Metatext?

Scan from Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #1

Finally

So that's it, I've finished Final Crisis, and...I LIKED IT! 

I'm not going to be one of these cunts who looks down their nose at everyone who didn't like it, or sneer at the people who've been honest enough to say that they didn't understand a fucking word of it. I'm convinced a bunch of the people doing that (not all of them, but a bunch of them) didn't understand it half as well as they're claiming anyway. 

No, I can see where the haters are coming from because let's be honest chums, big chunks of it made absolutely no flipping sense at all. There you go though, what did you expect? No-one ever said Grant Morrison comics were easy reading. I used Wikipedia, Final Crisis annotations and the wisdom of several well-informed comics podcasters to help me along, and I managed just fine. In fact better than fine, I enjoyed the experience all the more for the additional work I had to put in to understand what was going on. It all felt a bit like sitting around discussing books in my sixth form English class really, which was something I used to enjoy, so you know... NOSTALGIA, YAY!

I dug the story (a story about stories. KEWL!) and mostly, the art was fine too - I wasn't bothered by the change of artist, it all looked fine to me. So I take my comic hat off to the creators. My main issue with the whole thing was the screwy release schedule that saw vital parts of the story released in the wrong order. Legion of Three Worlds hasn't even finished yet, and that's supposed to take place somewhere in between issue five and six of Final Crisis. Batman 682 and 683 are part of the story, but unless you were observant enough to notice the hastily added Final Crisis logos on the covers, you'd never of known. As for Superman Beyond, well, why were these issues not just part of the main series? Yes the creators might be at fault for not meeting deadlines, but why did DC just turn a blind eye to the problems? I mean how bonkers is it that Grant Morrison has to come out AFTER the thing's over and tell us what order we should have read it in...

FINAL CRISIS # 1- 3
SUPERMAN BEYOND # 1- 2
SUBMIT
FINAL CRISIS # 4 – 5
BATMAN #682 – 683 
FINAL CRISIS # 6 – 7

taken from this interview

Honestly! Bit late now feller! DC should've done this months ago. If they didn't know that this was the order, well...then they want shooting. If they did know and released it in the order that they did because bits of it weren't ready when they were meant to be, then they also want shooting! It might be a bummer when an artist isn't completing his work quickly enough to get a book out when it should be, but when your'e dealing with an event it also makes no sense to ignore the fact that chapter two isn't ready and press ahead with releasing chapter three anyway. By doing that I suspect that DC just alienated a lot of their readers who were already pissed that they weren't getting the paint it by numbers event book that they have come to expect. Ach well, never mind, lessons to be learnt I suppose. 

Me, I'm happy enough to go back and digest the thing in the order that Morrison intended. I honestly think it was a top read and reckon it'll be even better now we know what it should look like as a whole.

Off the stack

Hey ho imaginary web chums! I hope all is well in your comic world. I've been enjoying plenty of sequential jollity over the last couple of days - much of it top notch. 

First off the stack Walking Dead TP #9. As per usual I read this latest installment from back to front in double quick time. I can't say Mr Kirkman's big seller is my favourite comic, but it's certainly the one I gobble up faster than any other. Won't spoil the latest volume for anyone who's not up to speed, suffice to say a good number of the surviving characters are now going properly bonkers (as you would if faced with the zombie Apocalypse). There are also a few new faces introduced in this volume, a device which provides the book with a nice (and frankly timely) injection of fresh blood.

Also recommended is Gravel, one of Warren Ellis' many projects for Avatar. We're up to issue #8 in this story of ex SAS magician Gravel's run-ins with Ellis' fucked up version of the Magic Circle. Gravel is part John Constantine, part Michael Caine and, I suspect, part Warren Ellis. Composite character he may be, but don't worry, his murderous rise up the ranks of Britain's magical hierarchy has been a rip-roaring, gut-splashing hoot. If you missed the first seven issues I'd recommend you pick them up in trade. When Ellis can't be bothered his comics are a drag, but when he's enjoying himself, as he clearly is here, there are few better writers. Gravel is a sharp treatise on Britain's enduring class system, but above all it's an action-packed comic which I can't recommend highly enough.

