Dark Horse Comics

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 213 – The End League Pt. 2

Last week, we did a podcast on the 2008 Dark Horse series, The End League by Rick Remender. This week we continue to talk about rest of the series (issues 5 – 9). We have 2 different artists during this part of the run: Eric Canete and Andy MacDonald.

These issues can be bought in the trade, The End League Vol. 2: Weathered Statues.

Overall, Jon and I really enjoyed this series. We continue the discussion picking up were issue 4 left off: our heroes are in dire straits and the villains seem like they will win. It is up to Codename: Black to try and turn it around. Codename: Black is the figure on the cover of issue 9 above.

We keep the discussion pretty spoiler free – so you can listen and still get a sense of how the story plays out without revealing the multiple plot twists at the end of issues 8 and 9.

We highly recommend listening to part 1 and then coming back and listening to this part. Then you should go out and pick up your copy of The End League!

Your comics pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 213

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 212 – The End League

Normally, we would be doing a review of the latest comic related movie this week but Jon and I decided that we were not going to see Dark Phoenix in the theater (we explain why in the podcast) so this week we will be doing a retro review.

We have decided to review the apocalyptic comic, The End League. It is written by Rick Remender with art by Matt Broome. It was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2008 and is collected in trades.

This is a 9 issue series and we review only the first 4 issues. Those 4 issues are collected in a trade called Volume 1: Ballad of Big Nothing.

The story revolves around the last remaining super hero group in a world that is controlled by evil madmen. How did our heroes end up in such a situation? We review why one of the bravest heroes of this world, Astonishman is also one of it’s worst enemies and how his righteous actions condemned the world! Remender and Broome do some great world building in these 4 issues and set the reader up for a ride with heroes that are flawed and villains that are ruthless.

Check out the podcast and then do yourself a favor and check out The End League.

Your comics pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 212

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 211 – New Comics Review

There are new comic series that are coming out all the time. We are reviewing 4 new books that have come out in the last 3 months that you definitely want to check out.

I review 2 new comics and Jon reviews 2 new comics. Jon starts…

Review 1 – Jon Review

Last Stop on the Red Line #1

Writer: Paul Maybury

Artist: Sam Lofti

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

The story takes place in Boston, Massachusetts about a murder on the local subway system called the Red Line. It is a murder mystery with supernatural elements set in and around Boston.

Review 2 – Jim Review

Dark Red #1

Writer: Tim Seeley

Artist: Corin Howell

Publisher: Aftershock Comics

The story is centered around Charles “Chip” Ipswich who is a night shift gas station clerk that lives in a rural area. He is also a vampire. Chip is bored with his life until a rival vampire enters his town and then he realizes how good he actually had it. It is a horror comic with political satire undertones.

Review 3 – Jon Review

Batman: The Last Knight on Earth #1

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artist: Greg Capullo

Publisher: DC/Black Label

This is the last Batman tale. How can Batman stop the end of the world? Why can’t he remember what happened? How did the Joker’s head end up in a lantern and how is it still alive? These and many more questions will be asked as you read this last, big adventure of the Dark Knight Detective.

Review 4 – Jim Review

Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1

Writer(s): Marc Andteyko, Greg Rucka, Matt Fraction, Brian Michael Bendis

Artist(s): Yanick Paquette, Mike Perkins, Steve Lieber

Publisher: DC

This one shot special features the shadow organization know as Leviathan. They have been taking down all the governmental/UN organizations in the DC universe on the pages of Action Comics and now they have set their sights on the Man of Steel. But how do you take down Superman? By capturing his best friend, Clark Kent! This is a great comic that gives you 3 stories: The continuation of the Leviathan event from Action Comics and a jumping on point for the upcoming Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen comics. It will also prepare you for the upcoming summer event Leviathan miniseries. Get aboard now! This will be the comic everyone is talking about in the coming months.

Comics Misremembered Podcast 211

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 209 – The Mask movie (1994)

In 1994, New Line Cinema took a chance on a small comic publisher, Dark Horse Comics and one of their new properties, The Mask. The risk turned out to be a sleeper hit for them and it made Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz over night stars.

Last week, we talked about The Mask comic series. The week, we talk about the movie, which celebrates it’s 25th anniversary this year, and how much of the source material was used in making it. We also go over the long, strange trip the movie took from early scripts to final product and our thoughts on the movie then and now.

The movie was one of the first to use a combination of practical effects (The Mask itself) and computer generated effects like this one:

This still looks pretty good 25 years later and this was bleeding edge technology back then. The Mask character still looks great today:

We take a trip down memory lane and talk about what was popular when this movie was being made and how some of it ended up in the movie. We also talk about how seeing a trailer for a movie was near impossible unless it was a week before the movie came out.

The Mask movie is still great, even today. Jim Carrey went on to become a big star and turned down $10 million dollars to do a sequel which disappointed millions of fans (and 1 Nintendo Power winner). The only other person to have a career after this movie was Cameron Diaz…

In fact, she had just as long and diverse a career as Carrey. We end the podcast by briefly talking about the terrible follow up, Son of the Mask.

Do you think there should be a soft reboot of this franchise? We go over this too.

Your comics pal.

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 209

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 208 – The Mask (1991 comic series)

Jon and I are celebrating our 4th year putting out Comic Misremembered Podcasts! It was on May 19th 2015 that we created a website and posted our first comics oriented podcast and we have been putting one out every week for the last 4 years. Thanks for sticking with us and continuing to listen!

Now, on to the reason you are here. To listen to us talk about comics and comic related items. This week we are taking a step back in time to review the first Dark Horse Comics The Mask series.

Let me talk about the above images. From left to right: The Mask character made his current incarnation debut on the pages of the short lived Dark Horse Comics Mayhem anthology series. Images 2 and 3 are the actual covers for The Mask miniseries for issues 2 and 3 that came out in 1991. The Mayhem shorts were collected together as a #0 issue when the Mask was collected together in trade paperback form.

The Mask was created by Dark Horse Comics founder, Mike Richardson. The character would be written by other writers and artists but is mostly remember for John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke‘s version which is the Mask from Mayhem and the first 3 miniseries.

Jon has never read a Mask comic and I only stated reading The Mask with the follow up sequel: The Mask Returns (1992). I recently bought the 2nd printing of The Mask Omnibus so that we could read and review the 1st Mask series. This will be a 2 part podcast – Next week we will be reviewing the Jim Carrey movie, The Mask and see how much (or how little) of the comic source material was used in the movie.

Your comics pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 208

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 176 – The Podcast that will Save Comics

Hello and welcome back to Comics Misremembered.  This week we will be tackling all the issues that are destroying the Comics Marketplace and give you solutions!

Before we get to solving all the problems, I was to take a minute to address the passing of 2 of my favorite artists:

Norm Breyfogle

norm_breyfogle

Carlos Ezquerra

JD_Carlos

I speak about their careers and what an impression that both these artist have left on me growing up.

We then go on to address the anti-corporate political movement on social media regarding a certain comic group and why they don’t like the upcoming new titles being released by Marvel and DC.

I am a man that looks for solutions when he is presented with a problem and I give some very real remedies to the so called “political problems” of today’s comics.  What is the answer to all these issues?

I can sum it up by showing you a few things.  What do these 4 comics have in common?

Give up?  All 4 of these comics are Anthology comics.  If you were born after 1995, you may be asking “What the heck is an anthology comic?”

Well, young person, an Anthology comic is a weekly or bi-weekly comic that features 3 to 4 different stories per book.  These stories feature some of the most popular heroes and are written by new and established talent.  It is also a great opportunity to introduce brand new characters into their prospective universes and see if they click with the audience.

In the podcast we go over many different reasons on why Anthology comics needs to make a come back into the current comic scene and why it’s the perfect testing ground for new characters in order to spring board them into their own ongoing series.

Listen to the podcast and see if this is crazy enough to work!

