Happy Birthday Krazy and Ignatz

It was on this day in 1910 that two famous comic strip characters made their debut in another comic strip. George Herrimen's The Dingbat Family was the starting block for his most famous creations Krazy Kat and Ignatz mouse.

At the bottom of each panel of the Dingbat's family's July 26th offering, another story was taking place, that of a mouse assaulting a cat by throwing something at it's head. This marked the beginning of something special.

George Herriman we salute you! - AA

What I Got and Why 22/07/10

Valhallahan
Atlas #3 - The third-to-last issue of Atlas, which is being cancelled at #5 because readers are dumb and Marvel would rather publish 17 different fucking Deadpool series' a month than something good. Adios Atlas, apparently you weren’t "random" enough, people would rather read about a shitty red ninja making dated pop culture references. Marvel and I are no longer BFFs.

Batman Streets Of Gotham #14 - To my mind, the best of the core Batman titles at the moment, using Batman sparingly to great effect, each storyline focussing on a different denizen of New York's ugly sister. This series is essentially a continuation of Paul Dini's superlative run on Detective Comics
prior to the whole Batman RIP fiasco. Very happy to see that although Man Hunter has finished, we're still getting back up stories.

Prince of Power #3 - Loving this series. It's not great value for money, but it made me laugh aloud on a rush hour train to Kings Cross. I looked like a right twat.

Hellblazer #269 - I’m really enjoying Hellblazer at the moment. This story is kicking the shit out of John, and with any good Hellblazer story, John's loss is the reader's Gain.

Walking Dead #75 - TWD twice in one month? Don't mind if I damn well do! The full-colour back up strip is a doozy that pays off something from #7!

I was hoping to get CBGB #1 but I couldn't see it.

Muktuk Wolfsbreath: Hard-Boiled Shaman

Valhallahan
Before some kind citizen bought me the Vertigo Encyclopaedia (or as I call it, The Shopping List) my only method of tracking down these hidden gems were in the in house ads or "On the Ledge" columns in older books that I already had, or just trawling through the long boxes in shops that still have them. One advert screamed out at me: "Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard Boiled Shaman: a supernatural detective story set in the Siberian Wilderness".

"To the Longbox Valhallahan!"

After much rooting through the longboxes, of the comic shops of London Town, I managed to find... nothing! No trace of it anywhere, and thus I discovered that Muktuk Wolfsbreath is truly a bitch to find. Eventually, though I’m loathe to, I sought out the book shop wot lives in the internet and after about a year on a waiting list, the universe decided to spew up a few full sets at a reasonable price. I ordered and impatiently waited. The setting of the story is intentionally vague, but it’s safe to say it’s a long time gone. It’s reindeer skin and dog sled times.

Muktuk is a grizzled old Shaman, living in a yurt out in the Siberian wilderness, a sort of deer skinned John Constantine; a cross between Sam Spade, Doctor Strange and Grizzly Adams. Muktuk’s only real companion is his cranky (and generally slightly sozzled) animal spirit guide. Using his wits, general distrusting nature and all kinds of potions, lotions and hallucinogens, he gets himself in and out of some nasty business involving a mysterious ex-squeeze and some supernatural unpleasantness. Sensing a disturbance in the force, so to speak, Muktuk goes on the look out for the source of these nightmares, and bumps into the aforementioned old flame in a nearby settlement with a dark secret.

I like the representation of Magic in this story, it’s all psychotropics and talismans (talismen?) animal guides, and trips to the spirit world. The characterisations are a pleasure to read, it’s just a shame that there doesn’t seem to be more Muktuk available (though I’ll keep looking). The juxtaposition of the Film Noir genre elements and the tribal setting are a masterstroke that sit so well with each other that it makes you wonder why no one else has done it so successfully. To me it is much more effective than something like Northlanders, where I find the anachronistic elements detract from the story. The art is pitched at a great level, conveying the stark realities of living in the frozen countryside and the fantasism of Muktuk’s other world with equal aplomb (yeah, that’s right, juxtaposition and aplomb in the same paragraph. I’ve got a degree don’cha know).

Essentially what I’m saying is it's fucking good and it’s fucking weird. Catch it if you can!

Four and a half Shamonic Siberian Speedballs out of five.

**Update: I found another strip online. The hunt continues...

X-Women: Like X-Men but European and Pornier

X-Women
Story by Chris Claremont
Art by Milo Manara

Valhallahan
As you may know, Marvel has branded 2010 it's "Year of Women" and have decided to spotlight the other half of the global population for a change, which has mainly consisted of one-shots and mini series spotlighting women creators and/or characters; It's an odd thing; a slightly patronising concept that has yielded some nonsense, and some internet chatter, but mainly some pretty decent comic books. I found Girl Comics to be hit and miss, but what anthology isn't? And the recent Namora One-Shot was pretty good despite it being another fucking submarine story. I skipped on Heralds and Firestar, but what I've seen of the artwork has me regretting that, and I hear Dazzler was fun. The less said about Her-oes the better.

