Welcome to Tales From the Water Cooler!
Listen in this week as the guys are joined by the Comic Book Clergyman to play some Valentines Day Jeopardy and go over this weeks books, I Love Trouble #3, Think Tank #5, All New X-men #7, Dia De Los Muertos #1 and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #20.
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Tales from the Water Cooler: Episode #102
You can click the link to listen to the podcast or right click “save link as” to download it.
Welcome to Tales From the Water Cooler!
Listen in this week as the guys are welcome the Canadian Webslinger to the team, play some Superhero Jeopardy and go over this weeks Futurama #65, Teen Titans #16 and Superior Spider-Man #2.
And don’t forget to LIKE us on Facebook!
Tales from the Water Cooler: Episode #101
You can click the link to listen to the podcast or right click “save link as” to download it.
Welcome to Tales From the Water Cooler!
It’s time to celebrate this week as the Water Cooler reaches Episode #100, and one Cooler member will not make it to #101! Listen in as the guys are joined by the Comic Book Clergeyman to do some Superhero Jeopardy and go over this weeks picks X-O Manowar #9, Bedlam #3, Hellblazer #299 and TMNT: The Secret History of the Foot Clan #2.
And don’t forget to LIKE us on Facebook!
Tales from the Water Cooler: Episode #100
You can click the link to listen to the podcast or right click “save link as” to download it.
Welcome to Tales From the Water Cooler!
Listen in this week as the guys play another round of Super Hero Jeopardy and then go over this weeks picks Saga #9, Todd the Ugliest Kid on Earth #1 and Batman #16.
And don’t forget to LIKE us on Facebook!
Tales from the Water Cooler: Episode #99
You can click the link to listen to the podcast or right click “save link as” to download it.
Welcome to Tales From the Water Cooler!
The guys are back from vacation and are ready to rock and roll with some Super Hero Jeopardy! Listen in as they go over this weeks picks Vampirella Strikes #1,Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #19 and Colder #3.
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Tales from the Water Cooler: Episode #97
You can click the link to listen to the podcast or right click “save link as” to download it.
Thor God Of Thunder #4
Story By: Jason Aaron
Art By; Esad Ribic
Jason Aarons work on Thor thus far has been great. Focusing on Thor in three different points in his life has provided a very unique and fresh take on the character. The God Butcher arc this far has been pretty bleak for The God of Thunder. This new villain is creepy and down right cruel towards the gods. Treating them as mere sport for him to slaughter. Thor has made it his responsibility to stop The God Butcher from killing any other gods and that seems to be the basic premise thus far.
As I said earlier whats nice about this story is seeing young Thor and Old Thor also dealing with the God Butcher. It gives this story an epic scope that fits nicely into Marvel Now’s relaunch strategy. I especially like seeing an Old Thor as King of Asgard. He’s not the confident and defiant god were familiar with. Instead he is actively hoping to seek a Vikings death and welcomes the God Butcher and his shadow pets to take his life. I appreciate the lengths at which Jason Aaron has went to make Thor his own without losing all the myth of the character.
Just as important is the art of Esad Ribic. Ive been a fan of his work ever since I saw him on art duties for Silver Surfer Requiem . His work here again reminds me that he is one of the most talented artists working in the industry. Each page is constructed beautifully behind whatever backdrop suits the action. He invokes feelings of Frank Frazzetta’s art but still stays true to his style. Every facial expression reads perfectly and the action never feels stale. Each version of Thor reads and feels different and this is as much a testament to Ribic’s rendering of the character as it is Aaron’s writing. This is a very pretty book. Also wanted to give a special mention to I’ve Svorcina the colorists. He juggles a lot this issue introducing us to three different worlds making sure each one has its own unique color palette.
At the end of this issue it seems that the three separate stories being told are staring to come together. It will be interesting to see what Thor thinks of his older self and what he’s become next issue. I’m thoroughly enjoying this book and appreciate what Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic are trying to with each issue. If you haven’t yet check out this series it does a great job of capturing all the elements that make Thor such a great character while injecting some new life into Asgard as well.
