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Bionic Review: Dynamite Comics’ The Bionic Man (2011)

Posted in Bionic Man, comic books, movies, pop culture, TV shows with tags Bionic Man, Bionic Review, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, movies, pop culture, reviews, Six Million Dollar Man, SMDM Comic, TV shows on March 29, 2013 by Paxton

Richard Anderson, the man who played Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man TV series tried for years to get a Bionic Man movie off the ground. Many different writers took a stab at a script. In the mid-90s, Kevin Smith famously wrote a script for a Bionic Man movie that was a reboot of the TV series. I was very excited about this prospect as, at the time, I was a big fan of Kevin Smith and loved the idea of him re-imagining the Steve Austin universe (of which I was a big fan). Unfortunately, nothing ever happened on that project. It just disappeared. Then, in March 2011, Kevin Smith announced that his unproduced script would be re-adapted into a comic book series for Dynamite comics. The comic’s script would be written by Phil Hester and be based on Smith’s movie script. The book’s interiors would be drawn by Jonathan Lau, it would have Alex Ross variant covers and the name would be Kevin Smith’s The Bionic Man. The first issue would be released in August 2011.

Up to this point I have read the first 14 issues of Dynamite’s The Bionic Man. The first 10 issues contain the story arc that is taken directly from Kevin Smith’s unproduced script.

Essential Plot: It starts off very similar to the original TV show/novel. The events have been updated a bit and a few things changed. We actually start off, not with Steve Austin, but with a break in at a government laboratory. An unknown assailant kills all the scientists and steals what looks like a bionic arm. Then we cut to Steve Austin at home. He’s still a test pilot. He’s engaged to Jaime Sommers. Austin is about to retire as a test pilot and marry Jaime. He just has one more test flight to make. And what happens is exactly what you expect. Something goes wrong with the flight, Austin crashes and loses both of his legs, his right arm and his left eye. In this story he’s good friends with a younger version of Oscar Goldman. They convince Steve to become a part of their bionics experiment, so the government pronounces him dead and begin the operations to graft on the bionic limbs. There are several issues devoted to Steve’s recovery and coming to grips with the fact that he’s now part machine. In issue #7 Jaime returns as Steve unexpectedly finds himself at her house and reveals to her that he’s not, in fact, dead. In this issue we also discover that the earlier mysterious assailant from issue #1 has ties to Austin and the bionic program, so the rest of the story arc is discovering information about this assailant and Steve going after him to put a stop to his plans.

The next issue after the Smith arc, #11, was a standalone issue. Steve goes back to his parents’ ranch for some soul searching. We meet his parents and see that his father is dying.

Issue #12 begins the first new wholly original story arc. It’s written by Phil Hester and Aaron Gillespie and drawn by Ed Tadeo. This story introduces the fan favorite bionic Bigfoot from the TV show into the new bionic universe. Austin discovers some unscrupulous people are attaching bionic parts to Bigfoot creatures so he teams up with one of them to help.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 70: Non-Super Hero Comics

Posted in comic books, podcast, pop culture with tags comic books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture on January 29, 2013 by Paxton

Welcome to Episode 70 of the Nerd Lunch podcast. This week we are joined by Michael May of Michael May’s Adventureblog and Robot 6. Michael joins us on this episode to talk about comics. Non super hero comics.

You know, the stuff without super heroes. Yes, there are comics without super heroes. We talk about stuff like Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, Y: The Last Man, Groo, Conan, monster comics and a bunch of other sh*t I never read.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.

Or listen to it online right here.

Year End Book Report: The Best Books I Read in 2012

Posted in books, comic books with tags Book Report, books, comic books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Year End Books on January 7, 2013 by Paxton

Here we are, my year end recap of the books I’ve read this year. You can check out my Google Spreadsheet for the full list of books I’ve managed to read in 2012 (and every year prior).

So, like last year, I’ll list out the top 5 books I read and the top 5 comics I read this year. I’m excluding re-reads in my evaluations. I’m only including books I read for the first time in 2012.

Here we go. In no particular order.

Books

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline – Okay, I’m immediately going to call myself a liar. I said these were in no order, but I’m telling you right now, this was the best book I read in 2012. Hands down. There was a lot of buzz going around about the book and I had several people recommend it to me. Which usually makes me not want to read things. However, my friend Trish over at Love, Laughter and Insanity believed that I would love it so much that she actually traveled to a bookstore in which Ernest Cline was signing, had him sign a copy of the paperback and then mailed it to me. And that’s why she’s awesome. Thanks, Trish. Your hard work paid off and it has been named as my favorite book of the year. Seriously, this book is the truth. Don’t read anything about it or the story. Just experience it. You’re welcome.

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis – Honestly, this was the best book I read for most of 2012. Then, in early July, I read the above book. But even if this isn’t my #1, it’s absolutely in my top 5. This is probably also in the top 5 of Star Wars books of all-time. This book had been planned, started, stopped and delayed several times. Finally, James Luceno grabbed the reins and drove this baby home. It’s a very ambitious novel. Focusing on the behind the scenes machinations of Darth Sidious and his master, Darth Plagueis. It’s fascinating to see the rise of Plagueis, his meeting with Palpatine on Naboo, and their cultivating the plan that will eventually be unleashed in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. This book is so good it makes The Phantom Menace a better movie. Luceno was never one of my favorite Star Wars writers but this book and Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader have changed that. I’m now on the lookout for what Luceno plans to do next.