As far as the big two go, Final Crisis #6 was as excellent as the preceding five issues. Obviously the whole Batman thing is the big news (or at least it would have been in any week other than the one where Obama teamed up with Spider-Man), but the best part of FC #6 was undoubtedly the fight between Kalibak and Tawny - can't beat some good old cat on cat comic action. Woot!

Read the last couple of Matt Fraction's big Thor one shots for Marvel. Rich, meaty comics that are best read with The Anvil of Crom playing in the background and a flaggon of mead close at hand. Honestly, for a man who says he doesn't like fantasy, Fraction writes a fucking mean Thunder God. His take on the whole Asgard thing is MUCH BETTER than the regular Thor comic which I binned after two issues of mind numbing nothingness. Fraction's stories are rammed full of Frost Giants, Dwarves and Asgardian Gods knocking crap out of each other. It also helps that all of the books have featured the work of top notch artists. You're going to want to pick this one up in some sort of pretty harcover when it's eventually collected.

Notes on some comics I read yesterday

I read eight comics yesterday and they were all good. Here's the what and why of them all...

Green Lantern Corps #31

Delayed, delayed, but worth the wait. Krib - a particularly creepy lady alien from the Sinestro Corps who steals babies and stores them in a cage that grows out of her back - goes toe to toe with a giant green foetus. Meanwhile the guardians say no to jiggy jiggy while Mongul says yes and chills with some scantily clad extra terrestrials. Bonkers brilliance.

Fantastic Four #562

At this point I realise that I'm the only person in the world enjoying Millar and Hitch's Fantastic Four. Well yah boo sucks to the rest of you, you don't know a good Fan 4 comic when you see it! Big super-hero funeral shenanigans that give Hitch the chance to draw EVERYONE. Some nice characterisation of Franklin Richards, and a decent dash of talking heads between Doom and Reed.

Captain America #45

Not much to say really, just another solid issue in a consistently good run. Luke Ross and the mighty Butch Guice provide pencils, but it might as well be Steve Epting, because it looks as good as ever.

Incognito #1

Brubaker and Phillips new book from Marvel's Icon imprint. The Super-Villain in witness protection thing is a decent idea and this issue does a good job of setting the scene for what promises to be an interesting tale. It is slightly reminiscent of Millar's Wanted, but given how good that was, this is no bad thing. Lovely colouring job from Val Staples, and a very interesting text piece in the back on the early days of The Shadow.

Marvel Zombies #3

This Fred Van Lente fellow is a proper geezer. First he produces Comic Book Comics, one of my favourite books of last year,  then he does this - a sequel to a sequel that not only succeeds in outdoing the first two chapters in the zombies trilogy, but is also quite easily the best Marvel comic on the stands at the time of writing. 

Honestly, this comic is ACE. First off, van Lente has taken the Aaron Stack Machine Man from Warren Ellis's Nextwave and made him even more awesome than he was in that book. Then he's somehow made the whole Marvel Zombies thing seem fresh and exciting DESPITE the fact that (pardon the pun) it's an idea that should be dead in the water by now. AND, on top of all that he's produced an action packed page turner of a story loaded with witty dialogue. 

The art by Kev Walker looks just like Sean Phillips' stuff on the first two books which lends the story the feel of a proper continuation and also means that it looks flat out fantastic. Issue #3 features a quite sensational sequence where Machine Man nicks the bike of zombie Ghost Rider and outruns a trio of Marvel's most famous speedsters. I read it, put it down and muttered "fuck, that was excellent!" 

THIS is why I buy super-hero comics folks. Sadly there's only one issue left. Make sure you buy the trade.

