Comics Anticipation....Making Me Wait...

Waiting for comics that have been announced, but that have not come out yet is a big part of being a comics fan.  The new book has a writer you really like, an artist that is good, and a character or two that you really enjoy.  So it has to be GREAT!  Right?

Well......not necessarily.
Comics are a hit and miss media.  It's easy to make bad comics.  It's hard to make mediocre comics.  And it is almost impossible to make really, really great comics.  That magic lightning of comic greatness only ends up on the page once in a while.  But as fans, we keep hoping.  And when that next project sounds like it has increased odds of maybe, just possibly manifesting into our reality as a genuinely great book, well... we get all excited with the possibility.

Luckily, for me, I am a fan of mediocre comics and I even secretly love the really bad comics.  So there is plenty there to keep my attention.  But I still keep hoping that this next book is going to be the one that redefines what is possible in this incredible media called comics.  I am 100% positive that there are untapped riches of comics that have not been discovered or imagined yet.

So learning to enjoy the anticipation phase of comics is important.  Anything is possible when Writer X meets Artists Y and Z while exploring Characters A, B and C!
Also, to be fair, a lot of what we love about comic characters takes place between the panels and between issues anyway.  There has never been a Doctor Strange comic as cool as the Doctor Strange in my imagination.  And every time a new Doc Strange project is announced I think, maybe this time the good doctor's true mystical potential will make it onto a page.
Don't get me wrong, there have been Good Dr. Strange comics.  But there has never been a truly GREAT Doctor Strange comic....Yet.  But he is Sorcerer Supreme again, so maybe someday soon...

So what books are in Anticipation Mode right now?
Thanks for asking.

Guardians of the Galaxy.  Can Bendis unlock the wacky weirdness that is Rocket Raccoon?  And not ruin it with too much Tony Stark?

Fearless Defenders.  Will Dani Moonstar get a chance to show how incredibly cool she is while standing back-to-back with Valkyrie?  Hel Yeah!


Books that have passed out of Anticipation Mode and into actual comic pages?
The Iron man reboot.  A good book, so far.  But not Great.
The Fantastic Four/FF Fraction takeover.  Hickman's FFs were literally "fantastic" 80% of the time.  So Matt Fraction has big shoes to fill.  But he is doing a good job of making things fun and he is really capturing the "family" vibe of the Fantastic Four and the FF.  So far so good.

Young Avengers #1  Wow!  What can I say.  This time the actual book is better than my level of anticipation!  A Great Kick Off to new series with some of the most interesting young Marvel characters.  If you can get your hands on this book, read it.  Billy is doing well intentioned, but really stupid things (just like his mom, the Scarlet Witch does).  I mean, even Kid Loki was trying to stop him.

Newly moved into Anticipation Mode...Young Avengers #2
Can Kieron Gillen and James McKelvie keep things at the high level set by #1?  Will this be more than just one Great Comic?  Will if be a great Story Arc?  Or dare I say it, a Great Comic Series?  We shall see...  Anything is possible.

Anticipation can be fun.
-- Jay Larsen
PS: You can read my new Comic, Giga-Geekery #1, with a minimum of Anticipation.  Just Click Here and go get one!

New Year, Marvel NOW!

I have already said that I have an affinity for Marvel comic books, so I may be biased.  When comparing DC's New 52 "reboot" with Marvel NOW!'s "non-reboot", Marvel wins hands down.

Good things were already happening at Marvel in 2012: Fear Itself (the 2011 event) was finally over. Hickman's run on Fantastic Four and FF were amazing!  Bendis ran Avengers for longer than any other writer in Marvel history, and he did amazing things with them.  Fraction's Iron Man was solid.  Defenders got resurrected with a bang and retired with a whimper (sorry Marvel, it wasn't all good).

