Comics

Comic books and graphic novels

Thu
02
Jul

All-New, All-Different Marvel (Part 4 of 5) - Everything Else

Today is part 4 of our All-New All-Different Marvel coverage.  The remaining books weren’t particularly easy to group, so I just lumped them all together and will post them alphabetically.


AGENTS OF S.H.I.EL.D. #1 by Marc Guggenheim and Mike Norton

Wed
01
Jul

Superman/Wonder Woman: Winner of the 2015 Stan Lee Excelsior Award!

You can love it. You can hate it. But you can't deny it's success or sheer popularity among fans.

The first graphic novel covering Superman/Wonder Woman, sub-titled: Power Couple has received the distinction of being the winner of 2015's Stan Lee Excelsior Award!

The Stan Lee Excelsior Award was established in 2011 to "encourage reading for pleasure amongst children and teenagers". It also was intended to "raise the profile of graphic novels and manga amonst school librarians and teachers". With hopes of the awards bringing awareness to schools for graphic novels that deserve to be included in their libraries, it has brought graphic novels to over 77 schools just one year later.

This year's 3 finalists were (in order of placement):

Wed
01
Jul

All-New, All-Different Marvel (Part 3 of 5) - Avengers

Marvel has been announcing their post-Secret Wars plans.  I'll be posting them up over the next few days with some commentary.  I tried to break them up by theme.  Today, we’re talking Avengers.  I will admit that I should probably have included , SCARLET WITCH, CAPTAIN MARVEL and VISION as “Avengers” books, especially over ANT-MAN, but we had a lot of titles to cover and I needed to break them down as best I can.


Wed
01
Jul

All-New, All-Different Marvel (Part 2 of 5) - X-Titles

Marvel has been announcing their post-Secret Wars plans.  I'll be posting them up over the next few days with some commentary.  I tried to break them up by theme.  Today, we’re talking X-Men.   For months now, we’re heard the rumors that Marvel was going to be getting out of the mutant business.   I’ve called BS on those rumors all along, and I think that this lineup of books SHOULD put that to rest.  These are some terrific, top-notch creative teams and should be a strong indicator that Marvel still has a lot of faith in their mutant line.

Tue
30
Jun

All-New, All-Different Marvel (Part 1 of 5) - Spider-Titles

Marvel has been announcing their post-Secret Wars plans.  I'll be posting them up over the next few days with some commentary.  I tried to break them up by theme.  Starting today with Spider-Man.


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 by Dan Slott and Guiseppe Camuncoli

Mon
29
Jun

Front Lines - Secret Wars (Week of June 24, 2015)

Reviews by Mike Maillaro, Mike Weaver, Gina Maillaro, and Grey Scherl

 

AGE OF ULTRON VS MARVEL ZOMBIES #1 by James Robinson and Steve Pugh

Mon
29
Jun

Open Mike Night - Superman #41 & Superman: Red Son

We’re doing a double dose of Superman books this week!  


SUPERMAN #41 by  Gene Luen Yang and John Romita Jr.

Thu
25
Jun

You'll Never Guess Who Superman's New Arch-Rival Will Be!

Superman used to be the butt of jokes regarding his underwear being on the outside. DC fixed that by giving him a new 'armored' look. A jeans and t-shirt look was made to accomodate Grant Morrison's run on Action Comics; which he has re-claimed now that he's been de-powered and his identity exposed.

It was also said that just putting on a pair of glasses and slouching his shoulders as Clark Kent shouldn't be enough to conceal his identity. DC is now addressing that problem as well in an attempt to phase out any of the old Superman tropes.

And they're using Lois Lane to do it.

In an interview with Comic Book Resources, John Romita Jr doesn't pull any punches when speaking of Lois Lane. He explains that not only is she annoying, but she should consider herself stupid for not figuring out Clark's identity 25 years ago:

Thu
25
Jun

Fold Up Some Fun with DC Super Heroes Origami

DC Superheroes Origami Superman Batman Wonder Woman Critical Blast

When I was a kid, I learned how to make paper airplanes. I can now make three different kinds -- the basic kind, the skinny basic kind, and the one that somewhat looks like a Star Trek scout ship. When pressed, I can make a paper sailboat (or maybe it's a hat), and once I made a swan. I don't think paper fans count.

That's me.

And then there's John Montroll.

John Montroll is the author and designer behind DC SUPER HEROES ORIGAMI. Which I absolutely had to have, because I'm a fifty-years-in-the-making fan of all things DC Comics. And I thought it would be fun to share this with my seven-year-old through art projects of origami.

I learned that I knew nothing about folding paper -- but that I could be taught.

Wed
24
Jun

Gods and Monsters Chronicles #3 - "Big" (Wonder Woman)

Rounding out our coverage of JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS CHRONICLES is the third episode. This one is called "Big" and is all about Wonder Woman.    


Commentary:

You know, the HR-V ads before these videos are WAAAAYYYYY off theme.  The narrator is so bright and cheery, it takes a second to adjust back into the dark tone GODS AND MONSTERS has going for it.  

