Wednesday means new comics, anyone reading this blog knows that.  So, with that in mind I’d like to point you in the direction of a couple of books I’m looking forward to.

From DC Comics today, we have the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank interpretation of Superman’s modern origin in Superman: Secret Origin #1.  Think of it as Geoff Johns’s way of doing Smallville. We also have the final issue of Wednesday Comics, DC’s brilliant effort at distributing comics the old fashioned way, in newspaper form. There were some beautiful stories in this including Paul Pope’s Adam Strange, Karl Kerschl’s The Flash, and the 100 Bullets team on Batman. I’m looking forward to seeing how they collect this astounding collection.

At Marvel we have the comic book form of Spider-Woman. Like I mentioned in my review of the motion comic, I think I like this book better in its natural format than  this motion comic business.

The other book I really like is Immortal Weapons #3 featuring a story by Rick Spears.  Frankly, one cannot get enough of a Rick Spears story, and I love anything involving the Iron Fist universe these days.

Other than that,  its all I got.   Happy Reading!

Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Avon Oeming’s Powers comic is without a doubt my favorite comic out today. As far as I’m concerned this is the best work Bendis has ever done.  Yes, I’m aware that he will likely go down as the best Spider-Man writer ever, (in my mind he is) and has probably had the best run on Daredevil ever as well.  However, this is my favorite book of his, and will likely continue to be.  Bendis spoke with Comic Book Resources about the restart to Powers and the new FX television series.

Bendis knows “Powers” fans have been waiting almost a year for the book’s return and is eternally grateful for their patience. “We needed to stop soliciting issues, take a step back and get back to what Mike and I felt was a comfortable place in production,” Bendis told CBR News. “This meant Mike and I could get a few issues done and then start soliciting monthly, because what was going on in the last year or so was embarrassing to me. We were telling what I thought was the best story we ever told in ‘Powers,’ ‘The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time.’ It was shipping so sporadically, though, that I thought we were doing ourselves a major disservice. Our sales were level but I was upset that the story wasn’t being read in the way it was meant to be.”

“We pick up the book with a new #1 issue, which is a very clean jumping on point,” Bendis continued. “I know a lot of people who’ve read my Marvel work and have wanted to pick up ‘Powers’ because they keep hearing about it, but they couldn’t figure out where to start. This is it. In November with our new #1.”

Again, obviously: you want to pick this up with the new #1.  The previous arc, had to be the best one of the series yet.

Regarding the television series, Bendis said when the new #1 comes out in November they will have something more to say about the TV show, which should be a good replacement on FX for “The Shield.”

Currently, the pilot for the “Powers” TV show is still in the early stages of development. “We have a director and a show runner and Sony is very positive,” Bendis confirmed. “All kinds of good things are going on behind the scenes right now. They’ve just asked for more material and we’re putting together budgets as well as some other stuff. So we’ll see, but it is an expensive endeavor. This is one of those situations where our imagination and how inexpensive it is to put on the page flies in the face of how expensive it is to put on TV. When you’re only doing tiny bits of superheroics they’ve got to be great. They’ve got to be something really special and I think we’ve all seen the shitty CGI stuff. I don’t want to see it. I’d rather see nothing.

This show may be The Thing I’m Most Looking Forward To.  I title that because the book is just that awesome, and from the sounds of the quote above, Bendis is very much involved in it.  Which only means good things as far as I’m concerned.  Finally, Bendis made a note of what makes Powers so special that I feel like is worth yet another quote:

“What made ‘Powers’ special in a culture filled with superhero stories was that we never left the cop’s point of view,” Bendis said. “We don’t go flying around with the superheroes. We always stay on the ground. ’Powers’ is not a superhero story. We mention all these cool fantastic ideas but it’s a cop story. It’s ‘CSI’ and not ‘Heroes.’”

I would have said Law & Order but CSI is more hip, but regardless, the first two hardcovers are available with the third coming out concurrently with the new #1.  I can’t give this series more than my highest possible recommendation. It will change how you think about superheroes, and what comics are capable of.

Marvel’s first motion comic arrived earlier this week, and I just viewed it.  Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Alex Maleev this stripped down if not disconcerting 10 minute static animation was enjoyable, but weird to look at.

