Comic Book Review: Power Girl v2 (Issues 1-12)

Power Girl (v2) Issues 1-12

Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray

Art by Amanda Conner

Covers by Amanda Conner and Adam Hughes

Published by DC Comics

Never thought I would find myself reading a comic book with a superheroine as the main protagonist, let alone reviewing it, but here I am folks, writing quite a long review to express my thoughts on this title.

Power Girl is one of the hottest (yes, pun intended) ongoing titles that DC Comics is offering right now and it started with the first twelve issues helmed by the husband-and-wife team of writer Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner together with Justin Gray in July of 2009. At first I was a little bit skeptical about reading the series mainly because I was never a fan of Peej - except for her big boobies - but I'm glad I gave it a chance. 

It starts off with issue # 1 titled "New Beginning" with Power Girl (Kara Zor-L) once again assuming the identity of Karen Starr (this could be a great pornstar name to be honest), a business-woman and CEO of Starrware Industries - her own company which she decided to revive in the city of New York. She's also got a new friend named Atlee who is actually the superhero-in-training named Terra, who has the ability to control anything made of rock or earthly substances at her will. 

Over the course of the series, we get to see  super-villains and other alien beings coming over taking their own shot at PG. Her first encounter was with an intelligent monster named Ultra-Humanite who is holding the entire city hostage hoping that Power Girl would give up her body so that he can transfer his brain to Peej's more powerful bod. Right after that she's got to deal with 3 alien princesses who started wreaking havoc on Earth, and then, in my most favorite arc in this series,a guy named Vartox (who I'm damn sure is a Peter North/Ron Jeremy hybrid) from an alien planet called Valeron comes crashing in and tries to seduce PeeGee into being his mate so that his "impotent" planet could survive  (thus preventing his race's extinction) after being blown completely by a "contraceptive bomb" courtesy of a hostile race, and... so much more. 

Goyer Short Story in Action Comics #900: Now A Major Headline!?

Variant Cover by Adam Hughes

Action Comics 900 hit the shelves recently and I just got a little bit "spoiled" I should say on this 90+ page milestone of a comic book after headlines surfaced from every major comic blog/site about a particular Superman story  by guest writer David Goyer (screenwriter of Batman Begins) about the Man of Steel himself - an American icon who fights for "Truth, Justice, and American Way" - "renouncing" his US citizenship. Yes, you read that right.

Comic book sites Bleeding Cool has just listed links from some of the biggest news networks and newspapers in the United States talking about the particular short story, while Comics Alliance posted a particular panel from the said storyline yesterday that had readers commenting like mad for the past 24 hours.  

I believe saw/read it yesterday with 36 comments. Now? 468. And counting. (You can click on the CA link above to see one of the panels that caused much outrage from some)

Its a BIG headline. Superman is making some noise. 

New Theatrical Trailer For 'X-Men: First Class'

New trailer. More action.

Sporting new scenes featuring the young mutant team using their powers in the 60s and some great CGI effects, it looks like the movie is gonna take us to a whole new X-perience.  Get ready for some blasting mutant badassery after the jump.

Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and January Jones and directed by Matthew Vaughn, X-Men: First Class hits theaters on June 3. 


[via Yahoo! Movies]

Upcoming Podcast All About Pinoy Komiks!

Podcasts are slowly getting in to the mainstream nowadays and I believe I have listened/followed a few - namely Bill Simmons of ESPN's "The BS Report"  for some basketball commentary, and for the local ones, the one hosted by DJ Mo Twister, "Good Times With Mo" where they give advice about sex, love, life problems and what not. 

Now Komiks will get a chance to get talked about in an all new, all-Tagalog podcast to be presented by comic book writer/artist Gerry Alanguilan together with two other komikeros. I believe its a nice vehicle to promote local komiks where in the Philippines. 

I would definitely download this once it goes online on May 6. Pretty excited to hear what they've got to say, as  Gerry is one of my favorites in the industry together with Leinil Francis Yu and Francis Manapul.

More info on gerry.alanguilan.com

P.S - congrats to Sir Gerry as his graphic novel "Elmer" is nominated for Best Graphic Album in this year's Eisner Awards - which basically the Oscars / Grammys of the comic book industry. Hopefully he bags it!

Comic Book Review: The Ultimates Vol. 1

The Ultimates Vol 1

Issues: 6

Written by Mark Millar

Art by Brian Hitch

Published by Marvel Comics

As you can see folks I have posted enough photos and trailers for the upcoming Thor and Captain America live-action films that you can tell that I'm really hyped up to watch them on the big screen.

And I decided to prep myself a little bit more by reading the first 6 issues of The Ultimates - a comic book limited series by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch which spotlights the adventures of the Ultimates - a  superhero team that appears in the Ultimate Marvel universe and is basically a remake of the company's high-profile superhero team, the Avengers. More realistic, more humane, and more kick-ass.

Titled "Super Human", this collection deals with the formation of the team by S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury and their first major mission: stopping an angry and rampaging green monster known as the Hulk, after Bruce Banner (Hulk's human alter-ego) injects himself with the "super-soldier serum" that prompts him to transform into his big bad-ass self.

The team is composed of Iron Man (Tony Stark - the money guy of course), Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Henry Pym - a molecular biologist who has the ability to grow himself), The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne - who is portrayed as an Asian and has the ability to shrink herself the size of an insect), Captain America (Steve Rogers - the old man), and finally  the Thunder God/nutjob, Thor. 

"The Governor" Gets His Spotlight In The First "The Walking Dead" Novel

I was pretty sure that a novel banking on the success of the hottest zombie-themed graphic novel right now is gonna surface sometime and my instincts didn't fail me.

Yep, a novel based on the critically acclaimed comic book   titled "Rise of the Governor", written by Jay Bonansinga,  together with "The Walking Dead" co-creator himself, Robert Kirkman is scheduled to hit bookstores on September 27th. 

According to the synopsis found on Amazon.com (where you can preorder the book too by the way), the story will focus on the origins of Woodbury's leader, "The Governor" (probably the sickest and most wicked comic book character that we've ever had in recent memory) and the events that took place in his past that made him the man that he is.

The fucking Governor.

Wow. I'm pretty sure there would be a lot of gory, violent, bloody scenes in there and more. And to tell you the truth, I'm kind of cringing right now  writing this entry as I remember his memorable stint in Kirkman's comic book series, which was more than enough to put him in the 86th spot of IGN's  "100 Greatest Comic Book Villains" list. 

Its so damn hot!

Its ridiculous here in the metro right now because its summer time and guess what, we've got a scorching, brain-draining heat wave going on here. About 30 degrees C for today I think.

Only had 5 hours of fucking sleep because of that. Sweet. 

*****

On the other hand, it made me remember Johnny Storm. Yeah, the freaking Human Torch from the Fantastic Four.  If you don't know what happened to him, well... he  died fighting extraterrestrial aliens in Fantastic Four #587 and was replaced by your friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man. I guess they can't think of any interesting roles for Torchy anymore. 

But I'll know he'll be back. Nobody dies in comics for so long except for a couple of guys, who are usually supporting characters. For example:  Uncle Ben (Peter Parker/Spiderman's uncle), Gwen Stacy (Spidey's first girlfriend), and Thomas and Martha Wayne (Bruce Wayne/Batman's parents) to name a few. 

The Iron Man "Mark 2 Armor" Action Figure From Hot Toys

If you watched Iron Man 2, you definitely remember that scene where Rhodey gets the unused Mark 2 suit and then goes on to get it toe to toe with a drunk Tony Stark who's wearing the red-and-gold armor, right? 

Guess what, Hot Toys has that same silver armor in the movies that you can now take to your home, disassemble it (yes, just like what they did in the flick) to see the nerve-wracking details of the armor, and then show it off to your friends who would drool in envy once they see the wonderful piece of Iron Man badassery you have in your hands:

Holy crap. That's one hell of a toy right there. Damn, that's so cool!

Check it out at TOYSREVIL.

