This is Entry 49: Blank Entry #2

WARNING!

This Entry has been intentionally left blank for your protection & so that next post made here on MyBlog/Stuff by Brian may be Entry 50. Entry 50 has been reserved by the Management to be made on August 9th.

To find out why, come back then & find out. Please do not post any comments to this entry, Entry 49, for it may invalidate this Blog and/or your existence.

Thank you & as always: Stay Jazzy!

-The Management (i.e. Brian).

This is Entry 48: Troubles with the Internet!

I was going to have stuff to show you from the kick ass new comic King-SizeSpider-Man Summer Special with some nice art by Colleen Coover with some humorous accompanying text by Paul Tobin but NO! Photobucket, the site that host all my pics' is being a troublesome & they won't allow me to upload anything. I doubt it is a copyright thing but I don't know. All photocrapbucket tells is "upload failed". No other info, nothing to possibly help me in making the load not fail so I can't show you want I wanted to show you all because of stupid Photobucket! I tried to sidestep them by using another site but they didn't seem to allow me link things, it just allows me to direct people to an album which I didn't want! Screw you, Flickr!

I may be back later & be able to show you the stuff. hopefully.

Well, Stay Jazzy.

-Brian

This is Entry 47: Comics!

Ok, so I lied. I wasn't back "in a few days" to blog about the books I've picked up. I now have a mondo pile of comics so this post may be a bit shorter on the ramblings on each comic just so I can get through them all.

DC

- There are 3 things that are coming out this summer that I am/have been looking forward to: Ambush Bug: Year None mini-series, Justice Society of America Annual #1, Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worldsmini-series. Issue of AB came out & it's awesome!I heartily look forward to the next issue! The other book that came is the JSA annual & it too was awesome. I love a soft spot in my geeky soul for Earth 2 & it's great to see it back. I wouldn't mind seeing a mini-series about Earth 2 just to see where it's been since 1985 (This goes for Earth 3, too.) Sidenote about the JSA annual, having Jerry Ordway doing the art for the book was a perfect choice.

- I picked up the latest issue of Booster Gold but see Entry 46 for my thoughts on that book.

- I picked up the latest issue of DC Super Friends (issue 5) & the Friends are turned into Monkeys'! It was actually thought out which monkey they all turned into. There was a joke about President Bush in there was a thought as odd for a kid's comic. Also there was a "cameo" by Bobo (Detective Chimp) & Sam Simeon (of Angel & Ape fame) which I thought was funny, It probably would go over most kids heads (much like a Bush joke).

BACK ISSUES

- I picked up 2 issues of The Adventures of Superman (Issues 558 & 560), there are an early part of Dominus storyline from '98. These 2 issues have Superman & his cast of characters in done ina Silver Age style (it reminded me of Curt Swan's art). 558 is like a story from the old Jimmy Olsen comic. 560 is one of those old standbys of Lois dating Batman just to make Superman jealous. I already had issue 559 where everyone in Metropolis got super powers due to the involvement of Mr. Mxyzptlk.

The covers for 558, 559 & 560 all went together:



And i just noticed that Jerry Ordway also did the art for these books, too! The silver age themed stories continued also in the other Superman books of the time which might search out.

- Superman #404 is from 1985 & one of those "imaginary stories" where Clark Kent never becomes Superman, he was Superboy but looses his powers. He goes on to lead a normal life, marries Lana Lang, they have a son. Clark is the head of chain of Supermarkets. The main part of the story is Lex Luthor has been released from prison & back to fight Superboy one last time. How Clark does the fight sans powers is bit in genius. A nice story.

- Detective Comics starring Batman #566 is from 1986 & is an issue where Batman & Robin go over their Rogue's Gallery. Most of them I knew but there were few that have gone by the wayside. (Night-Slayer? Nortuna?)

- Brave and the Bold #184, it's from 1982 & it's a team up that could have only happened pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths since it's Batman with The Huntress, the one from Earth 2. It's Christmas time & Helena Wayne (That's Huntress' real name, if you didn't know) is lonely so she crosses Earths to spent it with it her Father. No, It's not her father just his counterpart. They have an adventure to try & clear Bruce's parents good names (there is a possible mod connection brought up). A good issue.

