LUCIDMEDIA

Lucid Comics June 4th

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Thursday, 05 June 2008 05:19

From the Marvel panel at the Wizard World Philadelphia convention came the announcement that the publisher was adapting another Stephen King novel following the success of the two Dark Tower series. Having inspired one of the most successful TV miniseries in the last 20 years, the question now is: can The Stand do the same as a graphic novel? "From the very first cough to the sinister showdown with the Walkin' Dude himself, this is the official and authentic translation of Stephen King's sprawling saga,” said series editor Bill Rosemann in a press release. “[It’s] taken from the ‘Complete & Uncut Edition’ - only as Mighty Marvel can!” The Stand, which was originally published by King in 1978, will be written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four) with pencils by Mike Perkins (Captain America). The story will, of course, be updated but it will remain focused on two groups of survivors that live through a global pandemic apocalypse only to face a climactic battle between the forces of good and evil. For fans worried about whether of not this new Stand will have the author’s seal of approval, Rosemann reassures fans that, "Each and every issue of THE STAND will be scrutinized, digested and blessed by the incredibly helpful and wise King Krew…and by King himself!"

Secret Invasion gives boost to Britain’s PM

Whether it’s the general public of the UK or his own backbenchers, anyone you ask in Great Britain is more or less sure that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is leading his Labour party to a spectacular defeat in the next election. So why is this man smiling? Well, it could be because his Marvel Universe counterpart is effectively leading the fight against the Skrulls in Secret Invasion: Captain Britain and MI13. “I do admire the prime minister," the book’s writer Paul Cornell told the Associated Press.” He's marshalling the troops, showing leadership and acting heroically."

Meanwhile, in real life, insiders say that Brown’s recent policy failures have only exacerbated his party’s displeasure with his leadership sparking the possibility of a leadership challenge. An armada of shape-shifting Skrulls must be looking pretty good right about now.

Hellboy titles build excitement for Hellboy movie

Dark Horse Comics is releasing a whole slew of Hellboy related titles coinciding with the July release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. It begins on June 11th with the B.P.R.D. one-shot (a first for Hellboy) “War on Frogs”, which covers the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense's fight against the frog monsters, set between the miniseries Plague of Frogs and The Black Flame. Two weeks later, Dark Horse will release The Ectoplasmic Man, another one-shot that will add previously unknown detail to the character of Johann Kraus, a psychic medium that exists as disembodied energy contained in a specially-made suit. This one will be a specific tie-in to the new movie because the character makes his film debut in Hellboy II. Finally, a new B.P.R.D. series will debut in early July. It’ll be called B.P.R.D: The Warning, a five-issue mini that takes place immediately after the events of Killing Ground. The story will have to do with a mystery man that’s been appearing in Liz’s visions and a whole slew of old adversaries that begin an all-fronts assault on the Bureau. “I’m excited,” says Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. “B.P.R.D. is really picking up speed now. Fans can start girding their loins for big, catastrophic changes to come.”

Mega Crossover Mega Update

Secret Invasion

The Avengers’ books offered some new insight into ongoing events that, in one case, take us all the way back to New Avengers #1. The latest issue of that book, number 41, follows Spider-Man as he gets away from the Savage Land fight (see Secret Invasion #’s 1 and 2) only to find Ka-Zar and other Savage Land inhabitants. They tell Spidey a story of finding out about the Skrull invasion back when the New Avengers thwarted the rogue S.H.I.E.L.D.agents performing illegal mining in the Savage Land. At least it proved what we already knew about S.H.I.E.L.D. three-times over – it’s full of Skrulls. And I was somewhat less than bowled over by the surprise appearance in the end.

Meanwhile, over in the Mighty Avengers, we get a story about how the Skrulls decided treat the threat posed by the Sentry. Now I appreciate the Sentry as an attempt to inject new characters into the classic Marvel pantheon, but I’ve never been all that impressed with this schizophrenic Superman. It’s probably not a spoiler to say the Sentry loses it (meaning his mental faculties) during the Savage Land fight and the return of the Void is somewhat less than appealing because I still don’t know what that’s all about. However, we do get confirmation that yes, indeed, Spider-Woman is the Skrull empress. But for how long and why? The final tie-in this week is The Incredible Hercules, which despite now being up to its nose in Secret Invasion shenanigans, remains one of Marvels sharpest books. In this issue, we get the formation of the “God Squad.” Formed by Athena, led by Hercules and consisting of other minor deities from a variety of pluralistic faiths, they depart to go into the nether realms and eliminate the Skrull gods. Athena’s reasoning is that the Skrulls are fighting a religious war, so how can they continue fighting on behalf of gods that are dead. Now here’s something you can sink your teeth into. Greg Pak infuses these crusty old characters with so much personality you forget that there’s some pretty serious stuff going on around them. Whether on its own, or as part of SI, Incredible Herc remains one to pick up.

