Brave New Worlds

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away …

Admit it, for most of us, despite our feelings towards the prequels, these words still get us all sorts of amped up, like drinking Red Bull while eating a couple of jelly donuts – good times.  But I digress.

Say what you want about the prequels, Star Wars is still a lot of fun.  And despite the generations that worship the original trilogy, there is an entire new audience enjoying Star Wars for the first time that is living the dream we once had, based on The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

So, where most of us had to suffer with just the three original movies on VHS for years and years, this new generation gets all-new weekly adventures bridging the gaps between Episode’s II and III with Cartoon Network’s Star Wars Clone Wars.

This all-new animated adventure continuing the saga George Lucas began over thirty years ago is very satisfying, and surprisingly dark.  The second season, which currently airs on Friday nights and is available for free on Star Wars.com or on iTunes, has really pushed the story-telling envelope, especially visually.

In one of the second season’s first episodes, we watched as Cad Bane the bounty hunter tortured a Jedi Knight to death.  Granted, it was not bloody or violent (this is still for kids) but it was just as intense, especially for an unsupervised little one.

The episode that has sold the entire series for me came recently where Obi-Wan and Anakin have to retake Genosis from the Separatist.  The episode felt like a scene taken directly out of the opening of Saving Private Ryan (if Saving Private Ryan took place in space).  It was an intense battle that was really powerfully told as we watched the heroes come under a non-stop bombardment.

If I still have not sold you on the merits of Clone Wars, then think about one more thing.  We finally get to witness what the movies only really teased us with, seeing Jedi Knights wield their lightsabers and use the force like true samurai’s.  It really is a lot of fun, for the kids and for the kids still in all of us.

And, if the cartoon has you geeked out for more adventures, stop by Brave New Worlds for Dark Horse Comics digest collections and monthly comic series.

This week sees the return of James Robinson’s Starman… sort of.  While Jack Knight is nowhere to be found in these pages his murdered brother returns as a Black Lantern – with all of city’s hero’s dead or out of town the citizens of Opal will have to look to ex-super villain The Shade for rescue.

By James Robinson, Fernando Dagnini and Bill Sienkiewicz.

$2.99, 32 pages, full color

Haven’t read Starman before?  One of the best series of the 90’s is currently available in softcover trade paperback and really nice hardcover omnibus volumes.  Stop by the store to check them out.

Welcome to the first edition of Random Retro Comic Review.  Here is the situation, twice a month I will dip my hand blindly into the Brave New Worlds back issue comics vault and pull out a gem from yesteryear that I will in turn read and share with you.

This month’s first adventure features “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!” and was the second part of a two-issue tale that began in (you guessed it) Avengers #190.  The cover itself sells the issue and promises a good time as “The Avengers Felled by the Grey Gargoyle!” and “It’s All-Out Action in the Avengers’ Tradtion!”  Awesome stuff.

Joining the story in progress, moments before the splash page, the Avengers have unwittingly (of course) released the Grey Gargoyle from his stone prison and he in turn repaid them by turning Iron Man and Daredevil (who was just tagging along because in New York that is what heroes do) to stone.

Daredevil’s inclusion in the issue is just one of the things I miss from comics back in the day, where it seemed like Spidey, the Fantastic Four, X-Men and Avengers were always popping up in someone else’s book.  I know it still happens today, but it does not have the same surprise as it did back then.  But I digress …

Part two of a two-part story, “Back to the Stone Age” is a wonderful journey back to the way comic stories used to be told.  It was a lot of fun reading this issue and getting readjusted to the narrative of the time, where all the characters had thought balloons explaining everything they were thinking.  When someone wasn’t saying what was what, they were definitely thinking it.

Meanwhile, back to the story, Avengers #191 was a lot of fun to reread.  The issue’s big bad was the Grey Gargoyle, and David Michelinie gave readers a quick update on his whereabouts and his origin story.  Granted, it took up about a page, but for readers who might not be familiar with GG, it was valuable reading.

Of course it would not be much of a story if the Avengers took down GG right away, so he handles the current lineup which started in issue #181 (Iron Man, Cap, Beast, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Falcon and Ms. Marvel, who joined in issue #183) with ease.  The Falcon manages to get away to track GG back to his lair (an old apartment) and with the help of his faithful falcon Redwing, slows GG up enough for the calvary to arrive.  Cap’s shield does the rest.

