So this Blackest Night stuff is pretty cool.  I don’t read a lot of DC comics (and by this I mean any) on a regular basis, but I was getting a lot of suggestions from people that this was going to be a great book.  My intention was to stick to the 8-issue mini-series and not buy all of the tie-ins and spin-offs that are bound to be a part of this event.  However, when I went to my local comics shop last week, they didn’t have any more copies of North 40 so I used the money to pick up an issue of Green Lantern that serves as a prelude to DC’s new event series, Blackest Night.  I’m probably going to spoil things that happen in these books, so consider yourselves warned.

Green Lantern #43 (GL43) was totally creepy and a clear example of a comic that isn’t meant for kids.  It tells the back-story of the Black Hand (a character I have no familiarity with (like a lot of DC characters)) and how throughout his life he’s been surrounded by death.  I got what was going on and how he was selected to lead the Black Lanterns (a group of undead villains powered by black rings and a black battery in Space Sector 666), but what I don’t understand is why this is happening now.  Is it because Hal Jordan (The Green Lantern) and Barry Allen (The Flash) came back from the dead? Or is this one of the mysteries of Blackest Night?  The main things that might be missed if you didn’t read this issue are the life history of the Black Hand, his transformation into the leader of the Black Lanterns, and the fact that the Oa gnome with the scar on his face is the one who seems to have started the whole thing.

Upon finishing GL43, I went and dug up the Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) Blackest Night #0 (BN0) issue that I picked up back in May, but  hadn’t read (and was lucky to be able to find given the current state of my collection).  BN0 was a cool set up and bridged the gap between GL43 and Blackest Night #1.  I don’t know if that was necessary, but it’s interesting on its own and it was free.  The pages in the back describing the powers and members of the various groups representing the emotional spectrum was incredibly helpful and I referred back to it a number of times while reading Blackest Night #1, to summarize:

http://sinccolor.deviantart.com/art/Blackest-Night-114033719

Red = Rage
Orange = Avarice
Yellow = Fear
Green = Willpower
Blue = Hope
Indigo = Compassion*
Violet = Love
Black = Death

The main event, Blackest Night #1 was a really fun book.  Granted it was more set up for the most part (although it’s set up for the entire DC Universe), but a number of significant things happen.  Hawkpeople are murdered, Bruce Wayne’s skull gets carted around town (although I have suspicions that it isn’t actually Batman’s skull), and thousands of Black Lantern rings distribute themselves across the universe awakening the dead to serve in their mission to kill everything.  A nice background is given for the Green Lanterns of Earth, most of whom I have only the most cursory of knowledge of.  My only complaint is that in a few scenes names were being thrown around that I didn’t recognize and I wasn’t sure what the significance was.  The book made me want to know more though.  The artwork was top notch, and rendered an amazing number of characters (both living and dead) beautifully (and incredibly creepily).

I’m intrigued.  I will certainly continue with Blackest Night, and I’m even interested in checking out the stories that got everything to this point.

*Thanks to the commenter below for the correction.

I know this is coming almost two weeks after the book shipped, but I was pressed (slightly) into doing this by Kevin (who also reviewed it here). He’s very interested in my DC purchases lately.  For anyone who’s not familiar with the Wednesday Comics project, it’s a Sunday newspaper style “comic book” featuring a series of one page stories that will continue weekly over the course of twelve weeks.  The quotes are not meant to demean the “book,” I’m honestly not sure what to call it.

I had an immediate reaction to this “book” the moment I laid eyes on it.  Newsprint automatically equals cheap in my mind.  Even though it’s actually pretty high quality paper, I just thought that there was no way it should cost $3.99.  That’s just the price of comics at this point though and it’s one of the more expensive “books” on the shelf (I think most books are still $2.99, for now).

While the format is cool, really cool, I found it hard to read at times since the pages kept folding over on me.  The artwork is amazing at that size, but a one page story is just not enough to hook me in.  In fact, the Superman “story” hardly even qualifies as a story as they are only about 20 words and it’s the villain basically saying “you’re an alien, Superman.”

The other stories (15 in all) have a lot more substance to them, with the Kamandi story being my favorite, which is saying something since my only knowledge of the character is as a source of comedy as the go to obscure DC character that gets referenced from time to time.  The Hawkman story and Strange Adventures come in as strong runners up. I’d love to see where these stories are going, though I don’t see myself coming back for subsequent weeks.  I lead a serialized life, but the one page stories are just too low dosage.

I know Blackest Night shipped this week, but for me THE comics event of the Summer started last week with the debut of Wednesday Comics #1. Wednesday Comics is exactly the type of outside the box project I wish we saw more of today. DC has collected some of the biggest names in comics including the Newbery Award winning Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Rizzo, Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook, Paul Pope, Kyle Baker, Walt Simonson and Brian Stelfreeze… the list just goes on an on… to work on a weekly series styled after the Comics section of the Sunday newspaper. Giant, full color, one-page stories will run over the next 12 weeks starring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Sgt. Rock, Metamorpho, the Teen Titans, Hawkman, and more. Each page is four times the size of a regular comic page and looks amazing.

To publicize the event, DC struck a deal for the entire Superman story to run on USAToday.com in weekly installments. The first part of the story was even published in the print edition of that paper (though let’s be honest… in 2009 more people are reading the online version than the print edition). I don’t know that this is going to bring a ton of new people into stores looking for the full version of Wednesday Comics, but it’s still something beyond what we normally see in terms of promotion.

I’m typically a story guy. The writing is what keeps me coming back to a book month after month.  And if there’s anything that seems clear from WC #1, it is that you’re probably not going to get a particularly satisfying piece of any story on a given week. Most of the features in issue one are heavy on origin and back story.  This is ok in my opinion because how many people know ANYTHING about Kamandi or Adam Strange or even Deadman? The one story that I DID really enjoy, however, was Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred’s Metamorpho: The Element Man.  That comic was just retro fun.  While the story doesn’t seem to be the focus in WC, it took a surprisingly long time to read the issue and there’s definitely enough story to not leave you feeling short changed.

Really it’s clear right from the second you unfold a copy of Wednesday Comics and finally grasp the size of each page that this project was always about the art.  The opening Batman story isn’t anything special, but starting with page 2 and 3 with Kamandi and Superman I had a giant grin on my face as I read through the issue like a 1o year old in 1964. I love the retro designs of the Green Lantern story, the strange oddly faceless art on Teen Titans, the otherworldly colors on Wonder Woman, the intensity of Sgt. Rock and Easy Company. I suspect the Demon/Catwoman team-up is going to be great fun. I like the idea of the Flash page being split up between a Flash story and a parallel story featuring his future wife.

However, the two absolute highlights are Kyle Baker’s art on Hawkman and Paul Pope on Strange Adventures.  Kyle Baker is a guy who I’m only really familiar with his cover artwork for projects like The Truth and Plastic Man both of which had a cartoony feel to them.  His Hawkman, however, leaps off the page and into action (apparently featuring the Aquaman-esque ability to control birds… is that normal?  If so, I never knew that.)

There’s something about Paul Pope’s odd art and the attacking Rock-People of Ragathann… I guess the way it revels in its pulp roots… that I just love.

To me THIS is a book worth $4.  And that’s something I can’t say about too many other books on the market. Yes, this review is a week late. I intended to skip it and just review issue 2, but my shop was sold out.  AGAIN.  Good sign or bad sign?

PS Dan Didio go away.  Stop writing comics.  Stop editing comics.  There’s no reason for your writing to be in this book except that you keep chasing the talented writers away from DC… having said that thanks for allowing DC to try something special.

I picked up North 40 #1 last week on a whim. I’m not sure why. Did I read an interview with its creators? I don’t remember doing that. Was it the cover image? It’s a pretty cool design, but it doesn’t tell you much about the book’s contents. I don’t even think I’ve ever heard of writer Aaron Williams or artist Fiona Staples before. Also, has WildStorm even published a good title since Sleeper ended several year ago? If they have I didn’t buy it. (I miss Sleeper.)

Regardless of why I bought it, I’m glad I did.

The first issue feels like an old school, creepy Vertigo horror/fantasy title. I really don’t want to talk too much about the specifics of the issue for fear of ruining it for you but it sets up a pretty cool though creepy world to play in. The art in the book is pretty great across the board. And while I’m showering praise on the book, let’s be honest… It’s issue #1. It could still go in a million HORRIBLE directions. But this issue feels like it has that special spark.

Actually to jump backwards for a second, WildStorm publishes Ex Machina which is a pretty great book. So I guess I took a shot at the WS imprint earlier for no good reason. I mention Ex Machina specifically because it’s written by Brian K. Vaughn and there are clearly some parallels between the events of the first issue of North 40 and the first issue of his fantastic Y: The Last Man. As both books are all about an event… A moment in time… after which the world will never be the same. While in Y the entire world is literally affected, North 40 seems intent on focusing specifically on the residents of the rural community of Conover County. (One major difference between the way the two titles launch is that North 40 seems to show exactly why the event takes place, while Y only hinted at it for years.)

So what is the pivotal event that seems to change Conover County forever? All of the people in the county mysteriously fall asleep at the exact same moment one night, and when they awake at 6:33 a.m. the next morning all hell has broken loose… literally.

“That was when things in Conover County… Well, then they got kinda odd…”

It’s Wednesday and that’s big day for comic book fans everywhere.  This particular Wednesday, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next chapter of Marvel‘s X-Men/Dark Avengers Utopia crossover.  To explain why, here’s some recent history.

Some yahoo “super heroes” filming a reality television show blew up 600 people in Stamford, Connecticut.  The government responded by requiring all costumed heroes to be registered and licensed in order to operate.  Some heroes agree (Iron Man) and some do not (Captain America) and a super-human Civil War breaks out.  The pro-registration side wins out and Iron Man becomes the director of SHIELD and all things related to registration.  His 50 State Initiative to put a team of heroes in every state is the perfect opportunity for a group of shape-shifting alien religious zealots to infiltrate and take over.  They believe the Earth is theirs by divine right and Stark is unable to stop their Secret Invasion.  In the heat of the battle  to drive back the alien hordes, Norman Osborn (the once and future Green Goblin) delivers the killing shot to the invaders’ leader and is elevated from his position leading a team of super villains seeking rehabilitation (right…) in the Thunderbolts program, to Stark’s replacement as master of all things super human.  In order to solidify his Dark Reign over the Marvel Universe, Orborn creates his own team of Avengers to back him up and forms a cabal with some heavy hitters (Doctor Doom, Namor, Loki, The Hood, and Emma Frost) to control the world under his watchful eye.  In the meantime, the Scarlet Witch went crazy and used her magic to reduce the powered mutant community to about 200 individuals after altering the world during the House of M.  The remaining mutants became in that moment an endangered species and Cyclops gathered all the willing in San Francisco to create a safe haven under the protection of the X-Men.

Emma Frost and Norman Osborn had an agreement.  She keeps the mutants quiet and he’ll leave them be in their new home.  Only they didn’t stay quiet, and now Norman is bringing in his Dark Avengers to regulate.  Chapter One of Utopia shipped last Wednesday and was a wild start to this confrontation and Chapter Two is available today in Uncanny X-Men #513.  I highly recommend it.