Matt and Greg best of 2007 podcast, part 1
Greg and I discuss the lists you can see below on this week’s podcast!
Listen to Greg and me expound on the qualities of “Captain America” and “Buffy.” Listen to Greg mispronounce “mythos.” There’s not a more fun way to spend about 12 minutes.
– Matt Price
Matt Price’s ten best comic-book titles of the year
Monthly comics remain the backbone of many comic-book stores, and several strong storylines worked their way into fans’ hands in 2007. While some fans suffered from “event fatigue” as last year’s “Civil War” and “Infinite Crisis” were followed by “World War Hulk” and “Countdown,” events done right still drew in fans. While superhero comics remained a mainstay of monthly comic books, slice-of-life tales and science fiction also found a place among the year’s best comics. The following are the ten best comic-book series of 2007.
1. Captain America — All Captain America had to do to have the best comic on the stands was get killed. In “Captain America” No. 25, writer Ed Brubaker drew the attention of the nation by killing Cap. Since the Captain’s death, the story has continued to be compelling, as Captain America’s friends and allies investigate his death. In January, someone new will take the mantle of Captain America.
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 — Joss Whedon continues his critically acclaimed television series “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer” in comic-book format. With arcs written by Whedon and Brian K. Vaughan (“Y: The Last Man,” TV’s “Lost”), “Season 8” captures the wit and action of the television series, with a much lower budget.
3. The Sinestro Corps War — Geoff Johns and company showed the world how to do a superhero crossover with “Sinestro Corps War,” which ran through “Green Lantern,” “Green Lantern Corps” and four specials. The Green Lanterns, an intergalactic peacekeeping force, find themselves stretched to their limit when Sinestro, a former Green Lantern, creates his own corps, dedicated to spreading fear throughout the galaxy.
4. Y: The Last Man — Vaughan’s long-running saga about the last male left on earth after a plague remains one of the best science-fiction dramas of recent years. Questions are answered and destinies uncovered as the series, drawn by Pia Guerra, heads toward its finish. (The final issue, No. 60, is set for a January release.)
5. Local — While Brian Wood’s “Local” suffered from some delays, the issues that did hit stores were among the best of the year. With artist Ryan Kelly, Wood explores life across the United States as each issue takes place in a different city. “Local” No. 9, set in Norman, features main character Megan McKeenan dealing with the death of a parent.
6. Strangers in Paradise — Writer-artist Terry Moore, one of the last of the 1990s self-publishers still standing, completed his epic about love and relationships, “Strangers in Paradise,” in 2007.
7. Action Comics — Johns and co-writer Richard Donner (director of “Superman: The Movie”) wrote an epic tale featuring the Kryptonian villains Zod, Ursa, and Non — and introduced a new supporting character to the Superman mythos. With artist Eric Powell (“The Goon”), Donner and Johns reinterpreted the Bizarro World. And, with artist Gary Frank, Johns took Superman to the future to meet up with the Legion of Super-Heroes.
8. Booster Gold — Spinning out of the year-long DC hit “52,” “Booster Gold” brings depth and adventure to a hero created in the 1980s that many would have assumed was played out. Booster Gold was known in his initial incarnation for seeking fast fame and corporate sponsors, but after the events of “52,” Booster is now the only hero who can prevent certain calamities from happening to the timeline. However, he has to continue to most to seem the same cocky jerk he was prior to the events of “52.” The book is co-written by Jeff Katz and Johns, with art by the creator of Booster Gold, Dan Jurgens. Sort of a superhero “Quantum Leap,” Booster is motivated to try to save his best friend from death — but must first work with time-traveler Rip Hunter in his quest to stop disastrous events throughout time.
9. The Brave and the Bold — Writer Mark Waid and artist George Perez create the retro blast of fun that is “Brave and Bold,” teaming up DC heroes to solve mysteries and fight crime.
10. The Immortal Iron Fist — Brubaker and Matt Fraction, with artist David Aja, revamp Marvel’s 1970s martial arts hero Iron Fist. The first storyline examines the history of the power known as the Iron Fist, and how it fell to hero Danny Rand, the latest in a line of warriors to wield it.
– Matt Price
Ten Best Titles of the Year – Elwell Edition
Matt and I have been working on our lists for the best of 2007 and with the New Year rapidly approaching, here’s a look at my uninformed opinions on the matter.
Note: I cheated, as you can clearly see, by grouping a few titles together. But this ain’t rocket surgery, folks. I can do what I want. You’re not the boss of me!
1. Trials of Shazam!
Judd Winick breathes life into a character (Captain Marvel Jr.) that most people couldn’t care less about, making his three-dimensional and captivating.
2. DMZ
In the midst of the Iraq War, this comic book brings war home literally, and the adventures of Matty Roth have as much to do with the world we live in as the fictional world of a New York split apart by civil war.
3. Blue Beetle/ Booster Gold/ Checkmate
Spinning out of Infinite Crisis are three exceptional relaunches of three previously canceled series. These are the little engines that could and desperately must if only to prove that books without Superman or Batman can deliver big on story.
4. Stormwatch PHD
In the WildStorm Universe, heroes aren’t really heroes, so it’s up to normal folks like the Stormwatch Post Human Division to put them in their place. A spiritual successor to “Stormwatch: Team Achilles,” this book is entertaining from whole cloth, creating true characters out of a poorly defined world.
5. X-Factor
While the rest of the X-universe is mired in awful, dreadful continuity, only Peter David’s “X-Factor” enjoys the mutant community. Centered around Jamie Madrox’s detective agency, this book is consistently a source of big laughs and shocking twists.
6. Captain America
Captain America is dead! Long live Captain America! What could have been an unmitigated disaster (a book in which the lead character is dead) was given wings by Ed Brubaker. Add in a character many thought was a huge mistake (Bucky aka The Winter Soldier) and you’ve got a bona fide miracle.
7. Fables/ Jack of Fables
All bow down to Bill Willingham, who took one of the most simple ideas ever (What if storybook characters were real and living in New York?) and created a giant world from it. This year in “Fables” we’ve seen Flycatcher, a joke character, turned into a warrior king. Meanwhile, with Matt Sturges, “Jack of Fables” has become one of the funniest books on the shelves while adding a new layer to an already rich world.
8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Holy God, do I love this series. Picking up where the TV show left off with creator Joss Whedon at the helm, “Buffy: Season 8″ is a wild ride that goes far beyond the budget of any movie. Dawn is a giant! The army hates Buffy! Next issue right now please!
9. Incredible Hulk
The genius of “Planet Hulk” and the follow-up “World War Hulk” is how much sense it makes. Of course The Illuminati would try to send Hulk somewhere that he would kill anybody. Of course something would go wrong and he’d end up a gladiator. Of course he’d come back, madder than ever before. The results by Greg Pak were astounding.
10. Nova
Much like Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, if you’d told me a couple years back that I’d be reading and loving Nova comics, I’d have called you a moron and questioned your human lineage. Now I have the luxury of reading Abnett and Lanning’s monthly space opera, starring a character who has really come into his own.
“Lost Girls” going to UK
An e-mail from Chris Staros of Top Shelf indicates that on Jan. 1, copies of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s erotic epic “Lost Girls” will be available in the United Kingdom and the European Union. Chris says he expects these copies to go fast. It’s an impressive, deluxe edition, though not for the easily offended or faint of heart.
Neil Gaiman says of Lost Girls:
“As an exercise in the formal bounds of pure comics, Lost Girls is remarkable, as good as anything Moore has done in his career. … Whatever you call it, there has never been anything quite like this in the world before, and I find myself extraordinarily pleased that someone of Moore’s ability actually has written that sort of comics for adults.”
– Matt Price
Gibbons’ “Watchmen” set visit, part 2
Via superheroflix, we find that Dave Gibbons has posted the second part of his reflections upon visiting the set of “Watchmen.”
The rest of the visit kaleidoscopes crazily by: I watch footage of Rorschach pulling Nite Owl off a bloodied Knot Top; I flip through an issue of the Black Freighter; on a laptop, I see raw CGI blocking for the Vietnam sequence; I hold a smiley face pin splattered with what looks like real human bean juice; sitting in my own personal director’s chair, I sign dozens of books and posters for cast and crew…
I don’t know that I need to explain “Watchmen” to Nerdage readers, but if so: it’s the groundbreaking graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons being adapted into a motion picture by Zack Snyder (”300″).
Quick synopsis from the “Watchmen” site:
A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” – which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union – is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion – a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers – Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity…but who is watching the watchmen?
– Matt Price
Merry Christmas!
The Dark Knight Before Christmas
Check out the Night Before Christmas Batman style in this action-figure parody on YouTube.
Merry Christmas!
“Proof” interview
If you missed my interview with Alexander Grecian, creator of the Bigfoot-as-government agent comic book “Proof,” in the Oklahoman or at newsok.com on Friday, here it is again!
Comic book writer Alexander Grecian reworked a Chinese fable into one of last year’s best comics in “Seven Sons.” This year, Grecian has taken an urban legend, Bigfoot, and created a multilayered tale of aliens, conspiracies and creatures.
“Proof” is the story of the Special Agent John “Proof” Prufrock, also known as Bigfoot. He works for a secret organization known as The Lodge, which preserves and protects unusual creatures from the threat of human beings.
“Proof and his partner, Ginger Brown, protect human society from cryptids, which are creatures that have been witnessed, but have never actually been found,” Grecian said in an interview with The Oklahoman, “but they also protect cryptids from human beings. The world is filling up with people, and the natural habitats of all sorts of animals are shrinking. It stands to reason that Bigfoot is feeling the crunch just as much as tree frogs are.
Grecian met Riley Rossmo, the artist and co-creator of “Proof,” at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
“After corresponding for a bit, we realized we had the same tastes and interests,” Grecian said. “We’ve been working together steadily for more than two years now, and he seems to get better every day.”
The last member of the “Proof” team is colorist Tyler Jenkins.
“He’s really doing a terrific job and he’s an accomplished artist in his own right,” Grecian said.
Researching strange conspiracies and undiscovered creatures has led to some interesting encounters for Grecian. “A few weeks ago, I needed to look something up in a noncirculating book at my local library, so I couldn’t take it home with me and I had to sit at a table there. A man sitting at the next table over saw me reading this obscure book about conspiracy theories and decided I belonged in his world. He leaned way over and, after getting my attention, asked me if I was aware that the library staff was plotting against us,” he said. “I got a lot of great material from him for ‘Proof.’”
The first five-issue story concerns El Chupacabra, a Puerto Rican cryptid, who is stalking the American Midwest looking for Proof.
There are more monsters and creatures to come in future issues.
“You’ll also get to meet The Dover Demon, a bizarre cryptid which was witnessed three times in the early ’70s and then disappeared forever, and the Cottingley Fairies, which were actually a hoax perpetrated by a couple of little girls in the early 1900s. The fairies are interesting because they became so famous that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, publicly vouched for their authenticity,” Grecian said.
– Matt Price
“It’s like somebody with a fever is screaming at your pants!”
When I saw the first episode of “The Venture Bros.” – the pilot, not the first season opener – I fell in love.
It asked the question, quite well, what would happen if “Jonny Quest” grew up? Would he still be an adventurer or would the frightening world of the future swallow him whole without his team around him.
Well, creator Jackson Publick has kindly updated his blog with plenty of screengrabs from the upcoming third season of the excellent program. Am I the only one watching this, or can we all agree “The Venture Bros.” is the finest televisual programme available in These United States?
Grrrrr. I cannot wait one second longer for the next season to begin! Why do you torment me, fates? What deed have I performed to deserve this hellish boredom?
– Greg Elwell
Hercules, Angel, Superman and more in latest NewsOK comics podcast
Listen to Elwell and I expound eloquently here. We cover Incredible Hulk #112 (starring Hercules), Angel: After the Fall #2, Marvel Holiday Special, Superman #671 and Birds of Prey #113!
