[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]

Life can be humdrum. Boring to tears. Drab. For most of us, daily living is comprised of compromises and lackluster recesses of escapism. Existence can often seem like a set of meaningless tasks, more of a bogus journey than any sort of excellent adventure.

Is buying a couch really that enthralling?

Just the other day, a friend of mine was talking to me about the mind-numbing and uninspiring nature of modern life. Then, with earnestness, he started to describe just how great it would be to live during the End Times. He seemed keen on a zombie apocalypse, but would settle for any sort of societal collapse. Liberation is to be found in survivalism, he told me.

I disagreed. I had just finished reading The Stand. And not unlike Lord of the Flies, Stephen King’s epic taught me that civilization can be pretty rad. Overbearing hierarchies and rigid systems of control? Complete chaos? No. But having some sort of order is a good idea. Can a shade of gray exist in which personal empowerment is actualized?

This very struggle is the premise of Matt Kindt’s graphic novel Revolver.

Sam, the hero of this tale, is dissatisfied. His girlfriend is superficial beyond redemption. His job sucks. His boss makes his life miserable. Nothing is going his way.

But then he goes to sleep at 11:11PM and when he wakes up, he’s in the midst of an apocalypse. Terrorist attacks have decimated cities, plagues are spreading across the globe, natural disasters are underway – real wrath of God type stuff! Cities have erupted into bedlam and even instituting martial law has done little to quell the disorder. However, with death being an imminent possibility, Sam learns to appreciate his life and use it to the fullest.

Unfortunately, he once again falls asleep at 11:11PM; upon waking this time, he has been transported back to his mundane life. Of course, inner-conflict ensues. This “normal” life is much safer than the alternate reality Sam just experienced, as dirty-bombs and bird diseases are left out of the equation. With that being said, there’s also no sense of purpose here. Sam doesn’t understand why he should care about dinner with his girlfriend’s parents or appeasing his snobby boss or investing himself in any of the other truly inconsequential activities we fill our lives with.

And so Revolver takes the reader through alternating days of two different realities; one overly tedious and lacking passion, one which is brimming with vigor but threatening to implode at any moment. Kindt does a superb job of balancing the realities, highlighting the perks of both as well as their inherent defects. Moreover, the story really comes together when it’s revealed that the realities aren’t quite as separate as originally thought.

Fugg, I feel like I haven’t included enough titillating plot elements. A list: murder, shoot-outs, secret newspapers, terrorist masterminds, hideouts, sex, satellite-guided missiles, and swear-infested diatribes. Other stuff, too.

On top of this phenomenal writing, Kindt’s art is no eyesore. With limited use of color, the artist clearly identifies which reality the reader is peeking into (bluish for normal//reddish for apocalypse). The line art is somewhat simple, but expressive enough to put a real humanity into the characters. I’m guessing that this simplicity was consciously summoned, as the artist’s portfolio demonstrates a prowess in more complex styles. Nevertheless, what he’s doing works.

More than the art itself, I was particularly taken with Revolver’s manipulation of form. To me, these deviations are not for their own sake but actually help generate the atmosphere and tone of the piece. Page numbers, for instance, are integrated into running newsfeeds at the bottom of the page; of course, different realities value different events. An example:

THREE MAJOR NETWORKS ARE REPORTING INCREASES IN VIEWERS IN THE 28-35 AGE GROUP, WHICH IS VITAL TO ADVERTISING

GENERATOR POWER IN THE NORTH IS BELIEVED TO BE THE CAUSE OF OVER 35 DEATHS AS BITTER TEMPERATURES BEGIN

Also, the paneled pages are occasionally halted; in their place, textual pages such as a newsletter or an advertisement are tossed in. Again, this might sound gimmicky but is actually executed in with genuine sentiment. Lastly, there are a few instances in which Sam’s narrative boxes are put over comics or movies, creating a story-within-a-story structure.

Am I sucker for such devices? Yes. But I also think that I’m self-aware enough to know when they’re used in good taste.

So what can I complain about? Well, not much. My only point of concern is that Revolver costs $25US – and I’m not really sure what the exchange is for Ameros. With that being said, the book is a full graphic novel (about 170 pages) and is wrapped in a hardcover. I don’t mind tossing Kindt the cash, but I’d feel like a real b-hole if I didn’t give you a heads-up.