Gigantic #2

Robots, satire and sick humour - this is sooooooooo 2000AD. Which is excellent given how shite the real 2000AD is these days. Rick Remender is kicking arse at Dark Horse, and this tale of intergalactic reality TV gone wrong is threatening to top the other grade A goodness he's been producing for the company. I still think that the colour palette is a touch muted for the robot smashing, planet busting style story, but it's a minor quibble. Top notch sci-fi.

Superman #683

What happened to the Creature Commandos? I'm getting confused. Oh well, I still enjoyed this. Part nine of the New Krypton saga and those pesky Kandorians are getting madder by the minute. An enjoyable super-hero romp.

Final Crisis Secret Files

Written by Len Wein, this is a look at Libra's origin. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but do have a couple of reservations about it. Firstly, the interior art isn't much cop. Sorry, but it isn't. I think my main gripe with it is that the artist chooses to ignore drawing backgrounds in a lot of his panels, thus we get a shot of Big Ben with no Houses of Parliament, and a warehouse which is quite literally empty and, as a result pretty uninteresting to look at. Several of the figures are also out of proportion. There you go. 

NEVERTHELESS, the story was OK. It's a heavy-handed retelling of a tale originally written in the 70s (I think) complete with exposition heavy dialogue and corny set pieces. Sounds dreadful, right? well it is in a way, but I also found it strangely refreshing, a nice change from the well written comics we've got used to. 

I say DC let that Len Wein fellow write more throwback super-hero romps, but next time give him an artist who can bring his work to life - Berni Wrightson would be alright I reckon!

A reader writes

Got an interesting e-mail t'other day...

Hi Dominic,
 
I've been reading your blog for a few weeks now and really enjoy it. I'm a comic collector (living in London) who gave up the hobby about 10 years ago but have recently rediscovered it. I just thought I'd drop you a note because I read your comments a while back about Final Crisis and thought I'd ask your advice on the best way to catch up on the series until now and for understanding it. Can you recommend what comics I should look out for? 

 
I picked up issue 1 and 2 of the main series but it seems like there are plenty of gaps where it must be covered elsehwere in these spin offs I've seen. Is there a guide of what to read out there anywhere? I've also read Rage of The Red Lanterns (I've always primarily been a GL Corps fan - part of the reason why I gave the hobby up around the time Kyle Raynor replaced Hal) but haven't so far had much of a sense of what is going on with the main storyline in the DCU. I don't want to skip all the background and just read Final Crisis 1-4 if there's actually a lot more out there worth picking up (aside from GL stuff which I am already picking up)...
 
Cheers,
 
Tom

Thanks for writing Tom. Blimey, Final Crisis eh? Well, the comic blogging glitterati would have you believe that anyone who doesn't get what's happening in Grant Morrison's epic is some kind of imbecile, but I have to say that unless you've spent the last 20 or so years memorising everything that's ever happened in the DC Universe then you're going to find this mega-event somewhat confusing. But you know what? That's OK! We live in a world of interwebberey and message boardery where everything can be made clear to anyone willing to do a bit of supplemental reading.

Strangely, the spin-offs from Final Crisis won't actually fill in the gaps. Rogues Revenge, Legion of Three Worlds and the other offshoots have all been excellent, but none of them are necessary to understanding what's happening in the main title. If you're struggling with that, then I would suggest rereading each issue in tandem with The Final Crisis Annotations website OR downloading Comic Geek Speak to your Ipod (presuming you've got one) and checking out Adam Murdo's excellent walkthroughs of each issue.

On top of that, and for background, I would strongly suggest reading Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers series which isn't directly connected to the events of Final Crisis but which does set the scene for much of what's going on. If you're really keen (and have a bit of dosh to spare) then you should also go all the way back and check out Jack Kirby's Fourth World books all of which have been reprinted in beautiful omnibus form COMPLETE with old style matt paper. Seriously good looking items that form the foundation for everything Morrison's riffing on in FC.