Anyway... This brings us to X-Women; A kind of a cheat because it was commissioned by Marvel's European publishers, and reprinted here. It's a One shot by legendary X-Men scribe Chis Claremont and drawn by popular European artist Milo Manara. The story sta- Waitafugginminute! Did that say Milo Manara? Italian porno comics Milo Manara? Vatican erotica Milo Manara? "The Smutty Sexcapades of the Invisible Nympho" Milo Manara? Doing X Men... With Chris Claremont?

That makes no fucking sense whatsoever.

So obviously I bought it

I must admit that being a naturally curious and red bloodedly pretentious teen it was not my first encounter with Manara's work, but certainly the tamest. I won’t get into it too much now, but I am of the opinion that editors are good. Editors are needed. And sometimes a little self censorship. Look at the work produced by Warren Ellis for example; arguably his best work is done when he has to behave and try and write a story that can be printed by a mainstream company. Does anyone but the die hard read all his Avatar Press stuff?*

So enough about the creative team, is it any good? Yes it is actually. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot is... I forget. Basically it's an excuse for an eastern adventure romp; beautiful women, exotic locations, roguishly charming pirates and naughty villains whao are probably foreign. The X-Women are cast as (somewhat more nubile) Tintins trying to stop Nefarious McBadgirl from launching her deadly McGuffinator in deepest darkest Madripoor. Manara excels drawing the exotic locales and shockingly, the action sequences. The underlying perviness does detract from it a bit, but it's more because you know Manara's previous form (I think it's worth noting that they don’t have a list of his other publications alongside Joe Quesada’s Afterword). It really made me want to read some more non-porn Manara.

Oh, I almost forgot the sheer lameness of the Storm as Tina Turner karaoke scene. Cringe.

Two pasties, a clam shell and a fascinator out of a possible full frontal.

*Answer: No

What I Got and Why 15/07/10

Valhallahan

After a lacklustre week a couple of weeks ago and an I-spent-all-my-money-at-Gypsy-Hotel-so-couldn’t-buy-comics week the week after that, I'm here once again with a what I got and Why, which strangely has no overlap with Action Ash's. Okeydokey, here we...

Sweet Tooth #11 - Continuing to be intriguing and exciting and charmingly disturbing.

Scalped #39 - ‘Nuff Said.

X-Women - Novelty Value. See Review.

iZombie #3 - I’m really just getting this for the art. The story has enough to keep me interested, but some of the cutesy stuff like the were-terrier would normally be a big turn off for me.

Gorilla Man #1 - I was explaining this one in the pub: "It’s a man who's been turned into a gorilla, who's also a secret agent fighting a man with talking tumours of his ancestors for the head of Lucretia Borgia". That shit just sells itself.

The Walking Dead #74 - I heartily recommend this series to everyone. Start at book one and see if you can stop yourself from reading the lot. 74 issues and still going strong.

Jonah Hex #57 - I actually managed to get a copy this week which is nice, and it’s a Jordi Bernett issue so win/win! Thank you Orbital, now I've got my mean disfigured sonofabitch quota for the week without having to set foot in my local.

Daytripper #8 - This has been a great series. Interesting premise, lovely art, it's kind of pretentious, but really worth your time. This is a great alternative to superheroes and crime fiction.

I would be getting Shadowland, but a combination of Billy Tan art and not having finished Brubaker's DD run mean I’m just going to borrow it of Ash. Nice Cassaday covers though. I meant to get Scarlet, but I clearly wasn't that bothered as I forgot to look for it in either of the shops I went to.

God Hates Nerds? San Diego Westboro Special!

Valhallahan
Them crazy backwards hate mongers at Westboro Baptist Church seem to have their sights on us geeks this year, having clearly decided that the US military are too fucking hard they're aiming to share their own brand of Christianity and their homespun homophobia with us comic book readers. Because God Hates Nerds!

Obvious really.

Having seen this image in the article I read about the proposed picket of San Diego Comic Con something about the sign struck me as peculiar. I've read ROM #9 and I don't remember any of that on page 13. Let's have a look.

See? No reference whatsoever. It's clearly ROM fighting Serpentyne for the right to slay wraiths on Earth.

I bet they feel silly now.

The Mystery of Jet-Man Comics No10 - An Action Ash adventure

Earlier today, while in my local comic shop, I was routing through the back issues and came across a fairly old and interesting looking comic. It was called Jet-Man Comics No10. After closer inspection I found it was from 1946. It was the oldest comic I'd ever seen let alone touched, however it wasn't worth much, being British reprints of American material.

It contained the following:

Rocketman -Exactly what it sounds like. A man with a rocket on his back that fights crime. He also has a sidekick called Rocketgirl. Technically they were portrayed more like an equal team but obviously, being a woman, she's not good enough to be billed in the title. (JOKE! Before I start getting e-mails claiming I'm misogynist.)

Master Key - A rich playboy who has X-ray vision and fires beams of light that seem to burn from his eyes.

Happy Landing - Comedy about a soldier on leave visiting his girlfriend.

Johnny on the spot - A kid who happens to come across crime and then combats it with his gimpy friends.

And last of all Punch and Cutey - The adventures of a dim witted boxer and his tough nut sister.

