Siege (Spoiled) and Heroic Age Avengers book

First off sorry for not following through with the weekly update thing (who would of thought buying a house would take so much of one's time.) But, here i am to talk about Siege and the newest Avengers book. Siege was cool, i think i would have liked for it to go to like maybe six issues instead of 4 just cause i like longer stories generally, and this was wrapped up pretty quick. I have been reading Dark Avengers plus all the other Avenger books and I feel that all of Norman Osborn's problems came to a head way to quick only in the Siege book. Through out the Avengers books leading to Siege Norman was doing a pretty good job leading HAMMER and keeping his insanity from showing. I would have liked to see some lead up to his breaking point, like during his more stressful time his cracks would show to more than just Victoria Hand.
**Spoiler**
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I'm Fine with them offing the Sentry, but I think they did it the wrong way. Having taken him down with a helicarrier Thor combo, granted after being hit with a super charged Thor lightning bolt and some other shit, was kind of weak seeing that he was still able to kill a god just before being smote.
I liked this ending alright but i feel like it was just your typical superhero-big-battle-everyone-works-together-to-take-down-the-super-baddy ending. I was listening to Comic Geek Speak Podcast the other day and they were talking about the ending of Siege and i think it was Jamie who had the an idea for an ending that i think would have been much sweeter and would have worked. Have Phobos show up do the whole "you killed my father, prepare to die" thing with Sentry and proceed to unleash on him. I fell that would have made sense seeing that Sentry RIPPED HIS FATHER IN HALF.

Anywho, Siege was kinda the bridge to take us to The Heroic Age. Avengers 1 was cool. i loved seeing all of Rogers' potential picks for Avengers teams, and i hope the Young Avengers guys get to see some action since they never got a real book. O MAN i love Romita's art, it takes back to my childhood (Dare Devil: Man Without Fear), and it really has a comic book feel to it. I like the photo realistic stuff that shows up some times but the Romita stuff reflects more of the scene to me somehow. I don't know how i feel about them bringing in characters from the direct to dvd Avengers stuff though, but I'm not even sure that is where these characters came from. I am looking forward to seeing where this new book goes.

PS How does Iron Man keep taking his helmet off, i though it was a part of his face now?

NEW cover of the week

Alright, I'm gonna try something new. so i can maybe get myself in the habit of making a post every week. So, here i will post my favorite cover from the weeks comics i get. This will only include books i buy that are new for that week. It will most likely come out on Friday cause that's when i get my books. It will be based on how i feel about the cover and not what is inside the book and in an ideal world i will chose before reading what is inside.

Finally, my chose for this weeks cover of the week is, Red Robin issue 11. Of my new books it beat Batman & Robin issue 11, Ultimate X issue 2, Captain America Black Panther: Flags of our Fathers issue 1, S.H.I.E.L.D. issue 1, and Invincible Returns issue 1. I chose Red Robin because the cover is just smooth, the other weeks books all have this kind of ruff style that seem like a sketch to me. Red Robin has all the smooth edges and details that I feel like seeing this week.

All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder

Very few of my relationships with Batman comics start off as rocky as with this book. Truthfully i read the first two issues and thought it was an affront to the character of Batman, specifically the whole "god**** Batman" line. (I may have said to some it was like Frank Miller ate Joel Schumacher's Batman movies and vomited them into a comic) But, i kept on getting it to see where is was going. It was after reading the whole thing together (without months between issues) that i actually saw how cool the book really was. I feel like this is giving me the same reaction i got when i read Frank Millers Batman: Year One; Not that he is just redoing what he has already done, but has taken a character and casted him in a new light. What i loved about Year One was that it took Batman and made him vulnerable; he was actually losing through some of that book, and that made this Batman more real to me. (I was only familiar with the Animated Series Batman at that point) All Star does this by taking Batman and saying that it is ok for you to be that other side of Batman; the Batman that Batman doesnt want you to be. A Batman that likes to maim the criminals, beat the shit out of cops(set fire in some cases), and doesnt care if a few are killed in the process; basically a noticeably damaged Batman.

I think Batman said it best in issue 7 "... I'm half-crazy. But only half. The other half is doing just fine."

Now, if only they would get off the hiatus and start putting out issues regularly.

Been a while. Just finshed issue 8 of Kick-ass. Wow. This book got me from the very first issue, and held on tight. Im pretty sure it had me by the balls too (in a great awsome way.) That is the most accurate way i could describe reading this book. It was crazy violent, the story was good, and each issue left you wanting more. Even though it was 8 issues spread over like 2 years, i wont hold it aganst them.

I am a sucker for the cliff hanger ending, and im not afraid to say that is a big reason i stayed ontop of this book; I had to know what happended next. Of course that story between cliff hangers had to be pretty good two. The way they put this in the real world was pretty great. They kind of explored what would happen if a super heroe actually showed up and caught on.

I highly recomend this book if you like a book with a good bit of violence and set in the real world. i also love romita jr's art great for of the graphic stuff.

Batman Superman: Public Enemies

Just watched the newest DC universe direct to dvd animated movie Batman Superman: Public Enemies. It was alright. not the best thing they put out. it is loosely based on the first arc of the Superman/Batman comic. like with alot of these DC direct to dvd movies they took some liberties, but i feel that that doesnt mean much when your source material is the worlds finest team up book that turned into a goofy ass mess, if not during, soon after, this story arc.
They really translated the art style from the comic to the movie well, but the art style in the comic is a bit to cartoony for me, so that isnt saying much.
All and all, dont worry to much if you miss this movie. Go get Justice League: a New Frontier instead.

Collecting comics

The Manual

About two years ago i wrote a 12 page manual on how to collect comics for my business writing class . Now i am going to share that information with you. The manual goes over the basic of how to start collecting comics, for fun or as an investment, and gives you some information that you may not know when just starting. a lot of it is based on my own experiences as a comic collector of the past 14ish years, but i also did a lot of research on the subject online and what not.

To summarize, first you should know why you are collecting, do you like comics cause they are fun to look at and read or do you hope to get the next Amazing Fantasy 15.

Sidebar:I don't really say this in the manual, but getting into comics to make money, I don't think, is very viable anymore for a few reasons. one of the reasons why old ass comics are worth a lot now is because they were not meant to last this long and thus most have disintegrated. comics printed today can last practically forever in pretty bad conditions, where a 1960's book sealed in vacuum would still practically melt. so if your getting into comics for money, you better have enough to buy detective comics 27 and sit on it for a few years, because otherwise you wont be making much. But, really, in order to make really good comic book investments you need a lot of money, because the only comics that are almost garunteeted to go up in price in the future are already way up in price. end sidebar.

After you decide on fun or profit, next is what you want to collect. This should be simple, it just has to be something you like because if it isnt something you like what is the point.

Now, you have to find a place to get the comics, this isnt hard either, the internet is always a good place to start. Sites like Milehighcomics.com Amazon and Ebay are places you can find stuff for cheap, but in my opinion you cant be the good old fashion comic shop, some of my favorites queen city comic and card co. Cincinnati Oh, Universe of Superheroes Athens Oh, and Capital City Comics Columbus Oh. In the shops you get to talk with others about comics and you are able to get real information on comics, not just comments about them on a blog somewhere.

The fun part of collecting i feel in the knowing how to grade which is key if you are trying to invest in comics. There is a lot of nuaunce to it but i go into it further in the paper. With really valuable stuff like Action Comics 1 or the like you sort of get exceptions to the rules of price to grade. Usually a damaged comic goes down significatly in price even with the smallest of damage, but with the super rare stuff this same damage doesnt do the same harm to price, im not saying wipe your ass with Batman 1, but if it has a bent corner its not going from $160,000 to $10 but more like $80,000. There are other factores that play into a comics value that i outline in the maual, things like first apearances, big events, and if there is media atention on the book.

There is also the task of storage. Really the main worries are storage space and condition. large collection need a lot of space and any collection needs to be stored in the right condidtions if you want the book to last. A rule of thumb I have come up with is that if you wouldnt want to stay ther for an extened amount of time it probably isnt the best place to store your comics. There is also the matter of protecting and orginizing the books, so basically A-Z for orginization and always use bag and board in my opinion.

Finally plan for the future. What do you plan on doing with your collection. My plan is to finish my collection, and that is all ill say about that.


The Manual

The new cool kid (and the new followers)

im listening to the newest Comic Geek Speak podcast, ep 666 "what if...", and they mention how the new "cool kids" are the "geeks" and "nerds" and that there are also new "followers". First lets define the terms (the engineer is coming out)

Cool Kid: 1, One who is knowledgeable about current events pertaining to a popular specific field (comics & super heroes). 2, shares a common language, with others, when discussing popular specific field with other "cool kids" (knowing the proper way to pronounce Ras Al Ghul). 3, knowing basics behind popular specific field(Green Lantern Oath).

Follower:1, One who is semi knowledgeable or able to feign knowledge about current events pertaining to a popular specific field of interest by "cool kids". 2, understands the common language or feigns understanding of the common language when others are discussing a popular specific field with other "cool kids". 3, does not know the basics behind popular specific field.

Basically the new "cool kids" are me and the other people reading this blog that have an interest in what i say (if there are any), I am not talking in the high school sense but the American culture sense. You may have noticed that a lot more super hero/comic book movies are coming out, and these try to cater to a nerd market which becomes the new "cool kid" group because the super heroes/comic books become a popular subject.

Generally followers don't bother me, you can be who you want to be, lead follow whatever, i dont care. But on a cultural scale, blindly following, gets on my nerves (like with Apple stuff), then when it deal with comics and super heroes it really grinds my gears (for lack of a better phrase). What many may not have realized is that comic book movies have been coming out for a long time, movies like The Shadow(1994), Blade (1998), and the TV movie staring David Hasselhoff Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D (alright bad example).

My point is that pretty good super hero movies have been coming out for a good while before Spider-Man in 2002, but only now are movie producers and production companies are realizing that they can make money. The annoying following starts when companies see that they will make money by having a superhero movie and can make more without actually including an already established character (Hancock), or incorporating a super hero into a movie that really doesnt need one, just so it will maybe get some geeks in the theater (My super ex-girlfriend).

I am hoping that more comic movies in the future take a cue from movies like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Watchmen; because they were well made and well written and the fan were kept in mind when it was being put together. So basically i hope the following dies off and the leaders pick up and the true fan get involved in the production of this stuff.