Final Crisis

I think the real crisis here is how underwhelmed everybody is by this first part of the ultimate, DC redefining crossover. Sorry, but I really wanted to like Final Crisis but reading it is like trying to figure out algebra shortly after you mastered the times table. Whereas I think Secret Invasion is more translatable because the background material is localized in two books, Final Crisis is all over the place with the references, half of them I didn’t understand the first time I read them either. There’s a lot of surprise over the death of Orion, one of the New Gods, which is interesting because a large portion of Countdown and a miniseries entitled Death of the New Gods dealt with that very subject. Also, the return of the Secret Society of Super Villains was a little underwhelming and the return of Libra as the big bad was somewhat less than impressive. Finally, the off-screen death of the Martian Manhunter seemed somewhat forced and wholly mistreated, especially for one of the DC Universe’s biggest heroes. Hopefully, this series will fulfill its promise as a new beginning, sooner rather than later. Certainly the talent is there.

Reviews

Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1 Joss Whedon and John Cassaday Marvel Comics After months of waiting and delays, the critically and commercially lauded run of Whedon and Cassady on Astonishing X-Men has come to an end. Overall it was a great issue although the touching and bittersweet ending was utterly spoiled by the delays because recent issues of Uncanny X-Men spelled out what happed at issue’s end. Utilizing the prefix “Giant-Size,” Whedon spares no opportunity to prove it, although he’s got to be the only writer I know that would gather all the Marvel Universe’s big guns for the purpose of a mass hallucination. We get some great character moments from the team, including the softer side of Emma Frost and the rather poignant and provocative way Whedon brings his story full circle. And while Cassady’s art is above reproach, I hope that the new creative team of Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi can manage something a little more timely.

King Size Hulk #1 Various Writers and Artists Marvel Comics Apropos to the upcoming release of the new Incredible Hulk movie, we get this. I don’t know what this is. What I do know is that it’s June and we’ve only seen three issues of the new Hulk series and I’ve long since lost interest in knowing who the Red Hulk is. Fortunately this special, in which the main story is written by Hulk writer Jeph Loeb, offers know new insights and instead gives us flashbacks to stuff that has already happened. Is that all? No actually, we also get the condensed history of Hulk nemesis the Abomination who, guess what, appears in the new movie. Also, there’s a re-run of Incredible Hulk #181, the first appearance of Wolverine, plus a random issue of The Avengers for some reason. Not to seem ungrateful Marvel, but giving us full colour copies of the upcoming covers of Hulk doesn’t count in my mind as a substantive preview. Also, when I order a pepperoni pizza, I don’t want a Hawaiian because you can’t deliver what I want on time.

What The? Moment of the Week

The “What the?” award for this week’s column has to go to Action Comics #865. In it, the villainous Toyman, Winslow Schott, reveals to Jimmy Olsen a whole new origin that manages to renege on one of the defining moments of the character’s history: when he murdered the son of Daily Planet columnist Cat Grant. It turns out a robot did it. A malfunctioning robot. One that grew a personality of its own. Hm. Isn’t that convenient. No, seriously, isn’t there any development from the 90s that’s sacred? You know, having a Toyman robot kill the kid doesn’t make that any better and it screams of serious copout.

New Releases

June 4th

Dark Horse


BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 8: #15
FEAR AGENT: HATCHET JOB #21

DC Comics

THE ALL-NEW ATOM #24
BATMAN: DEATH MASK #3 (OF 4)
DC SPECIAL: RAVEN #4 (OF 5)
DETECTIVE COMICS #845
INFINITY INC. #10
INFINITY INC.: LUTHOR'S MONSTERS VOL. 1
JONAH HEX #32
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #46
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #16
THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: 1,050 YEARS IN THE FUTURE
LOONEY TUNES #163
MANHUNTER #31
NIGHTWING #145
RANN/THANAGAR: HOLY WAR #2 (OF 8)
ROBIN/SPOILER SPECIAL
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: HAUNTED TANK VOL. 2
SUPERGIRL #30
TOR #2 (OF 6)
TRINITY #1
THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #2

