Jonathan Hickman is responsible for one of the best comics I have ever had the pleasure of reading; The Nightly News. He has come back with two series that I have been looking forward to quite a bit; Pax Romana and A Red Mass For Mars.
This week sees the release of Pax Romana #1 — and it is a doozy.
The Catholic Church funds scientific research that leads to time travel. A group of people, led by a Cardinal, journey back in time in order to guide the Church to supremacy throughout history.
Despite the preceding sentence, this is not a story about religion. Coming off of the Nightly News, which dealt with the prevalence of media, Pax Romana deals with sociology. The first issue does a good job of setting up the characters and the situation. If you liked The Nightly News and are interested in what Hickman has to say about sociology and the building of nations (and dare I say it? You Should Be.) pick up Pax Romana.
There’s something funny about Thor picking up mail at “Asgard, 1 Asgard Way,” there really is.
Unlike some, I don’t mind moments of whimsy in comics — especially ones dealing with (in-universe) weighty matters such as finding the rest of his pantheon and dealing with thoughts of a friends’ betrayal.
This book has a couple, as well as the reappearance of Balder, Hela and a few others — as well as a quite surprising appearance by a god that I didn’t think JMS would get around to quite yet.
Oh, and Doctor Doom.
The issue has plenty of action, with the Destroyer Armor being featured and some smackdown being layed by Thor and Mjolnir.
And cake. The cake is not a lie in this case.
My love for this relaunch of Thor continues. Buy it.
More Ed Brubaker love here.
Since Steve Rogers was shot right after Civil War, there’s been a story brewing in the dead character’s title. Falcon and Agent 13 and Black Widow have been searching for Winter Soldier (otherwise known as Bucky) who has been aimed towards Tony Stark (with a side trip after being kidnapped by the Red Skull and Doctor Faustus).
This issue shows the confrontation between the two — and while Winter Soldier obviously can’t stand toe-to-toe with Iron Man, he does handle himself well enough to get some respect from Stark.
Referencing a letter that Rogers wrote to Stark, Tony pretty much has to — by his ever weird personal code — “take care” of Bucky. And don’t read any sinister things into that yet, although with Bru writing this I am unsure it’s as straightforward as it may seem at this point.
Well worth it.
Publicity for the Dark Knight is popping up everywhere. To wit: Wizard has an interview with director Christopher Nolan. Nolan has some good things to say about the whole thing, but is very praising of Heath Ledger:
It’s nothing like we expected at all, which is just fantastic. It’s very hard to describe and very hard to pin down. He’s just got an incredible range to the voice and the way in which he uses it. It goes from being quite high-pitched and eccentric to having these sort of moments of extraordinary anger and power where you just feel this guy’s anger at things. He’s very charismatic, but really quite frightening.
Newsarama has the main story of Hawaiian Dick: Screaming Black Thunder posted on their site for all to read and enjoy.
So go on over there and see what I was talking about — the book is awesome from story all the way to the artwork — just check out the lines and colors above this post. . . how could you not want to read it?
I remember back in school there was an underground market in comic books. My buddy Howard and I were the two that had the largest collections (I believe he may have had a bigger collection than I did; was many moons ago). One constant: A teacher found a book and that book disappeared.
Now, the AP is reporting that comics are being turned to in education as ways to get kids to read more.
In Maryland, the State Education Department is expanding a new comics-based literacy curriculum, after a small pilot program yielded promising results. In New York City, a group of educators applied to open a new small high school that would be based around a comics theme and named after the creators of Superman; their application was rejected but they plan to try again next year.
That is about twenty shades of awesome. There is some dissent, however:
“If you’re going to use comics in the classroom at all, which I have serious doubts about, it should be only as a motivational tool,” said Diane Ravitch, an education professor at New York University. “What teachers have to recognize is that this is only a first step.”
Spoilsport.
Check out the full article here, and cheer on the pioneers!