Marvel

- I picked up Marvel Adventures: The Hulk #13 because it was The Hulk fighting off mummified versions of other Marvel heroes. They come off more like Zombies then Mummies. I was half expecting one to say: "Brains... Must eat Hulk Brains!" but that never happened. The story comes off as a kiddie version of the "Marvel Zombie" mini-series.

- I picked 2 books by Jeff Parker: Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #26 (The Avengers play a game of Baseball with Galactus & Silver Surfer over the fate off an alien world) & X-Men First Class #14 (The Team & Machine Man fight off Lava Men). I have an announcement concerning Parker: His really cool mini-series "Agents of Atlas" is becoming an ongoing series!

- Have have a lot of Marvel books (Mighty Avengers #16, New Avengers #43, Avengers The Initiative #15, Captain Britian and MI13 #3, New Warriors #14, Guardians of the Galaxy #3, The Invincible Iron Man #3, Captain America #40, American Dream #5, GeNext #3) that I'm glazing over. I will say this about those books:
1. I'm thinking of dropping New Warriors.
2. ATI has a cool cover.
3. TIIM harkens back to the Movie a bit.
4. CA the new Cap fights an old one.

- Part 2 of the Old Man Logan story line (Wolverine #67) came & it's awesome! I like me some post apocalyptic futures & this one is done right! I think I might be sad when this story line is over. Also, I think this is the only time I've actually looked forward to the Wolverine book coming out.

- A new issue of New Exiles came out & I'm still not sure I like the book. There hasn't been anything that had truly swayed me to a love of the book like the old Exiles book did.

- My Sister is cool! For many reasons but one is that she part of the armed forces, that's cool in & off it's self but she all gets free comics. Comics made for the the armed forces, books that you can't get anywhere else. So she gets them she gives them to me. Now they have all been Marvel books, either DC doesn't make Comics for the Army or my sister just hasn't gotten any. One thing that might be a bit nit picky: Is I'm not sure where this Avengers book fits into continuity. Iron Man &Spider-Man are arguing. They way they talk makes me think it's current or at least from the past few years, definitely Post-Civil War.

BACK ISSUES

- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #90 the book is from 1984 which means it's out during The Secret War. I picked up the book because the cover has Black Cat on it & I like her. It's good story. Also, this story has one of the, maybe, first appearances of the Black Costume.

- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #97, From 1984 & the cover is misleading:



No where in this issue does this scene happen. Sure, the stuff on either side of The Hermit happen but the main image doesn't. Spider-Man doesn't really ever fight The Hermit, he's not even called that in the book. He's Timothy Quail who as the books says "has the natural gift to solve problems" which is exploited by a few mobsters. So, Spidey's fights them not Quail. It's a good issue. I know I'm not doing it just but go check it out.

- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #99, it's also from '84 & Spidey fights The Spot!

- Spider-Man #25, it's from 1992, guest stars Excalibur. The Spider-Phoenix makes maybe it's only appearance. The Villain of the issue is Arcade. This story is a semi-sequel to the Marvel Team-Up #65-66 where Captain Britain & Spider-Man first meet where they also fight Arcade.

- speaking of Marvel Team-Up, I picked up issue 96 where Spidey teams up with Howard the Duck.

- What The.. ? #8, it's the return of Forbrush Man, the hero from Marvel other Humor magazine Not Brand Echh!

- The book I'll talk about is Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7 where The Thing and a few other heroes (Sasquatch, Colossus, Thor, Namor, The Hulk & Wonder Man to name a few) all face off, one by one, against The Champion.

I think that's enough. Until next Time: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 46: I hath foreseen it!

Yesterday, I had just read the latest issue of Booster Gold & I was 3/4th of the way through the book & my mind went back to Entry #4 of this very blog. I was rambling on about the first issue of that series while I "talked" about it I made what I called an Unfounded Prediction but just what I can now call that an Founded Prediction! Why? Because what I had said would happen did! That's cool!

Now will I tell you want that thing is: No. You'll either have to go back & read Entry #4 or go out & read the latest issue of Booster Gold. I suggest you do option 2, also read the past issues: they're good, too!

I'll be back later on (read as: in a few days) to review the rest of the Books I've picked up.

So, until next time: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is entry 45: The Doctor is in!

In my travels around the Interconnected web like series of tubes that in commonly called "The Internet" I found This, it's a 3-D Astral Fly By of Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum on Bleecker Street in the NYC (I think that's where it is, not sure).

This is Entry 44: Comics!

