Green Lantern #50 ( DC Comics – Johns / Mahnke / Alamy )

BLACKEST NIGHT spreads with an oversized anniversary issue! Surrounded by friends and enemies, Hal Jordan goes into battle with a being he will never defeat – the Black Lantern Spectre! Can Saint Walker, Sinestro and the others put a stop to this bizarre Spectre rebirth?
Plus, Atrocitus reveals a tie to a power that may make him the most unbeatable of all the Lanterns!

You are NEVER going guess what happens in this issue! I mean never, that is unless you look at DC’s text, the cover, or the big 200 point font on the cover. I mean you are never gonna…..what, you figured it out? Hal becomes Parallax again? How the heck did you get that?

All kidding aside, this issue isn’t about Hal taking in the essence of fear again. Is more about what gets him there.  Coast City is swarming with Black Lanterns and the New Guardians, with their newly deputized commarads, are there to even the odds. We get a few frames of each guardian with their new  apprentice teaching them the ropes of being a ring berrer, and more than a few objections from Hal at the likes of Lex Luthor and Scarecrow having power rings. And who can blame him? They’re freaking crazy! Hal dosen’t have much time to complain about it, because a Black Lantern Specterhas other plans for him.  After an o’so brief stint and a BL, Hal and Ganthet drive a green spike through the heart of the Specter, but to no avil.  It’s deduced that the only thing that can take down the Specter is Parallax.

continue reading "Green Lantern #50 – Guess What?"

Demonic #1 ( Top Cow – Kirkman / Benitez / Silvestri )

From the creative minds of Image partners Robert Kirkman & Marc Silvestri!
The demon is in his head. The demon makes him strong. The demon gets angry when he doesn’t kill. Scott Graves is possessed and he will do anything the demon asks as long as it promises not to make him kill his wife and daughter. Scott stalks in the night as Demonic, a vigilante known for savagely slaughtering the wicked. He asks himself, how long can he continue living this way and what if the demon isn’t real?

So I just checked out Demonic from the brilliant Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and Marc Silvestri (Anything Top Cow).  With two creative powerhouses like this, there is just no way this can go bad, right?  Wrong!

It’s not that this is the worst demonic good vs. evil story I’ve ever read, it’s just the most common.  There is really nothing new here.  The main character, Scott, is a midnight crime fighter, killing the guilty to appease a busty barley covered deamoness.  What the spawn of hell really wants is for Scott to kill his wife and young daughter, but he’s resisting…for good reason.

continue reading "Demonic #1 – Just a Bit Outside."

So, tonight is the night when Smallville: Absolute Justice airs.  A 2-hour special on the WB where Clark gets to meet the old school JSA.  The bottom line is that this will either work or it won’t.  It will either be Worf going to DS9 or Justice League: Europe.

Escape From Wonderland #4 (Zenescope – Gregory / Leister / Ruffino / Crank!)

Calie has her old life back. Everything is normal again, including her mom and dad. The perfect life she always dreamed of is actually real. As Calie pinches herself to make sure she isn’t dreaming she realizes she can have everything she always wanted. But she isn’t quite convinced of her surroundings as she gets a visit from Grandpa and is forced to make a decision that will change everything.

While the series comes to a close (or at least it as far as we know), the action and the suspense is still set at 11.  Calie continues her struggle and finds herself at a crossroads where she has to make choice between living a beautiful lie or fighting a true nightmare.  This last leg of the Wonderland trilogy has had Calie pushed to her limits physically, emotionally and mentally.  With issue #4, Calie has finally found what is truly important to her, found her boundaries and is ready to take the Jabberwocky head on!

continue reading "Wonderland is Alive and Well"

If you missed the Nickelodeon cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, then you missed out on one of last decade’s best cartoon series.  It only ran for three seasons, but told a rich story steeped in mythology in a world of fantasy.  I can’t pour enough love on this series…and it’s coming to the big screen!

You could keep your eyes pealed to the TV during the Superbowl commercials, or you can see it here as many times as you want.

continue reading "The Last Airbender Is Coming"

Fantastic Four #575 (Marvel – Hickman / Eagelsham)

Kicking off the world-spanning new adventures of the Fantastic Four, this is part one of the Prime Elements arc: The Hidden City of the High Evolutionary! Featuring the return of the Mole Man, the architecture of the underworld, and the smartest Moloid you’ll ever meet. Don’t miss it!

It seems to me like perhaps Jonathan Hickman is starting what will be one of those legacy runs on FF.  Not sure if he will be around for years to come, but I am sure fans will remember his FF stories.

While the Mole Man does not excite me in any way, and neither does any High Evolutionary story (so going into this I was a tad down), what does pull my finger here is Hickman’s pace.  He writes the Fantastic Four like the full-throttle first family of Marvel they are supposed to be.

continue reading "Fantastic Four #575 – Driving at 95 MPH and Speeding up!"

