Blogs

A few years ago I picked up the first volume of the Hellboy spin-off title, Withcfinder: In the Service of Angels and I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was (with stellar art too). And so when I heard there was going to further installation in the Witchfinder saga I was excited. Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever isn’t a direct sequel to the prior volume, but continues to tell of the exploits of Sir Edward Grey, this time as he ventures into the American West.

This volume of Witchfinder feels very much like The Sixth Gun series that is currently running. The parallels stem from the location of the American West and the horror-esque styling of both titles. Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever feels weaker than the The Sixth Gun mostly in regards to the content that the two share. The first volume of Witchfinder was evenly paced, had lots of fun action, and enjoyable turns in the narrative. It’s follow-up doesn’t really take advantage of these things. The monsters and mythos seem a little out of place and not as fleshed out as the atmosphere as The Sixth Gun. It’s simply not one of the stronger works by either Mike Mignola or John Arcudi. But by no means is Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever a poorly written comic, it’s still fun to read, and a lot is added by the late John Severin.

Like A Sniper Lining Up For His Shot (I’m going to start abbreviating this as LASLUFHS) is French crime comic by Jacques Tardi and based on a crime novel by French writer Jean-Patrick Manchette. I’ve always heard good things about Tardi’s works and so I decided to pick this up at the Fantagraphics booth at Emerald City Comic Con. When reading LASLUFHS (even the abbreviation is convoluted) I wasn’t quite sure what I experienced. But when reading it I knew I was experiencing something.

In many ways, LASLUFHS lived up to its description of a crime story. However, I wasn’t quite sure what sort of crime story it was trying to tell. It has the feel of the Bourne-esque films where there are a lot of twists and turns in the narrative. Unlike the Bourne films where there were 3 films to tell one long story, LASLUFHS is only over 100 pages long telling what feels like a complex story. The twists and the action comes at the reader very suddenly and it can be hard to keep up with. When reading it I really wasn’t sure if I was enjoying it or not. However, I did find myself becoming engaged in all the action and had a hard time putting it down while reading. So, I guess I did enjoy it. And I definitely feel more this way after thinking about it in hindsight.

Sara Pezzini, a New York City detective, drawn into a chance encounter with a supernatural weapon. Each day, each mystery, each encounter, will ultimately reveal her true destiny. Yes, I’m stealing the opening for the television show, bite me. Now then everyone, today on Study in Ink… the2007 Top Cow Event! FIRST BORN! … plus a special guest!

Time for some backstory before going into the actual events of First Born.

,As you all know, this past Saturday was Free Comic Book Day. I have never picked up anything from Free Comic Book Day before, as I only got into picking up comics last year, but I had prepared to pick up two comics. Unfortunately, one of them, Avengers: Age of Ultron #0.1, was unavailable, because of course people are going to go pick up an Avengers comic after how awesome the movie was. Instead, I only picked up the other comic I had decided upon, which is the first chapter of the Spider-Man: Season One graphic novel.

This is the fourth in Marvel's latest line of graphic novels. For those of you who don't know, the Season One books retell the origin stories of various Marvel characters, but in a modern society. The first three were about the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and Daredevil. These books are meant to bring in new readers by allowing them to jump into a new continuity-free storyline, presumably because people either can't find a good starting point. I'd point out the flaws in that mindset, but I'll save that for another time. Basically, these books are the Ultimate universe if there was absolutely no effort to try and stand out from the original story, nor does it have a book that won't cause as much controversy over Brian Michael Bendis' as a writer. Then again, these are supposedly in-continuity, although for simplicity's sake I'll pretend that they're not.

From what I understand, these books are being handled by relative newcomers to the comic industry, or at least creators who aren't as well-known to comic readers as, say, Johnathan Hickman. As such, let's look at the creative team, shall we? Cullen Bunn has recently joined Rick Remender in right the ongoing Venom book, and has taken over Wolverine's solo book, so at least he has something he's worked on. As for Neil Edwards, he's the artist for this month's issue of Scarlet Spider, and you can catch a preview of his work here. For those curious, no, that bit isn't in this chapter. Either way, I think the art is rather good, so I say we're off to a decent start in terms of the creative team. Now let's finally get this underway, shall we?

Want info on the Starbolts? Click here: http://starbolts.blogspot.com/p/future-of-earths-heroes.html

Old comics can be found here: http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/blogs/latest/tags/tag/starbolts?start=100

Last time on Starbolts: The nefarious Demonstorm assembled some of the Starbolts' greatest enemies! The villainous Cobra, the deranged Robkas, the walking mountain Granite and others have returned! They all want one thing. Total dominion over Earth's greatest heroes. However, Demonstorm's plan is far more intricate than what is believed.

[Originally posted on http://obsessive-geek.blogspot.com/]

From this image for the New 52 comic coming out on Free Comic Book Day.

Look at the bottom left, next to Flash. Yeah, it looks like Vibe's coming back.

Miz, take this on for me.

Follow Me on Twitter @BAClend

Anya Corazon, aka Araña, aka Spider-Girl, debuted in the first issue of Amazing Fantasy volume two, written by Fiona Avery and pencilled by Mark Brooks. I'm taking a look at that issue today.

[Originally posted on http://obsessive-geek.blogspot.com/]

Captain America.

When Captain America throws his mighty shield....

 Symbol of Freedom. Star Spangled Avenger. Solid rock of the Marvel Universe. All around good guy.

All those who know the power of the shield must yield!

His allegiance is to the American Dream. No matter what he's encountered (Watergate via supervillainy, the American people disappointing him, a lizard Ronnie Regan, becoming a werewolf)
he has always used his mantle (barring some exceptions) to protect people the world over and inspire everyone he comes in contact with.