New 52 - Week 3

Another week of comic-y goodness from DC, as The New 52 rolls on. We've still got most of the books in stock from the first 3 weeks (including Justice League and Action Comics).

Let's get into it:

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Catwoman #1: I'm a huge fan of Judd Winick's independent work (Barry Ween, Pedro and Me), but most of his DC work has felt flat. This, however, was a wild sexy ride. If you've been reading the internet, you already know about the... encounter, at the end of the book. This was far more fun than I thought it'd be, to be honest. Then again, I'm biased, Dick Grayson isn't the only one who has a thing for redheads.

(That comment will make far more sense if you read a couple of this week's books... but I'm not telling which.)

Supergirl #1: Supergirl lands to earth, falls through Kansas, burrows through the planet to Russia, gets into a fight and... that's pretty much it. Waitwhat? This book read a little too fast for me. Not enough content, but the art was nice.

DC Universe Presents Deadman #1: Ehhh... i dunno. The art was okay, the writing was okay, the ending was a little abrupt, but I wish they'd stayed more in line with the Brightest Day continuity (as hinted in Hawk & Dove), rather than re-do his origin. Overall, a good #1, but nothing special.

Red Hood & The Outlaws #1: Holy moly, a comic featuring Jason Todd that makes him actually likeable? Scott Lobdell is 2 for 2 on his DCU books so far. The art was good, Starfire was a bit, um, provocative, but this was a solid start.

Blue Beetle #1: Jaime Reyes returns, again, as the Blue Beetle. I really liked the introduction, tying the Scarab in with the Lantern Corps. This was a little light-hearted, compared to the rest of the DCU, it felt more like the early issues of Ultimate Spider-man, which is exactly the tone they should be going for.

Wonder Woman #1: Yeah, okay, now this is a WW book I can get behind. One of the better WW stories I've read in years, frankly. They're dipping their feet into the Greek mythology behind the character, while creating a new villain and adding a new supporting character. Great read.

Legion of Super-heroes #1. le sigh. Okay, I've got to say, the art on this was GORGEOUS. Great detail, lush backgrounds, just incredible stuff. Francis Portella, you created a fan. But the story... man, this would've been a good Legion of Super-heroes #7, but this was NOT a good #1. It felt like a continuation of the previous run, and had characters all over the place; I had no idea who was who, doing what and where. Good comic, bad #1. Really loved the art, though.

Captain Atom #1: Couldn't get through it, the art was too murky. Will try again next week.

Nightwing #1: Hey, another solid book! Great to see Dick back as Nightwing, although it went a wee bit too heavy on the origin story for my liking. This was one of my favorites from the week.

Birds of Prey #1: Not certain what to say about this one. It felt the same as the Deadman book, it didn't do much for me, either way. Black Canary is putting together a new team. The art was serviceable, the writing the same. I don't know, this just didn't jump out at me one way or the other.

Batman #1: But this was AWESOME.Great #1, great Batman story. Capullo's art was pitch-perfect, and the writing was fantastic. this is all I want from a Batman book. Great, great stuff.

Next week: I, Vampire! Superman! Justice League Dark! Voodoo!

New 52 - Week 2

The New 52 continues with the 2nd wave of new titles. After reading the first two weeks worth of titles, there's one word to describe The New 52: Dark.

Not that there's anything wrong with books that are dark in tone or material, but I'm hoping we see a bit more sunlight and hope peek through the books as the month continues. Too much of anything can be.. well, too much.

That said, there's some gems this week. Let's get to it.

Deathstroke #1 - Good introductory issue. An all-in-one plot for the character, plus a hook at the end. A bit of a surprise there, with his comment about not liking competition; it made me laugh. The one thought I had (and this has gone through my head a couple times in the last couple weeks) is that Deathstroke's outfit was a little too much 90's Image Excess. Sometimes simpler is better? (See Batwoman's costume). That said, solid first issue.

