No news ain't good news

I broke my computer somehow, so it's probably going to be a few days more until I get back to posting. See you soon.

If you thought the Sinestro War was almost over...

I saw the original cover for Green Lantern Corps #20 on Newsarama and really thought nothing of it. I tend to skim through those and only occasionally get really excited about something 3 months down the road. But then I went to The Straight Poop, which is GLC artist Patrick Gleason's blog, and he posted the hi-res, and much larger, version of the cover.

Seeing Mongul with a yellow ring on is terrifying. If you don't remember who Mongul is, how about a little refresher course, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Mongul possesses extraordinary superhuman physical attributes. He demonstrated that he actually was stronger than Silver Age Superman himself. In addition, he was invulnerable to nearly all forms of physical harm. Superman at one time did defeat Mongul, by going all out with speed and strength and heat vision, but fell into unconsciousness immediately afterwards. Mongul also seemingly had the capacity to create dimensional-inversion cubes, designed to prevent escape by warping their interior reality and absorbing any power used against them from within. Whether this was an actual power or merely a sophisticated technological device remains unclear but it general believed to be technological device. He also seemed to possess a limited capacity for telepathy, and the ability to teleport himself across even interplanetary distances.

If you read the entire Wiki entry you'll also find out (like I did) that the Mongul that is currently ruling Warworld is actually the son of the Pre-Crisis Mongul that I knew of growing up. And while the original Mongul was toned down in terms of power, supposedly his son has all of the power he had before, which is what is listed above. Typical Dc to muddy up good characters with a bunch of bullshit tampering, but whatever, give him all that power plus a yellow ring and he is simply terrifying.

The best part of his backstory though is this:

In the meantime, he sought his sister, Mongal, to settle family squabbles. The heroes broke free and used a teleporter to transport Mongul and Mongal to their home planet. Stating family to be a weakness, Mongul punched off Mongal's head.

CG

WhySoSerious.com

I have kinda avoided saying anything about WhySoSerious.com to this point because viral marketing campaigns are usually good for a cheap laugh and not much more.

However, the people working on the Dark Knight movie have consistently done some good work (here, here, and here and I think I am missing one, too), but up to this point there was really nothing to talk about concerning WhySoSerious.com.

Now there is. Kinda. SuperHeroHype.com reports that the candle on the site is actually burning down day by day, and anticipates that something is going to happen on Halloween.

The only real problem with this movie, so far as I can tell, is that it is being covered so extensively in blogs and other various websites. It is hard to look at sites like SHH! and not see a new Dark Knight entry every day. So please don't come here expecting the same, because it just isn't going to happen. However, when there is something fun or interesting, I'll link to it at the very least. Enjoy!

CG

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

That title kinda sounds like a straight to video X-Men cartoon, doesn't it? Well, according to Variety.com it will be the name of the new Wolverine motion picture. The movie is scheduled to drop on May 1, 2009 directed by Gavin Hood and starring Hugh Jackman as Logan, and Liev Schrieber as a young William Stryker. If you remember, Stryker was played by old dude Brian Cox in X2.

Pic explores the claw-wielding character Wolverine's violent and romantic past, and his complex relationship with Victor Creed and the ominous Weapon X program, as well as his encounters with other mutants.

Hood will start shooting in Australia before moving to New Zealand and, later, to New Orleans. Latter location is a clue that the storyline might include New Orleans-based character Gambit, who is able to make objects explode and was a professional thief before joining the X-Men.

Sounds good to me... so far.

If you are wondering who Liev Schreiber is, he has been in a number of movies, though rarely in a starring role. His most memorable role was in The Manchurian Candidate as the brainwashed Presidential candidate. However, if you want to see his nastier side, and what you can likely expect from him as William Stryker, check out The Sum of All Fears. In that movie he played Mr. Clark, who to any Tom Clancy fans out there is the preeminent badass. Mr. Clark is also the leader of Rainbow Six, the spec-ops squad from Clancy books that so many video games have been made out of.

For those who haven't been paying attention to the details leaking out, this movie is being made by alot of the same people responsible for the last X-Men movie. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing, but either way the best part of any of the X-movies was always Wolverine so there is a good chance this is going to be worth seeing.

CG

Marvel's "Holiday Gift" to us

Poking around the Marvel site today and saw that for this Christmas, Microsoft is going to package Marvel Ultimate Alliance with new Xbox 360's.

The fan-favorite action-RPG that let's you form your own playable team from over 25 of Marvel's finest heroes (and villains, thanks to the Gold Edition!) will be included as a free bonus with Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite consoles! That's right folks, FREE!

Want Mr. Fantastic to fight alongside Dr. Doom? Spidey and Venom? We wouldn't go that far here at the House of Ideas, but "MUA" let's you go for it! So unless you want coal in your stockings, we suggest adding the spectacular new bundle to your wish list ASAP and you'll be Wall-crawlin' and Hulk-smashing faster than you can say "Gobble Gobble" (we know you just said "Gobble Gobble")!

The problem with this is at least two-fold. First, they advertise the Gold Edition, but it doesn't come with the Gold Edition. The Gold Edition was a scam anyhow. They added 4 new heroes and 4 new villains but didn't add anything to the game at all. No new achievements, no new levels, no new cut scenes. And it cost $60. Now you can download the characters over Xbox Live, but it's going to cost you 1600 Microsoft Points which will cost you about 20 bucks. Either way though, you aren't getting that this Christmas with your new Xbox 360. You are getting the original one, with fewer characters than this press release leads you to believe. That means no Dr. Doom, Venom or Incredible Hulk.

