Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Cover of the Week for 12-28-11

Here we are, the last week of 2011. I'm actually sort of disappointed because there aren't that many standout covers this week. That's not to say there weren't any, just fewer than I expected. But the choice for this week is a cool one. And it features one of my favorite characters. A character who has been over-exposed over the years, much to the dismay of funny book readers. Ladies and gentlemen, Alpha Flight #7. Take a peek.



This piece by Carlo Pagulayan shows Wolverine up against Guardian. What I really like is the perspective of the shot. He has Wolverine's hand on Guardian's throat, and then there's the shot of Wolverine on the reflective surface. Simply put, it's a cool shot.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know. Thanks for looking.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Haul for the weeks of 12-14/12-21

I didn't get a chance to hit my lcs last week, but I did today and here's what I came back with.


Some of the titles here are Carnage U.S.A. and Wolverine and the X-Men. Plenty of DCnU stuff too such as Mister Terrific and Supergirl. I also grabbed The Ray. Witchblade 150 of course. Got some G.I. Joe titles mixed in as well. Lastly, some of the titles I pre-ordered from previews came in. Those were The Activity (Image), The Immortal, and The Strain. Both of those last two are from Dark Horse; a publisher that has made a solid home in my collection.

What books stood out to you this week? Or even last week too? Let me know. Thanks for looking.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Cover of the Week for 12-21-11

Just in time for the holidays, I present to you a cover that's just fun and makes you wanna read the story. Ladies and gentlemen, here is Daredevil #7. Take a look.


This piece by Paolo Rivera just screams fun and it's an instant classic. The blind hero making snow-angels. Awesome. I'm actually behind on DD, so I have no idea what has been going on with him. But the issues are sitting here waiting to be read.

Like it? Of course you do, it's DD playin in the snow. But in the off-chance you don't, share why. As always, thanks for looking.

Happy Holidays to all the funny book lovers, your families, and everybody else.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

R.I.P. Jerry Robinson, Joe Simon, and Eduardo Barreto

The world of comics has seen many interesting events and developments. A lot of which was to be cheered. But we've also seen much sadness. We've lost some people who've had amazing talent.

The comic world is still feeling the pain of losing Jerry Robinson, and just a week later, fans of comics would wake up to read about the loss of both Joe Simon and Eduardo Barreto. From Batman and the Joker to Captain America to the Teen Titans, these individuals work will never be forgotten.

I never met any of these gentlemen, but have felt their impact on comics. And even beyond the pages, they've inspired many young men and women to work in comics and that's priceless.

Amazing talents and true inspirations. Rest in peace to you gentlemen.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Cover of the Week for 12-14-11

Once I realized one of my highly anticipated titles was being released this week, my choice for this week was simple. One of my favorite characters, Carnage, returns to wreak havoc and appears to spread terror across the nation in this first issue of Carnage U.S.A. I'm gonna cheat this week because I'm picking both the standard cover as well as the variant. I know you're thinking "what?" But it's ok. One, it's Carnage, and he's awesome. Two, I can do that. So check out the covers below.



The first image is due to the hand of Clayton Crain who definitely has a style that showcases the symbiote. The second is by Humberto Ramos who has doing excellent work on Amazing Spider-Man. I fell in love with his variant the moment I saw the preview for this mini-series. Great pieces by both artists. Carnage is back. Who remembers the line "paint the town red?" I do and I have no doubt this will be a fun ride.

Like them? Of course you do. Let me know what you think. Thanks for looking.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Moon Knight #8 Review

Moon Knight is good. You should be reading it. Really, that’s all I should say, but that won’t do anything for you. This is an awesome series. I love Moony and have been enjoying the hell out of this series. Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev have been handling our mentally troubled hero with style. Visually assisting them are Matt Hollingsworth, on colors, and VC’s Cory Petit handling the lettering.

There are two specific aspects of this title that I absolutely love and those are Marc Spector’s personality issues and his interaction with Echo. And those aren’t always separate as shown by Bendis having “Spider-Man” direct Marc to kiss Echo during a conversation. There are quite a few characters with distinct personalities, especially of the crazier variety, that I gravitate to and Moon Knight is one of them. There are a few panels early in the book within which Marc has a “meeting.” Keep reading and you’ll figure out why I put quotes around those two.

If you don’t have any knowledge of this series, here’s a little background just to catch you up. If you have been reading, you’ll probably want to skip the next two paragraphs. That’s unless you just love my writing, which is likely. That’s not at all conceited, I assure you. You’ve no doubt heard many comic readers comment on how many heroes work in New York, right? Sure you have. So being the rebel that he is, Marc Spector set up shop in Los Angeles. His civilian guise keeps busy as the creator and producer of the television show “Legends of the Khonshu.”

His personality issues are well documented, and recently his split personalities took the forms of the fellow heroes and Avengers Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine. Since his westward move, he came across the body of Ultron, which was being delivered to the L.A. kingpin of crime, who was revealed in the previous issue to be Count Nefaria. Tagging along are Buck, an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, who works on Marc’s tech. Moony has also been teamed up with Echo, the former Avenger who went by the name Ronin. And their working relationship is developing into much more. Goodness all around, this I know. You all caught up on the crazy train? Good, now back to this issue.

