Comic Book Resources

That's kinda narcissistic, wouldn't you say? I'm sure there are lots of people dumber than you

I'm with you on the B&B review though. To this day I can't understand the acclaim that JMS gets as a comics writer. (especially after he gave us Gwen Stacy's long lost kids)

Chad definitely needs someone to explain the genius of Punisher #11 to him, because even when I offered to read it aloud to him in funny voices he didn't seem to understand the appeal. Sometimes I think all the Joe Casey and Warren Ellis has deadened his once mighty heart.

I already brought it up in that thread you linked to, and I don't agree with your reviews often, but I thought you were dead-on with that Brave and the Bold review. The last person on earth I want to hear sanctimony from is Batman, and the last piece of entertainment I need condescending to me is a superhero comic.

Just when you thought Punisher comics couldn't get more absurd, they do. And it's drawn by Tony fuckin' Moore.

As far as FrankenCastle is concerned; while I haven't read the issue in question, I've never thought that the Punisher worked as a Marvel Universe character, so if he's going to be in the larger shared continuity and NOT just put in jail by the non-psycho superheroes, he needs a new hook. Being a zombie should at least better than his time as a heavenly crusader.

The decade doesn't end until next year, anyway.

I'm not getting anything off of next week's list, unless something new pops up on the finalized version.

"I'm thankful for American Thanksgiving, which means US books are delayed a day next week, while Canada gets theirs on Wednesday."

This didn't used to happen. Diamond is getting lamer every year.

Mark is perfect for Captain America at any age!

That's an interesting question about the anti-gun thing. I'd love to hear if anyone on the pro-gun side even cares, and if so, what they think.

What's the appeal of Franken-Castle?

It's fuckin' cool, that's the appeal.

Alan -- It happened last year... that's how I remembered that it was a year ago next week that Secret Invasion #8 shipped... since we got that one a day early, too.

Survivor Series and WWE booking in general have been impressing me lately: the convergence of a push and talent in Kingston, the opening of the DX-Cena triple threat and now Sheamus as #1 contender. I also loved Ventura's heel-ish host on Raw as just the right kind of shout out to the past.

I haven't read "FrankenCastle", but I've never bought the Remender hype. Nothing I've read of his at Marvel or Image has worked for me - it's missing something that I can't put my finger on, but for some reason seems wooden or dry. Fraction or Jason Aaron have done things with similar sensibilities that I really like; maybe all the hype for his Punisher will get me to give him another try.

And with the exception of a couple of issues in the middle of his Amazing Spider-man, JMS is a melodramatic hack.

I suspect that the fact that neither Batman or Spider-Man tries to take guns from law-abiding citizens ( only crooks ), coupled with the fact that both lost loved ones to crooks with guns, make it so that neither can be seen from a political perspective except by the truly fanatic.

The letters pages in both Batman and Spider-Man's comics have gotten the occasional pro-gun letter of complaint over the decades, but almost always in response to anti-gun stories -- and not in-character anti-gun, but writer-on-board anti-gun stories. And once in awhile someone argues against Batman's rule on the grounds that they think it'd be more credible for him to take up the gun as a self-defense measure.

Interestingly, Ed Brubaker did a story where a character, Sasha Bordeaux, tries to deconstruct Bruce's position on guns by pointing out that it's just his psychological hang-up. Oddly, the ending is sort of ambivalent: Bruce admits she's got a bit of a point, but also says he's not budging on the matter.

Franken-Castle is fun, it's got heart, it's got goofy-looking monsters and the artwork is byootiful. I don't think it takes a lot of explaining... it certainly is a detour, and if you're looking for "Why are they taking the Punisher in this direction?" I don't know if you'll get an answer. I think Remender just had this really bizarre idea for a story and, well, it's the Punisher. He's sort of a one-trick pony to begin with, and Fraction and Remender took him to a place where he couldn't really continue doing what he was doing anymore, plus with Osborn in charge it really doesn't make sense that Frank would be allowed to continue living at all, so something completely new had to happen. So now he's the reluctant undead savior to a ragtag group of downtrodden monsters, and taken on its own, without any regard to what a Punisher comic SHOULD look like, it's a great little book on its own.

s1rude -- I'm not sold on giving Sheamus a title shot. I like that it's someone younger and newer, but Sheamus hasn't shown much as far as in-ring ability goes beyond being able to hit a few 'dominating' moves. I would have preferred someone like the Miz or Jack Swagger who have proven that they can actually deliver strong matches. Otherwise, the recent pushes have worked for me. Though, this week's episode mentioned conspiracies a bit too much and reminded me of TNA...

" Franken-Castle is fun, it's got heart, it's got goofy-looking monsters and the artwork is byootiful. I don't think it takes a lot of explaining... it certainly is a detour, and if you're looking for "Why are they taking the Punisher in this direction?" I don't know if you'll get an answer. I think Remender just had this really bizarre idea for a story and, well, it's the Punisher. He's sort of a one-trick pony to begin with, and Fraction and Remender took him to a place where he couldn't really continue doing what he was doing anymore, plus with Osborn in charge it really doesn't make sense that Frank would be allowed to continue living at all, so something completely new had to happen. So now he's the reluctant undead savior to a ragtag group of downtrodden monsters, and taken on its own, without any regard to what a Punisher comic SHOULD look like, it's a great little book on its own. "

I'm interested in checking it out from that description. The MAX book has been relaunched with the excellent team of Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon, so that should serve anyone interested in a more traditional Punisher story.

Unless " more traditional Punisher story " is interpreted as " the Punisher as a heroic character gunning down his bad guys while living in a superhero-populated world ". But that's just being A.) picky and B.) contradictory.

I support the Second Amenment, which a lot of people tend to equate with "pro-gun".
But I don't know how anybody could consider a personal vow about not using handguns as anti-American.
Batman or Spider-Man seem pretty damn American to me. I think the NRA has bigger fish to fry than going after fictional comicbook characters.

We Americans (for the most part) tend to take personal choice seriously. Not respecting personal choice would be considered more anti-american than having strong feelings one way or another on issues of gun control.

I remember you saying that prejudice and nationalism were a bad things in the comments section of the review of X Factor Annual 4.
It seems like, gauging from some of your more recent comments, that you have a chip on your shoulder about Americans. I may be misreading that though, so my apologies if that's the case.

Well, anyway, on a positive note, I tend to enjoy your thoughts on music...

Oh, I definitely do. Hard to be Canadian and not, honestly.

I remember you saying that prejudice and nationalism were a bad things

Are you saying that prejudice is a good thing? Or that you have to you have to be prejudiced to support the US?

As much as Mark Valley as Captain America would be cool, I'm glad he's too old because it frees him up to be USAgent if they do the Captain America No More story in a sequel.

I've been enjoying Remender's run on Punisher a lot, and I was pretty pumped for Franken-Castle as it just seems like one of those goofy, fun ideas that can only happen in comics. But the first issue came across a little bland. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't anywhere near as good as I was expecting. Maybe I had hyped it up too much in my own mind. I'm still pretty interested in seeing where it's going, and what they're going to do with the character afterwards.

I've been championing Valley for Cap since Keen Eddie, but I was probably the only person who watched that.

He is, absolutely, the ideal modern day Steve Rogers. I guess they'll have to cast someone scrawny who can beef up for the origin flick, though. The prospect of working with Downey (and maybe Norton) in the Avengers flick should attract some top-level talent.

Thanks Chad, I appreciate the frankness of your answer.

No Ted I'm not saying that prejudice is a good thing. To me it's an intrinsic part of human behavior to view different groups as "us vs. them", that doesn't make it good, just another facet of human existence. Obviously prejudice can be very destructive, I live in Birmingham, a city that has been forever scarred by prejudice and it's legacy hangs over us to this day, though we've done our best to put those sad days behind us.

I don't think you have to be prejudiced to support the US. I was just curious because I detected a note of sarcasm running through some of Chad's recent comments regarding Americans. I was just curious about how he felt about us.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
I'm thankful for such a great comics site that stirs interesting discussion about comics and other issues.

Ian A -- I totally forgot that he was in Keen Eddie... I watched that show as well.

Read the BUT before you shoot me...please. I am not anti-gun ownership.

I don't believe the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right of the public to own guns, BUT I do think that it is established law in the US that people can own guns.

It is just not worth the time, energy, and money it would take to try to argue against public ownership of guns. It's established law, and let's leave it that way. Better to spend the money on other things.

"What is the appeal of 'Franken-Castle'? Can someone explain that to me...? "

Ok here it is, the punisher was killed and chopped up, right? But his body was stolen by the swamp thing and sewed together by morbius the living vampire so he could fight cyborg samurai on monster island for them. And because his name is Frank Castle and a famous monster who was sewn together out of dead bodies by Dr. frankenstein the Punisher as a monster is called `Franken-castle'. The `appeal' part should be pretty self-explanatory after that.

I support the Second Amendment despite not having a need of a gun (I don't hunt and I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood so I don't need the protection) but I can see why Batman and Spider-Man wouldn't use or approve of guns from a character standpoint, so it's never bothered me.

>>I totally forgot that he was in Keen Eddie... I watched that show as well.

As did I. Loved it.

>> I live in Birmingham,

Another Alabama resident heard from! (I'm in Montgomery, though as a product of Arkansas there's no way I'll ever describe myself as an Alabamian ...)