And secondly, if you are a "Marvel Gamer" as the headline suggests, why the hell has it taken you an entire year to buy this game? It was released last Thanksgiving. Now don't get me wrong, if you don't own this game and consider yourself a Marvel Gamer, and you don't own a 360 and you regularly have relatives who spend $400+ on you for Christmas, then this is for you. Otherwise, I don't see this doing well at all.

I loved Marvel Ultimate Alliance, it was the first game I got for my 360, and I played the shit out of it night and day, beat it three different ways (which is cool that you can do) and would recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it before, so don't think I am just being bitter here.

But you know what would be a better "Holiday Gift for Marvel Gamers"? How about more info on the Marvel MMORPG that is being made? How about another add-on pack for MUA? How about a movie property game that doesn't suck? How about a Howard the Duck game? See, there is a lot they could do, but they really half-assed it with this.

CG

Star Wars live action TV show

According to Variety.com, we will see a live action Star Wars TV show sometime in the near future. This is separate from the Clone Wars animated series he has been planning for awhile now.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Force may soon be coming to a television near you.

George Lucas said Tuesday he is planning a live-action television series spinoff of the "Star Wars" film franchise.

Lucas told The Los Angeles Times he has "just begun work" on the series, which will not include the films' major characters Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader.

"The Skywalkers aren't in it, and it's about minor characters," Lucas told the Times.

Lucas wouldn't reveal details, but joked that the series would be about "the life of robots."

Lucas already has another television series in the works. Lucas Animation has been working for months on the computer-animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

This is going to make every Star Wars fanboy/cosplayer come out of the closet, strap on their stormtrooper helmet or grab the nearest lightsaber, and go stand in line for auditions, their god is putting out a casting call. Ok, I admit I don't have a stormtrooper helmet (yet), but this actually sounds like it could be good. As long as they don't make it into some kind of Dawson's Creek/Buffy/Star Wars freakish-type hybrid, that is.

CG

Waiting on Wednesday - 10/15/07

Bit of a new format than when I did this previously. Waiting on Wednesday is going to be short form with the Release Reviews being more in depth, which only makes sense. I have more to say after I have read it, of course. Also, not gonna be a lot of linkage to Marvel and DC like before, if you are buying comics and using the internet, I think you can figure it out for yourself and save myself a huge hassle. Hope you like it.

Marvel Comics

• Captain America #31 - Beginning of the second story arc in the Death of Captain America storyline. I figure this is where we will begin to learn who will take over.
• Wolverine: Origins #18 - I never realize how much I like this book until it is a week it's not coming out on. If you haven't picked this up yet, you should.
• Penance: Relentless #2 - Ugh. I invested all that time and money into Civil War and almost feel obligated to buy this. The first one sucked. What do you think the odds on the second one being better are?

Since I am not an Avengers fanboy (except for New Avengers for the Skrull angle), and the whole zombie thing is over my head, that's all for me and Marvel this week. Next week though looks much, much better.


DC Comics

• Checkmate #19 - Enjoying Suicide Squad, but not always sure what is going on? Checkmate has the rest of the story involving Amanda Waller, the benefactor of the SS, and all the other merry characters, powered and non-powered.
  
• Death of the New Gods #1 (of 8) - This limited series is going to continue the story started when Lightray fell to Earth waaaaay back in Countdown #50. Seems like forever, doesn't it?
• Countdown #28 - Speaking of Countdown, this series is picking up as we head towards the midpoint. In two more weeks, the title changes to Countdown to Final Crisis. There is too much to even begin to list everything that's going on, so just go get it if you aren't already. 52 the sequel this is not.
• Justice League of America #14 - Continuing the Injustice League storyline, Dwayne McDuffie is doing a great job of writing this title. I enjoyed Brad Meltzer on JLA, but it has actually picked up steam and gotten better than it already was in the first year.

Of course there is other stuff coming out this week, but honestly not much. With Octobr being a five-week month, it is spread kinda thin in the middle where we are now. So like Marvel, DC's lineup gets much better next week, too.

CG

Linkblogging is bad for your health....

Time for some weekend fluff, and when I don't feel like actually doing anything, what do I do? Linkblogging!!

• First and foremost: Go Rockies! There is a chance they will never lose another baseball game. OK, not really, but it gets to feeling that way after a while.

• Bunch of stuff at SuperHeroHype.com: Complete schedule of comic-book related movie release dates; Interview with Gavin Hood, director of the upcoming Wolverine movie, where he uses big words like "existential angst" and "emotional complexity"; Peter Cullen (voice of Optimus Prime) tells SHH! that he has been told there would be two more Transformer movies.
  
• Over at Weekly Crisis there is a new feature I think you will enjoy. The Comic Book Character Spotlight will delve in the history of characters that are gaining popularity or being put into larger roles. Very informative stuff, with the first one featuring Sodam Yat of the Green Lantern Corps.
• And last but not least, it has been far too long but the time has once again come. Here at The Comic Rack I have always been good for two things: comics and gratuitous photos of beautiful women vaguely linked (but not always ) to comics. So on that note, here you go, my favorite Megan Fox:

Enoy the linkage. I doubt I'll post anything tomorrow, but I should be back Monday with more comic goodness. We'll get back to some previews with one of my favorite features, Waiting on Wedsnesday. See you then.

