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IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for February 9, 2022

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Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for June 17, 2020

MARVEL COMICS

JAN201065    CONAN BOOK OF THOTH AND OTHER STORIES TP    $24.99
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#IReadsYou Review: BLACK PANTHER and the Agents of Wakanda #1

BLACK PANTHER AND THE AGENTS OF WAKANDA No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Jim Zub
ART: Lan Medina
COLORS: Marcio Menyz
LETTERS: VC's Joe Sabino
MISC ART: Leinil Francis Yu with Sunny Gho
COVER: Jorge Molina
EDITOR: Wil Moss
VARIANT COVERS: John Buscema with Dave McCaig; Inhyuk Lee; Leinil Francis Yu with Sunny Gho; Yoon Lee
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (November 2019)

Rated “T”

Black Panther created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

“Eye of the Storm” Part 1 of 2

It makes sense that Marvel Comics would publish more than one Black Panther comic book series.  After all, the 2018 Black Panther film was a worldwide box office smash and won three Academy Awards, as well as receiving a best picture Oscar nomination (the first film based on a comic book to do so).  The release of that film spurred a reportedly big jump in sales of Black Panther comic books and trade paperback collections, to say nothing of the merchandise sales that left some retailers sold-out or short of supply.

The latest Black Panther ongoing comic book series is Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda.  It is both a Black Panther title and an Avengers-related series, spinning off from Jason Aaron's run on Avengers.  Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda is written by Jim Zub, drawn by Lan Medina; colored by Marcio Menyz, and lettered by Joe Sabino.

Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1 finds Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp and Colonel John Jameson III/The Man-Wolf in Miami fighting the “Scavengers.”  This group of tech-thieves is in Miami to find a lost cache of experimental S.H.I.E.L.D. weaponry.  Soon, however, Okoye, the tactical head of the “Dora Milaje” and director of “the Agents of Wakanda,” is leading her teammates to a meeting with their boss, Black Panther.

T'Challa, the current Chairman of the Avengers and the King of Wakanda, has located an example of the kind of situation for which the Agents of Wakanda was created – gathering intelligence and dealing with immediate hazards the Avengers cannot.  Pawhuska, Oklahoma, U.S. is experiencing some kind of demon invasion.  Can Black Panther, The Wasp, Okoye, and Fat Cobra (the immortal weapon and kung-fu champion) stop this invasion... or even discover the power behind it?

Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda writer, Jim Zub, described this comic book as “[Jack] Kirby-fueled Mission: Impossible in the Marvel Universe” to Marvel.com.  He said the team is “a strike force of misfits and monsters tasked with defending humanity.”  The Agents of Wakanda aren't the first superhero group to take on the “weirdness” in the “weird corners” of its comic book universe.  There is also DC Comics The New Terrifics.

The Truth is that everything about a superhero comic book universe is weird, so comic book writers who claim that there is a particularly “weirder” segment ripe for storytelling better bring it.  Jim Zub, a good comic book writer who has produced some comic books that I have enjoyed, does not bring it.  In Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1  Zub's dialogue is bland, and he makes the characters, some of Marvel's best, seem somewhat run-of-the-mill.

Lan Medina's art is really good... in a few places, and is storytelling is... professional.  Marcio Menyz's coloring is really good, and the color effects caught my attention.  Joe Sabino's lettering is also professional and maybe... a bit perfunctory.  But practically nothing in this first issue is exciting.

If Jim Zub can give Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda the spark he gave his former Image Comics series, Wayward, then, this could be an exceptional superhero comic book.  Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1 doesn't seem like the introduction to something that will be exceptional.

5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.


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#IReadsYou Review: HISTORY OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #1

HISTORY OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Mark Waid
PENCILS: Javier Rodríguez
INKS: Álvaro López
COLORS: Javier Rodríguez
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna
EDITOR: Tom Brevoort
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Akira Yoshida a.k.a. C.B. Cebulski
MISC. ART: Phil Noto
COVER: Steve McNiven and Mark Farmer with Sunny Gho
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Nick Bradshaw with John Rauch; John Buscema with Jason Keith; David Marquez with Matthew Wilson; Javier Rodríguez and Álvaro López
44pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (September 2019)

Rated T

History of the Marvel Universe is a comic book miniseries that chronicles completely, for the first time, everything that was, is, or will be in the Marvel Universe.  History of the Marvel Universe is written by Mark Waid; drawn by Javier Rodríguez (pencils/colors) and Álvaro López (inks); and lettered by Joe Caramagna.