Review Score: 8/10
Mike DeVivo
Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots
Amazing Spider-Man #700
Writer: Dan Slott [Back-up stories by J.M. DeMatteis and Jen Van Meter]
Art: Humberto Ramos [Pencils], Victor Olazaba [Inks] and Edgar Delgado [Colors] [Art on back-ups by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Sal Buscema, Antonio Fabela and Stephanie Buscema]
[SPOILER ALERT: THIS REVIEW IS FULL OF SPOILERS THAT YOU PROBABLY ALREADY SAW ON THE INTERNET A FEW WEEKS AGO]
Given the way spoilers for this issue leaked a few weeks ago, it’s likely that you might already have your mind made up about it. As the “final” issue of Amazing Spider-Man, #700 is also the highest number any Marvel comic has ever reached, and it just happened to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the series’ first issue. (Now it kind of makes sense why they did the thrice-monthly and bi-monthly schedules the last few years, huh? Solid planning.)
Anyways, the book’s final storyline has seen Dr. Octopus swap his consciousness from his dying body into the body of Spider-Man and vice-versa. Peter Parker, now in Doc Ock’s body, is using that body’s final hours to try to swap the consciousnesses back into the right bodies.
I think we’ve covered before that mind-swap stories are one of two types of stories I hate because I can’t suspend disbelief for them. (The other type is time travel, because the minute you go to another time period and do anything, you risk creating a time paradox that screws up everything that happens from then on.)
Spoiler alert: Peter Parker fails to swap minds back into the right body and dies in Doc Ock’s body, while Ock will be Spider-Man from now on in Peter Parker’s body. The catch is that, since Ock has all of Peter’s memories, Peter pulled a fast one on him at the end of #700 and made him remember everything that ever happened to him, thus somehow turning him “good.” This is the set-up fornext month’s new series, Superior Spider-Man. I think I’ve reached my jumping-off point.
The one thing that’s been pushed on Spidey fans lately is that Doc Ock is somehow Spider-Man’s greatest enemy of all time. As someone who has read Spider-Man comics for nearly 20 years (I’m including the period of time where Ben Reilly took over as Spider-Man in the mid-90s even though I hated that idea, quit reading new issues for several years at that time and only bought back issues), I’ve never cared much for Ock. Spider-Man consistently beat him so decisively time and again so much that he had to get a bunch of other villains together as the Sinister Six to help him out. And even then, he still couldn’t hurt Spider-Man on the same level as the Green Goblin. In my book, Norman Osborn will always be the arch-enemy because he killed Gwen Stacy. What did Ock do besides sleeping with Aunt May and being an occasional annoyance? He should’ve stayed dead after Kaine killed him during the Clone Saga.
Which brings up another issue: Does anyone really believe that Peter Parker is going to stay “dead” and that Doc Ock won’t eventually end up in his own body? If Peter isn’t back from the dead, in his own body, bythe time the sequel to Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters, then he will be by the time they make another movie with Dr. Octopus as the villain. Only the “Forever Dead Four” (Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy, and Bruce Wayne’s parents) stay dead in comics, especially now that the big companies want to make things as accessible as possible to the casual readers they hope will buy these books after seeing the movies. They need an easy in, and how do you explain to someone who’s never picked up an issue that Doc Ock is now Spider-Man, but in Peter Parker’s body, without opening the floodgates of confusion. Peter Parker and Doc Ock both will be back sooner or later, just like Captain America, Professor X (multiple times), Jean Grey (again, multiple times), Batman, Superman, and many others before them.
That said, this issue is very well written and I did enjoy reading it. Humberto Ramos turns in the best art of his career here, as well. Hell, it’s even the best art on the book this entire year (no offense to anyone else who worked on the book this year), and that’s coming from a guy who used to be on the fence about the guy’s art.
Look, I’ve loved Slott’s entire run on the book, but I’m just not feeling the new direction. I’ve got nothing against the guy. At least, unlike some people you may have heard about through various media sources, I have enough class to not threaten the guy’s life over a comic book story. If you feel like me and see this as a good jumping off point, I recommend Batman and Batman & Robin, which arguably the two best superhero books out right now.
As for the issue’s two back-up stories, they’re both short, fun stories that exist, as far as I know, outside of continuity. Are they filler? I don’t know, but I really liked the one by DeMatteis. I do wish this issue had some more of the gag pages like #600, but I guess there was plenty here to justify the $7.99 price tag. (Be still, my throbbing wallet.)
