The People’s Publisher

Another week of Between The Staples Best Bang for comics that came out on March 5th! Scalped #15, The Twelve #3, Buffy #12 and Terry Moore’s Echo #1 are the best books for the week! Since Cable #1 was worse than Countdown (gawds knows how that is possible), I am using Nathan’s head for ranking, as always from Best to Worst.

Echo #1 (Abstract Studio) Terry Moore’s new book hit the shelves and I have to say that I just loved this issue. From the wonderful foil cover to the clean, crisp B & W inside art. Great quick story which has the reader right there with the main character as she’s all covered in some strange debris from some failed military experiment. I really look forward to future issues!

The Twelve #3 of 12 (Marvel) JMS & Chris Weston are making one of the sleeper hits of 2008! The story continues about these 1940’s heroes who are awoken to the modern day Marvel Universe and trying to fit in, catch up and continue on in their lives. Very very enjoyable!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #12 (Dark Horse) Wolfs at the Gate kicks off a new story arc with writer Drew Goddard (”Cloverfield”). If you have not read the spoilers, yes, Buffy sleeps with another slayer while Andrew returns with Willow and Zander asks Renee out on a date but the main point of the entire book was the loss of the Scythe Scythe. Best part was Zander going to see his “Master” again. Extremely enjoyable issue!

Scalped #15 (Vertigo) This title just gets better and better from issue to issue. Strong solid storytelling which reminds me that you can do good crime stories as comic books. Criminal, 100 Bullets and Scalped are prime examples of that. In this issue, Bad Horse continues to deal with the death of his mother while Red Crow starts to wonder who killed Gina. Very powerful book! Vertigo is looking strong again with the likes of DMZ, The Un-Men, Young Liars & Scalped!

The Boys #16 (Dynamite) On thing that this title does from time to time is remind you that its telling you a story and not all about sex, drugs, messed up super heroes and sex. This is one of those issues which helps build the romance between Hughie and Annie but the focal point of the entire book is between The Female and The Frenchman. A very well written issue.

Green Lantern #28 (DC) The Alpha Lanterns come to full swing as Laira of Sector 112 goes on trial and the birth of the Red Lantern(s) begins here! The whole Lantern storylines has to be one of DC’s strongest stories right now, I hope they keep up the momentum and not let it fail for Final Crisis!

David Lapham’s Young Liars #1 (Vertigo) This book comes at you at a thousand miles an hour like the cover suggests and does not stop. Hard paced crazy fun is one of the many different point of views I love from a Vertigo book. Come at me hard, Come at me fast and keep it up. I got a new Vertigo addiction now!

Narcopolis #2 (Avatar) From the studio that brings you zombies and Warren Ellis books galore finally comes a great futuristic comic done right! Jamie Delano & artist Jeremy Rock put together a wild spin on a very futuristic tale of some of the last surviving people of earth. Catch up with all the wild lingo and messed up morals of citizan Gray and shitbirds. Ah suck!

Pax Romana #2 of 4 (Image) Jonathan Hickman just gets better and better with each issue he puts out these days. This is a stunning collage of words, graphics, art and story. Well crafted and has enough that I am rereading and rereading again and again. I love the design of every page. This to me if one of the futures of the industry, this type of design for a comic.

Star Wars: Legacy Vol. 2: Shards TPB (Dark Horse) I have fallen in love with the Star Wars Legacy series and this latest trade helps me catch up. Very good read with most of the book begins focused on Emperor Fell and Dark Krayt then catches up with Cade Skywalker.

Detective Comics #842 (DC) The armor from Talia is the main point of the story. Will is corrupt or taint Batman? Why did she give it to the Dark Knight? Interesting issue and I hope it bleeds into more of the Batman cannon than this single issue.

Justice League: The New Frontier Special #1 (DC) I think I wanted too much out of this book. I LOVED the recent DVD “Justice League: The New Frontier“ but I did feel that the Special was a little lackluster in comparison. It was good and fun but I expected much more. Still enjoyable.

Punisher War Journal #17 (Marvel) Or should I call it Marvel Villain Team-up? Second issue that Matt Fraction has given us readers more insight to the crazy Marvel Villain world with Punisher always showing up and blowing someone away. I don’t know but if this keeps up, I might drop the book till the story comes back to the Punisher and his wacky crew & supporting characters.

The New Dynamix #1 (Wildstorm) I know I was saying I was not going to be picking up any more WildStorm books at the beginging of the year but man, the artwork in this book blew me away and got me addicted plus the story was entertaining. In the new Wildstorm universe, where are the heroes? Well some are just about to come back and hit the streets! Check it out!

