Gratification, Delayed: SOOOOOLICIT-O-RAMA!!
Wow, getting to the DMV at 7:20 AM so you can be the first in the door when they open at 8:00 AM? It's really worth it. We were literally the first in line, Loyal Little Brother and I, and we were in and out the door within seven minutes with registration and new license plates. Fantastico!
I'm two weeks late with a Solicit-O-Rama post. I haven't done one in months, have I? Well, after looking at the July solicits, nothing at DC really caught my eye, but Marvel has some fantastic covers. By "fantastic" I may mean "lurid," "tasteless," "worthy of snide dismissal," "enraging," or "actually pretty awesome."
Oh, and apparently Kieron Gillen is having Beta Ray Bill fight the Silver Surfer in the new Beta Ray Bill mini. Look, we know how Norrin got totally fucked over in Annihilation when Marvel decided to have him sacrifice himself and once again become a Herald of Galactus. That was, in my mind, the only flaw in what was otherwise an almost perfect story and perfect execution of a crossover.
In the context of Annihilation, Norrin's sacrifice made sense despite the fact that it wasn't a good direction to take his character in, as it regressed him approximately four decades. However, his decision was still comprehensible within the context. There was the glowingly beautiful sequence where he has that heartbreaking conversation with Galactus, and you knew what was coming, and you understood how tragic the personal consequences would be for Norrin. (By the way, while Annihilation was nothing but a series of sequences with shiny art and lustrous writing, the art and writing in that Norrin and Galactus conversation were in perfect harmony.)
But can we PLEASE stop having Surfer get into pointless and stupid fights with Nova and Beta Ray Bill and whatnot? This is not how Norrin would act. It's just not the Silver Surfer. Just leave him alone until he can leave Galactus again, okay? Much as I loved Phonogram and like Kieron Gillen's writing in general, I'm really not interested in seeing him write a fight between Bill and Norrin. I'm obviously picky about who I trust to write Surfer at this point, and while I like some of what Gillen has done for Marvel thus far, I feel like he's still trying to find his feet within the superhero genre and hasn't quite yet succeeded. (That Namor vignette for Dark Reign: The Cabal: The Freemasons: The Protocols of the Elders of Fuckwittery: Norman Finally Gets Eviscerated by the King of Atlantis was pretty much just Namor wanly presiding over Divorce Court.)
So, onto the solicits! SOOOOOLICIT-O-RAAAAMA!
FIRST OF ALL: SPOT THE GEOGRAPHIC FAIL on the cover of X-Men: Legacy #226!
If you can't see the street sign, it says that they're supposedly on the 1500 block of Haight.
...Uh huh, Dodsons. Uh huh. You might want to actually use Google maps before you commit more Local Color Fail.
Let's get the ARTGASM stuff out of the way!
From Dark Reign: The Hood: Bendis' Pretender #3, LOOK at this cover. THIS is how Dormammu should be drawn.
MYSTICAL FLAMES! UP THE SIDE OF MANHATTAN! Isn't that gawgeous?! I still can't believe that Marvel is wasting Jeff Parker's time with this mini, but I may buy it for the covers alone.
So I know that Clint Langley (so apt that he'd be doing a Hawkeye mini, what with his name being Clint, even though it's not really Hawkeye) doesn't seem to really pencil his covers (I'm losing the ability to distinguish between Clint Langley and Matt Mattina, and that's not a good thing), but the detail on this cover is marvelous.
Dark Reign: Hawkeye #4, cover by Clint Langley. Look at that bow! I haven't seen a bow like this since Alex Ross drew the cover for Ramayan Reborn:
Lee Bermejo knocks another Elektra cover out of the ballpark.
Dark Reign: Elektra #5, cover by Lee Bermejo:
Needs less arm belts, though.
This next is probably my favorite solicit from either of the Big Two in 2009.
Marvels: Eye of the Camera #6, with a montage by Jay Anacleto. I just adore this:
WHY HELLO THERE, NAMOR AND CAROL.
For the LULZtastic, we have this:
DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #1, with Arthur Suydam doing his best impression of Patrick Zircher:
WADE AND LITTLE ZOMBIE!HEAD!WADE!
Next up, Vision ponders.
Yes, he ponders.
Dark Reign: Young Avengers #3, with a bardtastic cover by Mark Brooks:
Can I just say that I keep squeeing about the covers to Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers?
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #3, two covers by Karl Kerschl and Nico Henrichon respectively:
This next is also going to be rockitudinal. We know how badly comics mangles mythology and different pantheons, right? So obviously we need a book to keep it all straight. I'm going to have to purchase it, clearly.
Thor & Hercules: ENCYCLOPAEDIA MYTHOLOGICA, with a cover by Mico Suayan:
Other things of note:
- The solicits say that Gene Colan is penciling Captain America #601, and that's only a GOOD thing.
- Ryder still has mysteriously Vixenified straight hair in Skrull Kill Krew (do I need to dig up that post I did at Racialicious?)
- Cloak appears to have caught Ryder's Vixenification over in the Dark X-Men book
- Lots and lots of pretty Jae Lee covers this month
I'm not going to even post the cover the Savage She-Hulk. Hint: Frank Cho might as well have drawn it. But here is one page from Savage She-Hulk #2:
Despite this being written by Fred Van Lente, look, it's Bendis Brackets ™!
And one hilarious page from Lockjaw & the Pet Avengers #1:
Frog Thor!! You know why this is gonna be SO awesome? They're going to look for the Infinity Gems!
Look at Lockjaw's expression. Note: there are nine more pages previewing L&TPA #1 as well as previews of a ton of other Marvel books here.