Revolver didn’t come out this week. Nor is it a single issue. But it is fugging awesome and you would be doing yourself a favor to give it a read.

Source: Comics Alliance

My love for awesome nerdy shoes that I can’t wear because of my mammoth feet is well documented. First there were Bioshock kicks. Then Iron Man sneakers. And now these DC-themed Converse efforts in sexiness that will never fit my enormo-toes.

Hit the jump for the rest of the gorgeous line of shoes.

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Source: Pulphope

Variant Covers, is at its core, a weekly comic book column. Most weeks are like this one, a round-up of the comic books that I am planning to acquire through galactic credits tomorrow at the local Pictures And Words dealer. Other weeks, the status quo is subsumed by a desire to pontificate on a particular topic. Like Peter Parker and his amazing Non-Progress Adventure. All columns are sponsored by a permanent state of juvenility, and made-up words.

Shall we?

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #4
This is my column, and while I maintain a sense of duty in pleasing others and keeping it fresh, I’m going to go ahead and recommend the latest issue of Bruce Wayne and his righteous riding of the Time Waves. I know that I’ve popped off on this mini-series previously, but I’m sorry.

It’s one of my favorite things dropping every month, and I’ll be god damned if I ain’t excited to read it tomorrow. The latest issue finds Sir Wayne of Forevermore riding the time stream into the wild, wild west. Or is it the wild, wild east? After all, it seems that every time that the Island jumps for him, he ends up in Gotham during Period To Be Determined.

I may be reading it completely incorrectly, there’s always the chance of that.

The series is centered around the essence of Bruce Wayne, and how those essential tropes can carry through the millennium. They’re applicable everywhere. The concepts of symbols as power, great sleuthing, and an undying regret towards being unable to save a loved one (in this case it seems ‘ole Anne Elliot) can work while existing in the realm of Cave Dudes just as well as it came amidst the Red Dead Redemption set.

This shit rocks me like a rock star rocks things.

Spin on that, ya’ll.

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Artifacts #1
This comic is being billed as “the event five-years in the making!”, but it strikes me as “epic shit starring characters I stopped caring about ten years ago!” Featuring Witchblade, the Darkness, and other characters that were totally super-sexual and x-treme during the 1990′s, the most exciting thing about this comic book and its selling points as that it kicks me back to my childhood.

Looking back on it now, I am impressed at the fact that I snagged Witchblade back in the day purely and solely based on the fact that my fifteen year-old dong and sex drive went fucking bananas for the artwork. And while it titillates me to a certain degree now, I can’t believe I actually bought that shit.

Also, O-M-F-G, fucking Witchblade and Darkness have a kid? That’s so epic!

Snark aside, fucking Garth Ennis of all people wrote The Darkness back in the day, and half of me wants to dig the fuggin’ issues out and see how they hold up. I mean, they can’t be any worse that the super-derivative Boys slop he’s pumping out, can it? That comic started off novel, and then turned into one of my bile-filled nonsensical columns: three or four over-used cock jokes and some reference to hyper-violence.

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Northlanders #30
Northlanders this month kicks off a new storyline, about a couple avenging the woman’s wronging at the hand of corrupt Christian missionaries. They swear themselves to some truly foreboding and ballin’ shit: violent retribution. C’mon, you have to be sold now.

No? Well let me try this.

Like other great works of fiction, Northlanders operates on two distinct levels. Topically, it serves as an awesome old-school conglomerate of swords and shields and Vikings. But as I remarked last month, it also works as a venue for some really interesting commentary on power, religion, and other hot-button topics.

I know it may seem silly calling something like Northlanders a “great work of fiction”, but when you’re able to critique Christian missionaries while swinging heated metal and issuing death, you’re deftly conflating two seemingly distinct entities.

There’s overly didactic slop, and there’s writings that allow you to engage in some fun, while having themes introduced and topics discussed in a fashion that makes them enjoyable, and not some groan-inducing lecture or heavy-handed diatribe.

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Fantastic Four #581
Continuing my line of comic books that will stimulate your nerdglands while massaging your intellectual nodes, I have to once again big-up to Fantastic Four. Yeah dog, I know! Repetitious as fuck, these columns are! When they’re not a mangled garb of Yoda-speak! And fake-words! And hyphens!

