Tag Archives: David Finch

Comic Rack: New JLA, A New Green Lantern, & Jack Kirby’s Birthday!

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

A New Justice League In 2013!

Jim Lee and Geoff Johns have been hitting it off pretty hard with the New 52’s Justice League, a book that’s been breaking sales records in an industry that people thought was growing stagnant. Now with a book that’s selling well and a movie that’s in the works, it’s clear that the Justice League is back to the forefront of fans’ interest. Accordingly, Geoff Johns, DC”s head maestro, is looking to re-debut the more traditionally named Justice League Of America, next year.

Via [GEEK]

“This is a very different kind of team book,” says Geoff Johns in a DC blog post. “On first glance, people might think the heroes of the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA stand in the shadows of Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the JUSTICE LEAGUE, but [they] thrive in the shadows. They’re underdogs who have everything to prove and something to lose. They’re a team of unlikely heroes who will help one another discover they’re as A-List as anybody — yes, even Vibe. Though getting there won’t be easy. Why they’re formed, why each member joins, what they’re after and who the society of villains is they’re trying to take apart will all be clear in the first issue when it hits early 2013. David and I are really focused on delving deep into what it’s like to not be a member of the big seven and why, sometimes, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”

The roster of heroes to be joining will be Green Arrow, Katana, Martian Manhunter, The New Green Lantern (Baz I presume), Star Girl, Vibe, Hawkman, and Catwoman. Which really does sound like an… eclectic team to say the least. But if there’s one thing that Geoff Johns is good at, it’s making lesser, forgotten, or wayside characters shine and pop like they’re brand new again. Case in point being Aquaman, which is one of my favorite DC books right now, and that in and of itself is a sentence I never thought I’d type. So I’m looking forward to the new JLA, since at the very least, it’ll be interesting to see Green Arrow try to hit on Catwoman.

Invincible’s Spin-Off Finally Looming Into Becoming A Reality.

For a while in 2010, Invincible was probably the best superhero book on the shelves. Not that it’s gotten bad or anything, just the opposite, but back then the Viltrumite War was happening, and that story arc was really kind of the climax of the entire story that Invincible had been building up to. Now it’s rebuilding it’s world, and it’s heroes to that effect, and in doing so, is expanding it’s actual line up by bringing back the Guardians Of The Globe, who fans of the book will remember as the Justice League analogue in the book. A few months ago,the book’s writer, Phil Hester, spoke about the book, and where it falls into place regarding the Invincible Timeline:

Via [Newsarama]

“The Invincible Universe has outgrown its parent title and I’m very excited about being able to tell larger, more in depth stories with some of the key players from that book in this series,” said GUARDING THE GLOBE creator/writer Robert Kirkman, “Phil Hester and Todd Nauck are well known to fans of superhero comics and I think people are fully aware that they’re going to knock this book out of the park.”

I’m interested to see where he takes the heroes we’ve come to know and care about in the Invincible/Image universe, and the idea of seeing Brit back in action sounds pretty great. Best of all, you can even check a 6-Page preview of the book right here.(link)

The New Green Lantern, Baz, Is Arab-American.

I know, for some of you, this shouldn’t mean anything, and good on you for thinking it doesn’t, because it shouldn’t. However, it unfortunately does, and a small section of xenophobic comics fans, whether they want to admit it or not, will have a problem with this.

via [Newsarama]

 “The confirmation comes from an unlikely yet reliable source:  Green Lantern writer and DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns is appearing on Sept. 8 at the Arab American National Museum in Detroit to mark the hero’s debut, according to a story in the Detroit Free Press.

The article, which called the hero the “first Arab-American Green Lantern,” is also the first DC confirmation of the character’s name — ‘Baz’.”

Believe me, I want to say that this kind of story should be no big deal, but the fact is that some people will make it out to be. A similar thing happened a long time ago when they had Nightrunner back in 2011 for Batman Inc. Nightrunner was a Muslim character who lived in France, of all places, who was taking up the mantle of Batman there. Unfortunately, the mere fact he was Muslim led people to thinking he was “Terrorist Batman”, (which is literally what Mark Millar does, but that’s neither here nor there), and people judging the character before even reading anything or knowing anything about him, and that’s without that character even BEING Arab or anything. Hopefully, I’m over-speculating, and it’ll be no big deal at all, but I do have to give kudos to Geoff Johns for trying to expand the idea of an establishing the idea that a superhero doesn’t need to be a white person, and having a representation in the book there for the plenty of Arab-American comics fans.

