Who's who in the Comics Bulletin Universe - Update 2008
Who is... Michael A. Diaz?
Michael Diaz lives in Michigan, but don't hold that against him.
There he works as a Sys. Admin. while fostering dreams of one day becoming a "real" writer.
Most importantly, Michael is seriously addicted to comics, something that his wonderful wife tolerates with the patience of a saint.
He also writes this weekly column that people occasionally read.
"[O]ne of the most positive
and entertaining columns going."
- Gail Simone (Birds of Prey, Villains United)
WLG #150: Geek Omnibus!
For some reason while I was writing the column this week I just couldn’t shut the heck up.
I honestly don’t know what it was, but by the time I got to Blue Beetle #1 I found that I was yammering on and on and on, and to make matters worse I went on incessantly about the Alias Omnibus.
So, being that I’ve said so very much about just a handful of comics this week I think I’m going to keep this introduction as short and sweet as possible.
That means that it is time for this already:
So let’s dive right in and see What Looks Good…
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #1 $2.99 (Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely)I don’t even really know where to being other than to repeat myself once again and go on and on about how Grant Morrison has actually made Superman “super” again. Instead of being a boring, overgrown Boy Scout (IMHO) Morrison and Quitely have given us a hero that is genuinely awe-inspiring.
I honestly don’t know when I’ve liked a Superman book more.
BLUE BEETLE #1 $2.99 (Keith Giffen & John Rogers / Cully Hamner)Full disclosure time here: I’m a big fan of Giffen & DeMatteis’s run on Justice League back in the late 80’s, most especially for their depictions of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Eventually both of them left the team but a few years ago Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire were allowed to touch upon the title again with first a mini-series and then an arc in Justice League: Classified (which was supposed to be the follow-up mini-series). To say that I was pissed off when I got to that page in Countdown To Infinite Crisis and saw Ted Kord’s brains blow halfway across the room is an understatement. I was mad, sure, but I was also deeply saddened, shocked even, as much as one could be when reacting to a comic book death.
“But people dead isn’t always dead in comics” some people will say.
Maybe so, but for me watching Beetle die wasn’t something that could be easily “written off.”
And then I heard that they were going to be bringing back a new Blue Beetle. Again, I was mad. First off DC was killing off a personal favorite of mine and then they were making plans for a replacement while Beetle’s body was still warm.
I figured that there was no way that I would ever be interested in a new Beetle. Nope, the Blue Beetle that I had grown to love over several years was gone and I didn’t even want to hear about a new Beetle.
I saw the hints in various comics that showed a scarab zooming off to find a new host and I was barely interested to say the least.
But then I saw the new costume. True, it was almost a cliche to see that instead of another guy running around in blue tights that Blue Beetle was going to be beefed up into some guy wearing a cool, high-tech looking suite of Blue Beetle armor. Cliched, yes, but when you consider that a beetle, or more to the point, a scarab is a naturally armored creature it kind of made sense. When I tied this to the aforementioned scenes of a mystic scarab scurrying about and the references to the revered position that the scarab occupied in Egyptian mythology I became curious.
Actually, that’s not entirely true and I should really just take back everything I said. In reality I reacted in true fanboy fashion when I saw that sweet looking costume and used the cool back-story to justify my interest in this new Blue Beetle.
What can I say, comics are a visual medium and that new costume looks pretty cool in my opinion.
That said, the fact that Keith Giffen, a man who co-wrote the version of Beetle that I loved the most, was again controlling the destiny of this new Beetle intensified my curiosity.
So while it’s true that I miss the affable and constantly freaking out Ted Kord Blue Beetle it looks as if this creative team will be respecting that character as they launch this new incarnation. I still wish that they hadn’t killed the Beetle that I loved so much, but darn it if they don’t have my curiosity piqued with this new version.
I don’t want to like it but already I think that I kind of do.
ALIAS OMNIBUS (Brian Michael Bendis / Michael Avon Oeming) $69.99I love Marvel like the abused woman loves the husband that constantly beats her.
A few years back Marvel launched their MAX Comics line, with one of the first titles being the Bendis/Gaydos Alias. Almost from the very first page I fell in love with the book and gushed about each and every issue that came out. Sometime later Marvel did something that I thought was surprising when they actually released a hardcover collection of the book’s first arc. I loved the book dearly but I couldn’t justify spending that kind of coin on a collection of comics that I already owned, at least, not yet. I made a mental note to buy the hardcover when I could afford it, anticipating that there would be more hardcovers collecting the rest of the series in the future. I don’t know why I thought that Marvel would release additional hardcovers because though I loved the book I knew that it wasn’t exactly setting the sales charts on fire.
Then I read somewhere that there would be no more hardcover collections of Alias, and in fact, that there wouldn’t be any additional printings of the first Alias hardcover. The fanboy inside of me immediately began to freak out about the fact that I suddenly and immediately needed to own an Alias hardcover NOW. This was quickly followed by sweat-inducing visions of not being able to find a copy anywhere save for some exorbitantly priced copies floating around eBay (yes, sweat-inducing visions; I am a fanboy through and through).
Then, as if fate had smiled upon me, I happened to spot a copy of the Alias hardcover at my local comic book shop. This was odd because at that time the shop had different owners who were known not to take risks and usually stocked only a handful of X-Men trades. The fact that they had the exact hardcover collection that I had already started to fiend over, and at cover price no less, was almost too much to believe.
I raced over to the stand it was resting on, winced as I looked at the price tag, then quickly justified the expense as a treat to myself paid for with my tax refund.
