Panels Of The Week - Week Of 11/02/11

Another week has passed, and it's once again that time where we spotlight our favorite panels. From crime fighting via slim jims to a well placed Spinal Tap reference, there were plenty of fun panels to be found in last week's comics. Here are our 10 favorites:

10. Action Comics #3

If she's not actually Mxyzptlk I will be so disappointed.

9. New Mutants #33

"What every new reader thinks about the Summers/Grey line"

8. Swamp Thing #3

I will never look at those fish the same way again.

7. Uncanny X-Men #1

Scott would actually be a pretty great supervillain.

6. Uncanny X-Men #1

....these go to 11.

5. Stormwatch #3

Midnighter won't belong to any club that would have him as a leader~

4. The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #2

Yeah, I hate it when my robbery attempts get foiled by a superhero wielding Slim Jims too.

3. Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #3

Always a good excuse. It's a very Buffy line. And man, is that art gorgeous.

2. Animal Man #1

Priorities, Ellen!

1. Amazing Spider-Man #637

Apparently, the best way to beat out Animal Man for the Panel of the Week is to use a pantless Herc.

By Marceline with No comments

Scott Snyder Talks Batman, His Writing Process, and More.

Earlier this evening, Batman and Swamp thing scribe Scott Snyder offered to answer the craft and writing questions of his Twitter followers. He gives some great and encouraging advice here, and I recommend any aspiring comic writers give it a read. Since going back and reading old Twitter posts isn't easy, I figured I'd compile it here so that as many people as possible could enjoy it.

Okay - so if the question is: how much of a story do you need to know before hand - my answer is this: Everyone has their own process, and the important thing is to write enough - frequently enough - that you come to understand yours. For example, I have a friend who CANNOT write a story if he knows the ending. It's just too boring for him. And he's one of my favorite writers out there. For me, though, I need to know a few important aspects of a story in order to begin. 1st, above all, I need to know what it's about for me, personally.

Like on TEC, that was about the idea that Gotham challenges its heroes by generating villains and challenges that soeak to their worst fears about themselves. For Dick, that meant the city was constantly trying to prove to him that his compassion and his empathy - his lack the pathological drive that Bruce has - constituted am insurmountable flaw in him. Once I know that - the core idea and engine of the story - what it's about for me, personally, and it always has to be about something I find troubling and exciting to me, personally, I have my compass. Then I try to figure out the best way to start - how to create an opener that hints at that idea and everything to come. Then I try to figure out an ending that embodies what I really think about that idea. And once I know those things - the core idea, the beginning and the end, I'm ready to start and I like to leave the middle somewhat open to exploration and personal freedom and surprise.

For me, so long as I know what the story is about though - and that that idea is in every issue in some for or another, building steam - I'm okay with leaving wiggle room for plot. Again though - that's MY process - yours might be different. The key is to write every day, or as much as possible, so you can figure yours out with confidence. Like playing a sport - you practice enough, you learn your strengths and weaknesses.

Another good question - how often do you write? I write every work day of the week for the better part of the day. Sometimes that includes editing or lettering, but mostly, it's writing writing. And I'll say this: the best advice I can give to aspiring writers comes down to two suggestions:

1. Write the story that you, personally, would like to pick up and read more than ANY other at that moment.

Meaning, write the BATMAN story that speaks to everything you love about Batman. Not what you think is the darkest or most twisted or high-concept or anything. Not the best, Not the smartest. Not anything except the one that would be your personal favorite, corny as that sounds. It's the golden rule of the class I teach - I don't care what the story is you;re writing - funny dark, political - so long as it;s your favorite right now.

2. The thing that stops most people from becoming writers, in my opinion, is the dear of writing- sorry - fear of writing something shitty. Meaning, they wait til they're inspired and only then do they write, on rare occasion. If you do that, you'll never ever finish anything. You have to be able to sit down every fay and write like a job. Even when you know - you KNOW! - what you write will be shitty. I promise that is true. Lots of people have great ideas, and I don't think it's even THAT hard to learn how to write well enough to do this professionally for most people in the world. For example, if i wanted to be a lawyer, and i was determined enough, i could probably be one, despite the fact that i have very little fucking aptitude for it at all. But if I was a pitbull about it, I could likely do it to competency and have a career and that would make me happy, if it was my dream to be a lawyer. In my opinion - and maybe I'm totally wrong - it's the same with writing.

