Panel Discussion: The Week in Comic Book Scans

Every week Geekanerd brings you the best, worst and weirdest panels from the week's comics. There will be SPOILERS. Be sure to click these puppies for high res action!

Splashiest Super-Villain - Dr. T.O Morrow, Metal Men #3
After a relaxing vacation on Oolong Island, Dr. T.O Morrow is well rested and back in top mad scientist form, using the Metal Men to create monstrous new creatures. From the George Perez style oval belt to the twisty mustache, this splash panel does it up old school. This scene continues in this spirit, with Morrow's dialogue including lines like "You're no match for my death metal men!". Chocolate covered kudos to writer/artist Duncan Rouleau for reminding us jaded post-modern comic fans how much fun a good maniacal super villain can be.

Parental robots, burning gamblers and bodily fluids after the jump!

Worst Superpower Byproducts - Puke, Piss and Poop, The Vinyl Underground #1
This is Perv. Perv is a psychic. Unfortunately, his visions come along with an unfortunate side-effect: He pukes, pisses and shits himself while thrashing uncontrollably. Ggk.

Best Fake Old-Timey Comics - Welcome to Tranquility #11
Even if this intentionally bad copy is a little broad ("It's fun to stay alive!") and the the time-period is a bit hazy (The clothing says 30s, but the art looks closer to the 70s) these fake-vintage comics regularly featured in Welcome to Tranquility are fun and do their job of demonstrating what the Tranquility's over-the-hill heroes were like in their glory days. What really sold me on this one was the simulated coffee stain and water damage - be sure to click the image for higher res.

Shocking Teen Trauma - Alexander Discovers His Parents are Robots, Omega: The Unknown #1
As if having his mom decapitated in a car crash wasn't bad enough, poor Alexander now has to try to understand what it means that his parents were robots.

Best Visual Payoff - Parade (With Fireworks) #2
Hey, remember this panel, "Most Self-Satisfied Kid"? In the second and final part of Parade With Fireworks, we revisit that image and see the character after his life has been ruined by a personal betrayal and an increasingly fascistic government. Besides the overt symmetry of the panels, there are some subtle touches - the bright jug of water in the earlier image has been replaced by a sinister jug of liquor, a tombstone can now be seen in the window, and the comically grandiose cigar is now a simple cigarette. Great art, great storytelling.

Toughest House Rule- Burning at the Man-Thing's Touch, Howard the Duck #1Howard is dreaming about Monster Poker again, which has the hardcore house rule: "Whoever folds their hand... Burns at the Man-Thing's touch! WAAUGH!" Dem are some high stakes.

Snap Judgments: Omega: The Unknown #1, Metal Men #3, Howard The Duck #1, Detective #837

Geekanerd's Snap Judgments gives you Triple-S comic reviews: short, sweet, and spoiler-free.

Omega: The Unknown #1 (of 10)
Gets a A- from Albo
This ten issue miniseries is a retelling of a 70s series which was cut short due to slow sales. From the beginning of the plot synopsis I read on Wikipedia it appears writer Jonathan Lethem (novelist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, first time comics writer) is sticking pretty tight to that original story. What we have is Omega, a traveler from another world who apparently has crash landed on earth and Alexander, a precocious young boy who learns something very shocking about his parents before lapsing into a coma. The two characters are clearly linked (though to go into how might violate our spoiler rule), but it isn't exactly explained how. Is Omega a dream of Alexander's? Is Alexander a dream of Omega's? The storytelling is deep and sometimes dips into Allred-esque absurdity, but the emotional core of the story is quite grounded. So far. Farel Dalrymple (Pop Gun War) produces art that's a little crude but fits the mood of the story so well it can't be considered a detriment. Anyway, it's a very fresh and original (it's a remake, I know I know) book and I'll definitely be sticking around to see where this goes.

Metal Men, two takes on Howard the Duck, and Detective after the jump...