This one starts with President Waller sending Agent Steve Trevor to infilitrate Kobra to find a powerful new weapon they are building.  Kobra is about to execute him when suddenly Wonder Woman appears through a Boom Tube to rescue him.  They quickly defeat Kobra, but Kobra is able to activate their secret weapon, Gigantra!  Actually, a giant robot.

Wed
24
Jun

Gods and Monsters Chronicles #2 - Twisted (Batman Vs Harley)

Here is the second of three episodes of JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS CHRONICLES.  This one features Harley Quinn and Batman, and is called “Twisted.”


 

Commentary:  While I have thought both of these shorts were terrific, I can’t help but think that it has to be confusing for a lot of casual viewers to do stories like this.  One of the comments on Youtube said “This ain't your grandma's Justice League!” and I’m just not sure how I feel about that.  YES, I love to see the status quo get rocked at every opportunity, but when you get this far away from the source material, part of me wonders why you don’t just create something new entirely.  Batman’s costume in particular is such a departure, he looks more like an homage to Batman than any version of Batman I’ve ever seen before.

Tue
23
Jun

Front Lines - Secret Wars (Week of June 17)

by Mike Maillaro, Gina Maillaro, Graham Scherl, and Mike Weaver


ARMOR WARS #2 by James Robinson and Marcio Takara

Summary: Rhodes is watching the autopsy of Spyder-Man by Dr Druid.  Fisk is working with Arno Stark to rob Kiri’s technology.  Arno is able to provide Fisk’s operative Stingray with a stealth armor to sneak into her lab...though the armor is killing Stingray.  Kiri’s lab defenses go into full effect, and Kiri and Lila (Rhode’s niece) defeat Stingray.

Tue
23
Jun

The Longbox Short-List - Week of June 24, 2015

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics Shipping This Week

Mon
22
Jun

Gods and Monsters Chronicles #1 - Bomb (Superman vs Brainiac)

DC has been putting a lot of marketing muscle behind the upcoming JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS.  In the upcoming weeks, there will be a digital comic series, and they have also been posting some shorts on Machinima's Youtube channel.   There are three of them, and we'll be posting them over the next few days.

Here is the first one, called "Bomb" and featuring Superman and Brainiac:

Mon
22
Jun

Dark Horse comes to Comixology

From Comicosity:

June 22nd, 2015 – New York, NY / Portland, OR – Today comiXology, the revolutionary cloud-based digital comics platform, proudly announced a digital distribution agreement with Dark Horse Comics, the largest independent comic book publisher, to bring their full digital catalog of collections, graphic novels, and manga to comiXology’s platform! Now, all Dark Horse Comics collections, graphic novels, and manga will be available on comiXology the same day the print versions arrive in bookstores.

“We are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement which brings the Dark Horse catalogue found in the Kindle Store to the comiXology platform,” remarked President and Publisher of Dark Horse Comics Mike Richardson.  “For the first time, hundreds of Dark Horse graphic novels will be available to comiXology’s devoted readers. The technology is stellar and we are pleased that our books will be showcased flawlessly.”

Mon
22
Jun

Review: Robyn Hood #12 (Zenescope)

ROBYN HOOD #12 “A Tale of Rot”

Publisher: Zenescope

Available: 7/1/2015

Fri
19
Jun

Open Mike Night - Prez (2015) #1

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver


Prez #1

Thu
18
Jun

Superman and Wonder Woman's Relationship is Being Tested

Superman Wonder Woman DC Comics Relationship Tested Critical Blast

And that's a good thing!

On the surface it would appear that Superman and Wonder Woman are going through a rough patch, but that doesn't mean that the writing is on the wall for DC's power couple. On the contrary, it simply means that they are learning more about one another. With each argument they endure, their relationship only grows stronger as they discover how best to deal with the other's needs.

Sure they're fictional characters, but when people start freaking out over an isolated incident or a disagreement, sometimes it's good to put things into perspective. Over the course of their young relationship we've seen them have differing opinions and philosophies. This happens in every relationship.

People shouldn't be climbing out on the ledge because they saw a panel of Superman telling Wonder Woman that he doesn't love her anymore.

Tue
16
Jun

The Longbox Short-List - Week of June 17, 2015

Megaman Worlds Unite Sonic

WORLDS UNITE -  This year’s Mega Man/Sonic crossover has been odd at times, since quite a bit of the story has said you need to read “WORLDS UNITE BATTLES #1” to follow what’s going on.  Thankfully that is finally coming out this week (along with MEGA MAN #50).  I do love a lot of the twists in this story, like Mega Man and Sonic both being taken out of action real early, and the Sonic Boom reality being involved too.

Mon
15
Jun

Front Lines - Secret Wars (Week of June 10, 2015)

by Mike Maillaro, Mike Weaver, Graham Scherl, and Gina Maillaro

1602 WITCH HUNTER ANGELA #1 by Marguerite Bennett, Stephanie Hans, Kieron Hillen, Marguerite Sauvage

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