Panel Discussion: Comic Scans From FX #1, Captain American #36, Batman and the Outsiders #5 and More

Every week Geekanerd brings you the best, worst and weirdest panels from our week in comics. If you didn't read your books, there will be giant SPOILERS. Click the images for high res action!

The Banana Randomizer Award for Achievement in WTF - FX #1
So our young hero is crying at the beginning of this page, that's fine... Then he grows some sort of fake cybernetic arm, also fine... But what explains his brain damaged yammering? I haven't seen dialogue like that since Arseface, and that poor bastard had a pretty good excuse. It occurs to me now that he might actually be imitating the Six-Million Dollar Man's signature sound effect, with a ridiculous build up, but thats... Dumb.

Heroes rise from the dead, face-smashing and and what not to do with a propeller blade, after the jump...

Back On The Scene - Batman and The Outsiders #5, Robin #173, Captain American #36

ZOMBIES! Lots of dead heroes returned to the world of the living this week. Stephanie Brown came back after months of lead-up...

Sue and Ralph Dibny are back for the first time since we saw them as ghosts at the end of 52, though it turns out they're not so much "ghost detectives" as they are Quantum Leapers who jump into other people's bodies...does that mean Ralph isn't stretchy anymore?


Also this guy. Yawn.


Beatdown of the Week - Cassandra Cain, Batman and the Outsiders #5
Get with it, InvisoLady! You can't get the jump on the Bat Fam! Especially Cassandra, she will KILL you! It's all well and good to quip about strawberries, Cass, but I don't think she's getting up.

Gristliest Death - War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle #1
And THAT'S... Why you don't run at a prop plane.

Garth Ennis' Virgin Comics Project Revealed

Having parted ways with DC over the eyebrow-raising content in The Boys, writer Garth Ennis will be working with Virgin Comics on a new series that re-imagines a classic character that Ennis calls the British equivalent of "...Captain America, our Superman, our Batman; he's all of them rolled into one."

Who could it be? Click the jump and end the suspense!


That's right kids, Dan Dare! Originally a 1950s British comic book hero, Dare was a dashing space-pilot in the far-flung future of the 1990s. And if Monty Python's fixation with Biggles taught me anything, it's that Brits love their pilots. World II R.A.F glory and all that, wot. Dare was kept alive over the last five decades in U.K video games, comic books, and TV series, but until now has never really made it across the pond.

Variety describes the plot of the new Ennis series:

"New books will have Dare emerge from a self-imposed exile, the result of his disgust with politics and the post-nuclear warfare that has destroyed North America and much of Asia -- leaving the U.K. as the world's last remaining superpower."

Interestingly enough, the excellent Children of Men also had a post-nuclear holocaust scenario where the U.K was the only superpower left standing. Must suck to lose an Empire.

With Garth Ennis at the helm, you might expect this re-envisioned Dan Dare series to amp up the hewn-limb and disturbing sex content. However, a Gnerd source tells us this is a particularly important project for Ennis, and one he's wanted to do for a long time. Perhaps we'll see a take on the series that might surprise thoes who think they have Ennis' writing style Simon Pegged. As a fan of both Ennis and several Virgin Comics titles (Walk-In was one of the best books around during it's sadly short run), I'll be looking forward to meeting Mr. Dare for the first time.

Via Variety and Cinematical.

Snap Judgements: Batman Confidential, Killing Pickman, Batman, The Boys, Daredevil

Madder Love - Batman Confidential #8

While the general public likes to snicker about the supposed homoerotic relationship between Batman and Robin, the more obvious gay subtext in the Batverse has always been the Joker's obsession with Batman. Frank Miller famously interpreted the character this way in The Dark Knight Returns, Paul Dini and Grant Morrisson have both played around with the concept, and the current arc of Confidential dips into this oh-so-dogey territory once again. Writer Michael Green does a great job of laying the groundwork for the twisted relationship between Batman and his greatest foe, and highlights the similarities between the two - such as the fact that they're both batshit crazy, particularly well illustrated in a sequence that finds Batman playing the peeping tom on a lovely lady, while simultaneously obsessing about his war on crime.

Confidental seems to be jumping on the Dark Knight train by setting this story arc almost exactly where Batman Begins left off - the Joker hasn't quite become the Joker yet, Bats is still getting used to crime fighting, and there's a really fun sub-plot involving the origin of the Bat Computer. The scratchy pencils by Denys Cowan really stick in your head, even though he tends to shade the character's faces into almost German-Expressionist territory. But God knows there's enough wierdness going on in this book already, so you just go with it.

Murder as Flirtation + Scratchy Art + Mentally Divergent Batman + Cool Alfred = A-

Batman, Killing Pickman, The Boys, and Daredevil after the jump!

The Silver Age...OF TERROR - Batman #667

Now that he's got that Batman #666 unpleasantness out of his system, Grant Morrison is doing what he does best; taking strange, forgotten characters from the DC archive and making them modern, human, and hilarious. Here he gives us a modern day version of The International Club of Heroes, a bizarre conglomeration of multi-ethnic Batmen that one would expect to be padlocked in the Silver Age vault. Here, they behave like a clutch of has-beens who either live in the past or never really cared about superhero-ing in the first place. They've all got tons of personality and are immediately endearing, making the subsequent Agatha Christiesque mystery storyline all the more creepy. Humor, character, and action...no one nails the hatrick like Grant. Throw in some solid art bolstered by ace colorist Dave Stewart, and it's good to be a comics fan.

Bickering C-Listers + Scary Violence + Batman Teh Cool = A


Don't Go In There! - Killing Pickman #1
From Archaia Studio, the folks who brought you Mouse Guard, comes a gorgeous new title about a cop's hunt for a serial killer. Judged by the script alone, this is a solid crime story in the vein of Se7en,with a few unique touches, such as supernatural elements and an Asian-American lead (pretty much the only one on the stands, other than DC's new Atom). But story aside, what sends this books off the chart is the art by Jon Rea. Despite the fact this comic had the least amount of gore out of all the books I read this week, the visual story telling in Killilng Pickman creates such a distinct atmosphere of dread you have to steel yourself before turning each page. At times, words and commentary are etched into the panels like hidden messages, and it gives the feeling of a demonic third-person presence as you're reading. It's spooky stuff, and I can't wait for next month.

Real Deal Art + Atmosphere Over Gore + Scared To Turn The Page = A


Holy Scandal, Batman! - The Boys #9
This book has been very fun as a glimpse into a debaucherous world inhabited by heroes that look a lot like those we know and love, except they do some really dirty shit. Which is why this issue's high point is an intimate situation between three icons and the low point is pretty much the rest where they're still caught up in a mystery that I've totally lost interest in and have totally forgotten why I was supposed to care in the first place. If my vote counted I would hope issue 10 took us back to less talk, more stomp. Also, am I the only one that finds it extremely distracting that the main character is painstakingly drawn to look like Simon Pegg? He always comes off looking so stiff because Darick Robertson won't cartoonify him, instead going for accuracy in every panel. It just doesn't work.

Dirty Fun - Some Sorta Dull Mystery - Simon Pegg Gimmick = C+


So Grimy You'll Need a Shower - Daredevil #99
Daredevil is in such a fun place right now. His story is separate from those mega-events that are rocking the rest of the Marvel Universe, and it's a comfy little corner to be in. In case you haven't been keeping up, everyone pretty much knows Matt Murdock is Daredevil, though he still denies it and legally persecutes those who make such claims publicly. Most of the book these days is spent outside of the costume (though there is a good old fashioned information gathering beatdown break this ish), following Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson dealing with the troubles of being an outed superhero and trying to keep Matt's blind wife safe and happy. Oh, and there's also the girl that's hanging around who has the mild superpower of making every man she meets fall in love with her. The reason I'm telling you all of this is... I'm trying to catch you up so you can start grabbing this book off the shelves. Because it's solid, gritty, superhero crime fiction. Much better than the other superhero crime fiction on the stands (COUGHpowersCOUGH).

Crime Tastes Good - Maybe Almost Drags a Little + A Unique Superhero Situation = B

Snap Judgements: Blue Beetle, Thunderbolts, and The Boys

Today on Snap Judgements, three spoiler-free quickie reviews of comics out today, June 27.

Blue Beetle #16 - The Return of Brainstomp Demonface!

Everyone's favorite wife-killer/vengeance god Jean "Eclipso" Loring is through with all that "orbiting the sun" bullshit...now she's back on earth, stealing magic babies! It's a DC book alright! But what does this have to do with Blue Beetle? Well, not a lot. This book deals more with Traci 13 (who?), the issue's true protagonist. She does allow Jaime to tag along for the big fight, but he's really just there to flirt with.

The verdict on Blue Beetle plus reviews of Thunderbolts #115 and The Boys #8 after the jump.


This issue's biggest miss is the constant Wheadonesque teen-snark-speak, which is usually delivered with a much keener ear by writer John Rogers. But the book is saved by some funny touches involving the always ironic rules of magic, and some very touching (though possibility invented) continuity concerning the link between Eclipso and Traci 13 (who?).

Jean "Brain Stomp" Loring + Cheesey Teen Speak = C+


Thunderbolts #115 - Smashy Smashy II

Last week, this book gave us a big long street fight that was incredibly boring, featured a bunch of bland splash pages, and generally felt like Warren Ellis decided to take a snooze in the backseat and left artist Rain Beredo to drive for a while. This week's issue at first seemed to be more of the same - the 'Bolts are still fighting some unregistered Superheroes, aaand.....they fight. BUT - in this issue, the characters say interesting things to each other while they fight, the action is much more fluid and exciting, and there are some big plot-changing reveals. Still a few too many bulked-out Venom splash panels, but at least there's some dismemberment to show for it.

Bullseye Bein' Crazy + Whiny Penance + Dismemberment = B+


The Boys #8 - Not That There's Anything Wrong With That...

From the start, this series has played fast and loose with attitudes of misogyny and homophobia. Even for a comic book. But when the TPB was released earlier this month, I gave it a chance and found that it was too funny and engaging to write-off as shock-schlock. And though last month's issue made me cringe with a page discussed here, the lead male protagonist's attitudes towards gay men are discussed directly in this issue, as our anti-heroes investigate the murder of a gay teen. As the issue begins, it seems that nice-guy Hughie has a more accepting attitude than epithet-spewing manly man Butcher, but as events move forward we're shown that the way they actually act around gay people tells a different story. All the lead characters still treat gayness as something to be tolerated and not necessarily accepted, but I suspect that since this arc will last until at least issue #10, these issues will continue to be explored. The plotting and dialogue is spot-on as always, make sure you read Butcher's dialogue like Michael Caine for maximum effect.

Casual Prejudice + Meta Commentary + Realism? - Easy Answers = B


Tune in Friday for PANEL DISCUSSION, to find out which comic panel wins the Geekanerd Award for Best Acting, Greatest Hit, and the coveted Banana Randomizer Award For Achievement in WTF.