There were also two prose one pagers in there titled Loan Shark Bait and Six Shooter Surprise.

Did you notice something?
That's right, no sign of the titular character, the aforementioned Jet-Man. I was intrigued and had to purchase this strange gem. The small print in the back of the book claimed it was Unusual Comics #2, so when I was at home with the magic of the Internet at hand, I began investigating.

After extensive searching I found something out. Neither Jet-Man nor Unusual Comics seemed to exist! This was strange when you consider the fact that even the most obscure comic books and characters from the Golden Age have at least a small paragraph of info on the Net. I was just about to give up when the results of a google search of character names from this enigmatic book, yielded an intriguing result. All of the characters had appeared together in Punch Comics.

Digging further I found the list of all the stories from the strange comic I now owned, and they were all in the same issue. Punch Comics #16. I'd found it! I had solved the mystery. I had a copy of Punch Comics #16 with the wrong cover and minus a story named Speedy Wheeler Saves the Day and Wins a Bike.

Yet the biggest mystery remains unsolved: Who is Jet-Man?

I wonder if I'll ever know. - AA

What I got and Why

Action Ash
I thought I'd do a 'what I got and why' this week, because I want to and you can't stop me.

Amazing Spider-man #637 - Loving the Grim Hunt, as everyone knows because I keep banging on about it. This has definitely got me back into Spider-man, and I can't wait to see how it ends.

Hawks of Outremer #2 - I've already read this one and enjoyed it. Not as much as I liked the first one but I could tell this ish was needed to help the story along. Also now Cormac has a companion so it will be interesting to see what kind of bloody havoc they wreak together.

Daredevil #508 - Not a regular reader of this but I wanted to follow the Shadowland storyline. The art looks nice and I'll probably follow it at least until Shadowland is over.

Conan #22 - The second Howard inspired title this week. Been following this since issue 0. It got a bit boring a little while back but now it's picking up again. This is the start of a new story arc.

X-Men Second Coming #2 - Final part of Second Coming. It's been a fun ride but now it's time to end.

Mystery Society #2 - The art in the first one was great but I wasn't sure if the story was interesting enough. So I intend to find out. Hopefully it's good.

X-Force: Sex and Violence #1 - The current X-Force run has yet to disappoint me so I couldn't pass up this lovely looking package.

Joker's Asylum 2

I'm a big fan of Batman, but not a regular reader, I tend to go for things on the periphery of the Bat-Mythos, like Gotham Central so when DC put out The Joker's Asylum One-Shots the other year, I was totally the target market. I picked them up, and unsurprisingly they were a mixed bag, but on the whole they were pretty good reads. In 2008 they put out single issues for The Joker (odd), The Penguin (good), The Scare Crow (intriguing), Two Face (experimental) and Poison Ivy (shite). And here I am happy to see they've come back again this year with another five stories, this time focusing on a different five villains. Looking at the list you can see that they used up the A-List on the last go round unfortunately, but I still figured I'd give it a try so I roped in my trusty Co-Bad Guy to assist in this endeavour. Here’s our twopenneth:

The Riddler - The Riddler has always been one of my least favourite members of Batman‘s rogues gallery, so it was with very little enthusiasm that I picked up this issue. I’m glad I did though, because it’s quite an interesting concept for a story. The entire book is a riddle, which like last year’s Two Face story leaves the ending up to the reader. I imagine this can be quite frustrating, but it’s also fun. This does have the unfortunate side effect of making the reader feel like a right thicko if they don’t guess the mystery man in the story. My guess is Two-Face by the way. VH

Harley Quinn - Harley is a fun, enjoyable and amusing character, but she's also a psycho killer. That seems to be what people forget. That's exactly what this story does. It concentrates on her wacky side with a pointless, kind of fun, little adventure and ignores the more interesting, darker side of the character. It's a shame because it could have been nice to see her as something other than the comic relief sidekick of the Joker. It was fun, but ultimately pointless. AA

The Mad Hatter - This book, like the Riddler and last year’s Penguin stories show the character falling in love. This is the sweet tale of one man’s all-consuming obsessive and potentially murderous obsession with an innocently oblivious stranger. This is The Hatter at his absolute creepiest, with suitably demented art from the partnership of Keith Giffen and Billl Sienkovicz (though I would’ve liked to see Seinkovicz on his own). VH

Clayface - Clayface is another character I've never had any real fondness for; I like Batman's villains to be mobsters, crooks and serial killers; shape-shifting mud-men? No thanks, take 'em to Metropolis. Too Sci-Fi by half. If it weren't for a sense of completion and the promise of Kelley Jones Art I probably wouldn't buy it. So I didn't. VH

I, on the other hand, like the idea of Clayface. I like the way Batman's rogue gallery ranges from drug dealing mobsters to crazy Sci-Fi shape-shifting mudmen and violent cannibalistc reptile men (which I will discuss next). Afterall, he does live in a world that revolves around superheroes. The story is a good and interesting one and the ending is surprising because *Highlight for Spoilers* Clayface actually wins, in a manner of speaking, and manages to escape.
Kelley Jones is the man! His art in this book is fantastic as usual. AA

Killer Croc - Is another character I like the idea of but know little about. This tale was good. Not amazing, not shit, but good. It just feels like I will of forgotten about it in a few days. It's not terribly original in execution with the cliche ending ("They're the monsters not me"), however it does keep your interest, even though you can see the twist (if you can call it that) coming. Visuals are pleasing and work well with the story. I think they could have done something more interesting with the character and story, they way they did with The Riddler and Two Face. AA

Makes you wonder, Wonder Woman!

