Comics Books Reviews: June 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

The Walking Dead #86 - PREVIEWBatman: Gates of Gotham #2 - ReviewWeekly Comic Book Review’s Top PicksPosted on June 29, 2011 by Ray Hilario

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Batman: Gates of Gotham #2 – Detective work and an overarching sense of mythos and history that serves to enhance the story and provide atmosphere without overwhelming the reader makes for an awesome read. Really fun artwork makes it an even more awesome read.

Most Anticipated: Scalped #50 – Though it doesn’t get as much press as it should, make no mistake, issue after issue, Scalped is continually among the best of the month. If you at all enjoy Jason Aaron’s other work, you need to be reading this; it’s the man’s best work by far.And here we are, at 50 issues. Not at all shabby for a creator-owned Vertigo series. I’m really interested to see what Aaron has in store for us in this sure to be special, landmark issue.

Other Picks: Detective Comics #878, THUNDER Agents #8, American Vampire #16, Amazing Spider-Man #664, FF #5, Venom #4

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: 2000 AD June “Pack” Progs 1732 – 1735 – This is kinda a weird pick because it isn’t one comic…..it’s four. I just started reading 2000 AD for the first time and really enjoyed my first exposure. If you aren’t familiar, 2000 AD is a weekly anthology comic that has been published in England since 1977, so the numbers get high really fast. Here in the United States, we get them in monthly “packs” of 4 issues at once although they are going to weekly publication in the US in August I believe. I can’t tell you how satisfying these were to read. Even though I was picking up in the middle of an anthology series and many stories were 3-4 episodes into a tale, they had just enough exposition that I knew basically what was going on. Bravo! Really strong art too! Why can’t American comics be more like this?

Most Anticipated: American Vampire #16 – Good Lord is this a packed week. As I stared at my pull list about the only thing I was sure of was that X-Men: Prelude to Schism #4 would NOT be my most anticipated comics of the week. Picking AV #16 off this list is like asking which of your 10 children do you love the most. Still, Scott Snyder and Rafa Albuquerque’s tale of vampirism on a Japanese occupied Pacific island in WWII was taking some very cool twists toward the end of AV #15 and I’m very eager to see how things begin to resolve themselves. American Vampire should be on everyone’s pull list.

Other Picks: Creepy Comics #6, Detective Comics #878, Scalped #50, Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker #4, The Walking Dead #86, Amazing Spider-Man #664, FF #5, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #6

Share this:Filed under: Picks of the Week Tagged: | Amazing Spider-Man #664, American Vampire #16, Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6, Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker #4, Creepy Comics #6, Detective Comics #878, FF #5, Scalped #50, The Walking Dead #86, THUNDER Agents #8, Venom #4

« Last Mortal #2 – PREVIEW Incorruptible #19 – Review »LikeBe the first to like this post.Leave a Reply Cancel replyEnter your comment here...GuestLog InLog InLog In Gravatar

Email Your email address will not be published.NameWebsite WordPress.com Logo

Please log in to WordPress.com to post a comment to your blog.

You are commenting using your Twitter account. (Log Out)

You are commenting using your Facebook account. (Log Out)

Connecting to %s

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

This Week’s ReviewsFlashpoint: Project Superman #1 – ReviewFlashpoint: Hal Jordan #1 – ReviewIncorruptible #19 – ReviewWeekly Comic Book Review’s Top PicksLast Mortal #2 – PREVIEWSkullkickers #8 – PREVIEWThe Walking Dead #86 – PREVIEWMagdalena #7 – PREVIEWArtifacts #8 – PREVIEWAmerican Vampire #16 – Advance ReviewThe Spirit #15 – Review2000 AD Prog #1735 – ReviewFables #106 – ReviewZatanna #14 – ReviewSkullKickers Vol 1: 1000 Opas and a Dead Body -Graphic Novel ReviewHack/Slash #5 – ReviewAction Comics #902 – ReviewAll Nighter #1 – ReviewDark Horse Presents #2 – ReviewSuperman #712 – ReviewNew Mutants #26 – ReviewBrightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing #1 – ReviewFlashpoint: Reverse Flash – ReviewCaptain America #619 – ReviewThe Mighty Thor #3 – Review Fandango - Movie Tickets Online

Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer.

Warren Ellis: Best-selling NYT author? Oh yes!

Credit where credit is due: Marvel has consistently referred to Warren Ellis as one of the creators of their new anime, although the exact wording is a bit vague; most recently, they referred to the four anime series as “guided by New York Times best-selling author Warren Ellis.” Ellis raised an eyebrow about that on his blog, saying that he just wrote the outlines, and not much of his work is left in the final product. But he was OK with that; it was the “New York Times best-selling author” part that really got him:

When the hell did that happen? I think I would have heard about that, right? I’m already confused about my name being used in press releases when I’m not credited on the screen, but making shit up? I presume this is the magic of PR that I hear about.

