Cocktail Of The Year 2012

Yes, it's that slightly embarrassing, self-concious moment once again when I tally up which comics have made me the happiest throughout the year.

As regular readers know, each week I get my comics and run through them, posting a short review and what I did or didn't like about them. At the end of each week's reviews, I post a panel that, quite simply, made me smile that week and it's those panels that earn their respective titles the Cocktail for that week. I've gone through the 2012 Cocktail posts and using a hideously complicated process that I'm not going to bore you with worked out who gets the awards.

Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's work on All-Star Western has been consistently good, not to mention the Freedom Fighters mini-series that they've been producing (hopefully) with plans for a new series sometime soon but it was the work of Paul Cornell on Saucer Country, Stormwatch but most of all for Demon Knights that pipped them to the post.

Sad to say Cornell's long gone from Stormwatch and has finished his run on Demon Knights so no more Vandal Savage to make me smile month in, month out.

The afore-mentioned All-Star Western and Demon Knights were both strong contenders for the series that provided me with the most laughs but - despite many people not liking it - the one that made me smile consistently was Worlds' Finest. It's not the best written series out there but remember, this is just about what gives me a chuckle and throughout the year and Levitz's writing, principally with Kevin Maguire's art, did it for me.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments - there's a whole ton of comic blogs out there so I really do appreciate it when someone spends some time in my little corner of the internet.

Have a great New Year and see you in 2013.

Merry Christmas!

Poor Captain Britain . . .

Have a good one, everyone! I shall be taking a few days off so will be back next week.

Who Was Who Is Who #52

Throughout the whole of 2012, I've been using Monday's posts to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I could predict who would make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Knodar's chance.

In issue #26 of the original Who's Who they had a bit of a catch-up and looked at characters that had been missed in the earlier issues, hence the sudden change back to earlier letters.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #209

Which is why you should always read the instruction booklet

The Mayan's Got It Wrong

The world doesn't end today. It ended back in the mid-80's.

Who you going to trust? A bunch of New Agers who've decided that the end of one calendar = the end of the world, or Marv Wolfman?

Thank You, Keith Giffen

Above is the cover of the forthcoming Threshold #3 wherein Keith Giffen introduces a "new character with a familiar name" - Captain K'Rot, a talking, psychotic rabbit with one dead eye and a wooden leg.

In an interview with Newsarama, Giffen shares his big beef with comics at the moment:

Giffen: ...with Threshold, I'm trying desperately to have fun. Comic books are supposed to be fun. Comic books are supposed to be big and loud and bombastic and fun.
I don't want to do European style comic books. I want to do good, old-fashioned American comic books. And I'm not saying that out of some desire to be patriotic or something. No. I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with what we were doing in this country with comic books. Alright, maybe they didn't appeal to adults. But they were big and just a lot of fun. 

Nrama: And you want to get back to that. 

Giffen: Yeah, I just want to get back to it.

I've said time and again how much I enjoy fun comics: the last version of Blue Beetle (not co-incidentally written by Giffen), the current Demon Knights, Shadowpact, Gail Simone's All New Atom, Giffen's Doom Patrol, All-Star Western and, top of the list, Power Girl.

If there's another title to add to that list in Threshold, I for one will be picking it up.

Who Was Who Is Who #51

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Yellow Peri's chance.

THE WIZARD - despite being an old Justice Society villain, I think it unlikely that the Wizard will make an appearance in Earth-2 so I don't expect him to be around too much.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #208

And yes, Jaime, your butt does look fat in that.

Earth 2 #10

From the solicitations:

As Wotan holds The Flash’s mother hostage, Khalid must finally come to terms with his destiny as Doctor Fate!

Wotan! The new Dr Fate! Man, this series just keeps getting better.

Dan Didio's Diabolical Dialogue

With last week's Phantom Stranger #3 it looks like I was right when I said I might be returning to Dan Didio's Diabolical Dialogue sometime soon.

The story's not terrible - it's not really making the most of the mystery surrounding the Stranger's apparent normal family; no-one's questioning who the wife and kids are or where they've come from - but it's not bad.

What does hurt for me is reading the leaden, clunking dialogue that Didio has his characters, and particularly the villain in this issue, speak:

"Dawn breaks, and I must return to my unholy resting place."

Sweet Cthulhu, even villains in the 70's didn't utter such nonsense.

That's right, mate - you go ahead and unleash your demon fury on the bloke. See how that works out.

You know, when DeMatteis takes over, I hope he's doing the dialogue.

