Monthly archives: February, 2009

Feb112009February 11, 2009February 11, 20091Commentby Jim Doom

Wild Garden Cider

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Capes Comics of Omaha has unveiled a new web comic, which is based on the adventures within the store, at their facebook page.

Of special Doomkopf note is that I can take full credit for the title of the series. Capes proprietor Sean was trying to tell me about the short-lived Image comic Wildguard Insider, which I had never heard of, and I swore he was asking me if I was familiar with “wild garden cider.” I had no idea why he would abruptly change the topic from comic books to what I could only guess was either some kind of exotic drink or the fruit beverage equivalent of ditchweed. No word yet on whether DeLuise and I will make a cameo in future strips.


Feb102009February 10, 2009February 10, 2009NoCommentby Jim Doom

The Doomino Effect for Feb 4, 2009

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In this episode: Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3 | Adventure Comics #0 | Sandman: The Dream Hunters #4 | The Mighty #1 | Immortal Iron Fist #22

Speaking of The Immortal Iron Fist #22, this was my first issue back on board with this series since the disappointing bonus-sized issue #14.

Doom DeLuise and I have had some conversations over the past few months about how the heightened critical awareness involved in writing about the comic books you like and why tends to make one more creator-centric than he might be without having to put thoughts and words behind the sense of satisfaction and enjoyment. I had come to pair my enjoyment of Iron Fist with the creative team of Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja, and so I conditioned myself to believe that if the creators who made me love the book left, then I would no longer love the book.

Well, I decided to put that theory to the test this week, and I’m glad I did. I don’t have enough creator awareness of Duane Swierczynski or Travel Foreman to have had any kind of predisposition toward their work. But what I found was that Swierczynski has done a fine job of carrying on the tone and mystical kung-fu adventures of his predecessors, and while I’m not crazy about Foreman’s art, I respect that it’s more of a disagreement of style than it is thinking “This guy isn’t any good.”
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Feb092009February 9, 2009January 7, 20192Commentsby Doom DeLuise

The Apocalypse is Fast Approaching, plus Casting Advice for Brett Ratner

Posted in news, rants & nostalgia by

youngblood 1
I came across a disturbing bit of comic book movie news this morning on Variety. Thought I’d share it with you so that you could smack yourself in the forehead in the same way I did about ten minutes ago.

Read this sentence carefully:

Reliance Big Entertainment has acquired Rob Liefeld’s iconic graphic novel “Youngblood” for Brett Ratner to direct.

Fool me once…

Says Ratner:

Most of the great graphic novels are gone, and ‘Youngblood’ is one of the few comicbooks left with tentpole potential. It was a real personal passion project for me, and a lot of people wanted (‘Youngblood’), but the amazing thing about the guys at Reliance is the speed with which they’re able to move.

Think about that quote for a minute. Hollywood’s running out of comic book characters to destroy on the big screen, so they’re digging out the bottom of the barrel. Not only that, but the beauty of this production company, in particular, is that they’re not afraid to do a rush job on this admittedly poor project.

I mean, hey, everybody wants a fast buck. Can’t blame ’em there.

What really confuses me, though, is why they’d get Brett Ratner involved. He already had his shot at making an X-Men movie, and he failed. Why give him a second chance with a knock-off X-Men team?

Anyway, there hasn’t been any word yet on potential casting, so I’ve decided to help out and give some suggestions. Follow the jump. (more…)


Feb092009February 9, 2009February 9, 2009NoCommentby Jim Doom

Penultimatum

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Looks like Ultimatum won’t kill off the Ultimate Universe after all (just the numbering sequence) as Marvel plans to launch Ultimate Comics this summer. Comic Book Resources has a roundup of news emerging from the NYCC.

Mark Millar is returning to write Ultimate Avengers, which I am hoping translates to “We’ve rid the Ultimate Universe of Jeph Loeb.”


Feb072009February 7, 2009February 7, 2009NoCommentby Jim Doom

Book of Doom: The Mighty #1

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This week’s Book of Doom is The Mighty #1, written by Peter Tomasi and Keith Champagne and illustrated by Peter Snejbjerg. I’m joined this week by Doom DeLuise and guest contributors Robb from Capes Comics and Jason from Legend Comics.

