Comics and Magazines from Diamond Distributors for September 14 2011

COMICS

JUN110961 3D MAJOR ARCANA PRINT BY DENIS KITCHEN $10.00

JUL111123 AMULET SC VOL 04 LAST COUNCIL $10.99

JUL110837 ARCHIE THE MARRIED LIFE TP VOL 01 $19.99

JUN110822 AWAKENINGS GN $19.95

MAR110846 BATTLE FOR PLANET O/T LIVING DEAD $3.50

JUL111236 BENJAMIN BEAR IN FUZZY THINKING HC $12.95

JUN110843 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #194 $3.99

JUL111217 BONNIE LASS #1 (OF 4) $2.99

MAY110793 CAVEWOMAN ALL NATURAL PINUP ONE SHOT $3.75

JUL110791 CAVEWOMAN SNOW #3 BUDD ROOT SE (MR) PI

MAY110797 CHICKEN FIGHTER PKT MANGA VOL 01 $14.95

MAY111190 CLINT #10 (MR) $6.99

JUN110887 CROSSED HC SGN ED VOL 02 FAMILY VALUES (MR) $34.99

JUN110886 CROSSED HC VOL 02 FAMILY VALUES (MR) $27.99

JUN110885 CROSSED TP VOL 02 FAMILY VALUES (MR) $19.99

MAY100779 DELLEC #6 (OF 6) CVR A MICAH GUNNELL (RES) $2.50

MAY100780 DELLEC #6 (OF 6) CVR B MARCUS TO (RES) $2.50

MAY111068 DF MARVELOUS 50TH ANN SUMMER SET $50.00

MAY111065 DF TRUE BLOOD TAINTED #6 CAMPBELL EXC CVR $14.99

JUN110782 DISCORD GN $17.99

JUL111221 DRIVER FOR THE DEAD TP VOL 01 (RES) (MR) $14.95

JUN110968 DUCKTALES #4 $3.99

JUL110875 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ORCHID #3 (OF 3) CVR A GUNNELL $3.50

JUL110935 FARSCAPE #23 $3.99

JUL111320 FLY #4 A CVR KIRKHAM (MR) $2.99

JUL111321 FLY #4 B CVR GARZA (MR) $2.99

JUL111322 FLY #4 C CVR ERIC J (MR) $2.99

JAN111130 GREEN HORNET YEAR ONE #12 $3.99

MAY110923 HELLRAISER #5 (MR) $3.99

JUN110844 JUGHEAD #209 $2.99

MAY111116 KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE TP VOL 03 (4TH PTG) $12.99

JUL111240 KORGI GN VOL 03 A HOLLOW BEGINNING $9.95

JUL110979 LADY DEATH ORIGINS ANNUAL #1 (MR) $4.99

JUL110980 LADY DEATH ORIGINS ANNUAL #1 WRAP CVR (MR) $4.99

JUN110847 LIFE WITH ARCHIE #13 $3.99

JUL111025 LIVING CORPSE EXHUMED #2 (OF 6) $3.99

MAY111179 MOON GIRL #4 (OF 5) $3.50

MAY110867 NIGHT O/T LIVING DEAD DEATH VALLEY #4 (OF 5) (MR) $3.99

MAY110868 NIGHT O/T LIVING DEAD DEATH VALLEY #4 (OF 5) GORE CVR (MR) $3.99

MAY110869 NIGHT O/T LIVING DEAD DEATH VALLEY #4 (OF 5) WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99

JUL110783 NOVO GN VOL 03 SURVIVORS $9.99

JUL111271 ONE PIECE TP VOL 58 $9.99

JUN111064 OPTIC NERVE #12 $5.95

MAY110891 PENNY FOR YOUR SOUL TP VOL 01 WAR (MR) $19.99

JUL111122 PILOT & HUXLEY GN VOL 02 $8.99

FEB110986 ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #12 $3.99

JUL110926 SERGIO ARAGONES FUNNIES #3 $3.50

APR110986 SHERLOCK HOLMES YEAR ONE #6 $3.99

JUL111151 SHUGO CHARA GN VOL 12 $10.99

JUL110927 SIMPSONS COMICS #182 $2.99

JUN110925 SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR TP VOL 06 BEYOND THE GRAVE $17.99

