Panel Discussion - Scans from The Great Ten, Secret Six, Psylocke, and More

Best Historical Revisionism - The Great Ten #1


The 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremonies were already one of the most mind-blowing spectacles I've ever seen. How much more awesome would it have been with actual Superheroes involved? We'll never know cause all we get to see is the Great Ten standing in the center of the Bird's Nest, or whatever that mega-stadium was called. What a rip.




Fearful Symmetry - Psylocke #1

Do not wan. We get a lot of these split-screen Psylocke shots, and I suppose they serve a thematic purpose, but I don't see a reason to expose us all to this ugly smooshfest.

Oedipal Issues - Secret Six #15

Is it really necessary to show us via flashback that Floyd's mom once dressed up EXACTLY like Floyd's future sex partner, the inimitable Jeanette?

Movie Moment - Dark Reign - The List: Wolverine

This issue is actually from last week, but I couldn't let a There Will Be Blood reference go unmentioned. Especially one that doesn't go for the easy milkshake meme. Great body language from Normie here.

The Magic of Comics - Age of Reptiles: The Journey #1
I can't begin to tell you how excited I was this week when, while scanning the new books, I came across this title. As a kid, Delgado's previous Age Of Reptiles series were 2 of my absolute favorite books. The middle school me nearly died inside when I saw this. If you want near flawless visual storytelling, pick up any of the Age of Reptiles books-the entire story is told sans text, and without the conveniently recognizable expressions of the human face. Plus Delgado's always good for a clever, and unique visual cue to get a story point across. Take, for example, the middle divider with the dinosaur eyes-it took me a moment to understand what I was looking at, but it's a brilliant little moment. The first panel is the T-Rex, with the angry mama Triceratops reflected, the second is the round eyed, terrified baby dino with nothing but a full view of terrifying teeth. And the last is the determined mother, with the T-Rex and baby reflected. A great, and efficient, way to quickly get across 3 very different points of view.

Another example of great visual storytelling-we have the adorable little baby Triceratops shouting at the threatening T-Rex, the classic "is-this-kid-serious?" look on the T-Rex, followed by a quick barked out threat that sends the cute little guy shaking behind the legs of the grownups. Nearly every page of this book has a little gem like this.

In-Joke Alert - Assault on New Olumpus #1

Wheatcakes! Cause that's something Aunt May talks about...in the past. Sorry folks, slow week.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Beasts of Burden, Thunderbolts, Spider-Woman, and More

Cute Overload - Beasts of Burden #2
This book is actually dark and sad and terrifying, but come on, CUTE DOGGIES! The really remarkable aspect of this sequence, in which neighborhood dogs bug our animal heroes with a bunch of frivolous cases, is how Jill Thompson's dog drawings perfectly evoke the personalities Evan Dorkin has written for them in just one panel. We've got the thuggish bull terrier, the dopey briard, the gossipy Pomeranians, and the paranoid Chihuahuas. Anthropomorphizing animals never seemed so true to life.

Pretty girls, crazy supervillians, and cop abuse, after the jump...


Excessive Force - Azrael #1



Gotham is just a mess since Batman died. Robin is slicing faces off with a hacksaw, and Azrael is beating the living crap out of a room full of cops! This isn't even the old crazy Azrael, it's some new perfectly sane guy who just happens to be down with kicking cops in the nuts and punching their noses into their brains.
This scene makes it all better.


Fun with Montage - Power Girl #6
Why are trips to Ikea always fun? Actually sometimes they're horrible and boring, but I've definitely had trips much like the ones experienced here by Power Girl and her galpal whatshername. Amanda Connor continues to turn out the most lighthearted yet densely communicative art on the stands today. I love all the Swedized words - it took me a while to get "tasty rolls" from "tejsti rohls". What is the name of the store, "Aidja", supposed to be?


Best Visual Metaphor - Thunderbolts 137
This panel completely sums up Norman Osbourne's role in Dark Reign. Sitting on his Green Goblin glider (why not?), setting up dominoes, boozing it up. He's completely given up any pretense of pretending to be sane around his underlings. It's kind of classy, somehow.