Some people have a natural aptitude for it (I likely was NOT one of those people) and it's easy for them, and they can be great, the greatest.... Other people don't have an aptitude for it, but if they try hard enough, they can learn it to competency and have a great life doing what they love, even if they're not the greatest or whatever. But I promise, as a teacher, I've seen people with tons of natural talent fade away and never write anything b/c they wrote sporadically and people with (what I thought was) very little natural talent write great books for having taken years to work on those books while working crap jobs to give them time to write - I could tell you stories, believe me - so what it boils down to at the end of the day for me, is this: You have to love your stories in your head enough to be happy if they never make it big, but you're able to just write them for a tiny audience. And you have to work on them like they are your real job, even if you have a real job :) Ok, I'll shut up!

On getting companies to look at your work and how he broke into comics:

You have to just get your stuff out there however possible - meaning, do your own comic and sell it through your lcs on commission, literally do whatever you can to put your story on the shelves somewhere - no matter how small, b&w, xeroxed. Get the thing into the world b/c comic companies are looking for good people all the time. Here's how they found me.

I wrote a short story -prose - for an anthology in which lit. writers made up original superheroes called Who Can Save Us Now. I wrote one about a teenager in the 1940's who's exposed to the explosions in the Bikini Atoll tests and comes back with these strange dark abilities. And two comic editors -one from Marvel - and one from DC - came to the reading/launch for the book and asked me if I was a real comic fan and I had comics in my bag that night. I told them I was a lifelong comic fan and how until college I'd wanted to be a comic artist and the Marvel editor, the great Jeanine Schaeffer invited me to pitch for some one shots, and I pitched my head off and got a Human Torch one-shot. That led to pitching for IRON MAN: NOIR and that led to pitching to Vertigo. But each stage was a LOT of going back to the drawing board. Anyway, my point id this: they found me from a short story - a prose short story, not even a comic. So put your comic out there - they're looking for good writing.

But again, I came to comics with a strong sense of what I like to write about from prose (I went to grad school for writing and wrote a book of stories called Voodoo Heart) and I think that's part of it, too - you have to come to it with something you love writing about. Be it your political issues, your personal issues or interests... You have to have a voice by the time you start at a big company b/c there's a lot of pressure when you're using iconic characters, you know?

If you're interested in hearing more of what Scott Snyder has to say, follow @Ssnyder1835 on Twitter.

By Marceline with 3 comments

The Best of DC's December Covers

DC recently finished releasing their solicits for December, and there are quite a few gorgeous covers in there. I think the power of good cover art is often underestimated, and I always want to take the time to spotlight a great looking cover when I can. It wasn't easy narrowing them down, but here are my top 10 DC December covers.

10. Batwoman #4, by J.H. Williams III

At this point, I'm pretty sure J.H. Williams III is incapable of making a cover I don't love. This one is especially cool to me because of the way it recalls some of the Batwoman logos DC ultimately decided against. I love the contrast between Bette's muted colors and Kate's deep rich ones, and I'm fascinated by some of the imagery there at the bottom. Having read the first issue of Batwoman, that hook makes me think that we might see more crimes inspired by urban legends in some way. The feathers floating up by Bette's hand is a nice touch- one of those little details that you might not notice the first time you look at it. There's also a very cool variant cover for this issue courtesy of co-artist Amy Reeder. I'm looking forward to seeing how the current logo looks on a cover not done by Williams, and I'm even more excited to see how the images on these two covers wind up fitting together.




9. Captain Atom #4, by Stanley Lau

Stanley Lau's been doing some really nice covers for Captain Atom, but none of them have caught my eye in the way that this one did. I love the blur of colors trailing behind and below him, and the terrified expression on the face of the soldier at the bottom. I'm not sure if Stanley Lau colored this or if it was Jose Villarubia, but the whole color scheme is so striking, and uses the recommend "blue and orange" elements without looking like everything else on the stands. It's a good match for Freddie Williams II's new art style, and shouldn't leave readers feeling disapointed when they check out the interiors. There's nice detail all over, even at the top of the page, and it's a shame some of that's going to be obscured by the book's logo. Captain Atom is a tougher sell than many of the other new 52 books, but this is the sort of cover that could convince someone to give it a shot. Here's hoping this issue is a good jumping on point.