CG

Green Arrow and Black Canary #1

Fair Warning: Spoilers incoming

I had been putting off reading this comic for whatever reason. I picked up GA #75 and have read both the GA Year One series and the Black Canary 4 issue mini, along with all the Wedding crap, and to be honest, it was some of the more enjoyable comics I have read recently. So I am not sure where the reluctance came from. Maybe it was the horrible ending of the Wedding Special with BC stabbing Ollie in the neck as he was trying to kill her. Maybe it was overkill from so many issues of these two being released so quickly, with both mini-series being put out every two weeks instead of every four.

Whatever the reason, it was completely wrong. I just got done reading GA/BC #1 and I am hooked. I even liked Connor Hawke in this issue, despite him being easily my least favorite archer. I always felt he was a poorly placed plot contrivance in response to Kyle Rayner becoming GL, and an attempt to revive/renew the great GL/GA team-ups of the 70's.

The issue, which centers around proving that the dead Ollie is not the real Ollie, shows a darker side of Dinah Lance while she nearly kills some nameless faceless thugs. After that, they get right to the meat of the story and don't stop until the very last page. It's refreshing to have a writer who actually has something to say that fills 22 pages instead of the norm now-a-days which is to spread out an 8 page story into a full issue.

Which brings me to my next heaping of praise for this comic. The creative team is simply awesome. Judd Winick has not always been my favorite, he usually seems like just another comic book writer, but I like I said above, the pacing and the plot were spot on for this story. It helps when you have a good artist behind you, and he definitely does in Cliff Chiang. Chiang's artwork is very smooth and at times feels old fashioned despite being fresh. There aren't a whole lot of unnecessary lines, and he doesn't need to exaggerate the action in the scene, it is just there. If it sounds like I am gushing, it is because I am. I was in awe on the penciling and the coloring on this entire issue, it felt realistic, but cartoony at the same time. Don't know how, it just did.

Back to the story, with appearances by the entire JLA, and more specifically Batman and Hal Jordan helping to figure out the mystery, this issue sets up an all out attack on the Amazons that are holding Ollie hostage. I am not sure how he is there, since men can't set foot on the island, but no doubt the Amazons are in some deep shit. The old saying goes "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" and something I was told once upon a time also fits, "Don't fuck with a woman on her wedding day". Or this happens.


Wow. Just wow.

CG

We've seen this before...

Marvel seems to be worse at it than DC, but no matter who does, the most annoying thing currently being done in comics is the Misleading Cover. Annoying? No that's no the right. Wrong is more like it. Nothing pisses me off more than buying a comic with a kick ass cover on it and then reading through the entire thing only to realize that it never happens.

We went through this before with a couple of World War Hulk covers (Ghost Rider #12 and Heroes for Hire #11) and the latest example is this week's New Avengers #35. Here's the cover and the ad, which I have shown before, that they have been using for the last month or two to hype this particular issue:



And what do we get for the entire issue? A bunch of third rate villains trying to organize and beating the crap out of a third rate Avenger, Tigra. No Wolverine, no symbiotes (until the last page and then it is a crappily drawn mish-mash of heroes and vaguely recognizable symbiotes) and sure as hell no Wolverine/Symbiote killing machine as both the ad and the cover clearly show.

Other Marvel News


So the new Captain America has a new costume, drawn by Alex Ross, and every comic website is reporting it as if they were the first to find out, even though the info has been readily available on Marvel.com for the last couple days now. And to be honest, I have seen nothing new about it other than what Marvel released.

So why am I blogging about it? Glad you asked. I want to know who everyone thinks is going to be the new Captain America? When is Steve Rogers coming back? (We all know he is.) What should happen to Rogers when he does return, and in turn what should happen to the new Cap?


Update: Within minutes of hitting the post button, I found an interview on CBR with Ed Brubaker and Alex Ross, which you can find here. Enjoy!


Update 2: Dummy me, I forgot to actually put up a picture of what the new costume looks like, even though you have all probably seen it already. So here ya go!


Oops, that was the last new Alex Ross design. See if you can tell the difference.

Yeah real original Mr. Ross. Here's a better view of what to realistically expect for the new Cap.



CG

Welcome Back!

I just know that all 5 of my readers are going to come flocking back at the news that I have made my triumphant return!

Yeah right. Anyhow, I need to get myself reacquainted with the blog, so I am going to take time once again and show you all around. There isn't much new, but some of the old stuff is still pretty damn cool if you ask me.

The Comic Book Project @ Columbia University

First things first. The Comic Book Project @ Columbia University has been removed from the Comic Charities list. Why? Because fuck Columbia University for supporting terrorism, that's why. I don't preach politics, but I refuse to even attempt to turn one person on to a place as vile as that.

Who Wants to be a Superhero?

Will never be mentioned again. It proves every bad thing I have ever said about Stan Lee and is a disparagement to all things comic book related. Such potential, such a failure.

The big orange thing on the right

It's the universal symbol for RSS. If you don't know what that is and use the interwebs for more than 5 minutes a day, you need to learn. Now. Go do it, we'll all wait here for you.