Grifter #1 - Oh, DC. Why must you take my previous Wildstorm characters, pour gasoline on them, and then make me watch as they slowly burn away, never to be remembered by those of us who loved them ? TELL ME WHY, YOU SADISTS.

Okay, got that out of my system.

Grifter was described as Sawyer from Lost meets the DCU. That pretty much hits it on the head. Grifter is a con man, but things go very bad, very fast. This was a good first issue.

Mister Terrific #1 - I was very happy to see the fan-favorite from JSA get his own book. It was a good story, but it felt a little write-by-numbers, y'know? It lacked oomph. This one might take a couple issues to come together.

Green Lantern #1 - Anyone who was reading GL before this month should be able to pick this up and jump right in. For new(er) readers, it might be a little tricky, trying to figure out why Sinestro is Green Lantern instead of Hal, who the guys in the yellow uniforms are, and what's going on. Also, isn't Carol still in-charge of the you-know-who's? BRING BACK COWGIRL, GEOFF JOHNS.

Sometimes I wish Geoff Johns would write just one book a month, instead of 2-4. Ever since he became head honcho/VP at DC, his writing hasn't been the same.

Batman and Robin #1 - Oh Damian, you lovable jerk. Why can't you and Daddy Wayne just get along?

Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E #1 - Like Animal Man and Swamp Thing from last week, this one floored me. Great, strange issue. Franky's father is in the body of an 8 year old girl? I couldn't possibly pin this one down with one word, but I'll try: Must-buy.

(Yeah I cheated there. Whaddya want from me?)

Demon Knights #1 - I was both amused and disgusted by the "rough" comment. If you've already read it, you know what I'm talking about. If not, you'll understand. I have to confess, my expectations were low for this book, but they surpassed them. This was a "pieces and players coming together for the first time" -type first issue, and it was fun. Good read. Anyone who read Stormwatch last week already knows this ties into the history of the New DCU.

Resurrection Man #1 - With all my love for Abnett and Lanning, you'd have thought I read the original Resurrection Man series, right? Wrong. The writing on this was strong, and it felt like a "long read". Great value for $2.99. The art, though, was a little off. Sometimes the characters looked disjointed? Body parts not quite lining up right? It added a little atmosphere to the book, but it also took me out of the story sometimes, too.

Superboy #1 - Hey now, this was good. They've jettisoned all the previous Superboy stories (and Teen Titans, I'd imagine), and stated fresh.  Solid first issue, one of the best from this week.

Legion Lost #1 - ... and now, one of the weakest. Yikes, this was messy. Too much talking about superpowers, and the costumes are so complicated I STILL don't know who's who. Or why I should care. Granted, it's easy to be intimidated by all the LSH characters, there's only a million of them. But "time-traveling super-heroes from the future, stuck in the present"? That's a pretty nifty concept, but all the language about the "Flashpoint wall/event/whatever" lost me. Hopefully next month is better, 'cause I'm going to hear about this review from loyal reserivst Gatti, that's for sure.

Red Lanterns #1 - And now, a big ol pile of Rage. As many of you already know, I'm a huge fan of the Red Lanterns (my rage issues are legendary, ask the employees at the Den), so I've been waiting MONTHS, nay YEARS for Atrocitus and the Almighty HATE KITTEH to get their own book. This was another strong introductory issue, and Ed Benes did a good job on the art.

Suicide Squad #1 - Like you could make this title anything BUT dark, right?  Lots of blood and mayhem, but I have to confess, it was missing something. In the original Suicide Squad by Ostrander and it's spiritual successor, Secret Six by Gail Simone, the books were dark, but balanced  with a little light comedy here and there. Halfway through this book, I thought to myself "Why isn't Gail writing this?" The voices in my head had no answer. The only other criticism is my own blinders: Anytime I see Harley in a comic, I automatically pipe in her voice and mannerisms from The Animated Series. This book didn't jive with the show. That's more me, than anything else, I think.

