AMC Orders First Season of THE WALKING DEAD

According to HitFix, AMC has ordered a six-episode first season of Robert Kirkman’s hit zombie comic series The Walking Dead.  The series is set to begin airing in October of 2010 – so, not very long at all.

Fans of TV will know AMC from the stellar success of their two current dramas, Breaking Bad and Mad Men.  For those that haven’t seen the shows, I VERY highly recommend both, and both can be viewed as a strong suggestion that The Walking Dead is in good hands.

The Unread Canon: The Punisher MAX: In The Beginning

Everyone has a set of entertainment by which they’ll swear, the ones they’ll eventually convince every friend to watch/listen to/read.  Sometimes, those suggestions are echoed time and again all over the place, and even the most jaded, world-weary or dirt-poor fan of the medium has to get curious about just what all that fuss is for.  That’s why I’ve started The Unread Canon, my attempt to experience a great deal more of comics than I already have and take a look at the books that, over the past few years (or, in some cases, decades) have achieved passionate, vocal critical and fan supporters that have nevertheless managed to slip by me and to try and look at how they grew, how they aged, why they work, or why they might not work so well anymore.

Trailer News: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Go, my friends.  Go and be merry.

The film looks like it’ll be a helluva lot of fun, combining the first few Scott Pilgrim books together into what the poster describes as ‘an epic of epic epicness’.  Directed by Edgar Wright, of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and starring Michael Cera (Arrested Development), we can only hope that it lives up to the hype.

And if you’ve never read the comic series, well… get to it!  The first volume is a little slow, but it’s worth it.

Review: Nemesis #1

Review: Joe the Barbarian #3

Morrison and Murphy continue to follow Joe’s slow descent into death in another exciting, creative, and at least mildly chilling issue of Joe the Barbarian.  Murphy and colorist Dave Stewart have fleshed out Joe’s fantasy world, creating a vivid, almost surreal fantasy land-scape that is, quite honestly, breathtaking.  The really powerful moments continue to come in the increasingly brief moments we spend with Joe as he wanders down from the attic, in what is absolutely the most epic quest ever undertaken to reach a refrigerator.  Morrison peppers the issue with some absurdly dark humor, but solid action beats and excellent world-building help keep the book from devolving into depression.  Joe the Barbarian #3 continues to provide some top-notch fantasy colored by a tragic, unforgettable undercurrent.

Grade: A-

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

Joe the Barbarian #2

Joe the Barbarian #1

The Unread Canon: The Walking Dead: Miles Behind Us

Everyone has a set of entertainment by which they’ll swear, the ones they’ll eventually convince every friend to watch/listen to/read.  Sometimes, those suggestions are echoed time and again all over the place, and even the most jaded, world-weary or dirt-poor fan of the medium has to get curious about just what all that fuss is for.  That’s why I’ve started The Unread Canon, my attempt to experience a great deal more of comics than I already have and take a look at the books that, over the past few years (or, in some cases, decades) have achieved passionate, vocal critical and fan supporters that have nevertheless managed to slip by me and to try and look at how they grew, how they aged, why they work, or why they might not work so well anymore.

Review: Siege #3

Siege continues to impress as characters finally wake up out of their years-long stupor and realize, “Wait, putting a bunch of supervillains in charge of everything was a bad idea, not a good one.”  Admittedly, no rationalization is given as to why this was seen to be a good idea in the first place, but in the spirit of fair reviewing, I won’t criticize Siege for the events of House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, or Dark Reign.  Instead, I will simply say this: with an excellent art team and a relentless pace, Siege resembles the epic scope and breakneck action adventure of Bendis’ best Mighty Avengers issues, but without thought bubbles or ass-shots.  There’s no impressive narrative trickery and the characters are little more than props for elaborate, gorgeous fight scenes, but that doesn’t stop Siege #3 from excelling at upping the ante of an already-epic action book.

Grade: B+

- Cal Cleary

Siege #2

Siege #1

Review: Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton #1

This week, DC released two issues that kick-started massive event stories.  Of the two, Last Stand of New Krypton was the one I was most looking forward to.  However, the Justice League: Rise and Fall Special was a pleasant surprise.  And Last Stand was a mild disappointment.

Top 5 Best Comics of February 2010

With March half over, I think now’s a good time for this list, yes? I read 17 comics in February, and these were the best.

Nolan and Goyer to take on next Superman film

The LA Times has confirmed rumors that Christopher Nolan and David Goyer, the director and screenwriter behind the Batman franchise reboot, will be working their magic on Superman.

Review: Batman and Robin #10

Batman and Robin #10 marks the beginning of the book’s latest arc, and despite the fact that the issue is notably more low key than most that came before, it also just might be the best the series has offered yet.

