I Met Greg Pak!

This past week, the Philadelphia Film Festival was taking place in town. With came all of the various film makers coming in for the screenings of their various films. One of those film makers happens to also be a comic book writer. His name is Greg Pak (His movie is "Mr. Green"). Mr. Pak, for those of you unaware, writes both the Incredible Hulk and the Hercules. His Planet Hulk story even got turned into a direct to DVD animated movie! So if you haven't read any of his work yet, get on it, because he's damn good at what he does.

But enough about Mr. Pak's work, this is about how I got to meet him! About a few weeks back, Mr. Pak put out a tweet asking what Philly comic shops were good to go to. Immediately, I replied telling him to go to Brave New World's in the old city section; it's my favorite comic shop, and just an awesome place in general. Later that week, the BNW newsletter comes into my e-mail inbox and lo and behold, Greg Pak is going to be at their Old City location signing books.

That Saturday comes around and I get to the shop a bit early, mostly so I can browse around a bit and maybe even buy a few comics before the signing starts. I ended up picking up an Incredible Hercules trade ("The Mighty Thorcules") to have signed along with my two copies of Chaos War I had brought along (both #1, one for me and one for TheDudeVonDoom, host of the Harbinger(http://thedudevondoom.podbean.com/); you should listen to it, it's awesome).

Soon Mr. Pak appears, though he ends up being a bit late because of a screening of his running late. I get my comics signed and so does everyone else. Then I get to talk to him a bit; he's a really awesome guy! We talk about comics, cons, how he ended up getting into comics, and a bunch of other stuff. It's really cool to find out that someone who writes something that you read is just an awesome guy. He had no problem signing everything everyone had to bring and even signed all the comics he had written that the shop had in stock (the shop had already asked, of course). He even gave out some flash drives containing a .pdf of his latest comic "Vision Machine", though I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Overall, Mr. Pak was an all around awesome guy. If you ever get the chance to meet him at a con or at whatever kind of appearance he may be making, go ahead and meet him. I had fun hanging with him for the hour he had to hang around at the shop with and it was a small piece of an all around awesome Saturday. He can be followed on twitter (@gregpak) and he also has his own web site (gregpak.com). Read his comics and go see his movies, he's an all around great, nice guy and it was cool getting to meet him.

The Weekly Round-Up: 10/20/10

Hey there, anybody awesome enough to read this; it's time for the Weekly Round-Up! What's the Weekly Round-Up? It's where I get every comic I've read this week, pick out a few, and write a short review for each one because I'm too lazy to write up a full review for each individual comic! Now let's get started shall we?

This week saw the release of Kick-Ass 2 #1, the first chapter of the sequel to Mark Millar's crazy comic which got turned into one of my favorite movies from this year! This issue has us looking in on the current situations of both Kick-Ass and Hit Girl after the big finale from the first series. Kick-Ass is trying to step up his super hero game, which include getting training from Hit Girl as well as looking into joining a super hero team. Hit Girl, meanwhile, is trying to get back into living life with her mother and new step father, which means she might just have to give up her life as Hit Girl. Story wise, it's a slow start back, though it is a first issue so it's not like I was expecting anything huge to happen. Still, much like last book, we're given a small taste of what's to come towards the beginning of this issue and what's to come looks amazingly awesome. Mark Millar, you have me ready to buy issue two, so please don't let me down with this one! Art duties are still held by John Romita Jr. and I wouldn't have it any other way. The guy draws some great violence and he draws a pretty good showdown between Kick-Ass and some thugs. There's also a nice little thank you letter from Millar himself as well as a look at how one of the pages from this issue was made, which is always kind of cool to see. I'm still on the fence on whether or not I'm going to buy all of this volume in issues: if I'm going to be waiting 2 years for 6 issues again, I'll just wait for the collected version. But if you liked the first one and you want at least a taste of what's to come this time around, pick this issue up!

This week also so the release of Carnage #1 by Zeb Wells and Clayton Cain. That's right, Marvel decided that it was time to bring Carnage back! Okay, I know how horrible that sounds; I'm not a fan of the guy either, but I picked this issue up because it's being penned by Zeb Wells, the guy who wrote the fantastic "Shed" story in Amazing Spider-Man a few months back. If he can make the Lizard awesome again, I have no doubt he can make Carnage into something other than a crap relic of the 90's! So does this first issue have me sold on this series at all? I'm still not sure, myself. The dialog here is good enough, and it's not too bad a start, but this issue has heavy reference to Maximum Carnage, which I've never heard anything good about (except for the SNES game based on it; that was awesome). We've got the Spider-Man doppleganger showing up and Shriek even shows up towards the end. Spider-Man even recounts a small bit of what happened in Maximum Carnage and how Carnage has the ability to make people go crazy. Wells already visited something like this in "Shed", so to see him maybe bringing an element like this into another one of his stories so soon is a bit alarming. And at $4 an issue for a mini bringing back a character I'm not sure should even come back I really need to be sold before I can recommend this to anyone else. So if you're really looking to feed that itch for Carnage, give this one a look. For everyone else, give this a small skim through at the LCS. I'm probably coming back for issue two, but I'm not sure I'll be going much farther than that.

