come on down

drive-by readings

Wolverine #1 (Marvel) "Wolverine Goes to Hell, Part One" "Last Stand of the Silver Samurai: Scorched Earth Chapter One" Jason Aaron Renato Guedes/Jason Latour Jose Wilson Magalhaes Matt Wilson/Rico Renzi Cory Petit Jae Lee/June Chung (cover) Steve McNiven/Dexter Vines/Justin Ponsor/Marko Djurdjevic/Art Adams (variant covers)

what we learned: i mistook the hype for this new direction as Daken taking over Wolverine's body while Logan being sent to Hell. but that would've been a cooler premise: its one thing to be reconditioned by the Hand, its another to have switch souls and personalities between two mortal shells. what would the Avengers and X-Men do? kill him? but i digress. some mysterious party (called the Red Right Hand - 'allo, Nick Cave - purported to be the vengeful hand of God) wants Wolverine and his family/friends taken out, and some demon has taken over his body (taking on John Wraith for starters). next up: Logan's current galpal Melita, who's oddly rescued by Mystique. over in Japan, the RRH puts a hit on Kenuichio Harada, and it looks like he doesn't survive the experience.
oh shit moment: you know there's a demon in Wolverine, but that doesn't make it any easier.
what's next: who are these Red Right Handers? kin of people Logan killed over the century?


will.i.am was already goddamned sick of "My Humps".

under the sea

drive-by readings

Curse of the Mutants: Namor #1 (Marvel) "Royal Blood: Part One" Stuart Moore Ariel Olivetti Joe Caramagna Jae Lee/June Chung (cover) Joe Quesada/Danny Miki/Richard Isanove (variant cover)

what we learned: in order to combat the rise of the vampires, Atlantean royal douche and current X-Man Namor swims to the depths to find the Aqueos - the age old underwater vampires who may have the head of Dracula (which they need to revive the vampire king, and let him go apeshit on those who whacked him and took his throne). not an easy task, as his own regiment guarding the abandoned Atlantis was decimated, and his only allies at the moments are the Tridents, who look down upon him as nothing but an errand boy for the humans. also, its nice to see Jae Lee come back and do the covers.
oh shit moment: ever been surrounded by fish? how about vampire fish? or vampire mermen?
what's next: the Aqueos just passed a resolution to declare war against Namor and his allies. fish fight! fish fight!


for a few seconds there, Namor considered the woman's advances. you know he did.

drive-by readings: Dark Reign: Mr Negative #3

Dark Reign: Mr Negative #3 (Marvel) "Negative Reinforcement" Fred Van Lente Gianluca Gugliotta Ronda Pattison Andres Mossa Antonio Fabela Dave Lanphear Jae Lee/June Chung (cover)

the prolific Mr. Van Lente wraps up the Mr. Negative origin story, and the best of all, it all starts from my very first Spectacular Spider-Man issue (#64, the origin of Cloak and Dagger). it positions Mr. Negative in an ambiguous light, as he neither totally is with the good or the bad guys (although you would think he'd pick a better name, no?). the art is a bit lacking compared to the story, though i must admit i stared a lot longer at those panels with Betty Brant in fragrante delicto - umm, well you know. now imagine those panels in the hands of Frank Cho or Terry Dodson. that's all positive!

some Devil

"The Universe"
v2, #65
Brian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev/
Michael Golden/Greg Horn/P. Craig
Russell/Phil Hester/Ande Parks/
Chris Bachalo/Tim Townsend/
Jae Lee/David Finch/Frank Quitely

yeah, so that's another 2 months off the books ... geez. if this was a paying job, i'd been fired oh-so-long-ago. so i'm grateful it isn't.

but what about my minuscule audience, who have been starving on my take on DD for the longest time? i apologize, but i probably will get to issue #100 when in real time, they'll be putting out issue #200.

for now let us subsist on the 40th anniversary of the man in red tights, issue #65, an all-star extravaganza, which doesn't advance the current storyline, but adds layers to the mythos and makes Daredevil the treat that it is.

back to where we left off ... Daredevil's been outed to the press, his personal life is a mess ... what else is there to say? well, apparently, the ageless Mr. High and Mighty Nick Fury has a few words.

"i'm THE SPY. it's what i do." that made me chortle.

very few people would not shit in their pants when Fury starts talking tough. Matt is one of those (uhm, on account of being blind, perhaps ...?).