I lugged that hardcover to Wizard World Chicago over the past couple of years and was actually able to get Bendis and Gaydos to sign it. I actually got Bendis to sign it two years ago and when he did he told me that Gaydos was back in artists’ alley. I looked for him but couldn’t find him anyway (and for some reason never thought to check the convention catalog). This last August I brought it back with me and went to Gaydos’s table several times hoping to catch. Finally I did, and not only did he sign the book for me, he drew a sketch of Jessica smoking in the front of the book and signed that as well.
*DROOL!*
That book is now one of my most prized possessions.
And now Marvel is releasing the entire run of Alias in one massive hardcover.
Do you see why I hate/love them so much?
You see, because Alias is one of my favorite comics EVER I simply have to buy this collection, which means I am going to have to sell my kidney.
And, of course once I own this massive tome I’m going to have to get Bendis and Gaydos to sign it as well. As I don’t live anywhere near either of these gentlemen this means I’m going to have to lug that heavy book with me BACK to Wizard World Chicago and wait in line to have it signed. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to get Gaydos to sign it without a problem (other than him not being at his table when I stop by); I don’t know why Gaydos isn’t one of those artists that draws a line hundred deep because he SHOULD BE in my opinion. The man has a unique style that I find to be rich and without equal. I can’t fully explain it, but man, his work grabs me like few other artists do. I’d gladly wait in line for hours to get him to sign his work, but luckily I’m probably not going to have to do that.
Not so with Bendis. No, when Bendis signs there’s a line an hour long crammed full of fanboys, of which I am one. That’s IF you even manage to get into the line because most of the time when I there is a signing for Bendis the line is capped by the time I’ve figured out where he’s going to be and at one time. Thank goodness Bendis is such a standup guy; a couple of years ago I was in line to get stuff signed by him when he had to leave for a panel. He made note of the four of us that had yet to get stuff signed and he told us where to find him after his panel so that we could get our stuff signed by him. Sure enough, I showed up after his panel and though he wasn’t signing for others (because if he had started a HUGE line would have formed) he did in fact sign for those of us that had waited so long to see him.
And now with this omnibus I’ve going to have to go through all of this again, only this time the book is going to be lots heavier. So yeah, I hate Marvel for setting me up for all of this potential pain in the rear because I’m probably going to be grumbling a lot when I’m trying desperately to get into a Bendis line next year at Wizard World.
That said, once I sell my kidney and buy this comic book monstrosity and eventually get it signed I’m going to be smiling for days as I caress and love it.
This is why I love/hate Bendis/Gaydos/Marvel for being such wonderfully magnificent sadists.
Thank you, sir, may I have another?
IRON MAN #6 $2.99 (Warren Ellis / Adi Granov)Back in 1947 Warren Ellis and Adi Granov started their run on Iron Man creating a unique and interesting take on the title character...
OK, so it wasn’t quite THAT long ago when the first issue came out, but it has been a while. Wasn’t Granov one of the “Young Guns” that Marvel heralded in August, 2004? I think he was, and rightly so because his highly technical and realist art is something to behold, I just wish that each issue didn’t take so long to come out.
So why am I geeked about it? Well, this is the end of the first, and I believe only, arc to come from this creative team on the title. I honestly don’t know if I’ll still around to see what the next creative team does, but this story has been gripping as well as a feast for the eyes. Watching Iron Man take on a bio-engineered weapon in the guise of man is going to be pure fanboy goodness and I can’t wait to see how it goes down.
X-MEN: DEADLY GENESIS #5 (OF 6) $3.50 (Ed Brubaker / Trevor Hairsine)Wait.
Seriously, wait.
Is this guy from this series claiming that he is the brother of some very important X-Men, or am I reading too much into this and taking the term “brother” a bit too literally?
Most times I’m not a fan of books that go back and show you that everything that you THOUGHT that you knew was wrong, but I have to admit that Brubaker is doing a nice job of opening up can after can of worms. In short he’s shaking the very foundation of the X-Men, and though I don’t know if I’ll ultimately like where this is going for now I’m riveted as this glimpse behind the wizard’s curtain.
QUEEN & COUNTRY #29 (MR) $2.99 (Greg Rucka / Chris Samnee)It’s been almost a year and half since the last issue of this series came out which is kind of a bummer. When the series first started it was a bimonthly book, which I was OK with because I realized that it was coming from a smaller publisher by a writer that was becoming increasingly busier. Then Oni announced that the book was moving to a monthly schedule and I couldn’t have been happier.
Then Rucka took some time away from the comic, not the franchise, so that he could write a Queen & Country novel. I probably should have read it because from the sounds of things its canon; things that happened in the comics are referenced in novel and things that happened in the novel are referenced in the comics that came out after.
But the comic is BACK now, so if you’ve read the book and want to know what comes next he’s a good place to start. Or, if you’ve just been reading the comic and want to know what happens next, well, this is the start of a new arc, so you’re timing is good for that as well.
Or maybe you haven’t read the comic nor the book but are curious about this title. Well, here’s a great opportunity to jump on and see what this book of modern-day espionage is all about. We’re not talking James Bond and laser-shooting wristwatches and Aston Martins that shoot missiles. No, this is more along the lines of sneak into a hostile territory behind enemy lines and using a sniper rifle to take out a target then trying to hide oneself in a safe house before being smuggled out of the country lest you’re found and disavowed by your country so that an international incident can be avoided.
No capes in this book, people, just the hard, ugly truth of what people are paid to do to keep their countries safe.
Were there any books that are coming out this week that you just can’t wait to read? If so, please stop by the What Looks Good message boards (see link below) and let me know what you think is worthy of mention.
Until then,
Peace!
-Diaz
Were Diaz's picks on the mark?
Have your say on What Looks Good at the Looking Good message board.