Mixed Plate Comics- Week of 2.15.2012

Hey ya'll!!  So between the daily grind owning me the last few months and going on the deep end in heroclix-- I have eventually found my way back into the piles and piles of backlogged, neglected comics.  This is actually my first week of reading through all the weekly pulls since...dayuum way back in December (helps that it was a light week)...oh the shame.

Alright enough about me and on to those panels of goodness.  This week I read: B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth: The Long Death #1 / Daredevil #9 / Green Lantern Corps #6  / Nightwing #6 / Birds of Prey #6 / Wonder Woman #6 / Winter Soldier #2 / Batman #6 / Catwoman #6 / Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi- Force Storm #1 and the most killer of these sequential art experiences were ...
5    Wonder Woman  #6   Brian Azzarello, Tony Akins & Dan Green

I am not as well scripted in Greek mythology as much as some of my other friends though being a diehard WW reader for the last 6 years.  With that all said the last 6 months of Azz/Chaing's Amazonian ride is easily the most immersive and entertaining take on WW period.  No comparison yo.

How fucking sick and ballsy is it to see (okay doesn't actually show her doin it but that makes our imaginations run with it even more!) Diana rip up some centaurs with her bare-ass, bloody hands.  

The visual representations of Poseidon as a tentacled, nasty-ass, frog giant and Hades as a candle-face burning kid were ill-mastered by the crazy craftsmanship of Tony Akins--who steps in for Chaing as a super-sub. 

Loved this ish and lets hope to see that naggy, preggers chick get killed off already in the next arc ; P


4    Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi- Force Storm #1   John Ostrander, Jan Duursema & Dan Parsons

But of course all of the Jedi comes from some mysterious, flying Pyramids from space!  As straight redick as some of Ostrander and team's concepts were in ish 1-- I was still invigorated and felt appeased at what was a solid start to the untold story of the beginnings of the Jedi/Sith.

Cool shit experiencing all of the familiar races and worlds of Star Wars being repped even from over a millenia ago- but again some of the deets were way overgeneralized-- like the  gathering of those that were born with the force versus those that were not.   

Appreciated the SW ode to history, religion and mythology that were borrowed from and infused into this seriously daunting, audacious script but you all know this prequel of all prequels had to be told!!

Duursema and Parsons page by page storyboards were on point and the imaginative, especially the ancient costuming and use of blades before there were lightsabers kicked Mandalorian ass.

The force hounds owned it while those weird, prawn-looking force lightening-wielding bosses were meh.  Look forward to ish 2 and the continued fleshing out and explanation of the beginnings of this rich, Galactic-sized story.


3   Winter Soldier #2  Ed Brubaker, Butch Guice & Bettie Breitweiser

How do you follow-up ish one of the soviet snipers (yes, Winter Soldier and Black Widow) that we can't get enough of?!

Well, throwing in a rat-a-tat-wielding Gorilla that sports a jet-pack to battle the duo and throw in the G of all G's in the Marvel U--muthaeffing Victor Von Doom!!!

Let's just say that you don't know who Ed Brubaker is but loved the Black Widow (Cornell) or Spiderwoman (Bendis) books that were out over a year ago-- if that's the case-- you just have to add this gangsta title to the pull-list.

Brubaker & Guice tag-team us into what is another killer spy vs. spy, noir-esque storyline that reads faster than you expect and makes you get kinda pissed that its another 30 days till we get some more of Marvel's own Mr. and Mrs. Smith (which Brubaker promised this book would feel like).

2    Batman #6    Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion

Batman vs. the Court of Owls comes to its maniacal crescendo with Bats reliving his ancestors cursed path of being manipulated, hunted and killed off.

Watching on as Talon and the Court succeed in the mental breakdown of Bruce is enthralling and a rare glimpse of the Batman in a vulnerable, nearly broken.

Would have been great to see his mental safety mechanism- Zurrenrah, kick in but we all learn that Bats actually planned every chain of event to pull the carpet from Talon and the Court.

A real close one here for the Dark Knight, so imagine how he will be able to face multiple Talons...


