Marvel’s biggest villain steps in for a missing hero? The return of KISS in a new rock and roll, sci-fi adventure and the first clash in the IvX war.
It’s all in this week’s new comics picks of the week: Continue reading New Comics Picks for October 19, 2016
Detective Comics #16 While the Joker has been attacking the Batman family a smoother criminal has made his power play in Gotham City. Batman forms an alliance with the Penguin? Is the fowl rogue an endangered species?
Mars Attacks KISS Big brained evil aliens versus the Rock and Roll legends in 1970’s New York in a tale inspired from the original 1976 KISS comic book.
Star Wars #1 Rebels on the run. The Empire ruled. Go back in time for a new stories set before the destruction of the Death Star! The Force is with fans of the original trilogy in this new Dark Horse series from Brian Wood.
Superior Spider-Man #1 After the shocking events of Amazing Spider-Man #700 there’s a brand new Spider-Man vowing to be superior to Peter Parker!
Wolverine and the X-Men #23 Wolverine vs. Frankenstein!? Yes, Wolverine vs. Frankenstein! Will one of Logan’s students become a victim of the Murder Circus?
By Editor
Come for the kiss. Stay for the drama. Justice League #12 features the much hyped kiss between Superman and Wonder Woman but this issue packs a ton of other great moments and leaves me wanting more.
Most non-comic book readers have been upset about Lois Lane getting ditched. Most of them don’t know about the rebooted New 52 continuity. Wonder Woman’s great love gets a world of hurt in this story. League government liaison Steve Trevor is the poor guy who gets dumped then fired by the Amazon princess.
This story may be remembered as the issue that brought Clark and Diana together but the team nearly rips apart. The new villain Graves uses his powers to torment the League with ghosts of their pasts.
The aftermath of the battle is the best part of the story. One member quits. One member makes a play for leadership. All of them are under fire from the country they’re trying to protect thanks to the villain’s manipulations.
Jim Lee is acclaimed for his beautiful art, muscled heroes, gorgeous heroines and big screen action. I have to point out the heartbreaking anguish of Diana, the battered Steve Trevor and Superman’s desperate fear when he thinks he might lose Diana.
The best part of the story is after the great showdown with the new villain. The fallout of the fight is one standout moment after another. Lee draws the hell out of big fight sequences but his best work in this issue is when he’s showing the emotionally beaten Diana leave Steve for Superman.
The final pages show the New 52 debut of a character with her own agenda for the Justice League, the threat of Graves is not over and the fractures within the team will shake out into huge conflicts in upcoming issues. I came for the super kiss. Johns and Lee have me seduced by what’s next.
By Editor
Rock and Roll legends KISS are back in a brand new ongoing comic book from IDW this week. KISS #1 kicks off with a story called Dressed to Kill by Chris Ryall and Jamal Ingle.
From the publisher:
“Four ordinary humans in 1920s Chicago find themselves caught up in a battle of epic proportions that will reverberate across time and space in “Dressed to Kill,” part 1!”
This “Demon” variant cover is my Michael Gaydos.
Detective Comics writer/artist Tony Daniel revealed his love of KISS at Fan Expo Vancouver. Daniel may be acclaimed for Batman but he reveals how KISS inspired him and first paid work. I asked if he shared my love for the movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.
“I did and when I was a kid man I loved that show. I like 7-year-old – it was a long time ago. As a kid those guys are like superheroes. They’re more than like rock stars. Every kid in my class loved KISS just because they look crazy and had the makeup on – dragons and space guys and what not. What I remember it was so weird. But back then you didn’t have video recorders, Tivo – you watch it once and when it’s over you’re like, man what did I just see. Today you can rewind and watch it again. It was such a weird – you know maybe that screwed me up or something it was very…I just remember it being very bizarre. I’m sure if I watched it now I might feel disappointed in it (laughs) but it was super cool back then as a child.
(I interject asking about how KISS art was his first paying work so to speak)
Yeah it was my first commission. I drew a giant poster size picture of all of four characters. One kid was gonna buy it from me for like two dollars and another kid was gonna give me a big giant stack of basically the entire collection of KISS trading cards and I went with the trading cards and ended up getting into a brawl afterwords with the guy that lost. So yeah, you know blood, sweat and tears from age 7 on with the art.”
