Nerdy Nuggets of News: May 2005 Archives

Cowabunga! Check out this preview of Justice #1 over at Wizard. Looks fantastic as you can see. Ross painting over Krueger's pencils does really look like Ross had laid out the page for himself. And unlike those treasury editions, we will see Ross drawing the JLA fighting super-villains, although we only see them trying to fight some kind of super-natural fire here.

I'd love to see Ross do a Legion of Super-Heroes special one day. Wouldn't it be cool, especially if he used those kinky uniforms from the 70s? He did a wall poster like that and I was in hog heaven.

Steve Englehart's Coyote series, one of the first independent, creator-owned titles to make a big splash in the 80s, is getting collected by Image Comics. I remember this series quite well. It was first published in Eclipse magazine, and for the time, it was very daring material. Marshall Rogers did an excellent job with very detailed artwork, and Steve's script tred that line between New Age hero and action scenes that kept the story moving. I also remember Marshall drawing a naked woman that Coyote had a relationship with (who had been trying to kill him a few pages earlier)--like I said, for those times, very graphic.

After this initial origin tale was finished, Archie Goodwin had the good sense to bring Coyote to EPIC Comics as a launch title. I remember buying this and DREADSTAR and being very excited about both. Steve Leialoha, one of the most talented and unsung artists of this period, drew the first two issues of Coyote and did a superb job. I was disappointed when I heard that the artist was leaving and went to WonderCon. I asked him why and Leialoha replied in his usual terse manner, "That's showbiz." We got a treat with issue #3 as Butch Guice made a splash drawing this story, but he too left for greener pastures. Then Englehart was paired with a young artist named Chas Troug, which for me, killed the series. It was either Troug's style or his inexperience--it just didn't mesh with the stories that Englehart was writing. (Troug would blossom into a very capable artist later on, as evidenced by his ANIMAL MAN tenure with Grant Morrison.)

For now, I'll be glad to get this collection and also get the SCORPIO ROSE mini-series (also by Rogers) that it ties into. BTW, I found another interesting Englehart interview over here that you may want to read. Nuff said.

Rich Johnston's back from maternity leave with a whopper of a story concerning Alan Moore. Moore's pissed about DC\Warner representing him as over-enthusiastic about the upcoming V FOR VENDETTA movie, so pissed that he's pulling League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 3 away from DC and into the publishing hands of Top Shelf. Johnston also reports that the "Wolverine: Enemy of the State" hardcover has a page that is missing dialogue captions. Millar's comment on his message board: "I like to see these Marvel misprints as a big fuck you to all the lazy bastards who wait for the trade." Yeah, right, I'm still waiting for your over-priced WANTED trade, sucker.

Speaking of collections, here's a list of the trades coming from Mighty Marvel later this year. Now I hate what Bendis is doing to the Avengers, and I've sworn not to buy the single issues; trades are a different story. I will order NEW AVENGERS VOLUME 2: SENTRY HC because of this teaser: "For an entire year, all of comicdom has been asking: Who is the mystery Avenger: Well, Ronin is here and just in time as one of the powerful villains from the Breakout has already set up show and needs to be taken down before any more damage can be done. Who is Ronin? Here's a hint: He's not Daredevil." And just because I'm feeling generous towards Bendis today, here's a spoiler from Wizard magazine. Apparently after the House of M concludes, one of these shocking things will happen in the Marvel Universe:

- Daredevil identity becomes secret again.
- Peter Parker is no longer married to Mary Jane.
- Wanda becomes Sorceress Supreme.
- Thor will save the day and return to the Marvel Universe.
- The Ultimate Universe and 616 (Marvel Universe proper) will merge.
- Mutant population will drop to 300 mutants.

I can see the Daredevil or Thor thing happening quite easily, just like an episode of Star Trek, things get reset back to their original state so no real change happens. An Ultimate\616 merge would be too radical, although a Peter Parker split with MJ would be something most writers would relish.

We have to return back to DC for our final note about an interview with Gail Simone about Action, Birds of Prey, and Villains United. Nuff said.

Brian Bendis is pulling out the stops to get me to buy New Avengers. Steve McNiven, David Finch, the super-babelicious Spider-Woman (I never realized how great that costume was until Finch drew it), the return of the Sentry, and now Neal Adams doing this special variant cover to New Avengers #7 (click to expand). Pretty great, reminds me of Sauron falling off that cliff in Adams' X-Men run. Though I try not to speak of Bendis, I must point you to this interview concerning his involvement in the Ultimate Spider-Man videogame, which looks tremendous.

