Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen were two mainstay series of DC’s Silver Age. Soon, those characters will each headline their own books again — though we likely won’t get Lois scheming to marry Superman or Jimmy as “the Red-Headed Beatle of 1,000 B.C.” (Google it).
The LA Times‘s Hero Complex has a sneak peek at Lois Lane by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins, and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber. Both are 12-issue series debuting in July.
Rucka, who formerly steered the adventures of another female DC icon in Wonder Woman, has this to say about Lois:
“Lois Lane is the best investigative reporter in the DC [Universe]. This is our truth, and this is what the book is about… [She] is often described as fearless, but that’s a mistake, because it implies that nothing frightens her. There’s plenty that frightens her; the difference is that it never stops her. She was like that before Superman entered her life, and so she remains.”
At least from the descriptions, the two books will strike different narrative tones, with Jimmy’s being the more “fun and light and optimistic.” Lieber says,
“I think there’s a lot of storytelling power in the juxtaposition of the ordinary and the extraordinary, and Jimmy is all about that… [It’s] a chance to be funny in the world full of much larger than life characters.”
You can get a taste of the two new series in the upcoming Superman: Leviathan Rising Special, as that one-shot will include short stories by creative teams for both Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. More preview art can be found at Hero Complex.
If you’ve been enjoying Brian Bendis’s Superman work, and the world of Metropolis he’s built, will you follow these characters to their own comics? Let us know in the comments!
The Chi is an award-winning and recently Peabody-nominated Showtime series about the lives of strangers brought together by tragedy, and Patrick Warren is the composer responsible for bringing out the feels.
Created by Emmy-winner Lena WaitheThe Chi stars Jason Mitchell, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Jacob Latimore, and Alex Hibbert who are four disparate souls who are united when their small community on the Southside of Chicago is rocked by a fateful turn of events. As their lives intersect and they deal with the aftereffects, friendships are forged and lost. The Chi began its second season in April of 2019.
PopAxiom spoke with Patrick Warren about his career in making music, working on The Chi, and being a globally known expert in playing the Chamberlin.
Thanks, Mom
The road to making music started when Patrick’s mother, a nurse, had her son learn an instrument “As a child, I was forced to take piano lessons. Somewhere around my teenage years … my mother said ‘You are old enough to make your own decisions, you can quit if you’d like.”
Patrick had never seriously considered quitting by that point, but did ponder it for a moment “I decided to keep going with it and shortly after discovered rock and roll. I’ve been obsessed with music ever since.”
Patrick studied music, eventually falling in love with composition and continuing his studies at UCLA “They would give us a little piece of video and tells us ‘you have four cellists, four violins… and a french horn. Make it go to this picture.”
However, Patrick’s musical career “… started out as a rock musician with many different bands and touring.” The young man has toured or worked with the likes of Fiona Apple, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Lana Del Rey.
Patrick’s career grew and evolved “I started making arrangements for string orchestras, and I think that sort of gradually started me towards film scoring.”
The Chamberlin
Out in the world, there are some weird instruments. One of them is the Chamberlin, created in 1949, which typically looks like a piano but is something entirely its own “The most well-known use of the instrument is the beginning of Strawberry Fields by The Beatles.”
The idea behind the Chamberlin was trying to put an “orchestra in a box,” and Patrick admits “I became obsessed with the idea … I took an approach to make that instrument sound as much like an orchestra as I could in the sounds and the way I would play it.”
The Chamberlin is a marvelous machine, but it’s also a unique instrument “It’s a real mechanical beast. It has motorcycle bushings and flywheels. The motors … came from a refrigerator. It was quite a contraption.” Patrick would have a full set of tools while on the road, working as a part-time mechanic to keep the machine working.
About The Chi
Patrick continued to work with musicians while expanding his skillset as a composer “I met Common when I worked on a song he wrote with John Legend for the movie Selma, the song Glory.” That song won an Oscar in 2015.
From Glory, Patrick worked with Common again on “… this amazing record called Black America Again. Common also offered something special to Patrick, creative freedom “Common said ‘do whatever you want.’”
Did Patrick listen? “I really went nuts.”
Patrick Warren with Jason Mitchell (Left) and Barton Fitzpatrick (Right). Photos by Eric Charbonneau.
Common is an executive producer of The Chi and invited Patrick to be the show’s composer “A little bit of what we did on the record became a bit of something we did on the show. It was a starting point.”
