Hey, ThWiPsters. We’re getting closer and closer to the big 250th week landmark with panels from myself, Matlock, Gaijin Dan, Space Jawa and AnarChris. Original Sin continues to be Marvel’s more entertaining and less rapey version of Identity Crisis and I’ve been very happy with that. The two TMNT comics were also fantastic this week.

Helluva lot of Frank Castle stuff this week.

Elsewhere, I’ve written a review of the first arc of the WWE Superstars comic, as well as a look at various storyline aspects I expect to see in the next Mortal Kombat game.

Avengers #31 (Matlock’s pick)
Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu

Avengers #31 (Gavin’s pick)
Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu

Avengers World #8 (Gavin’s pick)
Nick Spencer and Marco Checchetto

Read the rest of this entry �

Hey, now! Getting closer and closer to hitting 250. This week I did a review of Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist and… nothing. Because I’m locked in a world of getting endless overtime at work. Great for the wallet, but damn if I have zero energy to write or do my DDP Yoga.

My boys Gaijin Dan, Matlock and Space Jawa are back with me this week. Lots of Charles Soule with a couple Parker and Robinson books mixed in there. Just how I like it. I’ve mentioned before that Red Lanterns is pretty much the best book DC has right now, right? Because it totally fucking is.

All-New Invaders #5 (Gavin’s pick)
James Robinson and Steve Pugh

All-New Invaders #5 (Matlock’s pick)
James Robinson and Steve Pugh

All-Star Western #31
Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Staz Johnson and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Read the rest of this entry �

Oh me, oh my, it’s This Week in Panels. I’m joined by Matlock, Gaijin Dan and Space Jawa and we got panels for you. Again. Like the last 239 times.

Injustice is getting really good again, as it’s leading to a big war between Superman’s forces and the Green Lantern Corps. Obviously, we know who wins because it’s a prequel, but the fascinating question is how badly is it going to end? Who’s going to be left standing?

And in case you’re about to ask, yes, that is indeed Doom 2099.

All-New Invaders #4
James Robinson and Steve Pugh

All-Star Western #30 (Matlock’s pick)
Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Staz Johnson

All-Star Western #30 (Gavin’s pick)
Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Staz Johnson

Read the rest of this entry �

It’s panel time! I’m joined by Space Jawa, Matlock, Gaijin Dan and a rare entry from Dickeye. Jawa has double the panels due to some screw-up from his shop last week.

Writing-wise, I went back to the old What If well for old time’s sake by writing about 20 Uplifting What If Stories for Den of Geek US. It felt like coming home.

This week brings us the end of Jeff Lemire’s Animal Man and to be honest, I feel like it wasn’t worth my time. I don’t mean the issue, but the entire run. Despite being one of the must-read comics from the beginning of the New 52, it led to a big arc that went on for far too long, killed off his son (when the most beloved take on the character went out of the way to explain why this was a bad idea) and then meandered until its finale. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is still well-written enough, but it feels so pedestrian as it reaches its big climax.

I’ll probably start picking up Superman/Wonder Woman because Charles Soule has been rocking my socks off on everything else he’s written, but I feel my interest in DC dwindling by the day.

All-New Invaders #3
James Robinson and Steve Pugh

All-New Invaders #3
James Robinson and Steve Pugh

All You Need Is Kill #8
Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Ryosuke Takeuchi, Yoshitoshi ABe and Takeshi Obata

Read the rest of this entry �

It’s a super-late edition of This Week in Panels, brought to you by me being stuck on the phone/chatting with customer support people for the past few days because practically every piece of technology I touch has a tendency to not work. But hey, at least I have the WWE Network working now and that’s a good time.

Elsewhere, at Den of Geek US I was asked to post some preview pages for the upcoming Deadpool vs. Carnage miniseries. I went a little bit further by writing up a Tale of the Tape between the two. Also, I have a comprehensive guide to the death and return of CHIKARA Pro Wrestling.

But really, I barely wrote anything last week due to the WWE Network. By God, it’s great.

Helping me out this week are Matlock, Gaijin Dan and Space Jawa. Jawa’s panels reminded me that I totally forgot to read that Utrom miniseries going on with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

All-Star Western #28 (Gavin’s pick)
Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Staz Johnson and Fabrizio Fiorentino

All-Star Western #28 (Matlock’s pick)
Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Staz Johnson and Fabrizio Fiorentino

All You Need Is Kill #6
Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Ryosuke Takeuchi, Yoshitoshi ABe and Takeshi Obata

Read the rest of this entry �

I really don’t know! Maybe next week will also come Monday night, but that’s because I’m in the middle of a major deadline of one of the biggest articles I’ve ever written and I almost had to delay this entire week’s update and merge it with next week’s. By this time next week, I’ll have a lot more breathing room.