There's more of course - you could check out the original Crisis on Infinite Earths or (and I don't recommend this) depress yourself by wading through the sludge that is Countdown to Final Crisis. In the end, it all comes down to work! Yes, if you want to understand Final Crisis then you've got to work baby! It's not easy reading, it doesn't all make immediate sense and it's dripping with sticky DC lore. This is what makes FC and indeed most of Morrison's other work so rewarding. He writes puzzles that demand a lot of the reader. If you want things easy then go grab Secret Invasion, it demands very little effort, you'll have read it in five minutes and once you've finished it you'll never have to pick it up again - which is fine. It's good in fact. I LOVE disposable comics, but I don't want to be spoon fed all the time and that's why I think Final Crisis is worth the extra effort.

As for Rage of The Red Lanterns. Well, to be honest just because they've stuck a Final Crisis logo on the cover you shouldn't be fooled into thinking it has anything to do with Final Crisis proper. In reality it's the latest chapter in Geoff Johns' superb run on Green Lantern - a bridge between The Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night. If you want to find out about those then I would suggest reading Johns' run on the title from the beginning. You might also like to pick up the Green Lantern Corps series.

There you go. Hope I've helped. Enjoy!

Tales from the nerd sack

I feel like I've spent a lot of time moaning about comics lately, which is a shame really because leaving aside the rising prices, frustrating delays and execrable Secret Invasion style crossover muddles, there are actually some damn fine books on the racks at the moment.

I admit that since the birth of my son I haven't had as much time to read them as I once did, but when I do manage to slip on the old smoking jacket and relax with my tottering To Read pile, I'm often amazed by the quality of some of the comics that are coming out.

Take the new Rick Remender book Gigantic, for example. Wow! What a fucking great read. Giant Robot ACCIDENTALLY attacks San Fransisco in a thrill packed blaze of exploding buses and toppling skyscrapers. What more do you want? Well, how about some sci-fi satire on our obsession with reality TV, a healthy smattering of evil aliens and a nice afterword from Remender himself?

Folks, this is a top comic. Perhaps the colour palette is a little too muted for such a fiery spectacular, but the art itself is excellent. Well worth a look, ESPECIALLY if you're the kind of person who makes this sort of thing for a living...



Yeah, if LLC chum Mr Wheatley doesn't like Gigantic, I'll eat my run of Rom!

Final Crisis: Resist is almost as good as Gigantic, particularly if you miss Greg Rucka's Checkmate. I've enjoyed all the tie-ins to Final Crisis, but as a fan of Checkmate, I have to say this is probably my favourite so far.

Story? Well, basically you've got a beefed up revamp of Snapper Carr teleporting around the world blowing up Darkseid's bases, shagging cat women and getting into post coital scrapes with Gorilla Grodd (Mmmm post coital scrapes). Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mr Terrific figures out that to save the World from the Anti-Life equation he's going to have to sacrifice the woman he loves to free the Omac nanites in her body so that they in turn can release the latent Omac population of earth to do in Darkseid! Whew. I realise that this will make no sense to most people, but trust me, it's great.

As is The Unknown Soldier. Josh Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli's re imagining of the classic DC property is set against the bloody backdrop of Northern Uganda, where Moses Lwanga, a pacifist doctor working in the refugee camps of his wartorn country gets possessed by the spirit of the Unknown Soldier and finds himself compelled to turn to violence as a result.

Dysart went out to Uganda to research the comic, and his righteous anger at some of the atrocities being committed burns brightly in this story. Occasionally this works against him, as some of his characters sound like they're quoting statistics from a UN report rather than speaking their minds, but mostly it makes for an entertaining and informative read. Ponticelli's art is SENSATIONAL - bloody, sweaty, dusty and violent. His style reminds me of Eduardo Risso (of 100 bullets fame) and that's a big compliment.

