Wednesday, June 6, 2012

COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS

A gentle reminder to let you know that my Mighty Thor Annual goes on sale today. As I've mentioned before, it's a huge cosmic adventure featuring Thor, the Silver Surfer, Galactus, Scrier, The Other and Oblivion—with art by the amazing Richard Elson.  The page below should give you a little taste of what to expect—and it looks even more spectacular in color.  (And, no, I'm not telling you what's going on there.  You'll have to read the story to find out.)  Enjoy!



Thor and company are ©copyright 2012 Marvel Entertainment.

22 comments:

  1. Hope you enjoy it, Frobman. I'd never worked with Rich before, but I became an instant fan. His work is wonderful.

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  2. This was by far my favorite comic buy of the week.

    Wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars
    Jack

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    1. I'm delighted you enjoyed the annual, Jack. Thanks for letting me know!

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  3. Now, to finish those suggestions. For sure finish.

    -Busiek's Avengers was to notch, but it started in the 90's so, I'm not sure it qualifies, but it was certainly a classic run.

    The Moonstone Phantom- Moonstone is a small publishing house out of the Midwest that got licensing rights to one of the truly classic Newspaper strip characters. There is not enough good I can say about this venture. It was classic Silver age action and adventure stories with modern age sensibilities to character depth realism. It even tackled the topic of chi;d soldiers in Africa and discussed the Invisible children fund (even giving a portion of profits to them) 5 years before it was cool. It was the light of comic buying for me for a long while. It even spun off a series dedicated to previous Phantoms
    and score of graphic novels. Sadly they lost the rights to Dynamite, whose series is overly violent and lacking in humanity. The complete opposite of all Moonstones virtues.

    The Mysterious Traveler- Another Moonstone venture. A take off of the old radio show of the same name. It was a very twilight zone series which only had three stories... all collected in one trade. What should have been a marvelous anthology series was cut short to three great tales of the supernatural.

    Sentry- A mini series that truly delivered in my opinion. Now, I haven't been a fan of anything else Marvel has done with this character, but the first mini-series was great. A dark modern tale which at the same time highlights why Marvel in the 60's was so great and so revolutionary. A prefect read for a rainy summer evening... and oh look I do believe some will be coming up soon, in say the next three months. Finally, for the first time in a long time we are given a character we truly pity, love, root for, feel for, and can actually see his points of view. The stories narrated by more established characters like Spidey and Hulk alone are a reason to read this.

    Simpsons Super-Specials- Fun and Funny tales of the Simpsons as superheroes, and the superheroes Bart enjoys reading. What? Why can't a great comic be lacking dark torturous heroes. I love the bi-annual series, it always makes me laugh and smile. Any Simpsons fan would love it, and any one with a sense of humor has at least loved the Simpsons once. They even mocked the sacred shrine of Watchmen and came out glowing.

    Brubaker's Captain America- his may not belong here. Don't get me wrong, it's good, really good... but the best? I'm on the fence. But it has been consistently good and fleshed out Bucky like nobody's business so I'll tip it off the fence to the better side.

    And finally "Fantastic Four" #605- yes one issue of a run that very likely should be on the list, but space prohibited it. But this issue was amazing. A loving tribute to Ben Grimm as we see him dealing with a long life spanning 1,000 years. Any fan of the Thing needs to read this issue. At the end I swear you will want to go pour yourself and toast the comic saying, "here is to you Ben." If I suggest only one thing it is this issue.

    Wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars
    Jack

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    1. Thanks again for the recommendations, Jack!

      I'm familiar with some of the Moonstone PHANTOM material (as friends of mine -- Tom DeFalco and Mike Bullock -- contributed to the series. And you're right. It was really fun stuff.

      That FF issue sounds wonderful. Hope I get to read it one of these days! (Has it been collected?)

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    2. The F.F. issue only came out 2 or three mionths ago, and so no collection yest, but it's a one and done, so I'm sure it can be picked up easily, and again, HIGHLY recomended.

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    3. IN all fairness, Mike Bullock didn't contribute to the Phantom... He owned it. He was the best of the writers (no offense to any of them since they were all great)he simply got the character. And it was not a happy moment when I read he was leaving the Phantom due to Moonstones loss of the rights, and I was even lesss happy when I saw what followed at Dynamite. The Phantom at Moonstone really was a dynasty of books, and Bullock was a corner stone in my eyes. I could have read his phantom tales forever.

      And as ar as that F.F. tale goes, I do HIGHLY recommend it, but I don't want to over hype it. It is just a nice simple story about one of comics great characters, a love letter to the character if you will. No great cosmic saga or earth shattering revalations though.

      Wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars
      Jack

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    4. Mike B is a very talented guy: his all-ages comic, LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS is wonderful.

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  4. I am, so sorry; I really thought I could squeeze it all in.

    On the stands now:

    Look we're all comic geeks right? So you may just need to buy something off the rack and read a sinle issue new, and not in a trade so here it goes, a nice tight list-

    Daredevil- MarkWaid's current run is classic (see previou mention)

    X-Factor- (see previous review)

    (the synonymously named)Batman - A series that can not be missed fr any batophile(This is Scott Snyder's run, see previous mention)

    Captain America- consistently pleasing (see previous mention of Brubaker's run)

    Saucer Country- Only 5 issues in this week (maybe four)it is an X-files meets west wing story about a presidential candidate
    who is abducted by aliens. For such a short number of issues I am already stoked for each release. It even is avoiding the obviously perceived parallels to immigration to make it a tale that can stand on it own for anyone who is either a sci-fi or poli-thriller fan no matter there stance on real world issues.