Moon Knight, Echo, and Buck have been making plays on Count Nefaria’s operation and recently caught one of his higher ups, Snapdragon, and capturing video evidence of him acquiring illegal tech. Moony and Echo also hit one of his bases, about which little detail was revealed. What’s shown in the panels makes it out to be a drug lab. They break through the window and kick a little butt. Baddies are hit with elbows and feet a plenty. We see some nice panel-by-panel shots of Echo throwing a match and burning up stacks of money. This is probably one of the only times money being burned looks good. The final page sets up what should be an awesome issue #9.

Examining the visuals, the three heroes within Marc are shown in lighter shades of color to distinguish between them, and you know, the real world. It’s a nice visual touch by Maleev who has a style I like to define as gritty, which fits a Moon Knight book quite well. I should say I’m not the biggest Maleev fan, but I like his style to a point. It does fit certain books, but there are times when I just don’t care for it. That’s not a knock against him, his style, or the book; it’s just my preference at times. I do have one question, what happened to the hand mark on Echo’s face? I had thought that to be some sort of permanent marking. I don’t know the full story on it, so maybe I missed something somewhere.

As stated earlier, there’s a page early in the book where Marc has a “meeting” with his internal heroes. Our lead is walking with one of his employees when he sees the heroes standing at the end of the hall. The next panel has Marc tell her that he has a meeting. She asks him with whom since she schedules his meetings. The panel shows Marc looking down the empty hall. It’s a nice sequence by our creative team showing the differences in realities.

There’s nothing wrong with this book. I don’t say that to mean I was looking for something to be wrong or that there would inherently be something off about, it’s just a good book. As I’ve pretty much abandoned a rating system, I’ll just say I recommend hitting your shop and BUYING it. Grab the previous issues as well. With the series being only 8 issues in, I doubt it would take much effort to track them all down. That’s unless you prefer trades, which I have no info on at all. Happy reading, funny book fans.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Cover of the Week for 12-7-11

Yo Joe! That had to be done. This week I present something that goes back to my childhood (waging huge Joe vs. Cobra wars) but also represents a current interest (collecting Joes). My choice for cover of the week for this week is the photo variant cover for G.I. Joe #8. This is one of IDW's G.I. Joe toy covers showcasing some plastic Joe vs. Cobra action. Check it out.


This cover features Stalker driving the A.W.E. Striker with Scarlett firing from the side along with Roadblock and Duke. Opposing them is Cobra Commander in a Hiss Tank along with Baroness, Storm Shadow, and Destro. Classic characters (figures) and vehicles. I will admit it's kind of odd they have vintage figures mixed with 25th Anniversary/Modern Era ones. But they got the same effect. Sorry Snake Eyes fans (myself included), he is absent from the picture. But then again, it's Snake Eyes, he could be hiding in front of the Hiss ready to strike.

Like it? How can you not? Let me know what you think. Thanks for looking.

Oh, and one more thing...YOOOOO JOE!

Monday, December 5, 2011

End of November hauls

My wallet has seen plenty action in the last two weeks. I got in a comic order from mycomicshop.com as well as picked up a ton of books from my shop. And never far behind were some nice toy purchases. Check em out.


This first one was my online order. Lots of goodies here. Plenty holes I needed to fill in. Some highlights are the X-books, Mike Carey's Faker, some G.I. Joe, a few Supergirl books I was missing, and the Elric series I wanted to try after I picked one of the issues for my CotW feature (which you can find here...http://dragonscomiccorner.blogspot.com/2011/11/cover-of-week-for-11-2-11.html).


This next one is everything I cleared out from my box at my lcs plus other stuff I grabbed off the shelf. It's mostly Invincible Iron Man, Journey into Mystery, and the Avengers titles. Plus the third issue of Shinku.


And finally, the other goodies. You've already seen the two comic packs, but since I hadn't opened them yet, I threw them in the picture too. I'm thinkin about painting Mag's hands, I feel like he should've had some gloves on. Then there's my man Wolverine, I've been wanting an him in his Astonishing costume since the MU line began. His claws seem longer, but I wish there were separated. I suppose I'll just try to do it myself. And I meant to go back and pick up the regular MU Fantastic 4 team set, but I forgot. I'll have to grab that another time. I was not expecting to find the G.I. Joe 30th Crimson Hiss when I went to TRU, but I'm glad I did.

Here's a couple pix of the Crimson Hiss. I took these to post on Hisstank.com.



I also bought three games on the day after thanksgiving which were Kane & Lynch: Dog Days (on clearance at Target for $6), Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions ($15 at Best Buy), both for 360, and Metroid: Other M ($5 at Best Buy).

Let me know what you think. Thanks for looking.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Cover of the Week for 11-30-11

Happy New Comic Day! The cover I chose for this week kinda snuck up on me. I was looking through the covers, narrowing down my list of choices and then boom, I saw this one. Here is my man Wolverine going up against a dragon. Didn't see this coming at all. But it's ok. I like Wolverine and I like dragons. This is Ron Garney's cover to Wolverine #19. Take a look.


I've been a fan of Garney for sometime. I've come across his work on Amazing Spider-Man and Wolverine. When he's teamed with Jason Aaron on Wolverine titles, it's been some good stuff. I haven't read this series though. There really is no reason behind that at all. I like the character and the creative team. I might have to look into that.

Love it? Hate it? Indifferent? Or have another choice? Let me know. Thanks for looking.