So, Ed Brubaker and Mike Carey are taking over the main X-books over the next few weeks. I’m pretty stoked for them, because I do so love both authors. Brubaker, when given proper freedom (Sleeper, not War Games or whatever), can spin words into gold and Mike Carey managed to follow up the best writer ever (Brian Azzarello) on Hellblazer with a worthy run.

Funny thing, though. Their X-teams? Totally bizarre. Brubaker’s team is composed of Nightcrawler, Marvel Girl, Havok, Warpath, Professor X, Polaris, and Darwin from the end of Deadly Genesis. Prof X will probably show up, too. Carey’s team is Rogue, Iceman, Cable, Cannonball, Mystique, Sabretooth, and probably more to come. Northstar and his sister (what was her name? I never liked Alpha Flight, anyway) were mentioned as being involved, too.

My general response after I heard about these teams was “Wha-huh?” I’m down, though, because both authors are quality. Brubaker is already looking to surpass Bendis on Daredevil, and his work on Cap is tops. Carey is also going to do killer work on Ult Fantastic Four once Millar and Land are done with it.

Now, this got me to thinking. What’s my dream X-team? A friend and I discussed this a lot a while back. Actually, I’ve discussed this with almost every comics-reading friend that I have. It’s part of the normal fanboying that comics fans get into, I think, along with whether or not Cap could beat Batman (yes, he could, prep-time or no). So, my pick for X-teams…

(no pictures on this one. it’s late, and i promise I’ll give you some multimedia next time)

I’d go with three teams. The superheroes, the strike force, and the “yer dead, mate” force.
Read the rest of this entry �

Over at Girls Read Comics Too, Karen Healy takes Joss Whedon to task for the current Hellfire Club arc in Astonishing X-Men:

What is it with Whedon and strong women? Not Whedon and strong “girls”, or at least his version thereof – they all get happy endings, even when they are, in fact, unacknowledged sexual abusers*. But what happens to his women?

Read the rest of this entry �

Several months ago, I brought myself to read through James Robinson’s brilliant Starman series. With its great supporting cast, the character Mikaal Tomas stuck out to me. One of the many superheroes to once call himself Starman, Mikaal turned against his conquering alien race and sided with Earth. Eventually, this led to the extermination of his kind and the truth that Mikaal was the last of his people. This made me realize how overused this idea was. So many aliens in the DC Universe were the last of their kind. Other than Mikaal, we have Superman, Martian Manhunter, Lobo and even Kilowag.

I got the feeling that these guys need their own story based on this. When I came across DC Universe: Last Sons at the local Barnes and Noble and saw that this was essentially what I was asking for, I realized I had to read it. Even without Mikaal and Kilowag there, I was still interested. Besides, it was about time I read a book that didn’t have pictures in it.

By the way, this is filled with spoilers. If you want a review that doesn’t tell you that Xemtex’s robot friend dies, go here. If you take that guy’s word for it, continue.

Read the rest of this entry �

(This is a rewritten message board post from Something Awful’s Batman’s Shameful Secret. It was good, so I dragged it from the depths and rewrote it.)

“Why I Like All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder”
by little david brothers, age 22

Both All-Star Superman and All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder are takes on classic heroes that feature full creative freedom. It’s a chance for these guys to tell the Bats/Supes story they wanted to tell and how they wanted.

The Miller/Lee Batman is different from the Loeb/Sale, Loeb/Lee, Azzarello/Risso, Brubaker/McDaniel, Dixon/Grummett Batman, but it is still recognizably Batman. It’s Batman spun for self-conscious comedy. It’s a guy in a batsuit who isn’t crazy, I don’t think, but would like for people to think that he’s crazy, so he acts crazy. “I ate rats BY CHOICE SO HE BETTER EAT RATS TOO!” That’s hilarious. He’s trying so hard to be a hardcase that everyone around him, or at least Alfred (who’s known him for years and is probably tired of his self-important crap) to Dick Grayson (who has known him for maybe six hours and sees right through his self-important crap) knows that he’s putting on a show. Grayson mentions the fact that he can tell that Bats is putting on an Eastwood. Batman is a ridiculous concept when you think too hard about it, but it’s also an awesome one that much of America (even the non-comics reading folks) have loved since childhood, and that’s what I get from this book. “Batman is a crazy idea, pure empowerment fantasy… but doesn’t it rock?”