Grimm Fairy Tales – The Short Story Collection (Vol 1) – (Zenescope – Brusha / Tedesco / various)

48 Pages! Through each of the first six volumes of Grimm Fairy Tales trade paperbacks a new short story was found, each one offering more insight into the worlds of Sela and Belinda, each one holding a key to the incredible epic tale that continues to build. Now these shorts are collected into one complete edition as glimpses into Sela’s and Belinda’s pasts are revealed. Legacy, Timepiece, Pawns, The Gift, The Lamp and Wicked Ways. This six story collection is a must have for any hardcore Grimm fan!

This volume collects 6 “bonus” stories that were inserted into the Grimm Fairy Tales trade collections.  I whole-heartedly agree with the write-up that if you are GFT fan and have been following the series – anticipating the upcoming war – This collection is a must have!  It’s priced right and lays out some key moments from the last few years.  The introduction to the Sinbad series and snippits of both Wonderland and Neverland are seen.

Bottom line: Easily worth the money to a fan!

If you are someone who has not been following Grimm Fairy Tales, first off -shame on you, but I would tell you to invest in the trades before purchasing this added gem.

Dingo #3 (0f 4) (Boom! – Nelson / Biagini)

On the brink of a watery grave, Dingo must gather his strength, his wits and his daring to recover the box from his murderous ex-wife! With his family’s legacy at stake, Dingo discovers help from the most unlikely, most terrifying source… A supernatural crime story in the vein of 100 BULLETS — from the writer of the hit series’ HEXED and FALLS OF CTHULHU.

There really is no doubt about it, Dingo is a pleasure to read.  In a landscape of Wizard-pushed books, it’s an independent under-the-radar pleasure that no one has really has heard of yet and isn’t getting a lot of press, but still one of the most enjoyable books I have read in the last month.  Michael Alan Nelson constructs this supernatural noir-ish tale that keeps you guessing at what could happen next.

continue reading "Dingo #3 – Secrets Revealed!"

So, here is the Best of the independents…  Best Independent – Superhero

Eric – While I am a huge fan of Boom!’s Ireedeemable mythology I will have to go with Image’s Proof.  I know it can be argued that I got the wrong category because this is not the tradition cape and tights type superhero book, but it is heroic none the less.  Gulliver and the rest of the crew of Crypto-investigators from the Lodge search the globe in search of creature from local mythology and folklore and helping them adapt to the world of man.   Beautiful book and hands down one of the best written books of 2009 – can’t wait for it to get back from hiatus!

Greg – If you haven’t checked out Irredeemable from Boom! Press, you are missing out on some of Mark Waid’s best work in years. In all his time working for the big named publishers, I find that Waid’s best work to be with the smaller press stuff. Anyone remember Quantum and Woody? Here we see a Superman-like hero who looses his patience with humanity. Seeing how the world reacts to the unstoppable force gone bad is some of the best writing of the year. Even more impressive is the series spin off where the world’s most powerful villain go straight.

click below for more!

continue reading "The Pullbox Awards 2009: The Independents!"

Greetings fellow readers!  Looks like Sam Raimi is shooting for The Shadow again.  If you don’t remember, he made his first run at the pulp hero in the early 90’s but was shot down by studio heads.  This is why Sam Raimi introduced the world Darkman.  It was his way to try and do The Shadow, without doing The Shadow.

The folks over at TotalFilm.com have this to say about Raimi’s plans.

continue reading "Raimi Goes for The Shadow..again"

Aintitcool was able to snag a pic of Green Lantern Kilowog that could be from the new film…or it could be a complete fake. Check it out and see for yourself.

The original article from CBN had some more pics as well.  They are below, but check out the CBN article to TONS of possible GL movie news.

continue reading "Green Lanterns Come To Life!"

Neverland #0 (Zenescope- Brusha / DeShong / Embury / Campbell)

Pan never wanted to grow up and now he’s found key to immortality and a way to rule the realm of Neverland forever. But he requires a steady supply of children in order to have eternal life. Once a magical paradise, Pan has reshaped Neverland into the ultimate nightmare for any child unlucky enough to visit and only one has ever been able to escape. Now an adult, Nathan Cross, the one they call “Hook” may be the only person who can put a stop to Pan’s madness.

This zero issue served it ’s purpose.  Joe Brusha, lead writer, revealed just enough of the plot,characters and direction of Zenescope’s newest twisted take on classic literary mythology to make the readers interested and intrigued. Come on, if a shadowy monstrous Peter Pan hunting down a young boy in the streets and rooftops of New York isn’t enough to “hook” you I don’t know what is.

continue reading "Joe Brusha goes to Neverland!"