Valhallahan
Yeah... I’m not a fan.

I'm all for having alternate looks. If it weren't for sartorial changes, we'd still have a massive-eared, purple gloved Batman, a Grey Hulk, Steam Punk Iron Man, Red and Yellow Dare Devil and Top Hat Dead Shot to name a few. On the other hand, we'd never have had Blue Superman, Armoured Spider-Man, Red Superman, Armoured Dare Devil, Mullet Superman, Armoured Captain America, Punk Superman or Armoured John Constantine... OK, I made the last two up.

Sometimes these things work and are taken on permanently, like the aforementioned Dare Devil's full red unitard, sometimes they work for a little while, but clearly have a shelf life, like Spidey's Black Costume, or Bucky-Cap. Oddest of all are the characters that are always changing their looks, like The Wasp or the ever changing Iron Man Armours, or I dunno, all people ever. I'm not even mentioning Hank Pym, Marvel's answer to Mr Benn.

DC want to shake up Wonder Woman for the new decade - new costume, new (dubious sounding) origin. They've tried to make the costume hip, 'Now' and edgy, so they've gone to the cutting edge, renowned fashion-forward costume designer... Jim Lee? WTF? Now when marvel wanted to make a statement about super women's fashion, they hired "Shawn Dudley, the Emmy-Award Winning Costume Designer for TV's Guiding Light". Now, I don’t know what Guiding Light is, but I know what an award winning costume designer is, and what it is, is a better idea than hiring Jim "just add a jacket and some straps" Lee, even if he is your new Co-Publisher.

This Wonder Woman design isn't awful, but it's a flash in the pan if ever I saw one, and a foolish one too. I mean the original is ridiculous and impractical, but damn, it's iconic! It's fantastically kitch. This new one seems like a cross between 90s Avengers Costumes and Buffy the Budget TV Show Super Hero (I think that's what the show was called). No fucker's going to buy merch from that.

Harrumph!

Holy Spider Shit!

Action Ash
I just read part 2 of The Grim Hunt Spider-man storyline and Holy Shit is that some ultra-violence right there!

I'm really loving this story and I think it's the grimmest they've ever written for young Peter Parker. Spidey is really being tormented physically and mentally and the end of part two left me wondering how the fuck he's going to get out of this one.

*Highlight for spoilers*

Is Spidey dead now or what? I just saw him get shot twice, mauled by a Lion man, stabbed and impaled on a spear, before being finished off with a knife to the heart, to be sacrificed so Kraven could be resurrected.

Wtf happens now?!?!

Black Fury in the Old West

Pale Horse #1 of 4
Story by Andrew Cosby
Written by Michael Alan Nelson
Art by Christian Dibari

Action Ash
It seems like the Western genre is back in comics in a big way. There seems to be a growing number of titles, the latest one being Pale Horse by BOOM! studios. It's only a four parter but the first ish was a good'n.

The story is of a black man named Cole. He is married (presumably) to a native American woman who is raped and murdered, leaving behind a baby son and a furious lover. After dealing with the transgressors, we join Cole and his son (who looks remarkably white for the offspring of a black guy and a native American) as they make a living bounty hunting as well as being outlaws themselves.

I thought it was going to be a simple revenge tale at first, but by the end of the book you know something else is going on and it will probably end in lashings of bloodshed.

Art is nice, reminding me a bit of someone else who I can't quite put my finger on. Also the colour palette is great, and gives the book a old western feel with a grimness to it that can't be ignored.

3 and a half rapists having their throats slit and being made to watch themselves die in a mirror out of 5

On the pulse!

Action Ash

"Stronger than a whale he can swim anywhere,
he can breath underwater and go flying through the air"

That's right suck bags.
Hark, for the Sub-Mariner is back with his own ongoing series this August. It's penned by Stuart Moore and scribbled by Ariel Olivetti with a cover by Jae Lee and a variant by Quesada himself.

I, a fan of the ankle winged aqua king, am quite excited!
Unfortunately it's going to be tied up with the X-Men vampire shit that's coming our way, which is a bit of a bummer. I don't think Namor works with the X-Men, especially with the tenuous link that is the "Atlanteans are mutants too" idea.
Hopefully after the Vampire thing has run it's course Namor will get to go his own way, for incredible underwater adventures and tales of pomp and pageantry in the vein of Stan Lee's version of the character. Alas, I do not think this will come true, however it could still be good.

Imperius Rex!

Valhallahan's Comic Book Fortnight!