1    Catwoman  #6  Judd Winick, Guillem March & Tomeu Morey

This book and creative team is still my go to in the New 52 six months later. Selina Kyle rips apart a meta in true Tyson-like fashion along with the rest of some dirty-rotten GCPD.  Cats wins her score until some other badass steps in. March and Morey are easily my top art/colorist team of all the monthlies and just bananas how somehow Gil's art is improving and taking on an almost Van Sciver (who is the greatest artist in comics IMO) likeness.

Bats and Cats have a real, crazy moment as Selina continues to unravel into her shattered, dark self.  Thank you all for your continued readership and see you at Image Expo!!

This post was written by:
big O

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if you don't know, now you know- DC Reboot Post Flashpoint

So the last few weeks and for others, years (looking at you Rich and Ryan) has been a longtime coming with the official confirmation that DC Comics will be rebooting all 52 books at the end of their big Summer crossover event- Flashpoint.

Everyone and their mama in and outside the world of comics have since been throwing out their thoughts, opinions and so on in forums, feeds and tweets-- for a quickie recap here is what has been said today by DC:

We’ll be renumbering the entire DC Universe line of comic books with 52 first issues. We’re publishing innovative storylines featuring our most iconic characters helmed by some of the most creative minds within the industry.
Not only will this initiative be compelling for existing readers, it’ll give new readers a precise entry point into our titles. And on top of that, all of these titles will be released digital day-and-date across the board.
Yesterday was just the beginning. After all, we don’t want to spoil the many surprises we have up our sleeves. It’s so important to us to make sure you maintain those feelings of excitement and unexpectedness when you pick up a new issue of our books.
We’re energized and looking forward to have you come on this journey with us as we make history this September.
–Jim Lee & Dan DiDio, DC Comics Co-Publishers

Today's round of shoptalk with my homies at Comics Conspiracy was no different--revolving around everything DC be it the fab collision of master-creators Jim Lee and Geoff Johns setting it all off with their new ongoing Justice League title.  On that, we all couldn't help but tinker with the notion of perhaps these aren't the same old classic heroes we think they are, being that the Wonder Woman pictured has quite a bit of silver that signals more to a Donna Troy colorway.  How about Flash and his much longer wingtips on the cowl...sure does have an Impulse kinda feel to it.  And one of the more obvious is Superman who looks straight out of the pages of one of Johns' Teen Titans arc titled Titans of Tomorrow.  A bit more bulkier than Conner is and no black in the S shield but this all has to make yah wonder.

One of our other Wednesday homies knocked this speculation down with how that would probably go against WB exec. Jeff Robinov plans of bringing all of the DC big guns together for the Justice League film slated to release in 2013.  Hmm...sure almost two years away but the films aren't necessarily ever a direct connect to what is happening in the books.

So far the Flashpoint tagline of "Everything You Know Will Change"...is definitely living up to the hype with more and more talks of major events never taking place in the DC mythos like first- Barry Allen not dying in Crisis, Barbara Gordon never experiencing the Killing Joke, Sue Dibny not being raped in Identity Crisis and so on. 

Major domo props to Diane Nelson, Geoff Johns, Dan DiDio, Jim Lee, Bob Wayne and the rest of DCE for being pragmatic and seeing the real opportunity to reclaim imaginations and marketshare in a time where the general public is so fascinated with the world of comics. 

This is by far the biggest, ballsy move we have seen since the purchase of Marvel by Disney.  Now it's your move Marvel. 



This post was written by:
big O

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Lantern Bling Rings Breakdown

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, DC Comics will be giving away the full color spectrum of the Lantern Rings with the Blackest Night crossover books. The following are the the books/release dates and the color rings you will receive (and their free, hootie-hoo!!!):

Doom Patrol #4 /Nov. 4 (yellow ring)

Booster Gold #26 / Nov. 18 (orange ring)

Justice League #39 / Dec. 2 (red ring)
Blackest Night #5 / Dec. 16 (green ring)


Adventure Comics #4 / Dec. 30 (blue ring)
R.E.B.E.L.S #10 / Jan. 13 (indigo ring)
Outsiders #24 /Jan. 27 (violet ring)

If you are dying to get a hold of all rings so you can flash these colorful plastic collectibles at your local grocery store or discotech, make sure to put these issues on your pull list. Some comic book stores may allow your to pre-order these issues. Check accordingly so you can guarantee your fingers will be wearing these hot items.

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