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Astro City (2013) #1 [Review]

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Walt

Astro City (2013) #1 [cover]Through Open Doors (Part One)

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Brent Eric Anderson
Cover: Alex Ross
Lettering & Design: John G. Roshell & Jimmy Betancourt of Comicraft
Color Art: Alex Sinclair
Editor: Kristy Quinn
Assistant Editor: Jessica Chen
Publisher: Vertigo/DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

I’m pretty sure it’s been a few years since I’ve read Astro City. The last I recall, I left off during the Dark Age saga: as I’m typing this, I don’t even recall why I never finished. Might be I’d grown bored; maybe I was “protesting” a cover price if they were $3.99, whatever.

This new #1 is $3.99, but since it seems EVERYTHING is $3.99…I’d really have to just give up comics entirely, now, to “protest” the price point (and I am a lot quicker to find any “excuse” to outright “drop” a title as a result).

But Astro City! The series is back–after awhile under Image/Homage, then the Wildstorm banner and limbo when Wildstorm was terminated, I’d wondered where we’d see the series pop up. And now it’s under Vertigo, which while I wouldn’t consider this a title exactly fitting with Vertigo (moreso that I wouldn’t limit this series to the older crowd) means it’s still under DC, which is what it is. And as a new #1…I’ll bite for the first issue…particularly given the nostalgia factor and that I’ve generally enjoyed Astro City stuff that I’ve read.

We open with a strange man speaking to us of some looming threat, and we’re introduced to American Chibi, a sort of “overlooked” heroine of Astro City (that when you focus on the big ones, obviously some are going to be missed). We’re re-introduced to some familiar faces as well as new; see the city introduced to some powerful new alien, and a “common citizen” chosen to befriend him and be his guide to understanding the Earth. And finally, against his protestations, we learn a potentially disturbing fact about our narrator that can cast the whole story in a new light.

The creative team behind this issue is quite familiar, lending a continued consistency to the title as it’s been bounced from imprint to imprint: the cover logos may change, but the story, the art, the characters–those remain constants, creatively.

As the art is “standard” Astro City art by Anderson, everyone who should look familiar does, and I had no trouble following along…and there was no weird anatomy to throw me off with anyone (well, no weird anatomy that shouldn’t be there), no weirdly constructed pages/panels to leave me scratching my head. Basically, the visual side was a smooth ride all the way through the issue, with nice detail and all the right “touches” I expect of an Astro City comic.

The story left me a bit hesitant at first, but quickly drew me in. I quickly found myself first thinking of this narrator in terms of Doctor Who, which (to me) was rather amusing in a way, and then another sort of familiarity set in, and just when I felt I was getting to “know” the him, the end of the issue changes things rather dramatically.

Overall, the issue does what I’d want in a first issue, especially one like this where it’s an older, continuing property, but the RETURN of that property after several years’ hiatus. We get new characters and old; and we get the details pertaining to the story, that we need, in the story. Having a “history” with Astro City, I pick up on allusions to other stuff, other characters–but even so, I haven’t read any of those in years myself, so I’m foggy on details. But that in no way hinders this story; if anything it just makes me want to go back and re-read some older Astro City stories.

As far as I’m concerned, this is a great return to the series’ existence. I’d originally thought to just try this first issue, “for old time’s sake,” and let that be that…but I’m pretty likely to actually go ahead and snag the next issue.

Filed under: Astro City (2013), DC, Vertigo | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Favorite Superman Covers: Superman: Man of Tomorrow #9

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. In this series, I’m presenting 10 of my favorites and why they are favorites.

I think the big appeal to me about this cover is seeing a bunch of the costumes in one go, from throughout this period of Superman to that point.

supermanmanoftomorrow009

Sort of a generic image, almost something worthy of a collected volume each spotlighting an issue with the different costumes. But the image alone really hits with the nostalgia factor, and so it stands out to me whenever I come across it–browsing cover images online, in bargain bins or browsing my own collection.

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Favorite Superman Covers: Superman #123

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. In this series, I’m presenting 10 of my favorites and why they are favorites.

Superman #123 is one of the few “collector’s edition” covers I prefer to the “newsstand” or “standard”/regular cover. This was a glow-in-the-dark cover…HIGHLY appropriate in a way most covers’ “enhancements” are not.

superman123

The simplicity of the image is part of what makes it iconic…just the black background, with a glowing new-electric-costume Superman standing there. I recall the image being “homaged” at least twice–with a Mr. Mxyzptlk one-shot during the New Year’s Evil skip-week “event” one year, as well as an issue with the character “Strange Visitor.”

Another significant thing that makes the issue and its cover stand out to me is that this is the issue that brought me back into Superman comics, after taking over a year “off,” though I’d picked up the wedding issue. New costume, new powers, new beginning of my folling the books.

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Favorite Superman Covers: Superman Forever #1

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. In this series, I’m presenting 10 of my favorites and why they are favorites.

I’m pretty sure Alex Ross was the first artist whose work I could specifically recognize, by name. His style is very distinctive, and often has stood out to me–from Marvels to Kingdom Come to his various covers for a number of companies.

Superman Forever was–I believe–a “fifth week” special that bridged the Electric-suit Superman-Red/Superman-Blue stuff and put him back into the “classic” costume. I don’t recall if there was any real explanation given for his transformation back to “normal” after a year of existing as an energy-being; but this cover alone made up for whatever was or wasn’t missing in story details.

supermanforever001

I’d originally acquired the “collector’s edition” cover that had this image and a number of others–by rotating the cover in the proper light you’d see Clark, the shirt-rip, and Superman take flight heading off-panel.

But in recent years, novel as some of those covers were, I’ve found myself largely preferring the images from the “newsstand editions” of the comics.

While sort of generic in a way–Clark ripping the shirt open to reveal the “S” underneath is itself an iconic pose–this particular rendition, by Ross…with the dark background, the red-and-yellow Superman logo, and simply being a comic cover, makes this stand out to me.

Filed under: Favorite Superman Covers, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Favorite Superman Covers: Superman: The Man of Steel #1

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. In this series, I’m presenting 10 of my favorites and why they are favorites.

I believe this was my first-ever actual Superman #1 issue–before I’d found a reprint of Action Comics #1, even before I acquired Superman (1987) #1. I believe I got this issue from American Entertainment (an old mail-order service). It came with a poster that I still have to this day.

supermanthemanofsteel001

This is another rather iconic image, “simple” though it is…It’s just Superman flying, a cityscape in the background…but the specific image has stuck with me since those early days as a fan of Superman–and comics.

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Favorite Superman Covers: Superman #75

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. Over the next week and a half or so, I plan to share 10 of my favorite covers from “my” Superman–that existed from 1986-2006 or so.

Starting things off, is an obvious one: Superman #75, from 1992…the Death of Superman issue. This story is one of THE Superman stories for me, and a huge part of my childhood relating to comics and such.

superman075

For me, this is one of the most “iconic” covers, period. It’s simple, but says so much with just that image of the tattered cape fluttering in the wind. I won’t get into much else on this, as I don’t intend this to be a review of the issue itself.

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My End-of-May Bargain Acquisitions (part 3 of 3)

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Walt

After having initially passed on a number of Batman issues the previous week, last week I filled out more of my Batman collection for convenience of having the issues already in one place so I have less to dig for in the nearer-future:

I remember these Batman: The New Adventures issues from my early comic-reading days; I believe the two issues on the right were in one of those 3-packs that stores like Kmart and Hills used to carry.

batmanthenewadventures

Though duplicates, I wanted to have as much of the full Batman run as I can without digging through way too many longboxes, and re-buying the issues saves some digging (for now)…so another copy of the Knightfall issues:

batman492to495

I don’t recall how much the first printing “direct market” or “collectors’ edition” Batman #497 was once “worth,” but got it here for only 25-cents along with the surrounding issues!

batman496to499

…and for a mere 50 cents TOTAL, snagged BOTH editions of the oversized Batman #500. Twenty years ago, the “newsstand edition” was cover-priced $2.50 and the “collectors’ edition” was $3.95 cover price. (These days, that’d probably be $4.99 and $7.99).

batman500covers

I’m pretty sure I once saw Batman: Sword of Azrael #1 listed as being supposedly “worth” $40 or so (back in early 1993). The cover price of each of these issues was $1.75. In this purchase, I paid $1 TOTAL for all 4 first prints.

batmanswordofazrael

Fleshed out the Legends of the Dark Knight collection…

lotdkhothouseandturf

Nothing particularly special to me about these particular issues, except filling in some holes in the collection.

lotdkheat

…of course, Legends of the Dark Knight #50 is a “classic” for me–both for the image and the re-telling of the classic Joker story. Paid $3.95 for it about 20 years ago. Paid a mere 25-cents for it last week.

legendsofthedarkknight050to053

I recognize the Vows issue…but can’t recall offhand if that’s because I bought it in-print recently, or because I bought it as a random 99-cent digital edition. Either way, I’ve come nowhere close to paying full cover price for it, even if it is a duplicate this time around.

lotdkannuals

While I really only have random mini-series and specials/one-shots left to fill in my Superman 1986-2010 collection, I still have a long way on the Batman stuff…but I’m more determined than ever to stick to the bargain-bins as much as possible, though I know Batman: Year One and A Death in the Family will likely cost as much as most of the rest of the collection, unfortunately.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

My End-of-May Bargain Acquisitions (part 2 of 3)

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Walt

Heading into Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S. a couple weeks back, Half-Price Books sent out emails to remind members of their mailing list (which I willingly signed up for ages back) of a weekend sale: 20% off. Which, when stacked with the half-off most things are to begin with, makes for a functional 70%-off price for most things.

I wound up buying a couple randomish comics I’ve yet to read, an Archie book I forgot I never got around to buying/reading, as well as the rare prose novel purchase: two Aliens novels I’ve kept “passing” on assuming I already had them, when in fact I did not (until now). This whole bunch cost less than 3 contemporary Marvel comics.

hpbhaul0524

Also falling over Memorial Day weekend, the comic shop at the Great Lakes Mall–Comics and Friends–organized the Lake Effect Comic Con. I went in planning/hoping to find a couple specific books and some bargain-bins. A quick walk through the venue yielded no worthwhile bargain-bins of single issues, and none of the bargain-books bins seemed to have what I was after.

I did come across several Superman volumes in a $5 bin…and it IS Superman, so…I bit. I might’ve been happier with “just” the Daily Planet volume, but after getting re-exposed to the Phantom Zone stories in Superman vs. Zod recently, I figured other “classic” stories couldn’t hurt too much.

And given my interest in the hardcovers of major X-stories of late, finding Fall of the Mutants for 60% off made for an eye-catching splurge-purchase.

lakeeffectcomicconhaul01

One dealer had a table of old ’90s X-Men toys (most of them classic X-Force in particular). I did find a couple figures to buy. For the price of a single contemporary Marvel issue, I got both of the below:

lakeeffectcomicconhaul02
After a couple days away (and a great visit with a friend I hadn’t seen in ages) I returned home to find a package waiting for me: the Omnibus volumes I’d ordered off eBay a couple weeks back:

omnibiifromebay

I was fairly surprised at the condition these arrived in…really not bad at all, considering the price. And the GI Joe volume with 12-13 issues’ content cost the same as one of the single issues at cover price a few years back!

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My End-of-May Bargain Acquisitions (part 1 of 3)

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Walt

A couple weeks ago, I went to the comic shop with the intent of buying just two comics. Of course, I just had to look at the bargain bins. And long story short, I wound up walking out with this box of comics…

boxinsteadofbag

The core of the bargain-bin purchase (other than the new comics, I’ve stuck to the 25-cent bins) was the majority of Batman #401-491; a solid run from #432-onward:

batmanmostof401to491

I also scored a handful of Detective Comics issues…a couple from earlier in the run as well as some early 600s+. This was a small-ish stack, but until now, it’s seemed MOST of my “main title” Batman acquisitions have been Detective.

detectivestack

I snagged the entire Camelot 3000 run since all 12 issues were there. Been meaning to read this in one format or another for awhile…this should help accelerate my getting around to reading it. And definitely can’t beat the price. Nothing like finding an entire maxi-series for the same price as (or less!) than most current comics.

camelot3000

I grabbed these 6 Brave and the Bold: Green Arrow/Butcher/Question issues since it looks to be the entirety of a mini-series. While I’m not a fan of mini-series for newer comics/off-the-shelf purchasing…I quite appreciate them when I find complete minis in the bargain bins.

braveandtheboldmini

I figured I’d fill out a new copy of my Comics’ Greatest World collection…here’s the “regular edition” Sourcebook, as well as the Dark Horse Insider “magazine” with some stuff about CGW.

comicsgreatestworldpitbullsghostmonster

More Comics’ Greatest World:

comicsgreatestworldrebelmechatitancatalyst

…even more Comics’ Greatest World:

comicsgreatestworldbarbwiremachinewolfgang

A complete mini-series..and this’ll go well with my expanding on my ’90s Superman collection, as it’s a “tie-in” mini of sorts… I don’t consciously recall knowing about this series, even back then. So finding the entire thing in one place…for half the cost of a $2.99 comic…another great find!

starcorpsmini

For the price and starting at #1, grabbed these first seven issues of Sandman Mystery Theatre:

sandmanmysterytheatre1to7

Another complete mini-series. No clue what it’s about, but it’s early Vertigo, and it’s a 4-issue mini, so why not?

millenniumfever

And yet another complete mini-series. Notice a trend? Same as above: no clue the premise, but all 4 issues and it struck me as also being “early Vertigo” even though it doesn’t seem to carry the logo…

misteremini

Along with the “runs” and complete minis, I snagged some randomish issues, including two different printings of a glow-in-the-dark Ghost Rider issue, and a Spider-Man issue with Thanos:

miscbargainbins0515

 

 

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) #22 [Review]

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Walt

teenagemutantninjaturtlesidw022City Fall, Part One
Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Mateus Santolouco
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Cover: Mateus Santolouco
Published by: IDW
Cover Price: $3.99

Once I originally discovered the original Mirage TMNT comics and could be officially considered “into” them, THE major TMNT story was City at War, beginning with the big #50 issue that saw the return of Eastman and Laird–the characters’ creators–simultaneously to the title. The arc continued for the next 12 issues; 13 chapters in all…easily the largest single arc in the characters’ history to that point.

Now, after five 4-issue arcs and several mini-series, we begin what’s being billed as the largest-yet arc for this current IDW run: City Fall. I’m almost certain the title is MEANT to recall City at War, just by its name…and reading this issue, I can see a sort of thematic connection already. I don’t recall–if I even ever “knew”–how long this arc’s intended to be, but for some reason I have “7” on the brain.

Raphael and Casey are out and about, checking on Casey’s dad…when they’re ambushed by the Foot. Raph escapes, but is unable to take Casey with him–he quickly returns to his brothers, anxious to get back out and rescue his friend. While a rescue mission is mounted, the turtles and Splinter are dismayed at the presence of Shredder himself…a situation that–coupled with Raph’s uncontrolled rage–leaves the entire turtle-family in a far less than ideal situation by issue’s end.

Visually, I enjoyed this issue more than I thought I would. I don’t recall having any real issue with Santolouco‘s art on the Secret History of the Foot Clan mini, and his style works well here. Coupled with the consistency of Pattison‘s colors, this fits in very well with established IDW TMNT visuals; and aside from one panel toward the end of the issue, I have no trouble following the story visually.

The story itself seems to be–based on the credits–a sort of “story by committee,” and if this were DC or Marvel I might be quite concerned to see the book’s editor in the story credits. But I’m already used to seeing both Eastman (co-creator of the characters!) and Waltz credited together…and with Curnow’s history with this property, it makes sense for involvement there as well.

I definitely find myself enjoying the use of continuity…it’s been frustrating in its own way having such short, clipped arcs of “only” 4 issues apiece (notable by the collected volumes popping out every few months). But we’re treated to stuff coming out of the various arcs, as opposed to some floating, “timeless” standalone arc that could happen at “any time.” Recurring characters and events/references come from the various Micro-Series issues and even last year’s phenomenal Annual.

From this issue alone, the story actually feels bigger…and we get a potentially major event in this issue to kick things off with pretty high stakes–I don’t know exactly what to expect going forward…but whatever happens, this issue will certainly be one ripe for lots of further reference as we continue on with this continuity.

The issue’s certainly a treat to me, having been following the entirety of the IDW TMNT continuity since it began a couple years ago…I could say this is my favorite issue of the week, but that’d be a bit misleading, as this is the ONLY new comic I bought this week: the TMNT are a core part of my comics buying, and visiting the comic shop for this single issue–where in the past I’ve skipped a week due to there only being 2 issues of anything out–was totally worthwhile. I’m definitely looking forward to the next issue!

Filed under: IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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