We follow Jessica Drew, recovering from post-Skrull Invasion and has been contracted by Agent Brand of S.W.O.R.D. to hunt down the remaining Skrulls on Earth and deep six ‘em. This is the key sequence in the motion comic that was disconcerting and actually kind of gave me motion sickness, but I attribute that more to last night than the viewing itself.  During Jessica’s discussion with Brand on a London double decker bus, the bus moves and you can see traffic going by outside, their fancy schmancy iPhones do all the things an iPhone does, but the characters talk and their lips are not moving.  See what I’m saying? Disconcerting.  The entire thing is like that.

However, that does not make this a bad thing at all, actually I really really enjoyed it.  Alex Maleev’s restrained paintings bring life to this exceptionally dark piece of animation, and Bendis restrains himself from the wordy chatter he’s known for, but still retains the attitude that is Jessica Drew.  However, I am with Graeme McMillan over at io9.com, that I would rather read it than watch it. However, for .99 cents its cheaper than buying the comic, so really, its worth downloading.

Should I bust out that walker, old man? Nah, I’m just kidding.  You’ve only got 40 years, and 356 days on me. Congratulations.  Regardless, why this is a special occasion for me is I’ve followed X-Men comics since literally 1986.

My first memory is an ad with Wolverine that had a banner over it saying “Serious?” and I thought that was the character’s name.  Soon after, somehow, my parents bought me a poster of Wolverine slashing with blood streaked claws.  To say this was inappropriate for a six year old to have is just putting it mildly.  However, I’ve been hooked on Marvel, and especially X-Men comics, ever since.

(Insert Beatles music here) So today is your birthday, so happy birthday to you.  In celebration Marvel is having parties everywhere.  Here are some of the parties happening  at participating Barnes and Nobles around the country:

NYC
SPECIAL GUESTS IRON MAN AND SPIDER-MAN

150 E 86TH Street
New York, NY

Joe Quesada
Chris Claremont
Greg Pak
Klaus Janson
Fred Van Lente

ATLANTA
SPECIAL GUEST WOLVERINE

2900 Peachtree Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30305

Daniel Way
Paul Jenkins
Mark Bagley

LA
SPECIAL GUEST HULK

The Grove at Farmer’s Market
189 Grove Drive Suite K 30
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Jeph Loeb
Craig Kyle
Chris Yost
Mark Waid

PORTLAND
SPECIAL GUEST ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN

Clackamas Towne Center
12000 SE 82nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97266

Brian Michael Bendis
Jeff Parker
Rick Remender

SEATTLE
SPECIAL GUEST CAPTAIN AMERICA

2675 NE University Village Street
Seattle, WA 98105

Ed Brubaker

Clayton Crain

I’ll be making it to the NYC party, because I really have no excuse, its about four blocks from my apartment.

Hey, readers: pipe up and let us know what are some of your first Marvel memories?

The Spider-Woman “motion comic” which still just sounds like a classed up version of saying cartoon, much in the same way that “graphic novel” pertains to comics looks pretty fantastic.  Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by his “Daredevil” partner Alex Maleev, this is something that looks patently gorgeous.  The entire movie will be shown at the”Marvel Digital Comics” panel Friday, July 25th at 5:30pm in room 6DE of the San Diego Convention Center.

Though it wouldn’t be Con if the other half of the Big Two didn’t have something premiering as well to conflict with that.  That is “Green Lantern: First Flight” which our friend Rick Marshall over at MTV’s Splash Page has the first four-minute clip of the film.  The movie premieres Thursday night at 8pm in Ballroom 20. For those of us not attending the convention, we’re just going to have to wait for the DVD to come out July 28th.

Coming up, we’ll give you our guide to surviving the San Diego Comic Con and what we think you’d like to check out.

Sam Kieth cover for Batman/Lobo

• Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian is writing a new “Lobo” series with Sam Kieth.   This is today’s “get me this book, right now” moment.
• Brian Bendis is getting on the Amazing Spider-Man crew with number 601. I think Bendis is probably the best Spider-Man writer today and considering what has happened with the Ultimate line of books, I’m just really happy to see this happen. Its been a long time coming, as far as I’m concerned.
• Dan DiDio was on Fox News Business talking about Wednesday Comics.
• Robot Chicken creators are going on tour with Gym Class Heroes.