Showing posts with label batman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label batman. Show all posts

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Comics i read this week!: April 19

From the library to unsuspecting book stores, and basically anywhere i can hitch a read, these are the comics fortunate enough to be read this week:

Batman: The Man Who Laughs


top three of joker's stories from toptenz.
Ed Brubaker wrote this as a sequel to Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One. The tale shows batman first encounter with the joker after his transformation from the red hood. definitely a must read for all batman lovers.

the man who laughs, was the title of Victor Hugo's novel and also of several film adaptations. the title character was the main inspiration for bill fingers and bob kane's the joker. and the cover art clearly defines that.

Conrad Veidt, the inspiration behind the joker!

however, it was made to be a classic story and it feels that way. much like alan moore's the killing joke, its a slow read and lets you into the joker's head. but just like the killing joke, it didnt do wonders for me.

hardcover also features back up story by Ed Brubaker entitled: Made of wood, a team up tale of gotham protectors, the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott and Batman!



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Swamp Thing vol 9: Infernal Triangles


Continuing from Alan Moore's incredible run on the character, Rick Veitch a collaborator from Alan Moore's run, does an impressive follow up. With many more twist and turns, this book is not one to disappoint. I have completed all of AM's Swampthing except the first book, cos i cant seem to find it anywhere and have always found the stories intricate enough to be comparable to Neil Gaiman's Sandman. so if you havent discovered this beauty, its time to do so.

Of course seeing the lack of Alan Moore on the cover made me have my moment of doubt. but after reading Veitch's Vol 7:Regenesis (yes... i missed book 8!), i knew i was in good hands. the books takes us on through Swamppy and Abby's preparation for their coming child. Swamppy's (failed for sure) assassination of lex luthor. His confrontation with the man in blue. And the coming of an alien invasion!



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Popgun Vol. 1


A graphic mixtape anthology that offers a wide range of tales and art style for everyones needs. some tales i liked. some i merely read through.
i like:

Mexican Wrestlers trading Monty Python-esque barbs like, It is I who will pee on your toothbrush and Laugh!


ninja platypus!!


a hangover that turns ur head into a cheeseburger!


Evil Scientist firing enlarging ray!


and
bully bots getting bullied!
thrilling ant farm ad
grow seven monsters ad
NICE....

i preferred this to Flight. but thats just me.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Curse of Youtube: Cartoon intros

you know how you're sposed to do something but u remembered to find something on youtube and you keep clicking links till an entire hour is gone and you feel pleased with yourself? well, these were my symptons of this terminal youtubing disease:




from crazy and loony, u get dark and ominous tones. it always amuses me how the music goes along with the impact of the batarangs.


i really like the part where the the evil mutants and the x-men were heading towards each other for the final clash and the humans were like fleeing for their lives just in between them. so sweet. like they were just collateral damage.


i never really liked ironman cos of this. only until i read the comics that i thought ironman was coolio. The starting part has always bugged me. like what happens here: Mandrin shoots his purple juice over tony stark and proceeds to do so over stark's machine. then all of a sudden, Stark decides to get kinky and shows us a briefcase which is not a briefcase but is a SM outfit. Hell of an origin story. gay ironman! o yeah, and theres blacklash in here too. for those "i love Ironman cos of the movie and not cos of anything else" people.


didnt really watch this cartoon all that much cos of the series above. but i loved the song! guitar solo biatch!


My fav intro music of all! shit! probably my favourite cartoon from my childhood (not including 3d stuff like beast wars). kick ass guitars too!

TMNT 1st Intro

this shit was hard to find! but i did it cos i m awesome! Splinter taught them to be ninja team! he a radical rat! AWESOME LYRICS!

Cartoon music are seriously freaking badass man! if only i werent having a beep beep nokia phone....


btw, did anyone know that there was a really fucked up Ninja turtle jap version?