I'm back with this weeks comics. It's all Marvel & there was 11 books! Normally I would get that much & it would be a good mix of Marvel, DC & maybe some other stuff. But it was a good week for Marvel. Also, 5 of the books relate to the Avengers & 4 books tie into Secret Invasion. I will say this I am not reading the main story at this point. But I might or I might just wait until it's all over & read the trade.

So, getting on to the books....

2 cool books but I don't have anything really to say about them: Captain America & Fantastic Four, both have cool stories going on in them. Both are written well & the art is good in both. So, pick 'em up & read them!

I was excited when I saw this book on the rack: What If this was the Fantastic Four? So, why was I excited about this? Well, for one it's a What If & I do like me some alternate universe stories! But this book was bitter sweet, it's written by Jeff Parker. But that not what makes it bitter sweet, it was to be drawn by Mike Wieringo & he had started in on it (he had done the first seven pages) but then I passed away of a heart attack which left the book unfinished. So, 'Ringo's friends, admirers & fans in the industry took up the book to finish the book. After the first seven pages, the art changes every couple of pages. You have art by Art Adams, Stuart Immonen, Alan Davis, Humerto Ramos, Skottie Young, Mike Allred & Barry Kitson among others. Most of the book was inked by 'Ringo's longtime friend Karl Kresel. The book was put out in association between Marvel & The Hero Initiative so proceeds from the book go to them which is cool. SIDENOTE: For my thought of Mike Wieringo's pasting see Post #3 of this Blog.

Another book I don't have much to say about this go around: New Warriors. I just want to say that the weird art of the last few issues is gone & ok art has returned! It's by a Reilly Brown, I don't know much about them but they have done issues in the past of this series. I wouldn't mind if they stayed on the book. They have a nice style & it would keep the weird art from returning.

Runaways #30 came out, it's the last part in the took-longer-that-it-should-have story by Joss Whedon. It is also the last issue of this volume since next issues the series is being relaunched with a new #1 (like the 3rd for the series), a new writer (Terry Moore) & a new art style (courtesy of Humberto Ramos). I will say this I did like the art here in this story arc, it was by Michael Ryan & wouldn't mind seeing more of his stuff elsewhere. Also, I was a good reason I read this book in the pile first because, luck of the draw, the next book down was....

... The Runaways/Young Avengers: Secret Invasion tie-in book which follows the events of Issue #30. Now the cover art of the team-up was by Ryan & I thought it was be his art inside: No! It was by a Takeshi Miyazawa which wasn't bad but my mind sometimes connects cover artist to interior artist which isn't always the case.

Continuing the each-book-relates-to-the-next theme, I picked up the 3rd issue of the Avengers Fairy Tales & this issues takes the characters from Alice in Wonderland & the Young Avengers mixes them together. Cassie Lang (a.k.a Statue) is in the Alice role. Also, the art in this book is by the same person, Takeshi Miyazawa & I kind of liked their art better here then in the other book.

Finishing up the interconnectedness of the books: 3 Avengers books & all are Secret Invasion related.
- Avengers: The Initiative #14's last page has me questioning the entire series up to this point. Yes, it has me wondering "Who do you trust?"
- The Mighty Avengers #15 tells how & when Hank Pym was replaced by his Skrull impostor. Also, the issue has some nice art by John Romita Jr.
- The New Avengers #42 takes us back to before this series even began & how the the Skrull invasion was part responsible for the forming of the New Avengers. Next Issue: House of M.

So, that's that it for!

So, until next we meet: Stay Jazzy!

This is Entry 43: LEGO!

This is short post with some information you can use:

- There are 62 LEGO bricks per person & the LEGO company makes another 2 bricks per person a year. If we all got our brick together, we could make 10 towers that could each reach the moon.
- The name LEGO comes from the Danish phrase leg godt which means "Play Well". But they also found out that in Latin "lego" can be interpreted as "I put together", "I assemble" & "I collect/I gather/I learn". But the latin word "lego" is derived from the phrase "I read". In Greek there is a word that where translated into English is "Lego" & that means "I gather, pick up"

So, now you know & knowing it half the battle! GO JOE!

Until next time, in the mean time, in the in between time: Stay Jazzy!

This is Entry 42: Comics!

*insert Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker guide to the Galaxy joke here*

Well, It's yet another post where I shall ramble on about comics. I've a bunch of Marvel, some DC & a trade paperback of a comic that recently got turned into a TV show.

