Welcome back, this week is New York Comic Con and it should be wrapping up as you read this.  For those of us that didn’t go, once more we’re left trying to figure out what happened and if anything big was announced.  But have no fear, I’m here to parse out some of the information that came out this week – I wasn’t there, so to be honest I’m just as lost as you are in some of it.  But nevertheless, we press on here at:

October 11th, 2015

“Somebody save me…” – C. Kent

Comic Book News: Dynamite has announced Red Sonja, Vampirella, and Dejah Thoris are getting a reboot and redesign.  Vampirella has the most radical redesign – as in they gave her clothes, so these could be good.  I’ll check them out.  DC has announced the expanding the Dark Knight Returns universe by adding The Atom – I’m not commenting on the cover here – and a prequel series to the original series.  Marvel has announced Power Man and Iron Fist as an ongoing, though I really hope that’s not the art.  Hasbro is going cross-platform with their two to three year Prime War plan.  Rom and Micronauts will be coming to IDW in 2016.  Meanwhile, Dark Horse announces How to Train Your Dragon, Lone Wolf 2100, and Buffy: The High School Years.  Frank Miller is working on a new Sin City, which will hopefully never be a movie.  And the Ghostbusters will be back in the new ongoing Ghostbusters International.

Movie News: Fortune magazine and NYCC have joined in the promotion for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as Fortune profiles Alexander Luthor, Jr and LexCorp offers free wi-fi to the NYCC.  DC Entertainment has also announced that they are pushing forward with Justice League Dark to start early next year.  Meanwhile, Marvel has announced four more movies, including Ant-Man & Wasp and three mystery movies that will come after Infinity War Part Two.  My bet is the three mystery movies will be Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor with new actors.  And Lego announced a new Justice League Lego movie, which is fantastic.  

TV News:  In news from early Sunday morning, Mark Hamill has confirmed that he will be returning to The Flash this season.  Agent Carter will have Wynn Everett joining the cast as Madame Masque, while Carrie-Anne Moss and Wil Travel have revealed their roles as Jeryn Hogarth and Nuke respectively.

Event News: … F*** you, Marvel.  Seriously, the first one was badly executed and the idea of a second one, in which your heroes fight each other some more instead of actual bad guys is completely unnecessary and insulting.  On the other hand, Marvel seems to have taken my advice for line wide crossovers with their announced Captain America 75th Anniversary crossover, Avengers Standoff, which looks like it could be fun; and Spider-Women, which will have Silk, Spider-Woman, and Spider-Gwen.

Atomic Robo and The Ring of Fire #2 (Tesladyne, LLC)
By Brian Clevinger with art by Scott Wegener
The new Atomic Robo continues as the Action Scientists activate Robo again.  I am enjoying the hell out of these books.  The humor continues as the stakes rise and we’re slowly learning that Majestic may not be all bad.  Again, if you want to keep up with the series, you can see find it here.  I’m caught up beyond this point, but I feel that it’s my duty to continue telling you about it, so you’ll pick up the book.

Batman & Robin Eternal #1 (DC Comics)
By James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder with art by Tony Daniels
This was a great way to kick off the DC’s new weekly comic.  We get the overall threat rather immediately in the mysterious new “Mother”.  We also get introduced to the fan-favorite Cassandra Cain.  I will say though is that the extended Bat-family is getting a little big.  Between Blue Bird, Agent 37, Red Robin, Red Hood, Batgirl, and the rest, I’m beginning to think Batman should be a better team player.  The other thing is why is it then whenever some records a confession, they don’t just tell you everything?  It’s short, mysterious, and you spend the next few weeks wondering what the hell is going on.  Great issue and, again, great way to kick off the lead up to Batamn #50.

Secret Wars #6 (Marvel Comics)
By Jonathan Hickman with art by Esad Ribic
I debated a lot time on this comic as to how to write it.  On one hand, this series is inexcusably late.  The last issue came out in August and the next issue may not come out until December from what I’ve heard.  And the artwork isn’t that impressive to warrant the delay.  Concepts are thrown us with no explanation as to what they or why they are important – the Prophet is a great example of this.  This late into the series, a new unheard of player should not be thrown at us.  It just muddles the issue.  Then concepts that have been around since the beginning of Hickman’s run – the animosity between Black Panther and Namor – are thrown out with little explanation.  On the other hand, there is a lot to like in this book.  The interaction of the Spider-Men, the interactions between the Maker and Mr. Fantastic, the “new” origin of the Fantastic Four – these things are great ideas and Mr. Hickman weaves them together wonderfully.  I think in the end, this series is going to be better read as a trade, which given it’s impact on the Marvel Universe going forward is a little sad.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #50 (IDW Publishing)
By Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, and Tom Waltz with art by Mateus Santolouco
This issue was a blast.  The  fight scenes in the beginning were great, the characterization was spot on, and the final fight with Shredder was as powerful as it should have been.  Even Splinter got his licks in and took them besides.  Even the homage to the original Turtle movie was also appreciated.  The only issue I had was Michelangelo’s abrupt departure.  I’m not sure of the ways behind it – running from taking over the Foot Clan seemed a bit much and there wasn’t anything else that would have seemed like it would push him away that quickly.  This was a great issue, I can’t wait to see where they go next.