Funnily enough Mario Alberti's art in X-Men and Spider-Man #1 has a similar feel to it, perhaps with a bit of Marcos Martin thrown if for good measure. Set in 60s Manhattan, this Christos Gage penned tale will probably draw comparisons with X-Men First Class. It's a light frothy take on the early days of Marvel, which I enjoyed a lot. Gage's script is snappy and fun, but the real star here is Alberti who captures the spirit of the 60s perfectly. He makes Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane look like groovy chicks and Peter Parker look like the slightly awkward (not quite ready to leave the 1950s) teenager that he originally was. It's beautiful stuff. Oh and he draws a mean Blob.

Bad Magic/Red Lanterns

Apologies for the lack of activity imaginary web chums, I've been busy with work, babies and errrm Magic The Gathering Online. Yes, rather shamefully I've fallen into the trap of playing a collectible card game on the internet - what a plum. There are many reasons to hate MTGO, the main one of course is that I'm absolutely shite at it, like, REALLY terrible. Honestly, if I had a penny for every time I've been called a retard by my angsty teenage opponents, I'd have about £1.20 by now. It's soul crushing stuff. I have to stop.

The other thing to hate about this time gobbler of a game, is the huge expense involved in playing it. To be anywhere near competitive, you have to lash the cash on wadges of "virtual" cards. That's right virtual. You pay real money for non-existent trading cards. Bah! Never have I wasted my dosh on a more ridiculous idea.

So all in all, a terrible thing, but I've got myself completely hooked on it. The need to play about with wizards and orcs has obviously eaten deeply into the little spare time that I have, and consequently my plans to read lots of comics have been put on hold.

I did make space to take in Rage of the Red Lanterns #1, which was fantastic. I've said it before and I'll bore you by saying it again: if you want to do a good Green Lantern comic, you need do just two things: find a good artist and get him/her to draw a shitload of weird aliens punching holes in each others heads. Geoff Johns understands this and it's why Rage of the Red Lanterns ROCKS!

In Shane Davis, the book has a penciller who clearly revels in drawing aliens, there are dozens of them on show here including...

RED RAGE KITTY CAT!

What a glorious, ridiculous thing that is. I mean, come on it's a blood spewing domestic cat in spandex. Ha Ha Ha. That'll do for me.

I sincerely hope we get a back story for this one. I'm willing to wager that it involves some cosmic mouse shenanigans. Please Mr Johns let's have a mouse in the Green Lanterns so that we can enjoy some interplanetary Itchy and Scratchy style fun.

Black comics and Man Toys

I enjoyed the bejesus out of the last issue of Final Crisis and the Submit one shot which should be read immediately beforehand. Submit is the blackest comic I've read since I ploughed my way through the monochrome madness of Essential Power Man Volume One. Alright, so it's written by a bald white Scot, but all the main characters are Afro-American. There is one conspicuous white cameo though...

Maybe I'm just imagining it, but that fellow on the left looks a lot like the David Tennant incarnation of Doctor Who to me.

Anyway, Submit: not only the blackest comic I've ever read, but also the most straightforward Grant Morrison tale I've seen for some time. No tripped out mystery to this one, it's just a simple story about Black Lightning and the Tattooed Man fighting Darkseid's evil horde of brainwashed loons. Top stuff.

Final Crisis #4 was also relatively straightforward. The story seems to have moved into a different gear with this issue. Darkseid's finally shown up and it's become clear that the speed force is the antidote to anti-life. That aside, Morrison writes a mean Green Arrow. I've never really had much time for that character, but Morrison makes him a heroic, angry liberal. Much more interesting than the wimpy leftie I've always seen him done as. Good stuff.

Away from the comics I've been hovering over the ebay bid button on some of the new DC Arkham Asylum Heroclix figures. The Batman villain figures are particularly pretty man toys...


Oh they'd look nice on my shelf.

Because the line is new, people are asking silly sums for the rarer figures though, so I'll wait a while before wading in.

