A missive to Marvel: Captain Marvel

Dear Marvel,

I have recently heard rumours, via the entertainment website bleedingcool.com, that ‘Captain Marvel’ was facing cancellation, due to its falling below the so-called “kill line” of 20,000 or more sales.

As a female reader (yes, sorry, but I am going to play the gender card) it is not often that I come across a strong character that I can identify with. Carol Danvers is one of those few and far between ladies, she is strong when she needs to be, but human enough for us readers to empathise with her. Not that I need to be telling you that of course, you’re the marvellous folks who saw the vision Kelly Sue DeConnick had, and chose to give her the chance to bring that vision to life.

The humanity that Kelly Sue shows within Captain Marvel, and the way that the character is drawn by the highly talented Dexter Soy, make Captain Marvel one of the top books on my pull list, and the weeks it comes out are a joy, seeing the online love for the character and the book pouring out on Twitter and Facebook.

I for one would be very sad to see Captain Marvel dropped, not least because it would mean one less book I could recommend towards friends who do not currently read comics, especially female friends.

Kind regards

Sarah Bell

Pull list 30/01/13

This weeks pull list contains:

Emily And The Strangers #1
Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill #1
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #5
Flash #16
Green Lantern Crops Annual #1
Red Lanterns #16
Lot 13 #4
Mara #2
Adventure Time #12

Hopefully there will also be a few back issues of Marceline and the Scream Queens to finish off that limited run, and maybe a treat or two as well...

Joe Hill's The Cape

Joe Hill's The Cape

Author: Jason Ciaramella
Artist: Zach Howard
Colourist: Nelson Daniel
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Publisher: IDW Publishing

Writing a review on a book whilst remaining spoiler free isn't easy, even when the book was published in collected form in May of 2012 and virtually everyone you know has read it before.
I'm struggling to come up with words for how good The Cape is, with using overly gushing praise or simply writing a list of adjectives such as awesome, brilliant, stunning...

Suffice to say, The Cape turns the classic 'capes and cowls' superhero genre on its head, subverting the expected in a series on events that repeatedly led to my hand covering my mouth, a shocked expression on my face and more than one muttered expletive.

Howard's art and Daniel's colours mix the youthful exuberance of a young Eric with the broken man he grows in to with a startling grace. Even in the twisted interior of Eric's head there is a dark beauty to be found, if you are willing to look for it.

Saying any more would give too much away, but I can't encourage anyone to read this enough. As the lovely H_Paz on Twitter put it: just say "it was like, woah. But then it got more crazy and I was like, DAYUM. This shit is nuts, read it". I couldn't have put it better myself.

Best of 2012

So, it is around the time of the year when people start looking back at what has gone in the past twelve months or so, and compile lists of their favourite music/books/films/etc. In my case, in order to compare with those of MrGiantwoman and the lovely Bob Reyer of Talking Comics, I have dutifully compiled several lists of comic books, writers and artists that have caught my eye, piqued my interest and generally worked their way in to my heart and mind this past year.

Some categories have gotten five or six entrants, some have just got the one. This is partly because some of the entrants were out and out favourites of my year, and partly because there were some books that were just too good to miss out on putting in. It may also have something to do with me being indecisive, but I'm blaming in on there just being so many great books out in 2012

I've listed my current "best of" list below, and will try and go in to more details on several of the books over the course of the next week or so, as some of these are absolute corkers that shouldn't be missed.

So, without further ado the lists:

Best continuing series:

Mind The Gap

Revival

Saga

Captain Marvel

Thief of Thieves

Best limited or mini-series:

Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe

New Deadwardians

Hit Girl

Best single issue or one shot:

Iron Muslim

A Babies Vs X-Babies

Halloween Eve

Amazing Spider-Man #698

Best story arc:

Death of Peter Parker (ASM #698-700)

Intimate Strangers (Mind The Gap #1-6)

Prince of Thieves (Fairest #1-6)

Best Writer:

Jim McCann

Brian K Vaughan

Brian Wood

Bill Willingham

Best Artist:

Rodin Esquejo

Skottie Young

Fiona Staples

Koray Kuranel (Point of Impact)
Menton3

Best Cover:

Fairest #3, #8

Anything from Mind The Gap!

Before Watchmen #2

Revival #3

IT Girl and the Atomics #1 (standard cover)

Lady Mechanika #1

Best Humour:

A Babies Vs X-Babies

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Deadpool (Marvel NOW)

Best Anthology:

Womanthology

Best kids/young readers:

A Babies Vs X-Babies

Have I missed anything? Have I included something you think I shouldn't have? Let me know in the comments, I'm always open to new reading suggestions.

