Iron Man #3! (1st Post for April!)

This is huge!

http://bit.ly/hZ9Aow












(characters copywrite the respective owners, Marvel & DC)

My Top 10 Favorite Trade Paper Backs

Hi! I some times like to do some thing different so this week I am just going to give you a list of my favorite tpbs (trade paper backs natch!)..........they are not necessarily the best just the 1s that make me happy or sad or just good inside! May be you think the same! Hope so! ツ*

#1 : The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes/The Doll's House (Vertigo/DC)

by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli & Steve Parkhouse

Oops! I have to cheat right off the top because I can not pick my fav between volume 1 or volume 2 of "The Sandman"! (do not worry! i will do 9 others any way! 9,9 )

Even if you have never read comix you have probably heard of Neil Gaiman & "The Sandman"........it was even in "Rolling Stone" magazine! & the best stories I have ever read are split between the 2 books.........there is "24 Hours" about a lamo Justice League villain who becomes soooooooo cool in 24 hours!

& "The Sound of Her Wings" with the 1st appearance of Sandman's sister Death...........who is so great that writing this I have almost decided she may be my costume for next halloween!

& "Welcome Cereal Convention" about a serial killers' convention which may be what created "Dexter".........♥ it!


& just read them! ツ







 

#2 : Watchmen (DC)

by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

"Watchmen" has to be on everybodies list.........even if you do not like super heroes it is not really about super heroes & it just breaks apart ever concept you may have of what a comic is. "Watchmen" is not a book as much as it is an experiment..........do not give it to a friend to convince her to read comix though because even if she does every thing else will be a disappointment from that point!

#3 : Sleeper Season 1 (Wildstorm/DC)

by Edward Brubaker & Sean Phillips

This comic will make you realize how thrilling a book can be! I remember watching "Back to the Future" & looking @ the clock wondering if Michael J Fox would make it back in time to film "Family Ties" ( lol! ;) ) & this tpb gave me that same feeling of how can the main character make it against what seem to be impossible circumstances.

#4 : Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality (DC)

by Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang

If you look at this cover you may think it reminds you of the Super Friends. It is supposed to & like watching saturday morning cartoons on the living room floor while eating fruit loops this is the most fun you can possibly have!

#5 : Serenity: Those Left Behind (Dark Horse)

by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews & Will Conrad

I ♥ Joss. & the art work in this is absolutely gorgeous! & Serenity is sooooooooooooooo fabulous! & Nathan Fillion is soooooooooooooooooooo hot! :9

#6 : Arkham Asylum Living Hell (DC)

by Dan Slott, Ryan Sook, Wade von Grawbadger & Jim Royal

Batman has the best villains in comix & this book is all about them not him! Humpty Dumpty, Jane Doe & Great White are not even the big names but they are scarie & creepie & yet will draw you in completely! & I ♥♥♥♥ Ryan Sook! ;9

#7 : Manhunter Volume 3: Origins (DC)

by Marc Andreyko, Javier Pina & Fernando Blanco

The best comic ever cancelled! lol! ;)
The story of Kate Spencer is a love story about the DCU! It is remarkable & you should read it!

#8 : The War at Ellesmere (Slave Labor Graphics)

by Faith Erin Hicks

You have probably never heard of this book but Faith Erin Hicks contributed to Marvel's Girl Comics. She is very good & very talented & her work simply conveys a love for what she does! Look for it!

#9 : Fray (Dark Horse)


by Joss Whedon, Karl Moline & Andy Owens

I ♥ Joss & I ♥ this story! The art is prettie & the story made me cry near the middle. :')



 








#10 : The League of ExtraOrdinary Gentlemen [& lady! ;b] Volume 1 (ABC/DC)

by Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill, Ben Dimagmaliw & Bill Oakley

If you ♥ literature you will ♥ this. If you ♥ comix you will ♥ this. If you ♥ the movie you mite not like this. 9,9

Jane Austen's Emma #1 of 5 (Marvel)

"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, had achieved nearly twenty-one years with very little to distress or vex her."~Narrator

Writing: Nancy Butler
Artwork: Janet K. Lee
Lettering: Nate Piekos
Production: Damien Lucchese
Editor: Sana Amanat
Senior editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor in chief: Axel Alonso
Chief creative officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Executive producer: Alan Fine

Based on the novel by Jane Austin

Comic Book Week: March 2, 2011

Hi! Quick review this week because I am a little bit under the weather.........Kara's Comic this week is the 1st part of a 5 part adaptation of the classical Jane Austin book "Emma". I can not recall reading such a retelling of a novel before & I am quite enjoying it so far! The story of course almost must be enveloping since the book has been a favorite for ever & the water color like art work just suits the story so well.....it seems much like a colorful & more cheerful version of Eddie Campbell's art in "From Hell"!

2 things that I will point out about this comic is that it requires a greater investment to read than most.......it took me at least twice the length of time to read that most comix do & I may need to re read it just to be sure that I absorbed the full depth of the story! Also you may find that the characters are less than likeable but I do not think that they are supposed to be........they feel real & that is what matters.

Clearly this comic was meant to attract female readers........& I make that distinction over typical fangirls.........& it does a fabulous job! I was glad to see the bonus feature of "The Mighty Thor"........a personal fav..........even though it was too late to save from cancellation! Highly recommend grabbing the trade paper back ladies!

Kara's Comic this week earns a............

RATING: 8 sunday bonnets out of 10!

As a bonus for International Women's Day here is the Daniel Craig ( :9 ) & Judy Dench video that you have probably already seen or heard about! Bye guys! u r 2 kool 2 b believed! ツ*

The Amazing Spider-Man #655 (Marvel)

"I guess......if I were Aunt May......you would have found a way to save me."~Marla Jameson to Peter Parker/Spider-man

Writer: Dan Slott
Art: Marcos Martin
Colors: Muntsa Vincente
Letters: VC's Joe Caramagna
Assistant editor: Ellie Pyle
Senior editor: Stephen Wacker
Editor in chief: Axel Alonso
Chief creative officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Executive producer: Alan Fine

Comic Book Week: February 23, 2011



 As promised to you guys last week I bought the Amazing Spider-man which I would not normally buy at the advice of my lcbs (local comic book shop.....natch! @strangeadventrz fyi!). The cover was very prettie so I was interested to see what was inside & I was gladly not disappointed!

Although a recap page would have been nice I quickly discovered that Marla Jameson has died & this book shows her funeral & the cast's reaction to her death. Marla Jameson is (was?) the wife of J. Jonah Jameson the now mayor of New York. I did not know this until my bf told me that & he had no idea that she still existed. While this may have reduced the depth of the book taken on it's own "Awakening (No One Dies Part 1 of 2" is a moving tribute even to one who does not know who the character is or was. The first half is told in silence mostly from J. Jonah Jameson's perspective & the stark reality of an old man left alone in the world was tear jerking. It reminded me of the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Buffy's mom died. *sniff!* :'(

The second half moves over to Peter Parker dreaming about all the people in his life who have died & his feelings of responsibility for those deaths. The shift in story telling styles is a little bit awkward but not so much as to ruin the story. This dream then leads to Spidey making a decision that seems very familiar but is quite different at the same time. This decision will clearly impact part 2 of the story next issue but really only the last 2 pages have any thing to do with the ongoing story & they end in a niceish cliff hanger!

Dan Slott is usually known for his humor but this story shows he can pull at ♥ strings too. The artwork is very old fashioned & sort of like John Romita Jr which is not normally what I necessarily like......kind of chunkie & too heavily inked........sorry! ^9,9^

The colors & letters are prettie.

So in spite of there being no recap & the art work not blowing me away Kara's Comic for this week gets a..........

RATING: 7 tear drops out of 10!

Thanx for reading! Sorry about there being no bonus this week.......tired & need sleep! nite nite! ツ*

X-23 #4 (Marvel)

"The first thing you learn is how to be alone."~Laura / X-23

Writer: Marjorie Liu
Artists: Will Conrad & Marco Checchetto
Colorist: John Rauch
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Designer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover Art: Leinil Francis Yu with Jason Keith
Variant Art Cover: Marko Djurdjevic
Assistant Editor: Jody Leheup
Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Group Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Executive Producer: Alan Fine

Comic Book Week: ':o ?

This week I decided to do something a little bit different & I am going to try to continue it kindof.........the comix I bought last week did not satisfy me so I went out to a normal magazine shop & bought an issue of Marvel's "X-23" that I have never read. Next week I will try to buy a new comic that I would not buy for myself but for now let us call this a flash back! ;)

& for the week of February 16th my fav book was Supergirl #61 if you are interested.

The teen age girl Laura is a clone of Wolverine with teased genes to make her a teen aged girl instead of a hairy short man. ;) She also goes by the name X-23. She also has claws on her hands & feet both.

As with most of Marvel's comix there is a plot summary on the 1st page that very much confused me but then did not seem to have any thing to do with the rest of the issue which shows Laura on the run from some police men. She meets a teen aged prostitute who tries and fails to recruit her & does something bad to her pimp & meets a dashing member of the Xmen out of thin air & keeps running & then gets caught by the police men & then we end with a really strange suggestive shot that just made me a little nauseous because of the ties to Mister Sinister.

