It’s been quite some time since a New Age News. For those unaware, this is me taking a look at and commenting my own opinion on recent announcements in the comics industry. Now with links for all your information goodness.
So the big announcement of the latest project Mark Millar is working with Steve McNiven is Nemesis. A creator owned book to be published from Marvel’s Icon imprint like the Criminal and Powers books have been.
Now I’ve had some mixed reaction to this. On one hand I’m not the biggest fan of Mark Millar. He’s a solid writer who can do some good stuff but I find a lot of his stuff over hyped and uninteresting when compared to writers who make much more interesting stories.
His first story I honestly can say I loved was Old Man Logan which was absolutely brilliant but mostly for the fact that Millar did something he doesn’t do that often, interjected some real interesting and enjoyable characters. Usually his characters are lacking anything really interesting or something that makes me feel for them, but with Old Man Logan he really made me care about the characters which is partially why I loved it so much more then his usual “over the top” wild stuff.
I love over the top violent stories, that’s all great, but if the characters are all bland just for the sake of getting to do cool stuff then I couldn’t care less about the real heart of the story since the characters drive that story. That’s why I’ve disliked stories such as Wanted.
But Nemesis sounds like a very fun story. A story in the same vein as a What If in a sense that it’s what if Batman where the Joker? A simple idea and the fact that Millar is using this idea as a platform as a creator owned story is really cool and I appreciate that he seems to be focusing more on his creator owned stuff which is always nice to see.
So while I’m not a big fan of Millar’s stuff I know he can do great stuff when he puts forth that extra effort and the premise is cool enough to where I will definitely be checking this series out, also I know it will look damn good thanks to Steve McNiven.
Big shocker, Bruce Wayne is coming back. I know, the internet totally split in half over this major shock.
So it’s a 6 issue mini-series written by none other then Grant Morrison with each issue featuring a different artist since Batman will be fighting his way through a different period of history. It’s a nice premise at least and it ties into the whole effect of the Omega Beams.
I like the idea and it sounds like a fun read but I myself won’t be reading it. Mostly for expense but also for the fact that this series is something we all saw coming so I can’t really say it’s going to be anything shocking. Batman will fight history, Batman will win then Dick Grayson will be booted back to his own corner of the DCU as if nothing ever happened, that’s how comics work.
Announced very early this week was that Earth One would be making a big return in the form of a series of Graphic Novels. The first 2 to kick off this new series are of Superman (written by JMS and with art by Shane Davis) and Batman (Written by Geoff Johns and with art by Gary Frank)
Now my first thought about this when I heart it was “Wait, Johns and Frank aren’t handling the Superman story?” I mean it just seems like these 2 signed some kind of contract to work on Superman forever. When I hear these 2 are collaborating again I instantly think it’s on a new Superman book.
So seeing these 2 handle the last hero I think they would handle, Batman, it just seems like an odd fit. I don’t know if Johns has written a lot of Batman before but something about him handling a Batman series just seems out of place, if that makes any sense. Also Gary Frank is one of the last artists that comes to mind when I think of the dark and disturbing alleys of Gotham City
Now JMS sounds like a nice fit for Superman though since he’s already handled Gods before over in Thor. Also Shane Davis draws a killer Superman so I think this is still a good team.
I’m also willing to give Johns and Frank a try on Batman since I’ve heard such good things about their prior collaborations.
Though here’s my biggest problem, it’s yet another “year one” style of stories. I’m so tired of these. Sure, Batman: Year One is an amazing story but we don’t need another one of these stories for Batman, his origin isn’t that interesting to keep retelling. Same thing for Superman, we’re not even done with Secret Origin for crying out loud!
Also I hate to say it but this just seems like DC’s desperate attempt at picking up the pieces from their failure to establish the All Star line with all the delayed projects that fell through like All Star Batgirl and All Star Wonder Woman. Just another attempt to have their own “Ultimate” line it seems.
Still I admit I love the idea of these debuting as a series of graphic novels, I’m a sucker for an OGN so seeing something new from DC like this sounds like a bold and interesting idea I look forward to picking up. I will definitely pick up the Batman one for sure.
Hey, big surprise, there’s another comic event with the title “war” in it. Because that’s not getting cliché or anything. Please keep them coming as I’m not getting tired of this crap at all. I like companies beating the term to death. It’s cool.