Shopping List

No visit to London's magical West End last week as I only had one title on the old shopping list. My brain barely survived the disruption to its weekly routine of course, but I felt better about myself for not dropping a wad of cash. Still, one week without new comics is enough for any emotionally retarded man to bear, and I'm straining at the leash to lash the cash on some overpriced funny books. Here's what I'll be picking up this week...

The End League #5
Relentlessly depressing, deliberately derivative superhero team book by Rick Remender. The End League gets darker and more difficult to follow with every passing issue, but it's well written, cool stuff and I'm a big fan.

Action Comics #870
Geoff Johns' mission to clean up any discrepancies in DC continuity continues apace with part four of his Braniac story, and very well done it is too. He's successfully managed to build a new Braniac out of all the old versions of the character while still telling a rollicking good Superman yarn.

Final Crisis: Revelations #3
Oh dear which one is this again? I'm getting a bit confused by all the tie-ins that I swore I wasn't going to buy but in fact am. Ah yes, the Spectre threatening to kill the Question at some indeterminate point in the Final Crisis timeline, lots of quotes from the bible and some horrible art from Philip Tan. Still, I enjoyed the bit where Dr Light got turned into a candle and I'm now irreversibly locked into buying everything related to Final Crisis so...

Green Lantern #35
More house cleaning from Johns as he retells the origin of Green Lantern. This arc was obviously designed to be a bit of a filler while Hal Jordan gets on with all the Final Crisis stuff elsewhere, but it's turned out to be one of Johns' finest moments on the book. Lots of Sinestro, plenty of Hector Hammond and a plausible fusion of current events in the GL universe and the original Silver Age origin of the character.

Green Lantern Corps #39
How do you follow up the last story where a bunch of evil alien insectoid types dumped a truckload of eyeballs on the Green Lanterns for a laugh? Answer: You can't. What you can do is whet the appetites of your slavering audience for the upcoming Blackest Night story with an origin story for one of the multitude of new Lantern Corps. Yay!

Wonder Woman #25
Hmmm. I'm getting closer and closer to dropping this. The first few issues of Gail Simone's run were really strong, but the glory days of talking apes v techno Nazis on the beach are long gone and let's be honest, it's been downhill since then. Last chance to get good or it's off the list.

Avengers Invaders #5
Yeah, this is shit awful but I've bought four issues already so what are you gonna do? Ahh the mindset of the comic fan.

Invincible Iron Man #6
Eziekel Stane is the best NEW villain to hit the Marvel U for a long time and Invincible Iron Man is as good a reboot of a Marvel property as there's been in recent years. Can't say much more about this book than that. A gem.

Marvel Zombies III #1
Really? It's by Fred van Lente though, so it's might be OK.

The Twelve #8
Given that we're eight issues in and the Twelve still haven't done anything but moan about how shit modern life is, I should be hating this, but for some reason it works. Not only that, it's spawned a fine Big Dave F impression. Really, you should see his Mastermind Excello, it's uncanny.

A brief and frankly not very well written review of a bad comic

Oh man I'm tired. Really, really fucking tired. It's not a state that makes for easy reading and consequently my "to read" pile is getting perilously close to ceiling height. Gaaah! Curse you real life, how dare you interfere with my comic habit!

I can just about stave off sleep long enough to concentrate on one comic a day at the moment, which makes it vital that I pick a good one. Imagine my pain then when I pulled DC's Last Will and Testament from the stack last night. Groan.

Allegedly a Final Crisis tie-in, this one shot follows several heroes as they contemplate their last night before earth is destroyed. It's a comic that reads like the first draft for a 1980s made for TV melodrama...only worse. In amidst the angst you get to follow Brion Markov as he tracks down Deathstroke and attempts to take revenge for the death of Tara (Terra) Markov back in the 80s.

