Welcome to Comics Misremembered New Comic Review. Jon and I find 4 titles that have come out in the past few weeks and we make recommendations. Usually these comics are independent titles that you may have missed. All of our recommendations are worth your time and we highly recommend reading them. Let’s get to talking comics this week…
The reviews are like this: Jon starts then I do the next and so on until we review 4 books. Got it! Great. Here is the order…
Wolverine #1 – Jon’s review
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artists: Adam Kurbert and Viktor Bogdonavic
Publisher: Marvel
BANG! #1 – Jim’s review
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Wilfredo Torres
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy #1 – Jon review
Writer: Mirka Andolfo
Aritst: Mirka Andolfo
Publisher: Image Comic
Tomorrow #1 – Jim review
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Jesus Hervas
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics (Berger Books imprint)
There you have it. 4 great books with glowing reviews. Go pick them up as soon as possible because issue #2 for most of them will be out in a week or 2.
It has been awhile since our last new comic review and there have been plenty of new comics released in the past few months so we wanted to talk about 4 that we think are exceptional!
You know the format that Jon and I use:
We review the 1st issue of a new comic.
This comic has been release within the last 3 months.
We keep the reviews to just the first issue so not to spoil too much.
We want you to check out all 4 books because we think they are worth your time.
I do the first review and then Jon does the second. We switch off until we get through all 4 books. So enough of the explanations! Let’s me show you the comics we talk about in podcast…
Review #1 – A Jim Review
Iron Man 2020 #1
Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Artist: Peter M. Woods
Publisher: Marvel
Review #2 – A Jon Review
Punisher: Soviet #1
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Jacen Burrows
Publisher: MarvelMax
Review #3 – A Jim Review
Far Sector #1
Writer: N. K. Jemisin
Artist: Jamal Campbell
Publisher: DC under Young Animals imprint
Review #4 – A Jon Review
Strayed #1
Writer: Carlos Giffoni
Artist: Juan Doe
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
These are the 4 new series you should be reading, if you are not already. All have great creators with stories that will keep you interested.
Also, as a bit of bonus content. Here is a comparison of the 1984 Iron Man 2020 vs the Peter Woods’ Iron Man 2020. Which do you think is the the better design? I share my thoughts in the podcast.
We like to do new comics reviews every once in a while because there are always new series coming out that need attention. We like to let our listeners know about new writers and artists out there that are putting out some high quality comics!
This week we are reviewing 4 new comics series that are all limited series. These comics have come out in the last 3 weeks so you should be able to find them physically or digitally.
Here are the 4 reviews and we highly recommend that you pick up all 4 of these books:
Review #1 – Jon review
Once and Future # 1
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Dan Mora
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Review #2 – Jim Review
Black Hammer/Justice League #1 and 2
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Michael Walsh
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics/ DC
Review #3 – Jon Review
Doctor Mirage #1
Writer: Magdalene Visaggio
Artist: Nick Robles
Publisher: Valiant
Review #4 – Jim Review
Tommy Gun Wizards #1
Writer: Christian Ward
Artist: Sami Kivela
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
4 different comics from 4 different genres. All are great reads with fantastic art. We highly recommend picking up all the books and listen to the podcast to find out why we recommend them.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Carlos Ezquerra
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!
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
Story by Jody Leheup
Art by Nathan Fox
2. Spider-Man by Marvel
Story by Nick Spencer
Art by Ryan Ottley and Humberto Ramos
3. Blackwood by Dark Horse Comics
Story by Evan Dorkin
Art by Veronica and Andy Fish
4. Iron Man by Marvel
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!
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.
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.
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.
As 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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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):
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (Jon review)
Image’s Motor Crush (Jim review)
Marvel’s Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (Jon review)
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.