As The Chi got underway “… we weren’t really sure what we wanted musically, so there was a lot of temp music. The editors, of course, hear it all the time and start to like it. Season two was different in that they used my music as the temp.”
As for Patrick’s approach to projects like The Chi “When I write music I have the dialogue up and almost approach it as the lyrics to a song.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2SIzEGg0oo
Making Music
Over 20 years, Patrick’s worked with musician T Bone Burnett “… a brilliant producer who asked Patrick to work on the gritty HBO show True Detective.” The show won an Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition in 2014.
Writing music for TV and film presents interesting challenges “I’ll write a beautiful piece of music for say a funeral scene, and I think I’ve nailed it. It’s not too sappy. I’ll play it for friends who love it. Then you play for it Producers, and they say ‘I like it, but I want to be in a murderous headspace. So you have to approach it in a new way. But that’s part of what scoring is all about.”
Patrick is a fan of experiment instruments and sounds, and as a science fiction fan, he admires stories that take that kind of out-of-left-field approach too “The movie Arrival starts with a string quartet, and it’s not what you expect from a science fiction film. But it lets you know that it’s not just another shoot-em-up type of movie.”
Creative work often has to be compressed down for specific effects. For instance, a screenwriter has to boil the entire story into one or two sentences known as a logline. In music, snippets of songs, usually relegated to theme songs, fill the role of setting the mood for an entire show. We talk about the simplicity of the Game of Thrones theme for a moment then Patrick, like many creators before him, declares “Writing simple melodies is deceptively hard.”
Wrapping Up
Who is in Patrick’s musical DNA? “I have to say, Tom Waits is in my DNA a lot. I’ve been a huge fan of his forever, and I got to tour with him. Such a fan of the way he writes. I love older jazz. A lot of classical.”
At night, Patrick puts headphones on with some music “… and falls asleep.”
If The Chi isn’t enough of Patrick’s music for fans to enjoy, the musician and composer worked on several upcoming albums including “A Sara Bareilles record that came out recently (Amidst the Chaos) which T Bone had me write a bunch of strings for.”
Patrick isn’t forced to play piano anymore. In fact, there’s a hint of joy as he talks about making music “It’s an absolute blast.”
Thanks to Patrick Warren and Impact24 PR for making this interview possible.
Stronghold #3 hits your local comic shop on April 17, but thanks to AfterShock Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive seven-page preview to share with you.
The 32-page book is written by Phil Hester, with art and cover by Ryan Kelly, colors by Dee Cunniffe, and letters by Simon Bowland.
Phil Hester (The Coffin, Deathstroke, The Darkness, SHIPWRECK) and Ryan Kelly (The Wicked & The Divine, Lucifer, Saucer Country) weave a tale of cosmic horror, high-adventure and tragic romance unlike anything else in comics.
About the issue: When the last vestiges of normalcy are stripped from Michael Grey’s life, he is finally confronted by his past in the far-flung cosmos…and the enemies he made there. Can the Stronghold put the broken pieces of Grey’s life back together before the terrors he battled in the stars follow him to our fragile Earth?
Stronghold has been a critical darling for AfterShock through two issues. You can read our 5-star review of the first issue here, and our equally-glowing review of the second issue here.
Check out the full preview for Stronghold #3 below:
Do you have Stronghold on your pull list? Comment below with your thoughts on the series.
So far we’ve had the dramatic last page of Batman #50, the “Leviathan” storyline creeping through the pages of Action Comics, the return of the Batman Who Laughs, Perpetua’s looming arrival in Justice League, and the announcement of a special 25 cent comic book on sale in May. Now, DC Comics has unveiled full details for their “Year of the Villain.”
The event will be presented in three main titles: Batman, Justice League, and Event Leviathan/Action Comics. The official descriptions are below.
BATMAN: CITY OF BANE
It’s going to be a long hot summer for the Dark Knight as well, courtesy of Tom King and Tony S. Daniel as “City of Bane” begins BATMAN #75, on sale July 17. This extra-sized anniversary issue kicks off a new multi-part storyline tying together all the threads of the first 74 issues of Tom King’s epic Batman run.
Bane’s minions have moved into Gotham City, taken control and rule with an iron fist; and they aren’t above rounding up any rogue villains that aren’t ready to get with the program. Meanwhile Batman is nowhere to be found – at least not the Batman that anyone knows. And if Gotham City is already under Bane’s thumb, what kind of offer can Lex Luthor make him, and will he accept?
