on break

goodbye, Hurricane Earl!

also, gimme a break before figuring out what to do with my template, as i just discovered its the same as one sentientforcefieldblogspot.com. sorry, TS.

the weekly hits

Birds of Prey #2 (DC)
Gail Simone/Ed Benes/Adriana Melo/Mariah Benes/Nei Ruffino/Steve Wands

what we learned: someone has successfully set up the reunited Birds, particularly Black Canary, to be fugitives from the law.
holy shit moment: Black Canary and the Huntress throw down on the White Canary, but she barely flinches. also, isn't it weird to have infamous macho Hank Hall standing with the sexy birds - considering Hall is just Guy Gardner with super-strength minus a power ring?
what's next: who's this White Canary? don't tell me someone kidnapped Sin, force-grew her to adulthood and brainwashed her to hate Dinah. also, Oracle apparently realized someone out-nerded her (is it Calculator? nope, he's just been asskicked in the pages of Batgirl, depending on the shipping schedule), and now will debug the program. girl po-wahh!!

avatar of peace and hotness! ay caramba!

The Boys #43 (Dynamite Entertainment)
Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson/Richard P. Clark/Simon Bowland/Tony Aviña

what we learned: things get finally sorted out as Mother's Milk gets in the Butcher's face, and Wee Hughie pays a bit o' a price for defending Superduper against Malchemical (who's apparently not as resilient as Metamorpho)
holy shit moment: what would happen if Mother's Milk and Butcher went at it? schism!
what's next: Homelander's up to something. and hey, when is everyone going to find out about Hughie and Annie?

Executive Assistant Iris #5 (Aspen)
David Wohl/Brad Foxhoven/Eduardo Francisco/Alex Lei/John Starr/Josh Reed

what we learned: love exacts a high price, if you're in the business of killing people.
holy shit moment: Iris thinks she can still have her cake and eat it too, but too late.
what's next: beware a woman's wrath, especially if said woman can kill you without breaking a sweat in a heartbeat.

New Avengers #1 (Marvel)
Brian Michael Bendis/Stuart Immonen/Wade Von Grawbadger/Laura Martin/Chris Eliopoulos

Basically, a catch-all book for the rest of the Avengers who are not on the main "Big Guns" team. and more likely it will be a team-up book with non-Avengers as well. Bendis dialogue is dead on as usual. putting Victoria Hand as their coordinator/liaison is sure to ratchet up tensions, especially with Jessica Jones. hell, Hand is a lot easier to the eye than Henry Gyrich and Duane Freeman.

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1 (America's Best Comics/Wildstorm/DC)
Peter Hogan/Chris Sprouse/Karl Story/Todd Klein/Carrie Strachan
aaaaaaaaaaaaaand he's back. and fighting in a timeline hijacked by Nazis. well, not exactly Nazis. Aryan Supremacists. led by his son, Albrecht. and you thought your life was bad.

Incredible Hulk #610 (Marvel)
Greg Pak/Paul Pelletier/Danny Miki/Frank D'Armata/Simon Bowland (covers: John Romita Jr./Klaus Janson/Dean White)
you know its always attention-grabbing when the Hulk slams down for a groundbreaking appearance. yes, you heard what i said. The. Hulk.

Brightest Day #4 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Peter Tomasi/Ivan Reis/Ardian Syaf/Scott Clark/Oclair Albert/Vicente Cifuentes/David Beaty/Peter Steigerwald/John Starr/Rob Clark Jr. (covers: Finch/Scott Williams/Steigerwald, Reis/Chuck Pires)

what we learned: ummm, Hawkpersons are not in Peru anymore. Deadman is more interesting dead, and something is taking the water out of people and places. or maybe its just Firestorm.
holy shit moment: umm, splash pages with Dove and some Mera-like babe with a water sword?
what's next: i'm barely with this series, only because i want to see the inevitable clash between Aquaman and Black Manta.

Shayera/Kendra will not cut it in Last Comic Standing.

New Mutants #14 (Marvel)
Zeb Wells/Ibraim Roberson/Lan Medina/Nathan Fox/Brian Reber/Matt Milla/Jose Villarubia/Joe Caramagna (covers: Adi Granov/David Finch/Matt Banning/Peter Steigerwald)
what we learned: conveniently, we have Legion on rehab/standby, and with a nifty machine that can project any one of his mutant personalities at will (they have all this fancy gadgetry but they have to depend on the outside world for food. go figure.). meanwhile, X-Force is making headway in shutting down Nimrod Central. also
holy shit moment: not sure if i've seen it before but Colossus having his arm broken? yeeeech.
what's next: Magneto is about to join the fray. finally!!!! (and i hope Hope does too.)

take, this broken arm, and learn to punch again, learn to swing so free.

Crossed: Family Values #2 (Avatar Press)
David Lapham/Javier Barreno/Julien Huggonard-Bert/DigiKore Studios (covers: Jacen Burrows/Paul Duffield/Michael DiPascale/JuanMar)

what we learned: the Pratts have relocated and rebuilt their community in Montana, but its only the winter that separates them from the Crossed.
holy shit moment: how many do you want? the Mormon bishops reduced to their basic instincts? the studying of a Crossed specimen? or that Daddy Pratt is still up to his old ways?
what's next: the inspiration is The Walking Dead, but David Lapham has taken Garth Ennis' horrifying concept of zombies with id gone wild and ran with it. what would Addy do now that it seems like there is no lesser evil?

drive-by readings: Executive Assistant Iris #1

Executive Assistant Iris #1 (Aspen) "Risky Business" Dave Wohl Brad Foxhoven Eduardo Francisco John Starr Josh Reed

this title may suffer from too many syllables in the long run - can we call it "Ex-Ass Iris" instead? jokes aside, one of the last few properties co-created by the late Michael Turner has some promise. who wouldn't want your boombastic vava-voom personal secretary to be your personal bodyguard as well? (not to mention, your personal ... mmm-mmmm.) scripted by chicks-and-sharp-things writer Dave Wohl (Witchblade), this comic is practically selling itself to be a movie starring Zhang Ziyi. you saw that line of people beating down Mark Millar's door for Kick-Ass? c'mon, let's make it happen people!!

FJMa party

Fil The Heat: Francis J Manapul/Iron and the Maiden/Witchblade
continuing our series on Filipino comic book artists who have kicked down the door to the big time.

over the other side of Great Lakes (Lake Ontario to be exact), lives (and works) one Francis Manapul, formerly of the Witchblade family and now the regular artist for Iron and the Maiden (stop snickering now), the first creator-owned work for Aspen Comics. the title is the brainchild of videogame impresario Jason Rubin (Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Dexter).

Iron and the Maiden is described as "a cross between a '30's gangster film, Escape from New York, and Beauty and the Beast." the lead character is Michael James Iron, a conflicted enforcer for the Syndicate, who gets betrayed by his mob associates and left for dead, kicking off this cartoonish yet violent series.

you could almost taste the Joe Madureira influence, and for good reason - Joe Mad made the initial character designs. but with proper finishing, Manapul's art looks and feels like a more polished and spanking version of Madureira's.

despite the excessive anatomical renditions (hey, there's an explanation for that - 'roids), the characters can be fun, like the boss villain Big Daddy, a douchebag midget with a mechanical foot, a yen for hair products and an overcompensating ego.

the huge Iron, a product of a steroid-centric supersoldier program, leads a charmed existence but has been growing a conscience - which blooms into maturity when a greedy associate turns on him and betrays him to Big Daddy. did i say he was huge? even Shaq would fit in one of his shoes.

Mr. Manapul's art is quite better in dynamic action sequences, because you get the odd sense of stiffness when characters are just posing or standing around.

case in point: i always had trouble rendering this particular position; apparently, so does Mr. Manapul.

some Witchblade covers which both sway between awesome and stiff.



dynamic? here's a couple that jumped out at me:

some character designs are fun, despite the obvious influences; here's Deadpan Louie, an self-absorbed alcoholic Irish thug (hey, stereotype!)

and Drop Dead Mike, a knife-wielding psycho, who's interesting enough to last more than one issue.

and of course, no artist worth his salt can't claim to be one if he can't draw a beautiful babe (Angel Chase).

Mr. Manapul also runs into trouble with cityscapes and the like; i don't know if its the scale or the perspective, but there's something off about it. and again with the stiffness. people seem to be just standing there, and there's no sense of motion.

even when there's supposed to be (motion), it still doesn't feel right. there's a flying-car chase happening, and people are just walking by, minding their own business. do we point the finger at Mr. Manapul for this, or Mr. Joel Gomez (who's always credited with "backgrounds")?

click on the couple of scenes below to form your own critique.

i think Witchblade was more a challenge for Mr. Manapul, what with all the intricacies you need to render for that body armor.

did i mention Mr. Manapul can draw babes? Sara and the Magdalena ... mm-mmm!



here's a question: what's with the chessboard floor that keeps appearing everywhere (mostly in his new work)








note the broken floorwork on the left - and the absence of it on the right.


did i mention again that he can draw babes?


last question: why is this cop Manetti smoking while in a firefight? correction, a losing firefight. oh that's right, he's losing that's why he needs a ciggie.

Mr. Manapul is a rising star no doubt, with his dynamic artwork and sense of grandeur, he just needs a bit more consistency and perhaps we shall see him soon in either of the Big Two's stables.

select images from francismanapul.com; the rest are from uh, public files.