Justice League Unlimited #43 (DC) I just cannot let go of the cartoon so I am glad that it still continues in this monthly book. This week it is The Blue & The Gold. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle try to break into the super hero biz. Enjoyable but I did not like Blue Beetle being the one who wanted to impress the Justice League, quite out of character to the DCU version.

Uncanny X-Men #496 (Marvel) The Divided We Stand (or Countdown to Uncanny #500 when we put the X-Men together… again but this time…) storyline crawls along. You got Logan, Kurt and Peter in Russia being all mopey dopey, Scott & Emma going to San Fran to trip out where Warren has lost himself in a lapsed out mental escape. The book was so-so. Nothing special other than Wolvie talking about missing The Blob and hints at the old pub fights with Juggernaut. Otherwise nothing much happens.

X-Force #2 (Marvel) More killing. More X-23. More Wolvie wishing he wasn’t a leader. More fricken Emo and grim. More bullshit really, the book is going no where pretty fast and if Rahne was drugged with heroin and walks away without an addiction, you know its a poor story!

X-Men vs Apocalypse: The Twelve TPB (Marvel) Remember in the 90’s when the X-Men began to suck? Wolverine was Death for Apocalypse, Caliban was turned into another version of a mutant Hulk (one of many, take a number) and Jean Grey was running around in the old green Phoenix costume? Yeah, me neither so I picked this up and then smacked myself on the head. I could’ve bought a V-8 instead but wait… there is good from this. Yes its shit poor writing and artwork that makes you wonder what they were smoking but some themes make sense. You see it has SKRULLS impresonating the X-Men and Wolverine. THIS IS WHY this book was released. I think to add fuel to the bullshit fire that the current Wolvie is a Skrull and help pimp out Secret Invasion through such sutle releases. Either or, nice work with bad comics!

Cable #1 (Marvel) Cable & Baby in the future. Fight off post apocalyptic bad guys then head to a dinner where everything seems normal. *yawn* Maybe Countdown will be better than this book this week?

Countdown to Final Crisis #8 (DC) Monitor & Darkseid scream at one another. Each thinking that they are smarter than the other. They show off. Next.

Secret Invasion Saga (Marvel) Even though this was a free comic, Marvel still should have paid me to read it. If you have no idea about the Skrulls, I guess it is education propaganda.

Missed: Casanova #12, The Highwaymen (TP), & Hazed OGN.

Next Week: Annihilation: Conquest #5 of 6, The Astounding Wolf-Man #5, Fantastic Four #555, DMZ Volume 4: Friendly Fire TPB, Gotham Underground #6, Green Arrow/Black Canary #6, Green Lantern Corps #22, The Last Defenders #1, Salvation Run #5, Nova #11, Nova #11, New Avengers #39, Mighty Avengers #10, Serenity: Better Days #1 just to name a few. Big week!

    Most of us remember hearing the line ”Enjoy it, it’s the greatest time of your life.” delivered sanctimoniously by some adult at the time that we were attending high school. Some can recall a mix of disbelief and horror at these words. This is as good as it gets? Bored out of my mind half the time, totally disconnected from peers, parents and society,and stuck in some tiny town where everybody’s greatest aspiration is to be as normal as humanly possible? Those of us who weren’t Homecoming queen or captain of the basketball team might have shared the thought that there must be something more to life than high school. Perhaps we imagined somewhere very different from the world which surrounded us and plotted our escape.
In Dylan Edwards’ story Hero High, Farley Flynn has just moved from the big city of Dominion (an exciting place full of superheroes) to the small town of Meekton (a boring place full of normal people). Farley has a secret identity ? he has trained and equipped himself to become a teenage crimefighter by the name of Moondog, and his intuition is telling him that something strange is going on at his school.
As it turns out, this town has been selected as the location for E.S.P. (Education and Socialization Project) who have the responsibility to properly educate the children of the world’s greatest superheroes (and supervillains). The main concern is that these children grow up with an appreciation of what it is to be ‘normal’, so that when they become adults, they will be able to make appropriate choices about what to do with their powers.
The comic will be the first installment in a serialized story that is aimed toward a younger audience, specifically the 9 - 14 age bracket, but will be enjoyed by adults as well, especially if they enjoy fun and relatively innocent fare.
The artwork for Hero High will be provided by Diego Simone, artist extraordinaire. This renaissance man will be pencilling inking and coloring the whole book, so we are sure to see some super consistent and always fabulous comic pages to accompany the story. Toon in (sorry) next week for some of the roughs character designs that Diego has created for this story

Between the Staples Best Bang cranks out yet more bite sized reviews for Feb. 27th comics. This week we got the likes of Captain America, Teen Titans, Criminal and Batman. Given that Captain America is coming back (see May Marvel Solits) various Cap heads will be our star ranking for the week. Ranked top to bottom. Enjoy.

