3 Chicks Review Comics – Episode 034!

It’s episode 034 people!

And inside this episode we review Jeremy Whitley and M. Goodwin’s Princeless #3, and an Advance Review of Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell’s Glory #23.  We also talk about the hotly contested Wonder Woman #8 cover, which is stirring up a surprising amount of controversy.  We then have an interview with the wonderfully charming and incredibly talented Duane Swierczynski, who’s writing one of our favorite DC books – Birds of Prey! Lastly, we give Chick of the Week to the late Kim Yale, and discuss Sue’s efforts to revive the Kim Yale Award which sadly became defunct with the dissolving of Friends of Lulu last year.

So head on over to CSBG and check it out.  You can also subscribe via iTunes at the link on CSBG!

CBR Review: Legion of Monsters #4

This was a great damn mini-series…if you missed it, definitely pick it up in trade.  Great stuff.

Legion of Monsters #4

“The worst thing about “Legion of Monsters” is that it’s not an ongoing series. Thanks to fantastic work by Dennis Hopeless, Juan Doe and Wil Quintana I felt more love and investment in these characters than I do for most characters I’ve read about for three times as long…”

As always, likes and retweets are much appreciated and you can find all my CBR Reviews thus far here.

2012 April DC Drunk Cover Solicits In Three Sentences Or Less…

Here are the “rules“.

If you’d like to see the full DC April Cover Solicits head on over to CBR.

Not so much the funny this month…I don’t know if that’s my fault or the covers not giving me much to work with.  Either way…lower your expectations a bit!

Come one, come all, to our bi-monthly installment of DRUNK COVER SOLICITS IN THREE SENTENCES OR LESS!

ALL-STAR WESTERN 8.  Hmm. Still like the illustration style, but this is much less effective than last month’s which kind of blew me away.  Still love the color palette though. Although…the more I look at this…the more disturbing it is…I mean we’re looking directly at her crotch…and the way his head is…um…yeah.

AMERICAN VAMPIRE 26. This is stunning.  Love the loose line work – it has a great energy, but the colors are fucking fantastic.

ANIMAL MAN 8.  I kind of suspect this isn’t the final cover, that it’s unfinished.  But I wish this was the finished version.  I think it’s kinda badass.

Cover(s) of the Week – 1/18/12

I don’t read Moon Knight, but this cover for Moon Knight #9 by Alex Maleev is sublime:

It’d be a hell of a lot more beautiful and compelling without that goddamn banner, but this Storm cover for Avengers #21 by Daniel Acuna is lovely.  Also, despite how long she’s been around and how A-list she is/should be, Storm has precious few truly awesome covers…ironic that this one is from Avengers and not X-Men…but I’ll take what I can get:

A bit of totally awesome by Marian Churchland for Prophet #21:

And this absolutely gorgeous offering by Cliff Chiang for Wonder Woman #5.  And a nice use of restraint on the tentacles there.  Well done sir, well done:

CBR Reviews: Wonder Woman #5 and Ultimate Spider-Man #6

Wonder Woman #5

“The world we live in is one in which most artists have to have a fill-in issue several issues into their run on a comic. It’s an unfortunate reality, but if it’s going to happen, it’s nice when editorial is smart about it. “Wonder Woman” #5 is the perfect example of a smart fill-in issue.

With Zeus out of the picture, Poseidon makes his move, and Diana, rather than fight the angry god, turns his attention toward Hera in a clever bit of plotting that raises the book far above your typical “hero punches villain” trope…”

Ultimate Spider-Man #6

“Ultimate Spider-Man” steps up as the second book I read this week with a fill-in artist that transcends what is often a terrible mis-step in a comic by picking an excellent artist in synch with the book’s style, tone and very essence.

In “Ultimate Spider-Man” #6 we see Miles doing legitimate solo crime fighting as he saves a woman being robbed. Things do not go so well (although he is ultimately successful) and it’s clear Miles has a lot to learn. That goes for more than just fighting, as he deals unsuccessfully with the police, reporters, and fans (and non-fans). He’s also learning when to exit before you almost get unmasked in broad daylight…”

I’ll have one more review coming this weekend (for a GREAT book) but I thought I’d get these up now.

