My First Review for Nine Panel Has Been Up AKA Talon #0

It's been a busy week and weekend so I haven't had a chance to update everyone until now, but my first review for Nine Panel is up. It can be found here and is about a big recent release...

Talon #0! So what are you waiting for, read what I thought!

Rant-Reviews--Three #0 Issues, Daredevil, and...Tarot: Witch Of The Black Rose? Hoo Boy...

Let's get into some reviews by looking over a few of the DC zero issues that have been coming out, then we'll check in with the as-always stellar Daredevil, which is on its 18th issue. Plus we'll give a gander to Tarot: Witch Of The Black Rose because when you need something to giggle at the absurdity of, this is the comic to buy.

DC Universe Presents #0
This honestly should be called, "Cancelled Comics Cavalcade" as most of the stories in here are from books that got cancelled before they could reach a zero issue. Oh, and a Deadman story that somewhat satisfactorily sets up his few issues that were originally at the start of this series. Seriously though, is there much of any point to that, "Hawk and Dove," tale written by the now-officially-insane Rob Liefeld? I may not have bought this book if I had noticed his involvement as I'm avoiding his work now. The Mister Terrific story isn't bad, but at this point it would make more sense to have it in the, "Earth 2," comic where he is apparently popping up. The OMAC bit begs to be considered important with a title, "Origins Matter After Cancellation," and the Blackhawks tale was so inconsequential I can't even remember it. Yeah, what was the goal of this issue, really?

To give credit where it's due, this did make me a little curious about the OMAC comic that I believe you can now (or soon) get the whole short-series of in trade. It has Maxwell Lord whom I've always found to be an interesting character. Perhaps that was the goal of this, to make people want to go and get the trade paperbacks of these cancelled series, and grab the first trade paperback of, "DC Universe Presents," to read more about Deadman. As an actual single comic though, meh.
2.5 out of 5 stars.

Batman #0
This isn't so much an origin of Batman as it is two stories. One is a tale of how Bruce Wayne first got a start in fighting crime and the other segment is about how the Bat-Signal came into being, with various future Robin's noticing it up in the sky. It's a good issue of Batman and actually sets out to tell an origin as I believe was the point of the zero issues. One problem with this however is how it throws a huge kink in trying to figure out Batman's continuity in this new 52 universe.

There was the idea that Batman was operating in secret for years before the whole Justice League came together 5 years ago from our present. However, in this comic it shows a Bruce Wayne who isn't even Batman yet, "Six years ago," and one who doesn't have a Robin by his side, "Five years ago." This means Batman went through three Robins before having his son, Damian, take the mantle within five-ish years. Oh, and his son is 10 with, "Batman and Robin #0," apparently stacking on additional continuity glitches...I give up trying to figure it out. This is still a fun comic at least.
4 out of 5 stars.

Resurrection Man #0
Let's be honest and just say this is, "Resurrection Man #13," instead of the #0 DC is giving all its books this month. This does have a flashback to explain how there could be two Mitch Shelly's, but most of the book takes place in the present, right where issue #12 ended. Plus the book sets up future stories too for the character despite his series being cancelled. The whole idea of giving this a zero for its number is really a mess...but at least the story was pretty good.

Yes, I was concerned with the whole, "There's two Mitch Shelly's," plot, but the twist that (SPOILER) the Mitch Shelly who grew out of the first one's lost arm is actually a nice guy and the original Mitch Shelly is a huge, evil jerk was kind of a fun idea. The "clone" of Mitch Shelly has been the man we're rooting for and who continues to exist after the "real" Mitch Shelly has his soul taken for...some reason--it was never really clear to me how Heaven and Hell were involved in this story.  Still, I had fun, and I can't hold the whole numbering snafu against this book when it's DC editorial crew who chose to do that. I wonder where the Resurrection Man will show up next--I'll probably pick up the comic showing where he does.
3 out of 5 stars.

Daredevil #18
This series was giving us a bright and happy Daredevil with the understanding that he had that darkness lurking around in him. Matthew Murdock hoped he could just try and forget it, living a nice life. Well, it seems that ol' madness is slowly coming back to strike Daredevil if the events of the last few issues and especially this one are anything to go by. Sure, we'll probably have it revealed some villain is making Murdock look crazy and be seeing impossible things, but as the series is seeming to point out, it really wouldn't be that much of a stretch for Daredevil to genuinely be going crazy. Mark Waid is an expert writer and this book continues to reflect that. The art by Chris Samnee ain't too shabby either. If you have been following this series definitely pick up this book. If you haven't been Daredevil, what are you waiting for? Get those earlier issues and catch-up!
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Tarot: Witch of The Black Rose #75
The next issue comes out this Wednesday, and waiting for it with bated breath has been so hard! With its intricate plot and complex storytelling the two months between every issue are difficult to bear....okay, if we're honest this book is about Tarot fighting a naked fairy-woman who has a weird thing for repeatedly spanking Tarot. Yeah. As always Jim Balent is a pretty talented man who for some reason has chosen to spend his time writing and drawing a comic about a witch who has trouble keeping her clothes on...who fights other magical beings that also have trouble staying clothed (or just skip wearing anything). It's a silly book, but considering Balent has so many people who buy it--with a fair amount being female readers who are into the whole Wicca-magic stuff--I imagine Balent is the one who is really doing the laughing. All the way to the bank.

For what this book is, it's perfectly decent, and it's a cheesecake-art comic with magic and jokes thrown in. Nothing more and nothing less. If that's what you want, here you go. Those of your looking for deep stories or females with realistically-proportioned bodies look elsewhere.
5 out of 5 stars for accomplishing what it sets out to do.
2 out of 5 stars if we're judging it as we judge other, actually good comics.

There are the comics of late I felt like reviewing. The good thing about comics is not matter how many good or bad ones you read there is always a fresh batch Wednesday.

The Unnecessary Return Of Daken.

If you've been reading my blog, you know I feel Daken's series became amazing when Rob Williams took over. You also know the series ended with Daken dying in the best possible way to tell his story. I discuss all this here.

Now then, if you've been reading Uncanny X-Force you know that a new Evil Brotherhood of mutants has emerged recently, and who is there helping lead it? Daken. God-damn it Marvel, you couldn't even let him stay dead for a year?

"I was dead? Little ol' me? You don't say!"

I know his death was slightly mysterious, the story said he made it that way on purpose so people would always wonder, "What if?" Now you just go and show him alive and kicking. Why? We've gotten a few interesting moments between he and Evan/Genesis/The Possible New Apocalypse. In the latest issue we have a neat scene where Sabertooth basically says he wants to be Daken's adoptive father in a sense...it's all well and good, but Daken was better off dead. I'm disappointed in Marvel and writer Rick Remender. That's all I've really got to say on the matter.

It's still a really good comic though.

The Idea Of The Post-Hero Era and Its Religious Symbolism As Demonstrated by Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1

What Is A Hero In A World That Doesn't Need Them?

I've just recently read, "Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1," from Dynamite comics. I quite liked it, and while it has gotten some positive press it also has received some utterly scathing reviews. I'll admit it definitely has flaws, the bad guys come off as way too over-the-top evil, the dialogue at times is a bit stilted, and the art varies from being pretty to kind of ugly--but enough of the comic is enjoyable and especially fascinating that I would say this is worth a read. It also made me think about why there aren't more stories about the logical end-game of when heroes show up and save the day.

You know what I mean, the big bad guy is defeated, the world is safe, now what? Few comics have explored this. Avengers Versus X-Men hinted at the idea with some folk pointing out in the story that the Avengers were maybe just afraid of the Phoenix-powered X-Men because a world was being made that didn't need heroes such as the Avengers. This kind of fell to the wayside in favor of it being clear the super-powered Phoenix Five were slowly going--as I believe the clinical term to be--batshit insane.