Valhallahan

I haven't done the 'What I Got & Why' the last two weeks, partially because it's been real slim pickin's on the new books front for me, and partially because I've been as busy as a nightclub urinal. I thought by way of recompense, I'd give you lovely people my week (or two) of comics -

*Insert Theme Tune*

Well... the week before last (remember that?) I had mini Marvel week. Just four books, all from The House of Ideas. Just one company, but quite a selection; I picked up Gay Cowboys (Rawhide Kid #1), trippy insects in the astral plane (Spider-Man Fever #3), the adventures of a teenage CEO (Prince of Power #2) and the comparatively pedestrian-sounding superhero vs Nazis (Captain America #606). As I've mentioned before, I was loving Fever and it finished as it started, Cap's still going strong (remarkably, after this long a run), as is PoP. Rawhide Kid was, well... a bit shit to be honest.

Unlike the rest of the comic book reading world, I rather enjoyed the first Rawhide Kid mini that Zimmerman did a few years ago (which ridiculously earned a "Mature Readers" rating due to a bit of mild innuendo and a homosexual lead) I picked up all the issues in a bargain bin a couple of years ago and was pleasantly surprised. Here, however, Chaykin continues his descent into CG hackerey and the stunted scripting does it no favours, never feeling like flowing conversation. Even the innuendos are poorly conceived and executed, which is half the fun for something that's clearly aiming to be a mixture of A Fistful of Dollars and Carry On Camping. I'd give it two (rusty) sheriff's badges of five; one of which is solely for the Ghost Rider scene - not awful, but disappointing.

I couldn't find a copy of Jonah Hex #55, but the giant wheel of comic book karma saw fit to guide me to Oxfam in Hertford where I picked up a bunch of 70s and 80s issues for a steal. So far I've read the one about Carnies and I'm saving the rest to do some kind of Hex then and now with Action Ash in the coming weeks.

Then to Edinburgh, where I braved many bars and several portions of haggis to pick up DV8: Gods and Monsters #3, which focuses on Mr Hector Morales; the mopey Deviant; and Daytripper #7 which sees the darkest story so far (which is saying something for a book whose protagonist is an obituary writer whose death concludes each episode). Both good issues, DV8 dragging a little bit, but I'm still interested to see where the story's headed. I also learned that Forbidden Planet Edinburgh is nice but a little on the small side. Weirdly, it didn’t Have Hellblazer #267 or The Walking Dead # 73, so I picked them up elsewhere. I shouldn’t need to tell you why I got those, or that they were good at this point.

On my (long-arse) up and down journey I read Luna Park which I bought for the gorgeous fucking art of Danijel Zezelj (and wasn't disappointed) and Johnny Dynamite: Underworld which was a rip-roaring pulp adventure purchased from the bargain bin at a comic convention a month or two ago. I'll post up bits on them later. I also finished The Maltese Falcon and ate some sandwiches from M&S, but this isn't really the arena for that, 'cause there weren't no pictures.

The Grim Hunt Begins!

Spider-Man #634
The Grim Hunt Part 1
Written by Joe Kelly
Art by Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano

Action Ash
Grim Hunt has begun and it is pretty cool! I haven't read Spider-man in years but I had to pick this up and try it. I'm glad I did because I wasn't disappointed.

Kraven's kin are out for Spider blood and will stop at nothing till all the Spider related heroes are dead.

I was gripped from the start and was left wanting more. The story was well written and even though I haven't been following Spidey it was easy to get into and I didn't feel lost at any point.

The artwork is fantastic and soooo different to the Spider-Man aesthetic I'm used to. A far cry from the colourful silver age style adventures, it was a much darker more mature take on the web slinger. I suppose you could say it was "grim" at parts and therefore really suited the story. It was very noir "adult comics" so Valhallahan will probably want to marry it.

Also there's two back up features. The first, entitled Hunting the Hunter was mediocre and left me with no great sense of pleasure or displeasure. The second was an interesting two pager from Stan Lee himself. It's 12 part series, so it should be interesting to see where Lee takes it.

4 Russians chasing a guy in a red and blue leotard out of 5

Slack Cat

Black Cat #1 of 4
Written by Jen Van Meter
Art by Javier Pulido

Action Ash
It's fun.
There's not much more to say on this book. The story was hardly boner worthy, but I did enjoy it. I used to like the character back in the days of the 90's Spider-man cartoon, but apart from that I've not really had any exposure to her.

This issue makes her seem fairly two dimensional and not really interesting enough to hold her own. The most interesting thing about her seems to be that she's shagging Spider-man and therefore, left me feeling that she should remain in a supporting role in the web head's many titles.

However the artwork is fantastic. Pulido has done a great job bringing the story a retro charm and a great aesthetic that nearly masks the lack of interesting plot.

The highlight of this disappointing affair is the extra in the back of the book, in the form of a prologue to The Grim Hunt, the new Spider-man arc that started this month. It looks Super Geil!

In summary it's not that bad... but it's not that good either. Art is great. Not sure if I'll pick up the next ish or not.

2 and a half stolen Faberge eggs out of a whole collection of 5

'nuff said!

New Avengers is back with a vengeance

New Avengers #1
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen

Action Ash
The latest addition to the Heroic age Avengers titles is here and it's just what I've been waiting for. Don't misunderstand me, I loved Avengers#1 and Secret Avengers #1 but this is what I want from my Avengers. I only started reading New Avengers from issue 51, but right away it was one of my favourite titles. I liked the street level adventures and the assembly of characters, and was surprised at how well the mixed lineup worked.