Metal Men #3

Gets an A+ From AHR
Wow, this was great. The last two issues of this series certainly looked amazing, but the tech talk and ancient alchemy plot-lines seemed needlessly inaccessible, and very separate from the fun and engaging sequences featuring the present-day Metal Men and the flashback storyline concerning Dr. Magnus' early career. But it all comes together here, with a dynamite opening scene in which we find Dr. T.O Morrow having gone from his most recent incarnation in 52, as a cocktail sipping eccentric, back to a full blown mad scientist supervillian, complete with a Snidely Whiplash Mustache and army of "Death Metal Men". All of the elemental explanation about how these radioactive doppelgangers came into existence is easily understood and hugely satisfying; this is a rare book where instead of patiently waiting for the exposition to be over with, I couldn't wait to see what new piece of the puzzle the next page would reveal. Throw in some more sweet 'n' sad relationship drama, a great cliffhanger, and Metal Men has become my new most anticipated book of next month.

Howard the Duck #1 (of 4)
Gets a C+ from Albo
There's not really anything bad about this book. The writing by Ty Templeton (Bigg Time) isn't bad, the art team of Juan Bobillo, Marcelo Sosa and Nestor Pereyra puts some pretty pages together, but... Maybe it's just me, but when you pull a poor-selling third string character with a weak history out of the archives for their own series, you better have a reason. Not even really a good reason, just any reason. The first issue should be a mission statement as to what's different, why it's going to work this time. This book doesn't do that. It's just a straight-forward silly Howard the Duck tale. Fans will likely love it, but if you've never known why you should care about Howard, this isn't the book to convince you.

...but gets a SOLID A From AHR
I picked this up because I loved Ty Templeton's work on Batman Adventures, a series of one-shot stories set in the BTAS universe that shockingly managed to capture the same wit and heart of the series. I've never read a Howard the Duck comic, never saw the much maligned film, and really had no clue what Howard's role in the Marvel Universe is. I still don't, but one thing that comes across in this story is Howard's personality. This issue paints him as dryer-than-toast cynic, with few illusions about the superheroic world he lives in. I was hooked after a panel in which Howard switches off a political radio show with a yawn; "Yadda yadda, Stark is bad, Cap was good...next!" The ish is packed with plot-lines and various hapless human characters, but ends up being largely following Howard as he's chased around the city by quantum physicist duck hunters, who note "We're scientists. We don't know the first thing about ethics." Fun from start to finish.

Detective Comics #837
Gets a B+ From AHR
The featured detective in this story isn't Batman, but the other greatest detective in Gotham: The Riddler (sorry Renee). Now working on the right side of the law as a PI, Eddie is hired by a certain playboy industrialist to investigate some disappearing lab samples. The trail leads to the Athenian Women's Shelter, where Countdown readers know Harley Quinn currently resides. Much of the issue is just a framework for these two re-formed Akhamites to catch-up and drop some hints about what's going on in DCU continuity, Paul Dini being currently in charge of that kinda stuff. It's a good issue for Harley fans, who's character isn't diminished by being reformed since she was never particularly evil to begin with. But Riddler fans (do those exist?) may be disappointed by how little detecting he does. And dumb nerds like me will choke on the idea of Bruce outsourcing his detective work to the Riddler, but as I should have known, he's got his reasons. Sorry for the lapse in trust, Bats.

Panel Discussion - The Week in Comic Book Scans

Geekanerd brings you the week's most notable comic book panels. Spoiler Alert for those who haven't read their books yet.

Wackiest Plan - Metal Men #2
That's what I call teamwork! If saving the day demands you pop a giant balloon monster, you might as well do it with style.

Biggest Fake-Out - The Incredible Hulk #110
Oh Noes! The Incredibly Angry Hulk just killed his teenaged pal Amadeus! And an adorable puppy! Look, you can even see the blade of the big Final Fantasy sword poking out the back of the kid's jacket, hewn fibers and all! C'mon everyone, let's start a letter-writing campaign, this level of Hulk-on-Puppy violence is unacceptable...*turns the page*....oh. Never mind.

No Comment Award - Countdown #34
Okay, this time I really have no comment. Except: Poor Piper.

Most Severe Beatdown - King Karateka, Lucha Libre #1
When a book stars five dudes who model themselves after the heroes of Mexican "free wrestling", you know you're going to see some good fights. There are plenty of awesome moves being perpetrated against these werewolves, but the start of the fight is King Karaterka, the guy in white. Look at those holds! That can't be legal! And this certainly must be against regulations...

Best Spin On A Classic - Metal Men #2
Duncan Rouleau is doing wonderful things with the art in the new Metal Men series. The first two issues have featured a retro-futuristic feel, as seen here in his interpretation of a classic "evil lair on a hill". Nothing like making an old favorite feel new again.

Best and Worst Actor Award - Night Thrasher and Tempest, New Warriors #4
Here are two great examples of character's reacting to another character's death - one is effective, the other, not so much.

Artist Paco Medina manages to nail shock and horror using only Night Thrasher's eyes, but Tempest, well...that's more of an "Aww, man!" or "What the F, you guys?!" face than a "NoOOOoOOo" face. To be fair, I'm sure it's hard to draw a good "NooOOoOO" face. You don't see many of them in real life. Unless you have a really intense life.

Read all of our past Panel Discussions!

Panel Discussion: The Best, Worst, and Weirdest Comic Book Panels of the Week

Best Way of Illustrating the Passage Of Time: Welcome To Tranquility, #11
The Coyote Kid lives as long as he hates the monsters that killed his family, and this hilarious panel illustrates the kind of beasts he's run afoul of every two decades or so. Werewolf Gangsters in the 20s, Nazi Vampires in the 40s, Hippie Swamp Thing in the 60s, and worst of all, the dreaded 80's Guy. "HERE'S MY CARD...WE'LL DO LUNCH."

Mixing Bid'ness With Pleasure Alert: Countdown #39
Hmm, what's with that expensive-looking redhead in the foreground? Could it be Kate Kane, AKA The Batwoman, who appears moments later outside the Iceberg Lounge with her partner (in crime fighting), Renee "The Question" Montoya? Ladies, you two are both new at the alter-ego thing, I know, but when staking-out a restaurant, try to resist the temptation to dine together in that restaurant. To their credit, though, neither appears to have actually touched their wine (good for you, ex-alcoholic Renee!).

Best Visual Framing Device: Metal Men #1
While still maintaining the the classic Dave Gibbonesque 3x3 panel scheme, Duncan Rouleau allows the action within the panels to spill out across the page, while tying whole thing together with a cool, retro-futuristic gear-motif. Click to savor the page in detail.

Most Reassuring Sign that Hulk Won't Kill Us All: Ant-Man #11
This conversation takes place weeks after World War Hulk and confirms that not EVERYONE dies at the Hulk's hands. Double spoiler: Iron Man shows up later in the ish!

Most Embarrassing Confession: Tony Stark in Illuminati #4

Related: More of Geekanerd's Panel Discussions

Snap Judgments:Welcome To Tranquility #9, Metal Men #1, World War Hulk #3, Illuminati #4

As always, Snap Judgements gives you Triple-S comic reviews: short, sweet, and spoiler-free.

These Bots Is Wacky! - Metal Men #1

The Metal Men, at least as they appear in this series, have something very important that sets them apart from the rest of the DC hero teams - naiveté. While they each come standard with over the top personalities and a range of emotions, there is a sweetness to their nature that harkens back to their Silver Age origins.

This issue is divided into three chapters, and only the second really features the Metal Men in action. As if to count for all the angst-free fun, the bookend chapters deal with the dark, ancient origins of the Metal Men, as well as a look into the past of Doc Magnus (minor art quibble; in the flashback, Doc looks like a babyfaced teen even though the story takes place only four years in the past. I guess mad science takes a toll.). These expositionary stories suffer from way too much mystic and tech jargon, which serves a purpose but is a chore to read. Still, on the whole the book benefits from the singular vision of writer-artist Duncan Rouleau, who ties his panels together with a border of gears that wind in and out of the art like strands of robo-DNA.