Sorry for the way I wrote that but that is the way I read it. I just was not into this story. I did like Laura as a character and the art work was gorgeous but the story was just not there. & the art work was pretty but it was confusing! It started out well enough but started to jump around & cover up the lack of back grounds with flashing lights. I also have to point out that for all of the editors in the list up at the top there were far too many mistakes in this story. There was a misspelled word that jumped out at me & Laura changes clothes randomly 1/2 way through but the new clothes consist of the same belly tee with a different pattern, the identical jeans with out blood stains & a cute leather jacket with & without a leather collar.

Also I liked the cover.........the normal cover is the 1 shown above.

So sadly this week............

RATING: 4 leather jackets out of 10!

As a special bonus please read my guest blog post at Girls Read Comics Too! It is 1 of a series of Memorable Moments of Marvel Women. Mine is about the death of Jean Grey as the Dark Phoenix!

& while you are visiting be sure to read about the other moments & other great posts!

Later gators! *mwah!* ツ*

The Walking Dead Weekly #6 (Skybound/Image)

"It's not the same as killing the dead ones, Daddy."~Carl Grimes

Creator/Writer/Letterer: Robert Kirkman

Penciller/Inker: Tony Moore

Gray Tones: Cliff Rathburn

Editor: Sina Grace









I have been sooooooo bad! I let my reviews slide for sooooooo long and just could not get back to doing them! Sorry, oops! But enough is enough. I just decided that this week I would pick an easy book to review & make it Kara's Comic for Comic Book Week February 9th, 2011........"The Walking Dead Weekly #6"!

If you are like me you may or may not have heard of The Walking Dead by the fabulous Robert Kirkman but ignored it until the incredible series on AMC. For that reason Kirkman is taking the original series and reprinting it in weekly format for those newbies that want to get back in on the bottom floor..........like me! ;)

I will admit to not being a big zombie fan..........I like horror but mostly vampires & my previous zombie experience has really only been with "Shaun of the Dead".......which I ♥love♥.......but The Walking Dead is different. It is more about the real people living in the world that now belongs to the zombies. Most movies are short so they are all about fighting the creatures until the end where they all somehow die or it looks like they will die. But in The Walking Dead the story does not appear to be ready to end any time soon so we get the few remaining living breathing people fighting zombies here and there but mostly just trying to learn to live in a world where they are really the ones that are always being hunted.

And the first difference I have noted in Kirkman's writing versus most other writers.......both here & on AMC.......is his pacing. While he does not rush the story in any way, plot points that you would expect to be held for a long time are resolved quite quickly & then new stories developed. It is quite strange & unusual actually in comics particularly where one sees stories that last for sometimes years where nothing ever seems to happen........like the New Avengers........or one sees big event after big event after big event......like the whole Identity Crisis through to Brightest Day thing. What identifies the comic versus the AMC series is Moore & Rathburn`s fabulous artwork! It is really a joy to behold in its gray toned glory! The characters are all unique & expressive, the zombies are terrifyingly beautiful, & the scenery is suitable to hang in an art gallery!

I do not want to give any story points away as it would give away both the television & comic book series, but this issue is where the two take the biggest divergence. The first 5 issues followed very closely the first 4 or 5 episodes but something very big happens at the end of this issue that shocked me! Someone dies that I had no expectation of dying & in Kirkman`s hands it made me gasp & cry.

This book is not perfect but it is a great read & so very pretty! & apparently season 2 of the show on AMC will not happen until fall of 2011 so whether you watched the 1st season or not I recommend grabbing the weekly fix from the printed version!

RATING: 7 undead zombies out of 10!

Thank you all so much for reading! Here is a preview of the second season of The Walking Dead on AMC: http://bit.ly/i2wVUV

Also I wrote a guest blog recently for Girls Read Comics Too! It has not been posted yet but please keep checking & hopefully it will be up soon.........& you will get to read some fabulous stuff by some other great women while waiting! ツ*

Haven't You Heard? ヅ

Hi, all! I know I have been neglecting you all lately and I hope to finally get back to a regular schedule next week with some form of 2010 in review.........but for this week I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of my readers / friends! Above is a map of where all of my visitors from around the world have come from........& it is all around the world (*pssssst!* Green means someone there read it.....the darker the green the more readers from that country!)! That is so cool! It makes this small town country girl feel sooooo wonderful! I just want to give you all a big .................
*hug*!

Luv & kisses, ♥Kara♥  ツ*!