JUL111133 SINJA GN BOOK 01 $19.95

JUL110966 SPACE WARPED #3 (OF 6) $3.99

JUL110952 STAN LEE STARBORN #10 $3.99

JUN111427 STAR WARS JEDI PATH HC $19.95

JUN110874 SUPERGOD HC (MR) $27.99

JUN110873 SUPERGOD TP VOL 01 (MR) $17.99

JUL111141 THREE THIEVES GN VOL 02 SIGN O/T BLACK ROCK $8.95

JUL111260 TWIN SPICA GN VOL 09 $10.95

JUN111271 ULTIMO GN VOL 06 $9.99

APR110951 WARLORD OF MARS #9 $3.99

JUN110991 WAYFARERS MOON TP VOL 01 ROAD FROM SOUTHFIELD $19.95

JUL111222 WONDERSTRUCK HC $29.99

MAGAZINES
APR111329 AMAZING FIGURE MODELER #50 $8.00
JUL111381 DIABOLIQUE #5 $9.98
JUN111385 FREAKY MONSTERS MAGAZINE #4 $9.95
JUN111141 HEAVY METAL NOVEMBER 2011 (MR) $6.95
MAY111364 HOBBY JAPAN AUG 2011 $16.60
JUL111387 HORRORHOUND #31 $6.99
JUN111387 RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE #115 $9.95
APR111345 SFX #211 $9.99
MAY111386 STAR WARS VEHICLES COLL MAG #71 DOOKUS SOLAR SAILER $18.00
JUL111394 ULTRA VIOLENT MAGAZINE #11 $5.95
JUN112156 WHITE DWARF #380 PI

The New 52 Review: BATWING #1

BATWING #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Judd Winick
ARTIST: Ben Oliver
COLORIST: Brian Reber
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual
32pp, Color, $2.99

Batwing is the Batman of Africa. Created by Grant Morrison and designed by Chris Burnham, the character first appeared in Batman Incorporated. As part of DC Comics’ re-launch of its superhero line, Batwing is officially a title character.

Batwing #1 (“The Cradle of Civilization”) follows David Zamvimbi A.K.A. Batwing, an officer with the Tinasha Police Department. Zamvimbi is investigating a series of brutal murders connected to the drug trade in Tinasha. At the same time, Batwing meets his match in a machete-wielding, masked villain called Massacre who kills at will.

I saw preview art for Batwing by series artist Ben Oliver that was released during Comic-Con International, and it looked glorious in black and white. Now, as presented in the actual comic book, Oliver’s art has been defaced by Brian Reber’s horrid coloring, which looks like a slush of watercolors and color markers. This ghastly coloring job only emphasizes how vague the background details are; in fact, Oliver draws little and sometimes nothing in the background.

Judd Winick’s feeble storytelling matches the vague art. Hiring a Black man or woman or African to write this comic book wouldn’t kill DC… or would it? An African-American or African would bring a fresh perspective to this book, which really needs one. Under Winick, Batwing, even if it mildly entertains, will probably end up being just more Bat-guano.

C

August 31st
FLASHPOINT #5
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/flashpoint-5.html
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/justice-league-1.html

September 7th
ACTION COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/action-comics-1.html
DETECTIVE COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/detective-comics-1-2011.html
HAWK AND DOVE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/hawk-dove-1.html
STORMWATCH #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/stormwatch-1.html

The New 52 Review: STORMWATCH #1

STORMWATCH #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Paul Cornell
ARTIST: Miguel Sepulveda
COLORS: Allan Passalaqua
LETTERS: Rob Leigh
COVER: Miguel Sepulveda and Nathan Eyring
32pp, Color, $2.99

Stormwatch, a comic book created by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi, was originally published by Image Comics via Lee’s Wildstorm Productions. It debuted in 1993 and was part of a second wave of titles that began after the original Image Comics titles.

Stormwatch was a United Nations-sponsored superhero team that dealt with situations around the world. This comic book is best remembered for Warren Ellis’ run on the series which eventually resulted in the creation of The Authority. Stormwatch returns as part of DC Comics’ re-launch of its superhero line, “The New 52,” and the team is formerly incorporated into the DC Universe.

Stormwatch #1 (“The Dark Side” Part One) finds the team, which protects Earth from major alien threats, trying to recruit a young man known as “Apollo.” Stormwatch desperately needs his impressive powers, so they can’t take “No” for an answer. Something calling itself The Scourge of Worlds has arrived to test humanity, and Harry Tanner, the Eminence of Blades (Yep, that’s what he’s called), faces it alone.

