hell boys and girls

drive-by readings

New Mutants #16 (Marvel) "What is Project Purgatory?" Zeb Wells Leonard Kirk Guru eFX Joe Caramagna Dave Wilkins (cover)

what we learned: so this General Ulysses (his name's so macho, there was no choice except to join the military) was really trapped in Limbo by General Combest when demons started attacking them. now its payback time as he brings in his weaponized mutants (those babies in Inferno) - bang! Scott Summers wasted time keeping Hope safe when there were other mutants out there anyway. kidding.
oh shit moment: the audacity of the US military to put a base in Limbo and create weapons is mind-boggling.
what's next: fight, fight, fight!


which translates as "the doors are open! its Black Friday sale!!!"

from hell

drive-by readings

New Mutants #15 (Marvel) Zeb Wells Leonard Kirk Guru eFX Joe Caramagna Dave Wilkins (cover) Art Adams (variant cover)

what we learned: the US black ops soldiers who actually lived in Limbo are now back to take Illyana, whom they believe to be a very dangerous person, despite orders from their high command. great timing because Sam and the rest have been sent to Texas on forced R&R by Cyclops.
oh shit moment: you've seen it before but the proper use of a red herring always works: the ambush of a mutant you weren't expecting. oh and Dani and Sam kissing. that's like, overdue for 25 years.
what's next: maybe this time Pixie will let go of that chip on her shoulder.


hey, i didn't see this in Lethal Weapon 3.

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?

snaps: New Mutants #13

... where i missed it last week and thus totally missed the girlfight! and am not talking about the Hope/Dani throwdown. Donald Pierce makes his presence felt but despite his anticipation to go down fighting the X-Men, he lasts just a little bit longer than that bomb about to go off and kill off the X-nerds.



well, if you put it that way, no. you're the type who goes to brothels. wanna teleport to your favorite one right now?


Warlock's feeling ashamed for being responsible for all that javascript that puts drive-by viruses on your PC because you use Internet Explorer, dumbass.


"-- be mature and ready for a long-term commitment?"


oy, look who's taking a leadership tack! hey, Subby, are you going to blame Cyclops later?


the X-Men Science team, everybody!!!

here's a shout-out for John Tyler Christopher for the Heroic Age variant. awesome. it looks Greg Land-ish, but hereabouts, we likey Mr. Land.

after a third

not as rich as y'all, but somehow its just the end of April and i've gotten quite a few TPBs (and those are really semi-thought-out, semi-impulse buys). my brain hasn't processed the statues that i've ordered yet (which the wife may raise an eyebrow at). that's for a future post.

Dark Avengers, vol. 1: Assemble - no matter how much i hate Normie, his badass Avengers made for great reading, courtesy of Bendis and Deodato. taking roots from Ellis' great Thunderbolts run, this should have been a Max imprint. i mean, think of all the crazy and sleazy shit that happened. i know it would be viewed as a shameless moneymaker (hello, House of M spinoffs), but can't we have some kind of Dark Reign: The Dirty Files?

X-Force vol. 1: Angels & Demons - this is the real X-Force that Rob Liefeld and Cable only dreamed of: a mutant black ops unit, answerable only to the golden boy Cyclops. even Magneto didn't put one together, because they're all busy posturing. if Sabretooth were alive, he'd be in (after a lobotomy and a bomb implanted in his brain, of course).

X-Force vol. 2: Old Ghosts - seriously? i'd buy this even just for the cover alone. my all-time favorite Mike Choi/Sonia Oback work.

Uncanny X-Men: Sisterhood - a big slap in the face of the Greg Land haters. as Joel McHale says, Chicks, Man.

X-Infernus - despite the lingering misgivings as i loved the Inferno and the death of Illyana storylines, i just had to pick this up. i guess you can still tell stories with revived characters. you can even try a curveball once in a while (see above, cross-reference Jean Grey/Madelyne Pryor).

New X-Men vol. 4: Riot at Xavier's - i thought i had a copy of this way back, and for some reason, i can't find it. that put a big hole in my Grant Morrison X-Men collection (sadly, retconned in its critical parts). now, situation rectified.

