Splash Panel » News

Comics Village

Khaled Abou Alfa — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:42:27 +0000

Comics Village seems to be a collection of guys and gals who contributed to the excellent Borderline Magazine. Loads of a great reviews and articles. There is something lacking about the design of the website to be honest but i guess i honestly can’t complain since I’ve been sitting on my design for this site for donkey’s. Been a really long time since I posted anything on this site, so I’ll start slowly and build the momentum.

low orbit

Khaled Abou Alfa — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 23:43:02 +0000

The Low Orbit anthology is definitely one to look out for coming in November from Image comics. Definitely one to look out for. Reminds me of the excellent Flight Anthologies from the past couple of years.

comic pants

Khaled Abou Alfa — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 12:29:25 +0000

Comic Pants has got some pretty good work going over at the new comic book review site. I only heard about it because ex- thefourthrail dude Randy Lander’s contributing to the site.

GN Release – 16th of August 2006

Khaled Abou Alfa — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:15:43 +0000

I was actually sitting here wondering why the hell I’ve not been feeling very connected to the world of graphic novels, and then I realised that my routine look at what’s going on in the world of comics had come to a pretty much a stop. It’s nothing personal, just lots of things going on in my life at the moment. So in an attempt to get back into things we’ll start in my comfort zone and keep these weekly updates coming.

0/6 VOL 3 GN (OF 5) $9.99
ADVENTURES IN OZ TP $39.99
AEGIS VOL 1 GN $9.99
ALL THAT PIKACHU ANI MANGA TP $7.99
BEST OF CURSE O/T SPAWN TP $16.99

BONE VOL 4 DRAGONSLAYER COLOR ED HC (PP #725) $18.99
BONE VOL 4 DRAGONSLAYER COLOR ED SC (PP #725) $9.99
Massive fan of Bone. It’s strange that I bought the complete edition from about a year ago or something like that, and I’ve still not had the chance to just sit down and read through it. I do recommend this serious if you’ve not had the chance to have a look at it, you’re now getting it pretty cheap and in full colour which is great. I’m enjoying Jeff Smith’s black and white artwork, which is essentially golden in my eyes. The story follows the Bone brothers as they’re ousted from Boneville (think Duckville or whatever it’s called in the town the Scrouge McDuck has got that massive house that has a massive dollar sign on the front of it…although Smith has never shown us this place)..anyway it follows their adventures, and they do have many. Dragons, Cow Races, crazy grannies and lots of ‘Stupid, Stupid, Rat Creatures’. It’s a modern classic.

BOY PRINCESS VOL 3 GN (OF 9) $9.99

CABLE DEADPOOL VOL 5 LIVING LEGENDS TP $13.99
They’re still publishing this? Damn loads of people love them Cable and Deadpool, which is just unfair when there are soo many other series that DESERVE a larger audience not having it but something ripped from the carcass of the late 90s Marvel still has wings to fly.

CANT LOSE YOU VOL 2 GN (OF 6) $9.99
DECIMATION SON OF M TP $13.99
DEVIL DOES EXIST VOL 7 $9.99
DOKEBI BRIDE VOL 2 GN $9.99
DRIFTING CLASSROOM VOL 1 TP (MR) $9.99
DUNGEON TWILIGHT VOL 2 GN $14.95
ESSENTIAL LUKE CAGE POWER MAN VOL 2 TP $16.99
FAMILY GUY VOL 2 GN (OF 3) $6.95
FORGOTTEN REALMS DARK ELF TRILOGY VOL 3 SOJOURN TP $14.95
GALAXY ANGEL BETA VOL 3 GN $9.99
GOLDEN AGE GREATS COSTUMED CRUSADERS SP #1 $24.95
GOLGO 13 VOL 4 GN (MR) $9.99
GREAT CATSBY VOL 2 GN (OF 6) $19.99
GROUNDED TP $14.99
HANA KIMI VOL 13 GN $9.99
HARD STORY HC (MR) $12.95
HYPER POLICE VOL 7 GN (OF 10) (MR) $9.99

IDENTITY CRISIS TP $14.99
I never actually read this, although I have been told that it’s pretty good, even if you’re not a fan of the DC Universe. The intricate plot will pull you in…apparently. Hmm might flip through this at the store if I’m feeling particularly bored or something.

