A New Captain America
October 12, 2007 | 2 Comments
Captain America may have been gunned down at the end of Marvel’s Civil War killing Steve Rogers, but the ideal that Cap stood for carries on. With this in mind someone new dons the costume and persona of Captain America starting in January. With a new Cap’ comes a new costume designed by near legendary comic artist Alex Ross. There is a great deal of speculation about who may be taking on the mantle, I’m certainly curious read Ed Brubaker’s upcoming storyline.
If you want more detail on the hows and whys, the Marvel article on this is fantastic.
Tags: alex ross, america, captain america, civil war, comic books, comics, ed brubaker, marvel, marvel comics, steve rogers
Nextwave Rocks
March 11, 2006 | 3 Comments
When I first heard about Nextwave as was a bit intrigued. It’s billed as a humorous comic centered around five less than popular Marvel super heroes. More importantly, the humour is English, which I love.
I picked up the first issue, gave it a read though and came away feeling that maybe it wasn’t what I was looking for. Maybe I was taking it too seriously. Who knows… Anyway, I gave issue #2 a shot, and wow am I glad I did! This book ripped out and had funny pouring all over the place.
OK, a bit of back story, the five characters resurrected for Nextwave are: Monica Rambeau the leader (aka Ms Marvel or Photon), Aaron Stack a robot who “does robot-y things” (aka Machine Man), Elsa Bloodstone who’s super strong and English, Tabitha Smith blows stuff up (aka Boom Boom or Meltdown), and The Captain who is strong and can fly for some reason (aka The Captain). So those are the characters, a seriously motley crew. They were put together as a team by Dirk Anger or H.A.T.E. who they promptly rebelled from. He’s unhappy about that.
The main premise at this point is that they are going around fighting off H.A.T.E.’s UWMDs (Unusual Weapon of Mass Destruction). The first of which is Fin Fang Foom, a huge ancient Chinese dragon in purple underpants.
Clearly not targeted at children, there is a ton of innuendo and sarcasm that I find hysterical. At the moment my favorite character is Machine Man, but this is most likely related to the two frames I’ve included in this post.
I was also entertained with the description of The Captain:
The Captain is so absurdly strong that he once smacked someone’s spine out through their lungs just by patting them on the back.
In his defense, he was extraordinarily drunk.
Is it possible The Captain could be Chuck Norris?!?.
Anyway, if you like comics and you like to laugh, go read Nextwave.
Tags: aaron stack, boom boom, comic, comic books, comics, elsa bloodstone, fin fang foom, H.A.T.E, machine man, marve, marvel comics, meltdown, monica rambeau, ms marvel, nextwave, photon, purple underpants, robot-y, tabitha smith, the captain, uwmd
X-Men 3: The Last Stand Full Trailer
March 7, 2006 | 35 Comments
Tonight the new full length X-Men 3: The Last Stand trailer was released. As with all full length trailers, a lot more of the overall plot was revealed. In the previous trailer, it was clear that a major battle was brewing. Magneto had developed an army and was shown destroying the Golden Gate Bridge. In the new trailer the catalyst for this was revealed.
Much like the premise of Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men, a “cure” is found for the gene causing mutations. In reaction to this Magneto is fighting back. We see a lot of conflict even among the good guys. There is so much turmoil and chaos going on, I just can’t wait to see how it all plays out.
More of Angel, Beast, and Juggernaut are shown. For the first time Juggernaut actually looks strong as he goes plowing through walls after Kitty who passes through them cleanly. Additionally various shots of Jean/Phoenix are shown. Her loyalties are obviously in question as she stands against Professor X and in the climactic conclusion of the trailer, begs Wolverine to kill her.
Anyway, go watch the full trailer and hopefully you’ll be as jazzed as I am for May 26th! Come back and comment, I’d love to hear your reactions.
Tags: "astonishing x-men", "The Last Stand", angel, Beast, comic, comic books, Jean Grey, joss whedon, Juggernaut, Kitty Pryde, Magneto, marvel, marvel comics, movie, movies, Phoenix, Professor X, Storm, trailer, whedon, Wolverine, x-men, x-men 3 the last stand, XMen
Digital Comics Unleashed (CBR/CBZ)
February 26, 2006 | 22 Comments
Over the years tons of people have made Flash based digital comics. Most notable to me is Marvel’s dotComics, now re-branded as digital comics. These formats are terrible. I always assumed this meant all digital comics therefore were bad.