Transfusion: Vampires versus robots #1

Transfusion: vampires versus robots
Writer - Steve Niles
Art - Menton3
Publisher - IDW

Despite the ridiculous subtitle of this book, I picked it up, almost entirely because the artwork is by the bizarrely named Menton3, often touted by Steve of Talking Comics fame, therefore worth a shot. I have to say, Steve is right about Menton3; his art is haunting, terrifying, beautiful and obscene. Like nothing else I've seen in popular press, the subdued palette he uses only serves to accentuate the lines of his haunting figures, refugees hiding in shadows and grotesque robots stalking a ruined Earth.

The story itself develops slowly across the course of this first issue, but gives just enough storyline and human interest to make me want to pick up the next. We are given a quick summation of how the world came to be as it is at the start of the story, and are then dropped straight in to the 'action'. I have to add those quotation marks, as one of the features that appeals to me about this book is the calm, almost placid way the images are presented, even when showing scenes of graphic horror and death.

I will certainly be looking out for future books in this series, as despite the strange, almost silly premise, as a first issue this book gave me a lot more than I was expecting.

iT Girl! and the Atomics #1

iT Girl! and the Atomics

Writer - Jamie S. Rich
Artists - Mike Norton
Colours - Allen Passalaqua
Lettering - Crank!
Cover - AMichael & Laura Allred
Publisher  -Image

I am a girl. This is not something I often admit too, because I'm not very feminine at all, I don't have many (any?) traditionally female-oriented interests, and I'd rather go kick-boxing or play an RPG than go shopping. 

However, sometimes my inner-princess gets the better of me, a good example of that being when I saw the front cover of new Image title 'iT Girl! and the Atomics'. Add in some blurb from Fiona Staples on the cover singing its praises, and I duly handed over my hard-earned pennies and walked out of the shop clutching my new pink-and-lilac purchase.

While most of the characters are taken from the pages of Madman & The Atomics (which I have not read), they are given enough exposition that this is an easy pick up, no background knowledge needed. This title gave me everything I wanted: sassy females, comedic bad guys, mad scientists and enough action for set me up for the next issue. The magazine style front cover gives you hints as to the content, without giving anything major away unless you are aware of the characters from their previous books.

Much of the book is taken up with explaining what it going on in the world, and setting up the main characters, but iT Girl has enough personality to carry the plot, and Rich introduces the supporting cast with enough speed to keep the reader interested, but not to confuse them.

Mike Nortons artwork is lovely, perfectly complementing the story and the bright (dare I say feminine) colour palette used reflects the tone of the story, darkening for panels of danger or action, and light and breezy when it needs to be.

Overall I would say this is a good start to a new series, and hey, maybe you have a lady friend who would like a get in to comics? If she wasn't convinced by Captain Marvel (if not, is she mad?!) try her on iT Girl, she might see what all the fuss is about after all.

Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe #1

Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe


Writer - Cullen Bunn
Artist - Dalibor Talajic
Colourist - Lee Loughridge
Letterer - Joe Sabino
Cover - Kaare Andrews
Publisher - Marvel


This isn't the kind of comic I would normally pick up for myself, but as MrGiantwoman is something of a Deadpool fanboy, it seemed only right that I give it a read too. Luckily, I have learnt to turn my brain off before opening a Deadpool title, regardless of who has written it or what it is about. This title is no exception to that rule!


Part one of a four part series, it does exactly what you can expect from the title. We open with our protagonist wreaking havoc on the Famous Four in his usual understated style, seven pages of gore and quips only slightly marred by the portrayal of Sue Richards that harks back more to the bad old days of the 90s than he more recent First Woman of comics persona, but that is a minor quibble from my inner feminist.


We are then treated to a bit more exposition from the Watcher, who luckily informed us before the proceedings opened that this is all occurring in a parallel universe, so as not to cause any confusion with the (seemingly eternally) ongoing Avengers vs X-Men shenanigans. It seems the X-Men have finally given up hope on poor old Wade, and have delivered him in to the hands of a progressive medic who claims he can "rehabilitate" our unhinged friend. Well, I figured I could see where this one was going, but Bunn manages to throw in a curveball in the form of Psycho Man, who - after even more verbal sparring - thinks he has the better of 'Pool. Silly Psycho Man. The voices in Deadpools head (slightly confusing for one such as myself that have not read that much of his previous exploits, but easily identified through liberal used of various coloured speech boxes) have themselves a little party, then we get back to business; bloody, murderous rampage!


Sadly the story gets a bit confused by itself at the end of this first issue, because a character that was alive at the start then meets his maker by the end, an event that happened before the book began. Confused? So was Bunn apparently. Still, having turned my brain off I wasn't overly concerned, because it plays for laughs and lives up to the lovely parental warning on the front cover.


The artwork is fairly decent, given that a few major players make appearances, and the colouring suits the tone. It's all a bit mad and unhinged. As it should be.


This is not a comic to pick up if you are looking for something cerebral, but for a fun diversion from reality Deadpool Kills... ticks all the boxes.