This month, motherfucking Daddy Richards returns to the scene, hitting up Reed and Doom when they’re in college and shit. This is back when they were BFFs, and would totally pay D&D until like three in the morning and coo to one another about how hot Sue Storm was, as they looked longingly in one another’s eyes.

Homosocial circles ahoy! And they say there’s no room for vaporous literary psycho-analysis in comic books! Well, I’m sure they don’t say that, given the rampant sexuality and everything. But most academics are too busy researching some esoteric 16th Century Blind Carribean Women’s Literature to deign as to look at the funny books.

So Daddy Richards – hey look, more room for some Lacanian or Freudian or other -ian psychoanaylsis – returns and he needs to recruit mad peeps for a trip to the Future! Maybe even Future in bold! Who knows.

But again, I’m sure there will be some eerie meditation on power, or responsibility or something! intelligent interwoven so well into the first of a two-parter that you’ll be diggin’ on not only the substance given, but the sentiment underneath.

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What are you troglodytes diggin’ on this week? Hit me with recommendations. There’s some comics I couldn’t get to, as brevity isn’t in my non-existent list of skills. The newest issue of Secret Avengers comes out, as does the latest Cowboy Viking Ninja. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention you can be so lucky as to buy Sense and Sensibility #3 this week, as well as Alien Vs. Predator: World War Three #5.

Hit me.

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Matt Fraction at w00tstock, ruminating upon the various meanings of comic books. He goes through his childhood experiences with comics, why comic books work as a medium, and how he went about killing a villain when he was first given the chance. This presentation is equal parts hilarious, insightful and entertaining.

If you like comics you must watch this.

The most pressing comics-issue on my mind as of late has been What’re they going to do with Bruce Wayne when he returns? Fortunately, my fears that Grayson would have to return to his gig as Nightwing have been assuaged. Apparently, Bruce isn’t going to reclaim the cowl for himself, but share it with his former ward.

[via comicsalliance]

…Grant Morrison’s run on DC’s most popular character enters its fourth year in a comic titled “Batman, Inc.” slated for November with frequent Morrison collaborator Yanick Paquette (“Seven Solders: Bulleteer,” “Return of Bruce Wayne”) , as revealed on the “Batman: The Return” panel at San Diego Comic-Con.

While Grant Morrison kept mum on explaining exactly what the series is about, he did say that he looked to two interesting things for inspiration: “The Brave & the Bold” cartoon and the Johnny DC comic books. He likes seeing Batman teaming up with other people and wants to bring some of that flavor in the new series. Morrison explained that “[i]n ‘[Batman] R.I.P.’ you got to find out what happens when you take Bruce Wayne out of the equation. ['Batman, Inc.'] is what happens when Bruce is more in the equation and what he does with the Batman idea and how he turns it into a franchise… Everything in [Batman's] operation is about to change.”

A careful reading of Morrison’s run thus far suggests that, as foreshadowed in “Batman” #666, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are going to be sharing the cape and cowl while Damian Wayne remains Robin. This means that the Dynamic Duo is more of a Terrific Trio, though exactly how their identities and relationships will work out will not be known “The Return of Bruce Wayne” and “Batman: The Return” finish their run.

So, two Batmen and a Robin? Count me in. If this is really the route they’re going, I think DC has just perfectly parried Marvel’s reintegration of Steve Rogers into the 616.

Gotham City might see caped crusaders of quite different capabilities running about. Just imagine the combinations…

I love me some Thor. Who the fuck doesn’t? Sexy jacked dude with a giant (phallus) hammer named Mjolnir. I also love me some Jonathan Hickman. Hickman, who is currently making the Fantastic Four both cool and brilliant, and whose S.H.I.L.E.D somehow features Galactus, a resurrected Leonardo Da Vinci, and insight into the power of ideas in sculpting humankind, is fucking brilliant.

This October? We’re getting Jonathan Hickman writing Ultimate Thor. Fuck to the yes.

Comics Alliance:

“It’s patented Hickman madness,” said editor Mark Paniccia. “Nazis. Frost giants. World World II planes crashing into Asgard. It’s going to be amazing.”

A Thor arc involving Nazis and fucking frost giants? We’re not worthy, but god dammit I’ll take it.

Hit the jump for some sexy concept art.

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All artwork courtesy of Comics Alliance:

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[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]

Spoilers Ahead. Forreal.

Sometime ago, Marvel unleashed an event on the Spider-Man universe called One More Day. This story essentially undid years and years of continuity and character development; in exchange for Aunt May’s life, Peter Parker and Mary Jane agree to allow Mephisto to retcon their lives any way he sees fit. Of course, he makes it so that they were never married.

Fugging hogwash.

For the most part, I feel that rewriting character history is a dangerous endeavor. By saying This and that and the other thing never happened, a writer is basically tossing out the stories that fans have spent years reading. The characters don’t really develop and readers can pretty much count on future tales coming to similar conclusions.

I’m going to pause for a second, to add some counterbalance to my tirade. I’m not opposed to reboots or reimaginings of all sorts. In fact, I think that harnessing fresh perspectives to relaunch franchises can lead to products that are better than the originals (see: Battlestar Galactica, The Dark Knight, etc.). But what I can’t stomach is the constant rehashing of tried-and-true formulas.

So Peter Parker and MJ aren’t together anymore? Years of marriage thrown out the window? A new opportunity for the two lovebirds to go through the rigors of courtship and be rejoined once again? Did anyone expect this to not lead to them getting back together again?

Truthfully, I haven’t read any Spider-Man titles since 2007; I’ve just been too turned off by the aforementioned turn of events. But at the comics shop today I saw that the first issue of One Moment in Time had come out. And I’ve decided to get back on board.

At first, and I admit this is due to nothing other than my own wishful thinking, I thought this event would be about undoing that which was undone. Wait, huh? Yeah, I guess I was just hoping that Amazing Spider-Man #638 would return readers to a state blissful Parker/Watson matrimony. We could all pat each other on the back, have a good laugh, and then say “Well, now that the foregone conclusion has been arrive at, fun new shit can happen.”

Hell, maybe Peter Parker has to reveal his identity to the public. Oh, wait.

Alas, this is not the case. Amazing Spider-Man #638 begins an arc in which we see what happened to prevent Parker and MJ from getting married. So, all we’re doing is going back and getting a glimpse of how Mephisto’s evil plan unfolded. Instead of righting the wrongs of the last three years and catching the story up-to-speed, One Moment in Time seems more focused on explaining how the shit hit the fan.

Hrm.

While I’m not terribly enthused about delaying the inevitable lovers’ reunion, I do think this story is being handled with novelty. Joe Quesada is writing an amendment to Spider-Man Annual #21, inserting changes and variations that thereby alter the wedding featured in the classic issue.

As Mary Jane and Peter think back to that day, pages of the 1987 Wedding Special appear. At the very least, I’m interested by the interweaving of what was once canon with the new twist. Some may see this technique as a affront to the work of the team that put together that comic, but I think Quesada may actually be paying tribute. Instead of having it been blinked out of existence, he is sharing portions of the original with a whole new generation of readers.

Fortunately, this issue ends in present-day with Peter and Mary Jane appearing none-too-thrilled, deflated by the reminiscing about their unfulfilled love. Again, I can’t say that I agree with this dancing around the obvious, the reveling in stagnant narrative waters. With that being said, this issue has provided food for thought and piqued my interest in Spider-Man for the first time in years.

That’s a small little victory.

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Before we depart, I present some pictorial evidence. Some couples, fictional or otherwise, are just meant to be. Hopefully it won’t be too long before Mary Jane and Peter are be back together, picking up where editors forced them to leave off.

Amazing Spider-Man #638
Alright, fuck every other comic that is coming out this week, I want to talk about Peter Parker. This week, the Spider-Man event One Moment In Time is kicking off. The event is in response to the other Spidey event that took place in 2007. That shiz was called Brand New Day. In this wonderful arc, Spider-Man was faced with a choice presented by Mephisto. Mephisto was all like, “Yo, I can save your dying Aunt May. But in return, you will never have married Mary Jane.”