Moving on to DC, there's a great interview with Jeff Loeb on his final Superman\Batman arc where he's out for blood: the World's Finest take on "The Maximums", a thinly veiled swipe at the Ultimates. Ed McGuiness returns to draw this arc and it looks to be a whopper. Leob reveals something about the first Pulse arc that I never realized: the Green Goblin murdered reporter Teri Kidder in issue #2: Teri Hatcher combined with Margot Kidder, get it? There's Bendis again, he just pops up everywhere. Loeb is fed up with Marvel taking pot shots and now it's his turn. Then there's a great interview with DC's head honcho, where he talks about Infinite Crisis, Grant Morrison, and the All-Star line. If you're getting excited about this like I am, check out the latest Batman and Superman issues, they are all tied into the ongoing continuity. And if you want to see Batman confront his super-buddies over getting mind raped, creating OMAC, and uncovering the truth about Blue Beetle, check out this schweet 10 page preview of OMAC #2.

More evidence that Lucas is not going to the Light Side and stopping with Episode 3: Australian actor Matthew Newton might be part of the new Star Wars TV show.

Finally, play the funeral march music, because The Flash just lost one of his greatest writers: Geoff Johns has announced he is leaving the book. Sob! And if you cross-check Didio's interview that I mentioned above, you will see there is little chance that Johns will do an All-Star Flash book. But we can console ourselves with the knowledge that Darwyn Cooke will write an arc of the Flash after Johns' exit. Nuff said, I'm too verklempt.

There are certain dates which should be a mandatory holiday for geeks. We have a special religion, a creed, that demands we take off from work or school for certain events. Halo 2, the PSP launch, the Matrix or Lord of the Rings movie openings, and of course, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

The movie matched my expectations. The action scenes were incredible, I loved the fights with Count Dooku, General Grievious, and the big Anakin vs Obi-Wan showdown at the end. Jar Jar only appears in one scene near the end but he does not talk. There's some more stilted love scene dialog between Padme and Anakin which doesn't work that well. If the big thing in Attack of the Clones was that you got to see Yoda fight, well, in this movie you get to see Palpatine fight. Palpatine seriously rules in this movie and Ian McDiarmid is the perfect actor to play him. Palpatine masterfully manipulates Anakin like Iago in Othello. Then when he leaps into action against Mace Windu and Yoda, it's very exciting. Was Palpatine holding back against Mace in order to force Anakin into making a choice?

I loved seeing Palpatine getting the better of all the Jedi, because let's face it, the Jedi were a bunch of dorks. Palpatine sat there for what--10 years?--directed events and started the Separatist war, while Master Yoda, who presumably sees Palpatine all the time, can't detect the Dark Side of the Force running through his veins? Unbelievable. And Yoda gives up a bit too easily in this movie as well. Fine, my little green friend, go back to Dagobah, let the Emperor unify the galaxy and get the transworld shuttles running on time.

This is one of the better Star Wars movies. I rank them in this order: Empire, the original Star Wars, Revenge, Attack, Return, and Phantom. Nuff said.

Hey baby! It's time for Marvel Comics August 2005 solicitations and I can't find a damn thing from Marvel that really makes me excited other than this cover of Ultimate FF Annual #1. I will never think that the Ultimate FF can ever hold a candle to the Marvel Universe originals, but this rendition of an Ultimate Crystal is just wonderful. Interesting that they have the Ultimate Inhumans and the artist is Jae Lee, from the Paul Jenkins Inhumans 12-issue series a few years ago. Greg Land did the cover and does he ever bring Crystal into the modern era. This is great, just do it in Marvel U. please? The only other tantalizing thingy is about J. Michael Straczynski's first issue of the FF--the solicitation copy says "It's a reunion with destiny as the Fantastic Four once more brave the hazards of outer space for a rendezvous with a fateful cosmic storm - And the secret that lies therein!" Don't freakin' tell me the cosmic storm was sentient or somethin' chose the FF on purpose, dude. You played that card with the sentient spider bitin' Spidey and all that Spider-totem stuff. It's like this motherfucker's favorite comic ever was Swamp Thing #21 (Anatomy Lesson) and so he keeps going back to origins and sayin' guess what--they're bogus and if you've been readin' this title, you don't know shit. WTF is that dude? You're just apeing Alan Moore. Leave that shit alone and come up with some fresh cadavers. Nuff said.

