Find Our Latest Video Reviews on YouTube!
If you want to stay on top of all of our video reviews of the latest tech, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Gear Live YouTube channel, hosted by Andru Edwards! It’s free!
Random and Not So Random Thoughts
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,
- Okay, in JLA 28 we have this character named Starbreaker. He devours the energy of planets and sends heralds out first. Now I realize there are a few differences, but haven’t we seen a similar character over in Marvel? Galactoid, Galacman, Dark Galac…something like that.
- I actually liked Dark Avengers. This is the way to set up a new storyline. Each replacement of an Avenger is recruited based on their powers in a nice orderly way. After trying to slog through Final Crisis this story seems so straightforward that it is a great relief. Starting a storyline at the beginning - a novel concept! And Mighty Avengers, also plunging into a new storyline was pretty much linear too. To have two Avenger books that have easy to read stories in the same month… Christmas is 11 months early.
- But Superman 3D is beyond awful and in a universe all its own. I guess I could try to re-read part 1 to have any hope of figuring this out, but life is too short. Who the hell are all these people? And why do so many entities want to destroy everything? Is it the characters or the writers that have deep-seeded psychological problems? The DC Universe needs its own Doc Sampson.
- There are so many factions running around trying to kill each other and conquer each other in Guardians of the Galaxy that it could get confusing, but luckily, we have Rocket Racoon to keep everything on the straight and narrow. And Cosmo the dog is just too precious.
- Over in Astonishing X-men besides all the regular mutants, we have Triploids (mutants with three-stranded DNA) and mutants from a parallel universe. Gee, weren’t we supposed to be down to 198 mutants plus one baby. And speaking of babies, wasn’t X-Factor off the weirdness chart?
- Emma Frost and Namor? Who knew? I am not sure if this book raised or lowered my mental IQ, but did I ever mention the sex quotient has really gotten more blatant in comics? Still, on a purely prurient basis I loved it. And it actually blends into the entire ILL-illuminati story line. And it has lots of sex in it. Or did I already say that.
Advertisement
“Dark Avengers” is a new monthly comic book that was released this week by Marvel Comics. “Dark Avengers” is a part of the “Dark Reign” storyline that will be going on in Marvel over the next few months or so. “Dark Reign” deals with the aftermath of the “Secret Invasion” storyline that ended with Norman Osborn and his cabal assuming power behind the scenes in the Marvel Universe.
This first issue is very good, but it’s kind of a been there done that already. This idea of the Dark Avengers is just a continuation of what was done at the beginning of the “Thunderbolts” comic back in the 90s. Norman Osborn is in control of the Thunderbolts and at the end of “Secret Invasion,” he is now in command of SHIELD - which he has had dismantled. In it’s place will be HAMMER and his “new” Avengers.
Osborn’s Avengers consist of what appear to be some familiar faces: Ms Marvel, Spider-man, Hawkeye, and Wolverine. These are of course not the actual super heroes joining up with Norman Osborn. In their place instead are various villians taking over the roles - just like the Thunderbolts at the beginning of their series.
Click to continue reading Marvel Comics Review: Dark Avengers #1
Read More 
| Marvel Comics
Welcome to the Tuesday Preview. We are up to 2 in a row!
Books will be issued on regular Wednesday. Monday was MLK Day but if UPS doesn’t take the day off, Diamond ships stuff. On the other hand, If we are supposed to celebrate the day, why do the Knicks play MLK afternoon every year?
Dark Avengers is the big book. Now we are inaugurating a new president on Tuesday so I could make a really cheap joke but I won’t. Rumor has it that some Thunderbolts are switching sides so we have Change Baby. Astonishing X-men also drops. The art and writing are usually fine but the storyline is hard to follow so the book is better in trade paperback format. Still, we hope. Spider-man Noir was. I thought, okay and with one main character it is certainly easier to follow than X-men Noir.
Remember that the 2nd printing of Amazing 583 debuts. The is the orange variant cover which is not the highly saught blue variant. Do not over pay for this. Also the Obama trading cards are here. The media reported that a signed Obama card went for $3100 on E-Bay. My distributor thinks this is insane because a Thomas Jefferson cut signature went for only $3000. Needless to say we are going to see a lot more Obama signed items in the future but they ain’t making anymore more Thomas Jefferson items. But if you come to my store,buy the cards anyway.
Finally, sad to say, Diamond has cancelled MILF Magnet 1. Now I always say to the comic critics that if they think it is so easy, design a complete new super power. All my customers were anxious to read this book although none of them actually committed to buying it.I guess, however, when we discuss which super power we want, this might beat flying.
Latest Gear Live Videos
With all the rumblings about the economy going on recently, I asked a retailer friend the other day how that was affecting his shop. And he gave me the following anecdote, which I’ll paraphrase:
The other day, one of my box customers came into the shop and asked to see his pull list. After crossing off about half the titles on the sheet, he handed it back to me and then asked with a straight face: “So, how’s this economy treating you?”
My friend, good retailer that he is, didn’t actually react as I might have, which probably would have been to leap over the counter and try to strangle the guy.
