CBF Quick Picks #21 : American Vampire #3
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With Avengers #1 officially kicking off the Heroic Age and Brightest Day #2 once again bringing the Geoff Johns awesomeness, you would think it would come down to these two in the front running for Quick Pick of the week. Then comes along another stellar Vertigo series that re-energizes the vampire mythology. Scott Snyder and Stephen King are amazing in this new portrayal of the popular creature and Rafael Albuquerque has superstar written all over him with the styles he brings to both talented writers. The whole series screams of the theme defiance, both in what the main characters are doing against the traditional European breed of vampire and in what Snyder and King are bringing to the table against the many other TV and movie series that are already portraying them. Enjoy the show and give me your thoughts on the series! |
CBF 15: Holy Sh*t Moments in Blackest Night, Green Lantern, Plus Joe the Barbarian
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Tim and I review and discuss Blackest Night 7 and Green Lantern 50-51. But first a we talk about a great Vertigo mini series, Joe the Barbarian 1 and 2.
Enjoy!
CBF Quick Picks #12 : Joe the Barbarian #1 & Siege #2
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I braved a foot of snow to bring you this podcast…
A double dose of Quick Picks comes to you this week to make up for the lack of one last week. 2010 has been excellent so far for the comic book medium and made it difficult to choose which one to talk about. Ultimately, I approved of a new creator-owned effort from Grant Morrison and forgave Marvel for flooding their 1st entry in the Siege series with ads and features after they put out a stellar 2nd part.
NOTE: I’m still working on the audio issues, so I’m hoping you all can bear the echoing and scratching sounds here. Pretend it’s your cat howling and scratching at your legs…
CBF Quick Picks #8 : Peter & Max
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Welcome to 2010! Tastes like chicken…
Today, we go into the first novel of Bill Willingham’s Fables line that talks about the sibling rivalry between Peter and Max Piper of the pied piper lore. I’m constantly amazed at Willingham’s talent, especially in how he writes this out in novel format as opposed to the monthly comic format he’s used to writing in. And the origin tales of the pipers fit so well into Fables continuity that I’m hoping we’ll see them show in the monthly series. A good page-turner (though a bit tedious in the beginning if you already know your Fables concepts) and definitely recommended for both long-time Fables fans and fantasy fans overall.
Happy 2010 from CBF!
We’ve arrived at the next decade. Hope everybody enjoyed themselves in 2009 and are prepared for more fury from Mike and myself in 2010. Marvel definitely seemed to enjoy the last of 2009 with the official acquisition of them by Disney made known yesterday.
As we prepare to see what the comic world has to offer this year, we’d like to see what you wish to see come out of 2010 in comic books. We already know Blackest Night is wrapping up in DC, Siege is just getting started in Marvel, and Vertigo is continually pushing new and fresh material at alarming rates. What do you expect to see come out of these books and others? What would you want to see overall this year?
Let us know your thoughts and resolutions for the year to come. We already know what Wolverine’s are. What do you say, bub?
Indeed…
CBF End of Year Podcast
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Mike and I recently wrapped up the decade with our 2-part Wizard Decade Edition podcasts (latest one is here if you want to check it out), but I figured to also provide one focused particularly on 2009 as well. A lot went on this year alone, which explains why this was probably the longest podcast I’ve ever done solo. Some highlights on the podcast:
- DC was the big publisher this year in my eyes with Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns leading the charge on the major story arcs.
- Vertigo continues to innovate with their new Unwritten and Daytripper series
- Marvel’s Dark Reign storyline dominates the year, but hear why I believe it lost its focus as the year went on.
- Image and Dark Horse continue to put out quality work in spite of the domination by the big two publishers
- 2010 will see more excellent books and a more focused direction on both DC and Marvel’s sides.
- I lay down challenges as to supporting independents and why comics should never be considered as just “spandex” books
A happy and safe New Year’s to all and we’ll see you on the other side of 2010!
CBF Quick Picks #7 : Daytripper
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Lots of books for me to pick from this week, but I eventually decided on this one to be the Quick Pick. Really came out of nowhere for me and just proves to me once more why DC’s Vertigo line continues to shine, even in the midst of big storylines going on such as DC’s Blackest Night or Marvel’s Siege. The story is quite simple and yet so powerful in how it relates to us when it comes to wanting to fulfill our dreams and what distractions get thrown our way in doing so. And the ending leaves it wide open as to where this series can go – a nice change of pace that makes me wait with baited breath for issue #2 next month.
Comic Book Fury 6: Blackest Night Prelude, The Unwritten, Spider-Man
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There was an entire wall at the comic shop dedicated to Blackest Night Prelude, so I picked up Green Lantern 41, and Tim got a few Green Lantern Corps. We talk a little more about Blackest Night and how DC is preparing you for it. Something that should be interesting when Blackest night begins next month is the Batman crossover. Night Wing has won the cowl, but when will Bruce Wayne make a return? Steve Rogers is coming back much sooner than we expected, so is the Blackest night story line the right time to bring Bruce back?
I found another great title in the Vertigo line called The Unwritten, which is written by Mike Carey of Lucifer, Hellblazer, X-Men: Legacy, and others. He’s also the author of The Devil You Know, and several other dark fantasy books. For The Unwritten, think if Harry Potter was based on a real boy who been struggling to be free of the association, but when he does he discovers that it may have been more real than he knew. Very interesting work, didn’t grab me like House of Mystery or Fables, but I enjoy Carey’s work and will follow the series.
Tim finishes up with what’s been going down in Spider-Man. He brings us up to speed with the whole re-editing Peter Parker’s history (One More Day) to the current story line, American Son, which has been called one of the best Spider-Man arcs ever. And then there are the usual tangents into things like Book’s of Magic, and the new Batman and Robin series written by Grant Morrison.
We’re also thinking about creating a social community site for Comic Book Fury to get more of you involved. More about that in later posts.
Happy Reading!
Anatomy of the Comic Book
I routinely get asked what’s so fascinating about reading stories of spandex-clad super-heroes in the comics. I’ll get remarks that it’s just “nerd” material, just for kids, or that I need to get outside more. Granted, I do question at times why Superman wears red underwear outside his costume, but hey, he’s still fully clothed and that’s all that matters…
There’s a lot to be said about the comic book itself and what it brought to the table throughout history. When people were first introduced to Captain America in the 40′s, it was a response to our fears about how the U.S. will fare in WWII. When the X-Men were introduced in the 60′s, it spoke volumes about the racial prejudice prominent to that period. Then there were the stories that brought things down to a more personal scale. Spider-Man brought us a character that not only fought crime, but dealt with real-life issues most high school and college students could relate to. The Fantastic Four showed us that even super-hero families have relational issues and can still work them out. Combine these with the sci-fi aspects that comes with being super heroes and you can see why comics have outlasted economic turmoil and critic bashing over the years.
Of course, being that comics have been a visual medium for the longest time, there comes a time when the emphasis on art is stronger than emphasis on writing. Enter the early 90′s. Artists became superstars. Publishers produced hundreds of covers for almost every single issue. It was the “in” thing to collect and sell at later times. Storytelling took a back seat while artwork helped rack in the dough.
Then the market became saturated with thousands of useless issues that weren’t being collected. Consumers realized the deteriorating value behind these issues. Retailers and publishers lost millions. Marvel declared bankruptcy in 1996. The bare-bones storytelling became more noticeable and many fan-favorite characters suffered via cancellations. The industry started to re-think the direction behind its heroes as well as other areas they can explore.
The mid 90′s started to show the potential of the medium through Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, which Mike touched upon in our first podcast.
It was a different approach, delving into and re-inventing the mythologies Gaiman wanted to play with. It went away from the conventional super hero books and showed that comics could be as just a respected reading medium as any novel on the bookshelves. DC took notice and created its “Vertigo” line to accommodate creator-owned lines and new universes.
Fables, Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, and more would help in grabbing old readers disenchanted by the old superhero stories and new readers looking for innovative storytelling. The superhero books would follow after DC and Marvel discovered a new crop of writers that could re-invent their images. And while today’s sales numbers may not reach the numbers the 80′s and early 90′s brought, comics are getting a new kind of respect that has resulted in writers being offered TV gigs and comic properties becoming high-grossing movies.
My next few posts will highlight the books I feel are helping to realize the medium’s potential. Feel free to suggest any you feel deserve to be up on that list. Enjoy!
Comic Book Fury Episode 2: Green Lantern and a peek inside DC Catalog
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Show runs about 40 minutes.
Lots of Green Lantern