In the meantime, I’m helped out by Matlock, Space Jawa and Gaijin Dan.

All-New X-Men #21
Brian Michael Bendis, Brandon Peterson and Brent Anderson

All You Need Is Kill #1
Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Ryosuke Takeuchi, Yoshitoshi ABe and Takeshi Obata

Batman: Li’l Gotham #10
Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs

Read the rest of this entry �

Triple 2s! Neat! And with a Two-Face comic in there also!

Huge, huge week this update, breaking forty images, which may be a ThWiP record. Helps that I have Matlock, Gaijin Dan, Space Jawa and Was Taters backing me up.

My time’s been eaten up by a lot of personal things, but I have some stuff coming up in the next couple days. A really nice guest article and a little something different. In the meantime, here’s a review I wrote for Den of Geek US on a comic called Rainbow in the Dark. It’s the Matrix meets Pleasantville meets They Live as a rock opera with Sam Elliot as the wise mentor character.

Animal Man #26 (Gavin’s pick)
Jeff Lemire and Cully Hamner

Animal Man #26 (Matlock’s pick)
Jeff Lemire and Cully Hamner

Avengers Assemble #22
Kelly Sue DeConnick, Warren Ellis, Matteo Buffagni and Paco Diaz

Read the rest of this entry �

Welcome to This Week in Panels. This week, we see the return of Matlock, who has sent a bunch of Marvel panels. This includes Mighty Avengers, which frustrates me. Not only is it supposedly really well-written and fun, but the latest issue just brought back Luke Cage’s old sidekick DW Griffith. I would LOVE to go read it, but… Greg Land is drawing it. Damn it.

Also with us are Gaijin Dan and Space Jawa. Jawa pointed out to me this video of Lego Venom going on a rampage and God bless him for that.

At Den of Geek US, I did an article on 10 Marvel What If Concepts That Actually Happened. Unfortunately, I totally forgot about Sentinel until after the fact.

Oh, and this week’s Batman ’66 is pretty interesting. It’s a King Tut storyline, but it’s also an origin of a Batman villain who never got a chance to be on that show. That little insignia should be a big hint.

Avengers A.I. #7
Sam Humphries and Andre Lima Araujo

Avengers Plus X-Men #15
Jai Nitz, Gerry Duggan, Greg Smallwood, David Yardin and Cam Smith

Batman #26
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

Read the rest of this entry �

Hello, my little chicken sandwiches. It’s time for another edition of This Week in Panels. This time, I’m helped out by Gaijin Dan, Matlock and Space Jawa. This week brings the last installment of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, which means that I’ll no longer look at that title and start thinking about that “Jacko on his Backo” skit from mid-90’s Saturday Night Live. Yeah, uh… even if I try to explain it, it would be one of those “had to be there” things.

This week I’ll be heading to New York Comic Con for all four days. David will be there too, hanging out at the Image booth and doing whatever it is he does. Other than running. I know he does that, but he can’t do that there. Me? I have no plans at the moment. I’m going there for the sake of going there. Den of Geek US is going to give me some assignments, but I have no clue what that entails yet. I’m also going to dress up for at least one day and maybe get a new set of Plus Prop Challenge sketches done.

Action Comics #24
Mike Johnson, Tyler Kirkham and Jesus Merino

All-New X-Men #17 (Matlock’s pick)
Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen

All-New X-Men #17 (Gavin’s pick)
Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen

Read the rest of this entry �

Yo! Welcome to a manga-less edition of ThWiP. Due to some kind of big Japanese holiday, Gaijin Dan doesn’t have any ammo, so he’s taking the week off. My backup comes in the form of Matlock and Space Jawa.

I did an article for Den of Geek of Top 25 Comic Characters Who Owe Everything to an Actor’s Portrayal. That was a fun one to write. Too bad it pissed off Reddit. Apparently, they took the “Everything” part a bit too literal. Ah, well. My next list article is bound to piss off even more people. It already got my editor mad for me saying that Popeye is a bad movie.

The best omissions I’ve heard from readers are Josh Pais as movie Raphael, Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and maybe Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

Now for comic panels.

Animal Man #23
Jeff Lemire, Steve Pugh and Francis Portela

Avengers #18
Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu

Avengers Assemble #18
Kelly Sue DeConnick and Barry Kitson

Read the rest of this entry �