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Post by Mighty Jack on Mar 1, 2010 7:04:22 GMT -5
Just read the JSA trade Darkness Falls and all I can say is wow. That was one of the best superhero stories I've read since Geoff Johns Green Lantern rebirth. I couldn't put it down. Goyer/Johns stories were tightly coiled thrill rides, but they didn't skimp on character, and Sudowski's art was superb. When I make my run to the comic shop this week I'm going to have to buy another volume or two.
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Post by Joker on Mar 3, 2010 19:48:31 GMT -5
Read Swamp Thing: The Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore where Swamp Thing comes to the dark realization that his quest for humanity was all for naught, then the supervillain known as Jason Woodrue, a plant-man himself, becomes obsessed with throwing off his humanity to turn the "green" plant world against the "red" animal world in a devestating campaign of destruction that even the Justice League can't stop. Swampy goes down a new path in his history and makes choices that will mold him into the Swamp God he is now. Then when he thinks he can have peace an autistic boy's imaginary monster turns out to be very real, feasting off of and spreading the fear of special needs children at a residential hospital and he has to join forces with the infernal Jason Blood/Etrigan to stop it.
Alan Moore masterfully changes things forever in comics in a perfect way as horror and superheroism merge. I think that Wes Craven's silly Swamp Thing film led them to revitalize this comic which led to this groundbreaking title. Excellent stuff.
Now reading Adventures in the Rifle Brigade by Garth Ennis
Reading Ball Peen Hammer by Adam Rapp and George O'Connor
Reading The Aliens Omnibus: Vol. 5 by various authors
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Post by Mighty Jack on Mar 4, 2010 1:52:11 GMT -5
Man I remember when Moore took over Swamp Thing - it was a mind blowing experience. It was a nice comic before hand, but he took it above and beyond anything I could have imagined.
When I moved out of my parents place way back when. I left my comics in the attic because I had no room for them. My mother was bored one night, spotted a stack of Swamp Things and because she loves horror novels, decided to read one, then two, then... I got an excited call one day, "Where's the rest of your Swamp Thing comics!?" She was so into it and was dying to know how it ended. Made me laugh. I had to go find the longbox with the rest of series so she could finish up with it.
The first and only time in her life my mother ever read a comic book.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Mar 6, 2010 1:47:38 GMT -5
While in the shop to pick up more JSA trades, I saw the cover of Wonder Woman #41 with Power Girl. A throw down between two of DCs power houses? I'm there! It was a good one, though Diana was holding back. I like that it shows that WW isn't just strong, she also a tactician, a smart warrior. If they ever do a movie I hope the director remembers that. It isn't just about her raw power it's about her skill and intelligence. Oh, best moment. Power Girl punches Wonder Woman so hard she (WW) winds up flung all the way to Canada. LMAO!
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Post by Joker on Mar 8, 2010 2:40:37 GMT -5
Read Adventures in the Rifle Brigade by Garth Ennis where an elite team of deadly sociopathic British commandoes are dropped into Nazi Germany in WWII to do some mission and get caught and tortured by nutty Nazis, then have to go on a bizarre mission to retrieve Adolf Hitler's long missing and occult power-charged testicle! A hilarious parody of British war comics that's loads of fun!
Read Ball Peen Hammer by Adam Rapp and George O'Connor where a few people live their bleak meaningless lives in a hopeless future. Depressing as hell.
Read The Aliens Omnibus: Vol. 5 by various authors where a woman faces off against charlatan religious zealots who unleash deadly xenomorphs, a space vacation liner full of the monsters is haunted by a helpful ghost, an outbreak of aliens in the 1950's has to be stopped, and a scummy guy shows his yellow streak aboard a salvage ship when the beasts break loose in a very cool colllection.