So, Let's work out way down....

First up Marvel!

Pick up Captain Britain and MI13 & The Invincible Iron Man: both good books but I don't have much beyond what I've already said about them. Well, in Issue 2 of TIIM we see The Philippines' own super hero team: The Triumph Division for a few page so It's nice to see that their are other super team around the world & in CBaMI13 we see a cool punk version of Tinkerbelle. I would not want to mess with her!

Moving on...

I'm not sure why I still read New Exiles I just don't like the book all that much anymore. I guess the main reason why I still read it is I have a subscription to it & it's sent to my house. I'm just not feeling Mr. Claremont's work on the book. The art the last few issues has been wonky but the current issue (#7) has alright art by Tom Grumment. One think I dislike about the book is Sage's costume (could be be any uglier? Well, yes but...). I'm really waiting around for answers on 3 people: Cat Pryde, Mystiq & Rogue. If I don't see some answers soon and/or the story doesn't get better I'm thinking of dropping the book when I get a "you need to give us more money" notice from Marvel.

So, Marvel was hyping the second issue of Guardian of The Galaxy that there was a person frozen in Ice (if you read the story it's frozen time) & they had a shield, a very special shield. It's Captain Americas'. So, Marvel makes it seem like "Hey! Cap might be joining the Team! Wa-Hoo!" I didn't believe it since I knew a bit about the old GotG & they had a guy who carried Cap's shield but wasn't Cap. So, that's who I thought it was. And guess what? I was right!

This is a first here at MyBlog/Stuff by Brian: I'm going to talk about a Wolverine book! It's issue 66 & the first part of the "Old Man Logan" storyline. So here is how the back cover hypes the book:

50 years ago, Wolverine Died

In his place stands an old man called Logan - a man concerned only with his family's well-being. A man pushed to the brink by the Hulk Gang. A man forced to make a desperate decision. MARK MILLAR and STEVE MCNIVEN, the creative team of the best-selling CIVIL WAR, tell a tale of Logan's last, brutal journey across a country gone mad!

Well, then. It's the Future & Logan lives with his family (His wife vaguely looks like Jean Grey) on a small farm in Sacramento, California which looks like the middle of nowhere in the future. it's pretty much a barren wasteland for miles around. The west coast of The U.S. is now called Hulkland and according to a cool map in the book it was formerly The Abomination's Territory (Now they don't say which Abomination it was the original one or the new one). The Hulk that was mentioned in the blurb are the grand-kids of Bruce Banner & they fly around in a old Fantasti-Car. They are their to collect the rent on Logan's farm, he doesn't have the money so he gets bet up since he got no rage. So to get money I agrees to help the now blind Hawkeye of a mission, a delivery job.

Now I step out of the story for one moment: why is Hawkeye always blind in the future? I know of at least 3 to 4 stories where he's blind! I know you need eyesight be able to shot Arrows but come up with something that hasn't been used before!

Getting back to the story, Hawkeye's mission is drive cross country across the 4 main kingdom & 2 unnamed kingdoms to the east coast (which is labeled "The President's Quarter". How are they going to make the journey? In the Spider-Buggy! Well, they call it the "Spider-Mobile" & it looks more like a Hummer or a Jeep then a Buggy but it's got that similar look.

So, it should be interesting to see what they see & how they meet on this journey. Also this storyline, according to Millar & Marvel ties in with Millar's run The Fantastic Four & the 1985 mini-series Millar is doing. How they connect to each other is currently unknown but apparently they will somehow which should be interesting since they all don't take place in the same time (1985= the Past, FF= The Present, Wolverine=The Future).

2 Jeff Parker related books:
- Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #25: The Avengers go up against Arnim Zola! Now the company Zola is/was running would be cool if it existed but is highly illegal/unethical. But it's still a cool idea!
- Secret Invasion: Who do you Trust?, it's a one-shot with stories that tie-in into the main event. There are 5 stories in the book, the only good one was the one by Parker & it's The Agents of Atlas doing there thing. The other stories are of Captain Marvel, Marvel Boy, Agent Brand & one with Wonder Man & Beast. Now I may have found these a bit boring since I'm not actually reading Secret Invasion so...yeah.

Last new book: GeNext #2, it the next generation of X-Men some time of in the future! The story features some sketches by Pavel Rasputin (son of Pitor Rasputin a.k.a. Colossus). I found one miss labeled. Can you see why?



