This week's stuff is all Silver Age DC Comics. Here's what we've got:
Batman: #158-160, 162-167, 171, 173-184, 187, 197-201, 203, 206, 208, Giant Batman Annual #3, 7
Detective Comics: #317, 323, 328, 329, 333, 334, 339, 340, 341, 345, 345-348, 350, 351, 355, 370
The Atom: #1, 12-15, 19, 21-27, 35, 36
Green Lantern: #2, 4, 5
Adventure Comics: #313, 317, 320, 322-329, 331, 334-336, 338-345, 347, 348, 363-366, 369, 371, 372
Here are a few of my favorite covers from the bunch:
FANBOY COMICS IS STILL HAVING TUESDAY SPECIALS AND AS SUCH STILL REQUIRES ME TO ANNOUNCE THEIR EXCELLENCE FAR AND WIDE
EVERY WEEK THERE ARE THINGS ON SPECIAL, INCLUDING BACK ISSUES, MERCHANDISE, AND GAMING PRODUCTS
TRULY, CELEBRATION IS REQUIRED...BUT HOW WOULD ONE DO SO?
HERE IS A HINT: ONE WOULD HUG SOMEONE, PERHAPS A PARTICULAR GOD OF NORSE MYTHOLOGY
HINT NUMBER 2: THAT GOD WOULD BE ME
ALSO, THE BOXES OF DOLLAR COMICS FEATURE A GREAT MANY NEW THINGS THAT WERE HERETOFORE NOT INCLUDED IN THEIR CONTENTS
PLEASE, ENJOY THESE THINGS AND PASS ALONG YOUR ENJOYMENT THROUGH THE ACT OF HUGGING
AS ALWAYS, FRIENDS OF FANBOY'S MYSPACE PAGE CAN LEARN OF THE SPECIALS BEFORE ANY OTHERS
HOWEVER MY LIVEJOURNAL PROVIDES UPDATES ABOUT ME, PERSONALLY, AND THE STATUS OF MY HUGS
Every player who comes to learn to play between 1-4 PM on Sunday gets a free movie pass to Mayfaire Cinemas and a free Icons booster. We will teach you how to play from the miniatures in your free booster. If you already know how to play, bring in a new player to learn and both you and the new player get a free movie pass!
Wolverine #55
As someone who has already read this issue, allow me to state that Wolverine fans will probably want to pick it up. So will X-Men fans. I don't really want to give anything away, but this is a fairly important issue which brings all the elements Jeph Loeb has introduced in his arc to a head, so to speak. Oh, and Simone Bianchi's art is really pretty, as usual.
Black Summer #1
Did you read the preview copy of this book? If you did, then I don't need to explain to you what's awesome about this book. If you didn't, allow me to summarize, since you couldn't be bothered to buy a 99 cent comic: Superheroes are supposed to stop crimes, right? So what would happen if, say, a Superman-level hero decided that the war in Iraq was an illegal war, carried out by an illegally elected regime? How would he stop this crime? I know it sounds like pansy liberal bleeding-heart crap, but I don't think Warren Ellis will treat the concept that shallowly--and just because a character believes something doesn't mean it's right.
Batman #666
A dystopian future Batman? Written by Grant Morrison? Drawn by Andy Kubert? Sign me up! Although, really, that first sentence could be anything. Take this, for example:
A rogue refrigerator salesman? Written by Grant Morrison? Drawn by Andy Kubert? Sign me up!
A grim re-imagining of the Tetris instruction manual? Written by Grant Morrison? Drawn by Andy Kubert? Sign me up!
Volume 331 of the New England Journal of Medicine? Written by Grant Morrison? Drawn by Andy Kubert? Sign me up!
Green Lantern Corps #14
The Sinestro Corps war continues! While the Green Lantern book focuses on the Green Lanterns from Earth, this Green Lantern Corps issue follows one of the newer Lanterns in the Galaxy: Soranik Natu of Korugar. Hmmm, I wonder how a Green Lantern from Korugar could fit into the the Sinestro Corps storyline? I mean, it's not like Sinestro is from Korugar, or anything, right? OH S--
For those who can't tell, those issues are:
-Incredible Hulk #106 3rd Printing
-Incredible Hulk #107 2nd Printing
-Iron Man #19 2nd Printing
-Heroes for Hire #11 2nd Printing
-Ghost Rider #12 2nd Printing
Performing Saturday, August 4th at 9:00 PM at the Soapbox Laundro Lounge Downstairs Basement!
www.chriscubeta.com
Thomas Writes:
This is one of the best live bands I've seen in years. Chris Cubeta and the Liar's Clube was my favorite band I saw at We Fest. They traveled all the way from New York to play on an early Sunday night at the soapbox and it was fantastic. There weren't a lot of people there, but the ones that witnessed this magical performance still talk about it. The We Fest Soundman said they were one of the best bands he has done sound for in many a year. My friend Tom Miller reports to have only bought 2 CDs at all 11 years of We Fest and "Faithful" by Chris Cubeta and the Liar's Club is one of them.
