Good Comics – Marvel Edition

Dark Wolverine – This book is a result of the “Dark Reign” story and it is a bit of a guilty pleasure and Daken is in the running for being one of Marvel’s best villains from the last few years. He is absolutely unlikable, but I can’t bring myself to not read this title. I want to know what he’s up to!

Deadpool – One of Marvel’s best books month after month (as was the Suicide Kings mini). I don’t see why he deserves two extra monthlies (Deadpool Team-Up and Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth) because they don’t even come close to being as good as this book, but whatever.

Dark Avengers & New Avengers – I’ve been loving the “Dark Reign” story that’s been spanning the entire Marvel Universe and these two books are ground zero for it all. I would actually give DA the slight nod as the better book, but you really can’t go wrong with either.

Avengers: The Initiative – This book is action packed and has had a solid run since the beginning, despite the change of writers. It’s really cool to see new characters and B/C/D-list characters get the spotlight in this book. Taskmaster has become of a favorite of mine through this book.

The Punisher: Frank Castle MAX & Punisher – The Punisher: Frank Castle MAX was/is the violent, mature title from Marvel’s MAX line, but I guess it’s called PUNISHERMAX now. The simple title of Punisher is Frank Castle’s exploits with & against other superheroes and supervillains. Either book is great.

Thunderbolts – Kind of Dark Avengers Lite. More C & D-listers, but this is still a fun ride. I just wish it would be more front and center with the rest of “Dark Reign”.

Good Comics – DC Edition

I almost called this Comics Worth Reading but settled on the simplistic “Good Comics”. Either way, it’s pretty self-explanatory.

Here’s the books from DC Comics that I’ve been enjoying and reading lately… That is when I actually set aside time to do it! I’ve got tons more titles just sitting here because these books take precedence!

Batgirl – Really fun book, I haven’t followed Batgirl at all besides whenever she’s popped up in other DCU books but this is good stuff about learning to be a hero. It’s nice to see it from a girl’s perspective as well and I like the relationship set up between Stephanie (the new Batgirl) &  Barbara (the original Batgirl). The costume is a definite improvement over the Cassie version, but I still wanna see those original gray & blue duds!

Batman – Most of the Batbooks have been pretty good since Bruce’s “death” and the “Batman Reborn” launch and this is the best of the bunch, IMO. I feel I should also point out Red Robin and Gotham City Sirens are decent, Batman and Robin SUCKS and I have zero interest in a Detective Comics starring Batwoman. I was pretty disappointed to see Judd Winick with Benes/Bagley have such a short-lived run (Judd is one of my favorite Bat-writers of recent years), but Tony Daniel did a great job with Batman: Battle for the Cowl and so far so good.

Adventure Comics – Superboy is one of my favorite DC characters. Geoff Johns is one of my favorite writers. ‘Nuff said! I just hope the series has legs and Johns doesn’t ditch the book like he did with Booster Gold. Speaking of which…

Booster Gold – Dan Jurgens is a favorite of mine from way back in the early ’90s and his pencils and Norm Rapmund’s inks make for one of comics’ best art teams. Booster is another DC fave of mine, so I’m with this book for the long haul, though I fear the haul doesn’t have much longer to go! The book continues to drop on the charts. Despite having Booster run through the rich history of DC Comics every month coming across all kinds of characters, the book feels pretty isolated. Perhaps it needs closer ties to the current DCU to stay afloat?

The Flash: Rebirth – I’m against bringing Barry Allen back as the Flash. DC made a big move with killing the character and has taken a major step back creatively by placing Allen back in the role of the “main” Flash. Wally West, a character that has flourished since the 1990s, has been relegated to a supporting character role. So despite what Allen’s return has undone, with Geoff Johns at the helm, he’s turning in an entertaining title (even if all this Speed Force and cosmic treadmill talk gives me a headache). I’m not feeling Ethan Van Sciver’s work on this book though.

Justice Society of America – I’ll admit the title has been lackluster lately. The “death” of Mister Terrific felt rushed and glossed over by members of his own team and many of them just seem to be acting out of character. JSA is one of my favorite books of all time and Justice Society of America hasn’t fully lived up to the quality of its predecessor. Hopefully this book can be put on a good path soon.

 

Blackest Night – I was extremely skeptical when the Blackest Night Green Lantern event became a DCU-wide event. I guess DiDio just isn’t a man of his word. Begrudgingly, I have to admit most of the Blackest Night tie-ins that I’ve read have been pretty good especially Blackest Night: Batman but does anyone else get the impression that the main stuff is still going on in Green Lantern? Not sure if that was intended, but it seems like the Blackest Night mini itself is taking a backseat to the title it spun off from. How ’bout that !?

Ruby-Spears Superman now on DVD

I mentioned a few months ago in a post (Cartoons That I Want On DVD Part 2) that the 1988 Ruby-Spears Superman cartoon was a show I was really looking forward to seeing someday on DVD, well… that day has come!

It snuck up on me but it was released last week and I plan to pick it up this week. Look for a review soon! In the meantime, check out the Joe Ruby and Ken Spears interview posted over at Comics Worth Reading.

Sink your teeth into Shark Attack!

For every Monopoly, there’s a Shark Attack — a board game that is just too goofy, childish and ultimately pointless to last more than a few years. The commercial is from 1991 and it is the only Shark Attack commercial I remember but after doing a bit a research, I found out the game was released in 1988.

Don’t get me wrong, this commercial made the game look GREAT. So great that I actually had this down on a list of what I wanted for my birthday/Christmas. A giant motorized shark? Count me in! I remember getting this game as a gift from my parents, I believe it was for a birthday, so the commercial is a more exciting representation of the concept than the game itself is. So kudos to the marketing department on that one. You deceived a child, congratulations.

After quickly realizing the game was a total waste of time, I made better use of the motorized shark against my G.I. Joes and X-Men.

Star Comics was Marvel’s gift to us.

Star Comics was a fun children’s line of comics that Marvel Comics started to publish in 1984. Most of the books were licensed from cartoons and toylines with only Top Dog, Planet Terry, Royal Roy and obviously Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham were Marvel originals.

The highlight of the line for me was Peter Porker. Coincidentally, I loved DC Comics’ Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! too, which ran about the same time. Who doesn’t love a good parody/satire of superheroes starring anthromorphic animals? Spider-Ham featured other fun takes on Marvel characters: Ducktor Doom, Deerdevil, Hogzilla, King-Pin, Goose Rider and Fantastic Fur. My friend had a stack Peter Porkers (along with Captain Carrot) and I must have read them everytime I went over to his house. I remember reading and enjoying The Muppet Babies too.

The titles listed in this ad weren’t the only ones to be a part of the line. ThunderCats, Fraggle Rock, Inhumanoids, Mad Balls, Hugga Bunch, SilverHawks, Masters of the Universe, ALF and Care Bears all were later brought in. The G.I. Joe and Transformers titles that Marvel was already publishing were not absorbed into the Star line.

I don’t believe the line was any great success as it shut down in 1988 after a short (but respectable) four years. Still, many of those titles were just plain fun and seemed like a nice throwback back to the comic book “funnies” that were so abundant and popular decades earlier (even if the intent here was for kids to buy the toys and watch the cartoons). The few titles remaining that hadn’t already been canceled before the line as a whole was were retained under the regular Marvel imprint, though none of those lasted much longer.