Speaking of characters I wasn't sold on getting redemption: Jeff Parker's Hulk #26 is out this week and the big red jerk is actually proving to be a really good read! We start right back where we left off last issue with Rulk and Iron Man facing off with the cyborg drones from last issue. That doesn't last too long, as Rulk gets that solved rather quickly. We also get to see Thor smack Rulk around for a bit before the two are sent off into space to stop two comets from crashing into earth and doing some serious damage. We've also got the A-Bomb back-up which isn't too shabby itself. Parker is doing a great job writing this series so far and I look forward to seeing where he's going next.

Meanwhile, over at DC, Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin continues this week, with the penultimate issue of Morrison's run seeing release this week. This issue starts us off with Robin kidnapped by the Joker, Batman captured by Hurt and his cronies, and Gotham on the brink of destruction thanks to Hurt's plan. This issue has Robin kicking some ass, Hurt almost taking the win, and a final page that has me excited to see where this final issue of the run is going to take us! Not to be out done by the writing, Frazier Irving does a magnificent job on the art duties in this issue; I may still miss the glorious styling of Frank Quietly, but with Irving around I think I can live. Hopefully next issue isn't delayed too long, because I'm ready for it already, as well as the final issue of "The Return of Bruce Wayne". Add on top of all that the promise of the upcoming Batman Incorporated, and I'm as giddy as a school girl!

Finally this week, we've got Darkwing Duck #5. This is the start of the book's second story arc, and is the perfect jumping on point for anyone who hasn't done so yet. Negaduck is back and he's looking to take Darkwing down. This time, however, he's teaming up with a powerful ally that Ducktales fans might recognize: Magica de Spell! Their plan: destroy Darkwing's reputation by hypnotizing various Darkwings from alternate worlds and having them wreak havoc! To say that I'm loving this book would be a huge understatement: this is the book I find myself looking forward to more than any! It's funny, it's well written, and it isn't afraid to be a comic book, and I love it for that. And on top of all that, this is a comic that can be entertaining while still being for both kids and adults. There's only a handful of comics that can say that and as far as I'm concerned, this is the best of them! If you're planning on picking up only one comic this week, this is the comic you should be buying! I know how much wank I'm writing for this title, but it deserves every last bit of that wank and it deserves every last bit of praise and money I can give it.

And that's if for the Weekly Round-Up! But before I go I do have one last thing to add: DC Comic Presents: Batman 100-Page Spectacular is out this week and it's got some fantastic Batman reprints from none other than Ed Brubaker. It's an $8 book, but it's damn good and if you've got the money to dish out for it, get it! It's awesome. I'm also going to write up a full review for Strange Tales 2 #1 at some point in the next two days, so look for that!

The Weekly Round-Up: 10/6-13/10

Hey there, people who actually read my my reviews! Looks like I missed last week's reviews. I'd apologize, but I missed it so I could watch Doc Halladay throw a no-hitter in his first post-season game, so suck it! Still, I guess I could talk about last week's comics along with this week's because that's just the kind of guy I am. So let's get started with what I read and liked (or maybe even didn't like) from the last two weeks!

First up is Shadowland: Spider-Man by Dan Slott and Paulo Siquera. Now, I gave up on Shadowland about a month or two ago because I just could not care less about it. Still, when I saw this I couldn't help but pick it up because Spider-Man and Shang Chi teaming up is totally awesome. The story centers around Spider-man and Shang-Chi facing off against Mr. Negative and his gang of unkillable demon gangster. Seems Negative decided that he'd take advantage of Daredevil's crazy Shadowland crap and make his territory bigger. Our heroes follow and decide to get into the mix-up between Negative's gang and DD's Hand Ninja. Honestly, I don't think this one-shot even NEEDS the Shadowland name on it because you could take out all the Shadowland elements here and it would still work as well as it does. This could have just been the "Spider-man and Shan-Chi One-Shot", which might have made it even better because it would mean I wouldn't have to buy into ANYTHING Shadowland related. Hell, this could have just been a one off issue of Amazing Spider-Man and it would do just as well. Anyway, if you're looking for some good ol' fashioned Marvel Team-Up-ing, then give this one a shot (see what I did there?)

Next up is Amazing Spider-Man: Back in Quack by Stuart Moore, Mark Brooks, Ray Height, and Joe Suitor, with a cover by Scottie Young. The best thing about this issue is the cover by Scottie Young. The actual issue itself isn't very good; the story centers around Howard the Duck and his lovely lady Bev being brainwashed by a company called "S.O.O.Ph.I." (which stands for "The Service Organization Of Philanthropic Individuals") and Spider-Man having to snap them out of it and stop S.O.O.Ph.I. from turning all of New York into a bunch of cynical sarcastic jerks. The story has a nice little moral about how being cynical doesn't make you cool and witty and how we should always just think for ourselves, which I think is a great message. Unfortunately, it accomplishes this through unfunny, stiff dialogue, a bad "Caturday" reference, a random quote that just comes out of nowhere, and a story that just feels garbled. There's one funny joke in the entire book, which is the "EMAX BLANDITRON" screens that are used for brainwashing. In a book starring Spider-Man and Howard the Duck, you should have more than one successful joke: the book should be stuffed with humor. This is just bad. There's also a Swamp Thing story which isn't too bad, but feels a bit out of place. The overall interior art duties are odd, half of the main story gets split with the second half looking so much better than the first and the Swamp Thing story looking appropriately depressing. Honestly, I can't recommend this to anyone: if you want a really good current Howard the Duck story, Marvel Zombies 5 by Fred Van Lente has him AND Machine Man and is totally awesome. You should go read that. If you want good Spider-Man, Amazing or Ultimate flavors should satisfy you.

Speaking of Amazing Spider-Man, that came out this week! Mark Waid's "Origin of Species" continues as Spider-Man continues to face down an onslaught of bad guys and in this issue he's gotten serious. We've got Spider-Man hunting down each and every masked criminal that has accepted Doc Ock's offer and he's showing them: a) why they call him the AMAZING Spider-Man and b) why you don't mess with him. If you like seeing Spider-Man kick ass for 22 straight pages of comic, then you might want to give this issue a read. Art duties are handled by Paul Azaceta and Matthew Southworth on pencils and the two blend so well together that I didn't even know that there were two different pencilers until I looked at the credits page. Maybe they're that good together of maybe Javier Rodriguez's coloring is that damned good, but either way I enjoyed the art here. There's also Stan Lee and Marcos Martin's back-up, which comes to a close in a way that I didn't quite see coming and that I really enjoyed. It's good to see Stan the man back on one of the books that made him the legend he is today and I hope he and Martin will team-up again some time soon to provide another fun little tale like this!

Meanwhile, at DC, Batman is trapped in time and he's got 5 different books this week: I only bought one of those and that one is BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #5! This is the penultimate issue of Grant Morrison's insanely awesome tale of Batman in time and in this issue he's found himself caught up in an investigation of his own parents' murder. Things aren't quite what they seem though and a few threads that showed up in Batman RIP seem to be coming back. And to top it all off it looks like Red Robin and the Justice League have run out of time in their mission to stop time itself from being destroyed! Grant's writing the hell out of this series and I'm excited to see where this last issue will take us. Art in this book is handled by Ryan Sook and Pere Perez, with Sook providing some amazingly awesome noirish art and Perez taking over for the last 8 pages which include and crazy final page that has me pumped for what the next issue will bring.
Also in the Batman world this week is issue #1 of Paul Cornell's Knight and Squire mini! For those of you who don't know, Knight and Squire are the british Batman and Robin and they're awesome. And it's being written by (as I previously stated) Paul Cornell who is tearing it up on Action Comic right now, doing an amazing job with his Lex Luthor story. This first issue is a great little one-off introducing us to the world of British Super Heroes and Villains, who are all a lot more chill than they're American counter parts. "How much more chill" you ask? Well they all share drinks with each other in a magical truce bar once a month where nobody can fight because it's been magically made to keep fighting from happen. I love this issue and I love the idea of getting to see this awesome side of the DC universe. Jimmy Broxton and Guy Major, the art team on this book, manage to make this book all the better with they're combination of quirky art and awesome coloring. This is just an all around awesome book and if you're looking for another Batman book to pick up that isn't some lame tie-in than this is your book!

What else is awesome from DC? Why, it's Justice League Genereation Lost, issue number 11! What's so awesome about this issue? Well it's got the freaking Metal Men in it, and that's insanely awesome! That's right, Fire, Ice, and Rocket Red must work together to face off with the robot team, who Max Lord has had reprogrammed into thinking they're some magical fantasy world guardians of this princess. And then they combine into that robot thing on the cover and I can only find myself thinking one thing: Max Lord has had the Metal Men reprogrammed into thinking they're VOLTRON! If that's not awesome to you, than you need to find a new reality, because you suck at living in this one. With each and every issue, this series continues to be one of the best damn books I'm reading from DC and I can't wait to see where it goes next, because it's just fantastic. Thank you Judd Winnick for making what is officially THE Justice League book as far as I'm concerned. Now give me an awesome issue of Blue Beetle and I will offer up my unborn child to you as a token of my appreciation.

That's it for me talking about books this week, but this isn't the extent of what I got and enjoyed so here's a list of other titles that I'm enjoying that you should be reading: Invincible Iron Man (Matt Fraction is tearing it up on this book and Stark Resilient just keeps getting better!), Booster Gold (Those of you who miss Ted Kord should be reading this!), Green Lantern Emerald Warriors (It's got Guy Gardner kicking ass!), Green Lantern (The Blue entity shows up!), The New Avengers (It's crazy awesome!). There's also some Thor books, but you'll have to wait for some point this weekend for A THORSDAY REVIEW OF AWESOMENESS! See you then!