World War Hulks
By Walt | August 25, 2010
World War Hulks #1
The series starts with a one shot called World War Hulks, and runs through Hulk and Incredible Hulk, and includes some “Fall of the Hulks” titles, two issues of Hulked Out Heroes and two special World War Hulks two parters in July, Wolverine vs Captain America and Spider-Man vs Thor. Also, Hulked Out Heroes revealed the names of the Hulkified versions of those that were turned into Hulks.
The series reveals the identities of both Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk and how they came to be that way. Additionally the series brings back Bruce Banner as the Hulk and sets up the long waited for fight with his father that Skaar has been longing for.
“World War Hulks” is the continuation of an arc that began with the Planet Hulk storyline in 2006-07, that continued into World War Hulk (the Marvel event of 2007), through the short lived Skaar Son of Hulk and into the last two years of both Hulk titles, which have largely focused on the identity of Red Hulk the depowering of Bruce Banner and the arrival of Skaar on Earth. The newly announced “Incredible Hulks: Dark Son” which brings Skaar’s brother Hiro-Kala to Earth is the end of the arc.
Greg Pak, and Jeph Loeb write this conclusion of the story that Greg Pak started in the outstanding series in Incredible Hulk, Planet Hulk. The team work is masterful in the way it makes all the Hulk stories harmonious and work together to tell a great story of love and betrayal, loyalty and justice, family and reconciliation. It is all here everything question is answered and they set the table for more interesting stories.
The silly Hulked Out Heroes is the one exception to the greatness of this story it was very wacky and not important to the main story. It was great to see an intelligent Hulk again like in Planet Hulk and World war Hulk. I always thought the Hulk was more than Hulk Smash and mindless rage. I also thought the way Hulk/Banner and Skaar/Son relationship developed was thoughtful and very interesting. And these stories set the table for more of the best of Marvel stories from these writers.
Ed Mc Guinness was born to draw the Hulk and Paul Pelletier art in Incredible is more than enough to tell the story in panels. Altogether I highly recommend the series World war Hulks. Tell me what you think your thoughts are always welcomed. See you at the comic shop. Stay tuned comic faithful for more. 
Walt
Topics: Marvel | No Comments »
Dark Horse Goes Classic
By Walt | July 31, 2010
Recently during Comic Con, Dark Horse president, Mike Richardson called a surprise guest to announce Dark Horse’s plans to develop new comics and graphic novels for the Gold Key Comics’ superheroes. Fans were shocked to see Jim Shooter enter the room; the man recently named the “Steve Jobs of Comics” by Comic Book Bin.
Shooter is perhaps best known for his nine year tenure at Marvel Comics, beginning in 1982, with highlights including Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s run on the Uncanny X-Men, and Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil. Also under Shooter’s editorial reign, Walt Simonsen revamped The Mighty Thor and made it again a bestseller. Following his successful run at Marvel, Shooter launched the well-received Valiant comics imprint in the early 90s, bringing many of Marvel’s creators with him.
Now, Jim Shooter comes to Dark Horse as head writer for the re-launch of the Gold Key Comics characters: Turok, Son of Stone®, Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom, Magnus, Robot Fighter, and Mighty Samson, with further characters and new comic writers to be announced shortly.
I just reviewed Doctor Solar man of the Adam the first in the Editions of the re-launch of the Gold Key Comics characters. I liked because it had the same mystic as the original release of the character back in 1962 but in the flavor of the readers of the 21st century. Very modern in the understanding of Sci-fi in todays readers. The recreation stays true to the roots of the Man of the Atom but in a new fresh perspective of a super human that has near infinite powers with the frailties of being human.
Doctor Solar 1965
One of Gold Key Comics’ most popular titles in the 1960s, the original nuclear-powered superhero reached legendary status by the 1990s in new comics from Valiant. The original classic comics now appear in hardcover anthologies published by Dark Horse Comics. In the new series Michael Komarck provides out standing cover art for the extraordinary comic. While he is new to comics he is not new to illustrations. He has created stunning illustrations for Bantam, Dell, and other publishers. His digitally painted work is stunning and is very good. Check it out at komarck.com and see what I mean.
Dennis Calero does a great job with the inside art. Noted for his work on X-Men Noir books from 2008 and 2009. Also he did Legion of Super-Heroes for DC. Dennis is noted for a superb use of light and shadow and a photo-realistic illustration. He can be found at denniscalero.com.
