i'll be there for you

drive-by readings

Thor, The Mighty Avenger #4 (Marvel) "Boys' Night Out" Roger Langridge Chris Samnee Matthew Wilson Rus Wooton Samnee/Christina Strain (cover)

what we learned: with the arrival of the Warriors Three (always heartwarming), Thor gets a night out ... in Norway. he also makes friends with Captain Britain. after a fashion.
oh shit moment: rocketing from above, the pride of Britannia scatters the gods like leaves.
what's next: Thursday means Thor's Day. so there's gonna be a celebration?


there's a GPS sale at Best Buy, godlings ...

big

drive-by readings

Thor, The Mighty Avenger #3 (Marvel) "Here Be Giants" Roger Langridge Chris Samnee Matthew Wilson Rus Wooton

what we learned: here we see how Thor first meets the Pyms, but due to Loki's usual hijinks, Thor sees Hank Pym as a Frost Giant, and tormented by visions of his Dad and Asgardian pals. we also learn that Hank can do Jedi mind tricks, and Janet can help anyone secure job connections. see, she didn't die during Secret Invasion! wait, what ...
oh shit moment: my pea brain is just processing this - but how does Jane go from museum department head to nurse/doctor?
what's next: by what we see from the last page, its a hugfest courtesy of Volstagg.


and then there was that time that Odin got a severe case of rock diarrhea ...

little lost god

drive-by readings

Thor, The Mighty Avenger #2 (Marvel) "Hyde" Roger Langridge Chris Samnee Matthew Wilson Rus Wooton

what we learned: this kid-friendly series is a great intro for Thor to a new generation of readers, especially with the movie on the horizon. here, he's fish out of water after being cast out of Asgard and trying to walk with humans with Jane Foster as his guide. but of course, Mr. Hyde is there to mess things up.
oh shit moment: didn't know Thor could eat a lot of food! and he doesn't gain weight or get fat! what is his secret???
what's next: Jane takes Thor to Disney World!!!


what? you haven't seen the favelas yet, have you??

snaps: Siege: Embedded #2

... where the road to Oklahoma is paved with the bodies of H.A.M.M.E.R. troops who get between Volstagg and his pork rinds. pork rinds, i say thee!!!

well, why don't YOU be president, then?? on the other hand, never mind.


NormBots > DoomBots


what, not even King or Black Men? you racist bastards.


an out-of-shape ex-TV newscaster gets the drop on a trained soldier. yeaahhh, right.


which is more believable: that a magic kingdom floats over the fields of Oklahoma, or that Volstagg can smoothly maneuver a Goblin Glider and fight? even better, the glider can hold his weight!!!

i'm with fat

drive-by readings

Siege: Embedded #1 (Marvel) Brian Reed Chris Samnee Matthew Wilson Rus Wooton Adi Granov (cover)

Ben Urich is the luckiest character in the Marvel Universe, following in the footsteps of Phil Sheldon, and has been on the front row seat of every significant event in the Marvel U. not the least of his fortune is the fact that he's survived all the crazy shit that happened in the last decade at least, and he didn't need to be saved by his hero pals either. and it makes sense that this anti-Green Goblin crusader would be at the frontline and helping out when they finally bring Norman Osborn down.

running into an old journo/pisser/friend Wil Stern in Chi-Town post-Volstagg eruption, they catch up on old times. even better, Volstagg walks past their diner! talk about being at the right place at the right time. its that ol' Urich luck.

it's a bit contrived that Volstagg, all five hundred thousand pounds of Asgardian jowls and fat, can even be walking around Chicago without being noticed (except by that plucky newsman from New Yawk). not only that, they even feed him an inordinate amount of food, and no one in the diner (presumably, Chicago natives distraught at the destruction of Soldier Field) even acts suspiciously and picks up the phone to call the cops. the H.A.M.M.E.R. helicarriers are all around and with all that technology, they can practically find anyone! the failure to do so also reflects well on reality, as events from the last three weeks have shown, if you have been reading the news.

we're also introduced to the flipside of the honorable Urich cloth - a Bill O'Reilly/Glenn Beck hybrid who's been commissioned by Osborn to brainwash people all the more to the Goblin's way of thinking. aren't you glad comics aren't written by the conservative right? or maybe its just the sign of the times. if the conditions were different, we would have Captain America slinging his shield and beating up Middle Eastern people (wait, Mark Millar did that in The Ultimates).

Chris Samnee (The Exterminators) brings a gritty feel to Urich's most important journey, and i'm glad to be along for the ride.


you deserve this, America. if you believe ranting idiots like these, its no one else's fault.


imagine if Matt Lauer did that.


hey, i don't see Bullseye in this picture. he's probably killing off survivors.


aw, c'mon! didn't he have burgers in Oklahoma?? are you kidding me??


useless billion dollar technology - no wonder we're in the tank.

yippee ki-yay, M'F-er!

drive-by readings

Die Hard: Year One #1 (Boom!) Howard Chaykin Stephen Thompson Matthew Wilson Ed Dukeshire Dave Johnson Jock/John Paul Leon (variant covers)

well, well, well. i didn't know they were putting this out. as a fan of the Die Hard series, i feel that its best served on film, not on sequential art. but whatever. until the next movie comes out, this is aimed squarely at the ... well, die-hards.

here our intrepid hero John McClane starts life as rookie cop in mid-70s Big Bad Apple, emphasis on the bad, which today's generation wouldn't really know about. yes, kiddies in those days, you would not want to walk in Times Square, and no, there wasn't any Toys R Us then!

and that's as far as we go. this is primarily a set up issue. we have country bumpkin Rosie Haskell, trying to keep up with life in the big city, becoming a witness to a murder perpetrated by two corrupt cops (and before you say anything, only one of them is white). the vague reason being, the victim, Ira Lewis, wanted more money for something, and the two cops wouldn't budge. so as usual, events beyond his control will engulf McClane and be his first test of fire, honing the skills of getting out of sticky situations, skills that should serve him well in the future.

drive-by readings: Dead Run #2

Dead Run #2 (Boom!) Andrew Cosby Michael Alan Nelson Francesco Biagini Matthew Wilson Marshall Dillon Eric Canete and Andres Lozano (cover)

this title caught my eye in its opening issue, with its Mad Max/futuristic tale of a courier (Nick Masters) forced to go through a "Dead Run", a mythic route thru the wastelands between San Francisco and Los Angeles, to deliver some contraband goods in exchange for his kidnapped sister. tagging along is Becki, the teenage firecracker daughter of the only man who's ever survived the route. Nick and Becki survive the a pack of mutant bikers called drones (who rule the radiated wastelands) thru some quick thinking, but fall prey to a land mine on a diversion road. the bickering pair may follow the cliche of eventually becoming partners, but it works here. i just don't get the monologue Nick has to deliver when he discovers Becki's been taken by the locals. i guess that would work in film.