Fury offers Matt a way out, to be a full-fledged S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. he would have an easier time rehabbing A.I.M. and make them all Red Cross volunteers.

ok, how much does anybody want to bet that the reason why Fury has been missing all these years is that he went underground to prepare against the upcoming Skrull invasion (the future crossover i call World War Skrull, but commonly known as Secret Invasion)?

this special issue is an all star jam showcasing Matt's relationship with certain characters in the Marvel Universe at this particular juncture, and is led off by the highly esteemed Michael Golden. next up is a splash page special by one of my favorite cover artists, Greg Horn, whose brilliant visuals on Spiderman's reflections on Matt keep fueling my dream that he'd be doing interiors one day. wait, that's not Mary Jane! that's Tila Nguyen, a.k.a. Tila Tequila!!

then we have Mr. Killraven himself, P. Craig Russell, contributing a quiet scene with Captain America in Central Park (?). i guess if Nick Fury can't convince Matt to cut and cut cleanly, neither can the figurehead of freedom.

a couple of nice bits was Matt being paranoid about being seen with Cap - he senses "fourteen people within shouting distance" and "a couple making out under that bush". which means whenever i'm in Central Park, i never look at the right places!!!

then there's the Punisher sequence, courtesy of the Irredeemable Ant-Man team of Phil Hester and Ande Parks. it turns out the Punisher was present in that Hell's Kitchen bar when Matt uttered his "I am the Kingpin" soundbyte. i'm sure he's more than a little pissed that Daredevil beat him to the Fat Man (hello, Frank, you've racked up a high body count, but very few majors).

running into each other 2 months later, Matt and Frank get into it, and there's no doubt who's gonna win in this book. this is payback for that humiliating scene over in Punisher #3, where he hogties DD enough to equip him with a gun, and makes him choose between letting Frank assassinate a bad guy, or stop the whole thing by taking Frank's life.

the inimitable Chris Bachalo/Tim Townsend duo seems to be in the wrong book (i thought i walked in the Joe Kelly X-Men set), but this is fine ... its the Dr. Strange sequence. Matt pays the good doctor a visit after pwning him when the guys met in Central Park.

well, whaddayaknow ... the Devil knows how to apologize.

Matt allows the Doc to complete his sentence about the proverb this time, although Strange senses that Matt "may not be the proverb type." but advice is what Matt came there for, thus Doc gives sage wisdom as befits his stature. however, it must be the tea sometimes ...

ouch. for such a sorcerer supreme, you don't watch TV, don't you? i almost sense a billy club striking you on the head.

Matt tries to know if there's an easy way out of his problems. but as we all know, whether you're a fictional hero or a real one ... there really isn't a magic pill for life (ok, the Scarlet Witch's reality-altering powers not included!).

Messrs. Jae Lee, David Finch and Frank Quitely all contribute splash pages, and i like the latter because fighting ninjas over the edge of a building is not the usual Quitely fare.



to end, we learn that the kingpin before the Kingpin is getting out of jail. of course, there will be a connection.


addenda (12/10/2007):
i should have thought of this sooner, but my friend (and sole regular reader - hahaha) Gloria pointed this out to me. Brian Michael Bendis, bless his cranium, had a rare brain freeze and ...


well, okay, if anyone can tell me that wasn't Doc Stephen in Daredevil #8, then i'll give you a free chai latte. just go to your local Starbucks and tell 'em i sent you.

tripping the force magnetic pt. 2

continuing our look back at a '90s classic (if we can call it that).

Fatal Attractions
Uncanny X-Men #304 "For What I Have Done"
Scott Lobdell/John Romita Jr/Jae Lee/Chris Sprouse/Brandon Peterson/Paul Smith
and another 198 inkers including the great Dan Green

it must be a big boost to Magneto's ego, that all through the years fighting the X-Men, they always draw him alone against everyone. despite having a bunch of lackeys at some point or another, the most powerful images are the ones that depict Magneto standing tall and firm against Xavier's children. if you root for the underdog without having any background information, you'd side with the Magster. how many X-Men does it take to defeat Magneto? all of them, apparently. and they still never conclusively do so.

the Fatal Attractions crossover began with X-Factor and X-Force, where those teams ran afoul of the reborn Mags and his Acolytes led by his new lapdog, Exodus. the Acolytes, under lameduck leader Fabian Cortez, were unsuccessful in recruiting Quicksilver to the cause, and Cable got dismantled but not discombobulated in rescuing his charges from the influence of the magnetic field. Magneto now turns his attention to the real X-Men.

but before that, we have to check how Magneto's return from the dead affects said lameduck.

facing a mutiny, Cortez is helpless as his former charges almost beat him up and as they leave. he tries to take out his anger at the newcomer Exodus but he is hopelessly outclassed. i never really understood Cortez' mutant power (extending another's?). so he's a booster. that's really lame. and only Jean Grey gets the honor of not needing a code name, Fabian. you suck.

Wikipedia reports that Cortez has , after years of painful repetitive resurrections and betrayals (his modus operanda), finally bitten the dust. but i guess they took that from the official Marvel site. though i won't be surprised he's just really laying low and assumed this identity.

Magneto, meanwhile, does another one of his patented long-winded monologues. it doesn't matter what size the audience, be it hundreds or just himself. the audience believes him.

god, he must work out a lot. yeah, that's what supervillains do when they're sidelined as the world thinks they're "dead".

speaking of dead, something is dying inside Colossus as he mourns his sister Illyana (a.k.a. Magik) who recently died of the Legacy Virus (the Marvel equivalent of AIDS, cured a decade later through the efforts of Hank McCoy, the late Moira McTaggert, and ironically - pun intended - Colossus himself). he pushes away everything that matters to him, including his then ex- Kitty Pryde.