Don't see it? Well, it's states that Beast's real name is Henry Pym. Now I don't know what happened between now & then but I thought Henry Pym was Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/Yellow jacket & Beast was Henry McCoy. :) I wonder if I'd get a No-Prize for pointing that out?

I bought a back-issuse, It's The Incredible Hulk #251 & the story title is "What Ever Happened to the 3-D Man?" , it's does a good good recapping his origin & there is some action but I now want to find Issue 252 in part to the side story from the issue Rick Jones, Doc Samson & few others are at Thunderbolt Ross' cabin & they find a dead centaur. So, you know who shows up Woodgod & his fellow Changelings!

Also in that issue was this cool ad:



The art is by Dave Cockrum.

Oh, in case your wonder what ever did happen to 3-D Man? Well, he retired, got married & had kids.

Now on to DC

Issue 14 of Brave and the Bold starts up the new story line & the 2 heroes in this issue are Deadman & Green Arrow. The art is by Scott Kolins & I will say this: Kolins draws a creepy looking Deadman:



Well, I picked up Issue 4 of DC Super Friends to see if it was as whacked out as Issue 3. Well, it wasn't. It had some stunted dialogue. So, Batman & Superman get hit by a giant Pie & here is the interchange among the Super Friends that followed:

Wonder Woman: Flash! Laughing at other people is not funny!
Flash: I know. S-Sorry guys. It's just... a Pie! What a Bizarre accident...
Batman: This was No accident.
Superman: No?
Batman: No. A real bakery sign wouldn't contain cream and pie filling. And it wouldn't have radio-controlled rockets to push it over the edge of the roof!
Green Lantern: A remote-controlled Pie? Who in their right mind would build a remote-controlled Pie?

What?!? I know it's a kids book but that just seemed like they were talking down to them. So, to spoil it for you: The Joker would. He forms a league of similar villains: Himself, Harley Quinn, The Prankster, The Trickster, Punch & Jewelee. I know who everyone else belongs to (Batman, Superman & The Flash respectively) but I don't know who Punch & Jewelee are. I've seen them a few times as guest villains but beyond that they are mystery to me.

The activity for this issue is to make your own Bat-Copter:



That's no Bat-Copter, that's the WhirliBat (or at least that's what it's called according to John Byrne)! I think that is the coolest piece of Bat-Transportation right up their with the 1940's Bat-Mobile!

Action Comic #866, it's the first part of the "Brainiac" storyline but in the middle is a short interlude to set of the new status quo over at the Daily Planet. I present to you Cat Grant & Clark Kent in "Sexual Innuendo":



It seemed an odd place in the book, since before this scene It deals with The shrinking of Kandor & after this deals with Superman fighting one of Brainiac's robots. I look forward to seeing where this goes, The Brainiac storyline not Cat Grant hitting on Clark. But hey, if they want to do that I won't mind all that much. :)

Booster Gold #10, one the cover it states "One of these men will *KILL* Blue Beetle... ...And it's *NOT* who you think it is!" Some the men are Supernova, Max Lord, Booster Gold, Despero & Blue Beetle. Well, the people who I thought would kill him did. So, poo on you, Cover Blurb! Next issue we meet the Booster Gold from the 853rd century. Yeah, we'll be revisiting the DC 1 Million event. This is the first time were haven't revisited an event (Zero Hour was revisited a few issues back & so was Countdown to Infinite Crisis). Also, in this issue we found out why Booster's Dad had turned evil!

Now on to Comic Book/TV ramblings.

On Monday I said I would be checking out 2 shows, I only did one: The Middle Man! My verdict: I'd continue to watch it! So would my parents & they don't even read comics! So as I was out at one of my local comic book stores (Zanadu) & found the first 4 issues of the series the Tv show was based off of in trade paperback form. Well, the the first 4 issues is the pilot episode. It was interesting to see what was altered/added/rewritten between Book & Show. It had some good art but you don't have to search out the book but watch the show it was good fun.

As for the other show, I did not see Rose Tyler get all sexy sexy. But if I do, I'll tell you about it!

So, that's it for this time. As always: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 41: 616

Happy Marvel day!

What you say Jim: you didn't know today was Marvel Day? Well it's nothing official but today is June 16th & using the American notation for dates it's 6/16 or 616, the multiversal designation for the primary continuity in which most of the main Marvel comic books take place (your X-Men, your Avengers, your Spider-Man & the like).