STORY: 9/10 (It was well-done. I just don’t care for the direction.)
ART: 10/10
Horror comics have scared readers for years. Is there anyone brave enough to sit down with their creators? This is Discussions with Decapitated Dan.
With only 3 episodes of Discussions left, Dan is joined by creator Douglas Paszkiewicz to talk about Arsenic Lullaby and so much more.
You can find out more about Doug at http://www.arseniclullabies.com
You can find out more about musical guest Heaven Shall Burn at http://www.heavenshallburn.com/
The show is sponsored by CuriousGoodsandComics.com
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Batman and Robin #15
Writer: Peter Tomasi
Art: Patrick Gleason
Batman and Robin has its inevitable tie-in to Snyder’s own ” Death of the Family” arc taking place in Batman begin with issue 15. I have to admit I’m weary of tie ins but I was more than shocked at not only how good this issue is right off the bat (no pun intended) but how effortlessly this becomes one of the best single issues of any Batman book I’ve read this year.
Damian is left at the Bat Cave with Titus to keep him safe as the rest of the Bat Family is out hunting down the Joker. Damian being his usual rebellious self decides he shouldn’t waste his time just sitting around and decides to examine Alfred’s crime scene. A lead left for Robin leads him straight to Gotham Zoo and into a well designed trap by Joker. What follows next is page after page of amazing dialogue between Damian and Joker.
Tomasi’s Joker fits right in along the way Snyder has written with a good mix of Batman the Animated series to boot. He also shows that he pays attention to detail tying the events of Batman #13 nicely into this issue. I could talk about all the awful and twisted things the Joker say’s to Damian as he is at his mercy but the only thing I will say the Joker gives the phrase “Turn that frown upside down” a very literal meaning.
I also appreciate seeing Damian fight and scrape and claw to get out of the situation he’s in. I’ve grew to like the idea of Damian as Batman during Morrison’s run but I’ve absolutely fell in love with Damian as Robin under Tomasi’s guidance of the character. Damian acts like a child first and the son of a genius Superhero second. It grounds him as a character and has you worried that something terrible could happen to him at any moment.
Patrick Gleason knocks this issue out of the park. His Joker is ugly and Morbid in all the right ways and there isn’t a single panel that he doesn’t make use of Joker’s new / old face. From doing a point of view shot outside of the flesh mask he wears to having him constantly pull and stretch his face around I couldnt take my eyes off of how amazing his art was. The same effort and precision went into the layout of each page as well. Starting the issue off with harsh reds and heavy shadow one moment and harshly lit backgrounds the next the wash each character in shadow this book is nothing short of beautiful.
I’ve really liked Batman and Robin as apart of the relaunch in the New DC. If you would have told me this week that a tie in issue of Batman and Robin would have pleased me more than Batman itself I would have thought that a crazy idea but Gleason and Tomasi knock this out of the park. Even though everything is not alright in the Bat-family with the return of the Joker we have the honor to enjoy the hell out of two books this week with the title Batman in them. Go out and buy this issue and thank me later.
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Mike DeVivo
Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots
Amazing Spider-Man #699.1
Writer: Joe Keatinge with Dan Slott
Art: Valentine Delandro with Marco Checchetto, Antonio Fabela [Color Art]
Amazing Spider-Man #699.1 isn’t so much a Spider-Man comic as it is a preview for the upcoming Morbius The Living Vampire solo series.
Morbius has been a long-running sometimes-villain, sometimes-ally of Spider-Man since his debut in 1971’s Amazing Spider-Man #101. Recently, he relapsed into his old bloodlusting ways and found himself in the Marvel Universe’s maximum security supervillain prison, The Raft. This issue picks up during the prison break from issue #699, and has Morbius reflecting on his childhood and (you guessed it!) origin during his escape.
The new details added by Keatinge are a nice touch to the character and do more to flesh him out while giving newer readers a recap of who he is and how he became “The Living Vampire.” It makes sense that Marvel would give him his own solo book right now given the current popularity of vampires, even if Morbius isn’t technically a vampire in the classical sense. Then again, the “vampires” that are popular right now aren’t real vampires, either, so there’s that.
Either way, I enjoyed this issue more than I thought I would and am actually intrigued by the idea of this series now. Definitely worth a read for fans and anyone interested in the premise.
Rating: 9/10
