Captain Freedom by G. Xavier Robillard

It’s been a fad for awhile to make superhero novels into satires. The possibilities are endless for the satirical targets because of the ability of superheroes to morph into whatever niche is needed. There are some that were done well (such as Rick Veitch’s The Maximortal and Bratpack) and then there is Captain Freedom. It’s not that Captain Freedom is bad, since it does have some really good ideas. It’s more that it’s lazy and doesn’t really due justice to any of them. It seems like Robillard is more interested in the cheap laugh that doing a true satire. Let’s see where the book went wrong.

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RIP Joe Simon

From CBR

A prolific artist and editor in his own right, Simon remains best known for his longtime collaboration with artist Jack Kirby. The pair created multiple characters and genres for the burgeoning comics medium in their early careers before Simon moved on to life as a solo editor and artist before earning acclaim as a biographer and historian and battling Marvel Comics over the copyrights on his and Kirby’s most famous creation: Captain America.

Thoughts from Mark Evanier as well.

I also need to write something about Joe himself. He was an amazing man, too often wrongly viewed as just the “business” side of Simon and Kirby. Jack was the better artist — even Joe admitted that — and Jack had that ultrahuman work ethic that allowed him to labor at the drawing table all day and all night. But if you asked Jack who did what in the Simon-Kirby parlay, he usually said, “We both did everything.” That was true. Joe wrote, Joe drew, Joe inked. And he especially excelled in managing the money end of things because he understood publishing and contracts and such matters — a rare skill among comic book creators.

No Heroics review

A couple years ago, ABC tried to bring in another British comedy to the US when they cast Freddy Prinze Jr in the remake of the UK comedy No Heroics. I hadn’t seen the show, since it hasn’t been released in the US, but, thanks to a friend of a friend, I was able to view all 6 episodes recently. And let me tell you that I’m so glad that it wasn’t able to be redone in the US. Part of the fun of the show is the swearing, drinking and sex talk that makes up most of the dialogue and I truly doubt that ABC (or any other major network) would leave that in. It stars a bunch of people that you’ve probably never heard of if you don’t watch UK television and is (in Warren Ellis’ words) “funnier than a comedy show about bloody superheroes has any right to be”. So, let’s talk about “No Heroics”.

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Pluto manga review by Naoki Urasawa

I’m not usually a big fan of Manga. I know several people who are into it and, despite their recommendations, I had never bit the bullet and jumped in. Finally I decided to do so, but with a short series (and by short, I mean 8 volumes where each volume is about 200 pages) by one of the premier manga creators Naoki Urasawa. Pluto is Naoki Urasawa’s homage to Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy and a retelling of Tezuka’s Astro Boy story The Greatest Robot on Earth. Not having read the original story, I couldn’t tell you who did it better, by Urasawa’s take is amazing and wonderful. Let’s see what happens in the story.

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Bloom County Complete Library Volume 5

And just like that it’s over. Five volumes covering 10 years and Bloom County is no more. Breathed had a great story in the back of Bloom County Complete Library Volume 5 about how he told the syndicate that he was quitting. He sat down and told them he was quitting unless they gave him the copyright to the strip (remember the syndicate holds all the rights to all the strips). They didn’t believe him at first and (knowing they’d still be making a ton of money as long as it was Breathed doing the strips) finally agreed. He took the copyright and then quit a few months later. He admits that it was the plan all along, and he knows it was a dick move, but he felt no qualms about it. So, let’s see what happens as the strip draws to a close.

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A History of Violence by John Wagner and Vince Locke

Paradox Press was DC Comic’s attempt to get into non-superhero graphic novels. There were several books that were published through the imprint that garnered interest (most notably Road to Perdition, Stuck Rubber Baby and the Big Book of…series), but the imprint failed due to low sales. Ultimately it did good in producing some great books during it’s run, including John Wagner and Vince Locke’s A History of Violence (later made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen). It’s an interesting take on a mob book that shows things from a slightly different angle. Let’s check it out and see what the history of violence is.

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Global Frequency by Warren Ellis

Between 2002 and 2004, Warren Ellis collaborated with a dozen wonderful artists on a great limited series called Global Frequency. The basic idea behind the series is an emergency team of 1000 specialists who can be called upon at a moment’s notice to handle any situation that needs their special skills. It’s a great way to have a revolving team of people within a structured storyline. It creates almost endless story telling possibilities and Ellis managed to do a some great ones. There was a TV pilot made (which is floating around the internet somewhere) that was never picked up, but I felt that it would make a great series. So, let’s call on the Global Frequency and see what the emergency is.

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