John Byrne’s pencils and storytelling were as clean as ever and Dan Green’s inks provided the final masterstrokes.

It was funny to see the Grey Gargoyle’s best shots were taking out the Scarlet Witch and Ms Marvel, and turning Redwing to stone.  Damn him.

The arc began an issue earlier with the Avengers being brought in front of a special senate sub-committee at Henry Gyrich’s behest, but their work against GG showed the committee how important they are and the government actually gave them more autonomy as a result.

There were a couple of other interesting moments in the story, including where the Vision noticed that Wanda continued to be “off” ever since she returned from Attilan, leading to her departure in the next issue.

Another cool moment was when Beast wondered aloud if they should run off after the Grey Gargoyle or stay and wait for Iron Man and Daredevil to revert to normal.  Turns out only Tony’s iron was turned to stone and therefore he could answer Beast’s question himself – “… he’d say go!.”

Although all of the action took place on the streets on in an apartment, there was still time for a brief appearance for Jarvis, cooking for the gang’s return.

Another part of the experience I enjoyed reading the old issue was seeing some of the old advertisements including a two-page Star Wars toy collection promoting the inclusion of the newest villain – Boba Fett.  Plus, there was a lot of candy ads.

The issue marked the end of a 10-issue run on the book by Byrne (his second as he also pencilled issues 164-166).  Overstreet prices the book @ $10.00 in NM condition.  You can actually pick it up at Brave New Worlds Willow Grove for $1.00 (remember our back issue sale) as our copy is between fine and very fine (7.0) condition.

Issue Skinny

Avengers #191 (Volume 1) “Back to the Stone Age”

David Michelinie (w), John Byrne (a), Dan Green (a)

Released: January 1, 1980

Collected: The Avengers: Back to the Stone Age TP (Out-of-Print)

Until next time …

•Phantom Stranger #42: With DC’s Blackest Night in full effect, at this point, they have started raising comics from the dead by publishing single issues of comics that were canceled in days/years past. I’ve been enjoying this concept of the event tie-in so far…I mean how could I not after in Weird Western Tales #71 they gave me a chance to see a Black Lantern Jonah Hex! This issue looks to offer not only another chance to possibly learn more about DC’s possibly most enigmatic character The Phantom Stranger but also it looks like this cover features Blue Devil,  Deadman, Zatanna and wait…is that Black Lantern Spectre and Black Lantern Deadman!? Holy crap how’s that going to work out? I loved writer Peter J. Tomasi’s take on Boston Brand in the Batman Blackest Night series and he has been fantastic on Green Lantern Corps [ both are series worth checking out if you haven’t already ] so judging a book by its cover I am very psyched for this book.

•Wolverine Weapon x #9: With this book all I have to say is Jason Aaron. His hard hitting crime/Native American Reservation series Scalped from Vertigo is one of my favorites currently being published. When I heard he was writing his own Wolverine titled I was really excited. Having already done a few runs on the main Wolvie book a little while back and with his brutal/gritty writing style translating well to the character how could I not be? Then he used Maverick in the opening storyline!…who was ruined in the movie btw [ he’s my favorite mutant character but I’ll save the fanboy stuff for later ]. The second and current arc reads more like a horror comic than your regular superhero story, which may be a tun off for some readers but has totally got me hooked. With Wolverine locked in an asylum, like something out of a Rob Zombie movie, his brain is being fiddled with, yet again, causing him not to remember how or why he’s there in the first place. Through brutal torture after torture Logan is put through a wringer that only he can survive. As his memories have started returning in the form of night terrors he has started fighting back against the crazed Dr. Rottwell and his Silent Hill -esque victims. Yanick Paquette’s heavy blacks and bold lines are reminiscent of Duncan Fegredo’s  style in the last few Hellboy arcs of that series. After the last few issues there is no way that this storyline will end in a non-blood spattered wince-inducing happy kind of way. It wont be for the squeamish. Oh yea, from judging by the cover there are X-Men in it too.

how can you not want to read this too!?!

Also Jeff Smith’s RASL #6 will be out tomorrow [ it comes out once in a Blue Moon ] and it has Frankenstein on page #1…so you know I want to read that too. But I figured that would be a given since this series has been something that both Rob and I talk about all the time.