8. Justice League Dark #4, by Ryan Sook

Man, that Ryan Sook can draw! And while you might think he'd be getting sick of drawing Deadman right now, he seems to be full of ideas. This is a beautiful cover that really gives you a feel for the sort of book Justice League Dark is. There's a lot of negative space here, but he still manages to fit in a fair amount of the book's cast- I believe that's June Moon and Enchantress along with Deadman. I get more bothered than I should by nice deals being obscured when the cover goes to print, so I always appreciate a cover like this, in which almost nothing will be covered up. Justice League Dark may not make its debut until Wednesday, but this cover has me more excited to read the title than ever before. While I love all of Ryan Sook's covers, I hope we get to see the book's interior artist, Mikel Janin, take on a cover in the months to come.




7. Batman and Robin #4, by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray

During Batman and Robin's last run, my favorite comic artist, Frank Quitely, turned out cover after cover for the series. While this cover is very obviously not drawn by Quitely, I feel like it appropriates a lot of the things that made his covers so cool, and such a great fit for the title. I love the image of Damian breaking free of Batman, with both of them breaking free of the city below, while Nobody lurks beneath them, and something sinister reaches out for them. It's a lot going on without looking crowded, and makes me really curious about what's going on plotwise. This is another cover that seems to have been designed with the book's logo in mind, and I think all those bats might actually look cooler when it appears that they're pouring out from beneath the Batman and Robin symbol.





6. Stormwatch #4, by Chris Burnham

There have been elements of this style in some of the other Stormwatch covers we've seen, but Sepulveda's never gone cartoon-y in this way. I absolutely love it. It's a joy to see this sort of take on the Stormwatch crew, and I would love to read an entire issue drawn like this. It's filled with wonderful facial expressions, from Adam One's look of panic to the reaction image worthy look on Midnighter's face. It also makes wonderful use of Martian Manhunter. When you really pay attention to it, this is a pretty gory cover, but the bright colors and overall fun look of the image distract from that. I keep looking and looking at this and spotting new details every time. There's some detail that will sadly be lost when the logo gets added, but I'm actually really curious to see how the standard Stormwatch logo looks against an image like this.





Edit: It looks likes the solicit was incorrect, and this cover was actually drawn by Chris Burnham. In that case, I'd love to see him fill-in for an issue or two! Thanks to commenter Jill for pointing this out.





5. Batman #4, by Greg Capullo

Greg Capullo's Batman covers just keep getting better and better. This cover has a few similarities with the next cover on the list, but it's so eyecatching that I couldn't help but include both of them in my top 5. The bleeding image of Gotham at the bottom of the page is so striking, and gives me so many ideas about what this story might be like. Capullo's Batman feels as though he's in a completely different world from everything else in the image, and I absolutely love it. We haven't gotten a look at the new owl themed Batvillain, but I have a feeling this image will only become cooler when we do. The gold against the black looks fantastic, and that's really a beautiful coloring job. I hope the silver of the new Batman logo is changed to gold for this issue- it'd look really striking with the rest of this cover. With the way these covers have been improving from issue to issue, I can't wait to see what Capullo has for us next.




4. Swamp Thing #4, by Yanick Paquette

Yanick Paquette isn't doing the covers for this issue, but he still managed to turn out an incredibly creepy and eye catching cover. I love all the symmetry in this image- the design at the bottom looks like something you'd see on a greeting card in hell, and that creature lurking behind the diver is the stuff of nightmares, That the image of Swamp Thing isn't symmetric makes him feel a little more real than everything else on the page- a very cool effect. There's been an awful lot of green in Swamp Thing covers past, and I like that this still heavily incorporates the green (hee) without it feeling so overwhelming. This is one of my favorite books of the relaunch, and seeing a cover like this just cements that.






3. Wonder Woman #4, by Cliff Chiang

I saw this cover before I had a chance to read the fantastic first issue of Wonder Woman, and while I thought it looking great, I didn't quite get how well it encapsulates the vibe of this books. It's hip and it's different, it's sometimes brutal and sometimes loud, and Diana herself feels a little separated from everything else in the comic. She's a presence, someone intimidating in both the world of man and the often terrifying world of the gods. I am so glad they changed the Wonder Woman logo before it went to print- this one looks perfect with both covers I've seen it on. This is the sort of comic that I really wish DC could get on newstands, because I have the feeling this cover could help drawn in a brand new audience. I never thought I would say this, but this is an image that would get me to hang a Wonder Woman poster on my bedroom wall.