It's a slow and tedious ride. BUT it does have several pages of fantastic Joe Kubert art that make me wish he was still drawing comics on a regular basis. He packs a lot of weary resignation into the faces of his characters and almost saves what is essentially a pretty bad comic. Almost.

So there you go, I'll try and pick a better comic off the pile tonight. For now I need to get shifting to work. I leave you with a nice link to near-miss heroes and villains.

Saturday 8am...

...and your attractive host is preparing to read Superman Beyond 3D!

Note that the specs are from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier, and not those provided with Superman Beyond 3D. As any true comic cunt knows, cutting the glasses out of Superman Beyond 3D would destroy the value of a comic which is CLEARLY going to be worth a FORTUNE in the very near future.

Note to DC...

...the death of Martian Manhunter is not REALLY comparable to the assassination of JFK.

Frau Skull

A hectic couple of days at LLC with sick babies and boxes of the Mrs's old tat impacting on my need to read vast amounts of comics. Thankfully it looks like the lad is on the mend now (fingers crossed) and although the delivery of my other half's stuff is clogging up the house, there are plus sides to the clutter, namely this...

Yes, it's female Red Skull! Apparently this was one of Becky's favourite dolls as a child. I've now adopted her (the doll, not Becky) as LLC's official mascot. Sehr gut!

So aside from going through boxes of old toys and cleaning up baby sick what have I been doing? Well I've read both DC Universe #0 and Final Crisis #1 again, this time in tandem with the excellent Final Crisis annotations site. I know I've already mentioned it, but seriously, if you're reading Final Crisis you need to check out the annotations. I've seen a bunch of reviews of Final Crisis where people have complained about the confusing nature of the book, but everything becomes a lot clearer with the help of Mr Wolk's fine blog. Read it, read it, read it. If nothing else, the extra time spent on it will make you feel that you're getting value for money out of at least one of your expensive American comics.

Afternoon shorts

Anyone out there still struggling to make sense of Final Crisis #1? Check out THIS BLOG

I have a feeling I'll be referring to this until the bitter end.

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Finally got round to reading the first three issues of Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin's War Is Hell. Wow! Great stuff. I've dropped The Boys and my interest in Dan Dare is waning, but War is Hell serves as a reminder of just how good Garth Ennis can be.

I wonder if it was Ennis or Chaykin who was responsible for this idea...


Correct me if I'm wrong, but that looks like an example of memento mori, which would be wholly appropriate given the ever present spectre of death that haunts the pilots in the story.

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The lads at Comics Daily are really on their A game at the moment. I don't always agree with their opinions, but their reviews are some of the most articulate and well considered I've found on the internet. Check them out HERE.

Notes on comics I read today

Final Crisis #1
Loaded with obscure DC characters, this is a mite hard to follow for those of us who didn't bother to read Countdown or Death of the New Gods. Nonetheless with the help of Wikipedia all becomes a lot clearer.

I actually liked it, which doesn't mean I'm about to take out a bank loan to follow its expensive trail through the DC Universe, but does pretty much guarantee that I'll be on board for the core seven issue mini.

1985 #1
You know who Mark Millar reminds me of? Stephen King. Something to do with the fact that he keeps cranking out these shamelessly nostalgic page turners involving "special" kids. First there was Chosen, then Kick Ass and now comes 1985, a manipulative little comic that plays on the childhood memories of the 30 somethings who make up a large chunk of Marvel's audience. That all makes it sound like I hated 1985 right? Well no actually, in a guilty sort of way, I liked it. Again, it's the Stephen King thing, I know that this isn't particularly "worthy" comics, but it is entertaining. An easy read.

Astounding Wolf-Man #6
The weakest issue of this series so far. Some of the dialogue sounds like it's lifted from a daytime soap, and Jason Howard's art looks more hurried than usual. He's clearly decided that he's not going to bother drawing detailed backgrounds in the majority of his panels, this leaves a lot of blank space behind the characters, which doesn't look good.

