Monday, February 28, 2005

Thieves and Kings

Golden Age Collectibles on Granville recently/currently had a 50% off sale for trade papberbacks and whatnot. Having always been interested in Thieves and Kings from an issue of Cerebus, I picked up volumes 2 and 3. Not having volume 1, I ordered it from the website and started reading. I highly recommend this series for anyone who loves fantasy novels and has at least a passing interest in comics. Mark Oakley's style is clean and you can definately see improvement in his art over the course of the series. The only downfall is the publishing schedule. M'Oak (as he's called) has stated that the series will be 100 issues in length and he began in 1994. If you do the math (and I have), he should be in the vicinity of issue 60 instead of 45. Which means there's going to be another 10 years (at least) of T and K. It may sound like I'm complaining, but I want the series to end so I can find out what happens!
These are the Trade Paperbacks which I've read that can be purchased from the link above:



Pictures are copyright © 2004 Mark Oakley and originate from the Official Thieves & Kings website.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

New Comic Day February 23

The following comics/magazines are ones that I purchased today.
Here's a little review for each (from left to right, top to bottom):

Invincible #20




This is quite possibly my favorite comic to read every month. It's really too bad that Kirkman seems to like writing for Marvel more than spending time on Invincible. The comic is just too damn short! It could easily be two pages more each month. What it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. Invincible, although having the cliche' powers of flight and super strength, the situations he runs into are fresh and somewhat original. The similarity that comes to mind is of Spider-man. Both characters deal with the stresses of both being a super hero and maintaining some sort of real life. Peter with his job and Mark with school. Issue #20 introduces Mark to college and the readers to a new evil-scientist "mastermind". Mark's problems with his girlfriend also come to a head in this issue.

Strange #4




It's good to see that Marvel decided to give Dr. Strange a fresh look and develop his character a bit. Quite frankly he comes off as a prick and you scream to him in your head "Why are you like this??!!" However, by series end (#6) I'm sure he'll have learned his lesson and become the spooky, mysterious sorceror we all know and love.

Ultimate Nightmare #5




I don't really know why I bought this series other than that it was supposed to be "revolutionary" and "change the ultimate universe forever". After reading it though, it wasn't revolutionary and all that really happened was give a warning to the Ultimate Uni saying "Gal-ak-tus" was coming. Big deal in its own right, but was definately nothing special.

Y: The Last Man #31




I really, really want someone to make a movie or HBO series about this book. It reads like a movie already and I think the transition would be easy to do. There's a cool fight sequence between the ninja lady (Lucy Lui perhaps) and Agent 355 and it seems Hero is starting to redeem herself.

Wizard #162




Always a good read for whats current in the business with a dose of sarcastic whit thrown in for good measure. This month's issue is one of two, the other being a special movie based issue.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

New Comic Day February 16

The following comics are ones that I purchased today.
Here's a little review for each (from left to right, top to bottom):

Astonishing X-Men #8


I really applaud what Joss Whedon and John Cassady are doing with this series. I hadn't read the non-ultimate X-men for quite some time because everything had become so convoluted. Whedon's X-men are a slicker team that reads as well as his Sci-Fi show Firefly. This issue expands on the mystery regarding Wing's death and who Emma was heard talking with at the end of issue #6 (I think). I look forward to the next issue and the next run (issues 13-24) by Whedon and Cassady.

Ex Machina #8


Vaughan is one of my favorite writers. Mayor Hundred has such a cool atitude about everything and many of his viewpoints are similar to my own. This issue is another part in the Gay Marriage arc and deals with the politics surrounding the issue. As well the subplot of how he got his powers deepens. Very interesting series. Hopefully it doesn't turn into to much of a science fictiony thing.

Green Lantern: Rebirth #4


I'm usually not one for GL, but I hopped on the Hal Jordan bandwagon with this one. It's very cool to see the Yellow weakness addressed and the way Johns deals with Jordan's craziness. Not a must have (you could wait for the trade paperback and be ok) but interesting nontheless.


Teen Titans #21


For some reason the cover artwork for issue #22 is on #21 so that might confuse some people. From the pages of Identity Crisis, Dr. Light is back and he wants to get revenge on the Teen Titans for humiliating him over the years. He has his mind back and he seems like a very dangerous villain. It will be cool to see what they do with him.
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