History of the Marvel Universe #1 opens at “the End of Time.”  There, Franklin Richards and the planet-devouring Galactus await the final death of the universe.  Although both will move to the universe born of the death of this one, Richards is concerned about memories.  Before it all ends, he wants the history of this universe to have meant something.  Richards asks Galactus to help him remember everything.  Thus, Galactus recounts the history of this universe, beginning with a first chapter.  It starts at the so-called “Big Bang” and ends both in the Wild West of The Rawhide Kid and The Two-Gun Kid and in the wild north of Canada where a boy named James Howlett emerges.

There is no doubt about it.  Marvel Comics' History of the Marvel Universe #1 has more than a passing resemblance to DC Comics' 1986, two-issue miniseries, History of the DC Universe.  It is true that Mark Waid and Javier Rodríguez could find no better template than the one writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez laid down in History of the DC Universe.

Some people consider Mark Waid an unofficial Marvel Comics historian; I imagine some people at Marvel probably think that.  Waid does a good job gathering the varied “histories” about the beginnings, the ancient times, the recent centuries, etc. that have been depicted in five decades of Marvel Comics titles.  Waid also mixes in threads from Marvel's predecessor Timely Comics and the two decades of material the predates the publication of The Fantastic Four #1.  Of course, Waid has to take into consideration decades of “retcons,” in which Marvel Comics scribes went back and changed things after the fact – the Avengers of one million years ago, introduced in Avengers #1 (2018).  I won't say that this first issue is a great read, but there are some interesting bits in this first issue.

I can say that I love the art team of Javier Rodríguez (pencils/colors) and Álvaro López.  Here, they don't have to engage in graphical storytelling, so much as they have to draw pictures that illustrate Mark Waid's text.  [Waid's script is presented in caption boxes, not word balloons, all well-crafted by Joe Caramagna.]  Their art reminds me of art of Alan Davis.

Speaking of which, Davis' longtime inker, Mark Farmer, inks Steve McNiven's cover pencil art – with excellent results.  So, in conclusion, History of the Marvel Universe #1 is an occasionally interesting curiosity, but honestly, you, dear readers, don't need to read it to enjoy Marvel Comics titles.  History of the Marvel Universe #1 is not the monumental work that Marvel Comics' monumental history deserves.  [I think the history of the Marvel Universe would be best told in a long-running, ongoing comic book series, which won't happen.]

6 out of 10

[This comic book includes four pages of annotations, which list the Marvel Comics publications which acted as reference for the story in History of the Marvel Universe #1.]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for May 22, 2019

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Review: FANTASTIC FOUR #1 Fascimile Edition

FANTASTIC FOUR #1 FACSIMILE EDITION (2018)
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Stan Lee
PENCILS: Jack Kirby
INKS: George Klein (?); Sol Brodsky (?)
COLORS: Stan Goldberg
LETTERS: Artie Simek
EDITOR: Mark D. Beazley (collection editor)
COVER: Jack Kirby and George Klein with Stan Goldberg (?)
MISC. ART: John Buscema and Joe Sinnott; John Byrne and Terry Austin; John Byrne; Alex Ross; John Byrne with Gregory Wright; Scott Eaton with Richard Isanove; Eric Powell; Clayton Crain; Marcelo DiChiara; Ed McGuinness and Dexter Vines; Michael Wm Kaluta; Leinil Francis Yu; Arthur Adams with Justin Ponsor; Humberto Ramos with Edgar Delgado; Jack Kirby and George Klein with Dean White
48pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (October 2018)

Fantastic Four created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee

Afterword by Dan Slott

“The Fantastic Four!”

The Fantastic Four #1 (cover dated: November 1961) is the comic book that basically started what we know of today as Marvel Comics and the “Marvel Universe” of superheroes, comic books, stories, and fictional mythologies.  This comic book only credits two of the creative team, Fantastic Four creators, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  Lee wrote a two-page plot that Kirby drew, via pencil art, as a 25-page comic book story.  Lee, credited as the scriptwriter, wrote the exposition and dialogue for the 25 pages.  You can experience this history in Marvel Comics' recent release, Fantastic Four #1 Facsimile Edition.

