Very short reviews...

So yeah, I was going to write some sort of review of the first two Red Hulk trades wasn't I? No time, no time. Soz. Maybe Tuesday. Put it in your diaries...Tuesday: avoid reading Sutton's bilge on Hulk book that no-one else likes.

Briefly then...

Green Lantern #44: Martian Manhunter comes back from dead. Has fight with Flash and Green Lantern. John Stewart experiences enjoyable "Oh fuck" moment. Terrific fun.

Captain Britain #15: Last issue of cancelled series. Wraps up Dracula story. Features Space SAS who would've been a lot cooler if they didn't look so much like Buzz Lightyear...

Blackest Night Tales of The Corps #2: Throwback to the '80s GL Corps Annuals which Geoff Johns plundered for his run on GL. Nice short stories about aliens, and a bonus hokey explanation of all the various lantern colours and their symbols by Ethan van Bonkers.

Amazing Spidey #600: Read the first few pages before falling asleep. Rest of the comic could be utter pony for all I know, but as a spin on what it means to be a super-villain, this little four pager on Doc Oc is brilliant.

Captain America #601: After some humming and hawing with Mr Salmond, I eventually settled on the black and white variant of this Gene Colan pencilled special. Listen, some of the art is a bit ropey, but equally some of it is utterly glorious. Given the fact that Colan is a half-blind octogenarian, this rates as an absolute triumph.

Watched...The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters: Super documentary film about man-boys and their obsession with old school arcade games. If you haven't seen this, then go grab yourself a torrent, it's a rich study of emotional retardation and the near autistic world of competitive retro gaming. STEVE WIEBE FTW!

Of comics and Codeine

Hello again imaginary web chums! Thanks to everyone who took the time out to wish me well, you're a lot kinder than some of my friends who reacted to my exit from Wembley in a wheelchair by nicknaming me Davros. Cunts.

My back still hurts like a fucker, but I'm able to sit in a chair without screaming now, which is nice. And, while I am muzzy from all the painkillers, I've been reading a LOT, which has left me eager to spunk my comics muck down your fronts! 

Where to begin? Well, I'm up to speed on Spider-Man, which, given how far behind I'd got on it, is no mean feat. I'm still not sure what I think about the book. It's OK, a pleasant caper filled distraction from the real world; I don't get the "I must read the next issue NOW!" vibe off it though. Part of that comes from the fact that I find it hard to get buzzed about any of the new villains. I understand why they're there, but I think for me to really enjoy Spider-Man, I need Doc Oc, The Lizard, Rhino, The Green Goblin, Kraven and The Vulture. There you go, Brand New Day is all very nice and all, but I've had enough of all these new baddies and I'm not interested enough in all the soap-opera and political gubbins to forget the fact that I haven't seen Spidey fight one of his old foes for ages. I'll still keep picking it up though, because I like reading Spider-Man comics.

Elsewhere, I picked up Exiles #1 on Neil's recommendation. I'd never read an issue in my life and have very little interest in Marvel's mutant books so didn't expect much, but this reboot is really good. Basically, you've got all these alternate versions of Marvel heroes from various realities who are brought together by some shape-changing chap acting on behalf of Marvel's version of the Time Lords or something. They are going to have to go off and put things right in the Marvel multiverse or it'll explode. It's a bit like Sliders meets Quantum Leap only with superheroes. Easy sell. Nice pictures from some fellah whose name escapes me and the kind of knowing, funny script from Jeff Parker that has become his trademark. Give it a go, there's a Hitler baby in it!

Green Lantern Corps#35 was a riot! The usual dose of alien on alien evisceration. Of particular note this issue were the Sinestro Corps members hanging around Daxam and acting like bored frat boys before being slaughtered by Sodam Yat. Really funny stuff. Sinestro pops up at the end too. Can't beat a bit of Sinestro.

Marvel Zombies 4 #1 was also very good, although I can't remember for the life of me what happened in it. I have vague recollections of zombie amphibians attacking a cruise liner, but that's it. The magic of strong codeine has made me forget the rest. 

Captain Britain's vampire story really got into its stride with the third installment, lots of cool vampire types, Spitfire's son dressed up as Baron Blood and a cameo from Quincy Harker. Paul Cornell is drawing heavily on Marvel's Bronze age vampire mythos now, which makes me very happy indeed. If he could persuade Marvel to commission a Gene Colan variant Dracula cover for one of the forthcoming issues, I think my life would be complete.

Good morning

To the new shop where, to be fair, I was able to get all but one of the comics on my list. Missing item was Charlatan Ball, a book which I'll probably pick up from Gosh tomorrow. Once again none of my titles had been pulled, but they were all easily findable on the racks and, on the plus side, I did make a total saving of £3.20, which is not too shabby.

Shop was looking particularly clean and tidy, and boss man was in a frenzy over the impending visit of some big American cheese or other who owns a hefty chunk of the business. He told me that he's worked seven days a week for the past year to keep the place going, taking just three days off in that time, all of which made me feel bad about criticising his shop. Hopefully the American was happy with what he's been doing.

Anyway, only had time to read one of my purchases, but I'm happy to announce that after a brief dip in form last ish, Captain Britain is back in business. I have some issues with the Mike Collins pages which aren't as pretty as the Leonard Kirk ones, but the momentary switch between artists towards the end of the book isn't jarring enough to ruin what is in essence a super comic. For anyone not reading, know this: you are missing a story where Dracula has descended from the moon to declare war on the UK. Nuff (as someone once famously proclaimed) said.