So I'm advising, urging, and begging you all to come check out this show. Please, let's show these guys some good old southern hospitality and make their trip down from New York one to remember. If you don't believe and want to check them out before you come down to the Soapbox there are a few ways: go to their myspace page and listen to some music or come out to Folks Cafe on Saturday at 4:00 PM to see a short acoustic set for free. Oh, by the way, I've seen them acoustic as well and it was amazing.
Do me and your music soul a favor and check out one of these performances.
That's just a clever name for me redoing the Fanboy Comics game room page and the forums. I've installed new forum software, so hopefully this forum won't get overrun by spambots to the point where it's just easier to disable new username registration. If you want to get to the forums, the link on the main page works now. The game room page will hopefully launch within a week.
Magic: The Gathering Mini-Masters - Thursdays at 6:30
Each player buys a pack for $3.99 and builds a mini-deck with it. Players who make it to the second round get a new booster to build a new deck, and so do the players who make it to the third round. At the end of the tournament, the winner gets a booster for every two participants, and the runner-up gets a booster for every four participants. That’s a lot of free boosters!
Yu-Gi-Oh $2 Tournaments - Mondays at 4:00 PM
Players compete for the chance to win a rare single!
$19.99
This book is so good that, not only do I want to see more Iron Fist comics, but I want to see an actual Iron Fist movie based on this comic. It is, quite possibly, the most fun, exciting, action-packed comic to come out in the last year, and it also has some of the greatest art I have seen. I was previously unfamiliar with David Aja, but after reading this book, he's one of my top favorite artists. The art is gritty and dark, but it's very easy to follow and understand the action. If you can turn to the first splash page of Iron Fist jump kicking and not go, "Damn," then you, my friend, have no soul. When I mention the artist before the writer, and the writers in question are Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, you should know that his is some awesome art.
$34.99
Oh, Ed Brubaker. I think I might have a crush on you. Daredevil, Criminal, Captain America, and Iron Fist (see above) are such great comic books. And you also write Uncanny X-Men, which is also awesome! Brubaker's arc marks the first time I've read and really enjoyed an X-Men comic since X-Cutioner's Song--which was terrible, but, in my defense, I was pretty young at the time. Anyway, Brubaker more or less resolves his Deadly Genesis miniseries where he somehow managed to add not just a new Summers brother who had never been mentioned, but a whole new X-Men team that had never been mentioned, and he made it awesome. Darwin is easily the best new mutant to come down the pike in years, and Vulcan is the best new X-Men villain to come along in a long time. Not only that, but this hardcover collects the whole 12 issue arc on extra-large pages perfect for viewing Billy Tan and Clayton Henry's excellent artwork.
$19.99
Have you gotten the first volume of 52 yet? Well, if not, you can pick it up when you pick up 52 volume two when it comes out tomorrow! Seriously, if you didn't read the DC weekly that came out on time each week for a year, then you owe it to yourself to pick this volume up. If you did read 52, then you should still pick this up because it fits nicely on a bookshelf and has bonus commentary from several of the writers, editors, artists, and others! This is a great way to read a great series.
$17.00
This boxed set contains enough plastic components to assemble two (2) Battle Wizards from the following Colleges: Celestial, Gold, Light, Amethyst and Bright. All models are supplied unpainted and require assembly.
Hooray! As someone who likes the customization aspect of miniatures games, more plastic box sets are always welcome. And hey, the wizards make pretty good miniatures for fantasy rpgs, too!
It's not too late to get started! Though you may be two weeks behind, you can play each other player in the league once each week, so if you can get a lot of games in you can easily catch up. Not to mention boasts and stuff like that. The best days to come by and play are Thursday at 6:00 PM and Sunday at 5:00 PM, but you can come in and play a league game at any time. New players are always welcome!
Here are the current standings as of Week 2:
| PLAYER | POINTS | FACTION | |
| 1 | Cyrus Marriner | 16 | Cryx |
| 2 | Davin Madden | 10 | Cygnar |
| 3 | Jackson Brantley | 8 | Skorne |
| 4 | Wayne Turner | 6 | Khador |
| 5 | Nick Truelove | 2 | Khador |
| 6 | Joe Nguyen | 1 | Menoth |
| 7 | Tony “Defib” [LAST NAME] | 1 | Menoth |
| 8 | Preacher | 0 | Cygnar |
The full league rules are available in the store. We're largely following the official league rules, but I have house ruled some stuff. The official rules document can be found at Privateer Press's Summer Rampage Site. The house rules document, along with a quick reference rules sheet, can be found here.
