Metropolis

Welcome back for another thrilling installment of FANBOY FUN WITH el DIABLO ROBOTICO! 
 
I don’t really have much to ramble on about here, although I did trick fellow METROPOLIS alum Wombat into eating a week old cookie.  BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!  …so….I’m going to Hell.  On to the comics….
 
DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS – SERIES TWO 7 – In this issue – The Doctor bitch slaps a guy wearing glasses when he freaks out on an alien space ship. Don’t go all girly girl on the Doctor, ya’ll.  He don’t play dat!  OKAY.
 
ASTRO BOY: THE MOVIE – OFFICIAL MOVIE PREQUEL 2 (of 4) – I’m not really sure what to make of this book. If this is a faithful prequel in terms of style and tone, then that upcoming CGI Astro Boy movie is gonna piss all over the memory of Osamu Tezuka. While trying to remain “all ages” fun harmless, the book loses all the whimsical and moral turmoil that Tezuka pretty much cornered the market on.  It’s decent, and I can safely read it to my kids before bedtime, but the deeper adult meaning just isn’t there. Ah, what did I expect from an IDW production? EH. 

 
ATOMIC ROBO: SHADOW FROM BEYOND TIME 2 (of 5) – As a book end to the above Astro Boy review – this book is all kinds of whimsy and fun with alternative history and science thrown in to boot. Granted, the “deeper adult meaning” isn’t here either, but it isn’t necessary.  Atomic Robo is just a fun humorous read that impresses me each and every issue.  In this one Robo and Charles Fort try to stop a rampaging H.P. Lovecraft in 1926 NY – oh and Tesla invented the car phone.  FANBOY FUN!
 
SEAGUY: SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE 3 (of 3) – “Da Fug?” And so ends another mindbogglingly wild ride with Seaguy and Chubby da Chuna. The finale left me as breathless and totally baffled as the last mini-series finale did (so a re-read is in order), and yet it ends on such a great last page that I really didn’t care how weird it all went at the beginning there.  BUENO EXCELLENTE!!!  Viva Le Seaguy!!!
 
JONAH HEX 44 – The first shot (sorry) in the six part SIX GUN WAR begins here. Hex is ambushed, given a Texas funeral and then the fun really starts. If the rest of this story is as high stakes amplified action filled as this one was then your Summer movie is in the pages of Jonah hex, my friends. BUENO EXCELLENTE!!!
 
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON EIGHT – TALES OF THE VAMPIRES 1 (of 1) -Becky Cloonan and Vasilos Lolos team up to give us a glimpse into how the Slayer-verse has changed thanks to Harmony’s reality TV show gig. If you’re a fan of Buffy you could do a lot worse (looking at you IDW) as far as tie-ins to the “cannon” of vampire lore.  GOOD STUFF.  
 
THE BOYS 31 – Um…..I – I really didn’t see that coming.  Hmmm…Also I really hope that isn’t the menace of foreshadowing about Butcher’s wee doggie, but I totally know it is.  GOOD STUFF.  
 
SECRET SIX 10 – I don’t know where Gail Simone is going with this odd Bane/Scandal Savage “romance” (which is totally not the right term, but I don’t know what else to call it) – and I don’t care. This is probably my favorite DC comic book right now. The protagonists are morally reprehensible and the seamy side of DC has never looked cooler. FANBOY FUN!
 
AGENTS OF ATLAS 6 – Even while on slow burn plot building mode, this book just nails it.  This issue is largely the Agents of Atlas traveling to Atlantis to meet with Namor, but Jeff Parker handles the entire outing with such world back story building confidence and humor that it never once gets boring or too “talky.”  FANBOY FUN!
 
CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI13 ANNUAL 1 – Can we get this out of the way right off the bat? on the cover, why does Greg Land make Capt. Britain’s lover, Megan, look like Dolly Parton?  Also, apparently Megan is a pikey – like Brad Pitt’s character in SNATCH. You know the one with the indecipherable accent, which made reading Megan’s dialogue a bit….funny. So this being one of the few issues before this series wraps up (SHAME ON YOU PEOPLE FOR NOT READING IT!!!), one really interesting thing is brought up about the Marvel Universe with Paul Cornell’s usual flair for throwing a brilliant idea out and just letting it hang there to soak up the ambiance. For once the nature of Hell in the Marvel U is addressed regarding the various deities such as Mephisto, Dormamu, etc. With each being clearly labeled a ruling King or Queen of Hell with equal power among them. It’s an interesting concept that I hadn’t ever seen addressed before, but may very well have been established prior. For those of you that usually skip Annuals, this doesn’t look like it is totally necessary for the regular series, but the cliffhanger ending WILL be followed up in the remaining two issues of the series. FANBOY FUN!
 
WAR OF KINGS 4 (of 6) – For those of you looking for a really great epic story on a cosmic scale, this is THE series for you. I don’t know how many times I have to say this. This series is bad ass on an Epic scale. Darkhawk, or rather the Raptors, finally reveal themselves and choose a side, Empress Lilandra finally returns to power, and Gladiator of the Imperial Guard narrates the whole sordid mess. And that shock ending….jaw dropping. FANBOY FUN!!!
 
ULTIMATUM 4 (of 5) – Jeph Loeb is really going balls out trying to shock the Hell out readers with each successive issue of this book. It’s almost too shocking – if that makes sense – as if Loeb and Marvel editorial decided to kill off everyone because they are going to reboot the Ultimate line from the ground up and all those expensive back issues of Ultimate Spider-Man that you’ve been sitting on for a decade will pretty much be worthless in a few months. Spider-Man 2099 #1 was a pretty hot book, back when I was kid, but try buying one on eBay now for over a buck. Thanks for screwing my kids out of their inheritance, Loeb!  Oh….sorry. Got off on a tangent there. Yeah, this issue continues the shock and awe of the previous carnage filled world ending issues. Expect lots of blood and dismemberment.  And my hero, Ultimate Capt. America, kicks some major ass. FANBOY FUN!
 
ULITIMATE SPIDER-MAN 133 – I’m not sure what to think about this. On the one hand I kind of like the idea that the final issue of the series is a “silent” issue (i.e. no dialogue or sound effects). I like thinking of Bendis sitting down to write it out and getting so choked up by his own emotions that he said, “Aw, forget it. I can’t do this justice. For once the ole Bendis word balloon factory is gonna shut the hell up. I love ya, Spidey.”  On the other hand it does kind of come off as a cop out. Oh well – I guess I can look forward to the ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: REQUIEM for my goodbyes to a series that has never failed to entertain on a consistent schedule. I would have gone with a higher rating (such as Bueno Excellente or Fanboy Fun) but the lack of words leaves me no choice but to call it like it is – GOOD STUFF.
 
BATMAN AND ROBIN 1 – Not being a big fan of Grant Morrison’s run on BATMAN, I wasn’t expecting much of this, but the added appeal of Frank Quitely on the art made it that much more attractive. So it is an odd feeling then to have to report that Morrison’s script was pretty much A-okay for me, but Quitely’s art was somehow sub par compared to everything I’ve seen him do previously. It wasn’t as polished and clean as it normally is, and the initial distraction of trying to discern why this seemed so “sketchy” (was there a meaning to it?) just detracted from the admittedly pretty decent first outing of Dick Grayson and Damian as the new Batman and Robin. Not quite perfect, but it was GOOD STUFF.