Saturday, 5 December 2009

Millar & McNiven on 'Nemesis'

Superstar comic creators Mark Millar and Steve McNiven (Civil War & Old Man Logan) have spoken to CBR about their next project 'Nemesis' due out next year. Here's some bits of the interview from Millar of what it's about:

Millar: But, yeah. "Nemesis" is a reversal of the Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark archetype. What if this genius billionaire was just this total shit, and the only thing that stood between him and a city was the cops? It's Batman versus Commissioner Gordon, in a weird way. Or maybe a super-villain version of "Se7en." A billionaire anarchist up against ordinary people. The Joker's the best thing in the Batman movies, so this guy is a bit of an amalgamation of all the stuff we like.

Millar: Nemesis is the world's smartest man, and the bad news for us is that he's the world's only super-villain. That means he's got freeze guns and jump-jets and all these James Bond gadgets and he's using them against us. To entertain himself, he picks a different cop every year and makes his life a misery. The book opens with him fucking over Japan's top cop, and then our story, the mini-series, takes place as he shifts his attention to Washington and his first American attacks. The visuals we've released here are just single panels from the Japanese segment. It's the best stuff I've ever seen Steve do.

I'm definitely real excited about this, I love nearly all of Millar's work, and think he is one of the best writers in the business right now, and McNiven is definitely one of the best artist so I'm sure they'll score a hat-trick with this new mini series.

See the full interview here.

Friday, 4 December 2009

Secret Warriors #10 - Review


After 9 issues of Secret Warriors, I was thinking about giving up on this series. Hickman and young gun artist Stefan Casselli did a good job on the first arc, but with the second arc God of War, God of Fear came a new, less impactful artist and storyline. The story just plodded along for me and with my pull list seemingly getting bigger each week I felt now was the time to cut this book, but then I saw the preview for issue 10.


This issue was a completely stand alone issue in the middle of the arc focusing on the God of War; Ares and his son the God of Fear; Phobos. Where Secret Warriors has failed in the past for me is the cast of Nick Fury’s Secret Warriors team. After 9 issues I would struggle to name any of them, the characteristics and personalities are very forgettable, all except for Phobos, the God of Fear stuck in the body of a 10 year old, and Hickman does wisely focusing on the boy in this issue. The story narrates Phobos’s troubled history with his father and his meeting with the elder Gods to decide, as he was born of a mortal woman, whether or not he is worthy the title of God of Fear.


Secret Warriors #10 is for fans of old mythology stories like those found in Incredible Hercules or the stand alone mythological tales of the recent Immortal Weapons mini series. There are some beautifully drawn fight sequences between the gods with a really fantastic pale colour palate to give it that ‘tale of old’ style. For me the writer and art team have done their job very well and left the story with a nice cliff hanger ending to keep Secret Warriors on my pull list, for the next issue at least.


4 out of 5

Marvel previews for comics on sale - 12/09/09

Marvel Comics has provided CBR with advance looks at new comics due out next Wednesday, December 9th, 2009.

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

Thursday, 3 December 2009

Matt's Mini Reviews - Blackest Night gets brighter!


Green Lantern #48


*NOTE – Read this issue before Blackest Night #5*

This series has been at an all time high in my opinion since the start of Blackest Night so I looked forward to more of the same this issue and it was good, but slower and very wordy. There wasn’t the same amount of action as the previous issues had but we do have some good padding out of the lantern characters, Johns has really established these as great new additions to the DCU. After some fighting and bickering amongst themselves the lanterns decide to unite (for now) to battle the common threat of the black lanterns, which leads into Blackest Night. An okay, solid issue but a must pick up if you are following Blackest Night.


3 out of 5

Blackest Night #5


One of the BEST issue of the series so far! Spoilers on!

Nekron is here, with an army of black lanterns battling the Justice League and the rest of the heroes from the DCU along with the newly united lanterns of the emotional spectrum (see GL#48). This issue is all out action laid out beautifully with some truly awesome splash pages. So many amazing things happen in this one issue; Lanterns are united, Guardians die, and (MAJOR SPOILERS!) a certain undead Bruce Wayne becomes a pawn of Black Hand and Nekron and is used to turn the heroes of the DCU that have escaped death and been resurrected (i.e. Superman, Green Arrow etc.) into latest editions of the Black Lanterns! The issue ends with black rings chasing down the only 2 resurrected heroes to escape the black rings so far; Hal Jordan & Barry Allen! What an ending and what an issue!

