"IT'S PROBABLY LESS OBSURD TO WATCH THAN FIGURE SKATING, IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT."

A COMIC EVERYBODY SHOULD OWN

DEATHSTROKE # 7

Bad Simian: So, TCB, what's so special about Deathstroke # 7?

TCB: Well, let's see... aside from a killer cover by big Mike Zeck, it's part two of the underrated City of Assassins story that introduced the third Vigilante, Pat Trayce, so that's pretty cool.

But I guess the main reason I picked it up, originally, was for the Deathstroke/Batman fight.

BS: Batman fights Deathstroke? Wow, yeah, that sounds exciting. So how's that happen?

TCB: Essentially, Deathstroke's trying to find an assassin who's killing all of Gotham City's major gangsters, which of course, brings him face-to-face with Batman, who believes Deathstroke might be the killer... and things pretty much go badass from there.

Deathstrokes, who's kind of racing against the clock, gets tired of Batman's getting in his way, and a fight breaks out.

BS: So who wins?

TCB: Well, it's Slade's book, so who do you think? But this had been a fight fans were asking for in the letters pages for years, and Wolfman really delivered the goods. Not to give too much away, but it ends with Deathstroke telling Batman to stay down, Bats not listening and, ultimately, ending up on the receiving end of one of the greatest roundhouse kicks ever...

BS: Yikes. That sounds pretty brutal.

TCB: Yeah, it is.

WTF?

Covers for Mighty Avengers # 7, New Avengers # 35, and Mighty Avengers #8

Y'know, I'm not usually one to poo poo a story before I've had the opportunity to read it, but this whole Venom symbiotes versus the Avengers thing wreaks of "But damn, we've run outta ideas."

But I think I know what happened here.

Bendis, under a tight editorial deadline, was looking through some old stuff in his office and found one of his "Cool Story Ideas For When I'm A Writer At Marvel" notebooks from the 90s (hey, I've got a few myself) and found this little gem inside, plotted and ready to go.

All he really had to do was change a few names - Sersi to Ms. Marvel, Hercules to Sentry, Black Knight to Ares, Druid to Doctor Strange, Deathcry to Wolverine... you get the idea.

That can be the only explanation, right?

WAIT, WHAT DID HE SAY ABOUT THE FALCON?

MEGO-A-GO-GO!

ANYBODY ELSE EXCITED ABOUT THIS?

I've started reading the book, and I'm kind of surprised by how much I like it.

Sometime last year, I was working my way through the Narnia books (for the first time, believe it or not) and while talking with a friend about C S Lewis, he suggested I read Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy before the movies hit, describing the story as the anti-Narnia.

I'd completely forgotten about it until a month or so back I saw the trailer for The Golden Compass, and now I'm on.

Anybody else read these?

A TRIBUTE TO THE UNTOUCHABLE BATMAN

AS IT SHOULD BE

From Superman #666, out today.

1ST BOY ON MARS

"Okay, so it's like Tintin mixed with Flash Gordon..."

For the past few weeks, Phil Looney and I, along with the very talented Matthew Smith, have been working on a new project which may or may not get pitched to DC's new ZUDA comics.

It's called Kip Karter: 1st Boy On Mars and I thought it'd be cool to show off some of Mr. Smith's incredible start-up art.

Hope you enjoy it and look for more 1BoM info to come here on the ol' Bad Simian.

FANBOYS TRAILER

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN... JOHN BYRNE

WORD OF ADVICE... DON'T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE GIANT ZOMBIE GORILLA

BS REVIEW: BOOSTER GOLD # 1

This might surprise you, but I liked Booster Gold #1. Don't worry, I don't just absolutely love it, but all in all, it's pretty fun and I'll probably be picking up #2.

The truth is, I've always liked Booster Gold. It probably has to do with me occasionally confusing him for Animal Man when I was younger (those goggles, man), but even more than that, it was Dan Jurgens, Booster's creator and penciller on the new series.

Back in the day, Jurgens was a doer at DC, not just a talker. He made things happen in the DCU, and good or bad, it was always interesting. To me, Booster Gold was Jurgens' attempt at introducing a bright and shiny (literally) Silver Age concept hero into the, not just post-Crisis, but post-Dark Knight and Watchmen world, and believe it or not, when he wasn't just the butt of every JLA joke, Booster actually meant something to a lot of fans.

And if this new series keeps it up, who knows... maybe he might again.

In #1, we see that, post-Infinite Crisis and 52, Booster Gold is, yet again, low man on the superhero totem pole despite having helped save the universe (52 times, by his count).

But a misunderstood punch-up with the Royal Flush Gang puts Booster in position to win a spot on the new JLA. He gets one week to prove he's got it together enough to be a Leaguer, and he's determined not to screw up. But Time Master, Rip Hunter has other plans and soon steals Booster into the time stream which is where the series' really gets its set up.