Illyana's funeral was a big thing to me then, but actually the real tear-jerker was Uncanny #303. yes, i am in touch with my feminine side. now get off my case before i slice and dice you.

speaking also of slicing and dicing, Warren Worthington III - a.k.a Angel - was still blue and metal-winged back then, capable of slicing and dicing just like Wolverine. here even his looks could cut someone to pieces.

the way he sounded, its as if the X-teams usually coordinated with each other. hyeahright. and he seems shocked and indignant that X-Force didn't call for help. hello, we can barely make sense of the rigmarole of who's on which team (did they put him on the Blue Team just because its easier that way?).

so be careful of what you wish for, Wings ...

over at the other end, Xavier's attempt to console Peter backfires badly.

i half-expected Peter to push Xavier out of his wheelchair. now that would've been a scene! Colossus has always been the good sheep of the X-Men; imagine him now as angry loose cannon.

which is just about the exact time Magneto drops by for an appearance. two things to note here:

1. the jerk doesn't even pay his respects to Illyana, once upon a time a favorite student
2. in the 5 minutes he was delivering this speech, the gathered X-teams could have kicked his ass back to outer space

first order of business: show 'em who's Boss. even if it means pulping one of your own soldiers (R.I.P. Senyaka. not.). Boss!!

Magneto drops the Big Reveal - he has a badass space station. Xavier counters: "I have a 1 TB Sh'iar iPod!". Magneto cries and stomps his feet.

anyway, the Acolytes now ascend to their new home (this religious theme is going too far). Magneto asks Xavier to join him. but really - cupping his chin? that's so ... Zac Efron.

'make love, not war', they said. so Rogue tries that tack, but kisses mean nothing to the Boss! he's the BOSS!!!

Magneto holds down everyone by sheer force of magnetic will (Fe in blood, so goes the popular explanation then) and preventing everyone from accessing his or her mutant power. but Bishop's power is a reactive one - he absorbs that same energy and uses it to free his pals, then everyone piles on Magneto. like we said earlier, it always takes everyone ...

then Scott Lobdell springs the not-so Big Reveal ... Colossus turns traitor. Bishop would go into traction for a month at least. this would all have been avoided had they taken down Magneto during his speech (that could be a YouTube parody).

Colossus gets beamed up to HMM Avalon, and Xavier is forced to remote control Magneto, and fling himself out into spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace. i'm not sure how the Bald One managed to be in one piece without burning up on re-entry into our atmosphere before being rescued by Warren. that being said, the events here already hint as to what's coming.

next: bring on more X-Men!

do ya kennit?

The Dark Tower
Stephen King/Robin Furth/Peter David/Jae Lee/Richard Isanove
Marvel


i never read the Dark Tower series; shame on me, perhaps. but who cares - Marvel has made a PR coup by teaming up with Stephen King himself to give us the Cliff Notes version, and with stunning art to boot!

set in 'a world that has moved on', the legend has it that the Gunslinger, a policeman if you will, is in pursuit of the 'Man in Black' (i'm sure its not Will Smith or Johnny Cash).

the first issue is more of an origin issue where the future Gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, and his friends are shown being tested by their mentor, Cort.


Cort is a vinegary sourpuss of sorts, but one who knows his craft very well, and that is to train Gunslingers-to-be. he demands that they "aim with your eye, shoot with your mind, and kill with your heart."

"sir, yessir! hooah!!"

Roland, the best of the lot, his dad Steven Deschain being a legendary Gunslinger himself, is disappointed to learn that his father's creepy advisor, Marten Broadcloak, is carrying an affair with his mother.


he suspects that Marten doesn't expect him to win the Gunslinger mantle and thus get exiled in shame. Roland then decides to stop dicking around and seize the day (or the title of G) by challenging Cort.

who do you think you are - Alfred Neuman!?

before the fight, there's a long-ass Q&A portion first. you know, like asking what your favorite color is, who was your high school crush, and if you prefer the purple Teletubby over Pikachu.

mine is my ... ability to write corny captions.

needless to say, our protagonist wins his spurs. here we see the mastery of Jae Lee over quiet powerful scenes, aided by color work of Richard Isanove. this already feels like a cross between Origin and The Inhumans.

no gay jokes, please, Mr. Hardaway.

Roland's prize is a gun. with a license of course. even in this 'world that has moved on', its still American!


in any case you were harboring doubts about Roland's manhood, here he is offering a simple explanation of why he didn't turn around and go for Marten.


and if you're still harboring doubts about Roland's manhood, let it be known that he went off to a brothel or two and got jiggy with it (na-na-na-na-na-na-na).

which of course leads him to be caught with his pants down when his dad suddenly makes a surprise appearance.

"my son, my son, didn't i tell you to use a Trojan?"

i think i am liking this Dark Tower for Dummies. hopefully, Lee stays for the whole 7-issue run (Joe Quesada promised!!).
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issue read: #1