*Note – To top it all off you get a free Green Lantern ring with this issue (lets face it, this is the ring we all wanted and have been waiting for)- that helps it nail the top spot for book of the week!*


5 out of 5

Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Osborn's secret body guard is...?

The shadowy figure that is Norman Osborn's secret weapon first showed up in Secret Invasion: Dark Reign and shows up again in this weeks Siege: The Cabal. IGN do a great run down of the possible candidates. This is def worth a look. Check it here.

So who are you guys betting on?

Reynolds on Green Lantern & more!


There's a little interview over at MTV with Ryan Reynolds on his roles as Green Lantern and Deadpool. Best bits below:

MTV
: When you take a look at this year, does it feel like, in the scheme of things, it's a landmark year, personally or professionally?

Reynolds: It's been probably the most unbelievable year of my life. Starting with setting some goals that I didn't think would be possible several years before, running a marathon, getting married -- the year has been incredible, all across the board. The fact that "Green Lantern" is something that's about to get going full-steam pretty soon, and then there is "Deadpool" on the horizon as well. If you asked me if this would be happening three years ago, I would have kick-f---ed you back to where you were from.

MTV: All these things we're talking about are things you set in motion. You pursued them, you kind of went after them. Does that make it a little bit more gratifying?

Reynolds: It's incredibly validating and gratifying when you can see that you can manifest something that you desperately want or a goal that you have. This is a difficult industry to get anything made, let alone a passion project, so when you see people understand what your vision is and come aligned with that common goal, it's pretty cool. I'm including all the creative types that are actually involved with "Deadpool" and "Green Lantern," because those guys want to make an authentic movie, and that's something a few years ago studios disregarded.

MTV: You have done everything from a publicity tour with Betty White to trying on the Green Lantern costumes. So, in looking back at the year, is there a moment that sums it up, that encapsulates what 2009 was about?

Reynolds: I think, seeing the prototypes for the Green Lantern costumes was a huge moment. It was a moment when I was like, "This is happening, and it's happening in the right way." That's a pretty cool, definitive moment for me.

MTV: Were you happy with the incarnation of Wade Wilson and Deadpool in "Wolverine"? Do you think you captured what you wanted to in the first look at Wade?

Reynolds: Yeah, I think the initial moment of the sequences that involve Wade, I think it did. It's always difficult to fully embrace something that isn't perfect, in terms of staying true to the source material. So it was a little bit frustrating. I really wanted to play Wade, and I really wanted to play Deadpool, and it would kill me to see someone else play them. I had a kind of ham-fisted attitude that it had to be perfect, but it doesn't. The movie's called "Wolverine," it's not called "Deadpool" or "Wade." I thought it was a nice little wink and tip of the hat to things to come. Finding the tone of that character alone is such a difficult prospect. I've been in so many meetings lately about "Deadpool" and meeting all these writers. Everyone is always looking for that one line, "What is that character?" and for me it's kind of like, "There's a guy, and he's in a highly militarized comedic fame spiral." That's not an easy thing to write -- an entire screenplay, let alone a franchise. I had a blast playing Wade. Every line I had in that was stuff I thought he would say. It wasn't something that a writer said to me. It was fun to really create that character, including everything he spits out of his awful mouth.

MTV: Does your love of "Green Lantern" and Hal Jordan go back far?

Reynolds: I've known about "Green Lantern" my whole life, but I've never really followed it before. I fell in love with the character when I met with [director] Martin Campbell. When I sat down with him, I really got what it is that this guy is all about. When you have a guy like Martin Campbell, part of his charm is that he has ba--s of titanium, and the other part is that he's slightly crazy, and you have to be to take on something with the scope of "Green Lantern." He's less of the director and more of a general. He just really knows strategies, he knows the intricacies, and his attention to detail! It's infectious. I sat down with him, and I could not even believe what he was saying. When I went to the meeting, I was entirely cynical. I thought, "What the hell, I'll see what they have to say," and I left the room with a completely different perspective.

And another post from MTV added the following:

After offering up some thoughts about Green Lantern's costume, Reynolds told MTV News that the scenes in which Hal Jordan isn't in costume will likely be the most memorable from the film — much like Robert Downey Jr.'s time spent out of Tony Stark's armor in "Iron Man."