"We rule the world, and we're utterly bonkers."

Alan Moore has explored this idea of a post-hero era at least twice. There is Marvelman/Miracleman which has a bit of the idea of a hero who has saved the world going to the logical end of taking over it. Then there is of course Watchmen--which for those not in the know is actually in a way quite linked to this.

History Lesson Time
Okay, many know the story of how Alan Moore was going to use Charlton-comic's characters that DC had acquired for an epic story but instead he created characters loosely based on the brand for his story. This gave birth to Watchmen. The Rorschach grew out of The Question, Dr. Manhattan was born from Captain Atom, and Ozymandias? Yeah, he came from Peter Cannon, Mr. Thunderbolt himself.

Now, you may be asking if Peter Cannon was part of the Charlton comics that were acquired by DC, how can he appearing in a comic published by Dynamite? Well, his creator, Pete Morisi was quite the forward-thinker and actually owned rights to the character, letting Charlton use him. If you want more details Mark Waid himself talks about the interesting history of the character in some of the books back-matter, but doesn't go into the whole Ozymandias-link.

There certainly is a resemblance between the characters and this version of Peter Cannon arguably draws as much from Ozymandias as it does from the hero's original incarnation for reasons I will go into toward the end of the article--first let us get back to that question of what happens in a world with heroes when they've already done what they were needed for.

The Idea Of A Post-Hero Era 
I wasn't necessarily going to read, "Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt," at first. That cover by Jae Lee (the best of the various ones they made) was really pretty, but solicits for the story didn't get my heart beating. I'd never heard of Steve Darnall. I had heard of his co-writer Alex Ross but Ross's art is an acquired taste, and I don't usually love it too much--plus Ross was just co-writing instead of even contributing art, so...okay? Then I saw the interior artist was Jonathan Lau and I had faint memories of maybe seeing his stuff before and not being horrified--but lacking in being at all impressed. Yeah, there wasn't much selling this book to me. Then I read a short review of it on Bleeding Cool.

In one of it's short capsule reviews with a bunch of others, Bleeding Cool pointed out how this was about a world already saved by a hero, and all that comes after. That got my attention.

Basically the story is that as nations kept testing their nuclear weapons some kind of mythical dragon appeared in the aftermath--much to everyone's amazement. In this world that I think is modern day and which lacks much in the way of superpowers something as magical as a dragon was big news story. Then the day came that it attacked the UN and he showed up, the mysterious Thunderbolt.

He saved the day, scared off the dragon, revealed his true identity as Peter Cannon, and two years later is a big celebrity spreading his teachings of martial-arts and otherwise wanting to be low-key but now is obsessed over by a society that has those who both practically worship him and others who fear him.

Those in power hate the idea of less military power, or less press from the world falling apart, so a plan is hatched to take him down, and it seems someone in Japan who appears to be a friend of Cannon will later be revealed to in fact be far from that. The whole bad-guys-hate-the-hero thing isn't of much interest to me in this though, no it's the fascinating way how a man is lifted to something of an idol.

The Religious Symbolism Of The "Ultimate Hero"
In our world someone who saved the planet would most likely be thought of as something of a savior to society, a near-religious icon. To say that, "Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt," is exploring this idea is not reading too much into the comic. This is an idea which this comic is not shying away from as one of the covers to   the later-coming-out issue #3 illustrates:

Ignore the bad-guy slicing the poster, just observe the idea it imparts.

The reluctant Messiah is nothing new to literature, be it religious or secular. Moses didn't necessarily want to be a hero and Harry Potter just wanted to be a normal boy but due to his natural gifts couldn't be. Hell, if Superman could do it without feeling guilty for sitting around ignoring his powers ol' Clark Kent probably would have just stayed on the farm with his adopted mother and father enjoying their company and otherwise relaxing instead of fighting Lex Luthor and scolding Batman.

