Monthly archives: September, 2007

Sep112007September 11, 2007September 11, 20072Commentsby Jim Doom

The Doomino Effect for the week of Sep 4, 2007

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Well, it’s another dud of a week here at the Doomino Effect, because again I’ve only got two books to review. I only picked up three this week, and Captain America: The Chosen was our Book of Doom.

Normally, Doom DeLuise provides a weekly Countdown recap, but that didn’t happen again this week, so I’ll start with that. Countdown #34 was another example of what has become a familiar mix of stupid, dumb and crap.

We start out with Trixter and Piper, the duo who has failed to become the lovable, hapless villains we’re supposed to admire and think are cute and funny. Fate is against them, see, because they didn’t actually help kill Flash, but the world wants to punish them as if they did! Except for that little fact that DeLuise pointed out a few weeks ago:

They did help kill Flash.

If you need evidence, here’s a panel from Flash #13 moments before he finally kicks the bucket:


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Sep112007September 11, 2007September 11, 20076Commentsby Fin Fang Doom

Boooooooo!!!!!

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Cable sucks. I cheered when that guy died. He was dead weight in Cable & Deadpool, and now that he’s dead weight in the Marvel Universe, that title’s been phenomenal. So what does Marvel do? Cancel Cable & Deadpool and launch a new Cable title. That just sucks, which is pretty appropriate given my opening remark.

You suck, Marvel! I want my Deadpool!


Sep102007September 10, 2007September 10, 20071Commentby Fin Fang Doom

Random Thoughts from 9/6/07

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She-Hulk 21She-Hulk #21 made me remember this week why I love comics. Sometimes they’re just fun. Writer Dan Slott pokes fun at himself, other writers and the Marvel editors this issue in his final story on the title that explains away all the “heroes in the wrong costumes, with the wrong status quos” that have been running rampant in the Marvel Universe over the past few years. The explanation? “When something messed-up happens, we have to assume it’s because of some idiot who couldn’t be bothered to take five minutes to read their darned Handbook,” and “some ‘A Hole’ that let ‘em get though.” Seriously, just buy the issue. It’s a very funny tale I would highly recommend picking up. And the long-running joke of She-Hulk insisting she did not sleep with Juggernaut finally gets a little resolution.

Ed Brubaker’s got to have just about the best track record for getting amazing artists on the titles he does. He’s got Michael Lark on Daredevil, Steve Epting and Mike Perkins on Captain America, Sean Phillips on Criminal, and Salvador LaRocca on Uncanny X-Men. I’d even go so far to say that LaRocca’s work is overshadowing Brubaker’s on this current arc of Uncanny. I don’t think LaRocca’s art has ever looked better than it does right now. Each character looks completely different, which might seem easy when some of the characters are covered in white fur or have green skin, but even all the faces of the characters are very distinctive. That’s rarer than you’d expect in comics…Steve Dillon comes to mind as a guy who draws everyone with the same face. I’m very much looking forward to LaRocca’s take on Spider-Man and his world when he joins the thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man later this year.

Amazing 544Despite the horrendous art by one Joe Quesada (thankfully the guys at the comic shop saved me one of the non-Quesada covers), I really enjoyed Amazing Spider-Man #544, the first chapter of “One More Day.” I’m surprised J. Michael Stracynski brought the May/Jarvis relationship back into the title, because quite frankly I had completely forgotten they briefly dated before all that Civil War nonsense forced everything in a different direction. I always enjoy a scene where someone who Spider-Man helped in the past returns the favor, and I thought the scene with the doctor worked especially well. My biggest complaint (aside from Joey Q’s art) is that this cost me an extra dollar for two extra pages of story and nine pages of a Marvel Handbook entry. A dollar for a Handbook entry that’s virtually unchanged from the Handbook it originally saw print in (which I already paid for, by the way), is just ridiculous.

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Sep102007September 10, 2007January 12, 2009NoCommentby Jean-Claude Van Doom

Preview – Potter’s Field

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There’s change in the wind around Mark Waid these days. The big news of recent of course is his move to Boom! Studios as Editor in Chief. That’s a big deal, given his history with DC. And now, with the pending release of Potter’s Field, Waid is changing in another way, going from his typical fun superhero work over to a more realistic, dark book.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketWaid’s new home sent over a preview of the first issue of this departure series, and the good news is that it really doesn’t feel like a Mark Waid book. Don’t get me wrong, I like Waid. But in my mind, he’s always the goofy action guy, epitomized in The Brave and the Bold (which I love). He went a bit darker with Kingdom Come, but it was still filled with capes.

