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 Podcast 13: The Decade in Review Part Deux
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Tim and I wrap up (no not rapping, we just talk) our decade in review starting at 2005. We hope you had a great year (and decade) and we’re looking forward to better and more podcasts, comics, movie reviews, videos and giving you our unique (some say odd, very very odd) take on comics.
Happy New Year everyone!
CBF Podcast 12: The Decade in Review Part One
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Using Tim’s quick pick from a few weeks ago, we round out the year and the decade with a look at Wizard’s Decade in Review. So what did you think about the last 10 years of comics?
Enjoy part one!
CBF Quick Picks 2 : X-Men: Magneto Testament
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Round 2 of Quick Picks is here….two days later than I wanted. Bummer.
In any event, got another good one here I think you’ll like. It’s not often we talk about X-Men books around here (except when Wolverine decides to break continuity again), but this one really got my attention recently. I consider this the definitive Magneto origin and you’ll definitely feel sympathetic towards one of the best villains comics has around. Leave your comments and thoughts, peeps.
CBF Podcast 8: The Unwritten, Spider-Man, X-Force, DVDS
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No Green Lantern talk!
Okay, a little Green Lantern talk. Tim reviews the DVD Green Lantern First Flight, which I should be watching this Friday. There’s been some buzz about the new Marvel and DC DVDs and anime being made, such as Wolverine (which is really, uh…Japanese), Ironman and Hulk (both of which look amazing). We should do a movie podcast down the line.
I review issues 2 and 3 of Mike Carey’s The Unwritten. This is getting good, literary references, secret identities, magical powers, and mystery everywhere. I recommend it with my other new Vertigo favorites, Fables and House of Mystery.
We take a quick look at Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin. Meh.
Tim reviews the end of the Spider-Man arch American Son, with spoilers so you are hereby warned. He also gets into the new X-Force, which is headed up by Wolverine. How he finds the time to do this we don’t know, must be a mutant or Canadian thing. I make a mental blunder confusing my X-titles (like that’s never happened to you).
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Anatomy of the Comic Book: The Dark Knight Returns
Re-boots seems to be all the craze nowadays in movies. Batman was brought back to audiences four years ago and showed what the character and his universe was really made of (Heath Ledger would have something to do with that in the sequel). I also recently saw Star Trek, which refreshed a franchise in dire need of new direction and yet still honored the spirit of the franchise.
It’s only fitting then that I start off my blog series about relevant comic books with a re-boot that brought the Batman of the comic books out of the campy terrain:
- Dark Knight Returns
Before this book hit the stands, Batman was all about Adam West and the Bat-Tusi in the 60’s. The campy nature of the show became a hit, but at the same time, it made the character one not to be taken too seriously in the books. Rotating writers in the 70’s and early 80’s made efforts to bring the character back to his dark roots, but it was 1986 that saw Frank Miller put Batman back on top of the food chain.
Comic book enthusiasts know Miller well from bringing a similar darker edge back to Daredevil and Wolverine around the same time frame. His independent work on Sin City and 300 would become feature films as well. This dark, edgy style was the kind of boost Batman needed and would help remind us who he is and why he is the way he is.
Dark Knight Returns gives us a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne long retired from the crime-fighting business, but seeing his city still crumbling under the might of old and new villains. Not one able to enjoy retirement for too long, he dons the cowl once more and revamps his tactics to take on this new, violent society. The book is renowned for helping to bring more adult-oriented storytelling to the books and put characters in new lights (a female Robin, a government puppet in Superman, Joker just an unfunny psycho, etc.). It also (like Watchmen) spoke of a society in the Cold War going to actual war and what its characters’ values spoke of those events.
I also take personal satisfaction in the last issue when Batman must confront a Superman that has to bring him in. Say what you want about all the help he needed; the sight of Batman kicking the Man of Steel to the floor is a sight that won’t leave me.
What’s interesting about this book is that it speaks volumes as to what Mike and I spoke about in our last podcast regarding Neil Gaiman’s ‘Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?‘. Batman is a character that is relentless in his quest to put fear into the criminal element. The only way he can ever see himself out of the game is if he was dead. No amount of golf or emptying the family wine coolers would bring satisfaction. It’s a sad story to see, but it brings the kind of depth to a character that can be difficult to replicate at times.
This darker edge has resulted in many superb stories from The Killing Joke to Knightfall. It transferred over into the animated and movie realms and the rest is history. Read Dark Knight Returns and tell us what you think.
Comic Book Fury 4: Blackest Night Preview
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Tim and I tease a little bit about X-Men Origins: Wolverine
We discuss Free Comic Book Day, when I picked up Blackest Night Zero. It’s a fantastic primer for what’s happening in the Lantern Corps and the coming Blackest Night story arch which we think will be THE story of the summer. Tim gives us a little history on the Anti Monitor, because he’s very important to the Blackest Night story. See if your local comic shop still has some copies of it.
Everything begins this July with Green Lantern 43 and Blackest Night 1.
And you must get this T Shirt right now:
Black Lantern
We finish up the Neil Gaiman Batman story. It was an odd ending and we don’t get where this fits into the rest of the Batman stories, especially with what happened in Final Crisis. One of the problems with getting a guest writer like Neil Gaiman is you expect a lot, maybe too much. Plus, his style is very different than what Batman readers are used to. It’s still a good story, but we’ll wait to see what happens before we place
Tim reviews the latest Green Lantern, how mixing blue and green is pretty dang powerful, and his battle against the Orange Lantern. I might be done with Ghost Rider already. It’s a little too campy for me right now. I will check out Jason Aaron’s other book Wolverine Weapon X though.
Tim has found a great comic, which unfortunately has been pulled from production, called Manhunter. Think Law & Order with super villains and a lawyer that turns vigilante when the system breaks down, but not like DareDevil.
We end the show with a little talk about Fables, which we’ll really get into in a few weeks.
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
Comic Book Fury Episode 1: Origins and Watchmen
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Show runs 49 minutes.
Tim and I talk about how we got into comics, some favorite story lines, authors, and artists. We then review Watchmen, no spoilers, and a little bit about what Neil Gaiman is doing with Batman.