Babe of the Day - Carla Gugino

Comic book nerds know her as the red-hot retired superhero/ uber-hot-MILF in Zack Snyder's super film Watchmen, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons playing the role of the first Silk Spectre, and as Lucille in another comic book adaptation, this time from Frank Miller's crime noir/pulp fiction novel - Sin City.  She's appeared (and apparently showed a lot of skin in some of them)  in numerous films too such as Spy Kids, Son In Law, Judas Kiss and Night At The Museum to name a few (no Sucker Punch references please).

But that's not really what I wanted to tell you. Its the fact that she. is. so. freaking. HOT. 

Check out some of her hottest pictures from all over the internet, including a clip of her NUDE scene in "Sin City" (via LiveLeak) after the jump. ( CONTAINS NSFW)

Comic Book Review: Kick-Ass 2 (Issues 1 and 2)

 Kick-Ass 2 (#1 and #2 of 6)

Written by Mark Millar

Art by John Romita Jr.

Published by Icon/Marvel Comics

So Mark Millar and John Romita Jr is back and so is Dave/Kick-Ass and Mindy/Hit-Girl doing their thing in the sequel of the successful first comic book series of the same name. 

What's up with our 'superheroes' nowadays?

A quick breakdown: 

You didn't imagine this could happen
the first time, did ya'?

Dave is being trained by Mindy so he could be a better superhero, but just like before, his ass gets kicked by the 11 year old.  But he is still going out at night in his costume and he loves the attention he is getting because everybody in the neighborhood knows his legend, including the bad-guys. Now, Millar took the next logical step in this vigilante story: he puts a lot of costumed vigilantes now and its natural that the villains would pile up too. Thus, we get some of these guys teaming up forming their own groups or teams - yeah just like the X-Men, Avengers, Hellfire Club etc - to assume superiority, because at this point, one or two guys can't just cut it anymore. So this whole 'superhero' thing has just become a widespread phenomenon, just like the criminals are also ready to raise hell in every corner of the street.

And because everybody wants a piece of his damn ass - Kick-Ass joins his first ever superhero group in order to have some backup and then... goes on to beat up some big time mafioso dudes with new found friends. Oh he is really taking this up another notch. 

Comic Book Review: Superman: 'For The Man Who Has Everything'

 "For The Man Who Has Everything"

Written by Alan Moore

Illustrated by Dave Gibbons

Published by DC Comics

Before Alan Moore alienated himself away from DC Comics, he was on a roll writing the greatest comic book novels we could ever imagine and  literally "owned" every other writer back then. And in 1986, he did some of the best superhero stories, including this one which was published in Superman Annual # 11.

It is Superman's birthday, so Wonder Woman and Batman together with Robin (Jason Todd) decided to go to the Fortress of Solitude to greet the Man of Steel and surprise him with some gifts. Instead, they were the ones surprised with great horror as they see Clark in a state of limbo, with an alien plant on his chest, wrapped around his torso.

Apparently, this is the doing of the evil alien known as Mongul, and as he shows himself to the heroes, he explains what is the thing that has caused Superman to go in to a coma state: the plant is known as "Black Mercy" and it basically creates a very realistic dreamworld for the host based on his/her's deepest desires - and in Superman's case: he is living on Krypton with his father Jor-El and Lara very much alive, and he's also got a loving wife and two kids - a dream he is having trouble to let go.

From there, its up to Wonder Woman, Batman, and Robin to figure out everything and hope that they could save their friend before Mongul kills them all and continues on with his plans of conquering the world.

Probably the BEST Power Girl Cosplayer Yet..

Sweet. That's some serious power right there.

Power Girl is basically Supergirl except that she came from an alternative world called Earth-2 (Supergirl is from Earth One). She has the same powers that any Kryptonian would have: super-strength, super-speed, super-breath, x-ray and telescopic vision among others. 

And that incredible costume showing her breasts. Maybe that was designed to distract enemies, no? 

[via geeksaresexy.com]

What's up with me lately...

Just another quickie with what I'm doing, watching, reading or whatever thing it is that probably you don't really give a damn about.

Watching...