Review: Justice League Rise and Fall Special

Regular readers know I hated the Justice League: Cry for Justice mini-series.  I found it to be almost completely devoid of redeeming values.  It was a crappy comic book by design and it lived down to its own low expectations.

The Rise and Fall storyline follows up immediately where Cry for Justice left off.  And that fact makes it hard for me to review the Justice League special objectively.  However, once I was able to separate this issue from the ridiculous mini-series that laid its foundation, I found I actually liked it well enough.

New Comics for 03/10/2010

I’m trying something new today.  I’m going to post a list of the major new releases that are scheduled for today with comments where appropriate.

The WORST part of Cry for Justice

I just posted this response over at the DC Message Boards and I thought I’d re-post it here:

After the first issue, I thought it would be hard to top Hal’s multi-page dressing down of the rest of the JLA for the title of “the worst part of Cry for Justice”. I mean, that was just inexcusable. Hal redefined the word hypocisy and the rest of the JLA just sat there with shamed looks on their faces. Any one of them could have and should have put Hal in his place. And then Hal should have apologized profusely for getting so far out of line.

But that wasn’t the worst part of Cry for Justice. Not by a long shot. Just about every issue after that seemed to be competing for the title of worst issue.

The worst part of Cry for Justice has to be the plot. It just makes no sense whatsoever. What did Prometheus have to gain from his actions? Not a damn thing. For all his effort, Prometheus gets himself captured, begs for his freedom, gloats when he gets it and then gets an arrow between the eyes.

Okay, he didn’t see the last part coming. But really, THIS was his plan? Even if GA hadn’t killed him, Prometheus was no better off at the end of CFJ than he was at the beginning. And up until then, his plan had come off pretty much perfectly.

Fun With Bat-Babes

I’ve been playing catch-up on a lot of books that I had let slip off my radar.  Surprisingly, that’s included just about every Bat-book with the exception of Batman and Robin.  When the Batman Reborn books started last year, I was generally impressed with the overall quality.  But none of the books held my attention for very long outside of Morrison’s frenetic B&R.

Of the bunch, Gotham Sirens was my least favorite.  The premise felt forced.  And the artwork was cheesecake.  And not the good kind either.  The whole book felt like an excuse to draw curvy Bat-babes in various states of undress.  So I was surprised to find that the last several issues of Gotham Sirens were actually lots of fun.

JMS Takes Over Superman and Wonder Woman

On Friday, Cal posted a note that Gail Simone had confirmed her departure from Wonder Woman.  So I thought it only appropriate to follow-up this morning with new of her replacement.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #33

I don’t think I’ve ever done a write-up on the Buffy comic book.  But I’ve been reading it from the start.  At first, I was thrilled to see the story continue.  And I marveled at the possibilities of what Whedon and company could do without the limitations of a TV budget.  But somewhere along the line, my enthusiasm for this book started to wane.  Don’t get me wrong, I still read the book regularly and more often than not, I enjoy it.  But as a continuation of the landmark TV show, the Buffy comic falls short.

I decided to write-up this issue because it contains the big reveal.  Who is Twilight?  Well, if you’ve followed the rumor mill, it’s not who you think.  Dark Horse intentionally mislead you.  No, the true identity of Twilight is something far more stupid.

Spoilers after the jump.

Review: Justice League: Cry For Justice #7

Well, that was unpleasant.  Spoilers after the jump.

As a Note: Ch-Ch-Changes

My colleague, Cal, has posted a couple of notes in the past week informing readers of some changes to his contributions to the site and also celebrating this site’s two-year anniversary.  So, I figured I’d get in on the action.

I wasn’t contributing to read/Rant when it first started.  My first write-up was a review of Action Comics 867 back in July of 2008.  Wow, has it really been that long?  (For the record, people who think I’m a Johns hater can go back and read the review.  I gave him a rave.)

Simone Off Wonder Woman

While Simone’s run on Wonder Woman has been slightly flawed, it’s also been a consistently fun, creative book during a time when DC seems more dedicated to aping Marvel than anything else.  Simone’s run, which fulfilled the difficult creative task in comics of maintaining its momentum throughout, will most certainly be missed in these parts.

Her last issue is coming up soon: #44, the issue before the title reverts to its original numbering.  And while its sad to note that Simone won’t continue shepherding the book into the future, she did, all in all, a simply wonderful job.

The full story, along with information about Simone’s upcoming Birds of Prey relaunch, can be found at DC’s home blog, The Source.

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/03/05/gail-simone-on-leaving-wonder-woman-returning-to-birds-of-prey/

- Cal Cleary