Hunter tells us all history before New Earth is "like wet cement", and in danger of being manipulated by forces trying to eleminate Earth's heroes. Each "wet patch" is represented by a fissure in time that needs to be sealed or fixed.

It wasn't real clear to me why Hunter can't do it alone, but he ends up recruiting Booster, citing his time-travelling origins, his heroism in 52, and his inconsequential rep in the superhero community (nobody'd expect it from him), as reasons that make him the perfect man for the job. With Booster's interest peeked, Hunter goes on to explain if it works, Booster will be the greatest hero of all time... the catch being, no one will ever know about it.

After revealing that, of course, Booster turns him down.

A week later Booster meets the JLA and is welcomed into the fold. But when his membership plague morphs into a death certificate for Green Lanter Hal Jordan, Booster's eyes are opened to the troubles of a hemorrhaging time stream, and he quickly decides to join Hunter... under the condition that once it's all said and done, he'll help find a way to bring back Booster's best friend, Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle.

One thing I noticed about the issue was just how much it borrows from the Booster Gold centric Justice League Unlimited episode, The Greatest Story Never Told.

In the episode (which also has a Composite Superman reference), Booster single-handedly stops a black hole from devouring Earth while the rest of the League are fighting Modru off screen. In the end, Booster is the hero of the day and nobody really even notices... very similar to the premise of the current ongoing, I'd say.

But honestly, it's not a bad way for Booster to work and might make for some interesting motivational conflicts down the road.

One of my biggest complaints since Infinite Crisis has been DC's weird non-committal stance on what existed before the new 52 statue quo. What Krypton's the right Krypton? Was Superman ever Superboy? Did Joe Chill kill the Waynes? And if so, does Batman know? Why're there multiple versions of the Legion? All important questions, right?

Having a series that actively takes steps to clean up some of this stuff is pretty neat, I guess.

I still remain pretty suspicious of DC and maintain that they've got no idea what they're doing, but for now, I'm intrigued and on board for Booster Gold... but who knows what the future holds?

Booster Gold
DC Comics
$3.50
By Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz, Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

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HEY, WAIT A MINUTE...

Why isn't he called the Composite Batman?

Or the Composite Superbatman?

Y'know... a "Superbatman" would be unbelievably awesome, composite or not.

MIKE WIERINGO

Mike Wieringo died.

It's sure to be a common blog topic today, and quite honestly, I don't have a lot to add other than to just say that Wieringo was, by far, the nicest and most genuine comics creator I've had the pleasure of meeting - EVER. He never seemed like he was trying to hard to be cool, he just was... and he almost always seemed surprised to find out that another person loved his work and was letting him know.

His almost daily updates and industry insights at his blog were always beautifully drawn (far beyond a simple sketch) and always well said... just one thing I'll miss about this incredibly talented guy.

My thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends. At 44, truly, his was a light that dimmed too soon.

PHIL LOONEY, I APOLOGIZE

This is most definitely Phil at Poptown's area of expertise, so I'd like to apologize in advance for stepping on his toes a little here, but damn... what is up with this statue?

Reformation Megatron Bust
by Diamond Select

Holy cats, sports fans! This just seems like such a waste of so many things... time, money, natural resources, and the list goes on and on.

Those of you who don't recognize what's "happening" with the bust, don't feel bad. (In fact, feel good - FEEL REALLY GOOD!) But, it captures a bit of cinematic history as Megatron begins his Galvatron upgrade via Unicron from Transformers: The Movie. I'll ashamedly go ahead and admit, when I was 10, I thought it was a pretty awesome (and quite horrific) scene, but it in no way warrants a commemorative bust or anything like this.

Doesn't it bothers you that eventually the person who buys this thing for display is going to have to explain it one day? Well, for his benefit and ours, I'm suggest that from now on, Diamond Select simply affix a standard title plate to all of their statues and busts that reads:

HOLY CRAP - ELLIOT S! MAGGIN'S RUNNING FOR CONGRESS

Not a dream, not a hoax, not an imaginary story...

His politacal motto - "Truth, Justice, and the American Way."

No effin' joke.

NEW FRONTIER TRAILER

Best part: Lucy Lawless going nuts in the recording booth as she voices Wonder Woman.

Worst part: Dan Didio's big ol' bald noggin'.

But seriously, this looks really good.

DANGER ACE PAGES 4 - 12

Y'know, I always like it when guys like Jeff Parker and Matt Fraction post pencil pages on their sites, blogs, etc... So, in an effort to keep this blog going, that's what I'm doing today - here're the final 9 pages of Danger Ace # 0 for you guys to take a look at and see just how incredible Jerry Hinds is.


Oh, and keep watching this space. There might be a cool Danger Ace announcement coming later this week... fingers are crossed.


Enjoy the art.

PAGE FOUR

PAGE FIVE

PAGE SIX PAGE SEVEN

PAGE EIGHT
PAGE NINE
PAGE TEN
PAGE ELEVEN
PAGE TWELVE