Ahoy maties! I've slashed through all the news and here's what's important today. There's a preview of Neal Adams X-Men story and it looks like you can go home again. Red Sonja is making a big comeback as you can see, and there's a nifty interview and preview images over here. If you sold all your old Red Sonja comics, never fear, they will be releasing them in trades, just like the Conan trades, with introductions by Roy Thomas. There's an interview with J. Michael Straczynksi about his upcoming FF run. Not much new here, but some dandy art by McKone, and he does say there will be a Silver Silver mini-series coming out with art by Essad Ribic, who did such a great job on the Loki mini-series that I almost bought it. I read somewhere else that the reason Mark Waid has dropped off all Marvel projects is that DC will be making him an exclusive offer that he can't refuse--like editing books in addition to writing them, which means he would have a hand in shaping the DCU. All the Rage reports that DC may be going after John Romita Jr in a big way as well. I'd love to see JRjr do Batman or Superman. Several sites are reporting that Kelsey Grammar from Frasier is going to play Hank McCoy (The Beast) in X-Men 3. He's a bit old for the role, but I'd love it if Bebe Neuwirth played his old girlfriend, Vera, from the 60s coffee a-go-go beat poetry days. Nuff said.

August 2005 DC Comics solicitations are now up at Comic Book Resources, and the top two items (click to expand the pics) really caught my eye. The first one because one of the things I loved about 60s era DC Comics was the imaginary stories: "What if Superman married Lana Lang and Had Super-Kids and sent Lois to the Insane Asylum?" They were silly in retrospect but magical if you were a kid reading them, and there's really no replacement for them today. The Brian Bolland cover shows a few gems that I recognize: Superman-Red and Superman-Blue; Lori Lemaris, the mermaid that Clark Kent fell in love with; the Batman with the II on his chest...is that the son of Batman from the World's Finest series? The second cover is another Wonder Woman bondage spectacle. It's pretty amazing that this is the secret of WW's appeal from 1940 until 2005: sales are down, let's tie up the bitch and see if we can sell a few more copies! No complaints from me, I might even go for it--Rags is drawing the book and it's a Crisis tie-in. The effects of the Countdown mini-series are reverberating through Wonder Woman, Flash, etc. The Secret Society of Super-Villains (SSSV) are hitting hard in Action, JLA, and Villains United. This kind of continuity pollination is what Marvel invented but can't do anymore. They's rather strip away continuity so they can have two totally different Iron Men and Shanna's running around. Nuff said.

There's a fascinating interview with Paul Jenkins where he discusses the upcoming Sentry mini-series and the Hulk: Ultimate Destruction video game. The Hulk game looks cool with a fully built city that is much like the one in Spider-Man 2. IGN has just released the video introduction to the Hulk game and you can see for yourself how much fun destroying a city can be. In other comics to videogame translations, there's a video interview with the producer of EA's game Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects. It's a fighting game and it looks good, but I don't like his reasoning that they created the Imperfects because the Marvel characters were created in the 1960s. They are as cool as ever, bub! The real reason is that EA wants to co-own the Imperfects in case they become popular. I mentioned before how much I like the old Secret Society of Super-Villains series from DC (now that Villains United is in stores now), look over here for an illustrated history of the SSSV.

Oh my god, someone get me a valium! I just read that Neal Adams is returning to the X-Men. The scoop is that Adams will be drawing an 8-page back in Giant Size X-Men #3 that is coming out later this month. You can go to Neal Adams website to check out some thumbnail sketches of this. Even better, the script is by Josh Whedon! I wish to god that Marvel had worked it out with him in the 80s--I've seen reproductions of his X-Men graphic novel pages, which was terminated after contract disputes. They say you can never go home again, but let's hope that Adams can.

Looks like Jeff Loeb figured out how to make Supergirl #1 start with a bang: have a girlfight (left, with Power Girl) and then an alternate cover by Michael Turner (right). Click to expand each one. The cover by Ian Churchill is a bit better than Turner's cover, more enticing, shall we say. Turner makes Supergirl look like a bitchy valley girl from Krypton with high maintenance issues. Still, given the fact that Loeb writes decent blockbusters, I am going to buy Supergirl, especially after reading this interview from January. One of the 1970s superstar writers, Steve Englehart, is making a comeback in Batman: Dark Detective, now on sale. I am skipping the single issues at $3 a pop in order to get the trade--sorry, man, but it's just too expensive. The artwork by Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin looks incredible. You can read an interview with Englehart at Sequential Tart that talks about Batman and his earlier work. I'm a big fan of Mike Wieringo--I loved his FF so much that I went out and got the FF 2005 calendar that has his incredible covers in a larger, glossy format. Wieringo is going to be the artist for a new series titled Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and he has sketches of the main characters at his blog. He couldn’t be any more perfect to draw Spidey and crew. One of my favorite video games last year was Burnout 3, the gaming equivalent of crack cocaine. IGN has a preview of the sequel, Burnout: Revenge, where Criterion tries to tweak and improve an already successful formula. It seems like I can't get through the day without mentioning Star Wars. There's some neat articles on msnbc, the first one mentions all the inconsistencies that Lucas will probably never explain, and then another one about how the whole unified saga is entirely about the coolness of Darth Vader. I liked this article about Star Wars games from 1983 until the present, but they left out the stinker of all time: Super Bombad Racing. The one where Darth Maul is a kid with a big devil head racing a hovercar. Nuff said.