Back? Okay, click on the big icon and subscribe to my feed, courtesy of Feedburner. It will keep you updated every time I post more magnificent bloviations such as this.

Table of Contents

This is like the coolest little piece of Javascript I came across. Click on it and it shows a link to every single post I have ever made. Just try it once, it really is helpful.

The Good ol' Blog Roll

I said yesterday that there were some link requests festering in my email, and I took care of them today. What I realized is that except for one, they should have all been left there to continue to fester. Quality is obviously not a huge concern for some bloggers.

However, I want to point out the one I did add - Weekly Crisis. I have not been a regular reader, but I have run across his site quite a few times. Well put together site, intelligently written and not full of a bunch of crap like over-sized RSS icons, Tables of Contents and.... ummm never mind. Just go check it out for yourself.

Well that's about it. Have a good idea for an addition to The Comic Rack, let me know in the comments. I have been known to blow up the entire blog to change one or two minor things.

CG

Summer comics "events" and catching up

So I was trying to think about just what it is that has made my desire to blog about comics become a chore, and I think I finally realized what it was this morning.

I was reading Green Lantern #24 this afternoon and I couldn't quite remember exactly some of the stuff they were referencing in this issue. It doesn't help that comics publishers all but refuse to reintroduce the Editor's info boxes that were a staple of comics for so many years. For example, it would say *See GL #19 - Ed. in a little box buried in the corner of the panel somewhere, and you would know to go back to that issue to get the whole story if you had missed it. This led me to do two things when I was a kid:

1. Look for back issues in my grandma's basement or at the book store, since I had no concept of a comic shop back then, and
2. Spend countless hours trying to figure out the who the hell Ed was and why was he the authority on comic book back issues.

I was a troubled child. But anyhow...

What finally struck me was that I have Summereventitis. Bad. I love the Incredible Hulk, I named my son Logan after Wolverine (true story, I'll tell the whole thing someday soon about my sickness in naming children), and I am a huge DC fanboy, but despite all that I just completely lost my edge trying to keep up with all of them. To me it all ended up as World War Endangered Countdown Corps every damn week.

It totally out of hand, and I am not nearly original enough to believe I am the first person to ever notice this. In fact, I have read transcripts of both companies discussing it at comic-cons. It just never affected me until the last couple months.

It just seems like all I talked about every week was the same revolving storylines from the different events. Blah blah blah the Hulk kicked some ass, blah blah blah we still have no clue how to cure mutants, blah blah blah Sinestro wants to destroy the Green Lanterns. I actually took World War Hulk titles off my pull list altogether. What's happened in the last 5-6 weeks? Not much. Again, the Hulk kicked some ass and is using MSG as a gladiator arena. Whoop de frickin do. (Interesting note - "frickin" is somehow not tagged as misspelled.)

So do all of you want to hear the same ol' same ol' week after week? I didn't think so. So for the most part I am going to avoid droning on and on about events until there is actually something to talk about.

Green Lantern #24

And surprisingly I have something to say about GL #24. Follow along in your own copies. What? You haven't been buying this event? For shame. Of the four major events it is the only one that doesn't seem gratuitous. But this month's ish has a glaring error and is predictable as anything you're going to read in the near future. So without further ado.... spoiler alert.

OK I don't have room for all the panels involved in this, so you'll have to trust me on this. Kylellax goes after Hal Jordan's brother in Coast City, and while breaking the sound barrier to get there, Hal's ring reports it is at 0.5% power. After plowing into Kylellax, it reports it is at 0.0% and Hal reverts to his civilian clothing. Parallax notices this and consumes Hal and for some dumb reason is now yellow instead of green like he has been. Still with me?

Here's where it gets a but convoluted. Hal is inside Parallax with Kyle... in uniform. He gives him some crap about sticking together or whatever other cliche they felt like inserting there, and then Guy Gardner says "You see that, John? It's a green light!" And then this happens:


Whaaaaaat? OK we all saw this coming, because Kyle started reappearing in Countdown like 4 weeks ago post-Parallax! Good timing on your stories DC....

But seriously, is this the best that Geoff Johns can do? I personally have enjoyed almost everything he has done recently, but this is weak as hell. If Hal's ring was at 0.0%, then how the hell did he pull this off? And doesn't it kind of diminish what could have been a truly "special" moment for Hal and Kyle, who have never really been the best of friends?

If I am writing this scene, I have Hal's power ring run out, and keep it that way. Then have a "moment" like they had, but end up having Kyle's willpower become strong enough to defeat Parallax. His willpower has never been his strong point considering he is the only GL ever chosen for reasons other than enormous willpower, so it would be fitting and a stepping stone for him to become an even better GL than he is.

Then they would have popped out all gooey, given Guy an uncomfortable man-hug and flown off to kick some yellow alien ass.

I guess that's why I blog and Geoff Johns writes comic books. But whatever, it was still lame.


Endangered Species

Raise your hand if you think Marvel will not eventually find a cure for Scarlet Witch's hex?

You in the back, put your hand down, you're a retard.

There is no suspense here at all. Mutants are Marvel's gravy train, and they aren't going away. And I have found myself sort of offended that they think we are dumb enough to believe that lie and place some kind of importance on an 8 page back story that they are using to sell comics like X-Factor and New X-Men that no one ever buys otherwise. It was a good premise to begin with, but they have just led us along on a wild goose chase courtesy of Hank McCoy, and to be honest, I can't remember a time in all of this that I said to myself "Wow I didn't see that coming..."

