Funnybooks Offline: Mystery Men #1-3 (2011 – Marvel)

Welcome to the glorious return of Funnybooks Offline … here’s hoping we can keep this a weekly column this time :) .  So what’s Funnybooks Offline?  Well, all your regular co-hosts on Funnybooks read a lot more comics than just the ones we talk about.  Great books like Irredeemable, Little Depressed Boy, Wolverine, and others that don’t get talked about on the show.  Mostly the reason is that we’ve found, when only one person has read a particular book, it takes away from the discussion format of the show for them to review it alone.   However, that also means that there are some great books out there that aren’t getting talked about.  Funnybooks Offline is our answer to that.

I spoke about Marvel’s new Mystery Men title recently on the show, but the review was left on the cutting room floor because it hurt the flow of the episode.  I’m okay with that though because it gives me a separate venue to discuss the series at more length, having read through issue three now. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on July 20th, 2011 , Columns, Comics, Funnybooks Offline, Marvel
FUNNYBOOKS OFFLINE: Point One and those to come!

Now that the first month of Marvel’s Point One Initiative is over, maybe it’s time to take a look at see how successful it’s been.  While sales numbers are still forthcoming for February, I’m looking more at the purpose of the initiative – affordable jumping on points that would allow new readers to give the titles a shot, as well as give them a sign of things to come in the coming year.

Gotta admit, I liked it when these types of books were done as 10 cent books, or 25 cent books…or hell, even a buck.  The Point One titles are $2.99, which I think might be counter-intuitive to the sales expectations that they Marvel may be expecting from them.  Still, how are these books working as far as their efforts to bring new readers in?  Check out my thoughts on the first three Point One books after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

Written on February 21st, 2011 , Columns, Comics, Funnybooks Offline, Marvel
Funnybooks Offline: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder?

So…as you may have heard in today’s episode of Funnybooks, I loved Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason’s first issue on Batman and Robin, issue #20.  Patrick Gleason also wrote one of my favorite post-Final Crisis Batman moments, with Alfred saying goodbye to Bruce Wayne in the Batman and the Outsiders Special.  It was an emotional moment rarely seen in Bat-comics, and definitely welcome.

Batman and Robin #20 had another of these awesome emotional moments (I won’t ruin it for you here, but I’m sure it’s on the internet somewhere).  Not only that, Gleason gets Dick Grayson.  One of the biggest complaints I’ve had about the Dick Grayson Batman is that, when he’s in the costume, he’s written the same as Bruce Wayne.  Definitely not so with Gleason’s Batman, who paints Grayson as the Batman we’d expect the former Nightwing to be.  Coupled with absolutely gorgeous Patrick Gleason art and a $2.99 price tag, Batman and Robin is a definite must-own.

Buuuuutt…something odd popped up in DC’s May solicits for the Bat-titles.

BATMAN & ROBIN #23
Written by JUDD WINICK
Art and cover by GUILLEM MARCH
1:10 Variant cover by GENE HA
Jason Todd – Batman’s one-time sidekick, currently the anti-hero known as Red Hood – has been imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for the past several months. But after a period of good behavior, will a transfer to a lower-security prison mean reformation for Jason Todd . . . or is trouble waiting in the wings for Batman and Robin? Don’t miss “The Streets Run Red” part one of three!
On sale MAY 11 • 32 pg, FC $2.99 US • RATED T

So…Tomasi and Gleason’s run, which was actually delayed due to their work on Brightest Day by three issues (it was originally scheduled to start with issue #17) is either taking another break, or is actually over after three issues?  Ummm….what the hell?

Of course DC doesn’t have to answer for changes in schedules and all that, but this is the latest in a series of issues with the Batman titles (unannounced fill-ins, changes in creative teams, delays), with very little reasoning or answers as to why, as well as no real explanation as to whether changes are temporary or permanent.  It’s a shame, as this run is off to a great start, and while I think Judd Winick and Guillem March are a fantastic team, I’ve got to admit…damn.  I was really hyped for this current run, and three days after the first issue of it came out, we’re already getting announcement of a fill-in?  Hopefully we get some more news on the creative team change, and its permanence, in the coming weeks.

Written on February 14th, 2011 , Columns, Comics, DC, Funnybooks Offline
Funnybooks Offline: Twilight Guardian

In 2008 writer Troy Hickman won the second Top Cow Pilot Season with his title Twilight Guardian.  Twilight Guardian was the story of a young woman who was obsessed with being a superhero and went out every night patrolling her neighborhood.  This title was different because it didn’t actually involve any violence or superpowers.  It was simply this one woman’s tale of her delusional life and it captured enough interest to win the Pilot Season voting.

As a fan of Hickman’s previous work and this title in particular I had been eagerly awaiting the series that was the prize granted for wining a Pilot Season.  As time went on I began to wonder if we would ever actually see the title in print.  In June of 2010 Paul and I had the opportunity to interview Filip Sablik the publisher of Top Cow Comics.  Naturally I asked him about the future of Twilight Guardian and was pleased to hear that they were finalizing the art team and the book would be published.  Seven months later after I had given up all hope of seeing it once again the first issue of the title has finally come out. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on February 9th, 2011 , Blogs, Columns, Comics, Funnybooks Offline
Funnybooks Offline: The Outfit

From what I can tell of writer Donald Westlake, he seems to have been an interesting guy.  He wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark, and created the hard-boiled character Parker, a no-holds-barred kind of crook who always has a plan and always gets the better of his enemies.   He’s licensed out a couple of his books (the most recent adaptation being the Mel Gibson movie Payback), but never allowed those adaptations to actually use the name “Parker.”

