Awesome Covers: Invincible War.

This comic pretty much spelled out for me 'BUY THIS COMIC! IT IS AWESOME!' So I did. Invincible is one of the most popular series from Image comics. Why? Well it was one of the first major changes of pace for Image. The company was famous for Savage Dragon and Spawn, two dark and gritty comics (though Dragon wasn't really dark or gritty, but it focussed on a Policeman). Invincible is more of a callback to the golden age. With some pretty graphic violence. That is, considering it's about teenagers...mostly. God I ramble on.

Okay, the cover. The cover is one of those basic group shots you see in crossovers. The story is that all the superheroes are brought in to fend of a small group of clones of the title character (Invincible). Before this happens, most of the world is destroyed, but most of the heroes get to kick some ass...even Madman!

But TKWTS, besides the decent art and cool selection of heroes, what makes this qaulify as an awesome cover? Well it folds out. This isn't even half the cover! I'd show you the rest, but my scanner sucks.

My Favorite Comics

Hi. As I quite obviously like comics, I've decided to list my favorites, that is to say the ones I buy once a month. Here we go.

Deadpool.


The Crimson Comedian, The Regenerating Degenerate, and most of all, The Merc With a Mouth. Deadpool is probably my favorite comic book. The star is of course, Wade Wilson, otherwise known as Deadpool. He's a mercenary who possesses a healing factor stronger than Wolverine. However, due to a number of reasons, he's also horribly disfigured and insane. And you know what? That's what makes him awesome! Without that, he's just Spider-Man mixed with Deathstroke. Of course, Rob Liefeld was basically making a Deathstroke clone when he created him, but other time he became the legendary Merc we know and love.

Also, DEATH TO DUDEPEEL! I cannot believe how very angry I was about that, I have never seen a comic book film that made me that angry before.

Deadpool: Merc With a Mouth.

Deadpool has been popular for a while now, but this really shows us just HOW popular his recent appearances in Ultimate Alliance have made him. The series follows Deadpool and his adventures with...Deadpool. Well, okay, if you know anything about recent comics, you'll know about the popular Marvel Zombies series inwhich the Marvel Heroes become zombies and eat most of the universe. I like zombies, but I can't say I'm a fan. Sorry if seeing characters I love getting eaten by OTHER characters I love dosn't appeal to me. But anyway, in this universe, Deadpool has been reduced to a head. The series has a setup about warfare, the obligatory hot scientist, dinosaurs and even space battles. But all you really need to know is that Deadpool teams up with his own decapitated zombified head. Can I hear the word 'awesome?'

Deadpool Team Up.

This is the proof that Deadpool is growing in the popularity he deserves. Three ongoing series at the same time? Who else has that many ongoing series at the same time? Hmmm, just some others guys like SUPERMAN, BATMAN, SPIDER-MAN, THE X-MEN and SO FORTH! Okay, if I need to explain this one, you need professional help.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

When many people think of the Ninja Turtles they think of the cute eighties series. Sure, now there are some people who think of the awesome 03' series, but few people seem to remember the comics. They are the polar opposite of teh first cartoon for many reasons, but the only one I'm willing to complain about is the fact that they all have Red Masks. And that's not even a proper complaint because that was teh original idea! Plus it's in Black and White so I can't tell who is who anyway unless they're weapons are in the shot. What dosn't help this whole thing is that Raph is usually put up front, so you don't realise anything is different.

Booster Gold.

Booster Gold has made some appearances on Justice League and Batman The Brave and The Bold, and these were enough to get me buying his comics. If you don't already know, Booster Gold is a dick. He's a jerk who only fights crime to secure merchandising rights and become famous...or so we are meant to think. A few years after his introduction, a series of tragic events allowed him to become a true hero and defender of the Space-Time Continuum. He still acts like a jerk, but it's only so nobody even suspects that he's actually one of Earth's greatest heroes. The Blue Beetle stories are pretty good too.

Savage Dragon.

