The Avengers second trailer is THE BEST FUCKING THING I'VE EVER SEEN!

So,whilst I was at work today a new trailer for Marvel's The Avengers was birthed onto the intertubes, all shiny and warm and new! 

I watched it when I got in and quite honestly nearly CLIMAXED!! It was THAT good!

my face basically looked like this...

The Avengers mean a lot to me as a self proclaimed Master Nerd. When I was a wee boy and I discovered that there were cartoons and comics written about the action figures that I bought from carboot sales (who's heads I had subsequently chewed) I was lost my mind! I loved it! Spider-Man and the Avengers were my first true exposure to the wonderful, kooky world of COMICS!

To this day, if you were to show me a picture of Iron-Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk standing near each other I would grin like a fool and most likely salute. So yeah, short version: I love the Avengers.

So have a look at this:

Ok, I'll give you a minute to change your underpants and 'freshen up' like I had to .

Right, I'm not gonna pick the trailer apart or try and analyse who the bad guys are ( a debate that is currently setting the internet alight!) i'm just going to gush about why it's SO BADASS!

Badass enough for ya?!?!??

The trailer opens with the whole 'war has started...and we are hoplessly out-gunned' vibe. Buildings explode, debris falls from the sky and civilians get smooshed. Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury was never not going to be an absolutely amazing idea! Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's The Ultimates updated the Avengers and essentially had Jacksons likeness as Nick Fury and it worked so so so so so well. So kudos for translating that to the big screen because Sam Jackson is AWESOME!

would you fuck with this guy?

What Samuel L Jackson does next is recruit a recently thawed out WW2 super soldier, a nerdy doctor who turns into a huge green rage monster, a God and a playboy millionaire in a flying robotic suit to kick all amounts of ass!  We get our first decent looks at the Hulk in this trailer and he is looking very bug, very green and very angry! In fact two of my favourite bits of the trailer feature Hulk (one of which is Hulk grabbing Iron Man mid fall and scraping down the side of a sky scraper to slow his fall.....AMAZING!)

HULK SMASH WITTY CAPTION!

The trailer also introduces an interesting aspect of the film, The Avengers do not appear to be getting on tremendously well. There are a few more scenes of Cap, Thor and Iron Man scrapping, Hulk chasing Scarlett Johansen down a corridor full of windows or something and lots of arguing. As a nerd this is very exciting to me, purely because its superheroes, THESE superheroes, having a fight and it will look cool!

'come here, you little scamp!'

The trailer ends with a great shot of The Avengers all standing look hard as nails and then two really cool Iron Man scenes. Its fucking amazing. I still can't get over how awesome this film looks. Marvel have done an amazing job so far and this is looking great. Loki is awesome in the trailer too, he comes across really unhinged and crazy. Seriously, I could go on for hours but ill just stop. 

splooooosh

Its out in May and I reckon I might go and watch it.....

you'll recognise me by my winning smile 

Crossover Season Episode 0 - Avengers Vs X-Men

Every comic fan's favourite time of the year/absolute fucking nightmare is nearly upon us again. The summer crossover blockbuster. For the uninitiated a 'crossover' in nerdy, comic jargon is an epic storyline that incorporates different groups of characters all fighting some sort of threat that effects the wider universe in which the stories take place. 

Past examples of Marvel's summer crossover events include Civil War (Iron Man and Capt America fall out and have a fight) Siege (where Norman Osborn invades the mythical realm of Asgard and everyone shows up to kick his ass) and last years Fear Itself (where there is a dragon....and erm...Red Skull I think....). These crossover events are hit and miss, for instance Civil War is really very good, you could read the core issues of the main series and it makes sense and is a big, action packed slugfest.

plus it's drawn by Steve McNiven so, you know, its fucking amazing!

Fear Itself on the other hand relied to heavily on events that are depicted out of the main series title, meaning if you want to read the full story then you need to buy issues of other comics. 

So having been burned SO many times before by these infamous summer slugfests I turn my attention to this years big one from Marvel; Avengers Vs X-Men! The vague premise of the story is that the Phoenix Force is on it's way to earth looking for a host and some sort of ruckus breaks out between the Avengers and the X-Men. 