I also did reviews last week for: Batwoman #5, Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9 #5, and X-Men Legacy #260.1

As always, likes and retweets are much appreciated and you can read all my CBR Reviews thus far, here!

Cover Of The Week – 1/11/12

Last week’s Cover(s) of the Week are a tie between Buffy & Batwoman (don’t tell DC Women Kicking Ass…she’ll be mad!)

First up, Steve Morris’ truly excellent Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Nine #5.  Look at those colors, absolutely fantastic.  Love the text integration as well, so smart:

And then there’s Batwoman #5 by J.H. Williams III.  Absolutely stunning – and as I discussed when it came up in Drunk Cover Solicits a few months ago, there’s so much more there than meets the eye at first glance.  It’s beautiful if you don’t look deep, but if you take the time, it’s incredibly complex and interesting.  Actually, I’d say that about both these covers.  Excellent work gents.

I’m not going to do a post for Panel Of The Week for last week (too busy/tired/lazy) but this definitely would have been one of the picks, also from Batwoman #5 and J.H. Williams:

Audioshocker Guest Hosting!

Hey Kids…in case you missed the announcement on twitter, I was on Audioshocker this week to guest host “A Podcast With Ross & Nick”…it was incredibly fun (as I’ve learned guest hosting always is when you can just walk away and someone else does all the heavy lifting for you!)/ Also, because I apparently can’t shut up, it was really damn long.  But worth it!  We talk about Batman, creator responsibility versus fan entitlement, the existence of talent, and a few other things.  Both Ross and Nick also try to make me sing…apparently this is going to be a “thing” with me.  Let it go people, it’s never going to happen!

So head on over and check it out!

She Has No Head! – Opportunity Redux!

A new piece up on She Has No Head! today about the opportunity DC has now that they’ve acquired the rights to adapt The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Let’s not waste it now kids!

Update! This post was picked up by Jezebel, check it out!

Update 2! Now it’s been picked up by The Huffington Post…INDEED!

3 Chicks Review Comics – Episode 033 – The Best of 2011 Cast!

A new 3 Chicks Review Comics, the Best of 2011 Cast is up today.  Head on over to CSBG and check it out!

CBR Reviews: Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #1 and X-23 #20

Two new reviews are up on CBR:

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #1

“My kingdom for more superhero comics by Brian Wood. Don’t get me wrong, I still want all his great independent, creator-owned, non-superhero stuff (since I’m greedy), but the plain fact of the matter is that the superhero world is a better place with Brian Wood writing stories in it. “Wolverine and The X-Men: Alpha & Omega” #1 is a great comic, the kind we need stacks and stacks of…”

X-23 #20

“The penultimate issue of “X-23” is another great one, the kind of outing that makes you thoroughly depressed that it is the next-to-last issue and not just “issue #20.” However, pairing up Marjorie Liu and Phil Noto again this month and next (with #21 due in March) is a wonderful way to end the series if it has to end, as they have showed the true potential of this book, and how much it will be missed from the Marvel comics landscape.
..”

As always, likes and retweets are much appreciated and you can read all my CBR Reviews thus far here.

Cover Of The Week – 01/04/12

Very cool, very creepy offering, and a great illustration all around from Sean Phillips for Image’s new Fatale #1:

 

25 Best “Single Issues” of 2011…

So over on She Has No Head! I mentioned that two categories, “Best Cover” and “Best Single Issue” were incredibly hard to decide this year thanks to an influx of great stuff I had trouble deciding between.  As a result I decided to do a top 25 “Best Single Issues” for 2011 on 1979.  As I noted on She Has No Head! there are some notable absences here, largely due to gaps in my reading. Off the top of my head I’d say the most glaring absences are DMZ, Scalped, and Daredevil, all of which I am significantly behind on. Because I have written about almost all of these issues elsewhere, I’m not going to do paragraphs on each of them.  You can find detailed CBR Reviews for 17 of the 25 below at this link.  And if you have questions about any other titles I didn’t do reviews for, just ask and I’ll be happy to talk about them in the comments.