Now reading DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore
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Post by quinnmartin on Mar 8, 2010 9:18:01 GMT -5
Just finished the first Astro City trade Life in the Big City. I'd heard great things about this series, and it more than lived up to the hype. The art wasn't really my thing, but the story telling and the characters were top notch. Also just finished the first three issues of Atomic Robo Volume 1. Lots of fun and fairly clever. The lead character is great, though I could see him getting annoying at some point. Other recent reads: Classic Invaders: Volume 3 - You can feel the series start to go off the rails here. Though still a fun read, the stories aren't nearly as interesting at the great stuff Thomas was doing in the issues collected in Volume 2 and at the end of Volume 1. This was my favorite series as a kid, so it's nice to see them continue to release these. Now if only DC would release some All-Star Squadron trades, as I love me some Roy Thomas writing Golden Age heroes. Legion of Superheroes: Archives Volume 6 - My other favorite series from my youth. I remembered some of these stories from reprints and digests, but the issues I hadn't read were also a blast. Cheese galore, but still fun reads. This volume captures the beginnings of Shooter's run, when the Legion started to became great. Thunder Agents: Archives Volume 1 - More Silver Age fun. The writing is pretty hit or miss, but the concept (Man From Uncle meets the Justice League) is great, as are the characters. Currently reading Avengers: The Kree-Skull War (confusing, but really good so far).
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Post by Joker on Mar 12, 2010 6:16:06 GMT -5
Read DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore. When Alan Moore was a kid in England he saw tremendous potential in the characters there and their universe. When Swamp Thing hit it big then editor of DC Comics Len Wein got him to write for their various other publications as well.
"For the Man Who Has Everything" became an episode of Justice League Unlimited and had Moore's name on it in the credits (!!) "Night Olympics" is a harrowing story where Green Arrow faces an ordinary criminal who is dangerously psychotic and armed with a bow and arrows. "Mogo Doesn't Socialize," "Tygers," and "In Blackest Night" are Green Lantern stories that ironically don't star Hal Jordan, but other heroes of the Green Lantern Corps, a horrifying trip to a planet of abominations, and Moore's incredible use of irony.
"Father's Day" is a dark as hell nightmare where a man who raped his daughter when she was eight years old gets let out of prison and goes to get her, killing anyone who gets in his way, with the crime-fighter Vigilante desperately trying to find him. There's a couple of ironic sci-fi stories from a magazine called "Vega." "The Jungle Line" sees Superman infected with a Kryptonian fungus that is killing him and only a certain swamp god can help him. "Footsteps" attempts to tell the secret origin of The Phantom Stranger. "Mortal Clay" is a dark portrait of one of the more insane villians, Clayface, who become obsessed with a mannequin and has a deadly problem with jealosy.
Also included is the full version of "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tommorow?" an imaginary story that ties up all the loose ends in the Golden/Silver Age Superman comics. Lots of adult themes make this more sophisticated than most comics. Then there's the dark nightmare "The Killing Joke" (before the restored edition) where things were changed dramatically and the bad blood between Batman and the Joker finally reaches a deadly level with a final appeal to the Joker's sliver of sanity.
A very excellent collection.
Now reading Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty by Mike W. Barr
Reading Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 2: Love and Death by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben
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Post by Mighty Jack on Mar 14, 2010 9:29:04 GMT -5
JSA Books 3, 4 and 5
These volumes in the Goyer/Johns don’t match their first. Volume 2 starts off as wonderfully as the first. There’s the Spectre and the Injustice League in a thrilling adventure. But it finishes with the return of Hawkman. And frankly I’m not a fan of Conner Hawk and am long tired of the whole resurrection/war on Thangar shtick. Been there, seen it a dozen times in my old age, tired of it.
Volume 4 – Fair Play – is mostly set up. It’s a quiet volume. The Hawkman/Sand conflict comes off cheesy and trite; there is a nice issue with Stargirl and the new Johnny Thunder fighting a Solomon Grundy (Hopped up on Joker toxin). Batman makes a guest appearance in the last tale.
Volume 5 involves the Ultra Humanite. It okay I guess but it wasn’t very interesting to me. Plus it was jarring. They introduce this character who is going to kill Wildcat, but nothing comes of it. Was this shot off into another comic? Will it be picked up in a different volume? I have no idea. (in any case, she had Wildcat right in front of her, why didn’t she kill him right then and there?)
