The Boy Wonder Reviews (Teen Titans 91).

The newest installment of an irregular series where my 13 year old son reviews comics he is reading.  Today he has decided to review Teen Titans 91.

Have fun.

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Teen Titans #91.

Publisher DC Comics.

Writer - J.T. Krul.
Penciler - Nicola Scott .
Inkers - Doug Hazlewood and Scott Koblish.
Editor - Rachel Gluckstern.
Cover art - Nocola Scott and Doug Hazlewood.

In this issue the Titans fight Headcase, an information absorbing crazy person, as well as hundreds of genetically modified students.  The art is as good as usual and the fight scenes are brilliant.  Although slightly crazy.  One thing I found annoying about this particular issue was the story has the tendency to jump around to confusing points.  Though this may be because I am not completely up to date with this run of comics.  If you are going to buy this comic make sure that you know what's happening.  Kid Flash is my favourite character in the Teen Titans team.  He has really cool powers and a really interesting past.  I am going to continue reading this comic.  I think that the Teen Titans are my favourite team at the moment.  I liked the cover a lot but would not like to see it like this every time as I like to know what is happening in the comic.

Art - 9 out of 10.
Story - 6 out of 10.

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There you have it.  My son's pull list at the Local Comic Shop consists of anything Deadpool, Generation Lost, Green Lantern, anything Blue Betle and the Teen Titans.

If you are enjoying his reviews feel free to leave us a comment on here.

See you soon.

NIA.

KAPOW BEGINS: A fan's eye view.

Before I begin you may notice that I have a snazzy new banner.  Thanks to Derek at Chaos City Comics for the design and technical issues well beyond my abilities.  Visit at http://www.chaoscitycomics.com/
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Kapow Begins.

What will hopefully be the beginning of a new series of comic conventions began yesterday with the Mark Millar sponsored Kapow.  ( http://www.kapowcomiccon.com/ ).

It was an attempt to bring the style of a San Diego or New York comic convention to the UK after a long awaited and unfilled gap since UKCAC ended.  (well at least in my opinion there hasn't been anything in UKCACs league for quite a few years.)  And on the impression I was given on the first day they thoroughly succeeded in such an attempt.

I got there early and waited in a local Starbucks for a couple of pals to arrive and as we sat there we slowly became aware that the group of people we could see out of the window was in fact a slowly growing line for the convention.  So once this realisation hit we quickly joined the end of the ever growing line (oh how I wish I'd realised that it was in fact Steve Wacker sitting at an adjacent table though!)  Saying that, the que was long but it moved quite quickly and we were soon in sight of the huge Green Lantern Movie image at the front doors to the Business and Design Centre in Islington where it was being held.

Entry to the hall was slick and easy and took only moments and it was once I got in that the whole 'American experience' was evident.  The lower level hallway was full with video game promos and the IGN stage.  Walk up a small set of stairs and you are on the main comics area.  Above was a surrounding higher level walkway that was a great place to view the hussle and bussle.

The place was after a while packed and we wandered the stalls and the signings.  I am pleased (on purely a selfish level) that it was not full of cosplayers and their figgin' papier mache swords or 'hug me' nonsense.  (but that may just be the grumpy old man in me speaking!)  The mood on the floor was friendly and just whilst walking around you found yourself bumping in to the likes of John Romita Jnr, Nick Spencer, TV and Movie actors or even good old (enough of the old) Dez Skinn.

There were loads of things to look at on the Convention floor from a small back issue area to a comics history art exhibition and some small press tables.  All the major companies were represented and I can see that if this event carries on through to next year (and I really hope that it does) that they might need some more space.

There was even a Tardis but sadly it seems locked (as Paul found out)!

Big hello to Paul Cornell.  Who as always gives his time generously to us comics fans.  I saw him a few times walking and chatting both on his own and with his good lady wife.  He stopped and spoke to us and enquired what we had been buying.  And this kind of meeting seemed commonplace for a lot of people in attendance. 