Erik Larsen is a genius. He's not Stan Lee level genius, but a comic book genius all the same. Savage Dragon is the story of a hulking alien named Dragon who joins the Police Force. Okay, that WAS the story, but early on, it seems Larsen decided to screw over status quo and has given us this amazing comic. Also, as genius as he is, Larsen's metaphorical balls may be a bit too big. Why? Well, after 17 years of making the comic, Larsen wants to kill off The Dragon (who frequently dies as a running gag, but he means it this time). He dosn't plan on ending the comic, he just plans on killing the main character and replacing him with his son. This would make him a legacy character. I just got into it late last year, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?

The Amazing Spider-Man.

I usually don't buy from the big guys, mainly cos I can't tell which one is the official series and not a spin-off. But, thankfully this issue including Deadpool has slapped me in the head and screamed BUY IT! BUY IT! So I did, and here we are. I guess I also feel good about reading it cos I am a huge Stan Lee fan. HE IS A GOLDEN SHINING GOD!
Also, my opinion on Tobey Maguire? He's the absolute perfect choice for Peter Parker. But, he just isn't that good as Spidey himself. Plus, he dosn't do that much witty Spider-Man banter. Still good though.

The Tick New Series

SPOOOON! In Color! Okay I only have one issue of this at the moment, but I plan on collecting them as they come out. Unlike most which release their books monthly, this one releases it every two months, so yeah.

I also used to collect the back issues of The Maxx, but I got bored with it despite liking the story, and had trouble collecting certain issues. I collected most of Madman Atomic Comics before the series ended. I bought Spawn for two issues before realizing how slow the story was going. I also decided I'd buy Invinvible, but not only does my comic store seem to run out quick, I decided that I didn't want to read just after the female lead had died...which now I know isn't true and I want to buy it again.

Also, due to time constraints, I am unable to include all the covers I'd like to use in this post. I'll fix it at a later time.

Villain Spotlight: King Radical.

Welcome to Villain Spotlight, where I tell you all about some of the most evil bastards you've never heard of. Today's subject, King Radical, from the popular webcomic, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja.

Radical comes from a magical world known as the Radical Land, where everything was radical, but nothing was quite as Radical as King Radical. Possessing his king motif and mad motorbike skills, King Radical left the Radical Land, apparently to avoid the one thing that can strike fear into his heart, a Unicorn named Sparklelord.

Radical came to Cumberland and took over (or formed) the local mafia. During his manipulation of a Hulk-esque supermarket owner, Radical became enemies with the titular Dr. McNinja. Probably because he blew up his office...

Since then, Radical has had fun mocking and pestering McNinja, who is driven to defeat Radical once and for all!

Which is somewhat stupid because, Radical isn't actually a bad guy. Nope, he's more of a mischevious Anti-Hero. But that, combined with his antagonistic tendencies, make him qualify for this section. McNinja is driven to take down Radical's illegal operations, even though he knows that they are beneficial to the economy of Cumberland. He refuses to be outsmarted by the tricky character...yet he always is.

So I guess the question isn't who would win in a fight between between a ninja and a pirates, it would be more like a ninja and a king.

Radical has taken over as lead villain from the comic since it's first color appearance, as it had previously had been following a storyline set up by Dracula. This storyline reached it's crowning moment of awesome by PUNCHING DRACULA! That is awesome.

As mentioned earlier, Radical's only genuine fear is a unicorn by the name of Sparklelord, who became a motorbike by entering our world as it could not contain the magnificence of his true form. The unicorn attempted to destroy Radical, driven by a similar hate as McNinja, the doctor was taken over by the love of the bike and went mad with the power it granted. Despite his being terrified, Radical managed to defeat Sparklelord by tricking McNinja into thinking it was an evil dictator and having him throw it into a portal.

As of now, Radical has yet to appear in the latest storyline, Army of One.

Incidentally, a pirate who get totally owned by a ninja. It's bloody stupid to think overwise.

Crappy Things about Good Stuff: Brutal Legend

You know what's awesome? Jack Black. What else I hear is awesome? Heavy Metal. What's really awesome? Lord of the Rings!...wait, what? Well, if you put all these in a blender, you'd end up with Brutal Legend.

