Marvel Zombies Vol. 1 TPB

With the third installment of the series coming out next Wednesday (10/08/08), the TPB of Marvel Zombies is finally being released (it's been woefully available only as a hardcover for too long). The series started all the way back at the end of 2005 and was a spin-off from Ultimate Fantastic Four #21-23, where a Reed from another universe contacts the "Ultimate" Reed for some help, but really just wanted to eat him. Obviously, this idea is awesome and after another short run in the UFF books (#30-32 if you're trying to pick them up) they were given their own five issue mini-series.



The hardcover version has had multiple printings with a ton of covers, all paying homage to a classic Marvel cover. Robert Kirkman--of manifesto fame I guess he writes comics too--wrote the first two installments, Marvel Zombies and Marvel Zombies 2 both also drawn by Sean Phillips. All of the covers were done by Arthur Suydam, and are available in their own hardcover art style book with explanations as to why they were chosen.



The story takes place on one of the many Earths (Earth-2149 for those who want to know) but it's basically the same world, except Captain America is called Colonel America. In a way it's like reading any other "team-up" or "crisis" comic but everyone's a zombie. You're checking the background in hopes that one of your favorites will show up a Zombie, or maybe even a survivor. Magneto is one of the few survivors and without giving too much away, is the provider for a group of humans, which just shows how fucked up everything is. The heroes are completely driven by hunger, and not really heroic at all. Maintaining consciousness they feel bad about what they've done after feeding, and even worse when they realized the loved ones they've killed and eaten, post-feed depression.



In Robert Kirkman's introduction to the original hardcover edition, he talks about how he tried his hardest to make it so disgusting Marvel would tell him he had to cut back, but they never did. With the complete freedom rarely given to writers of Marvel comics, Kirkman really did push the limits of the book and that's what makes it great. There's never any holding back, especially when it comes to fights between old rivals. The morals of good and evil are lost when fighting for a piece of flesh, they become blind with hunger and attack without holding back. They've already eaten everyone they love, so who cares if you blow off Juggernaut's head, or knock Stiltman down. Yes, Stiltman is in the book.



There's a one-shot titled Marvel Zombies: Dead Days which gives you the beginnings of the outbreak, and the story of the initial spread of fear and infection. I think it's the best in the series since it gives you Spider-Man grieving over Aunt May and Mary Jane, who he has just eaten. Marvel Zombies 2 which is out in hardcover is the beginnings of the Zombies' travels to other worlds in which they infiltrate with the same techniques used to take down super villains, but now it's for alien flesh. I think if you're into Marvel Zombies you should seriously consider getting these two other books because they add a lot to the story and of course, just keep it going. There's also an "Army of Darkness" crossover which is basically awful. Ash's humor written out doesn't translate and it's too much Ash, not enough zombies.



The third series is being kept almost a total secret, but with this teaser cover I can only imagine.The Zombies finally make it to the main universe (Earth-616, duh guys) through the Nexus Of All Realities, which means they'll be going through Man-Thing's house, and with Machine Man on the cover I can only imagine where the series is going. MZ2 was supposed to be the last in the series but ended with a question mark, and there are so many questions I can't see being answered in just a few issues. Hopefully we'll get a few more runs out of the book.

Baltimore Comic Con 2008: Kirkman vs. Bendis

I've never read a comic by Robert Kirkman or Brian Bendis and probably never will. None of them look interesting to me on any level, but like every asshole with an opinion, too much of my time in the past two months or so has been consumed with discussing and analyzing Kirkman's "manifesto". Kirkman came off like a lout in his video, a guy who wouldn't really commit to saying something fairly aggressive and always apologizing or qualifying his statements and ultimately saying something obvious and far worse, unrealistically utopian. He had idealism on his side from the moment he hit whatever button you hit on a Webcam.

Enter Brian Bendis, a guy I mainly knew before Baltimore Comic Con as a Marvel stooge who uses thought bubbles way too much and writers all his characters in the same voice unless it's a black guy (then he takes the "g" off of verbs and throws in a "Yo" or two...). So yeah, I didn't go into "Kirkman v. Bendis" with any interest in either guy, although I had a feeling I'd side with Bendis, even then, the assumption was his corporate interests would dominate his opinion and not the cold, hard grip of logic and economics.

Bendis, even though he joyfully played the role of evil, corporate whore, came off quite nicely as both an approachable and personable guy and someone who has the same deep-rooted obsession to write and make comics as every mini-comics making nerd in their apartment. One of the most affecting parts of the discussion was his sobering talk of the comics industry and how, well into his comics writing career, despite winning an Eisner, he still had a day job as a caricature artist. Oddly, during the question-and-answer towards the end, Kirkman sort of just didn't answer the question as to what day jobs he had.

There's plenty to break down and analyze, especially Kirkman's sales charts which totally omitted Trade Paperback sales, but there was one quick exchange that made clear the biggest and most under-discussed flaw in Kirkman's "manifesto": Your personal, one-of-a-kind "creator-owned" comic also better be a lot like the comics Marvel and DC push. Kirkman invoked the now legendary tale of IMAGE Comics and the "IMAGE seven" and all that, and mentioned how each brought with them a creator-owned comic. Bendis was quick to add that the comics the IMAGE guys brought with them were quite marketable noting that Spawn is basically Spiderman meets Batman. It's hard to see how these creator-owned examples are any more or less creative than you know, doing a story arc in a "Batman" comic or something and really, if you've got a moderately marketable idea for a superhero comic, there's enough heroes at Marvel or DC that the story could easily be transferred onto one of them.

Kirkman's exact language of course is that he wants to show comics artists and writers that a creator-owned comic can be done viably and so, he would say this point is moot--this is the problem with his manifesto, it's so non-commital that any rebuttal is dismissed or somehow's already been covered--but it's important to note that Kirkman's really referring to creator-owned comics that could sell really well. When Kirkman repeats "creator-owned" throughout, he may not mean to, but everyone gets some pretty exciting images of the hyper-viability of like out-there European shit and stuff in the vein of Adrian Tomine and not, uh a George Romero rip-off comic like Walking Dead and another, fairly derivative superhero comic like Invincible.

Baltimore Comic Con 2008: Jesse's Impressions and Haul

Day 1: I was completely overwhelmed. I don't know what it is but just something about being surrounded by thousands of comics and people but I can never get my bearings. Having people dressed up like the Joker, Metaknight, and Jedi certainly didn't help. I got lost constantly and ended up just sort of wandering. But it was great and I still got tons of good stuff. Here was my haul:

Mythos "Spiderman" by Paul Jenkins and Paolo Rivera - I read Mythos "Fantastic Four" and "Captain America" before buying this. I was excited to see they had a Spiderman one. I like how the tone of these are a little sad.

Twisted Taled #1 -Great Richard Corben cover on this one. That's all I needed to see.

Beanworld Book One by Larry Marder - I have read this before but it felt good to get a copy into my hands. Beanworld is some of the best stuff around.

The Thing: Freak Show by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins - I've picked this up a couple of times and every time thought it looked interesting. For half price it was finally time to take the plunge.
The Incredible Hulk "Ground Zero" by Peter David, Todd McFarlene, et al. - The art in this just looks nuts. The Hulk has such a tiny head and the heavy line work reminds me of a Darrow or Quietly.

Dreadstar Vol. 2 by Jim Starlin - Jim Starlin is a personal favorite of mine. Infinity Gauntlet and Death of Captain Marvel specifically. I've read Dreadstar Vol. 1 and loved it. Starlin does great panel transitions and knows how to set up a page.

Winsor McCay Early Works V - Little Nemo is great but this has some of McCay's even better political cartoons. They were posted a while ago at Golden Age of Comic Book Stories.

ABC Warriors: The Black Hole by Pat Mills, Simon Bisley, and S.M.S. - I bought this just by flipping through it and reading the first lines, "During the classical period of Terra's history, Emperor Zalinn ordered the construction of an artificial Black and White Hole on the planet itself...to provide a highway to the heavens!

Abraxis and the Earthman by Rick Veitch - I've Veitch's stunning Maximortal and have wanted to read this one for a while. Moby Dick in space???

Wolverine "Blood Hungry" by Peter David and Sam Keith - Sam Keith is pretty good right? His art here fits pretty well with Wolverine and I've been getting more interested in Wolverine since Old Man Logan and Wolverine: Saudade.

Mouse Gaurd: Belly of the Beast - Medieval mice fight a snake. Awesome.

Day 1 I attended the Kirkman vs. Bendis panel. I had only really seen Kirkman's video manifesto so it was pretty interesting to hear Bendis' argument against it. It seemed to me that they were both arguing different things. They ended up arguing about the economics of the industry. Kirkman at the heart of his argument thinks that more comics should be original and not re-hashing old characters. I think that this is a better argument to make than to say that creator owned works are sustainable.
Day 2: A fresh new day. Focused and ready to go. A lot less people on a Sunday made browsing a lot easier. Highlights from day two were hearing a couple of hilarious exchanges. One guy trying hard to get his friend to buy some Witchblade while his friend blatantly told him it sucked. Another guy professed his love for Spiderwoman at an artists table "Aw. You've got my girl Spiderwoman. She is seriously hot. Seriously" Day 2's haul I got more into the white boxes:

Mythos "Hulk" by Paul Jenkins and Paolo Rivera - Decided to go with the trend of buying Mythos Spiderman and pick up this one as well. I read it the other day and it's the best one yet.

Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure by Walter Simonson and Mike Mignola - I bought this on the strength of Mignola and my growing love for the hairy one.

Akira Vol. 1 No. 5 - I've got No. 1-4 and I love them. Can't wait to read this.

Doom Patrol #14 by John Arcudi and Seth Fisher - A Seth Fisher classic. He even makes the trees seem important.

B.P.R.D. The Dead #1 and #2 by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Guy Davis - I've been wanting to read some B.P.R.D. after reading some Hellboy recently.

The Life of Captain Marvel #4 by Jim Starlin - <3 Starlin <3 Marvel

Batman: Snow by Dan Curtis Johnson, J.Williams III, and Seth Fisher - ANOTHER Seth Fisher Classic. He draws Batman to look human making him look akward, pathetic, but still heroic. Fisher is one of the best.
The Silver Surfer "Parable" #1 by Stan Lee and Moebius - One of my favorite characters by one of my favorite artists. So glad I finally found this.

Batman: Dark Allegeinces by Howard Chaykin - Batman fights the KKK. What else can I say?

Daredevil: Yellow by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale - Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and Spiderman: Blue all were great, so Daredevil: Yellow was the logical next step.

I also picked up some awesome free posters of Dark Sied, Kull, and Usagi Yojimbo. The Con overall was very fulfilling. The biggest disappointment was the lack of quality toys. The comics, for the most part, were discounted by all the toys were at premium prices. There's nothing better than having a giant stack of unread comics waiting for you at home. It gets you through the day.

Baltimore Comic-Con 2008: David's Take

The 2008 Baltimore Comic-Con was my introduction to the world of comics conventions. Despite having purchased tickets for the whole of the two-day event, I managed to blow through my entire purchasing budget by 3:00 PM Saturday. Some highlights of the event included running into an inexplicably low-profile Richard Starkings, who graciously signed the copies of the Elephantmen: Wounded Animals and War Toys trade paperbacks I purchased and to whom it was my great honor to introduce our humble blog and especially its maiden post; getting an opportunity to buttonhole Kyle Baker and share my opinion that Special Forces is the greatest response to the Iraq War that the comics world has yet to offer; tracking down an issue of Paul Pope's elusive THB, as well as a whole slew of books by Alexandro Jodorowski that I picked up at rock-bottom prices. A particular low-light was the lackluster "debate" between Robert Kirkman and Brian Michael Bendis, in which they simply rehashed their by now familiar positions vis a vis Kirkman's manifesto concerning the issue of established creators moving to producing exclusively creator-owned comics, superfluously enhanced by Kirkman's more or less meaningless sales graphs.


David's Haul:

THB: Comics From Mars #1 by Paul Pope

Silver Surfer #2 by Stan Lee and Moebius

Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure by Walter Simonson, Michael Mignola and Bob Wiacek

The Thing: Freak Show #1-4 by Geoff Johns, Scott Kollins and Andy Lanning

Metal Hurlant #11, featuring stories by Alexandro Jodorowski and others

Doom Patrol #13 and 14 by John Arcudi and Seth Fisher

Kid Eternity #1 and 2 by Grant Morrison and Duncan Fegredo

The Incal: The Epic Conspiracy TPB by Alexandro Jodorowski and Moebius

The Incal: The Epic Journey TPB by Alexandro Jodorowski and Moebius

The Metabarons #2: Aghnar & Oda TPB by Alexandro Jodorowski and Juan Gimenez

The Metabarons #3: Steelhead & Doña Vicenta TPB by Alexandro Jodorowski and Juan Gimenez

The Metabarons: Alpha / Omega TPB by Alexandro Jodorowski, Moebius, Juan Gimenez and Travis Charest

Son Of The Gun #1: Sinner TPB by Alexandro Jodorowski and Georges Bess

Son Of The Gun #2: Saint TPB by Alexandro Jodorowski and Georges Bess

Megalex Book #1: The Anomaly TPB by Alexandro Jodorowski and Fred Beltran

Omega The Unknown Classic TPB by Steve Gerber, Mary Skrenes and Jim Mooney

Elephantmen: War Toys Volume 1: No Surrender TPB by Richard Starkings and Moritat

Elephantmen: Wounded Animals TPB by Richard Starkings and Moritat

The Kid's Comic Book Reviews

Today I stumbled upon this kid Liam's blog, that him and his dad do together. Obviously Laim's fresh and honest taste in comics makes his short reviews interesting, but what he's picking up every week is what really draws me in. After Robert Kirkman's manifesto and what he thinks kids should be reading, it's refreshing to see Liam's dad letting him buy books outside of the "Marvel Adventures" line. When I was younger, I shopped for comics the same way Liam does now, and what looked cool was not always within my age group. Growing up, I didn't buy only comics made for my age group, but whatever looked awesome.

Reading the same comics as everyone else made me feel adult and talking to my Uncle and his friends about comics helped me understand them better. It made us grow close as we talked about the "grown up" themes that at the time, I only related to the comic. I realize now, as an adult, that I understand some things better because of these strange moral conversations.

Now, introducing my sister to comics I see the same things, she understands the separate fantasy worlds but needs help comprehending why the X-Men are hated when they help people. I talk to her about things like this and wish my imagination allowed me to become as immersed as she is. Liam's blog gives you a fresh perspective on things, and hopefully he'll even show you something new.

The Negative Zone: IMAGE Comics, Step Your Website Game Up!

For all Robert Kirkman's blabbing on about the importance of creator-owned comics, you'd think the company he now, in part runs, would do a better job of supporting and advertising their creator-owned comics. Maybe it's some covert, "insider" holding-back of information, but it seems pretty insane that IMAGE doesn't list the comics coming out next week (except for Dead Ahead #1) and apparently, have no clue what they will be publishing two weeks from now.

We're about due for the next issue of Elephantmen and although Mike Allred basically keeps schedule, can you give me some sense of when the next issue Madman Atomic Comics might come out? I mean, I can assume that it will be sometime in the next two or three months but seriously! The worst though is when you pick up some little or lesser known IMAGE book--presumably, exactly what these guys pride themselves on publishing--and you have no clue when the next issue comes out or if the series is ever even going to wrap-up. That Red Mass From Mars comic from this summer is a good example...anybody have any news on that? What's going with the final few issues of Infinite Horizon???

The IMAGE blog hasn't been updated in more than a month! The last blog is surprise surprise, pushing Kirkman's video manifesto. Their news section was updated on September 4th which is a little better, but only to tell us about the trade release of Parade (With Fireworks) and the previous two stories are basically press releases for other big name IMAGE guys: Marc Silvestri's TOP COW will be at the Baltimore Comic Con (Silvestri was one of the original IMAGE seven) and the Obama cover issue of Savage Dragon by Erik Larsen (current Editor of IMAGE) is going into a second printing. I wasn't aware that "creator-owned" meant "guys that've already made a big name for themselves who happen to not be working on "Batman" or some "X-Men" title..."

It's not that Kirman's points weren't basically right (although a little obvious, simplistic, and utopian) but that nothing's being done or been done to sort of support Kirkman's throwing down of the gauntlet, makes the whole thing feel like an awful publicity stunt. This lack of updating is particularly frustrating because comics put out by IMAGE are notoriously late or constantly shifting in schedule and a real quick reminder/update or something about these changes would be pretty cool.