Photo Reference Done Right - Spider-Woman #2
I don't understand why some comic fans get upset about photo referencing. The model in this case, Jolynn Carpenter, is actually credited at the head of the book along with the writer and artist. I've never seen this done before, but it's a good idea. If you're going to have someone "playing" a comic character, they should get a credit. These panels are beautiful, thanks both to Carpenter being really gorgeous and to artist Alex Maleev's beautiful colors and shadow effects. There's also some very subtle compositional touches that link the panels together - check out how the outline of her shoulder in the top panels becomes the edge of a shadow in the second panel.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Wolverine: Saudade, Welcome to Hoxford, Final Crisis and More

A Note on Blades - Wolverine: Saudade
There've been a lot of interpretations of Wolvie's claws over the years, some better than others, but I gotta say this one really works for me. They remind me of time before it was "revealed" that he has had bone claws since adolescence, or even before it was "revealed" that the claws were an unforseen byproduct of the adamantium lacing process. These finely crafted, downright designed sumbitches remind me of those glorious days when Wolverine was an unfortunate Canadian mutant who was made into a living weapon by mysterious people for a mysterious purpose. *Sigh* Those were the days. Let's see some more of these beauties.
Awesome! So dangerous!


Best Pop Culture Reference - Runaways/Avengers #1
Haw. She said a Harry Potter thing.

Best Deal With The Devil - Amazing Spider-Man #571
So apparently Spidey's deal with the devil that made everyone in the world forget his secret identity also made it impossible for anyone to use an ounce of brain matter to rediscover the fact. Norman Osborn, actual GENIUS, finds Peter Parker's camera set up to take pictures of Spider-Man to sell to the papers, and comes to the conclusion that Peter is just a front for Spidey's side career as a photographer. Gah!


Cute Overload - Welcome to Hoxford and Patsy Walker: Hellcat #3

This was a good week for mice in comics.

First up we got a li'l rattie who comes to speak to psychotic serial killer Raymond Delagdo in the voice of his dead mother. I love the cartoony silloutte in the third panel. Things don't end well for this rat, but at least he had his moment in the sun.

Meanwhile, in Hellcat, this truly adorable snow lemming shows up to guide our hero to...something, I didn't really read this issue, I just tuned in for this adorable ball of cuteitide.

I HAS A CAREER; IZ A BOUNCER. U FOLLO NAO, KTHXBYE.

I also can see the headlines now; "Area Cute Thing Bites a Thing, Is Chubalicious". "Chunktastic Mouser Seen Hanging In There, Baby".

Too Much Information - Wolverine: Saudade
Oh, man. That's just a bit more of Wolverine than I really was hoping to see today. But what the hey, the ladies seem to love it:

Scariest Panel - Welcome To Hoxford #2This is some serious nightmare shit, right here. The way that the monster is holding the woman's glance THROUGH the door is the scariest part. He knows where she is, and he's a' comin.

Whammy of the Week - Runaways/Avengers #1
Whoo doggies! That's how I like my power bolts; all Dragon Ball Z'ed out and in full technicolor, complete with a unique and persuasive sound effect. I also like to imagine what swear word she's screaming, especially in light of the All Star Batman & Robin fiasco.

Most Unpleasant Panels of the Week - Young Liars #8
I'm not going to try to explain to you what's happening here. Not because you won't understand it, but because I don't want to understand it.

Banana Randomizer Award for Achievement in WTF - Final Crisis: Revelations #2
Good lord; so if Batwoman had her own series, is this the sort of adventures she'd be having? I don't know if my sensory perceptions could take it. I can barely parse out what's going on in this one panel, let alone a whole book.

After very careful inspection, I count three guys, five submachine guns, a lot of debris, and I guess that's Croc at the bottom? Or possibly an actual crocodile? I think with more balanced coloring this might have been a coherent but still crazy splash page, but as it's a big black, red, and green blob.