All of these I bought used, cheap – and I have 2 volumes left to read. But after a brilliant start, these have tailed off to serviceable, decent stories. Johns understand some characters and writes them nicely (Stargirl) others he seems at a loss (Sand/Hawkman) and he keeps telling us that Sentinel (the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott) is a powerhouse, but so far all I’ve seen him do is get his ass kicked, captured and nearly get killed by a stick.
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Post by Don Quixote on Mar 18, 2010 23:45:54 GMT -5
Did anyone read The Marvels Project? I picked up a back copy of the first issue a month ago, and I've been wanting to read the rest of it, but I don't have the money or the time to do so.
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Post by Joker on Mar 19, 2010 22:23:00 GMT -5
Read The Walking Dead, Book 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Cliff Rathburn where the survivors are shocked when a little boy kills his brother, then is killed by someone amongst their group. Then as suspicion mounts a priest shows up suddenly with a shady past. And on top of that they're all being stalked by some well-armed people in the nearby woods. It all comes to a brutal conclusion in this solid entry in this very cool series where the zombies are almost an afterthought now.
Read The Boys: Herogasm by Garth Ennis, John McCrea, and Darick Robertson where the superpowered heroes and villains of Earth vow to go stop an alien invasion, but that's just the bogus cover for their mass debauched vacation/orgy of drugs, sex, and depravity called Herogasm. The Boys sneak down there to get a hold of someone as the idiot vice president shows up for a visit, which leads to a dark revelation about what happened on 9/11 in thier universe (where two of the three planes were destroyed by the Air Force and the third was taken out by the superhero team The Seven, with the Brooklyn Bridge hit instead of the World Trade Center. Other than that touchy subject, the Simon Pegg-y Hughie has something nasty happen to him in a sewer and the ultimate superhero The Homelander realizes that he can do anything with no consequences and does a despicable thing. Another excellent Ennis story with a great balance of serious and irreverent subject matter.
Read Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty by Mike W. Barr. In the past, Joshua of Wainright is a templar knight who must answer to his order after a cache of gold his platoon was guarding is stolen by a wizard named Vandal Savage and his occult-powered army who are trying to use dark magic to summon a comet. In the present, Bruce Wayne's parents are murdered by the Scarecrone, a servant of Vandal Savage as he tries to bring the comet to Earth again by fouling up an attempt to deflect it from the Earth. In the future, the descendant of Bruce Wayne must face the man Vandal Savage one more time as he tries to get aboard the comet again. Each time Savage is confronted by a different Batman (and Batwoman) that try to stop him in this excellent collection. "I always win."
Reading Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 2: Love and Death by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben. This is the game changer with the one comic that was too much for the oppressive Comics Code Authority, "Love and Death." But instead of not releasing it, they did release it without the Comics Code Authority Seal on the cover. It was the issue that changed comics and made them more for adults, dragging them out of the "kid's stuff" rut.
Swamp Thing buries the remains of Alec Holland, literally and metaphorically ending his Wein/Brightson past. But with this new beginning comes an old enemy as the abomination Arcane escapes from Hell with a few evil souls to set up shop in Louisiana, with Arcane possessing Abby's husband, Matt Cable. And they live as man and wife for a while, then Abby realizes what's happened, what "recorporations" means, and then she can't get the stink off of her...because it's coming from inside of her. A final showdown between Swamp Thing and Arcane ends in a bittersweet way as the demonic Arcane cast her soul into Hell.
Then things get weird as Swampy has to go through the Green to get to Hell to get Abby's soul back, with the help of Deadman, The Phantom Stranger, and finally the demon Etrigan as he descends into Pandemonium, a Hell made by sinners themselves and a land of hideous abominations.
Also included are Moore's comic dedication to Walt Kelly's Pogo comic strip, "Pog," where a bunch of little cartoony creatures land on Earth to "find a new lady." Abby goes to the House of Secrets in The Dreaming to see the first hint of a lineage of Swamp Things in the gothic horror "Abandoned Houses" by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. And finally Abby and Swamp Thing find a psychadelic way to consummate their relationship in "Rite of Spring." This includes an introduction by Jamie Delano and an expanded forward by Neil Gaiman. A must read for comic fans.
Now reading The Stand, Vol. 1: Captain Trips and Vol. 2: American Nightmares by Stephen King, script by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and art by Mike Perkins
Reading The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead by Stephen King, adapted by Peter David, Robin Furth, and Richard Isanove
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Post by Joker on Mar 27, 2010 12:41:26 GMT -5
Read The Stand, Vol. 1: Captain Trips by Stephen King, script by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and art by Mike Perkins. A man named Campion escapes from a biological weapons lab with his family and drives as far away as he can before crashing into a gas station in Arnette, Texas. The locals there are all exposed to this man and his dead family in the car, including Stu Redman, who remains unaffected. Then a chain begins as this deadly superflu nicknamed Captain Trips is spreading. A government mistake unleashed this virus which has 99.4% communicability and 99.4% mortality rates. The government tries desperately to cover up the growing plague, even going so far to murder journaists and take over news stations who make a powerful try to expose the truth, even as a dying President of the United States tries to calm everyone while scolding people for being rightfully angry and afraid... As the U.S. quickly dies off other individuals remain immune. Frannie Goldsmith is a college student who has just realized that she's gotten pregnant in Ogunquit, Maine. Larry Underwood is a loser singer/songwriter who just hit it big with a hit single, but has to go live with his mother in New York City as he's hit rock bottom. Nick Andros is a young deaf-mute man who was attacked by local rednecks in Shoyo, Arkansas. Lloyd Henreid is an accomplice on a killing spree with his buddy Poke who got caught and has been thrown into prison. The world falls apart all around them as they are haunted by dreams that feature a dark man, one who walks the roads of America and whose time has come. This is actually and excellent graphic novel adaptation from Marvel. It has been adapted from the complete & uncut version of the novel by King (Vol. 2 features the "No great loss" section from the book) unlike the Mick Garris-directed miniseries, which was based on the cut version. The art is incredible, especially the horrible mucusy corpses of people killed by Captain Trips. I got this through the library as well in case you were wondering. In Vol. 2: American Nightmares things seem to get worse in the world as the dark man Randall Flagg, who sometimes looks like a Native American guy and other times like Alice Cooper, of these survivors nightmares is real and seems to be behind some terrible things in U.S. history. He's there to egg on people who think that terrorism will work against their enemies, he can make a speech that can turn a peaceful demonstration into a riot. He's the poisoner of America...and now because of this cataclysm of death he can do magic. Now newer, darker characters come into the story as Harold Lauter is a nerdy friend of Frannie, whom he has feelings for, which only get worse when Stu shows up. Lloyd is starving in prison when Flagg shows up with an offer he can't refuse. Dangerously psychotic pyromaniac Trashcan Man gets to fulfill his fantasy in this dead world when he blows up a bunch of oil tanks. But in the midst of these new dark events these people must face new terrors and make a choice as an elderly African American woman appears in these survivors dreams now as well. Larry has to take a nightmarish trip through the Lincoln Tunnel, which is so clogged with cars and corpses and shrouded in darkness that his imagination makes it much worse. Nick Andros stays true to himself even as he's literally tempted in a Christ Vs. Satan-like way by Flagg in a dream. Some art: Randall Flagg Trashcan Man Llyod Henreid (with Poke driving) Two excellent books. I look forward to reading The Stand, Vol. 3: Soul Survivors. Read The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead by Stephen King, adapted by Peter David, Robin Furth, and Richard Isanove where the evil sorceror Marten Broadcloak makes his own machinations work against the city of gunsligers, Gilead. Roland has been manipulated into committing a terrible crime against his will and the Good Man John Farson's massive army of mutants and bad men are about to overrun the city, Helm's Deep style. An explosive and powerful adaptation of dark fantasy. Now Reading Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told by various authors Reading Thor, Vol. 3 by J. Michael Straczynski
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Post by Joker on Apr 21, 2010 1:24:29 GMT -5
Read Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told by various authors. It would seem that at the beginning of WW Charles Moulton seemed to have a bondage fetish as WW and most of her allies and enemies were being tied up and escaping constantly. Thene there is a hard-boiled detective story and a final demystifying comic make this very informative to a WW virgin like me.