Batwoman #1 - This was awesome. The. End.

-Scott.

The New 52 - Week 1

...and here we are.

After months of questions and teases and press releases and the occasional fanboy rage, The New 52 have landed at the Dragon's Den. After reading all of this week's books, I came away pretty impressed. All of the books are easy jump-on points; you don't need to know anything about the characters, but if you do, that's okay too. DC's done a good job of blending "jump-on point" without tossing away much of the continuity for the older readers.

Random comments:

* Most of the titles managed to end on a cliffhanger. Some more memorable than others (Detective Comics, for one)

* Several of the covers are different than originally solicited. That's not a bad thing

* I'm hearing many reports of stores under-ordering these books, across the country. This may sound crazy to you, but I'm just saying this now: I am fairly certain that all of The New 52 #1's will be go to 2nd printing by the end of the month. Get the 1st prints now. Trust me.

 * Review Time.

Justice League #1 - Yes, this came out last week, but I'm including it here anyways. This was a strong first issue, but not a strong introduction to The New 52. On that level, it didn't succeed. But I'm not going to lie: It was great to see a Jim Lee-drawn comic again.

Action Comics #1  - My expectations were high for this book. Grant Morrisson's All-Star Superman is one of the landmark stories for the character, so we all know what he's capable of doing with the character. But this book... this is a very different Superman. This Superman is a bit more reckless, unexperienced, and a bit more anti-authoritarian. It was great to read a Superman who didn't come off as having a stick up his you-know-where.

It was great. Fresh. New. Innovative, while paying homage to the past. Plus the last page... so simple, yet brilliant.

Animal Man #1 - This book creeped me out. It really did, the whole issue made me feel anxious. How is that possible? I don't know, but it happened anyways. And the last page... wow. CREEPY. Don't give this one to your kids, they'll have nightmares (seriously).

Batman Detective Comics #1 - Sweet mary, mother of god, if Animal Man #1 creeped me out, this one made my jaw drop. The last page is... no, I'm not going to use any words to read it. But you Will Not See That Coming. This issue was dark, bloody, and then the ending? Wow. Just... wow. Okay Tony Daniel, you got my attention.

Batgirl #1 - Can I talk about Babs getting her legs back without the internet going crazy? Good. So yeah... Babs is back in the costume. They acknowledge The Killing Joke, and her paralysis, but they gloss over her time in the wheelchair. Ignoring the backstory, this is a younger, less-somber Babs, and I think this book is going to surprise the naysayers.


Batwing #1 - I didn't have a chance to read it. BAD SCOTT. BAD SCOTT.

Green Arrow #1 - Adios, beard. Adios, Black Canary. Neither are around, and this is a clear mix of the ornery Ollie we all know and love, and the poutier Green Arrow seen on Smallville. The art didn't do much for me on this book, but the writing was tight; That said, this book was fun, but didn't overwhelm me.

Hawk and Dove #1 - Don't hate. No, really, this wasn't bad. This amped up the tension and drama between Hawk and Dove, dropped a lot of hints about Dove's connection to the original Dove, acknowledged the relationship between Dove and Deadman that came out of Brightest Day. I had low expectations, but this was pretty fun. As for the art... Liefeld did okay here.

Justice League International #1 - As a huge fan of the original JLI/JLE run, this was a bit of a disappointment. The characters didn't quite mesh together as well as you'd like. Some of the ha-ha's were still there, but it didn't quite have the humor that made the original run such a classic. That said, I have faith in Giffen, as should you all. Noone does these characters better, it just might take an issue or two for him to get back into the swing of things.

Men of War #1 - This was a gritty-but-not-overbearing war story, featuring a character with the last name Rock. And although this isn't my normal cuppa... I really liked it. Fun and dark, but without being overly so. Color me surprised by how good this was.

