Monday, December 10, 2007

Hellboy II images

Over at Dark Horse, they've released a few preview images for the upcoming Hellboy II: The Golden Army movie. They look pretty awesome, and they also state: "Hellboy II is set for release on July 11, 2008."

Pardon the pun, but that Liz picture is smokin'.

Friday, December 7, 2007

What If... Vol II #33

What If... The Phoenix Rose Again?

I just happened across what is quite possibly the funniest "What If?" ever. Boy, I sure wonder what it would be like if Marvel reintroduced the Phoenix. But they'd never stoop so low as to recycle that story, would they? Oh 1992, you are so cute when you're naive.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Showcase: Sgt. Rock

Finishing off the triple threat of DC war comics, after “The War That Time Forgot” and “The Haunted Tank”, I picked up “Sgt. Rock”. Of the three, this is the one that I was the least nervous about diving into, as the great Joe Kubert is really at his best when he's working on Sgt. Rock and the Easy Company, and even in the black and white Showcase format, his pages still look great.

The one thing I am really enjoying, both in this book and the other war books, is the fantastic examples of compressed storytelling that is on display. Ten, fifteen pages, and the tale has solid characters, efficient drama, and a sound conclusion. Reading this in contrast to the books that are coming out monthly is really illustrating the trend away from self-contained tales in modern comics, and it makes me a little sad that this type of story is nearly extinct.

Scott Pilgrim vol.4

I had been sitting on this purchase for a while, just waiting for the right moment to crack it open and enjoy it. Scott Pilgrim has been one of my favorite books to read over the past couple of years, so the much anticipated new volume couldn't be wasted by reading it while on the can, so I waited until I had an evening free just to myself to really sit back and enjoy it.

Now, it hurts me to say this but, while the evening itself was quite relaxing and nice, the actual book left me a little flat. Not to say that it's not better than 80% of what's out there, but this edition just seemed too introspective,too caught up in all the little pieces of the story rather than pushing the pacing forward. I usually have this great feeling of anticipation reading Scott Pilgrim, and this time around, it was missing, and then, just like that, the book was over.

Bryan Lee O'Malley has created a great cast of characters, and I get that he's trying to give everyone their screen time, but I just feel that it should be more organic to the narrative, and not merely scenes written to feature characters. Every scene should more the story forward, and scenes that don't should be trimmed, or else, you end up with the comic equivalent of an art house film; pretty looking, but unsatisfying.