Japanese are fucked up people!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

comics i read this week!: April 12

in order to make up for my lack of reading materials last week, i decided to worsen my myopia and heres the causes:

superman/batman vol 7:the search for krptonite


It starts off with a silly sounding premise. lets find all the kryptonite in the world. and just for fun, we ll throw it into the sun. and batman agrees cos he sees supes is sincere about it.

dont get turned off yet. the book is better than you think. so far, the Superman/Batman series has its hits and misses and this one hits the ball out of the park.

written by micheal green ( w/ mike johnson?),two of the writers of the hit TV series Heroes, and drawn by shane give-jim-lee-a-run-for-his-money davis, supes was badly injured in a small incident and decides that kryptonite is everywhere and he would be a better superman without any of it making him feel like having an anal probe. Supes now with an obsession, he becomes darker, more driven, just like the dark knight. and makes us ponder about batman's extremist nature. micheal green did an okay with the contrasting supes/batman dialog. introduced by jonathan nolan, the co writer of the dark knight, you know you re in for a treat.

Green irish whip us with humour and then lou thesz press us with several WTF moments. that even includes a kryptonite doomsday! chibi JLA members! magic K! the pacing was well handled and the ending itself is a WTF moment. a great read to start off the week.




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Essential Savage She-Hulk Vol. 1


this is the first ever Essential that i REALLY really read. an interesting origin story that wasnt so much BAM! BIFF! POW! and the green hottie always had an irresistible hold on me. It had nothing to do with the transformation that includes the big green chest or the long legs that stretched forever. the black/white art was always a bore to me but somehow SHulk managed to keep me on with her lawyer intellect.



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Batman: Heart of Hush


Written by Paul Dini and fantastic covers and interior art by dustin nguyen. The book only collects tales from Detective comics so getting the Faces of Evil issues would complete the story though it could also be something of a stand alone. i dont usually collect single issues so thats my loss. The water color covers are awesome in every way from drawing style and composition to colors. the interior art has a mignola feel but manages to separate itself into its own unique style. no doubt about it, Nguyen has made it to my list of artist to look out for.

Heart of Hush is the forth batman story to have hush as the protagonist. Heart of Hush tells the tale of Hush attacking Batman by threatening to get the ones close to him. So Batman warns his boys and Alfred but those were the obvious choices as Hush gets Catwoman and steals her heart. literally. Standard bad guy/good guy, happy ending and wide cast all in check too. Reading Paul Dini's go on Private Casebooks, i was all bubbly getting ahold of Heart. however, i was let down with a tale that was merely so-so. Batman was at times, too out-of-character. Over the years, he has so many shit to deal with, but yet once again, hes seen to be a bit emotional and reckless.

but the main selling point of the book has to be the incredible art! from the covers, and i m not just talking bout the dustjacket,


to the detailed interior art. but the best treat has to be the batcave. in the scene where Hush discovers the Batcave, you'll get to scream in glee at references made to Batman's pop culture and comic history.


Behold the tumbler!


and 1960s batmobile!

that alone makes it totally worth it for your batman collection!



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Hellshock


Jae Lee has been my favourites since his collaboration with paul jenkins on the inhumans. his art has a very organic feel to it and oh my, such dynamism! so imagine my excitement as i wet my pants chancing upon this book at Absolute Comics. i just had to read it. and its been months since but i finally get to sat down and read the book.

Hellshock, a simple tale of psychology and sanity. and closure. and reality. seemingly ambitious for Jae's first creator owned work. but it holds together and delivers an intriguing and dark tale. only 3 issues long and a forth to sorta wrap it up. Jae's art as usual does wonders for the book and the unused pages at the back of the book sheds a part of Jae that seemingly fuses Jim Lee's art style and Frank Miller's Noir delivery.

verdict: Stick to the pencils. but of cos, i would read anything that Jae decides to churn out.



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DC/ Wildstorms: Dreamwar


the cover looked nice so i picked it up. i never did like crossover titles due to bad experiences i had with it during my childhood that left me traumatized. but i braved my fears and did this guy a read.

i never liked the wildstorm universe. I TRIED IT. it didnt stick. i forced myself to read Authority, Planetary, WildCATS. shit just didnt get to me. Gen 13 i still could handle but even so, i just stop at several trades. didnt want my impression to worsen.

So i have a bunch of unknown heroes fighting heroes i already know like the back of my hand. and i didnt get lost. credit must go to Keith Giffen for having detailed dialog. Sooo, DC's paradise island, Teen Titans tower and the Legion of superheroes spaceship suddenly appear on the Wildstorm universe and DC's heroes go all out to destroy the Wildstorms' groups. but it turns out, the DC heroes arent really acting like themselves. but not before Green Arrow and Batman dies.


FUCK! batman losing to Zealot!
this dream just turned to a nightmare!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Monthly Damages: March 09

these are the Bestselling Comics at Kino for Mar 09
which i lifted from Singapore Comix. what an original name.

1. WATCHMEN
by ALAN MOORE, DAVE GIBBONS

2. JACK OF FABLES VOLUME 5 (TURNING PAGES)
by BILL WILLINGHAM

3. NARUTO VOLUME 41
by MASASHI KISHIMOTO

4. NARUTO VOLUME 40
by MASASHI KISHIMOTO

5. NARUTO VOLUME 38
by MASASHI KISHIMOTO

6. BATMAN: R.I.P .
by GRANT MORRISON, TONY DANIEL

7. FULL METAL ALCHEMIST VOLUME 18
by HIROMU ARAKAWA

8. NARUTO VOLUME 39
by MASASHI KISHIMOTO

9. OSHINBO VOLUME 1
by KARIYA TETSU, HANASAKI AKIRA

10. WARCRAFT LEGENDS VOLUME 3
by CARLOS OLIVARES, CHRISTIE GOLDEN

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Watchmen, no surprise there. but i expect the sales to drop from this point on now that the buzz around zack snyder's masterworks is almost gone (i m still awaiting to catch my black freighter).

Jack of Fables is no2. havent had time to catch this little bugger. but i havent been impressed with the series since book1 (i have nt read book2 yet too so i dunno if that ones any good) and i m just gonna read it cos it might one day tie in to whatever's thats going on in Fables.

And Batman RIP is a messy pile of crap. the only great thing that came out of it was the batman of zur-en-arrh! was anyone else getting aroused everytime batman came out dressed like that? well, goodbye morrison and hello gaiman!

and now, just for fun, heres the original zur-en-rah!


and now, we have grant morrison's zur-en-rah and our been-long-time-coming-bat-pal, batmite


well, stay tuned next month as i ramble on regarding books that you already know.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Comics i read this week!: March 22

From the library to unsuspecting book stores, and basically anywhere i can hitch a read, these are the comics fortunate enough to be read this week:

Flash: The Fastest Man Alive - Full Throttle


the 1 where bart allen meets the black flash, and we welcome our beloved wally west, linda park, and their teenaged newborns.
a dry read mostly and i m amongst the crowd who is finally glad to be rid of the impulsive bart whose life is always in such a mess. the plot twist are in abundance and its the only thing of interest. that, and Daniel Acuna's art is a rose amongst thorns!

who should bother: Flash fans who are interested in seeing bart die.


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Superman/Batman Vol. 1: Public Enemies


Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb. every time these two work together, i MUST read the final outcome. however, tim does just a little intro short story to the book before the main story begins. drawn by the dynamic ed mcguinness, jeph uses alot of the caption narrative to let us into the two contrasting minds of our two favorite superheroes. and it goes like that all throughout the book. however, jeph delivers an exciting tale of superman being blamed for a kryptonite rock on its way to destroy earth and sets loose DC's all stars to bring him and batman(cos batman is a nosy parker) in. It was great but just before rushing a little just way at the end.

who should bother: anyone who loves superhero teams ups. and those people who wake up on weekends to catch batman: the brave and the bold, and/or justice league unlimited.