IMAGINARIES VOL 1 LOST & FOUND TP (RES) $9.99
INU YASHA ANI MANGA VOL 16 GN $11.99
IRON MAN INEVITABLE TP $14.99
JUSTICE SOCIETY VOL 1 TP $14.99
KEKKAISHI VOL 6 GN $9.99
LET DAI VOL 3 GN (OF 15) $9.99
NAOKI URASAWAS MONSTER VOL 4 TP $9.99
NARRATION OF LOVE AT 17 VOL 1 GN (OF 4) $9.99

NEXUS ARCHIVES VOL 4 HC $49.95
I’ve honestly heard so many great things about Nexus, and once I even bought a comic like 15 years ago. It’s a highly regarded series, however I can’t really justify the price tag that Dark Horse seem keen on placing on it. I’m really hoping for some affordable paperback copies of this series to be honest because I’d definitely be all over them.

PLASTIC MAN ARCHIVES VOL 8 HC $49.99
POISON ELVES VENTURES VOL 1 HYENA TP (MR) $14.95
PSYCHO TP $17.99

QUEEN & COUNTRY DECLASSIFIED VOL 2 HC (MR) $20.00
QUEEN & COUNTRY DECLASSIFIED VOL 3 HC (MR) $20.00
I actually brought these when they first came out. It was about the third volume that Greg Rucka decided to throw his weak political views into the book itself and in many respects I completely lost it’s credibility with me to be honest.

RELISH GN (A) $19.95

SPIDER-WOMAN ORIGIN PREMIERE HC $19.99
One of the Bendis books from his I Love the Avengers era. I’ve not really picked up anything of this crop of books by Bendis, although he’s generally a pretty readable sort of guy. This is illustrated by Brian Reed, who’s a new name for me, however of what I’ve seen of his stuff he’s got subtle undertones of Joshua Middleton, which is never a bad thing. Put this in the definitely maybe pile, I guess.

STAR TREK MANGA GN $9.99
TIJUANA BIBLES VOL 7 TP (A) $14.95
TRANSFORMERS BEAST WARS GATHERING TP $17.99
ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 6 HC $29.99

VAGABOND VOL 22 TP (MR) $9.95
If there’s one book that I buy without reservation it’s Vagabond. One of the best books on the market, bar none. If you’ve never read Vagabond, you owe it to yourself.

YOU CALL THIS ART GN $29.95
ZATCH BELL VOL 8 GN $9.99

Preacher TV Series in the works?

Khaled Abou Alfa — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:18:19 +0000

See now this is interesting. Preacher on the tube would be pretty amazing. Flesh out the entire graphic novel series as much as possible without the constraints of time. See a movie to adapt this story would fall flat, no matter who was at the helm, and to be honest it was looking good in the first place. Yes I will be reviewing this seminal work by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon in the not too distant future.

Reimagining the Wildstorm Universe

Khaled Abou Alfa — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 19:22:44 +0000

I just finished reading the excellent interview on Newsarama with Scott Dunbier, Executive Editor at Wildstorm. Many people growing up remember Spider-man or Superman as their hero of choice. The character they grew up reading and therefore finding a great attachement to.

Growing up Spider-man was the LAMEST character on the planet and Superman wasn’t as fun since they brought him back from the dead (although the before and after stories were good). I’m an Image boy through and through and more specifically a Wildstorm Universe guy. When everyone else had a few ‘hot’ artists on their crap books, I was reading Alan Moore and Travis Charest on Wildcats. I was soaking in Jim Lee’s Divine Right and devouring Warren Ellis’s Stormwatch with Tom Raney.

I’ve literally dropped like 5 names there that produced some of their greatest work for any publisher (except for Moore of course, everything he’s ever done is golden). The point is this was where the energy was. This is where the hot books, the great colouring and the brilliant characters all lived. The company was never scared of taking chances. Since they were brought out by DC Comics, they’ve actually had their fangs taken away from them. Originally DC took their colourists because at the time the DC people didn’t have a clue what they were doing. They were trying but they seriously sucked in every manner of the word. Wildstorm FX came in and sorted and taught a lot of people how to do things. Talent was stolen on a regular basis to feed the engine that is the DC Universe and so it went.

You can think of the Wildstorm Universe as following it’s writing stars. They’re not afraid to put some faith in their writers. First they had Brandon Choi (who was/is I dunno what’s going on there) Jim Lee’s buddy mapping out a great deal of the early stages of the Universe. As time went on, people like James Robinson stepped in for a little while writing a few things, before Alan Moore came aboard and wrote the best books the WSU had seen, ever. This effectively gave Moore the clout to do other things, and he followed this work up with the ABC Comics line, which is one of the best comic book lines ever published.

The future of the Wildstorm Universe was to continue in the hands of another Brit with a very different voice. Warren Ellis stepped up to the plate and made Stormwatch (the longest running WS book at the time) matter. He killed the first volume and launched the second volume with Oscar Something (I forget his name since he only lasted like 5 issues). Bryan Hitch came aboard and Warren seemed to find his energy again. He killed off Stormwatch in a spectacular way, and relaunched the series as The Authority.

This was the biggest book for Wildstorm since Gen13 by J Scott Campbell. So Ellis defined the WSU for a few years before my man Ed Brubaker came in and brought back the links. Brought back a cohersive whole.

The next man inline to take the WSU in a new direction is Grant Morrison, which I think is a fantastic coup for the WS guys. His stuff is always completely insane and if they don’t fuck around with his vision (which I think they’re less likely to than Marvel did with his X-men run) we’re all in for a serious treat. So what about the other BOMBSHELL announcements that Scott decided to lay on us during that interview? Right lets take stock people:

Wetworks
Let me see, Whilice Portacio, who remains to this day as one of my favourite artists is going old skool on this series. This is the series he created and he’s loving every second of it. He’s had ages to draw this puppy, so hopefully it won’t be a 5 issue thing and then a fill in? Mike Carey writing this? I’m so there it’s not even funny. This is bound to be a quality book any which way you see it. If you think Whilice’s art is strong you have know idea the genius that is Whilice. When he’s on fire, he’s one of the most dramatic artists in the business, period.

Deathblow
I’m a massive Azzarello fan. His take on Deathblow during the Deathblow/Batman crossover was superb. He’s accompanied by one of the unsung heroes of the WSU, and that’s Carlos D’anda. I’m equally a big fan of D’anda, even though sometimes his faces are not drawn that great, he’s a great storyteller and his Brass mini series from a few years back was one of the best mecha books I’d seen since the original Brass mini-series was released. Don’t be silly of course I’m buying this book.

Wildcats
Erm, Jim Lee returning to the book that he created and stared the Wildstorm Universe with Grant Morrison as the new architect of the WSU. Hmm yeah I think I’ll pass on this one….yeah right.

Authority
Gene Ha and Grant Morrison. Just when I thought things could not get ANY better, I get this announcement. If you don’t know who Gene Ha is, go right here. He’s easily one of the best artist this side of universe and a supremely nice guy to boot. My only worry is that he won’t be able to meet his deadlines. 6 books a year might not seem like much, but if you’ve ever seen what a Gene Ha page actually looks like, then you’d be singing a different tune. It takes detail to a whole new level. If they can keep the schedule up for 12 issues I’ll be a happy man.

Midnighter
I really like Garth Ennis. Mainly because I enjoyed Preacher as much as I did. I don’t think you can possibly read Preacher and not fall in love with Ennis. However his work since then has left me slightly cold. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt here. Midnighter is a good character and one I’m sure Ennis can do a great deal with if he’s left to his own devices. He’s not your typical superhero. For those in the dark regarding the Midnighter he’s a character from the Authority. He’s effectively a hardcore Batman, only here’s the spin, he’s gay. Oh and his partner is Apollo, who seems to have the same powers as Superman. What makes the Midnighter so hardcore however is his dialogue. He’ll say shit like:

I know what you’re going to do next. I’ve played this fight in my head, a million times, from each and every angle. I won this fight even before you turned up.

Lets see if he can come up with anything similar. Chris Sprouse on the art is like a massive piece of pie, with a cherry on top. Again my only worry is time until they get the standard fill-in artist.

Gen13
This is actually the book I’m least looking forward to. Not based on the writer for I think Gail Simone will do a spectacular job, however I do fear for the artwork by Talent Caldwell, will be slightly sub-par. Compared to the other heavyhitters on this list, his book is bound to be the least impressive of the lot. What cements that in my eyes however is the shoddy looking promo artwork for the series. I dunno it’s just not punchy enough. I’m happy to see the original team out there again, however it’s just not as unique and solid looking as the rest of the books on this list. This one is definitely in the wait and see pile, while every other book is a must buy right now.

August can’t come soon enough.