OMAC #1 - I opened this up, prepared to dislike it, and came away satisfied. There's TONS of Kirby riffs in this, from the artwork to the layouts, to the writing, but done well. Another pleasant surprise.

Static Shock #1 - A fun yarn, right from the beginning. Fans of the character are going to enjoy seeing Static back in action. I never watched the cartoon, so I don't know much about the character, but this book jumped off the page. Great stuff.

Stormwatch #1 - As an old-school Wildstorm fan, reading this was painful: It's a clear re-boot of all the Authority and Stormwatch characters. As someone who knows nothing about any of them, or has not attachment, it was a decent read. I think I probably set the bar too high on this one for myself.

Swamp Thing #1 - ... But this book: WOW. Great, GREAT first issue. Scott Snyder's been killing it at DC, and this issue managed to give the character(s) a fresh slate, but still keeping Swamp Thing's history intact (especially the Alan Moore stuff). Great read, highly recommended.

-Scott

New #1's (not from DC)

December 

Voltron #1  - The lions reunite in this new series from Dynamite.

Avengers X-Sanction #1 - The return of Cable and the lead-in to next year's big Marvel event.

Carnage USA #1 - The cult favorite character returns in another mini-series!

Fantastic Four #601 - Hickman's FF saga continues with the return of the Fantastic Four ongoing.

November

Star Wars Crimson Empire III #1 Empire Lost (Dark Horse) – The Imperial Guardsmen return.

Uncanny X-Men #1 – The last major Marvel/DC title to get a relaunch.

Avenging Spider-Man #1 – Joe Maduera returns!
Peanuts #0 - A new monthly series, and only for $1!
Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #1 - Dynamite Fans rejoice! They're now publishing FG, too!
Fear Itself  #7 Point One - The after-effects of FI on Captain America after the death of Bucky.
Fear Itself  #7 Point Two - Iron Man and Odin square off.
Fear Itself  #7 Point Three - The solicitation says "THOR NO MORE".

October

Orchid #1 (Dark Horse) – Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine jumps into comics.

The Strange Talent of Luthor Strode #1 (Image) – New post-modern super-hero mini-series.

Penguin: Pain & Prejudice #1 (DC) – WAK WAK WAK. The history of the classic Batman villain.

Batman Odyssey Vol 2 #1 (DC) – Neil Adams returns to his Batman series.

Shade #1 (DC) – Starman fans, James Robinson returns. This should be 15 types of awesome.

Legion Secret Origin #1 (DC) – History of the Legion, plus get a Legion ring free.

Spaceman #1 (Vertigo) – Did you like Batman Knight of Vengeance? Same creative team.            

Fearless #1 (Marvel) – Mini-series that follows up on Fear Itself.

Incredible Hulk #1 (Marvel) – HULK HAVEN’T HAD NEW #1 IN AT LEAST TWO MONTHS. HULK SMASH!

Avengers 1959 #1 (Marvel) – Howard Chaykin writes and draws

Avengers Solo #1 (Marvel) – 2 stories: One featuring Hawkeye, the other featuring Avengers Academy.

Wolverine & The X-Men #1 (Marvel) – New x-title featuring Marvel’s least-seen character, Wolverine.

Star Trek/Legion of Super-heroes #1 (IDW) – This series needs to have Darkseid screaming “KHAN”.

30 Days of Night Ongoing #1 (IDW) – Steve Niles returns! The Maxx’s Sam Keith draws!

Dark Shadows #1 (Dynamite) – Barnabas Collins is back.

September

Annihilators Earthfall #1 (Marvel) – Marvel’s Cosmic characters take on the Avengers.

Ghostbusters #1 (IDW) – I’m singing the Ghostbusters theme as I type this. Billy Dee Forever.

Buffy TVS Season 9 #1 (Dark Horse) – Joss Whedon returns!

Star Trek #1 (IDW) – Takes place in the re-launched Abrams-verse.