Oh and these books came to you from both Elfsar Comics & Toys and Hourglass Comics. I always get lost on Elfsar’s massive wall-o-comics so I tend to find what I missed at Hourglass. I do prefer one shelf, area, section that is ONLY new comics for the week but that’s me. Elfsar’s collection of trades each week is Super impressive!

Criminal Vol 2 #1 (Marvel) There is a strong reason why Marvel keeps marketing this book as “the most acclaimed crime comic in the industry” - strong story. powerful art. addictive. enjoyable.

Captain America #35 (Marvel) Solid storytelling here with a build up of what the dark plans the Red Skull has for both America and new Bucky Cap. Very enjoyable and one of the best reads of the week.

Teen Titans #56 (DC) Finally we get a story. So much for all the stupid teenage angst, we got a good solid story here with Kid Devil being dumped on, trying to make amends and then standing up for his team in the face of yet another Titan’s named villain team, the Terror Titans. I am feeling that McKeever is writing Tim Drake/Robin a little too hard ass for my liking. Seems like Tim’s forgot that he is NOT Batman (ala old Titan issues) but I guess we will see how that plays out.

Batman #674 (DC) Finally we get the full details on the various Batmen plaguing Bruce of late with a full backstory and everything. Enjoyable with a nice *hint* at perhaps the future of the Bat?

Hellblazer: Joy Ride (TP) (DC) I knew that Andy Diggle would make Constantine good again and he has. This almost has me wanting to catch up to the series again. Almost.

All Star Batman And Robin, The Boy Wonder #9 (DC) Painted yellow to stand face to face with the Green Lantern was kinda weird and yet enjoyable. I loved the mind games Frank Miller’s Bruce Wayne put on Hal Jordan. This series needs an end though.

Urban Monsters #1 (Image) Now this is a fresh book. Monsters walk amogst us and we have to deal with them. Mix up some strange encounters and you have a fun adventure of a road trip.

Justice Society Of America #13 (DC) Kingdom Come Superman talks to DCU Superman while the JSA figure out more about Gog. Interesting but I am not into this entire Kingdom Come storyline.

Infinite Crisis (TP) (DC) I really enjoyed this series on its own. Independant of all the stupid cross-over books, this is dark, twisted and so much going on it reminded me of the first Crisis.

Franklin Richards: Collected Chaos (DIGEST) (Marvel) Pure stupid fun. Calvin & Hobbes style in the Marvel Universe and something I would let kids read. Enjoyable.

Doctor Who #1 (IDW) Um… it is a neat story that has no bearing on the show. Since I am lacking behind on my new DW shows, this really didn’t do it for me. Artwork was inconsistant and looked very indi.

Crime Bible: The Five Lessons Of Blood #5 of 5 (DC) The new Question takes down the Dark Faith and is either the new crime lord or went through everything for ? I kinda got lost in this issue as I found it really did not have an ending.

Countdown To Final Crisis #9 (DC) *yawn* fight. gods back. Karate Kid dies (or something) again. really its more yawning than actually reading these days. look at the semi-pretty pictures.

Kick-Ass #1 (Marvel) This book did not work for me in the least bit. I only picked it up to see if it would and it hasn’t at all. I really could care less about the main character.

New Warriors #9 (Marvel) It took 9 issues to make this one of the worst books of Marvel for me. The story is all over the place, I could not figure out if they were fighting bad guys or another holo situation. I am SO tired of Thrasher being mister engimatic / mystery. Done. Least the artwork got better this issue. Shelf this series and lets try it again in a few years.

X-Men: Legacy #208 (Marvel) First off. I did not pick this book up, I completely read it in stores and it was the near to last pages that did it for me. I am SICK & TIRED of f***king Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr coming to the side of Xavier. Done. Glad I did not buy this book, saved my pennies for a good cup of Joe instead!
Devoid of Stars. Zero ranking!

MISSED/LATER PICK-UP: Blue Beetle Vol. 3: Reach For The Stars (TP), Black Panther Annual #1, Pax Romana #4 of 4, Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2: Shards

Also a new bit here are some of the books I am looking forward to (and may likely be disappointed but that is how this comic-crack works!) next week are here…

Buffy The Vampire Slayer #12, Justice League: The New Frontier Special, Justice League Unlimited #43, Scalped #15, The Twelve #3 of 12 & The Astounding Wolf-Man #6.