Brutal Legend tells the story of Eddie Riggs, the worlds greatest roadie, voiced by Black. One day at a concert, Riggs is injured and gets blood on his magic belt buckle and is transported to the magical land of...Namenotmentioned. He discovers that this land is based entirley around heavy metal, and a simple instrument is now a powerful weapon. He also learns that the heroic and good willed metalheads are under the iron grip of Lord Doviculous, voiced awesomley by Tim Curry, and his army of SNM wearing demons. He teams up with a band of rebels lead by Lars Halford (Zach Hank), along with his sister Lita (Kath Soucie), and action girl Ophelia (Jeniffer Hale)to put togethor Ironheade, the worlds greatest band, er, army, and take down Doviculous once and for all.

This game is awesome! The voice acting is great, the style and world grip you by the shirt, and it's just an awesome experience! But as this is the new segment, Crappy Things about Good Stuff, I have to bring up some stuff that irritates me.

1. The story is the best part of Brutal Legend. The characters, the world, the story telling, I never wanetd it to end. Unfortunatley when it did end, it ended WAY too early. The game could've easily gone on twice as long. The story gets derailed by the sudden appearance of The Drowning Doom, wheras I'd have liked to continue onto Doviculus's palace. Though admittedly the story goes well, it just ends too quickly.

2. Like I just said, the game is heavy on a fantastic story. Unfortunatley, it's not one of those games that's heavy on dialogue. You'll find yourself hearing 'We're on Patrol!' and 'Let's Team up again, you and me' over and over until your mind bursts out of it's fleshy prison, manifesting as an entity of pure irritation which consumes you from the inside and commits suicide by bashing itself in the head with the controller! Okay, maybe not that much, but you catch my drift. They had the awesomeness to include Kyle Gass (Black's partner from Tenacious D. PARTNER not Sidekick) in the game as Kyle the Cannioneer, and he's great in his part, but I just wish he'd end conversations with something other than 'Yes, I thought you'd never ask.'

3. This one really irritates me. You have Jack Black, the Tenacious D singer, and two of his songs, The Metal, and Master Exploder...And you don't incorporate them into the story! By what I've gathered, the game was created out of the basis that Jack Black wanted to be in a game. How would they go about this? Let me think. Doviculus has sent a Bleeding Death (a temporary near invincible unit)to destroy Ironheade before they can leave a certain settlement. In order to defeat it, they need to find the warrior known as The Metal to vanquish it. They find him and he's actually a giant monster who alligns itself with Ironheade and helps defeat the Bleeding Death and helps the fight later on. Not only is that simple, that would have been AWESOME! The Metal could have been his theme song, Riggs could see it as really awesome and serenade it with the song. Dammit! You people thought of everything but what would be purley awesome!

4.Not enough Lord Doviculus.



He's awesome.

5. Okay, this isn't actually a complaint, but who was the hunter from the Overkill missions? I can probably look him up, but I don't care enough to that. Yet I don't not care enough not to ask. Better put a complaint in here...Why are the Overkill missions so damn hard? It would be perfectly simple, but the animals you need to kill disappear when you start the mission. It took me two days to find six Tollusks. The rarest animal in the game, the Hextadon, was done in ONE F*CKING hour!

6. Where the hell did Mangus come from?

7. The placement of the camera makes Eddie, a large an intimidating man, look small and feeble. Obviously they want to get across the epic landscape, but Eddie could be The Hulk's stunt double, I want to feel like it! plus, that'd make everything else look even bigger!

However, I will give some credit where credit is due. Jennifer Hale is magnificent as Ophelia, but when she turns evil, she fails to cast an intimidating shadow of evil. Especially next to Curry's Doviculus. But I will thank Double Fine for keeping her dialogue clean. I remember her from Totally Spies and it would be mildly upsetting to see the friendly and smart one become a violent cussbox. Thank you.

And yes, I watched Totally Spies.

Awesome Covers: Gemini #1.

Welcome again to Awesome Covers. Okay, I know that the last one I did was Awesome Covers, but I felt like doing another one.

This is the cover to Gemini #1, an Image Mini-Series taking place in the same universe as Dynamo 5. Both were created by Jay Faerber (spelling?). The cover is great because not only is it drawn well and display a cool looking hero, look at all the villains. This pays off with a pretty cool fight scene later on, and I love how these all look like they could be real super villains with different backstories and so forth. Except the devil (Hex) that just seems random. Also it shows off the heroes personality in that he's covered in really powerful dudes who want to kill him, and he's just laughing it off. I instantly wanted to pick up the book.

The story itself? Pretty good. Gemini is 'controlled' by a secret organisation called The Constellation, who regularly transform a regular guy named Dan into a superhero to fight evil without him knowing. A new guy comes in on his team (yes, each superhero has a pit crew) and helps deal with a routine assignment: Save two superheroes from a horde of villains in a junkyard (pictured). This scene was well drawn and arguably amongst my favorites. I won't ruin the end, but it's surprising. I might ruin it for you later, but for now I'll give you time to buy the book. The final issue of the series is due to come out soon, but it hasn't been released regularly, so it's kind of irritating.

This is also probably the best cover in the series, the second one if pretty good, but fails epicly compared to this one.



One more thing! In case your wondering, Gemini's powers are enhanced healing, agility and strength. The fight is still good despite being limited to these.

Awesome Covers: Deadpool: Games of Death

Welcome to Awesome Covers, the part of the blog where I show off my fave comic covers to you. Today's example is Deadpool: Games of Death.

Deadpool is one of my favorite characters, and this image captures him perfectly. He looks badass as all hell and generally just a guy you don't want to mess with. Then you see his motivation: a teddy bear. What does that show? He's insane!
As cool as this cover is, I have to say that the story inside wasn't that great. Oh wells.

Madman Atomic Comics 12

Well, I suppose if I'm going to call this a comics blog, I had better talk about comis, right?

First let's talk about me, because I am awesome (well my mum says I am :P).
For most of my life I had been a fan of superheroes and monsters. I will admit, while I loved good heroes like Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, I wasn't exactly very good with knowing what made a good superhero. For one I imagined a number of characters myself, one of which was known as Twisterman. In a nutshel, it was a miniature tornado with a face wearing a superman costume. TERRIBLE. Not as bad as Fireman and Bloodman. Fireman was a rip-off of the Human Torch, except he couldn't fly. Bloodman, his partner, was exactly the same, except instead of fire he was covered in blood. Not only is this gross, but also pretty useless.
But that's nothing compared to my idea of superheroes in general. All of them could fly, wear capes and shoot lasers. Even if your name is Crocodileman, you will fly and shoot lasers. Fortunatley as time went on, my mind got better...somewhat.

As you may tell from creating my own characters, I aspire to write comics. Actually I aspire to direct movies, but for now comics seem easier. Over time I created slightly better heroes. I digress that they were still terrible. I had no idea what made a good plot and my skill for writing can be summed up in two hyphonated words...Bunny-Girl. Nowadays my ideas tend to suck less, and I don't create characters off the drop of a hat. I think about it THEN drop the hat. I still create characters a little too much.

But then I started wanting to read comics. From TV I could tell that this was where superheroes are truly gods. However I had no idea where to look for a comic store, so I went to News Agents and bought whatever was there. Though at first I felt that finding a copy of Action Comics or Spectaculer Spider-Man Magazine (no relation to the TV show btw) was a great find, once I finally got to a REAL comic store, I was truly amazed. I won't bother you with how one works, cos chances are that you already know. However, if you live in Adelaide and want a good comic store, I pledge my alligence to Adelaide Comic Centre in Rundle Mall. That place is great.

Well let's start with one of my first, shall we? When I first went there, I had heard of Madman, and had become interested enough to pick up and issue without a thought. Look at the character, he's memorable and this is essentially what I consider a TRUE comic cover. The heroes in peril and the villain is on the edge of victory, what happens next? So, let's further dig into, Madman Atomic Comics 12.

Just to make sure we're not confused throughout the review, Madman is really Frank Einstein, but that's not a secret identity, Madman is like a nickname. He wears the costume to hide the horribly frankenstein-like creature he is, and because the material is intended to heal his flesh. His 'parents' were two scientists who revived him after a car crash with enhanced reflexes and a magical aura about himself, allowing himself to learn any skill instantly. More recently, his girlfriend Joe was killed and absorbed into the body of fellow superheroine Luna, AKA It Girl. This allows her to live on as a composite being known as LunaJoe. Frank has inherited a house from his previous life and is returning to the scientist lab where LunaJoe is being seperated into a cloned body. Yay.