The series will be released across twelve issues bi-monthly from April (with an issue 0 in March setting up the story. What's curious about AvX is that it is written by five (FIVE!) writers, Marvel's top shotters or 'Architects' as they have been dubbed. Brian Bendis (Avengers) Ed Brubaker (Captain America) Jonathan Hickman (FF and Fantastic Four) Jason Aaron (X-Men) and Matt Fraction (Iron Man, Defenders, Thor) are teaming up with Olivier Coipel, Adam Kubert and John Romita Jr to delivery this epic.

erm....why is Wolverine not on the X-Men side?

In addition to the main AvX titles there will be a spin off comic called AvX: VS where fights are highlighted and expanded. There will obviously be tie -in comics in titles like Wolverine and the X-Men and Avengers/New Avengers but Marvel swears that the bulk of the action will occur in the main titled, hence the 12 issue run.

Last years Fear Itself event, on paper looked amazing; Fraction writing, Stuart Immonen on pencils....but the story was wafer thin and it spread out into literally all but about 5 of Marvels titles, so long running and slow building plot lines were elbowed aside to make room for tie-in stories. When I read about AvX I immediately decided i would have nothing to do with it as i had been let down badly by Fear Itself. 

But I find myself getting more and more into the idea of this crossover. I'm a fan of all of the writers, both their Marvel stuff and their creator owned titles, and the artists are excellent....John Romita Jr drawing the X-Men and the Avengers is too tempting!

pretty serious...

I am quite taken with the idea of all of these writers clubbing together to write this. Will they write individual issues or will it be more of a 'writers table' kinda vibe? This remains to be seen. There isn't really a lot else to say about this really, I'll be taking a look at each issue as it comes out and  i'll post my thoughts on the progress of the event as it unfold over the next few months!

Prophet #22 by Brandon Graham and Simon Roy

Regular readers of this blog will know it's no secret that I loved Prophet #21, the relaunch of a cheesy 90's Rob Liefeld masterminded by Brandon Graham. The first issue of this reboot (or whatever) was classy sci-fi that fully dragged it's readers in to this totally alien world viewed through the newly awakened-from-hypersleep John Prophet. 

#21 was SO amazing i own all three variant covers. coughNERDcough...

Issue 21 came out four weeks ago. Issue 22 came out this week. It has been an excruciating wait but I finally got my grubby little mitts on it and digested it for you and now i'm going to tell you why you SHOULD be reading Prophet. 

Prophet #22 is so  FUCKING COOL that there is absolutely no way that I can write about it and do it any sort of justice. It's a classy, classy comic. The previous issue introduced John Prophet as the 'man out of time' in a harsh and primal alien landscape. He quickly adapted to this new world and received his first mission, to reactive the ominously named G.O.D satellite to 'awaken the Earth empire'. Issue 22 finds Prophet making his way on foot to the location of the satellite to complete his mission. Its a long way and he has been walking for 12 days already when he finds one of his 'pods' which emerge from underground with equipment and supplies. With his rocket pack busted Prophet is forced to join an alien caravan to assure safe passage across the harsh desert.

breathtaking stuff....

As in the previous issue writer Brandon Graham totally immerses us in this hostile alien world. Early on in the comic, when Prophet is walking the desert, we see abandoned and ruined war-machines from some long forgotten conflict and bizarre reptilian/insectoid/horrid bird creatures flying around. When we join the alien caravan we see Graham's ability to create distinctive and unique alien species, even though we don't see very much of these alien travellers they feel fleshed out believable, they have a culture that is so totally different to ours (which Prophet finds out BIGTIME at the climax of the issue)

John Prophet: Official Badass

I gushed about the little details in issue #21 and i'm going to gush about the little details in this issue too. Prophet's 'translator ball' that hovers around and translates the Qid-Pid's primal grunts into intelligible language is an amazing touch. The alien caravan Prophet is riding along with are huge, lumbering beasts that eat anything and process into some sort of fuel source is also really cool. Every little detail Graham folds into this story feels necessary and enriches the world he is building here. 

my favourites there, the Uo monks! they look like mammoths...