The big event of the Marvel year was AvX, Avengers vs X-men, which sounded like a gimmick, and ended up being pretty damned good.  I especially liked when Black Panther slaps the science out of Tony Stark just as he was going to go all Civil-War-Serious on us again.  (Tony only gets to tear the world apart once a decade!)  Cyclops started sliding into madness years ago (in my opinion) and the Phoenix Force just made it so everyone else could see it.  AvX managed to hit the other books without making them slaves to the "big event" (which shows that maybe Marvel is learning from it's past mistakes.)  Wolverine reopening the school turned out to be a really fun ride and showed what an ensemble cast book could be like, in Wolverine and the X-men.  New Mutants had a great year (thanks Abnett and Lanning) especially the "Date with the Devil" issue #37--possibly the best single issue I read all year!

Marvel did get bought by Disney last year.  This still kind of creeps me out and makes me worry, but so far so good.
Marvel movies did great: Avengers anyone?

So 2012 was a good year for Marvel.
And then they announced Marvel NOW! (which has to have CAPS and an Exclamation Mark!) the new "not a reboot" of the Marvel line.  Uh Oh!, I thought to myself.  Marvel is going to do a DC-style New 52 (which I did not think turned out well for DC).
But so far, so good in my opinion.

Marvel moved all their most popular writers and artists around, giving them fresh books to work on.  This resulted in some really good endings to some of the existing story arcs.  Fantastic Four, Avengers, New Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-man all got interesting stories that their old teams wanted to tell before they left.

And NOW! the new Marvel NOW! issues have been coming out (with more promised for later).
Bendis is on X-men now.  He did my least favorite thing and did a time travel story where the 1960's teenager X-men meet the new screwed up X-men.  I didn't want to like it.  But it is turning out to be really great.
Matt Fraction has taken the Fantastic Four on an intergalactic road trip.  And put a replacement FF team on Earth to hold down the fort.  I can't wait to see what happens next.
Fraction and Aja have are also 7 issues into a new Hawkeye series that is one of the coolest things being published right now.  It is hard to describe, but a joy to read.
The new Thor series is good.
Avengers is going cosmic, Hickman style.
Spider-man just killed Peter Parker (again) and replaced him with Doc Octopus!  (Don't worry kids, it is the 50th anniversary of Spider-man this year.  I'm sure Peter will come back to us somehow.)
And there are still more NOW! titles that have not come out yet.  Fearless Defenders, an all Girl X-Men Team, Nova, and Guardians of the Galaxy!  I am Groot!

This could end up being a great year for Marvel Comics!  I think they are doing a lot of things right with their "not a reboot".  It's a great time to jump on and Marvel didn't throw all their history and continuity into the garbage.  I like it so far.  But maybe it's just me?

-- Jay

I Think Thanos is going to get away with it...

Rocket Raccoon could have secured the Cosmic Cube if it weren't for people keeping their garbage in unsecured containers!!!  Another victory for Thanos!!!

Just having fun.  Drew this on my iPad.  Not the easiest device to do art on, but was doodling away while watching DNC political speeches on TV.  Thought I would share.
Rocket Raccoon and the Guardians of the Galaxy 2012!!!!  Evolved mammals of the galaxy unite!  And lock those trash cans, damn it!  *-)
--Jay

Got the idea from VindicaSean and Topless Robot. "Rocket Raccoon was going to stop Thanos last week, but he got distracted by someone's trash can not being properly covered."

Thanos Glimpse Via Avengers Leads to Raccoon

In recent Marvel Comics history, if Thanos was being thwarted, that meant the Guardians of the Galaxy and one tiny raccoon with really big guns: Rocket Raccoon!!  I don't know why I find the little guy so appealing, but when it comes to the Raccoon I can only say, "I am Groot!"

So when Thanos was spotted for two seconds at the end of the Avengers Movie, my hope was kindled that the Guardians might be making a comeback after a couple of years of comic book cancellation purgatory.
Last week the cartoon, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, had the Guardians, complete with Groot and Rocket, show up for a cameo then split into space again.  That was fun, but I miss my regular Guardian cosmic fix.
But now Marvel is teasing us with Raccoon possibilities on the cover of Avengers Assemble #6, which won't be out until August.  And spilling the beans that Zodiac (the Avengers' current bad guys in the series) is being controlled by Thanos himself.

