Comic Proportions

Dark X-Men No. 1
Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Paul Cornell. Pencils by Leonard Kirk. Inks by Jay Leisten.

The Deal: Norman Osborn’s hand-picked team of mutant villains/anti-heroes posing as heroes investigate a strange and dangerous mutant entity.

The Verdict: Yes this book is superfluous and an unnecessary by-product of the whole “Dark Reign” story line, but — thanks to writer Paul Cornell and artist Leonard Kirk — the comic manages to be quite entertaining. You may remember Cornell and Kirk from their great run on the now-dead Captain Britain and MI13 comic; the duo has a knack for crafting hilarious dialogue, spot-on characterization and cinematic action sequences. That said, do you really need to but Dark X-Men? Probably not. But it’s a good read.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural No. 2
Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Rick Remender. Art by Jefte Palo and Gabriel Hardman.

The Deal: It’s the second issue of Marvel’s new magic-centric monthly superhero comic book, starring the new “Sorcerer Supreme of Earth” — Doctor Voodoo (replacing Dr. Strange, who previously held that position).

The Verdict: I liked the first issue better, where the book’s protagonist went head-to-head with Dr. Doom and worked to help human beings with human problems in his medical clinic. This time around, Remender falls into the classic “magical superhero” trap by showing Dr. Voodoo use a number of ill-defined powers while he’s in a series of ill-defined situations. Those are the main reasons why Dr. Strange never really worked — take a guy who can do … what exactly? … and put him on some bizarre astral plane battling ectoplasmic yadda yadda yadda. Yeah. I liked the first issue better.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Dark Reign — The List: Punisher No. 1
Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Rick Remender. Pencils by John Romita Jr. Inks by Klaus Janson.

The Deal: Legendary artist John Romita Jr. teams with regular Punisher writer Rick Remender to tell this one-shot tale about Frank Castle’s final battle against the forces of Norman Osborn.

The Verdict: Rick Remender proves once again that he knows how to make the Punisher work in the Marvel Universe. Many writers have tried to pen Frank Castle adventures alongside the company’s spandex-clad characters, and most have failed. But Remender gets it; above anything, the writer always keeps things gritty and grimy, even in a world that’s populated with folks who can fly and shrink to the size of an ant. Combine that with equally gritty — and amazing — art by Romita, and you can’t lose with this book. PLUS: The ending of this comic (which is, by the way, the best of the Dark Reign: The List one-shots) is a shocker. Buy it for the last few pages alone.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

The Incredible Hulk No. 603
Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Greg Pak. Pencils by Ariel Olivetti and Giuseppe Camuncoli. Inks by Cam Smith.

The Deal: In this latest issue of Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner teams up with his son from another planet, Skaar, to talk with/fight Wolverine and his estranged son, Daken. And there’s a backup story starring the new She-Hulk from the future. No … for real.

The Verdict: I’ve gotta give Greg Pak some credit — in this comic, he takes some truly stupid ideas and makes a quasi-interesting story out of it. That said, this book is filled with some REALLY stupid shit (such as a Bruce Banner who can’t turn into the Hulk, running around with a ray gun, looking like a nerdy version of Indiana Jones). And the She-Hulk thing is just awful. I say kill everybody except Banner and Wolverine, and let’s start all over again. I blame Jeph Loeb for all of this!

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Secret Warriors No. 8
Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Alessandro Vitti.

The Deal: Marvel rolls out the latest issue of its spy-flavored comic, which picks up on a cliffhanger left at the end of Thunderbolts No. 135.

The Verdict: This issue illustrates the pitfalls of crossover stories. I haven’t been reading Thunderbolts in awhile (gave up on the book after two issues into Diggles’ run), so I was lost as soon as I opened up this comic. Sure, I was able to go back and read the summary page, but … you know what I’m saying. More than likely, I won’t be picking up Thunderbolts , so I’m just losing a chunk of this adventure. Regarding the art, Vitto must be the fill-in guy. He’s pretty good, but I was just starting to like Stefano Caselli’s pencils (who is returning to the book, by the way). All in all, this issue wasn’t a disaster — but not as good as the previous seven.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

The media’s going batshit over the news that Disney is buying Marvel Entertainment. Here’s a look at just a smidgen of what’s been written so far:

• Will Disney Disrupt the Marvel Universe? — Politicsdaily.com

• Uslan and Disney Speak Out on Blockbuster Deal — Comicbookresources.com

• Stan Lee Calls Disney Deal ‘Perfect’ — Newsarama.com

• Pow! Bam! Are takeovers back? [Yeah, awful headline ...] — CNN.com

• Marvel/Disney marriage fallout: Fox preps more crappy Fantastic Four movies — AV Club

• And the coolest link so far: Disney/Marvel mashups — SuperPunch

In possibly the biggest comic book news in the last 30 years — in case you haven’t heard it yet — today it was announced that Disney has purchased Marvel Entertainment.

Wow, right?

Honestly, I don’t know how to even express my sheer flabbergasted-ness over this whole thing. Trust me folks, this is earth-shattering. And, of course the Internet is freaking out over it.

Now, only time will tell if this is a good or bad move for Marvel and the comic book industry. Will Disney meddle with Marvel’s comic content (MAX comics, anyone?) — or is this finally the industry’s opportunity to reach out to a much-needed younger audience?

More on this later … but … wow.

It’s Wednesday.

For normal folk, that means “hump day” has arrived and the weekend is almost here. But for geeks like me, Wednesday is a truly glorious day — it’s the day that new comic books flow into shops all around the country.

I’ve been personally making a weekly trek to the comic shop on this day of the week for more than 20 years, and I get excited with anticipation the same way each and every time. (And, no, I don’t live with my mother.)

Anyway, what’s hitting stands today and what’s worth grabbing? I’ll be providing a few “Quickie Comic Reviews” later today, but here’s a list of stuff I’m planning to pick up:

The latest issue of Previews: In case you don’t know, Previews is the catalog of upcoming comics and merchandise; it’s published by the industry’s largest distribution company, Diamond Comics. For collectors, Previews is an indispensable tool that shows you everything coming out from most of the comic publishers out there. I saw the art for this week’s cover and it’s featuring the soon-to-be-released limited series Image United. We’ll see if that comic comes out on time. In the meantime, snag a copy of Previews and stay in the loop.

Usagi Yojimbo No. 122: A consistently entertaining read every month.

Batman and Robin No. 3: I’ve been loving Grant Morrison’s relaunch of the Batman franchise, and — while this issue is a tad late — I’m excited to see how he and artist Frank Quitley wrap up the first story arc.

More DC books: Along with Batman and Robin, it looks like I’ll be picking up a bunch more comics from DC this week, including the latest issues of Detective Comics (for the incredible art alone, although I am loving the Question backup story), Flash: Rebirth (another late comic, but I’m hanging on until the end) Green Lantern, Wednesday Comics, JSA and Wonder Woman.

Bart Simpson Comics No. 49: Like Usagi Yojimbo, it’s just damned funny every issue.

Marvel Comics: From the folks at Marvel, I’ll be on the lookout for Dark Avengers No. 8, Fantastic Four No. 570 (the start of the new creative team), Guardians of the Galaxy No. 17 (yeah, I still love it), New Avengers No. 56, New Mutants No. 4 and Secret Warriors No. 7 (one of my favorite new books).

Buck Rogers No. 3: This is my last attempt to read this comic. The first few issues were decent, but not incredible.

Check back later for a few reviews.

Daredevil No. 500
Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Ed Brubaker. Art by Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, Klaus Janson and more.

The Deal: Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark wrap up their run on Daredevil — and tie up a lot of long-running plot threads — in this historic, giant-sized anniversary edition of the book. Plus there’s a ton of extra stories, pin-ups and other content in the comic to tickle your fancy.

The Verdict: Brubaker’s version of Marvel’s blind superhero sometimes came off as a little too much of a victim, but in this issue the character finally acts like a bad-ass. If you’re a fan of Frank Miller’s ninja-centric storylines, you’ll really get a kick out of this. While we’re on the subject of Miller, it really is amazing how his influence is still being felt on DD damned-near 20 years later. Wow, eh? Anyway, buy the book. It’s good.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

I wrote sort of a post-mortem regarding the recently canceled Marvel Comics series Captain Britain and MI13 for the Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find blog.

Check it out — right here — and tell me what you think: