rogue rage

drive-by readings

The Flash #4 (DC) "Case One: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues, Part Four" Geoff Johns Francis Manapul Brian Buccellato Sal Cipriano Scott Kolins/Michael Atiyeh (variant cover)

what we learned: one of the future Rogues break protocol and actually tells Barry Allen why they're arresting him (of course there's a reason why he would even kill a Rogue - and its one of those damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't things). not far from the formerly washed-up Boomerang's heels, are the present-day Rogues, who apparently can't sit still while watching the conflict unfold on TV.
oh shit moment: the fact that i am reading a Flash comic without Wally West. i mean, i love Geoff Johns and all, but ...
what's next: who's Rogue Leader? i don't know, you tell me.


listen ... somebody has to ink Manapul quick. these pencil sketches are becoming stale.

the weekly hits

no time to do much this holiday weekend, so i'll just settle for doing the weekly hits.

Action Comics #890 (DC)
Paul Cornell/Pete Woods/Brad Anderson/Rob Leigh (covers: David Finch/Joe Weems/Peter Steigerwald)
what we learned: Lex Luthor is a sick devious bastard (yeah i guess you can consider his Earth-Two counterpart mostly from the same cloth). after his stint as an Orange Lantern, he wants to wield any kind of ring again (black?), and he'll stop at nothing to get one. to this end, he invents some kind of black ring energy detecting/mapping device. Woods didn't impress during Amazons Attack! but he's rolling now.
holy shit moment: before he gets started on his plans, a bunch of superpowered beings drop by and kidnap him, culminating in the reveal of their leader ... another certain sick devious bastard in the form of a worm.
what's next: exclamation: awesome!


Wonder Woman #600 (DC)
Gail Simone/Amanda Conner/Louise Simonson/Geoff Johns/J. Michael Straczynski/George Perez/Eduardo Pansica/Scott Kolins/Don Kramer/Scott Koblish/Bob Wiacek/Michael Babinski/Hi-Fi/Paul Mounts/Pete Pantazis/Michael Atiyeh/Alex Sinclair/Travis Lanham/John J. Hill/Nick J. Napolitano (and a bunch of masters of pin-ups!)
what we learned: what else can we say about this that hasn't been said yet? to recap, maybe you should go over to When Fangirls Attack. just remember this issue has five stories in it, not just the costume change.
holy shit moment: personally, i prefer the pin-ups. sue me.
what's next: i want Power Girl to explain "manga monster" to Diana. please? pretty please?


Batman Beyond #1 (DC)
Adam Beechen/Ryan Benjamin/John Stanisci/David Baron/Travis Lanham (cover: Dustin Nguyen, variant: J.H. Williams II)
what we learned: somebody is offing Batman's old enemies, and his name probably rhymes with "slush". also, gimpy old Bruce Wayne needs to be slapped for years of child abuse and slave labor, not even allowing future protege the luxury of sleep.
holy shit moment: "slush".
what's next: "slush".


Justice Society of America #40 (DC)
Bill Willingham/Jesus Merino/Jesse Delperdang/Rob Leigh/Allen Passalaqua
what we learned: i learned that am a little thrown off when the expected thrilling conclusion to a nail-biting story comes off as a post-event narrative. and a long one at that.
holy shit moment: Obsidian is gay? really? i probably don't read enough! dammit! and him and his old man hate the Yankees? oh no, they didn't!!
what's next: apparently, something called the Dark Things, and a(nother) crossover with the JLA.


Thor #611 (Marvel)
Kieron Gillen/Rich Elson/Andy Troy/Joe Sabino (cover: Mico Suayan/Laura Martin)
what we learned: oh Loki, what have ye wrought? even in death (and i use that term loosely, because we all know the bugger is alive), his mischief yields other bad things, as the Disir, the cursed dead-eating maidens of Bor, now servants to Mephisto, wants to have the Asgardian dead under Hela's protection to be on their all-you-can-eat menu.
holy shit moment: the Disir are no slouches in combat. Hela? regular unbelieving Asgardian? (motions finger across throat)
what's next: are we gonna see a Mephisto/Disir orgy? whoooooaaaaa. you did not just imagine that in your head.


Secret Avengers #2 (Marvel)
Ed Brubaker/Mike Deodato/Will Conrad/Rain Beredo/Dave Lanphear (cover: Marko Djurdjevic)
what we learned: the mystery of the Serpent Crown deepens. we know Nova got taken over by the Crown, and he's without his Worldmind helmet. its strangely appealing to see Moon Knight addressing Steve as "Commander" and generally being a team player, and for Rhodey not to take any BS from the rookie hero Eric O'Grady.
holy shit moment: there are three crowns?
what's next: who. is. this. Nick. Fury? Jake?


Astonishing X-Men #34 (Marvel)
Warren Ellis/Phil Jimenez/Andy Lanning/Frank D'Armata/Joe Caramagna
what we learned: Armor is 8 years old, Storm can read topography with the weather patterns, and their newest villain's aspirations and breadth of work may rival Bastion's in the current Second Coming crossover.
holy shit moment: you may want the action part. but the opening philosophical debate between Hank McCoy and Scott Summers was a long time in coming.
what's next: who is this Kaga, and why is he bald and in a wheelchair?


Flash #3 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato/Sal Cipriano (variant cover: Greg Horn)
what we learned: Barry Allen is being set up for murder and a bunch of future Rogues (Renegades) are trying to arrest him. also the original Cap'n Boomerang is back, trim and fit. see, there's hope for fat people like me who have one foot in the grave.
holy shit moment: the reborn Digger Harkness can conjure up energy boomerangs from thin air? take that, Fred Myers!
what's next: i hope its a punch up or a team up between Barry and Digger, as i'm warming up to this series ...


Death of Dracula (one shot) (Marvel)
Victor Gischler/Guiseppe Camuncoli/Onofrio Cattachio/Frank D'Armata/Jeff Eckleberry (cover: Camuncoli/Marko Djurdjevic)
what we learned: capitalizing on #twihard, the vampires are about to make a return splash to the MU. apparently, there's a bunch of vampire sects operating out there ruled by Lord Dracula (huh? didn't he die in Captain Britain & MI:13?), and his son Xarus decides that they should stop trying to keep to themselves and mounts a coup (hence the title of this book). he's got an ace up his sleeve - they can now become daywalkers, you see. his other son Janus is on the other side of the fence, and in this regard, he may have to call the X-Men. or Blade.
holy shit moment: well, the death of Dracula, duh. although it was too easy. even the MU heroes had a hard time beating him.
what's next: We Are the X-Men. Gischler takes over mutant writer duties.

things i liked this week

Siege #4 (Marvel)
Brian Michael Bendis/Olivier Coipel/Mark Morales/Laura Martin/Chris Eliopoulos (variant covers: Gabrielle Dell'Otto/Joe Quesada/Danny Miki/Richard Isanove)

and that's the fall of Norman Osborn in four tidy chapters. the world is right again, and don't you give too much credence to those who complain. i for one am glad the Blackest Night Dark Reign is over, and let's get back to our shiny happy heroes doing the one good thing for the first time in a long time: playing together again.

Dark Avengers #16 (Marvel)
Brian Michael Bendis/Mike Deodato/Rain Beredo/Cory Petit
a thrill-an-issue ride comes to a fitting end. in Hollywood, they might treat this as a franchise and churn out unworthy sequels. in Marvel, they ... whooops, don't give them any ideas! (wait, it is the House of Ideas after all ...)

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 (DC)
Grant Morrison/Chris Sprouse/Karl Story/Guy Major/Jared Fletcher
who doesn't want to see prehistoric Batman? crusader Batman? pirate Batman? revolutionary soldier Batman? Zulu Batman? WW2 infantryman Batman? disco roller Batman? wait, are they all available in action figures? count me in!!!

Birds of Prey #1 (DC)
Gail Simone/Ed Benes/Nei Ruffino/Steve Wands
aaaand they're back as well. this should be a consistent highly-touted title, and maybe Gail Simone can make this work again. not sure about Ed Benes who didn't exactly totally wow us in the Justice League reboot, but is actually returning to a book he did before. i want to enjoy this ride, and its with the usual suspects (Oracle, Huntress, Zinda and Black Canary) with a few new ones (Hawk & Dove). Hawkgirl should also be here from time to time. let's go, Birds! woooo-wooooo!


Black Widow #2 (Marvel)
Marjorie Liu/Daniel Acuña/Nate Piekos (variant cover: Stephanie Hans)
whu-? how the hell did i miss the first issue? after looking up images of Ms. Liu on the 'Net, man, am sold! i mean she's the reason why Daken's in touch with his feminine side. seriously, here's the premise: someone's gunning for 'Tasha, and she's suddenly like public enemy number one. we see Clint rocking the Hawkeye duds again, so its already the Heroic Age. hello, can't someone vouch for her? and will see that fake ass bitch Widow Yelena again? probably.


War of the Supermen #2 (DC)
Sterling Gates/James Robinson/Eduardo Pansica/Wayne Faucher/Blond/John J. Hill (cover: Eddy Barrows/J.P. Mayer/Rod Reis, variant cover: Aaron Lopresti/Matt Ryan/Brad Anderson)
hmmm. maybe it is fun to see arrogant Kryptonians and equally-douchebaggy Earthmen duke it out. i dont know, though, who's the most loathsome: Lex Luthor, General Lane or General Zod. whatever, i hope they all get sent to the Phantom Zone then play tag with Prometheus' ghost or something.


Justice League: Generation Lost #1 (DC)
Judd Winick/Keith Giffen/Aaron Lopresti/Matt Ryan/Hi-Fi/Sal Cipriano

right, your best friend-turned-evil Max Lord is back in town and he just gave everyone the shivers. even worse, he just made you forget he ever existed. JLI and FKATJL fans, don't expect the ha-ha-ha this time around, if only because Kevin Maguire isn't involved in the interiors.

Daytripper #6 (DC/Vertigo)
Fabio Moon/Gabriel Ba/Dave Stewart/Sean Konot
the melancholy daytripping continues. Moon and Ba find these stories that are tailor-made to pinch your heart. some people might say, if God existed, He works in mysterious ways, and we have no control over our destiny, because its been already set. so why bother living? should we not fear the unknown, but be always ready for the ride to come to a grinding halt?

Amazing Spider-Man #631 (Marvel)
Zeb Wells/Emma Rios/Chris Bachalo/Tim Townsend/Jaime Mendoza/Antonio Fabela/Joe Caramagna (variant cover: Doug Braithwaite)
let me just ask one question: how is it that Peter has not yet been driven insane with all the crap he has to deal with since Brand New Day? well, the answer might be it gets balanced because he gets to be in a happy place when he's with the Avengers ... (Chris Bachalo, your scaly lizards rock!!)


Avengers: The Initiative #35 (Marvel)
Christos Gage/Jorge Molina/Andrew Hennessy/Edgar Delgado/Joe Caramagna (cover: David Yardin)
and this is the end of the Initiative. though you're somewhat required to check out the other books for certain events in here, it doesn't detract much as a bookend to almost three years worth of stories of Avengers-in-training. some loose ends will still be loose ends (the Baron, the robbin' Hood) and some issues are open-ended (Diamondback and Constrictor). bonus: gratuitous T&A shots of suddenly-a-MILF Tigra. oh yeah.

doesn't he have the Skrull Hank's eyes?

Flash #2 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato/Sal Cipriano (variant: Ryan Sook)
this merits a "like" because am a bit intrigued where Johns is going with this (with that, should i also say, "Wally West, we hardly knew ye"?). on the flipside, its just the second issue and Manapul's backgrounds have been barely there or completely disappeared. is it because 'everything's a blur' with this title?

no Flash on iPad

you want proof? here's your goddamned proof! (via walyou.com)

snaps: Blackest Night: Flash #1

... where still more dead people mess with both our speedsters and rogues. and Skott Kolins' art makes it a lot more ... dirtier than it already is.

1) as opposed to the number of people you've killed over the years. thought i'd bring that up.


2) hmmm ... maybe you should ask the next guy on this list ...


3) ... only because he "raids rainbows" and he might be able to create white light all by himself, instead of waiting for all those Lanterns to come together. oh wait, he's dead too.


4) sure. would you like Left 4 Dead 2 or Dead Rising 2?


5) Scott Kolins' art is just .... amazing. NOT.

death is everywhere

drive-by readings

Blackest Night #3 (DC) Geoff Johns Ivan Reis Oclair Albert Joe Prado Alex Sinclair Nick Napolitano Ethan Van Sciver/Hi-Fi (variant cover)

ok, maybe brute force is the answer to kill these Black Lanterns. turns out the Indigo Lanterns (representing compassion, natch!) hold the key or at least the plan on how to beat them. hint: you have to be gay. you know, like a rainbow? no? sigh.

since when did Ralph talk like the Joker? Atom "hates being in the dark" yet shrank to minutiae in the blackness post-Jean Loring imprisonment. right now, we are still in Barry/Hal-centric mode (as this is indeed, for all intents and purposes, a GL-driven crossover). and we get some Firestorm love as it looks like the new version isn't up to snuff. heh. snuff.

we also have a heart to heart talk between Barry and Hal regarding their philosophies. i thought i'd never write that sentence except when looking back at old Justice League stories. i thought we moved past that, had Kyle and Wally. nope ... back to old. what are the bets that Grant Morrison's reconstituted Batman will be reversed down the line and they'll bring back Bruce Wayne back?

but anyway - we get more dead people coming back (hell, the dead obviously outnumber living people at this point, so from a numbers standpoint, the heroes have no chance). note that they're all in the JLA HQ in Washington, DC, and they have all their dead in the building! so you see Maxwell Lord getting out of his cadaver with his head(!) still attached. (and is that a piece of Wonder Woman's lasso around his neck?) things look bleak around here, the Purple Ones notwithstanding.

Nok Klek. this means you ain't seen nothing yet.

have a better 2009, geeks!

grinding halt

they restored the Speed Force to him, but it looks like Wally West will be off the books for awhile.


because Mr. DiDio has something up his sleeve!



oh, brilliant. let's just burn all our copies of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Marv Wolfman just committed suicide.

green machine

this geekfest appeared in Men's Fitness (May 2006), with consultancy provided by Jim McLauchlin (ex-writer/editor, Wizard Magazine). its Superhero Survivor, and not everyone will agree with the results. obviously a lot has happened since then.

right off the bat, am not sure, because the Surfer just regained the power Cosmic. although Planet Hulk showed the Hulk could, ... still.

only if they're talking of this Superfriends-version Aquaman, who's a putz. the hook-version Aquaman would stab Diana in the chest just to check if they were made of silicon. ok, ok, Diana by sucker punch.

naaahhh ... not true. Rogue can absorb Spidey's powers temporarily and turn the tables on him. he needs one lucky punch. only Remy can distract Rogue.

i'll admit this could go down Stewart's way, but more so if Hal was the one in costume. plus Cap's dead at this time. duh.

what the hell-? Veronica could have slipped Archie a few Kryptonite pebbles, courtesy of her father's vast connections to the movers and shakers, like, say, Bruce Wayne, no? dumbass.

"tough guy over nerd"? what is this, high school? Mr. Fantastic would neutralize Daredevil easily, if only he could get out of his lab.

i think i'd agree here, but only by a hair. both are rich, well-trained, cunning strategists, and always think 20 steps ahead of the opposition. so i guess the only advantage would be ... who's the most stable and yet has the hottest chick. Storm (Mrs. T'Challa) beats any of Bruce Wayne's chick flavor of the month.

but Wolverine's senses would pick up Wally way before he can get close. Wally'd better make sure he vibrates through Logan's brain and heart, before his body realizes its jogging through China without a head.

did anyone download that porn version of this battle?



that's the "strongest weapon in the universe" for you, but who's asking. anyway, without the will, the 'wishing ring' would be nothing. Spidey's only prayer is to snatch the bling before John does his thing.

again, where's the damn Kryptonite?? chances are, Daredevil would have better odds winning a court case against Superman, than actually going up against him.

disagree. the Panther would figure out a way to slow Wally down. if not, there's always those two frogs.

yeah, forget Doomsday ... Superman would die a second time if he threw the Hulk into that damned planet and Hulk thinks he killed his wife and unborn son. there's a What If for you, Joe & Dan!

uh oh! a fight between two symbolic best friends. i can't even vote on this.


and duh-dun-duhhn!!!! the final battle is ... all green.


Hulk rakes the green!

cliffhanger of the week #9

#7 - I Don't See The Light

what is our resident DC rapist up to? no good, of course. attempting to burglarize Superman's fortress only results in a beatdown by Batman. trouble is, where did Dr. Light disappear to? DC Nation wants to know!

Superman/Batman #43 (DC)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Mike McKone/Jonathan Glapion/Rebecca Buchman/Jason Wright/Rob Leigh


#6 - Show Me The Money

hey, superheroes need to send kids to college too. can you imagine how much pampers and twinkies and toys cost? its enough to drive a man to crime! and if you're the Flash, it'll be so easy!

The Flash #238 (DC)
Tom Peyer/Freddie Williams III/Tanya & Richard Horie/Travis Lanham

#5 - We Started the Fire

aside from a big explosion, a gun to the head of a protagonist or a protagonist's loved one is definitely cliffhanger material. and so it is found here in Robert Kirkman's long-running zombie epic, where much blood is once again spilled with the evil Governor's assault on the prison survivors. poor Rick Grimes. just can't catch a break.

The Walking Dead #47 (Image)
Robert Kirkman/Charlie Adlard/Cliff Rathburn/Rus Wooton

#4 - Kids Don't Play Nice

the point of the Initiative was to train superpowered kids in the use of their powers. so far all they've done is get manipulated by scheming adults and fight each other. right now, a formerly-dead MVP is wiping the floor with the Initiative recruits, and in a desperate gambit to use a clean MVP clone to use against the bad one, the kids run into the Justice-led New Warriors, who think doing the right thing is enough, so they have to do some posturing. basically, there is no difference between kids and adults when it comes to pissing contests.

Avengers: The Initiative #10 (Marvel)
Dan Slott/Christos N. Gage/Stefano Caselli/Daniel Rudoni/Joe Caramagna


#3 - Secret War

the war between the Penguin and the Whale is heating up. this is just like Happy Feet duking it out with Free Willy for the kids' attention at the box office! woooohooo!! and in between, a bird gets shot ... TFCKANW (the former Robin currently known as Nightwing). wooohoooo!

Gotham Underground #6 (DC)
Frank Tieri/Jim Calafiore/Jack Purcell/Mark McKenna/Brian Reber/Sal Cipriano

#2 - Danny's Got A Plan

yes, those words do not fill me with confidence either. but at least something's about to blow up, because i kind of got letdown with the pseudo-Mortal Kombat tournament they were hyping a few issues ago. please ... its time for more punching and kicking, less talking.

The Immortal Iron Fist #13 (Marvel)
Matt Fraction/Ed Brubaker/Tonci Zonjic/David Aja/Kano/Matt Hollingsworth/Artmonkey Studios

#1 - Time to Die

when you reach #49, you better make sure you got a cliffhanger. and Robert Kirkman knows this too well. Mark Grayson faces a grave betrayal, and we can't wait for next month to arrive.

Invincible #49 (Image)
Robert Kirkman/Ryan Ottley/Bill Crabtree/Rus Wooton

ringo! rules

damn, i missed this news ...

"Everything is moving in slow-motion this morning. I have never worked with anyone more talented than Mike, more on my exact creative wavelength, and likely never will. Mike was one of the very best friends I have ever had and without question one of the two best partners. Someone remind Barry Kitson to keep taking care of his health, because if he goes, there's really no point to me ever sitting down to a keyboard ever again."

- Mark Waid, via CBR



R.I.P., Mike Wieringo.