Because comic books then did not provide contributor credits as they do today, there is some question as to the rest of the creative team of this first issue of The Fantastic Four (also known as “FF”).  George Klein and possibly Sol Brodsky provided inks over Kirby's pencils.  Stan Goldberg was the colorist, and Artie Simek was this comic book's letterer.

The Fantastic Four #1 (“The Fantastic Four!) opens in the FF's original home, Central City.  The ordinary citizens are in an uproar, as above them, someone has fired a flare gun that has unleashed a huge smoke cloud.  Like a silent beacon, the smoke is emblazoned with the words, “THE FANTASTIC FOUR!”  What does it all mean, the citizens of Central City wonder?

The one who fired the gun is Reed Richards a.k.a. “Mister Fantastic,” a scientific genius, who can stretch his body to incredible lengths and into endless shapes.  He is calling Susan “Sue” Storm a.k.a. “the Invisible Girl,” who can make herself invisible.  The call also goes out to Johnny Storm a.k.a. “the Human Torch,” Sue's younger brother, who can ignite his body with flames, generate more flames, and use the flames to give him the power of flight.  The final cast member is Ben Grimm a.k.a. “the Thing,” whose flesh has been turned stone-like, giving him tremendous superhuman strength, durability, and endurance.  Richards is the leader of this mysterious group, The Fantastic Four.  On the day of Reed's signal call, the team must save the planet from a strange underworld menace, and the world will never be the same.

The Fantastic Four, of course, is now simply known as Fantastic Four, a fantastic name either way one says it.  It is definitely one of the five most important individual issues of a comic book ever published, and there are several reasons why.  The modern language of superhero comic books and to a large extent, the graphical storytelling language of modern comic books is based on Jack Kirby's comic book storytelling, beginning with his illustrations and storytelling in Fantastic Four #1.

However, what I like about Fantastic Four #1 is its unabashed craziness.  Stan Lee does not pretend to be writing science fiction.  This landmark comic book is full of crazy, ridiculous, stupid, hair-brained, wild, weird, wonderful, wacky, surreal, and strange stuff, and sadly, in the intervening years, comic books have tried to become too smart.  It is as if comic books have been trying to make sense of the “wrongness” and “incorrectness” of Fantastic Four in the intervening decades since its release.  Comic books don't need to be literature to be taken seriously.  Comic book writers, artists, colorists, letterers, editors, publishers, etc. create storytelling that cannot be created in other mediums, and it is perfectly fine for the stories to be scientifically and practically non-nonsensical.

Fantastic Four #1 is like a B-movie or monster movie, but only in the most superficial ways.  The imagination and inventiveness unique to comic books is unique to comic books because comic books are not like other mediums.  A couple of times in the text pieces for Fantastic Four #1 Facsimile Edition, the word “crude” is used.  On the surface, the illustrations in this sixty-seven year-old comic book story may appear to be crude, but the graphics and the graphical storytelling are beautiful, almost beyond words.

The combination of imagination, the uniqueness of the comics medium, and the innate weirdness of comic books flowed (and still flows) through what Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created so long ago.  The Fantastic Four #1 is not quaint, charming, or crude; it was a new dawn, and it is still visionary.  I have been reading The Fantastic Four #1 in reprint form, on and off, for over 30 years, and I never stop being excited while reading it.  I really enjoyed Fantastic Four #1 Facsimile Edition.

[This comic book features previously published text pieces by Stan Lee, Tom DeFalco, and Walter Mosley.]


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.


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Marvel Comics from Dimaond Distributors for September 27, 2017

MARVEL COMICS

JUL171079    BEN REILLY SCARLET SPIDER #8    $3.99
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I Reads You Juniors May 2017 - Update #35

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Welcome to the I Reads You blog.  It's May 2017.  This post and its updates will offer news and blurb reviews.

From BleedingCool:  Spawn creator Todd McFarlane crashes a DC Comics panel at Megacon to confront an old Spawn cohort.

From TheComicsReporter:  2017 Reuben Award and NCS Divisional winners have been announced.

From ComicBookBin:  Johnny Bullet Episode #119.

