Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Beware some major SPOILERS.
Click the pics for high res goodness!
Most Surprising Scene - Avengers: The Initiative #13
Despite the fact that no skin is shown and few sex acts take place, this is a boundary pushing sequence.
Here we have Emery, a nerdy, shy teen who happens to be indestructible, and a ex-villain who burns up anything she touches. Alone at an unauthorized Initiative beach party, she realizes that his powers would allow her to have sex with him. So she gets on him and starts, despite the fact that he's not into it. Is this rape? That's a yes. In a medium dominated by male sexual power fantasies, it's extremely surprising to see a scene in which a young man receives genuinely unwelcome sexual attention, and in a way that's not played for laughs or irony. Here the reader is made to feel the discomfort and confusion of this young man, and it's a powerful, sad moment. The last time I remember seeing anything like this in a comic is in Bomb Scare, a great Optic Nerve story. Here's to Christos Gage and Steve Uy for pulling off something truly unconventional in a mainstream book.
Pop Art, Stephanie Brown, Reed Richards: Ladies Man and more, after the jump...
The Reclamation of Pop Art - Amazing Spider-Man #560
The villain in this Spidey storyline is "Paper Doll," a 2D woman unhealthily obsessed with celebrity Bobby Carr. Her and Spidey have a dustup in a Pop Art gallery in this ish, which justifies the awesome cover with Paper Doll actually becoming Pop Art and creeping up on our hero (look at those nails! Creepy!). Later Spidey lands a well-placed punch in front of an explosive WHAAM! piece. Awesome!
The Power of Fans - Robin #174
Wow. Those who hated the way the War Games storyline ended have had just about all their demands met as of the end of last week's Robin. Let the retconning begin!
Exhibit A: Steph never got a memorial because Batman never really thought she was dead. This also explains his insensitive-even-for-him reaction to her death in the first place.
Exhibit B: Dr. Leslie Tompkins, heretofore believed to have actually allowed Steph to die as an outrageously irresponsible warning to teen superheroes across the nation, actually helped the poor girl fake her own death in order to start a new life.
Exhibit C: Editor Dan Didio is killed. Guess that ties up all the loose ends!
Smooth Operator - Reed Richards,
Fantastic Four #557
Mr. Fantastic gets a bad rap sometimes for being cold and inattentive, but Mark Millar has a very different view of the smartest man on Earth. In fact, he writes him as a superbrained George Clooney. What a smoothie! Not to mention the fact that the location of their anniversary dinner is back in time for front row seats to when they first met.
Reputation Alert - Avengers: The Initiative #13
As seen in a previous issue of this series, Hank Pym's greatest fear is that he will be forever remembered not for his years of heroism, but for being a vile dirtbag who beat up his wife (BOOO!). He supposedly came to terms with that fear in that same issue, but now it looks like even the younger generation of heroes (who probably grew up on The Ultimates) aren't so forgiving. Sorry dirtbag!
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Summary only...
Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. There are probably some spoilers herein. Arranged from BEST to WORST.
Dead, She Said #1 gets an A from Albo
The more of Steve Niles' work I read the more I like the guy. I picked up 30 Days of Night when it was on the stands back in the day and came away feeling it was a little thin. But Simon Dark, among other things, has made me take another look. This horror noir story starts with a private dick waking up and cracking his way out of rigor mortis... That's right, he's "dead," shot through the belly and he's determined to figure out why. Giant ants may be involved. Smart, original, well worth your dollars.
Reviews for Amazing Spider-Man #560, Mighty Avengers #14, and Fantastic Four #557 after the jump!
The Amazing Spider-Man #560 gets a B from Albo
Not much more to say that I didn't say in last week's review of #559. Just a solid Spidey story from Dan Slott with killer art from Marcos Martin. We learn a little more about "Paper Doll" this week, and she's turning out to be a pretty cool villain. Different, at least. Also this ish contains the return of a major Spidey character we haven't seen since this whole Brand New Day stuff started...
The Mighty Avengers #14 gets a B from Albo
Frank Cho being so slow of an artist forced Bendis to approach his Avengers books in an interesting way--he was trying to thread the two books into one ongoing story, but since Mighty was taking so much longer than New he ended up creating a lot of flashback stories as filler for New in order to keep the books on roughly the same timeline. Well now that's become a real style of his, as most of his Secret Invasion tie-in stories skip around in time more than a season of LOST. I say it works, even if it does get a little tough to put all the pieces together in my head. This ish in particular is about how the Skrulls have approached the "problem" of the Sentry, and it's a testament to the new era of comics that their solution isn't just "hit him really hard," because as we (and they) know, that never works for the bad guys. Well, except maybe Doomsday.
