Around the web

This month’s featured web comic is titled “SAGA,” and comes from Close Call Comics.  Writing and art credits for the comic were not listed anywhere on the site, but the characters were the property of Maxime Garbarini.  So, let’s assume that is who is responsible for the comic.  There are currently 59 entries in Season 1, and I went through all of them.

The story is set during World War 2, and is about a group of people that have gained super-powers from an electromagnetic phenomenon in the Himalayas.  An English scientist, after discovering that his kids have powers, tries to discover others with abilities so that my may examine them.  We later find out that the Nazis are also trying to find these people with powers, after they kidnap the English scientists wife and kids.  There of course are more details to the story, but that’s the gist of things.

First off, what’s good about this comic, the art.  I was actually surprised by how good the art is.  It reminded me a little bit of Frank Quietly.  Each character has their own unique look, and is easily recognizable.  Unfortunately, that’s is about all I found to be good with with comic.  The story is often a disjointed mess.  For the first 34 episodes, every odd episode was some bit of information (stuff you see as bonus material in comic books) or a random shot of some scenery, and every even page was a page of story.  On the story pages, they would have a panel at the top of the page, the title, and then the rest of the panels.  However, the title appeared with the normal webpage background, so it took me several pages to realize that I had actually been skipping the first panel of most of the story pages.  And with those story pages, it wasn’t until episode 36 that one story page started where the previous page left off.  This made it very difficult to follow the story, and grow attached to the characters.  And since I wasn’t attached to the characters, I didn’t really feel anything for them when they were put in danger.  Also not helping matters is that I think this a French comic that has been translated into English, that is sometimes a very rough translation.

In conclusion, I don’t recommend reading this web comic.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from all of us at Comicdom Wrecks.  The following is a part of the “Comfort and Joy” episode of Justice League.

 

Or, if you don’t celebrate Christmas, Merry X-Mas to you.  The following clip is from the “Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas” episode of X-Men.

The Greatest Baseball Game in the History of Baseball or Comics

I am ashamed that I have not heard of the story within DC  Super-Stars #10 (1976) until now.  I came across an entry in HardballTalk, that directed me to an entry in Baseball Prospectus, that finally directed me to the detailed account of the baseball game at The Comic Treadmill.  In a nutshell, a group of super-heroes and a group of super-villains are recruited to play a baseball game.  At stake is whether or not Huntress will fight crime (heroes win) or remain a villain (villains win).  What follows is the greatest baseball game ever.  No disrespect to Young Justice #27.  I encourage you to read the full recap at The Comic Treadmill.  If you don’t have time for that, Baseball Prospectus has an abridged version of the The Comic Treadmill entry, along with some of their own original material.

Civil War Re-enactment

Earlier today, Marvel announced that they would be launching a new line of prose novels of their most popular stories of all time.  The first novel, to be released in June 2012, will be Civil War, and is being adapted by Stuart Moore.  There is currently no word on what other novels would be released.

My question is why Civil War?  I’ll admit that I didn’t really like Civil War.  I’m just not a fan of the whole “hero vs. hero” thing.  Which is probably why I find it difficult to believe that the non-comic reading, Marvel fan would be interested in something like this.  It also seems like an odd choice to release a Civil War novel so close to the release of The Avengers movie.  How do you advertise it?  “You just saw your favorite heroes team-up to fight evil, now read about them fighting each other.”  Or, “you just saw Captain America fight to save his country, now see him fight against his country.”  Or, “if you’re tired of liking Iron Man, then read about him becoming an insufferable douchebag in Civil War.”

Aside from the odd timing with the movie, I find this an odd choice based on who they have to be marketing this to.  Civil War hasn’t been around for very long, but it already seems irrelevant to today’s status quo (politely correct me if I’m wrong).  So, this can’t be a tool to bring in new readers.  Also, Civil War sold so well that any Marvel readers that may be interested probably already have it.  Personally, I think if Marvel really wanted to get people buy more Marvel products, they should have gone with a simpler, maybe older story.  Don’t ask me what, because my history isn’t very good.  But something that shows the heroes being heroes.

Crossover Madness

This month’s featured crossover is Superman:  Sacrifice.  I’ve selected this crossover because it is a good example of how poor execution can derail what would have otherwise been a well written story. While the collected trade has 8 issues in total, we’ll be dealing with the main four issues that were initially titled “Sacrifice.”  The other four issues in the collection deal with a little setup, but mostly reaction to the “Sacrifice” story.

Sacrifice

Issues: Superman #219, Action Comics #829, Adventures of Superman # 642, Wonder Woman #219

Writers:  Greg Rucka, Mark Verheiden, Gail Simone

Always mindful of spoilers, the summary and review are after the break. 

Top 5

In this month’s edition we are counting down the top 5 Batman villains that have never appeared in a movie.  In making this list, I did consider the possible usefulness in a movie that the character possesses.