 

Action Comics #45 (DC Comics); All-New, All-Different Marvel #0.1 (Marvel Comics); Avatar: The Last Airbender: Smoke and Shadow #1 (Dark Horse); Avengers #0 (Marvel Comics); Axcend #1 (Image Comics) Batman Beyond #05 (DC Comics); Cyborg #3 (DC Comics); Darth Vader #10 (Image Comics); Detective Comics #45 (DC Comics); Doctor Strange #1 (Marvel Comics); Green Lantern #45 (DC Comics); Groot (Marvel Comics); Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four #23 (DC Comics); Invincible Iron Man #1 (Marvel Comics); Jughead #1 (Archie Comics); Lando #5 (Marvel Comics); Masks 2 #7 (Dynamite Comics); Midnighter #5 (DC Comics); Plutona #2 (Image Comics); Siege #4 (Marvel Comics); Secret Wars #6 (Marvel Comics); Spider-Island #5 (Marvel Comics); Star Wars #10 (Marvel Comics)

 

1602 Witch Hunter Angela #4 (Marvel Comics); Contest of Champions #1 (Marvel Comics); Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens: Shattered Empire #2 (Marvel); Telos #1 (DC Comics); We Stand Guard #4 (Image Comics)

 

The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Marvel Comics)
By Dan Slott with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli
So Dan Slott introduces the new Amazing Spider-man and it’s… well, there.  He takes the Tony Stark comparison straight on and pretty much says “So what?”.  The problem is drawing from that premise, shouldn’t more people know he’s Spider-Man now?  I mean that’s how Tony Stark worked out right?  The end of the issue reveal with the reveal of Doctor Octopus was… kind of expected?  I mean really, did anyone think they were likely to keep him dead for long?  I just hope that they don’t turn him back into a villain right away.  I would like to see him and Peter work together for a while as heroes.  It would be a new dynamic.  The backup stories were by and large, somewhat forgettable.  The ones I was most interested in failed to show the new status quos and the ones that did I wasn’t interested in.  And all of that for a $6 entrance fee.  Not cool at all.

 

Old Man Logan #5 (Marvel Comics)
By Brian Michael Bendis with art by Andrea Sorrentino
So I know I’m not suppose to be reading this anymore, but I was curious to see how it ended, because I’m somewhat OCD.  I’ll be honest, I can’t even remember why he left his home in the first place.  But this book was horrible.  He travelled the length and breadth of Battleworld for… what?  To tease Old Man Logan #1?  Again?  This entire series was such a waste, it makes me anger.  There was no point this – there could have been a great story, but it got lost in sight-seeing, back patting, and bad artwork.  

 What If? Infinity: Inhumans #1 (Marvel Comics)
By Joshua Williamson with art by Riley Rossmo
What If? Infinity: Thanos #1 (Marvel Comics)
By Joshua Williamson with art by Mike Henderson
So here’s a two-fer for you as Marvel completely loses sight of the original concept for the What If? comic series.  These aren’t small changes to the universe to make new stories – these are stories that defy everything we know about the characters presented.  I mean seriously.  Black Bolt sides with Thanos?  Thanos kills Captain America and takes over the Avengers?  These are such leaps in logic that they border on the ridiculous.  Both of  these books were bad and rushed.  These stories should be simpler and use small points for their focus instead of large events.

 

Green Arrow (DC Comics)
By Benjamin Percy with art by Patrick Zircher and Federico Dallocchio
I’m sorry, I just can’t bring myself to care about Green Arrow anymore.  The story might be the best Batman show on television right now, but the comic feels like after 45 issues, they still don’t know what to do with him.  I don’t even know where he gets his funding anymore given that last I really remember his company was gone.  I think that Green Arrow should step out of fighting normal criminals and maybe make a transition to full horror.  Maybe become a supernatural version of Batman.  It would at least something better than whatever this is.

 

1602 Witch Hunter Angela (Marvel Comics)
Marguerite Bennett, Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, Marguerite Sauvage, Kody Chamberlain, Frazer Irving, and Irene Koh

Lando (Marvel Comics)
Charles Soule, Alex Maleev, and Paul Mounts

Old Man Logan (Marvel Comics)
Brian Michael Bendis, Andrea Sorrentino, and Marcelo Maiolo

Siege (Marvel Comics)
Kieron Gillen, Filipe Andrade, James Stokoe, Jorge Coelho, Julian Totino Tedesco, Juan Jose Ryp, Michael WM. Kaluta, Andy Troy, Yasmine Putri, Kyle Strahm, Jesus Aburtov, In-Hyuk Lee, Rachelle Rosenberg, Pepe Larraz, Gary Choo, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ian Herring

Spider-Island (Marvel Comics)
Christos Gage, Paco Diaz, Frank D’armata, Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz, Sal Buscema, and Andrew Crossley