Fantastic Four #557 gets a C from Albo
Ahem. To defeat a giant robot that pummeled every Marvel hero in existence and destroyed dozens of military complexes around the globe, Mister Fantastic builds a bigger robot (which he inexplicably dubs "Anti-Galactus"... wtf?) in an AFTERNOON and bases his whole battle strategy on the ASSUMPTION that the robot's creator included him in a list of people that it couldn't harm. When he could have, oh I don't know, CALLED HER JUST TO MAKE SURE. Lazy storytelling from a guy that's probably too busy out promoting the movie adaptation of Wanted to give a damn. On a positive note, there is a really sweet scene at the end (which I woulda given an "A" if it were a standalone story) where Reed takes Sue out on an anniversary date--back in time to the moment they first met. And as a gift he gets her a ring with a "stone" that's actually a micro-galaxy with "over forty trillion couples ... all loving each other like I love you." What kind of softy have I become when I open a comic and prefer the date scene to the giant freaking robot fight?! Am I losing my Geekanerd touch? Or is Millar just better with character moments than action?
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Summary only...
Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Beware some SPOILERS!
Click the pics for high res goodness!
Beatdown of the Week - Young Liars #3
Little Sadie here apparently attended the Jason Bourne School of Resourceful Dustupping. Not only does she pull an IV out of her transsexual junkie friend and jam it in her attacker's eye....
...she then proceeds to squeeze the remaining contents of the IV bag into the guy's face! Holy crapsticks that is hardcore.
Hit the jump for the highs and lows of Amazing Spider-Man #559's art!
Art Worth Praising - Marcos Martin, Amazing Spider-Man #559
I praised Marcos Martin in my review of the book but I'm glad I get to do it with some visual reference now! You can see in this page how deceptively simple his linework is. It feels very spare and uncluttered, but really there is a high level of detail crammed into every inch. The panel-to-panel storytelling is especially great on this page. Martin tells a fun little story with all the details he's packing into Spidey's characterization: the subtle wringing of hands behind the back as he worries about being seen as a psycho, the contemplative hand on the chin in the next panel, and the resolute fist in palm at the end... You would know what was happening in this page even without word balloons, which is really as good as it gets.
One more thing I want to say about Martin's art in this issue of Amazing Spider-Man is that his sense of architecture is spectacular throughout the issue--so many comic artists draw cities as block after block of homogenous rectangle buildings, but Martin does a great job of keeping his setting just as varied as real world New York.
Also contributing to the great look of this issue is Javier Rodriguez on colors. He is a perfect compliment to Martin, with a coloring job every bit as subtle and smart as Martin's linework. EXCEPT...
(Mis)Adventures in Computer Coloring - Amazing Spider-Man #559
Yes, this is the third time I've gotten on this book for grievous misuses of Photoshop. What happened, Javier? Every other page of this book is beautiful, so why did you lose all sense of subtlety and restraint for the nightclub scene? It's so unpleasant I can only hope you were just trying to make a statement about how distasteful you find clubbing.
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Summary only...
Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Beware some major SPOILERS.
Click the pics for high res goodness!
20% Percent Gratuity: Wonder Woman #19
AHR: Here is how I believe this panel came to be....imagine if you will a conversation between artist Bernard Chang and editor Matt Idelson...
"I'm supposed to set this conversation between two men in the shower, but I don't want it to be too homoerotic."
"No problem. Put a sultry naked woman in the foreground."
"....in the men's shower?"
"Military bases can have co-ed showers. Didn't you see Starship Troopers?"
Great art, bad art, an evil Russian girl and a compromising position after the jump!
WTF Happened? - Young Liars #2
Albo: One minute the girl is whispering in the guy's ear and the next she's getting the "protective friend" hand on her shoulder and our hero is getting flipped off. Did he somehow project his fantasy for the world to see? Surely he's not getting the finger because the tickets aren't his? And just what WOULD that girl do to see Spoon? Especially considering that the book is set in 2005 Austin, where Spoon lived and assumedly played pretty frequently.
Best Actor - Evil Russian Girl, BPRD 1942 #4
AHR: I think this character has a name, but I can't be bothered to look it up. All you need to know is she's an evil demon in the form of a Little Russian Girl, and she displays a wide range of both evil and childlike emotions...
Ironically framed innocence! "Who, me?"
A classic "bad cop" interrogation pose.