Hey all. Yes this weeks Between The Staples Best Bang is very late as I took the weekend off and went to enjoy family and a wedding. So the best books for this week are the likes of The Umbrella Academy #6, Angel #4 and The Mighty Avengers #9. Due to the blah of this weeks Red Hulk, I thought its head (in a top hat no less!) would make for good rankings, as always from top to bottom.

The Umbrella Academy #6 (Dark Horse) This series started with a bang and ends with one. Best series of 2007/2008 bar none!

Angel #4 (IDW) One name. Groosalugg. Nuff said. Only downside was seeing Lorne again as it does not fit with the ending of Season 5 in which the character walked out on a high.

The Mighty Avengers #9 (Marvel) Okay I loved the first few pages which has Doom and Morgan LeFay sleeping together and trading spells. That made the book for me, the rest was so-so. Loved the last panel as well!

The Un-Men #7 (DC/Vertigo) Nice start of the next storyline for this book and characters. I think ths book is really finding its groove and I look forward to many more issues!

Batman & The Outsiders #4 (DC) I am really liking this series now. I enjoy the way the characters interact with one another. Chuck Dixon rarely lets me down.

Justice League of America #18 (DC) I hated the short main story and back-up story format. Hate it. Did not mind the issue but it did not really move forward well enough which is too bad.

Terror Inc #5 of 5 (Marvel Max) I really enjoyed this messed up horrific book with a nice anti-hero in Terror and a great few last panels.

The Boys Volume Two: Get Some - TPB (Dynamite) Collects issues 7 - 14. If it gets you off then its a good thing.

Wildstorm: Revelation #3 of 6 (DC/Wildstorm) Nemesis and the girls outwit more of the Wildstorm Universe until Grifter and Zealot show up. Nice little bit with the original Blacklash. The story decent and the art was okay but I am not fond of the parts of unfinished work bleeding out of the panels, it made the book look unprofessional and unfinished.

The Loners: Secret Lives of Super Heroes - TPB (Marvel) I was expecting more of a Runaways feel but it came out and stood on its own which was enjoyable to read. Decent.

Checkmate #23 (DC) Mix in Superman with Checkmate and Kobra and you got a good book. It is too bad that Rucka is leaving the title which gave the entire issue a strange taste. I don’t want to enjoy the book too much since I know he is leaving soon.

Red Hulk #2 (Marvel) Seriously is anyone reading this book? Its all over the map and Red Hulk goes from Godzilla/King King size to regular Hulk size and its like WTF?

The Ultimates #3 (Marvel) Wolvie leads The Avengers… I mean…. the Ultimates after Magneto and Pietro in the Savage Land. *yawn*

Countdown #10 (DC) Granny Goodiness is gone, the old Gods are back and some how the Piper is still alive. Seriously anyone reading this series?

Welcome to another week of Between the Staples Best Bang for your Comic Buck. This week Simon Dark #5, Fantastic Four #554, Suburban Glamour #3 take the top honors while Countdown looks slightly less worse than X-Farce out this week.

To quote Grandpa Simpson’s, “A little from column A and a little from column B“, I got books from Hourglass Comics and Elfsar this week. Given that X-Farce came out this week, lets have those beady little red eyed, black costumed team be our voting stars for the books. As always, from top to bottom:

Simon Dark #5 (DC) This book has enough creep, wonderful artwork, great colouring that keeps me reading week to week. The story of Simon Dark grows more background in each issue with a lovely style of back story, flashbacks and current horrific theme. Thank you to all who make this great comic come out. This is how you do smart costume vigilant comics!

Fantastic Four #554 (Marvel) Okay. I will eat the crow. When I first mentioned about Mark Millar on FF when it was first announced, I thought for sure I was going to be berating this book from start to finish but I cannot. This was a good back to basics for the Fantastic Four. The entire team getting to their roots. Reed being drawn into some great world ending catastrophe, Johnny doing another crazy thing with his life, Sue trying to reach out and be the mother to the world and Ben just off having a good time between saving the world as a family. Now can Mark Miller keep this up? That I question and wonder but I am onboard the FatasiCar for now!

Suburban Glamour #3 (Image) I never got this issue when it first came out but wow this is a great book. The artwork, the story, the dialog, the colouring - all of it comes together to give you a lovely, graphic tale of Fae, magicks and life. Great use of the lettering as well. Overall wonderful comic and look forward to the finale and the trade when it comes out!

Gotham Underground #5 0f 9 (DC) The panel layout of this book made this one of the best books out this week! Top that off with a nice story moving along with all the criminal underground of Gotham mixing, fighting, planning and strutting. Great book!

Green Arrow & Black Canary #5 (DC) I enjoy this series. I know that its Judd Winick writing but man I really do like the current storyline, the characters and the situation they are put in. The wedding was great (Superman watching the front door and Batman watching the back), the flashbacks and the big climax keeps me entertained which is exactly what a comic book should do. Kudos!

Wolverine #62 (Marvel) Jason Aaron hits this book running with the “Divided We Stand” X-Men shakedown. The book has a nice mix of action and flashbacks. Wolverine is a one trick pony which works when its good and lame when it doesn’t. This worked and I look forward to see how the story Jason Aaron is writing will come together.

Salvation Run #4 of 7 (DC) William S mentioned a while ago on BtS that he thought many of the DC books are boring these days but Salvation Run is not one of them for me. I enjoyed all the little bits here and there through-out the issue. Even when Matthew Sturges has stepped in for Bill Willigham to finish the series. Gorilla Grodd and Vandal Savage are two characters I just love and enjoyed what is happening with them in the series.

Nova Annual #1 (Marvel) First off, the Title on this issue was far too long with just a little star in the corner to tell me that it was an annual. A big loss, I thought but inside it was a nice build up for the series. A good backstory plus nice “alternate” Nova future story into the mix. I am enjoying this series quite a bit!

Ghost Rider #20 (Marvel) Another Jason Aaron debut title and the artwork and story was hard for me to get involved in. At times both had peaks and valleys which worked and did not work. It is interesting if they can make Ghost Rider a horror comic for Marvel.

The New Avengers #38 (Marvel) I rant about how much I hate the emo in the X-Books but somehow they decided to creep that into this weeks issue of NA and it got tiresome. Either the Luke Cage / Jessica Cage split is true and Jessica has some distorted idea that the Avengers Tower is the safest place in the world for her baby OR it’s a work. The work being that either Luke and Jessica talked and are doing this just so Jessica can get in deep with Tony and his crew. Iron Fist coming through for the teams new digs was alright but too many pages too late. The issue just dragged on but I think it was suppose to, I just wonder if it worked. Enough with the emo - on with the story. I do want soap opera crap on NA? No, I want good fun! Plus somehow explain to me how this was a Secret Invasion tie-in/lead up means either Luke or Jessica are Skrulls else it wasn’t and the Marvel Marketing Machine was over-hyping yet another book.

Tiny Titans #1 (DC) Cute. That is the only great way to describe this book with a zillion short stories is cute. Sadly nothing more but cute. Cute sells issue #1 but is it enough to sell more? Maybe only to young kids and some select other fans. Maybe.

Green Lantern Corps #21 (DC) Not a bad issue but I am not a fan of Boodikka character so this entire issue was a bit of a quick read for me but it was not a bad issue at all. Decent art, good pacing, and decent dialog. Look forward to more with Kyle and Guy so I can handle some “filler” issues until then.

X-Factor #28 (Marvel) More fallout of the “Divided Marvel Falls“… I mean “Divided Mutants Sell More“… sorry, the “Divided Marvel makes more money” x-storylines. Rahne skips out on the team, Theresa is pregnant with Jamies baby, Rictor is lame, Strong guy is filler and just what is Peter David trying to say about Layla? First he insiuitates that she and Jamie will be hooking up and now there is a Laylay look-alike teen hooker on the streets of mutant town. Hmm… honestly the book really didn’t do much for me and reminded me of why I stopped picking it up.

X-Farce Uno (Marvel) Man is it ever cool that X-Men kill people. I love when Wolvie rips bad guys open with his claws. Its what he does and what he does is COOL! Weapon girl twenty-three is hot and can kill as well plus she has claws popping out everywhere! Black Ops are cool. Wolvesbane is hot, she so needs to be killing people though! The knife wielding Native Indian mutant guy is kewl, he’s like a big Wolverine. Oh did I mention that Wolverine is leading them. So Cool! Oh and these bad guys broke into S.H.E.I.L.D. and stole something to make Bastion(?) come back to life from parts of Nimrod(?). Oh yeah the team has Black Costumes with red glowing eyes. Triple X Cool!

Countdown #11 (DC) Seriously. Is anyone paying any attention to this book? SO much happening that I believe no one cares about. Blah.

My apologizes for the delay on this weeks Best Bang fer yer comic buck. Feeling very icky, cold and burnt out today. I think its the weather. Before I begin too far down the comic road I want to mention this…

I am glad to hear that Richard Zednik is doing better. Anyone who watched hockey would have known about this but Richard Zednik got his throat cut open last night in an accident with a hockey skate. Luckily he made it to the bench in time to get immediate help. You can read more about that here:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=229405&hubname=nhl

Alright then, this weeks comics are ranked top to bottom with the lovely head of dear Starlight from The Boys.