Wait, what? Why are they beating him up? Oh Man…

Uncanny Avengers Spearheads The Lineup of Marvel Now, Marvel Insists It’s Not A Reboot.

Fans of Marvel will have a lot to look forward to in the coming months, as we’ve previously detailed here at GB. But what’s interesting is the basic idea of trying to unite the two different sides of Marvel fandom. One being the Avengers/Marvel U fans, and the other being the longtime X-Men fans. This summer’s big event AvX was an attempt to start this, and really has kicked things off for them to cancel, revamp, and re-begin (I’m trying to avoid the word “re-boot”) certain main titles in the effort to make all X-Men fans, Marvel fans, and vice versa.

via [CBR]

“It’s a team of characters comprised of characters coming both from the Marvel heroes, Avengers side of the fence and characters from the X-Men side of the fence,” said Brevoort. “It’s our cats and dogs in the same pen book.”

Alonso added that part of the major appeal of “AvX” is that it spans the entire Marvel Universe as opposed to just the Avengers, Spider-Man or the X-Men segments — something he hopes will continue with “Uncanny Avengers.” “With ‘Uncanny Avengers,’ you’re going to see a book that’s going to be relevant to both types of fans: the fans who gravitate towards the Avengers and the larger Marvel Universe and fans who are all about the X-Men.”

That’s just one of the main focal points that they’re trying to get across to their fan base, but along with that is their plans to with Marvel NOW! Point One, which is a collection of stories by big name Marvel Creators such as Brian Michael Bendis, Steve McNiven, Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuiness, Nick Spencer, Matt Fraction and more.

“Marvel NOW! Point One’ is sort of the kickoff of our entry into Marvel NOW! and also gives a new setup and little taste,” said Brevoort. “Completely all-new stories that are not the first eight pages of the individual books that are involved of a number of new titles that are coming out in the context of a full story. All — I think it’s 50 pages of this thing — are new content by the biggest creators.”

There’s a ton more in the article where they even mention the New 52, and it’s switching of creative teams early on, as an example of what they will NOT be doing. Along with that, there’s the brief mention of digital content codes being included in books priced at $3.99, and a few other tidbits that are all very enlightening about the longterm goals of this re…launch. Ahem. Anyhow, make sure you go back to CBR and read the whole thing, because there are loads more interesting anecdotes from the Marvel VP of Sales and Marvel’s Editors on the whole shebang.

In Case You Didn’t Know Or Forgot, This Week Was Jack Kirby’s Birthday!

August 28th was the day, and if the man was still alive today it would have been his 95th birthday. If for some sick reason you don’t know, Jack Kirby is the one who many believe to be TRULY responsible for the myriad Marvel characters you enjoy, and that the credit is unfairly balanced towards Stan Lee in his stead. Personally, I’ve always loved both, but it is pretty prevalent that Kirby, outside of the comics world, has never gotten the recognition for his work that Lee has. Regardless, Kirby has contributed to the comics landscape with unforgettable, imaginative characters and worlds that are timelessly evocative and creative. He was the guy who brought us Captain America, many of the X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Darkseid, The Fourth World, The Anti-Life Equation, The New Gods, and so many others that we love.

I’m not hating on Stan Lee, but there’s a reason he’s Stan “The Man”, and Kirby is “The King”.

CCI 2012: Exclusive Figures Round Up

Comic Con is always an awesome time for us fan boys and girls. The smell of new comics on a mornings day, the greasepaint on some guy’s face who’s dressed as the Joker, and exclusive action figures.

Continue reading CCI 2012: Exclusive Figures Round Up

DCNu: 52 Brand New #1’s – Batman

Renumbering. It’s a tried and true method of bringing up sales, as well as introducing new readers into the story. Renumbering a popular title is most often done when a high-numbered series is receiving a new creative team, new storyline etc. Spider-Man has done it a few times, The Ultimate Marvel line has done it a few times, but DC has remained relatively unscathed by this trend.