All that said…these are my “25 Best Single Issues of 2011″…

025.  THE RED WING #1 by Brian Hickman, Nick Pitarra, and Rachelle Rosenberg

024.  HELLBOY: THE FURY #1 by Mike Mignola, Duncan Fegredo, and Dave Stewart

023.  WOLVERINE & JUBILEE #1 by Kathryn Immonen and Phil Noto

30 Best Covers Of 2011

So over on She Has No Head! I mentioned that two categories, “Best Cover” and “Best Single Issue” were incredibly hard to decide this year thanks to an influx of great stuff I had trouble deciding between.  As a result I decided to do a top 30 covers for 2011 on 1979.  As always with these cover posts, I stick to Saddle Stapled North American releases, since that is what I have the most access to, and because I don’t feel a monthly comic should be rated against a graphic novel or trade.

Without further ado…these are my “30 Best Covers of 2011″…

030.  HELLBOY: THE FURY #1 – Mike Mignola

So simple and yet so effective.  When you have a character as wonderfully designed as Hellboy you really just need the confidence to let him command the page, and Mignola obviously has that.  With a limited Black, Red and Grey-ish white color palette, single figure (with a big ass axe) and a lot of white space you have powerful imagery that also creates amazing positive and negative shapes.  Gorgeous stuff.

029.  AVENGERS ORIGINS: VISION – Marko Djurdjevic

The limited color palette with a big swath of yellow and a small pop of red is inspired.  Almost as much as Djurdjevic’s use of wonderful simplified graphic elements and shapes with ah highly rendered and realistic figure.  A cover absolutely deserving of Vision!

028.  JOHN CARTER: A PRINCESS OF MARS #3 – Skottie Young

This is wonderful on so many levels.  The composition has such energy and creates such great shapes, both positive and negative.  The size and complexity of the tentacles while still remaining graphic and simple – how in places it devolves into just basic shapes is wonderful.  The color choices, as always with a Young cover are inspired and subtle.  Huge bonus points for it being one of the first tentacle covers I’ve ever seen in comics that doesn’t feel “kinda rapey”.

She Has No Head! – Bests (and a few Worsts) of 2011!

Head on over to She Has No Head! for a write up of some of the bests and worsts of 2011!

CBR Reviews: Secret Avengers #20, Angel & Faith #5, and Justice League Dark #4…

My first CBR Reviews of the new year…read ‘em and…well…just read ‘em!

SECRET AVENGERS #20

“Warren Ellis has been absolutely killing his run on “Secret Avengers,” writing some of the smartest and best superhero comics of the last year with brilliant standalone stories that tell surprisingly complex tales with satisfying results. It doesn’t hurt that Ellis has had a rotating cast of unbelievably talented artists to help him deliver these stories, and Alex Maleev on this issue is no exception…”

ANGEL & FAITH #5

“Despite how much I’ve been enjoying “Angel & Faith” thus far, I was hesitant about this issue — even with the always exceptional Phil Noto as guest artist — since it guest-starred arguably my least favorite Buffy Universe character, Harmony. Those fears were averted however, as Christos Gage and Noto do great work delivering a fun issue that manages to keep things moving forward while still taking a little breather…”

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #4

““Justice League Dark” continues to be the title of the new DCU that I desperately want to like more than I do. It’s a good book, but with so many fantastic characters crowded together, largely unused, too much of the book is falling flat…”

As always, likes and retweets are much appreciated and you can read all my CBR Reviews thus far here.

2012 March Marvel Drunk Cover Solicits In Three Sentences Or Less…

Here are the “rules“.

If you’d like to see the full Marvel March Cover Solicits head on over to CBR.

Come one, come all, to our bi-monthly installment of DRUNK COVER SOLICITS IN THREE SENTENCES OR LESS!

So again, these are a bit on the late side but here they are…fresh for the new year in all their non-glory.  The thing is…I gotta be honest…Marvel has cleaned up their game considerably.  And I know you want to be sad about it, cause let’s face it, making fun of shit is fun.  But seriously, there’s not A LOT to make fun of lately. The difference in Marvel’s covers now, from a year ago…it’s pretty remarkable.  They are going on five or six months now of having covers so non-offensive that it’s pretty tough to give them a hard time.  So #1 – My hat is officially off to them and #2 – how can I take credit for this change?