Also this weeks comics come to you from Hourglass Comics in Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada!

Annihilation: Conquest #4 of 6 (Marvel) Again you can take all of Civil Bore, World War Bunk and Messiah Craplex and they don’t even come close / compare to the great fun this book brings page after page. I really loved the mix-up of all the former mini-series books together with the big “twist” involving the High Evolutionary. Nice!

Scalped #14 (Vertigo) Vertigo has a few very strong titles these days and this is one of them. Great build up of crap for Bad Horse to deal with while the big bad tries to regain control of the entire situation. If anyone wants to know how to write Darkseid, they should look at how Jason Aaron writes Red Crow! Man this is a great series!

The Twelve #2 of 12 (Marvel) Another book that surprises me between each issue. The last issue was tough for me, it worked and didn’t while this issue got me right into the characters and wanting more. I have this feeling that this series will be a big sleeper hit of the year so check it out!

The Boys #15 (Dynamite) This book goes from so-so to okay to bad from issue to issue. I am interested in the new storyline with Hughie having to deal with Teenage Kix again plus the whole Starlight from the Young Americans who had to give sexual favors to stay within The Seven dealing with her life falling apart. The two of these characters crossing paths should be interesting.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 #11 (Dark Horse) Buffy coming to grips with who she is in the role of a world of slayers. I did not mind the way they brought in the big “bad” villain (or perhaps ally) and without Zander this title does nothing for me. The wannabe Nick Fury aka Zander makes the book very enjoyable.

Wildstorm: Revelations #3 of 6 (Wildstorm) Stunning artwork, great & fun story all worked really well for me. I didn’t think I would enjoy this series but I am happily surprised by it! Always good to have a panel of WWI Canadian solider - can never go wrong with that!

Detective Comics #841 (DC) I always enjoy a good Mad Hatter story and this comic delivers with brilliant artwork and great story. Wild cover as well.

Star Wars Legacy #19 (Dark Horse) The big faceoff with Cade Skywalker and Darth Krayt and it was a decent issue. I missed enough of the issues that I need to catch up to really get into it but after getting the first trade, I am prety hooked. Looking forward to more of this!

Justice Society of America #12 (DC Comics) I was tempted not to buy this issue as the whole building towards this Kingdom Come storyline was almost to the point of going to far. Then this issue comes out and brings me right back into what the entire JSA is all about - heritage, heroes and a good story. Call me interested!

Countdown #12 (DC Comics) I cannot remember where I read this online but it rings true for me. Darkseid is not about being EVIL, he is about CONTROL. Somehow in this weekly series, I think they forgot that along the way.

Uncanny X-Men #495 (Marvel) The X-Men disband (for 5 issues until Uncanny X-Men #500) and for the next 5 months this book will focus on the X-Men wandering about and realizing that sh*t they need to get all weepy, emo and team-up because being on their bloody own is too much for them in the cold, harsh Marvel Universe. *le sigh*

Ah yes, here we are again and now a wee chat with the author of our ReBoot comical book Professor WhizzyWig!

But first, feast your eyes on this wonderful page of ReBoot art created by Ale, Luis and Franco:

1- Professor, please tell the reading audience your full name and family
background.

My full name is Professor Horatio Pei-Ta WhizzyWig. I was born in Calgary, Alberta to two white people.

2- Where do you live (country, state, town. Population? Neighbors? Roommates? Pets?)

I live in Vancouver! Which includes both North America’s most HIV-infected neighbourhood and the most densely populated neighbourhood (not to mention Canada’s richest and poorest area/zip codes!- Ed). Thankfully, they’re not the same neighbourhoods. And thankfully they’re not the neighbourhoods I live in. I live in Fairview! That’s about all the location info I’m willing to give out to you freaks.

I have two cats (Steve and Laika), three Angel fish, four cat fish, a Ghost Knife, and a level 39 dwarven priest named Choram. Come find me in The Venture Co!

3- When did you start writing?

I have been writing for a LONG time. The first story I remember writing was called Black Wings. It was about a magical black cat with bat wings that abducts this nice fellow and takes him on a train ride that teleports him to the beach. I think I was eight when I wrote it.

4- Who are your major influences (comics, or writers in general)?

Uuhh… you know, I generally hate comics. I’ve had a Heavy Metal subscription for years and it really depresses me. Literature-wise, my favourite writer is Frederik Pohl. Go read Gateway if you haven’t yet.

5- Did you attend post-secondary school? If yes where, if not, where did you
get training?

For storytelling, I attended the Vancouver Film School Writing for Film, TV, and New Media program. I highly recommend it. Every opportunity I’ve received since graduating has extended directly from attending VFS. Presuming you’re not a total idiot, that program can get you on the right path.