JUSTICE LEAGUE
In DC’s YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1 written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV with art by Jim Cheung, Lex Luthor has decided once and for all that heroism is a false dream and for man to ascend to his place in the universe, he must embrace his basest, most evil instincts. But this means making an incredible sacrifice to achieve his goal and gain the support of Perpetua, the first being to be imprisoned within the Source Wall, now freed from the events of DARK NIGHTS: METAL.
Beginning with June’s issue #25, Luthor’s plans begin to crystalize in a “prelude” story co-written by Snyder and Tynion with art by Javi Fernandez. In July, he makes “The Offer” to some of the DC Universe’s most noteworthy characters; he alone holds the key to them realizing their full potential. This kicks off an epic event taking over 2019, setting the stage for an all-out clash between the forces of Justice and Doom:
July – Year of the Villain: The Offer
August – Year of the Villain: Dark Gifts
September – Year of the Villain: Evil Unleashed
October – Year of the Villain: Doom Rising
ACTION COMICS/EVENT LEVIATHAN
Beginning with the “Leviathan Rises” storyline in ACTION COMICS #1007, Brian Michael Bendis and Steve Epting continue to explore the DCU’s clandestine world of espionage and terrorism. The organization known as Leviathan continues to remove competitors from the playing field while its ultimate purpose (and the person behind it) remains unknown.
In DC’S YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1, Batgirl and Green Arrow dive further into this mystery in a story featuring a moody style reminiscent of a spy thriller (courtesy of artist Alex Maleev), where offers are made and suspicions about the identity of Leviathan are raised. Fans can follow the ongoing mystery in ACTION COMICS #1010 (April 24), #1011 (May 11) and SUPERMAN: LEVIATHAN RISING SPECIAL #1 (May 29) before the DCU’s greatest sleuths and detectives join forces to thwart this full-blown threat as the six-issue EVENT LEVIATHAN miniseries begins on June 12.
Besides the big three titles, other DC books will carry special villain portrait covers by artists like Frank Quitely, Adam Hughes, Franics Manapul, and Stanley “Artgerm” Lau. According to DC, the covers, “will be printed on cardstock with minimal trade dress, presenting the art in a bold, dynamic setting and carry an increased cover price ($1 extra) over the standard version.”
You can also click over to DC’s announcement page to see the full press release along all the covers for the event.
Are you intrigued by a villain-centered event? Will you be all-in on this one? Leave us a comment below!
Marvel Comics announces a new series, Captain America & The Invaders: The Bahamas Triangle, with issue #1 dropping this July. The book is written by Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Famer Roy Thomas, with art by Inkpot Award-winning Jerry Ordway, and multiple variant covers by Ron Lim and Patch Zircher.
No one has a greater love for The Invaders than Thomas; he created the original team with artist Sal Buscema in The Avengers #71 (December 1969).
About the issue: March 1941. Assigned to safeguard President Roosevelt during a fishing trip in the Bahamas, the newly commissioned Cap endures his baptism under fire — while a German U-boat (carrying the Nazi super-soldier called Der Wunderkrieger (or Wonder Warrior) heads for the island chain’s capital! His mission: to kidnap England’s once-king, the Duke of Windsor, and sit him on the throne of a defeated Britain! But others happen to be in that part of the Atlantic as well — the once-bitter rivals the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch!
Ordway has contributed to some of the biggest books in the industry during his career, and now we get to see what he comes up with working on vintage characters from Marvel’s early days.
This will be the second Invaders series out currently, joining the series by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimaraes, and Travis Lanham.
Check out a full-size version of Ordway’s cover below:
Are you excited to see The Invaders in their prime? Comment below with your thoughts.
Marvel Comics announces a new one-shot for July, Wolverine Vs Blade Special #1. The book is written by Marc Guggenheim, who’s no stranger to writing battle royals.
“This is a book that’s been — not kidding — ten years in the making. I couldn’t possibly be more excited for it to finally see publication. I think it’s worth the wait,” said Guggenheim to Monkeys Fighting Robots.
Dave Wilkins is the artist on the book, with a variant cover by Matteo Scalera. Wilkins has mainly been a cover artist to date, but Wolverine Vs Blade Special #1 looks to be his breakout comic. Guggenheim admitted on Twitter he is very excited for Wilkins’ amazing art.
Guggenheim has previously written both Wolverine and Blade individually, so it will be interesting to see how He brings that knowledge and experience to a “versus” story. His writing credits span comics, novels, film, TV, and even video games, and he’s also a co-developer of the DC Comics shows Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.
About the issue: Two of the deadliest hunters ever to have stalked the night face off! Wolverine vs. Blade — ’nuff said!
Check out a full-size version of the cover below:
It’s worth noting that Wolverine is in his X-Force costume on this cover, raising questions as to when this story takes place. Ol’ Logan was just recently brought back to life after a few years, while Blade has joined the Avengers.
Are you excited for Wolverine Vs Blade Special #1? Comment below with your thoughts.
War Of The Realms: War Scrolls #1 of 3 hits your local comic book store on April 17, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive five-page preview to share with you.
The 33-page book is written by Jason Aaron, Chip Zdarsky, Josh Trujillo, and Ram V. With art by Andrea Sorrentino, Joe Quinones, Ricardo Lopez-Ortiz, and CAFU. Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, and Matt Hollingsworth worked on the cover.
When Marvel says, “THE MUST-READ COMPANION TO WAR OF THE REALMS!” The publisher might be right with this tie-in. Daredevil is a unique character, and it could be interesting to see how Aaron uses Matt Murdock and what direction he sends the Man With Out Fear.
About the issue: Gifted the sight of the Bifrost, Daredevil watches all Midgard burn under Malekith’s invasion. How will the Guardian of Hell’s Kitchen…guard an entire Earth turned to Hell? Find out in a story by Jason Aaron & Andrea Sorrentino! All this and more (including a new Howard the Duck story by Chip Zdarsky & Joe Quinones!), straight from the battlefield of WAR OF THE REALMS!
Check out the full preview below:
Do you have War Of The Realms: War Scrolls on your pull list? Comment below with your thoughts.
After DC’s four Young Animal series wrapped up last year, fans were left wondering if that was the end for Gerard Way’s pop-up imprint. The answer, it turns out, was a resounding “no” — the label returns this summer with three new series: Collapser, Far Sector, and Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds.
Way says,
“We are thrilled to revitalize DOOM PATROL, and to present both COLLAPSER and FAR SECTOR, two books that push the medium of comics and their respective genres through uncharted territory. Readers can expect everything from high doses of cosmic weirdness and positivity, to deep examinations of anxiety and emotions while wielding immense power, to sci-fi explorations of authority and control and what it means to be a guardian while a world hangs in delicate balance. More fantastic comics outside the norm, as only DC’s Young Animal can do.”
Weight of the Worlds will be the next volume in the ongoing Doom Patrol run, written by Way and Jeremy Lambert. After so many years of being almost strictly a cult item in the DC catalog, the Patrol will soon have a comic on the shelves in addition to their acclaimed series on the DC Universe streaming service.
Collapser will be co-written by Way’s brother and My Chemical Romance bandmate, Mikey Way. Far Sector not only marks the comics debut of a new Green Lantern character, but of bestselling science fiction author N.K. Jemisin (the Broken Earth series).
Cover art and official title descriptions are below:
DOOM PATROL: WEIGHT OF THE WORLDS
Written by: Gerard Way and Jeremy Lambert Art by: James Harvey followed by Doc Shaner, Nick Pitarra, Becky Cloonan and more Series debut: July 3, 2019
Gerard Way and the World’s Strangest Super Heroes return in an all-new series that takes them beyond the borders of time and space! The Doom Patrol will go on an epic road trip around the solar system, facing off against the unusual and bizarre including the fanatical fitness fiends of planet Orbius and the Marathon Eternal. Big changes are coming for these unusual heroes, including Robotman coming to terms with his new life as a human.
COLLAPSER
Written by: Mikey Way and Shaun Simon Art by: Ilias Kyriazis Series debut: July 17, 2019
Liam James is a wannabe DJ whose life goals are almost completely dashed by his crippling anxiety—until a package arrives in the mail containing a black hole that gives him amazing powers and draws him into a cosmic conflict far beyond anything he’d ever imagined. But Liam will discover that when it comes to life, love, mental health and superhero responsibilities, there’s no such thing as a quick fix, and that power comes with a cost.
FAR SECTOR
Written by: N.K. Jemisin Art by: Jamal Campbell Series debut: 2019
Newly chosen Green Lantern Sojourner “Jo” Mullein has been protecting the City Enduring, a massive metropolis of 20 billion people, for the past six months. The City has maintained peace for over 500 years by stripping its citizens of their ability to feel. As a result, violent crime is virtually unheard of, and murder is nonexistent.
But that’s all about to change.
This new series introduces a dizzying game of politics and philosophies as Jo discovers a brewing revolution in the City, aided and abetted by some of its most powerful citizens.
You can read DC’s entire Young Animal announcement here.
Were you reading the Young Animal titles last time around? Are you excited to see the label’s return? Let us know in the comments!
It looks like Mark Waid will be involved in not just one, but two high profile Marvel comics this summer.
History of the Marvel Universe was one of the titles announced at this year’s C2E2. All we knew then was that it would be six issue series by Waid, Javier Rodriguez, and Alvaro Lopez. Marvel also offered a glimpse of some artwork from the series.
Now, the publisher has provided the first issue cover by Steve McNiven, along with an update that sheds some further light on what the whole project is about. One of their key quotes promises that History of the Marvel Universe “will reveal secrets and shocking revelations while connecting every thread in the entire universe from past to present.”
In Waid’s own words,
“We’ve seen Marvel histories and Marvel encyclopedias and Marvel handbooks, and I love that stuff. I absorb them like Galactus absorbs planets. This is not that. There’s information here, but there’s also a story. The Marvel Universe is a living thing. It is its own story, and we’re trying to approach it with some degree of heart to find the heart in that story so it doesn’t read like 120 pages of Wikipedia.”
All of this comes on the heels of more Waid news: Sue Storm (aka The Invisible Woman) will be getting her very first solo series also debuting in July. Artist Mattia De Iulis will illustrate the project. Executive editor Tom Breevort says,
“In over fifty years, she’s never had her own title (or maybe she did and you just didn’t see it). Waid and De Iulis will be delving into what Sue Richards does—and even who she is—on her own time, apart from her famous family! It’s sure to surprise some—as will a few of the gestures-players who’ll be passing through the story!”
Here’s a look at the first issue cover by Adam Hughes:
Will you be checking out both of these books? What kind of stories do you hope Waid delivers? Leave us a comment!
Flash has returned from his team up with Batman to a changed Central City. The entire city has smiles on their faces and pleasant attitudes. This wouldn’t be such a problem if not for the fact it’s clear they capture those who don’t smile. This is thanks to the brainwashing of the Trickster, who is planning his come back. Will James Jesse get the last laugh over the Scarlet Speedster?
**Some Spoilers Below**
Story:
We open to find James Jesse asking Commander Cold questions about the future. He hopes to learn that his name is remembered, especially after Warden Wolfe got rid of any evidence of his existence. After his search turns up nothing, James goes to happy-fy some civilians, including Barry. As he gets forced through the machine to brainwash him, Barry vibrates to get through unaffected. He quickly changes into the Flash and goes to find Cold. He frees the Renegade leaders down the pair team up to take on the younger Trickster. The Tricksters, however, have one last trick up their sleeve.
This is a great issue. There’s plenty of action when fighting the Tricksters as well as suspense. I won’t lie; I was nervous when the Trickster was revealed to be the next villain. Despite his history with the Flash, he isn’t exactly precisely an A-Class villain. This issue, however, shows he is indeed a force to be reckoned with. Just when Flash thinks he’s one step ahead, James reveals another trick to slip him up. Trickster has gone from being a knock off of the Joker to standing in the spotlight all his own.
The only part of the comic I wasn’t a fan of was the very dark cliffhanger ending. While it does cement the threat that is the Trickster, it was a step too far. The Flash isn’t afraid of delivering darker story elements, but this was a bit of a leap. There’s no doubt that this is just another trick, but I wasn’t a fan of this.
Art:
While I usually am not a fan of Scott Kolin’s style, it does fit the story exceptionally well. It allows the Trickster to look genuinely intimidating, yet colorful enough to keep his aesthetic. Every page walks that line of the lighter tones of the Flash and darker tones the Trickster’s plot promises. I am both terrified and excited to see where this art and the story go next.
Conclusion:
Overall this is a great issue of the Flash, and it’s all thanks to its villain. James Jesse is a great antagonist, and his actions in the story prove it ten times over. The art helps capture the style of the villain as well, making it both humorous and terrifying. While the cliffhanger might be a bit dark for this reviewer’s tastes, it’s another fantastic chapter to an already intriguing story.
**Some Spoilers Below**
