Trailer For New CW Fall Series “Arrow” Out Now

Comics Alliance passes on the 411 about the new CW series, Arrow:

The trailer pretty much lays out what to expect from the series: Something more grounded than Smallville, with definite “I will avenge my father” overtones (That’s a new twist on the origin story, isn’t it?) and influences definitely taken from the Andy Diggle/Jock Green Arrow: Year One comic (Seriously, some of that island footage looks very Jock-ish to me). From the looks of what’s on show here, this looks much more in tune with the network’s Nikita than the earlier “One day I will become Superman but it’ll take me ten years” DC show… and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, to be honest.

And here’s the trailer:

I agree that we can do without another Smallville, although I’m bummed that Justin Hartley won’t be coming back as Oliver Queen. He, and my good buddy Lagavulin, were the only things that made the last couple seasons of that mess bearable.

Meantime, I’ll probably give this show a day in court when it debuts in October. I can always use excuse to buy another bottle of whiskey.

On To Greater Glory – Review Of Glory #26 And Wonder Woman #9

Once upon a time, in 1941, the character of Wonder Woman was created by a Harvard educated psychologist (and apparent bondage enthusiast) named William Moulton Marston. Wonder Woman is/was an Amazon princess, sent to the world of man as an ambassador of peace. Marston created Wonder Woman to be the embodiment of a type of liberated woman who was atypical in that period of history. Indeed Marston wrote, “Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world.” (Wow. Auspicious.) However, “psychological propaganda” origins aside, the character has been popular with men and women for decades. In fact, in 2011, IGN named Wonder Woman fifth from the top on a list of the Top 100 Comic Book Characters Of All Time.

Meanwhile, in 1993, the character of Glory was created by comic book illustrator (and foot extraction hobbyist) Rob Liefeld. Glory was created for Liefeld’s Extreme Studios at Image Comics. Glory is a half Amazonian/half demon offspring, who leaves the Amazonians to enter the world of man and kick a lot of ass. Liefeld created Glory to have a Wonder Woman type character to run around in his Extreme universe and give him an excuse to draw cheesecake.

Since DC’s reboot this past fall has served to drag 90s comic book culture back kicking screaming to the profitable fore, it is not surprising that Image has decided to relaunch some of Liefeld’s past creations, such as Supreme, Youngblood, and Glory. What might be surprising is that Glory is a better Wonder Woman comic than the one being written currently at DC by Brian Azzarello.

Why?

Read on for spoiler laden comparisons, Scooby Gangs, and basement dwelling emo gods.

Dan DiDio Enrages Royalty, Turns People Gay

Historically, Dan DiDio’s panels at San Diego Comic-Con are amongst my favorites every year. The dude has, at least publically, a visceral enthusiasm for DC Comics that is infectious to a crowd… but one which has a fine, keen edge, that isn’t difficult to strike off of true. When Dan’s forced off script, there can be unintended consequences, from unexpected revelations to real tension. Just ask San Diego Batgirl.

Well, this weekend is Mark Millar’s Kapow convention in London, Dan’s been doing panels, and has made a few interesting revelations about the immediate future of DC Comics… the first being that Wonder Woman, ambassador of peace from Paradise Island and the most famous strong female superhero ever created by a polyamorous bondage nut, might be preparing to kill us all.

Ich Bin Ein Douchebags: Fantastic Four #605.1 Review

Editor’s Note: It was the world’s strangest accident. While testing a new Web site, our heroes were bombarded by mysterious spoilers from outer space!

In a complete and total vacuum, Fantastic Four #605.1 is an interesting little one-and-done Elseworlds-style alternate history of the Fantastic Four, hypothesizing what the team would be like if they’ve been born and raised in Nazi Germany. Which, again, taken on its own is a kind of cool concept (although “Nazi Thing” sounds suspiciously like a fetish German Scheisse porno), but in the real world, it only shows that writer Jonathan Hickman has read Mark Millar’s Red Son and Warren Ellis’s Planetary, and that he also thinks that the character of Reed Richards is a real, real douchebag.