6- How have you enjoyed the experience of creating comics the Z2H way?
What are the good points/bad points?

I think I should reserve my opinions until after the comic is done. I’m looking at the exercise from a point of view involving the comic’s success. Hard to say how I feel about it until I see the whole strategy play out.

7- You and Shaun Martens (ReBoot Art Director) work well together. How did you two meet?

We met during the contest! We got assigned to each other, so it wasn’t by choice. Matt Toner and Paul Gertz hooked us up, I believe.

8- If you could work on any comic book/project of your choice, what would it be? Why?

My own! Duh! Actually, I’m writing a samurai comic right now and a friend is penciling it. Ideally, I’d like to do a hardcore sci-fi comic.

9- Now that the ReBoot comic is nearing completion, what would you say was the most challenging aspect of the process? Why?

Hold on a second - the first book is nearing completion. We still got 6 books to go!

But really, the most challenging aspect has been dealing with the fear that the series won’t go on after this first book. I think that would be a real letdown to the fanbase and a real disappointment to me. Plus, it makes it hard to justify a full commitment to the project. If we got the go-ahead from Rainmaker to do the entire series, I’d be so far-gone into developing the further episodes that I wouldn’t have time even to answer these questions.

Furthermore, I’d like a full comic story to add to my portfolio and to use it for applying to game companies. My ideal day-job would be writing video games.

There you have it: a gentleman and a scholar!

Julian

Hiya All!

Before I begin, I want to give a great cheer out to the New York Giants in their wonderful efforts on pulling the upset. Was a fun and memorable game to watch! Congrats!

This week on Best Bang, lots of Avengers stuff, gun wielding Captain America, Alpha Lanterns emerge, Star Wars Vector begins and thankfully NO X-Men this week! So lets get to it. This week, we are using Dr. Strange’s head as a rating system and as always, top to bottom rankings…

Also this weeks comics come to you from Hourglass Comics in Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada!

New Avengers Annual #2 (Marvel) - I am calling it right now: Doctor Strange is a Skrull! After The Hood’s Blue Velvet bit with Tigra and the rest of his villainy crew taking on the New Avengers, Doc Strange again takes himself out of the Marvel U in this bullshit of saying that he has to make amends for all that he has / hasn’t done. Bull-fricken-shit. He’s a Skrull and was about to be caught! Great issue though, great!

Avengers: The Initiative #9 (Marvel) - Can this book get any better? I am sure it can but I do not know how. Skrulls, MVP, mix mash with the last few issues, Taskmaster and Gauntlet stepping up. I am sad to think that this great comic will be ending soon when the entire Initiative run ends. Wonderful writing and brilliant artwork makes this one of my favorite books to read each month!

Green Lantern #27 (DC) - Why they do not call this title “Green Lanterns” is beyond me. It is not being focused on any one Lantern and I like that. The Alpha Lanterns come to the for front in this issue with John Stewart turning down the offer to become one *PHEW*. Now the Lanterns have their own internal police force to watch over them. A mix between the Lanterns and the former Manhunters. Interesting. I like the sub-plot of the search for the power of the Anti-Monitor as well!

Captain America #34 (Marvel) - Bucky becomes Captain America! Captain America takes down A.I.M. and starts to help bring chaos from Washington D.C. with the help from Black Widow. Some of the best comic book art being done to date is in this book. From pencils, inks to colors and lettering - this book is one of the best titles to hit the shelves each month.

Batman #673 (DC) - Wow. This was a complete mind f**k issue with so much jumping around from place, to place, time to time and classic batman to current, it made me itching for more of the story. Looking forward to where this goes.

The Might Avengers #8 (Marvel) - The Vemon bomb storyline finally wraps up with a quick, and I mean quick - like you need to read New Avengers to know that the team goes from Venom bomb to assualt against DOOM quick, final splash page. One thing I noted when re-reading this issue is that I am not fond of Bagley’s work on Might Avengers, something is not working for me on it, seems more than rushed but like the pages are being pounded out of a template.

The Death of the New Gods #5 of 8 (DC) - Superman takes on Mantis and Kalibak while Metron talks to the source of the DCU? It was interesting, lots going on and happening with a nice feel of the older Action Comics crazy adventure. Decent and I am interested in what they are planning on doing with this series. Great to see Darksied at the end with screenshots of Countdown mixed in. Finally Countdown starts to make sense with the rest of the DCU and series out on the shelves.

Fantastic Four #553 (Marvel) - Future FF vs Future Doom vs current FF mixed with time stream math and some quick jokes and hints to the future of the Marvel U. Did it make for a great comic? It was okay.