According to Wikipedia the origin of the term is this:

The term was first used in "Rough Justice," a story credited to both Alan Moore and Alan Davis published in July 1983 by Marvel UK in the anthology comic The Daredevils (and was later reprinted in the Captain Britain trade paperback). Saturnyne uses the term to differentiate Brian Braddock, the Captain Britain of the regular Marvel Comics universe, from the other members of the Captain Britain Corps. The designation was later confirmed by the American branch of Marvel Comics in the Excalibur title, which frequently referenced Captain Britain's early UK-published adventures. This comic was written by Chris Claremont, who had created Captain Britain, and by Alan Davis, the artist on the UK-published series.
Alan Moore is usually credited with creating the term (for example by Marvel editor Tom Brevoort). However, Alan Davis has stated that the designation of Earth 616 was actually first made by Dave Thorpe, the previous writer of the UK-published Captain Britain stories.

In addition, a difference of opinion exists regarding the selection of the number 616. In 2005, Alan Moore's son-in-law John Reppion (who is married to Alan Moore's daughter Leah Moore), stated on an Internet message board that the number 616 was arbitrarily chosen by Moore and had no significant meaning, saying it "was just a random number of no significance chosen because people always seemed to be talking about 'earth 2' or 'earth 4' but never any higher numbers." However, Alan Davis contends that Thorpe specifically chose the true Number of the Beast to reflect his feelings about the modern superhero genre.

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Also, there is are 2 new shows premieres tonight. One on ABC Family, it's called The Middleman & is based off of a small press comic book from a few years ago. The other show is on Showtime & is called Secret Diary of a Call Girl. It stars Billie Piper (formerly of Doctor Who) as.. well.. a Call Girl. I plan in checking out both to see if either are worth watching. I'll probably tell what I thought after a see them.

So, until next time I bid thy a Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 40: More Comics!

Wow. I've made 40 entries.

This post will be what this blog has been predominately about: Comics! I'm going to try & knock out but the new Books & the back issues I have (most of them, are from the Emerald City ComiCon).

So, first up the new stuff. I'm going to be a bit lazy & not use the icon this time.

SIDE NOTE: Some of these new comics I bought while on Vacation. So a shout to the Antiquarium in Jefferson City, Missouri (JC is also the capitol city of Missouri). Since I am shouting out Comic stores. A big shout out to Dreamstrands Comics & Zanadu Comics here in Seattle, they are the 2 stores I most frequent. I do go to other stores (The Comic Stop in Lynnwood, Corner Comics in Kenmore to name 2) but these are the that receive most of my business.

DC

I wasn't sure Kingdom Come centric story line that has been running in Justice Society of America when it started. But know it's turning to something rather interesting. It's nice that they didn't just do a retread of sorts. I hope after this story line is done that the Superman from Earth 22 (The Kingdom Come earth) returns home because I don't think we need 2 Superman on New Earth (or whatever DC is calling the main DCU's earth at the moment).

So I checked out a Kids' book that DC is putting out: DC Super Friends, it's based off a line of toys Mattel put out. The toys & the books feature a simplified version of the Justice League. Name harkens back to the much beloved 1970's Cartoon of the similar name but this much simpler. This each features the Friends fighting Felix Faust, he has magic finger puppet that can control the Friends (the book has finger puppets you can cut out & play with which I thought an inspired kids activity). So, near the end their is a some what puzzling panel:



The Friends dressed up as each other to confound the magic finger puppets but a few things puzzle me: Did Batman & Flash have their masks on under their mask made to look like Superman & Green Lantern. Wouldn't Bat's "Ears" & Flash's ear thingies (I don't know what to call them) poke out making out mask fit weird? (That was a poorly worded sentence) That wasn't the oddest part: Look at Wonder Woman? What The Heck? How is she filling out that suit? I am grateful that they did put Aquaman in the back of the panel but I wonder how he managed to look so feminine a few panels back. I do plan on checking out the next issue to see if any weirdness shows up there (This is issue 3 if anyone wanted to know).

Action Comics #865 is a cool issue revolving around The Toyman. It's a done in one story but it was nicely done (written by Geoff Johns, art by a Jesus Merino who does 2 types of art, one for present day & one for the flashbacks). Next issue starts a Brainiac storyline that has ramification to the Superman books for the rest of this year & into next year.

