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.

snaps: Cloak & Dagger #1

... where one of my favorite couples headline a book (albeit a one-shot) after so many years, but as appended to the X-Men/Utopia mythos. Tandy Bowen, otherwise known as the hot knife that melts my butter, thinks she's a mutant and she's not accepting of the fact that she may not be, given her longing to belong. she has to make the decision to stay or go, driven by her longtime association with Cloak (who's also having his own should-i-stay-or-should-i-go issues) and their future as a tandem, rather than as part of a bigger team.

Tyrone's favorite mashup? A Clockwork Orange/Jersey Shore.


does Theo Epstein know about this?


waittaminnit -you're gay!! (which they point out two pages later)


hmmm ... The Void, anyone?


ok, stop with the mind games. have they or have they not been doing the horizontal mambo for years?


x marks the spot: so close, Santo, yet so far away.

eyes wide shut

drive-by readings

X-Men Origins: Cyclops one shot (Marvel) "Eyes Wide" Stuart Moore Jesse Delperdang Andy Lanning Matt Hollingsworth Rob Steen Adi Granov (cover)

we've seen this origin tale many times before, and there isn't much difference now, save that its been tailored for a new generation (thank God they didn't include that iffy part in that Wolverine movie ... but who knows). Cyclops has always been cast as this inspiring yet robotic leader spouting the Xavier credo of mutants-must-coexist-with-humans, but at least in the last decade, there has been this shift towards making him a much more layered individual and not simply a yes-man to his father figures. by having him taken over by Apocalypse, dealing with his demons, having a psychic affair with Emma Frost, and the eventual killing off of Jean Grey, Scott Summers finally shed the doubts nagging him as to what he's really capable of. and with the stepping down of Charles Xavier and Scott's eventual ascent to running the school and uniting the remaining mutants and having their own island, the transformation was complete.

this origin story somewhat ties in to the present because it already shows Scott not making decisions based on what Xavier says all the time. he has his own mind, whether in battling Magneto or making the long-term decision to lead the X-Men in Xavier's stead. it must have been rankling to the professor to have his star student brush him off as he finds his own path, not as a petulant child, but as a confident adult. Mike Carey, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction have delineated this transition as a very interesting angle in recent years.

i don't remember much of Jesse Delperdang's work save his stint inking Andy Kubert in X-Men and Ka-Zar, but he does a good job here, somewhat veering from Kirby/Ladronn-ish to Kevin Nowlan.

and now for some snaps!

"yes, mistuh Xavier sir, you want me to remove my visor to show you?"


by the way, Scott, spoke to Alex lately?


not being able to shoot Magneto with his eye beams, Scott decides beat him to death with his mask/visor.

tootsie roll out

ehhh??



look, i can take G.I. Joe and Transformers team ups. i can handle DC/Marvel crossovers. but this - ?

who really, really loved Punisher/Archie? anyone??

what's next? Care Bears/Justice League? Thundercats/Wolverine? World War Hulk: He-Man?

good lord.

at least the art is a step up (if a little bit Rob Liefeld-y) than the usual Transformers series being put out there on a regular basis; to wit:


this sucks so bad i'm not even putting in credits, or else fans might realize it does suck and burn publisher IDW down. wait, that might not be a bad idea ...

ok, the panel above is from Transformers: Target and is drawn by Geoff Senior. where's Pat Lee when you need him? on the other hand, forget i asked ...

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New Avengers/Transformers #1 (of 4)
Stuart Moore/Tyler Kirkham/Sal Regla