If there is anything you're looking for that we stock or can special order, we can ship it to you. We ship every Tuesday and if we have to special order the item it will take some extra time. $15.00 minimum order. We take Paypal, Money Orders, Checks and Credit Cards. Paypal is preferred. E-mail us.
If you produce a comic, or have some art you'd like to submit, or have written a review or anything else that you'd like to see in the newsletter, we're totally cool with that! Just email editor@fanboycomics.biz, and we'll put your submission in the newsletter if it's appropriate! Heck, you can even send in plain old comments about the newsletter, the store, or one of our events and we might publish them! We're really accommodating, it would seem. Seriously, write some reviews. We'll hook you up with free review copies of comics. How cool is that?
Here's a rundown of the main stuff we buy:
Here are just a few of the many great items we have available on E-bay! We start new auctions every Monday at 6:00 PM that last through Saturday at 6:00 PM. Local customers can bid and pick up their purchase at the store to save on shipping! We also add new items to our E-bay Store every Wednesday and Thursday. We currently have over 1000 items, including pulps, vintage paperbacks, handbills, comics, and more!
1965 Whitey Ford Matchbox Car Ad
This auction contains the rare vintage Whitey Ford star of the NY Yankees, Matchbox toy cars advertisement from 1965. This color ad ran in publications from that time period and is not a reproduction. It's in excellent shape with only very lite edge wear. It measures approx 10 1/8" X 6 3/4". Don't miss out on this hard-to-find piece of history!
This auction contains the vintage paperback Armchair in Hell by Henry Kane. This rare book was published by Dell Books (316) in 1948. It's in (GD) condition with lite to moderate edge and corner wear. There's also a couple small numbers written in blue pen on front cover and a stamp. There's also some creasing on front and back covers and about a 1" tear on front cover by bottom of spine and a small tear on back cover by spine. This rare book features a map on the back cover of Manhattan Island (see photo).
Overall, this book has nice eye appeal!
Don't miss out on this high collectible paperback.
D&D Minis Kill and Keep Tournament
Saturday, July 28th at 7:00 PM
$25.00 Entry for 2 Boosters!
Play against the Fanboy Comics army and keep what you kill! Don't worry, though, because you don't lose your pieces when they die! Just the store does.
2000 Point Warhammer Fantasy Tournament
Sunday, August 19th at 1:00 PM
Free Entry!
1st Prize - $25.00 Gift Certificate
2nd Prize - $10.00 Gift Certificate
Axis and Allies: War at Sea Boosters and Starters are back in stock this week!
Star Wars Minis: Revenge of the Sith and Universe Huge Packs are back in stock next week!
As usual, a great many comic books have been pushed back to a later date. This news is so shocking that we are now developing a weekly section where we announce comic delays, so you can better know when your favorite books are coming out. Or when the next delay announcement will be, whatever. We'll also include other schedule announcements, like different products coming back in stock, second printings, and the like. But this is the comic industry, and we all know which type of announcment we will see the most.
Changed Release Dates
| Title | Old Date |
New Date |
| Powers Vol. 10: Cosmic TP (MR) | 11/01/06 | 08/15/07 |
| Powers Encyclopedia Vol. 1 | 07/05/07 | 10/03/07 |
| Gødland Celestial Ed. HC (C: 0-1-2) | 07/25/07 | 08/01/07 |
| Maintenance #4 (MR) | 07/25/07 | 08/01/07 |
| Daredevil #99 | 08/01/07 | 08/08/07 |
| Deadman #12 (MR) | 08/01/07 | 08/08/07 |
| Halo: Uprising #1 (OF 4) (MR) | 08/01/07 | 08/08/07 |
| Jack Kirby’s Galactic Bounty Hunters #6 | 08/01/07 | 08/29/07 |
| Jack Of Fables #13 (MR) | 08/01/07 | 08/08/07 |
| New Avengers/Transformers #2 (OF 4) | 08/01/07 | 08/08/07 |
| New Excalibur #22 | 08/01/07 | 08/08/07 |
| Powers #25 (MR) | 08/01/07 | 08/08/07 |
| Superman #666 | 08/08/07 | 08/22/07 |
| Thor #1 2nd Ptg. Coipel Var. | 08/08/07 | 08/15/07 |
| Deadman #13 (MR) | 08/15/07 | 09/12/07 |
| Powers #26 (MR) | 08/15/07 | 08/29/07 |
| Superman Confidential #6 | 08/15/07 | 09/19/07 |
| All Star Superman #9 | 08/22/07 | 09/12/07 |
| Black Panther #30 CWI | 08/22/07 | 08/29/07 |
| Superman Confidential #7 | 08/29/07 | 10/03/07 |
| Franklin Richards Monster Mash | 09/12/07 | 09/26/07 |
| Powers #27 (MR) | 09/19/07 | 10/03/07 |
| Powers #28 (MR) | 10/17/07 | 11/07/07 |
"Stubb; You can that button brittle there satisfy from you like this, but you never crush in my you now catch the net to state to any in front of. How and in front of the long time is it extremely contrarily said from you? The word once did not have your any ship Ahab speed, the ship something firewood volunteer fire brigade to have extra about its insurance policy, only had looks like it to charge and the powder barrel 在背後 and in front of the matches? Terminal, now; Is not that thinks you? Very good, my supposition? Then what? I my flesh and blood from that time, why didn't have my view to change?"
