ItsJustSomeRandomGeek's recommended comic book reading list

Do you think comics are dumb? Have you ever considered getting into reading comic books? Well I have a handy-dandy list of stories you should read. I guarantee that each story will change you're perception on comic books. I promise. So without further blah blah here's the list:

- If this be my destiny... (Amazing Spider-Man#31-33 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)

- Dark Phoenix Saga (Uncanny X-Men#129-137 by Chris Claremont and John Bryne)

- Hobgoblin Saga (Amazing Spider-Man#238-239, 244-245, 249-251 by Roger Stern, John Romita, Jr., and John Romita, Sr.)

- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns#1-4 by Frank Miller)

- Daredevil: Born Again (Daredevil#227-233 by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli)

- Batman: Year One (Batman#404-407 by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli)

- Batgirl: Year One (Batgirl: Year One#1-9 by Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, and Marcos Martin)

- The Night Gwen Stacy Died (Amazing Spider-Man#121-122 by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane)

- Power and Responsibility (Ultimate Spider-Man#1-7 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley)

- Ultimate Clone Saga (Ultimate Spider-Man#97-105 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley)

- World's Most Wanted (Invincible Iron Man, current volume#8-19 by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca)

- Batman: The Killing Joke (Batman: The Killing Joke One-Shot by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland)

- Batman: Hush (Batman#608-619 by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee)

- Green Lantern: Rebirth (Green Lantern: Rebirth#1-6 by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver)

- Superman: Man of Steel (Man of Steel#1-6 by John Byrne)

- Wanted (Wanted#1-6 by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones)

- The Tomorrow People (Ultimate X-Men#1-6 by Mark Millar, Adam and Andy Kubert)

- The Death of Captain Stacy (Amazing Spider-Man#88-90 by Stan Lee, Gil Kane and John Romita, Sr.)

- Batman: A Death in the Family (Batman#426-429 by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo)

- Batman: The Man Who Laughs (Batman: The Man Who Laughs One-Shot by Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke)

- Warren Ellis' run on Thunderbolts (Thunderbolts#110-121)

- Judd Winick's Batman issues (Batman#626-630, 634-641, 645-650, 687-691)

- Geoff Johns' ENTIRE run on Green Lantern (Green Lantern, current volume#1-current)

- Magnum Opus (Deadpool, current volume#8-9, Thunderbolts#130-131 by Daniel Way, Andy Diggle, Paco Medina, and Bong Dazo)

- Death of a Goblin (Ultimate Spider-Man#112-117 by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen)

- Daredevil: The Man Without Fear (Daredevil: Man Without Fear#1-5 by Frank Miller and John Romita, Jr.)

That's all I think of right now. Any stories that YOU guys out there suggest that I read? I'm currently reading JLA/Avengers, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and other random back issues. I'm on the look out for Superman: Red Son, Birth of Venom, Pax Romana, and Blankets. I'll probably add more if any good stories come to mind.

My rebuttal to Tom Brevoort

As many of you are aware Marvel has announced that they will give out a Siege#3 Deadpool variant cover for every 50 covers of the DC titles that came with the lantern rings in November. In short I don't like this at all. It is a low blow and I'm amazed that DC hasn't striked back, but then again DC has more respect than Marvel. That's not what I'm ranting about now. What I'm about to talk about is how Tom Brevoort, the Executive Editor at Marvel, is responding to complaints. I am going to dissect this interview bit by bit. I will be pulling quotes and statements from the article. A link to the article can be found at the bottom of this post.

"We heard from a number of retailers who got stuck with books chasing rings and decided to do something. We're not making any money on the deal, but we are helping our retailer partners during a tough economic time. Making sure that our retailers can keep the doors open if they tied up a lot of cash on inventory they can't move. We're doing this because we're in the business of selling content rather than Cracker Jack prizes. And we need retailers to be able to keep the lights on and afford to order next month's books. [Marvel won't be accepting trade-ins for unsold Dark Reign and The List books] because there, what we were selling and what the retailers were buying were the books. But DC can if they want to!"

Ok so I have several things that I'm having a problem with in this statement:

1. If you're a retailer and your stuck with certain books that you don't want anymore then put them in a sale bin or sell them for a buck a piece instead of following along with Marvel's dumb move.


