Book of the Week 2/6/08 Nightwing #141

Written by Peter Tomasi
Pencils by Rags Morales
Inks by Michael Bair
Letters by Sal Cipriano


I can't even explain the joy I had reading this comic. As fans of the podcast know, I'm a huge Nightwing fan. Unfortunately lately his book has been...well...lacking. Marv Wolfman had a good start but unfortunately the book became a preview for Wolfmans other project. Well I'm happy to say that Tomasi and Morales have brought one of my favorite characters back from the brink.


While the last issue set things up for Dick's new life in New York, this issue is the true start of Nightwings investigation into the missing bodies that are disappearing from the graves of deceased heroes and villains. Also, this issue could be called "Nightwing and his amazing friends". Superman, Batman, the Justice Society, John Stewart, and Wally West all make an appearance. People complaining about the "new" Wally should pick up this book as it really feels like the old "pre-responsible" Flash. Also, I appreciate Tomasi remembering that Wally is really Dicks best friend and two haven't really caught up since his return. Surprisingly, with all these heroes showing up, not much action really takes place in this issue but the mystery does deepen and it's nice to see Dick Grayson portrayed well again.


I didn't mean to pick another Tomasi book this week but lets face it, this guy is on a streak! I've been okay with the lack of action so far in the story because I know the guy can write it as we've seen in Black Adam. So far he has done an amazing job of giving Dick some great moments with his supporting cast as we saw with Bruce and Tim in the last issue and the rest of the DCU in this issue. I think above all, I'm happy to see the character finally given the respect he deserves in his own book. Wolfman came close but wrote the character like he did when he was younger. This feels right for the character given his age, experience, and role in the DCU.


Rags Morales is incredible. His style has definitely grown since his work on Identity Crisis. He also does well when framing a shot. Credit also needs to be given to Michael Bair who adds great mood to some of the panels. The shot of another well known deceased villain being pulled from the ground was downright chilling.


As I said earlier, its nice to have this book back to where it should be. I don't think I've been as excited about its direction since Chuck Dixon was on the title. Things are looking up for the former boy wonder!

Weekly Review Podcast Episode 27- Black Adam:The Dark Age #6

This was a huge huge for book so we pass up on our top 5 for the week and focus completely on this week's comic's. Eric chose Black Adam:The Dark Age #6 as the book of the week because of the emotional take on DC's breakout character. We also discuss Bucky as the new Cap in Captain America #34, Green Lantern #24, Countdown, New Avengers Annual and more!

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First Mark Bagley DC Art is Revealed

As we've talked about on the podcast Mark Bagley is leaving Marvel for DC and newsarama.com just released this first look of Bagley's DC art. He'll be working with Kurt Busiek on a yet to be announced project but it sounds like a great team for a book. Marvel will miss you Bags!

Book of the Week 1/30/08 Black Adam #6

Written by Peter Tomasi
Pencils by Doug Mahnke
Inks by Christian Alamy and Rodney Ramos
Colors by Rob Leigh


Damn, this was excellent. I really wish that other writers in DC would strive for the kind of storytelling achieved through this 6 part storyline which concludes this week. With a few notable exceptions, DC stories seem to rely too hard on the high concept blockbusters. "Black Adam" has proven that small, character driven stories can be equal parts action and emotion.


This is primarily a story of lost love. Black Adam is by no means a hero or even an anti-hero. Yet throughout this series, I have become more and more interested in the continuation of a character that is actually a mass murderer. Tomasi gives Adams every action a reason. There is no insanity here, just the dire lengths that Adam will go to to be reunited with his lost wife. Tomasi also has given us a complete bridge from where we left Adam at the end of 52 to the beginning of Countdown. While this story was plenty dark, there were several little moments that made me chuckle such as Adam finally discovering his magic word again.


Much of the credit of this series needs to go to Mahnke's pencils. This book is graphic and quite honestly, I'm surprised it was not labeled as a mature title. Mahnke seems to have a soft spot for horror books and movies as he continually finds new and disturbing ways to animate corpses and dismemberment. Almost everything in this book is the stuff of nightmares. Ex. Faust's eyes.


This series has proven to be a great "under the radar" book. While not garnering much attention, it has proved consistently entertaining. While there was one other series which came to an end this week that I really wanted to skip ahead to (I'm reading it in trades) I figured I'd give a little attention to this mini-series that should be an example to the rest of DC. Their characters are capable of great depth but can also kick ass at the same time.

Weekly Review Podcast Episode 26- Young Avengers Presents #1

Young Avengers Presents #1 took the book of the week because it was freshing to see a Young Avengers book out and it was really well done! We also discuss X-men #207 the end of the Messiah Complex crossover and give our final thoughts. We cycle through Astonishing X-men #24, Teen Titans #55 and more. After Amazing Spider-man #548 I finally decide if I'm going to continue reading Spider-man and we finish off the show with our picks for our top 5 Superhero teams.

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X-men writer Mike Carey discusses the future of Marvel's Mutants in a post Messiah complex world

Messiah Complex is now over and while it answered some questions, many were left opened and even more questions were raised.

Mike Carey, current writer of X-MEN(which will be changing to X-MEN:Legacy) talked to newsarama.com and discusses the twists and turns of Messiah Complex and what we can expect in the future.


Check out the interview here

Book of the week 1/23/08 Young Avengers Presents #1: Patriot

Written by Ed Brubaker
Pencils by Paco Medina
Inks by Juan Viasco
Colors by Nathan Fairbairn
Letters by Cory Petit

I've been pretty vocal about how much I loved Young Avengers and that it's something that Marvel really needs to address. Allan Heinberg came out with one of the best books in the past few years and in my opinion he took the Teen Titans formula and greatly expended on it.

But that was years ago and we still haven't seen a new Young Avengers book. We've been teased with appearances in The Initiative and Civil War tie-ins but we still haven't received an on-going title and hopefully this new mini series will lead into that.

This new take of Young Avengers is a six issue mini that focuses on the individual characters and we're first given a closer look at the team leader Patriot. Brubaker goes back through Patriot's origin story and gives us a little more depth of the character and if this is something that we'll see throughout this series then I have no doubt that it will be something special

Something that I really loved about this issue in particular is that it basically is the hero's quest tale. Eli is a young boy with so many conflicting emotions and he doesn't know what he's supposed to be doing, much less what he should be feeling. There are also a lot of racial undertones in this book and as an african-american male I can really relate to what the character was feeling and it brought me into the story in a very profound way.

I've always gushed on Paco Medina's art and this issue is now exception. I'm a huge fan of team books, especially younger teams and Medina's bright and vibrant art works well in that context.

I'm happy to have anything Young Avengers right now and I hope we get the series back soon, but until then I'm looking forward to getting to know these characters better on an individual basis.