5.	Killer Croc	First Comics Appearance:  Detective Comics #523 Thoughts on use in a movie:  Killer Croc is a character that doesn’t make sense to use with his current crocodile appearance, but if you were to use his older, or cartoon appearance, he’d make the perfect character to use as the muscle sidekick to a smarter main villain.  For example, he could have been used instead of Bane in Batman & Robin.  You could have Croc be a friend to Poison Ivy, and not turn the villain that organized the demise of Batman into a mindless creature.
4.	Ventriloquist	First Comics Appearance:  Detective Comics #583 Thoughts on use in a movie:  With the Ventriloquist, I think there is a lot of potential to explore a criminal with multiple personalities, where one of the personalities is personified as Scarface.  Could Ventriloquist carry a movie?  Not likely, but in the hands of a capable actor, it could be a very chilling character.
3.	Mad Hatter	First Comics Appearance:  Batman #49 Thoughts on use in a movie:  I am a fan of Alice In Wonderland, and think that watching Batman having to go through Wonderland themed challenges would be an enjoyable movie.  I don’t think I’d make him a pedophile like Grant Morrison did in the Arkham Asylum graphic novel, but I would include some obsession with children.
2.	Clayface	First Comics Appearance:  Detective Comics #40 Thoughts on use in a movie:  I think if Clayface were to appear in a movie, it would have to be the original version of him, Basil Karlo.  He was an actor that murdered people while wearing a mask of the villain named Clayface, in a movie.  Personally, I think the logical choice would be to adjust it to make him a master of disguise.
1.	Dr. Hugo Strange	First Comics Appearance:  Detective Comics #36 Thoughts on use in a movie:  Dr. Strange is one of the few people that have figured out Batman’s secret identity.  Being a chemesist, a Dr. Strange story would have to center around some type of poison, or mind control, that threatens the city.  He’s the perfect “smarter main villain” to be paired with a brute of a villain.

Honorable Mention: Anarky, Black Mask, Calendar Man, Deadshot, Hush.

Happy Birthday To Me

Yesterday was my birthday, and this is the cookie cake that my wonderful wife got for me.

 

Yes, that’s a Green Lantern, M&M cookie cake.  What’s more impressive is that the lady who prepared this cake used only green M&Ms to match the theme of it.  Guess it’s good to be well liked by the lady that runs the Cookie Shop.

Random Speculation? It’s Coming

I found the preceding image on the Robot 6, and had to comment.  I love Marvel teases as much as anyone that doesn’t actually buy any Marvel comics can, so some random speculation is in order.  (Although I have read the X-books since Messiah Complex, even though I’m behind on the Regenesis.)  Now, I’m not talking about speculating that it has something to do with Hope Summers or Jean Grey.  That’s not random at all.

• The Phoenix Force comes and reboots, I mean destroys the 616 universe, and rebuilds it as it, or its host see fit.  If this were to happen, I don’t think I could stop laughing for some time.
• I saw a panel from the Point One comic that was released that showed what is believed to be the Phoenix Force flying through space.  However, this was one was blue and not the traditional red.  Perhaps this wasn’t the Phoenix Force and is really the Dove Force, and it is going to inhabit someone in order to fight the Phoenix.
• The Phoenix doesn’t inhabit Hope, or bring back Jean Grey, but instead, it inhabits Cyclops.  With this new power, Cyclops sets out to create a world that is safe for mutants.  Wolverine feels that he’s the only one that can stop him, and we get closer to how X-Men:  The Last Stand should have ended.  Unfortunately, Wolverine is still part of the equation, but this time it makes sense.
• What appears to be the Phoenix is actually the spirit of Johnny Storm (even if he was resurrected in Fantastic Four #600).  Unfortunately, heroes are not ones to avoid the simple misunderstanding battle, and they attack and kill Johnny Storm again.  Reed Richards, trying to stop things, finally creates a device that ends the universe.  Thankfully, Franklin Richards has moved beyond simple living on this plane of reality and is able to recreate the universe.  Sure, this doesn’t really include the X-Men, but that’s the bait and switch.

What I don’t want to see is that whatever the Phoenix Force does reunites the two X-factions.  I think bringing them back together this quickly would be a huge waste of time.  Please add your own hopes/fears/random thoughts in the comments section.

While random speculation is fun, we’ll find out more actual information about what this event is on Wednesday afternoon.

Panel of the Month

The “Panel of the Month” for November comes from Justice League Dark #3.  In the panel are Deadman and June Moone.

Spot The Error

We’re going to play a little game to see if you can spot the error in the panel below.  Today’s panel comes from Superman #3.  The background that you need to know is that on the previous page, the weatherman said that the temperature was 84 degrees.  Sorry for the poor picture quality.  Am working on getting access to a scanner soon.  Good luck, answer is below the break.