Blogs

ENJOY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH MARVEL UNLIMITED

Details: Published on Monday, December 01 2014 15:52; Written by Johnny M

ENJOY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH MARVEL UNLIMITED FOR ONLY 75¢ FOR THE FIRST MONTH!

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Comics Down Under: Superior Iron Man #2 Review

Details: Published on Sunday, November 30 2014 19:25; Written by Grant Robinson

Superior Iron Man #2
Published by Marvel Comics
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Yildiray Cinar

In Australia, Tom Taylor is a god of the Comic's industry. He is Arguably the most high profile writer to come from our shores. Tom's previous work, most notably his Injustice books from DC, have given him the respect within the industry that anyone making comics, not just those hailing from Oz, dream about. In fact, go read "The Deep" straight after you read this!
With that respect comes opportunities and Marvel has given him the opportunity to reboot one of their franchise characters Iron Man. Not just content to give him the book, they have made the character "Superior".

I know what you are thinking. Superior? Like Spider-Man Superior? Sort of. Ill state it for the record now. I LOVED Superior Spider-Man. What Dan Slott did to that character was a breath of fresh air and just an all out good story, so I was pleased when I heard Iron Man was going Superior. This time though, no brain swap with an evil villain.
I haven't been following Iron Man of late or the AXIS series, so I'm not familiar with why Tony Stark is behaving the way he is. Don't need to know either. All I need to know is, I love it. Some characters start as villains, than due to their popularity, become heroes. Its so much more fun when its in reverse.
Quick story synopsis. In issue one, Tony released an App for all the people of San Francisco giving them access to Extremis 3.0.

This goes down well with the population until Tony reveals that it was a try before you buy deal with an astronomical price tag attached.
His closet friends become aware of how his changed and even Daredevil attempts to take him down. Oh did I forget to mention, party boy Tony is also drinking again.
There are several plot angles already happening with Tony being borderline super villain all the way. And the last page twist.....wait until that plays out.

I have to admit, I had never heard of Yildiray Cinar before this series. Wish I had. He has a great style well suited to superheros and their environment. And of course there is Iron Man's new armor. Cinar makes it look incredible, shiny, different and new. Daredevil looks great as does the action sequences. He seems like a well rounded artist who I hope to see a lot more of.

Ultimately there will be critics of Taylor's style and body of work. "All he does is turn heroes into bad guys". Maybe. But he does it so well that he can be forgiven for it. If you want to see Tony being an even bigger douche than before, fantastic art, a new take on an old character, than go buy this book!

Superior Iron Man #2 gets 4 Superior Red Back Spiders out of 5

Reviews by Grant for 11/20/2014

Details: Published on Thursday, November 20 2014 14:57; Written by Grant Robinson

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 10 Issue #9

Published by Dark Horse

Written by Christos Cage

Art By Rebekah Isaacs

Wow! Season 10 of Buffy! That makes me so happy. My back story with Buffy goes all the way back to Season one. I watched it with my Mom. It was something we bonded over and we both loved it. We watched every season week after week (remember when we used to do that with TV shows, waiting week after week?!). I even continued on in the comics with season eight. Got about half way through and sadly, it got dropped from my pull list. Not that it was bad, just not as good as other books. From time to time I still drop in on the Buffyverse to check all is well and this was one of those times. And, yep, it still rocks!

Various quality writers have taken over the mantle and this time round its Christos Cage. Man does he have a feel for Buffy. If you were a fan of the show, you will totally be down with this series. I may not be filled in on whats happened since I dropped off but that didn't stop me diving back into this story. Buffy, Spike, Willow, Giles and Andrew are the characters with special mentions to Warren And Tara. This made jumping in really easy to do. When it comes to Buffy, its all about the characters and in particular, the language. Originally a teen action drama, Christos still gives me that feeling of teen angst whilst having healthy doses of action scenes. Some clever references to the X-Men and a cool use of an iphone, show that the Scooby Gang isn't completely grown up yet.

The flow of the plot is reminiscent of the TV series, Buffy in trouble, We aren't sure exactly what the villain is doing, call Giles for a history lesson, fight the monster, stop the villain, fun happy friend time at the end. Classic Buffy. And It doesn't get any better than that.

The art is great. The constant struggle with licensed properties is the ability to balance the original actor likeness and the desire to move on from the actor. Rebekah seems to have the balance right. Her backgrounds are a little bland but that puts the emphasis back on the characters and language. I'm sure she had fun throwing in the pop culture references too.

So what started as a look back down memory lane has got me interested enough buy the next issue. I would point out also, the next issue looks like it could be an even better jumping on point for new readers. Well done to the editors and kudos to Whedon if he is still involved, this is a brilliant way to never let a great series die.

Buffy Season 10 # 9 gets 4 out of 5

Winter World Issue 4.

Published by IDW

Written by Chuck Dixon

Art by Butch Guice

My question to you is, was there always this many "end of the world" comics or did The Walking Dead blow open the barn door?

Don't get me wrong. I love a good survivalist story. There are some great ones out there. Crossed from Garth Ennis comes to mind.

This time its Chuck Dixon's turn at it. I always liked Chuck. He was a fine writer on various Bat-Books many moons ago. Sadly, his stamp on those series has been relegated to "filler" by most comic enthusiasts.

Even sadder, is that's how I see this new series from him.

So we have our two protagonists, Scully and Wynn. The end of the world has happened resulting in a barren, ice filled world and they have made their way north after escaping cannibals. They find a fishing village that still has vegetation so hope is on the horizon. Wynn is taken in by the village and adored, Scully, not so much.

This issue picks up with Scully breaking out of his imprisonment and going to rescue Wynn who has been giving the "honor" of bringing respite to the village by being offered as a sacrifice. This is all fine and normal ground for a horror/apocalypse tale and I wold have been happy to go along. Unfortunately if you insist on using old ground you need to make up for it with tension and a scary villain. None here sadly. I cared a little but not enough for the characters and I had no insight into the villagers lives as to why they are doing what they choose to do. The monster that Wynn is sacrificed could have been more intriguing if some history on it had been given too.

The art however is great. It really gives the feeling of a horror story, very 30 Days Of Night, whilst still being clear and distinguishable between places and characters. Although set in an Ice Word, Butch hasn't taken the lazy option with backgrounds, showing immense detail and really gives the big moments the push they need. Sadly, script has let down his art so we never really get drawn in as much as we need. I hope to see Butch on some other books in the future.

If you dig this genre you may find it more interesting than I did but if you only have a casual interest, look elsewhere for your scares and tales of desperate survival.

Winter World #4 gets 2.5 out of 5.

Comics Down Under for 11/26/2014

Details: Published on Tuesday, November 25 2014 18:05; Written by Grant Robinson

Judge Dredd #25

Published by IDW Publishing

Written by Duane Swierczynski

Art by Steve Scott

Judge Dredd is a character who holds a special place in my heart. Being Australian meant we got the best of both the US comic market as well as the UK. Which meant two things. Batman and Judge Dredd. Although there are some obvious differences, both characters have that "I'm helping the city but I'm also a complete badass." vibe going. Now I'm not sure if Dredd has captured the attention of the US market, but I really hope we have all moved past the movie starring a certain large chinned action star and embraced an under rated New Zealand actor in the more recent movie. IDW hopes you have too. As a childhood 2000AD reader, I was super excited to pick up IDW's latest series when it debuted. Even more excited when they put a respectable writer like Swiercznski on the book. As long as he embraces stories from the past and didn't try anything too extreme, it should be a winner. And it was. My own theory stopped me from buying any issues after the first story arc. It wasn't experimental enough. Sure it was great to have a trip down memory lane but there was something missing to keep me going.

25 issues down and with the same writer, I thought maybe it was time to see how its all progressing. And progressing it is! It's clear by now that Swierczynski has taken ownership of the character. Maybe not to the likes of John Wagner or Alan Grant, but still good enough to be considered original and entertaining. But be warned. 25 issues in and there seems to be already some heavy elements of continuity and picking up an issue like this mid arc may not be the best way to go. If you can get past that or maybe already have enough knowledge of the character then you will enjoy this story. Judge Dredd has been exiled to Titan by the Chief Justice where it seems he had a run in with the Dark Judges (last issue I presume). Having returned to Mega-City One, he is now hunting the Chief Justice for some, well, Justice! A background story centers on a look alike of the Chief Justice so its clear this story will come to a conclusion soon. Dredd himself doesn't appear until about half way through the book but once he does the book steps up another level. Some great moments showing the lawlessness of the City, the steps taken by those wishing to remain in power and Dredd doing what Dredd does best. He is, after all, The Law.

The Art complements the story well and shows off some great action scenes as well as Mega City One. Not as dark and gritty as the British series, Scott has done well to not over stylize or journey to far from the original concept. Some characters faces seem a little rough but other than that, its quite good.

So if you haven't already given this book a chance with the previous issues, put down one of the 25 Death of Wolverine books and give it a go. British greatness updated for a modern audience with a legendary character. You wont regret it!

Judge Dredd #25 gets 3.5 Kiwi Actors out of 5

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D 1952

Published by Dark Horse Comics

Written by Mike Mignola & John Arcudi

Art by Alex Maleev

I have quite a large pile of shame when it comes to Comics. Books that are considered classics. Books that changed the medium forever. Books that others tell me are "must reads". Some of these books I own and are sitting in the waiting to be read pile, some are just on my mental list of "I'll get to them eventually.". I've also read a lot of other great books and there is no real shame in having a pile like this. I'm sure every comic reader has it.

Unfortunately, on this list is the entire Hellboy series. I've never read any of them. I'm always told how great they are. Mignola is a genius etc., but I'm pretty sure someone once told me they are the Tim Burton of the comic world and that was it, I was never going to read them. With a new series now released by Dark Horse, its probably about time I made my own mind up. And I'm so glad I did.

So like most people I've seen the two Hellboy movies. Although like most comic book movies, it's probably a bastardized version of the books, there was still enough to give me the basic understanding of Hellboy. With that knowledge I jumped straight into this series, and now I have to go find every Hellboy or B/P.R.D book printed. Because damn its good! So I guess a prequel of sorts, as the title suggests, the book is set in 1953. Hellboy's about to embark on his first mission for the B.P.R.D under the watchful eye of the human members. They are tasked with investigating a village in Brazil which has been attacked by some superhuman being. At this stage that is neither here nor there as the story is more focused on the team and Hellboys inclusion. Grounds for sabotage gets laid, mysterious characters introduced and lot of narrative. I don't mind a lot of narrative when the writing is this good.

The art is fantastic. It would be easy to say, "well its Alex Maleev, 'nuff said, but it's so much more. It's exactly what I would expect from a story like this. Dark, moody and consistent. The contrast of Hellboy being this big red creature is fantastic. You get the sense that it really is 1952 and the world is recovering from WW2. I can see where the comparisons to Tim Burton come from though. But with no silly emo/goth characters. It would also be easy to say that Maleev has just done it like Daredevil again, and that's probably true, but when that series was fantastic too, why not do it all over again!

If you are like me and unfamiliar with Hellboy, this is a great jumping on point. If you already know the characters, then I'm just preaching to the converted.

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D gets 4 dark and mysterious Wombats from Hell out of 5

Comicpalooza 2014

Details: Published on Wednesday, June 04 2014 20:34; Written by Russ

This past Memorial Day weekend I was lucky enough to once again to attend Comicpalooza in Houston, TX. This is the fifth year that it has been held at the spacious George R Brown Convention Center. I've covered this convention since it's second year when it was located inside West Oaks Mall. It's with great pleasure that I can say it's come a long way. Attendance this year seemed to be at an all time high. I lived in Houston for almost 20 years and it's nice to be able to have a full sized comic convention in my former home town. Luckily I only live a couple hours away so attending the con is easy.

When you walk into Comicpalooza's floor the first thing you notice is that you have room to move. For anyone that's attended New York Comic Con or San Diego Comic Con, this is a breath of fresh air, literally. The aisles are wide, everything is spread out, and there are plenty of places to sit and relax. It also makes taking pictures easier since you can move out of a traffic area and get good shots of the cosplayers and the activities that are going on everywhere.

Compicpalooza is not your average comic convention. Do you like more than just comics? If you do then there's plenty for you to see. Due to the size of the convention center, Compicpalooza has an entire area sectioned off for a wrestling ring, roller derby rink, swordplay demonstations, maker bot demonstrations, and much more. This gives the con a much wider appeal than your typical comic con. Steampunk and anime have a strong presence at this con from cosplayers, to costume designers, props, etc.

Celebreties are a large portion of any con and Comicpalooza continues to bring in A list talent. This year's standout was most of the principle cast of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.EL.D. Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Elizabeth Henstridge, J. August Richards, Brett Dalton and Glenn Moreshower all appeared for photos and signings and had huge lines at their tables. Also in attendence where Stan Lee, Lou Ferrigno, John Barrowman, Billy D. Williams, and a ton of others. The highlight of the convention for me personally was attending the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. panel. It's great to see the energy this cast brings to the fans. Especially Clark Gregg, that man knows how to work a room and is really genuine.

It wouldn't be a comic convention without comics and comic talent. Again Comicpalooza continues to improve in this area. I saw many more comic vendors this year than in years past. More vendors in general than years past. For comic talent they had Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Michael Golden, Kevin Maguire, Shane Davis, Greg Capullo, and a bunch of local and regional talent sketching, selling prints and meeting with fans.

This year the convention expanded to four days. Due to my work schedule, I was only able to attend on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday

Captain America

was the busiest I've ever seen this convention. Sunday was more calm but still really steady. There is plenty of staff on hand to assist with questions and directions. As a member of the press it was nice that in the larger panel rooms they allowed press in early to get setup and have a nice view of the panel to record or take pictures. This is rare for any convention and I wish more organizers would follow Comicpalooza's lead. For outlets like ours that aren't major national networks or high profile media outlets, it's really appreciated. The only thing the organizers need to work on is registration. The line Saturday for passes was 2-3 hours long. I chalk this up to the expansion of the con in attendance and duration and hopefully they can have a better system worked out for 2015. In Comicpalooza's defense this is an issue for most conventions outside of New York or San Diego.

If you live in Texas and have been waiting for a con that gives you diversity, quality, and room to breathe then I highly recommend Comicpalooza. I've attended the Dallas area conventions as well as the Wizard World shows in Austin and Comicpalooza has become a head and shoulders better show in my opinion. Be sure to check out some more pictures from the con at hhwlod.com Hopefully we can arrange a 2015 HHWLOD meet up. See you then!

Russ

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