News From KAPOW! – Rufus Sewell Teases Sequel To Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Straight from the Kapow! Comic Book Convention in London, here’s news from ComicBookMovies.com about the possibility of a sequel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Rufus Sewell:

“They couldn’t quite make their mind up during filming whether my character lived or died actually at the end. But to tell you the truth as people kept saying, ‘I’m a vampire so it doesn’t really matter.'”

“In terms of the sequel, I mean, from what I’ve seen it looks really exciting. Until I’ve seen the entire film, I couldn’t make a pronouncement on that. But I loved doing it. Dominic Cooper is an old friend of mine and we really enjoyed working with each other. Ben I liked very much.”

“It was great fun working in New Orleans. The only regret I had is that if I had known how hot it was going to be in New Orleans, when they tried the cape and the gloves on me, I might have had something to say about it! It’s very difficult eating New Orleans food if you don’t want to be the world’s first tubby vampire of the film world, you know?”

“The experience of doing it was great fun. And if the movie is as fun to watch as it was to do, then I’d be up for a sequel possibly. But you know, I’ll hold back on that for the moment.”

In case you’ve been under a rock and haven’t heard about the movie adaptation of the book by Seth Grahame-Smith, here’s a trailer to get your attention:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter drops in theaters on June 22, 2012.

Tip Of The Mushroom: The Manhattan Projects #3 Review

When I was 16 years old and a Junior in high school, I designed an atomic bomb. Y’know, for fun.

This was back in the mid-80s, so this was a big thing to try to do; these days, I’m pretty sure you can Google “How to build an atomic bomb” and get three different working designs, provided you don’t mind getting a particular red mark on a file with your name on it, and having to get your prostate tickled every time you go within 500 yards of an airport.

No, back then you needed to hit libraries and read every book you could get your hands on about the subject, from John McPhee’s The Curve of Binding Energy (Which I highly recommend, if only to scare the living shit out of you; the next time a politician tries to terrify you with ephemeral ideas about Soviet-bought dirty suitcase nukes, it’s easier to giggle at their ignorance when you know that you can make a dirty bomb with a pile of uranium, an ammunition press, a .44 handgun and a public toilet. I am not joking) to Richard Rhodes’s phonebook about the original Manhattan Project, The Making of The Atomic Bomb, which still sits proudly on my bookshelf.

I read everything I could get my hands on about the original Manhattan / Los Alamos project for clues on how one might build such a thing (I also asked my chemistry teacher how to synthesize hexamethelinetetramine in case I needed to make RDX high explosives, and I wasn’t referred to law enforcement, but what the hell; it was the 80s. We knew what freedom was then. Freedom and Aqua-Net). I was fascinated by these guys out in the desert, trying to build something that, for all they knew, would turn all the nitrogen in the atmosphere into plasma and make the Phoenix Force look like something that could be knocked down by Midol.

All of this is one hell of a long way to go to explain why, although I am generally not the biggest fan of Jonathan Hickman’s comics, I am totally digging his work on The Manhattan Projects.

Overstimulated, Exhausted Children: Avengers Vs. X-Men #3 Review

EDITOR’S NOTE: This review constitutes a confirmed extinction-level spoiler.

I don’t have kids myself, but many of my former drinking buddies do, which has in turn made me decide I can never have kids. Because I just can’t talk to them. You ever try talking to a little kid, particularly after they’ve had a shitload of candy? Candy you gave them in the hopes they would take it, go away and stop trying to talk to you?

You can’t make any sense of it; they spin wildly from point to point, with no real logical gristle connecting them, with weird exaggerations that beggar belief to hear (“Wait, wait, little Billy… you’re saying Deathstroke rode his pony… sorry, his My Little Pony… to Cybertron? To fight fucking Voldemort? Who plots your shit, Billy? Rob Liefeld?”). After a while, it starts to hurt the mind to keep track of what’s happening and why, because if you stop and think about it for even a minute, it doesn’t make any sense at all.