Incognito vol. 1 - being a casual fan of Sleeper and Criminal, this should not be left off the list. i read this through a week and i hated putting it down. while reading it though, flashes of a blowhard Ed Brubaker in Who Won't Wield the Shield flickered through my mind (haven't seen @StephenWacker tweet in awhile - that probably means he's been whacked).

NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E. Ultimate Collection - am sure i'd have gotten this at a cheaper price (true enough, $12 cheaper at Amazon), but this was an impulse grab for Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen goodness, in that moment at a Houston Books-A-Million. sue me. laughed all the way back to New York.

Thor vol. 2 - i've read the individual issues here and there, and i like Straczynski's take on Thor. plus Coipel and Djurdjevic (the Awesomeness)? a no brainer.

Superman: Birthright - i have not been much of a Supes fan in recent years, save Red Son and All-Star Superman. i have read much praise for this volume - although it replaced the John Byrne-penned post-Crisis origin (The Man of Steel), it was subsequently superseded by the current Secret Origins title. probably in 2016 after yet another huge crisis, Jason Aaron will be probably be rewriting history again.

things i liked this week

time is not my friend. so, in brief, here's the books that distracted me from Just Cause 2 and Borderlands.

Doc Savage #1 (DC)
Paul Malmont/Howard Porter/Art Thibert/Rob Leigh/Hi-Fi (covers: JG Jones, John Cassaday/Alex Sinclair)
so DC's big play is to harken back to its pulp fiction properties with crossovers with versions of its established characters. First Wave goes back to the childhood heroes of your dad, and updates it for your kids. Howard Porter's art gives me some JLA flashbacks, but i think he's past his shelf life (sorry). i am interested to see Warren Ellis do his take on the good doctor though, spoiled as i am with Planetary.


Justice Inc. (DC)
Jason Starr/Scott Hampton/Daniel Vozzo/Sal Cipriano
i remember reading the Richard Benson's origin story as a kid. again, with the 21st century update, its as fresh as could be. i actually like this better than the main feature. gimme a Mike and an Ike!


Iron Man: Legacy #1 (Marvel)
Fred Van Lente/Steve Kurth/Allen Martinez/Victor Olazaba/John Rauch/Dave Lanphear

somehow i like the way Marvel mines their characters' history, and am not even worried about the continuity cops. i know this is about creating more movie-related products, and i don't mind. Tony Stark, ex-weaponeer, worries day and night about living up to what his father was, belatedly realizing he can craft his own. this is another version of Armor Wars, but with Dr. Doom.

Green Arrow #32 (DC)
J.T. Krul/Federico Dallocchio/Michael Atiyeh/Sal Cipriano (cover: Mauro Cascioli)

wasn't it just long ago that Dinah and Ollie got hitched? the Amazons even messed up their honeymoon night. and now, we're witnesses to a painful breakup to one of DC's most enduring couples. Ollie goes on a short trial for his actions, and the jury finds him not guilty, but he's banished from Star City forever. i like the part where he whispers "now you show up" to Clark. its a surprisingly beautiful ending to something that started so messily.

New Mutants #12 (Marvel)
Zeb Wells/Ibraim Roberson/Brian Reber/Joe Caramagna (cover: Adi Granov)
this is the most entertaining action-packed book of the week for me (and that's with Punisher Max #6). somehow, the X-Men rescue team manages to get slowed down by a bunch of humans (hah!), and they need to resort more to their X-Force tactics to get the upper hand. of course, unless they shut down the spy (more like transmitter) in their ranks, it wouldn't matter. it's also great to use Karma in action, and move away from that useless moping character we've been subjected to for the last decade or so. (was that Claremont's fault?) Ibraim Roberson's art is spectacular. hey, any chance we'd see another round of Archangel decapitating Hodge? please please please!



Siege: Loki #1 (Marvel)
Kieron Gillen/Jamie McKelvie/Nathan Fairbairn/Joe Caramagna (cover: Marko Djurdjevic)

it seems everyone has underestimated Loki. he's no longer just concerned with mischief and punking the Avengers; he wants the full freedom to do what he wants, when he wants, without the consequences. kinda like what we wanted when we were young.

