The 2nd Annual New York Comic Con was pretty good. Much, much bigger than last year and from what I hear it was a more organized event. While there I picked up a few comics out of the dollar bin. “Dollar bin”, god-forbid they have a 50-cent bin. You’d think they’d sell more that way. I mean, I’m assuming this is all left over stuff. I know I would’ve picked up a lot more back issues at 50 cents.
Anyway I picked up the first 3 (of 4) issues of Evan Dorkin and Dean Haspiel’s-- The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street. Dorkin and Haspiel really had a grasp on what made Ben Grimm The Thing. They also clearly have love for the great Lee/Kirby FF of the 60’s and of 70’s Marvel books. I absolutely loved it and I wish they had that issue 4. Guess I’ll have to track it down. I don’t think this is collected anywhere, unless they packed it into the back of an FF trade somewhere. If anyone knows, shoot me a message.
I also picked up a random issue of “Web of Spider-Man”. (Issue 30) I remember that I had the issue back when I was a kid but after reading it (and not finishing it) I can’t figure out what made me remember it. It dealt with a character called “The Rose” and a new Hobgoblin. It was really convoluted and spent more time telling stuff that happened in other issues of whatever Spidey books they were putting out back then than it did telling its own story.
I also picked up Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #15 with a story by Paul Pope. Pope’s art is so good I’ll basically buy anything he does. I don’t know why this series was cancelled but the premise of the book was something I wish Marvel would try again. Self contained Spidey stories by established creators who primarily work in the “Indy” world. Bendis did this as well with Ultimate Marvel Team-Up. Maybe they’ll get back to this someday but I doubt it. Reading that Spidey story made me realize that I haven’t read an ongoing Spider-Book in a few years now. I’m still on my fanboy soapbox with Amazing Spidey. As long as JMS is on that book I won’t read it. I had hopes for Friendly Neighborhood with David and Weiringo but they kicked that off with that “The Other” storyline and followed that up with the Iron Spidey thing. And I’m not even sure what the other Spider-Book is. I will be picking up Ultimate Spider-Man when Stuart Immonen takes over. I’ve read the Bendis/Bagley version off-and-on but I grew tired of Bagley’s art after a while. I just can’t get into his work. Immonen, on the other hand, is an artist whose work I really enjoy. I lettered his stuff on Thor a few years ago and his style has really changed since then. I read a few issues of Nextwave and while his work was great I wasn’t a fan of Warren Ellis’ writing. I’m definitely looking forward to Immonen’s Spidey work, though. It’ll be nice to read some Spidey again.
Speaking of Warren Ellis I read his and Adi Granov’s Iron Man: Extremis trade last week. I lettered this storyline but didn’t read a word of it while I did. The book was chronically late and up against a deadline plus there were a few chunks of 20 plus balloon pages that would’ve taken me longer to read then letter, so it was nice to read it without really knowing what was going on. I’ve never read any of Ellis’ big stories like Transmetropolitan or Planetary and as I said earlier I didn’t love Nextwave or his Ultimate Galactus stuff so my expectations weren’t high. I gotta say though, I really enjoyed this story. Without spoiling it the story deals with a new version of the super soldier serum that was ingested by a terrorist hell bent on destroying the future. Ellis really jumped Iron man and the armor into the next generation making the armor more than just a wearable weapon. While there were some chatty parts they didn’t bother me much and there was plenty of action to make up for it. Really, the one thing about the book I didn’t love was the painted art by Adi Granov. While it was quite nice in places, the endless barrage of Tom Cruise reference got really old fast. This stuff is becoming more and more prevalent with Marvel books lately with guys like Bryan Hitch and the king of photo reference (or light boxing) Greg Land. I don’t know what’s up with it but man it annoys the crap out of me. It’s “Photo Reference” not “Photo Replication”. Nevertheless, check out the trade.
So there are a few comic reviews for ya. Maybe I’ll find some new books this Wednesday.
Stay tuned,
Gent
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