I still make plenty of fun of the covers below…but there are only 26 covers to DC’s 52, and that’s straight up because there’s just not as much to say on the whole.  And I appreciate the hell out of that change, but I also have to admit that on the whole the covers are more boring too.  Would I rather have offensive than boring?  Well, for Drunk Solicits, yes, the answer is yes, for life?  No, no, I’d rather have just about anything than offensive crap in comics.  But still…it’s very interesting this development in covers over the last few months.

AGE OF APOCALYPSE #1.  All the above said, let’s start with something slightly offensive.  But not really. I mean this is such a cartoonish and exaggerated drawing style it’s hard to take it TOO seriously.  It doesn’t have the same effect of looking at something super realistic.  That said, Jean is wearing some Starfire level shit there and it’s just fucking ridiculous.  C’mon comics, don’t be a douchebag.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 681.  Is Johnny wearing his Future Foundation pajamas for this mission?  He looks like an idiot.

2012 March DC Drunk Cover Solicits In Three Sentences Or Less…

Here are the “rules“.

If you’d like to see the full DC March Cover Solicits head on over to CBR.

Come one, come all, to our bi-monthly installment of DRUNK COVER SOLICITS IN THREE SENTENCES OR LESS!

So these are a bit on the late side (sorry folks, sickness, travel, and variety of other non-drunk obligations precluded getting drunk and writing these) but here they are…fresh for the new year.  Ring in 2012 right with some scathing drunk cover solicits.

And, to get sappy for a moment, thanks to all of you who read…those of you who comment and retweet and those who don’t.  I know some of you read and can’t really comment (comics is a small little world and making fun of big two covers can be dangerous) but I appreciate the support and feedback nonetheless!

Here’s to another great year of many wonderful things…including DRUNK COVER SOLICITS!  Woo!

ACTION COMICS 7.  What the fuck is up with that Superman face?!  He looks like a sad malnourished Williamsburg hipster.

ALL STAR WESTERN 7.  Hmm. I’m regretting giving up on All Star Western so soon, cause this is TONS OF FUN.  Love the illustration work, the movement, the composition, the phenomenal color palette.  The background especially is just gorgeous with the lanterns and architectural elements – are they in a gladiator ring on an old Ferry boat?  Badass. Also, the gladiator chick manages to be sexy and cool, and thanks to her posing she’s not SUPER objectified.  Great cover kids!

Proof That I Am The Best Girlfriend IN THE UNIVERSE!

Adam’s anniversary present.

The good news is, I get to look at it too and it’s AWESOME.

13 Fantastic Female Comics Creators of 2011

Edited to Add: Jezebel has picked up this post and republished – check it out!

Last year I did two massive posts about the 20 best female comics creators of 2010.  I thought about revisiting that list this year, but I felt a lot of those ladies still belong on that list and I wanted to make sure to feature new creators.  So instead I decided to add to it, with 13 new ladies who did great work in 2011 that I’d like to recognize.  So, without further ado, here are 13 fantastic female creators in comics that you should be watching, reading, and supporting.

Please, before filling up the comments with women you think are missing, make sure to check out 2010’s list which includes: Kate Beaton, Rebekah Isaacs, Becky Cloonan, Amy Reeder, Jill Thompson, Gail Simone, Faith Erin Hicks, Kathryn Immonen, Emily Carrol, Amanda Connner, Hope Larson, Linda Medley, Fiona Staples, Colleen Coover, Raina Telgmeier, Lucy Knisley, Sarah Glidden, Katie Cook, Jen Van Meter, Nicola Scott, and Gabrielle Bell.

Cover of the Week – 12/21/11

Have to give this week’s Cover Of The Week to Chris Burnham’s Batman Inc. Leviathan Strikes #1 – though it’d look a lot better without so much crap splashed all over it:

Although for “holiday spirit” I have to give it to this wonderful Daredevil #7 from Paolo Manuel Rivera: