Happy days

OK, so the sun is shining and the weather is awesome. It’s a perfect day in the neighborhood and in honor of that today I bring to you Five Things I’m Happy About Today:

1) American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest

I’ve been a bit behind on my reading due to work duties and starting an MBA program, so when I finally got out into the real world and my LCS, I found I had missed the debut of American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest a couple of weeks ago. OMG! A five-part spin off from the oh-so-delicious American Vampire series is better even than a new pair of shoes – and if you’d seen my closet lately, you’d realize that’s saying something.

It’s written by Scott Snyder, who has done such a wonderful job with American Vampire, (up for an Eisner this year) and illustrated by New Hampshire native Sean Murphy of Joe the Barbarian (the comic is also up for an Eisner this year), so I’m expecting great things when I sit down to read to read it later with – what else? – a nice, thick, red, robust Cabernet. In a big-ass glass.

2. Locke & Key Vol. 3

It’s coming out this week. Finally. I have been waiting forever for Volume 3 of this incredible Eisner-nominated Joe Hill-penned comic with beautiful art by Gabriel Rodriguez. I finished Volume 2 months ago, and with a couple of issues of the third story arc sold out at my comic book store, decided to wait for the TPB. It was a long wait, but one that I’m sure will be worth it. Marketing 500 may suffer this week; I’m going to have Locke & Key to read.

My recommendation for this one is what my local watering hole calls a Dirty Mary Martini – a dirty Martini with tomato juice and blue cheese-stuffed olives. They look a little like eyeballs. Perfect.

BTW: Hill tweeted today that the series is set for six books of six issues each: Welcome to Lovecraft, Head Games, Crown of Shadows, Keys to the Kingdom, Clockworks and Omega.

Also, his comic The Cape – based on a short story in 20th Century Ghosts - is up for an Eisner this year. Any chance there’s a new novel on the horizon, too?  That would make me a very, very happy girl.

3. Game of Thrones

Sean Bean aka Eddard Stark

I have been disconsolate since HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones concluded for the season (Oh, Sean Bean, we hardly knew ye) and not even the return of True Blood or making my husband refer to me as Khaleesi has been able to lift my spirits. Sure, I’m now reading the George R.R. Martin novel (Really? Two middle initials?), but the news this week that a comic adaptation of the first book is coming was just the sugar on my Corn Flakes. Bantam Books announced it will be published by Dynamite Entertainment – which also publishes one of my faves, The Boys. (In an ironic twist, The Boys is the kind of book I have to hide under my mattress so my child won’t find it. Is that so wrong?)

Look for Game of Thrones in September. It should go nicely with a good bottle of ale.

4. X-Men First Class

For the past few months it’s been all “Thor” this and “Green Lantern” that, but

James McAvoy aka Charles Xavier

the real star of the show is this X-Men prequel (with a hilarious cameo by Hugh Jackman).

James McAvoy. Michael Fassbender. Be still my aging heart. More importantly (or at least as importantly) an awesome story and cool version of X-Men origins, even if they aren’t really comic-accurate. It was still lots of fun and the opener to what’s expected to be a trilogy – that will conclude about the time I’m 50. Wait for me James McAvoy! By the time you’re my age, I’ll only be, um, 65-ish. We’ll share a yard of ale – just like in the movie. Then I’ll fall asleep.

5. My LCS is up for an Eisner Award

My LCS

Double Midnight Comics, my uber-awesome LCS, is up for a Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award at ComicCon. The award is presented annually to one comic book retailer. According to ComicsPro.org, “Since 1993, The Eisner Spirit Award has been presented to an individual

retailer performing an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large.”

Yes. Yes. And yes.

Good luck guys! Here’s to having another Thing to Be Happy About – with a glass of champagne.

Driven to distraction

I’VE BEEN THINKING a lot about driving lately. That’s mostly because my 16-year-old son recently got his license, which was preceded by the 40 hours of practice with a parent the state requires, the many weeks of drivers ed and the first few terrifying days of letting him out in the car on his own.

You can understand why driving – and the zombie apocalypse – has been front and center in my brain lately. So it made sense that a couple of weeks ago “Driver for the Dead,” caught my attention. It was all that driving – and the fact that Scott at my comic store had it as his weekly pick.

I had “Driver for the Dead” in my hand and was debating whether to buy it when I saw it was one of Scott’s picks for the week. Scott’s kind of like my Roger Ebert of comics – I almost always agree with Ebert on movies, and I almost always agree with Scott’s picks. (So, OK, I’m totally not on board with his choice of “True Blood.” But then I didn’t agree with Ebert on … OK, I can’t ever remember disagreeing with Ebert. On the other hand, Scott also likes “The Boys,” the raunchy Ennis and Robertson series that I love, even if I hate myself for it.)

Look! It's Morg- ... uh, Mose Freeman

“Driver for the Dead” is published by Radical Publishing, described by Radical Publishing as “committed to creating quality published works featuring character-driven storylines that truly reflect the creators’ vision.” Or, more succinctly, comics that cost $4.99. But they’re big comics – well over 50 pages, so I really can’t complain. Or I could, but I won’t.

Bet he's never heard THAT one before

“Driver for the Dead” is sort of a horror noir story about Alabaster Graves who drives the dead – and sometimes the undead – to their final resting places. He also happens to be totally ripped, the better to fight monsters with, I assume.

What is up with this woman?

The story starts with a family who has a problem with their child – don’t we all? Mine won’t clean his room. Theirs is possessed. Dad and mom – who looks kind of like Martha Stewart in knee socks – call on Mose Freeman – looking suspiciously like Morgan Freeman – for help with their problem child who is doing the darndest things like spewing snakes out of his mouth. That’s actually kind of funny since the story was written by John Heffernan, screenwriter of the brilliant “Snakes on a Plane” movie. By brilliant, I mean so bad, it’s good. And come to think of it, I think Ebert hated it.

Freeman runs into a small problem – of the deadly kind – and in his dying words, asks the family to call Graves to fetch his body and drive it back to the family crypt.

" I have had it with these motherf---ing snakes on this motherf---ing plane!

Add Freeman’s great-grandaughter Marissa, and that’s the set up. With a good story and fabulous illustrations, “Driver for the Dead” issue 1 has me eagerly awaiting issue 2. In the meantime, I’m off the to comic book store. The new American Vampire, Daytripper #10 and The Calling are all out this week and they’re calling my name. All is right in the world.

Except for the possibility of a zombie apocalypse – I just hope it waits until after issue 2 of “Driver for the Dead” is out.

Now that he has a license, my son drives on our weekly trips to the comic book store

Stark Reality

#127

To get in the spirit of the upcoming Iron Man 2 movie, I’ve been reading a little vintage Iron Man this week — in this case, issues #127-130 of The Invincible Iron Man from 1979.

First of all, this 1979 Tony Stark is no Robert Downey Jr.

Tony Stark, meet Robert Goulet.

He looks a lot more like Robert Goulet – so much so that I kept expecting him to break out in a comic book version of “Those Were the Days.” He didn’t, but I kept an eye on him.

In issue #127, Tony Stark is a very wealthy industrialist who lives in a fabulous house, designs high-tech stuff, woos women and drinks. This guy is the Barbie of superheroes. He has everything.

#128

Occasionally he shucks his leisure suit and dons an armored suit and cruises the world as Iron Man. In this one, Iron Man fights off a whole super army (a woman villain named Man-Killer? Really?) , clears himself of a murder charge, stands up his bodyguard girlfriend Bethany and sinks into a deep depression realizing that, despite the good he does as Iron Man, without the suit he’s just a rich, drunken cad who brings trouble on himself.

By issue #128, Tony Stark is deep into the bottle and he’s in trouble. You think you’ve got problems? Tony Stark’s butler quits on him. Now that’s a real problem. It’s hard to find good help. Especially when you’re drunk.

#129

The guy’s a wreck, but still, he puts on his costume. Then he crashes through the window and “helps” at a train wreck where he drops the car that happens to be filled with deadly chlorine gas (he forgot to check the car’s weight ratio with his sensors) and causes an evacuation. No one is amused. Fortunately Bethany comes to the rescue and gets him to dry out, but by the end of the comic, he’s lost control of Stark Industries.

#130

In the next two issues, he gets his company back and battles Dreadnought, goes to Hong Kong and defeats a supernatural/high-tech “demon” and once again, saves the world. Tony Stark’s a busy guy.

For some reason, nobody seems to notice that every time Tony Stark disappears from the scene, Iron Man shows up. Luckily he keeps his suit in a briefcase and he can change in a flash. I just don’t understand how he can fit that suit in there with all the stuff it has. It’s kind of like all those clowns they jam into the little Shriner cars; there’s no way they can all fit in there, but they just keep coming out.

Check this out:

Repulsor rays, sensor scan and plexiglass shields ...

... built-in foam ducts and image projector

You’d think having all the money in the world PLUS an adamantium, electric-powered, refractory-coated armor suit that has repulsion rays, sensor scanners, super strength, an image projector and reverse magnetism (to name a few) would make Tony Stark a happy man, but it doesn’t. Like many good superheroes, he’s conflicted – much like Bruce Wayne, but with a sense of humor.

Iron Man 2 opens May 7. Here’s the trailer for your viewing pleasure:

Great Comic Book Moments

And now, a nod to next week’s Iron Man 2 premier:

A Kick-Ass Weekend

My friend Colleen and I went on a girls’ ski getaway recently. We’d both been working really hard and we deserved a little down time. She had just bought a car and part of the deal was that she got a free overnight – with food – at one of NH’s few remaining grand resorts. So I packed a few comics, said goodbye to my husband and son and headed up to ski country.

It just seems wrong to have this on the same page as Kick-Ass

We had a great time. NH was experiencing some of that rare warm early spring weather, so the skiing was glorious. It had been years since I skied, so I felt a little like Bambi crossing the pond in the old Disney movie, but after a while I sort of got the hang of it. That was at about the same time I realized I was exhausted and that ended the skiing.

So we had a drink and went back to the resort and an amazing thing happened. It’s something that only happens when two adult women are between the post-ski nap and a five-star dinner at an idyllic North Country resort that has no televisions…

Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m not talking about THAT.

I’m talking about THIS:

Here's Colleen reading MY book

So I’m in the shower and I can I can hear laughing in the other room and I’m thinking, ‘What the hell?’ Then I hear laughing again. And when I’m all done and dressed I go into the room and that is what I find: my friend of 22 years who has never – at least in her adult life – read a comic book. She’s reading “Kick-Ass” (before I have even read it mind you, but I was OK with that) and she’s halfway through it. And she’s laughing.

Ian says this comic book thing may be contagious, and he may be right. I can’t remember if I had to wait to go to dinner while Colleen finished Kick-Ass or if I had to wait to go to breakfast, but I had to wait while she finished it. She declared it terribly violent, a really good story and said she liked it.

And that about sums it up: Kick-Ass, by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., is a funny, brutal, engrossing, violent, inventive, bloody, wonderful book.

The character of Dave Lizewski is really well-crafted. Millar’s writing captures all the angst and naivete of an average teenage fanboy who wonders why no one has ever tried to be a superhero. Perhaps, it’s because, as we see in the first panels, putting on a costume and strapping on wings doesn’t mean you can fly. But Dave thinks if you put on a mask and help people, it makes you a superhero. He finds out of course, it’s not quite that simple.

Along the way he meets Hit-Girl, a foul-mouthed, limb-slashing, 10-year-old Dave describes as “John Rambo meets Polly Pocket,” and her father Big Daddy, some bad guys and another superhero wannabe, Red Mist, who appears out of nowhere in the Mustang-like “Mist-mobile.”

The  illustrations are great, the coloring fabulous and the dialog spot on. The movie is soon coming out and I wonder what Hollywood has done with the book, but apparently Mark Millar was very involved in the whole process, so I’m expecting good things.

Colleen’s agreed to go see it with me. My husband, who hasn’t read the comic, only seen the trailer, wants to go too.

My son also wants to see the movie. He is midway through the book after I withheld it from him until he caught up with some missing homework. It was pretty effective. In the past, I’ve tried grounding him, to no avail. He just kind of goes, “Meh” and he’s on his way. When I held up Kick-Ass and said he had to get through another 100 pages of “Catcher in the Rye” before he could read it, I could tell by his eyes I’d hit a nerve. “That’s a REAL punishment” he complained.

Hey, sometimes you just have to use tough love – and kick ass.

Tragic superhero-movie tie-ins #1

Is it just me or does this look like some awful hip-hop, master rapper Tony Stark nightmare? Diesel is touting this as its new limited edition “courageous fragrance” that evokes the “power and strength” of Iron Man 2′s leading man. Really? Did someone actually get paid to come up with this?

Sorry guys, unless this makes you look like Robert Downey Jr., it’s no chick magnet. Your only hope is that any woman who sees this bottle within 50 feet of you will laugh herself right out of her panties.

Just for fun, here’s the Iron Man 2 trailer. And guys, Scarlett Johhansen? Reportedly a big comic book geek. You gotta like that in a girl:

Finders, Keepers and The Losers

Yesterday was the glorious kind of New Hampshire day where the sun was shining, the temperature was moderate and there was no sign that we would be hit with a massive snowstorm as we likely will in the next couple of weeks. It happens like that every year and every year, for generation after generation, New Hampshire-ites fall for the climatological feint and end up getting get sucker punched every time. I guarantee you, in a couple of weeks when the snow is knee-deep, I’ll be saying. “I can’t BELIEVE it’s snowing again.” It’s a tradition.

In the meantime, I was going to enjoy the run of springlike weather as long as I could and I did what any decent, hard-working American would do on such a glorious day: I opened up a 2006 Firehose Riesling, went out on the porch and read issues 7-12 of The Losers.

I know what you’re thinking: The Losers? With a Riesling? It’s not a serious wine, not a heavyweight contender. It’s semi-sweet (or semi-dry depending on whether your glass is half-full or half-empty), and girlfriend, you’re a red wine kind of gal.

All of this is true, of course, but the warmth and sunshine always brings out the white wine side of me and a light wine was just what was called for.

With The Losers, of course.

The L Team

If you’re not familiar with The Losers, it’s a Vertigo comic by writer Andy Diggle and illustrator Jock about “an elite U.S. Special Forces unit that served as the covert bloody hand of America until they stumbled across a C.I.A. secret they couldn’t ignore. The C.I.A. tried to kill them, but they’re about to learn that it takes more than one try to eliminate The Losers.” (www.dccomics.com). The plot’s great, the dialogue smart and the artwork fabulous. It’s everything I want in a comic.

So, after the first few issues, I was hooked on The Losers, and I got a deal on about 25 of them, so I have almost every issue now. And with the movie coming out in April, I mean June, I mean April 23 (see story here ), I figured I better get caught up and quick.

If you haven’t seen the trailer, check it out:

It all looks really exciting, fast-paced and there are lots and lots of explosions. Without his Comedian mask, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, as Clay, is way more yummy than I ever realized. And after I watched the trailer, I wondered if he will boldly go where Capt. Kirk wasn’t able to go with Uhuru in Star Trek. And by Uhuru, I mean Zoe Saldana who plays Aisha.

Morgan isn’t the only veteran comic-to-movie role actor: Chris Evans who plays Jensen was The Human Torch and Idris Elba, who plays Roque, will be in Thor, scheduled to some out in 2011.

Cougar

Lemmy

Oscar Jaenada

Rounding out The Losers is Columbus Short as Pooch and Óscar Jaenada as Cougar. The casting for Cougar threw me because, from reading at least the first few issues, I had pictured him kind of like Lemmy from Motörhead, who I’d seen photos of in a Spin magazine that had been left in my hotel room in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. But Jaenada looks nothing like Lemmy; when I finally saw Cougar’s face in the comic, I realized he looks nothing like Lemmy either. And after seeing Jaenada, I’m totally embracing that casting call.

Hey, I’m 47, not dead. Or blind.

Whatever. I’m looking forward to this one and to continuing my expedition through the pages of The Losers, which hasn’t let me down yet. If you haven’t read The Losers, you can start here with a free download of issue #1. I’d pair it with the Riesling.