In that same vein, if I told you that the plot of a story was, “You know what would be cool? If the Avengers battled the X-Men and Phoenix – no, not some redhead in a green body stocking, but the actual giant flaming bird, like the one from Battle of The Planets – on – get this – the fucking moon,” you would think that you were overhearing a schoolyard monologue by some kid who was on the first step of a road that’s started with Ritalin and will eventually end with methamphetamine extract.

Welcome to Avengers Vs. X-Men #4: where every plot point was written with a prefix of, “And you know what else would be cool?” regardless as to whether it makes any Goddamned sense at all.

Avengers Is A Dish Best Served Super Sized

I don’t know if you heard, but there’s an Avengers movie out! You know how I can tell? No, not the big Nikki Frinke articles about the eleventy billon dollar box office or the rumors that Joss Whedon won’t be returning for the sequel or the disturbing knowledge that you can’t drink a Dr. Pepper between now and the release of The Dark Knight Rises without putting your mouth disturbingly close to a picture of The Hulk’s crotch.

No, I know because when I walked into my local comic store, where they know me by name and ask me to remember that just because I call it Mjolnir doesn’t stop it from being felony indecent exposure, I saw at least four comics with the word “Avengers” in their title. There was plain old The Avengers, Avengers Vs. X-Men, Avengers Vs. X-Men: Versus, and Avengers Academy. Next week I will look forward to Avengers Beach Party, Desperate Avengers, and Avengers Jovengers Banana Fana Bovengers.

But that is (theoretically) next week. This week, the fact that I saw that many Avengers books means new comics, which means that this…

…means the end of our broadcast day.

But it’s a sweet looking week for comics. Not only is there a metric plethora of Avengers Vs. X-Men books, but a new Brian K. Vaughn Saga, Garth Ennis Shadow, Jim Lee back on pencils for Justice League, and a bunch of other cool stuff.

But as always, before we review them, first we need time to read them. So for the moment: see you tomorrow, suckers!

When Exposition Is A Four Letter Word – Review Of Deathstroke #9

I must admit I’ve been dragging my heels on this review of Deathstroke #9 all week. I’ve been pretty clear about my feelings on the subject of Rob Liefeld’s take over of Deathstroke. Liefeld certainly has his fans and his detractors. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m in the “I Hate Rob Liefeld” club, we here at the Crisis On Infinite Midlives home office have been more than willing to use Liefeld’s name as an easy punchline, the same way Tim Allen might make grunting noises into a microphone instead of telling an actual joke. But, honestly, in the 90s, if I was looking for ridiculously silly, overblown art, I read The Tick. At least the silly had a purpose in that. Liefeld has never done much for me art wise. However, I’ve never read his actual writing. I’m aware he’s created a number of characters for which such comics luminaries as Alan Moore have written spectacular stories. I mean, he must know what he’s doing if he keeps staying employed in the business and Alan Moore has played in his sandbox, right? Or does he just have some incriminating photos of Bob Harras somewhere?

After reading Deathstroke #9, I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter.

Read all about Deathstroke and his new playdate, Lobo, after the jump!

White People Problems: Mind The Gap #1 Review

I’ve read Mind The Gap #1 three times now, and I don’t yet know how I feel about it. From one angle, it’s a story populated by either thoroughly unlikeable rich-folk or entitled hipster children of privilege, with the only middle ground between the two occupied, literally, by the hired help. From another angle, it’s a competent whodunit with a dozen suspects, a solidly-plotted attention to detail, and a supernatural hook, albeit one that immediately made me think, “Huh… this guy’s read Midnight Nation.”

I’ll start with the single undeniable positive about this comic book: you get one hell of a lot of story for your money. This book is 46 pages of advertisement-free story for $2.99. And those pages introduce no less than twelve primary characters, establish that almost any of the eleven who aren’t the protagonist – slash – victim are possible suspects, and reinforces that if any of them winds up being the assailant and gets the needle for it, the only tragedy will be that the other ten will be allowed to live.

Seriously: these people suck just that much.