Darwyn Cooke has begun the process of adapting some of Westlake’s novels, beginning with The Hunter in 2009 (the book on with Payback was based) and continuing in 2010′s The Outfit, which I wasn’t able to pick up until recently.  The Hunter was by far my favorite OGN of 2009 … did The Outfit follow suit? Read the rest of this entry »

Written on February 7th, 2011 , Columns, Comics, Funnybooks Offline, Independent
Funnybooks Offline: Witchblade Trades

Witchblade #110, the comic that brought me back into the series.

We’ve made no secret of our love for Ron Marz and his work going on in the Top Cow universe.  I picked up Witchblade at the beginning, but, like a lot of fans, dropped off somewhere along the lines.  I don’t think I had any good reason – looking through the catalog of Witchblade sometime after I dropped it, it looks like it kept a consistent quality, with artists like Francis Manapul and Tony Daniel, writers like Troy Hickman and David Wohl, and some pretty interesting storylines.  Still…I didn’t come back into the fold until Witchblade #110, during the First Born storyline in which Sara Pezzini gave birth to her baby.

Since then, I’ve been hooked on the adventures of Sara, especially once the current dream team of Marz and artist Stjepan Sejic signed on to be the regular Witchblade team with issue #116 (with a run guaranteed to go through at least #150).  At some point recently, I decided to check out the previous issues of Marz’s run (rather than trying to take on the daunting task of starting with issue #1 all over again), which began with a $5 trade, Witchblade, Vol. I: Witch Hunt.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on February 2nd, 2011 , Columns, Comics, Funnybooks Offline, Image
Funnybooks Offline: New Horror Comics!

It’s too bad my fellow Funnybooks co-host Tim doesn’t like horror, because 2011 has already proven itself to be a pretty good year for fans of the macabre when it comes to our weekly floppies.  Three comics have come out in recent weeks that have all been pretty solid horror entries, and that’s certainly not the easiest thing to do.

Horror in comics typically doesn’t work.  It’s hard to build tension, or get the shock that typically comes from horror movies.  Every once in a while, a horror anthology gets released, but the tales are usually stifled by poor art, bad writing, or cliched storytelling.

Still, in recent weeks, I’ve seen some good horror comics come our way, and I wanted to take a moment to recognize them for our horror fans out there! Read the rest of this entry »

Written on January 24th, 2011 , Columns, Comics, Funnybooks Offline, Image, Independent
Funnybooks Offline: Damian Wayne Animated!

I know the guys give me a pretty hard time about picking up Grant Morrison’s run on Batman, but I think the one thing that we’ve all come to agree upon is that at least one good thing has come out of it – Damian Wayne.  Sure, the character started as a little prick that we were just waiting to die off, but as the character matured, he became something we’ve never seen before – a badass Robin.  Tim Drake was awesome, Dick Grayson as well.  Jason Todd was a little schmuck.  But Damian has been kicking ass and taking names.

Which is why preview footage of a recent Batman: Brave and the Bold episode (episode S02E22), entitled “Knights of Tomorrow,” had me excited.  It showed a Dick Grayson Batman facing off against the “son of the Joker,” and the first animated appearance of Damian Wayne! Read the rest of this entry »

Written on December 14th, 2010 , Animated, Columns, Funnybooks Offline, Movies & TV, Superhero
Funnybooks Offline: From the Cutting Room Floor…

We talk about a ton of books on FUNNYBOOKS, but not every book we read makes the weekly podcast, especially when only one of us has read it.  Still, there’s a bunch of good stuff (and horrible stuff) out there that you’re curious about, and that we’d love to tell you about.  Welcome to From the Cutting Room Floor, where we can tell you about the books that got excised from the program, and whether you should spend your hard earned money on them.  After the jump, short reviews of…

  • Batman and Robin #17 (DC Comics)
  • Detective Comics #871 (DC Comics)
  • Hollow Point/Damaged Radical Premiere (Radical Comics)
  • Chew, Vol. 3: Just Desserts (Image Comics)

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on November 29th, 2010 , Columns, DC, Funnybooks Offline, Image, Independent
Funnybooks Offline: Island of Batman!

Ever ventured to Universal Orlando’s Island of Adventure, and taken a walk through Marvel Super Hero Island?  It’s great to ride attractions and walk through a theme park experience based on some of your favorite comic book characters, but I’ve got to say, I’m a little bummed that, since the opening of Islands of Adventure in 1999, nothing new has opened in the area since 2000′s Storm Force Acceleration and, despite being the comic loving fiend I am, it’s one of the areas of the park I’m least excited about for repeat visits, despite my love for the Hulk Coaster and Spider-Man rides.

Not many folks know that Marvel’s superhero universe wasn’t the original plan for the park, however.  No, the original plans were to make the park heavily themed on the Batman universe, with influences from both the movies (plans began in 1992, before the movies started sucking) and the comics.  Read the rest of this entry »

Written on November 26th, 2010 , Columns, Comics, DC, Funnybooks Offline, Theme Parks Tags: ,
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