Tagged: Comics

Badger #2 Brings Back The Crazy!

The Badger has definitely returned to form in the latest second issue from Devil’s Due / 1First Comics! It’s always nice to read a solid debut these days but it means a lot when the second issue in many cases is better than the first and this is the case in the latest reboot of the legendary Badger series from creator Mike Baron. You can read my review of issue #1 right here.

Anyway the second issue brings back a more familiar feel to the cult 80’s indie icon. We’re really seeing more of a modern retelling of the origin story of Norbert Sykes, which is thus far packed with the perfect amount of that familiar Baron style of quirky comedy and a degree of realism that make this comic thus far one of my favorite recent monthly titles. I  actually think the current writers of Deadpool could learn a thing or two from Baron’s tasty recipe on this title.

So what do we get this issue? Well Norbert and his buddy Ham are mysteriously released from the mental ward, partly due to Ham’s “magical” abilities as an ancient druid. Ham also purchases an old castle on the outskirts of Madison Wisconsin where the two of them plan to live. Ham however reveals he’s got a a serious problem with a powerful wizard rival none other than Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Or could Ham just be batshit cray?!

Well things get worse when a Russian enforcer breaks into the castle ready to kill, good thing Norbert Sykes has got multiple personalities, one of which is the Kung Fu ass kicker The Badger! Lastly we get a glimpse of Putin himself as he and his crew of scientists are thawing out a prehistoric mammoth in a glacier. Yeah it’s crazy shit and also a ton of fun.

I’m really happy this character is being given a chance in 2016, so far the series has great potential, I’m not a huge fan of the artwork in issue two, I personally think Badger deserves better. It looked a bit rushed, I wish they could land someone like Paul Pope or old schooler Mike Zeck as a regular on the series. Aside from that I totally dig it as a whole and will definitely be back for issue #2. Ask your local shop to carry Badger as I don’t think this series is getting enough attention!  

 

Those Old 80’s Marvel Comics….Photo Covers?!!

Man oh man how I love a good comic book cover! So much that I dedicate blog posts as often as possible focusing on my favorite comic book covers of all time. Well I’m not sure if you remember way back in the 1980’s but they had a string of issues where there was no cover artist. Instead they decided that they’d give us some live action superhero action! Now this sounds like a wonderful idea today, but back then it was a bit more difficult to really get the superhero look down on film. However these issues were ones as a kid I never forgot so let’s take another quick look at those legendary Marvel “photo” covers!

 

 

 

 

 

Cool Comic Debut: Paper Girls #1 Brings us an ‘Amblin’ Style 80’s Mystery!

I just finished ‘Paper Girls’ #1 by hotshot writer Brian K. Vaughan and it’s one of best debut issues I’ve read in a long time. What’s even better is at it’s $2.99 cover price it’s a double sized issue filled with a great little story just waiting to burst into a retro ‘Amblin’ style adventure set way back in 1988. Not only do we get an intriguing story here but also some great artwork by Cliff Chiang. We follow twelve year old Erin as she heads out onto the streets to do her paper route in wee hours of the A.M. after a extremely peculiar dream, involving apples, aliens, winged astronauts and classroom demons speaking what seems to be gibberish. I love the way the dream sequence is played out in the pages here, with a ton of strange symbolism, conversations that seemingly make no sense and some frightening creatures, it really feels like an actual dream which is quite nice.

The setting in the morning is the night after Halloween, so as Erin hits the streets with her sack of papers she encounters some neighborhood bullies still roaming. Luckily three other paper girls arrive on rad bmx bikes to the scene to her defense. From this point Erin decides to ride with the girls on her route and discovers that the three of them too had been jumped by some strange “people” dressed as ghosts who stole one of their walkie talkies.

I don’t want to spoil any of the story as there are some cool surprises that develop along the way. But what I will say is this has the perfect setting for a lost 80’s flick and puts some cool supernatural elements in the mix that leave you longing for issue #2. A super solid debut and just the kind of comic book story that I love even if for some reason we get a bit of prominent product placement by the way of Apple computers. Check this one out, this issue gives you more bang for your buck too as it’s twice the normal size. A great scheme to get people to drop their hard earned cash these days on a comic book!

