Comics

Graphic Novel of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be Released this Year

Do you still have the itch for more Millennium Trilogy? It’s not enough to have the books, original movies, and American remakes? Well, then rejoice for DC is releasing a graphic novel of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on their Vertigo Imprint. As we all know, placing it on Vertigo means it couple potentially come to the comic medium with barely any censorship. The DC press release also mentions that the creative team is working together with the Stieg Larson estate to work on the conversion. Source material always has to change to adapt to the medium, but it’s nice to see that they’ll be staying as faithful as possible.

Nightwing #5 Review

Nightwing has given readers great stories in the past four issues and is very different from many other superhero books. It gives the readers a mystery that does not just get settled in one story arc, but may take several story arcs to settle. This is one of the reasons this series has been one of my favorites for the DC reboot and one of my favorite titles on my pull list right now. With each issue it makes me more interested in the story and gets me excited for the next issue.

In this issue Dick Grayson is traveling with Haly’s Circus to New Orleans. But one of his performers, Jimmy, is frightened to be in New Orleans, but no one knows why. When Jimmy is kidnapped by a demon, Dick finds out the exact reason why Jimmy is so frightened. Now it is up to Nightwing to try and save Jimmy from the demon.

Top Ten Worst Comic Book Covers of 2011

What constitutes a bad comic book cover? The better question for this year is: what doesn’t? After having a slew of great covers, there are still a ton of bad ones. In this feature, a continuation of my Top Ten Worst Covers of 2010 feature, I pick the top ten worst covers of 2011 based on their simplicity or poor artistry… and it has gotten worse since last year.

10. Ultimate Captain America #1: I had to do a double-take at seeing Captain America brandishing a huge gun, but this is the Ultimate universe. But even after that off-putting though, Captain America is drawn very stiff with little emotion on his face and the classically done-to-death for no good reason closed eyes. Admittedly, the background is nice. I like the patriotic imagery and the setting sunset behind Captain America. But the most important element of the cover should be the title character, and he does everything but look good.

Deathstroke #4 – Review

Deathstroke #4 is a surprisingly impressive issue. It’s not just a slaughterhouse like the previous three issues have been. Despite the disappointing fact that the Blackhawks hardly make much of an appearance (though they do have their name thrown around a lot), the action is well-paced, the story turns interesting in spite of set-up problems and dare I say there is depth?

After a perfect hit in a meta-human prison, Deathstroke returns to find Christoph tired out, as well as himself, despite his refusal to admit it. He also learns some shocking evidence discovered by Peabody about his son, the first Ravager leading to him confronting a former rival Attila, now a member of the Blackhawks.

6 New 52 Cancellations and 6 New Titles Announced

Six of the “New 52” titles (52 titles re-launched recently last year by DC Comics for the benefit of new readers) will be cancelled to make room for six new series. I was very disappointed when I heard about the cancellation of two of my pull titles: Static Shock and Blackhawks.

The official list of casualties are Blackhawks, Static Shock, Mister Terrific, Hawk and Dove, Men of War and O.M.A.C. The new list of titles are Batman Incorporated, World’s Finest (a.k.a. JSA), G.I. Combat (OK, now we’re just brazenly waving the G.I. Joe comparison in people’s faces), Earth 2 (which will feature Earth 2’s Huntress and Power Girl), The Ravagers (a spin-off of Teen Titans) and Dial H. The only book I am looking forward to is Dial H, a title that is supposedly taking a darker outlook along the lines of Animal Man and Swamp Thing and is written by award-winning fantasy novelist China Miéville.

Valiant Entertainment Returning to Comics

After a long decade hiatus from the comic book world, Valiant Entertainment will be returning to the realm of comics. The company announced they were bringing back several of their popular 90s’ titles including Bloodshot and Harbinger. Valiant will also be taking on a new name: Diamond Book Distributor, its global comic book distributor.

Valiant was founded in 1989. Back in the 90s’, the publisher ranked among Image, Marvel and DC Comics publishers in sales and sold over 80 million comic books during it’s first five years in the business. The company produced numerous superhero titles that were unique because they attested to the effects of physics, consequence and continuity.

Zombie Outlaw #1 – Review

An odd little title, I draw the line at saying Zombie Outlaw is corny. The artwork is sometimes too awkward with little detail, the story has some slight pacing issues and not all of the jokes work. But Zombie Outlaw is a surprisingly creative little gem that stands out from the usually zombie title. It is not only a great addition for horror collectors, but also humorists who enjoy a little blood with their jokes.

“The Geek” Matt Naismith wants to seduce the beautiful “Brawn” K.T. Delaney (men and big biceps, who would have thought?). He goes to his friend “the Brain” Will Simers for help, which he swears to provide after flirting with the librarian and stealing Zombie Outlaw legend Edward Dransby’s hat… which leads to entertaining and crazy results.