Top 5 Most Anticipated of 2010

A while back Kevin, fellow Revolutionary, contacted me and everyone else at the Comic Book Revolution for our top 5 most anticipated comic related things for 2010. I kind of lost track of the time with the holiday but got it done. I figured I’d post my top 5 here for you all, though I may post something later on to show my excitement for other upcoming things in 2010.

Happy New Year, everyone!

5. Arkham Asylum 2 Info

Funny how I’m not really all that excited with the return of the real Batman, but the return of him in a video game has me excited as all hell. Yes the recently announced sequel to my game of the year, Batman: Arkham Asylum, has me jumping with anticipation.

But sadly I’m well aware that we won’t be getting the sequel in 2010, unless it’s very late 2010. Usually game sequels are at least a good solid year apart and that’s for a steady series. So while I’m excited for the game, for now I’m just dying to find out more about it.

It would seem the original team of gave designers are behind it, and it would seem that Paul Dini, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin will be reprising all their roles at least it would seem that way but so far we don’t really have anything definitive saying what the game will be like or any info on it.

There’s no doubt the game will be getting lots of press through 2010, trailers, behind the scenes stuff, etc. They would be crazy not to hype up this game after all the hype and praise the first one got. 2010 will hopefully give us a good amount of knowledge about the game in preparations for what I’m hoping will be an early 2011 release.

I love the first game so much and while the downloadable content has been great I’m dying for more. If Rocksteady can wake their magic wand and improve on some of the small problems the first game had then I think we could be in store for something real special here.

4. Blackest Night’s End

A typical choice I know but up until the last 2 issues of the event I probably wouldn’t have said this. Blackest Night was solid, but painfully predictable in it’s first half but now that it’s entered it’s second half it seems like the real show has begun. I’m excited as all hell to see where it goes.

One thing I’m curious about is the Earth Lantern Heroes. Could Ray still be an Indigo Lantern, or Mera still a red lantern? I know damn well that Barry will be back to normal as will Lex Luthor and probably Scarecrow as well but it’s hard not to hope this may change at least one or two of these heroes.

I’m not 100% certain I’ll be reading Green Lantern after Blackest Night. I want to, but it’s a budget thing. Either way I’m excited for this event all over again and I’m really pumped to see what Johns does next with it.

3. Batman Beyond Returns

It was announced a long while back that DC has plans for Batman Beyond in 2010. Not much else has been said since and I’ve been dying to find out what their plans are for him. I just recently picked up the animated film Return of the Joker (unfortunately it came packaged with the mediocre Mystery of the Batwoman movie) and it was great. It reinvigorated my love for the Batman Beyond series.

My real hope is that the team of Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and Glen Murakami all got together for a new animated film. While we did get a good amount of closure from the JLU/Batman Beyond story I still want one final hurrah for this series. Something really big for Terry. He deserves it.

Also I want to see Max again! Whatever happened to her? She was just as important to Batman as Bruce Wayne or Terry’s Family was. She was his main intelligence person. But she never showed up in Return of the Joker or the JLU story. What the hell, DC? She deserves to come back.

But most of all I want Terry to have his one last final hurrah that’s all him. Much as I absolutely loved Return of the Joker, that was more then just Terry’s movie. It served as filling the gap between the original cartoon and Beyond. While I loved that 10 minute flashback, it was my favorite part of the movie, Terry deserves a movie that’s 100% his.

There has also been talk about a new animated series but I think that’s a much more far off dream. DC seems to be focusing all their extra animated power into the animated films like the new Justice League film as well as the prior movies for Superman/Batman and Green Lantern. So a new animated series seems very unlikely, but if that was the case that would be even better!

Though sadly my best guess is that it’s just going to be a mini-series. While that would be nice too, I’m more used to Batman Beyond in animation so that’s how I’d love to see it. Though if the mini was written by Paul Dini with art by Bruce Timm or Glen Murakami that could be great as well.

Either way I’m excited as all hell to see what DC has planned for Batman Beyond. I’m much more excited for this then whatever the hell it is they plan to do with bringing back Bruce Wayne. We all know how that’s going to go. I’m more excited for a more interesting come back.

2. More Image

I really could fill this entire list up with Image Comics if I wanted. Jersey Gods, Invincible, Haunt, Image United, Witchblade, Angelus, Spawn, the list goes on. Image had another great year with 2009 and I expect 2010 to be no different.

Sadly Image United hit a snag as I predicted, but at least Image is trying to fill the void with new material such as Image United #0 having some extra goodies and Interlude, which will have Invincible! Everyone’s been clamoring for something with Invincible and here we go.

I’m reading Image United mostly just for the characters and the art and 2 parts in and the story has hit a snag. Already it’s feeling dull but I’m really hopeful that Kirkman can bring us back with #3 if it can make it to January on time. Supposedly something back happens there so I’ve got my fingers crossed. Though either way I’ll still enjoy the art at the very least.

Invincible returning to his old costume should be a lot of fun. Though a recent cover teases the idea of him leaving Eve over something and that of course worries me. I’m dying to find out what happens to Eve with her pregnancy. Does she keep the baby, abort it, miscarriage, who knows! Knowing Kirkman though the baby will probably die.

My best guess is that Eve either tells Mark and he leaves her. Or she gets an abortion without telling him, that upsets him that she did that without telling him first so he leaves her for that. Both would be heart-wrenching for the readers so that’s’ where I figure Kirkman is going.

Though obviously there’s a lot more to be excited over Invincible for. It’s just the pregnancy that’s at the forefront of my attention, though the looming Viltrumite war is also exciting as all hell and should be great. Also hopefully this means that we’ll have a reunion of father and son finally.

Jersey Gods hit a little delay but that’s okay. This series is good enough for the wait and it has been my favorite new ongoing series of 2009. Definitely the best new series Image is putting out (sorry but I’m not reading Chew) and it is tons of fun to read each month so I’m really excited to see where the book goes in 2010.

 Witchblade seems to be taking a little bit of a breather and having more short and easy story arcs after following up on the somewhat disappointing War of the Witchblades from this year. That’s a good thing since I’ve been enjoying the shorter and more easy arcs since they are a lot more fun and interesting to read then the long dragged out stories.

Also Angelus started this year but it wraps up in 2010 and I’m really excited to see where Marz and Sejic go with the mini-series. I think it could easily have potential to be the mini-series of the year!

Haunt wraps up it’s first arc in 2 months and that should be exciting though really the entire series has me excited for more. 2010 is looking even better for the young series with Greg Capullo actually lending his brilliant pencils to issue #6 which I’m sure will look gorgeous.

Haunt has definitely been a very interesting series and where Krikman takes it after it’s first story arc is crucial. He’s built up the mystery and is slowly unraveling just a few pieces of it but he’s also got to make sure this series works for more then just it’s mystery, that these 2 brothers can still do the hero thing even after all is revealed otherwise this might as well have been a mini-series or something.

I hate to say it but I’m not very excited for Spawn actually, which is why Image is not higher on the list. Spawn for me was the flagship Image title when I was a kid. It was always my favorite Image comic and now it’s just all falling apart it seems. McFarlane seemed to know what he’s doing but now it’s all just crumbled.

For one he can’t seem to get the damn book out on time. #196 was solicited for September of this year, and now it won’t make it until January of 2010. I call bullshit. I did so on twitter and McFarlane said it was his fault. That Rob Liefeld (guest artist for the issue) had done his part but it was on Todd since he was so busy. That doesn’t make this delay any more frustrating.

Then after the big 200^th issue, we get a new team of 2 people I’ve never heard of. Now I am willing to give the new team a try, after all David Hine paid off big time and I’d never heard of him, but it really just seems like McFarlane has do idea what he’s doing with Spawn anymore.

I love Spawn and I always will but nowadays it’s just getting harder and harder to read this series. It’s the comic that got me back into a comics a few years ago and if not for Spawn I wouldn’t be writing this very post for you all. But I feel like I’m in a relationship with someone who I’m totally committed to and care about, but who doesn’t give a damn about me or anything else.

I really am glad that McFarlane gave some new changes to Spawn. It’s nice to see him trying again but really it just seems like he totally lost all focus and direction. First he fired Brian Holguin from writing the series which was a huge mistake. If McFarlane wants someone to write Spawn, get Holguin for god’s sakes. He’s a 1,000 times better writer then McFarlane ever has been and I can already tell he’s better then the new guy.

Maybe I’m just a scorned fan who feels like he’s been done wrong. But I love Spawn a lot so seeing the series just so unfocused and rocky is really hard for me. I’m really hopeful that by mid-2010 McFarlane can get his crap together and fix his series or I may do something I never thought I’d do, drop Spawn.

Image as a whole though seems to be having a really exciting year with 2010. Every series is doing something new or interesting and I can’t wait to read more as the new year rings in.

1. Young Avengers coming back

Ever since the initial first series ended the YA have been in a bit of a limbo. Inching their way through the Marvel Universe in waiting for Heinberg and Cheung to return for one last hurrah with the characters they created. It’s been a long time coming.

Now luckily Marvel hasn’t totally let the team just sit around and do nothing. A random mini-series here and there to keep them up with the current status quo. Teaming up with the Runaways and recently the excellent Dark Reign mini-series. So far the YA have still been fairly prominent but it’s obvious that they have yet to really come full circle from prior developments of the original series.

Sure Patriot and Hawkeye got together, sort of, and Vision and Stature got together but other then 2 hookups the characters haven’t been able to really go too far with the limitation that was set when Heinberg planned to eventually return to the characters. They haven’t been able to do all they can do.

But now that’s all finally changing as the creators are returning and hopefully going to wrap up all their developments and set a new status quo for the team that other writers could take and run with later on. It would be great to finally see all these points come full circle.

For one there’s Kang of the future, his younger self who wants to be a hero. We saw a glimpse of him in the second half of the first series but since then he sort of just disappeared. I can’t tell if I want him to come back or not. While he was a decent character, him coming back would create a love triangle with Kang/Stature/Vision and I’m rarely fond of a love triangle. They are often very boring.

Then there are characters like Patriot and Hawkeye who both have some legacies to live up to. With Cap coming back I’d think they should touch on Patriot’s thoughts on this and I’m sure Hawkeye wants to talk to Clint Barton some more. These seem like 2 obvious things they should touch on.

I would hope that Stature and Vision would still take place in the series but with their current roles in the Mighty Avengers it seems unlikely that the mini could change them too much since it could have trouble matching up with their current status. It’s all up in the air at this point.

There’s also Wiccan and Speed and the possible return of the Scarlet Witch. I believe Heinberg said he wanted to bring her back and since it would clearly impact these 2 that would be a really fascinating twist and a really interesting read.

There are other things like Hulkling and his ties to the Skrull and Krees but those seem like more far off possible stories. Right now I just hope the 8-issue/bi-monthly mini can wrap up all these plot points so we can have some closure and maybe even a fun shake up of the team. So while 2010 is looking to be an exciting year for new possible stories, I’m mostly excited for a story that wraps up a long developing group of stories. Go figure. Well I’ve always loved the YA so I can’t wait to see more of them come Summer 2010.

New Age News: Nemesis, Batman in Time, Warring Superman and Video Games!

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.

Millar and McNiven Make Nemesis

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.

Bruce Wayne vs. History

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.

Earth One in Graphic Novels

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.

War of the Supermen

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.

Wonder Woman renumbered as #600

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.

Andy Clarke on Batman and Robin

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.

Spawn 10 to finally be reprinted

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.

Greg Capullo to Draw Haunt #6

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.

Arkham Asylum 2

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.

Comic report Card: Adventures of Spawn

Hey, it’s Comic Report Card. Where we look back at older comic storylines/mini-series and grade them. I grade each separate issue then I add their scores together for an overall grade. It’s not he usual way I review something, but since these stories are often at least a few months to a year or two old some of their grade depends on how the stories have aged over time and if they are still enjoyable.

That being said I am sticking to the Rokk’s Comic book Revolution style of (insert #) Night Girls out of 10 along with my grade as well as their use of Synopsis, Good and Bad then ending it with an Overall thoughts.

Today I’m grading 2 comics that tell one story.

It’s…the Adventures of Spawn! A crazy fun re-imagination of the dark world of Spawn. Some may think it doesn’t work and it’s a stupid idea, but I’ve compared it to what the Ultimate Universe did for Spider-man.

Adventures of Spawn actually started as a web comic, for free online, available HERE but 2 one-shots from the 2 issues online have been printed and I’m reviewing them, even if you can just go and read the comics for free online.

Adventures of Spawn #1

Written: Jonathan David Goff

Art: Khary Randolph

Colors: Jason Gonzalez and Joe Ferstl

Synopsis: We first get an introduction to the villains. Mammon the leader. Tiffany the Angel who was abandoned by her lover the Redeemer. Cy-Gor the cybernetic gorilla. Overt-kill the machine based man. We see see them as their plan begins and they get ready to dominate the world.

A Reporter is (shockingly) reporting and talking about what a great day it is when Overt-Kill attacks the local New York Museum. After crashing and making a big explosion Overt-kill shouts at the reporter “Where-Is-the Stone?!”

Shifting to the San Diego zoo is Al Simmons, his wife Wanda and their daughter Cyan. (Al Simmons is the hero Spawn X who is given this power from the Necro stone. He is also still a mercenary like in the original comic.) As the family visits the monkeys the monkeys are hostile shouting and looking at the Simmons family.

We cut to Omega Spawn (robotic version of Spawn from the future who went back in time) working on building his Omega Squad (basically duplicates of himself) when Redeemer walks up and tells Omega Spawn to beam him out of their surveillance satellite, that he has a meeting with the council of Light. Redeemer is soon beamed out (Scottie! I like this Spawn, it’s exciting!)

Just when Omega Spawn finds out that Overt-Kill has attacked the museum Plague demons (Mammon’s minions) have invaded the Satellite and are flooding the place fast. Omega Spawn tells the computer to turn off the Jump Drive which is where the Plague Demons are getting in from.

Redeemer gets to the hall of light to meet the council when he, in shock, finds the entire council has been murdered. Tiffany, his ex-lover, stands in the middle of their table with their blood on her sword and she grins at Redeemer. After finding out that she let Mammon into the hall of light Mammon leaves and they start fighting.

Overt-kill grabs the Awakening stone and police draw guns on him. In response he draws his chainsaw.

The monkeys attack Al Simmons, after his family gets away he is swarmed by monkeys and soon transforms into Spawn X. He takes out a few monkeys when Cy-Gor strikes, pinning Spawn down and creepily saying “Now…it’s lunch time”

Omega spawn gets the Omega Squadron online and tells them to “bust some heads” (best line in the entire comic) While the Omega Squadron take care of the Plague Demons Omega Spawn heads down to earth to take care of Overt-Kill.

Redeemer and Tiffany fight, Redeemer confused still as to why Tiffany betrayed him. She says it was because he left her to join Spawn X and that she was abandoned. Just as she gets a killing blow on Redeemer the noise “Bzz-“is heard.

Just as Cy-Gor is about to take a bite out of Spawn X he gets blasted off and they fight.

Omega Spawn soon arrives and knocks Overt-Kill down. When Overt-Kill gets agitated Omega Spawn pulls out his buster (wait, is this Megaman? I’d play Megaman even more if Omega Spawn was in it!) and warns him that it packs a big punch. Just as Spawn and Redeemer have been teleported out of their fights to Omega Spawn.

Mammon shows up and has brought Cy-Gor and Tiffany with him, the heroes and villains face off to get the Awakening Stone. Leaving the first issue off on a cliff-hanger.

Commentary

The Good: Adventures of Spawn has tons of great moments, characters and some enjoyable art. It’s a unique and fun twist on a series that never really seemed to fit with the idea of being kid friendly. Even if this entire issue isn’t suitable for younger kids.

What Goff did such a great job with this entire spin-off was he created a more all ages friendly book without dumbing it down. Not an easy task nowadays as most writers will write off an all ages comic as an excuse for simple dumb writing that doesn’t even seem somewhat interesting. Goff however does a great job of making an accessible comic and keeps it entertaining and not stupid fun.

Spawn X is a silly name I admit but the character is done nicely here. He has some great dialogue and it was really interesting to see how Al Simmons lives his life as a family man while balancing being a hero. It’s a really good spin on things and Goff also handles that nicely.

Turning Redeemer from Spawn’s biggest enemy into his ally was a very cool spin for the character. I also liked how it seems there was a deeper history to Redeemer of all people but he abandoned it all for his new role as protector alongside Spawn X. He’s a great character.

Omega Spawn was just plain awesome. Sure he’s a bit of a cheesy character, the idea of a robot from the future isn’t too original but he still is great. He’s got this very distinct personality where he doesn’t just feel like some cheap robotic stock character and he has some very badass moments. Why Omega Spawn hasn’t gotten his own spin-off series by now is beyond me.

Most of the villains are handled well enough. Mammon was a good choice at the time as he was the grand force behind the whole Spawn series in the first place but I was frustrated to see the Phlebiac Brothers pushed to the side for a mini-comic and rather Overt-kill took their place. They deserved his spot more.

I liked the idea of Tiffany as the love scorned angel who betrayed her brothers and sisters for revenge. It’s a classic idea and Goff really makes it work. Showing that in her loss of her lover she went nuts and Mammon took advantage of that.

I did like the simple premise of it and how it was handled. Goff doesn’t push himself too hard to try and make a simple fun premise into something too serious or interesting. He does well with what he’s got.

Randolph’s art is strong at times and the character redesigns are nicely handled. Randolph does a great job of telling a story with his art and packs a lot of great stylish action into his artwork here.

Though story itself is simply very well done and along with it the art fits near perfectly. Goff packs tons of great moments and tells an entertaining read from start to finish.

The Bad: Goff floods the pages at times with narration. It gets insane. While his story flow is nice, it’s so frustrating that there’s tons of text here and most of it is pointless. While the actual dialogue between characters is nicely done, this random narrator in yellow boxes is just annoying and it feels like it was Goff trying to add more to an already enjoyable and full storyline.

I am not too fond of Overt-Kill here. He’s all right, but he’s become such a C-list villain over the years that I would have preferred a more memorable Spawn villain in his place.

While Randolph’s art is good, the coloring falls a little flat. (I didn’t notice this until reading issue #2, mind you) but the coloring doesn’t really pop or give the stylish great art much definition. It’s a little disappointing when these great character designs have coloring that falls so flat and looks boring, not really complimenting the great art and even becoming a bit of detraction for it.

Overall: With good and bad to say about it, the first issue of Adventures of Spawn was a bold new attempt from TMP and overall it paid off well enough. It was a smart and fun recreation of an already enjoyable series and for that it gets good marks.

Story: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Art: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Grade: B-

Adventures of Spawn #2

Written: Jonathan David Goff

Art: Khary Randolph

Colors: Avalon Studios

Synopsis: Mammon has a brief monologue then shouts for the villains to bring him the Awakening Stone. Spawn says that’s not going to happen. Mammon tells the villains that no matter what they lose it will be worth the reward if they bring him the Awakening Stone. Also that any Plague Demon that brings him the stone will be upgrade to Terror demon.

As the fight starts up Spawn tells Omega to get the Squadron there now as they can’t handle the villains and go after the Stone. Tiffany says they are not enough and Spawn wonders if she can be redeemed, but she replies that she’s already been saved by Mammon.

As Omega is pounded into the ground by Overt-Kill Spawn tells him not to worry but soon the Plague Demons have their hands on the stone. Just before he can stop them Cy-Gor punches Spawn and the 2 continue their fight, Spawn trying to out-maneuver Cy-Gor. Cy-Gor gets Spawn down ,telling him that he plans to steal

Spawn’s K7-Leetha (the suit that grants his power) and use it for himself, shouting “Imagine the possibilities” with the sight of him standing on the bodies of the heroes and villains as the world burns behind him.

Just as Overt-Kill stars digging into Omega’s shoulder with a chainsaw the Omega Squadron show up. They take out Cy-Gor and Tiffany then go to town on the Plague Demons (Damn, where can I get myself an Omega Squadron? Their this good on villains, I bet they could do wonders for my lawn)

Tiffany and Cy-Gor are back up, the heroes switch enemies. Redeemer takes on Cy-Gor, Omega against Tiffany then Spawn and Overt-Kill. Spawn quickly trashes Overt-Kill but it’s too late, Mammon as the stone and the Omega Squadron has been dismantled. (On second thought I’m going to cancel that order)

Mammon starts chanting some ancient language with the stone to open a portal and bring back his evil master Malebolgia (the roles are reversed this time I see) but Spawn stops him and grabs the stone then flees into the sky with it. Mid-flight mammon cuts him off high in the sky and grabs the stone then Spawn by the throat.

Mammon starts draining Spawn’s power from the Necro Stone, soon taking the stone out of Al Simmons body and just when Mammon almost has it Al Simmons focuses what power he has left into a giant spiked gauntlet and knocks Mammon down and grabs both Stones.

Mammon and all his demons are suddenly warped by the R-factor, a warp that randomly teleports them anywhere in the universe. Spawn is worried that this isn’t over even though the day is one, that this is just the beginning.

Commentary:

The Good: Issue #2 is a huge improvement over #1. With a bout a year to look back on #1 no doubt Goff saw what he did wrong and sought to correct his major mistake of the frustrating narration that flooded every few pages.

Narration is still there, but this time it’s from Spawn X himself which was a smart decision. Rather than some random narrator we can’t see we actually know who’s narrating and how they know what’s going on so we feel more of a reason to read the narration and the narration itself is more worth it.

The characters continue to be great. Even though I still dislike Overt-Kill it was worth it seeing Spawn smash his body and then his severed head whining about it.

I liked the little “you can do it!” moment with Spawn X nearly about to have all his power drained when he gets one last punch and takes out Mammon with it. It was a great scene and not really something we get in the main Spawn series which is disappointing as it’s so great.

I thought it was very cool when Tiffany said “I’ve already been saved” as a twist that she actually thinks Mammon saved her from herself. It’s funny and speaks loud for her character.

I liked the Omega Squadron a lot more this time around, they where great. Really badass and cool. It’s a shame they got torn apart so soon.

The artwork is it’s usual greatness, but it’s a lot better thanks to the expertise coloring. The coloring gives the art huge style and a great effect. Some incredible definition and it just looks gorgeous. Unlike last time where the coloring was just boring with the coloring here it was incredible and it proves just how important colorists really are as they turned strong great art into absolutely incredible art.

This was a satisfying conclusion to the series. Leaving more for the hopefully eventually 3^rd issue to pick up and continue the trend of greatness.

There’s also a Phlebiac brother’s short story that is basically the same panel over and over again with copy and pasted images of the demon brothers. It’s actually really funny as far as dialogue, it had me in stitches and laughing out loud a lot at how great it was but it’s also a little simple so I can only say this was a good back up story.

The Bad: While Spawn X’ narration was nice, it definitely went a little overboard at times and was a little unnecessary still.

Besides that I have no complaints about this issue.

Overall: Adventures of Spawn #2 takes what the first issue did and turned the volume up to 11. the characters contain their greatness, the issue was stuffed with great moments, absolutely incredible art and was an awesome conclusion.

Writing: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Art: 10 Night Girls out of 10

Overall: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Grade: A-

Final Thoughts: Adventures of Spawn isn’t perfect, but for what it is it’s a great spin-off that takes a brilliant spin on an already enjoyable series. For anyone who enjoyed Spawn, but wanted a less serious but still enjoyable take on the franchise this is the comic for you. Now if only issue #3 where to be made already!

Final Score

Writing: 8 out of 10

Art: 9 out of 10

Overall: 8.5 out of 10

Final Grade: B+

New Age Ideas: Brand New Addictions

It’s been a while but New Age Ideas is back and this time for the low price of $0.00 I’m stuffing it with tons of ideas.

Snap Kirby Krackle and Pop!

Don’t you hate being late to the party? Seems I’m not too late but I still missed out on the majority of the debut stuff from Kirby Krackle. An awesome Comic Book Band, claming to be the first. I’m not sure if that’s completely right but there the first I’ve heard of so I’m not going to waste time debating it.

These guys are seriously incredible. Their best song yet has to be Ring Capacity. This has to be somewhere in the new Green Lantern DVD movie or something. It’s blood-pumping and insane and I love it. Check them out here.

Click this link to see their awesomeness!

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies could be cool

As someone who’s happily avoided the often poor looking Superman/Batman series I never read Public Enemies. I know it’s the team of Loeb/McGuiness which promises something decent at least. The animation style seems to remain faithful to that and hey, Kevin Conroy is Batman! I’m officially renting this as soon as possible.

DC ahead of Marvel for once?

What’s with Marvel paying so little attention to their animated film features where DC is dominating them? Hulk vs. was the best thing Marvel has put out yet but so far no word on anything else.

Where DC is dominating, a new Superman/Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman DVD’s all coming out in a fairly close order. DC is really dominating with some quality movies here like usual but man their just crushing Marvel. Maybe Marvel is just too busy with their ongoing cartoons like Spectacular Spider-man but man it’s time they pick up the pace.

Green Lantern First Flight looks like pure awesome.

Seriously is this out yet? I can’t wait to check this out. This looks absolutely incredible. What perfect timing that this comes out right alongside the biggest Green Lantern story in forever.

I feel bad…

I still haven’t seen the Wonder Woman DVD. I’ve been meaning to rent it but I’ve been lazy. I feel so bad about this.

Time to set up a rule for a character’s Second Ongoing

All right, with Merc with a Mouth officially being a gigantic waste of 3.99 I think it’s time I set up some rules if you’re going to make a second ongoing for a character.

1. Fans want something different. If you’re going to make a second ongoing make it unique from the first ongoing so it stands out and fans could read both and enjoy both.
2. If it has to be radically different to make it stand out and be a unique cool experience, do it! Don’t be afraid to try something different from what the other guy is doing!
3. Don’t go with the same obvious clichés of the character. Mix it up.

These 3 rules have already applied to books like Wolverine: Weapon X. Proving they work. Now if I could only get the new Deadpool series writer to see this…

Twittering! My new Addiction…

Hey Kids, follow your good ol’ Uncle Andrenn on Twitter. I most tweet about comic stuff which is funny as some of my friends would expect me to tweet about politics and religion. Oh no. that’s too easy. Comics and video games are much more fun to Twitter.

Terminator vs. Transformers

See, IDW has both properties to make comics with…why the hell not? It’s a perfect marriage. Set it in the future, past, present. Whenever. Come one IDW it would be awesome to see the T-1000 go up against Optimus Prime.

Oy-Bama

You know I like Obama as much as the next guy who doesn’t watch Fox News but man comics are using him more than News Networks. It’s nuts. He’s fighting zombie with Ash, talking to Nick Fury after being attacked by the Green Goblin. And the Leifiled guns…god help me the Leifield Guns.

I can forgive all of that though for this one, single, awesome image that will never be trumped ever. Nothing in the history of man-kind will be this over the top crazy and awesome again. Thank you, Erik Larsen.

A not so-event-less year

You know for promising that 2009 would have no big events, it seems 2009 is Marvel’s biggest year ever. First there’s Dark Reign and all the tons of ongoings and mini-series that it’s reached, then there’s War of Kings which while may not be on a massive scale is still a cross-over. The Dark Avenges/Uncanny X-men crossover Utopia is still an event of sorts even if it ties in more to Dark Reign and of course there’s Captain America Reborn. An event that may lack any tie-in books but is still a major moment in Marvel history just as was Steve’s Death.

So yeah, for a year that promised no events to stop from the event fatigue this year has had anything but no events. This year makes Secret Invasion look like a miniscule story arc in New Avengers by comparison really.

While I may be complaining about that I must admit that there does seem to be a lot of awesome stuff coming from Marvel this year because of these major happenings in their universe, so I can be a little more easy on them for it.

2009’s Best Event?

Speaking of events it seems there’s quite a lot of competition this year between Marvel and DC, even more so than last year really. Blackest Night is DC’s real big even this year with War of Kings, Utopia and Reborn competing against it. Though honestly I think Blackest Night is going to blow the competition out of water.

Sure, I wish this event would have stuck to a more cosmic level and not invade the entire DCU but I have serious faith in Johns that we’ll be getting a great read this summer.

Exploit-a-Spawn

I want to leave you off with a fun project to anyone interested. You see the image with the removed words from Spawn’s speech bubbles. Well I’d really like to see you guys come up with something funny or cool to put in there. I know it’s not Grade A stuff to work with but I can still hope. For all the images I get (if I get any at all, fingers crossed) I’ll post them sometime on my blog (and at the Revolution!) for the whole internet world to see.

So I look forward to your submissions, you can send them to me at my E-mail. I know I shouldn't have to say it but, nothing inappropriate.

Also I don’t have a due date for the images. When I feel I have enough though I will post them here and at the Revolution. Though until then there is no deadline.

*edit: Already getting a couple of images, very good. To make sure I know it’s an E-mail about the Spawn image title the E-mail: Exploit-a-Spawn so that I know. This is because one of the E-mails was, for some reason, in my spam folder.

metalhellspawn@aol.com

Week's End - July 5th 2009

Week’s End is back to set all you kids straight. We’ve added 2 new things, runner ups for each award and the “whoa” of the week. A countering to the “ugh” where I point out one really awesome from the week. It can be anything, a specific cover, a moment or something about a comic in general.

Last time on Week’s End though I was reminded that I should give a Spoiler Warning often for Week’s End. Yes for those reading, you should know that just about every edition of Week’s End will come with spoilers of some kind.

Comic of the Week: Spawn #193

To repeat a statement from the last edition of The Week Begins, some decisions are just too easy. Just about everything in this issue was great, and this is the best issue of Spawn in quite some time. The series has been on a steady rise over the last few months. Definitely the best issue of Endgame for sure.

Runners up: Savage Dragon #150, Batman and Robin #2

Moment of the Week: the Show Must Go On (Batman and Robin #2)

The best part of Batman and Robin #2 was this conversation following Damian’s running off. It’s conversations like this that remind me why Alfred is such an imperative character to the Batman mythos and it’s this twist on Dick as Batman that is making me finally like the transformation.

Runner Up: Captain America on D-Day

Cover(s) of the Week: Captain America: Reborn #1 (all covers)

This was a very tough decision, trust me. This week had some seriously excellent covers and to pick one was impossible. Looking at all the great covers for Captain America: Reborn #1 I had to choose them all. I couldn’t pick just one. Each one has something great and unique about it.

The Hitch cover has an awesome dynamic pose and the scene of war behind Cap looks cool as all hell. The Ross cover (the one I got) has a great use of the two light colors to display a warp like image. Cassidy’s image was just very bold, especially with the colors. The Quesada variant was just very imposing and it looked badass as far as Cap is concerned.

So yeah, 4 awesome covers that win the award since their of the same comic.

Runner Up: Witchblade #128 Luke Ross variant.

Character of the Week: the New Batman

Another tough decision, Clown would have won this award if it weren’t for the final panel of Dick saying “the show must go on” that line just cemented him as the new Batman for me and finally made me really accept it. Morrison has been doing very well on Batman and Robin, not quite perfect, but still strong work and he’s doing a great job with Dick Grayson especially.

Dick’s new take on being Batman is just brilliant. To treat it as a role that he’s acting and that he’s a performer. It makes for an interesting twist on Dick playing Batman rather than just copying him.

Runners up: Clown (Spawn), Sara Pezzini (Witchblade) , Overlord (Savage Dragon)

Artist of the Week: Greg Capullo (Spawn)

Another easy decision. Capullo’s long awaited return to Spawn was well worth it. The man’s brilliant artwork graced issue #193 and he made every page, panel and character look great. Sure there was some minor problems with the coloring, and Capullo did have an odd moment rarely but those can easily be overlooked for the incredible artwork we where treated to this week.

Runner Up: Stjepan Sejic (Witchblade)

The “Whoa” of the Week: Savage Dragon #150 100 pages!

When at my LCS this week I was shocked to see that Savage Dragon was like a TPB, for the cheap price of 6 bucks (it is for a TPB) rather than a comic. That was so awesome. Erik Larsen has to be one of the smartest guys in comics today, first #144’s awesome style of several days on a page, then #148 was for free, now this.

Runner Up: Sara Survives (Witchblade)

The Comic I Wish I Got: Marvel Divas #1

A really good looking comic that’s seemingly getting mixed reviews. Some people love it and call it a quirky great read, others seem to hold a lot of disdain over it. I personally wish I could at least check it out, but with only 10 bucks on me this week I had a limited budget. Oh well, there’s always the collection.

Runner Up: Destroyer #4

A final note, there doesn’t seem to be any comics this week coming out for me, maybe one I’m not noticing, so I probably won’t have a The Week Begins this week.