Comic of the Week 9

Oops, missed one again. This is turning out to be more 'random comic of the moment' rather than 'Comic of the Week'. I am going to really try hard to get this back to a regular post. Keeping with the promise I sort of made in the last post, I have chosen a comic from 2001, this being The Amazing Spider Man #30:

I've been finding myself drawn to lighter comics lately, as I'm getting most of my angst from other sources, and this issue definitely fits that, although it really shouldn't. I do find myself drawn to angst so Parker's heavy inner monologues and him balancing on the edge of depression was very interesting to read but Straczynski writing makes it impossible for this to be the main thing you see. The aspects of humour actually have me laughing out loud still - especially when Spider Man 'made a funny' - and the action and bouncing pace keeps everything light and entertaining, overshadowing the angst. A Spider Man comic is usually pretty low down on my list, I do like the hero and I love the films but it's not a series that has really grabbed me, but I found myself enjoying this issue more than I did some issues of some of my favourite series. I'm not that interested in the character of Ezekiel, but this first appearance is definitely interesting as his charisma and arrogance shine through brilliantly - due to the excellent writing - and the way he easily shocks and mentally overpowers Spider Man is expected but still entertaining. The art is refreshing and matches the mixed light and heavy sides of the comic and the bright colours when Spider Man is on panel bringing the story to life. This is emphasised even more with the darker, yet still vivid, colours used at the end when Morlun takes centre stage. The last two pages with Morlun also gives this issue the last element to make it exceptional, mystery and fear. Mystery as we have no idea who these characters are what's happening and fear as Morlun obviously has a lot of power, enough to suck a German superhero dry (literally!). This mixture of mystery and fear at the end is the perfect combination to ensure I read the next issue, which I did.

Comic of the Week 8

Back, finally, to my favourite post - Comic of the Week. I have noticed that for the post the majority of my picks tend to be fairly new comics with only a few not from 2011, which I do hope to rectify by using more older comics, but this is because I'm quite lazy and couldn't be bothered to think too far back or look through my comics for older ones. This week, though, Comic of the Week is Demon Knights #4:

The first few issues of this comic were a bit slow and the plot and characters were hard to keep track of but in this issue, Demon Knights finally found its pace and really worked. Using the first three issues as an introduction to jump start the series - presenting the main characters,villain and themes of action and fantasy - the narrative slows down in this issue, giving us a good back story for the Shining Knight and introducing a quest she was given by Merlin, which will hopefully become a story arc of its own. From the first issue I quite liked this character as she made the series both serious and lighthearted with her obvious passion and the humour around her hiding the fact she's actually female. Due to this, it was nice to see her as the most prominent character, especially since she is so complex so her character could be explored fully. I also really enjoyed the twist ending to this issue, the Horsewoman suddenly turning on our heroes after shooting arrows at the villains and instead shooting Exoristos. This sudden turn in the character is definitely interesting and could not be predicted, plus leaving the issue on a cliffhanger like this, with us not knowing what happens to Exoristos or why the Horsewoman turned, has me eagerly awaiting the next issue, which finally comes out next Wednesday. This issue also stands out to me because of the reference to Stormwatch, another series I'm really enjoying, in the form of Merlin maybe being the same person as Adam One, Stormwatch leader for the first 3 issues, as they both get younger as the universe gets older.

Christmas Post

Christmas Eve today, thank god the festive season is nearly over, so in celebration I'm doing a special Christmas Comic and T.V. Show of the Week. My Christmas is mostly family time, I hold no religious beliefs so don't go to mass or celebrate the birth of Jesus or Mythras, another religious figure which legend says was actually born on 25th December, and I enjoy the presents but could do without them, so no computer tomorrow. Therefore, I'm posting my Christmas blog on Christmas Eve.

For the Christmas Comic I am choosing The Authority/Lobo: Jingle Hell #1:

I find this comic quite enjoyable, not one of my favourite but nice to read and definitely festive. A bit of an obvious pick for me seen as it does feature The Authority, who are written brilliantly by Grant and Giffen, and even more since Apollo, Midnighter, Jenny and their little family takes centre stage. The art style is a little off, like a few random issues of The Authority, but not too bad and the excellent characterisation makes up for it.

For the Christmas T.V. Show I am choosing the Christmas Special of Gavin and Stacey:

A light-hearted comedy sitcom, brilliantly written and full of excellent actors. I find I prefer Christmas specials of these types of shows as they are always easy to watch, fun and show Christmas the way I like it, family central, kind of like my chosen Christmas Comic. This Christmas special is particularly great as it contains all these aspects, as well as giving some deep character development, thanks to the excellent actors. Finally, anything from this show has to be great because half the cast have Welsh accents, which I love.

Well, there it is: short but sweet - I hope. I'm not that much of a festive person so I won't be posting anything else around Christmas, unless its complaining about the slow post or annoying family commitments it brings, being nice to relatives you hardly see and don't like for example, but I may do something for New Years. Merry Christmas!

Blog Update 2

This week I have yet to publish a Comic of the Week or a T.V. Show of the Week, which there is a good reason for. With a ridiculous amount of work and family issues(joy) I have decided to give the two posts a miss this week, but don't worry they will be back again and better than every next week. I have also chosen to drop Uncanny X-Men, even though I only picked up the first issue of the new series, as I have just decided to pick up Avengers Academy and need to start picking some to drop, especially as I've been saying I'll be dropping some for months now. That's all for now and I'll hopefully be back up to blogging more regularly soon.

Comic of the Week 7

A bit later than usual but I've had a busy week so blogging has had to take a back seat. I've gone back to relatively new for this post, using a comic that came out last week. This week's Comic of the Week is Avengers Origins: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver:

Being fairly young I missed the original debut, origins, of these two characters, since it was 1964, the year my bloody Dad was born, so when I saw Marvel were releasing a set of Avengers Origins comics, including this one, I was immediately interested in reading some of them. This one especially stuck out as I have always been fascinated by the two characters and their relationship with each other, which has become a common place relationship between twin superheroes; as seen with characters like twins Alejandro and Maya from the T.V. show Heroes whose relationship mirrors that of these two mutants. Similarly, since they are the children of Magneto, their origin story promised an appearance from him and he is definitely one of my favourite Marvel characters. The story itself was simple and easy to follow; twins on the run confused over their abilities, are saved by kind stranger(Magneto) who reveals to them who they really are and helps them refine their abilities, twins eventually realise dark side to king stranger and flee to avoid death and finally twins find a safe haven where they belong(Avengers). However, even with the simple story the way it is presented made it much more interesting, mainly the character development doing this. Small little extras like Quicksilver's hidden pain and a fight between Magneto's Brotherhood and the X-Men definitely made this more complex and worth reading. The art of the comic was clear and defined while still compelling and intricate, a good combination and the cover, which I've never mentioned before, to me was fantastic; the dark tone to it suggesting the pain the two have and the twins seperate stances representing not only their abilities but their personalities as well. The only issue I had with this comic was the way the relationship between Magneto and the twins was presented. The mystery surrounding it was built up brilliantly, the discovery through a family photo and Magneto's obvious care for them which is revealed at the end as he stares longingly at said photo was perfect but with no real admittance of Magneto being their father and no kind of closure the issue was left in the air when the comic ended.

Comic of the Week 6

This weeks comics isn't a new one from last week but it is fairly new, only having come out two months ago. This weeks Comic of the Week is Red Hood and the Outlaws #1:

As far as I can tell, not many people have taken to this series, but I am actually really enjoying it. Just the concept of having a much smaller team immediately grabbed me. I prefer team titles over individuals so I was partial to this title anyway but the fact that it is only three rather than the very much larger amount in other teams makes it much more interesting and allows a lot more character development. With the characters themselves, I only had any real previous reading experience with Starfire who I had always enjoyed, so I was open to the other two and found myself really enjoying these two as well. There's been a lot of stick against this title for the way it presented Starfire as being promiscuous and disassociated with humans but I just can't agree with it. I actually found these aspects her character more compelling that the rest of the issue, if males are allowed to be shown as promiscuous then why can't females? Similarly, what's wrong with being a bit promiscuous, naturally were not meant to monogamous its just society pressuring us to think that is the right thing to do, and she never lied, so as far as I'm concerned anything goes. Regarding the disassociation, she's an alien so what can you expect? After reading just this issue I was a bit lost over the story, and actually still am, but it did enough to interest me, although I didn't pay too much attention because the characters were interesting me a lot more. Overall, this issue was a very good first issue and I enjoyed reading it a lot more than I did some other DC first issues.

Comic of the Week 5

This week I was at a bit of a loss over what to choose for this post. My comics for last Wednesday still haven't been delivered so i have gone through ever comic issue and graphis novel I have, which is a fair amount, to choose one. So, this week's comic of the week is The Authority, Vol 1 #29:

The fact that this the second comic of the week to feature an issue of The Authority, third if you count Stormwatch witht the similar characters and themes, definately shows how much I do love this series, escpecially this first volume, which is when I feel it was at its best. I choose this issue because I'm in the mood where I want something soppy and romantic and the wedding of Apollo and Midnighter at the end fits in that category. Being one of my favourite couples, any interaction between the two of them makes a comic good for me so the wedding and Apollo going after Seth, the villain, for vengence over practically killing Midnighter made this issue stand out as I was going through the lot. I also enjoyed Jenny Q coming into her powers properly in this issue, using them to defeat Seth and finally showing The Authority and us what she can do. I prefer her in her toddler stage before she got older and, in my opinion, not as enjoyable to read, probably due to the change in wirter cause it's not the age thing that bothers me but how she changed as she suddenly jumped to an older age. I also tend to prefer issues thta finish story arcs to others if there are no specific stand out elements becuase it ties together all the story lines, themes and ideas and leaves you feel more satisfied when you're finished.

Comic of the Week 4

This week I have chosen a comic that came out this last Wednesday. I had already decided this was the one I was most looking forward to this week and it definately met my expectations. For this week, for comic of the week I have chosen Stormwatch #3:

 

Although there have only been three issues, this series has quickly become one of my favourite. As I hoped, this issue moved away from introducing the series and gave lots of action and more substantial characterisation. I already loved a fair amount of the chracters in this series from the Authority - Midnighter, Apollo, Jack, Engineer, Jenny Q - so am excited to see them in a new series with new stories, especially the new exploration of Midnighter and Apollo's relationship that Cornell has set out. The other chracters are fairly interesting, although aren't interesting me as much as the one I already know, and make sure this series different from the old Stormwatch or the Authority so kust as exciting to read. Out of the new chracters, Harry Tanner is my favourtie so far, mainly because he has been by himself so has had more chracterisation, especially with the revelation of his relationship with Engineer in this issue and the fact he uses a swrod to fight, which is classic and effective. In this issue, I really enjoyed the physical representation of the cities as Jack talked to them, which brought an extra dimension to the story and jack, and the presentation of Midnighter's tactical skills, which resulted in him having to face a monster with the powers of the members of Stormwatch next issue. I was a little disappointed when Midnighter stopped in the middle of a battle to ask about Jenny Q's powers, not very tactical or in character but a good way to establish a relationship between the two. Being only three issues in,  this series is one of my favourites and I find myself almost desperately anticipating the next issue, and further issues to see what happens with the characters.

Comic of the Week 3

Again, my comics were delivered late, so this weekI decided to put off this post for a few days and give them chance to arrive, which two of them did. So to avoid getting too furious I'm just going to choose a week old comic that I really enjoyed but came too later for me to have last week, X-Factor #226:

This is my definately my current favourite comic book series, and arguably of all time given its consistency compared to other series excellent parts but then terrible parts. So I always enjoy every issue and am sure I will continue to do so, unless Peter David does something to completely change the series, which I highly doubt he wil, so it should be obvious that I really enjoyed this issue as well. I could of chosen almost any issue from this series for comic of the week, so why this one? Well it's partly due to the story arc this issue falls into. The great thing about this story arc is it shows off the basics of the X-Factor team, an investigation team that deals with mutant cases, and it completely unpredictable; the appearance of Hangman in this issue was a surprising, but welcome, twist. As well as the story arc, this issue also brilliantrly shows of David's amazing manipulation of the characters and the relationships within the team. Each character was covered effectively, luckily for me with extra consideration given to Shatterstar and Layla over their mysterious intamacy, as these two are my favourite characters. I even found myself enjoying the interactions with Guido and Rahne, who although I do like, don't reach me as much as the others do, again showing David's amazing ability. Like I've mentioned before in this blog, as well, this issue left me completely satisfied, due it covering a suitable amount of story and a lot of character exploration, but also almost desperate to read the next issue and find out who Bloodbath is. Plus with the small teaser given by Marvel for next #227, 'a member of X-Factor dies', not reading on is not an option.

Comic of the Week 2

This weeks comic isn't a new one. As I buy my comics online, this weeks have yet to be delivered, so to fill in the gap from the missing new comics I went through some of my old ones and read a few of them, including this weeks comic of the week. So for this week, the comic I have chosen is The Authority, Vol 1 #12:

The Authority is definitely in my top 5 comic book series of all time, I just love the characters, the stories and the gritty element to it. Issue 12 gets a mention as it contains the death of one of my favourite characters from this series, Jenny Sparks. I was sad to see her go, especially since it was so early and we only go 12 issues to enjoy her. The premise of her death, being the spirit of the 20th century so dying at midnight on 31st December 1999, just made it much more intriguing and tragic, she knew it was going to happen and she accepted it. Additionally, this is the issue where the Authority defeat the 'closest thing to god', the creator of our planet, and ends the arc during which the Authority had to battle the moon, an idea which is also occurring in the new Stormwatch by DC. Really, any Authority issue could have made Comic of Week, I do really love this series, but I've chosen this one because it resonated with me particularly this week and got me even more excited for the next issue of Stormwatch.

Comic of the Week 1

Finding a post to begin a blog with is hard, so I went with something simple, general and fun.

Comic of the Week

For this weekly post I will comment on my favourite comic of the week, not necessarily a new comic, just the one I'm thinking about most at the moment. This week, the comic is X-Men: Regenesis #1:

To any Marvel or X-Men fans this choice will be obvious. Following the evnts of Schism, this issue shows which side, Wolverine or Cyclops, most of the mutants are choosing. This isssue is also a starting point for the new era of the X-Men, which will alter every series included. I am very excited to see how this plays out, especially with my favourite X title X-Factor, so this issue gets Comic of the Week because of what it represents and the renewed interest it has given me for the X-Men. However, no matter how excited I get by this new storyline, I still refuse to pick up Generation Hope; the characters don't do it for me at all and I just find the storylines fairly glib. I will be giving all the other 7 titles involved a try though, and I highly reccomend you do to.