Simon Roy and Richard Ballerman are on fine, fine form here too (on pencils and colours respectively) Roy's interesting and detail packed panel layouts and beautifully intricate pencils are perfect for this hostile environment. I swear you can almost smell the foetid breath of the insectoid Qid-Pid and the shit Prophet is shovelling. The insect/reptilebird-things look super scary!

Ballerman's colouring is exemplary. It's as simple as that. Just look at the images I have posted, beautiful, washed out, sandy greys. Moist pinks alien mouths seem to ooze slobber and the neon and glowing cracks of lightning and bio-luminescent blue of Prophet's weird slug-thing light up the page. it's genius.

so so badass....

Seriously I thought #21 was the best comic I had read this year but this is even better and I have no doubt that this trend will continue for every issue. Graham seems to be getting stuck right in to this story of one very adaptable man in a harsh alien landscape and I encourage anyone reaidng this write-up to buy this comic.

Cover Of The Week 12-FEB-2012

Ok, very quick post about this cover for an upcoming issue of Wolverine and the X-Men by Chris Bachalo I have just seen online:

im so aroused right now!

To me this cover looks painted, albeit digitally, and just let whats reflected in Cylops' visor sink in. Chris Fucking Bachalo! Genius!

Wolverine and the X-Men By Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo and Nick Bradshaw

Right, settle down at the back please! settle down! take out your exercise books and open them to page 10.....right let's get started!


LESSON 1 - MODERN MUTANT HISTORY


This summer past the X-Men had a little in-fight of their very own in the form the SCHISM miniseries. Wolverine and Cyclops got into an ideological falling out, Wolvie saying that the young mutants in the care of the X-Men should be shielded from conflict and Ol' One Eye positing that they should fight for mutant rights. This, obviously, led to a big old fist fight between the two that effectively split the team in two.....hence the title SCHISM....comics!!!!!

it's called being epic, you might wanna try it sometime...

Wolverine decided to re-open the School For Gifted Mutants in Westchester New York to give these young mutants somewhere to learn to live in the hostile world and hone their powers. So yeah basically Wolverine becomes Professor X......Headmaster Logan!

(cue Grange Hill theme tune)

So Wolvie is headmaster, Kitty Pryde is vice headmaster, Beast is, like, the science guy or something.....look it doesn't even matter, what hit writer Jason Aaron has basically done here is take half the X-Men plop them down in a school setting as teachers and populate the school with young mutants to be the students. Immediately it is reminiscent of Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men with characters such as Quentin Quire (omega level mutant genius and official douche bag) returning to the fold which is great.


The first three issues focus on the schools opening day, with two school inspectors coming to either pass or (most likely fail) the newly re-opened Jean Grey School of Higher Learning. Beast is frantically trying to fix the holographic Danger Room projectors that make up the bulk of the schools buildings, floors are turning to lava, toilets are trying to kill people. Wolverine is stressing out (which is wonderful to see as his is usually a stoic faced warrior)  Kitty, Iceman and Husk are all on hand as teaching staff and fan favourite Doop is seen milling about the school and working the reception.

love this guy....

As if all this wasn't enough the Hellfire Club, under the leadership of twelve year old villain Kade Kilgore, decide to attack. They draw a line in the sand that Wolverine can't ignore (especially as the schism that divided the X-Men was masterminded by Kilgore).....so...yeah....great first day!


Right of the bat this series is so different in tone to any X title I have read for a while. It feels fresh and new but retains lots of little bits of old X-Men continuity that make it feel familiar and welcoming. The young mutant kids that populate the grounds of the school are bratty, angsty, misbehavin' little buggers. My favourite students so far are Idie, a young Nigerian girl with temperature controlling powers, who is convinced she is a monster due to her mutant powers and Quentin Quire a hugely powerful telepath responsible for a riot in the grounds of the school in Grant Morrison's run on the title. My friend Tom said that Wolverine and the X-Men is like a high school manga and I totally agree. The students are all mental, the teachers aren't much saner and the actual school itself is malfunctioning all over the place. You feel the anything could happen in this comic. In the first issue a Shi'ar prince arrives as an exchange student and he is hilarious, Aaron throws everything he has into this story and it is so much fun. It actually made me laugh out loud (or LOL as I believe the kids are calling that nowadays).