John Carter Princess of Mars #1 (Marvel) – New Disney movie in March, here’s the Marvel adaptation

Ultimate X-Men #1 (Marvel) – Kitty puts the X-men together.

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (Marvel) – With Peter Parker dead, Miles Morales takes over.
Game of Thrones #1 (Dynamite) - More George R.R. Martin goodness!
The New 52 (DC) - All 52 of the New #1's.

Free Comic Book Day Recap

 First off: Thank you to everyone who made Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) such a huge success!  Without all the staff, Chris Batista, the fantastic Stormtrooper from the 501st, and our local comic creators Zach and Greg it would not have been as great a day!

That said, let's take a look at what happened and what we saw.

1. We gave out almost every single free comic book from the day! We have had some left over books from last year, so we put them out and they all went as well.  We show many new faces as well as some new to the store faces, so it was a huge success for us.

2.  Chris Batista was great! He was signing and doing custom drawings for people in the store.  He was also very social and was talking to everyone.  He is a great guy who I think would be fantastic to invite again sometime.

3. Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper? We had a Stormtrooper from the 501st out of NYC. He was walking around the store (and even in the plaza... UPS wanted to "beam" a package to the Death Star... what is beaming???). He was fantastic with the kids and got many people excited to hang out for the day.

 

4. We also had a local artist and writer who are working on their own comic.  They had copies of their book and they would sign it for people who stopped in.  They ran out quickly, but Chris Batista I know got one... so hopefully for them they get noticed. Good luck Zach and Greg with the comic book!

5. We had a fund raised for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), and we were able to raise money to make a donation to this worth cause.  Working with the Stormtrooper from the 501st and the great reusable totes for Free Comic Book Day, we were able to raise a nice amount of money to donate. It is a nice feeling to have such a successful day and also raise money for a worthy charity!

COMICS: A Conversation with Matt Fraction

The following features quotes and excerpts from a conversation I had with Matt Fraction, writer of Uncanny X-men, Invincible Iron Man, Thor, and the upcoming mega-event, FEAR ITSELF.

I got a phone call from Hawaii over the weekend. Matt Fraction, writer of the huge Marvel event, FEAR ITSELF was calling as part of a promotion with comic book stores, to answer questions and stir interest in the book.

"It's about something you've never seen before. It's a new story." - MF

"[Fear Itself's] about something you've never seen before. It's a new story." Matt told me.  "It's a war of the gods, that the heroes are [caught between]." Originally, he and Ed Brubaker were asked to do a Captain America/Thor mini-series to coincide with the movies this summer. The story quickly grew until it became something much bigger, "like Civil War", Fraction said.

"The new Red Skull [Sin] discovers that Odin is not the All-Father, as previously thought." He said. "She frees an ancient evil, who grants her god-like powers as thanks. This leads to Captan America and Thor's worst nightmare: For Cap, an ultra-powerful Red Skull with the power of a god; for Thor, it's the knowledge that everything he knew and believed is based on a lie. He [no longer] knows who he is."

"He is forced to choose between standing with men, or standing with gods."

I asked Matt about whether readers are going to be forced to buy the spin-offs and one-shots, and also about how hard it was going to be for new readers to jump into the event.

"You don't need a PhD in Marvel to read the books." He said. One of Marvel's goals was to make the book as "clean and accessible as possible, without writing down to older readers."

As for all the extra mini-series and one-shots, Fraction put it simply. "The spin-off's are all stand alone. If you love the character, you'll love the spin-off." At the same time, "You don't need to buy the extras to enjoy the whole event."

He implied that each issue of the main issue comes with something big happening, or an event. "I want there to be something big in every issue," he said, "We hear from readers that [they want] events that matter." He let slip that something huge happens in issue 3 that will bring about a lot of mainstream media.

(Don't tell anyone I said that.  :) )

"There is something to keep people excited in every issue," he continued. "We want this to work as a mini-series where you can't wait until the next issue."