Much of Stormwatch #1 is about back story and things to come. What does take place in the present is mostly character introductions. I can describe this as a mixture of elements of Warren Ellis and writer Paul Cornell’s delusions that he can always turn his contrivances into good ideas for a comic book. I have read very little of his work, but what I have read comes across as pretentious and desperate to be edgy and cool. This is, however, potential here. It could potentially be an adequate comic book, or it could potentially be something that dies a slow death over a two year run – say 18 to 24 issues.

As for the art, Miguel Sepulveda draws like mid-1990s Joe Benitez. Who remembers Weapon Zero? Sepulveda is not ready to draw for DC Comics, simply because his compositions show how raw and unpolished he is. Some of Sepulveda’s figure drawing is… wanting, especially when he draws a character doing something other than standing. Still, he has potential, and perhaps, he will surprise me.

The new Midnighter looks ridiculous.

C

August 31st
FLASHPOINT #5
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/flashpoint-5.html
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/justice-league-1.html

September 7th
ACTION COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/action-comics-1.html
DETECTIVE COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/detective-comics-1-2011.html
HAWK AND DOVE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/hawk-dove-1.html

 

The New 52 Review: HAWK & DOVE #1

HAWK & DOVE #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Sterling Gates
ARTIST: Rob Liefeld
COLORS: Matt Yackey
LETTERS: Dezi Sienty
COVER: Rob Liefeld and Hi-Fi
32pp, Color, $2.99

Hawk and Dove are comic book characters created by Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates. They debuted in Showcase #75 (1968), and starred in their own comic book, The Hawk and the Dove, which ran for six issues from 1968 to 1969.

The characters are Hank Hall, who is the Hawk, a conservative, hot-headed reactionary. His brother is Don Hall, the liberal and pacifist Dove. The Dove was killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths. In 1988, a Hawk & Dove miniseries, with pencil art by a young Rob Liefeld, introduced the new Dove, Dawn Granger.

Liefeld and the Hank and Dawn version of Hawk and Dove return in the New 52 Hawk & Dove #1. Based in Washington D.C., Hawk and Dove take on an airplane hijacking initiated by Alexander Quirk, the self-proclaimed science terrorist who wants to change politics. Quirk’s most fearsome creations are powerful zombies that prove to be difficult to beat down and keep down. Meanwhile, brewing under the surface of the main story, we learn that Dawn Granger is keeping secrets from Hank Hall (because she admits this to her boyfriend, Deadman).

After DC Comics announced that they were re-launching their superhero line “the New 52,” I started hearing that people were comparing the preview art for the new books to the initial Image Comics titles of the early 1990s. Well, the new Hawk & Dove is like a “classic” Image comic book. This is indeed a throwback comic book. Thanks to the art by Rob Liefeld, an Image Comics founder, readers who remember Liefeld’s New Mutants, X-Force, and Youngblood will have a disappointing feeling of déjà vu from Hawk & Dove. Some artists get better with age; others see their skills decline in one way or another. I have to give Liefeld credit for staying the same – for better or for worse.

Hawk & Dove #1 is not at all good, nor is it particularly bad. It is stubbornly, disgustingly, mediocre and average, but it isn’t all Liefeld’s fault, although every line of his art proudly carries the banner for rank amateurism. I’m not familiar with writer Sterling Gray, and I am disappointed that my first encounter with his work is this pedestrian effort.

C-

August 31st
FLASHPOINT #5
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/flashpoint-5.html
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/justice-league-1.html

September 7th
ACTION COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/action-comics-1.html
DETECTIVE COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/detective-comics-1-2011.html

The New 52 Review: ACTION COMICS #1

ACTION COMICS #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Grant Morrison
PENICLS: Rags Morales
INKS: Rick Bryant
COLORS: Brad Anderson
LETTERS: Patrick Brosseau
COVER: Rags Morales with Brad Anderson (Variant cover by Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair)
40pp, Color, $3.99

Launched in 1938, Action Comics was published by Detective Comics, Inc., the company that would eventually become DC Comics. Action Comics #1 (cover dated June 1938) was the comic book that introduced Superman, the first major superhero character. As part of DC Comics’ re-launch of its superhero comics line, we have a new #1 issue of Action Comics, and like the 1938 first issue, this one introduces Superman – a somewhat new Superman.