LESSON 2 - PHYSICAL EDUCATION


So effectively the first three issues of Wolverine and the X-Men is a massive fight. Like I said above Aaron throws everything into these issues, they are plot heavy and dialogue heavy without being over cluttered and the story clips along with great pace aided greatly, and I mean GREATLY, by Chris Bachalo's pencils. I am a huge Bachalo fan and have been since I started reading comics. His pencils are busy, detailed and chunky. He renders the characters uniquely fitting them to the scenes perfectly. Some of his double page spreads are tear inducing.

i'm in tears.....beautiful stuff...

Pencil duties switched to Nick Bradshaw on issues four and five. I had never seen anything by Bradshaw but he is an able penciller, his panels are detailed and his character designs are smooth and individual. His classroom scenes are a joy, the detail he packs into each panel really draws you in the classroom.

love this so much, look at the little misfits in the front row!

RECESS






This is Jason Aaron:

i'm a little bit in love with his beard.

LESSON 3 - DEBATE CLUB


I cant recommend this comic enough. You don't have to be well versed in the forty year plus history of X-Men lore to enjoy this title, It makes reference to past events sure and it stems directly from the SCHISM mini series (which is well worth a read, it is effectively a prologue to this series) but this should not put you off. So much has happened in the first five issues of this comic that I have to keep re-reading to keep up! At the end of issue five Wolvie and Quentin Quire blast off into space to get more money for the financially crippled school, possibly from some sort of space casino! A GOD DAMN SPACE CASINO PEOPLE!!!!! Bachalo is set to return for an issue in April but i'm more than happy with Bradshaw's detailed art which perfectly compliments Aaron's detailed and polished scripts. The school spirit you feel for Wolvie and his staff and the hormonal little people they are teaching is so strong I want to actually enrol at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning! 

school spirit mother fucker!!!!!

This is such a unique title for me. Its up there with Uncanny X-Force as my favourite X-title and one of my favourite Marvel titles full stop. Superhero comics don't have to be all about macho posturing and impossibly skinny huge breast women in leotards, under all the flashy conflict is a well structured intelligently written story with real heart, the mutant students are great and really lends to the unpredictable nature of this comic.


BELL RINGS!!!


Ok settle down! that be is not for you its for me!! file out quietly! and try not to step in any lava!




DETENTION


I want a 500 word essay on my desk on Monday morning about why Chris Bachalo is so awesome!

boner

Shaky Kane's Monster Truck

'I could ride this trail blindfold' ...................

That's the text you see when you open this graphic novel. An unattributed quote, sounds almost like a Clint Eastwood/John Wayne grizzled old cowboy. Or a cocksure hotshot racing driver. Well you are both wrong (or I am both wrong...or something....) Because as far as i'm concerned it's the big yellow Monster Truck talking. And he is one mean son of a bitch.

Shaky Kane doesn't so much weave a story or set up a narrative here. It's a psychedelic stream of conciousness delivered in single comic sized pages oriented on their sides you know, 'landscape'.......all brash Kirby heft and Frank Kozik-esque zombies and penis-proboscis'd blue bottles whizzing around and astronauts and big wind-up robots and floating giant eyeballs.......and so much more!

Landscape is a key word when looking at this book. Each page leads directly on from the last, you could actually cut each page out and mount them sequentially and it would be one continuous frieze. Once the first page is turned, you cannot stop until the end (and even then you can't stop).

clowns, aliens, pick-up truck full of dolls...what more could you want?

You are never really sure whether what you are seeing in Monster Truck is real or not. Is this truck racing across this barren, trippy desert for any reason? Does it even really matter? The answer you are looking for is 'No, it doesn't matter' There are no damsels in distress that need rescuing here (unless you count the 'anorexic teenage dolls' in the back of the pick-up truck) There is no universe shattering showdown awaiting the truck and it's driver. Only the road. The unending Mobius strip road. Obvilion and nirvana.