Punisher Max #6 (Marvel)
Jason Aaron/Steve Dillon/Matt Hollingsworth/Cory Petit (cover: Dave Johnson)

this is the most disgusting thing that Bullseye's ever done. well, as far as we know. Jason Aaron has grabbed this title from Garth Ennis and ran away with it. Bullseye is one of the best characters to write from a villain's point of view. and that's with the Kingpin in the picture.

Secret Six #20 (DC)
Gail Simone/Jim Calafiore/Jason Wright/Travis Lanham (cover: Daniel Luvisi)

with all due respect to Calafiore, i wish the interiors were being done by Luvisi. but regardless, the story keeps getting better and better. Catman was always the one sort-of honorable member of this team, and that may be coming to an end when he gets his hands bloody.

Daytripper #5 (DC/Vertigo)
Fábio Moon/Gabriel Bá/Dave Stewart/Sean Konot
another beautiful bittersweet tale from the acclaimed duo. sometimes i regret reading their stuff because there's a chance it may end sadly. i never learn.



The Flash #1 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato/Nick Napolitano (variant cover: Tony Harris)

i like Manapul's art better with Iron and the Maiden. his newer sparse work in Adventure Comics and now the rebooted Flash kinda leaves me a little disappointed. anyway, Barry Allen is truly back, so let go of your Crisis on Infinite Earths slipcase edition. we know Johns' history with the character, and its likely he'll create some magic again. i want to be impressed, so let's go for a run.

Claremont forever

Chris Claremont spins out another Forever series, plans to write them until he croaks. [via cbr]



with Al Rio drawing? intriguing. better get a lot of Magma and Magik cheesecake shots!

snaps: New Mutants #9

... where i can't still figure out how Shaun Cassidy Doug Ramsey came back from the dead. i mean, the dead get reanimated from Eli Bard's techno-organic virus but basically they're still dead, right? if its just a matter of purging the virus, then all the DEAD mutants in the world WOULD ALREADY BE ALIVE AND WELL AND SINK UTOPIA BY NOW BECAUSE OF THEIR COMBINED WEIGHT!!!!

ok, on to this issue. apparently, some gun-toting spawns of Limbo a la Doom have arrived to kill everyone and only Illyana ... excuse me, Illyana 2.0 knows about this because she travelled back in time to warn the X-Men. so basically, Pete, that's your soulless sister, not the one you grew up with in the Russian collective.

oh, and Shaun Cassidy Doug Ramsey, who basically would thrive in our digital world (the main reason why he would make sense more alive than dead, continuity and Chris Claremont be damned), is slowly being accepted by his former friends. although after he was told to fuck off by that classy Brazilian Bobby Da Costa.

in binary, that's 000101000110101 0101010101010001111!!


RIAA alert!!! someone's gonna get suuuuuuuuueeeed!!


Sam's trying to be cool, but Amara's that hot. check out his eyes.



what the hell - doing it with her mentor's son beside her lover's dead body? what a bitch!!


wow. humble much?


lookit, their targets' profile pics are actual panels in this same comic!!!

snaps: New Mutants #7

... where its back to high school for the original New Mutants, with a lot more bitching, yelling, demons, zombies, rivalries, and decapitation.

1) and don't forget Saddam was his boyfriend! (what? am sure she watches South Park!!)


2) hey, Jetstream! do you want it whole, skim, 2% or half-and-half?


3) hmmm. the 'exclamation mark' could also denote a remark line. which basically means none of your 'actions' would be executed.


4) ah, DougLock. always the best of friends.


5) Bobby learned from Bernard Pollard. yup, he did.


6) the correct answer to that is: DUH.

and now i will burn my copy of Uncanny X-Men #303

for real this time. and also that LegionQuest series.

actually, Legion's too good a villain to pass up. well, actually way too powerful, and that's probably why they killed him off the first time. why, he can make me appreciate this new series by wiping my mem-

huh? where am i? what year is this?

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New Mutants #1