CBF Quick Picks #32 : The Unwritten #16
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DC strikes again with a killer week for books. The mid-tier books give another strong showing in Batgirl, Birds of Prey, and Zatanna. And Peter Tomasi’s new run on Green Lantern Emerald Warriors is going to get interesting as we learn more about the pact between Guy Gardner, Ganthet, and Atrocitus. On the Marvel side, I’m slowly losing interest in the mutants vs. vampires storyline in X-Men #2. Nothing new is being brought to the table like it is with American Vampire and if it doesn’t pick up next month, there will be shenanigans from me. Thanos Imperative was VERY close to being the Quick Pick for a 3rd time, but I have to give it to The Unwritten because of what Mike Carey and Peter Gross are doing bringing this literature-heavy tale to life. Many answers are revealed and more questions brought about because of them – the whole conspiracy battle using stories as weapons is incredibly intriguing. If you’re not picking this up in single issue format, go get the two trades right now! |
CBF Quick Picks #24 : Batgirl #11 / Secret Six #22
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With the majority of comic book events taking a break this week, it was good to spend some time talking about some sleeper hits under most people’s radars. I’ve enjoyed the heck out of Stephanie Brown’s take as Batgirl and has made me really appreciate her growth as a character since her days as the Spoiler. Having Oracle along for the ride doesn’t hurt either.
But what really takes the cake is what Gail Simone has been bringing to the Secret Six. Unbelievably brutal in both its characterization and in its violence, it makes you laugh and yet cringe at the same time at this rag-tag band of anti-heroes and villains (who really are quite charming and makes you want to go out to a picnic and hold hands with them). As of late, this has been the book about Catman and it has made him one of the more compelling characters as of late for DC. Hit the Play button and you’ll know why.
CBF Quick Picks #20: DC Rules The Universe
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There was too much going on in DC land to limit this to one or two books to Quick Picks this week. As much as Return of Bruce Wayne deserved a good amount of hype, I was thoroughly impressed by a bunch of DC offerings. DC is hot right now and I’m glad they’re continuing to build other franchises beyond the Batman and Green Lantern names.
This is not to say that Marvel didn’t have a good week too – just that DC did things one better. Marvel wrapped up Siege and officially began their march into Heroic Age. It was nice that they finally wrapped up all those threads, but my review here on iFanboy can give you some insight as to why I felt it could have done a whole lot more.
Enjoy the podcast!
CBF Quick Picks #17 – Brave and the Bold #33
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Ever read a comic book that really tugs at your heart, especially when it’s related to one of your favorite comic book stories of all time? This is one of them. It completely came out of left field for me and it was well appreciated. It made me a bigger fan of JMS and I really can’t wait to see what he brings to Superman and Wonder Woman in July. Click play and enjoy! |
CBF Quick Picks #13 : Batgirl #8 and Red Robin #10
As much as you all want to hear my squeaky voice in the middle of a static hurricane, you’ll be getting me here for a while until my new headset arrives. Thank you for your sympathy during this tragic time. Now onto comics…
I continue to be impressed by DC’s offerings lately outside of Green Lantern and Blackest Night. I, like many other comic sites, was set to pick Batman and Robin #10 as the
Quick Pick, but I decided to buck the trend and go with two books and two characters I hadn’t followed seriously in the last 10 years:
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I had heard that Stephanie Brown, originally dressed up as Spoiler long ago, had come back to be Batgirl and that she would eventually cross over to meet up with Red Robin in Gotham. My issues with Tim Drake’s choice of new attire aside, I was glad to pick these up so as to not only catch up on how these two have grown through the years, but to also re-kindle my love for the chemistry between these two that came out of Chuck Dixon’s run on Robin 10 years ago. To see them at this point grow more into their respective roles and help fill the gaps that Dick Grayson and Damian can’t is a nice sight to see. And they also still use the playful banter that made that past relationship work so well.
Adding in the League of Assassins storyline just makes this that much better and makes me wonder if they’ll play this out more as Bruce Wayne makes his return. They better not milk this then, as I believe the Bruce Wayne series will be 6 parts and you know how much a drawn-out story can get stale by the time something big comes around (I’m looking at you, Cable series).
The one pet peeve I had was with the art, particularly on Batgirl. Marcus To on Red Robin nailed her down fine as the more realistic straight-up nice-looking girl, but then in Batgirl, she’s drawn by Talent Caldwell as the sterotypical balloon-the-cleavage type of girl. Seriously man, keep some consistency going and know that not every girl in the world is like this. Beyond that, the art didn’t scream earth-shattering, but I did enjoy some of the fight sequences.
As long as we keep getting more Batgirl/Red Robin banter, I’m picking these two up for a while. Go give it a shot.