We all decided to dodge the crowd for the Jonathan Ross' Gameshow and made our way to Marshall Law and More with Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill.  The pair have had Marshall Law dusted down by DC Comics and were infectious with their enthusiasm for the project.  I have seen Pat speak before and he is extremely engaging and with Kevin next to him the two men kept the audience in chuckles.  Especially when they gave it away that they were not that fond of Tharg and the famous 2000AD letters column.  Another great story about Pat asking if he could have an Iron Cross as a freebie give away on a comic he was writing for at Fleetway.  Strangely this was refused as 'we do not want to attract that sort of reader'!  (not sure there is a large Nazi reading demographic out there?!)

If you get a chance to see these guys talk I can thoroughly recommend it!

After slipping off for a few beers at a local pub (who were woefully under prepared for the geek nation's drinking habits).  We headed back in to the hall and had a bit more browsing.  Good to see Dead Universe Comics there is full effect and I eventually plumped for the five for the price of four deal at the Cinebook stall.  Really beautiful stuff that is going straight to the top of my read pile.  Crusade Volume 1, XIII Volume 1: 'The Day of the Black Sun' and The Chimpanzee Complex Volumes 1 - 3.  (all for £21 - can you believe it.)  This company is putting out some really interesting titles that I have not seen before.  Pop over and have a look at their website http://www.cinebook.com/ to see what they have to offer.

The floor was full of great comics people doing signings.  I got a chance to see Nick Spencer again.  The last time I saw him was at a signing last September at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan when Morning Glories number 1 had not long come out and he was quite newly in the comics spotlight.  His rise seems to have happened in those short few months and he is now top of the sequential table.  I look forward to reading all his future work, especially his upcoming three issue run on Secret Avengers.  A cool guy although I have to say he did look a little tired (let's call that jet lag and not over work?)
Also in attendance of course was the mighty John Romita Jnr.  I find it hard to believe that he finds the time with his monthly schedule of The Avengers and Kick-Ass 2!

We finally made our way to the Marvel: Pint O' CB panel that strangely didn't have C.B. Cebulski at!  Never mind, it was made more than lively with Nick Lowe and Steve Wacker carrying out the energetic hosting roles.  It was packed out and the heat in the room soon got to one of my comics companions who dozed off (must be a DC fan) and let out a slow gentle snore (you know who you are!)  For me this was a great panel with a couple of bits of news that I had not heard yet.

Rob Williams (who is a bit rubbish at doing impressions) spoke about his pleasure at taking the reins of Ghost Rider (if you see what I mean).  Nick Spencer was allowed to announce his writing of the new Cloak and Dagger series and there was much talk about the exciting year coming in the Marvel Universe including some plans for characters who have big anniversaries coming up.  What followed was a Q and A session that was very Captain Britain centric.  Nick Lowe seemed sympathetic to bringing the character back as he expressed what a joy it was to edit Captain Britain and MI:13 with Paul Cornell.

We the headed back out again for a few more pints before heading home.

All in all Kapow was a really enjoyable, enthusiastic and encouraging experience.  It worked.  It really did.  I will be going every year to this convention and fully expect it to grow and grow in prominence!

I think we need to admit in this country that the American Comics marketplace (due in no small part to the British writers and artists help and influence) is producing some of the best comics ever (yes ever).  We seem to dwell too much in the British comics of yesteryear and fail to celebrate what is happening right now.  A convention like this has been a long time coming.

Superb stuff!

NIA.

One From the Read Pile - Jonah Hex 58.

I have had a couple of days off work on a short break and have been reducing the old Regina pile that has built up a little.  So I thought that I would pick one at random and review it. 

Not a Marvel book for a change.

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Jonah Hex 58.   'Every Bullet Tells A Story.'

Writers - Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.
Artist - Giancarlo Caracuzzo.
Colours - Rob Schwager.
Editor - Will Moss.

Publisher DC Comics.

Much has been written and talked about with the most recent series of Jonah Hex about it's 'one and done' series style.  Personally I find it quite a refreshing change every so often and continue to enjoy this series occasionally in a monthly format.  I recently picked up a pile of issues that I had missed at my local comic shop's sale. (Chaos City Comics).  I genuinely had forgotten how good it gets. 

I have never been a big Western fan.  I think this is probably more due to my age than anything else.  My father for example loved them and he would often watch old Black and White Western's on a Sunday afternoon.  In many ways Westerns were to him what the Star Wars space operas were to my generation.  Sure I enjoyed the classics but it as a genre never really took off for me.

