Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Week of July 5th- July 11th, 2009



Green Lantern #43
When the inevitable movie comes out it's going to suck. Green Lantern is just silly. A guy that flies around space and has a magic ring? It's corny. Lately, though, this has been one of the most popular titles in comic book stores these last few years. This summer he gets his big shot with “Blackest Night,” the story of the African America riots in...er, no...it's actually about an evil guy named The Black Hand that resurrects the dead (that's why they killed off Bruce Wayne and Superman's father last year). The big DC epic doesn't start until next week. This is the prologue...sort of. Blackest Night #0 already came out but this takes place before that. Last summer had two big events at DC and Marvel. Secret Invasion outsold Final Crisis and I didn't read either one. Marvel doesn't have a big, summer epic this year, although their “Dark Avengers” stuff is creating a thousand books these days. Which means that “Blackest Night” is the biggest thing in comics this year. This prologue features the history of The Black Hand. He was a funeral worker's son. He loved death. He had a run in with Atroticus, the Red Lantern monster. Then he dressed up like a super-villain. Then he killed his family. Then he killed himself. Now he wants...revenge! Well, not really. He's just evil. The cover has Black Hand leaning over Bruce Wayne's grave. I assume that Wayne will be resurrected eventually. Geoff Johns does a good job creating a villain, although he's evil for no real reason. The art by Doug Mahnke is solid but nothing special. It's a lot better than the last issue of Green Lantern I picked up. I find this world too silly. This issue is super-dark, though. I am curious how this epic will fly. Not a bad start. We'll find out next week if it's any good. **1/2

Wednesday Comics #1
This is an interesting concept. Harken back to the days when newspapers were popular. They use to have comic serials in them like Mickey Mouse and Dick Tracey and The Spirit. Now newspapers have...well, they still have Dick Tracey. This a super-big, newspaper print comic with sixteen one-sheet, continued stories. It's out every week until September. It has big names. The writer & artist team behind 100 Bullets are doing a Batman story (it's the best one). Neil Gaiman is writing a story. There's a Superman story. A Supergirl story. A few no-name characters have stories (the Metal Men?). The art is fantastic. It's awesome. I would read any book with these artists. It's also has a one-shot feel to it. Do I really want to read one page of a story for sixteen weeks? Back in the old days you at least had the rest of the newspaper to read. A good idea but it would have been executed better if they just put them in real newspapers (I do think USA Today is running one of them). **

B.P.R.D. 1947 #1
The last page of this book had the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. So creepy and so cool. I can't wait until the next issue. Written by superstar Mike Mignola and Unknown Soldier scribe Joshua Dystart and drawn by the South American brothers Gabriel Ba (he draws The Umbrella Academy) and Fabio Moon (no, I don't know why they have different last names...and they draw exactly the same), this book features the Hellboy team of paranormal investigators on a case involving a ghost castle on an island and its connection to a party that took place in the 1700's. One of the investigators, fresh out of WWII, heads to the library to study up on the case. He meets a kind, cute girl that happily takes him in a rowboat to the island. The catch? The castle burned down years ago. So why's it still there in the fog? What's she taking him to? Certain death? The set-up is good, but it's that last page that seals it. The guy and girl in a rowboat at night in the fog. The castle towering above them. Great art as well. ***

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