First Wave #1

Title: First Wave #1

Author: Brian Azzarello

Artist: Rags Morales

Storyline: First Wave launch event

Publisher: DC Comics

Rating: 14+

Release date: March 3, 2010

Verdict: 9/10

Last year DC Comics announced that uber-crime fiction writer Brian Azzarello, best known for his run on 100 Bullets, was launching a new DC Universe. His DC Universe. And this new universe was going to very special. This would be a DC universe in which nobody with super-powers exists. In fact, there are no super-powers in this world at all. Followers of Azzarello’s writing know that the man is not really a super-powers fan. Who would be Mr. Azzarello’s focus of this universe you ask? Azzarello hasn’t released a full list or anything, but for now he did mention the three characters that would be the current focus. Doc Savage, a 1920’s/30’s Pulp hero that everyone has heard of, is the first. Will Eisner’s The Spirit, whose real name is Denny Colt would be the second, while none other than a gun totting Batman that is circa 1937, but with a few little modern twists, would be the third. These three characters would act as the proverbial centers of this new powerless DCU.

I know what you’re saying. BATMAN HAS A GUN?! First it was Captain America carrying a gun, and now BATMAN? Is nothing sacred? All I can really say is this: Don’t Fret. It actually turns out that when Batman was first introduced in the late 1930’s in Detective Comics #27, Batman carried two pistols as part of his gadget-ensemble. All Mr. Azzarello is doing is going back to Batman/Bruce Wayne’s roots of when he was a true crime fighting detective in a world without super-powers. This world is a Pulp-style Earth, and with these characters hanging around and not super-gods, the stories should be all the more interesting. No one can travel through time or move the moon with their upper body strength. The heroes and the villains are on a common ground.

Brian Azzarello and artist Phil Noto brought us a Batman/Doc Savage one-shot a few months ago which acted as the catalyst for First Wave and the two ongoing series that will spring from it. The one-shot introduced us to the Doc and some of his companions, and also showed us the “debut” of Batman in this universe. Doc Savage has been in the public eye for years at this point in his career, and when Batman shows up, sticking himself into the affairs of the (now West Coast located) Gotham City underworld, Doc Savage takes notice. That one-shot was done in the classic team-up style wherein Batman was accused of a murder, Doc Savage says he’ll bring the Bat to justice, they meet and discuss what actually happened, and by the end, they were on the same side.

First Wave #1 is the next step into this new universe. With a sweet cover by JG Jones depicting Doc Savage, The Spirit, and Batman, this first issue wastes no time setting up the first bug mystery for our various detectives. The issue revolves around Doc Savage’s return to his home in New York City. It turns out that the Doc’s father has recently passed away, and the Doc was unreachable in an unknown location. The Doc wastes no time, and as soon as he’s home he has his fathers body exhumed. All his friends assume that he’s just having a hard time letting go, as he was out of town for the funeral, but the Doc knows better. After the exhumation, Doc opens the casket and instead of his father, finds several sand bags full of gold dust and with a red blood stained hand print on them. What does this mean? Is Doc Savage’s father really dead? What do the red hand prints on the sandbags mean? These seem to be the questions posed for this first arc.

Other than this main story, this issue is intercut with scenes from a South American jungle. “The Red Hand” is mentioned when referring to a particular native group, but more than that was not explained. As a very long-time Brian Azzarello fan, I know that the first issue of any new storyarc or comic book series is never filled with answers. Azzarello saves his answers for the end. For now, we are just filled with questions. And that’s cool. It makes this new universe interesting and fresh. I’ll definitely be here for issues #2-6. Check it out J !

News Tidbits – March 7, 2010

Here’s some of the comic book industry news from the last week or so not already featured in our blog:

-Green Lantern goes 3-D! DC Entertainment and Warner Brothers pictures have announced that the upcoming Green Lantern live-action film starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Casino Royale’s Martin Campbell will be, like Avatar before it, presented in stereoscopic 3-D. The film will also be released in the standard 2-D, but the 3-D release promises to be epic. Look for the film in 2011. Find the original story, here.

-Smallville, the CW television series about Clark Kent’s adventures before the cape, has just been given the green light to produce a 10^th season. No word on which cool guest stars will show up or whether or not Geoff Johns will pen another tale, but it seems like the time to put Clark in the costume is close at hand. Or maybe just a series name change to Metropolis, as that is where the story takes place now. Check out the story, here.

-Gail Simone, long time writer on DC’s Wonder Woman ongoing monthly series has announced that she will be leaving the book. Look for June’s renumbered Wonder Woman #600 to have a final contribution from Gail. Ms. Simone will continue to write The Secret Six, and the Birds of Prey relaunch series for DC, but will also be bringing out a new Welcome to Tranquility mini-series from DC’s Wildstorm imprint. Click here for more.

