Hello and welcome to yet another edition of The Comic Shop blog! It's February 26th, snowy, and cold here in the heartland of America I hope wherever you are you are warm and safe reading this. Lets get on to the comic stuff ya?!
First.... Lot more on my pull list these last few weeks than usual. While two weeks ago I only picked up the latest issue of "Batman & Robin" & "Silk" #1 this week I picked up "Flash", "Daredevil", "Amazing Spider-man", "Spider-Gwen" and the penultimate chapter of the "Batman" endgame saga. I'm going to wait to share my thoughts on "Endgame" when we see what the ultimate payoff is to that storyline, but I'm happy to share my thoughts on the others.
Batman & Robin - This book is winding down and it's sad because on the whole it's been a good run. I will say the more fantastical storylines with Batman are not really my cup of tea, but overall it's been good. This week the Justice League was introduced to an unimpressed Super-Robin and they all set off on a mission immediately.
Flash - I had some serious concerns when Francis Manapaul & Brian Buccatello quit writing "The Flash" and moved on to "Detective Comics". The new run has not been without it's hiccups but this current storyline is the fun, sci-fi, extraordinary type of storytelling that us Flash fans have come to expect. In this current storyline Barry is stuck in the very savage land-ish (think X-men) speed force while a future/murderous Barry has usurped his place in the present. I don't want to spoil too much, but I will say this book packs a lot of punch for $2.99 a pop.
Daredevil - Waid has crafted one of my favorite runs with hornhead ever and I'm sad that it is also coming to the end. This issue kicked off his final storyline with DD, and continues to capture the fun, charm, and humorous storytelling that has been present throughout Waid's time with the character.
Amazing Spider-man - This last issue of ASM was the epilogue to the massive "Spider Verse" event. On the whole it was a great event and this was still an entertaining issue. It highlights a problem (albeit a good one) that they have introduced a LOT of spider characters that are infinitely more interesting than Mr. Parker has been for the last few years. This could be a reason why Disney/Marvel is being rumored to discuss a non-PP for their MCU Spider-man. Other than Alpha, which was crap on crap, Superior Spidey, Miles, Silk, Spider-Gwen, and so many more on the great web have been more intriguing than our old buddy Peter. Maybe it is because Author Dan Slott's first tour of duty cancelled out the most interesting character development of PP since his black costume (his unmasking, the subsequent shooting of Aunt May by Crossbones, switching back to the black to become more angry and vengeful, etc.) I still love my ASM, but as you will see I like some of the new character inventions as well.
Silk - I rolled my eyes at this character when she made her debut. "Oh great another character debut in a Spider-man comic that is like Spidey but much more powerful". I'll have to say though the first issue was a fun read as this is a character that is really fleshed out from her introduction. She is in search of her parents that have gone missing since she confined herself to a bunker to avoid the Inheritors, she has a photographic memory so her flashbacks are a part of her narrative, and she works for Fact News (lol) and it's new star J. Jonah Jameson. She has a complicated lust-filled relationship with PP, and is a young woman searching for her place in the world. It was a really great first issue. I'm not sure if I'll keep with it just because of budget concerns, but I would definitely recommend it.
Spider-Gwen - Girl power in full effect with the new big tent pole releases from Marvel. Set in an alternate universe where a radioactive Spider bit Gwen instead of Peter and she subsequently couldn't save Peter from his untimely demise. This is a really cool alt universe tale if there ever was one. In the first issue alone we learn that Capt. Stacy is also alive and well, Gwen is the former drummer of a newly broken-through all girl band called the Mary Janes, & that the media blames Spider-Gwen (that universe's Spider-woman) for PP's death. Also Frank Castle may or may not be a dirty cop, which is different. In all it's not a lot of new groundbreaking ideas, but the execution is there for sure. I love the costume design and I think the creative team has the right voice for the girl superhero. Kudos all around!
Second.... Just broken this evening by Deadline the CW is in the process of developing a third superhero show that will feature Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer/Atom), Wentworth Miller (Captain Cold), Victor Garber (Dr. Martin Stein aka the brains of Firestorm), and Caity Lotz (Canary?). After the amazing way that "The Flash" crew pulled off Firestorm I am really happy that it is now possible that we will see him in a starring role. Not really sure what all of these characters will have to do with one another, but it could be possible that it will be a Brave & and the Bold style series. Meaning with "Arrow" and "Flash" so much has been established that this series could be used to fill in the blanks and move forward other characters that have been introduced in the cornerstone series'. Think more along the lines of an anthology.
Third... If you didn't see the gritty Power/Rangers short film on YouTube you are going to have to look somewhere else. Saban has gotten the acclaimed short film pulled for copyright concerns even though it was a non for profit movie. Saban was worried that the dark take would ruin their valuable property. I was a huge fan of the show as a kid, and I really enjoyed the short as it was the antithesis of the original show. That said I can see Saban's concern with a long rumored reboot movie coming up. UPDATE 02/28/15: Both versions of the Power/Rangers short (NSFW & SFW) have returned to YouTube.
Fourth... I loved the new Aquaman look and I have no doubt that it will not be as dark as the initial image. Snyder is 100% style over substance so the sepia toned teaser images were to be expected. If you look long enough on the internet you can find pictures where the color saturation is up to the normal levels to see what it will look like in color.
There were a lot of concern about WW's garb when it first came out as well, but even Supes looks brighter this go round so maybe Snyder gets that is what people want to see.
At this point I'm just really excited to see a Miller-ish Batfleck.
Fifth... Regarding this weeks "Arrow" a lot of vitriol online for the fact that (Spoiler) asked (Spoiler) to be the next (Spoiler). In large part because it was eerily reminiscent of the "Son of the Demon" storyline. To those people I say kick rocks. If they wanted to adapt the storyline for Batman they would've done it by now first of all, and secondly the producers of "Arrow" have made no bones about the fact that the show from it's initial inception was inspired by "The Dark Knight Trilogy". (Spoiler) is not a Batman only villain so it's time to get over the fact that he is on this season of "Arrow".
The Shippers (Olicity fans?) were also up and arms as in this episode Felicity found herself with someone who was decidedly NOT Oliver Queen. While I appreciate how passionate this minority of fans are I applaud the producers for not allowing them to hijack the creative process of the show. Whether they end up together by series end or not I think it's easy to see from any logical standpoint at this point that dark & brooding Ollie is not a good match for comic relief Felicity at this point in time.
Sixth... CBS's "Supergirl" is casting a Superman which gives me the opportunity to ask "What is Henry Cavill doing right now?" One would think that it would be pretty easy for him to film a couple of cameos. In doing so WB/DC could throw a bone to the best part of their multimedia right now barring Batman video games & movies. I speak, of course, of their television universe which to this point has been wildly popular. But what the hell do I know I'm just a life long comic fan that can't get enough of this crap.
Seventh... As I spoke about earlier on my FB page I am currently working out ideas for my very own Graphic Novel series to be tentatively titled "Vendetta". As I can't draw I may run some sort of contest find a fellow collaborator to get this idea off of the ground. What I have so far is that I want to go for a hard boiled/intrigue/globe trotting story. It will feature a former Navy SEAL/some such special ops traveling the world to find his brother who was lost on a classified mission. When he can't get answers from his own government he takes matters into his own hands using his years of training to elude his own government & get into adventures in exotic locales and help people along the way.
As much as I love superhero comics I love the noir storytelling of "Sin City" and others just as much. I wanted to stay away from as many tropes as I could (defending a city, definitely dead family members, etc.)
Like I said I'm still working out some details, putting together a rough idea of the chain of events, developing character names, situations etc. When that is all done I will post a few pages in a screenplay format that I will then accept submissions on for different artists. Then I will have a face-to-face to work out the creative process and we will go from there if it is a good fit.
I'd like to launch a KickStarter page for this project before 2016, but I don't want to rush anything. I'm not hoping to make a career out of this or even a lot of money, but writing a comic has been a dream of mine that I'd like to see come true. So stay tuned as more details on "Vendetta" will be forthcoming.
I think that's all for today. Thank you for reading! I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!
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