Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Hiatus

There will probably be very few posts over the next week. I'm headed back to the PKY to visit family. Though I might find a "really good deal" to tell you about. Apparently my brother discovered a vendor in one of those antique malls who either doesn't know or doesn't care how much they're worth. I'll let you know what I find. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and happy hunting.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Fear Itself - Marvel 2011 Event

Marvel had a press conference today revealing just a little bit about their 2011 event, "Fear Itself.'  You can check out the trailer here:

http://marvel.com/videos/watch/1682/fear_itself_trailer

And here is Matt Fraction discussing it:

http://marvel.com/videos/watch/1681/fear_itself-_matt_fraction


The trailer looks pretty cool.  Fraction mentions the "God of Fear."  Phobos?  Deimos? Who the hell is it?

Monday, December 20, 2010

Key Issues - X-Force Volume 1

I know.  Kind of a weird choice for a list of key issues, but most of the majors like Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, etc. you can find on a forum somewhere.  Plus, I like X-Force.


#1 - Obviously.  One of the best selling comic books of all time with somewhere between 4 to 5 million copies sold.  6 variants: 5 with different collectors card 1 without and a 2nd printing.
#2 - 2nd appearance of Deadpool
#4 - Team up with Spider-Man continued from McFarlane's Spider-Man #16.  Issue was published in sideways/landscape format.  3rd appearance of Deadpool.
#5 - Siryn joins X-Force.
#8 - You thought the 1st appearance of Domino was in New Mutants #98?  Nope, that was Copycat impersonating Domino.  Here's the actual first appearance.  Also the first appearance of the Six Pack.
#15 - Cable versus Deadpool.  Beginning of Greg Capullo's (pencils) run.
#16 - X-Cutioner's Song Part 4
#17 - X-Cutioner's Song Part 8
#18 - X-Cutioner's Song Part 12
#25 - Fatal Attractions Part 2
#31 - Siryn quits drinking.
#32 - 1st appearance of Husk (Paige Guthrie) as a mutant.
#38 - Phalanx Covenant Part 2
#44 - Beginning of Jeph Loeb (script) run.  Cannonball leaves.  Caliban joins.
#50 - X-Men Anniversary Issue.
#51 - 1st appearance of Risque.
#60 - Origin of Shatterstar.
#82 - Beginning of Jim Cheung (art) run.
#85 - Bedlam (1st appearance in Earth 616) joins X-Force.  Cannonball rejoins.
#90 - Feral rips out Siryn's vocal chords.
#91 - Siryn leaves X-Force.
#100 - Two covers one by Liefeld the other by Cheung.
#102 - Pete Wisdom joins X-Force.  Beginning of Warren Ellis & Ian Edgington (scripts) and Whilce Portacio (pencils) run.
#115 - X-Force disbands.
#116 - New team.  Begin Pete Milligan and Mike Allred run.
#128 - Final issue of volume one.





Sunday, December 19, 2010

Saturday, December 18, 2010

What If?

Recently I decided to start collecting all of the Marvel What If? comics. These appeal to me probably because I'm such a stickler for continuity. Let's please have continuity in the 616 universe and either make more What If books or multiverse titles.

To get started I picked up the latest three: Iron Man Demon in an Armor, Wolverine Father, and Spiderman. The standout of these three is by far Wolverine Father. The writing by Rob Williams is beautiful. It's been awhile since I read a comic that took me through such a wide range of emotions so easily in just a few pages. Though it was really brought to life by Greg Tocchini's art and Chris Sotomayor's colors. The panels of Wolverine holding the baby Daken over Itsu's body were touching. I highly recommend this one.

In a clever move on Marvel's part, there is a four part Deadpool story, "What If: The Venom Symbiote Possessed Deadpool," written by Rick Remender running through these three and next week's What If Dark Reign. This story alone is worth the 16 bucks it'll cost for all four books. This is the funniest thing I've read in a comic book in ages. Based on some of the interviews I've read Remender is big on continuity and there are loads of jokes in here about how bad it is in the Marvel universe. I hope Marvel publishes this story in maybe a thin TPB (trade paperback) so that more people will get to enjoy it.

UPDATE:  Thanks to Geek Elixir who pointed out that Marvel will release this four part Deadpool What If? series in a one-shot on 16 Feb 2011.