    Fantastic Four- A magnificent run which contained the recently
    mentioned F.F. 605. It probably should be on the list of recomeneds, and when it comes to an end it probably will be. It is an epic scope of story telling, with true sci-fi themes and realistic characters, with adventure that boggle the mind. Awhole new take that is as familiar as a story can be A true heir to Stan and Jack in my opinion and a comic that makes you excited about them.

    Wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars,

    P.S. I hope these reviews were more of a pleasure than nuisance, it's just so rarely I get to recomed comics to people who aren't new to them. You know how stuck in their ways some comics fans can be, even the young ones.
    Jack

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    1. Not a nuisance in the least, Jack: I PROFOUNDLY appreciate the time you've taken to fill me in on what's out there. I've heard little bits about most of this material, but I've heard LOTS of praise for Waid's DAREDEVIL run. Not surprising, as Mark's a terrific writer.

      Thanks again, Jack: you're a prince!

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    2. I prefer the term lordship, but okay whatever. oh IO kid.

      But anyway I'm just glad I'm done, all that guilt everytime I went online just to screw around was driving me batty.

      And Waid is tops, because with him, like you, Busiek, Englehart and few others, you can tell he (you/they) really love comics and that makes you love them all the more.

      the only agrivating thing is I won't know how right or wrong I was with these picks.

      Wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars
      Jack

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  5. And goodwill and hipness right back at you, Lordship! : )

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  6. Enjoyed the Thor annual, JMD. I especially liked Oblivion's narration, equal parts cosmic philosophy and whimsy (do people say whimsy anymore?). That combination of playfulness and paradox had a G.K. Chesterton vibe. I think it would be fun to examine whether Oblivion REALLY wants the universe gone. After all, the concept of Oblivion can only thrive in the context of Existence.

    And you're right about the art, which was truly cosmic.

    I'll second Jack's recommendation of FF 605. Jonathan Hickman finished up a three year mega-arc on FF just this year, and since then he's been winding down with one-shots. I really enjoyed his FF epic, which focused on BIG IDEAS and FAMILY, which we all know is the heart and soul of the team.

    Waid's DD is great, too. He's re-incorporated superhero elements into the DD mythos which had been overshadowed by the noir tone.

    And of course, it goes without saying that I love AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, SCARLET SPIDER, and VENOM.

    Best,

    David

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it, David. And, yes, I think it's still safe to say "whimsy"! Your point about what Oblivion REALLY wants is very insightful (but I would expect no less!).

      I've read some of Hickman's FF (in fact, you were the one who sent me the trade, weren't you?) and was impressed.

      Waid's DD sounds right up my alley; and I'd love to have a look at what's happening in the recent Spider-books. Haven't seen them in a while.

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    2. Yep, that was me! Glad you liked it. Thought you'd get a real kick out of Ben and Johnny playing cards with Stan and Jack! :)

      The gist of Hickman's run reminds of something you said a while back about family actually freeing you up to explore the universe. Reed has a tendency to get lost in his work from time to time, but it's his connection to his family and friends that keeps him human.

      Spidey books are gearing up for some big moments this year. The 50th Anniversary issue comes out in August, I think? And of course #700 isn't too far down the line!

      VENOM is about Flash Thompson, and it's made good use of his father's alcoholism, which I think you introduced?

      Best,

      David

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    3. Yes, I was the one who introduced Flash's dad's alcoholism -- and then did a storyline where Flash was headed down the same road. Some of my favorite stuff from my 2nd run on SPECTACULAR.

      Sounds like the Spidey books are doing well. I've read a bunch of Dan Slott's stuff and think he's hugely talented.

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    4. In VENOM, Flash's addictive tendencies carry over to his use of the symbiote (and its use of him). It's got a Lee/Ditko vibe, and the parallel is made even stronger because Flash is in a relationship with Betty Brant. The book's about to transition into the supernatural, with Damon Hellstrom being involved. (I hope I spelled that right, I'm actually not familiar with the character.)

      Slott's stuff is great. He's been consistently knocking it out of the park for a while now.

      Really, the entire line is the strongest it's been in a while when you throw SCARLET SPIDER in the mix.

      They just need a JMD/JR, Jr. Ben Reilly book and they'll be all set!

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  7. VENOM sounds like a book I'd love (I remember reading some Slott material a few years back and it was the first time I ever connected with the character; there were many new layers and levels being added). And when you add in my old friend Damon Hellstrom -- who was an integral part of my long-ago DEFENDERS run...well, it sounds great.

    I wouldn't hold my breath for that Ben Reilly book, though!

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  8. Today I went to an expo and I actually met Jennifer Hale in person.

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    1. That must have been exciting, Nelson. She's an incredibly talented, and versatile, actress.

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  9. I'm plowing through Journey Into Mystery right now, and I absolutely LOVE Elson's art. Any idea if he seeks his original art? I can't find any info online.

    Thanks!

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    1. I checked with Rich Elson, Eric, and he doesn't have any originals for sale: he's a purely digital guy.

      Glad you're enjoying the Thor story. Rich really knocked it out of the park, didn't he?

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