CBF Quick Picks #33 : New Mutants #16
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Brightest Day and Green Lantern Corps came out this week, but I put those aside to highlight a couple of books that were saved by cool fanboy moments in Batman Beyond #3 and Secret Avengers #4, a welcome surprise in Supergirl #55, and then finally a bang-up job by Zeb Wells on New Mutants #16. This one is building up really good and setting itself apart from all the Heroic Age crap that X-Men now is finding itself under. And being able to tie into the Inferno storyline with brand new villains is no small feat, which speaks well to the talent of Wells and company. |
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 Episode 19. Brightest Day, X-Men Second Coming, Batman News
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We talk about-
Scot Snyder, of American Vampire and Iron Man Noir, new writer for Dective Comics
Tomasi taking over Batman and Robin
Brightest Day #5 and Green Lantern #55 with Lobo
X-Men Second Coming wrap up
We also have a new Facebook Fan Page!!!
CBF 2010 Mid-Year Report Card
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We’re days away from San Diego (the comic world in general, not us – we’re glued to our desks playing Pokemon) and I felt it good to review what the 1st half of 2010 brought to us from the lands of Marvel and DC. This site has devoted a lot to DC books as of late, but there are still a few good Marvel showings that came out that weren’t Avenger-related. That being said, we really felt DC gave a lot to the readers from both its superhero and Vertigo imprints. Enjoy the show and all the best to those attending San Diego this year! |
CBF Quick Picks #26 : American Vampire #4
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Despite heavy competition from Return of Bruce Wayne and surprisingly Green Arrow, I have to give this week’s Quick Pick to the continuing adventures of Scott Snyder and Stephen King’s imaginative take on the vampire mythology. I’m running out of words to say about this series, so let’s just say it’s off-the-wall fun and carries a good amount of emotional depth to it. King here finally seems to come into his own in his back-up tale after 3 issues of him adjusting to writing in this medium. We’re getting just enough about Skinner Sweet and what his new breed of vampire brings to the table and yet not enough that we get to keep coming back for more. Enjoy the show and go pet a vampire when you get a chance |
CBF Quick Picks #18 : X-Force #26
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Green Lantern Corps #47 was so close to being the pick this week, but I had to give it to the latest chapter in Second Coming for raising the stakes in the war for mutantkind. Good pacing, good art, violent content as one would expect from a X-Force book, and a pivotal death that the X-writers can play off of in the remaining chapters. One can only hope this pace continues properly what with 9 more chapters to go, but I’m enjoying the ride while I’m still at a high point. |
CBF 16: Blackest Night Conclusion, X-Men Second Coming
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So how freaking awesome was Blackest Night? Awesome enough to make me a Green Lantern fan! Tim and I wrap up the Blackest Night story line, talk a little about Brightest Day, The Return of Bruce Wayne, and then finish with X-Men Second Coming.
Enjoy!
CBF Thoughts – Captain America Done Right
So it’s official – Chris Evans puts on the star-spangled costume in 2011, finally helping to get the ball rolling for the new Captain America movie. I’m sure Marvel is pretty ecstatic to finally get some movement going for the last of the Big Three that will comprise the core of the Avengers movie in 2012. The question now remains is will we get the right Captain America movie when it hits theaters.
I’m sure you’re curious now as to what I feel is the right Captain America movie. I don’t think it needs to be too complex – what’s so complicated about a guy picking up a shield and fighting Nazis – but it at least needs to hit these core values:
1) Stick to the WWII time frame – for a lot of introductory superhero movies and shows nowadays, it’s been very difficult to stick to the origin story and come up with something unique and make them stand out. Cap stands out right away because this will be Marvel’s chance to really tell a great WWII superhero story. Does it not sound awesome to see Cap charging with shield in front into a whole Nazi platoon?
Granted, we will eventually need to transition this into the 21st century if we want to know why a WWII veteran is leading a superhero team and somehow can keep his face fresh without botox, but it need not be the core of this origin story.
2) Don’t get a cameo addiction – the one thing you can definitely say that made X-Men 3 and Wolverine stink badly was trying to fit way too many characters into short time frames. While X-Men 3 can be somewhat forgiveable knowing that they wanted to end the trilogy with a cameo bang, that was not forgiveable for what was supposed to be the definitive origin story of one of Marvel’s signature characters. Captain America cannot fall into that trap – this is Cap’s story through and through and the supporting characters need to be key in building that story instead of bringing it down into the eternal abyss. They cannot be just there for the sake of being there.
3) Keep the politics out – IGN Comics made a good point about this in their feature of making the perfect Captain America movie. If we know the character well, it’s that he is loyal to the American Dream, not the government or military. He will fight for them as long as they are true to the Dream as well, but he won’t think twice about turning his back to them if it means the Dream is in jeopardy. The best example of this was in Civil War – he made you feel conflicted when reading the series because while you would think Cap would side with the pro-registration community, he actually does the opposite because he believed that all Americans’ personal liberties and privileges were about to be taken away.
I, like IGN, make this point because it’s no secret that America doesn’t have the greatest reputation with some countries around the world. To make this movie all about how great America’s government is would make people question what this movie is trying to get across to us – is it about making a political statement or about a man fighting for his people and their futures?
4) Bucky WILL actually help the movie – The one thing I’ve loved about the recent Batman movies so far is that Robin has been kept on the sidelines. That’s not to say I don’t like the character – Robin just does not fit with Christopher Nolan’s vision for the franchise. And that works fine with me – this trilogy is all about exploring Batman’s rise to glory and how his city reacts. With Cap, everybody that knows his origin story in the books knows Bucky is key to Cap’s WWII roots and his presumed death is what drives Cap to lead the Avengers upon coming out of his frozen state and assure that he will never leave a partner behind ever again. The best part will be, should we get sequels, that Bucky has more to offer should Marvel go the route of Ed Brubaker’s run on the book so far. I’m personally excited to see that should that be the case.
What are your thoughts? Any potential pitfalls that could derail the flick? Or will we get the definitive Cap story we always wanted?
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 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!