Dec 10, 2009 Robert 1
http://itcamefromthevoid.com/post/277251246/batmans-return-just-to-clarify-a-little-bit
Dec 10, 2009 Robert 2
Nov 2, 2009 Robert 0
So I have been wondering — which is more interesting: Blackest Night aka DC Zombies or the return of Black Mask to Gotham and through-out the Batbooks (okay well not Grant Morrison’s Batman & Robin ’cause well.. I don’t know why)? Seems that Black Mask is building up various parts of a new criminal organization in Gotham while the Black Lanterns are rising from dead heroes & villains to torment and kill for their zombie king, Nekron. *yawn* Which is more interesting & why? Blackest Night has the big question behind Nekron and why all the Black Lantern mythos all from a single panel Alan Moore wrote years ago while the return of Black Mask is the question itself. Who is Black Mask and why is he back?
Why NEKRON & the Blackest Night? Must Nekron be the undead king of the Black Lanterns for the evil, corrupt Guardian Scar’s vision of the universe? Are the Black Lanterns there to ensure that they can eliminate all sentient life & emotion from the universe (which would, I am assuming also include Guardian Scar’s life)? If so — won’t that get boring and pointless? I guess no more than the Red Lanterns of Rage or the Blue Lanterns of Hope. I still find that raising the new Black Power Battery from the ashes of Coast City is so obvious and boring plus considering that the Black Lanterns want to eliminate all emotion from the UNIVERSE — last I checked, Coast City is the tiniest fraction of the bloody universe. I do I get it — tug on the fucking heart strings of Hal Jordan and the heroes of Earth ’cause the DC fucking Universe obviously centers directly around Earth and their heroes. Fuck the rest of the Universe is what that says (so why BOTHER with the rest of the universe, Black Lanterns?). This is another point in the BN saga that doesn’t make sense to me, well that and the Indigo Lanterns are from everywhere BUT Earth which may be more a nod to the center of the universe bit. More on Blackest Night here on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lantern_Corps
Who the Fuck is Black Mask? Why is this more appealing — Well, that’s very simple… he is the Black FUCKING Mask! If The Joker is the The Clown Prince of Crime, Two-Face is the duel sides (Bad Sheriff) of Gotham & The Penguin is Gotham’s embodiment of greed (Evil Baron) than Roman Sionis aka Black Mask is the true King of Gotham’s criminal underworld. The Black Mask has returned to the Bat-books and the DCU. Of recent Black Mask has been able to reign in a great many of the dark (hehe) baddies of Gotham under his control, broken up the power war between Two-Face & Penguin onto leading himself to being the new boss of Gotham. In the latest issue of Batman #692, the issue reminded the readers of the Maroni mobster family that Jeph Loeb wrote about in Batman: The Long Halloween (just got that it came out in time for Halloween – NICE) & that Mario Falcone is back in Gotham. A nice red herring that Mario could be Black Mask. I do like the tie into the current criminal mess that is happening in Gotham for Batman & Friends to deal with. Sadly Black Mask gave an offer to Two-Face and Dent decided to leave Gotham than joining Black Mask. I am sure that Two-Face will come back to haunt Black Mask (I am assuming in a team-up with Bats down the road, especially if it is still Dick under the cowl). More on Black Mask here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mask_%28comics%29
So to add more fuel to the fires of the mystery behind Black Mask, I am going to mix in the whole Blackest Night concept: If this version of Black Mask is indeed the second Black Mask then why hasn’t original DEAD corpse of the first Black Mask risen as a Black Lantern and gone after Catwoman for killing him?! Hell, I would have settled for Roman’s parents returning from the dead and going after the current Bruce Wayne running around Gotham (Yes Batman is dead but a villain known as Hush is posing as Bruce Wayne right now), I mean if both Dick & Tim’s parents can return from the dead to come after their children, why not Black Mask’s parents? My bet is no one really thought that one through OR This is not the second Black Mask & Roman managed to not only survive but also somehow to hide his parents when Blackest Night begins, being a criminal mastermind that he is.
Is Roman back from the dead OR could there be much more beneath the surface of this mystery? One statement that even I wondered about from the Batman: R. I. P. storyline — at one point, Black Mask refers to himself as “we” to which makes me wonder if there are more than one person(s) running around as Black Mask OR more than one generation.