Though a bit overly full of expository dialogue, the noir writing flows pretty easy. A man known as John Doe works to identify all the unidentified bodies buried in a NY cemetery. With toughness, good contacts and empathy, he unravels each mystery. It’s a strong enough set up that leaves both an unending supply of plots and lots of room for background (since we know so little about the main character).

I especially loved Paul Azaceta’s artwork. It has the same feel of Sean Phillips’ style, with lots of contrast and harsh edges. Over the years, as Boom! has developed as a publisher, it’s been fun to watch Paul develop into the star of their show.

All the same, I was a bit mixed after this issue. It did a good job of establishing the storyline, but there were two mysteries solved in the issue and neither seemed like much of a challenge to me or the protagonist. Maybe it’ll just take a few issues for Waid to find his legs as a mystery writer.


Sep092007September 9, 2007January 12, 2009NoCommentby Jean-Claude Van Doom

Worst to First: 9/6/07

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Forgive a tangent, but I’m already a bit leary of city life. In a month, I’ve been stuck in copious amounts of traffic, gotten lost in suburbia, accidentally happened upon people shagging at a storage unit and seen an Office Depot sign’s letters rearranged so it said: “Special today, clear red vagina.”

Wait, never mind, the city is awesome.

What does that have to do with comics? Well, nothing. So let’s get to the week that was (including some old issues, though now I’m finally caught up)…

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketWorst: Outsiders #50

I was a bit late to jump onto the OYL Outsiders, but dang if it wasn’t a fun book. Now, in a move that’s as much a grab for readers as a reference to DC past, we get Nightwing out and Batman in. Can the magic continue? To answer that, let’s look at a quote from Bats to start the issue:

“Luthor’s Everyman project tainted the public trust in so-called superheroes. Black Adam murdered an entire country. People are asking themselves if we aren’t all walking weapons of mass destruction. After all, your Amazon sisters laid waste to the capital of the United States. The post-Amazon mentality is that all the super-people should be identified, monitored and controlled.”

Now, let’s look at that quote again with a few simple substitutions.

“The school explosion tainted the public trust in so-called superheroes. Nitro murdered an entire school. People are asking themselves if we aren’t all walking weapons of mass destruction. After all, your friend Hulk laid waste to the capital of the United States. The post-bombing mentality is that all the super-people should be identified, monitored and controlled.”

Hmm… Let’s just go ahead and call this a drop, seeing as things only go down from there, hitting a nadir with the most ill-planned operation ever launched by Bruce Wayne.

Just goofy: The Brave and the Bold #7

This book operates on such a fine balance of making no sense whatsoever yet moving at such a fun pace that you can’t get caught up in the incongruities. The credit for its success splits between the creators. The George Perez style anchors it so firmly in campy superhero history that the comic logic inserted by Mark Wait (just where the heck do the Challengers come from? How does the history and future just suddenly repair? etc. etc.) doesn’t seem like a blatant attack on my intelligence. Not sure if I’ll lose interest in this silliness, but for now I’d label this as quite possibly my favorite of DC’s catalog.

Good, but: Daredevil #99

As Jim Doom opined before, the brilliance of this book lies in the subtle heel turn of Milla, which is balanced with narrative perfection against the hard fall of her husband. As is always the case with Brubaker, too many plots to count are rushing forward at once while never feeling jumbled (Bru is outshined only perhaps by Peter David in this respect).

There’s a “but,” though. I can’t help but feel like Matt has just continually been on the run from secretive plots against him for about five years now. That’s an overstatement, but not overly so. After this arc, I’d really like to see something new.