This amazing page is the one that precedes the previous page above. loving the 'martian death-machine'

We only see the driver of the truck one time. He appears in a sequence of pages that pulls the focus away from the monster truck LSD fun ride for a few panels and makes us question what is going on. I feel it is implied that the journey of the monster truck is being guided by an external force. A child at play maybe. But its no 'play time' flight of fancy. Shaky Kane's Monster Truck is a psychedelic road trip around a head full of silver age madness, pop culture over kill, sex and death and brightly coloured robots, starfighters and dinosaur. It pure Id, but it isn't base or crude. It's perfectly paced and creeps along and takes you through familiar pop culture signifiers from the last 50 years or so. Classy stuff.

you would not accept a lift from this gentleman

Monster Truck is a joy. i've thumbed my way down the dusty highway twice and it holds up with repeated readings. If you want respite from the spandex brigade or are just looking for an interesting graphic novel free from back story that stands alone then grabs this now. Especially grab this if you just did a bunch of LSD cos you will LOSE YOUR SHIT!

BEAUTIFUL!

King Cat Comics & Stories #72 by John Porcellino

I don't know where to start with King Cat. It's a complicated comic. It comes out so infrequently it's like sighting a rare bird (or a woodchuck!).  John Porcellino has been self publishing King Cat Comics since 1989 (according to Wikipedia) but part of desperately wants Porcellino to have been publishing King Cat since the dawn of time and to continue publishing it till the universe ends. its that good. But this thought makes me feel guilty because King Cat is autobiographical and it's content is emotionally charged.

For me reading King Cat is like prodding a bruise or deliberately reminding yourself of time when you were sad/unhappy/depressed. I don't want to make King Cat sound melancholy or 'emo' (I know this word is essentially meaningless but hey, I never said I was a writer) or in any way self-indulgent, it is far, far from being any of those things.

There is an almost serene nature to stories in King Cat, thanks to Porcellino's simplistic but beautifully descriptive lines but also to the achingly beautiful subject matter of what Porcellino is telling.

this is from King Cat #60 but it's so beautiful i had to include it...

'But!' I hear you shout 'We thought you said this comic was complicated! so far you have made it sound very simplistic, buddy!'

Well King Cat is complicated because WE are all complicated people. We are walking talking autobiography. Everything that has ever happened to us is written on to our person, written into the way we feel when we stand in our back yards looking up at the stars, the way we feel when someone we love dies or leaves us. Porcellino imparts these emotions onto the page so so well you barely register the fact an actual person has drawn it, its almost like actual emotion itself has manifested itself on the page, when I read King Cat it hits me hard, right in the chest. 

Porcellino's work is so pure. Visually, yes but also in the transition from thought to what we see printed on the page. Text and dialogue in King Cat is delivered is short captions above or below each panel. The linework, as I mentioned before is beautifully spare, like looking out of your window and seeing crisp, unsullied, virgin snow laying on the ground. 

another one from King Cat #60

I won't harp on about John Porcellino's personal situations, he chronicles his life in his comic and I wouldn't want to subtract from that. All I will say is his life, like any of our lives, has been fraught with sadness, illness, death of relationships, moments of wonder and discovery, moments of quiet realisation and reverie.

This issue, like most issues I have read before it, balance moments of melancholy and reflective sadness with upbeat and fun short stories, the legendary King Cat Top Forty list and the 'Catcalls' letters page. The letter featured in issue #72 brought a huge smile to my face.

For me the centrepiece of issue #72 is the 'Christmas Eve' story. A solemn figure walking through a snowy neighbourhood looking thoroughly sad. This story hit me like a ton of bricks

i took this one myself, its from #72...

I would recommend King Cat to anyone with a passing interest in comics, obviously. But more broadly I think every single person alive would be able to take something from any issue. I speaks directly to you a person, there is nothing hidden, no clever plot devices to second guess or any of the usual things that get internet comic nerds foaming at the mouth and bitching about in message boards. It is pure, undiluted emotion and experience poured onto the page.

An issue of King Cat is like cradling a small bird in your hands and feeling it tremble and live. Its life, like our lives, are uncertain often painful things but that doesn't mean we should live it and experience all the pain and joy and everything in-between.

and funnily enough there is a small bird drawn on the back cover...