Finally, a snippet from the Marvel Adventures books, aka Marvel's all-ages imprint AND the imprint of choice for those deeply and relentlessly embittered by current main Marvel continuity.
Johnny Storm screws up, as writ by Jeff Parker:
Cap. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I'm two weeks late with a Solicit-O-Rama post. I haven't done one in months, have I? Well, after looking at the July solicits, nothing at DC really caught my eye, but Marvel has some fantastic covers. By "fantastic" I may mean "lurid," "tasteless," "worthy of snide dismissal," "enraging," or "actually pretty awesome."
Oh, and apparently Kieron Gillen is having Beta Ray Bill fight the Silver Surfer in the new Beta Ray Bill mini. Look, we know how Norrin got totally fucked over in Annihilation when Marvel decided to have him sacrifice himself and once again become a Herald of Galactus. That was, in my mind, the only flaw in what was otherwise an almost perfect story and perfect execution of a crossover.
In the context of Annihilation, Norrin's sacrifice made sense despite the fact that it wasn't a good direction to take his character in, as it regressed him approximately four decades. However, his decision was still comprehensible within the context. There was the glowingly beautiful sequence where he has that heartbreaking conversation with Galactus, and you knew what was coming, and you understood how tragic the personal consequences would be for Norrin. (By the way, while Annihilation was nothing but a series of sequences with shiny art and lustrous writing, the art and writing in that Norrin and Galactus conversation were in perfect harmony.)
But can we PLEASE stop having Surfer get into pointless and stupid fights with Nova and Beta Ray Bill and whatnot? This is not how Norrin would act. It's just not the Silver Surfer. Just leave him alone until he can leave Galactus again, okay? Much as I loved Phonogram and like Kieron Gillen's writing in general, I'm really not interested in seeing him write a fight between Bill and Norrin. I'm obviously picky about who I trust to write Surfer at this point, and while I like some of what Gillen has done for Marvel thus far, I feel like he's still trying to find his feet within the superhero genre and hasn't quite yet succeeded. (That Namor vignette for Dark Reign: The Cabal: The Freemasons: The Protocols of the Elders of Fuckwittery: Norman Finally Gets Eviscerated by the King of Atlantis was pretty much just Namor wanly presiding over Divorce Court.)
So, onto the solicits! SOOOOOLICIT-O-RAAAAMA!
FIRST OF ALL: SPOT THE GEOGRAPHIC FAIL on the cover of X-Men: Legacy #226!
If you can't see the street sign, it says that they're supposedly on the 1500 block of Haight.
...Uh huh, Dodsons. Uh huh. You might want to actually use Google maps before you commit more Local Color Fail.
Let's get the ARTGASM stuff out of the way!
From Dark Reign: The Hood: Bendis' Pretender #3, LOOK at this cover. THIS is how Dormammu should be drawn.
MYSTICAL FLAMES! UP THE SIDE OF MANHATTAN! Isn't that gawgeous?! I still can't believe that Marvel is wasting Jeff Parker's time with this mini, but I may buy it for the covers alone.
So I know that Clint Langley (so apt that he'd be doing a Hawkeye mini, what with his name being Clint, even though it's not really Hawkeye) doesn't seem to really pencil his covers (I'm losing the ability to distinguish between Clint Langley and Matt Mattina, and that's not a good thing), but the detail on this cover is marvelous.
Dark Reign: Hawkeye #4, cover by Clint Langley. Look at that bow! I haven't seen a bow like this since Alex Ross drew the cover for Ramayan Reborn:
Lee Bermejo knocks another Elektra cover out of the ballpark.
Dark Reign: Elektra #5, cover by Lee Bermejo:
Needs less arm belts, though.
This next is probably my favorite solicit from either of the Big Two in 2009.
Marvels: Eye of the Camera #6, with a montage by Jay Anacleto. I just adore this:
WHY HELLO THERE, NAMOR AND CAROL.
For the LULZtastic, we have this:
DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #1, with Arthur Suydam doing his best impression of Patrick Zircher:
WADE AND LITTLE ZOMBIE!HEAD!WADE!
Next up, Vision ponders.
Yes, he ponders.
Dark Reign: Young Avengers #3, with a bardtastic cover by Mark Brooks:
Can I just say that I keep squeeing about the covers to Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers?
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #3, two covers by Karl Kerschl and Nico Henrichon respectively:
This next is also going to be rockitudinal. We know how badly comics mangles mythology and different pantheons, right? So obviously we need a book to keep it all straight. I'm going to have to purchase it, clearly.
Thor & Hercules: ENCYCLOPAEDIA MYTHOLOGICA, with a cover by Mico Suayan:
Other things of note:
- The solicits say that Gene Colan is penciling Captain America #601, and that's only a GOOD thing.
- Ryder still has mysteriously Vixenified straight hair in Skrull Kill Krew (do I need to dig up that post I did at Racialicious?)
- Cloak appears to have caught Ryder's Vixenification over in the Dark X-Men book
- Lots and lots of pretty Jae Lee covers this month
I'm not going to even post the cover the Savage She-Hulk. Hint: Frank Cho might as well have drawn it. But here is one page from Savage She-Hulk #2:
Despite this being written by Fred Van Lente, look, it's Bendis Brackets ™!
And one hilarious page from Lockjaw & the Pet Avengers #1:
Frog Thor!! You know why this is gonna be SO awesome? They're going to look for the Infinity Gems!
Look at Lockjaw's expression. Note: there are nine more pages previewing L&TPA #1 as well as previews of a ton of other Marvel books here.
Finally, a snippet from the Marvel Adventures books, aka Marvel's all-ages imprint AND the imprint of choice for those deeply and relentlessly embittered by current main Marvel continuity.
Johnny Storm screws up, as writ by Jeff Parker:
Cap. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!