This is my big prediction — Black Mask is an descendant from Bruce Wayne himself. To become the Black Mask at exactly this time for reasons that only Bruce really knows but obviously to have the villain you know than one you do not. This could be a way for Bruce to control things — control the villains and you control Gotham? Wait… how is my idea possible? What kinda crack am I smoking? No way, Robert — give your head a shake. Okay let me remind those of you all that are reading along with the DCU — Batman is DEAD & Not DEAD as he has been SENT BACK TO THE PAST to live out his lives again and again from DARKSEID’s Omega Sanction blasts. Now if you accept the craziness of that then why couldn’t Batman ensure that a descendant of his becomes the Black Mask after his apparent “death” to have more control over Gotham?
I am more excited about who is Black Mask than I care what happens with Blackest Night. I am sure Geoff Johns will kill lots of characters in the DCU so other writers can get a shot of remaking them but the only one I care about is Black Mask. I mean Blackest Night lost me when they indicated that both The original Sandman & The Question are back from the dead. Give me Black Mask in a battle for control over Gotham any day.
UPDATED: I just found out who is Black MASK! Check it out…
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Arggghh… another reason to dislike Barry Allen. Fuck!
Nov 2, 2009 Robert 2
SO… I was wondering how I would do reviews and such. I used to do the Best Bang but that was then… now I am just going to do something similar to Twitter reviews. Short & sweet bite sized reviews called FUSION Comic Reviews ’cause FUSION sounds COOL! Love it or leave it. FYI – FUSION posts will happen when they happen & not saying it will be each week.
Ambush Bug: Year None #7 (of 6) – Finally the book comes out with help from Franco & Baltazar. The issue was pretty enjoyable & crazy much like the entire series. I am betting Dan Didio is happy that the book is finally out so fans can stop harassing him about this from con to con. Thanks to all who put the book out!
Fantastic Four #572 – Jonathan Hickman does a great fantastical story for Reed Richards & all the alternative versions of the Richards fighting Celestials of Earth-4280 which gives Reed perspective to him & his family. Loved it & look forward to more of what Hickman can do with the first Marvel family!
Justice Society of America #32 – It must be hard to write a book where you have such a huge team of heroes and still do a plot which not only involves them all but keeps the tensions high without zombies from Blackest Night. Willingham & Struges did a good job this week keeping the pace moving and the whodunit interesting.
Dark Avengers: Ares #1 (of 3) – The book was decent but I wasn’t feeling that this was the same Ares from the Dark / former Mighty Avengers title. Seems like the story with Nick Fury is kinda confusing given what is / has happened so far then this book. I confused.
Dark Reign – The List: Punisher #1 One-shot – Wow. Not only did John Romita Jr nail this issue but Rick Remender comes along with a powerful issue that ends… well it leads to the end of Frank Castle as we knew him. Next up: FRANKen-Castle?! If this issue is not a way for me to follow up and find out what happens, I don’t know what else you would need to do. Very enjoyable & yet chilling ending.
Detective Comics #858 – Rucka & Willians III are crafting quite a lovely run on the book with Batwoman. Amazing of the different art stylized used for flashbacks. Just amazing. The Question back-up story ain’t working for me though & I loved the Question.
Hulk #16 – Red She-Hulk in ripped up clothing with a Uber-gun & Sai. Loeb has me addicted to the bloody book. Who is Red Hulk, who is Red She-Hulk & who cares, well shit now I care PLUS I do like how Red Hulk is being written. Also Loved the ripped up Red She-Hulk cover – what an uber-fun!
Green Lantern #47 – So this spins out of Blackest Night & continues from issue #3 of BN. I understand they put this story in GL book than in BN for sales. That all said – the issue is very solid with wonderful work from Doug Mahnke. Loving Sinestro in his fight with Hal against the Black Lanterns lead by their former friend & mentor Abin Sur (although I had always thought that Abin Sur was a truely peaceful Lantern who SHOULDN’T have risen much like DOVE but that’s me — I am hating the Blackest Night story).
Guardians of the Galaxy #19 – KANG! How is this book NOT the top title of Marvel Comics these days? What a great wrap-up of the entire recent storyline with the team split up & the coming of Magnus from Adam Warlock. I thought the end of Frank Castle was intense but this was almost as sudden & shocking for me. I really really liked this latest incarnation of Adam Warlock, I guess we will see what the next incarnation brings. Also the last few issues has beautiful coloring by Nathan Fairbairn that helped make this book look so stunning and great!
Avengers: The Initiative #29 – A solid issue that moves along the New Warrirors / Avengers Resistance storyline with the big twist on Night Thrasher, Trauma & Penance. I like to see Constrictor & Diamondback hooking plus the Tigra & Komodo team-up. It saddens me to think that this book is ending but I am excited to how it will.
The Incredible Hercules #137 – Amadeus Cho story keeps moving along with the all origin issue that ends with a nice tie into Spidey leading to the Amadeus & Herc reunion. Another one of my fav comics by Marvel. Great great writing by Pak & Van Lente!
Secret Warrirors #9 – Dark Avengers vs the Secret Warriors & I am glad that the SW team get the upper hand (although that seems to be the theme these days, the Dark Avengers are the jobbers of the Marvel U other than Daken in Dark Reign: The List: Punisher) & leads to the big Ares vs Fury face-off. I am still enjoying this book & Hickman has his finger on all these characters.
Necrosha #1 One Shot – Okay so I was completely wrong and Selene is raising the dead mutants to take her revenge on Emma Frost & the rest of the Hellfire Club. This book sets the tone of the series and what is to come. One thing that should be noted — some of those dead mutants who have risen, they are their own ppl & may even fight what control Selene has re: Destiny & Douglas Ramsey which is much more appealing than your typical “braiiiins” zombies like in Blackest Night. I really enjoyed the techno-virus ridden dead Hellions standoff against Emma.
X-Force #20 – What a bloody crazy violent all out slaughter issue with X-23. Great pacing and action. My only issue was that X-23, Kimura & Agent Morales looked too similar through-out the issue that made some bits a touch confusing. How many times have we seen Wolverine loose an arm and keep fighting? I thought that was original & I love that X-23 still has her nemesis Kimura out there. That was nice.
Nova #30 – The adventures of the Nova Corps & Richard Rider continue with more progression of the future of the Nova Corps. Enjoyable story which takes the Nova Corps out of Ego, the living planet, to Nova being asked to capture Darkhawk for a nice ending. Another top Marvel title!
Batman #692 – Tony Daniel takes over the title (or at least for now) on the main Batbook as writer & artist. Daniels first story brings back Hugo Strange as part of Black Mask’s Ministry of Science which was appealing along with seeing Dick outside the cowl in a face to face with Selina (Catwoman). What I didn’t care for what the artwork of Black Mask — he is NOT like the Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker, and does NOT need to dressed up in anything but a suit & tie with the black skull face. Please Tony Daniel, please fix this in any upcoming issues ’cause that is NOT the Black Mask look at all. It’s like dressing Catwoman in her older gear or Batman in the Azreal-Bat costume. Just not right at all.
Teen Titans #76 – Felica D. Henderson’s run on the Teen Titans is not bad. The Wyld attack the Titans and Raven while Wonder Girl (and team) & Beast Boy battle for team leadership. I like the feel of the book and decent artwork (outside the sexual scenes of Raven as previously mentioned) which may lead to a good run on the book. I feel that Felica may have a pulse on this new team with the angst of the new young gen vs Gen X into the mix.
The New Avengers #58 – BEST COMIC OF THE WEEK! (Although the cover art didn’t match the inside story) Solid artwork by Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger & wonderful colors by Dave McCaig. Bendis keeps the book moving in high pace, great dialog and stunning moment as with the team telling Jessica about Luke & the final page. Loved the sewer fight! Love’d it!
Alright so that’s about all the books I got. Of note – I did read Blackest Night #4 and I have to say, I am very impressed with how much I enjoyed parts while other bits reminded me of why I hate the whole zombie crap, especially with the death of Damage. Blah. Also I checked out New Mutants #6 which finally looked ok and I might get the next issue if it keeps up, I almost picked it up as it starred Warlock but still I need to see more. Ms. Marvel #46 seemed okay but I am not sold on the artwork. Ultimate Avengers #3 seemed decent but rushed artwork and story. X-Factor #50 made me think it wrapped up the book to date but I don’t read it so I was lost.