A new hero: The Programme #2

As I’ve said before, you should buy this book just for C.P. Smith’s art. Normally, a heavy dose of Photoshop can make comic art look too digitized and sanitary, but Smith pieces things together in just the right way, ending up with a style that’s emotive and harsh. (more…)


Sep082007September 8, 2007September 8, 20074Commentsby Jim Doom

Book of Doom: Captain America – The Chosen #1

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I told the gang up front that I chose this book to draw attention to Jean-Claude Van Doom’s scoop of the existence of this series back in June. I love me some Captain America, but this book had three of my biggest pet peeves working against it from the beginning:

1. Existing to bring in a non-comics superstar writer
2. An out-of-continuity, “What if?” storyline
3. A $3.99 price tag.

The first two of those beefs can be easily erased with a good story, but man, it’s irking me how often Marvel has been marking up comics to $3.99 for the tiniest of reasons. I realize this is a #1 issue. I realize that the covers are slightly thicker stock than usual. But does Marvel expect me to believe they need to charge 4 bucks for what is nothing more than a completely dependent introduction?

And my faith in the story was quickly diminished by page 5, with the caricaturization of Muslims as nothing more than hate-mongers who think they’re getting some virginal action in the next life. Granted, that’s just the character talking, and not necessarily the writer, but when Captain America comes to the aid of The War on Terror as it exists now, I feel a little preached to and a little insulted.

Anyway, as far as a soldier’s monologue goes, it was decent enough, though I was just thinking — how cool would it be for Tim O’Brien to have written this story? So, Captain America “helps” this soldier, but we find out that it was just Captain America’s ghost, or a hallucination, or astral projection or something. This soldier channeled the power of Captain America to fight terrah! But the chapter closes with Captain America lying on some kind of examination table, so maybe it was just all in Cap’s mind..?

I’m a little unsure what’s going on, but it’s in a “I don’t feel that I was communicated to effectively” way rather than a “oooh, mysterious! I must keep reading” way. But so far, what I think I’m getting is that Captain America will help this soldier in Afghanistan get back in touch with his heroism so that he can kill the Muslims who want to take away our freedom. Or something.

So, the art was okay. I had been reading JCVD’s interview with Mitch Breitweiser and checking out Mitch’s website. He has some beautiful art, and I spent quite a while looking around on his site (and so I immediately recognized his wife in the artwork), but I didn’t feel that this issue lived up to anything he had on display. It wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination – it just seemed kind of stiff. His appreciation for the art of Michael Lark is evident, but the work lacks a lot of the heavy lines and liberal use of blacks that Lark employs so well for dramatic impact.

If anything keeps me buying this series, it will be Breitweiser’s artwork. I have a feeling that, as a young artist, his work on this book will loosen up as it progresses and he gets more comfortable with it. I’m going to be very curious to compare his lines and expression on issue #6 with this first issue.

So we’ll see…if the series stays at $3.99, I’m not going to stick with it. If it drops to $2.99 and comes out on slow weeks, I’ll probably pick it up.

Let’s now see what the rest of the Legion has to say…
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Sep082007September 8, 2007September 9, 20072Commentsby Doominator

X-Men Disassembled … again

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x-mendisassembled.jpgYou’ve probably seen this cover by now. And it’s coming … the X-Men are going to be disassembled! The very fabric of the mutant team will be shoved in another direction, with September 10 being the day we find out. Insert “never forget” joke.

But this is literally nothing new. Marvel has disassembled the X-Men any number of times, to the point where it’s just stupid anymore. Here’s a few other times they’ve been disassembled.

(Uncanny) X-Men #46 – Professor Xavier apparently dies (actually Changeling). The team, at the behest of FBI Agent Fred Duncan, breaks up in order to better fight crime, each going their seperate ways.

Marvel Graphic Novels #4 – With the X-Men apparently dead, Xavier starts a new team – The New Mutants. Later the X-Men come back from Shi’ar space with a bad case of the Brood.

Post-Mutant Massacre Arc – In the battle with the Mauraders, most of the X-Men are taken out, leaving Storm, Rogue and Wolverine, who part ways with the school’s new headmaster, Magneto. They go about assembling a new, underground team comprised of Dazzler, Longshot, Havok and a returning Colossus.

Uncanny X-Men #247-250 – Master Mold and Nimrod attack, and Rogue sends them through the Siege Perilous, with herself in it. Longshot quits. The Reavers attack the X-Men at their Australia base. Psylocke tricks all of the X-Men, save Wolverine, into going through the Siege Perilous. In a famous moment, the Reavers crucify Wolverine. The team stays disassembled until officially around #280, when the disparate teams unite against the Shadow King, leading directly to the 1991 relaunch.

Uncanny X-Men #372 – An apparently stressed out Xavier pushes and pushes the team in training scenarios. Most of them quit due to his apparent megalomania. With no team to go on, Cyclops and Phoenix form a team of Cable, X-Man and Wolverine, covered in the second volume of “Astonishing X-Men.” Later, it’s revealed that Xavier was trying to bait the Skrull impostor Wolverine. Given recent events in “New Avengers,” this sounds oddly familiar.

EDIT – between X-Men #99 and #100 – All mutants lose their powers, thanks to Sinister and the High Evolutionary. The former mutants go on to lead real lives, before their powers are restored and they must face off against the Neo in Chris Claremont’s return arch.

EDIT – Uncanny X-Men #392 – With most of the X-Men gone after Claremont’s return run, Phoenix assembles a new team to battle Magneto.

This is obviously just a sample, and there have almost definitely been a few other times. It just goes to show that Marvel is just capitalizing on the success of Avengers Disassembled by recycling a plot that’s been used over and over.

Any others you can think of? We have comments for a reason other than bickering with each other.


Sep062007September 6, 2007January 12, 2009NoCommentby Jean-Claude Van Doom

Q&A: Mitch Breitweiser and Andy Schmidt

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After our exciting initial interview portion with Mitch Breitweiser, who illustrated interiors and painted covers on the new Captain America: The Chosen series, we’re back for more from Mitch, plus a bonus interview with his editor on the series, Andy Schmidt, who has since left Marvel.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketNow, be sure and remember that Captain America: The Chosen is our Book of Doom this week. So come back this weekend for our communal review. Also, we at Doomkopf broke the news of CATCH a few months ago.

Now, onto the questions and answers:

JCVD: Do you create art outside of comics at all?

MB: I try to, when I get time, do just regular art. I draw realistic stories all day, all week, all month long. It’s great when I get a
chance to paint an abstract watercolor or something like that. Get that side of the artistic expression out. Hasn’t had time for much in past year, because I’ve been busy. I’d love to do more of that sort of thing. But if comics are paying the bills, I won’t get to do too much.

There are times when a deadline is due when I’ll work 48 hours straight. I’ve been known to do a 48 hour stretch and do three pages. There’ll be days I only work a couple hours. I guess it all averages out to a pretty normal day. Again, working at home makes your schedule flexible. But, on the downside, you have to be very disciplined.

I used to take commissions all the time when I was trying to break in. Now I can’t do that kind of thing anymore. I get done with a deadline and I just crash for a couple of days. I don’t want to touch art. I wish I could work more. I sort of have a strange style of working. If I’m doing a panel, I’ll do some sketches, it’s almost like I’m holding these objects in my hand for awhile, for a couple hours. I’ll just look at rough images. I probably waste too much time.

When I draw, I just attack the panel. I’ll spend a lot more time thinking and looking at things than I do drawing. I spend a lot of
time studying and analyzing and thinking of angles. Getting a clear picture of it in my head. It’s the style that works for me. Maybe I use too much mental energy, because I can’t do it for 16 hours a day.

JCVD: Is it hard as one of the newer artists to get the attention of some of the big-name guys within the company?

MB: It’s like a batting lineup. They get on projects in proportion to how Marvel thinks fans will respond. If you can increase the readership of a falling book, that will get you on a big project. They kind of know what books they want to spend money on. You just kind of have to sit back and hope they put you on it.

I also try to find new readers. Every time I go to a show, a few people come by who haven’t heard of me, and I win a new person over. That’s another way to do it.

JCVD: Ever considered a name change? Something short and catchy?

MB: I actually thought about that once in college. It’s long, but you don’t forget it once you’ve read it. There are some other artists out there with pretty crazy names.

JCVD: What’s your favorite comic book or series?

MB: I really don’t have one specific book. If someone was to ask me, what they should pick up, suggest Captain America. It’s a good starting point. You ask me on another given day, maybe I’d have a different suggestion. I really don’t have one particular book that I think is the end all, be all of comic books. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to work on something that I can point people to.

I’ll be able to say I’m really proud of it and it’s a great story with good art. That’s all you can really hope for. If you’ve done that, then you’ve created a good lasting book. Whether it sold well or not, it’s in someone’s memory.

JCVD: Any dream projects?

MB: Who wouldn’t want to draw the X-Men? That’d be awesome. (more…)


Sep062007September 6, 2007January 12, 2009NoCommentby Jean-Claude Van Doom

Q&A: Mitch Breitweiser Part One

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As you should know, Captain America: The Chosen is our Book of Doom this week. If you remember, it was also the series that we here at Doomkopf brought you an exclusive announcement about a few months ago.

Now, I’m pleased to bring you another exclusive — interviews with series artist Mitch Breitweiser. Below is the first half of the interview. And remember to come back this weekend for our roundtable review of this book (a sneak peek: I really enjoyed it).

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketJean-Claude Van Doom: So, how did you break into comics?

Mitch Breitweiser: I was going to trade shows and buying tables on what they call artist’s alley. I would do sketches for $10 a piece. I was just trying to break even at the time. I started meeting people the more I went. We would hang out at the bar after
the show. And then just started meeting editors and other artists and writers. I just sort of forced my way in.

JCVD: So, a lot of convention hopping?

MB: I’d go from here to Chicago. I would drive from New York City to Chicago, or fly to San Diego. I even drove from Little Rock [where he lives] to San Diego. If I couldn’t afford a plane ticket, I would drive.

JCVD: What’s your background in art?

MB: I went to Harding in Searcy, through their art program. Then I went to New York to try to get into comics. I lived in the northeast from right after college to two years ago. I accomplished what I wanted to do, what I needed to do. Paying $1,600 a
month in rent, there didn’t seem much point anymore. I felt secure, since Marvel offered me a contract. I came back to buy a place, start a family.

JCVD: Why did you end up working with Marvel and signing with them?

MB: Marvel was always more receptive of my art, even when I wasn’t published. They seemed more interested in me. I was drawn to them just because the editors more receptive to my art.

I always had more of a passion for the Marvel characters anyway. Growing up, reading Wolverine, X-Men and all of that good stuff back in the ’90s. But I never really was a big comic book reader. I didn’t go out and blow my allowance on comics every week. I got really drawn into just the artwork. I’ve been drawing since before I could write. I was always, when I was younger, drawing little cartoons and making up stories before I even knew what a comic book was. (more…)


Sep052007September 5, 2007September 5, 2007NoCommentby Fin Fang Doom

Random Thoughts from 8/29/07

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Last week wasn’t a very good week for comics. I only bought three from Marvel, three from DC (one of which was actually from the week before), two from Image and one from IDW. Countdown didn’t get shipped to my local comic book shop, and said LCS didn’t order any of this week’s Book of Doom, Mice Templar #1. There wasn’t a real stinker out of what I did pick up, but there wasn’t really anything extraordinary either. Sorry for the lack of pretty pictures in this post…flickr appears to be experiencing technical difficulties.

I wasn’t too sure if I was going to pick up Brit #1 or not, but the lack of lots of other stuff this week drove me to pick it up. I really like the superhero universe Robert Kirkman has created, but that’s really only because Robert Kirkman is the only one who’s ever written his characters. Brit is being written by some guy I’ve never heard of, so I was skeptical at first. But with the extremely underrated Cliff Rathburn on art, I figured it was worth a try. It turned out to be a fun issue, with Brit fighting dinosaurs and midgets with the help of his mostly-robot partner. And it looks as though brit’s lone superpower, invulnerability, may not be quite as super as everyone thought. I’m glad I tried the book out, and I’ll definitely come back for the next issue.

The Walking Dead #41 came out this week, the second issue in as many weeks, which was a nice treat. Nothing much happened in either this one or the last, but putting out two books one right after the other made them seem better than they probably would have otherwise. This issue had the surprise ending I was expecting last issue, so it’s almost as if this was one double-sized issue that shipped over the course of two weeks. The Walking Dead has always had a strange shipping schedule, but for once it worked out in the book’s favor. Robert Kirkman swears that TWD #48 will ship before the end of the year, so it looks like it could be a very good four months for what’s always been a very good book.

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