Kirkman seems to be acknowledging that this is a weak issue by telling his readership that issue #7 is where the story really begins.

Dan Dare #6
I'm not enjoying this as much as I thought I was going to after reading the excellent first issue. It just seems to be dragging along a bit now. At his worst (ie for much of the 1980's run in the revamped Eagle) Dan Dare is a big old bore, I'm afraid that Ennis's Dare is closer to that Dare than he is to the turbo-charged version that appeared in 2000AD or even the original 50s incarnation of the character.

Giant-size Astonishing X-Men #1
And so Joss Whedon and John Cassady's run come to an end. Obviously it looks beautiful and reads well, but lets face it, the huge gaps between each issue has made this story damn hard to follow in single issue format. I'd already sat down and reread all the issues leading up to this one, but that was so long ago that by the time I came to reading this, I'd forgotten everything that had happened all over again.

Never mind. Anyone going back and reading the run in trade format is in for a treat.

All Star Superman #11
Gargggh! Two Grant Morisson comics in a week! My brain hurts.

As ever, the beauty of All Star Superman is in the detail. Whether it's the Welcome mat outside the Fortress of Solitude or the cavalcade of Luthor costumes on the wall of Lex's hideout, there is plenty to admire here. Definitely the most beautiful looking comic on the stands.

Green Lantern #31
Another fine issue. Just one question, why are all the buildings on Oa yellow? Surely that would be a bad idea. Is this just a mistake by the colourist that got overlooked, or am I missing something?

Northlanders #6
Err, more viking shenanigans. Yeah, that's all I got to say about this one.

That's it. I'm too knackered to write much more today. Instead here are two Manic Street Preachers songs that relate to this week's read pile. The first one is called 1985 - nuff said. The second, Solitude, has been going round in my head for a week or two now. It always makes me think of Superman.

Both tracks are from the Manics' most underrated album Lifeblood. Neither song was ever released as a single so no official videos. Instead you get a fan made vid for 1985 and a live performance of Solitude. Enjoy...

Hey Eddie!

Look I enjoyed Final Crisis #1, (Hell of a good comic, boy does Grant Morrison get the Green Lantern Corps), BUT don't try and tell me that it's anything more than the start of a hype driven money spinner for DC...Oh OK, do try and tell me that...



So says Eddie Berganza, Final Crisis editor.

Well Eddie, thanks for thinking of us! Just the seven tie-in titles you say, that sounds like it'll be almost affordable. Let's see, seven issues of the main title + those seven, that's just the £28 I'm going to have to spend right? Not too bad.

But hang on fella, here's the Infinite Crisis checklist...

April
# DC Universe Zero

May
# Final Crisis #1
# Justice League of America #21
# Final Crisis Sketchbook

June
# Final Crisis #2

July
# Final Crisis #3
# Final Crisis: Requiem
# Final Crisis: Rogue's Revenge #1

August
# DC Universe: Last Will and Testament
# Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1
# Final Crisis: Revelation #1
# Final Crisis: Rogue's Revenge #2
# Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1

September
# Final Crisis #4
# Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #2
# Final Crisis: Revelation #2
# Final Crisis: Rogue's Revenge #3
# Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #2
# Final Crisis: Submit

October
# Final Crisis #5
# Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3
# Final Crisis: Resist
# Final Crisis: Revelation #3

November
# Final Crisis #6
# Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #4
# Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns
# Final Crisis: Revelation #4

December
# Final Crisis #7
# Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #5
# Final Crisis: Revelation #5

Fffffffffuuuuck! You mean those tie-ins aren't one shots? That doesn't tally with what you're telling us Eddie. And, what's this I hear in my local comic shop? Rumours that Batman, Teen Titans, Birds of Prey and Green Lantern will ALL be tied in at some point?!

Hey Eddie, is that what you think of as "not a lot" of crossovers? And what was that you were saying about "infinite money"?