Read Thor, Vol. 3 by J. Michael Straczynski as the Asgardians relocate to Latveria where Dr. Doom and Loki begin a plan that could destroy these immortals while a banished Thor and his human alter ego try to re-merge as Thor's hammer, the Mjolnir, has been broken. The story is still pretty good, but I'm rapidly becoming less and less of a Marvel fan.
Read Wanted by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones. Wesley is a loser with a crappy job, girlfriend, and life. Then one day an assassin named The Fox shows up and introduces him into the secret world of supervillains, who took over the world and rearranged reality so that no one would ever remember that there were ever superheroes. Wes' father was the world's greatest assassin and Wes wants to find the killer for some inexplicable reason since he has no conscience anymore as he talks about committing acts of rape and mass murder with no consequence. Then there's some sort of inner conflict among the five different supervillain organizations, but it really doesn't matter in the end as if any one of these evil people gets wasted, including Wes it can only be a good thing for mankind.
Just like the pointless movie version of this book (which it really only resembles in the barest way) you get this sick message that embracing violence and killing will make you a big man. Oh, you may be a big man in your own mind, but by the time you get locked into prison even bigger men will want to show you everything about the ultimate manly, woman-free world of prison sex that you never wanted to know. That's the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is you get gunned down by the cops and/or everyone else and everyone is so glad you're gone that they scrape up what's left of you and bury you in the best bucket money can buy someplace where no one can dig up your remains to defile them.
Even if Wanted is just some male fantasy in paper God help you if you were to cross paths with someone with this kind of fantasy floating around in their head.
Anyway, on to better things. Read Swamp Thing. Vol. 3: The Curse by Alan Moore, Stephen Bisette, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch. Swamp Thing is seemingly destroyed by a wino who swigs toxic waste named Nukeface. Then he manages to find a way to regenerate a new body as Abby grows him lovingly. Meanwhile, a character that Alan Moore created enters this story and comics in general: John Constantine, the Hellblazer. He's a manipulative, abrasive, chain-smoking English magus who is investigating a developing series of supernatural events being set into motion by someone. Someone who needs mankind to feel the fear of the unknown again as part of an insidious plan...
He has the answers that Swamp Thing has about himself and his powers, but Swampy will have to do some work for him first. There is a town called Rosewood, IL where ST had a confrontation with vampires in the past. They were all supposed to be destroyed by rushing water from a river, but some escaped destruction and now the water has grown still and stagnant. The punk vampires now have a queen and are planning on creating a new race from their numbers for the dark future...unless ST can shut them down.
A woman in Maine becomes the recepticle of all of the ancient anger from mistreated women of a local Native American tribe who were ostricized for their monthly menstruation. Now she has become a psychotic werewolf fuelled by this terrible rage. Is there really anything ST can do about this?
Back in Louisiana a TV production of a soap opera based on an ancient atrocity that happened on an old plantation begins to come back through the neurotic stars, the extras playing slaves who begin to practice voodoo rites, and an old graveyard for slaves that erupts in a zombie horde who want justice. This cycle must end.
Great stuff all around in this awesome beginning of a powerful story arc that begins to intersect with the Crisis on Infinite Earths that was going on at the time (but only lightly so it's not that confusing.)
Read John Constantine, Hellblazer: Bloodlines by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, Mike Hoffman, and Will Simpson. Things are pretty good finally in John's life until two confrontations with two of his worst enemies. The King of Vampires has been around since the beginning of humanity, a parasite who lives beneath the Earth away from the sunlight and comes up to prey on people like a deadly parasite with terrible apocalyptic plans for not just Earth, but a whole universe with blood in it's veins. He has a deal for Constantine now and you see what John thinks and how no one will let him be the hero we should let him be...
The other enemy is the ultimate one for Old John. Ennis makes sure to differentiate between Lucifer Morningstar, The Lightbringer, the First of the Fallen who was cast out of Heaven by God to rule over Hell. When he got there after that terrible plummet the Devil was already there. The Devil is the traditional laity that rejoices in the suffering and evil he can set in motion.
And he's in charge of Hell since Lucifer left in The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman. His revenge against Constantine for tricking him twice in the past will be cruel and terrible. But a fugitive succubus from Hell whom John helped when she was impregnated by an angel could be the key to escaping again.
There's also stories here of the vengeful spirits of the former owners of John's favorite pub that want revenge after the place is burned down for an insurance scam, The Lord of the Dance, an ancient pagan spirit of the celebration of winter that was erased from history by the stifling Christian church and another one about a cannibalistic serial killer who is an heir to the throne of England and is now possessed by Calibraxis, the Devil's Butcher. Garth Ennis makes a brutal and irreverent storyteller here in these comics which contain slams on the English monarchy, Christianity, and the black and white world of heroism.
Read The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics by various authors. There's a lot of cool stuff here from an international roster of authors. Some are short and sweet, like one about a guy who has to pretend to be a zombie beyond all reason and another that's like an old EC comic explaining the zombie subgenre. Then there's a 4400 type story with people becoming "returners," but not eating anyone and mostly trying to get back to their previous lives and how the U.S. government has to deal with them, resulting in unhinged zombies becoming terrorists. Then there's a confusing wordless adaptation of Robert E. Howard's "Pigeons from Hell." Since there was no dialogue and I had never read it before I had no idea what was going on. It looked scary through...
Read Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World by Bryan Lee O'Malley because Edgar Wright is directing the movie version. It seems a little bit like Spaced, but more dull as a slacker guy in a band named Scott Pilgrim has a boring life that could only be interesting to teen girls. And while Scott has dating drama in his life and meets the woman of his dreams, then has to fight all of her league of seven ex-boyfriends. Too cutesy and quite boring.
Read Wake the Dead by Steve Niles and Chee. A young med student named Victor has been experimenting with reanimating dead flesh. When a bunch of jocks from the local high school get destroyed in a more-heinous-than-Death Proof type accident he has the parts he needs for the ultimate creation, a reanimated human. His friend committing suicide provides the brain he needs and the creature lives, but he's out of control and eventually seeks revenge against his creator as Victor tries desperately to cover his tracks as the authorities close in on his nefarious acts. Super gory Frankengoodness from Steve Niles.
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Post by Don Quixote on Apr 21, 2010 15:58:50 GMT -5
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Post by angilasman on Apr 21, 2010 16:23:00 GMT -5
That's a neat Mignola-esque cover to that The Spectre comic. BTW, I don't know when it's happening but Dark Horse is going to do a promotional thing called "one-for-one" where they re-release the first issues of many of their flagship titles with a $1 price. I'd like to recommend any comics fan not familiar with the character to pick up the Usagi Yojimbo issue - you have literally no excuse not to!
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Post by Mighty Jack on Apr 21, 2010 23:13:06 GMT -5
He seen the naked lay and he got mad? Hell when I was 10 I was drawing naked ladies - and you can see how well I turned out! I read a bunch of new #1 issues. The new Black Widow was good, well written, nice art - though scenes made me cringe (she's awake during an operation). Flash #1 was okay, but I don't think I'll stick with it. Iron Man Legacy #1 wasn't perfect but I enjoyed it. Brightest Day, eh, I wasn't impressed so I'll pass. I feel like I wasted my money on the Blackest Night event and I'm not investing in this one. And I also got this months Batgirl as well as Red Robin - both were entertaining though not major works.
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