So what did you get this week? What did you like? What did you dislike?
Loving the Super Hero Squad Show variant Marvel covers!
Oct 28, 2009 Robert 2
Is the upcoming rumored Apple tablet the future of comic books? Will this be the death of your local comic store in the coming years going from being just a comic book store to becoming a GEEKS-R-US store with everything plus maybe some of the limited printed versions of some digital comics. More on this maybe every Wednesday morning the new comics will published new on iTunes & productivity drops at those times. Could that be the future of comic books?
Sure that it far fetched and not everyone is going to have a new Apple tablet to view their digital comics on but doesn’t almost everyone have a computer / laptop these days & running some version of iTunes? How much of a stretch is this considering the costs involved in printing comic books over digital publication.
I do not see this happening overnight but I would imagine in a few years, the comic book industry will change a great deal and more towards a digital media. Look at the big MarvelFest event today in New York for the launch of the Astonishing X-Men motion comic (likely will come out in a zillion months for us up here in Canada — LAME!) so why not feel that the comic biz is changing.
Shit, I wonder how comic book conventions would be if most of the comic books came out online?! Would fans still travel to San Diego Comic-Con to get digital signatures on their latest download of their favorite motion comic.
Good article on Gizmodo:
http://gizmodo.com/5391045/apple-tablet-will-restore-comic-books-to-former-glory
Oct 27, 2009 Robert 5
** Updated: I fixed my typo of spelling Garth (Aqualad) over Gar (Beast Boy). Thanks Internet & Madam Rouge! That’s what I get for making this post at 4am.
Well I am going to do something that I didn’t think I would but I am going to give this week’s issue of Teen Titans a try plus might get last months issue as well. The reason is that this will be Felicia D. Henderson’s second issue and I want to see if she can make TT enjoyable for me again. I am really hoping that I will enjoy the issue even if it does have Beast Boy & Raven in it to kick start the title again.
I understand the idea of bringing Gar & Raven into the title to get more readers on board in this new start. I have some hopes for this book because there are not many women writing comics these days (Gail Simone & G. Willow Wilson come to mind) so I am going to see how Felicia D. Henderson does on the book for this first story arc.
Here are the preview pages on the DC Source blog here:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2009/10/26/raven-and-beast-boy-pop-in-to-help-their-former-team-in-teen-titans-76/
Okay so if you check out these preview pages, I have this one question…
Um… is it common place for Raven to be wearing ONLY her skirt/robe thing w/ the phunk-me boots and no visable underwear? I hate to be all pervy about this but is she just wearing a thong under her costume but if so — does it um… is it under her belt? BTW – when did she go back to the loin-cloth costume over the pull long pants version? I missed that.
Oh and here are the rest of the books I am hoping to get this week (I don’t know how I plan to manage this as I went to Thomas FX’s Halloween 365 store last week & I gots a sh*t loads of Halloween crap which may have NUKED any and all comics for the while — might need to do an Oceans 15 this week to afford my addiction)…
Fuck and here I thought I had cut down my addiction!
Oct 20, 2009 Robert 0
If you haven’t heard — Geoff Johns is writing Justice Society of America to star on Smallville this season. Seems as though Stargirl, Dr. Fate & Hawkman are coming to the CW. IGN has the following casting info: Brittney Irvin (Aliens in America, V) as Stargirl, Michael Shanks (Burn Notice, Stargate Universe) as Hawkman & Brent Stait (Andromeda, Blade: The Series) as Doctor Fate. More information can be found here on iFanboy.com! Geoff Johns twittered that Hawkman will have “wings & a big mace” so I hope it will be better than the last time Hawkman was on the telly.
I wonder if Hawkman will have wings much like Castiel of Supernatural with his wings (see above) since this is the CW and I don’t think they have the $$ for CGI wings but I may be wrong. Maybe they can find the wings used by Mothman in The Watchmen movie lying around (since Smallville is shot in Vancouver where The Watchmen was filmed) and put some feathers on it?
Also why only 3 JSA characters and its Hawkman, Dr. Fate and Stargirl? I am guessing that they selected Stargirl over Hawkgirl or Power Girl because Star’s origin can be done without much complication whereas Hawkgirl & Power Girl’s origin would be hard to do in 1 episode. Oh and yes I know Smallville has a (lame) Black Canary character. I do hope they mention that these JSA characters are just 3 of many and they have been fighting crime & super powered issues on Earth long before Clark left Smallville – that would be similar to how Geoff Johns wrote his LEGION episode of Smallville.