So in some ways, I was kind of underwhelmed by this book. I’m not sure how many times we can go through a reimagining of the Classic Golden Age Superhero in which the driving concept is “We are reimagining the Classic Golden Age Superhero” more than it is “Here are some characters who have lives and ambitions and desires and problems.” Because really, this is little more than an unashamed alternate take on Superman. Actually, scratch the “unashamed.” Page 3 makes it so obvious one almost wonders if the creative team feels a little insecure if they feel motivated to make such an unnecessary allusion.

But you know, all that said, I kind of liked it. As reimaginings of the Classic Golden Age Superhero go, it’s a decent enough premise. I realize Tomasi and Champagne have total control over the world they’ve created, but I enjoyed the cleverness of having Alpha One be the immediate responder and Section Omega being the clean-up crew. It’s a great reimagining of Classic Golden Age lettering. I’ll stop doing that now.

I think what I enjoyed most about this, and perhaps this was the writers’ acknowledgment of the potential rut of been-there-done-that, was that the story didn’t have as much as you’d expect about Alpha One, and had a little more than you’d expect about the “real” people who work with him. Alpha One’s Jimmy Olsen is the next leader of Section Omega, and he’s got some history as “America’s Orphan” (some themes are too good to abandon).

Issue #1 leaves us with a mystery, some teases of history, an enigmatic superhero and a relationship to be ruined. I’m not going to be counting down the days to issue #2, but I’ll probably pick it up.

Here’s what the rest of the gang had to say:
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Feb062009February 6, 2009February 7, 2009NoCommentby Fin Fang Doom

The Return of the Trinity?

Posted in 52 / countdown / trinity by

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Trinity wrap-up, but let me make up for four weeks of issues I missed: the good and bad arcanas try to claim territory for themselves while Alfred’s Six slowly learn what happened to the Trinity after they were banished. Very slowly. Mind-numbingly slowly.

triptych 12

I really raved about Kurt Busiek’s pacing in the first arc of this series, but he really dropped the ball with Act 2. He spent way too much time setting up this world (which isn’t going exist in a few issues) and started the plot with Alfred recruiting people important to the Trinity way too late.

Things actually started out okay in Trinity’s second act. Issue #18 with Lois Lane’s “Fastlane” introduction to the universe was nicely done, and the early reveal that Kanjar Ro had been impersonating Despero made it seem like the second arc was going to keep pace with the first. And then Ro met up with Despero, and they met up with John Stewart, and then Krona showed up and all sorts of craziness was going on. In issue #24, Krona kidnapped Stewart and Ro & Despero found the counter-Trinity, but none of them have shown up since. Instead, it’s been weeks and weeks of Hawkman being a dick and Tarot acting irrational. Now it’s issue after issue of Hawkman’s Justice Arcana playing Call of Duty 4 Headquarters with Morgaine Le Fey’s Dark Arcana. (more…)


Feb062009February 6, 2009May 19, 20103Commentsby Jim Doom

Top 5 Unusually Heavy Episodes of 1980s Cartoons: #1

Posted in rants & nostalgia by

#5 | #4 | #3 | #2 | #1

#1: Dark Awakening, The Transformers
Originally broadcast September 22, 1986
Written by Antoni Zalewski

Plot summary (from imdb.com):
…Several Autobots seek shelter to make repairs to their ship and find a mausoleum they built for causalities [from The Transformers: The Movie]. They discover that Optimus Prime is no longer in his tomb, they find him alive, trying to build an escape shuttle. Rodimus happily hands the matrix back to Optimus, but their former leader is not himself. Soon they’ll discover who brought Optimus back and why.

What made it so heavy (includes spoilers):
To really appreciate this episode, you need to step back in time a little bit and look at the context. The Transformers was one of the greatest cartoons ever, and the cartoon and toys captured the imaginations of millions of kids. This was in no small part, I am sure, thanks to Optimus Prime. Throughout the first two seasons, the writers did a great job of developing unique personalities for the growing roster of characters, both Autobot and Decepticon.

Then the movie came along. Hasbro needed to introduce a new line of toys, so the movie killed two birds — and a lot of characters — with one stone. The Autobots and Decepticons clashed in every episode, but the consequences were never elevated like they were in the movie. Within the first ten minutes or so, Megatron and the Decepticons slaughtered most of the popular Autobots from those first two seasons, including Ironhide, Prowl and Ratchet. And once the first half hour had passed, Optimus Prime was dead.
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Feb052009February 5, 2009February 5, 2009NoCommentby Doom DeLuise

Worst to First: February 4th, 2009

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I’ve been trying to come up with a clever gimmick to use to review my weekly comics for awhile now, and since the untimely passing of Jean-Claude Van Doom some time ago, I figured it would be worth a shot to steal his old gimmick.

Thus, I bring to you the first ever Doom DeLuise version of “Worst to First,” for this week’s comics, though it’s an admittedly light week for me in terms of how many issues I picked up. Just for fun, I might throw in some that I bought last week that I didn’t get around to reading until yesterday. Here we go!

justice society of america 23Worst: Justice Society of America #23

Speaking of issues from last week (whoa, this is turning into multiple counts of gimmick infringement), this is the beginning of a new story-arc, featuring the return of Black Adam and Isis, plus a bunch of crap with tension in the ranks of the JSA over how the team handled the Gog incident.

First of all, it’s implied that Felix Faust has been keeping Isis under a mental spell to keep her sedated while he’s repeatedly been violating her, sexually. I hate it when they put rape in my comics, man. It’s just something that shouldn’t be addressed in books about flying men with super powers. It seems trivialized, and it’s not right. Anyway, Isis tears off Felix’s Willy Wonka when she finally gets rescued, so I guess they’re even.

The main thing that I hate about this stupid issue is the return of Black Mary at the end. Looks like she’s going to be joining Black Adam and Isis in whatever they’re up to (though, it doesn’t seem they’re up to much since they already ousted Marvel from the Rock of Eternity – – what’s left to do?). This, by the way, is the Black Mary from Countdown, not the Fruit Loops Mary from Final Crisis. I swear, one of these days, somebody, somewhere is going to fix the Marvel Family. They have been put through the frickin’ wringer the past few years.

No Review For You: The Mighty #1 (more…)


Feb052009February 5, 2009May 19, 20101Commentby Jim Doom

Top 5 Unusually Heavy Episodes of 1980s Cartoons: #2

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#5 | #4 | #3 | #2 | #1

#2: The Phantom Brigade, G.I. Joe
Originally broadcast October 9, 1985
Written by Sharman Di Vono

Plot summary (from Allmovie.com):
Cobra Commander uses an elderly gypsy woman to conjure up three dangerous ghosts: a Roman legionnaire, a Mongol warrior, and an American WWI flying ace. He then sends them into battle against the G.I. Joe team, secure in the knowledge that phantoms can’t be killed or injured. The Joes attempt to mount a counteroffensive by appealing to the dormant patriotism of the American ghost.

What made it so heavy (includes spoilers):
I really went back and forth between this one and Worlds Without End on which should be #2. I had to go with this one for the massive kick in the gut it gave me.

In this episode, Cobra uses ghosts to fight G.I. Joe, and ghosts are already creepy. By nature of how the ghosts were summoned, this episode drew attention to the fact that the ghosts were once living people with hopes and desires and all that, which only made it creepier.

One of the ghosts is a World War I fighter pilot. He is set up quickly to be a sympathetic character, immediately recognizing a locket that was used to summon him from the dead. He complies with Cobra Commander’s commands and attacks G.I. Joe headquarters. The animators did a great job of making it eerie; his plane was in tatters, and his attacks created ghostly flames that made spooky moans. The Joes didn’t know what was hitting them.

Wild Bill figured out how to stop the ghost pilot. The pilot recognized Wild Bill’s American flag, which Cover Girl held up in the window of the helicopter, and realized he was dogfighting with Americans. Both aircraft landed, and what came next was one of the most bone-chilling but heart-breaking moments I’ve ever seen on TV, much less in a children’s cartoon.
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Feb042009February 4, 2009February 5, 20091Commentby Jim Doom

“I had a nightmare. A terrible nightmare.”

Posted in rants & nostalgia by

With Final Crisis ending with the God Machine reverting everything back to normal, and with Final Crisis: Revelations ending with the Spectre undoing everything Cain and his followers did in that series, it’s making me wonder: can you think of two other concurrent big-event miniseries that both ended with “And then it all went back to how it was before” ?

That seems like an ending best used in moderation — not twice in the same week.

bob newhart show final crisis