This comic has a world not unlike ours where someone who actually had superpowers and saved the day would be viewed as if a God (Jesus showed some super-powers and now there is a whole religion based around the guy). The sad thing we see about Peter Cannon, is that he actually just wants to live a somewhat-normal life, further researching the ancient texts that give him his power and otherwise not being a mega-celebrity. He himself says how he just revealed his real identity after that day he fought the dragon so the people being hounded because they were suspected of being The Thunderbolt would be left alone. Now he's miserable with the never-ending attention.

The thing that sets other heroes apart from Peter Cannon is that this is a story where the hero's job has already been done. We don't get that with Moses because he dies right before the Jews reach the promised land. Harry Potter gives us a brief epilogue at the end of book seven to let us know how things went after Harry turned Voldermort into a bunny (I only read up through the fourth book and skimmed the rest, so that may be a bit wrong). Superman will never truly save the day because there will always be new challenges--if for no reason other than DC editorial demands it so we keep buying their monthly books. Plus the Christian bible probably wouldn't read the same if Christ hadn't died and been reborn, instead living to a ripe old age and opening a coffee shop or something for other people to come and discuss philosophical ideas.

I'm going to digress a lot here, but wouldn't the idea of a coffee shop run be Jesus make for a great story? Imagine that as a television show, where every episode we have a special guest, like the aforementioned Moses, one of the Hindu Gods like Vishnu, Budda could show up, and maybe Mohammed could stop by. Actually, some people might be pissed if that last one happens, riot, and cause murders like some religious-nuts currently are doing, but you follow my idea. Someone needs to get on this and pay me royalties for the idea. Anyways, back to the main idea of a post-hero era and the religious imagery within it.

A story that continues to explore what happens to our hero him or herself after they save the day is not common--also in great rarity are stories that start at that usual end point. Plus, in the ultimate twist what if the savior and the evil monster were one being? You know, what if Peter Cannon were actually the very evil he fought to save the day? Yeah, have a final-page reveal all up in your face:

The Hero As Ruler
I mentioned earlier how this comic seemed to be drawing from the character of Ozymandias as much as the original Peter Cannon. I say this because just as at the end of, "Watchmen," when Ozymandias tricks the world into uniting against an evil alien force that doesn't even really exist, Peter Cannon has the world agreeing to nuclear disarmament talks in the hopes of stopping an evil dragon...that he actually controls/is.

This is Alan Moore's hero as the (benevolent?) ruler. Making society a better place through trickery and subterfuge. Whilst Marvelman/Miracleman ruled by force, Ozymandias fooled everyone and thought his means justified the ends of a safer and happier world. Peter Cannon has something of a mixture of these two methods going on. It's hinted he will be using violence in this comic against future threats to defend his perfect world--something Ozymandia's wouldn't need to do in the newly-united planet. Marvelman/Miracleman didn't have to tell a lie to rule people, he just had unfathomable power, whereas Cannon will be working to keep his trickery going. That's why I think of this new Peter Cannon as being a mixture of inspired by Moore's work, and of course drawing from the original Peter Cannon for his powers (with another piece of back-matter in the comic illustrating how the ability to have a dragon appear is nothing new to Peter Cannon's power-set).

So, Where Does This All Lead?
The hero is also the villian in a way, with his lying being in humanity's best interest. The messiah is both a prophet and a false idol, too. If the stories I've read (and read about) that do talk about a hero in a post-hero era are anything to go by, this can only end badly. There will undoubtedly be blood spilled in an effort to keep Cannon's lie going, and before this is over his secret of being the dragon may very well get out and more lives will be lost than he ever saved with his lies.

We shall see--because I know I'm continuing to pick this book up if the genuinely great stuff continues to over-ride the somewhat annoying and sub-par bits. Yes, we shall see where things go.

This Is The Newest Rant--Noir Look

This is The Newest Rant, where every murder is a mystery, the world is black-and-white, dames can't be trusted, and everyone smokes because cigarettes aren't yet known to cause lung cancer..