Since Civil War was brought up as a comparison, I pointed out that Civil War shipped behind schedule for the last couple issues, due to medical issues involved with some of the creative talent. I asked how far they are in the process of putting the book together.

He admitted that they've already dealt with behind-the-scenes issues, but it hasn't affected production. He also pointed out none of the talent involved are known for falling behind. "We can't predict anything, but we're doing our best and [we're] not known for not producing." He told me that they're already into issue #4 of the main series, which puts them about 2-3 months ahead of where they should be at this point in the solicitation cycle.

Like Civil War, Fear Itself will have resounding effects on the Marvel Universe. "This book sets the tone for the MU for the next two years."

We'd like to thank Matt from taking time away from his vacation to call and chat.

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Follow-up notes: I'm a big fan of Fraction's work on Uncanny X-men, Iron Man and Thor. Based on the way sale have gone on these books the last 6 months, many of you agree. He's done a great job putting out quality material, and getting it out on time.


In other interviews, the entire creative team has stressed how important this event is to Marvel and it's future, and how they didn't want the spin-off books to be absolutely necessary to enjoy the story. I believe that they're telling the truth, and believe that the event is going to be worth the money.


Fear Itself: Book of the Skull comes out this week.


We'll have copies.

-Scott.

Free Events at the Dragon's Den

So we run several different FREE events at the Dragon's Den. Several of these events are run every week and can be found on our calendar of events, but others events run once a year and fall about the same time every year.  Here are some of the BIG once a year FREE events we host here at the Dragon's Den:


FREE Comic Book Day: Diamond comics offers to stores a chances to be a part of FREE Comic Book Day. We can offer many different comic books for FREE that day including Mavel, DC, Dark Horse, and many of the other independent publishers.  There are also some other give aways that stores can get including Heroclix minis, grading guides, and so much more.  We have also had several different artists and authors who have come in to do signings during the event.  This lists includes:
Herb Trimpe - Artist for the Hulk, and many more Marvel Comics
Mark Texeria - Artist for Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, and more
JM Dematteis - comic book and TV writer (Kraven's Last Hunt!) 
Nick Tapalansky - Writer Awakening
Alex Eckman-Lawn - Artist Awakening 

We are hoping to make this years FREE Comic Book Day even better then ever! We have a few great ideas to make this year memorable and exciting... but I'm not going to ruin the surprise and tell you about them now! You will need to come back in the future and read the blog or check our website!

FREE RPG Day: Impressions Advertising and Marketing has created this fantastic event and gets some of the best FREE RPGs for players to check out and play.  We used to just have some of the RPGs for handing out, but last year we started running some of the adventures during the event for players to try a new game! Over the past several years Pathfinder (Piazo), and Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards of the Coast) have offered up some fantastic FREE suppliments or adventures. Here is a list of some of the fantastic games or companies that had product for FREE RPG Day:
Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards of the Coast)
Pathfinder (Piazo)
Hollow Earth
Call of Cthulhu
Chessex

This years sponsors for the event are:

• BlackWyrm Games
  Sample HERO Adventure
• Blue Panther
  Sample Card Tower
• Eden Studios
  Silver, All Flesh Quickstart & Adventure
• Fantasy Flight Games
  Gold, TBA
• Goodman Games
  Silver, DCC RPG Quickstart
• Green Ronin
  TBD, DragonAge Quickstart
• Guild of Blades Publishing
• Paizo Platinum
  TBA
• Pelgrane Press
  TBD, Trail of Cthulhu Adventure
• Pinnacle
  TBD, TBA
• Troll Lord Games
  Bronze, C&C Quickstart and Adventure
• Valkyrie Games
  Sample, Stellar Horizons Quickstart
• White Wolf Publishing
  Gold (10 per box), TBA
• Wizards of the Coast
  Platinum (15 per box), D&D Adventure 

 Sean "Striderlotr" Banks