Image Comics

BRIT #6
DOGWITCH, VOL.3: MOOD SWINGS TP
INVINCIBLE, VOL. 9: OUT OF THIS WORLD TP
MONSTER ZOO OGN
NOBLE CAUSES #34
PROOF, VOL. 1: GOATSUCKER TP
TALES OF THE STARLIGHT DRIVE-IN OGN
TELLOS COLOSSAL TP
THE AMORY WARS II #1 (of 5)

Marvel Comics
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 561
AVENGERS/INVADERS # 2
CABLE # 4
CRIMINAL 2 # 3
DARK TOWER: THE LONG ROAD HOME # 4
HAUNT OF HORROR: LOVECRAFT # 1
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN # 2
KICK-ASS # 3
LORDS OF AVALON: SWORD OF DARKNESS # 5
MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN # 40
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT: SECRET INVASION # 1
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE # 12
NOVA # 14
OMEGA: THE UNKNOWN # 9
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL # 20
SECRET INVASION # 3
SPIDER-MAN FAMILY # 9
THOR: SEARCH FOR ODIN MUST-HAVE # 1
ULTIMATE ORIGINS # 1
WOLVERINE: DANGEROUS GAME # 1
YOUNG X-MEN # 3

Collections

ASTONISHING X-MEN SKETCHBOOK SPECIAL
ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN MARVEL VOL. 1
ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 1
HEDGE KNIGHT II: SWORN SWORD PREMIERE
HEDGE KNIGHT II: SWORN SWORD PREMIERE HC
HULK VS. THE MARVEL UNIVERSE TPB # 1
PENANCE: RELENTLESS
THE ZOMBIE: SIMON GARTH
X-FACTOR VISIONARIES: PETER DAVID VOL. 4

June 11th

Dark Horse


THE GOON #25
STAR WARS: DARK TIMES #12
STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #30
STAR WARS: REBELLION #14

DC Comics

ACTION COMICS #866
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #18
THE BATMAN STRIKES! #46
BOOSTER GOLD #10
CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #26
DC UNIVERSE SPECIAL — SUPERMAN: MONGUL
GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #9 (OF 9)
GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #9
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #25
THE HUNTRESS: YEAR ONE #3 (OF 6)
THE JOKER: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE INJUSTICE LEAGUE
THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #15
METAMORPHO: YEAR ONE
THE QUESTION: THE FIVE BOOKS OF BLOOD
SALVATION RUN #7 (OF 7)
SIMON DARK #9
TINY TITANS #5
TITANS #3
TRINITY #2
WILL EISNER'S THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES VOL. 24
WONDER WOMAN #21

Image Comics

A RED MASS FOR MARS #1 (of 4)
AFTER THE CAPE II: ALL FALLS DOWN TPB
CHARLATAN BALL #1
CRAWL SPACE, VOL. 1: XXXOMBIES TPB
INVINCIBLE #50
JACK STAFF #17
MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #9
SCREAMLAND #4 (of 5)
SPAWN #179
THE AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS, VOL. 1: HERE COME THE SPIDERS GN
WILDGUARD: INSIDER #2 (of 3)

Marvel Comics

AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL # 21
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 562
CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI: 13 2 # 2
CIVIL WAR CHRONICLES # 12
CLANDESTINE # 5
ETERNALS # 1
GENEXT # 2
HULK: RAGING THUNDER # 1
IRON MAN: LEGACY OF DOOM # 3
MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK # 12
MARVEL ILLUSTRATED: THE THREE MUSKETEERS # 1
MOON KNIGHT # 19
NEW EXILES # 7
NEWUNIVERSAL: SHOCKFRONT # 2
PUNISHER MAX SPECIAL: LITTLE BLACK BOOK # 1
SECRET INVASION: WHO DO YOU TRUST? # 1
SKAAR: SON OF HULK # 1
SKY DOLL # 2
THE LAST DEFENDERS # 4
THE TWELVE # 6
X-FORCE SPECIAL: AIN'T NO DOG # 1

Collections

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA
ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY BOOK 1
INCREDIBLE HERCULES: AGAINST THE WORLD PREMIERE
MARVEL ZOMBIES 2
SILVER SURFER: IN THY NAME
SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE # 1
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 10: GHOSTS
ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL. 8 WOLVERINE: ENEMY OF THE STATE ULTIM