Sunday, January 30, 2011

Uncanny X-Force #4

I've mentioned before that I was away from comics for quite a few years.  One of the things that I missed during that time was the New X-Men series from Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey and with it the introduction of Fantomex.  When the new X-Force (Vol. 3) was announced, I had to do some reading on him and his background.  Even after digging through several wiki's and issue recaps I was still a little confused as far as what exactly his powers were and what the hell E.V.A. was.  Well, we're four issues into Remender and Opena's Uncanny X-Force and Fantomex is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters.

I've seen some Fantomex detractors on a few forums but this issue alone should change any doubtful minds.  Remender had me thinking that Wolverine would have to step up at the end.  And then...  Bam!  It's Fantomex that comes through.  Outside of the disturbing scene with Deadpool and Archangel, the issue was great.  Depending on what Remender has planned for later, this issue could end up being a key issue.  Of all the X-books, I've given up on everything except for Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, and X-Factor, but this series is by far the best.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Pip's Pick Ups - 01-28-11

I was laid up on the couch for the past couple of days with a ridiculous tooth brushing injury but managed to make it to work and the comic book shop today. When I saw all of the books this week that I wanted to get I had to double check to make sure I hadn't been out of commission for longer than two days. Here's what I picked up:

Captain America #514
Detective Comics #873
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #162
Uncanny X-Force #4
Uncanny X-Men #532
Wonder Woman #606

Reviews to come.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Wonder Woman Picked Up by NBC ( It Will Probably Suck )

After a busy weekend I finally got back to some comic related news and ran across this article about NBC picking up David E. Kelley's Wonder Woman pilot.  At first glance, this news sounds great.  I like Wonder Woman.  David E. Kelley has created some great shows (Boston Legal, Picket Fences) and written some fantastic movies (Lake Placid and Mystery, Alaska).  The new head of programming at NBC is the guy who brought Dexter and Weeds to Showtime.  It seems everything has fallen into place.

However, believe me when I tell you this show will suck.  Last year, Megan Fox called Wonder Woman "lame."  Apparently, Lynda Carter was not too happy about the comment.  As it turns out Megan Fox is right, but for the wrong reason.  She said something about the invisible jet and how Wonder Woman's not invisible in the jet.  This comment makes me think her knowledge of WW is from the Super Friends cartoon.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Marvel Hires Writer for a Black Panther Movie

 I was quite giddy when I read this.  Marvel has hired a screenwriter to come up with a draft for a Black Panther movie.  It appears that most of Mark Bailey's  work has been on documentaries so it's tough to say whether this is a good or bad choice.  Regardless, I have a feeling that this means we may see a cameo of T'challa in Joss Whedon's Avengers movie.  Here's The Hollywood Reporter's story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/black-panther-development-marvel-74005

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Deadpool #30 & #31 (Curse of the Mutants)

Like many X-Men fans when I heard there would be a third ongoing series with X-Men in the title, I was skeptical but still had to have it.  After finishing X-Men #6, the final issue of the first arc titled "Curse of the Mutants," I have decided I no longer have to have it.  I enjoyed it, but just can't figure out where it fits with all of the other X-books.  I read an interview with Victor Gischler where he said it was supposed to tie the X-Men to the rest of the Marvel Universe.  I guess that's the case if you count Blade showing up in the first arc and in the next they will be with Spidey in NYC.  However, Fraction and Gillen have the X-Men quarantined on Utopia fighting off a mutant virus.  This isn't like the old days of Blue Team and Gold Team X-Men.  They are using the same characters with no mention of what's happening in the other books.  This is really pissing me off so I'm going to drop X-Men (Vol 3?) and pretend that it doesn't exist.

Okay so I'm moving outside of what I really wanted to tell you about which is the highlight of this 'Curse of the Mutants" arc.  Not even really a part of the story but Deadpool #30 and #31 have the "Curse of the Mutants" tag on the cover.  That's the reason I picked it up.  I normally don't read Deadpool but this story is awesome.  Wade gets hired to protect a group of vampires who didn't buy into Xarus' uniting of the vampire clans (there's the tie-in) from one of the clans who did.  Deadpool is simultaneously killing vampires and falling in love/lust with a sexy doctor who works at the hospital sitting on top of the vampire lair.  The dialogue is hilarious and there is plenty of action.  That's all I really want from a Deadpool book.  I like Deadpool the most when he's written like Evil Dead/Army of Darkness Ash.  Daniel Way has been writing Deadpool since the first issue so based on #30 and #31 looks like I've got quite a few back issues to catch up on.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Key Issues - Excalibur Volume 1

Stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit with this one.  So far, all of the key issue lists that I've put together have been for series that I actually read.  I have a few issues of this volume but was never that into it.  Excalibur fans, please don't hold it against me.  I was a small town high school kid who was listening to Guns-N-Roses and just wanted to see Schwarzenegger or Stallone blow something up.  Most of the humor in this series was way over my head at the time.  As always, let me know if I missed something.

Excalibur #1: 1st Widget
Excalibur #2: 1st Kylun (as a child)
Excalibur #6: 1st Alistaire Stuart, 1st Alysande Stuart
Excalibur #42: Begin Alan Davis run.  This is the issue with the Kamikaze chicken.
Excalibur #43: 1st Kylun (as an adult)
Excalibur #44: 1st Micromax
Excalibur #46: 1st Cerise (cameo)
Excalibur #47: 1st Cerise (full)
Excalibur #48: 1st Feron
Excalibur #56: End Alan Davis run
Excalibur #57 - 58: "For Whom the Bell Trolls" and "Troll Call."  Alan Davis plot scripted by Scott Lobdell. 
Excalibur #83: Begin Warren Ellis run
Excalibur #86: 1st Pete Wisdom
Excalibur #103: End Warren Ellis run
Excalibur #125: Captain Britain marries Meggan, final issue.

Crossover Issues:
Fatal Attractions:  #71
Phalanx Covenant:  #82

Monday, January 17, 2011

Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #514

Although I still have problems with the premise of this series, issue #514 is a great improvement over the last issue. I highly doubt David Liss read my review of the first issue, but in an interview with CBR, he mentioned addressing some of the points I made. In this issue, T'challa is still trying to find Vlad who has become the biggest criminal in Hell's Kitchen since Daredevil left. It's at this point that the series really starts to take off. You realize that trouble usually makes it's way to T'challa. Now he has to track it down. It truly does show him out of his element. Detective work in NYC is much different than Wakanda. Priest's Panther was able to do it primarily because of his tech not through street smarts.

Besides the ending which definitely makes me want to pick up the next issue, the other highlight is the appearance of Luke Cage. He basically tells T'challa to put a stop to Vlad or someone else will. That could make for some nice interplay with the new Heroes For Hire series which is excellent, both fast paced and fun.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Pip's Pick Up's - 12 January 2011

So I didn't actually pick up my 1/12/11 books until Friday.  Due to the snowstorm in Atlanta and Tennessee on Monday, shipments to my LCS were delayed and nothing arrived until yesterday.  Only three this week.  I was tempted to get the Spawn #200 because I had heard that it sold out in a day but decided against it.  Maybe I'll regret that in a few years.  Anyway, here's what I got:

Black Panther:  The Man Without Fear #514
Heroes For Hire #2
Deadpool #31

I'll let you know how they turn out.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The 13th Annual Columbia Antique Toy, Comic & Collectible Con

I'll be headed to this con in a few weeks.  I've never been before and am not really sure how big this convention is but it's better than driving a few hours for all the other ones near me.  According to their site, Roy Thomas will be there.  Roy was the first editor-in-chief to succeed Stan Lee at Marvel.  He's also responsible for bringing Conan the Barbarian to comics back in 1970.  He's currently editor of Alter Ego, the Marvel fanzine.  His accomplishments are too numerous to name here.  Sanford Greene (Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Wonder Girl) will also be appearing.  Here's the link to the con website:

http://colacollectorscom.webs.com/

Let me know if you're going, I'd love to meet up with any of the reader's of this blog.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Key Issues - Cable Volume 1

Cable is one of my all time favorite characters in comics.  Although the X-Men already had Wolverine and Gambit as resident bad asses, they still bought into Xavier's methodology for the most part.  It was interesting to see a hero who believed in the dream but disagreed with Xavier on how to get there.  I'm hoping that because she was raised by Cable, we'll see Hope begin to show lots of Cable's character traits.  I think we're already seeing some of that with Gillen's Generation Hope.  Lots of these issues can be picked up from the $1 bin at your local comic shop.
 
Cable #1:  1st Sinsear, 1st Clan Chosen
Cable #3:  1st Weasel (Jack Hammer).  Both Marvel's Wiki and Wikipedia list his 1st appearance as Deadpool: The Circle Chase #1 however it was August 1993 while Cable #3 was July 1993.
Cable #6 - 8:  "Fathers and Sons" arc.  Cable finally revealed to be Nathan Christopher Summers
Cable #15: 1st Marrow
Cable #24:  Death of Grizzly
Cable #34:  Cable fights an Onslaught controlled Hulk
Cable #40:  1st Abyss (Nightcrawler's half-brother)
Cable #43:  1st work by Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina) at Marvel.  He did the dialogue on this issue.
Cable #48:  1st Irene Merryweather
Cable #59:  1st Jack Truman (S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 18 who later becomes Deathlok)
Cable #64:  Cable origin retold
Cable #87:  Death of Pyro
Cable #88:  1st Dark Mother (Fiona Knoblach)
Cable #97:  Begin Tischman/Kordey run
Cable #100:  Cable frees himself of the techno-organic virus

Cable: Blood and Metal #1 - 2:  These are key issues for Cable's history leading the Six Pack.  If the X-Cutioner's Song crossover were released today these probably would have been considered a limited series prelude.