Until I discovered the CBR and CBZ formats. These are simply zip or rar files that contain sequentially named JPG files, then are renamed either .cbr or .cbz with the last character indicating the originating format. Creation of this format is therefore trivial. Readers can also be created quite readily. I also love that there is no built-in DRM, but I’m sure the comics industry feels the opposite on that one. I gave my opinion on why they shouldn’t care back when I first started talking about the comic industry needing to go digital.
Anyway, there are some great free readers that have been created for both platforms. On OS X, use FF View. On Windows, use CDisplay. I’ve tried both these programs and they are amazingly well suited to reading comics digitally. The no-frills approach and the surprisingly good quality has me up late reading some independent comics I otherwise would not on my laptop.
Just to prove I’m not the only nut who wants this, I read this on loony blog:
Why would I consider this to be a viable alternative, while the official CD comics that are out there are mostly just a mildly amusing distraction? Because this is just the comic itself. There’s no animation, no music, no cheesy sound effects, just the comic itself, presented in a straightforward manner.
My main reason for wanting this is that I’d love to get all my back issues cheaply in this format so I could go back and read them at my leisure, without reducing the value of the originals through handling. It would also be nice to be able to afford experimenting with series I would not normally read on a whim. $1 an issue would really allow for that.
Similarly, in another comic reader’s article “The comic book industry is ignoring a multi-million dollar revenue stream”, he states:
[…] for the purpose of archiving stuff I physically own, so I can put the paper copies in storage. No small thing!
Here are some examples to try:
- Zone-H Comics - scroll to the bottom for the one linked in CBR format.
- Liberality for All (2.1MB CBZ) - a crazy right wing comic (only to be enjoyed by those with massive head injuries)
Tags: "digital comics", cbr, cbz, comic books, comics, dotcomics, flash, jpg, marvel, marvel comics
Spider-Man: The Other - New Powers Revealed
February 14, 2006 | 9 Comments
In the first Spider-Man crossover since the dreadful clone era stuff of the late ’90s, came January’s conclusion of Spider-Man: The Other.
This 12-part series saw the death and rebirth of Peter Parker. Apparently this followed under some previously unknown ability for spiders to shed their skin once in a lifetime to be reborn anew. Initially the series starts with Peter coming to terms with certain death from an incurable illness. He visits all his major contacts in the Marvel Universe, finally coming up short.
After coming to terms with his assured demise, he finds himself in an amazing fight with Morlun. This ends with Spider-Man in critical condition, at which point Morlun leaves him to die, but not before ripping out his left eye and eating it.
Spider-Man is rushed to the hospital, but his injuries are too severe. A few altercations follow, but I’ll omit the details here… In short, he dies. The death is very well played out. The emotions Mary Jane, Aunt May, and the Avengers as a whole play out is touching. However, this is all happening in like issues 7 & 8 of a known 12-part series with the tag-line “Evolve or Die”. So, with that in mind I’m not sure how they think readers can actually feel as though we’ve lost Peter…
Anyway, he is reborn. All injuries are healed. He’s back to normal, the Peter we know and love. Though there is some lingering oddness, back-story, and twists sure to be played out over the next few years in the Spider-Man series.
The main piece that is sure have long lasting effects in the Spider-Man books, is the unlocking of latent new powers! Spider-Man’s set of powers have more or less gone untouched since his origin in 1962. Certainly nothing as drastic as these changes have occurred.
These are the powers he has discovered so far:
- See in the dark
- Stickiness all over (like he previously had only on his hands)
- “Hear” along his web
- Spikes in his wrists
Apparently in the next issue of Amazing Spider-Man we can expect a new suit revelation, though I’m certain it will not last. For more on the new costume from an article in Newsarama that quotes J. Michael Straczynski:
Between the physical changes to Peter that follow the aftermath of The Other, he gets a second power upgrade courtesy of the ‘Iron Spider’ suit from Stark. What he will discover is that with great power comes not just responsibility but one heck of a price tag. Peter will have to decide if he can pay that price in loyalty to Tony, when the loyalty may cost him things he holds dearest. He will find himself caught in the middle of the Civil War, seeing all sides of the argument, but will be eventually forced to make a decision that will change both his life and the whole Marvel Universes.
