Ye Olde GutterBleed is going on a hiatus; I have been assured it is temporary.

I will post here from time to time as things reveal themselves to me — a good book that comes out of nowhere (like Atomic Robo!) or things you Should Avoid At All Costs (Ultimates 3!) — and hopefully I shall be back soon bringing you quality reviews with no bullshit.

Au Revoir!

DARK HORSE COMICS

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DC COMICS

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I’ve been asked a few times about the State of the Industry. I usually shy away from the topic, as I tend to think that the comics industry is doing ok, not great, and needs to join us in the 21st century. (Speaking as someone who only this year got a cell phone, I’m one to talk!)

But Brian Hibbs over at Newsarama has taken a hard look at the numbers and parsed them; the installment posted currently is dealing with bookstore numbers. The numbers aren’t perfect as he himself states, but they do give a ballpark estimation of sales at your bookshop — not the Direct Market morass that the comics publishing industry touts as being the best model, but graphic novel and other sales through stores like Barnes and Noble and such.

Over on artist Scott Wegener’s blog, it was announced quite a while ago that Volume 2 of Atomic Robo has been announced and verified and production has started.

That’ll teach me for forgetting to check it.

For a month.

So yeah. I feel like an idiot right now, but Great Freaking News! Thank you Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener and Red 5 Comics. Thank you very much for putting out this work, and thank you very much for continuing it.

Captain Marvel, the Marvel Comics version. A Kree warrior — Mar-Vell – who came to feel the Earth out and ended up loving the people and becoming their champion.

For those not in the know, the Kree and the Skrull races are embroiled in an ongoing war that’s lasted since time immemorial. It’s always been there in the background — except when the Avengers brought it to the foreground a long long time ago in a storyarc entitled “The Kree-Skrull War,” strangely enough.

So there’s actually a reason behind the pointless bringing back of Mar-Vell in Civil War (and that was pointless. A one-shot issue devoted to him, and then only a one-panel appearance after that? C’mon Millar!) — the forces of Earth have someone that is most definitely not a Skrull (as much as anyone can be) and who knows their ways intimately.

Captain Marvel’s miniseries is on issue 3 of 5. It ends just about the time Secret Invasion gets up to speed; so maybe this Secret Invasion won’t be shit after all.

Nova, the Human Rocket. A B-Lister, some would say, but he was a hero that I kind of got in on the ground floor with. I didn’t have to read 15 years of stories to get the gist of where Richard Rider was coming from; and what’s more is that Rider was an average kid. Wasn’t a brain like Reed Richards or Peter Parker, wasn’t a jock like The Thing was before the accident — was strictly normal.

Then he got his powers, and before you could say “Blue Blazes!” Richard Rider became a Centurion in the Nova Corps.

Yes, it’s a thinly-veiled version of the Green Lantern Corps, and yes the Novas aren’t as high-profile as the Lanterns; but they are still cool.  Or were.

Now Nova is the last of the Corps; the original Annihilation wiped out his companions, leaving him the sole inheritor of the Nova Force and the snarky Worldmind computer is in his head. Of course, this makes things interesting since he got infected with the Techno Virus in Annihilation: Conquest.  (Seriously, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning? Time to wrap up that bit of the storyline. Let’s get to rebuilding the Corps and busting out some much-ignored Marvel Cosmic storylines.)

This is Nova’s first annual since the title got a relaunch after Annihilation, and it recaps Nova’s origin, as well as shows an internal battle between Rider and the Virus. It’s handled very well; the team of Abnett and Lanning have a good handle on Nova, and it shows that they actually care for the character.

If you liked Annihilation and are digging Conquest; check it out. If you’ve been reading Nova’s solo book all along, then this will not disappoint. Pick it up.

Yes, cameos. And cameos that made me laugh.

It’s that time of the month! Atomic Robo 5 came out Wednesday and with it the fun and entertainment I have come to expect. A Pavolovian response indeed, with Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener (note: I don’t even have to check the spelling on their names anymore) bringing the goods for the fifth month in a row.

Go buy this comic. Go buy every issue of this book you can find; it’s that good. Give it to friends that scoff at your comic-buying ways. Tell them you can show them a story that has Nikolai Tesla’s self-aware electric man fighting robotic mummies in the desert. Tell them this same Atomic Robo hits Nazis. And then tell them that this same character is beating hell out of brains-in-robot-bodies and watch them scoff!

Then watch them come to realize that this is a fun book.

Clevinger’s brand of humor (evidenced in his wonderful webcomic 8-Bit Theater) and Wegener’s Mike Mignola-esque art go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Seriously. We have to talk. When I buy a comic book that has the word “Avengers” in the title, I want some Avenging. I want some action.

The picture above, right there? That is the most action in the book. Seriously. Luke Cage getting pissed that his wife registered and took their baby to the Republican Avengers Tower.

The rest of the book? Talking heads. Not the awesome band from the 80’s. No, the talking heads that would have been two pages’ worth of wordy art 20-30 years ago now takes up 22 pages that costs four bucks.

Yes, Mr. Bendis, I know you’re building up to this awesome Secret Invasion thing where everyone is a Skrull and it’s going to be up to Slapstick and Henry Hellrung from The Order to save the world (maybe with an assist from Mass Master from Power Pack and Son of Satan), but c’mon. An Avengers issue without one punch thrown in anger? An issue without a major reveal?

This. This right here is why people are starting to really really hate decompression. This is a waste of four dollars. New Avengers #38. Avoid.

It seems like every writer other than Matt Fraction is trying to emulate Garth Ennis’ MAX formula for Frank Castle. In it, the Punisher is almost an afterthought — a malignant force moving through the criminal’s lives before snuffing them out.

Duane Swierczynski has written a One-Shot MAX issue that follows this to the letter — there’s very little overt Punisher action going on, instead Castle sets up the criminals and deals with the outcome.

The setup is good, but the best thing about this book is the Castle-as-Ahab cover. It works on many levels, and Frank is as close to the mariner as any character in modern media, I think.

If you like the Punisher, pick this up. This issue won’t make you a fan if you aren’t already, though.

Jason Aaron takes over on Ghost Rider this week, and comes in with a bang. I still remain skeptical about the Blaze = Angel bit, but I give Aaron a lot of slack because his Vertigo title, Scalped, is amazing. And he comes through with this issue.

Johnny Blaze has always been a bit of a tortured soul (well, obviously) — not that bright and saddled with a demanding Spirit of Vengeance. Since the reveal that it’s a Heavenly Spirit and not necessarily a Hellish one . . . well, Blaze doesn’t really see the difference.

Oh, and Nurses with guns.

And a zombie-ridden stretch of highway.

This is one way to start a run on a book that gets my attention.