Crossover Issues:
Phalanx Covenant:  Cable #16
X-Men Legion Quest:  Cable #20
Onslaught:  Cable #34 - 36
X-Men Zero Tolerance:  Cable #45 - 47
Apocalypse The Twelve:  Cable #75 - 76
X-Men Ages of Apocalypse:  Cable #77
X-Men Dreams End:  Cable #87

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Pip's Pick Up's - 1/5/2011

Still catching up from the past two weeks. Here's what I picked up today:

Deadpool #30
Detective Comics #872
Generation Hope #3
X-Factor #213

I also picked up some back issues of X-Factor, #208 and #209. I kept hearing what a good series X-Factor is. Well, after reading #209, I'm sold. The disfunctionality of this team is hilarious. Highlights for me included Madrox talking about how he envies Cyclops and the military precision of the X-men after Longshot and Layla disappear and when they call to say they've found him at the craps tables at Caesar's (what would you do if you had Longshot's abilities), Guido is looking for them in a strip club. Also, does anyone else think that Jane Foster looks a little like Natalie Portman in this issue? I don't read Thor so I couldn't pick Jane Foster out of a crowd, but when I saw her first panel in this book I thought it was Portman.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Key Issues - X-Factor Volume 1

As promised, here is the key issues list for X-Factor Volume 1.
I consider Volume 1 to be through issue #149 of the 1986 series.  Other sites have issue #200 and up listed as part of Vol 1 but I would consider those to be part of Volume 3.  As you can see below there are quite a few first appearances including Apocalypse.  Some of these may seem like a stretch, but I'm trying to be as comprehensive as possible when it comes to key issues.  As always, let me know if you think I missed something.


X-Factor #1: 1st Cameron Hodge
X-Factor #5: 1st Apocalypse (Cameo)
X-Factor #6: 1st full Apocalypse, Begin Louise Simonson run.
X-Factor #7: 1st Skids (Sally Blevins), 1st Trish Tilby
X-Factor #10: Begin Walt Simonson art
X-Factor #14 - 15: Angel's wings are amputated
X-Factor #17: 1st Rictor
X-Factor #23: 1st Archangel (as Death, Cameo)
X-Factor #24: 1st full Archangel (as Death)
X-Factor #29: 1st Infectia
X-Factor #34: "Death" Cameron Hodge
X-Factor #41: 1st Alchemy (character created by reader Paul Betsow for Marvel contest)
X-Factor #53: Scott Proposes to Jean (declined)
X-Factor #54: 1st Crimson
X-Factor #55: Peter David's first issue of X-Factor
X-Factor #67: 1st Shinobi Shaw, Sebastian Shaw apparently killed by his son, Shinobi
X-Factor #68: Nathan Christopher Summers (Cable) sent to the future by Askani
X-Factor #70: Begin Peter David run
X-Factor #71: 1st New Team
X-Factor #75: 1st Nasty Boys
X-Factor #87: "X-Aminations!" Members of X-Factor visit a shrink
X-Factor #88: 1st Random
X-Factor #92: 1st Exodus
X-Factor #96: 1st Haven (Radha Dastoor)
X-Factor #149: X-Factor disbands

Crossover Issues:
Mutant Massacre -  #9 - 11
Fall of the Mutants - #24 - 26
Inferno - #36 - 39
X-Tinction Agenda #60 - 62
Muir Island Saga #69 - 70
X-Cutioner's Song #84 - 86
Fatal Attractions #92
Phalanx Covenant #106
X-Men Legion Quest #109

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Why Can't Comics Pay As Much As My Real Job

I had a nice couple of weeks on vacation and was able to work a little on my collection. I picked up a What If? #10 and 11 at a peddler's mall near my hometown for a few bucks along with a Wonder Woman #209 that I'm pretty sure I paid too much for.

The real score though was an ad I found on craigslist. I bought two 18 gallon tubs worth of comics for $50. It turns out that two 18 gallon storage bins holds about 400 something comics. I wasn't sure what was in them but the books on top seemed to be in pretty good shape so I went for it. Don't get too excited. I didn't find a Detective Comics #27. I did manage to get lots of X-books and lots of Spidey books all from the 90's and 00's. I haven't had a chance to price them yet but there were a few gems like a Deadpool #11.

In the next few days I'll be working on a list of X-Factor key issues. Stay tuned.