Free Comic Book Day! Check out your local comic book store!

Free Comic Book Day has come and gone. It’s some great titles in its wake; notably the Iron Man/Thor comic, as well as some more wholesome fun from the DC Kids sampler (Tiny Titans is always worth a look). Here’s a video that I put together regarding the event, showcasing the awesome array of comics at your local comic book store–in my case, Toledo’s Monarch Comics.

So head up there next year on the first Saturday in May, and anytime in between; feel free to email me to help you pick something out!

Intro to Comics: Kick-Ass (plus review!)

As many of you might already know, Kick-Ass has been making some serious waves in the box office. Not only is it a graphically violent film, it shows children perpetrating the violence. It’s done in an over-the-top way, almost akin to Kill Bill, which decreases a certain amount of controversy. In fact, there’s been quite a bit less ‘moaning and groaning’ about this film than I’d originally thought; perhaps the advertisements scared children way, or at least got their parents to pay attention. The actress that plays Hit-Girl–Chloe Moretz–has even spoken out against children going to see Kick-Ass.

Moretz was quite excellent in her role, especially for an actress so young. In fact, all of the actors were excellent, even Nicholas Cage; he puts on his best Adam West smarm for the role, adding needed characterization to the Big Daddy character. The  film is almost identical to Millar’s comic for the first half, with a few wild twists around the second act. I won’t spoil this, but things just aren’t as overblown and reckless in the book, and there’s a certain amazing weapon/tool that Kick-Ass uses in the film that changes the outcome drastically. In addition to those film-friendly changes, the movie just wraps up much more tightly than the comic. It’s less bleak and exploitative, mostly.

Vaugn’s film is graphic–though not compared to the comic series. The comic isn’t just violent, it’s gruesome and at times unnecessary. That being said, it might appeal to some of you. John Romita Jr.’s art is alright, though not firing on all cylinders. Mark Millar… he’s slipping. He wrote The Ultimates, Civil War, and Wanted, all of which were violent but with merit. Kick-Ass isn’t as well-written. It falls apart towards the end too, and seems to just be an exercise in showing as much blood as possible on a page. It’s a fun, quick read–though you might want to check out the movie instead.

Marvel Introduces “New” X-Men… wha?

The end of Messiah Complex is at hand, but there are many loose ends yet to be tied. It will have very far reaching repercussions in the X-Men universe, and perhaps the Marvel Universe as a whole. In addition to a few other (rather repetitive) teasers that Marvel has been issuing lately, they have released these four “We are the X-Men” teasers, which show what is presumably a new X-Team.

The strange part about this is that in each teaser, there’s a mutant and a regularly superpowered individual. Yes, Spider-Man isn’t a mutant, he was mutated. Anyway, this is a huge departure from any X-Men book. Past teams have been mostly exclusively mutant-oriented, though I guess this helps out with the ‘diversity’ aspect that X-Men comics seem to rely on. Regardless of the mixing of mutants and friends, there are still two points about this team that irritate me to no end: that Spider-Man is on the team, and that Cyclops is nowhere to be seen.

Cyclops has been the leader of the X-Men–and has been doing quite the bang-up job–for a very long time now. He created Utopia for the X-Men and the (remaining) mutants, though I fear his death is imminent. He did sanction the X-Force team and seems to be going through some personal trauma with his decisions. Also, he’s featured on another teaser which says “ONE OF THESE X-MEN WILL DIE”.

As for Spider-Man, his inclusion doesn’t sit well. He’s already on at least one Avengers team, has a thrice-monthly comic, and is in another ongoing with Wolverine. Oversaturation? Definitely. Also, Spider-Man lives in New York. How’s he going to swing efficiently in San Francisco?

Anyway, Marvel had better explain themselves. They have also revealed part of the Secret Avengers line-up–Valkyrie, War Machine, Beast and Moon Knight. That’s a team I can get behind.

Ultimate Spider-Man… now on TV?

According to Marvel’s website (Marvel.com), Spider-Man is getting a new show on Disney XD next year–Ultimate Spider-Man. I tend to like animated Marvel shows, but
I don’t understand this. The last Spider-Man show–Spectacular Spider-Man–was awesome! It had everything that one could want from a Spider-Man show, though the animation was kind of simple. BUT, it was quick and the flow was nice. There was a good take on several relationships, villains, and all of the important aspects of Spider-Man’s story. There were two great seasons, and it only wrapped up last year, maybe the year before. And while I like Ultimate Spider-Man, yet another series so soon seems like more overexposure. Also, Spider-Man is set to be in an X-MEN comic?! According to a new teaser from Marvel’s website, at least. I hope it’s just a short crossover. That just shouldn’t be.

Okay, after looking more closely at the teaser from Marvel (http://marvel.com/news/all.12016.new_tales_of_ultimate_spidey_get_animated~excl~) I’ve come to be much more excited. The picture shows Iron Fist and Nova, two of my most favorite Marvel characters. Don’t mess this one up like that 3D MTV series!!

A DC Comics Map of the United States

Sorry there’s not comic reviews this week, but not much good came out! Well, there’s Batman & Robin, but I’ll be doing a post on them later. Here’s the DC Map of the US, as told by Google!

View Larger Map