From ComicBookBin:  Johnny Bullet Episode #119 in French.

From ComicBastards:  A review of "Samaritan Veritas #1" (Image Comics).

From BleedingCool:  Jae Lee announces his new creator owned series, "Fey," at Phoenix Comic Con.

From BleedingCool:  Some news on the firing of X-Men editor Daniel Ketchum at Marvel Comics.

From BleedingCool:  Bryan Hitch will write and draw Justice League beginning with issue #32 after writing and drawing an extra-sized #25.

From BleedingCool:  DC Comics "Dark Nights: Metal" gets the front cover of upcoming "Diamond Previews."

From BleedingCool:  Rich Johnston offers the history of a book currently called "Monsters" by Barry Windsor-Smith.


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BLURB REVIEW:

Spawn #273 (Image Comics – May 2017) by Todd McFarlane and Szymon Kudranski with Fco Plascencia

I have not read a new issue of Spawn since Bill Clinton was president, but I have wanted to and just kept putting it off.  On a recent visit to a “local” comic book shop, I spied a single copy of Spawn #273 sitting on the shelf.  I swear that thing was calling to me.

I read Spawn for years, although I thought it was a mediocre comic book.  I kept reading it in hopes that it would get better, which it never did, although I always enjoyed the art of Greg Capullo, who drew Spawn during most of the time I read it.

I still find all of McFarlane's exposition in panels to be stiff and stilted, but the dialogue deserves at least a grade of “B.”  The story is about a mysterious vigilante called “The Soul Crusher” and also concerns Cyan Fitzgerald, the daughter of Spawn/Al Simmons ex-wife, Wanda, and her husband, Al's best friend, Terry Fitzgerald.  I have to say that those two story lines intrigue me enough to make me want to buy another issue.  [My regular shop generally does not carry McFarlane publications, which will hamper my efforts.]

So all this time later, I find that Spawn is actually a good read.  Who knew?  People who read it, I guess!

Posted:  Monday, May 22, 2017


------------------------

From CBR:  The "Batman and Justice League" manga will launch June 19th, 2017 in Japan's "Champion RED" magazine.


-------------------------
BLURB REVIEW:

Weapon X #1 (Marvel Comics – June 2017) by Greg Pak, Greg Land, and Jay Leisten with Frank D'Armata

Although this is only first issue, I can tentatively say that the latest incarnation of the “Weapon X” comic book is probably the second really good X-Men comic book to come out of Marvel's current X-Men franchise revival.  The series premise seems to be that original Wolverine, now known as “Old Man Logan,” will lead a team to investigate the clandestine military project, known as “Weapon X,” which was thought to be disbanded.

In the first issue, Wolverine... oops... Logan (can't help myself) gets sliced-and-diced pretty badly, but he does notice that the slicers are using bladed weapons similar to that of Lady Deathstrike.  Logan figures that if he can find Deathstrike, then he can find his assailants, but first he has to convince an old buddy to join him on this hunt.

So I'm really intrigued by Greg Pak's story, and I have finally figured out that I usually like what Pak writes.  Greg Land and inker Jay Leisten are a good comic book art team, and well, their storytelling makes me want to come back for more.

Posted:  Thursday, May 18, 2017
--------------------------------


From BleedingCool:  R.I.P. - British comic book creator, Edmund Bagwell, has died at the age of 50.

From Bleeding Cool:  Geoff John reveals "Doomsday Clock," a miniseries pitting Superman vs. Dr. Manhattan of "Watchmen."

From icv2:  R.I.P. - The "Golden Age" horror artist, Jay Disbrow, died on May 2, 2017 at the age of 91.  He was a prolific artist drawing pre-Code horror comics.  Fantagraphics Books published his "The Flames of Gyro" in 1979.  And from 2000 to 2005, he published his Flash Gordon-like adventure strip, "Aroc of Zenith," on the Internet.

From BleedingCool:  Scott Snyder will leave All-Star Batman sometimes next year.


-------------------------------------
BLURB X-MEN REVIEWS:

X-MEN: GOLD #1 (Marvel Comics – June 2017) by Marc Guggenheim, Ardian Syaf, and Jay Leisten with Frank Martin

“Back to Basics” Part 1:  On the Interwebs, I have come across people saying that X-Men: Gold is writer Marc Guggenheim's return to the halcyon days of the X-Men when Chris Claremont wrote Uncanny X-Men.  Claremont wrote X-Men/Uncanny X-Men beginning with X-Men #94 in 1975 until the early 1991 when he quit the franchise.  Not all of those days were gold.  Quite frankly, after John Byrne left as co-plotter/penciller with Uncanny X-Men #143, Claremont long run, as basically the solo writer, was inconsistent.  There were some good stories, but also a surprising amount of mediocrity and redundancy, with only a few high points, high mostly because of artists like Paul Smith, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Alan Davis.

Judging only by this first issue, Guggenheim seems to be summoning the average days of Claremont.  But hey, this is only the first issue; still, I don't hold out hope.  I think that it will be obvious by the third issue if X-Men: Gold will be exceptional or be what most recent X-Men comic books have been, average at best.

On the other hand...

X-MEN: BLUE #1 (Marvel Comics – June 2017) by Cullen Bunn, Jorge Molina and Matteo Buffagni with Matt Milla

Now, this is an X-Men comic book in the best sense of that description.  It has the original X-Men fighting an early X-Men adversary, and I am a total sucka for Juggernaut.  Writer Cullen Bunn gets it where Marc Guggenheim in X-Men: Gold doesn't get it – or at least not yet.  When you can't be imaginative, inventive, and original when it comes to writing the X-Men, be shocking and surprising.  And Bunn delivers shocks and surprises here that are sweet, and he made invent later.

This first issue is simply a joy to read and it has a snazzy cover by Art Adams (who delivers good comic book cover art about 9 out of 10 times).  I am not crazy about the art team of Molina & Buffagni, but I'll tolerate them if the upcoming issues deliver on the last page of the main story; deliver on the back-up story; and deliver on “More Things to Come in X-Men Blue.”

Posted:  Wednesday, May 10, 2017
-----------------------------------------


From ComicsBeat:  Heidi MacDonald on the recent DC Comics editorial alignment.

From BleedingCool:  Updates on the Ardian Syaf controversy regarding hidden messages he placed in his art for "X-Men: Gold #1."

From YahooMovies:  Robert Kirkman, creator of "The Walking Dead," apologizes for a death in issue #167 of the comic book.

From DCComics:  Read the press release: "DC Entertainment Expands Editorial Leadership Team."

From BleedingCool:  Take a look inside "Dark Days: The Forge," the prequel to DC Comics' event "Dark Nights: Metal."

From TheBristolBoard:  An online portfolio of unusual John Buscema art, unusual for the late artist who was known for his long association with Marvel's "Conan the Barbarian" and short stint as the first artist on the first "Wolverine" solo comic book series.

From Kickstarter:  Cartoonist Shaenon K. Garrity has a Kickstarter. (from "The Comics Reporter)

From BleedingCool:  Apparently, Marvel destroys Las Vegas in  "Secret Empire #2.

From BleedingCool:  This Jim Lee cover art for "Dark Nights: Metal" will be on a metallic cover.

From BleedingCool:  The "Love is Love" anthology added to list of 2017 Eisner Award nominees.

From YahooTV:  Marvel Comics, in a statement to ABC News, says that it hears fans' concerns about the Hydra-Captain America.

From TIME:  If you are wondering about Marvel Comics' "Black Panther and the Crew," here is an interview "Time Magazine" did with series writer, Ta-Nihisi Coastes.

From ComicCon:  The 2017 Eisner Award nominations have been announced.

From BleedingCool:  Writer Matthew Rosenberg wanted Eisner props for Khary Randolph for his "Black" covers.

From StarTribune:  Neil Gaiman says "American Gods" rooted in Wisconsin-Minnesota weirdness.

From BleedingCool:  Greg Capullo offers a pencil sketch of Wonder Woman from the upcoming "Dark Nights: Metal."

From GoFundMe:  Writer James Hudnall really needs your help. [Thanks to "The Comics Reporter" for the heads up.]

From PeterDavid:  Another comic book creator/writer is in distress, Peter David. [Thanks again to "The Comics Reporter."]

From YahooTV:  Did you like Starz's "American Gods" TV series' debut?  Here, is a recap from the site.