So urged on by a number of podcasts and recommendations I decided to give Jonah Hex a go.  My only real experience to the character was the (and I think I am being fair when I say this) quite strange Hex series in the 1980s.  Written by Michael L Fleisher and drawn by Mark Texeira it ran some 20 or so issues and set Hex in the future.  I also have to admit to owning the recent movie but not to making it past the first ten minutes (one day maybe).

So I will on and off buy the floppys of this comic. I always enjoy them but never treat the comic as a priority.  I think that maybe I should do based on the quality of issue 58.

This issue plays heavily on a circular storyline of events causing dominos to fall.  It throws the reader straight in to the action and sets it's table out with the bullet motif that continues in one form or another throughout the story.  Page one is bookended with silver tipped bullets and a narration by Hex.  He speaks as to his purpose.  He speaks in short sentences setting out his raison d'etre  but as is common with this book nothing is how it seems.

We deal in many ways in false images.  The villainous character on page one (who has a passing resemblence to that clawed mutant) becomes the victim later in the book and the white haired business man is for a moment the villain (until he meets a typically bloody end).  Interestingly Hex is portrayed for the first two pages as a face only.  We see only his eyes and melted face.  You know that as soon as he only wings the other male that there is more to come.

Look.  This is a western so symbolism is high on the agenda.  We see the bullet motif continously throughout the issue.  We see it as a gleaming bullet and as a dirty rained on empty shell casing.  It is the trajectory of these bullets that have always driven the Western.  Who fires them and why.  We see later that there is a choice to this.  We see Hex giving a single bullet to the female villain and she is given a choice what to do with it.  Kill herself or another.  She chooses the latter only to have Hex turn the tables on her.  This book is about those choices.  Life is seen continously as cheap in this series.  We know that there will be bloody death rightly or wrongly.

Hex remains the cypher.  The morally ambiguous character that we read a situation through.  He is in many ways storytelling flotsam.  He floats through his own title allowing the characters and storyline to develop and explode around him.  His moral compass is never easily discernable.  We never know fully how we are to take his actions.  I am not sure, is he an anti hero?  He is clearly more than a storytelling technique.  He has had romances and short lived allies.  What I am sure about is that we never have to be concerned with the moral architecture, because there is none.  In many contemporary comics we know where people are coming from.  We know what Scott Summers is or should be thinking.  We have a good handle on what the Joker might do or want to do in any given circumstances.  With Hex this safety net is taken away from us.  He is as likely to kill and shoot someone as he is to put a blanket around them. 

Am I reading too much into this?  Hex would probably say that I was.  He would probably tell me to shut up (or just shoot me in the leg).

The dialogue in the book is always sharp.  It walks the line of a classic Western style and a blackly humorous more up to date style.  In keeping with the genre very few people speak at length, their motives become clear through the action and dialogue and not from just what they say. 'Show not tell' is never more evident than in this book.

The art in this issue was superb.  It has a slightly looser style than a book like 100 Bullets (Eduardo Risso) but maintains a Noir feel to it.  The images never shy away from the bloody violence.  I wasn't aware of Giancarlo Caracuzzo before reading this but will happily pay for more books he is involved with in the future.  I can see that an imprint like Vertigo could make geat use of his style.

I can thoroughly recommend this book.  A great read.

NIA.


PS.  If you are going to KAPOW this upcoming weekend say hi and let me know what you think of this blog?  I will probably be over by the Dead Universe Back Issue stall (with an emptied wallet).

The Boy Wonder Reviews. (Deadpool Team-Up 883).

As part of our ongoing series.

This time I asked the Boy Wonder (my 13 year old son) what his favourite comic was in his stack and he chose the just ended and last issue of Deadpool Team-Up.

He reviewed it as below.

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Deadpool Team-Up issue 883.

Writer - Skottie Young.
Artist - Ramon Perez.
Colours - Andres Mossa.

The main reason that I reviewed this comic is the charater.  Deadpool is a crazy, murdering psycho who talks to himself more than any other character.  He is definately my favourite character at the moment.  Though some would argue that he doesn't work in space I would disagree and that him being in space allows the reader to see his reactions to the strangeness of the Galaxy.  Space is where he belongs.