Your comics pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 176

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 167 – New Comics Review

Welcome back to another new comics review podcast.

There have been dozens of new titles that have come out and we picked 4 of the best to discuss.  Here is the order and comics we will be going over this week:

1.The Weatherman by Image Comics

WM01

  • Story by Jody Leheup
  • Art by Nathan Fox

2. Spider-Man by Marvel

spider_man01_2018

  • Story by Nick Spencer
  • Art by Ryan Ottley and Humberto Ramos

3. Blackwood by Dark Horse Comics

blackwood02

  • Story by Evan Dorkin
  • Art by Veronica and Andy Fish

4. Iron Man by Marvel

ironman01_2018

  • Story by Dan Slott
  • Art by Valerio Schiti

Jon reviews the 2 Marvel books and I review the 2 independent books.  We recommend you pick up all 4 books and we will give you multiple reasons why in the podcast!

Your Comics Pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 167

 

 

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 164 – Give Me Liberty Part 2

Welcome back!  We continue the discussion of Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons’ dark political satire – Give Me Liberty.

We discussed Books 1 and 2 last week and we continue on with the remaining Books 3 and 4.

We start the discussion with Miller’s crude brand of humor and we discuss if he could get away with this type of humor today.  We go on to discuss Martha’s relationship with Chief Wasserstein, the introduction of the Surgeon General, the dissolution of the United States and Moretti’s final fate.

Some of the material is a bit dated but overall, Jon and I did enjoy reading (and rereading) this miniseries again.

Your Comics Pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 164

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 163 – Give Me Liberty Part 1

July 4th was a celebration of the birth of the United States.  It is also the birthday of Martha Washington.  Who is that?  Why she is the main protagonist in this week’s review.

Since it is Independence Day, it seemed appropriate to do a review of Give Me Liberty a creator owned comic from writer Frank Miller and artist Dave Gibbons.

GML_01

The comic was originally published by Dark Horse Comics in 1990 and it is a creator owned character for Miller and Gibbons.  Give Me Liberty was published as a 4 issue prestige comic miniseries.

Give Me Liberty is dark political satire that takes place in a near future dystopia.  (Remember, this came out in 1990 and starts in 1995 with the birth of Martha Washington).

I have my original copies of this series and read it when it first came out in 1990.  Jon has never read the series until this week.  We had so much to talk about that we had to break this podcast up into 2 parts.

Part 1 – We cover the first 2 issues.  We talk about President Rexall and how he repealed the 20th amendment (I think I mistakenly called it the 26th amendment) so he can run for president for more than 2 terms.

GML_03GML_04As you can see from Dave Gibbons lovely art, President Rexall looks more like a dictator with each passing election.

Martha joins PAX (which is a combination of the Peace Corp and the Marines) and her first mission is the protect the Amazon Rain Forest from the corporate greed of Fat Boy Burgers.  Here is another great image from the series…

GML_02

There is a lot to talk about in this series and most of the issues in this comic are still relevant today.  Listen to part 1 and come back next week for our conclusion to the series.

Your comics pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 163

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 149 – Niourk

Jon picked up a French graphic novel a few weeks ago called Niourk.  It was published by Dark Horse Comics.

He went to the comic shop, saw it sitting on the shelf, flip through the pages and it left such an impression on him that he immediately bought it that day.

He took it home and devoured it.  He brought it to me and wanted me to read it and was very excited about making this a future topic for a podcast.  Well, the future is now!  We will be talking about the post apocalyptic world of Niourk.

niourk

The original story was based on a French novel written by Stefan Wul and published in 1957.  The story would be picked up by Olivier Vatine and turned into a 3 issue comic in the early 2000s.  Dark Horse took those issues and printed them in a treasury format of a graphic novel in January for 2018.  Does a 60 year old story hold up in 2018?  That is the focus of out podcast today.

We review the comic and compare it to similar stories that have since been published since 1957.

Your comics pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 149

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 113 – 2017 Eisner Awards

It is another San Diego Comics Con so that means another round of Eisner Awards.  Jon and I love the Eisners because it nominates that best of the best from the comic industry for categories like Best Writer, Best Artist, Best New Series, Best Ongoing series and more.

eisner

The award show spotlights comics that you are probably reading and some that were over looked last year.  The nominees always makes for great material for a podcast.

Many comics nominated for Eisners were reviewed by us as comics that you should be reading like Saga, Paper Girls, Kill or Be Killed and Vision.  There were also some comics that we have read but have not talked about on the podcast yet like Clean Room and Black Hammer.  We are looking forward to giving a more in depth review for those.

Great discussion this week.  Looking forward to next years crop of comics.

Your Comics Pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 113

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 81 – New Comics Review

A few weeks have gone by and some new series have started.  We have read some of these new series and will be making a few recommendations for you.  Sound good?  Excellent.  Let’s begin.

We will be review the following books (in this order):

  1. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (Jon review)
  2. Image’s Motor Crush (Jim review)
  3. Marvel’s Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (Jon review)
  4. Dark Horse Comics’ Ether (Jim review)

There were some fun comics this week and we hope you enjoy the reviews and pick up some (if not all) of these books.

See you all next week.

Your comics pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 81

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 74 – New Comics Review

There are always new titles from comic publishers coming out every week and we try to select some of the best books to read.  Here are some of the comics that we highly recommend.

This week I review the 3 new comics from DC Comic’s Young Animals imprint and Jon reviews 3 independent publisher titles.  Here are the reviews with time stamps:

  • 4:45 – James Bond – Dynamite Comics: Written by Andy Diggle with Art by Luca Casalanguida
  • 16:33 – Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye – DC’s Young Animals: Co-written by Gerard Way and Jon Rivera with art by Michael Avon Oeming
  • 28:35 – Briggs Land – Dark Horse Comics: Written by Brian Woods with art by Mack Chater
  • 42:52 – Shade the Changing Girl – DC’s Young Animals: Written by Cecil Castellucci with art by Marley Zarcone
  • 57:30 – Reborn – Image Comics: Written by Mark Millar with art by Greg Capullo
  • 1:08:40 – Doom Patrol – DC’s Young Animals: Written by Gerard Way with art by Nick Derington

I apologize if we mispronounced any of the writers or artist names.  We will try better next time.

This podcast runs a little longer than our normal ones because there are so many things to talk about with each of these titles.  We hope you enjoy our reviews and find some new comics to pick up.

Also, Will Magnus is the creator of the Metal Men not the Magnetic Man.  My brain was on overload.  Sorry.

Comics Misremembered Podcast 74

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 68 – Grendel

Let’s go back to the 80s where androgyny bands played synthetic tunes to coked out crowds.  Yes, there was a lot of experimenting going on in songs,on TV shows and in comics during that time.

The 80s brought the Brit Comic Blitz of Alan Moore, Alan Grant and Grant Morrison and they showed how comics can be more than superheroes.

This also allowed independent companies like Comico carve out a niche market for themselves with avant-garde comics like Grendel.

Grendel was like no other comic at the time – the “hero” Hunter Rose was a thief and murder that ran a mob and was being pursued by the police.  This is ground breaking stuff and certainly would not be approved by the American Comic Code!

Over time, the mantle of Grendel passed from one generation to the next.  Sometime for good and sometimes for evil but always a great story.

Jon and I relive our 1st encounters with Grendel and discuss this epic tale.

Your Comics Pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 68

ComicsJim

CM Podcast 59: New Weird Comic Review

It’s CM Podcast 59 (Not 58 as we state in this podcast) and we are doing a New Comic Review this week.

The comics we review are:

  • Dark Horse’s Weird Detective
  • Dark Horse’s Cryptocracy
  • Marvel’s Moon Knight

There is a theme through all these comics: The protagonists perceive reality differently than the rest of us.

Jon and I loved all 3 of these comics.  We give a full review of each in the podcast and hope we convert you over to the weird side of comics.

Your comics pal,

Jim

Comics Misremembered Podcast 59