The new New Avengers seems like it's going right back to that, only with Luke Cage leading (which in my opinion is a plus) and starting with a storyline linked to the one that I started this series with.

The eye of Agamotto, Dr Strange, Dr Voodoo and Daimon Hellstrom, the son of Satan himself, are the focus of what looks like will be a good little adventure to get the guys into the swing of being a New Avenger (again!).

Immonen is perfect choice for pencils, as he continues to do what he did previously on this title, only better. Some of that may due to the contribution of Wade Von Grawbadger (srsly!) on inks and Laura Martin on colours. They both do an awesome job!

4 thunderclaps in Victoria Hand's face out of 5

On the pulse!

Action Ash
Silver age artist Neil Adams is back with the Bat. He is on art and writing duties (and inks on issues #1 and #2) for Batman Odyssey, a six issue limited series which starts this July. No sign of Frank Miller though, who was said to be part of this project when it was announced way back in '07. No problemo, I'm sure Adams has got it down. Should be good, look out for it people!

Girl

Girl #1-3

Story Peter Milligan ~ Art Duncan Fegredo

Valhallahan
Seemingly ages ago (don't expect me to be specific - I drink), I picked up a stack of old Vertigo from Oxfam in Crouch End, which has a great Comics and Graphic Novel selection - good for leftfield gems like Crisis back issues, and a tonne of Hellblazer (though I haven’t been in quite some time, so don’t quote me). Among these ramshackle pamphlets was the first issue of Girl, by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo. I hadn't heard of the series before, but I'll generally give anything by Milligan a try, he's a 2000AD alumnus, a regular contributor to Crisis and one of the early pioneers of the Vertigo imprint, not to mention X-Force/X-Statix. Strangely for a writer of his calibre there are a lot of series by him which seem to have fallen by the wayside, Enigma, The Extremist, Minx... All still unreleased as trades for whatever reasons; they've only just started releasing his legendary Shade: The Changing Man run. But I digress... Suffices to say it took me a fucking age to find all three issues, a quest which ended on the faraway shores of a land called Norwich (OK, it doesn't have shores, but fuck you, this is my story).

Girl throws us into the shitty life of Simone, who lives in a shitty flat in a shitty tower block in a shitty Bollockstown estate, with her shitty family. Simone is not loving life; her monosyllabic parents are at best oblivious, at worst abusive, she's got no friends and she's scared of boys. Even the kids in the lift take the piss out of her.

Things start looking up for Simone when she meets Polly an almost painful reflection of what her life could be like, had she been given all the right breaks. Polly takes Simone under her wing and shows her how to drink, dance, let loose and generally grab life by the balls, so to speak. The trouble is, there's a very strong possibility that Polly is entirely fictional, and our heroine may have gone more than a little bit mental. What adds to this possibilty is the fact that a lot of tragic accidents are befalling the various people in Simone's life, people, if she's honest, Simone is not sad to see the back of...

This is a vibrant, if slightly nihilistic shotgun blast of a story, about breaking the shackles of the mundane society upon which we are thrust into by any means necessary. A satyrical, cynically hillarious... blah, blah, blah... one more paragraph... it's just really fucking good. Go find it!

Four and a bit homicidal split personalities out of a possible five.

Hawks of Outremer

Robert E. Howard's Hawks of Outremer #1 of 4
Adapted by Michael Alan Nelson
Art by Damian Couceiro

Action Ash
Plot: The story is set in 1190AD, during the third crusade. A warrior named Cormac Fitzpatrick finds out a friend he still owes a favour to has been killed, and a lord that had been asked for help refused. So Cormac decides to avenge his dead friend, and hack up the suckers responsible for this transgression.

Essentially this story is "What if Conan (albeit an Irish conan) was in 12th century Turkey fighting in the crusades?". I am a big Conan fan and like Howard's writing style, however his warrior characters do tend to be rip offs of the famous Cimmerian (technically Kull came first, but he's just not as cool).

Although this is the case the first issue of this series sets up the foundations for a fun little revenge tale which promises to end in epic bloodshed and lashings of gore!

I liked the writing. The dialogue and caption boxes are great at times e.g. "Conrad von Gonler I name you liar, traitor and coward, dastard, poltroon and villain! Arm yourself and ride out here on the plain!"

The artwork is good at times, not so good at others, and an all round average effort. It works well for this story but is nowhere near the level of art seen in other Howard comic book adaptions.

All in all a fun read and I can't wait to see what bloody havoc is wreaked in the next three issues.

3 and a half axe cleaved skulls out of 5

Swap Shop Massacre: Hellblazer and 7 Psychopaths

7 Psychopaths #1 of 3
Written by Fabien Vehlmann
Art by Sean Phillips

Action Ash
First up on this months swap shop is my nomination, the BOOM! Studios offering from Fabien Vehlmann (who?). Apparently Monsieur Vehlmann is better known in the French comics community, however I'm glad he decided to work with BOOM! and Sean Phillips to create this bizarre WWII adventure. I definitely thought this would be up Valhallahan's alley, and so thought it would be a good choice for the massacre.

