Linkblogging is bad for your health....

Between it being a beautiful weekend and the fact that not a lot of things are happening in the comic book world this weekend, it has been pretty slow post-wise. However, there are a few things to talk about, so I've put them all here.


Captain America

Jeph Loeb spilled the beans, and I don't think a lot of people have picked up on this. Or to be more accurate, most of the larger comic book sites are in Marvel's pocket, so they simply won't pick up on this.

Yahoo has a story about Captain America's death today on their main page, which looks at his funeral and the five stages of grief associated with the Fallen Son series. The fifth and final one is released Thursday and shows his funeral, which will be attended by both sides of the Registration Act fight.

At the very end of it, they talk about whether he is going to return or not, and Jeph Loeb did everything but say "Yes he is returning and this is when we are going to do it."

Marvel says you never know what will happen. He may make it back from the dead after all, although Loeb says that question isn't really important right now.

"The question is, how does the world continue without this hero?" he said. "If that story of his return gets told further down the line, great. But everyone's still been dealing with his loss.

"They aren't going to wake up and it's a dream, like it's some episode of 'Dallas.'"

Call me cynical, but that is the most committed non-committal I have ever heard. I was holding out hope that they would keep him dead. At the very least, I was hoping that they would have no plans on his return and let some Editor-in-Chief years down the road betray the fanbase. Oh well...


Justice League

Newsarama has the cover for Justice League #11, and it looks good. What doesn't look good though is the story. Vixen and the Red Arrow are... buried alive!! Oh no! How about Vixen channels a fucking mole and digs their way out.

But instead of that, we are going to have 22 or so pages of mediocre dialogue, with Arrow undoubtedly hitting on Vixen, and one or the other of them telling some deep secret they have. Again with the cynicism for me, I guess I am on a roll this morning. But how can this storytelling vehicle serve any other purpose? I just don't see how we can benefit or be entertained by two C-List heroes being trapped underground.

One good thing did come out of this though. I found one of the coolest looking creator sites I have ever seen. Despite being artistic people by nature, comic book creator websites generally look like junk. However, GeneHa.com is pretty slick. Who is Gene Ha, you say? Well he is going to be the guest artist on JLA #11, and other than that... I have no clue. He does some Eisner award winning comic or something. Seriously though, I wouldn't give you the link if I was just going to tell you everything about the guy.

This issue comes out July 18, and I am not sure I am going to buy it this month. If I don't, it'll be the first JLA I haven't bought in years. I am admittedly a huge fanboy for this team, but this is a low point for me and the comic. I just hope Brad Meltzer surprises me and pulls a proverbial rabbit out of his hat. I have no reason to think he will, though.


Countdown #44 follow-up

The folks over at CBR have been kind enough to fill us in on who this Monarch guy is from Countdown #44. Needless to say, I didn't remember him, and since it has been 16 years since he first appeared and 13 since the last time he appeared, can you blame me? Judging by this guy's history, I am no longer excited about him.

The cover this week says it all: Monarch! But, who is this guy? Monarch first appeared in "Armageddon 2001" #2 (October 1991) as the principal villain of the piece. Monarch was an evil dictator from a dystopian future of the DCU. Monarch picked Matthew Ryder to take place in a time travel experiment. Matthew, during his trip, became Waverider and, arriving in 1991, attempted to prevent Monarch's rise to power. Waverider attempted to find out who Monarch was and at first it appeared to be Captain Atom. Later, in one of the most anti-climactic swerves in comics history, it turned out to be Hank "Hawk" Hall of Hawk and Dove. Yes, we were all underwhelmed.

The Hank Hall version of Monrach returned during "Zero Hour" in 1994, changing his look and name to Extant who was killed facing Atom Smasher. In the Justice League series, "Extreme Justice," Monarch reappeared with the identity of Nathaniel Adam an identity shared with the superhero Captain Atom. He revealed, in a painful piece of retcon, that Captain Atom was merely a side-effect of Monarch's creation and that Monarch was the true Nathaniel Adam.

Ugh...


Well, that's all for now, like I said a slow weekend so I am going back outside, it's about time to fire up the BBQ anyhow. There is another Transformers clip I'll post in awhile, likely my last one, and I'll have to find some more Megan Fox pictures to post. I am going to see the movie tomorrow night at 8pm, so after that, I'll likely be transformered out.

CG