Hey, anyone here anything about a Preacher TV show on HBO? I heard whispers, but it seems like no one is really talking about it.
Oh, wait, I’m sorry, everyone is. And everyone is predicting doom, gloom, and the comics we so love being snatched out of our hands and burned in front of our eyes by HBO executives and Mark Johnson. At least, I think that’s what all the hysterics are about.
Me though, I’m just all about the NEWS!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
In 2004, writer Marc Andreyko introduced us to Kate Spencer, the latest in a long line of DC characters called Manhunter, in a book of the same name. The prosecutor-by-day, take-no-prisoners costumed-vigilante by night delighted Andreyko’s fans and colleagues alike for twenty-five issues until low sales forced DC’s hand: The book was slated for cancellation. But a tremendous upwelling of fan and critical support convinced Executive Editor Dan DiDio to grant Andreyko’s baby a five-issue stay of execution. “Manhunter” returns this December with issue #26, but only time will tell if this will be the beginning of a new era for the costumed vigilante, or Kate Spencer’s swan song. Andreyko took a moment to speak with CBR News about his hopes for his little comic that could.
Join me at in screaming like a teenager at a Beatles concert at Comic Book Resources, won’t you?
With all the preview pages I’ve read from various, I’ve more or less read this entire issue already. And let me tell you, it is gooooooooooooooooood. But, that should come as no surprise. This is Manhunter we are talking about after all. And you better support it this time. You don’t want to make Marc cry right? And you don’t want me to stand outside your house and all hours and scream insults and empty threats either, do you? And trust me, I’ll do it. I have lots of vacation time coming up.
Anyway, so I won’t spoil the book too much for you, allow me to just show you this one great page to wet your whistle.
See? Good, right? I think Pina has gotten even better since last issue. Why to put that hiatus to good work, sir.
Now, this Wednesday, buy the darn book. Trust me, you will not regret it.
Tranquility Now
WildStorm and the writer/artist team of Gail Simone and Neil Googe first previewed WS’ first new super-heroes and villains in Octobe’s WorldStorm.
The original solicitation goes like this:
Tranquility is like any other small town in America, except for one fundamental difference: It’s the town where super-powered beings go in order to retire and raise families. From the Golden Age to the Modern Age, heroes and villains alike reside in Tranquility, and it creates a unique blend of personalities and conflicts that causes the local law enforcement nothing but headaches! As a camera crew is in town to film a news segment on this unique place, the town is turned upside down by a murder… and it becomes evident that everything isn’t as quaint as it seems!
With the first issue of Tranquility hitting stores on December 6, we caught up with the series’ artist Neil Googe for a chat.
Make sure you visit your grandmother at Newsarama
I was actually sitting the fence on this title. I liked the concept, but was not sure if I was interested enough in it to justify adding it to my pull list.
After this though, Mr. Googe, you win. You’ve convinced me. A lot of thought seems to have gone into the character designs and personalities and they’ve perked my interest in the book right up. Nicely done, good sir, nicely done.
A Woman Named Cecil
Even though DC’s newly announced Minx imprint is still getting off its feet, it’s got an early MVP. After all, who better to join up with an imprint aimed at teenage girls than an acclaimed young adult fiction writer?
Enter Cecil Castellucci, author of Boy Proof, Queen of Cool and Beige. Though the debut Minx Original Graphic Novel, The PLAIN Janes will be Castellucci’s first comics work, it will hardly be her first exposure to comics. She waves her geek flag proudly.
No really – she camped out for Star Wars: Episode I. She’s hardcore.
We sat down with the author for a get to know you chat.
If you didn’t get the “Boy Named Sue” reference above, don’t worry about it. Neither did Newsarama
Isn’t it weird how, despite the point of this Minx line is that it appeals to non-traditional comic readers, Newsarama opens this article by assuring readers that Ms. Castellucci is, in fact, one of us. I mean, does it really matter that she likes Batman or camped out for Episode One? Does that make her anymore trustworthy a writer to launch a line of young adult, female oriented comics? Or does that just mean us traditional comic fans can feel safe with here around?