So in closing, fuck Endangered Species. I'll download the Archive Edition when it is over and find out what happened then. I am just tired of spending $3 on 8 frickin pages.


I'll get into World War Hulk and Countdown this weekend sometime. See you then.

CG

Jumping back in

So the question for me is where do I start... again?

I want to blog, I like blogging, but every time I sit down to post, I just don't have much to say.

If any one has any secrets to keeping up near daily blogging, I would love to hear them. Otherwise, my posts may just suck for awhile until I get back in the swing of things. Hope there are still a few of you out there.

There have been a few people who have requested links that fell on deaf ears because I wasn't checking my email, but I will hopefully get those up in the next few days.

CG

PWND!

There are moments in comic books that have me literally sitting on the edge of my seat and I wanna cheer, laugh, scream, whatever. I usually realize I am in a room full of my family when this happens and suppress myself, however, I couldn't help myself this time.

Thor #3... Thor is severely pissed off when Tonk fucking Stark shows up to tell him to move Asgard (now in the middle of Nebraska or Iowa and some corn field ridden state). If you remember, Stark and Reed Richards created the Thor clone which killed Goliath in Civil War, and somehow the resurrected Thor has caught wind of this.

Stark in his infinite (Skrully) wisdom decides to fire first. The result:





My wife and kids were really looking at me funny this time. And then I had to explain to them why someone who they thought was a hero is actually a huge douche bag. Fuck Tony Stark. No really. And Robert Downey, Jr. too.

Also in this issue, I saw an ad for New Avengers that caught my eye. My I am a little behind on some of this, but I am actually excited for this title again.



Wolverine + Venom = Bad Fuckin' News for someone. Be interesting to see who is on the receiving end of a bundle of alien symbiote hate and adamantium laced fury.

CG

$12 movie worth seeing

Transformers is coming out to IMAX which is news to me, but good news at that. I saw this the first day it came out and nothing his summer even came close to being as awesome as it was. Total action figure porn. Speaking of porn and IMAX, here is still the #1 reason to go see this movie, and an even better reason to go see it on a 50 fucking foot tall movie screen while wearing goofy glasses you wouldn't be seen dead in outside of IMAX.



CG

Blogging is a marathon....

I learned this the hard way and ran out of breath very quickly. I have a passion for sharing my viewpoint with people and blogging fulfills that. However, daily blogging is not for me. So for the two people left reading this (Thanks Mom!) I will be back soon. I'll warn you now, there will not be weekly reviews, previews, blah blah blah, but my own unique (some say snarky) point of view will return.

I got a little caught up in how many readers I had and felt a false sense of enslavement to people I had no clue if they cared or not. I checked my site stats daily (sometimes two or three times a day) and felt intense pressure that I created for myself to meet imaginary demand. So no more of that bullshit. If you like what you see let me know, if you don't, tough shit. Leave me a comment, drop me an email, whatever, but The Comic Rack is going to be what it is going to be, and that is an outlet of my spirit for all the world to see. Oh yeah and comics. Lots of them. And girls. I like the girls. The girl on the right is Hayden Pantiesomething, honestly who cares, she's hot. She's from Heroes, but I don't care, all that matters is she just turned 18 and I can stop feeling guilty (if you know what I mean).

Hope to see you all soon.

ComicGeek

Mike Sterling is going to hell!

Mike Sterling at Progressive Ruin is going to hell, with the first strike against him found here, and his second strike below...



And a blank one for you to do the same...



Enjoy!

CG

Waiting on Wednesday - 7/24/07

A bit of an abbreviated version here tonight. One Marvel, one DC. There aren't tons of good comics coming out this week, so it'll be a cheap week, and I can afford to finally buy The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen, and maybe I can finally write that article on What the Hell is Going On With Jimmy Olsen.

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Incredible Hulk #108

After some serious ass-kicking by the Green Giant, the utter destruction of New York City, pretty much every hero in America and beyond trying to take him down, we finally return to the Incredible Hulk's own book. It has been awhile since we caught up with Amadeus Cho and here we find out what he has been up to, along with all the others who have decided to stand beside the Hulk.

Cho and the others though find themselves face-to-face with the Warbound and it has never looked like the two groups had any intention off getting along. While World War Hulk has been very good in my opinion, this is where the crossover is really going to shine. They have done a good job of setting up all these supporting characters, whether new (Amadeus Cho) or old (Rick Jones). Hulk Smash only goes so far and for this to really be a great event, the Hulk's own series should be the centerpiece.

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Green Lantern Corps #14

It must be "summer-crossover-itis" because these really are what I think are the two best books out this week. In GLC #14 the slaughter of the Green Lanterns by the Sinestro Corps continues, with Katma Tui Soranik Natu returning to Korugar and finding a little surprise, which I showed a glimpse of the other day here.

The thing I haven't figured out yet is that in the Sinestro Corps Special, there was a big reveal at the end showing Kyle Rayner as Parallax, Hank Henshaw a.k.a. Cyborg Superman and Superboy Prime standing next to Sinestro, and what have they done with this killer (literally) lineup? A big fat nothing. OK, not really nothing, we saw Parallax already, and I know it is only the third part this wek, but with sch a formidable lineup of really villainous people, I expect instant gratification of the killing kind.