Valhallahan
Right up my alley. I loved it!

Action Ash
I like being right! The plot is basically about a, laughed at and bullied, Colonel and an escaped mental patient recruiting a rag tag team of people with mental problems (7 to be exact) to carry out an assassination on the Fuhrer himself. The idea being that only someone that was majorly head fucked would try such a thing. It had me interested the moment I heard about it, and it did not disappoint. It was well written with occasional witty dialogue and I did not mind the fact that it was quite wordy in places, although I can see how this would put some people off.

Valhallahan
"It 'as got some talking" eh Ash? I loved it. Perfectly mental proposition setting up for either a depressingly hilarious Catch 22-esque commentary on war, or a rip-roaring Dirty Dozen-esque Boy's Own adventure. Either way I'm sold for the duration. It's sort of like Inglourious Basterds, but if that film had been about Inglourious Basterds instead of German cineastes.

Action Ash
Sean Phillips strikes again with his shadow soaked visuals, two particular high points being his renditions of wartime London and the huge panel depicting one characters prediction of Hitlers reign of terror.

Valhallahan
He does do a lahverly job don'e? The finer line work here reminded me more of his earlier Vertigo books, than his looser style on Criminal/Incognito. He seems to have about three distinct styles that he uses and you can’t fault him on any. He gets all the comedy, all the drama, all the necessary ‘acting’ and it looks great. Bastard.

3 and a half Spitfires piloted by the criminally insane out of 5 - AA

Four tinfoil hats out of five - VH

Hellblazer #267
Sectioned: part one
Written by Peter Milligan
Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli

Valhallahan
Okeydokey, my pick was the latest issue of Hellblazer. I picked it because Ash has been meaning to try Hellblazer but wanted to try a “classic” story. I hadn't read Hellblazer regularly for years, but when I heard Peter Milligan had started writing it, I knew I had to give it a look. I wasn’t disappointed. The only surprising thing is that he’s never done it before. You want Classic Hellblazer Ash? Well Have at Thee!

'Sectioned' is the start of a new storyline, and it looks like it’s going to be a doozy, it starts off with a row between John and new his sort-of missus which seems to end very nastily indeed, but like John, we aren’t entirely sure what happened. We do know that he seems to have fucked up big time. John’s in the shit; his world is literally crumbling around him, his friends are feeling the brunt of it, and he may need some help from someone a bit more in the know than even John himself. So yeah, it’s classic Hellblazer

Action Ash
Believe it or not I've never read Hellblazer until I read this issue. I'm not sure why but it never presented itself to me as something I would enjoy but was always on the periphery of my comic book interests.

Well I'm glad I have finally got round to reading some of it because I Loved it. The britishness is my favourite thing about it. I like the bleak way in which british comic writers tell a story. Also I'm into horror as a genre and demonology so all the demonic and dark magic elements helps get me off too.

Camuncoli's art was very different to the aesthetics I'd associated with Hellblazer, so at first I was disappointed. However it grew on me and I now think he was a perfect artist for this kind of story and I look forward to seeing some of his other work.

Valhallahan
It took a while for me to warm to as well. I thought he was far too 'cartoony' when I picked up the first issue of Scab, but he totally won me over with the India storyline, which I heartily recommend. I can't wait to see what he does with Shade: The Changing Man next issue, it's an artist's dream. I do wonder what the series other artist, Simon Bisley -who's recent style style is face-meltingly fantastic - would do with the opportunity though.

Action Ash
From now on I will follow this series, or at least pick up the odd issue and two or three part storyline.

Four shit-smeared padded cells out of five - VH

4 copies of the lesser key of solomon out of 5 - AA

Avengers WTF?

Valhallahan
Yesterday I poured myself a drink, pulled up a chair in my garden, lit a cigarette and sat down to read Avengers: Prime, the first issue of the highly anticipated series documenting the reunion of the big three; Thor, Iron Man and Super Soldier Steve Rogers... I got comortable, I inhaled and what the fuck? that book didn't even last as long as my cigarette! I want my three fifty back!

Not a bad book per se, but piss poor value for money.

One sweaty spurt in the pants out of a possible five day orgy.

What I Got and Why 8/6/10

Valhallahan
Due to late deliveries and a (fucking awesome) free Rage Against the Machine gig, I got my comics late this week and thus half of what I wanted had sold out. Drat. Here's what I got and why anyway...

iZombie #2 - I enjoyed #1 more than Action Ash did, but like Ash, I'm not 100% sold yet; hopefully this issue will hook me. Who am I kidding? I bought it for the art.

Sweet Tooth #10 - This is a wonderfully bizarre book. I'm really enjoying the journey. I'm a new Jeff Lemire convert.

7 Psychopaths #1- This came out last week, but I only just procured a copy. It's also Action Ash's pick for swapshop. I'm a big Sean Phillips fan, so I've got high hopes.

Avengers: Prime #1 - I'm interested, but don't have high hopes. I like the characters, and I like Alan Davies, but I'm in full Bendis-Backlash mode at the moment. Hearing that this is bi-monthly doesn't make me more inclined to follow it.