Somehow, and for some reason, Peter Parker decided that this was a solid deal. What a dumb bastard. He chose his rickety old fucking Aunt May, over his gorgeous, accepting supermodel wife? This shit has irked me for some time now. Dude Pete, she ain’t even your Mom, yo. I know, I know, same thing, close enough, blah blah blah. So poof! With a wink and a nod, and probably some magical smoke that makes people disappear and stuff, Mary Jane and Peter Parker were never married.

Somehow.

Why’d it happen?

Well, it happened because Mephisto wanted Parker’s love. Or something. But we know why it really happened: because Marvel had no idea what the fuck to do with Peter Parker anymore. Parker was the character that apparently everybody related to growing up. I didn’t, I was a total X-Men dude. I was more comfortable running around with a pack of mutants, watching Wolverine gut dudes and totally talk smack to Scotty Summers and secretly hitting on Jean Grey.

[As a brief aside, did you ever consider Wolverine's enhanced senses? Like, what'd they be like in the bedroom? I imagine sniffing a pair of panties with his leet skills is either the greatest thing ever, or he passes out and goes semi-catatonic.]

But anyways, people related to him. Why? Because he was dorky, and disaffected. Because he didn’t fit in, and he had typical teenage angst, and he had a rough go of things. His parents were dead, he kept waking up with webbing in his pants thinking about watching Mary Jane cheerleading at the pep rally.

Peter Parker married to Mary Jane?

That shit changes everything! Parker wasn’t angsty anymore, he wasn’t unfulfilled. He was a middle-class teacher, married to a gorgeous supermodel who accepted him for all his quirks and the fact that he dresses up in tights and fights giant reptiles. Acceptance. Evolution. Before Brand New Day, Parker wasn’t the character that people had grown up to love, who was eminently relatable. He was normal. And apparently that was boring enough, and scary enough, and far enough away from his “roots” as Joe Quesada put it, that they had to use one of the most contrived storyline mechanics I can recall to pull it off.

But now? Well now, they’re going to tell us all what happened at Mary Jane and Peter’s wedding! On that fateful day! And if I had to guess, according to all the promotional issues, Mary Jane and Peter Parker are going to reignite their passions or something. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t been reading Spider-Man. I don’t really feel the character. But that’s a different conversation for a different day. But the question that it raises, is just what to do with Peter Parker? Or for any comic book character for that matter.

On one hand, you have the static approach: keep Peter Parker young, single, and pining. Keep it looking longingly through his Spider-telescope at Mary Jane, and being unfulfilled. After all, isn’t this what made the dude the guy we could relate to? I think there’s certainly something to that.

The other idea is to have the character evolve. But that’s risky, you know? I mean, even as we speak, there’s nerdy kids who want to fuck the cheerleader, looking for someone to relate to. Even at this juncture there are kids like I was, thirteen years ago, awkward looking, shackled in braces, needing an identifiable trope to get behind.

And at this point, Marvel doesn’t seem to know what to do with the character. He evolves, they reset him. He makes some progress as a character, they get rid of it. There’s Brand New Day, now there’s One Moment In Time. Change, reduction. Peter Parker is a rat running down a hallway, with Good Lord Marvel just plucking him up halfway down the hall starting him at the beginning again.

What do you think? What do you prefer? As sad as it sounds, I actually prefer Peter Parker the emo-kid youth. And that’s probably the problem, who doesn’t? Parker as a high school teacher? Meh. That’s probably why the first fifty or so issues of Ultimate Spider-Man is my favorite take on the Webslinger in a long time.

It’s tricky though, and I don’t seem to know an answer. But that’s okay, because it seems Marvel doesn’t either.

[via slashfilm | click to enlarge]

Hello true believers! How do you feel about more awkward, well-lit pictures from the Thor movie set?! Designed to simultaneously excite you, but make you worry, because something about them doesn’t look quite right? This shit looks like it was taken with a disposable camera from a hot air balloon.

via slashfilm:

A new photo from Marvel Studio’s big screen adaptation of Thor was released in today’s print edition of the Los Angeles Times. The new photo reveals a wide angle view of the epic set of the Hall of Asgard, featuring a kneeling Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Asgardians Fandral the Dashing (Josh Dallas), Hogun the Grim (Tadanobu Asano) and Frigga (Rene Russo); and Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) both sporting ceremonial helmets

The set looks dope though, I’ll give them that. Here’s hoping it all translates well to film. If not? Forsooth, and shit!