Sulking
Two more adult expressions. Take charge confidence and affronted annoyance; "who is this bitch and who does he think he's talking to?"
Art Worth Praising - Chris Bachalo,
Amazing Spider-Man #556
Albo: What an awesome composition this panel is. The patterns in the floor and in Jameson's gown feel very Sienkiewiczian, the block of light keeps our attention well-focused, the restricted color palette works really well, and the top down perspective is just f-ing cool.
Oooh, what a bleak and stormy night it is! I know this doesn't seem that exceptional out of context, but the whole issue does a really wonderful job of isolating Spidey out in the cold. Bachalo doesn't use black borders around the panels, furthering the feeling of being surrounded on all sides by snow.
AHR: I think many other artists would have been content to simply repeat the first panel to convey an awkward moment of thought process in the second panel. The joke still would have worked, but the blank look away really sells the confusion.
(Mis)Adventures in Computer Coloring - Amazing Spider-Man #556
Albo: Please click the image to get a high res glimpse. Now take a look at that image of earth. Get a bucket ready because if you don't vomit at the "I just pulled this lossy jpeg off Google image search" look of that crap then you aren't paying attention. This is the second time we've had to call out this book for crappy use of photos.
Anachronism Alert! - Young Liars #2
Albo: Going to play Guitar Hero, are you? Well I hope you have a time machine, because you're living in April 2005 and Guitar Hero doesn't come out until November 2005!
Product Placement Sucks - Fantastic Four #556
Albo: Marvel is the biggest product placement whore on the planet. I'll accept your intrusive ads if A) You lower the price of the books or B) You remove all other advertisements. Otherwise I can't help but feel like I'm getting ripped off. And for all you guys saying product placement adds realism to a book, please tell me what sort of self-respecting human wears a t-shirt advertising Guitar Hero III: Mobile?
Biggest Letdown - Bryan Hitch's Art, Fantastic Four #556
Albo: It feels like only yesterday I was praising the art in this book. I'm not sure what's happened in the meantime (I hope it's something joyous like Bryan Hitch having a baby and therefore no time for art) but this stuff has gone way downhill. What the F is wrong with Johnny Storm in this panel?! He's been up all night shagging some supervillain, so a little weariness is in order, but c'mon! He looks like a zombie Gary Busey!
Now this one I'm willing to exonerate Hitch for and blame on the colorist... This is supposed to be a pretty impressive splash. And it would be, if I could tell what the hell is going on. There's no focus, it's all terribly jumbled.
From A Certain Point of View - Fantastic Four #556
Albo: Alyssa on ground spread eagle? Check. Sue Storm's head positioned directly between Alyssa's thighs? Check. Alyssa drawing closer to Sue with lips parted and eyes closed?
Check.
WTF?
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Summary only...
Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. There are probably some spoilers herein. Arranged from BEST to WORST.
B.P.R.D 1946 #4: A
Dense story and crazy action, a winning combo in my book. In past issues this book's adventurous tone has felt bogged down by some extremely grim plot-points, but this issue focuses on more fantastic elements of the story and wisely pays extra attention to the best character to come out of this series, Little Evil Russian Girl. -AHR
Young Liars #2: A
David Lapham's Vertigo book reads a lot like his on-hold opus Stray Bullets, but with enough twists to make it feel like it's own animal. The story of a desperate kid's life falling apart has enough "oh shit" moments to make it stick in your mind for quite some time. -Albo
Simon Dark, Wild Cards, Amazing Spider-Man, Wonder-Woman and Fantastic Four all after the jump!
Simon Dark #7: B
Violence, violence! The most unsettling issue yet with a heavy emphasis on scrazy zombie carnage, but also in evidence are many elements of what has made the book great from the start; perfectly timed moments of deadpan humor, excellent artsy art, and a gentility to the character of Simon which strikes a sad contrast with the realistic vision of Gotham he inhabits. The only thing missing is a memorable storyline. -AHR
Wild Cards #1: B
Based on a series of sci-fi novels that started in 1987, this book is about an alternate earth where an alien virus has killed 90% of humans (referred to as "drawing the Black Queen"), horribly mutated 9% (called "Jokers") , and given superpowers to 1% (those would be the "Aces"). Pretty exciting first issue that definitely makes me want to stick around for issue 2. -Albo
Amazing Spider-Man #556: B
A little boring, but the art is pretty fantastic. Three pages of fat Spidey are funny. -Albo
Wonder Woman #19: C+
A lot of the resolutions in this issue hinge on one character convincing another character to do something huge by offering them a song-lyricesque platitude about peace and understanding. I guess that's superheroes for you but it's less than I expect from Simone. I do like the way she's writing Wonder Woman, combining the military detachment of Batman with the humanitarian idealism of Supes....she's an interesting balance between the two extremes. -AHR
Fantastic Four #556: C
What the heck? I was so excited about this book a couple issues ago, and it's already devolved into mediocrity. The art (which I praised extensively) has become a hard to decipher jumble. The characters for some reason are all dumb as bricks (when arriving at a battle scene where a killer robot has demolished 22 heroes including Iron Man, the Sentry, Wolverine, Dr. Strange and others, the Thing says "Take it easy, I got this guy."). And then all those heroes that were bleeding and unconscious all spring back into action at once, none the worse for wear. Sigh. -Albo
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Summary only...
Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Click the pics for high res goodness, and beware some major SPOILERS.
Definitive Proof that Jackpot is Not M.J. - Amazing Spider-Man #549
Because Mary Jane is a supermodel, and this girl looks like the thing on the Elmer's Glue bottle.
Scans from The Twelve #2 and Detective Comics #841 after the jump...
(Mis)Adventures in Computer Coloring - Amazing Spider-Man #549
I don't mind a little integration of real world textures into my comic book experience. But for Christ's sake you've gotta make that shit work. Observe:
Good.
The reflection of the city is attractive, the warping effect is nice, and apart from the fact that no skyscraper in the world would have window panels that tiny, it's believable.
Bad.
The reflection on the left is a grainy, pixellated jpeg. In other words, ugmo. The panel on the right totally ignores all common sense you would expect an artist to have about the way reflections work. If you're looking straight down the side of a building, the reflection will be of the street, not the skyline. (He uses the exact same photo for another panel in the book, btw). Who does this joker think he's kidding?
Classic Gags - Detective Comics #841
The setup is this girl is the last member of the new Alice in Wonderland gang to try Bats after he whomped all of the others. This is such a characteristic Paul Dini joke, and that's why I love him. Hats off to artist Dustin Nguyen for communicating a perfectly condescending, skeptical, and kind of sad look through a cowl.
Attack of the Chin - The Twelve #2
Oh my God that is one monstrous chin. It's like Jay Leno mated with a T-Rex and this beast of a man is the offspring.
Saddest Moment Ever II - The Twelve #2
AHR here: While Albo was concerned with the shape of Captain Wonder's head, I was being brought to tears by his absolutely gut wrenchingly sad flashback sequence. Of course, scenes like this are pretty standard for time-travel stories, the scene in The Ultimates when Cap tries to hook up with his old GF come to mind. But this sequence from The Twelve pulls no emotional punches - I was already starting to lose it by the last panels of the first page, thanks to Chris Weston's excellent job with Wonder's tormented facial expressions and the knife-twisting emphasis on the tombstone's grimly ironic epitaph. I never stood a chance against that splash page. Good Lord.
Sweetest Reunion - Nightwing #141
Here's a sentimental chaser after the emotional gutpunch of those last panels. Anyone who's ever put off calling a friend way longer than you realized can relate to this.
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Summary only...
Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Click the pics for high res goodness, and beware SPOILERS.
Aunt May is a GMILF - Amazing Spider-Man #548
Looks like Spidey's deal with the devil not only saved his auntie's life but also took 30 years off her age and injected her with some sex magic. I guess the devil felt bad for taking away his hot model wife. Seriously, look at the coy smile she's giving that well-dressed suitor. For comparison's sake, here is the toothless old hag she used to be:
Hit the jump for impressive feats of magic, awkwardness and product placement...
Product Placement Double Trouble - Amazing Spider-Man #548
It's no World War Old Spice, but I'm still impressed with Marvel that they were able to cram TWO ADS into ONE COMIC PANEL. Find815.com is a LOST viral marketing site/ARG thingy, which is actually pretty cool and worth a visit if you're a fan of the show. And before some ninnies come around and start talking about product placement adding to the realism of the world, tell me why the hell a cabbie would have a bumper sticker advertising a TV show's website and why he's driving a Chevy when every other cabbie in New York is driving a Ford. Oh, and that's not even to mention why he'd have a vanity plate glorifying the recent superhero schism that destroyed sections of the city and led to Captain America's death.
Celebrity Cameo Alert - Damage Control #1
There's our man, floppy red hair and beady eyes and all.
The Ultimate Secret of Magic - John Constantine: Hellblazer #240
Ooh ooh ooh, now imagine Keanu Reeves saying it!
