Grant Morrison On Superman

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Here is a video of Grant Morrison interviewed by Wired Magazine’s Adam Rogers. Grant discusses the story behind All Star Superman and other interesting tales. Grant also talks about Superman’s changes over the decades and his writing process.

http://www.wired.com/video/latest-videos/latest/1815816633/comic-legend-grant-morrison-talks-superman-and-more/490934997001

Veteran’s Day Reads

Yes, new comics DID come out today, even though it’s Veteran’s Day!

Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #1 – Not bad. I haven’t kept up with Marve’s cosmic stuff as much as I’d like, but I’m enjoying Gladiator as the new Shi’Ar Majestor.

Dark X-Men #1 – Oh, well. Okay. Let’s just re-introduce a whole bunch of forgotten X-Men family characters, like the Mimic, Weapon Omega, and… The X-Man?

Green Arrow/Black Canary #26 – Wait, what? Two Ollie Queens? …did I miss something? I thought I’ve been reading this series since #1.

Deadpool #17 – Deadpool continues to try and join the X-Men. Good fun, but Daniel Way uses too many censored swear words (#&%@!). More than once per issue is really distracting, and takes me out of the story.

S.W.O.R.D. #1 – A solid start for the SWORD series, but what’s up with Beast’s face? I’m not sure if this series is necessary, but more info on Abigail Brand is certainly needed for casual Marvel readers.

Amazing Spidey #611 – The banter between Spider-Man and Deadpool is always exquisite!

Strange #1 – Quite fun. Emma Rios & Christina Strain KILL on the artwork chores. I wish more comics were like this; everything is far too epic and crossover-y, right now. I like simple, fun, one-off adventures.

Batgirl #4 - Ah, yes. This is what I was waiting for the last three issues to get to. Stephanie with Oracle backing her up. Wonderful issue.

Batman & Robin #6 – Wait, whaaaat? So, is this out-of-continuity? Or are the DC editors just THAT out of touch with each other…?

Red Robin #6 – I read about half the issue and gave up. I just don’t care. Glad to see Marcus To getting work, though.

Batman #693S – Intriguing.

Updates, quickies

So, I’ve been kinda poor at keeping this thing as updated as I would like. But there’s a very good reason for that; I’ve been working on the NEW ComicZoneAZ.com! Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, it will be up and running before Thanksgiving.

Here’s some quickies from our Twitter account – Twitter.com/comiczoneaz

Wednesday, 5:20 pm
If Superman sales were so poor already, why was it a good idea to take Supes out of his own book? Who’ll buy “Superman” without Clark Kent?

Wednesday, 5:22 pm
Clearly, DC didn’t think this one through. People are already dropping Justice League, because Mon-El is just not an interesting character.

Wednesday, 5:24 pm
I think Blackest Night: Superman actually using him just goes to prove that the New Krypton experiment didn’t work. Put Kal in his own book!

Wednesday, 5:26 pm
Inversely, how great has Batman been since Dick Grayson took over the cowl? It’s nice to give Bruce a rest, and put Dick in the limelight.

Thursday, 6:50 pm
How did X-Men Origins: Iceman get Iceman’s origin wrong? “I got mutant powers and my dad kicked me out of the house” isn’t hard to do right.

Thursday, 7:00 pm
Deadpool Team-Up #899, meanwhile, made me into a big Hercules fan. I should probably start reading his solo book. Can’t wait for #898 in 30.

Thursday, 7:05 pm
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man continues to be wonderful. Just the right mix of high-octane action and high school drama. Magnifique!

Thursday, 7:25
The Psylocke/Revanche/Betsy Braddon/Kwannon story (X-Men #20-23) was my first X-Men story. So this new Psylocke miniseries feels like home.

Thursday, 7:27
Re: Psylocke #1 still, I’m digging Harvey Toliabao’s action panels, but I’m not sold on his storytelling quite yet.

Quickies – 07.Oct.2009

I’m back! I’ll try to get these up and going more frequently.

Batman: Unseen #1 of 5 – Not a bad first chapter. I’m not convinced this has to be a Batman story, except that it happens to take place in Gotham. But I can’t tell you to NOT read it…

Batman and Robin #5 – I’m digging the Red Hood story far more than the Pyg one. Phillip Tan’s improved, but he’s still no Frank Quitely.

Cable #19 – Everybody vs. the Brood! God, Emil is annoying. I hope he dies so Hope can become the hardened warrior the adopted child of Cable SHOULD become.

Daredevil #501 – It would’ve been nice if, y’know, there was some warning in Daredevil #500 that I would’ve had to read Daredevil: The List before it sold out in order to read #501.

Quickie Reviews…again?

I’m kinda digging these quickie reviews. I can get more stuff covered, and give out fewer spoilers.

- Gen 13 #31: I guess I missed last month’s issue, ’cause I was kind of confused… But it wasn’t bad. The series definitely has a direction that it’s moving in, but that direction is more of a traditional team book than the quirky, fun, teenage book that the original series was. But maybe that’s what the book needs, in the current market. As a random aside, the Worldstorm Gen 13 title has now lasted about half as long as the original ongoing, and twice as long as the Herod relaunch from 2002.

- Blackest Night #2: More black lanterns! More mayhem and violence! More death! And, for once, I actually find Aquaman intimidating! Definitely sticking with this one through the end.