2. Calling the lantern rings "Cracker Jack prizes" is stupid. Want to know what a cracker jack prize is Marvel? Paper Avengers ID cards and 2010 calenders. Personally I'd rather have a lantern ring instead of a stupid variant cover that won't be worth ANYTHING in the future.


3. Instead of being sent your competitors books why not have sent back the worthless mini-series that Marvel has shoved down people's throats? Need examples? Oh how about all those Dark Reign mini-series'? That's about 10 or 15 different books right there. Are you scared Marvel? Are you scared that DC might actually surpass you? Is that why you're demanding their books? Cause it sure seems like it.


4. Also DC won't do a stupid move like this. They actually have respect for their competition.

Originally Marvel was going to make brown Deadpool Corps rings to give away, but then they said that it would be too expensive. Are you kidding me Marvel? You have over half the market share, you have about 15 movies in development, you have thousands of other products such as clothes and toys and you're saying that making the rings will be too expensive? DC was able to make 8 different kinds of rings! And they don't have all the money that Marvel has.

Marvel what happened to you? Every day it seems like more and more of my love and respect for Marvel is being whittled away because of dumb decisions like this. Hey Marvel, if your goal was to force me to buy less of your books and buy more DC books then congratulations... Mission Accomplished. I've decided to only buy a few books from Marvel since they clearly don't need my money or care too much for the fans:

1. -Invincible Iron Man


2. -Fantastic Four


3. -Amazing Spider-Man (only when Dan Slott writes)


4. -Agents of Atl- oh yeah... they cancelled that book... I may buy Atlas vs. Avengers... it all depends on how much money I have.

Cool! I could use the extra money. I would totally boycott Marvel completely but then I'd be punishing the awesome creators at Marvel (i.e. Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Jeff Parker, etc.) Marvel is shoo-ing me away... while DC has welcomed me with open arms.

Oh and Marvel... get your heads out of your wallets and start being more like what DC is like right now... you might learn a thing or two.

Click here for the full article!

Let me know what you think of this by leaving a comment! Thanks!

Siege#1 REVIEW (The Marvel Event of 2010 is here!!!)

Written by: Brian Michael Bendis

Drawn by: Olivier Coipel w/ inks by Mark Morales

Price: $3.99 ("Cheap"!)

Publisher: Marvel Comics


Um just really quick nit-pick here put on the Marvel website it said that the cover was going to be cardstock, but the actual cover feels like a glossy cover (like the kind of cover Blackest Night is). I like cardstock covers a lot, so where is my cardstock cover Marvel?!?!? I haven't even started talking about the book and I'm already driving myself crazy!!! It doesn't really matter what the cover is. I like normal comic covers better instead of fancy cover crap (i.e. cardstock and glossy). Oh but then you'd be "degrading" the comic book if it doesn't have its fancy- schmancy cover... my bad...

So the book starts out with Volstagg coming to Midgard. He then tries to stop a robbery by slicing the van with the robber(s) in it which kills(?) them? The van is on fire so... yeah... I'm don't know much about Thor, but does Volstagg kill? That seems like a dumb question... anyway three super powered beings show up and take the fight to a football stadium thus causing a HUGE explosion killing thousands of people thus giving Norman Osborn and his Avengers/ friends to take siege (hah) of Asgard. Gee doesn't that concept seem familiar guys? *cough civalwar cough* So then Osborn assembles his Avengers, Ares gives a battle cry, blah blah blah blah blah. Some neat action sequences... some talking... some very nice Olivier Coipel art... Ares stands PERFECTLY balanced on a jet in mid-air... when Don Blake turns into Thor I thought that was cool with the jets flying overhead... more fighting... the Dark Avengers and the U-Foes (of all people) beat the crap out of Thor. So Thor can beat Sentry (basically Marvel's Superman) but he can't beat the U-Foes???... weird...

This is why Blackest Night is a hundred times better than Siege: Blackest Night has you emotionally connected to the characters immediately. Here in Siege...? Nope. None. I felt nothing when Thor was being pummeled and beat. I felt barely any emotional connection to any of the characters in this story. I know that sounds bad, but it's the truth. Plus Blackest Night is waaaaaaaaay more exciting than Siege. Man, I really wanted to like this comic book, but the truth is I didn't really care. One thing I did enjoy was that there was none of the usual Bendis decompression and this issue moves along nicely.