We start out with basic superhero stuff, Frank jumping along telephone wires to get back quicker. He runs into his friends, The Atomics, the superhero team who It Girl belongs to. Meanwhile, the cloning has been a success and the two girls are two different people again. Also, the Atomics ship blows up. This issue is mainly displayed in a series of panels split vertically along the page. Creator Mike Allred sure knows how to experiment, as he had also done a whole issue as a long fight scene that scrolled along the screen, I have to give him props for that.

The Atomics discover that a bomb had been placed on their ship and are unable to figure out who did it. Frank is concerned, but they assure him they can handle things and send him off. Except for stretching hero Mr. Gum who helps Frank get home quicker. Unfortunatley, they are attacked by an army of robotic insects. Gum tells Frank to just run while he handles them. And by handles them, he apparently means get beat up by them. Meanwhile again, Luna wonders if the cloning process could possibly revive her dead boyfriend Adam, whose brain was eaten by an alien creature a few issues ago. The scientist, Dr. Flem says that while he probably can, it won't be as easy as he's already cloning the missing organ (the brain) rather than a whole body. Also, Joe is donning a costume to become Madgirl. Not as catchy, byt meh.

As Frank returns home, the scientists and girls are attacked by Monstadt, Franks arch nemesis who was previously dead, but keeping with the cloning area of the story, he's back in a suped by cloned body (pictured). He proceeds to lay the smack down on the supporting cast while Frank defeats a robotic worm. How does he do it? He licks an active power point. And considering that this is a family friendly comic, 'That's an excellent message for the kiddies, ain't it?' Frank returns to the lab finally and is captured in what looks like a giant dead rose. Seriously, I don't know what it is.

Frank awakens in the boiler room where Monstadt proceeds to toss his beloved supporting cast into the alien furnace so that he may take over their alien powered HQ. He's too weak to do anything as the blue fiend prepares to dispose of him in the same way...

This comic is great! It's part of a complex storyline and I was instantly hooked! I couldn't wait to read the next issue. Unfortunatley when I did it was a major cop out. Joe uses the extra cosmic energy from her revival to shoot a laser that kills Monstadt and protect her friends from the flames. I soon realised that while older issues were basic if original superhero stories, Atomic Comics...weren't. Even the finale issue, number 16, featured Madman being burnt to a crisp but no villains or combat.THAT MAKES ME MAD!. But I digress, the series isn't actually bad, I just went in expecting a superhero book and didn't get one. Admittedly issue 9 has a pretty elaborate one, being the scrolling one I mentioned earlier, but it just didn't have that effect on me. In fact my favorite comic fight of all time is in an issue of the original Tick comics, but that's because I really liked the Tick at the time, and it was well drawn, there's plenty of other good ones.

So what's my verdict? I dunno. But I do plan on seeing the Madman feature film if it ever comes to fruition, and I'd also pick up the next Madman series, cos while it didn't deliver what I was expecting, I can't help but like the character. I'll also discuss some other problems I have with it another time. But for now, this is ThatKidWithTheSidebunrs, Sideburning off...that was terrible.

Welcome

Hello. I'm Ned Coyle, ThatKidWithTheSideburns. I am an Australian teenager (at the time of posting anyway, you know how biology works afterall). I am considered by myself to be a geek and have a mental disorder which makes talking to others somewhat more difficult for me, dimishing my social life.

But am I here to talk to you about that? Heck no. I'm not a miserable wreck, I have friends, I get decent grades and generally consider my life pretty damn decent. Besides I CAN talk to people and I'm not one for huge social events anyway.

Well, what am I going to do here? I suppose I'll be talking about comic books, mainly because I wanted to use Panel by Panel as my title, but I won't limit myse;f to that. Whatever I find that interests me, I'll be talking about. Heck, at times I might not even be talking about sci-fi at all, it might just be something interesting that happened to me that I wanted to share, or maybe something introspective...you know what? I think I may have just described a regular blog. Damn.

Well anyway, here is some pictures of me and my niece. I genuinley believe her to be the awesomest thing in the universe.