11/22/63 – Stephen King – I’ve been a fan of King’s work for years. My favorite stuff are his short story collections but I’ve read most of his other seminal novels. Earlier in 2012 I had decided to finally read The Stand. I didn’t just love it. And after 1130+ pages of that, I was reluctant to read another King book that tops 800 pages. But I acquired this hardback in early 2012 at a used library book sale for around a dollar. I’ve always been fascinated with the Kennedy assassination and time travel, so this was a perfect topic for me. And the story delivers. King really outdoes himself with this book. King meanders a bit in the middle, but honestly I didn’t mind because the characters were so engaging. Really, the Kennedy assassination is almost an afterthought. But when it finally comes it’s awesome. This book blew me away. I highly recommend giving it a shot. Especially since the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s death is Nov 22, 2013. But get the eBook version. An 800 page hardback is a little tough to read.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2012: Finishing up The Astounding Wolf-Man

Posted in comic books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, werewolf, werewolves, Wolf Man with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2012, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, Halloween, holiday, werewolf, werewolves, Wolf Man on October 30, 2012 by Paxton

Since this final week of AWESOME-tober-fest is a short week, I’m straying from the movie maniac theme and doing updates to previous Halloween reviews. Yesterday I reviewed the final book in The Strain trilogy which I had previously reviewed the first two books last year. Today, I’m going to talk about the comic series The Astounding Wolf-Man.

Two years ago for AWESOME-tober-fest 2010, I reviewed the first 18 issues of the comic that were collected in Volumes 1-3 of the trade paperbacks. The final fourth volume collecting issues 19-25 had yet to be released. However, I acquired the final collection earlier this year and read the concluding story.

The last and concluding story arc was called Legacy. It’s a five-parter that takes place in issues #21-25. So much happens in this concluding story. Seriously, it’s packed with a lot of action. We see the main character reunited with his daughter, we see the end game of the Elder Wolf’s plans and we see the final confrontation between Wolf-Man and Zachariah (which is awesome, btw).

astoundingwolf-man21 astoundingwolf-man22 astoundingwolf-man23

In short, I loved this series. So many great characters written so well. Kirkman really does a great job with so many characters to juggle. It was actually this series that led me to Kirkman and had me checking out his other work like Invincible, The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies. But that’s only half of the whole. Jason Howard’s amazingly dynamic art really sells it. I love the dynamics of Howard’s action and how he designs the look and feel of the universe. Plus, his 2 page action spreads are breathtaking. It really adds a lot of character to the story.

Speaking of characters, several of them are standouts. Gary Hampton/Astounding Wolf-Man is great. Zecariah the vampire is also a great villain. The Elder Wolf is BAD ASS. And in this final run of issues, we really see some good character work with Mecha-Maid. I really enjoyed her character and I want to see more of her. You can see her in the second comic cover above. Btw, that scene on the cover never happens. But it’s a great cover, nonetheless.

Anyway, like I said, I want to see more of these Astounding Wolf-Man characters. I think he and Mecha Maid may pop up from time to time in Kirkman’s Invincible, but I want to see more. This series was just too much fun not to continue. However, like I said, as of today, issue #25 was the final issue.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2012: Marvel Comics’ A Nightmare on Elm Street magazine (1989)

Posted in A Nightmare on Elm Street, comic books, Freddy Krueger, magazine, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2012, comic books, Freddy Krueger, Halloween, holiday, magazines, Marvel Comics, Nightmare on Elm Street on October 18, 2012 by Paxton

In 1989 Marvel comics released the magazine Freddy Krueger’s A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The magazine had gorgeously painted covers by Joe Jusko. The interior art was in black and white and done by Rich Buckler and Tony DeZuniga. Tony DeZuniga also worked on the awesome MGM’s Marvelous Wizard of Oz magazine I’ve talked about before for my Oz series. The interior stories were written by Steve Gerber. The magazines were published around the release of Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. At the time, comics were coming under fire for being too violent and Nightmare 5 was getting protests in LA for this very reason. This general backlash caused Marvel to decide to cancel the magazine after issue #2. Marvel wasn’t receiving pressure from anyone and the magazine actually sold fairly well, Marvel just wanted to avoid any problems so they quietly folded the magazine.

It’s a shame the magazine was canceled. The story was pretty interesting. The first issue even has a few pages devoted to its own version of Freddy’s origin involving Amanda Krueger’s entrapment, beating and rape within the walls of a mental hospital. The art is pretty good too, especially in the first issue. The second half of the second issue, though, the art becomes a little uneven and a little inconsistent. Sometimes it’s nicely inked and sometimes it looks like pencil drawings. A little weird.

Check out two samples of the art. On the left is a nicely inked page from early in the issue and on the right is a page that looks more “pencil-like” with very little inking. You can click the images to see them BIGGER.

It goes on like that for the last 10 pages or so. Sometimes only one panel on the page will have the “pencil” look. I guess they knew the mag was being canceled and just rushed it out. Which makes sense since the second issue of this magazine is extremely hard to find.

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