Batman: Death By Design Versus Batman and Robin: Born to Kill

Two Bats From Different Worlds
Let's discuss two books and compare them a bit despite their having not that much in common besides having a Batman in them. I say a Batman because one story is very clearly not in continuity with a somewhat strange Batman and the other tale is very in continuity--the new 52 continuity where some things are different and some are the same, but continuity nonetheless. Let's talk about the book that's a bit more exotic first.

Batman: Death by Design

This book is more experimental than the other one I'm going to discuss, but in its effort to be different it can be a bit messy. First things first, the art by Dave Taylor is utterly gorgeous. Black and White with various bits of color for important aspects of the story or to provide more atmosphere, this art is just a beauty to look at. The story is a bit jumbled however. It's got the Joker, a new mysterious man known as Exacto, architectural discussion, and various twists that are supposed to be clever but instead come off as either predictably trite or just nonsensical.

The bits of color mixed with the black-and-white artwork is delightful

As a result, we get a Batman book with breath-taking ideas such as a nightclub that is a large slab of glass hanging in the sky or unique Batman gadgets that absorb kinetic force, but we get a story that is a bit muddled with too many characters fighting for screen time--be it Batman, the Joker, Exacto, a romantic interest for Bruce Wayne, a bad-guy union boss, the snobby architect, the sad architect, his father, and so forth.

That's another odd thing about the book, it takes a really anti-union tone--which I'm not alone in noticing as this less-that-positive review points out too. The union boss (Bart Loar being his name) is a horrible person who tries to construct stuff of a low quality so it doesn't last long and he can get his men to do the replacement building in decade or two. Our villain also has people killed, threatens the children of decent men, and otherwise behaves in a mustache-twirling fashion, but I guess for the purposes of this story unions are evil and we should rely on a nice rich person like Bruce Wayne to fund our buildings without any nasty unions, because of course the super-rich are looking out for everyone's best interest!

The story may be jumbled, and have the aforementioned oddly conservative tone when it comes to worker-rights, but the crazy ideas and the art make up for plot's general weakness.
3 out of 5 stars.

Batman and Robin: Born To Kill

This, in comparison to, "Batman Death By Design," has art which is perfectly presentable by Patrick Gleason but nothing special. The story, meanwhile, is focused on Bruce Wayne and his difficult relationship with his son (and the newest Robin), Damian.

Basically, we have a story where someone from Bruce Wayne's past we have never before heard of (to my knowledge) comes back for revenge due to something our hero did long ago. In this case its a fellow named Morgan Ducart (with his villain persona being called simply, "Nobody"). I won't spoil too much about how Wayne knows Morgan and how Morgan knows Wayne is Batman, but basically it all boils down to Wayne making Morgan look bad in front of Morgan's daddy. You see what the plot is doing there? We have Wayne having trouble being a father against a man who is mad at Wayne for embarrassing him in front of his father.

Morgan Ducart AKA "Nobody"

Anyways, the thing that sells the story is Bruce and Damian's interactions. It's hard being a father to a boy who's been trained since birth to be a killer, and that's the one thing you don't ever do. In the back-matter writer Peter Tomasi himself says that the relationship between Bruce and his son is the main, "A story," with Morgan and the trouble he presents being the, "B story," that exists more to help develop the complicated life of Batman and son.

I enjoyed this a fair amount mainly because Tomasi really sells us on the interaction's between Bruce and his offspring. It is interesting and done well enough that I may check out the regular comic of this or at least definitely try out the next trade.
3.5 out of 5 stars.

Comparing Despite the Contrasts
Each of these books were enjoyable, although I do think the, "Batman and Robin: Born to Kill," book was slightly better overall. Still, in regards to art, "Batman: Death by Design," cannot be beat--even if its story is best described as, "meh." Meanwhile, "Batman and Robin: Born to Kill," was a good story with presentable artwork. I'd recommend checking both of these out as one is a feast for the eyes, and the other is an overall solid read.