Star War: Knights of the Old Republic #25 (Dark Horse) - Vector part 1 of 12. This issue’s art was too cartoony for me to enjoy it. Nice coloring but the art distracted me from the overall story and threat that Vector was to bring. I expect more next issue of this “cross-over” in the Star Wars comics.

Countdown #13 (DC) - The end cannot come quick enough for this book. I am so bored of this, I flip through faster than I can drop the book. Nothing interests me and I wonder if I will keep picking it up to the bitter end?

Trade Bait
Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi’ar Empire (Marvel) - I have yet to read this but I was and do like the X-Men space stories so I think I will find some ammusement from the issue, even if it has the Emo X-Men apart of the storyline.

Back Issue Bin
Surban Glamour #2 (Image) - I am a little late in this series because of missing issues. I picked this up and I guess will try to find the missing issues before the trade comes out. Stunning art and nice Fae in todays world storyline! I enjoyed this issue a great deal. Look forward to finding more of the issues!

Hey all,

Well it was a small week for me with only a handful of books but here is your Between The Staples Best Bang for January 23rd.

This weeks comics come to you from Hourglass Comics in Port Moody and Astonishing X-Men leads the pack so lets get to it. As always ranked top to worst and this week, we have the heads of the original X-Men to help with the visual rankings.

Astonishing X-Men #24 (Marvel) - This is classic X-Men done right. This is a good heroes saving the world comic book done right. The pre-climax climax reaches its hot and crazy end with everyone making a push to stop a giant missile from being shot at the Earth from the alien race. Its X-Men who stand tall to save the world and not just their little painted corner of the Marvel Universe. This is what makes the X-Men special - moments of this band of mutants who everyone fears saving the bloody world. Joss Whedon hits this one outta the park for a grand slam and I look forward to the final issue of his run in the Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men next issue!

Fantastic Four: The End trade paperback (Marvel) - Classic Fantastic Four done correctly. Brilliant artwork and story by Alan Davis with great inks by Mark Farmer and a nice old school story which collects the 6 issue mini series and seemed to involve everything under the FF sun properly done. Do I care that this may or may not be cannon (in with current Marvel Universe continuity)? No. It was a great story I will read and re-read again and again. Well worth the money!

Star Wars Legacy Vol. 1 trade paperback (Dark Horse) - I skipped these issues due to not picking them up on a monthly basis but I really wanted to read them and being a big Star Wars geek, I loved them. Great art and I enjoy the future aspect of the Star Wars universe.

Gotham Underground #4 of 9 (DC) - Nice behind the scenes of the Gotham crime world. Penguin, Whale and Mannheim all slowly making their marks for the city. Nice art and story. Enjoyable.

Teen Titans #55 (DC) - Stunning artwork and the story is slowly crawling out of the junk it has been in with some actual character building. My biggest problem is the love story with Tim and Cassie, I just don’t care so I found that boring otherwise it was a pretty decent issue.

Crime Bible: Five Lessons of Blood #4 of 5 (DC) - The new Question goes back to Hub City and meets up with Charlie’s old flame, Myra, and seems all tied into the Crime Bible. A decent story with decent art. Doesn’t really make me want to read the final issue though.

Ultimates 3 #2 of 5 (Marvel) - Yeah. The art was still all mucky and I hated the SPX lettering through-out the book. Story was okay but nothing earth shattering, I guess if you have a hard on for The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants than you would enjoy this issue. Personally when I saw the last splash page was Ultimate Wolverine, I think I came to the conclusion that this title might not be worth picking up. Unless Wolvie is joining the team than I am not into the big cross-over that this seems to imply.

X-Men #209 (Marvel) - Mutants fight mutants. Cable pussy’s out. Bishop steps up and shows he has a pair. Gambit becomes good again. Rogue lives. Mutants die. Xavier is dead (for now). X-Men disband only to reform in Uncanny X-Men #500 (see X-Men on Wikipedia for that answer). End of lame storyline. End of buying anymore X-Titles. If you really want to know more about how I feel, check out the comments in this article on For The Love of Comics website (good blog!) here:
http://www.fortheloveofcomics.com/2008/01/24/x-men-messiah-complex-the-final-chapter/#comments

Countdown #14 (DC) - Superboy Superman/Prime freaks out. Jason puts on the Red Robin costume and mass fighting ensues. *yawn*

Titles I didn’t pick up this week: The Order #7 (even though I did like the cover), Legion of Super-Heroes #38 (last issue did nothing for me), and Cassanova #12 (sold out, I think, I couldn’t find it on the shelf).