Brave and the Bold #13 has a team-up I don't I have ever seen before Jay Garrick (the first Flash) & Batman. It was a good story. Next issue: Green Arrow & Deadman team up, another one I hadn't seen before.

Also, DC has been doing a series of "motivational" posters mostly featuring Villains (Brainiac, Hush, Libra to name 3) but this one is the best one I've seen:



Looking forward to his upcoming miniseries this summer.

On to Marvel!

Since last comic ramble post I've gotten a sizable pile but don't have a lot of to say about about some of the books so I'll edit out some of my purchases to avoid me typing "It was a good book, I liked it." over & over again.

Invincible Iron Man #1: I've been a big fan of ol' Shellhead but I didn't like the Movie (It Rocked!) so that partly why this book was launched. it's writing by Matt Fraction, which is is thing since I've been hearing his name a lot recently. The story did bare some minor similarities to the Movie & some other IM stuff but that didn't bother me. I'd pick up Issue 2 to see where Fraction goes with this story line.

Avengers The Initiative #13 is a super cool issue. For many reason but this is one of the best, It made me smile:


(This is not how the panels appear in the book, they appear over 2 pages so moved them around so you can see them all together).

Pick up Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #24, it's comic gold!

One Non-Marvel/Non-DC book to talk about, it's Assignment: Earth, it's a Star Trek spin off book. It's written & drawn by John Byrne. The premise of the book is that in an episode (Episode 55, season 2) from the Original series that was also a proposed spin-off television series but that series never came to be, so this series is what that TV series could have been. I read an interview about the book & it was suggested by Byrne, he's a big Trekie but he said that his likenesses are all that great & that had stopped him from doing a Star Trek book earlier. This fact is worked around is the 2nd issue when you see some of the Enterprise crew members (Kirk, Spock & Sulu, maybe a few others) from the back, from a distance or from the chest down. The book also reminded me a bit of Doctor Who, the main character even has something that looks to be a Sonic Screwdriver! It's fun book, Pick it up!

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Now on to the Back Issues:

Marvel:
- I picked up 3 issues of Marvel Team-Up, In Issue 24 Spidey teams up with Brother Voodoo & 70's stereotypes abound! Issues 67 & 125 both feature Tigra. I prefer 67 more, it was better story.
- The last issue (100) of Marvel Two-In-One which is a sequel to the story from MTIO #50. 50 was better.
- The Fantastic Four annual from 1998, the story is a What If of sort: WHAT IF... The Marvel Heroes aged in real time? It's a fun story. There is a humorous reference to Indiana Jones in there, too!
- Spectacular Spider-Man #256: Spider-Man fights The White Rabbit! a Fun story. I have a soft spot for loser Super-Villains.
- Amazing Spider-Man #266 continues this theme: The Fabulous Frog-Man & The Toad (from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants) fight to see who gets to be Spidey's Sidekick. Not that's not all The Spectacular Spider-Kid also shows up!
- Uncanny X-Men #153, it's the classic issue with "Kitty's Fairy Tale" in it.
- Uncanny X-Men Annual #7: The X-Men deal with the Impossible Man.
- X-Men: Special Edition #1 a reprint of "Giant Size X-Men #1".
- 2 Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectaculars.
- Quasar #30, The Protector of the Universe is sent on a mission by The Watcher to collect versions of The Living Laser. Where are these versions? In various dimension seen in past issues of What If!

DC
- Action Comics #544: first appearances of the robot Brainiac & Luthor is green & purple battle armor.
- 80 page Giant Superman #187: a whole issue about the Fortress of Solitude!
- Detective Comics #572: Batman, Slam Bradley, Elongated Man & Sherlock Holmes team-up!
- Showcase #97-99: a 3 part Power Girl story.
- Showcase #100: This book published almost a decade before "Crisis on Infinate Earth" almost reads like that series did. No one died & the multiverse wasn't changed but a whole myriad of characters all team up to take down a cosmic menace!
- Chronos #2, 3, 5, 8, 9 & 11: I now have almost have all the issues of this cool but short lived series featuring the 2nd Chronos. (I already owned Issue 1 & 6).

That almost everything. I left off one book: The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man. This gets a post of it's own it's that good/bad. Look for that post soon!

as always Stay Jazzy!

-Brian