Perusing Previews - December 2012

Chief among the many, many, many crimes committed in Episode I: The Phantom Menace was the way one of the coolest villains ever was casually discarded at the end of the film. The death of Darth Maul was a shocking waste of a great character - imagine if the first Star Wars film had killed off Darth Vader at the end of the battle of the Death Star instead of sending him spinning off into space. Why couldn't Lucas pull a similar stunt with Maul?

Anyway, his apparent return in the animated Clone Wars series has been all over the place lately but bringing him back with the lower body of a mechanical spider?! I think I'd rather have left him dead.

The Shirt Off Her Back

I mentioned in Sunday's Cocktail post about the character of Joan from Human Bomb and her apparent lack of suitable shirts to wear to work. Just in case you missed it, here's what a normal S.H.A.D.E. operative gets to wear on the shop floor:

I'm sure they're perfectly functional, all-in-one high tech romper suits.

The head honcho, Uncle Sam, does the standard boardroom look:

while Joan? Poor old Joan gets to come to work like this:

Who Was Who Is Who #50

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Whip's chance.

THE WANDERERS - far as I know, they're unlikely to be wandering around the Legion's time line before the end of 2012, and Dave Sopko, the official COEP Legion go to guy, agrees "Have not been seen for a long time. Doubt we will see this roaming band of adventurers again."

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #207

Hawksmoor paraphrasing Oscar Wilde. A Haaaawwwksmoooor?

How Times Have Changed

I've said before that I'm not the biggest fan of video games but there's a couple of series that'll keep me coming back, not least of all the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

With GTA V coming out early next year, I've gone ahead and pre-ordered it and would have done it, even if I hadn't seen this a couple of months ago:

That's pretty slick, right? Big change from how they marketed the first game back in 1998:

No, Mr Bond

I have to admit to not being the biggest James Bond fan in the world. Nowhere near the biggest, actually.

I find the films enjoyable enough but even the latest, Skyfall, I really couldn't see what the fuss was all about. A bad guy surfaces with a grudge against M, Bond gets all growly and mean-faced for a while, Q gives him just the right gadget and the day is saved. There are gratuitous nods to older Bond films which really make no sense in this new, rebooted universe - if Bond only came into active service a few years ago, why oh why would he have a 1960's Aston Martin with an ejector seat tucked away in a garage? It's just there for the older fans to nod and smile and feel nostalgic - and the product placement is horrible.

But hey, other people seem to like them. Over at his blog, Ty Templeton sums it up nicely:

Click to see the rest

Who Was Who Is Who #49

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Vanquisher's chance.

THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER - one of the stories in the soon to be released (this is written in early April) G.I. Combat is a back-up featuring the new Unknown Soldier so he's in place.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #206

Break it to him gently, Jen

The White Council

There's a big old gallery of pictures from the forthcoming Hobbit film over here, full of scenes from the film, behind the scenes and promotional stills.

I recently re-read the book for the first time since I was a boy and was surprised by how much I'd forgotten about: Beorn had completely slipped my mind, for example. While the original story may be a little thin, Peter Jackson and co are obviously embellishing it to fill out three films, including dealing with some details that are either briefly mentioned in the book or are only revealed in the "making of" books that Tolkien's son Christopher produced.

One of those details which I'm really looking forward to seeing is the White Council:

And hopefully - though probably not in the first film - we'll get to see the attack on Dol Guldur.

I'm really looking forward to these films!

What With Christmas Coming Up And All...

Sad to say, even the forthcoming Yuletide won't be enough to make me part with my hard-earned for this little beauty:

Paul Levitz and Taschen are re-releasing Levitz's huge 75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Myth-Making as five smaller volumes, each with more art than the original sections that constituted the big book.

It looks to be a lovely looking thing, as well - I've seen a few Taschen art books and they're usually very well put together - but while the first volume is available for pre-ordering now, it's on the site for £35. That's £175 for all five books which is waaaaaaaaaaay more money than I could spend right now.

Still, something to save up for, eh?

Who Was Who Is Who #48

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got an Ultra Man's chance.

TSUNAMI - an enemy of the All Star Squadron, it's unlikely that we'll see her in the new DCU at any point soon, if only because of her ties to World War II.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #205

Yay for the return of straightforward super-heroics

Who Was Who Is Who #47

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Tobias Whale's chance.

TIM TRENCH - a private investigator linked with Wonder Woman, I don't think even that association will be enough to get him back in the DCU.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #204

Garth Ennis's indictment of the superhero genre

When Did Steel Die?

Last year I did a series of posts looking back at the much maligned Detroit years of the Justice League of America, running from their formation to their less than heroic end and also including their few appearances since that series finished.