Action Comics #1 (“Versus the City of Tomorrow”) presents a young Superman. Written by Grant Morrison, Superman comes across as a trust-busting, New Deal populist willing to put his boot up the asses of rich-bitch bad guys. In fact, this Superman actually wears work boots and also blue jeans; he is a wavy-haired, Errol Flynn-as-Robin Hood, boyish Man of Steel. Pencil artist Rags Morales draws him as a farm boy dynamo who leaps, levitates, and slams into big things in such a naturalistic way.

Clark Kent, on the other hand, is Clark. He is the kind of big, tall, strong-looking guy who is as average as a glass of water. Actually, this is a good move on Morrison’s part because no other characters in the story could believe that a guy like this Clark is that strapping Superman fellow.

This issue’s story involves a poncy, privileged, rich boy-type Lex Luthor helping the U.S. military capture Superman, who (believe it or not) is public enemy number one. Of course, no one suspects that Luthor has his own plans to take into consideration and he does not care about collateral damage.

I like Grant Morrison’s retro-30s meets futurism take on Superman and his world. Rags Morales compositions are vibrant in terms of movement and staging of action in the panels, and his figure drawing is dynamic – praise Burne Hogarth. They have Action Comics off to a fine start.

A-

August 31st
FLASHPOINT #5
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/flashpoint-5.html
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/justice-league-1.html

September 7th
DETECTIVE COMICS #1 2.99
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/detective-comics-1-2011.html

The New 52 Review: DETECTIVE COMICS #1

DETECTIVE COMICS #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Tony Salvador Daniel
PENCILS: Tony Salvador Daniel
INKS: Ryan Winn
COLORIST: Tomeu Morey
LETTERS: Jared K. Fletcher
COVER: Tony Salvador Daniel
32pp, Color, $2.99

Detective Comics #1 debuted with a March 1937 cover date, and the series is best known for Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), which featured the debut of Batman (then billed as “The Bat-Man”). DC Comics is currently re-launching their superhero comic book line, so we have a brand new Detective Comics #1.

I’ll go back into the past again – the recent past. American comic book writer and artist Tony Daniel entered mainstream comic book publishing in the mid-1990s drawing X-Force for Marvel Comics. He eventually became one of the many young creators who jumped to Image Comics in the mid to late 90s to produce their own creator-owned comic book series. I read Daniel’s The Tenth for a few years, but I eventually quit the title. Daniel obviously had the talent to create comic books, but The Tenth often showed the signs of being produced by a young, relatively inexperienced, and creatively immature writer/artist – both in terms of storytelling and art.

Daniel’s career moved forward when he began drawing the Geoff Johns-written Teen Titans, but Daniel’s professional status surged when he became the artist on Grant Morrison’s Batman. He drew the highly-popular Batman R.I.P. storyline and wrote and drew Batman: Battle for the Cowl, the primary miniseries that dealt with the aftermath of Batman R.I.P.

Now, Tony Daniel is the writer and pencil artist on the new Detective Comics #1. I can honestly say that I have not felt this excited and thrilled after reading a Batman comic book since I read Book One of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns all those years ago.

Grant Morrison’s Batman has nothing on Daniel’s Detective Comics #1

The plot is straightforward. Batman is hunting The Joker, one of the most violent and brutal interpretations of the character, one who has over 100 murders to his credit over a six year period. However, someone other than the Batman seems to be hunting the Joker, and despite Commissioner Gordon best efforts, Mayor Hady is encouraging the Gotham City Police Department to kill Batman.

Daniel does not copy The Dark Night Returns, but like Frank Miller’s seminal Batman graphic novel, Detective Comics #1 is a lean and clean interpretation of Batman and his world. Daniel composes a story that moves briskly, with sequences of violence that are both blunt and smooth, and all the action set pieces are composed with polish that belies the experience of this creator. As for the art, pieces of it resemble The Dark Night Returns – some compositions, quite a bit of the page design, and some stylistic flourishes. But I must emphasize that this is Daniel’s own thing – his Batman comic book.

Of course, this is just the first issue. Can Daniel maintain this high level for a sustained run on the series? If he can, this Detective Comics will leap over many Bat-comics and be the best ongoing Batman of the new century.

A+

August 31st

FLASHPOINT #5
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/flashpoint-5.html
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/justice-league-1.html

Kurozakuro: Resistance

I read Kurozakuro, Vol. 6

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin.