Who'd Like A Cocktail? #232

Dr Thirteen proves smart men can be stupid too

Early Christmas Present

Oooh, looked what turned up on my doorstep yesterday:

If nothing else, it's provided me with this year's Christmas post! But, of course, you'll need to come back in six months or so to see it.

Secret Origins

From the ever excellent Our Valued Customers

And just how many times has the origin of Superman been shown in comics?

Monday Memories #25 - Action Comics #616

Each Monday this year I'll be taking a look back at a random comic, prestige format issue, graphic novel or collection of reprints from amongst my 3,000 or so comics that date from 1962 to 2003 - I figured anything in the last ten years would be too recent to hark back to.

The comics are chosen completely at random and apart from a four week lead-in period, even I don't know what I'll be looking at in the weeks to come!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #231

At least she said please

Man Of Steel: I Blame Christopher Nolan

I've seen the new Man of Steel film. VERY spoilerific thoughts below the jump. Don't say I didn't warn you.

A Whole Bunch Of News

Having recovered from the weekend's exertions, I come back to find the internet has been pumping out all sorts of news:

Tom Taylor is the new Earth 2 writer while Nicola Scott remains on art. I know nothing about the Injustice: Gods Among Us series he's been writing so will have to take his stories at face value.

Monday Memories #24 - Top Ten #8

Each Monday this year I'll be taking a look back at a random comic, prestige format issue, graphic novel or collection of reprints from amongst my 3,000 or so comics that date from 1962 to 2003 - I figured anything in the last ten years would be too recent to hark back to.

The comics are chosen completely at random and apart from a four week lead-in period, even I don't know what I'll be looking at in the weeks to come!

No Cocktail Today

This blog is about comics so I don't often talk about anything outside that but by the time this post is published, I should be most of the way through a 54 mile charity bike ride from London to Brighton.

You can't help looking at that map (or any, really) and thinking because you're heading South, it's all down hill, isn't it?

Sadly no.

At the 46 mile mark there's an absolute bugger of a hill which just might kill me.

With that in mind, things might be quiet around here for a few days while I recover.

The Star Wars

I am an unashamed Star Wars fan and the idea of getting to see George Lucas' original script in comic form warms the cockles of my heart. And trust me, it takes a lot for me to get warm cockles.

I will definitely be buying this.

DC's September Solicitations

FOREVER EVIL #1

"The first universe-wide event of The New 52 begins as FOREVER EVIL launches! The Justice League is DEAD! And the villains shall INHERIT the Earth! An epic tale of the world’s greatest super-villains starts here!"

So the first issue of Villains United oops, Forever Evil hits as the bad guys take over the DCU. For a month. Hardly a long term success, is it?

Green Lantern: Looking Ahead

In last week's Green Lantern #21, new writer Robert Venditti took a leaf out of ex-writer Geoff Johns' book by including a last page glimpse at future storylines so I thought we'd have a look at what's there.

Front and centre is Relic, the big guy in red and black. He's already down as the bad guy for the immediate future, having had the briefest of appearances in the flash-forward in Green Lantern #21 and been confirmed as the villain in September's Villains' Month event.

In the top left there's a blue world exploding . . . or a world exploding with a blue light. Is that Odym, home to the Blue Lantern Corps? The ships heading away from it - are they connected?

Above Relic's head is the life entity in it's white cocoon so looks like that'll be turning up again.

Top right is Mogo above a wall or cliff face of screaming stone figures. Has Mogo got some sort of natural prison on his surface? Are the two images even connected?

Below that are a couple of hooded, gun-toting baddies who could be just about anybody.

In front of them is what appears to be a Star Sapphire - is she the new villain Nol-Anj that we saw in this issue who's apparently made her jailer fall in love with her? Or someone else entirely? Oh, and I see that just when Carol's uniform has become a lot more sensible with the black covering most of what was exposed, with this Sapphire we're back to either a see-through netting or a costume that's the same colour as her skin so she appears mostly naked.

And then, in the front at the bottom, is Hal himself, apparently choking in the dust. It may be the colouring or my imagination, but are his eyes oddly coloured?

Lots of questions, not many suggestions. Anyone have any?

Monday Memories #23 - Return To The Amalgam Age Of Comics

Each Monday this year I'll be taking a look back at a random comic, prestige format issue, graphic novel or collection of reprints from amongst my 3,000 or so comics that date from 1962 to 2003 - I figured anything in the last ten years would be too recent to hark back to.

The comics are chosen completely at random and apart from a four week lead-in period, even I don't know what I'll be looking at in the weeks to come!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #230

Friends, eh?

Zauriel's Back In The DCU

According to this article, the angel Zauriel appears in next month's Phantom Stranger... oh, wait, sorry... he appears in next month's Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger #10.

Regardless of what the issue's called, the redesign of Zauriel by Mikel Janin looks fantastic:

Perusing Previews - June 2013

Tempted as I was by the ongoing series, I didn't bother picking it up. The trade paperback, though, I've taken a punt on and pre-ordered as I'm willing to give most things by Palmiotti and Gray a chance.

Everything New (52) Is Old Again. Again.

Confirmation of what a lot of people had known/suspected was released yesterday - DC is having a Villain's Month event in September. Alongside that was news of Forever Evil, a seven issue miniseries that will allow the creators (Geoff Johns and David Finch) to "really exploring what darkness means and the different kinds of darkness that are within these villains."

Villains which apparently include Sinestro whom Johns himself sent away never to be heard from again only a couple of weeks ago. Seems neither death nor exile are permanent these days.

And is that really Dumb Bunny in the background or am I seeing things?!

"As rumored, each of the New 52 series will change titles for that month and shift focus to antagonists like Darkseid, Bizarro, Gorilla Grodd, Two-Face and Poison Ivy."

You can see some of the titles with their funky moving 3D covers here but the one that caught my eye was this:

As you can see, that's Earth 2 but it features Power Girl, Huntress and Desaad, all of whom have been gracing the pages of Worlds' Finest. Does that PG and Huntress get to Earth 2?

In a separate interview, Jim Lee says of the new covers:

""They’re amazing covers. It’s an effect that you haven’t seen before... it’s an entire cover," Lee said. "...The colors and the depth of field allows you to actually see the logo of the new book. Let’s say the Joker is taking over, it’ll be the Batman title in the background, and you’ll see the Joker title splattered on top of the Batman logo itself. It really sells the concept in a very visual way.""

I'll grant you we may not have seen moving covers quite like this before but as for the villains' logos superimposed on the heroes'.... didn't that "sell the concept in a very visual way" back in 2009?

      

      

   

Monday Memories #22 - Suicide Squad #4

Each Monday this year I'll be taking a look back at a random comic, prestige format issue, graphic novel or collection of reprints from amongst my 3,000 or so comics that date from 1962 to 2003 - I figured anything in the last ten years would be too recent to hark back to.

The comics are chosen completely at random and apart from a four week lead-in period, even I don't know what I'll be looking at in the weeks to come!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #229

Ladies and gentlemen: Hawkman summed up in four words.