A single issue of King Cat will set you back around £2.99 or something, you can buy them online direct from Porcellino but I would implore you visit Page 45 (if you live in Nottingham or have the internet) as they stock numerous back issues and the Map of My Heart collection, which bundles together a whole bunch of back issues and gives you more bang for your buck.

I hope if anyone reads this they at least try one issue of King Cat. I did and I haven't been able to imagine my life without since.

Cover Of The Week 3-FEB-2012

Time for a new weekly post taking a look at my favourite comic covers of the week.

Lets get stuck in shall we?

Fatale #2 Art by Sean Phillips:

This is one classy cover. Seriously. Embiggen (that IS a real word) the picture and take a good long look at it, drink it in.

The layout is bordering into Pulp novel cover or moody noir movie poster territory. It isn't a traditional attention grabbing, brightly coloured banner vying for your attention on the comic stands. This is a classy, mysterious dame looking at you from across the smokey bar room, looking away when you trying and make eye contact, silently smoking her cigarette.

Whats interesting about the male and female figures in the centre of the cover is the man looks worried, hands wringing together, looking out at us from the page as if appealling for help. The woman, on the other hand, looks dangerous. Sure she is draped around the man's torso delicately but look closer at her; she is clad in a black dress, has black nail polish and black hair, her black eyes slyly looking at us over her shoulder. She also has a gun. It sets the dynamic up perfectly, helpless man and deadly woman.

The rich colours used here add to the sense of danger and mystery; Blacks and dusky greys, shades of blue and the striking red lips of the woman. There is no mistaking the tone of this book.

Even the type-setting is classy, minimal use of text really elevates this book above the riff-raff on the shelves. Its clean and elegant.

Bam. The hooks are in. Don't be surprised if you find yoursekf reaching fr ths title based on it's look, it just means you are a classy guy/gal

BONUS ROUND!

My good friend and contributor to this blog Mark sent me this in the post:

Nothing screams guilty pleasure quite like this variant of the A M A Z I N G Prophet #21 by Rob Liefeld. I'm not gonna get into analysing it or anything like that, i'm just surprised that he still can't/won't draw feet after 25 years in the game! Still i love this variant and really hope he provides more covers for this series.

Wolves #1 by Becky Cloonan

Ok you intrepid infonauts! We have another hand-carved guest post from Mr Mark Jansen.

Mark, it's over to you.....

Becky Cloonan - Wolves #1

Sometimes you have to take chances... and that's exactly what I did here. Catching my eye on the corner of a random webpage among millions was an image from this self released book by Becky Cloonan, a book which is epic, delicate and beautifully concise in equal measures. Originally self released (in Japanese) and highly limited, I've got a later version, but don't let that put you off picking up a copy (yeah, you snob) from http://beckycloonan.bigcartel.com/product/wolves for only $5. Cos it's fucking lavish and beautiful.

Let me just say it - no question, this is absolutely exquisitely drawn by its artist and paced by its writer. They are, of course, the same person, and if you are in the know you may already know Becky Cloonan's work on... well, pretty much everything?? The super-talented Italian-born 31 year old has worked on Meathaus, Pixu (with brothers Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon) and Demo with Brian Wood (which I have almost bought on almost 1,000 separate occasions - not sure why I haven't...) as well as numerous covers.

The plot of Wolves? I feel like it's really too fluid to apply a synopsis and is more about feeling and ambivalence. It evoked for me the 'Black Freighter' passages of Watchmen, as we follow our hero on a quest revolving around obsession, guilt, love and death:

Cloonan's own site synopsises as follows: "As a lone hunter tracks an elusive beast through the forest, he reflects on his life and past love through a series of flashbacks, bringing the story to a climax that is as romantic as it is violent. This powerful mini-comic lends itself to multiple read-throughs, never giving concrete answers but (like the best enigmatic endings) leaves your own conclusions satisfying."

And that really is the hook that makes me want to hold and thumb through this book over and over again. It's something to be treasured, absorbed, pondered, and loved

how fucking beautiful is this?

Look out for her next mini self release, Orcs, which we might expect to contain a similar deconstruction of a much-visited myth...