2. Frankenstein, Agent of Shade #4, by J.G. Jones

Even without taking the book's leading man into consideration, Frankenstein is a title very clearly inspired by the Universal monster movies of old. To play tribute like that is awesome, and I love seeing this side of J.G. Jones' style. Frank looks like a real movie hero here, and not just like a monster. Working that title (which uses a great font) into the cover is also a clever idea. While those who've read the solicits have known about monster planet for a little while now, this sells the concept to anyone who might be browsing what's on the shelf. This really doesn't look like a DC book, and I think that's a good thing. Fans of indie titles, horror comics, and more are going to be picking this one up, and I have a feeling they'll like what they see. This issue will take place in the middle of a storyline, but I definitely think Jeff Lemire is the kind of writer who understands that every issue is someone's first.





1. The Flash #4, by Francis Manapul

Francis Manapul said he didn't expect DC to let him play the book's logo like this, but I'm so very glad they did. Everything about this cover is visually interesting, from the bullet traveling panel to panel Frank Quitely style, to the way the bridge in the two panels near the bottom comes together, to the flip-book like effect on the book's right hand side. Manapul uses a color scheme like this in a lot of his work, and it always looks fantastic. There's so much action going on here, but there's still this softness to the image, something that makes you want to pause and soak up all the details. This isn't just one of the best covers of December. I can already tell you this'll be among my top covers for the year, and maybe even one of my top covers of all time. I'm tremendously excited to read Flash #1 this Wednesday, and one look at this image should tell you why.

By Marceline with 2 comments

Top 10 Comic Book Quotes- Week of 9/7/11

Before we get to appreciating (and not appreciating) the next round of DC number ones, here's one last look at this week's comics. In no particular order, here are the top 10 comic book quotes of the week.

1. "I--I'm sorry, Daddy. I just wanted a pet of my own."-- Maxine Baker, Animal Man

2. "I told Batman that a man dressed as a bat will not instill fear in the average criminal in Africa. They have seen too much. He told me, "You just have to sell it.""-- David Zavimbe, Batwing

3. "Hey! Is that -- Green Lantern?" -- Random civilian on Booster Gold, Justice League International

4. "We used to have laws in this town. Like gravity. You remember gravity, right?" -- Detective Blake, Action Comics

5. "Jenny Q., out of all the Century Babies, I want you to know-- you're in my top eighteen." -- Adam One, Stormwatch

6. "Behold. I give you Superman. Stay in touch." -- Lex Luthor, Action Comics

7. "I know that my father, he was telling the truth. Because plants can scream. For me, they're screaming all the time." -- Alec Holland, Swamp Thing

8. "Not only do they get the handsome, brilliant, über-genius Virgil Hawkins...they also get the not-so-mild-mannered, super-cool, and fiercely awesome Static." -- Static, Static Shock

9. "I grab my favorite "Action Hero" cocktail of animal abilities...strength of an elephant, reflexes of a fly, speed of a cheetah...and the bark of a dog. That one always freaks them out." -- Animal Man, Animal Man

10. "What I want is your complete attention and for you to understand that your life is now mine. I am BROTHER EYE. And you and eye have much to talk about. But first, call your girlfriend, she's worried about you." -- Brother Eye, O.M.A.C.

By Marceline with 1 comment

Review: Swamp Thing #1

Some horror tales open with a big bang, giving you an ample taste or the horrors yet to come. Others open innocently, letting you build up a slow sense of dread as you wait for everything to come crashing down. The first issue of Swamp Thing does a little bit of both, taking you from a simple childhood story into a nightmarish world in a single page. As you transition from Yanick Paquette's beautifully drawn Metropolis architecture to a gruesome collection of dead animals, you can almost hear the flowers Scott Snyder describes as screaming.

The entire issue seems to flash back and forth like this, going from snapshots of what seems like a normal world to something much more sinister. It's an incredibly effective way of keeping the reader on age, and it made some of the comics bigger scares all the more terrifying. The art goes from ordinary page layouts to off-kilter compositions, panels separated by jagged black lines. Even the colors seem to transition from light and sunny to something darker.

Scattered throughout the issue are surprisingly frightening facts about plant life. They help to sell Alec Holland as a botanist and to show us that the world we'll be dealing with is darker than we might have expected. It reminded me a little of the 1954 horror film them, which pits the human race against incredibly vicious giant ants. If the plants of the world are so violent towards each other, what will they do to us?