In this issue Deadpool becomes the herald for Galactus which leads to a fight with the Silver Surfer.  deadpool heads through space in his crazy mix of a surfboard and a tractor.  This issue has some brilliant and funny speech that you will have to read to enjoy.

The art for this comic keeps with the slightly cartoony style of the series.  The best art in the comic is the page where Deadpool destroys Galactus' patience.

I have read that this is the last issue of the series, it has gone out fighting.

Art - 9 out of 10.
Story - 9 out of 10.
Money spent on Guinea Pigs! - $25,896-92.

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There you have it.  I have not read a Deadpool comic for a while but read this one on the recommendation of the BW.  I actually thought it was pretty funny and reminded me of a good Ambush Bug comic from the 1980s.

But then again, nobody wants to know what I think.

See you on the wrinkled other side of Wednesday!

NIA.

The Boy Wonder Reviews. (Avengers 11).

Bonjour.

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I have a 13 year old son who I am forcing at gun point to become a comics reader.  What he and I decided to do this weekend was to read a recent comic that I have enjoyed an he will review it.

So here it is.  All his own work.

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The Avengers - 11.

Writer - Brian Michael Bendis.
Pencils - John Romita Jnr.
Inks - Klaus Janson.
Colours - Dean White.

Publisher - Marvel Comics.

In the comic that I read the hood was trying to collect some crystals to repower him after he was imprisoned.  The Hood is a good villain he is basically a drug addict on the power he gets. The crystals are guarded by super-heroes and that causes conflict.

I believe that the best part of the comic was the art, especially the section with the giant purple robot.  I liked how the flames surrounded it.

I also enjoyed the narration of the Watcher and I think that he was my favourite character in the comic.

The worst part of the comic was that a completely new character came out of nowhere and messed up the storyline.

In conclusion it was a generally good comic but was quite confusing.

Art - 6 out of 10.
Writing - 9 out of 10.

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There you have it folks. 

Personally I quite enjoyed it too.  (Not sure the series of splash pages worked but it looked great. )

Then again this isn't my review.

NIA.

Well You Should Be! (Avengers Academy).

Morning.

First of a semi regular post on books that you should be reading.

Avengers Academy.

Writer - Christos Gage.
Artists - Mike Mckone (with Jorge Molina).
Inks - Mike McKone and others.
Colours - Jeremy Cox.

This book sprang out of the Dark Reign event at Marvel that had Norman Osborn take over the USA and a year long series of sinister machinations that lead to his fall in the Siege event after he finally overextended his reach and attempted to take down Asgard.

What followed on from the Dark Reign was a loosely linked event in many of Marvel's books called the Heroic Age.  It seemed to attempt to wipe the slate clean. Steve Rogers arrived back and the MU seemed to be a brighter more hero friendly place.  Many of their books got a relauch or a redirect.  The biggest success (both critically and financially) was the relaunch of the Avengers titles.  We got Avengers, Secret Avengers and New Avengers as well as a great new direction on Thunderbolts.

The real gem to come out of the shake up in my opinion was Avengers Academy.

It follows the progress of six teenagers who had been manipulated and tortured by Norman Osborn's Dark Reign.  He had attempted to start them on a road to villainy.

Finesse, Hazmat, Mettle, Veil, Reptil and Striker are then taken into an Academy run by Hank Pym  who was at the time going by the name Wasp (which he has thankfully dropped and is now back as Giant Man) and a handful of other second string Avengers that include Tigra, Speedball, Quicksilver, Jocasta and Justice.
The twist comes in the storyline quite early on (half way through issue 1 in fact) when you realise that they are being trained not because they will make great Avengers but that they may well turn into super villains.

So what we have here is not The New Mutants or the Teen Titans but a book that on the surface seems that way but is in fact a book about manipulation, dark character interplay and a discourse on the nature of personal choice against the sea of fate.

It's first handful of issues take care in exploring the different facets of each character.  In a similar way to how John Byrne's Alpha Flight and Keith Giffen's and Paul Levitz's Legion of Super-Heroes in the 1980s focused in on an individual character in spotlight issues the writers of Avengers Academy have done the same.  Each student (as well as each tuttor) have been shown to be fallable and to have been manipulated in one way or another.   Nobody seems ancillary.  Everyone has a singular voice and a bus load of motivations.