• Pawn Stars (History Channel)
• Top Shot (History Channel)
• the NBA Playoffs - betting for the Lakers or Bulls to win. And I hate the Miami Heat. 

Yep, basketball and a couple of shows that are really that damn entertaining. Especially Pawn Stars. Where do you get to see a show where people go sell or pawn their antique stuff while talking a lot of historical bits about their items? Plus the interaction between the owners of the shop and its customers are cool and sometimes hilarious. A recent episode that I watched saw a guy trying to sell a life-sized Red Power Ranger and wants to get $800 for it. Damn man, who would want a freaking Power Ranger!?

Finished reading...

• X-23: Innocence Lost (Marvel) - yes the review will come up soon. Nice story telling. A lot of substance.
• Mouse Guard Winter of 1152 
• Superior 1-4 (Icon/Marvel) - there are 6 issues in all, and I'm still waiting for the other 2 issues before I review the whole thing. Incredible book, by the way.
• Superman 709 and 710
• Steel # 1, Outsiders #37, JLA #55, and Superman/Batman Annual #5 (all part of the Reign of Doomsday crossover) - yes Doomsday's tearing all over the DC universe, and 1 more issue till he comes face to face with Superman, again! That gets me all fired up. 

I think that's pretty much it. A lot of comic books read in about 5 days. Not bad huh?

Recently, I have posted a picture of Sentinel Prime for the upcoming Michael Bay movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon which looked awesome. Now, we've got two banners c/o Yahoo! Movies showing Shockwave and the most beloved Chevy Camaro - Bumblebee in action. These pictures are in high-def and they look really good. 

Its gonna be bad-ass everyone, i'm telling 'ya.

[from SuperHeroHype via Yahoo! Movies]

'Little Thor' Strikes Down a Car

Here's Marvel's very cute and awesome parody of Volkswagen's 'Little Darth Vader' commercial starring a kid dressed up like the thunder god, Thor. How many kids get to blow up a car with a godlike-hammer firing a bolt of lightning in their lives?

Why can't I get to do this kind of shit? 

Thor is showing in May 6.

[via ComicsAlliance]

If its too good to be true...

... its not EFFIN' true.

That's my personal motto for a year now and I really believe that everybody should be watchful of things that are too impossibly good to be real. You know - to avoid getting screwed, just in case.

Its like Superman (and any superhero nowadays for that matter) dying in 1994: everybody cries, gets blown away and mourns like a family member just died because they think "he's dead! he's never gonna come back!" People buy millions of the "Death of Superman" issue and sparks a comic book boom in the 90s....  

.. then suddenly after a couple of fake Supermen coming in to the scene.. he (the real one) comes back flying with a mullet (yes, a fucking mullet) and goes:

 "Hello guys, I'm not really dead! I'm the goddamn Superman for pete's sakes! Hahahaha, screw you all!"

Comic books, people. They can screw you pretty well too. 

Alles gute zum Geburtstag, Adolf Hitler!

Yes its his birthday today. Thought greeting him would be cool.

And that's Captain America # 1 (art by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby) my friends. I have to admit, Cap knows how to make an entrance. 

Threesome Art for Today - 04/20/11

Here are three of the most awesome artwork I found. Hope you like it!

Superman/Batman by Coran "Kizer" Stone

Kick-Ass by Dan LuVisi

Hellboy by Chris Stevens

Another Horrendous X-Men: First Class Poster...

What the hell is this?

Seriously?

Apparently, this is the first international poster for X-Men: First Class. Yes it is folks. I'm not kidding!

Come on. My brother can make a better photo-shopping job than who ever created this shit. 

[via DC Women Kicking Ass, Comics Alliance and every comic book related site]

Two more of my collectibles..

I've posted what my workstation looks like and all the Superman-related stuff that I have there so I can brag how big of a comic book fan I am.

Here's two more of my so called "collectibles" at home: (sorry for the blurred pictures, I've only got a 2MP camera on my cellphone. Hahaha) 

First there's the pillow. A pillow with the Superman-logo emblazoned on it with the blue and yellow design to get that whole super-feel. I've been longing to get a throw-pillow like this and finally I got one. Yey! I know, I'm a real sappy guy.