-Big time film and Comic book writer, Mark Millar, has announced that he will be working on a new Spider-Man project for Marvel in 2011. No artist was named and no details were given out, but Millar’s previous foray into the Spider-Man arena yielded a very good 12-issue run in the early 2000’s. Millar also took the time to comment on the new film that he is preparing to direct next year. The film will be set in Scotland (and involve a 100% Scottish film crew) and will feature some everyday Scots as superheroes. Millar cites District 9 as a film not set in America but that still interested the American audience. He hopes to do the same with his Scottish-Superhero film. Not much to go on, but it’s enough to get me excited! Check here for the full story.

-Rumor has it that comic book genius Warren Ellis has written a film based in Arthurian times that seems to have tickled the fancy of Guy Ritchie, director of Sherlock Holmes and Snatch. Ritchie is looking to option the script and direct it himself. More news as we get it J

Another New New Avenger

Here’s an Avengers appointment that really surprises me. The Thing, one of the members of the first family of comics, The Fantastic Four, has been announced as the latest member of Brian Bendis and Stuart Immonen’s New Avengers team set to debut in June.

What’s really surprising about this is that it seems as though The Thing (aka Ben Grimm) will still act as an active member of Fantastic Four on top of his duties with the New Avengers. I think it’s cool that The Thing is joining on, but I believe that his departure from the team is inevitable. An X-Man like Wolverine can stick around on this team, but historically it seems as though whenever a member of the FF joins another team, his or her responsibilites to the family always leads them back there to the Baxter building. A cool addition none the less. For now at least .

A New New Avenger

This announcement is a little bit of a surprise as Jewel (aka Jessica Jones) hasn’t actually starred in a superhero book as a superhero in her entire history, but at the same time, this descision makes perfect sense. Jessica Jones was a character created by Brian Michael Bendis as the lead character in the first Marvel MAX book, Alias.  Her relationship with Luke Cage was established in that series, and when it ended with issue #28 a few years ago, Jessica made the move to the mainstream Marvel Universe. She has been a staple in Bendis’ first volume of New Avengers as Cage’s wife and babymama, and since she has proven herself to be very powerful and a good team player, her “promotion” to an Avengers team is long overdue. GO JEWEL! :)

Another New Avenger (again)

Another Marvel Comics announcement about another old New Avenger. This one is no surprise as Wolverine is in most books from Marvel these days. The only character more prolific would be Deadpool. Now that would be a surprise announcement!

Wolverine joins Luke Cage and Spider-Man as returning members to the Brian Michael Bendis/ Stuart Immonen book come this summer. Stay tuned for more Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Avengers announcements as they come in! :)

SIEGE Report: The Latest from the Front

Title: New Avengers #61 

 Author: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Stuart Immonen (w/ Daniel Acuna)

Rating: 13+

Verdict: 8/10

Picking up right where the last issue left off, we have Spider-Man and Spider-Woman doing battle with The Griffin and Mandrill. At the end of issue #60, Mandrill had taken control of Spider-Woman’s (Jessica Drew) mind as he seems to have a type of telepathy that he can exclusively use to control women. Which admittedly, sounds pretty awesome to me. In true superhero vs. mind controlled superhero fashion, Spider-Man avoids hitting Spider-Woman or even defending himself as she is not in her right mind. This makes for some classic Spider-Man quips, and the scene, which stretches for about 6 pages, ends with Jessica breaking the mind control and almost killing Mandrill and The Griffin only to be stopped from doing what needed to be done by Spider-Man.

On the other side of town Captain America (Bucky) and Steve Rogers (the original Captain America) are fighting against Arthur Parks, The Living Laser, and with a little help from Luke Cage are able to end the fight without hurting themselves. Who knew that all you need to do to take down a living laser was to punch him in the face really really hard? After the fight our new threesome meets up with Nick Fury and his covert team known as the Secret Warriors and all of them head over to the New Avengers base in Steve’s old house. The Spider-people also head to the base and we now have the perfect set-up. The New Avengers, The Secret Warriors, and their new General, Steve Rogers, are all together and are all ready to head over to Asgard to help Thor kick Norman Osborn’s ass and bring the world back form the brink. The issue ends perfectly with Steve saying the words we’ve been waiting to hear for two years. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! J

Title: Dark Wolverine #83

Author: Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu

Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli

Rating: 13+

Verdict: 7/10

Issue #82 of Dark Wolverine ended with Dakken, the son of the original Wolverine, impaling Norman Osborn on his deadly claws. It seemed rather surreal when it happened, but cathartic nonetheless. This issue starts directly after the last page of #82 with Dakken standing over the body of Norman while taunting him, saying that Norman thought that he could control Dakken, but in reality it’s Dakken who is truly in control of Norman. Then what we all expected to happen, happened. It’s revealed to Dakken, through a trio of sexy female “fates” that this whole scenario is actually in his head and never really happened. Cut to the next scene and Osborn is completing the sentence that he started just before Dakken impaled him in #82. This is definitely a cheap trick, but it did get me to pick up the next issue. So I guess it worked.

The rest of the issue focuses on Dakken learning that he will be needed in some fashion to help restart Asgard and the cycle of Ragnarok that is forever entwined into the Asgard mould. Dakken learns this from the “Fates” but doesn’t take kindly to them telling him what to do. Dakken actually grabs one of them by the throat and threatens them. It was quite the sight to see, as from what I could tell, these “fates” we intangible spirits who were not actually in front of him. Traditionally if a regular human, or even a superhero, meets up with a god or sprite of some type, there is usually a modicum of awe. But not with Dakken. Dakken tells them that he does want to restart the cycle of Ragnarok, but it will be on his terms and no one else’s. It was a great scene. Other than that, this issue wasn’t as good as the last one but was still pretty decent. I’m not sure but I believe that when we see Dakken on the ground after he assaults the building where Thor is hiding, and Thor pays him back by striking him with lightning, it’s actually Dakken’s perspective of a scene we saw in issue #2 of the main SIEGE mini-series. I love when that happens J .

Author: Christos Gage

Artist: Jorge Molina

Rating: 13+

Verdict: 7.5/10

In Avengers: The Initiative #33 we have another story that happens in between the moments of SIEGE #2. The last issue, #32, was following the Taskmaster as he joined the fray in Oklahoma/Asgard looking to finally join the “big leagues” by taking down an immortal on national television. This issue starts out a new 3-issue arc entitled, The Hammer Falls. I’m guessing that the story will deal with the inevitable fall of Norman Osborn’s H.A.M.M.E.R. organization and the take over of the Initiative by actual good guys.

During SIEGE #2 we see Maria Hill try and take out Osborn and his goons with a shoulder mounted bazooka of some type, as well as the epic battle between Ares and that chunk of crazy known as The Sentry. This issue shows that Diamondback, a former side-kick to a Captain America from an alternate reality, actually drops some of her exploding diamonds in the path of Hill’s jeep. These effectively take out the jeep, but fail to take out Maria Hill. In SIEGE #2 we never actually see how the jeep explodes, so seeing it here is great. It just goes to show that when you have an editorial team working on a massive crossover of this type and they really care about it, nice little things like this happen. In the long run it really doesn’t matter to the grand overall story, but as a fan picking up all these books, it’s nice to see that they are going the extra mile to show us all the cool interconnectivity. Good on ya’ Marvel!

Other than this, not much else of note really happens. We see the scene from the last page of SIEGE #2 when Cap’s shield is flying through the air aimed at Osborn’s head. We see the scene where Ares gets ripped in half by The Sentry, but from the perspective of other characters. This issue also has a little B-story involving Night Thrasher and The Hood wherein Night Thrasher has to decide if he wants to work with the good guys, or he wants to work with The Hood. The only catch is that The Hood insists that he is able to resurrect Night Thrasher’s dead brother. Crazy stuff! I think I’ll check out the next issue. J

Another New Avenger

Marvel Comics just released this new teaser image for their launch of New Avengers volume 2 this June. It looks as though Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, is the next member of Brian Bendis and Stuart Immonen’s New Avengers line-up. Spider-Man joins the previously announced Luke Cage. Pretty sweet

Bank Street HeroClix – March 2010 Events

Thursday, March 4th – Cheesy McCheeserton. Build you best 400 point team of Doom! Anything goes from tentpole teams to L.A.M.P. Be prepared to smell the cheese!

Saturday, March 6th - Constructed Tournament, 300 Points: Build your best 300 point team. Prizes for this event include LE #105 Thor the Reigning for both the Champion and Fellowship winners.

Thursday, March 11th – Unity Build a 400  point team where each member must have the same team symbol.

Saturday, March 13th – Fall of the Hulks: Build a 600 point team containing a Hulk piece or a Hulk villain.

Thursday, March 18th – Mixer. Buld your best 500 point team of mixed universe characters. Teams must have atleast one character from Marvel, DC, and Indy.

Saturday, March 16th – Stuff you never play: Have you ever gone through your collection and said “Wow, I never play with that guy.” Make a 600 point team of pieces that you rarely or never play.

Thursday, March 25th - A-ni-mal! A-ni-mal! Build a 400 point team of characters with the Animal keyword.

Saturday, March 27th - 1000 Point Smackdown: Build a 1000 point team of whatever you want for a Mega Multiplayer match!

Another New Avengers Book?

As part of their new Heroic Age initiative, Marvel Comics has announced that a third monthly Avengers title to go along with Avengers, and Secret Avengers will be coming our way this July. The title of the book: New Avengers volume 2. Just like the current New Avengers title, this book will be written by Brian Michael Bendis and feature art by current New Avengers penciler, Stuart Immonen. The only confirmed member of the team at this point is the gentleman pictured to the left. We will update you as more news is made available. For the original story, just click right here. 

Star Trek Movie Adaptation #1