Who Should Take Over The Role of WOLVERINE in the Movies?!

We got word today that Hugh Jackman suggested Tom Hardy take over as Wolverine when he exits after his final appearance as the character in the upcoming movie set to be released in 2017. This sounds like a decent enough idea to me but isn’t the real reason Jackman is quitting the role is because of his age? Jackman is now 46 years old and Hardy is 38.

If you think about it by the time they actually get around to rebooting the character it will likely be 2018, Hardy will already be 41 years old. So while it seems like a good idea it would’t be long before Hardy is also an “Old Man Logan” himself. I do agree with Hugh, Hardy is an excellent choice and totally shined as the replacement for Mel Gibson (who I actually always though could have been a good Wolverine back in the 1980’s) in the ever so epic Mad Max Fury Road.

Plus if you ask me Hardy is STILL too tall! The comic book character is 5 foot 3 inches, isn’t it about time we get a short dude to play Wolverine? So who though could fill the shoes? A younger shorter Wolverine?

My vote here (as far as more mainstream actors goes) is cast for Kit Harrington who’s most famous for his role of Jon Snow on Game of Thrones. Yep Kit would be the perfect Wolverine, he’s ten years younger than Hardy and could fill the role for much longer if needed. He’s also not a tall guy either he’s 6 inches shorter than Hugh (but still a whoppin’ 5 inches taller than the comic book counterpart) and as it stands he already looks the part! He’s a great actor as well and would be more than capable of capturing the grit of Wolverine.

I really can’t think of anyone else in Hollywood that’d be a better choice. You never know though they could find another unknown to take the role, Jackman back in 2000 was totally new on the scene. Who do you think should be cast as the iconic character?

                                                                                         Make a move bub!

Sal Buscema’s Greatest Hits: Anatomy of the Most Powerful Comic Book Punches!!

Sal Buscema has been one of my all time favorite comic book artists ever since I was just a little kid! His name is synonymous with The Incredible Hulk as one of the longest artists ever on the classic book as well as drawing much of the Hulk-ified Defenders comics way back in the day. The guy is a legend. Period. Well one of my favorite things about his artwork in the comics is the classic Buscema powerful punch! He loves to draw incredibly painful punches that send both heroes and villains flying upside down in the air straight at the reader! It’s really his trademark, so let’s take a good long look at some of Buscema’s greatest hits in all their glory!!!

And finally just a few non-flying Sal Buscema punches that totally look like they hurt big time!

Phew! My head hurst just looking at all these painful punches! Thanks to 80 Page Giant Blog for many of the images!!

Comic Book Cover of the Week: The Other Thor!

This awesome comic book cover from 1983 has gotta be one of my favorites ever! Thor #337 features my favorite character from the norse god’s mythos-Beta Ray Bill! This super weird character made his first appearance in this issue and as odd as this guy looked he was deemed worthy of Thor’s hammer! So Beta Ray to me is just as cool as Thor, even more so I’d dig it if rather than a woman Thor, we’d just get him to take place of the character completely for a while instead. Also Walt Simonson uses simplicity to make this one of the coolest covers ever for The Mighty Thor comic series. I also really love it when characters affect the comic book covers logo’s and such-I’ve gotta sit down and dig this one out of my collection and give it another read pronto!! They need to put this guy into the next Thor flick dammit!

Big Man Plans #1: A Little Ball of Serious Rage!

I just finished reading issue #1 of the new four issue limited series from Image called “Big Man Plans” and it’s quite a debut! This one is a full on mean and dirty little story about a little guy named ‘Big Man’ who’s lived his entire life being made fun of, beat up and bullied. When Big Man finally hits his breaking point he goes bat shit crazy bringing revenge to those who’ve wronged him. Kinda like a smaller version of Michael Douglas in Falling Down. We get an in depth look at just what has pushed Big Man over the edge and it really ain’t pretty. He’s like a dog that’s been teased it’s entire life, all he knows the world to be is a rotten place and now he pissed.

Big Man has had quite a life, spending time unofficially working for the United Stated Army in Vietnam as special type of solider who can fit in to places no other can and get the dirty work done in the dark. He’s been to prison, kicked the shit out white supremacists, punched out cocky kids and even had the time to be a bit of a ladies man. He’s quite a guy, an angry little bastard who’s got clearly quite a story ahead of him. Issue #1 is said to be the tamest of them all and if that’s true the next few issues are going to be quite wild ride.

 

Fellow Portlander Tim Wiesch and Eric “The Goon” Powell have done a great job building the intrigue here for this new character. Powell as usual shines as the artist on this title, bringing the grit and dirt in every panel. I’m curious to see where this little mystery is headed and hope that ‘Big Man’ at the end of issue number four can find a little happiness in his thus far miserable existence. Check this one out if you’re looking for something that’s bound to pull out some serious shocks! Get the full scoop with a great interview with the creators of the series right here

8 Bit Video Game Madness: Guardians of the Galaxy and More Old School Comic book Video Games!!

Who doesn’t love an old school video game like Mega Man or Castlevania?!! Well this new little video by Cinefix recreates the Guardians of the Galaxy into an awesome old school video game straight out of the 1980’s! If this game would have been available back then I would have played thew shit out of this!

I’m really not much of a new school video gamer, I just don’t have the time to commit to anymore screentime, as in sitting in front of a tv screen, internet, phone but something like this I could really get behind check this out this would have been a classic!

Oh and while I’m in the old school comic book video game mood let’s not forget the awesome Sega Incredible Hulk game from 1994! Hot Damn do I need to play this one ASAP!! Look how awesome it was! In the opening you can see some classic hulk villains here like the Absorbing Man, Tyrannus, The Leader and The Rhino!! 

Hel while we’re at it let’s not forget the classic Spider-man video game from 1991!! This one you can actually play as Haweye, Submariner and The Black Cat!! Daaaamn!!! I need to play this ASAP!!!

I guess we could say this one was slightly better than this one from Atari 2600!

And this one from 1989! But this one is still pretty cool if just for the fact it’s got Cap also!

And we got a great odd guest appearance in the Revenge of Shinobi from 1989-Spidey was a boss!!

Let’s also not forget the 1989 X-men video game Madness in Murderworld!

And yes there was a Howard the Duck video game from 1985….but …well yeah it sucked!!!

 

‘Realm of the Underworld’ Action Figures are here to Kick He-man’s Ass!!

I LOVED He-Man and The Masters of the universe action figures as a kid, I just could not get enough of them and all of the cool accessories! The cartoon was a ton of fun, I had almost all of the action figures, mainly the bad guys and  back in the day there were even some cool knock offs, the poor man’s He-man figures you could snatch up at places like K-Mart. You remember the Remco “DC” line of figures? There guys were great and quite a bit less expensive than the Masters of the Universe, with cool figures like Warlord and Hercules…

 

Here’s all of the old 80’s Remco ones together..

They may have been He-man knock offs but they were pretty fucking awesome!

 

Well there’s a new toy line by Zoloworld called Realm of the Underworld and they totally look like lost action figures from the 80’s. Infact they really remind me of the Remco collection from the 1980’s. They share that same quality of the Knock off and He-man and the Masters of the Universe in the fact that they use basically the same body molds with a different paint job a different rubber head and maybe different costuming.

 

I didn’t give a shit that they used the same body parts! They were awesome durable toys that could take a serious beating!

This new action figure line takes me back to those days at K-mart when I’d spend my time hanging out in the toy department as long as I could and sometime my mom would buy me a cool new action figure. Check these out they are pretty great!

 

Oh yeah and it looks like the Slime (as in the same Masters of the Universe Horde green slime- that was amazing!!) will be coming soon to Realm of the Underworld soon too-how rad is that?!!

totally gross and awesome!!!

 

The Incredible Hulk’s Sexual Frustration!

I had to share this rad little clip from College Humor being a huge Hulk fan i totally dug this one-Great little comedy on Bruce Banner’s frustrating sex life!! Check it out!!!