That's something that really is great about a book like Green Lantern Corps, you have a completely unlimited supply of characters to kill. You kill a GL, the ring searches for another instantly. Kill someone in the Sinestro Corps, it does the same thing. Then there are the Manhunters. Nameless, faceless bad guys who no one could ever have an emotional connection to. Yes, I love carnage. And I would have to say that is probably the main reason why this book has always been one of my favorites. However, someone important has to die soon to justify this event. I just don't think that Kyle becoming Parallax is enough to justify all this. John Stewart biting it? Anyone? Maybe Kilowog?

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Enjoy your Wednesday, and I will see you all back here Thursday night with some Release Reviews.

CG

Hulk vs. Bizarro #11: GET BACK OUT THERE

GL Corps #14 art

I have always liked seeing before and after looks at comics. There is something about sketch work that is so much more full than the finished product, but at the same time, to see the added brilliance from the coloring and inking is interesting too. It is almost like two entirely different pieces of artwork, but yet the same...

 

Courtesy of Patrick Gleason's blog (sketch page) and Newsarama (completed page). Enjoy!

CG

Laura Vandervoort as Supergirl

Blogging is easy and quick when you keep finding great pictures that are on-topic and comic-related. This is the actress Laura Vandervoort in character as Supergirl on Smallville. I went into more detail about her here.



Man, there are so many lewd perverted I hope the elastic fails on that top great things I could say about this picture, but I think I will just let it speak for itself.

CG

Iron Man movie photo

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This one is maybe only about 200 though. It's cool to see a still from the upcoming Iron Man movie, but irritating to have to wait for the good pictures of him in full costume. Oh well. Here we have Robert Downey, Jr as Tony Stark in what appears to be a photo of him testing out the Iron Man suit. You can see the core glowing under his wife-beater (very Tony Starkish...) and apparently this Iron Man is a cheap ass because his lab is in a kitchen.



If the comic book Iron Man wasn't such a douche, maybe I would look forward to this movie more than I currently do. And as far as starting the blog full time again, I wish I was. I just have some time and miss doing this more regularly. Maybe soon. Sign up for my RSS feed and you'll know when I post something. Anyhow, until then, see you sporadically.

CG

Zuda Comics postcard

Just got this in my email, if you signed up at Zuda Comics you did, too. If you didn't, it is from none other than Jim Lee. Enjoy!



CG

Hulk vs. Bizarro #10: Three's Company

Though my regular snarky comments on comics may be on hiatus, I felt I should still post HvB, as it was easily the most popular feature. Also, Spencer should be starting soon, I sent him the info and added him in the permissions, so give him a hard time. Enjoy the first HvB appearance of Grimlock from the Transformers!



CG

Goodbye (for now)

Because of personal reasons, I am going to have to close down The Comic Rack for the foreseeable future. I hope those of you that came by had a good time while it lasted, and maybe someday in the future we can do it all again when conditions are a little better.

For the people who were going to write reviews for me, I hope this comes before you take too much time doing that. Thank you for the response, that was a last ditch effort on my part to put off the inevitable.

If there is someone out there who wants to take over The Comic Rack full-time, please send me an email at thecomicrack@yahoo.com, and we will work something out very quickly. I hope there is someone who will.

Thanks for the good time,

Adam, the Comic Geek

Ankle Breaking 8 year-old

This has absolutely nothing to do with comics, but it is so much fun to watch, I couldn't avoid posting it. This video is courtesy of The Big Lead, a great sports blog if you aren't already aware of it. The boy in the video is 8 year Cody Paul and his team the Los Alamitos Griffins went 15-0 this year on the way to the Pee-Wee Pop Warner Super Bowl Championship. This kid is crazy good. The Music playing is "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe and Lil Wayne and it is NSFW.

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Hulk vs. Bizarro #9: ME TUBE

Issue #9 of the 50 Foot Robot Studios webcomic Hulk vs. Bizarro. These are going to be moved to Monday and Fridays from now on, as Thursdays are just too busy. Enjoy!

A few more links for today

After a few days in a row of next to nothing, today has quite a few different things to talk about, enough for a second post. So here we go:

• Marvel has posted a "visual guide" of the entire Civil War crossover. What is a visual guide? I didn't know either until I checked it out and found out how awesome it is. It has every single CW cover, including all variants and second printings, and they are all in order according to Marvel. As an addendum to that is a "visual guide" for the Fallen Son series, also released today. While not as extensive, and missing the 100 blank variants that were sold for charity, it is still interesting to see.
  
• The actress who will play Supergirl on Smallville has been chosen according to SSH! and her name is Laura Vandervoort. As you can see from the picture below, she definitely fills the role physically (and quickly becomes the best thing to look at on that show). The catch will be whether she can act. Who am I kidding....
  
  
  
  
  
  According to IMDB.com, this will be the first major recurring role for the 23 year-old Canadian. And I can't wait.
• Some more cool artwork, this time from Mike Wieringo's personal site. Most everyone should know who this is, but for those who don't it is Dr. Sivana against a Captain Marvel background. Pretty sweet.
  