Superman's presence in the issue was a distraction from my growing sense of unease. This scene was a little exposition heavy, but it made clear that what came before was by no means forgotten, and Snyder writes a great Superman. Yanick Paquette does a better job than even Jim Lee with the new costume, and I'd suggest sticking him on Justice League if it wouldn't mean losing him on this book.

And while things may seem a little less scary when Superman's around, the issue plunges back into horror territory and into one of the most terrifying scenes I've seen in a comic since Alan Moore's original Swamp Thing run. I don't want to spoil the moment for anyone who has yet to read the issue, but the scene felt so real that I could actually hear what was happening, and I can't get those awful sounds out of my head.

Having the book focus on Alec Holland the man rather than Swamp Thing himself was a wise choice. Much of Swamp Thing has focused on the character being a plant who remembers being a man, and this issue turns that concept on its head, framing Alec as a man who remembers being a plant. This was a great comic taken alone, but the potential for future stories is even greater, and I hope Snyder and Paquette get to keep telling them for a long time.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who's up for reading a genuinely creepy comic. Reading Action Comics filled me with joy, but this issue got under my skin, and left me thinking about it as I tried to fall asleep. From the stunning artwork to Snyder's masterful prose, DC has set the bar high for all horror comics with this one.

By Marceline with 3 comments

Crazy Teenager Reviews… Promo Book?

Hi,

My name is Colin Kelly, I’m a 19-year-old geek from the generation DC is honestly supposed to be targeting with the new 52.

I got started into comics when I was 14, thanks to some of my friends in Pendant Productions, and well, I like DC. All my friends like Marvel (and Batman) but usually think that Superman, Wonder Woman, and etc. are very much lifeless characters, but as countless hours of debating have proven; I like DC.

I’ve read a lot of the graphic novels of DC stories, but the thing that actively got me buying comics, I will admit, was the fact that during Blackest Night, DC added the cool thing of getting a lantern corps ring with certain issues of the event, at which point the Pokémon master in me took over.

But to be honest, the past years’ worth of “comic news” has just been disappointing, so I stopped paying attention to it, as it just sounded like Reality TV; it just seemed about getting ratings instead of telling stories. And I will admit, the new 52 sounds just like “Superman renounces American Citizenship”.

I’m going to give DC the benefit of the doubt. This new start for DC is theoretically supposed to be a second chance, or a first chance for some of those people out there who don’t want to get into comics because they don’t know exactly what is going on.

So, I decided to keep an open mind (it’s the most valuable tool anyone can have) on DC’s new lineup, and I am only going to read what DC puts out. Not the internet speculation/trolling/ranting/outrage/excitement stuff, but the primary sources. A lot of what I have heard from secondary sources really doesn’t get me going, so I am most certainly going to cut it out of my interaction.

I’m just going to try to give, as a young adult with some comic knowledge, my thoughts on what’s going on. I’m going to go through at least the new 52, but I’ll try to keep up with the series that actually grab my attention. I’ll fully admit to being not entirely omniscient, nor political correct, and I’d rather pay attention to

Keeping with my primary source material focus, let’s start with the DC new 52 promo book!

To be honest, the promo book for the new 52 is rather eye-catching… maybe it’s the Supes in jeans and the suit holding up a car, which I’m sure is completely homage to the first Superman Cover. Sure there’s the mandatory random, out-of-context, and one-word, “Praise” by everyone’s go-to reviewers, USA Today, and the NY times. Oh, and the attractive price of FREE, which it should be, being a promo.

The Sneak peak of JLA #1 is decent, featuring a flashback to five years beforehand, when the most developed character in the DCU, Batman, met the recent developing spotlight, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, someone who I had to inform many people about, because the fact that Green Lantern wasn’t black in the recent film had them up in arms.

I will point out how there is no mention so far of the WWII era-esque Justice Society of America. That makes me a little sad, as I liked having the (joking) old farts club around, and their constant mentoring of the new generation. I know this also changes Barry Allen’s choice of calling himself the Flash different, as Barry took the name of the Flash as an homage to Jay Garrick, the original WWII flash.

But this is a new world, which never knew the superhero… until now.

The rest of the book is pretty much standard. There’s art (cover at minimum, sometimes more), a quick premise of the series, identification of who’s behind it, and usually a quote from someone related to the project with what they’re planning on accomplishing.

Rather nice. I could sit here and waste your time by giving you my blow for blow expectations, but I’m going to just give you the 5 Yays, and 5 Cringes:

5 Cringes

5. The Savage Hawkman

Just real nitpicks here, but this has me wondering things like: Savage? And more importantly, where’s Hawkgirl?

The promo text sounds… well, Stargate. Specialist in Lost Languages meets alien Tech? Discovery has really bad repercussions? Guy must step up to save humanity? I honestly want to see how going Hawkman will save the city from a plague, because I’m sure donning armor helped against the Black Death. We’ll see how it’s resolved.


4. I, Vampire

I will get this out first and foremost, I am not a huge fan of Twilight, though I read the books so I could talk about them. I have seen all of Buffy and Angel. I love Dracula and Interview with a Vampire, and seen the movies for those. I’ll get to TrueBlood eventually, I’m sure.

I’m just wondering why this random character has their own series. I know Vampire Protagonist is a time honored way of getting people interested, but so is performing Macbeth. Pushing the limits of what it means to be a Vampire is a nice idea, but truce with ex-girlfriend breaking and now humanity is in danger doesn’t grab me. Once again, we’ll see how it goes.


3. Wonder Woman

Dear Gods, does Wonder Woman have the most incredibly complicated continuity of the DC universe. Mostly because her supporting cast changes, as well as her purpose, everytime a new writer takes over.

See, Superman has a supporting cast, you expect to see Lois, Jimmy, and Perry. Batman, at least Alfred shows up, if not a couple sidekicks. They’ve been defined and people expect that. Not really so with Wonder Woman…

It doesn’t help that the cover art portrays Wondy in a complete contrast to the JLA cover. JLA cover has her in her “modern uniform” (with pants and really large boobs), but the Wondy cover has Classic Wondy. JLA, she’s hopeful, noble, and armed with a Lasso. Wondy cover has her… as a belligerent savage in mid-yell with a bloodstained sword.

I mean, talk about complicated continuity, we can’t even get the two covers to show the same Wonder Woman! In a reboot! Shouldn’t Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman be the same as Wonder Woman in the JLA?

Am I being completely ridiculous here?


2. Deathstroke

Alright, I know we want to make our characters “Dark, Angsty, Gritty and Badass” DC; it’s fairly obvious. And I get that, like Sex, Badassary sells.

But what’s with the Deathstroke reimagining! He already was powerful enough to take down Green Arrow, the Atom, the Flash, Zatanna, Hawkman, and Black Canary in Identity crisis. If you watched the Teen Titans animation, you know how incredibly, awesomely terrifying Deathstroke was in it.

Why is he Kratos all of a sudden? He can use a Katana to deflect bullets, he doesn’t need the baseball sword. He’s an assassin, not a psychopath!

Which is more Badass, the Animal? Or the Chessmaster?


1. The Entire Superman line-up

Okay, another thing I need to get out in the Open at once as well. I love Superman. To use a quote from Bibbo Bibowaski, “he’s my favorite.” He’s enough of my favorite that I know who Bibbo is.

I love Superman stories… when they’re written well.

Superman’s got the similar problem as Wonder Woman, in that over the years he’s had a lot of people define him. And in the past… 14? 15 years? We’ve seen at least 6 different origin stories for Superman.

Not gonna lie, not a big fan of a lot of the reimagining’s for his character either. Most seem to ignore the importance of Ma and Pa Kent, or make him angry instead of altruistic, or run with the idea that because he’s from another world, he’s automatically different.

Small side note: in pre-reboot continuity, the White Martians messed with Human Genetics, creating the Metagene, and that’s why there’s superheroes. If they hadn’t, by the time our sun went red, we’d have the same Physiology as the Kryptonians or the Daxamites.

So Supergirl doesn’t have trouble relating to humanity, because she’s an alien. She has trouble relating because she’s a foreigner, and (if we assume the delayed rocketship theory) she remembers and entire civilization of people from her friends to her family, who no longer exist.

And I’m really sure we could have found a better secret organization than Project N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to clone Superboy by accident. There’s this thing called Project Cadmus…


5 Yays!

5. Justice League International

Not gonna lie, excited to see how this is, as this is the Justice league back when Superman Died (ish… Batman and Rocket Red weren’t actively on the roster, I don’t think) and to be honest, they’re not really that prominent figures, but I think as a group they become important and I honestly can’t wait to see what they accomplish.

