meant to fight against? Anyway, I loved this issue, the best of the cross over so far. Emma and Namor show their true colors to Osborn, which will lead into the big fight finale one-shot between the Dark Avengers and X-Men. It was played well, and rocked. Fraction did a really good job on this issue. All I want to know is what happened to Beast? He sort of disappeared in the middle of the issue, I hope we find out in the next chapter, he looked so sad with his little cat eyes.

4 out of 5

Wolverine Origins #39 - Review

Romulus is here! Finally this is what I have been waiting for. This title was pretty shit form day one but ever since Dark Reign it’s been pretty good. This was a chapter where a couple of big X-Men villains die. Romulus, for those of you who haven’t been reading this book, is the mastermind behind every shitty event in Wolverines life, ever. How are connected? Why has Romulus been doing this to Wolverine? Not sure yet. But he looks like he could be Wolvie’s dad or granddad or something. GIVE ME THE ANSWERS NOW! Or at least next issue… please!!!!!

4 out of 5

Check back tomorrow for mini reviews of Blackest Night Superman #1, X-Men Legacy #227 and more!