Well, no: Greg Pak pointed that Ellis had one book on the hardcover graphic novels best-seller list, the oversized edition of Absolute Planetary 2. Ellis remains unimpressed; since the book cost $75, he said, “One presumes it’s a dollar-number calculation rather than a unit-number count.” He adds:

I did note on Twitter that I was surprised the NYT did such a thing, because I’ve seen book top the Diamond best-selling GNs list with 6000 sales, at which point Bendis said “don’t pull that string. The entirety of our world will unravel.”

My advice: Just bask in it, Warren!

June 29, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid AlversonTagged: anime, Marvel, Warren Ellis

One CommentDavid BirdJune 29, 2011 at 9:19 am

Bask indeed! SF writer Robert J Sawyer one pointed out that if any of your books make it anywhere near the NYT bestsellers list–even once–you’ll carry the honorific “New York Times Bestselling Author” for the rest of your career.

Leave a CommentYour Name: *

Email Address: (not published) *

Website:

Robot 6About Robot 6Submit a Link / Contact Robot 6 ECHOES

-->SubscribeEmailFacebookTwitterSearch Robot 6

-->

comics (10)strangeways (2)Uncategorized (7577) -->Robot 6 Links Can’t Wait for WednesdayComics A.M.Comics CollegeEveryone’s a CriticFood or ComicsGorillas Riding DinosaursGrumpy Old FanRobot ReviewsShelf PornSix by 6Slash PrintStrangewaysTalking Comics with TimThe Fifth ColorThe Middle GroundTrinity AnnotationsUnboundWhat Are You Reading?Your Mileage May VaryYour Wednesday Sequence Browse the Robot 6 Archives Select Month June 2011 (222) May 2011 (215) April 2011 (234) March 2011 (230) February 2011 (211) January 2011 (238) December 2010 (199) November 2010 (203) October 2010 (271) September 2010 (235) August 2010 (232) July 2010 (321) June 2010 (221) May 2010 (241) April 2010 (328) March 2010 (330) February 2010 (246) January 2010 (273) December 2009 (297) November 2009 (235) October 2009 (269) September 2009 (228) August 2009 (230) July 2009 (339) June 2009 (253) May 2009 (239) April 2009 (251) March 2009 (279) February 2009 (248) January 2009 (261)

RSS | Privacy Policy

Report a Bug | Advertising | Contact

Uncovering the secret origin of mutants at Marvel

Panel from Lee & Ditko's 1963 "The Man In The Sky"

With the X-Men: First Class movie in theaters making people thing about the early days of homo superior, their origins go deeper than you think. Although it’s widely thought that Stan Lee & Jacky Kirby first introduced the ideas of mutants in the pages of 1963′s X-Men #1, the real story is buried deep in Marvel and Timely lore.

The first mutant story ever published by Marvel was 1952′s “The Weird Woman” in Amazing Detective Cases #11, in which a self-described “mutant” woman is searching, unsuccessfully, to find someone like her for companionship. That doesn’t even begin to consider Namor, which debuted in 1939 as one of comics first super-heroes. It took more than 20 years for Marvel to reclassify him as a mutant (in 1964′s X-Men #6), but he’s finally come full circle as a card-carrying X-Man in Matt Fraction’s Uncanny X-Men run. Marvel’s claim of Namor being “Marvel’s First Mutant” are true from a publication debut standpoint, but the oldest mutant remains Apocalypse, who was born in Egypt during the 30th century BC.

There were numerous mutant sightings before the X-Men burst onto the scene in 1963; there was an illusion-creating mutant in 1953′s Man Comics #28 (why doesn’t Marvel bring back THAT title?), as well as in 1959′s Journey Into Mystery #52. Of all the stories, probably the one that veers closest to what become the X-Man/mutant struggle came one year prior to the X-Men, in the pages of Adult Fantasy #14 from 1964. In it, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko tell a story of a man with immense telepathic powers who tries to sequester himself away from society to avoid the noise of other people’s minds. Overstreet Price Guide goes so far as to call this a “Professor X prototype story,” even though Ditko never drew an X-Men page in his life.

June 29, 2011 @ 09:31 AM by Chris ArrantTagged: marvel comics, mutants, x-men

5 CommentsKurt BusiekJune 29, 2011 at 9:46 am

X-MEN #6 brings up the possibility that Namor could be a mutant, but doesn’t confirm it — Xavier just wonders if he might be, and Magneto has a skeevy Atlantean tell him he is without any particular evidence. In the lettercols at the time, Stan decided Namor was a “non-mutant hybrid cross,” or some such. The issue didn’t arise again for years, but Namor was treated as a hybrid, not a mutant.

[And when it did arise, they had to do some hurried retconning to explain why Namora and Namorita had the very same mutation, if they were truly mutants.]

There was also a story about Chinese mutants in a Kirby-drawn issue of YELLOW CLAW; we wound up referencing it in MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #1.

Kurt BusiekJune 29, 2011 at 9:50 am

As for a Professor Xavier prototype story, I’d look to the SF prose work MUTANT, by Henry Kuttner, which features bald, telepathic, radiation-caused mutants fighting a secret war to protect humanity from evil mutants who want to enslave them all, but wary of a humanity that fears and hates them.

I’d bet that Stan and/or Jack (likely Jack) had read that, along with similar works, like SLAN by A.E. van Vogt and CHILDREN OF THE ATOM by Wilmar Shiras.

Al SchroederJune 29, 2011 at 10:31 am

Also there’s Olaf Stapledon’s ODD JOHN, one of the first treatments of the theme of homo superior—mutants who are the next step above man. I know it’s a very real influence on my webcomic, which sort of treads the same ground, even though my main character isn’t a mutant.—Al

WraithJune 29, 2011 at 11:11 am

“Marvel’s claim of Namor being ‘Marvel’s First Mutant’ are true from a publication debut standpoint, but the oldest mutant remains Apocalypse, who was born in Egypt during the 30th century BC.”

Thank you for pointing this out. Heaven knows why, but it bugs me every time Marvel splash “First Mutant” on a Namor story.

JulianJune 29, 2011 at 2:57 pm

When did the first mutant monster show up in comics? Had to be before Wierd Science. Did they ever show up in Flash Gordon or any Sunday Supplements?

Leave a CommentYour Name: *

Email Address: (not published) *

Website:

Robot 6About Robot 6Submit a Link / Contact Robot 6 ECHOES

-->SubscribeEmailFacebookTwitterSearch Robot 6

-->

RSS | Privacy Policy

Report a Bug | Advertising | Contact

Warner Bros. releases cover art for Batman: Arkham City

| Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

--> Comic Book Resources Comic Book Resources

News All News News Archives Comic Books TV/Film Video Games Web Comics Previews Press Releases Columns All Columns Cup O' Joe Flogging A Dead Horse One Fan's Opinion Permanent Damage Pipeline Pipeline Podcast ReTales The Buy Pile Tilting at Windmills When Words Collide Reviews All Reviews DC Comics Marvel Comics Image Comics Dark Horse Comics Blogs All CBR Blogs Comics Should Be Good Robot 6 Spinoff Online CBR Live! Video All Video CBR TV Movie Trailers/Clips TV Trailers/Clips Video Game Trailers Comic Book Trailers Community CBR Forums Homepage DC Comics Forums Marvel Comics Forums Independent Comics Forum CBR Specific Forums Miscellaneous Forums Hosted Forums Resources Comic Hubs Comic Shop Locator Comics Twitter Directory Events Calendar Links Database RSS Feeds/Social Network Polls About Report A Bug Contact Us Media Kit/Advertising Privacy Policy Site Credits Robot 6 Warner Bros. releases cover art for Batman: Arkham CityBatman: Arkham City" data-count="horizontal">Tweet

Batman: Arkham City

Warner Bros. Interactive and DC Entertainment released the cover art to the upcoming Batman: Arkham City video game, which comes out in October.

The sequel to the well-regarded Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City is set inside the newly constructed fortified walls that have transformed part of Gotham’s slums into a sprawling maximum-security prison for the city’s gangsters, thugs and criminally insane. The folks at the WB say it will be five times larger than the playable area of the first game. It will feature, of course, Batman, as well as the Joker, Catwoman, Two Face, the Penguin and a playable Robin (if you order it from Best Buy).

June 29, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK ParkinTagged: Batman: Arkham City, video games

One CommentMike JaJune 29, 2011 at 1:41 pm

“AWESOMMMMME!” in my high pitch singing voice

Leave a CommentYour Name: *

Email Address: (not published) *

Website:

Robot 6About Robot 6Submit a Link / Contact Robot 6 ECHOES

-->SubscribeEmailFacebookTwitterSearch Robot 6

-->

RSS | Privacy Policy

Report a Bug | Advertising | Contact

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Artists you need to know about: Daniel Krall

From his winning entry in Project: Rooftop‘s Iron Man contest awhile back to his designs for a kid-oriented Lois Lane, Girl Reporter series, Daniel Krall has shown he’s not short on talent or ideas. He got his start in comics with the 2002 Oni series One Plus One, but since then has tended to only do pin-ups while he concentrates on his magazine illustration work to pay the bills.

Be that as it may, Krall continues to impress with his comic-stylized work and his brief forays back into comics, such as in a story for 2008′s Comic Book Tattoo and this year’s Madman: All-New Giant-Size Super Ginchy Special. And now you can see his work all in one place… his redesigned website!

Here are three pages from a comic he did for Image called Speed Trials if you’re still not convinced:

June 29, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Chris ArrantTagged: Daniel Krall

Leave a CommentYour Name: *

Email Address: (not published) *

Website:

Robot 6About Robot 6Submit a Link / Contact Robot 6 ECHOES

-->SubscribeEmailFacebookTwitterSearch Robot 6

-->

RSS | Privacy Policy

Report a Bug | Advertising | Contact

FREE Comics Manga Download

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Warren Ellis: Best-selling NYT author? Oh yes!

Uncovering the secret origin of mutants at Marvel

Warner Bros. releases cover art for Batman: Arkham City

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Artists you need to know about: Daniel Krall