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| The Bum's Rush | by Paul Milligan |
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The Bum’s Rush #8 The Best Stuff On The Shelf Batman – Okay Judd Winick, okay. You CAN write good superhero comics. My bad. This is the best Batman’s been in quite awhile. Yay for Evil Robin! Breach – More people need to be buying this comic. It’s about a secret military project (ain’t it always) gone horribly wrong and the Army Captain who is now paying the price. The guy may be insanely powerful (and literally insane) but at the cost of years of his own life and the loss of his family. I mean his wife is now married to his former best friend! Jeez. Throw in some seriously scary (and I mean scary) alien beings with mysterious ties to our hero and gorgeous art by Marcos Martin and this book is a real winner. Plus you have to see him take down Martian Manhunter (horribly) and beat the tar outta Superman. Captain America – No one has written Cap this well since Mark Waid. In this latest run of the book we’re treated to a Cap who’s a real soldier. And a real bad ass. I started reading this book with some serious reservations. I mean, Red Skull again? Again? What is he, Cap’s only villain? He’s worse than Rob Liefeld. Just when you think he’s gone for good, he shows up for more. But seeing how Ed Brubaker handled it . . . well it was a stroke of genius. And Steve Epting’s art is fantastic. Now let’s just hope this Bucky thing (more on that next week*) doesn’t ruin it for me. Conan – The best sword and sorcery book on the shelf with amazing artwork and stories that are true to Howard’s most famous creation. Countdown To Infinite Crisis Minis – (Day of Vengeance, OMAC Project, The Rann/Thanagar War, Villains United) This is the new direction of the DC Universe . . . and it’s looking pretty damn good. Easy Way – It’s like a movie on paper. The thing that caught my eye about this book initially was the incredible packaging. It’s a really good-looking comic. And with art by Andy Kuhn, that’s not surprising. But more than that, it’s a fun read. Easy Way centers on an ex-drug addict trying desperately to pull his awful life together. That’s when one of his pals at the rehab center comes up with a “simple” plan to make easy money by stealing a storage space full of drugs. Yeah, you just know that’s gonna work out. My advice, if you find a box full of severed thumbs while stealing a bunch of drugs, it’s time to rethink the plan. GLA – Leave it to Dan Slott (quickly becoming one of my top favorite writers) to take one of the lamest concepts of all time, the Great Lakes Avengers, and turn it into a comic I can’t wait to get my hands on every month. These guys are the ultimate lovable losers and Slott plays it to maximum effect. A darkly (and somewhat depressingly) humorous take on what it’s like to be a Z-list character in the Marvel Universe, this book exemplifies what superhero comics can be. Namely fun (and funny) as hell. And come on, he even has Squirrel Girl in here. Squirrel Girl! Ten loser points if you can name the comic she first showed up in. Don’t feel too bad if you know, I used to own the damn comic. Intimates – Part high school drama, part social commentary with just a dash of superhero thrown in. That’s the Intimates for you. Joe Casey takes the teen super team concept and turns it, just a little, so that it becomes something unique. Buy this book before it gets cancelled, like every other decent Joe Casey book. Invincible – This book is easily Robert Kirkman’s best. If you thought Invincible was just another comic about a teenage superhero then you better do yourself a favor and pick up the trades. There’s more twists and turns per issue than you can shake a stick at. This book continues to surprise almost every issue. The Punisher – I can’t tell you how glad I am that Marvel decided to make this a mature readers title. Finally free from the constraints of doing a comic within the Marvel Universe proper Garth Ennis is able to do stories of action and violence as only he can. No more Punisher comics with giant squid or sewer dwelling cannibals. No, from here on out it’s balls-to-the-wall crime . . . and punishment. Seven Soldiers – Check out any one of the mini-series that make up the Seven Soldiers line and I guarantee you’ll find something you like. So far, out of the four minis that are currently running (Manhattan Guardian, Klarion, Shining Knight, Zatanna) my favorite would have to be the Guardian. I have to admit, I’m a Grant Morrison junkie. I read anything the guy writes at this point. He has an enthusiasm for telling stories that is infectious. You can tell that he has fun writing his comics. And I have fun reading them. Ultimate Secret – Warren Ellis is doing the Ultimate Universe almost better than the guys who started it. It’s been a while since I really liked reading an Ellis book, but baby he is back. Ultimate Secret is the second mini series in the Ultimate Galactus trilogy and introduces us to Ultimate Captain Marvel, who is already one of my new favorite characters. Young Avengers – Some people may want to avoid calling this book the Teen Titans of Marvel but that’s exactly what it is. Not that it’s a straight rip-off of the Titans, far from it. But it’s a fun book about the teen versions of your favorite characters. It’s fun, it’s action packed and it’s amazingly illustrated by Jimmy Cheung. It’s also steeped something that some Marvel books lack, a good dose of history and reverence for the characters. Still, Hulkling really needs a better name. Y: The Last Man – Still, in my humble opinion, the best book that Vertigo puts out. Not Fables. Y: The Last Man. It’s realistic, it’s funny and it’s moving. I’m constantly amazed by Brian Vaughn’s ability to introduce new and fresh ideas every issue. Ideas about what the world would be like if all the men died. What would the world be like if you were the only man left? Unfortunately it would probably be a lot like The Last Man. And The Best Yet To Come All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder – I don’t think Jim Lee liked drawing Superman. Go ahead and look at the last few issues of his run on that book and you’ll see what I mean. It’s obvious that he has a hell of a lot more affection for Batman, so it will be great to see him doing some great comics again. And Frank Miller practically invented the modern day version of the Bat. Should be a fun read. All-Star Superman – You read what I said about being a Morrison junkie? Well that goes double for this book. Of the two All-Star books, this is the one I am most looking forward to. Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly tackling one of their favorite characters with no limits or continuity restraints. This book is going to be one hell of a ride. Catwoman – For a while the current run of Catwoman was one of my favorite books. Then it just got boring. Now Will Pfeifer and Pete Woods are taking the reins and suddenly I’m interested again. Pfeifer (H-E-R-O, Finals) is one of my new favorite writers and Woods artwork just keeps getting better and better. City Lights – Ever since Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon finished up Preacher I’ve been anxiously awaiting their next Vertigo collaboration. I’m all for Garth Ennis writing Ghost Rider and Punisher and the like, but his best stuff is this stuff. The heartfelt “real world” type stuff about guys and girls, etc. Of course they’ve been talking about this book for a looooong time. I hope they hurry up! Defenders – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire doing for Marvel’s loser super-team what they did for the Justice League. Count me in. Ghost Rider – It’s been a while since there was a good Ghost Rider comic. In fact I can’t remember one that was really that good. But putting Garth Ennis (him again?) on the motorcycle riding vengeance demon as a MAX book seems like a match made in heaven. Or hell, really. Gødland – Joe Casey can be hit or miss for me. Lately he’s been more hit than miss. His latest venture with Tom Scioli, a Jack Kirby-inspired cosmic epic, looks like it’ll definitely be a hit. Jonah Hex – I love westerns. Jonah Hex is one of the coolest western characters in comics. This is a monthly western comic about Jonah Hex. Nuff said. Justice – For the longest time I’ve wished for Alex Ross to do a regular monthly comic book. No more over sized specials, no more covers-only, no more human-side of the superhero stories. Alex Ross is doing the Justice League vs. their deadliest foes in a bi-monthly 12-issue comic with Jim Krueger and Doug Braithwaite. At the very least it’ll be a really nice looking comic. Peng – If you read this column regularly then you know I’m a pretty big fan of this Corey “The Rey” Lewis. After reading his spectacular graphic novel Sharknife I am eagerly awaiting his next book. And it looks like I won’t have to wait too long. He’s working on a one shot titled Peng, a comic about “Advanced Kickball” a sport like kickball but with high-tech additions and martial arts! It’s also a bit of a Sharknife spinoff as the main character of Peng is Rocky Hallelujah, brother of Caesar Hallelujah, aka Sharknife. She Hulk Vol. 2 – Dan Slott again, writing the comics that I only hope I’ll be able to write one day. Not that I’m itching to write She-Hulk or GLA, but the way he writes them, that’s his gift. Slott’s style reminds you why you used to love comics in the first place. He seamlessly mixes in humor, action and a great dose of non-headache inducing continuity laden nostalgia. And he does it best in She-Hulk (Vol. 1), one of the most fun comics I’ve read in years. I can’t wait for this comic to come back. Silent Dragon – Betrayal, political intrigue, high-tech samurai, robots and Yakuza gangsters. Is there anything this book doesn’t have? Andy Diggle impressed the hell out of me when he wrote the awesome Adam Strange mini that just wrapped up. Now he’s back with Silent Dragon and is joined by the incredible Leinil Yu on art. And The Rest Green Lantern Corps: Recharge – The GL Corps return in a mini series by Dave Gibbons and Patrick Gleason Infinite Crisis – Everything DC’s been doing for the past two years has all been leading up to this series by Geoff Johns and Phil Jimenez Revelations – Paul Jenkins and Humberto Ramos reteam for a murder mystery set in the Vatican Serenity – The comic book prequel to the Serenity movie (itself a sequel of sorts to the cult hit TV show Firefly) co-written by Serenity creator Joss Whedon. Wildsiderz – What can I say? J. Scott Campbell draws pretty pictures. The Marvel Thing Someone brought to my attention that my recent bout of Marvel-bashing (last weeks column in particular) has gone maybe a little too far. Well it’s certainly not my intention to alienate anyone reading this column. Seriously, I need all the readers I can get. So I thought it best to address the issue here and clear the air a little bit. I do not hate Marvel Comics. Period. Some of my best friends are Marvel Zombies. And I have to admit I read a fair amount of their books. Any of the little jabs I throw their way are mostly jokes. I actually may have gone too far last week, I don’t know. It was my attempt at being funny. Taking the joke too far, I felt, was a pretty good chuckle in and of itself. Personally I felt that I was kinda poking fun at myself in relation to my attitude towards Marvel in this column of late. So there you go. Marvel Comics equals good comics, mostly. Having said that I do have some rather strong feelings about Marvel and its management. It’s my feeling that Marvel is rather unprofessional when it comes to certain things. Things like the lateness of certain books, and their seeming unwillingness to prevent situations like that from happening. Things like their “let’s throw it at the wall and see what sticks” approach to putting out new material. Things like their general lack of direction and cohesiveness as a company, both professionally and creatively. And of course, things like putting out what I see as generally inferior looking product. I believe these are all valid opinions and I’ll continue to address them as long as I feel they are an issue. I’m a fan of Marvel, so I care about these things. If I didn’t care I don’t think I would make such a big deal about them. I talk about this stuff because I think that they are problems to be addressed and dealt with. That’s all. There is no anti-Marvel agenda. You wait, a year from now I’ll be singing songs about Marvel and making “pee the bed” jokes about DC. This stuff is cyclical. Besides, if I weren’t bitching about something this probably wouldn’t be much of a column. Stupid comics. Quick Bits
NEXT WEEK: *The Bucky Thing (what,
you thought I forgot already?)
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