Eh, I am no doubt making a mountain out of molehill here. Still, I feel like Newsarama buried the lead just so we could all be assured of Castellucci’s geek cred.
All that said, you have to give it up for her. She nicely negotiates the comic related questions and seems to be very genuine when answering them.
It is a bit hard to offer feedback on the plot of the book because, well, it is not really being written for me now is it. That said, I think it is what is revealed is a strong YA outline that can sustain itself in one or several OGNs.
Making JANE Just the Right Shade of Plain
Yesterday, we spoke with Cecil Castellucci, the writer on the debut original graphic novel in DC’s new Minx imprint, The PLAIN Janes. Today – it’s all about the art.
Known best for Street Angel (written by Brian Maruca), Jim Rugg may seem like a natural fit for the line, but as he’ll explain, he had his doubts in the beginning. Now, looking back on the completed work (due for a May release) – Rugg’s pretty happy with how everything turned out.
A little too much awkwardness or suavity and the whole thing is ruined (RUINED!) at Newsarama
I like Rugg’s style and it appears, from the limited preview pages I’ve seen, that he’s a great fit for the book.
Also, if he is responsible for the cover image below,
Well, just color me doubly impressed. That is a great piece of design work there. Very eye catching. That alone makes the book a tempting buy. I mean, I know I’m not a 12-15 year old girl or anything but”¦wow. That’s very pretty.
Because “The Cowardly and the Meek” Does Not Have the Same Ring
DC’s”The Brave and the Bold” has gone through many iterations in the half-century since it was first published. When its first issue hit stands in 1955, it was a venue for period heroes like Silent Knight and Robin Hood. Twenty-five issues later it became a sounding board for new characters. And by issue #50, it became the DC team-up book fans know and love today. Thanks in no small part to the success of the infamous Adam West “Batman” TV series, the end of the original “Brave and the Bold” run was decidedly Bat-heavy. But the new re-envisioning of the book by veteran comics creators Mark Waid and George Pérez will not be as Bat-centric as the “Brave and the Bold” of old. Though the Dark Knight will be one of the headliners of the first issue.
You too can have fun with antonyms at Comic Book Resources
Wait”¦Brave and the Bold is the post-IC travel guide to the DCU? I thought that’s what we were told “52” was going to be. No big deal, I just suggest that DC not fear using a thesaurus approach when trying to describe a book that is a survey of the new landscape of the DCU. See, look, I just did it right there. Feel free to use that, Mr. Waid, if you’d like. Free of charge.
I question this quote, “It can’t just be fun little stories about Batman and Supergirl teaming up against Two-Face because that doesn’t leave any impact on the DC Universe.” I mean, why can’t it be fun little stories? I love interconnected epics that change the face of the DCU too, but the beauty of comics is that you can have both. Frankly, a large part of the attraction of team up books is that they produce fun little stories that exist on their own and don’t need to connect with or represent the universe as a whole. I know that approach can be a little more problematic in getting ongoing readers, as people will tend to drift in and out depending on either creative teams or featured characters. So I guess I do get it, from a business angle. Still disappointing though.
On the other hand, the Confidential/Classified books have sort of the same problems as a team up book featuring fun little stories would and they seem to be selling just fine right now. Oh well, I can’t always have what I want, I suppose.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
DETECTIVE COMICS #826
The cover alone promises so much goodness I can hardly stand it. Joker. Robin. Stuck together in a moving vehicle. So simple and yet the potential”¦so vast.
Dini’s done a strong job with this book throughout, but has yet to really own the book. From the looks of it, this very well could be the issue that puts him over the top.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #1
It is, I hope, no great secret to anyone that JSA vol. whatever crashed itself on the rocks in the home stretch and ended not with a bang but with”¦something less than a whisper even.
That, however, was without Johns at the helm. Before he left, JSA was navigating Infinite Crisis. It took its lumps (the Green Lantern/Air Wave issue comes to mind) but never capsized, an impressive feat considering how many balls Johns had in the air at the time.