One thing is for sure, it’s an exciting time to be a Spider-Man fan!
Tags: avengers, comic, comic book, comic books, comics, costume, iron man, marvel, marvel comics, new avengers, new costume, other, peter parker, powers, spider, spider-man, spiderman, stark, super powers, the other, tony stark
Rekindled Spider-Man Interest
November 19, 2004 | 5 Comments
As a kid I was a big comic book fan. I read a whole pile of random stuff, but I eventually found myself most intrigued by Spider-Man. Something about his balance of troubled real life and super powered hero life kept my attention, like many others. Anyway, I went on to subscribe to “Amazing Spider-Man” for a bunch of years, and additionally sprinkled in a few years subscription of “Spectacular Spider-Man”, “Web of Spider-Man”, and “Spider-Man” Amazing has historically always been the core title for the series. The basic accepted mythology all stems from this title (currently all the way up to #513. I possess #330 consecutively through to #441. At that point the numbering started back at #1 through to #10 or so. At this point I had stopped reading, but hadn’t cancelled my subscription. So, I’m not certain where my numbers stop since I wasn’t paying real close attention at this point. Anyway, when they reached #58 this year, they should really go back to the old numbering with what should be #500. All confusing I realize, but you’ll just have to trust me or go look it up yourself.
A few years ago, just before the new movie came out, I began to start thinking about ol’ spidey again. I dusted off my old comics, read through a bunch, and decided to reup my subscription to Amazing. I read a few issues, but realized two things. First, I was a bit out of it, times had changed, the story had progressed and I was lost. Second, I wasn’t hugely fond of the artwork currently being presented. Ahh, but there was a glimmer of hope!
While trying to search down some back story info I discovered a fantastic website all about Spidey, and extremely thorough, SpiderFan.org. On their site they had an article about another comic, Spider-Girl. I bought an issue and was immediately hooked. Here was the great story telling and art I remembered from Marvel! I then found a paperback that compiled #1-5, unfortunately it isn’t the best quality and is a bit small. Oh well, my main desire is to read the stories, so I guess it’ll have to do.
At this point I was sucked back into the Marvel Universe and wanted to know what other new series were Spider-Man associated and good to read. I picked up a Spectacular and read an online version of Ultimate Spider-Man. Spectacular has an art style I really dislike, and the storyline didn’t seem to fit into any reality I was familiar with. I just couldn’t get accustomed, so I put it aside. The Ultimate series suffered similar confusion for me, but I could see that they had entirely rebuilt the storyline from the ground up here. It was in fact a retelling of the entire mythology, but with a more modern take. This seemed interesting, and the online reviews were very positive. I was able to pick up a great anthology starting from #1 through to #### in Barnes and Noble. I tore through this in 2 days! The writing, artwork, and remastering of this classic series was amazing. Highly suggested to anyone at all interested in Spider-Man. Now I need to try to get caught up to the current issue by buying as many of the trades as possible.
I then found “Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 1″ which is a reprint of Amazing #1-10. It was a lot of fun to read these classics from the 60s. Of course I then had to buy Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4, each containing 10 more issues in succession. This has me convinced that I need to somehow compile the entire Amazing series from #1 all the way up to modern day. Currently the Marvel Masterworks series for Amazing only brings me up through #60. That leaves a gap of 270 issues between there and where my consecutive issues begin. Additionally, there are another 65 or so after my collection ends. The short of it is I have a lot of collecting to do before I can complete this set. My main driving force is to be able to read the story, unabridged, from beginning to end.
The following are some additional compilations I have found that should help me along my way:
Amazing
—————-
MM Vol 5 (41-50)
MM Vol 6 (51-60)
More ASM that might prove useful:
88-92
BO v3 [HC] (2:46-58 & 500)
v2:57-58 & 500-502
503-508
Spider-Girl
—————–
6-11
Ultimate
—————–
ULT HC V4 (40-45 & 47-53)
ULT HC V5 (46 & ULT6 1-7) + V10
=================================================================
Others… But of WAY lower interest/priority…
PPSSM
—————–
2:1-5
2:6-10
2:11-14
Other Others
—————–
Blue
Tags: comics, marvel, marvel comics, spider-girl, spider-man, spidergirl, spiderman, superhero, ultimate spiderman