Sounds like a job for the Guardians, except that Peter Quill and Richard Rider were all busy getting dead that last time we saw them at the end of The Thanos Imperitive.  But if their foe Thanos made it out (and into the movies), maybe Starlord and Nova will make a return as well.

Don't know what the hell I'm talking about?  Go read the Guardian comics (the 2008 - 2010 ones, not the horrible 1970's Guardians) written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (two of the best writers in comics).

Jet City Comic Show 2011 Recap

The Larsen Family, otherwise known as The Arlington Brigade of the Guardians of the Galaxy, spent a fun and rewarding day at the Jet City Comic Show 2011 in Seattle on Saturday.

We were sporting our matching jackets, designed and made by my talented wife, Evelyn.  Our outfits got lots of nice comments.  And we saw several other Steam Punkers at the show as well.

The show was a nice size for a one day show and featured a lot of local talent.

 Siona "Cosmic Babe" and Chani "Super Chick Girl" got cartoon portraits of each other.  Chani looks pretty good with a cape!

 There were lots of Star Wars costumes as well as the ever-present Wolverine, a Thorina and several others decked out for the show.

 We bought so much stuff we had to take a trip to the car in the middle of the day.  So we walked over to McMenamins for lunch and coffee.  We needed the coffee before heading back to the show.

 Met a lot of great writers and authors, including Jake Richmond (above) who is the creator of Modest Medusa--a great web comic. 

Jake has his first Medusa book coming out in November.  I am one of his Kickstarter supporters, so I'll be getting one in the mail when they come off the presses, but you can read it for free on the Modest Medusa website.

Picked up some beautiful books called The Locked Maze by  Emily Ivie aka MLEIV.

I'm really looking forward to reading them.

 Brought some Spiderman books for Randy Emberlin (above) to sign.

Spent time talking with Randy and his lovely wife

 I also picked up a signed Spiderman print (above) by Randy as well as a Zatana print and a autographed Silver Surfer (below).  That's the closest I will ever come to riding the cosmic surfboard.

 Then there were all the vendors with their treasure troves of comics and toys and such.

Evelyn and I dived into the stacks looking for back issues to fill out the holes in my collection.

And we found lots and lots of comics.  Damn You Dollar Comics!!! (Shakes fist in the air in a dramatic but ironic manner.)  We brought home a mega pile of books: Dr Strange, Kabuki, Silver Surfer, Invaders, that one Alpha Flight #7 I have been missing for years, some What Ifs, even a Godzilla attacking Seattle book.  Lots of good stuff.

Thank the Eternals that Evelyn brought her incredible carpet bag of holding.

Now I have to catalog and read all these things...

Damn, I hate that part.  *-)

Thanos Imperative

I'm in the middle of reading Marvel's The Thanos Imperative because it has The Guardians of the Galaxy in it.  And I'm not sure which is cooler, that Cancerverse Hulk is a Tiefling.

 Or that when The Vision shows up saying, "I come in peace," that Rocket Raccoon responds in typical Raccooniverse fashion:

"That's great, but you don't mind me aiming my unfeasibly large gun at you, do you?"

Glad to know I'm not the only Rocket Raccoon Fan

At the Marvel Panel at Emerald City Comicon 2011, Marvel Big Wig Brian Michael Bendis took a moment for our favorite evolved mammal and member of the Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon

In response to a fan request to see Rocket Raccoon in the future, Bendis replied, "I wouldn't be surprised if Rocket Raccoon turned up in the 'Ultimate Spiderman' cartoon -- that's the level of nerdiness that we're at."

Echoes:
Quote from CBR
Pic from Guardians of the Galaxy issue mmbmhble, from Marvel (insert legal disclaimer here).
By the way, "BRAKKA" is a classic sound blurb for a big gun.
Click on the pic and read the dialog.  It's classic Rocket.