As for the event itself I can’t say I’m interested in it at all. Just seems like more DC Superman crossovers. I feel so bad for Superman readers, you guys can’t even have one title in the whole list of comics that isn’t getting dragged into a crappy crossover every few months. One of the reasons I stick to Indy comics so much nowadays, no annoying crossovers constantly.
Not sure if this is really a major announcement, not something we don’t hear often. Marvel seems to be doing it all the time, any day now I expected Invincible Iron Man to get renumbered and probably a few other comics like Wolverine Weapon X at this rate. It makes sense DC would give one of their most prominent heroes a renumbering eventually.
The question is will this be a real big deal or will DC hype this all up for nothing? I’m half expecting a big anniversary issue but then Wonder Woman returning to business as usual. No real major shake ups.
Not a real major announcement but still an important one since it’s the latest artist for the series. I haven’t seen much of his work but what I have seen was good looking and I think he’ll be a really interesting fit with the series.
Though really I’m not sure if I’ll even be reading Batman and Robin by this point. I’m debating if I should just drop the series at this rate and stick to Streets of Gotham since it seems all the real important stuff will be happening later after the Return of Bruce Wayne so Batman and Robin feels like a useless series at this point.
The title of the story arc “Batman vs. Robin” implies that the dynamic duo will be fighting. An all right premise for a 3 part arc but honestly I’m just wondering what’s the point of this series now, other then introducing some new villains and plot points that I’m sure Grant Morrison will tackle with his next Batman story after Return of Bruce Wayne.
I want to give the latest arc a chance if only for Cameron Stewart’s art but at the same time it just seems so much easier to drop it at this point.
Megaman 10
Megaman 9 was my game of the year for 2008, so by no shock I’m incredibly excited for Megaman 10 in all it’s 8-bit over the top glory that I’m sure will rock. Capcom has a winning formula with the Megaman series so I can’t see how they would screw it up at this point.
One thing that really excites me is that Protoman is a playable character without that crap downloadable content. It’s really exciting that he’ll be a playable character. As for the secret third character, I’m guessing it’s Bass or Roll.
This game seems like more crazy fun with things like Sheepman and I’m sure all kinds of fun. Possibly a runner for early game of 2010? You never know, either way I can’t wait to play more Megaman greatness.
Dave Sim and Todd McFarlane’s highly interesting collaboration on spawn #10 will finally be reprinted after 14 years of being left to be found by Spawn fans in back issue bins.
I have this issue, as well as issue #9 (the comic McFarlane refuses to reprint because he’s still bitter) and I can say it’s a worthwhile issue to track down, but now it’s getting reprinted in the deluxe edition Hardcover of Spawn Origins.
At first I was pissed about this since this book is 100 dollars, not exactly something I can afford to shell out but it seems there’s a regular Hardcover for 25 bucks that will include the reprint as well as the first 25 issues so I’m not angry right now.
Spawn #10 was great read and I’m really glad to finally see it getting reprinted.
Capullo has been a long term collaborator with McFarlane and up to this point he’s just been providing lay outs for Haunt but now he’s taking the saddle of the art and drawing issue #6 which is a one shot story about the former agent Mirage (who got mentioned in issue #3)
My little theory is that Mirage is the woman we saw steal the doctor’s notes in issue #1 and this will fill in the blanks as to what she’s doing and her whole role in the Haunt series.
I love Capullo’s art so seeing him draw an entire issue of Haunt is an absolute treat. Much as I love Ottley’s work seeing Capullo take over for him for an issue is a great thing and I’m really excited for this issue.
Not wanting to be outdone by Capcom’s big announcement of a new sequel, Rocksteady released a badass teaser for the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum featuring the Asylum right in the middle of Gotham, it’s inmates over running the city along with Joker (with that awesome Mark Hamill laugh) running the show, and also still seeming to be healing from his last beating.
Damn it feels good to be a gamer right now. As if Megaman 10 wasn’t enough, now another great game is getting a sequel. Though I doubt it will be in 2010 and even if it is, it will probably be late 2010.
Arkham Asylum for me was game of the year and I loved it so seeing a sequel from the same guys behind the first has me really excited. It seems that the gangs all here, Mark Hamill no doubt as Joker and it seems like Paul Dini is in for it so I’m really excited to see this game.
My hopes are that we’ll get a more expansive world, new ranges of enemies and ways to fight them and to take on even more of Batman’s rogues. Hopefully Mr. Freeze and Two-Face will have prominent roles as well.
Either way I can’t wait to find out more about this game and I already have high hopes for it.
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