• Hell has frozen over: Rob Liefeld is returning to Image. I wouldn't normally care, but Liefeld's artwork should give me plenty of material when I am in a mocking mood. That is unless he has learned how to draw a human nose, or how not to give men extremely large breasts. This guy is a total hack. And the fact that Image has even let him return after what many call a very, very bad breakup (Liefeld helped found the company). Just so no one thinks I am being overly harsh or I don't know what I am talking about, here is the image that pretty much assured his demise at Marvel during the Heroes Reborn period.
  

Pretty picture heavy tonight, but that's ok with me. I'll be back tomorrow, and it looks like we may have a few guest reviewers on the way, too. We'll see when the emails roll in, but there are a lot of good things in store for the future. Make sure you sign up for the RSS feed by clicking this link, or the one on the top of the sidebar to get daily updates.

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Human Tetris

My apologies to anyone who is Japanese, but they are some extremely crazy people. In a good way. If you have ever seen the Humping Robot clip, you know what I mean, and the TV show on Spike called "Bonzai" is more proof. As if that wasn't enough, Hot Air has this clip of some type of Human Tetris. Enjoy!

CG

Linkblogging is bad for your health....

The comic world is quiet with the San Diego Comic Convention heading towards us at light speed. But there is some news here and there that is worth taking a look at. If you hear of anything that you feel should be covered here, please send me an email at thecomicrack@yahoo.com and I will include it.

• Kevin Spacey has been reported to be set to reprise his role as Lex Luthor in the next Superman film. Not much other information is known right now, except that Bryan Singer plans on shooting the sequel, called The Man of Steel, next year for a 2009 release. I am not crazy about this, not because of Spacey who I thought did great, but because of Lex Luthor. Are we going to get stuck in a rut with Superman villains like we did with the original movies, or are we going to move on to the big baddies like Metallo, Brainiac, Doomsday, etc.?
• Apple has released the official Cloverfield/1-18-08 movie trailer, so no more shaky bootlegged videos to try to see what is going on. And I gotta say, those previous videos sucked, there is so much more here than you could previously see, including the head of the Statue of Liberty getting thrown down the street. Definitely worth taking another look at.
  
  
  
  
  A couple of other things about this movie. The 1-18-08 site has another picture up and it still makes no sense, but I imagine the mystery will be revealed soon enough. Also according to JJ Abrams, the Ethan Haas sites are not related to this movie as was previously thought, but he hinted that there may be others out there that are.
• PWBeat has a collection of reactions from across the blogosphere (including me!) to the DC Comics announcement of their new Zuda Comics online imprint. It is interesting to see the wide range of opinions despite a rather small amount of information available. The people who are outright bashing it though I think would dislike just about anything from a major company anyhow, so not to discount them, but I would rather wait and actually see something before I panned it. Overall I think it is a good idea, and up to DC to do it right.
• If you are enjoying the current run of Green Lantern Corps, then you will also enjoy taking a look at the personal blog of Patrick Gleason, the current artist. He is also the artist on Robin and he has a look at the cover of Robin #166 before colors and after.
  
  

That's about all for now, as swim lessons snuck up on me this morning (for my daughter, not me), so if I find more later, I'll update this afternoon. Have a good day, and read lots of comics.

CG

Waiting on Wednesday - 7/10/07

This is my 100th post, and I could not have done it without the warm response I have gotten from all of you, even those who come here looking for Jessica Alba nude, for whatever reason. To be honest, after 100 posts, there is a bit of burnout, if any of you have noticed slightly fewer posts this past week or so. But have no fear, I have lots of good ideas coming up. I have a couple of articles to finish up, then we will get started with a lot more comic goodness. On to the comics!

As I said last week during the Release Reviews post, there are quite a few good comics being released this week. As a result, I will likely miss one or two that some of you think are worth reading or reviewing. So I encourage you, if I miss something here and you want to review it yourself, send me your review in an email at thecomicrack @ yahoo.com and I will post it Friday with the rest of my Release Reviews and give you full credit.


Marvel

• Deadpool/GLI: Summer Fun #1 - The all-important first spot (which really means nothing) goes to the one and only... Deadpool! Good ol' DP gets out of the shadow of his geriatric and boring partner Cable for a team-up special with none other than his old foes turned comrades the Great Lakes Avengers.
  
  The GLA has been appropriated in the Superhero Registration Act and has changed their name yet again to the Great Lakes Initiative and is solely responsible for all of greater Wisconsin! Expect lots of classic Deadpool goofiness, and Marvel is promising lots of ninjas. My only hope here is that Marvel will see the value of releasing Deadpool and his fans from the hell that his series with Cable has been.
  
  Deadpoolite, I am calling you out for an iin-character review of this issue. Either send it to me, or post it on your site, and I'll link it up.


• World War Hulk: Gamma Corps #1 - The entire premise of this mini-series seems a little dumb to me to be honest. General Ryker has taken the DNA of the Hulk, Abomination, the Leader and Doc Samson among others to create a team of gamma-powered killers who only job is to kill the Hulk. The characters to be featured are Grey (Hulk and the Leader), Griffin (based off the Betty Ross harpy mutation), Mess (a female red-headed Abomination), Mister Gabriel (black Doc Samson) and Prodigy (another Leader).
  
  I may be wrong about this like I was about Frontline, but it just doesn't stir any excitement in me. It may be because I have never been crazy about books centered around villains (you'll likely never see Thunderbolts on here as something I would read), or it may be because that lineup sounds like a poorly thought out idea. They took each of the gamma powered beings and slightly bastardized the ideas that made them great for all these years. If it would be that easy to take down the Hulk, don't you think the military would have come up with it a long time ago? And why no She-Hulk clone?


• New Avengers #32 - Last month in New Avengers they revealed that Elektra has been a Skrull for who knows how long, and it has sent the entire Marvel Universe into a tailspin wondering who they can trust and who they can't. But despite it being such a huge revelation, you have heard absolutely nothing about it in any other books.
  
  So here we are at the next issue hoping Brian Michael Bendis throws us a bone, and I have to be honest, I don't think he will. I can see him dragging this out throughout his run before they involve the rest of the universe in it. But being such a compelling story means that I will definitely be reading this and hoping to find out who is also a Skrull and what the hell that creepy looking baby was looking at at the end of the last issue.


• X-Factor #21 - What Marvel has to say about this issue:

  In a castle of ice in a far off land, a fearsome being called the Isolationist sits and waits and plans...except he need wait no longer. He is coming to Mutant Town, and is seeking out Jamie Madrox. But whether he and X-Factor will be enemies or allies pales in comparison to the shocking developments involving Guido's new job offer, Rictor's unexpected call to action, Siryn and Monet's new case, and--most stunning of all--Layla's disturbing discovery of something even she didn't know.

  Here's what I have to say about it:

  Who cares about all that, it has an 8-page Endangered Species story at the end of it, and that is the only reason I am going to buy this.

  Seriously, I have not paid any attention at all to this comic despite reasons I should love it. First off, it is part of the X-universe which I love, and secondly, it is written by Peter David, one of my all-time favorite writers. But I still don't care.

DC Comics

• Green Arrow: Year One #1 (of 6) - After last weeks Black Canary #1, this is the next "filler" series to span from GA #75 until their wedding and beyond. It has been said they will restart the Green Arrow series after al this is done, so take this series as an opportunity to either catch up on your GA history or to get acquainted with Oliver Queen for the first time.
  
  The creative team of Andy Diggle and Jock aim (get it, aim? hahaha)to tell the definitive origin story of the Emerald Archer. And judging by DC's sneak peek of the issue, it looks pretty good. I have never heard of Jock before this, he was previously the artist on The Losers which I am not familiar with, but his style of art looks like it will fit perfectly with Green Arrow.
  
  What makes me the most excited for this series above everything else, though, is that we get to return to the original Oliver Queen. We get to see the smart aleck, philandering playboy we grew to love before he got castrated in the One Year Later story where he became the Mayor of Star City and suddenly seemed excessively responsible.


• Green Lantern #21 - DC kicks off the Sinestro Corps War here as we see Hal Jordan and the other GL's of planet Earth go on a rescue mission. What the hell that means? I have no clue. There is an absolute lack of information about this issue, so I assuming that there is another big surprise in store for us.
  
  DC promises hundreds of villains, and the promotional poster they released (pictured, right) shows the Sinestro Corps and the Manhunters. Those, along with the Anti-Monitor, Superboy Prime and Parallax (Kyle Rayner) look to be the single most formidable force to ever face the Green Lantern Corps. I have said it before, I just don't see how the GLCorps can survive this. There will have to be enormous losses of life because that group just isn't going down easily, if at all. This soon after a reboot and introduction of so many characters seems to point towards a destruction and rebuilding of the Corps.


• Justice Society of America #7 - The first issue of JSA after the huge Lightning Saga crossover, and we get introduced to a new member. Well that is if you consider a third generation superhero "new". Citizen Steel joins the team that his grandfather (Commander Steel) and cousin (also Commander Steel) were both a part of, however, Geoff Johns promises that this is a brand new character, not just another rehash of an old concept. Because DC never rehashes old concepts...
  
  Citizen Steel was introduced in JSA #2 as Nathan Heywood, wo was attacked by a bunch of nazis under the control of Vandal Savage. He had some liquid metal spilled on him which eventually bonded with his skin and gave him a metal skeleton and superhuman strength. Also mentioned is that the JSA will begin to feel the effects of 52 on their little corner of the Multiverse.


• Countdown #42 - Looks like Countdown is finally going to kick into high gear... yeah, right. We have been hearing that for 10 weeks now. But this time it looks like it could possibly be true. This week we see the Suicide Squad, who made a small appearance last week in subduing Piper and Trickster, and also finally Ray Palmer, the Atom.
  
  While I look forward to more action, and I am not crazy about some of the characters already in the series and welcome new blood, I see adding more characters making the time we spend with every segment even smaller. I am also wondering why Mary Marvel and The Riddler are mud wrestling on the cover, and don't you wish they would go back to the stark single character covers they started the series with? Like the Joker cover or the more recent Mary Marvel cover?


• Also check out the Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters TPB coming out this week. I doubt I will get it myself, because of budget more than anything, but if you are looking forward to the upcoming Uncle Sam series this would make for some good reading to refresh you.

That's about all for this week. I haven't taken the time to look at what's coming out next week, so you'll just have to wait and see. I won't likely be posting tomorrow, unless something important happens, so I will see you all back here on Thursday for the next installment of Hulk vs. Bizarro and hopefully more information on the other stuff I have been up to lately causing some of this to be a little late.

CG