Here is the problem I'm having with this book. So after the 23-page story there is a script consisting only of dialogue called 'Ares War Plan Transcript'. It is a five page script, BUT in the transcript one page of dialogue was accidentally (most likely) printed, so that means that there is one page of the transcript missing. Marvel later released the missing page and the whole transcript as a free digital comic. But here's the thing... why not just release it as a digital comic INSTEAD OF printing it in this comic and charging people EXTRA for it, or even better: put the transcript in the book and DON'T charge extra for it. You also get a 3-page Cup O' Joe where Joe Quesada tries to convince people that this story is seven years in the making and to tell you about all this other previous stories you have to read to catch up on (We're talking 7 YEARS of story folks). Gee, isn't Marvel nice? You also get a Siege checklist. WOW! We haven't seen that before!!! It's not like we saw it in Marvel previews or on a postcard like thing that comic books shops were giving out for free or in Origins of Seige or in the new Marvel 2010 calender or on the internet or inside recent comic books! You also get a 5-page preview of Hulk#19 (which has nothing to do with Siege, btw). Who cares?!?

All in all this issue was rather disappointing. Was definitely not worth $3.99. It was like inflating a balloon y'know? You get excited and then some jerk comes along and pops the balloon thus deflating it. This event was rushed and is not seven years in the making (more like 7 days in the making) and it clearly shows. Well at least Bendis didn't do anything to piss me off like his occasional misogyny... his serious decompression... him writing my favorite characters not like themselves...

Rating: C+

I apologize for the lack of reviews/ posts on this blog. I've been kinda busy... Feel free to comment! I would greatly appreciate it! Take care everyone!

Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama#4 REVIEW (Who saves the day? Does Ash? Does Obama? Does Anyone?)

Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama#4

Writer: Elliott Serrano

Artist: Ariel Padilla

Price: $3.50

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment (See, I don't read just DC and Marvel!)

It's finally here! The thrilling conclusion to Ash Saves Obama! The deadites are trying to take over the world by trying to turn Obama into one of their own. Overall this story is clever and well executed. The deadites are smarter than we think! They're not just brain-eating undead beings, ya know! What I think is one of the best parts of this mini-series is that a female character is the main hero that gets everyone out of the mess. I like this because most comic books treat women as inferior to men (coughbrianmichaelbendiscough) and I believe that is the main reason why not a lot of girls read comic books which is unfortunate. So kudos Elliott for giving me a little bit of hope I had once lost in the comic book industry. Also the bit where Obama burns the necronomicon comic was pretty cool, Another thing that impressed me in this book... I never thought I be buying a comic with Obama in it, but this mini-series is better than I thought it would be and I believe people who love comedy and fun team-ups should give this book a try. Humor is pretty frequent in this book as well, but it's clever and well thought out humor, so if you love potty humor stay away from this book. So I really enjoyed the writing.

Padilla's art is also nice as well. It adds to the feel of the story, but at times it looked a little different or inconsistant, but otherwise it was good. I... don't know what else to say about the art and the writing other than overall I really enjoyed this series and it should have more attention than it's getting. Well done Elliott and Ariel!

Rating: B+

Also Elliott Serrano is part of comicculturewarrior so if you want to have great comic book discussions and see and read some of the greatest opinions, if not the GREATEST, opinions about comic books and comic culture check out their Youtube channel and their blog!

Click here to visit their blog!

Click here to visit their Youtube channel!


What are you waiting for?!?!?!? Click those links already!!!

DC declares war on the Supermen!!!

That's right! Another comic book event heads our way! Yay or nay? I'm neither going to say 'yay' nor 'nay' because I'm not a big fan of Superman. He never really has been a personal favorite of mine. Although I did like John Bryne's Man of Steel and I'm liking Superman: Secret Origin right now, but other than that I haven't really cared much for Superman. I haven't read Superman: Red Son or the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank run of Action Comics, but I am on the lookout for those 'cause I've heard those stories are great.

So as you can probably guess that I have no idea where the Superman stories are right now... well... you're right, but DC editor Matt Idelson was asked if fans who aren't up to speed on the current Superman continuity will still enjoy the story and responded:

"Absolutely," Idelson says. "A big part of our jobs (editors and writers both) is to make sure we remember that any given issue of any book could be someone's first. With a big, loud story like this, we have to be doubly diligent to make sure this thing is accessible, from the Free Comic Book Day zero issue right through to the finale."

That's good news for me. This is probably going to be similar to my first exposure to Green Lantern, which was Blackest Night. When I first read BN I had no clue about any of the continuity, but I still enjoyed it immensely. But that caused me to go to book stores and buy all the back issues of stories to catch up and enjoy the story even more, which I may do ahead of time to enjoy War of the Supermen.

Here's the big question: Do we really need another comic book event? Personally I am evented out (Blackest Night is a exception because it's so darn awesome). With the Marvel events such as Fall of the Hulks, Seige, Doomwar, X-Men: Second Coming, etc. coming out it's starting to become a bit too much with all the events, but you know darn well all the event books are going to be top sellers, so the companies will just keep bogging us down with events... We'll see how this all plays out because it's too early to critisize because at first I wasn't looking forward to Blackest Night, but now I love it. You just never know...

Click here to find out more!

Character of the Week: Larfleeze

Don't worry... I'm still sane and all the turkey I had last night hasn't altered my frame of mind. This week marks the return of the post: Character of the Week and the character of the week this week is... Larfleeze. I never thought I would EVER care for Larfleeze because I hated him in the Agent Orange storyline in Green Lantern, but this week Geoff Johns changed all that. In Green Lantern#48 Larfleeze is one of the highlights and in my opinion there is no better way to quickly get a reader emotionally invested in a character than have an issue or two devoted to a particular character. A lot of cool stuff happened with Larfleeze's character in GL#48 and some humorous stuff happens as well. With that I have a new favorite character! :)

Blackest Night#5 REVIEW (Most of the DC Universe... DIE!)

SOME SERIOUSLY MAJOR MAJOR AND I MEAN MAJOR SPOILERS ARE IN THIS REVIEW SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS ISSUE YET DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW.

Blackest Night#5

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artist: Ivan Reis w/ inks by Oclair Albert and Joe Prado

Price: $3.99

Publisher: DC Comics

A month ago after reading Issue#4 I asked myself, "How can this get any worse???" Well after reading this... Geoff Johns has easily shown us that it has gotten much, much worse. At the beginning Johns gets your hopes up by having all the Lantern Corps leaders in one place and you think, "Alright! Something good is going to happen!" So for a while you have a happy feeling but then Johns takes that away from you and plunges you back into the bad news. Not complaining... that's the sign of a good writer. So Nekron, the lord of the dead basically, has been risen by Black Hand. Nekron has risen all of Coast City, which is about 7 million people, and things don't look very good. So then a bunch of heroes and all of the Lantern Corps leaders come together and it looks like things are going to be fixed and well. But then... Bruce Wayne is risen from the grave. Then Nekron says that he has connections to everyone who has died and came back. Then commands those who have died and come back to life... (SPOILER!!!)... to die. So we're talking a huge amount of the heroes have just been killed and turned into black lanterns. Superman, Wonder Woman, Kid Flash, Green Arrow, Superboy, Animal Man, and others have died and Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are next...

I. Love. This. Series. I'm gonna come out and say it... this could possibly be the BEST event comic book EVER. Blackest Night is better than Secret Invasion, Civil War, and House of M combined... times five. Seriously if you aren't reading this series you need to go to your local comic book store and buy the issues that have come out so far. Now. You may be asking yourself, "Why does this guy love Blackest Night so much?" I love Blackest Night because it has you emotionally invested in all of the characters involved with the event. You care for them and wonder what's going to happen to them. Plus the heroes act like heroes. They don't bite people's heads off, or kill people, or rape anybody, etc. Geoff Johns knows how to torture the characters he writes and his fans, which is the sign of a good writer.

Ivan Reis' art is great. I would be remiss if I didn't praise his art. For what he does on this book he does really well. His art is spooky, creepy, etc. His art works nicely with the whole story of Blackest Night. The only complaint I have is that there are two inkers working on Reis' art. I understand that they have two inkers working on the art to get it out on the deadline. That's fine and I understand that, but a times the art looked different and a little inconsistant because both Oclair Albert and Joe Prado have different take on Reis' art, but that's just a minor complaint. Otherwise Blackest Night is my favorite book now and I can't wait to see the outcome of this story. DC has yet to disappoint me with this series, so DC: keep up the good work!

Rating: A