Remember, comics shall arrive 12/28:
52 AFTERMATH THE FOUR HORSEMEN #5 (OF 6)
A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #72 (A)
ACTION COMICS #860
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #545 OMD
ARCHIE & FRIENDS #115
AUTHORITY PRIME #3 (OF 6)
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #8
BADGER SAVES THE WORLD #1 (OF 5)
BART SIMPSON COMICS #39
BATMAN #672
BERLIN #14
BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #157
BLACK PANTHER #33
BLUE BEETLE #22
BOMB QUEEN IV #4 (OF 4)
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #9
BRAWL #3 (OF 3)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #33
CAPTAIN MARVEL #2 (OF 5)
CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #40
CONAN #47
COUNTDOWN ARENA #4 (OF 4)
COUNTDOWN TO ADVENTURE #5 (OF 
COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 18
CRIME BIBLE THE FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD #3 (OF 5)
CROSSING MIDNIGHT #14
DAN DARE #2 (OF 7)
DAREDEVIL #103
DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #4 (OF
DEVI #16
DRAFTED #4
DRAWING FROM LIFE #2
FANTASTIC FOUR ISLA DE LA MUERTE ONE SHOT
FLASH #235
GENE SIMMONS DOMINATRIX #5
GIANT SIZE AVENGERS SPECIAL #1
GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #3 (OF 9)
GREEN LANTERN #26
GREEN LANTERN SINESTRO CORPS SECRET FILES #1
HELLBLAZER #239
HOUSE OF M AVENGERS #3 (OF 5)
HULK VS FIN FANG FOOM ONE SHOT
INVINCIBLE PRESENTS ATOM EVE #1 (OF 2)
IRON MAN #24
JACK OF FABLES #18
JLA CLASSIFIED #49
JSA CLASSIFIED #33
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES CVR A #37
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES CVR B #37
MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #8
MARVEL ILLUSTRATED PICTURE DORIAN GRAY #1 (OF 6)
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT ONE MORE DAY BRAND NEW DAY
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT X-MEN MESSIAH COMPLEX MC
MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #3 (OF 5)
MY INNER BIMBO #3 (OF 5) (RES)
NECESSARY EVIL #3
NEGATIVE BURN #16
NEW WARRIORS #7
PAX ROMANA #1 (OF 4)
PROOF #3
PUNISHER #53
PUNKS THE COMIC CHRISTACULAR SP
REPO #5 (OF 5)
SHIRTLIFTER #2 (A)
STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #24
TEEN TITANS #54
TEEN TITANS GO #50
THOR #5
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #49
ULTIMATE POWER #9 (OF 9)
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #117
UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #4 (OF
USAGI YOJIMBO #108
WILDCATS ARMAGEDDON #1
WITCHBLADE #112
X-MEN #206 MC
X-MEN EMPEROR VULCAN #4 (OF 5)
X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #7
X-MEN MESSIAH COMPLEX MUTANT FILES MC
ZOMBIE SIMON GARTH #2 (OF 4)
Lee Bermejo is an outstanding artist. However, he wants people to know that for the upcoming Joker graphic novel (in which he’s teamed with Brian Azzarello) he did not copy Heath Ledger’s Joker from Dark Knight.
“I actually drew an image for a Batman website in 2005 that pretty much established the look of the Joker as I draw him. I was about 40 pages into drawing this graphic novel when they released the first image of Ledger.”
Wizard Universe has an interview with a few more pictures that you can gaze in wonder at. Check it out.
That image above is how BOOM! Studios wished people a good holiday season.
Damn, but I wish I would have thought of it first!
Be happy, be well, and be safe to all — comics won’t hit the shelves until Friday this week (or next week — Diamond and the holidays again) but you’ll hear back from me Wednesday!
Have a good one! Let me know if you got any good books!
Over on sister-site Zed’s Dead (movie reviews. no anal rape) there’s a write up with thoughts on the Ledger vs. Nicholson Joker debate. Of which I wasn’t really aware there was one.
My thoughts are kind of simple. Tim Burton created a Batman that had a bit of camp left in it — a holdover from the Adam West TV show, if you will — and Jack Nicholson portrayed that Joker with panache and flair. There was a lot of camp present in the series, although the second movie was way more guilty of it than the original.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman is darker — more of The Dark Knight Returns than POW! BIFF! BAM! – and plays more of the psychological fears of Gotham and the hero (I submit that Bruce Wayne is not the “secret identity,” but just a mask that Batman wears in order to gather information for his “true” identity — vis a vis, the Bat.)
Nolan is on record saying that Dark Knight is taking its influences from the darker sides of the Batman mythos — with special emphasis on the Joker from The Killing Joke. Heath Ledger is playing that Joker to a “T” in the trailer. Insane, yes. Psychopathic, yes. Perhaps a bit over-the-top, but not a criminal that is going to pump the place with laughing gas while he marches in to the soothing sounds of Prince.