Robots Are Our Friends + Steampunitky Art - Slow Beginning and End = B

Reviews for Welcome to Tranquility, World War Hulk and New Avengers: Illuminati after the jump...

Zombies? Really? - Welcome To Tranquility #9

Aren't we tired of zombies by now? With The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies readily available, I was kinda hoping this arc of Welcome To Tranquility wasn't going to be all about brain eaters. But hope is cheap. Simone even name checks Robert Kirkman in this issue, and it looks like the wall that keeps the undead hoards from the town of Tranquility has come a tumblin' down.

Feelings of zombie fatigue aside, this issue has some great moments, but the central plot feels sluggish and fails to live up to last week's superb trilogy of origin stories. We do get to see more of one of the most entertaining characterizations of the devil since Neil Gaiman's Lucifer, and the issue ends with a great mini-story that reaches an almost Frank Millerian level of pulp revenge grit.

Boring Zombies + Cool Satan + Cowboy Grit = B+


He's Going To *yawn* Kill Us All! - World War Hulk #3

Oh, man. This is over. I wish I could spoil this for you because by the end of this issue the Hulk has succumbed to one of the biggest invading villain cliches in all of comicdom. It never worked for the hundreds that came before him, yet somehow he thinks it's a good idea. Poor Hulk. Poor, stupid Hulk. If only you weren't thinking about things so much and just got really angry and smashed stuff. You'd probably have won this war by now.

In other news, this book still looks and feels great. The presentation is top notch, but it's just not enough to make up for the major story problems present. If the Hulk really wanted to kill these heroes, why hasn't he? He's beaten a bunch of them up, but hasn't dealt the final blow to anyone. The premise of this story was "Hulk Kills the Marvel Universe," but so far he's been very restrained. Add to this the fact that since issue 1 everyone's been saying "Ohh, the Sentry is the one guy that might be able to stop the Hulk" and come issue three they're still talking about him but he is just sitting in a house in Northern Vermont, biding his time. Add to that the cheesiest line of dialogue to end a comic this year, and you get a big fat turkey that's pretty to look at but taste like donkey's yonks.

Romita's Outstanding Art - Pak's Plot Holes - King of Supervillain Cliches = C-


Girl Troubles - New Avengers: Illuminati #4

Slight spoiler here, only one of the girls on this cover is actually in the comic. Because this is a comic about boys. More specifically, a comic about boys talking about stuff. In this issue, they talk about girls. Dr. Strange is upset that his lady left to rule the Dark Dimension, Tony Stark is complaining about chasing tail, Black Bolt is miming suicide in an effort to illustrate married life, and Reed Richards and Namor are having a very awkward conversation about Sue Storm. It's great! And then five pages in some superhero bullshit starts happening that nobody cares about. If anybody in the world cared about Marvel Boy (I enjoyed his series, but that's ancient history at this point), he would have been on the cover instead of these girls that aren't even in the comic. We do get some insightful words as to why Professor X doesn't just program everyone to agree with him, but other than that it's a lot of talk about some issues I didn't find myself caring about. Definitely worth picking up for the opening chit-chat, but *shhhh* word on the street is you can read that part online at Pop Culture Shock. Next issue promises "TODAY," so I expect that means we'll be coming out of the past and into the present to deal with the Hulk.

Great Man Talk Between Heroes + Wonderful Characterization - Boring Plot = B+

Crisis on Infinite Comic Adaptations

CHUD.com has posted part three of their five part Crisis on Infinite Comic Adaptations series, which collects in one place all the news and rumors on every comic movie project under the sun. This edition covers Superman: The Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, The Invisibles, Metal Men, Transmetropolitan(!!!), Books of Magic, Sgt. Rock and Ronin. Take a look at parts one and two while you're at it.

Check it!