An Anniversary of Tupac's Passing

Last year on this day I had a long post that went over everything from Flashpoint's end and the birth of the new DC Universe, to Cable/Solider X, and the anniversary of the death of Tupac. Now that I think about it, it's odd how I combined the starting of the New 52 with the ending of a life. It's that time again, marking the untimely death of a genius music artist. He's still one of my favorites, and I would recommend you read my post from last year if you want my thoughts, or check out this new post from David Brothers that also marks the occasion. Maybe I should start celebrating Tupac's birthday instead of being sad on the day he died. We should celebrate life, after all.

The New Issue of AVX Apparently Kills Off Someone and Acts Like This Character Dying Is a Big Deal

I've pretty much quit using, "Read More" cuts on my page so that when you come to my site you can just scroll down through everything. I think I should use one in this case though as its a major spoiler for a comic that is out today--and it is earlier in the day so the odds are good you haven't read this yet. Basically, someone is killed off in, "Avengers Versus X-Men," and the fact it is this person is little surprise, and makes me think it won't stick.

Exciting Announcement, I'm Joining Ninepanel!

I have a quick bit of exciting news! I will be joining the website Nine Panel and writing for them a bunch! Check out their tumblr and podcasts and get excited for their impending full-website launch!

Flashback Friday--Looking Back Over "Brightest Day" and It's Swamp-Thing Epilogue Mini-Series

The More Things Change...The More They Surprisingly Actually Change

Remember "Brightest Day?" Arguably a quite good mini-series done by Geoff Johns (whose work can be spotty) and Peter Tomasi (a pretty talented person) this basically was what came after the sometimes good and sometimes dreadful, "Blackest Night," event. I've re-read the event in a trade (the 1st one) and my old comics as when it first came out I just kind of skimmed it instead of reading closely. I zoned out a bit around the 7th issue which finally sort-of explained what the point of the series was. Things did pick-up however.

A weekly series (Like the great "52") that didn't actually have the events take place every week (unlike "52"), "Brightest Day," followed some of the characters who seemingly were inexplicably brought back to life at the end of, "Blackest Night," whilst a few other characters who were resurrected kind of did their own thing in separate comics and mini-series. Some of the resurrections were obviously going to happen (Aquaman, Martian Manhunter) a few were out of left-field(Reverse-Flash, Maxwell Lord) and by far the most clever was Deadman, whose whole point of being a character is that he's....well, dead.

One of the most interesting things about reading, "Brightest Day," now is seeing what aspects of the continuity "stuck" in the New 52 and what was changed or essentially dropped. Deadman was still dating Dove (as appears to have ended badly in "Hawk and Dove" and "Justice League Dark", Blackest Night still apparently happened (as shown in, "Green Lantern)," and the Swamp Thing came back from the dead (as shown in "Swamp Thing").

However, Firestorm was completely rebooted along with Hawkman, Martian Manhunter is a quite different person with a vastly altered history with the Justice League, and as for Aquaman...well, this sort of gently started the, "He's a no-nonsense guy who is pretty pissed," style of the character we have in the New 52. Yeah, the New 52 is still a bit of a mess continuity-wise because it chose to keep some things going but re-started most. Also, "Brightest Day," introduced the neat Aqualad!

This was a fun series that somewhat made sense as inevitably a fair amount of the characters turned out to not matter much to the main series even if they had their moments in the Big, "Brightest Day #0," issue which kicked things off. Maxwell Lord basically just was important to the Generation Lost mini-series, I have no idea what purpose Jade or Osiris served, and that guy who throws the boomerang really wasn't in the comic at all until at the end when he was needed to move the plot along.

As I've stated, this was all mainly an excuse to bring back Swamp Thing as a guardian of the world (or something) who got rid of the last of Nekron's evil left over from the, "Blackest Night," comics. Also, it brought John Constantine back into the main DC Universe whilst he continued to exist in a Vertigo comic, so kudos to, "Brightest Day," for that.