Supergirl issue #47 - Pain and Responsibility
Cover art by Joshua Middleton

Then there's a copy of DC Super Heroes from PSICOM Publishing (a local publishing company here in the Philippines) which actually contains three comic book issues in one - 1 of each from Supergirl, Justice League of America, and my favorite out-of-continuity comic books, Superman/Batman.

I was real happy to see the comic book when my girlfriend gave it to me, and I was even more surprised to see that it had the latest issues of Supergirl (from the Superman: New Krypton crossover) and Superman/Batman that I have been following at the time. 

Superman / Batman #60 - "Mash-Up" Part 1
Cover art by Francis Manapul

It had Francis Manapul's cover art on the book - complete with the part 1 of issue #60 titled "Mash-Up",  which was one of the craziest storylines I have ever read. Imagine two superheroes merged into one like this: Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) + Dick Grayson (Nightwing), and then a city called Gothamopolis which is defended by a superhero team called The Justice Titans.  Now Superman and Batman has to figure out what the hell is going on. 

If that's not enough, you've got a bad-ass of a villain whose name is Lex Joker. You get the point. Its a very cool issue.

Here's a snap shot of one page featuring Francis Manapul's ink-and-wash style artwork showing our two heroes with the Justice Titans. 

Beautiful isn't it? I'm a big fan of Francis so even though this book only had part 1 of this crazy-ass storyline, its real special to me mainly because I get to own a comic with his art on it. 

Not to mention that both items came from my girlfriend as a gift. If that wasn't sweet, then I don't know what it is. 

Movie Review: Kick-Ass (Film)

Kick-Ass
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Stars Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Chloe Moretz,
Lyndsy Fonseca and Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Distributed by Lionsgate and Universal Pictures

When I came home last Sunday, I bought a couple of DVDs with Kick-Ass on it. I haven't watched the film before and I knew right away that I had to buy that freaking dvd once I saw the movie logo.

Since this is the film adaptation, the movie pretty much follows the plot of the graphic novel by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr - which is a story of an ordinary guy wanting to be a superhero in the real world and what happens when you mess with thugs, criminals and the Cosa 'Fucking' Nostra (also known as the Mafia)  - except for a couple of tweaks that I thought "enhanced" the whole thing. You just can't go copy the source material in these kinds of adaptations because again - there are some elements in the comic book that would not work in a film. 

So Vaughn focused on the element that the original comic book didn't care much about so his movie would be more effective and cohesive: character development.

Things from the email: The Positive Board

Pieta-esque Imagery In Comic Books

For years, the Pieta, a sculpture made by Renaissance artist Michaelangelo, remains to be one of the most iconic Christian images in history. The statue - showing the lifeless body of Jesus Christ in the arms of her mother, Mary - is probably one of Michaelangelo's finest works, and one that is depicted countless times in all forms of media.

It has been used (or abused?) by comic book artists too  as a subject to portray unbearable sorrow and death in their works - particularly when a very popular or known character is "killed" in a specific comic book issue. And due to the "holy" nature of the imagery and its origins, such graphic novels with the Pieta on or in it become commercially successful most of the time - if not all the time.

For example - the following page/cover in DC's 1992 controversial story arc titled "The Death of Superman" shows the first superhero, the "indestructible" Superman, himself, dying slowly in Lois Lane's embrace after a gruesome epic battle with the kryptonian monster-villain Doomsday.  This was the first time that a major character was killed and was viewed  by some as a big publicity stunt by DC. Nevertheless, the book garnered a lot of attention and sales from fans all over the world. The issue still remains to be one of the company's most popular titles.

More comics have adapted the Pieta as the perfect way to symbolize grief and helplessness in their stories, with some of them you might have seen before due to their mainstream popularity. Here are some of my favorites: (Click on the jump for more.)

My Super Workstation...