Until now…

Continue reading DCNu: 52 Brand New #1’s – Batman

Bat-Comics: Harvey Dent, Jason Todd, and the History of Gotham

A lot has happened since my Gratuitous Batman Update from a while back, so I thought I’d try to get you caught up a little on the source material – the comic books.

Let’s start with something I didn’t cover last time around, the new series from David Finch and Scott Williams

– Batman: The Dark Knight #1-2

This new book looks at Bruce Wayne while Dick, Tim, and Damian are off on their own. These first 2 issues have Bruce looking for a kidnapped girl, and his search leads him to Killer Croc. Croc is strung out on a low-street grade of ‘venom’, the drug that Bane uses to bulk up. Bats learns that Croc is working as muscle for The Penguin, but not until after Batman tortures Cobblepot, breaking several of his limbs. The 2nd issue ends with Batman captured by Croc and ready to be tortured.

I like the art, I love the story, both issues were enjoyable and I look forward to the 3rd.

 

– Batman #710

Issues 708 and 709 (Which were reviewed Here) closed up the ‘Judgement on Gotham’ arc, so we now look to #710, we do so at the start of a new story; Two-Face Returns!

Harvey Dent is back in town and missing his lucky coin, so he’s killing his way through Gotham looking for it. Well, Dent seems now forever tied to the Falcone Crime Family, and when Mario Falcone hears about his return he sets a trap. Mario is accompanied by a mysterious woman, and it’s not till the last page we find out who she is – Gilda Dent. The book ends with Gilda putting several bullets into Harvey’s chest…


– Detective Comics #875-876

Most of 875 focuses on flashbacks of Jim Gordon’s, and what lead him to believe his own son is a killer. Batman doesn’t actually show up till the end of the book, but we’re lead to believe that Jim Jr. killed one of Barbara’s friends as a child and the Commissioner is convinced his son hasn’t changed. This seems to be building to something bigger to come. In 876 we get back to Bats and his investigation into the appearance of a giant killer whale in the lobby of a bank. This leads Dick to a custom car lot in which is about to be crushed to death when the story stops.

A relatively short issue, though we are given a preview to Arkham City #1 in the back…

– Batman: Arkham City #1 – CLICK HERE

– Batman & Robin #22-23

In issue 22 we wrap up the ‘White Knight’ arc and are given another respectable addition to the Rouges Gallery. This one isn’t as strong as the last chapter, but we do see him head to Arkham in an attempt to wipe out the scum that reside there once and for all. In the end we learn that the White Knight’s father was a guard at Arkham before being killed in a riot by Dr. Phosphorous. Before the Knight (aka Lewis Bayard) can return the favor his is put down by out new Dynamic Duo. It’s nice to see Dick and Damian starting to build their own Rouge’s Gallery to add to Bruce’s. In addition to the White Knight, you could also credit them with Prof. Pyg, The Flamingo, and The Dealer. Not too shabby a crew.

Issue 23 brings us not only a new arc, but a new creative team as well. Tomasi, Gleason, and Gray are replaced by Winick, March, and Bresson. And the new team kicked things off with a bang, going back to where the book began, dealing with Jason Todd. Todd is demanding to be transferred out of Arkham and into a regular prison as he is crazy, only psychotic. Once transferred he starts killing other inmates at a prodigious rate and is ultimately sent back to Arkham, only this time the transport doesn’t make it. A new team of apparent ThunderCat rejects attack the convoy and free Jason. Their motives are not made clear, but the appear to be headed on the road to being jobbers more so than respectable villains.

– Batman: Gates of Gotham #1 of 5

This is the start of a 5 Issue Mini-Series examining the some of the most prominent families in Gotham. The book starts out in the 1881 as we see the start of planing for the great City to be. Present at the meeting are men belonging to the families of Wayne, Cobblepot, and Elliot.

Present day we see Bruce and Tim tracking down a shipment of explosives that have entered Gotham, and we see the 3 oldest bridges in Gotham blown up. It’s only then that they begin to see the look into the connection between the Penguin, Hush, and the Waynes. The end of the issue teases the reveal of the fourth ‘Family of Gotham’, but we’ll have to wait to find out who that is…

For some more cover art on upcoming issues, you can CLICK HERE….