Writer: Mark Waid
Art: Karl Kerschl, Ian Church Hill, Manuel Garcia, Joe Bennet, Daniel Acuna, others.
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99
I'm not sure when I stopped caring about the Flash. I do remember when I liked the Flash. Grant Morrison's run was brilliant, pitting the Flash against his rogues in ways never seen, and using basic science to back it all up. His Mirror-Master story was particularly good. Mark Waid made a name for himself with the Flash, writing some incredible stories that defined who Wally West is and what being the Flash is all about. And, sadly, it looks like he can't get past that.
All Flash #1 deals with the murder of Bart Allen aka Impulse aka Kid Flash aka the Flash. He was killed by the Rogues once his clone, Inertia, took away his power. Yes. A clone. Sigh. Anyway, Wally West, his wife and his twin children got pulled to the present day. Wally was "summoned" by the Speed Force to find out who killed Bart and bring the killer to justice. Yeah. I'm bored too.
This comic is systemic to what is wrong with a lot of comics these days. They either don't want to change or fear the change. A comic lives off its readers. You make the readers happy and they buy your book. Simple. The problem with catering to your readership is that, most times, readers have absolutely no idea what they want. They think they want the same old story, but what they want is newness. Even when they say they want something different, sometimes they just want what they have been reading. I don't like picking on DC. They are great and I love what they do. But, none of their stories have any really lasting effects. I thought Infinite Crisis was great. Simply wonderful. Wally West left with his family to who-knows-where and the universe was prepped for change. But look at the DC Universe now. The same Green Lantern is back. The same Justice League is around. And now the old/new Flash is back. Why can't they do something and stick with it?
And if you are going to bring a character back, do it with some style! Some skill! If I read one more stupid story about a stupid clone I'm going to kill things. Spider-man had a clone. Cable had a clone. Superman had a clone. Magneto had a clone. And now a stupid character like Kid-flash has a damn clone! Enough! Enough with the stupid clones! That is the lamest way to do anything with a character! I mean, how do these comic writers sleep at night? "Hmmm. I know! I'll kill him by his clone!" Man.
This Flash story bored me. That is the worst thing a comic can do. I'm sure Flash fans will love it. Wally West is back and he's got little Flash babies. Yay. All is right with the world. But there needs to be more depth to stories to make them worth the cover price. A Flash dies. So what. That's what they do. They get killed. And then, like the Savior of the universe, they come back. Somebody wake me up when the Flash does something interesting.
RATING: 3/5
Writer: Matt Fraction
Art: Barry Kitson
Inks: Mark Morales
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $2.99
Man, Tony Stark. Once he was the guy with the cool armor. Every few months he'd get a new suit and every few months he'd fight a guy in a suit. It made sense and no one complained. Now, the guy is in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and more than likely is indirectly responsible for getting Captain America killed. Oh, and he shot the Hulk into space. We can't forget about him shooting the Hulk into space. And he slept with She-Hulk. And Ms. Marvel. Man. What a jerk.
There are a few good things that are coming out of Iron Man being a doo-doo head. We get some amazing comic book stories out of it. The Order is a prime example of this. The Order isn't a good comic because of its organization or the theories behind it. It is good because, everyone knows, the higher people rise, the cooler it is to see them fall. And these cats are going to fall. Hard.
The good: I like seeing the belly of the Initiative, Iron Man's plan to have a super hero group in every state. It makes sense and it seems like the logical step after Civil War. A whole army of super heroes accountable to the government with backing and blah, blah, blah. We get it. They do beat the drum a bit, but there are some cool moments with some cool thinking behind it. In the comic, The Order, the California super team, takes down a villain that is burning up Los Angeles. After the battle is won, four of them decide to hit the town and get completely wasted. Tour up from the floor up, Wilmington style, son! Except, the superheroes signed contracts that state that they can't do any drugs or drink any alcohol on or off duty, and they get canned. Awesome. The book amazingly makes you like these guys, especially when you see them wanting to party, and then, pop, they are gone and there is a real sense that, at any moment, any of these characters can die. Why? Cause they are completely disposable. None of them are mainstay characters except Pepper Potts. And who cares about Pepper Potts? Slut. The leader of the group, Anthem, was an actor that played Iron Man in movies. Him leading the team is sort of cool, because he has ties to Tony Stark and because he's an actor in Hollywood fighting crime and all that. The inexperience of the team is going to be the coolest part of this book. Watching them try to be Avengers when they are nowhere near as good or as skilled as the Avengers. Plus, you can't have those powers forever. One year and that's it. So you have a time line, rookie heroes and the hot bed of the Initiative repercussions. What's not to like?
The bad: Well...there are a few things. Books copying the Authority are getting really old. The Authority, to my knowledge, was the first book to equate superhero groups with a Pantheon. I could be wrong on that, and if I am, feel free to correct me. But I know for a fact that Warren Ellis made it popular. The first few pages have the Order's roster called out, with all the appropriate Greek relations. Ugh. Can't we do something else? Something a bit more creative? I don't get the feeling that the writer, Fraction, was making fun of this or trying to make a point. It really seemed true and honest and I'm just over it. To my knowledge, the Greek gods rarely helped anyone out. They mostly screwed with mankind whenever we pissed them off.
I'm also sort of tired of this "heroes fighting heroes" thing. The first monster in the book is a government pet. Sigh. Boring. Where are all the good villains? And what are they doing? With all this hero building going on in the Marvel universe, there have to be a few villains with some big planet stomping plans going on. The coolest villain this summer is either Tony Stark on the Hulk. Who are we rooting for anymore? Is war really the answer?
With art by Barry Kitson and inks by Mark Morales, this book will be a no-brainer hit and a sure fire weekly must-grab. The style and skill the book is being produced with alone are worth the cover price. However, some originality and some inventiveness could be thrown about a bit. This book has to find its own niche, just like the Avengers and the Thunderbolts. Copy-cats for sales sake never lasts long. We are a very unforgiving people, us comic readers.
RATING: 4.5/5
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Art: Francis Portela
Inks: Terry Pallot
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $2.99
If you look at the Marvel Universe like it's a lab experiment, you come to one solid conclusion. Villains are stupid. That's what Marvel would have you believe. Villains are motivated by greed or arrogance and, since comics have to fortify certain value systems and moral locks that our society has, villains fail. They always fail. They always will fail. This isn't debatable. And the more greedy, the more they fail. Villains like Doom and Magneto are hard core because they have other motivations besides greed. That makes them even more dangerous. But Modok? Who cares about Modok? He's a big floating head. And no matter how many times A.I.M. remakes Modok, he is still a floating head that does what greedy people want? But, what would happen if a lonely loser became Modok? Hijinks ensue!
Super-Villain Team-up starts off with lonely loser George volunteering to become the new Modok. But something goes wrong. Instead of becoming the Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing, he is designed for Killing! Get it! Instead of the "c" there is a "k"! Very clever! He kills everyone in the A.I.M. HQ and then goes out and looks for henchmen. And, that's about it. Next.
Ok, I guess I can talk a bit about the henchmen. With all the Civil War stuff going on, pickings for great villains are slim. There is the human Armadillo, the American Indian Puma, the Mad Mutant Mentallo (I thought that one up myself) and the guy with the skate board, Rocket Racer. These guys, plus a few other losers are told to meet in the classic warehouse. Once they get there, they fight and then Modok shows up and tells them of his "mad" plan! And, that's about it.
Part of me feels like this book isn't firing on all four cylinders like it should or could. With all the insane hero junk flying around, a good villain story is over due. But Modok is not a good villain. And his henchmen are lame from day one. Only Mentallo has any kind of charisma or flare, but his cockiness makes him almost unlikable. And when did the Rocket Racer have a stutter? I don't remember that at all. Even with all the badness in the book, I still think there is some "good" hidden between the lines. Maybe the next issues will be better. Since Modok's "k" stands for killing, it is easy to see that the villains will most likely turn to heroes and save the day, but if it is so obvious, is there even a reason to keep reading it? Man, I really miss Dr. Doom.
RATING: 3/5
Armchair in Hell Novel