- Blackest Night: Batman #1: “What’s happening in Gotham during the Blackest Night?” Deadman has both been turned into a Black Lantern, and is still Deadman. But he’s gotta warn the new Batman and Robin about what’s coming! Not bad, but the cliffhanger ending makes me wish I had issue 2 right here. I might suggest waiting until all 3 issues are out, on this one.

- Green Lantern Corps #39: Blackest Night tie-in! Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner talk about their bizarre lovelives, when the Black Power Rings zing past their heads and start resurrecting even more fallen heroes. Not as essential a tie-in as Green Lantern #44 was, but certainly nothing to scoff at.

- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1: Bendis has still got it! David LaFuente’s artwork is a little more cartoony than I think this series really calls for, but it’s still hard to get over Mark Bagley’s 110-issue run. Either way, this is definitely one to stick with.

- Ultimate Avengers #1: Not a bad first chapter, but this had the same effect on me as Blackest Night: Batman, where I wish I had more of the story at once. I guess that’s a good thing, really, since it means I’ll be back next month. This issue debuts the Ultimate Red Skull! OooOOOOoooo!

- Ms. Marvel #43: “War of the Marvels” continues. And the original Ms. Marvel is revealed to be… Catherine Donovan? Wait, that’s not Carol Danvers at all! I’m not sure about this alternating artist thing… I wish they’d just get Sana Takeda doing the pencils all the time.

Quick Reviews

My apologies, dear readers, for the lack of updates. My computer has decided it no longer wishes to operate correctly, so my Internet access has been cut rather drastically over the last few weeks.

Gen 13 #30

Red Robin #1

It’s a regular Bat-o-Rama around here, lately.

So when your mentor dies, the closest thing you have to a brother gives your identity to your mentor’s estranged son, and you’ve got nowhere left to turn, what do you do?

Apparently, you go to Madrid and take over the mantle of the guy who tried to kill you…?

Tim Drake– excuse me, Tim WAYNE is the new Red Robin. And he’s in Spain, trying to find Bruce Wayne, the Batman. And Tim is 100% sure that Bruce is still alive. He just has to be. Because… Tim wouldn’t know what to do, otherwise. Tips lead him to Prague, and while Tim is hanging out in his hotel room, somebody has him in their sights. And it’s somebody BIG.

This was a pretty solid first issue. One of the nice things about never having been a huge Batman fan in the past is that I have very little knowledge of who many of these characters actually are. I don’t know their personalities, or very much of their history… I just know their names, and how they’re all related to Batm–Bruce Wayne.

So, for me, it’s fun jumping into this world that has semi-familiar faces. DC is making it pretty easy to keep track of everything. I understand that Tim’s upset about Damian becoming the new Robin, and I even get an idea as to why.

For the first time in the last several years, I know what the hell is happening in a DC book, when I pick it up! There’s no need to go back and read stories from when I was in diapers, or to understand the entire history of a character. I just have to know who Batman is, understand that there have been three Robins, pick up that Bruce had an illegitimate child, and be aware that Bruce Wayne is dead. From there, I can just jump right in. And, so far, all three titles in the new Bat-family have been quite enjoyable.

If you’re going to pick up one Batman book this week, make it Batman #687. But if your budget allows for it, grab Red Robin #1, too.

Batman 687

Batman #687
Written by Judd Winick
Pencils by Ed Benes
Cover by TS Daniel
$3.99
DC Comics

(image ganked from IGN.com, because nobody else had the final version)

“A Battle Within – An epilogue to Battle for the Cowl”

Last week’s Batman and Robin #1 was the launchpad for the new status quo in the Batman family of titles. But it left me feeling like there was something… missing.

Don’t get me wrong. It set out to do a straight Batman story with Dick and Damian in the roles of Batman and Robin, and it pulled that off quite well. But there was something strange about it. It didn’t feel like there was an answer to “Battle for the Cowl.” Who will be the new Batman? Well, Dick Grayson was just thrown into the role, without any exposition.

But this issue of Batman serves to answer all of the questions I would’ve had. It opens with a flashback to a the first time Dick Grayson (as Robin) was able to get the jump on Bruce (as Batman), and then transitions to Alfred and Dick trying to figure out what to do.

Superman and Wonder Woman make appearances in a flashback scene to show when they returned The Cowl, and asked what Bruce’s contingency plan was for when he died. It seems as though he didn’t really leave one…but Alfred and Dick decide that Batman cannot die, and as the Justice League (Clark, Diana, Ollie, and Dinah) are gathered around Bruce’s grave, he informs them that the world can’t know Batman is dead.

The Phosphorus Man attacks a subsidiary of Cadmus, and is met by the new Robin, who quickly begins getting punked out, ’cause he’s ten, and wasn’t prepared for this. Nightwing shows up to save the day, and considers the future of the mantle of the Bat.

In the final scene, the Scarecrow (who is rendered beautifully, by Ed Benes) is attacking the Gotham Bay Bridge, and is too much for the police to handle. Suddenly, he’s stopped…By Batman.

And that’s Just the Beginning!

I’ve been a fan of Ed Benes’ work for nearly 10 years (since his run on Gen13), and it’s good to see him doing a solo title, again. I haven’t read too much from Judd Winick, but this is exactly the story that I was looking for, to fill in the gap between Battle for the Cowl #3 and last week’s Batman & Robin #1.

If you’ve never followed Batman before (I haven’t), there’s no better jumping on point than right here. This is going to be the solo Batman book, where Dick Grayson grows into the role of playing– no, BEING– Batman. I’m pretty excited to read the next issue.

Don’t miss this one.

Batman and Robin #1