The only reason they beat out the JLA, is mostly the fact, that All of the JLA have their own books. These guys don’t. (except for Batman, who is punching one hell of a timeclock with six series featuring him)

4. Green Lantern

Already mentioned that Green Lantern is what got me into comics actively (BTW Blue Lanterns FTW) but I love the idea of Green Lantern… SINESTRO!

It makes me wonder if we’re going to get Sinestro’sMcbethean fall from the Corps. But that’s speculation. I do have to say that outside of recent years, Sinestro has always been portrayed as a card-carrying villain (it’s gotta be the mustache) in the cartoons, like Superman the Animated Series or Superfriends. I’ve always loved seeing him not be all about getting a green Lantern ring from whomever is lantern at the time. You’d think that’s all he ever does or something.


3. Men of War/Blackhawks

Kinda looping these together, but I have to say I’m interested in the DC’s A-team/GI JOE. (Ex-military Men turned contractors, and an Elite Force of Military Specialists equipped with the latest in cutting edge hardware and vehicles. C’mon, knowing is half the battle!)

It’ll be great to see how some normal people (as in non-bat, non-meta… hopefully) deal with supervillians. I’m sure they’re going to have to take care of the Joker at one point… and I’m sure KratosDeathstroke the Terminator will show up.

To be honest, Blackhawks has me more interested in who they’re fighting. I always believe that you know the most about the superhero, by looking at their Arch nemesis, and their Antithesis. So, understand Superman better by looking at LexLuthor and General Zod for example.


2. The Swamp Thing

Gotta Say, I loved Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. And what I love about this is that the art seems to pay homage to that, and if it’s anything like that run, I’m in.


1. Batgirl

Alright, in the middle of the whole “We’re gritty, Badass and Angsty. We’re here to rebel against authority, and kick ass, take names.” Art, there is this one picture that has me going “I’m sold.”

It’s a woman… in a Batgirl costume, Grappling along… and smiling.

Sorry, but as all the rest of the covers prove, everyone is about the badass looks. Not Barbara Gordon. Sure, it takes getting her out of Oracle and the Killing Joke never happened. But that smile on Bab’s face… it’s phenomenal. I have to give props, because it touches upon something.

I’m expecting a lot of the Angsty “I never wanted to be a hero” whining cropping up. Not Babs, not with that smile. This is what she does for FUN. She’s not a Superhero because of some twist of Fate; she chose to be it. She is the only person pictured, in the entire promo, with a smile.

So, I’m sold; I don’t care if it’s controversial, or if there’s probably a plan somewhere to re-enact the Killing Joke, I’m in.

Well… those are my thoughts. Take ‘em, leave ‘em. Decide for yourself if I’ve got any valid points.

Just make sure to keep an open mind.

By Colin Kelly with 5 comments

My 10 Most Anticipated DCnU Comics (And Why I'm So Excited For Them)

With more than a month to go before the release of the first DCnU comic, there's not much to do besides think about how good or bad these comics might be. I really like keeping track of my initial thoughts about something before it comes out. It's fun for me to see where I really called it and where I really missed the mark. Before a new television series starts, I often make predictions as to how well they'll do, and I guess this feature is sort of like that, on a larger scale. I have a lot more to say about some books than others, but I have plenty of opinions about everything DC's putting out, and I plan to voice them all.

I'm a positive person, and it's always more fun for me to talk about things I'm genuinely excited about it. These are all titles I really want to see succeed, and I hope that in talking about why I think they'll be great I'm able to drum up a little enthusiasm for them among others. There are a lot of books I think have promise, but these are the ten that, more than any others, I really can't wait to get a chance to read.

1. Action Comics

Superman is one of my all-time favorite characters. Grant Morrison is one of my all-time favorite comic writers. It doesn't get much better than this, folks! The cover pictured above is very likely to be pictured on my wall, and every time Morrison's talked about his plans for the comic, he's managed to raise my already very high excitement levels to a fever pitch. Superman as a champion for the socially oppressed? Yes please! A comics with so much going on that there are no scene cuts in the entire issue? OH GOD WHY CAN'T THIS COMIC COME OUT ALREADY.

There's a part of me that wishes Grant Morrison would keep writing Batman forever. He's introduced so much to the Bat mythos, and I feel like a lot of that will never be fully explored, even with Batman Inc. coming back next year. But All-Star Superman has shown that combining Supes and Morrison results in pure comics joy, and if he can recapture even a little of that magic for this book, I'm sure it'll be one of my favorites every month.

By Marceline with No comments