Oct 20, 2009 Robert 0
Despero was a villain for DC Comics, from the planet of Kalanor & master of the Flame of Py’tar (which is how he got his muscle bound look), and specifically one of the big bag guys of the Justice League of America. Created by Gardner Fox & Mike Sekowsky in October 1960. A few weeks ago, the first week of October, R.E.B.E.L.S. Annual #1 gave the new revised origin of Starro and in doing so, the new Starro decapitated & killed Despero. Despero was one of the heavy hitters of the DC Cosmic Universe so that is why him being killed is supposed to tell the fans that this new Starro villain is so power & bad ass. *yawn*
Despero had action figures, revamped character from the Silver Age version of the ear to ear fin Despero to the shark-fin, muscle bound look that became his latest version. Shown in cartoons like Justice League United, Brave & The Bold whereas Starro was in … um… ok well maybe Starro will get a shot & an action figure down the road.
Rest in Peace Despero *sniff* *wipe tearful eye* until an editors meeting decides it is time for a new creative team on Justice League of Future book will bring you back to your former glory. Until then have a good rest.
Oct 19, 2009 Robert 0
A month before the 2010 Winter Olympics kick off, DC has a crap load of comics coming out from Blackest Lamest Night to new Justice League of America #1 to more Cinderell: From Fabletown with Love #3. Check them out here:
DC Solits via CBR
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=23366
Oct 19, 2009 Robert 0
So I mentioned on my Robert Parizek Twitter account the following about the DC Comics Trinity Vol. 3 trade paperback:
@RobertParizek DC Comics Trinity vol 3 trade – Enjoyed the series up to now. Very boring with the Trinity gods story. Can’t finish reading. Waste of $.
I wanted to go further on this and point out exactly WHY I hate / have such a problem with the Trinity series. Now I know that the series ended near the beginning of the summer and the 3rd trade just came out. Now I went through and FORCED myself to finish reading the trade last night/this morning. I believe that the story was well written and aside from the rushed artwork as I had expected from a weekly series. I guess as an overall story it was okay given the concept of removing Batman, Superman & Wonder Woman from the DC Universe and their impact.
That all mentioned, the one reason I got into buying and reading the Trinity series in trade format was my good friend William S. storytelling the entire fold of the series over many many Tim Horton’s coffee’s & donuts. William gave me a better tale of Trinity that what I read. By the end of Vol 2 trade, I was hoping that the Trinity gods of Batman, Superman & Wonder Woman would have been done with and the big push to the climax with Kronos would have been the rest of the issues. Is that what happens? No, the trade is annoyingly long in the tooth with the gods, the slow destruction of Earth, the painfully drawn-out rambling of Enigma (who I hated from Trinity #1) and the Justice Arcana of Lois Lane, Supergirl, Alfred, Nightwing, Donna Troy & Nemisis got so fricken boring for me. It all seemed like it went on for too fricken long. I would have preferred if the god story wrapped early and they did more of a Secret Wars (the original) like story of an alternate Earth without Bats, Sups and WW then having them added into the mix but I wasn’t that lucky.
Now I understand that what I wanted was likely too hard to do by the time the books were already being published but I have to wonder how well Trinity did in those last bunch of issues #36 – 52 in comparison to the first two blocks (trades) in sales. Did fans like this? I know I am one pretty negative comic book geek but did the fans who bought this book week to week actually like this storyline?
Also who hates a series which does things like kills characters, destroys the Earth, slays tons of Green Lanterns and then *POOF* its all back to the way it was like it meant NOTHING. Nothing. After all that was Trinity, why not bring something from Trinity that isn’t the terrible character of Enigma & the DreamBrood and allow Tomorrow Woman to come back to life? That to me was fricken L A M E!
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Between The Staples: Between The Staples by Robert J. Parizek and is just another comic book news blog with a hint of lemon from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Written by Robert J. Parizek & is just another Canadian comic book fan site with a hint of lemon from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Comic book news, Movie & Television news plus other wacky world tid bits all free from any advertising.
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