I have five minutes

Yes! A five minute window has opened and I have chosen to use it to blog because hey, who needs to shower, right? Anyway, five minutes isn't going to allow for much, so here are some brief thoughts on stuff I've been reading on the loo or during bus journeys where I've been able to find a seat on my own (because I get embarrassed reading comics next to non-comics reading adults on public transport)

Captain Britain and MI13 #10
Back when I first recommended Captain Britain, I wanked on about the stuff that makes bad team books shit: "The problem that a lot of team books run into is that they involve such huge casts that effective characterisation tends to get buried by the action or, (and this is even worse in my opinion), the action gets overlooked in favour of a succession of conversations" I said.

I like Captain Britain, because on the whole Paul Cornell has managed to strike a good balance between these elements, but I have to say issue #10 was a bit too talkie, talkie, relationshippy, blah, blah, blah for my liking. Yes, there was some good Dracula action to be had, but for an issue which I and many others had been touting as a perfect jumping on point, I could've done with fewer heart to hearts and more stakes through the heart - know what I mean?

So yeah, if you bought it and were a bit bored by all the soul searching, I apologise. Stick with it, the action is bound to ramp up next issue and it really is an excellent book. Honest.

House of Mystery (various issues)

Still enjoying this one. What's it about? Well, that's a bit of a MYSTERY! Geddit?! Ha! I'm thinking we're exploring the power of stories and storytelling a la Final Crisis, but without the leotards. Could be wrong though. Anyway I like it.

Jersey Gods #1

Ah no, not another Jack Kirby as genre book! Hmmm, yes but to be fair it's a damn good one. New Gods and Eternals with a sort of sitcommy bassline. I liked it a lot and recommend you pick it up.

The Darkness: Accursed Volume 1

I bought this trade because it's being offered on the cheap (four or five quid, can't remember) and the fellers on the 11 o'clock podcast are always banging on about how good it is. I've managed to avoid The Darkness completely down the years and had no idea what it was about. For those who don't know, there's this mafia hit-man who is a vessel for shitloads of demons or something. He's taken over some south American banana republic where he's got everyone hooked on demon crack and, with the help of his mad scientist sidekick, created a devil woman who he can shag (because he can't shag real women as shagging would kill him because of the demons or some shit). Anyway, it's utter nonsense which scares me a bit in a 90s comics uber-violence sort of way and the art is of that Michael Turneresque sort where all the women have piercing eyes and elven bone structures. Despite all that I enjoyed its over the top madness. Ridiculous comics. Fuck that was all one really long paragraph wasn't it? Sorry haven't got time to sort it out.

Adventure Comics #0

This had a $1 price tag, but the bloke at my new comic shop chucked it in my nerd sack for nowt, which was nice. Reprints Adventure comics #247 (The first appearance of the Legion of Super-Heroes) which is all well and good. But, you're really going to want it for the short back-up story by Geoff Johns which acts as sort of a prelude to a prelude to Blackest Night. Yes Green Lantern completists, you need to buy this comic.

There's more, but my five minutes is up. S'laters!

An appeal

ATTENTION IMAGINARY WEB CHUMS! The chaps over at Comics Daily have something important to say to you

And they're right, because as I say in their comments section: If ANY book where DOCTOR DOOM meets DRACULA on the MOON gets cancelled, then we have FAILED!

Honestly, Captain Britain and MI13 is one of a handful of Marvel comics which is actually worth reading at the moment. Don't let it die!

A REMINDER OF THE COMICS POWER THAT SUPER-VILLAINS ON THE MOON CAN GENERATE

LLC recommends: Captain Britain and MI13

OK, so I’m late to the party, but the buzz about Captain Britain and MI13 has been so loud that I thought I’d better give the book a try. I'm glad I did, because while I was initially put off by its links to Secret Invasion, this new series is well worth a go.

The story follows the super heroes of government intelligence department MI-13 as they battle the Skrull invasion of the UK. It’s a tightly written, super fast, action packed Marvel book with a fantastic roster of British characters who play off each other brilliantly.

For that we have Paul Cornell and artist Leonard Kirk to thank. Cornell has been writing Doctor Who novels for years, but he’s also penned some of the best episodes of the TV series itself, including my favourite story from season one: “Father’s Day”. He’s a top class writer and it shows here as he takes on that most difficult of superhero subgenres, the team book.

The problem that a lot of team books run into is that they involve such huge casts that effective characterisation tends to get buried by the action or, (and this is even worse in my opinion), the action gets overlooked in favour of a succession of conversations designed to give each character their moment. This is hardly a surprise, I imagine it’s hard enough to write a 22 page comic book about one character let alone five or six, yet Cornell pulls it off.

The pace of MI13 is unremitting, but the book manages to be more than just a series of explosions because Cornell splices the thrills with some superb banter between the very different protagonists. Whether it be the Captain Britain himself, British Muslim super-heroine Faiza Hussain or the frankly awesome Skrull John Lennon, all the characters have their own distinct voices. Their personalities also come through in the art. Leonard Kirk’s style is reminiscent of Bryan Hitch at his best. He does action and facial expressions equally well, and the level of detail in his work puts this book on a par with the first series of the Ultimates. He even succeeds in freshening up the Skrulls with a succession of superb Superskrull action sequences.

MI13 is great to look at then, but in the end it’s the writing that’s going to carry the book. Cornell is taking risks (killing Brian Braddock at the end of the first issue being chief amongst them) and the book is hardly packed with the A listers that guarantee sales, but it’s snappier than Spider-Man and has already packed more story into two issues than I suspect we'll see in the entirety of Secret Invasion.

It might be a spin-off of Marvel's latest mega event then, but I'm already crossing my fingers that Cornell and Kirk's creation lives on long after Secret Invasion has been forgotten.

Student larks

So there was this one time right. I was chilling at Brian and Jamie's gaff. We'd been drinking mushroom tea and smoking a bit of weed. I remember feeling really sick, closing my eyes...