I guess with Vibe being in the news at the moment, there's some interest in the JL Detroit; coincidentally or not, Todd recently posted a question on the last storyline of the original League:

I have a question for you. As you said, at the end of issue #260 Commander Steel turns off Steel's life support and Steel dies. That would be confirmed by the flat line shown but i've read web sites (Inluding DC's) that states that Steel didn't actually die until Justice League of America #38 when Despero returns to earth and finds Steel's body in the chamber and rips it to pieces. Justice League #260 indicates that he died once the life support is shut of but Justice League #38 indicates that Steel didn't die until Despero took him out of the machine and ripped his body apart indicating that Steel was just comatose the whole time but still alive. What gives? Which is it?

I knew the issues Todd was referring to so figured I'd go back to them and see what they say.

Earth 2 #9

From the solicitations:

As a new story arc begins, DR. FATE makes his Earth 2 debut!
Supernatural powers are emerging on Earth 2, and that means new heroes on the scene—not to mention new villains!
Plus: The debut of the new Wotan!

Dr Fate's appearance is no big surprise - he was name-checked a few issues back but it'll be nice to see him back in action.

And Wotan! Who'd have thought that!

Justice League Variant Covers

The news that the forthcoming Justice League of America #1 is to have 52 variant covers broke last week. Is that some sort of record for the number of variants of a single issue, by the way? I've never been a big fan of them - for the most part, I'm happy to get a single issue and read the story within rather than worry about what's on the cover.

Anyhow, the variants are going to be the state flags of America, all based on this image:

It's various members of the new League hoisting the flag a la Iwo Jima.

Thing is, comics are something of a geeky habit so why not throw in a few geeky flags as well?

Who Was Who Is Who #46

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Tiger's chance.

THE TERMINATOR - as in Deathstroke before he really became known by that name. He's made it through into the DCU, helming his own title as well so he's definitely in place.

TERRA - poor old Terra didn't have a good time of it in the pre-Flashpoint world and ended up a traitor to the Teen Titans and then a Black Lantern. The new Terra, Atlee, was a nice addition to Power Girl's title but she's been lost post-Flashpoint. However, it has been announced that a new Terra will be in the forthcoming (this is written in early April, my friends) Ravagers series so while it may not be the same person, the name's in use.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #203

The new Green Lantern ingratiates himself to the Justice League.
Well . . . most of them.

New DC Series

It's been all over the net for the last couple of days so this is anything but breaking news, but I figured I'd chime in on the new DC series that were recently announced.

First up is Vibe.

No, seriously, DC are producing an ongoing solo series starring Vibe, quite possibly one of the most reviled characters they've ever produced. Can you think of another single hero that's been hated for so long and by so many? I can't.

But for whatever reason, a new Vibe series has been announced, written by Andrew Kreisberg who, according to this article, will be writing about Cisco "Paco" Ramone - no idea why they've decided to give him a new first name but I won't be picking this up. I only know Kreisberg's work from his run on Green Arrow/Black Canary from a few years ago which I didn't enjoy at all.

The other series is Katana, another minor character that's being given a chance to shine in the spot light.

As with Vibe, it's being written by a writer that I've read books by: Ann Nocenti. It was her god-awful run on the most recent Green Arrow series that made me drop the book, one of only a handful of instances where I've done that. As I've said before, I managed to stick with Teen Titans when Felicia Henderson was writing it so Nocenti's work had to be something else for me to drop it.

With that in mind, that'll be another new series I won't be picking up.

Having mentioned Green Arrow, I notice that with Nocenti moving over to Katana, Jeff Lemire will be taking over Ollie's adventures. Tempting as that is - because I really like his writing - I don't think I'll be rejoining that series either.

It can't be any coincidence that both Vibe and Katana will be appearing in next year's Justice League of America series, not to mention Green Arrow who with his new TV series is getting a bit more attention. That's obviously being used as a springboard for both of them but it's not going to tempt me.

My Last Word On Disney Loves Star Wars

Don't make me spell it out for you, people.

Perusing Previews - November 2012

I swear, if I had any room on my bookshelves, I would so buy these.

Who Was Who Is Who #45

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got either of the Tempests' chances.

SYRENE - anybody else remember the days when Superman would battle demons in the future? No? Chances are we won't be seeing Syrene again, then.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #202

Not something you read every day.

A Great Disturbance In The Force

I go away for a few days and what happens? Lucasfilm is bought by Disney and plans for new Star Wars films are announced!

More Star Wars is good . . . but Disney? Lucas has been famously lenient towards fan films and homages, allowing people to play in his world over the years. Disney? Not so generous and more than a little litigious.

I guess we wait and see what happens.

Away To The Hills

Myself and Mrs Earth-Prime are away this week, taking a few days to celebrate our wedding anniversary (which was actually yesterday)

While I'm away, why not have a look at these lovely blogs: