Marvel Releases New 'Captain America' Poster

I must say, Marvel has transformed their leads into exactly how I envision their comic book counterparts. In Thor, Chris Hemsworth embodied my idea of the famed Norse God of Thunder. While I was always happy with the casting of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, because of his natural charm, I wasn't sure if he was what I had always pictured in my head for Cap (I'll post that story as we get closer to the film). Any concerns were quelled when the first pictures of the actor on the set of the Joe Johnston-helmed film appeared. Of course, posters such as this new release seem to further the argument that Evans was born to play Capatin America.

Captain America: The First Avenger flies into theaters on July 22nd.

Chaykin Takes on 'Avengers 1959'

I know Howard Chaykin is not everyone’s cup of tea. Thankfully, he’s mine. Most recently, I’ve been enjoying his work in the current New Avengers arc in which Nick Fury organizes a team of Avengers in 1959. Though penned by series scribe Brian Michael Bendis, Chaykin is getting his opportunity to flesh out the ragtag team of hero-ish characters from the era (or who could have been around at the time) in Avengers 1959.

While I’ve never quite understood why, one of my favorite pulp characters growing up was Dominic Fortune. I was so thrilled to see the character included in Bendis’ story and now in the new five-issue mini. Maybe it’s the vest or the pistol or the cool-as-hell codename—his last name is really Fortunov (of course it is!).

Image Adopts New Rating System

Perhaps the first issue of Butcher Baker didn't really need
a rating to identify this was a Mature title.

Following in line with what other publishers have chosen to do to inform concerned consumers about the content of their books, Image Comics is adopting a new rating system. I was surprised to learn that Image did not already use a rating system since they have such an enormous variety of books that run the gamut of topics, and so many are creator-owned titles (as opposed to properties that possess some frame of reference). A reader typically learns he or she is reading a mature book when the page is turned and two topless prostitutes are lying in a pool of blood while their murderers sing karaoke next to lines of coke (Undying Love).

While this content is actually my cup of tea, I can see why this would be frustrating to retailers who really don’t know what types of books the independent publisher is releasing. Similar to DC’s recently adopted rating system, Image’s four ratings are as follows:

E - EVERYONE (all ages, may contain minimal violence).

T - TEEN (12 and up, may contain mild violence or mild profanity).

T+ - TEEN PLUS (16 and up, may contain moderate violence, moderate profanity use and suggestive themes).

M - MATURE (18 and up, may contain nudity, profanity, excessive violence and other content not suitable for minors).

Now, I can easily decide what would be an appropriate read for the bus ride home—Super Dinosaur, and not Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker.

Captain America Retrospective Part 1: Captain America Comics #1

Well here we are with the first real part of my Captain America Retrospective. Just in case you're just tuning in now, in anticipation of the release of Captain America: The First Avenger on July 22, I am going back and reading some of Cap's greatest adventures of the past 70 years. I'll be sharing my thoughts here on each graphic novel (or in this case single issue), as I go along. You'll find a link to Part 0 at the bottom of this article.

With all that catch-up business out of the way, let's get down to business. If you're going to do a Captain America retrospective, there's really only one place to start: Captain America Comics #1 (pictured above) by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Let's just start off with this amazing cover. Nevermind the fact that we never actually get to see this brutal beat-down or the promise of Captain America coming "face to face with Hitler," the cover imagery perfectly sets the tone for what Captain America would come to symbolize for the people of the Marvel Universe and, in times, ourselves. He is the flag-clad, shield wielding, ass kicking super soldier who makes all red-blooded Americans want to proclaim "AMERICA F@%* YEAH!" No publisher could've gotten away with doing something like this in 2002 with Bin Laden in Hitler's place but I can only imagine the visceral reaction this cover gave people during the height of WWII.

I could go on more about the incredible cover but I think it's time to take a look inside. The issue itself contains four separate Captain America adventures (or "45 thrilling pages" as the cover notes) as well as stories featuring Hurricane and Tuk the Cave Boy which I'll ignore for this review. In these four stories we see the origin of Steve Rogers' transformation into Captain America as well as battles with the hypnotic Sando, the extremely eerie Rathcone, and, of course, arch-nemesis Red Skull.

I'm sure everyone's familiar with the origin of Captain America: weakling Steve Rogers is injected with the Super Soldier Serum invented by Professor Erskine turning him into a human in peak physical prowess. However, in this original origin, the name of the professor was Reinstein instead of Erskine. From what I can gather (based on letter columns in future issues I'll be reviewing), when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby went back to re-tell Cap's origin in the '60s, they relied on their memories of the original stories instead of referencing the actual material which probably led to the new name of Erskine (it appears that a retcon was put in place explaining that Joseph Reinstein was a codename that Erskine used at the time).

The other thing that surprised me about this issue is that Steve Rogers had a secret identity. Having only read Cap's modern adventures, I never realized that at one time the identity of Captain America was protected even inside the military. Private Steve Rogers puts on the act of a Clark Kent-like bumbler who's always raising the ire of his commanding officer Sargent Duffy.

With that out of the way, let's talk about the writing and art. I understand that not everyone can tolerate Golden Age (or even Silver Age) storytelling and art but I am not one of those people. Jack Kirby's pencils, though very different from his Silver Age style that I prefer, are stunning. It feels weird to be writing that because it's such a no-brainer but it must be said anyway. As for Simon's writing, I don't find it nearly as campy and overbearing as many of the stories from the Silver Age (and some of those less-favored modern books as well). There's surprisingly little narration throughout the pages and the panels are not too cluttered with dialogue. It's interesting to see the panel layouts Kirby chose at the time; the panels aren't always laid out in an easy-to-follow manner and little arrows are drawn into the page to direct the reader to the next panel in line.

Alright that'll do it for this installment. I definitely did not expect to go on that long about one issue but I hope you enjoyed reading it. I'll be back within the next few days to go over the first part of the Captain America Omnibus Vol.1 (it's over 800 pages so I'll either be cutting into thirds or halves to review).

You can find my intro to this retrospective here.

Max Beckman is a manager at Pulp Fiction in Long Beach, CA and CheapGraphicNovels.com. You can follow him on Twitter @CheapGNsdotcom and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pulpfictioncomics. Pulp Fiction can be found on the web at www.pulpfictiononline.com and at 1742 Clark Ave. Long Beach, CA 90815.

Superboy: The One That Got Away

If you are like me, you love all things super. So whether it's Superman, Supergirl, or Marvel's Gladiator, if it flies, I am hooked.

I also love reading about the process of how characters are introduced and how writers view the heroes they are working on.

Today was a good day for both

Today I found  writer Jim Shooter's blog. In a recent post he outlines his idea to introduce a new super character, a cousin to Superman who would be introduced in his Legion of Superheroes run. Obviously this never happened, but it's still a great read.

New Captain America:The First Avenger Trailer Is Up

Don't you hate how AWESOME this looks. I mean, couldn't you just bash your brain in.

Captain America hits theaters (with his shield) on July 22nd.

SDCC '11: 'Locke & Key' Pilot (Sorta) Sees Light of Day

Deadline is reporting that the Locke & Key pilot, that Fox passed over last month, will find its first audience at next month’s Comic Con. This makes me extremely happy for a few reasons—first, because I’ve recently become addicted to Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s gothic mystery. Second, because it is scheduled for screening on Friday, July 22^nd—I don’t have tickets for Saturday.

The Locke & Key pilot panel is currently scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and will feature Hill, Rodriguez, Josh Friedman (the writer of the episode), and producing partners Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the pilot screens in Room 8 and the panel will be held in Room 9). Something tells me that all involved are pretty damn proud of the final product. It’s unfortunate that Fox didn’t see it a product that they could sell to mainstream audiences.

The pilot was directed by Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and written by Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds) with Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci (Star Trek). The pilot featured Nick Stahl (Duncan Locke), Jesse McCartney (Tyler), Miranda Otto (Nina), Sarah Bolger (Kinsey), Skylar Gaertner (Bode), and Mark Pellegrino (Rendell).

Locke & Key is the story of the Locke family, which is torn apart after the devastating murder of the family’s patriarch Rendell. Nina moves her children to Lovecraft, Massachusetts, to live with their uncle Duncan in Keyhouse—the mysterious childhood home of Rendell Locke. Before you know it, things grow darker as the mysteries of Keyhouse are learned and the lives of the Locke family grow more and more complex.

SDCC '11: The Avengers Will Not Assemble in Hall H This Year

Marvel Studios officially announced today that they will not hold a panel in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con this year to promote The Avengers, reports Geoff Boucher of the LA Times Hero Complex Blog. The studio wowed all in attendance at last year's panel (including yours truly) by assembling the entire cast and director Joss Whedon on stage and together for the first time (pictured above*), but this year the studio "wasn’t prepared to compete with its own past and wild fan expectations."

Despite the lack of Hall H programming, Marvel Studios promises a strong presence throughout the rest of the convention including a booth on the exhibit hall floor as the studio opens Captain America: The First Avenger the Friday of the convention (July 22, 2011). Boucher theorizes that the studio may, however, have a presence at parent company Disney's D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center on August 19-21 and that this may be the reason they bowed out of Hall H.

Marvel fans feeling the lack of Marvel movie presence at SDCC can still look forward to Sony's presentation of their 2012 offering The Amazing Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.

*(Pictured Left to Right: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Captain America/Steve Rogers), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye/Clint Barton), Mark Ruffalo/Hulk), director Joss Whedon, and President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige)

Max Beckman is a manager at Pulp Fiction in Long Beach, CA and CheapGraphicNovels.com. You can follow him on Twitter @CheapGNsdotcom and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pulpfictioncomics. Pulp Fiction can be found on the web at www.pulpfictiononline.com and at 1742 Clark Ave. Long Beach, CA 90815.

Invincible: Unbreakable

I know a lot of fans read Robert Kirkman’s Invincible, but for those of you that don’t, you are truly missing out.

The book never fails and it lives up to its hype.

The true strength of the book is its ongoing character development, which has been developing, overlapping, evolving since issue one. The book has what most books don’t, a core creative team.


Robert Kirkman has not missed a single issue and the art chores have remained the same, Ryan Ottley has been drawing the book from issue 7 on and the only other artist to touch this book is co-creator Cory Walker.


If you love superhero comics, fun and interesting characters with bigger than life action and wink wink nug nug humor, I promise you $2.99 will the best money you have ever spent.

'Captain America: The First Avenger' Featurette

Artist Paolo Rivera created this fine retro Captain America film poster as a gift to the cast.

Well we’re three movies into our first big comic book movie summer. While I really enjoyed Thor, I was left unimpressed with X-Men: First Class and disappointed by Green Lantern.

So in about four weeks, we get our final entry of the season with the opening of Captain America: The First Avenger. Though I feel I have been burned twice by two movies that I expected to be better, my hopes remain high for a good Cap film. Marvel Studios has been pretty consistent in my eyes (yeah, I liked—not loved—Iron Man 2) so I expect the company to deliver another piece of solid entertainment.

Check out this pretty cool Captain America featurette that lays out the character and features some nice new glimpses of the cast and the action.

Captain America: The First Avenger opens on July 22nd.

'Powers' has found it's Christian Walker

Hot on the heels of yesterday's news of Lucy Punch's casting as Deena Pilgrim in FX's pilot 'Powers', today news broke that Jason Patric (The Lost Boys, The Losers) has been cast as the male lead, Detective Christian Walker reports Deadline. With the core cast now complete, 'Powers' comes closer and closer to becoming a reality which is quite exciting for this longtime fan of the comic book series.

'Powers' is based on the critically acclaimed comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. The pilot is written by Charles H. Eglee and will be directed by Michael Dinner. You can catch up on the comic series via several graphic novels available at CheapGraphicNovels.com.

Max Beckman is a manager at Pulp Fiction in Long Beach, CA and CheapGraphicNovels.com. You can follow him on Twitter @CheapGNsdotcom and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pulpfictioncomics. Pulp Fiction can be found on the web at www.pulpfictiononline.com and at 1742 Clark Ave. Long Beach, CA 90815.

Marvel's Architects - Artist Edition

In an ad in the back of this week's Marvel comics, the second round of Marvel Architects, this time all artists, is revealed. Your artist Architects are: Mark Bagley (Ultimate Spider-Man), Salvador Larroca (Invincible Iron Man), Mike Deodato (New Avengers), Stuart Immonen (Fear Itself), John Romita Jr. (Avengers), and Humberto Ramos (Amazing Spider-Man). Marvel explains, "The foundation of the Marvel Universe is being laid and the Architects are leading the charge! Continuing to push themselves and the industry to the limits with their unique styles and talent, these six artists are currently creating the groundwork for the biggest Marvel stories yet. Month in and month out, explore all corners of the Marvel Universe, masterfully crafted by their lush pencils."

Max Beckman is a manager at Pulp Fiction in Long Beach, CA and CheapGraphicNovels.com. You can follow him on Twitter @CheapGNsdotcom and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pulpfictioncomics. Pulp Fiction can be found on the web at www.pulpfictiononline.com and at 1742 Clark Ave. Long Beach, CA 90815.

Green Lantern Animated Series

Good morning,
Well if you are like me and actually liked the Green Lantern film, then you might be tickled green by this trailer for Green Lantern: The Animated Series, which comes out this fall from the Cartoon Network.

Enjoy,

Video Review: 'Power Girl' #25

Cristian has a ton of reviews to share with us this week! First off is his review for Judd Winick’s final issue of Power Girl. We agree that this has been a really fantastic run for Winick and this character. Visit Cristian’s YouTube channel to watch his reviews of X-Men #13, Superman/Batman #85, Invincible Iron Man #505, Batgirl #22, and Avengers #14. Watch and enjoy!

Comic Review: 'Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons’ #1

By Cristian Casares

Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons #1

DC Comics

««½

With his parents still alive and well, Dick Grayson (now an adult) never became Robin and is still part of a traveling circus show with its star, Deadman.  This is one of the mini-series that really interested me right off the bat; however, it really didn't live up to my expectations.

For the most part I like J.T. Krul. Most recently his Teen Titans book has been great, so I don't know what happened here. I may be in the minority but I was so uninterested by this. What each Flashpoint tie-in has done so far has been to expand the world of Flashpoint and its respective characters. In this book these characters felt kind of two-dimensional. I like Dick Grayson but he just blends in along with his parents and Deadman is too much of a jerk to find likable—even one bit. However, not everything is bad about this book.

There were some really interesting things that happened in this issue. Not to spoil it, but Dr. Fate seems to have a very important role in this. I'm not familiar with Fate at all, and I don't find him all that interesting to be honest, but the little panel time he had was really good, and I can't wait to see what happens.

Mikel Janin is on pencil duty while Ulises Arreola is working on colors. Over all, it looks beautiful. Seems kind of like Frazier Irving's work just not as dark. It was kind of hard to distinguish the Graysons and Deadman when they weren't in costumes.

So far, each mini has done well enough in part that they are there to expand the world of Flashpoint and that none are essential to the main story. While I didn't completely love this issue, it wasn't terrible, and things did pick up towards the end. There's a feeling in my gut that someone might not live through the next two issues, and I can't wait for the next issue.

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