One of the most interesting of arcs at the moment is the realtionship between Finesse (who may or may not be the daughter of Taskmaster and has similar powers) and her teacher Quicksilver.  Finesse has quickly realised that as the son of Magneto and a sometimes villain Pietro (Quicksilver) can be the source of some very useful infornation that would clearly be frowned upon by the other Avengers.  She is part blackmailing and part vamping him to get what she wants.

To me probably the high point of the book so far is the incident around Tigra who is acting as a teacher at the school.  This story is in my opinion more than it seems.  The history of this particular strand is that back during Dark Reign she suffered a terrible beting by the Hood and his gang.  This was videoed and we find out that the incident has been posted on YouTube.  The students see this and take revenge on the Hood and being the kids that they may become we see this sinister act again as they have videoed it themselves.  Tigra (as she is an upstanding Avenger) takes the students aside and they get a huge bollocking that almost results in some of them being expelled.  OK so far?  Quite understandable for a Marvel book so far?

But then something very interesting happens.  The end of the issue flashes to Tigra's room and she is watching the beating they dished out on the video that they took.  See what I mean now?

Now what does this say?  What does this say about victims of crime?  Surely the writer is making the sexual assault analogy?  I genuinely belive that this four colour comic says more about the nature of justice as a concept than the whole first chapter of The Republic by Plato.  Is it justice?  Is it wrong?  We see that the students are slipping in to a dark place.  Does this mean that they are becoming those super villains that we fear that they may well become or are they in doing what they consider to be the right thing becoming the heroes that we hope they can be?  Is what they did right?  Was it motivated by rage?  Was it motivated by revenge (lets face it they are after all called the Avengers).

How does this act speak to our duty to help the victim's of such violent crimes?  Tigra is a strong female character (albeit with that overtly sexual fanboy side) she can hold her own and since Civil War she has really become a character that I enjoy reading.  Does the beating rectify her injuries or does it compound them?  How does such justice fit in to the modern world as well as the MU?  How can revenge be a noble motivation?

The only real answer that I have is that a book that raises so many questions about it's characters makes for a great reading experience. Everything will continue to effect the metamorphosis of the players.  This seems not just limited to the students but the teachers have issues that require fixing too.

Other storylines of real note are the Scared Straight issues where it crossed over with the Thunderbolts and the issue where Finesse goes searching for her father Taskmaster.  Both do not take the obvious turns and only go to deepen the fatalistic hole that these people are falling into.

The art in the book is great as we have come to expect from Mike McKone.  It is this consistent style that improves the reading experience.

Christos Gage writes the fuck out of it and I look forward to each and every issue.  If you are not reading it you should be!

There is one trade out at the moment Avengers Academy:Permanent Record that collects issues 1 - 6 and the scond trade is due out in June.  Well worth your money.

Great Paul Cornell Signing Event (March 26th).

This should be a great signing with Paul Cornell who is white hot at the moment after the success of Captain Britain and MI:13 (well critical success anyway). He is currently kicking the fuck out of it with Action Comics and Knight and Squire and so much more.

He also wrote some of the best recent Doctor Who with Family of Blood and Father's Day.  A personal favourite of mine was the novel Human Nature from the New Adventures Doctor Who novels of the 1990s.  He has also written for the new BBC Robin Hood series and Primeval.

So get down to Chaos City Comics in St Albans, Herts.

http://www.chaoscitycomics.com/

Also well worthy of note is that Paul is also currently growing a beard for the UK charity Shelter here in the UK.  So you might also be able to donate to a worthy cause.

Be afraid.

http://www.paulcornell.com/

To make a donation (as I shall be - although I won't be growing the beard as I already have one) pop over to the below link.  How many times have you walked past a homeless person in Central London and felt guilty about not helping.  Well guess what fuckos - now you can.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/donating2shelter?appeal=1030704&gclid=CJCZsqulx6cCFUFC4Qod_CUrCQ

So come on down to the event.  Should be fun.  (Mention The Sky at Night and you may be pals forever).

PS We may well go for a beer afterwards!