Comic Mini-Reviews Week of May 16th, 2012

This week: The Owls attack the Birds of Prey, Batwoman avoids the Owls, and Conan is a multidimensional character?!

FIGcast - Episode 64 - "DQ, Dreamboat"

Prepare for Keith-ening...

FIGcast - Episode 64 - "DQ, Dreamboat"

Shownotes:

• (0:01:30) Keith is catching up on Uncanny X-Men and playing Assassin's Creed
• (0:09:50) Trey has been playing Diablo III, and read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, S.H.I.E.L.D. and American Vampire
• (0:23:05) Tripp read Guardians of the Galaxy: Legacy and Daredevil: Guardian Devil, and beat Mass Effect 2
• (0:42:40) TV Talk: we had another weird week with mismatched schedules, but Fringe is done for the season, and Community, Grimm, Supernatural and Sherlock all end this week
• (0:58:00) Blu Rays: (Chronicle...The Grey)
• (1:02:05) Coming Attractions: (Battleship...The Dictator...What To Expect)
• (1:05:55) Box Office: (Hulk Smash!!!)
• (1:09:40) Network Upfronts were this week, so we talk about all the new shows, and the apparent bursting of the networks' genre bubble
• (1:46:55) What Would Darren Read
• (1:58:15) Trey's Pullbox: (Batwoman...Birds of Prey...Conan the Barbarian...Danger Club...Daredevil...Justice League...The Manhattan Projects...Wonder Woman...The Shade...Thief of Thieves...Winter Soldier)

Don't forget, you can email us at FullyIntegratedGeeks@gmail.com, you can follow us on Twitter with @theFIGcast, you can Like us on Facebook.com/FullyIntegratedGeeks, and you can listen to us on the iTunes Store or the Stitcher Smart Radio app.

What Would Darren Read, Home Edition (May 9th)

Two weeks of covers!

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of April 25th, 2012

This week: The Vampire apocalypse gets postponed, Daredevil is back to where he started, and the Flash is kind of a jumble.

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of April 4th, 2012

This week...who am I kidding? Look at that banner image!

What Would Darren Read, Home Edition (April 4th)

This week's What Would Darren Read is dedicated to the memory of the first four canceled New 52 books.

What Would Darren Read, Home Edition (March 28th)

Lots of blood, death, and gore on this week's covers, but none of that bothered Darren because no one was upside down.

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of February 15th, 2012

This week Uncanny X-men is boring, Batman fights back, and Daredevil descends into the underground.

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of January 18th, 2012

This week: we finally get the Batman issue we've been craving, Wonder Woman and Daredevil continue to be solid, and Grant Morrison's Steed and Mrs. Peel debuts.

Read about it after the break!

FIG's 2011 Top Ten Lists!

Last week, in honor our one year anniversary, the FIGcast team recorded a few lists notable stuff that has happened, debuted or been published in the last year.  You can listen to it here but, for posterity's sake, I have collected them all in one handy-dandy post!

Tripp's List:

Honorable Mention: The Magicians and The Magician King

10. Kickstarter
9. Battle Los Angeles
8. A Dance With Dragons
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
6. Discovering Kevin Hearne's Books
5. Community
4. Captain America: The First Avenger
3. Ready Player One
2. The Wise Man's Fear
1. The Game of Thrones show on HBO

Trey's List:

1.Mark Waid and Marcos Martin's Daredevil
2.Brian Azarello and Cliff Chaing's Wonder Woman
3.Community Season 3, Episode 4: Remedial Chaos Theory
4.Portal 2
5.Atomic Robo Volume 5: The Deadly Art of Science
6.Captain America: The First Avenger
7.Thwipster
8.Swamp Thing / Animal Man
9. Terminator: The Second
10. Parks and Recreation, Season 3, Episode 13 "The Fight"

Darren's Top 11 Tech Fails of 2011:

1. Netflix presents Qwikster
2. Blackberry network outage
3. Congressman Weiner
4. Bing stealing from Google
5. GoDaddy stands behind SOPA
6. Alec Baldwin / Words with Friends
7. Google+ real names policy
8. Playstation network hack
9. iOS4 is tracking you
10. Cisco kills Flip cameras
11. AT&T fails at buying T-Mobile
    

Keith's Top 10 List of Things (?) from 2011:

10. The Help

9. The cancellation Scalped, DMZ, Fear Agent

8. Alan Moore has completely lost it.

7. 2011, the year DC and Marvel went crazy.

6. Deus Ex

5. Star Wars on BlueRay

4. In Time

3. You can't screw with the internet.

2. Game of Thrones

1. Walking Dead

Trey's Obligatory Year-End Comic Book Lists of 2011

Obviously, the fraction of comic books I read this year is tiny compared to many of the industry's total output.  Perhaps, in 2012, I will be able to expand my consumption of comics to include stuff by publishers other than the Big Two. Heck, I might even read some indie books!


Regardless, I would feel amiss not making some general observations based on my, admittedly, limited reading.

Best New Superhero On-goings in 2011 (that I read)
1. Daredevil
    Just incredible. How more superhero comic books ought to be.
2. Wonder Woman
    If the only lasting legacy of the New 52 is Azzarello and Chaing's Wonder Woman, then it will have been a moderate success.
3/4. Swamp Thing/Animal Man
    Snyder, Lemire and their respective creative partners have met and exceeded expectations.
5. FF
    Might have been higher if I had been able to read the entire 2011 output. We'll see in February when Volume 2 comes out.
6. Batwoman
    Hard to believe that that this series has barely skipped a beat without the writing of Greg Rucka. JH Williams III is one of the best in the business.
7. Batman and Robin
   What?! A surprise entry! Tomasi's Bruce/Damien/Alfred dynamic and Gleason's art have this book slightly ahead of the flagship.
8. Batman
    Snyder's Batman is not as strong as his earlier run on Detective Comics, but Batman is certainly in good hands.
9. Wolverine and the X-men
    I want to hate it, but it is so good that I adore it.
10. Batman, Inc
   Hurt by a shockingly poor final issue and the fact that, technically, the series ended with the New 52, Morrison's Bat-saga is still a shining example of why he is one of the best in the industry.

So, with seven of the ten entries on my list published by DC, it is safe to say that I am still a fanboy, but MARVEL took home the top spot.  Make of that what you will.


A Few Great Single Issues of 2011(and a few observations)
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #4
   Would win the "Most Fun Comic Book Trey Read This Year" award.
Wonder Woman #4
Daredevil #7
    I'll admit it...I cried.
Batman, Inc: Leviathan Strikes #1
Swamp Thing #3
Wolverine and the X-men #1
Batman #1
    Best issue of the series so far. Hopefully setting the stage for more to come.
All Star Western #1
    As much as I am enjoying All Star Western, I would read a Hex/Arkham ongoing team-up book.

Tomorrow or the next day (or sometime soon, I promise!) I'll post some thoughts on the biggest surprises of 2011 and discuss some of the things to be watching for in 2012!

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of November 30th, 2011

Daredevil #6 – Yesterday, I spent a good bit of time lauding Mark Waid's run on Daredevil, so I will keep it brief here. This IS one of the best superhero books of the year. The art by Marcos Martin is gorgeous and the scripting by Waid is nearly flawless. This issue brings us to the end of the book's first major story arch. Daredevil protects a blind translator who heard too much from five different super-terrorist groups. Along the way he comes into possession of something that will surely be important down the road. If I compared this book to the cream of the crop from DC's New 52, I would have to say it ranks with the upper echelon like Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman and Animal Man. If you are not buying this book, you are missing out.

Legion: Secret Origin #2 – There is a growing trend in comic books to take an origin story and expand upon it. Taken by itself, this is not an inherently good or bad thing. In some cases it adds to an already sparse mythos. In others, it confuses things. After two issues, I am tempted to say that Legion: Secret Origin falls into the latter camp rather than the former. The Legion with its multiple reboots, different re-tellings, and hundreds of members could certainly use a retold origin story, but so far Secret Origin has just served to muddy the water. However, with four issues left, the mysteries that Paul Levitz is playing with might actually pay off. I am however really enjoying Chris Batista's art.

Spaceman #2 – This book is tied with Daredevil for my pick of the week. Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso are crafting a scifi dystopia that becomes more interesting with each page. The grime that covers each page is the kind that only the 100 Bullets duo could produce. Yet, for all of the sickness that the pair foresees in the future, the main character, Orson the Spaceman, is a completely sympathetic character. Genetically crafted in an aborted attempt to carry the human race into deep space, he is left on earth alone and mostly forgotten. In issue 2, it seems that Orson is becoming the unlikely hero in the high profile kidnapping of a reality TV child celebrity.

Uncanny X-men #2 – Well, we knew that Uncanny would be a juggling act. After a promising first issue, issue two loses some momentum. Instead of fleshing out the interesting new multi-team set up of the book, we are treated to an extended fight with Mister Sinister. It's not uninteresting and Carlos Pacheco's art is certainly worth the price of admission, but it does little to fulfill the promise of issue one. Hope is not lost—once the immediate threat is dealt with, perhaps we will be treated to more examination of Cyclop's grand plans for the X-men in action.

DC ZOMBIE EAT MARVEL: Mark Waid's Daredevil

     Join me, a lifelong DC Zombie, as I attempt to remedy my woefully limited exposure to the Marvel Universe. Be prepared for opinions forged in the depths of a mind that is completely dedicated to the DCU. I promise to be as objective and honest as I can be--even if that leads to contradictory opinions. Updates will be rare, considering I have limited money for buying new comics (and the fact that I would rather spend my limited funds on DC Comics). 

     I am going to say something that might seem stupid now. Mark Waid is one of the most underrated writers in the comic book industry. Look, don't try and argue with me—I've given this quite a bit of thought. No other writer has churned out such consistently high quality work over such a large amount of time without being constantly mentioned alongside the most important names of sequential art history. There is no doubt that he is respected or well-liked, instead it seems as if he is the forgotten superstar of the industry. Perhaps, Waid is too consistent to draw the adoration or ire of most comic readers—doomed to fly below the radar by his own unerring competence. As legendary writers build bodies of work and flash-in-the-pans flare up and burn out, Waid continues to turn in books that define some of the most iconic characters in the superhero genre. While every new writer is the next Miller, Moore, or Morrison, I have yet to hear of one heralded as the next Waid. Yet, for years now, he has held the reins of some of the comic book industries biggest franchises. From seminal runs on The Flash and Fantastic Four, underrated books like the Legion of Superheroes three-boot and lauded works like Kingdom Come, Waid has quietly cemented his rightful place in the upper echelon of comic creators. He might be the unnoticed titan of the medium, but he possesses a unique ability to capture or create the perfect pitch for whatever characters he is writing. Currently, Waid has set his gaze on MARVEL's man without fear—producing one of the best superhero comic books on the market.

     Last week, while writing about Thor:The Mighty Avenger, I alluded to the current Daredevil as the kind of comic book that the industry needs more of. Though it is not a book aimed at an all-ages market like Thor was, Daredevil still captures much of the same superheroic joy within its pages. Matt Murdoch has been a character mired darkness for a long time. From the Frank Miller era to the more recent Brian Michael Bendis run, Daredevil's life has been one grim and gritty tragedy followed by another. Yet, in his first six issues with the character, Waid has turned the character on its head. The life of a superhero can never be too happy, after all violent encounters are part of the job, but Waid's take on the character is so much more open and free than some of his predecessors. With brilliant art from Marcos Martin and Paolo Rivera, Daredevil is the kind of comic book where the hero smiles as he encounters fisticuffs and, before you know it, you are smiling along with him. Where Bendis wrote a brooding, troubled Murdoch that was constantly the target of some gangster scheme or superhuman assassin, Waid fills his book with corporate espionage plots and more traditional supervillainous fare—like echos of Klaw and Bruiser, a luchador-masked fighter moving up the superhero power ladder.

     One of my favorite things about Waid is that he will often write a character so that the reader has a clear understanding of character's superpower and its implications. For example, his run on The Flash did quite a bit to explore the extent of what being “The Fastest Man Alive” meant when put into action. In Daredevil, we are treated to a similar examination of Murdoch's extra-sensory powers. In some of the first issues Martin and Rivera drew beautiful pages allowing the readers to “see” through Daredevil's “eyes.” There's no doubt that he has one of the most unique superpowers within the medium, but presenting these powers in such a distinctive and visually appealing way was a smart move.

    Under Waid's scripting and Martin and Rivera's art, Daredevil is most certainly one of the best new superhero books of the year and maybe even one of the best of this very young decade. If Daredevil was a DC book, I would extoll it as a product that understood the New 52 initiative—a comic that clearly defined it's character and showcased his uniqueness from page one. It is too bad Daredevil only barely predates the DCnU, seeing as it would have been a great blueprint for the kind of thing that DC is trying to achieve. Waid's exclusion from the DCnU is kind of baffling considering that he has written tons of stuff for DC in the past, and he seems like a natural fit for the kind of things they are currently attempting. Perhaps Waid and DC had a falling out, I don't generally keep up with that kind of thing. Or perhaps DC somehow forgot about the quiet superstar of the comic book industry.

FIGcast #43 Supplemental Post - What Would Darren Read, Home Edition

Now, you too can play What Would Darren Read from the comfort of your home! Just play this music, judge these comic books by their covers, and choose your three favorites!

Daredevil #6

Ghost Rider #6

Legion: Secret Origins #2 (of 6)

T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents #1 (of 6)

Spaceman #2 (of 9)

Uncanny X-men #2

FIGcast - Episode 24 - "Trey's Elegant Dress"

You'll have to listen all the way to the end to learn what's behind the title!

FIGcast - Episode 24 - "Trey's Elegant Dress"

Shownotes:

• (01:09) Darren saw The Book of Mormon and found it terribly funny and terribly offensive
• (12:59) Trey started Brian Michael Bendis' run on Daredevil
• (20:11) Tripp had a Harry Potter re-watching party, complete with themed dishes, and read Hounded
• (29:20) Blu Rays (Lord of the Rings: Extended Editions, Sucker Punch)
• (35:18) Coming Attractions (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Larry Crowne, Monte Carlo)
• (46:01) Box Office (Cars 2 wins!!)
• (50:50) We discuss all the ins and outs of comic book TV

Don't forget, you can email us at FullyIntegratedGeeks@gmail.com, you can follow us on Twitter with @theFIGcast, or you can look for us on Facebook or the iTunes Store.