You can see my entire interview with Tony Daniel here.
By Editor
Tony Daniel made a rare appearance at Fan Expo Vancouver, the city’s first major comicon. The creative force of DC The New 52 Detective Comics shared his take on Batman’s foes and the new villains he’s bringing to plague Gotham City.
“Batman has the greatest rogue’s gallery of all the comic book characters in the world probably so it’s easy to use those characters and find something fun and creative that you’ll enjoy as a writer and the fans will enjoy because they love seeing these villains.
What I try to do in Detective is bring in a little bit of the new as well as a little bit of the old. I created a character named the Dollmaker who I think fits in rather well with the other characters, the other villains taking up residence in Gotham City.”
Daniel launched his Detective Comics run with a violent showdown and shocking cliffhanger for Batman’s archrival and his favorite villain.
“My favorite villain…well my favorite villain is the Joker but I’ve only used him sparingly. I worked with the Joker in Grant Morrison’s RIP. That was a lot of fun. (Say Thank you to my gushing!) That was…you know…I can’t believe I was part of that it was just a great experience. I’m lucky to have done the work with Grant on that. And then of course Detective Comics #1 I show a nice fight, battle that goes on between Batman and the Joker and we leave it off with his face hanging on the wallI would love to get back to him. I can’t say when but I’m sure it will be soon because we can’t leave him hanging there so to speak.”
Detective Comics #8 was the start of a backup story starring Two-Face. Daniel says you may experience conflicting feelings for Harvey Dent with this tale.
“He’s pretty much the protagonist of the story so you gonna end up rooting for him. He’s kind of the good guy in the story but he’s still a bad guy so it’s the perfect noir style story which I absolutely love that. Those old school detective stories. The Jim Thompson stories. He’s a great noir book writer – one of the groundbreaking writers from the 50’s and 60’s. I love that pulp fiction type atmosphere and I’m going to bring that to my Two-Face backup story so I’m having a lot of fun with that.”
Daniel praised artist Szymon Kudransky as the perfect fit for back up story.
September will mark the one year anniversary of DC Comics The New 52 with big plans for Detective Comics. Daniel says he will change-up the villains.
“One of the characters we’ve seen before in the Penguin arc at the Iceberg Casino. He’s the guy that shows up and gives Batman some trouble and we deal with a lot of radiation and villains that are experimental. We have one guy who is a new 52 version of Professor Radium so we haven’t seen that guy in a long time and I kind of breathed new life into that character but he’s new…he’s a 52 version so he’s not the same Professor Radium so hopefully people will like that. It’s a story I’m writing and Ed Benes is doing the art work.”
Daniel expressed his ambition to create a story with Clayface and a bigger arc with the Scarecrow. Detective Comics #1 ended with a shocking fate for the Joker and Daniel hopes to dive back into the fate of Batman’s archenemy.
In the Fan Expo Sketch Duel against Whilce Portacio and Yanick Paquette, Daniel revealed his early comic book dreams were inspired by KISS and how the love of the rock band led to this first commissioned work. I asked if he shared my love for the movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.
“I did and when I was a kid man I loved that show. I like 7-year-old – it was a long time ago. As a kid those guys are like superheroes. They’re more than like rock stars. Every kid in my class loved KISS just because they look crazy and had the makeup on – dragons and space guys and what not. What I remember it was so weird. But back then you didn’t have video recorders, Tivo – you watch it once and when it’s over you’re like, man what did I just see. Today you can rewind and watch it again. It was such a weird – you know maybe that screwed me up or something it was very…I just remember it being very bizarre. I’m sure if I watched it now I might feel disappointed in it (laughs) but it was super cool back then as a child.
(I interject asking about how KISS art was his first paying work so to speak)
Yeah it was my first commission. I drew a giant poster size picture of all of four characters. One kid was gonna buy it from me for like two dollars and another kid was gonna give me a big giant stack of basically the entire collection of KISS trading cards and I went with the trading cards and ended up getting into a brawl afterwords with the guy that lost. So yeah, you know blood, sweat and tears from age 7 on with the art.”
Detective Comics #9 arrives May 2nd featuring Mr. Toxic and the Two-Face backup story.
By Editor
My only regret – not bringing more books to be signed – including Gambit and the X-ternals – anybody remember that one?
Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 This is the it! Earth’s Mightiest Heroes against the Children of the Atom with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance. The Phoenix Force is speeding to Earth. Cyclops and Captain America clash over how to respond and two teams go to war.
Wolverine and the X-Men #8 A Beast Vs. The Beast! One of Logan’s best friends in a feral furious showdown with his greatest enemy!
Fear Itself: The Fearless #12 Heroes defeated. The Serpent’s greatest warrior set to unleash her vengeance. Valkyrie’s world tour of the Marvel Universe leads to this final showdown with Sin.
Brilliant #3 Seattle college kids cracked the secret of superpowers. Will one of them abuse his new power a forsake his friends. This book is a unique take on brainiacs, the birth of powers and how heroes and villains are spawned.
Archie Meets Kiss trade paperback A spell backfires unleashing monsters on Riverdale. Rock and Roll legends team up with the Archie gang to save the town in a supernatural showdown.
Seattle comic book fans from diverse backgrounds and with even more diverse tastes gathered for the third monthly gathering at Zanadu Comics Downtown to share and talk comic books, news and creators.
“Rachel Rising” by Terry Moore was our book of the month. (It’s like Oprah’s book club for geeks!) A girl crawls out of a ravine after being buried alive, tried to uncover what happened in that lost time. Dark, gritty art mixed with an eerie mystery reminds me of “Twin Peaks” and “The Killing.” The possible theme of a doppelgänger and that the heroine could be in the wrong body came from the group.
“I like the way he writes women,” and “he does not overexplain,” are among the comments sparked an exploration of Terry Moore’s other work, “Strangers in Paradise”, “Echo” and “Love and Rockets.”
The 6 issues of “Rachel Rising” are being collected into a trade collection coming out later this month and a preview will be in this month’s issue of “The Walking Dead.”
“Moebius is a God,” said Casey as our panel leader took a moment to recognize the death of the influential French artist. This continued our exploration of European comics which are called albums not issues and are treated like fine art. Comic book artists in Europe are celebrated as national heroes and commissioned to create public art.
More of this week’s picks from our panel:
“Whispers in the Walls” is a beautiful and creepy graphic novel in the style of Guillermo Del Toro’s work mirroring a slow descent into madness.
“Corto Maltese” a trade collection of rare European pulp adventure strips by Hugo Pratt.
“Archie Meets KISS” was “weird, hard to get through but a fun different take on Archie but you have to commend the publisher for pushing boundaries with stories about gay characters, interracial romance and breast cancer.
“Avengers Children’s Crusade” reached a finale about 3 years and was just beautiful art and storytelling and “incredible to feature two gay couples so prominently in the storyline.”
“Emitown” is an anime style collection from a Portland, Oregon based creator that’s semi autobiographical comics about Emi’s daily life. One panelist called it “a comic book about the cool girlfriend you wish you had.”
“Week in Hell” is an experimental comic book by a woman who locked herself in a New York City hotel room and “turned off her mind and drew.”
“Womanthology” is a mammoth book of stories featuring more than 140 female creators. It became a sensation before it was published. Women artists and writers have been underrepresented in the industry for a long time. One female editor took editor and raised the money on Kickstarter to secure the printing of these tales by published and brand new female creators.
“The Last of the Greats” is next month’s book of the month to read. Once there were seven heroes with the powers of Gods now there is only one to save an Earth on the brink of destruction.
Every month with this group I discover so many comic books beyond the traditional superhero type. While the latest with X-Men, Avengers and Batman is always in the discussion, it’s the sharing of never before experienced (new and old) creators, comics and themes that make this a great experience with fellow fans. Come join us next month!
Archie Meets KISS arrives in comic book shops Wednesday. It’s one of my Top 5 comic book picks this week and the latest in the long line of crazy comic book crossovers.
Does any one remember Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park? I secretly defied my parents and stayed up to watch this made for television movie and it freaked me out!
KISS use their superpowers to stop an evil inventor from destroying an amusement park. The rockers battle an army of robots including duplicates of themselves in a final showdown at the concert.
It’s camp-tastic now but as a little kid I got really scared, especially in this scene when the white werewolf robots were suddenly surrounding KISS around the rollercoaster. Here’s the promo from YouTube.
If this stroll down KISS memory lane inspires you here’s the link to buy the movie on Amazon. Unfortunately it’s only VHS.