(“how cool is that?”)

Plus, you know, giant robot dinosaurs, and I am certain that Bruce Wayne also has a giant robot saddle when he has to hop on and ride around Gotham. “C’MON, CRIMINALS! SIC SEMPER TYRANNOSAURUS YOU COWARDS!” (Robin only gets a robot velociraptor on a leash.)

All-Star Supes is just as “stupid.” Superman overdoses on solar radiation, so he’s dying, but he’s also gifted with tremendous strength at the same time. Modern day interpretation? It’s about the fear of death and what makes a man human. However, it’s also every stupid Silver Age story in one. it’s got Superman robots, chess pieces shaped like Superman’s friends, the Fortress of Solitude with the intergalactic zoo, Superman making dresses, future Supermen, keys that probably weigh enough to punch right through the Earth and out the other side, technobabble, journeys to the center of the Earth to visit the Dino-czar, Cat grant eyeing up people’s crotches, Lois Lane with powers… it’s the same thing as All-Star Bats. “Here are all these crazy impossible ideas… robo-dinosaurs, journeys to the center of the Earth… aren’t they wonderful?!”

Then again, this may just be me. I read these books and it’s like I’m reading comics back when I was ten years old and Jim Lee was the biggest guy in comics. The All-Star books are big, stupid, and loud. I’ve enjoyed every issue of both All-Star books greatly, not in the least because Miller, Lee, Morrison, and Quitely are four of my most favorite creators. They’re fun titles that I enjoy reading, and would like to see them collected in extremely handsome hardcovers five years from now when they finally put out issue 12 of both series.

I also like Dark Knight Strikes Again. Once I find time (that’s a ha-ha, good buddy) I may do a few entries on some of my favorite Miller work that’s not DKR (DKSA, 300, The Big Fat Kill). It’s all a matter of time.

Here’s another angle by one Geoff Klock, wherein the author uses fancy words like “grotesque.”

Glyphs: The Language of the Black Comics Community

I’ve got this site hooked up on my RSS feed, and it’s a great resource if you’re looking for info on black-related comics.

Sorry I’ve been away so much. Being a “video games journalist” takes a lot of time out of my day. Posts soon, I promise! I’ll have plenty of stuff to talk about, for sure!

I did some behind the scenes work on 4ldotnet. I upgraded to WordPress 2.0.3, brought the site back from catastrophic failure once or twice when I hit a wrong key, and I also switched out the random banner script for a better one.

You probably won’t notice any of these differences, but they count. I also added a few (fifteen?) banners into the mix. Gavok did them up, I made them suitable for posting, and so I posted them. You can tell the new ones because they have an exclamation point on them. I think that this one is my favorite, though.

I also added an exclamation point to the site name. I can’t really tell you why, but it just feels right. Plus, it’s my site, so shut up, that’s why.

We’re still here! We are all just very, very busy. I’m going to give you some love soon.

I’m kind of annoyed by the new Batwoman, and honestly, it isn’t her fault. Having a lesbian superheroine running around the Bat-branded corner of the DCU isn’t a big deal, although I suspect it’s going to lead to some pretty laughable stories unless Greg Rucka writes them.

What gets me about it is, simply, that whole “sneaking minorities in” aspect that’s running around both of the big two comic book companies. The new Atom’s Asian; the new Batwoman’s a lesbian; the new Blue Beetle’s Hispanic; and so on, and so forth. It seems less like expanding the broad tapestry of racial whatevers and more like blatant tokenism, allowing minorities to join the party but only if they emulate white heroes.

I suppose it’s sort of misguidedly good, because at least they’re there, but it’s always seemed condescending to me somehow. Is it just me?