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Shadowman #7 [Review]

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Walt

Shadowman (2012) #7 [cover]Writer: Justin Jordan
Pencils: Neil Edwards
Inks: Matt Ryan
Color Art: Brian Reber
Covers: Patrick Zircher, Dave Johnson, Matthew Waite
Letters: Rob Steen
Editor: Jody LeHeup
Published by: Valiant
Cover Price: $3.99

I feel kind of like I missed an issue. Without going back to re-read the series-thus-far, I vaguely remember where the story left off before last month’s #0 issue, but jumping into this issue I found myself wondering if I truly remembered, or had a slight bit of deja vu from reading the catch-up text on the inside cover.

We find Shadowman and his compatriots facing Baron Samedi, and ultimately coming to a sort of “understanding” in their mutual goal of preventing Darque from crossing from the Deadside in to the “real world.” As the deal unfolds, not everyone is on the same page, and one of our heroes seems to make a bit of a mistake that looks like it’s going to cost the group next issue.

If my summary is brief and vague…there’s something about this series, where it’s one I’m enjoying…but it’s a sort of enjoy-as-I-read-it more than it is remembering-after-I’ve-read-it. As it is with much of what I read these days. I read an issue, and that’s fine, but it doesn’t stick with me much beyond the reading, until/unless I delve back in to construct a better summary for a review…but then I may be over-analyzing, and going back in to pick things apart isn’t “just” the “reading experience” of buying an issue and reading it and planning to continue with the next issue.

As said, I’m enjoying this series in and of itself. The art’s good–I’ve no trouble following what’s going on, there’s no over-fancy or complicated page layouts or funky, stylistic stuff to distract…it’s just good art conveying the story.

And the story itself continues to build on itself–we have the growing threat of Darque, continue to see the characters feel each other out and develop as a group: the duo already familiar with each other before Shadowman was with them, and the Shadowman himself, Jack, who is dealing with his new status quo and with being a new/outsider-y member of the “group” and all that.

As a continuing reader of the series, this is another solid issue. I’m not as “into” this title as say, X-O Manowar or Harbinger…but this is still a welcome part of my Valiant purchasing, and I don’t plan to leave it behind anytime in the near future.

Filed under: 2012, Shadowman, Valiant | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Archer and Armstrong #10 [Review]

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Walt

Archer & Armstrong (2012) #10 [cover]Mystery Hole

Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Pere Perez
Colorist: David Baron
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Covers by: Clayton Henry, Juan Doe, Matthew Waite, Andrew Robinson
Assistant Editor: Josh Johns
Executive Editor: Warren Simons
Published by: Valiant
Cover Price: $3.99

I’m enjoying the standard covers on this series lately. They fit the characters, and are rather amusing given context OF the characters. This one–Armstrong, Archer ,and some alien caught sneaking by, guns pointed at them…something about it just works for me.

Inside the issue, we don’t see this scene exactly…but we do see our heroes breaking into a Project Rising Spirit facility/Area 51 (there’s our tie-in: it’s Valiant, so of course PRS is involved). They’re looking for info on Archer’s past, true info rather than what he’s been told all his life by manipulative parents–but things don’t go quite as planned. We’re also reintroduced to Mary-Maria, whose status quo was left a bit in question recently, and see what she’s now dealing with…holding a lot of potential for quirky situations and interesting character development as we continue on.

I’m honestly not entirely sure where I stand with this title, in a way: I certainly enjoy it, but like Shadowman, I sometimes feel like I’m playing catchup, as its story details don’t often stick with me outside the actual reading of the issues. I guess that puts me as a more generalized or casual fan than a die-hard, for whatever that says about me.

As usual, the story and art work well together. I can follow along without issue, I’m not left scratching my head or finding myself taken out of the story by some weird, stylistic art bit, and I don’t pick up on any great plot holes or such.

In short, I read the issue, I enjoyed the issue, and I expect to be back for the next issue.

Filed under: 2012, Archer & Armstrong, Valiant | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Favorite Superman Covers: Adventures of Superman #424

Posted on June 10, 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.

While not specifically a #1, I find this cover much more suggestive of a #1 issue than either Superman #1 or Action Comics #584 to me. It’s just a rather majestic image of Superman, a classic pose, and nice coloring.

adventuresofsuperman424

Lately when I think of this era of Superman, this is one of the images that comes to mind…and I’m certainly not alone in that, given this image was used recently for a line of Superman/DC licensed school products that seemed to be based on somewhat “classic” stuff and not THE most up-to-date contemporary imagery.

I don’t remember the exact timing, but I do have a vague recollection of finally getting this issue back in the early ’90s…of course having never realized just how soon I’d actually been introduced to the then-current version of the character. But that gets into stuff for another time.

Filed under: Favorite Superman Covers, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 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.

Filed under: Favorite Superman Covers, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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 #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 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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Comics Mean Favorite Stories and Characters

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Walt

The week of April 29th leading into Free Comic Book Day on May 4th, I’m asking bloggers, podcasters & artists to post something explaining what comics mean to you. (prompt courtesy of Comics Kick Ass Week)

batman442I’ve spent the last few days sharing some brief, loose thoughts on some of the things that comics mean to me, have been to my life.

But I haven’t talked about my favorite stories, my favorite characters. And truly, anything actually comprehensive on that front could be an entire blog in itself, something far larger than the scope and intent of this week’s posts. So I’ll touch on a few only.

Superman was the first–Superman is the reason I was introduced to comics. I touched a few weeks ago on the significance of the Death and Return of Superman Omnibus, aos500collecting that entire saga under one cover, as the ultimate story from my childhood is presently the ultimate single volume in my collection.

Another Superman story that holds a lot of meaning for me is Man of Steel, the John Byrne series that reintroduced Superman to the world, introduced the version of Superman that I consider “my Superman.”

Over on the Batman side, there’s A Lonely Place of Dying. Tim Drake–the third Robin (or now, Red Robin in the New 52)–had only JUST been introduced as I got into comics. So the character has been around the xmen041entire time I’ve been into comics, had comics of my own…but while I was new to comics, Tim Drake the character was new to being Robin. As he grew up, I grew up; as he gained experience, I’ve gained experience. Sadly, where Tim was once several years OLDER than me…even if they portray him as being 20 or so and not mid-teens…I’ve now got nearly a decade and a half on the character. And for that, Robin–the Tim Drake version–is also one of my favorite characters.

With Batman, significant stories that I think of quickly include A rune000Death in the Family, as well as Knightfall, KnightQuest, and KnightsEnd. No Man’s Land was also quite important as it got me back into the Bat-verse for awhile, sampling the various titles since they tied in, and I tried to follow the entire thing (though trailed off when I went off to college).

On the Marvel side, while I kinda loosely followed some of the X-Stuff (particularly Fatal Attractions, the X-Men 30th Anniversary crossover/event) I didn’t actually start trying to follow ALL of the X-books until Legion Quest and the Age of Apocalypse. I got all the issues in batman497December 1994 that ended with the cliffhangers as those titles seemed to rather abruptly END…and then followed all the Age of Apocalypse titles for the 4-month event…and then for a few months afterward, I tried to keep up with the entirety of the X-books, learning about the characters I didn’t already know, learning about their “real versions” as opposed to their AoA counterparts, etc.

And of course, there are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was introduced to them by other boys in my Cub Scouts group having the interest, but their interest soon became my own. The comics, the cartoons, the movies, etc.–the tmnt050TMNT have actually been part of my life longer than comics, I believe. 

The Avengers and the non-X-related Marvel characters became a much larger part of my life in the late-1990s, having grabbed my attention with Heroes Reborn, but it was the Heroes Return where–for a brief time–I was buying everything Marvel that I could, while offhand sticking solely with Superman books from DC. I followed Avengers through Busiek‘s entire run, and a couple years each of Fantastic Four and Iron Man, and stuck with Thor a couple years longer than Avengers.

mantra001And significant as Marvel and DC were, I jumped onboard the Ultraverse with its launch in June 1993, and had the intention of following it in its entirety, though that quickly fell by the wayside due to the price ($1.95 to the $1.50 of the Superman books!) and sheer volume of titles. Ultimately, I followed Prime from the beginning to the very end, as well as Mantra, and I jumped on the Rune #0 promotion and so followed the Rune stuff in that entirety as best I could (I’m STILL missing one of the crossover issues with Conan!). Over the past couple years I’ve worked on tracking down the Ultraverse issues and titles I’d missed, and I’m down to a (relatively) small list of xo000missing issues from having a complete story collection of the Ultraverse…or at least, complete enough for me.

There have been book series and authors that I’ve followed–Brad Meltzer, Aliens, Dragonlance, Magic: The Gathering, Left Behind, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians–but ultimately…quantity-wise, it’s comics that have had the most impact on me, the greater variety and writers of stories that I carry with me.

Other posts in my participation in Comics Kick Ass week:
Comics Mean Memories | Comics Mean Connection | Comics Mean Education/Entertainment/Escape | Comics Mean Marking the Passing Time

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Comics Mean Marking the Passing Time

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Walt

The week of April 29th leading into Free Comic Book Day on May 4th, I’m asking bloggers, podcasters & artists to post something explaining what comics mean to you. (prompt courtesy of Comics Kick Ass Week)

aos453Comics in general–the whole of “comics,” collecting, reading, noticing–have provided an interesting way to mark the passage of time in my life. I’ve grown up with certain characters–literally and figuratively (most notably the third Robin, Tim Drake) and seen nearly a third of Superman’s existence, and more than half of most Marvel characters’ existence…and the entirety of many more.

But amidst that, going back to memories, connections, and education–a number of comics have coincided with events in my life, or major comic stories have been able to lend themselves to locking in memories that’d otherwise be forgotten.

tmnta025As I have memories of getting my first comics Spring 1989, basically 24 years ago…let’s use 24 years and not quibble over months and other highly-exactness that can make this more complicated than I’m already going to make it:

I’ve been into Superman for 24 years, or 32% of his existence. Batman, I’ve been into basically as long, so let’s say 32% there as well. Since my first four comics, I’ve been around for about 281 issues, give or take late issues, skip months, zero issues, etc. Superman #31-226, Adventures of Superman 453-649, Superman #650-714, and about 20 issues of the New 52 Superman. Action Comics would be 643-904 and 1-20 of the New 52. Batman I’ve seen from #439-700-something, and about 20 of the New 52. Detective Comics I’ve seen from #604-881, and about 20 issues of the New 52.

hunterprey001Amidst these: I was 11 when I got back into comics in spring/summer 1992 and turned 12 a couple weeks after The Death of Superman. The Death and Return of Superman saga, the rematch with Doomsday in Hunter/Prey; Zero Hour and the first year beyond that–made up my junior high years. The Electric Costume Superman came about toward the end of my sophomore year of high school. The soft relaunch of the Super-titles in fall 1999 coincided with my starting college.

The X-Men event Age of Apocalypse closed out my junior high years, and all the Onslaught, Heroes Reborn, and Heroes Return stuff came during xmenalpha001my high school years.

Batman: Knightfall, Knightquest, and Knights End were part of junior high for me, and all the stuff that came out of those were in my high school years. Wolverine lost his adamantium during my junior high years, and didn’t get it back until I’d started college.

X-Men #100, The Shattering, The Twelve–these were part of early college for me.

tec6759/11 and the “new look” of “Nu Marvel”–the more grim and gritty, hide-the-heroes, leather jackets and grittier logos were the thing through most of my college years, and it wasn’t until I was into grad school that things started to pull back together to a callback to my childhood/junior high days.

The Avengers were Disassembled at the start of grad school, and Johns has been THE Green Lantern writer of note since I started grad school. Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, 52, and Flashpoint have all been since I started grad school.thor085

Since moving into this apartment, I’ve seen Batman: RIP, Battle for the Cowl, and the return of Bruce Wayne.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures carried from junior high and into high school. The original TMNT run had ended and the second volume was ending about the time I was headed into high school. The Image run came along sometime in there, though I didn’t discover it until college…and the “volume 4” series kicked off partway through my junior year of college, running til shortly after my wolverine145grad school days.

The height of the Ultraverse was junior high for me, while Black September marked the start of high school for me.

While many look down on the ’90s era of comics…that’s when I grew up. Most of my favorite comics are from the 1990s.

Comics also cover a huge part of the timeline of my life: December 1980-Fall 1988 was the time before comics.

prime001Fall 1988-Spring 1989 I was reading Grandpa’s comics. Spring 1989-Fall 1990 or so was my first foray into comics. Summer 1992-December 1995 was my second. And while the number of comics I’ve been getting any given month has fluctuated WILDLY, I’ve been fairly steady in comics since March 1997. I came close to trailing off in college, and have been down to just a handful of titles on several occasions.

All of this to say: just as you can measure stuff by things going on in comics, and specific issues…I’ve been around and into comics for so long, they’ve been such a big part of my life (intentionally or in retrospect) that much of the time I’ve lived can be marked by the comics that were coming out simultaneously.

Other posts in my participation in Comics Kick Ass week:
Comics Mean Memories | Comics Mean Connection | Comics Mean Education/Entertainment/Escape

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