Friday, December 17, 2010

The Justice League Recombination

Hopefully you got a chance to see last night's episode of The Big Bang Theory titled, "The Justice League Recombination."  It was pretty good.  Plenty of comments about how Aquaman sucks.  The funniest part was Sheldon as Flash.  And most importantly, we got to see Kaley Cuoco dressed as Wonder Woman.

Here's a clip:

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory/video/?pid=VRRpdkrhCRzanO5bLWUbHf_Mvtni56Ke

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #513

I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with this book. Granted the artwork is perfect. I wouldn't expect anything less from Francavilla. The dialogue is good as well. It's the premise that bothers me. The idea of Black Panther testing his mettle on the streets of Hell's Kitchen is quite ridiculous. As if ruling Wakanda for X number of years proved nothing. To me having the Panther fight criminals in NY seems to belittle his history.

Meanwhile, it seems Marvel is really trying to appease all the Daredevil fans with the conversation between DD and T'Challa. Ok so if this is cool with DD then the fans can jump on board as well. I've got news for Marvel. It's not the DD fans you should be worried about. I think lots of Black Panther fans will feel the same way I do.

So let's say we were down with this DD temporary replacement idea. Some other things make no sense to me. It may not be vibranium but the suit is the same. How long will it be before everyone figures out that the missing Black Panther is in Hell's Kitchen?

Finally, I don't know if David Liss is married or not. If he is, his wife and Storm must be the coolest wives on Earth. If I told my wife I just needed to go prove myself by fighting criminals and I'll see ya (date of return unknown), I'd come home to find my car on fire in the driveway Waiting To Exhale style.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Prepare for Epicness

In case you haven't seen it, here's a link to the Thor trailer.  You may have already seen some of the footage as it was leaked last year after San Diego Comic-con.  This is much more coherent.  As an added bonus, Natalie Portman is hot as usual.

Thor trailer (YouTube)

Monday, December 13, 2010

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero # 161

I wish someone had consulted with Larry Hama before the disastrous G.I. Joe movie came out. If they had, he might have sold them the fantastic story in the new series from IDW.  G.I. Joe as enemies of the state and Cobra as private contractors for the defense department.  Very clever.  In this issue, the Joes are trying to determine if Storm Shadow is a double agent but first they have to rescue Chuckles from Cobra.  I haven't read any of the other G.I. Joe series but this one is definitely worth the price.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Widowmaker #1

I picked up this book primarily because I like Black Widow. Hopefully someone will follow my brilliant idea and cast Anna Chapman in the Avengers movie instead Scarlet Johanssen. Anyway, it was a difficult book to get into since I haven't been reading Avengers books. Lots of ref's to what I assume are the past few years of Avengers. If you've been reading all that, you might find this book enjoyable. Though I will warn you that the Soviet Super Soldiers or whatever they're called now show up towards the end. I always thought they were really lame.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Detective Comics Annual 12

Just finished reading Detective Comics Annual #12.  Fantastic. Love Padilla's artwork. Maybe I'm behind but I haven't read much of David Hine's work. Great story.  Bruce Wayne is a badass out of costume as well. Introduces a new character who seems pretty interesting.

Friday, December 10, 2010

What Pip Bought and Was It Worth It 12-3-10

Generation Hope #2 - Worth it. I like this book that spun out of the "Five Lights" story in Uncanny X-men. Newly mutated mutants discovering their powers. Some of them headstrong, others hesitant. Though like all X-books there's absolutely no continuity. Here Wolverine is in Tokyo while in Uncanny he's in Utopia, in X-force he's on the moon, and in X-men vol 3 he's just finished being a vampire. Can we go back to three or four X-books please?
Wolverine: The Best There Is #1 - Speaking of Wolverine, I was quite disappointed in this book. Sure it's the bloody and gross bordering on a horror title Wolvie fans have always wanted, but why are we bleeping characters especially when there is a Parental Advisory on the cover. To top it off Wolverine is dancing in a night club. Worth it for the 1st issue but won’t be buying #2.
Heroes for Hire #1 – Definitely worth it. Artwork is amazing. I’m hoping that this will be the basis for one of the rumored shows that Marvel has in development. It’s also nice that fans of characters who don’t sell as well as the big names now have a book to call home other than some Avengers book. I quit reading the Avengers titles because it seems these days everyone is an Avenger.
Batman 80 Page Giant – I bought this based on the recommendation of InvestComics for the collector aspect. To be honest I’ve only gotten a chance to reader the first Joker story but it was wickedly cool. Worth it.