Now, it is back, and so is Johns with artistic assistance from the underrated (in my mind, at least) Dale Eaglesham. And in a 48 pager, no less.
I’ve got no guarantees, but things are looking up, I should say.
MANHUNTER #26
IT’S BACK!!!
BUY IT!!! TWICE!!! AT LEAST!!!!!!!
OPINIONS ON THE WORK OF PEOPLE FAR MORE TALENTED THAN I
52 WEEK 30
It is no great secret here at the Nexus that I am a big Batman and Bat family fan (though I loathe the name “Bat family”). Thus, it stands to reason that I’d be looking forward, just a bit, to the arrival of this week’s Bat-centric “52”. And now that’s it here? Boy, talk about a victim of raised expectations.
I was looking forward to a snapshot of Batman, Robin and Nightwing traveling the world and getting back to their roots. And, what the heck, if it could explain the whole Nightwing/Jason Todd and/or the Nightwing/Oracle thing, that’d be great too. Instead, except for Bruce facing off against the Ten Eyed Surgeons of the Empty Quarter (how great a name for a band is that, by the by?), I found none of these things. Nightwing meets Batwoman for the first time, makes a crack about liking redheads, The Question coughs some, Renee and Batwoman snipe at each other, and Robin rides an ATV. That’s the issue in a nutshell.
It left me largely unmoved, but I can’t decide if I was placing unreasonable demands on it or it just was not all that great. In any case, beyond Bruce’s desert faceoff, the rest of the issue left me quite cold.
ION #8
Am I the only who is so done with this Monitor meta-plot that really has not even begun yet? Because honestly, short of these Monitors making the decision to erase Kyle from all existence, there’s not much of a direction that they can take it that would have a.) repercussions and b.) would change my interest level in the least.
Besides that nonstarter of a plotline, I largely liked this issue. It felt like an issue of Green Lantern when Marz was writing it and that’s the first time in this series that I’ve had that feeling. And trust me, coming from me, that is a compliment. There was nothing groundbreaking about it; it was just a good solid superhero story with Kyle Rayner.
I’m not sure what Paco Diaz has done before this, but he was DC’s official fill-in penciller this week, pinch hitting here and in Titans. Unfortunately, I do not love his stuff. It is not insultingly bad or anything like that, it’s just not particularly great either. When I picture in my mind fill-in art, it is a very close approximation of Diaz’s output on those two books. I wonder if it is a matter of time (in other words, he can turn a book around quick, but the work will suffer) or that is what you should expect to see when Diaz is penciling a book.
TEEN TITANS #41
Dig the full length review on the main page. To boil it down to its essence here, it is not as good as it was before IC yet, but it is getting better.
AMERICAN VIRGIN #9
It is official. This book drives me insane. I cannot figure out if it is coming or going and it seems like the book cannot really either.
I appreciate the characterization of Adam, the titular American Virgin. As he’s battered by moment after moment that would make anyone question their faith, he reacts the way many would, tunnel vision. In the crazy world he had found himself dropped into, he seems to cling even harder to his faith, to believe it with even more fervor. Surely it is only a matter of time before the cracks grow, but for now I’m enjoying Adam kick and scream against the horrors he is experiencing by crawling even deeper into a faith that may no longer be the right fit for him.
On the other hand, the moments that test his faith are jackhammer subtle. My biggest problem with this title remains that Seagle does not seem to trust us to get what Adam is going through so he makes things as over-the-top as possible. The casket humping a few months back, the leather submissive outfit last issue, Adam crying out on the pool deck before being struck by a water polo ball. What should be soul shattering moments are blown so wide they become slapstick. Seagle needs to trust his audience and his story a lot more.
I am thankful that the hunt for Adam’s fiancée/one and only is finally over. At first, I liked it. It was a nice swerve. But, nine issues into the book, I officially no longer cared if he caught up to the executioner. I am far more interested in Adam finding himself (and possibly his God) as he comes to terms with the difference between what he “promised” and the reality he finds himself living. The “action” has more or less fallen flat and every time and grinds the books to a halt while doing so. I’m not saying it needs to a single room character study type piece, of course. Some action is never bad. But by almost converting Adam into an action hero”¦well, it is like the last 45 minutes of Outbreak. Up until that point, it is a great movie about a frightening contagion. Then, you have Dustin Hoffman jumping out of helicopters and generally acting like he woke up one morning thinking he was Slyvester Stallone. Your brain cannot process what clearly is a huge leap from reality and thus it checks out. Same here. Every time Adam runs off like Charles Bronson, he stops being a character and becomes a walking piece of unreality.
Again, I think it comes down to trust. Seagle has the components of a hell of a story here. There is room for satire, for reaffirmed faith, for heartbreak, and yes, even some bloodshed. Yet he cannot help but try to hang more and more shining objects off its frame, to dazzle and distract us. My best advice? Stop. Trust the story to deliver on its own merits and trust us to be smart enough to recognize that it is.
Some further reaction to my Tirade a few weeks back on a blog linked to by Rich Johnston in Lying in the Gutters.
Ok Tim, so a couple of weeks ago you referenced a blog and how it made you feel. Well it took me some time to track down but I did (for those curious it’s Occasional Superheroine aka the most powerful blog ever). And now that I’ve read it I’ve got to say whereas you read it and faced internal torment, I read it and found inspiration.
I’ve always known I wasn’t a typical guy. I can actually have a platonic relationship with a female and I’m friendly with my exes. I don’t really have too many skeletons in my closet when it comes to females and I credit that to my mom, who raised me solo during my formative years.
But after reading her blog, it’s way clear that the men she’s encountered in life were the bottom of the bucket. They make me want to be an even better man to compensate for their crudeness. And yet I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I don’t have to worry about being a similar character in another woman’s blog.
It’s also inspiring to me, as a person who’s had workplace difficulties and dealt with environments that, while might have been tolerable, clearly weren’t going to get better. I’ve had jobs that were so bad I’ve wanted to contact a lawyer, just as she did. And reading her writing ironically gives me the optimism that it’s ok to give up. Some battles can’t be won and some environments can’t be changed. Sometimes it’s better to get out of a situation that affects your physical and mental health rather than to stay and fight for a principle that has not chance. She’s proof that even when backing out, life goes on and situations get better.
I completely know her feeling of impotence. And it’s such a burden off of myself knowing that someone else was in a position where they had to bite their tongue just as I’ve had to bite mine on numerous occasions. That feeling is so frustrating, so knowing that someone else shared it is a relief. I that regard I can relate to her.
And it’s also inspiring in that I’ve had a story in mind for some time now. Well it’s not really a story, it’s just an idea. My two best friends both have daughters and younger sisters. I really wanted to create something that would open up a young woman’s eyes as to how messed up society is for them.
I mean, guys don’t have to worry about looking pretty. There’s no male equivalent for the high heel. Men don’t have sexy shoes. A guy who goes without shaving is considered rugged, but a woman who doesn’t shave is ghastly. And I could go on and on and on. My thing is that women, who make up at least 50% of the population, accept it when they really don’t need to.
I don’t want my friend’s daughters to have to deal with the pressures of being sexy. And I wanted to write something that provided a glimpse of an alternative. And the blog has proven to be a catalyst for my embarking on that endeavor.
I can completely understand why the deeply personal tale told in that blog might not be everyone’s cup of tea. I’m a guy who feels perfectly comfortable when he’s “down.” I could watch “Brokeback Mountain” or “Love Liza” every day. I spent most of last month listening to nothing but Elliott Smith.
For the millions of blogs that are pure crap and the others that are full of pop culture drivel, this blog might actually be one of the few things in the blogosphere that’s actually worth reading.
-Mathan Erhardt
Thanks Mathan, great piece. And this is why he’s the headliner and I’m the sidekick in Who’s Who every week. The man just writes circles around me.
That’s it for us. Be sure and hit the forum or drop me a line at parallax2@juno.com and let me know how we are doing.
Thanks for coming by.
Un Gajje, Christmas Shopping Warrior