Little did I know this week when I pulled Amazing Spider-Man #617 off the rack that I was in for a treat. Joe Kelly’s latest offering in the saga of the Spider is a touching and heartfelt story with everyone’s favorite misunderstood member of the Sinister Six – the Rhino.

While Kelly was busy painting what might be the most poignant story of his career, with his words, Max Fiumara added masterful art that complimented this issue perfectly.

Issue 617 is part of the current Gauntlet storyline in Amazing Spider-Man, with the preceding installments featuring Sandman and Electro. I am not really sure what to make of the overall arc so far. It seems to be an updating of the whereabouts of the Sinister Six, beginning unofficially back in issue #600 with Doctor Octopus.

Basically each of Spidey’s former enemies are finding their way back into his life, but this time with a new twist. Basically these old characters are aging and we are getting a glimpse into what’s new with them. For Electro, its all about power (as always) and for the Sandman (perhaps taking a page from Spider-Man 3), its all about family.

Neither however hits the emotional notes of one Aleksei Sytsevich or better known as the Rhino, to you and I. I don’t want to give anything away, this issue is that good.

At the end of the tale, there is an extra Rhino tale called “The Walk” by Kelly and artist Javier Pulido that catches us all up on what Alexsei has been doing before this issue starts.

I know a lot of people have sworn off Spidey since his deal with the devil. And it really has been awhile since this book was as good as it was during Straczynski’s heyday, but this issue really rivals it. So do yourself a favor and pick up this issue, you will be the better for it.

There are two comics that will be sitting on the shelves tomorrow that I am very much lookin’ forward to reading:
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The first issue of Marvel’s newest event mini-series – Siege came out recently.  The series promises to deliver at a faster pace than Marvel’s other events.  House of M was a tad slow, Civil War and World War Hulk were relatively concise but stretched out at times and Secret Invasion could have been told in four issues and made for a better read.

After an opening scene which blatantly steals some opening elements from Civil War, Siege moves as quickly and powerfully as it’s namesake.  Norman is going off the deep end and burning bridges in the process.  The first issue hit the mark and it’s going to be a lot of fun watching Osborn’s crumble around him.  I know some are sad to see the Dark Reign story come to an end, but I really think it has run it’s course.

Here’s a checklist of all the related titles. [ Click To Enlarge Image ]

King City is written and illustrated by Brandon Graham – one of a the Meathaus artist collective (other members include Bipolar creator Tomer Hanuka, Konichi Hoshine and Fables cover artist James Jean).  He is also the author and illustrator of Oni Press’ Multiple Warheads (which he says he will continue when King City Volume 2 is complete). King City was originally published in a manga format by Tokyopop and is now finding a second life in an oversize format at Image Comics.

In his own words King City is about “…a guy who carries around a fat cat that can do absolutely anything if given the right injection. It’s a spy comic about trying to be a good friend and getting over heartbreak.”

The books sense of humor and imagination are unlike anything else out there right now. Fantastic wordplay and ideas on every page matched with a very unique style.

Tokyo Pop has several chapters readable online (embedded below for your convenience).

King City now appears monthly from Image Comics. Issues 1-4 available now. (Black and white oversize, $2.99)

You can see more of Brandon’s work on his Deviantart page here.

Daytripper is the latest offering from the Eisner award-winning duo of Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon.  If the first issue is any indication (currently available at Brave New Worlds), we are in for quite a ride.

It’s a story about an obituary writer, which has to be a tough gig writing about other people’s lives, who are no longer living.  As you might guess, our main character – Bras de Oliva Domingos – is looking for more out of life, but by the first issue’s end he gets more than he bargains for – to the shock of everyone, including us faithful readers.

If you are looking for something a little different or want a change of pace from the usual capes of mainstream comics or darker theme books from Vertigo or other independents,  give Daytrippers a chance, you should be pleasantly surprised.

Ba and Moon, the creative team behind Dark Horse’s Umbrella Academy, do not disappoint.

Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Punisher), Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan).

The book follows a CIA outfit nicknamed “The Boys” whose job it is to monitor and if necessary take down super powered people operating in the United States.  Expect all of the class and wholesomeness of Garth Ennis’ previous titles.

5 trades and 2 hard cover editions are currently available.