Awkwaaaaaard - Damage Control #1
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Summary only...
Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Click the pics for high res goodness, and beware SPOILERS.
Best Action Sequence - The Goon #20
We love colorist Dave Stewart here at Geekanerd. These muted sepia tones elevate Eric Powell's pencils from awesome to stunning. Not to mention these panels feature a man fighting bird monsters in the air, while being hung. And he wins!
Hit the jump for Nazi lechers, alien exhibitionists, bratty superheroes and more...
World's Second Greatest Detective - The Twelve #1
The setup here is that this guy is a WWII superhero who was frozen at the end of the war and just unfrozen by the US Military in 2008. They haven't broken the news to him yet, but we've got a sharp one here and he knows something is up.
Banana Randomizer Award For Achievement in WTF - Countdown #16
That's a horrible comeback. Kit Fisto 1, Jason Todd 0.
Bad Touch - The Twelve #1
We all know Nazis are bad dudes, but groping an unconscious superheroine? Inexcusable. As well as extremely random.
Embarrassed For Everyone Award - Countdown #16
This maybe already be the worst comic book panel of the year. Pink naked alien girl with breasts bigger than her head, check. A thin line of steam shooting out of the bathroom to cover her vagina (or something), check. Giant floppy cartoon antennae, check. The line "I owe you a boon." I can't check that one off because my hands are busy clawing my eyes out.
Peter Parker is a Brat - Amazing Spider-Man #546
It appears that removing Mary Jane from Peter Parker's life has made him revert to an impulsive, bratty teenager. Exhibit A: 
"For once I'll be the hero?" Surely he got over this kinda crap a long time ago. Exhibit B:
This isn't how Aunt May and Uncle Ben raised Pete. This is some crazy Spider-Man 3 "Tobey Maguire Goes Wild" Spider-Man. Seriously, "I made you!"? Really? As much as I liked seeing him finally tell off J.J.J., it doesn't seem true to character. He's not even under any stress.
Superman Ex Machina - Green Arrow/Black Canary #4
So what's going on here is Green Arrow is calling Superman's name from the other side of the planet to get his help. This being possible raises some important questions: How are we meant to feel any sort of danger in any DC superhero comic now that we know all anyone has to do is ask (loudly) and Superman will stop what he's doing and come to the rescue? And why haven't people been doing this all along? Have they just been too stubborn to ask for help from Superman? Even when people are dying? What babies. Secondly, if his hearing is really that good, has Supes just learned to tune out every one of the millions of people screaming for help across the globe everyday?
Stupid Stupid Comic Artists - Hulk #1
Ok, the Hulk is wielding a gun. Your first question should be "Where does he find a gun big enough for his meaty Gamma-irradiated fingers?" Luckily for you, Iron Man reveals on the next page that S.H.I.E.L.D. in fact makes guns that large. Your second question should be "Ok, I can see S.H.I.E.L.D. making big guns, but why in flaming flip would it be a six-shooter revolver?!"
Fanboy Wet Dream - Mighty Avengers #7
Yeah yeah, New York pedestrians have turned into an army of Venoms and Carnages . On a side note, has it ever been explained why the symbiote didn't give Peter Parker big jaws and a giant tongue?
Most Chilling Image - Killing Pickman #2
I wrote a review for this issue on Wednesday, but scrapped it cause I couldn't do proper justice to the exquisite fusion of text and art that's being put out in this book. The purely expressionistic splatter of red makes this otherwise innocent image one of the most haunting in an book with enough dark, disturbing imagery to go around.
Now That's Comedy - Simon Dark #4
HAHAHAHA! We don't see this gag enough in comics.
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Summary only...
Despite the fact that no skin is shown and few sex acts take place, this is a boundary pushing sequence.
Exhibit A: Steph never got a memorial because Batman never really thought she was dead. This also explains his insensitive-even-for-him reaction to her death in the first place.
Exhibit B: Dr. Leslie Tompkins, heretofore believed to have actually allowed Steph to die as an outrageously irresponsible warning to teen superheroes across the nation, actually helped the poor girl fake her own death in order to start a new life.
Exhibit C: Editor Dan Didio is killed. Guess that ties up all the loose ends!
As seen in a previous issue of this series, Hank Pym's greatest fear is that he will be forever remembered not for his years of heroism, but for being a vile dirtbag who beat up his wife (BOOO!). He supposedly came to terms with that fear in that same issue, but now it looks like even the younger generation of heroes (who probably grew up on The Ultimates) aren't so forgiving. Sorry dirtbag!