IGN is gearing up for E3 with a lot of pre-show previews. If you are an avid gamer and want video reviews, online game guides, and other stuff, then I highly recommend IGN's $18-$20 membership where you get all the E3 video reports (and I get no money from IGN). IGN's hot scoop yesterday were these photos of the XBox 360 and the various components. You know the design of the XBox 360 looks cool and all that, but won't those white components get all smudged up pretty quickly with greasy fingerprints? I often eat Cheetos while playing a game. I suppose I will have to buy the XBox 360 when it comes out and then trade up later for a special edition XBox that is Halo green. Over at AICN, there's news that Goyer has plans for two more Batman sequels. In the second movie, the Batman will fight the Joker, but won't kill him. In the third movie, the Joker will be tried by Harvey Dent, and this time the Joker is the one who scars Dent's face for life. Newsarama has a revealing interview with Peter David about his Hulk plans for the rest of this year, and a great interview with the artist of my favorite superhero series, Howard Porter. I haven't picked up the Adam Strange series yet, as I waited for the trade, but now I might regret it because that Rann-Thanagar War mini-series looks pretty damn cool. There's more hard evidence that Lucasfilm will produce a Star Wars TV show set between Episodes 3 and 4, and filming will occur in budget land, Australia. Finally, let me leave you with some eye candy: the bimbos in Midway's upcoming Blitz: Playmakers video game. They aren't gonna let losing the NFL license stop them! Nuff said.

Thank god this is the last Star Wars movie. Every time I see a new piece of Star Wars merchandise, it's like the Dark Side of the Force calling me to the other side. I certainly want the Dark Side when it comes to chocolate and the new Star Wars M&M line. Damn, it's cute, but do they have to make 72 individual cards in order to spur our collector's thirst? It’s like giving a recovering alcoholic a six pack of Schlitz malt liquor. I almost bought a whole package of these M&M thingies when I was at Costco (but I was chaperoned by an adult). Last weekend I was in a small town and came across an antique store where I saw the Darth Vader Giant Pez dispenser--Chrome Limited Edition! This thing is so geeky and weird, but it's cool. Lift up Darth's head to get the candy and voice clips from the movies come out of a speaker. You also get this eerie red-eye glow through his visor. Only problem: the antique store sold it for $35 and it's much cheaper elsewhere on the web. Today I received this piece of spam from Alienware about their new line of Star Wars computers. How much you wanna bet that the Dark Side computer with Darth Vader outsells the other one? And then Master Replicas is manufacturing lightsabers patterned after Darth Vader, Obi-Wan, and Luke Skywalker. They have a sweepstakes for a free one if you want to enter and get more spam. Enough is enough, let’s see the movie and then get on with our lives. I learned my lesson after Episode 1 appeared and I bought 12 jumbo Star Wars head-cups from Jack In The Box.

Today's biggest headline is the new DC logo, show above with Jim Lee's rendition of their top Trinity of superheroes. Paul Levitz says this logo will be used in all forms of media, starting with comics and maybe even ending up in the movies. The New York Times also has an article about this, which also reports that a Legion of Super-Heroes animated show may be in the works. Let's hope Bruce Timm is a part of it--but I bet WB animation will go for a Teen Titans anime type of deal. Other DC news: All-Star Superman is already late (surprise, surprise) but it may make an appearance in December 2005. There's also a nifty preview of Green Lantern #1 over here, Carlos Pacheco's art looks just foine. If you need a dose of self-inflicted pain, check out this preview of the House of M. That first page almost looked like Wanda was getting it on with the Vision. It looks like I won't have to buy Uncanny X-Men any longer, as Alan Davis has announced his departure, and I can only hope he winds up back at DC. After reading about the uproar involving John Byrne's message board and his use of the N-word, I expected great things from Fanboy Radio's interview with JB, but alas, Scott and Oliver held back in favor of trying to recruit new guests. You can read some juicy gossip about the upcoming Ultimates annuals here at All the Rage. It sounds great, I'd just wish they would do it in the regular Marvel line, too. Ok, let's have some bimbo news. Bimbo #1: Elisha Cuthbert keeps getting work. Bimbo #2: Adrienne Barbeau keeps getting work even after having kids in her fifties. Bimbo #3: Jessica Simpson in the Dukes of Hazard trailer. Nuff said.

