I'd love to see the rest of the Thundercats, but those Turtles are fantastic.
Source: David Rapoza
We battle through wretched hives of geek and nerdery for TV, movie, game and comic news, so you don't have to!
Monday, 3 October 2011
Awesome Thundercats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Concepts
Wow! Just Wow! This guy is incredible.
I'd love to see the rest of the Thundercats, but those Turtles are fantastic.
Source: David Rapoza
I'd love to see the rest of the Thundercats, but those Turtles are fantastic.
Source: David Rapoza
Batman: Noel preview
This holiday season, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol gets the Gotham treatment. Inspired by the classic story, BATMAN: NOEL is an oversized, original graphic novel that offers a brand new twist on the tale of Scrooge and the ghosts who haunt him. The Dark Knight must come to terms with the rogue gallery of his past, present and future. And as much as Batman is the focal point, the other star here is the book’s writer and artist: Lee Bermejo.
Batman: Noel is in stores on November 2nd.
Batman: Noel is in stores on November 2nd.
DC Comics' New 52 Weeks 3 & 4 review round-up
Lovely art and it's always nice to see Black Canary kick ass. Not the best BoP story, but they're doing what the do best. Promising: 6/10.
Poor art and worse writing. There is so much wrong with this book that I don't know where to start. Desperately trying to warrant a T+ rating this goes too far. Awful: 1/10.
Both Eddy barrows and Kyle Higgins bring their 'A' game as Dick Grayson returns to being the Dick Grayson we know and love as Nightwing. Reminscent of Chuck Dixon. Excellent: 8/10.
I suspect that editorial had as much hand in this as anoyone else. It's difficult to feel anything for these characters as (with the exception of Jason Todd) they have lost any charm they once had. Dropped: 2/10
An action-packed action-fest with extra action. There is a lot of promise here. The art in particular stands out as being a potential hit. Promising: 6/10
Unlike apparently everyone else, I only thought that this book was okay. There were alot of good things about it, but it didn't really do much to raise it about what I expect from a comic. Promising: 6/10
A big improvement from the book prior to the relaunch, but this is still the week link in the Batman titles. Inconsistent art and the most obvious secret identity in the world don't help it's case. Disappointing: 4/10
Superb art that threatens to rewrite the rules on how comic book art progresses the storytelling unfortunately can't do much to lift an average script. Promising: 6/10
Standard vampire fare that hardcore fans of the genre will enjoy wallows in setup. The art is indie enough to give a horror vibe. I'll stick around for #2 to see where we go. Disappointing: 4/10
I think it was Denny O'Neil who said 'No-one reads text boxes.' By the end of Superman #1 I realised that I had only skim-read most of them. Both the writing and art were a throw-back to the 1980's. Weak: 3/10
Ignoring the fact that the main character seems to be Sil from Species with sensitivity, the book didn't really go anywhere until the last couple of pages. However the penciller, Sami Basri, must be given credit for good work. We'll see what happens in #2. Disappointing: 4/10
The Avengers behind the scenes photos
Behind the scenes shots from Joss Whedon's The Avengers (due next summer) featuring Captain Amercia, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye.
As if you couldn't tell from the huge watermark, the images are courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
DC Comics on your new Kindle
DC Comics are coming to the new Kindle (but only if you live in the USA).
With the PC, iPhone and iPad (as well as some android phones) already serving up DC Comics back issue and same-day-as-print new releases, it seemed inevitable that DC would branch out to the other eBook readers.
Whilst this initial run will be restricted to North America, I'd imagine that it will be expanded to worldwide if it is successful.
Source: DC Comics BlogDC ENTERTAINMENT DIGITAL GRAPHIC NOVELS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON THE NEWLY-ANNOUNCED KINDLE FIRE, INCLUDING BEST-SELLING GRAPHIC NOVELS ‘WATCHMEN,’ ‘BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY’ AND ‘SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE’, AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER DIGITALLY
Industry-Leading Graphic Novel and Comic Publisher to offer 100 Digital Books Exclusively to Kindle Customers
BURBANK, Calif., Sept. 29, 2011- DC Entertainment, the first publisher to offer more than fifty comic book titles on the same day in digital and print, is now taking the world of digital books by storm. The comic book giant has worked with Amazon to bring 100 of its original graphic novels exclusively to Amazon’s newly announced Kindle Fire, including best-selling graphic novels WATCHMEN, BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY and SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, which are available for the first time digitally.