"I think you walk away from this first film, and the moments that you remember and the moments that mean so much to you, not unlike 'Iron Man,' are the moments where the guy's not in the suit," said Reynolds.

However, Reynolds acknowledged that developing those moments amid the cosmic action central to "Green Lantern" is a daunting task — after all, a test pilot who receives a super-powered ring from a dying alien is likely to demand a much different tone than a billionaire industrialist building his own battle armor.

"That to me is the tough thing to get right," he explained. "And that's something that they did get right [in 'Iron Man']. You see why this guy's in the suit, and that's what's interesting to me. Not that he is in the suit, but why."

With "Green Lantern" scheduled to begin shooting next year (possibly in New Orleans), Reynolds shied away from calling the film's plot an origin story, despite the need to introduce Hal Jordan to mainstream movie audiences.

"It is [an origin story] to a certain degree, but it's not a labored origin story, where the movie [truly] begins in the third act," he explained. "The movie starts when it starts. We find out Hal is the guy fairly early on, and the adventure begins."

Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Hex's Pull List - 02/12/2009


Sweet Tooth #4
Siege The Cabal
What If? Secret Invasion
X-Force Annual #1
Sword #20
Haunt #3

I'm also going back and picking up Invincible Iron Man #20 as I've heard such great things about this series that I want to give it a go at the start of a new story arc, and I'll be picking up Punisher #11. Why? Well the story of Frankencastle sounded awful at first but I've found out the art is by Tony Moore, that means it's a must check out for me.

Overall it's a smaller week for me, which is good, Siege: the Cabal being the biggest book of the week.

What you guys getting?

War Machine looks Bad Ass!

This is the first poster to be released for next years Iron Man 2 and the first look of what War Machine will look like. Very similar to the comic book design and very bad ass. Do you guys agree?

FREE Marvel Comics! - 12/01/2009


Here's your five free digital comics for this week, thanks to Marvel.Com. Just click on the title of your choice.

RUNAWAYS #11
(2008)
THE 'NAM #1
WAR OF KINGS #2
WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #32
DARK REIGN: ELEKTRA #1

Next week's five free digital comics will be:

DEADPOOL #9 (1997)
THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST #22
WALLY THE WIZARD #1
BLACK PANTHER #1 (2008)
WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #37

Friday, 27 November 2009

Read Chew #1 for FREE!

I have heard a lot of good things about the new Image series "Chew" and was planning on picking up the first volume TPB which hits the shlves this week. To make my decision easier the good people over at Image Comics and Newsarama have made the full first issue available to read online for free.

It's a real funny, wise cracking and highly original comic. The main character Tony Chu is a cop who gets psychic impressions of whatever he eats. There is also a ban on eating chicken due to an out break of dangerous bird-flu which may or may not be a government cover up, throw in a portion of serial killer and a dash of cannabalism and you've got the recipe for a fun and as I said before; really original comic. But you really need to have a read of it yourself. Check out the full first issue here.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Matt's Mini Reviews


The Black Knight #1 - One Shot

BoldI love one-shots, epic runs can be great just like a great album by a fantastic band, but some time you get those one hit wonders, those catchy tunes that are just short and sweet. And I love my comics to be that way alot of the time. Throw in some knights of the round table, a magical sword to rival excalibur, action and adventure, and this is a real hit for me. It reminds me of the current Immortal Weapons books, the way beautiful tales of old are told around great little characters. If you like Arthurian Legend, (be warned that the dialogue is written as such, but it suits the style of this comic) with nice slick art, I would definately suggest picking this up. This is real hero vs villain stuff and it was fantastic.

5 out of 5



Red Robin #6

I gave it to this issue, where new artist joined Marcus To joined, to be the decider as to whether or not I would continue to pick up this series... and it's dropped. I believed this title was to deal the hunt for Bruce Wayne but writer Chris Yost has hardly dealt with this at all, instead focusing on Tim becoming leader of the League of Assassins, rediculous and totally out of character imo. Geoff Johns wrote the character better in a few panels of his Adventure Comics last month than Yost has in this entire series. And when Bruce does retun it will be well advertised and no doubt in a special mini series so as DC can charge $3.99 per issue, therefore making this series pointless to me. Marcus To does are fine job on pencils but his style is much like many other artists around, and nothing special to write home about. Pointless book and not very entertaining. Avoid

2 out of 5

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Hex's Pull List - 11/25/09



Blackest Night #5
Detective Comics #859
Green Lantern #48
Superman Secret Origin #3

Avengers The Initiative #30
Dark Wolverine #80
Immortal Weapons #5
Incredible Hercules #138
New Avengers #59
Secret Warriors #10
Ultimate Comics Avengers #4
X-Men Forever #12

Hmm...big week. Not really helpful when I already have loads to catch up on. I was pondering on getting Worlds Finest #2 but the first issue was very average and not really too exciting, with a big week like this, it's facing the chopping block I'm afraid. I was planning on dropping Secret Warriors too, as the last arc has not really been as good as the first and I cant get to like the characters enough, only Fury. With my list getting bigger each week that book was going to be another drop, until I saw the preview over at CBR that is and it just looked awesome. Check it here.

I'm a sucker for old mythological tales and the book starts with a cool one and this issue looks like it could be the big showdown between Ares and his son, so it's now back on the list...for this issue at least.

What you guys getting?

Monday, 23 November 2009

FREE Marvel Comics - 11/23/09


This weeks FREE comics from Marvel Digital are:

DAREDEVIL NOIR #1
ULTIMATE X-MEN #100
MIGHTY AVENGERS #21
DARK AVENGERS #2
PUNISHER #1 (2008)

Next week's five free digital comics will be:

RUNAWAYS #11 (2008)
THE 'NAM #1
WAR OF KINGS #2
WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #32
DARK REIGN: ELEKTRA #1

Enjoy folks.

Getting back into the swing of things.

Hi guys and girls, I'm sure you've all given up on me by now, but I'm gonna try to get back on track. First I had PC problems, then Internet provider problems, plus loads of personal stuff and I haven't really read comics for ages. So now I've got a huge stack that I'm gonna catch up over the next couple of weeks and try and get back to doing some posts for any one who cares. First up is a review of Dark X-Men #1 that you can find below.

Hope everyone has been good and I look forward to catching up with you guys, especially my fellow Legion.

Much love.

Hex

Dark X-Men #1 - Review


This is a book with some real characters in it. You get the always enchanting and dangerous Mystique, the whacked out and needy Mimic, the power junky Omega and supreme evil Dr Henry McCoy from the alternate reality; Age of Apocalypse. That’s a great cast to begin with right? So I was going to pick up the book anyway to see what plans Osborn has for this evil misfit band of X-Men but when I heard Nate Grey was to return in these very pages, the ‘Nathan Summers’ from the same ‘Age of Apocalypse’ reality as Dark Beast, It was moved to the top of my Must Read pile.

What is great about this book is the character work by Paul Cornell, he gets the characters down really well and Leonard Kirk does fine work on the art. The story line at this moment is pretty thin. It seems there are masses of folk walking around in a mind controlled state claiming “I am X-Man”. Osborn sends his team to investigate which results in the team at a hospital bedside of one of these crazies. It seems that somehow the possessed people’s collective thoughts were being controlled by something extremely powerful which ends up consuming both Omega & Mimic and sending their powers out of control. At the end of the issue it is revealed that this power is actually Nate Grey who has returned, though so far how or why is unexplained.

The problem that I have is that this issue is not very new reader friendly, hopefully the second issue will do a short 1 page recap of the history of Nate Grey, not something too long that it holds up the progression of the story and bores older Marvel/ X-Man fans, but gives enough info to get new readers up to speed on one of the coolest Marvel characters from the last decade.

Character focused, the return of X-Man, not a bad start, but not spectacular either.

3 out of 5

Saturday, 31 October 2009

Blackest Night: Superman #3 - Mini Review


As it's Halloween today I'm going to stick to that theme and do a mini review of the Superman tie-in for the biggest undead comic event of the year; Blackest Night.

Issue 3 completes a strong tie-in mini-series with a strong final action packed issue. This series in my opinion has been much stronger than the Batman Blackest Night mini. Robinson does great work writing the Superboy character the same way G. Johns does in Adventure Comics, which is basically a young man struggling with his identity. Psycho-Pirate is a great choice of villain for this series due to his control of peoples emotions which links back nicely to the Lantern Colour's Emotional Spectrum. Krypto and Ma Kent are especially awesome in this issue and all the villains are dealt with nicely wrapping up the series but still at the end leaves room to connect back into the main Blackest Night event. Eddy Barrow Barrows work has been fantastic for this series and is fast becoming one of may favorite DC pencilers.

4 out of 5.