Start the countdown to Alex Ross' new bi-monthly Justice League series--it's on the back cover to this month's Previews and will appear in July. I'm not waiting for the trade on that one. If you're ready for more Bendis and Quesada shannigans, check out this transcript of the Marvel press conference concerning the House Of M. I think these two are just too full of themselves. Quesada's got some more insight on the Lethem-Omega the Unknown deal over here. On the other hand, this article on the return of Donna Troy has a great preview of the artwork by Jose Garcia-Lopez (missing from the mainstream for far too long) and his inker, George Perez. Anyone got some old Atari Force comics for sale? If you want to see a grown fanboy cry, check out Harry Knowles reaction to Return of the Sith. Ah, no more Star Wars? I think not, Young Padawan, there will be more tales in other venues. Nuff said.

One of my favorite artists, Steve McNiven, is doing great work, but I can never buy it because he's paired with lesser writers. Looks like I will have to break that rule when he does a New Avengers arc featuring the Sentry. Look here for a sneak peek and see why Bendis ruined McNiven's schedule for Ultimate Secret. A great series which I am picking up monthly is be Ed Brubaker and another Crossgen alumn, Steve Epting. Read about how Brubaker has transformed Bucky Barnes into a killing machine badass. The Superman crew is doing a great job of creating video blogs over at BlueTights.net and now they have Journal #10 featuring behind the scenes on flying. Looks like we will see a number of views on Superman that we could never see before. Looks like we'll be getting lots of cool George Perez work over at DC for the next five years due to his new exclusive contract, now let's see him do a Legion special or work with Geoff Johns. Nuff said.

This preview of the new Fantastic Four team has confirmed what I originally thought: the artwork by Mike Mckone is going to be gorgeous, while the script by JMS will be really talky. Personally I am hoping for martial problems and an orgasmic sex scene between Sue and Namor later in JMS' run. DC's Villians United series looks to be an awful lot of fun, as seen in this interview with Gail Simone. One of my favorite series in the DC Implosion days was Secret Society of Super-Villains, which this title is trying to update for the modern era. Looks like hell has frozen, because they really are making a DOOM movie and Gamespy has some pics and details of the Rock gunning down monsters. TIVO alert: Will Ferrell returns to Saturday Night Live this weekend, and Queens of the Stone Age will be there, too. If you go to the game store this week you can pick up three titles: Forza Motorsport (XBox), Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and PSP Hot Shots Golf Open Tee. Nuff said.

Here is the cover to first issue of All Star Batman and Robin by Frank Miller and Jim Lee (click to expand). Nice work, very good combo of Miller and Lee in the costume, but what the heck is his rope attached to? He's clear above the friggin' city!
Take a look over here at Newsarama for more details as well as the alternate cover with the Boy Blunder. Over at Silver Bullet Comics All the Rage column, they report that JMS wanted the Gwen Stacy's kid to have been fathered by Peter Parker instead, but the editors didn't want Peter to be pushing forty--so Norman Osborne (Green Goblin) got to shag Gwen retroactively. Why use that as an excuse, aren't all the people still faithfully buying comics a bunch of aging boomers? Yahoo's news section gives more credence to the rumor that XBox 360 will moving into media hub territory. Over at Dark Horizons, the new director of X-Men 3 reports that he dislikes CGI and mustache twiddling. Finally, here's an interview with a man who should really star in the FLASH movie, Michael Vartan, who has an uncanny resemblence to Barry Allen in the Carmine Infantino days. For now, he's stuck between JLO and Jane Fonda. Nuff said.

The top story of the day (and maybe the week) is that Jonathan Lethem will be writing a new series based on Marvel's Omega the Unknown. You would have to as old as Cousin Dick to remember this series written by Steve Gerber. It was about a boy befriended by a mysterious alien who protected him from various dangers in Hell's Kitchen. You can read some of Lethem's musings about Omega in this essay. Last week, we discovered that Supreme Power will become a Marvel Knights title--read about J. Michael Straczynski's thoughts on the move and plans for a restart. A restart of a reboot? Yeah. Wired magazine has an interesting article about George Lucas, and it's free. Guess what, Sark from Alias is really an Angel after all. Nuff said.