The writer is Jim Shooter and looks like a good start of a very talented story teller. Like any good first issue, Solar meets his first nemesis, and, in a roundabout way, this part of the comic points back to an analysis of the concept of Doctor Solar. The enemy is Leviathan, a purple-suited, perpetually hungry man with enormous muscles, who rampages through the city stealing food. His fights with Solar, however, are not as interesting as the way he came into existence. When Solar first acquired his powers, he used them to rewrite just a tiny little eight-second period of time that had caused him some embarrassment. Unfortunately, he doesn’t realize you don’t play God without understanding, so he doesn’t know it’s an awful idea to go messing around with time. This alteration shot a reality-altering wave through the universe, and it happened to hit a writer of science fiction and fantasy, causing some of his characters to come to life. Leviathan is one of them. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, and, even better, it is good to see the comic setting itself up as one with real consequences for its characters’ actions.
Doctor Solar 2010
Magnus the Robot Fighter will be released in August. The recreation of these wonderful heroes will be great to watch for a new generation of readers. I hope it brings back the feeling of awe that I felt when I first read these Gold Key stories in my childhood. Let me know what you think. See you at the comic shop. Stay tuned comic faithful for More. 
Walt
Topics: Dark Horse Comics | No Comments »
Sentry: Hero or Mistake?
By Walt | June 5, 2010
Well Marvel did it they got rid of Sentry in the last issue of Siege of Asgard. It helped bring the end to a lot of story lines and ushered the Age of Heroes to the Marvel Universe after the journey down the dark side with “Dark Reign“.
Siege #4
Siege is a turning point in Marvel and the end of the many Avenger titles to one as it should be. Sentry began as a forgotten hero of yesterday and ended as a threat to mankind and a mentally deranged psychopath. The Sentry (Robert “Bob” Reynolds) first appears in The Sentry #1 (Sep. 2000) and was created by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee, with uncredited conceptual contributions by Rick Veitch. The Marvel Knights 2000 miniseries was very popular and people labeled the Sentry as the Marvel Superman. He had super-speed, super-strength, could fly, and was invulnerable but the similarities to Superman ended there. He had no moral compass in his childhood as Superman. In fact nothing about his childhood was brought out in the series or later manifestations of the hero. Also he had a dark-side that tried to undo every good work the Sentry did. As good as the Sentry was the dark-side (Void) was just as evil.
In the series Dark Avengers Lindy (Bob’s wife) records Sentry’s origins as a drug addict and that he found the Professor’s super serum by accident. After drinking the serum Bob destroyed the lab, killing his partner and two guards. As the Sentry, Bob lives a hero’s life, forgetting about his past as a thief, murderer, and addict, blaming them on “a bogey-man” that would become the Void. Lindy knew that Osborn’s manipulations were unlocking the Void again. And then it happened the Void became the dominate persona of Sentry and it took the collective power of of all the heroes and the power of Thor to defeat the Sentry. And Thor threw Sentry’s body into the sun.
Some people are happy the Sentry is gone he was a mistake that Marvel made right by throwing him into the sun. Others say it was a waste of a great character one with “the Power of a Million Exploding Suns”. The fact is I don’t know what his creators intended in bringing him to the Marvel universe but Bob Reynolds never knew who he was and as extraordinary as he was as a hero, he never was real to himself. He was a phony trying to live a life that betrayed his roots. He was a very messed up young man. He really had no anchor of good in his life. He had no reference point of morality in his early childhood leading to a life of addiction and crime. It is amazing he did not become the Void in the beginning. Perhaps out of guilt he created the Guardian of Good persona but the unusual circumstances of his origin as a super-powered being made it so he could not see things gray only black or white. Good or Evil only dominated his life. There was no struggle to find who he was and his purpose. He gave in to being good and being evil at the same time and the serum gave him the power to be both.
The Sentry Fallen Sun
We do not have the power that Bob Reynolds to manifest our diverse personalities. Duel personalities are caused by some life trauma and people create other personality to protect themselves from the trauma. Perhaps this is what happened to Bob Reynolds in the accident at the Professor’s lab it was traumatic enough to create the good vs evil personalities. What ever the reason he became one of the strangest characters ever to be in the Marvel universe. I think he was happiest when he was just a normal guy with no memory of being a hero married to Lindy. After all this is just a comic character but I think he is the most interesting Hero/Villain to come along in comic history. And as it has been know to happen in comic-dom just maybe we have not seen the last of The Sentry. Only time and the comic writers will tell. Let me know what you think. See you at the comic shop. Stay tuned comic faithful for More. Walt
Topics: Marvel | 3 Comments »
Mighty Thor Movie
By Walt | May 22, 2010
Thor of Marvel Comics
Marvel Studios (via Yahoo! Movies) has finally released the first official production still for their next comic installment, Thor, which is scheduled for theatrical release May 2011. For those of you still unaware, here is the film’s (updated) synopsis courtesy:
The epic adventure Thor spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.
Chris Hemsworth portrays the title character with Tom Hiddleston in the role of Thor’s brother Loki, and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster. Additionally, the studio has cast Academy Award® winning actor Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Renee Russo as Frigga, Ray Stevenson as Volstagg, Tadanobu Asano as Hogun, Josh Dallas as Fandral, Jaimie Alexander as Sif, Idris Elba as Heimdall, as well as Colm Feore, Kat Dennings and award-winning actor Stellan Skarsgård. The film is slated for release in theaters domestically on May 6, 2011 via Paramount Pictures which will also release the film on a worldwide basis.
The screenplay for Thor was penned by Mark Protosevich as well as Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz, and Don Payne. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige will produce the film. Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel, and Marvel Studio’s Co-President, Louis D’Esposito, will executive produce.
Chris Hemsworth as Thor (Click Larger)
And here is our first look at Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Red cape; check. Armor chest plating; check. light beard; check. scalemail-esque arms; check. Angry disposition; check…
Only one word truly describes this… EPIC!
Image courtesy of Yahoo and Marvel
The Filming took 4 months it was not rushed together looks like quality with an outstanding cast. This just might be worth the ticket price to see. Marvel Entertainment is on the move with multiple releases of comic greats. When ever will DC Warner Brothers catch up.
See you at the movies. Stay tuned comic faithful for More. Walt
Topics: Marvel | 1 Comment »
The Second Coming – X-Men
By Walt | May 6, 2010
X-Men 207: The Messiah Complex
“Messiah Complex” is a comic book crossover about the X-Men which ran from October 2007 to January 2008, published by Marvel Comics. The story is the climax of events that began with “House of M“, which led to the decimation of mutants in the Marvel Universe and the first chapter of a three-part saga, which continued in Messiah War released in 2009 and culminates in The Second Coming, a crossover between all X-Men titles in 2010. I bring this to your attention right now because of the great story about the survival of the mutant race. If you haven’t picked up an X-Men title in a while now would be a great time the third part in the story has begun.
X-Men: Second Coming
The climax of four years of X-Men stories is the X-Event of 2010! What started in HOUSE OF M with the Decimation of mutantkind and erupted with the first new mutant birth in MESSIAH COMPLEX finishes here. In the epic crossover SECOND COMING, Cyclops’ faith pays off when Cable returns to the present with Hope, the girl he believes to be the mutant messiah. But will she be the savior or destroyer of mutantkind? We may never know, as she is the target of an initiative for mutant eradication unlike anything the X-Men have ever expierenced. Many will be wounded. Several will die. Is Hope worth it?
Events are changing for the Mutants of the Marvel universe. They are numbered in the endangered species of humankind. What will be their future? Will they survive? Well written some of the best stories in comics, with great cover art and panel art, good eye candy. Check out the future of these people and their struggle to exist as a race. This is a series I will not be missing. See you at the comic shop. Stay tuned comic faithful for More. Walt
Topics: Marvel | No Comments »
The Greatest Comics of the 21st Century
By Walt | April 7, 2010
Life is never simple for the comics book writer and artist and editor. To keep the readers interest in story and blend it with great art work and story panels and edit it so it is not too long and not too short with the right story content this is not easily done. So when you read and say to yourself that was good you must understand and appreciate how the final comic came to be in your hands. Sometimes the story is great but the art is bad or the art is great and the story is weak. But when you have great story and great art work plus great cover art it really grabs your interest and becomes something special.
The 20th century had some examples of art and story that are as classics and great comics. But now we are in a new century with bigger ideas and great artist and writers. Some of the comics of this century have reached greatness in every way you measure greatest. Central City Comics DB Blog and Comics Talk have joined together to bring you The Greatest Comics of the 21st Century. It is the tribute to good work in the comic industry. We honor great comics and writers and artist. In it’s early development we are accepting opinions of your favorite comic of the 21st century just enter your title and issue or series in the contact form provided. Check it out give us your opinion or comments be part of the tribute to The Greatest Comics of the 21st Century at Greatestcomic21.com. See you on the World Wide Web. Walt
Topics: Comics in General | No Comments »