So I'm back to work now and before I get to start pounding my telephone and keyboard keys away, I just want you to see what my workstation looks like:

Yeah I'm a sucker for everything Superman so obviously you will see that I have these super-stuff planted all over my desk. Makes my life a little bit colorful/awesome at the office 

From left to right: I've got my Superman-themed mug which I use everyday of course, a Superman Returns action figure (which are both given to me by my girlfriend... and yes its fucking sweet) then finally, an old copy of DC's animated film Superman/Doosmday which was given to me by my cousin who is also a big big Superman fan. 

I know its not much compared to other collector's stuff, but these are really special to me, mainly because they were given by the people closest to my heart. 

Go check out the full sized photos of my stuff after the cut.

Babe of the Day - Danica Thrall (and all of her super hero alter-egos)

Time for our smackin' babe for today and I've got British model Danica Thrall a former Miss England contestant who has been spreading (literally) her legs and showing her busty assets lately in magazines such as FHM and Nuts UK. (You might wanna click the links right there and bask in all of her glory.) She's got the most awesome body you will ever see partnered with the right set of boobies and a very innocent, sexy face. Man, this girl's making men hard all over the wrong places.

But I'm not going to post any kind of nudity here (sorry folks) - just sexy Danica and what she looks like when she's doing her job as a superhero. Yeah, she's got a Power Girl and Supergirl inspired film that features her in these tight-hugging costumes. And I have to say, she could be hottest version of Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) i have ever freaking seen! Even hotter than Smallville's Laura Vandervoort!

'Nuff talk. Check her pictures after the cut.

[images and courtesy of Superheroinefilms.com]

Transformers:Dark of the Moon's Sentinel Prime

Bleeding Cool has posted a very cool looking Sentinel Prime that we will be seeing in the upcoming Michael Bay movie:

Isn't that amazing or what? 

Even more amazing is the fact that we're definitely going to see this big guy move, transform, act and kick-some ass with every piece of nut and bolt moving every second thanks those ridiculously good.... awesome CGI artists and directors. The hell with the story and crappy "Dark Moon" title, as long as we get to see out of this world action sequences.

Its gonna be awesome. 

The film is scheduled for release on July 1, 2011 in the US.

Penthouse Comic Art by Adam Hughes [May Contain NSFW]

Comic artist Adam Hughes draws the most stunning women in the whole superhero universe. He's got a knack for that "pin-up" style of illustrating the woman anatomy that would make you drool. He's done Wonderwoman, Catwoman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Power Girl etc, and they're the most beautiful renditions I have ever seen. Period. And he just keeps on getting better. 

Little did I know though that during his early years as an artist, he worked for the now-extinct Penthouse Comix. I'm pretty sure what Penthouse is all about so we're gonna leave it at that. Now I Googled some of his early works with the aforementioned company and found some of splash pages which showcases his very distinctive art style that is recognized by comic book readers all over the world. 

Yes, they are sleazy, and some of it are x-rated. I'm pretty sure Adam regrets spending his time doing these stuff before, but hey - these are still good pieces of rare art from him. Just shows to show that even as a beginner, Adam is already the artist-extraordinaire who will eventually be one of the most sought-after comic book artists of our era. And I still love AH after seeing these. I probably liked him even more. 

Click on the jump for these pictures courtesy of romitaman.com, ebay.com, comicartfans.com and comicartcommunity.com

My choice of words...

..hurt other people and most of the time its the ones that i really care about. I'm a guy that pretty much says whatever I have in mind and even though I don't intend to hurt anyone's feelings - it turns out exactly that way. 

And I'm really screwing up with my choice of words. For example, I've been saying this phrase lately:

"I could care less..."

At first I'm just saying that to tell someone that I don't want to waste my time on something that's not really important, but then I understand now that the phrase is really harsh to some extent. Never going to use that again.  

Nice Bust You Got There Emma...

Here's the latest Emma Frost statue from Sideshow Collectibles:

Don't worry, there are too many "bust" jokes out there in the comic community already so I'm not gonna make one. thing though:  they could've completed her shoulder. Just saying. 

Bust still.. (oops sorry).. but still, it looks pleasing to the eye. Yeah. By the way, you can order it through Sideshow's website for $224.99. (Holy s**t, that's more than ten thousand pesos when converted)

[via ToplessRobot]