EL VALIENTE REVIEWED AT SILVER BULLET PRESS!

and what a sweet sweet review it is...

Everything I set out to accomplish I did...read the review and check out the kind words from Stephen Saville

read the whole review here : http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/smallpress/119316618844771.htm

and before I get alot of email asking if the last part of the review is correct, Stephen wrote back to me and had this to say:

"What I meant was that I certainly hope that there are more El Valiente comics to come as I enjoyed it. I do tend to get a bit clumsy with my syntax , sorry about that. Cheers!" -Steve

EL VALIENTE #1 in the EL PASO TIMES!!!

I was interviewed by the paper for thurday's Living section, for all of you interested or who don't recieve the paper, here it is!!!

http://www.elpasotimes.com/living/ci_5805145

No get out there and support the book!!!!

WOLVERINE # 50

WRITER: JEPH LOEB
PENCILS: SIMONE BIANCHI
ED MCGUINNESS
COVER BY: SIMONE BIANCHI
INKS: SIMONE BIANCHI
COLORED BY: PAUL MOUNTS
LETTERED BY: RICHARD STARKINGS
PUBLISHED BY: MARVEL COMICS

The Story: "EVOLUTION,” PART 1
A DOUBLE-SIZED SPECIAL 50TH ISSUE! WITH SPECTACLAR WRAPAROUND COVER BY BIANCHI!
Superstar Jeph Loeb (Batman: Hush) is joined by future superstar Simone Bianchi for the biggest, best and, quite possibly, last battle between Wolverine and Sabretooth! These sworn foes have been locked in an endless grudge match that goes back longer than either can remember -- or even imagine. The key to victory is eons old, and it’s certain to rock their world. Think you’ve seen Marvel’s fiercest go toe-to-toe before? Those were just warm-ups. Also featuring a 12-page backup story “PUNY LITTLE
MAN,” by Loeb and superstar Ed McGuinness (Superman/Batman): He’s big, he’s green, he’s mean, and he just got his mitts on Logan. Now THIS is gonna hurt.

WOW, it’s been that long, so many developments, so little time…but let’s get to what we’re here for!
I’ll be totally honest when I say that I am not a big Jeph Loeb fan, I had some serious considerations when I heard he was taking over so many MARVEL projects after being a DC Hooligan for so long (I mean come on, the guy helped produce SMALLVILLE and was a main architect of INFINITE CRISIS, he’s DC for life ese!) ahem…sorry…I was channeling my inner homeboy! I still think Loeb is a sleeper agent waiting to screw up MARVEL continuity, kinda like Grant Morrison did on his Uncanny run, (though it was good at first!)
So Loeb is writing WOLVERINE as of issue #50, with Simone Bianchi on art chores, still getting used to him being a sequential artist, I mean his covers are phenomenal but can he pull off sequentials?
Loeb is coming in with a bang and finally putting to rest one of the longest running blood feuds in all of Comicdom, WOLVERINE VS. SABRETOOTH. The last time this was really addressed was at the end of Greg Rucka’s run on Wolverine (another DC Hooligan) where it seemed Wolverine finally put an end to Sabretooth, but then again, Sabretooth is part of the X-MEN team now, so I doubt he’ll stay dead long if Wolverine decides to pop that 3rd claw he’s been swearing to pop all these years.
Wolverine knows everything now, thanks to the Scarlett Witch in House of M. He knows all the bad stuff and good stuff he’s done over the years, the veil has been lifted so to say, so I guess it was high time to confront the symbol of all his inner demons in a final fight Other than himself, Sabretooth has been the beast at Wolverine’s back all these years, a vendetta that has taken them there and back again so many times, that I think Loeb has got to have an ace up his sleeve to resolve this once and for all.

Let’s get ready for the final dance and see who is left standing at the end of this one…

LOS MEKSMEN #1

LOS MEKSMEN

Written by: Francisco Arce
Art by: Dario & O.Lee.A
Published by: 656 Comics

So the world is coming to an end, Armageddon is upon us, the dead have risen from their graves and evil has been let loose across the face of the planet. Who do you call? No, not the Ghostbusters…you call the MEKSMEN!!!

If you can afford it!

LOS MEKSMEN have arrived on the scene and none too late, it seems there is an infestation of the living dead plaguing the Border around Juarez, Mexico, and I don’t mean the total bullshit of the living dead government of the United States, I’m talking an actual zombie-rific, brain eating, gut spewing, dead-fest!

I’ve been waiting for the newest offering from these guys for the longest time. 656 Comics is a studio based out of Juarez, Mexico, and they do actual comics, none of this Meximanga, Otaku, Dragon Power Ranger Ball bullshit. Its hard core comics in the vein of old pulp style tales and horror in the tradition of E.C.

LOS MEKSMEN introduces the two main characters of the series, FULANO DE’TAL which translates into JOHN DOE and EL FUMAROLAS or THE CHAINSMOKER. The two form the core of this heroes for hire type outfit. In their first adventure, the heroes are caught in the horror of not being able to get a decent drink at their local pub because, someone decided to unleash the gates of hell and let zombies pour through like there’s a government cheese giveaway! And I won't give away the big cliff hanger ending...Can anyone say...ZOMBIE KID!!!

The only problems with the book is:
1. It’s too friggin short, but hopefully that will be remedied in the coming issues, more zombie punching action!!! &
2.It’s in Spanish, which is no problem for me, but the monolingual members of the audience are gonna have a hard time deciphering what FUMAROLAS is sometimes saying, although CHEET! Is pretty easy to understand! I hope a English version comes out, although, it does take away a bit of the appeal for me. But I hear tell that the english versions will be released in a nice trade once the series wraps up!

So what are you waiting for, join in on the zombie bashing action and order your copy of LOS MEKSMEN from 656 COMICS!

Order it here: LOS MEKSMEN!!!

GIANT SIZED WOLVERINE #1

WRITER: DAVE LAPHAM
PENCILS: DAVID AJA
INKS: DAVID AJA
COLORED BY: JOSE VILLARRUBIA
COVER BY: DAVID AJA

THE STORY:
Wolverine has been injured before, but never like this. Blasted with 5,000 rounds of machine gun shells and lifted to the edge of earth’s atmosphere by a giant robot, Wolverine was 85,000 feet in the air when he finally disabled the killing machine. Now, after a horrendous descent and fiery crash into a rural Nebraska cornfield, he lies at the edge of death, lapsing in and out of a coma as his body desperately tries to heal. And that’s when things really get bad.
The men who sent the robot to destroy Wolverine have come to finish the job. The townsfolk who witnessed the crash have gathered up a mob to hunt down and destroy the alien that’s landed. And Wolverine’s fate just might rest in the hands of the strange little girl who first found him in that dark cornfield. A strange little girl with an affinity for taking care of odd creatures, and whose family holds a deep, dark secret hidden from the light of day... House of Blood and Sorrow is an all new 34-page chilling story just in time for Halloween! Written by David Lapham (Stray Bullets) and illustrated by David Aja (Daredevil, X-Men Unlimited)
This Giant Size edition also includes a special Classic tie-in to Wolverine Origins with reprints of X-Men 6 and 7 by Jim Lee, featuring Omega Red and Sabretooth!

After a brief vacation, I'm back and ready to jump into the reviews, so lets get it going!!!

It’s Wolverine! It’s 34 pages! It’s got Giant robots, Aliens, Monsters! It’s written by David Lapham! Come on, if any of you have read Stray Bullets, you know what I’m talking about. This is gonna be good! Not only that but there’s X-MEN 6 & 7 included, back when the X-MEN rocked and JIM LEE could draw!!!

This is what I’m picking up this week. Be there or be square!

Bye the way, My brothers in arms Los 656ers have released MEKSMEN #1 and if your interested in getting a copy of this awesome superhero for hire zombie punching good time head over to here:

LOS MEKSMEN #1

check out the first 6 pages and pick up a copy!!!

MAKE MINE MEKSMEN!!!

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2

WRITTEN BY: BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
COVER & ART BY: MARK BROOKS
PUBLISHED BY: MARVEL COMICS

I’m going to try something a little different this week and write up a report on one of last weeks titles that really made good on their promise to deliver.

Last week’s title that I thought delivered the goods was Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2. Bendis tried to capture lighting in a bottle again, and if all of you read last year’s #1 Annual, you’ll know what I mean. Once again Mark Brooks delivered in spades, his artwork is spectacular, kind of what Mad and J. Scott have been trying to do for years, integrate the whole Manga/U.S. style, referred to as AmeriManga, well Brooks does it with ease, and the same time making it his own style and surpassing these other yahoos! I usually don’t follow artists and I sure as hell am not a fan of Manga, (except for Vampire Hunter D), but Brooks’ art is a nice and visually stimulating hybrid. I wish this guy had a monthly book! Damn! Put him on something monthly already Marvel!!!

Aside from the art, Bendis finally tied up some dangling plot lines that have been hanging in the air that is Ultimate Spidey for awhile. And it only took him 32 pages to complete it!

Bendis has been in kind of a slump as of late with Ultimate Spider-Man, although his version of the notorious “Clone Saga” is shaping up to be something very interesting, the “Gang War” storyline was kind of weak, it seemed he just threw characters at us or rather, Ultimate versions of characters for the sake of “Ultimat-izing” them. Iron Fist and Shang-Chi, along with Moon Knight all kind of fell between the cracks, with the only interesting part of it being the behind the scenes turmoil Peter was having with Mary Jane. At first I was apprehensive that this annual thinking that we were just going to have more characters thrown at us since last years annual dealt with Peter hooking up with Kitty and that rocked out, but I gave it a chance and was pleasantly surprised. Another thing was that it had another appearance of Ultimate Punisher, which is just regular Punisher in the Ultimate universe. Last time Frank appeared in Spidey’s book, he was handed the short end of the stick. This comes from my belief that Bendis dislikes the Punisher character due to some deep psychological horror that stems from his Daredevil fetish, but I digress. For once the Punisher was used like he was always meant to be used. Not as some deranged psychopath that muttered to himself, but as an anti-hero, blurring the line that heroes won’t cross. Punny was used to deliver punishment. Moon Knight also had his time to shine, and the psychological aspect which Moony(?) plays to was explored a little more, though I wanted more. Also, the final fate of police Captain Jean DeWolfe was carried out very well. But if you want the whole dish, then get out there and pick up this issue!

Overall I give Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2, 4 hits, and here’s hoping that Mark Brooks gets his own book drawing Ultimate Moon Knight!!!

MIRACLEMAN: OLYMPUS

WRITTEN BY: ALAN MOORE
ART BY: JOHN TOTLEBEN
PUBLISHED BY: ECLIPSE

KIMOTA!!!

I know I talk a lot of shit about Alan Moore, but the damn dirty pirate has got some awesome ideas. These are ideas I wish I had thought about. He revolutionized the job of the comic book writer, making it ok for us guys to become more cerebral and not pull punches with our four color fantasies. This is where it started, the MIRACLEMAN series. Originally titled MARVELMAN and published in the U.K., Marvel had problems with the title being too similar to their Captain Marvel, so Moore changed it up a bit and we now have the U.S. version. The story of MIRACLEMAN is very sordid, as to how he came to be and what happened to the rights after Moore left the book, but I’m here to speak on the coolness of the book and how one can learn a lot about the comic book medium and what can be done through solid storytelling.

This arc explores at its most basic point, the wants and needs of Superheroes and the wants and needs of those the hero chooses to serve, like a god who has worshipers and those who worship the god. A cycle of dependence and what can happen when a god decides to become selfish and the needs of the many do not out weigh the desires of the one, being the hero.

What if Superman went rogue? Who would be able to stop him, I mean the guy can fly through the sun, move planets, and go back in time! This is what Moore explores through MIRACLEMAN, showing us what can occur if a hero goes unchecked and left to his own devices. It's full of issues that are ripe with philosophy and ethical/moral implications. What if YOU were a god, or had godlike powers, and let’s say YOU were a little ‘nuts?” The lead in into OLYMPUS shows us exactly this scenario with a member of the MIRACLEMAN family going a little cookoo, in dramatic buildup and cataclysmic violence we see Kid Miracleman decimate civilization as he shows the world what happens when a god goes mad.

He is one of the most sympathetic evil psychopaths I've ever read in comics. Born as MiracleMan's sidekick, Kid Miracleman becomes a victim and puppet of all his worst impulses. He gives in to any and every whim that strikes him, becoming more and more wicked with every twisted act of cruelty and brutality. Kid MIracleman goes through a Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde transformation to become truly, consciously evil. Even when the end is imminent, and the battle with MIRACLEMAN is at its end, we realize that there is only one way out for the former hero. We still feel compassion for how far he’s fallen and hope that there is an alternative to what must be done. The end is truly tragic, and leaves the reader thinking about the moral connotations of what happens when those with the power to control the world go unchecked.

The final part of the book is a brief story about the Miracleman family establishing a Utopia on earth, supported by their ultimate and unlimited power, they become benevolent deities, breaking humanity's selfish vices and reinventing the world as it should be, a virtual Garden of Eden. But of course the tried and true saying states, “Nothing gold can stay” and the end of the book, we are left wondering, how long will this last before the next catastrophe usurps the peace MIRACLEMAN has brought?

It’s a task to find this book in print, and I lucked out by finding a first printing at SDCC for only 6 bucks, it’s a $90 dollar book since it hasn’t been reprinted in many years, we can all thank McFarlane for that one, selfish bastard! But that’s another story. After Moore left the book, Gaiman took over and continued to weave the magic that is MIRACLEMAN. It only lasted a little while because Eclipse which published the series went tits up, and so the last book of the series was written and drawn, but never released

If you like Alan Moore, and wonder what would happen if Superman went crazy, track this book down! By the way KIMOTA is the word that MIRACLEMAN says in order to activate his powers and become MIRACLEMAN. Until next time…KIMOTA!!!

But if you insist on me picking a hit of the week then pick up Agents of Atlas from Marvel, Agent Jimmy Woo returns, now how many of you out there know who the hell Jimmy Woo is?