Empowered: Volume 1 - This really isn't my usual cuppa tea, but it was what we had to read for the Comic Book of the Month Club on Facebook. It had it's moments.

I wanted to get Mystery Society, Chimichanga and Bullet-Proof Coffin too, but couldn't find copies.

Curses!

International Day of Slayer!

Happy Slayer Day \m/\m/

HARK!

Today is the International Day of Slayer. A celebration for metal heads and thrashers to unite and listen to Slayer. Think of it like Metal Christmas.

HAIL to the Metal Gods!
\m/\m/

The Heroic Age Round Up

So the Siege of Asgard has ended and from its ashes the Heroic age has risen like a silver age pheonix ridden by Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. Valhallahan and I felt it was time to take a look at what's new to the Marvel U, what's different and what we think is gonna work well in this so called Heroic Age.

Valhallahan
I enjoyed the Enter the Heroic Age one-shot, although it was an advert break disguised as an anthology, I felt it was a good representation of what the other books would be like and I could see myself trying them out off the back of it. I must say though, the Academy vignette really made me want to stay away. Who on earth designed Reptil? I'm flabbergasted. From what I gather, he's a teen in a scuba suit, who can turn parts of his body into those of a Dinosaur. Dinosaur parts! Not a whole Dinosaur, mind you, that would be fucking silly. I am all for nonsense in my comics but, well, I just... Dinosaur parts? C'mon Marvel! Hawkeye & Mockingbird looks like fun, sort of Mr &Mrs Smith but with Spandex. Not something I'd pick up regularly, but an entertaining romp.

Action Ash
This was a great one shot to pick up. First off let me say Reptil is a totally wank character and I agree with everything you've said there. I thought this issue did just what it was meant to, it raised my interest in upcoming series (except Avengers Academy) and had me curious about things I wouldn't previously have bought e.g. Hawkeye and Mockingbird.

Valhallahan
The first issue of Age of Heroes didn't fare as well, Most of the issue was spent with a believable, but dull JJJ story from Busiek and Djurdjevic, and a fun but pointless Dr/Brother/whatever Voodoo story. Put together they're a story about an old Republican ranting to himself and a middle aged man trying to pull. Not really what I was looking for in a superhero anthology. This left 3 pages for all the cool stuff to happen. Captain Britain and America interact, and Spidey pwns the Griffin (who is fucking everywhere at the moment). At least Reptil wasn't in it.

Action Ash
I couldn't agree with you more. Who wants to read about J. Jonah Jameson? What a pointless strip. Doctor Voodoo was disappointing considering his mini series was quite good. All the stories in this were pointless. Just a way to make more money out of Marvel fans. Don't even get me started on Spidey. Did they just put that one page piece of crap in so he could be on the cover?

Valhallahan
Of all the 'new' titles, Prince of Power and Atlas are really just continuing their stories where the last of their respective series' left off, albeit both with newbie-friendly jumping on points and a tweaked Status Cho. The Art on Prince of Power is not necessarily something to write home about, but it's dynamic, and it's a darn sight better than some of the lacklustre artists Incredible Hercules has had. I can't recommend Atlas enough; it's such a consistently satisfying read; a wonderful mixture of pure nonsense and genuine emotion. So is the ongoing saga of Herc and Cho for that matter, but Atlas clinches top spot for having consistent art (and Gorilla Man). Top marks all round.

Action Ash
The new Thunderbolts lineup was a pleasant surprise. I was sceptical when I heard they were putting Luke Cage in it because I love Luke Cage and thought they were trying to push him into the background. Then I heard that they were relaunching New Avengers with Cage as Team Leader and realised that Thunderbolts was pretty good. So I'm cool now. Avengers and Secret Avengers were awesome! Only expecting the best from those two from now on.

Valhallahan
You see I hated Avengers, but I loved Secret Avengers; I was expecting the other way around - Avengers had Kang, Secret had... Nova? Moon Knight? War Machine? the douche-bag Ant Man? I was expecting Force Works 2, the X-TREEME Avengers, but it totally flipped my wig daddy-O; The Beast back where he belongs was great to see, and I'm sure I don't need to explain how cool it is that they're after the fucking Serpent Crown on bloody Mars! That's an Avengers story!

Valhallahan does Vertigo (punning tiittle TBA)

Valhallahan

Howdy Folks!

One of my favourite passtimes is rooting through long boxes for back issues of obscure Vertigo series. To my eyes, Vertigo has a hit record higher than any other publisher, it’s a mark of a certain... Quality? Quirkiness? I’m not sure, but chances are if you pick up any Vertigo book, like it or loathe it, you’ll get something from it. There are obviously the occasional stinkers *Cough*VAMPS!*Cough*, but if Vertigo publishes it, I'll try it. Once.

So Anyway, expect alot of reviews of these series as I read them. First up there'll be Girl, by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo, followed by Muktuk Wolf'sbreath: Hard Boiled Shaman, then who knows?

The Not-So-Secret Lives of Super Heroes: Origins #3

The Flash!

VALHALLAHAN