Of course, this was a bit of a false-start for ol' John as even though he is doing a great job as a character in, "Justice League Dark," he was in the terrible mini-series about Swamp Thing that came after this and was--as I stated--just dreadful. Titled, "The Search For Swamp Thing," the plot was thin, the ending was both rushed and stupid, and the whole three-issues just seemed completely pointless other than slightly helping to establish the Swamp Thing and John Constatine in the DC Universe (and drop some hints about "The Green" and "The Rot" that would actually turn out to be important in the New 52's, "Swamp Thing," and "Animal Man," but even that doesn't make this stinker worth a gander). Yeah, this was bad, but, "Brightest Day," was still pretty good even with the nasty aftertaste of, "The Search for Swamp Thing."

As I said, "Brightest Day," was enjoyable. So much happens its hard to describe. From events on Hawkworld that somehow involve the Lanterns who control love, to Aquaman temporarily only being able to control dead sea-life in a disturbing twist, to some actually quite sweet moments between the now-living Deadman and his grandfather--yeah, a lot happens, with some of it being more useful to the overall story than other parts.

So, the series started out slow, but actually did speed-up, was pretty fun even if at times it did not make sense, and introduced Aqualad, who was pretty interesting considering he was the evil Black Manta's son but worked with Aquaman. One major problem of the story can be expressed though with the character of Black Manta--sometimes the series would have a character appear and then they wouldn't pop up for a bunch of issues. Manta was in the zero issue and I don't think we saw him again until around the ninth issue. Hawkman and Hawkgirl would get most of an issue and then disappear (same with Firestorm), Martian Manhunter has essentially his own cool issue where he's tricked into thinking he's living in a perfect world but isn't...and after that issue his story really just fizzles out.

Besides my complaints, I really did have a fun time, which--with some of the comics coming out these days from DC--is a bit harder to do now (some of the New 52 is leaving quite cold while other parts are fun). I'd give this series a read--although you really need to ingest, "Blackest Night," first to fully understand it.
Brightest Day #0-#24--3.5 out of 5 stars.
The Search For Swamp Thing #1-#3--1 out of 5 stars.

Bits O' The News

Let's share what is happening in the world of comics and beyond, shall we?

Another week, another mysterious Marvel NOW promo.

I like Archaia and their work so it is good things are starting to work out better for them.

Jim Carrey in the movie version of Kick-Ass 2? I didn't like the first comic and haven't bothered with any others or seen the movie. However, I do like Carrey when he's doing a good job so maybe this is news worth following?

I can have my face be in the next CD Projekt game? They do make that good, "The Witcher," series, and that sounds fun...but I'm not sure I want people punching this gorgeous mug--even if it isn't for real. Okay, maybe not gorgeous, but presentable.

West Nile Virus is back with force. That's just great news....sigh.

Top Cow wants an unpublished writer or artist to come work for them. I have no strong feelings about this either way as long as said writer or artist is treated fairly and not screwed over like so many folk in comics.

Radioactive Man (the Marvel version, not the Simpsons) may be appearing in Iron Man 3? Interesting.

So it isn't just junk food making us sick, but junk DNA?

More Metal Gear games, this time in an "open-world" environment? Yes Please!

Remember the Republican National Convention? Remember how weird it was to see Clint Eastwood arguing with an empty chair? Sean T. Collins remembers, and he wrote about it in his guest spot on, "Stoner Alien".

Speaking of Conventions, the Democrats are having issues agreeing on their own party platform? I'd say this is quite bad, but Mitt Romney himself has said he doesn't fully agree with the Republican Platform,so both parties are having some issues.

So Judas (of the Christian bible) is the character "The Stranger" in DC Comic's New 52? I would think DC's editor-in-cheif Dan DiDio would have been nervous approving this, but he wrote the comic!

Let's end on a piece of, "Well that's no surprise," news. Apparently, in a market dominated by the iPhone with Android fighting hard for a solid 2nd place, Windows phones just don't perform that admirably. How shocking!

Thar be the news that I found interesting. Enjoy it, treasure it, love it.