“We’re thrilled to work with the leader in digital books to bring many of the world’s most beloved and best-selling graphic novels to Kindle readers,” stated Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Entertainment. “We’ve learned from the success of DC Comics – The New 52 that making our graphic novels available whenever and wherever our readers want is critical to the future growth and health of our publishing businesses–both in print and digital format.”
“We’re excited that DC Entertainment has made 100 of their graphic novels available for customers to read exclusively on our just-announced Kindle Fire,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content. “Some of these graphic novels, including ‘Watchmen,’ the bestselling — and considered by many to be the greatest — graphic novel of all time, have never been available before in digital format, and we think customers will love them.”
DC Entertainment graphic novels will be available to Kindle Fire customers. WATCHMEN and SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE are available for pre-order now in the Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore) and readers can soon purchase other DC Entertainment graphic novels.
The following 100 DC Entertainment titles will be available in the Kindle Store, with more titles to be added in the near future.
All Star Superman
All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder, Vol. 1
American Vampire Vol. 1
Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn
Batman and Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin
Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman Must Die!
Batman and Son
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Hush
Batman: R.I.P.
Batman: The Black Glove
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Batman: Year One
Blackest Night
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 2
Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps
Brightest Day, Vol. 1
Brightest Day, Vol. 2
Brightest Day, Vol. 3
Daytripper
Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile
Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm
Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love
Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers
Fables Vol. 5: The Mean Seasons
Fables Vol. 6: Homeland
Fables Vol. 7: Arabian Nights (and Days)
Fables Vol. 8: Wolves
Fables Vol. 10: The Good Prince
Fables Vol. 11: War and Pieces
Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages
Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover
Fables Vol. 14: Witches
Fables Vol. 15: Rose Red
Green Lantern Vol. 3: Wanted Hal Jordan
Green Lantern: Agent Orange
Green Lantern: Blackest Night
Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Green Lantern: Secret Origin
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less
Identity Crisis
Kingdom Come
MAD About Oscars
MAD About Superheroes
MAD About Superheroes
MAD About the 50′s
MAD About the 60′s
Marzi
Planetary Vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories
Planetary Vol. 2: The Fourth Man
Planetary Vol. 3: Leaving the 20th Century
Planetary Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology
Superman for All Seasons
Superman: Earth One
The Dark Knight Strikes Again
The Flash: Rebirth
The Joker
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 1)*
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 2 )*
The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House
The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You
The Sandman Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections
The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives
The Sandman Vol. 8: World’s End
The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones
The Sandman Vol. 10: The Wake
The Sandman: Dream Hunters
The Sandman: Dream Hunters (P. Craig Russell)
The Sandman: Endless Nights
The Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
We3
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 3: One Small Step
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 4: Safeword
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 5: Ring of Truth
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 6: Girl on Girl
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 7: Paper Dolls
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 8: Kimono Dragons
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 9: Motherland
*Available only in North America
Review - Teen Titans #1
TEEN TITANS #1
Written by SCOTT LOBDELL; Art and cover by BRETT BOOTH and NORM RAPMUND
The reboot of Teen Titans has been one of the most dramatic in the DC Comics relaunch. Those of you who have been reading comics for a while will have seen the close friendship of Tim Drake, Cass Sandsmark, Bart Allen and Superboy develop from their first meetings in Young Justice to loyal ties in Geoff Johns' Teen Titans. Their friendship has survived the deaths of both Superboy and Kid Flash, but it couldn't survive the relaunch. In this version of Teen Titans, with the exception of Tim Drake's Red Robin, everything that you knew about these characters hasn't happened. Even with Drake we need to be selective of which parts of his history we can assume have happened. I'd say that everything within the Batman universe is still solid as a foundation, including when he went off as Red Robin. The only changes are that these other heroes never helped him out, so any crossovers, he now did by himself or with one of his Gotham allies. This is the problem with the 'soft reboot' of a fictional universe. It makes it accessable for new readers, but a logistical nightmare for long-time fans.
That being said, Teen Titans v3 had been pretty dire for the last 50 issues and needed sorting out. What Scott Lobdell has done is to play off both the world's mistrust of teenagers and the New DC Universe's fledgling acceptance of superheroes to create a culture of antagonism against these teen heroes. They are seen as a menace that needs to be locked up and contained before they cause disaster. Kid Flash displays exactly why the media, government and populace think this by unfixing the work of firefighters and causing an explosion. Red Robin is accosted by agents of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. is the penthouse of Lex Towers (what's he doing there?). He shows that he hasn't lost any of his capability or confidence that he had built up in the Red Robin ongoing. After he escapes from them he starts to build his team - first on the list is Wonder Girl.
Generally the book is good and the art is good-great throughout, but there are some really awkward lines of dialogue mixed in here that just seem out-of-place. It's so bad in parts that it interupts the flow of the book, which otherwise would be quite nicely divided into flowing chapters. I really hope that we start to pick up steam with issue 2 as this title has the potential to be really interesting.
My rating:
An interesting start for the new team of teen superheros. Red Robin slowly starts to build his team and this slower pace gives the reader time to get to know the characters. A lot of promise, but some clunky dialogue.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Review - Green Lantern: New Guardians
Written by TONY BEDARD; Art and cover by TYLER KIRKHAM and BATT
The creative team from Green Lantern Corps make a small hop to jump ship to follow Kyle Rayner into his new book. The story starts with a slightly more indepth (and slightly tweaked) recap of the last few pages of 1994's Emerald Twilight (GL v3 #50 to be precise). This serves it's purpose by filling in newer readers on part of Kyle's history. This will work particularly well if the first couple of arcs take the time to flesh out Ion and the rebirth of the Corps as Kyle's place in the GL mythos is important, but complicated. The irony is that before the resurrection of Hal Jordan it was very easy to explain Kyle Rayner; he is the last of what used to be a vast cosmic police force and his power ring can do almost anything he can imagine. In the wake of the relaunch however, we must take the time to explain everything - and the book suffers for it. Seven of it's twenty pages are devoted to this retelling, which I think was necessary, but too much of the book is used to tell it.
Once we get to the modern day we have a quick run down of various non-Green Corps members losing their rings in a similar, yet unexplained way. Then halfway through the book we come back to New York to see Kyle Rayner showing off why his ring constructs are unique in the GLC; his imagination. It's good to see these elaborate constructs make a return to Kyle's repartee as they show off his personality to good effect and were a signiture of his run in GLv3.
It's not Kyle Rayner that shines in this issue though, it's Tyler Kirkham. The artist that joined Green Lantern Corps after Blackest Night has come on in leaps and bounds until, with this issue, he cements himself as one of the industry's top dogs. There isn't praise high enough. He has become one of my favourite artists along with Jim Lee, Pete Woods, Michael Turner and Marcus To.
New Guardians #1 sets up the series really well and leaves us with the promise of action and some questions that need answers. This is definitely a book that I'll spend each month looking forward to.
My rating: 
A solidly written issue that brings new readers up to date on Kyle Rayner and launches us into the confrontation that will forge a team. The art is absolutely stunning and would be worth the rating alone.
Read my interview with New Guardians writer, Tony Bedard: Starburst Magazine
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Review - Green Lantern Corps #1
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1
Written by PETER J. TOMASI; Art by FERNANDO PASARIN and SCOTT HANNA; Cover by DOUG MAHNKE and CHRISTIAN ALAMY
After a standard sci-fi prologue in which some alien GLs meet a mysterious and dicey end, Green Lantern Corps eases new and old readers alike into the problems that Guy and John face and their choice to leave Earth. This approach works really well and I think that Peter Tomasi is showing some gusto in starting off the new 'season', if you will, with a slower paced book.
Both Guy Gardener and John Stewart have returned to Earth and are both struggling with their terrestrial employment. After suffering scenes of frustration they meet to lament their mutual desicions to operate without a secret identity and how that choice has made having a life away from the ring difficult. This intimate look at the characters' vunerabilities tricks the reader into empathising with them - so next issue when they are in peril we'll care about it. Well played, Mr Tomasi.
We've been introduced to the characters, so let's explore the Green Lantern Corps. As we build to the cliffhanger we're introduced to Salaak, Oa and a small cast of GLs. We haven't been bombarded with information, but there is just enough to be getting to grips with. The end definitely gives the reader a reason to come back, but doesn't create much excitement; more a sense of "it's about to kick off".
Fernando Pasarin's art seems to be improved from Emerald Warriors. You can tell that he feels particularly comfortable with Guy, but he does justice to all the characters featured. It isn't exactly my cup of tea and could be better, but to be fair it is above-average and reflects the story well.
The villian and the 'message' he leaves the GLs has a certain intrigue and I think that we may see some more space-cop than we have over the last few years, which is after all what a Green Lantern is supposed to be.
My rating:
A slow build, but it does build. A solid character driven issue that has sown the seeds for an interesting villian. It's good, but doesn't do anything really special.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)