SECRET #1

Jonathan Hickman is certainly busy these days, right? Add a new book! He has. This new book from Image Comics is all about the secret, spy-like ways an evil group of baddies can outwit the good guys. Granted, the good guy in this issue is the head of a Washington, D.C. company...and aren't CEO's the new enemy these days? So it's a bit far from the super hero world of Fantastic Four that Hickman usually plays in...and that's kind of the problem; it's boring. The art, by Ryan Bodenheim, is good, fairly realistic and pedestrian...but I couldn't tell the characters apart and thus the last page reveal fell on deaf ears. The colors are also super awkward; most panels are done in only one color. Not sure what the point is but it certainly doesn't make the book look good. All in all it's a not-needed, barely there new book. Aren't first issues supposed to knock it out of the park? Guess I'm spoiled by Saga. **

SUPREME #63

I noticed this in 2010 when I was reading Neonomicon, Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows' mini-series about H.P. Lovecraft. & I realized it again when reading this issue. The reason I think Alan Moore is a great writer (and perhaps the best comic book writer ever) is the way his books envelope you. There's a lot of words in his books so it takes awhile to read them...but it's more than that. The plot that fits like a complete jigsaw puzzle, the strange, thrilling aura of everything; when you read an Alan Moore book it simply takes over, washes over you, and lets you escape somewhere unique. Moore obviously doesn't write much anymore, and his best days are certainly behind him, but he still has the power to knock your socks off, to wow you, to make you smile when reading a picture book of all things. Moore wrote Supreme in the 90's and this was the last issue he wrote. It was a cliffhanger and it was never published so this year when re-launching a handful of old Rob Liefeld Extreme Studios books they decided to get Erik Larsen to draw the last Alan Moore script and then continue on his own. So this is possibly the last ever mainstream superhero book Alan Moore will ever write. & what a glorious, bizarre, ecstatic finish. Larsen is at the top of his game here but the dialogue and story are downright intriguing and chock full of hilarity and entertainment. First off; a duck/man character is referred to as not only the "canard of carnage" but the "waterfowl of woe" and the "poultry of paranoia." How fun is that shit? The story has Supreme's nemesis, Dax, traveling to a parallel world of all Dax's and Supreme's new girlfriend showing up for a dinner date. Trust me, though, it's filled to the brim with awesomeness. What a treat. What a great issue. I already miss Alan Moore. Sigh. ****

AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1

When they announced this (about two years after Brian Bendis said that Marvel wouldn't be doing big events for awhile...and a year after Marvel's last event, Fear This) I thought: these teams have been around since the 60's...they've never done this before? Duh. They have. I'm sure multiple times...but in the late 80's there was a 4-issue mini-series called Avengers vs. X-Men drawn by Marc Silvestri. So it's nothing new. Add the fact that this new event features the Dark Phoenix, the evil force that ended up killing Jean Grey, and you realize that is about as far from original as possible. But I do love events, I love John Romita, Jr., and this excited me. I'm a sucker for big events, whether it's a big summer popcorn film or a new Stephen King release or a new album from Lady Gaga...they peak my interest. Not that I would actually buy all 12 issues of this, the 6 side battle VS. issues, the many tie-ins...but I'll read some of it. I hated last week's #0 issue...but this #1 is entertaining. The premise has the Dark Phoenix headed towards Earth and ready to take over Hope and destroy the planet. I'm taking a guess, but expect the evil force to take over and kill Cyclops. Why? Cyclops doesn't want to give Hope to the Avengers so they start fighting. Literally that's the entire plot. But I do like the Dark Phoenix even though it's pretty much a copy of Parallax from Green Lantern. & John Romita, Jr.'s art is awesome stuff (everyone hates him for some reason these days). Bendis' script is super-basic. It's same-old, un-original, standard fare...but the book as a whole entertained me. **1/2

THE NEW DEADWARDIANS #1

So...are you sick of vampires yet? What about zombies? Lucky for you, this book doesn't have werewolves...not in this first issue, anyway. It's funny how big monsters have become. Scream in '96 kind of made horror movies popular again and 28 Days Later made zombies popular again (even though the movie was about a rage virus and not the undead). I guess you can blame Twilight for vampires and werewolves. And now that every medium is saturated with these creatures we're now getting the twists on the genre. The New Deadwardians' twist is that there was a zombie apocalypse in the late nineteenth century. The rich dudes in London turned themselves into vampires and walled off the zombies. Hence, there's a class difference; the rich vamps, the zombies, and the poor suckers stuck human fighting for their lives. Add a murder mystery to this world and you get this book. It's a good premise, right? And everyone loves a murder mystery, right? With good, clean art by I.N.J. Culbard and a decent script by Dan Abnett and you have an interesting, fairly exotic new entry into a genre you're probably sick of but still secretly love. ***