With maybe the exception of the recent Obama issue of Amazing Spider-Man, which looks to be selling for ridiculous amounts on ebay, it’s tough to see how comics retailers wouldn’t be affected just like everybody else by the economic downturn. But it’s one more reason to support your local comic shops right now to help keep folks in business for the long haul.
While I haven’t cut back much yet, I’m definitely not making as many spur-of-the-moment purchases as I might otherwise do. Of course, it would certainly help if the prices would stop going up.
Read More | Bridge City Comics
Let me start on the Spider-Man variant story. Marvel and DC usually make dealers buy 20, 40, or even 75 copies of a book to get one variant. Sometimes you can buy as many copies of an unimportant variant as you want. Now, dealers can change their orders via an FOC three weeks before they arrive. In this case, Marvel announced that any dealer that ordered more copies of Spider Man 583 than 575 could get as many copies of the Obama cover as they wanted. This slipped by most of the dealers. And who knew that Joe Quesada would be all over TV to plug it ? So I didn’t get any, but I could have sold plenty.
And next week they are printing a second printing with the same Obama variant cover except it has an orange background instead of a blue one. Don’t be fooled as some people on E-Bay who are buying the second printing thinking they are getting the original variant. The original variant is worth up to 100 dollars on E-Bay.
Now the real random thoughts (SPOILERS!!!):
- You’ve been warned about SPOILERS… stop now! Okay…
- So Darkseid kills Batman in Final Crisis 6, but which Batman died in RIP? And if the continuity was screwed up by having a live Batman in the next two issues of Batman, what the heck is going on now? Even DC couldn’t straighten it out to me on our weekly call. Luthor zapping Libra was cool, but Sivana saying “and that’s the classic we haven’t heard the last of him” was priceless. Batman and which Superman were flying around in Crisis 6 heat visioning everybody in sight? For a non-killer he seemed to kill a lot of who? Good guys or bad guys? Can’t tell. Is it the same Supes carrying Bat’s body in the end? Final Crisis 7 comes in two weeks and we are promised that Grant Morrison will clear everything up. I am holding my breath.
- In Faces of Evil - Prometheus, it seems he goes off to a secret monastery in the Himalyas to learn all about evil. Holy Dr Doom, Batman, where have we seen that before?
- Adam, Legend of the Blue Marvel was great. What they plan on doing with a hero who has talks with the Watcher after the series is over is interesting. Calling the Watcher a white guy with attitude is classic.
- Batman Confidential is a fun way to introduce all the old villains but I am sure they are screwing with continuity? But, who cares?
President-elect Obama To Team-Up With Spider-man
Posted by Jeffrey Harris Categories: Editorials, Reviews, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,
USA Today recently got the scoop about the latest issue of The Amazing Spider-Man #583, appearing on store shelves today. In the issue, Spider-Man gets to team up with the next President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. The story penned by Zeb Wells, Todd Nauck, and Frank D’Armata will depict the Chameleon trying to thwart Obama’s inauguration. The issue will be sold for a cover price of $3.99, and the limited-edition cover by artist, Phil Jimenez, will be limited to half the printing run.
Preview panels from USA Today show Obama going up to Spider-Man and performing a legendary fist-bump to end all fist-bumps as Obama expresses his fandom and support for Spider-Man. Reflecting on the incident, Spider-Man thinks, “I can’t shake the feeling that if I hadn’t showed up, he would have handled the Chameleon all by himself. Guess it’s time to head back to New York. It looks like Washington is in capable hands.” Joe Quesada, Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics, was excited about Obama having a cameo in a Spider-Man comic after the President-Elect said he was a fan of Spider-Man in an Entertainment Weekly pop-culture survey. Obama’s then opponent, Senator John McCain, only mentioned liking Batman, the flagship character of Marvel publishing rival, DC Comics.
The mainstream media outlets and the overt love over Obama getting elected is hardly a secret. But this appearance just feels so blatantly overt with Spidey basically hero-worshiping Obama in the story. Yeah, Obama could’ve handled Chameleon because everyone knows Obama has had training sessions with Captain America like Spider-Man. Also, if I was Spider-Man, I would be telling him to watch out for Norman Osborn, who is now in charge of HAMMER in the Marvel Universe in the fallout of Secret Invasion. Just saying, if Obama trusts Spider-Man and the admiration is for real, “Mr. President, the guy in charge of HAMMER is a psychopath and admitted former super-villain that’s killed a ton of people. Might want to do something about that.”
Just saying.
Read More | USA Today
1.13.09 - Tuesday Preview
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,
Welcome to what I hope will be a series of Tuesday previews to let you know what to look forward to on comic day.
Tomorrow, Amazing Spider-Man 583 comes out with a variant cover and a five-page Obama back-up story. The variant cover is a one of fifty so, as usual, I didn’t get any. And, as usual, I have people coming out of the woodwork to buy it. Luckily Marvel is coming to my rescue by issuing a second printing variant next week and I will have plenty. Of course what this does to the resale value of the original variant is anyone’s guess.
