snaps: Wolverine/Wendigo one shot

... where Wolverine takes on the Wendigo, one more time. and on Thor, which turns out to be a much-cliched somebody-got-mind-controlled situation (ho-hum). oh, and the God of Thunder is introduced to jägermeisters! Frank Tieri's not called a hard-hitting writer for nothin'.

hey, be thankful its not a Sasquatch documentary - Walter Langkowski did a lot more than groping!!


Alpha Flight: Canada's finest ... beer. so sad.

let me get this straight: Tony Stark entrusted enough information to the underground Avengers to bring his comatose body to Broxton, Oklahoma for Dr. Donald Blake. but here, it looks Logan just goes to check out the place because he has no idea what the hell is going on. outstanding.

and he goes straight to a bar sponsored by ... Pepsi. ooohhh, tough.

ok ... Logan's got a brother? a pain-in-the-ass brother?? did he decapitate him recently? or is this pesky sibling still alive? do tell us, bro!!!

the dying years

drive-by readings

Punisher: Noir #2 (Marvel) "Punisher & Son" Frank Tieri Paul Azaceta Nick Filardi Joe Sabino Tim Bradstreet (cover) Dennis Calero (variant cover)

the Noir flavor of Marvel is getting a good push, and its probably a good thing not to overload the market with Noir titles just to capitalize on sales numbers (if ever) - but you never know with these marketing geniuses. Punisher is the perfect candidate for the Noir treatment, and let's hope they keep delivering interesting yarns.

last issue was the setup - Frank Castelione doesn't want to pay protection money so he gets on the bad side of legendary mobster Dutch Schultz. Schultz' men either get killed by the Punisher or get their fingers chopped off by Schultz. hmmmmm, not much choice there. so he calls in the big guys (gleefully, its Barracuda and Jigsaw), and ends up with a dead Frank Castle on the floor. oh, wait, i know what's gonna happen next - he'll be resurrected by angels and appointed a demon killer. no? really??

Frank Tieri packs a lot of stuff in here, although its not wholly original as Detective Soap makes an appearance - a slight changeup with him being able to figure out Castle immediately - and the Russian. the latter is not as funny as Garth Ennis' creation, and i was thinking he'd appear as in Coney Island later down the line. but apparently he's also dead at this point. bummer.

drive-by readings: Punisher: Noir #1

Punisher: Noir #1 (Marvel) "Home is Where the War Is" Frank Tieri Paul Azaceta Nick Filardi Joe Sabino Tim Bradstreet (cover) Dennis Calero (variant cover)

the Punisher finally gets the Noir treatment, and it makes a lot more sense because he's not really a superhero being retrofitted to the '20s. this time, he's a WWI veteran/widower who's trying to raise a son and run his grocery in the Bronx (oy, there's a Mr. Bumpo sighting). who else rears its ugly head but the Mafia? Dutch Schultz, come on down! this looks to be the return to the pure version of the Punisher, the concept of what he was, in the proper original context. bring the popcorn.

the light is green

World War Hulk sightings:

the scum known as Ant-Man has been swallowed by the Hulk. well, actually Ant-Man wanted to take the Hulk down from within. turns out he can't. so he settles for other extra-curricular activities.

i'm not even gonna think about that Red Zone deodorant in Holku's stomach.

pretty soon, Eric's karma comes back and slaps him upside the head. yaaaaaaaaaaay.

i'm all for Mitch shooting O'Grady right then and there. but there's something compelling about extending this story for awhile. its like watching a dangerous animal go about its business - you have to kill it now but somehow you're fascinated. until it bites you in the ass. its not everyday that you get stories within the Marvel Universe that deal with the people in between - kinda like Frontline but more fun and grating and gleefully annoying all at the same time.

let me ask you: is that General T-Bolt Ross' tongue, or his lower lip is just too protruding?

the respected Dr. Bruce Banner, a milksop? no waaaaaaaaaay. say, General, isn't that your Army being torn to pieces right now?

another old nemesis, General John Stryker (ambitious soldiers probably change their names when they know they can make it to the top - i mean does "Colonel Rudy Gay" or "General Stewie Ottum" sound badass to you?) has put-together, secretly of course, a team of Hulkbusters (a bunch of Gamma-powered nutcases). why? because he knew that the Hulk would be shot into space and would come back soon enough. yeah, sure.

whatever reasons Stryker had then for trying to capture the Hulk (to study him and use the knowledge to heal his cancer-stricken wife Lucy), there's none of them now as Stryker is a fugitive (a rich and connected one, nonetheless) and only his proposition to solve the Hulk problem saves him from a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison.

leading the team is someone with ties to the Hulk as well - the late Glenn Talbot's bro, Brian. and to shock us readers, he's called Grey and he's actually grey (a nod, of course, to the Hulk's very first incarnation). but he looks Mexican to me.

we've been promised by the head honchos during the NYCC that the Gamma Corps are supposed to be really hardcore, badass individuals (which is why they had - cough, cough - tough guy Frank Tieri writing it). we'll see. i want to see dead people, people. dead, i say.

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The Irredeemable Ant-Man #10
Robert Kirkman/Phil Hester
World War Hulk: Gamma Corps #1
Frank Tieri/Carlos Ferreira/Sandu Florea

coming out of the dark

The Darkness/Wolverine
Frank Tieri/Tyler Kirkham
Top Cow/Marvel


its already the 21st century, and they're still doing intercompany crossovers? who in Rob Liefeld's name thought about this?



seriously, The Darkness/Wolverine one-shot seems to be out of place in this day and age, although the era it belonged probably didn't do the much for the appeal of such endeavors. too much crossing over, not enough food for thought. Punisher/Archie, anyone?

Frank Tieri (not the mobster), hard-hitting writer of Wolverine, comes up with a barely passable plot to get these two characters in some shared universe without compromising their own respective worlds. to set up, everyone knows Wolverine (or do they?), but The Darkness is a strange character, a gangster resurrected by demons and eventually wields control over such powerful demonic forces. his mailing address is "Mr. T. Darkness, Brooklyn, NY 11201". just like Wolverine, has a fairly convoluted history and storyline (although ol' canucklehead has got the head start on him on "confusing").


the current wielder of the Darkness, one Jackie Estacado, had a grandfather, a Spanish mercenary/assassin named Roberto. back in WWII France, Roberto is hired by the Nazis to off Logan for ... gee, i don't know, for vandalizing Hitler posters? ... for helping the Allies. needless to say, Roberto, despite also having control of the Darkness (what, it's a generational thing? like retardation?), ends up chopped meat.

Logan was a sought-after free agent in the butcher market

needless to say, the demons that make up the Darkness never forgot, and in the present day, tries to coerce Jackie to avenge his grampa Robert, when he runs into Logan in a bar by chance (we all know Logan is as old as Jesus Christ, and his healing factor never lets him down). so everyone who bought this book thought they were in for some big-ass slashing, cutting throwdown. right? right???


nah. Jackie figures he controls the Darkness, not the other way around. so he raises a toast to Wolverine, and teams up with him to beef up the meat market (aaaawwwwww).


Tyler Kirkham wants to be an Alex Ross though he's not there yet. there's a general air of stiffness (stiffness? meat? what the hell-!) in his layouts, but some shots are gorgeous.

so if Tieri thinks the fanboys will go happy nuts over this ... Logan has some advice for him: