The Colonel's Picks For June 5th, 2013

Oh Wednesday, how I have waited for you. Fresh ink on fresh-cut manuscripts. Fresh staples! That's right, it's new comic book day and your very own Col. Reddenbacher is here to let you in on what made his pull list for this week.

Herobear & The Kid Special #1 (Boom!)

Mike Kunkel's award winning series Herobear & The Kid put him on the map and led to higher profile projects like Billy Batson& The Magic Of Shazam! at DC. Those early issues of Herobear were enchanting, but his art has also come a long way since then. This is great book for younger readers or fans of classic animated Disney films. Alas, I am still waiting for the grim and gritty reboot of Herobear, but I may just be tilting at windmills on that one.

Astro City #1 (DC)

Kurt Busiek's Astro City was a safe haven for people seeking classic superheroics during that Dark Age we refer to as the 90's. Previously published by Image comics, now the Samaritan and all his super friends have found a new home at DC. With Brent Anderson on art and Alex Ross painting those beautiful covers, we can exhale safely knowing the entire band is back together. Here's hoping they get a good lengthy run this time around.

Solo Deluxe HC (DC)

Let creators create. That might as well have been the mantra for this short lived DC anthology. Big names like Darwyn Cooke, Sergio Argones, and Paul Pope all getting to take a crack at DC characters without editorial constraints or pesky stuff like "continuity". I'm very pleased to see this finally collected in one volume, though the price tag may scare some folks away. It wouldn't hurt anybody for DC to make an annual tradition of projects such as Solo or Wednesday Comics. Well, it may hurt my wallet.

Kick-Ass 3 #1 (Marvel)

Just how much ass needs to kicked, Mr. Millar? Get ready for a third helping of Hit-Girl and crew in yet another offering from Millarworld. Naturally, the future Hall-of-Famer John Romita Jr. is on art duties so expect a pretty package. There's another Kick-Ass movie on the horizon as well, so I expect this gravy train to keep chugging along for the forseeable future.

Daredevil: Dark Nights #1 (Marvel)

Marvel already has two fantastic Daredevil books on the stands, and this might make it a hat trick. Daredevil artist and alumni Lee Weeks is at the helm of this miniseries, bringing us a tale of hope under fire. Or in this case, hope under a blizzard. Can the man without fear navigate his way through a blizzard to save a man's life? This sounds suspiciously similar to one of Mark Waid's issues from the regular series, but I'm still curious as to what Lee Weeks is gonna do to set this title apart from Waid and Bendis.

Screwed #1 (Zenoscope)

This is a cheesecake take on the Frankenstein mythos by Tyler Kirkham. I've followed Kirkham's work on DC's New Guardians title, and he's just getting better every month. It'll be interesting to see his own characters brought to life now that he's off the leash. Also, it stars a sexy Frankenstein chick and your Colonel is into that kind of thing.

Well, that's quite a stack of books! When that much quality content comes my way in one week, I can't help but feel blessed by the comic gods. Happy reading folks!

Cheers.

A Comic A Day: Supreme #47

Published by Maximum Press
Written by Alan Moore
Art by J. Morrigan & Rick Veitch

Supreme was a Superman analogue created by Rob Liefeld for his indy studio Maximum Press in the 90's. Blander than an air sandwich on white bread, he wasn't much else. In his civilian guise as comic book artist Ethan Crane, he pencilied the monthly adventures of the fictional hero Omniman while patrolling the skies as Supreme.

Enter: Alan Moore. Considered by many to be one of the best comic book writers around, his series Watchmen deconstructed the superhero genre in ways that are still often imitated and misinterpreted to this day. Sour grapes with the editorials and higher-ups at DC and Marvel meant Moore would soon move into the independents in the late 80's. Alan Moore took the blank canvas that was Supreme and did something magical. One part love letter to the Superman mythos and one part middle finger to the stale DC landscape of the decade, his run on Supreme featured some of the best Superman stories ever told without actually using the titular character.

Supreme #47 is a little ways into Moore's run, but it stands out because it revisits a concept from the silver age that DC at that point was doing nothing with. World's Finest, a series that co-starred Superman and the dark knight detective Batman, had been out of print for over a decade when this issue first saw print. In the "Supreme-verse", Batman is represented by Professor Night. Like Supreme, he's a not-so-subtle copycat of the dark avenger stereotype, with just a hint of mysticism thrown in for good measure. Owl statues and other such motifs adorn his hideout, making Professor Night's private space a clever combination of the Batcave and Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum.

Supreme searches for the Professor, who has gone missing. The hunt for his old friend and colleague takes place in the present while flashbacks reveal a sampling of their past team-ups. The present day sequences are handily drawn by J. Morrigan and resemble a typical 90's superhero book. The flashbacks however, are the real treat, rendered by the brilliant Rick Veitch to resemble a World's Finest type team-up story from the silver age. Moore's run on Supreme is littered with these flashbacks relating to past episodes and "phases" in his career all brilliantly stylized to resemble the "age" in which they occur.

Nearly a decade before All-Star Superman (another one of my faves), Alan Moore's Supreme gave a glimpse into the possible. A potential for great Superman stories that is always dangling above DC's head, like a brass ring just out of reach. If you're a fan of the Man of Steel, I can't recommend this run enough. If it helps, just imagine a big red 'S' on Supreme's chest and you'll feel right at home.

A Comic A Day: Captain America #444

Published by Marvel
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Ron Garney

After the late, great Mark Gruenwald's tenure on the title started to grow stale, Mark Waid's brief run on Captain America was a like a breath of fresh air. Joined by rising star Ron Garney, this looked to be the start of a bold new era for the Sentinel of Liberty. Alas, it would be cut short just under a year later by the now infamous Rob Liefeld "Heroes Reboorn" debacle.

As for this issue, Waid displays Cap's importance to the Marvel universe through the words and deeds of his fellow Avengers. When a technologically advanced terrorist group appears on Capitol Hill and demands to speak only to Captain America, the heroes are at a loss as to what to do. Captain America has been missing since his last big adventure, presumed dead by the world at large. Playiing another important role in this issue is Agent McElroy of the FBI, who dismisses the importance of Captain America and is really just a cynical douche all around.

And whew...what an Avengers roster we have here. In 1996, the Avengers consisted of heavy hitters like Deathcry and Hercules. Yeesh. Looking back, they needed the ol' shield slinger more than ever. Needless to say, Cap does make his big return on the last page, but he's still far from fighting fit.

Waid's brief run on the original volume of Captain America consisted mainly of two big arcs. Cap's return via the machinations of the Red Skull and the "Man Without A Country" storyline that saw Steve Rogers framed for treason and booted off of American soil by none other than President Bill Clinton. After Liefeld's little detour in '97, Waid and Garney would relaunch the title and get another shot at the flag-wearer, but most fans feel the spark was lost by then.

A Comic A Day: Justice League #19

Published by DC
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ivan Reis (Justice League) and Gary Frank (Shazam!)

DC guru Geoff Johns moves the pieces onto the board with this issue, preparing for the Trinity War. Each scene is a snippet of something interesting, but not enough to warrant too much discussion. It's a been there, done that kind of reading experience. The fold out cover gimmick is employed to full effect, with the fold revealing Batman brandishing a kryptonite ring against Superman as a stunned Justice League looks on in disbelief.

Those "snippets" I mentioned a second ago? Someone breaks into the Batcave. The new female Atom is playing an MMORPG that leads to a nice callback to the old Sword of the Atom series. Despero attacks the Justice League satellite, implying in his brief dialogue that he and the League have had a history not yet revealed in the New 52 (or DCnU if you must). They're all cool scenes, but this whole package practically has "Part One" written all over it.

The art has been by far the strongest aspect of the current Justice League series. Even the Tony Daniel stuff from just a few issues prior to this seemed a little more bearable than his usual output. Ivan Reis tears it up on this issue, even if the awesome double-page splash featuring the new Atom takes place inside of a video game. And let us not forget the uber-talent that is Mr. Gary Frank, who provides the art for the Shazam back-up feature.

The Shazam! stuff in each issue is worth the cover price alone. Actually, I wish it were twenty pages of this and ten pages of the Just Us League. Overall though, it's a fine specimen of a comic book, and quite typical of what can be found on the DC side of the Big Two's output.

The Club Of Heroes Podcast Episode 28: A Funeral And A Wedding

Evan and Chris get ever closer to the present day and the theatrical release of Man Of Steel as their retrospective on Superman's 75 year history continues. This episode, we discuss the comics of our childhood. John Byrne puts the 'man' back in Superman, while Marv Wolfman turns Lex Luthor into Gordon Gecko. And not even death at the hands of the monster Doomsday could prepare the big blue boy scout for...marriage!!

You can listen to or download the episode riiiight HERE!

A Comic A Day: Marvel Romance Redux: I Should Have Been A Blonde

Published by Marvel
Written by Peter David, Matthew K. Manning, Jeff Parker, John Lustig
Art by Sol Brodsky, Dick Giordano, Vinnie Colletta, Gene Colan

A fool and his money! That's the story of how I got wrapped up in collecting these Marvel Romance Redux one-shots a few years back. They let some of today's snarkiest writers take a crack at "dubbing over" some classic romance comics originally scripted by the likes of Stan Lee and Gary Friedrich.

This particular issue features a Patsy Walker story re-written by the amazing Peter David. David plays with the idea of her later Hellcat persona and her romance with Damon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan. The whole thing makkes a mockery of the rebranding that many Golden and Silver age characters would go through as Marvel would mine their own back issues in later eras.

There are also these neat paper doll kit pages with words by Jeff Parker. His hilarious descriptions of Patsy's "arsenal" of clothing and ladies items almost make me not regret shelling out cover price for these in back issue bins.

The original artwork from legends like gene Colan and Vince Colletta is gorgeous to look at as well. Even when they weren't drawing spandex types throwing down with one another, their art could really suck you in. It's amazing that these guys cut their teeth on romance comics and the quality of the work defies anyone to compare this stuff to Archie.

The History Of Horror Playlist!

The Club recently wrapped up a multi-part discussion on the history of horror comics, from the golden days of E.C. to the current mega-hit The Walking Dead. Here it is collected for the first time in one handy blog post!

Part 1: For The Love Of Horror

Part 2: Max Gaines vs. The World

Part 3: Freaky Naughty

Part 4: Two-Fisted Zombies

Bonus: It Came From The Longbox