X-men Manifest Destiny should be here tomorrow to make up for the screw up of last week. Those miscover books were up immediately on E-Bay, but they tell me the real book will be free to me to make up for it, but as they are not on my invoice I won’t know until they get here. Destiny?
Also appearing is Adam, Legend of the Blue Marvel 3 and the first two have been pretty good.
On the other hand, there is Death Defying Devil which is part of Project Super Powers. They could call it Hard to Read Devil because the entire series makes it difficult to follow this storyline, but we’ll give it another try.
Final Crisis 6. What can I say? When Final Bar Mitzvah comes out I will comment.
And last but not least is Mad Magazine. I know everyone thinks I am old and senile (Thanks Dennis; ED: No problem, buddy. Hahaha.), but compared to the past Mad this is horrible and not funny. Pick up a few Mad trades if you don’t believe me.
And to cap everything off we have Obama trading cards. Now I once asked a distributor why cards don’t come out before the movie opens? It would be great to sell cards before an anticipated hit (Iron Man) or bomb (The Spirit) comes out, but I was informed that movie cards contain scenes from the movie so they don’t want to give away spoilers. But folks only buy the cards for the inserts anyway. Bikini swatches and kiss cards from Benchwarmers and costume cards and autographs from Iron Man are big hits. They say there are inserts in these cards and I am wondering what they are.
That’s all for this preview. Tune in next Tuesday for our hopefully second installment.
Random Thoughts For The Weekend
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,
- Some of them are good, some of them are bad, but there sure are a lot of Wolverine one-shots. In fact, it seems that one comes along every week. I wonder when they will put out a trade of Wolverine one-shots.
- Not only did I never think of DC’s Shark’s private parts before, but to have them referred to in Secret Six as “dainty” seems a little freaky.
- Not only did I never think of mechanical creatures having sex before, but Jocasta and Machine Man getting all lubricated in Movie Zombies proves I’m not the only pervert around here.
- Not only did I never think of Jack Russell (the Werewolf by Night) having a private life, but might he have had second thoughts about getting his wife pregnant?
- So after 50 years of continuity, it seems that Solomon Grundy can, all of sudden, revert back to human form periodically. Hmmmm. I am thinking of a large green person over in Marvel that’s been doing that for 45 years or so.
- If you are looking for an odd ball mainstream book to check out, please read Haunted Tank. The idea of Jeb Stuart having a Black descendent is quite cool. But, on the other hand, having the Haunted Tank in the new Sgt Rock mini-series, which professes to be based on a real WWII battle is flat out wrong.
- Without a great editor (that’s you, Dennis) and a few good friends (that’s you, David and Todd) there is no way that someone as computer illiterate as I could even dream of putting together semi-coherent columns such as this. Thanks guys. (ED: Man, is Joel ever right… I am great).
On a link from the Drudge Report, the website breitbart.com is reporting that in an upcoming issue of “Amazing Spider-man,” President-Elect Obama will be making an appearance. Peter Parker attends the inauguration to take some pictures and while there springs into action as Spider-man and punches out an impostor attempting to pose as Obama. I think it’s The Chameleon from the page posted on the website. This really annoys me!
People are entitled to have their political opinions. If you are a writer or an artist, you are free to incorporate your views into a story if you wish. If you are a liberal, that’s fine. I live in New York, so I have a lot of liberal friends and family members. What pisses me off is that there is no balance when it comes to incorporating politics into comic book stories.
Click to continue reading Liberal Politics and Comics
Is this a joke? Because if it’s supposed to be a joke, then it’s funny. The sad thing is I don’t believe Ultimate Hulk Annual is supposed to be a joke. I think it’s a serious story that comes off as a joke.
Ultimate Hulk Annual is a slugfest between the Ultimate version of the Hulk and Power Princess from the once amazing Supreme Power. And it’s the ultimate (no pun intended) example of men who enjoy being abused by women.
Who’d have thought Homer’s hatred of pants could be taken so seriously? The cause of the fight is pants. Seriously. After being advised by Ultimate Captain America to experience the world for herself, Power Princess of Supreme Power fame decides to take in the grease-filled (and delicious) experience of an American diner, only to be interrupted by a naked Ultimate Hulk. Ultimate Hulk is refused service because he’s nude, therefore Power Princess must act as a bouncer. That’s the story.
My problem with this story is it completely neuters its stars. Ultimate Hulk was a wild, out-of-control, and cannibalistic brute that was the deciding factor in world-threatening events. Power Princess (or at least the Supreme Power version) was the most frightening character in comics. Does anyone remember how she would steal people’s youth? How she dropped a tank on a soldier? And not only felt it was her right, but derived pleasure from it? The book treats these characters like they’re jokes.
And the sad thing is this could’ve been a powerful story about how dangerous super-humans are. Just imagine how much collateral damage a fight between Wonder Woman (who Power Princess is based on) and the Hulk would be. If you’ve read Miracle Man you’d know. Instead we get a fight over pants.
Click to continue reading Review: Ultimate Hulk Annual
Advertisement
© Gear Live Inc. {year} – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.