Baltimore Comic-Con www.comicon.com/baltimoreSaturday Sept. 27 and Sunday, Sept. 28. Guests include Brian Michael Bendis, Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, Bernie Wrightson, Adam Hughes, Andy Runton, Cliff Chiang, Darwyn Cooke, Dean Haspiel, Geoff Johns, Don Rosa, Jeff Lemire, Kyle Baker and more.

Small Press Expo www.spxpo.comSaturday, Oct. 4 and Sunday Oct. 5. Guests include Joost Swarte, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Tom Tomorrow, Hope Larson, Lauren Wein-stein, Raina Telgemeier, Keith Knight, Ted Rall, Steve Leiber, Becky Cloonan, Josh Cotter, Paul Hornschemeier, Greg Hyland and more.

“News, reviews and opinions from the world of comics”Volume 12 #4 September 2008

It’s crossover season and there’s no apparent end in sight.

It seems like pretty much every Marvel book these days is a Secret Invasion crossover — the idea being that you’ll try a new title, because it’s a crossover, and then get hooked. And as usual, that trick is starting to wear thin ...

Enter DC. Having kept the Final Crisis crossovers to a minimum so far, they’re unleashing a few on us now and they’re all must buys by top writers.

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds

Geoff Johns just got done

writing a killer Legion arc in Action Comics. And I guess he had so much fun (I know I did) that he’s back for more. The Legion try yet again to stop the Time Trapper from erasing Superman from the timeline, only this time he has a new secret weapon: Superboy-Prime (I guess DC they got their legal issues sorted out with Superboy). Plus art by George Perez!

Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge

Speaking of Geoff Johns, he’s also back working on his other favorite character, The Flash.

Well at least he’s writing about Flash’ villains. Art by Scott Kolins, who isn’t as good as George Perez.

Final Crisis: Revelations Greg Rucka (having just

written a great Daredevil arc for Marvel) is back writing his favorite characters from Gotham Central, Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya. Only now Allen is The Spectre, meting out vengeance to sinners, and Montoya is The Question (in case you hadn’t been keeping up). Art by Philip Tan, who got a whole lot better when I wasn’t looking.

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond

And the piece de resistance, Grant Morrison’s “hyperdelic” two-part Superman mini-series. This one features art by Doug Mahnke (awesome and under-rated), including a special 3-D section. Don’t worry, 3-D glasses are included.

DCU: Last Will and Testament

Or is this one the piece de resis-tance? Even though it doesn’t have Final Crisis in the title, this one is still hard to beat. Brad Meltzer and Adam Kubert! Buy it.

Good local conventions in your future

Then ready your wallets for these crossovers

2 | www.bigplanetcomics.com Hotline: 301.718.1890

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1Runaways #1

I t ’ s T e r r y M o o r e m o n t h a t Marvel! T h a t ’ s right, besides writing and drawing his

own new series Echo (which sees its first trade out this month), Terry Moore is also writing TWO new Marvel series. That means that our subscriber who gets four copies of every Terry Moore book will now be buying approxi-mately 8,000 comics a month.

Amazing Spider-Man #568-570

I love being the only person that thinks A m a z i n g S p i d e r - M a n is way better now than it was during the S t r a c z y n s k i

run. Just look at it! Coming off of

the super-fun Amazing Spider-Man: Extra One-Shot and the

intense Paper Doll story-line we get Dan Slott and John Romita, Jr. on a six-part Venom story that is bound to be awesome. You will

all eat your words and Spider-Man will reign

supreme!!Guerillas #1

T h i s comic is c a l l e d G u e r i l l a s . It is about a group of s p e c i a l l y t r a i n e d c h i m p a n -zees fighting in Vietnam!! I hear in the second issue Magilla Gorilla battles Pol Pot in a machete fight.

Ultimate Spider-man #126

Not to be left out, Brian Bendis is also writing about Venom this month. Actually there’s a new Venom series starting this month

too.... Is it Venom month, and no one told us? I thought it was Terry Moore month at Marvel....

Wolverine #68The third part in the eight

part Old Man Logan storyline going on right now, Wolverine

#68 is sure to be as amazingly brutal and epic as the first two parts. Logan (an old man now, of course) travels across a waste-land that was once America

but is now the dominion of super villains. Will the Spider-mobile run out of gas? How did Paste Pot Pete gain control of a portion of Colorado? I must know!

Wolverine: SaudadeViolent old-school Wolverine

(just how you like it) with art by Jean-David Morvan (an amazing French cartoonist, that

you’ve prob-ably never heard of). Written by Phillipe Bouchet (a really good French writer that you’ve definitely never heard of). Hope

the translation’s decent.

Sub-Mariner: The Depths #1

Peter Milligan is possibly the most under-rated comics writer in the biz these days. This is the man who wrote the epic Shade: The Changing Man, taking the char-acter to heights that Steve Ditko never dreamed of (young Chris Bachalo’s art also helped). The Enigma with Duncan Fegredo — another classic. Just wait until you see what he does with Sub-Mariner....

The Age of the Sentry #1Or maybe Jeff Parker is the

most under-rated comics writer. Did you read Agents of Atlas? The Interman? Heck, even his kid-friendly Avengers comics are awesome! Promises to be what the original Sentry mini-series should have been — retro and cool. ‘Nuff said.

War Heroes #1 In case you were wondering

what Mark Millar had planned for Ultimates III — here it is. Super-powered soldiers to carry out the U.S. government’s foreign policy. Millar is a rock star, so this book must get pretty dark later in the run, or I assume Marvel would have let him do Ultimates III instead of taking the book to Image. Art by Tony Harris (Starman, Ex Machina).

Hawkman Special #1Don’t let your crossover

fatigue make you miss this one. It does tie-in with Rann-Thanagar War, but Jim Starlin actually found time to write and draw this one. If only they’d find him another inker. Seriously, Al Milgrom? Oh well.

The Stand: Captain Trips #1Dark Tower: Treachery #1

Stephen King fans rejoice! There are now two comics for you to buy every month. And as good as the Peter David Dark Tower comics have been, I think The Stand might be even better. Peter David is a good super-hero/fantasy writer, but Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa writes great horror (and a pretty decent super-hero book too).

Against Pain HCRon Rege’s anthology work is

collected for the first time. Includes stories from

McSweeney’s, the New York Times, Kramer’s Ergot, Non, and Drawn & Quarterly. Sadly

does not include his unauthorized Spider-

man story from 1997....

Jamilti & Other Stories HCHow to Love HC

Drawn and Quarterly brings us Israeli cartoonist Rutu Modan’s follow-up to Exit Wounds — Jamilti

& Other Stories. This collection of short stories from the last five years runs the gamut from polit-ical to slice-of-life to serial-killer murder mystery. Recommended. Ms. Modan also has a new story

in How to Love — another great anthology from Israeli comics collective, Actus Tragicus.

Slam Dunk Volume 1 GNEven if you’re not a sports

fan, you should check this one out. A w e s o m e b a s k e t -ball comics from Take-hiko Inoue, the genius creator of Vagabond!

Hotline: 301.718.1890 www.bigplanetcomics.com | 3

The Portable FrankYet another repackaging of

Jim Woodring’s incredibly surreal Frank comics, But if you don’t already have ‘em, check this book out. Uniquely weird — very popular in Japan....

Herbie Archive Vol.1 HCBob Burden (of Flaming Carrot

fame)’s favorite comic is finally given the archive treatment. Herbie, The Fat Fury, triumphs over evil using magic lollipops. So weird. So cool.

Omega: The Unknown HC

What happens when novelist Jonathan Lethem teams up with indy artists Farel Dalrymple and Paul Hornschemeier to work on an obscure 1970s Steve Gerber character? This does. Super-weird and super-cool! Highly

recommended.Ultimate Power TP

The Ultimate Universe vs. the Supremeverse. Brought to you by Brian Bendis, Jeph Loeb, J.Michael

Straczynski, and Greg Land. Assembling that much talent on one book meant that the issues were all really late, but here’s the

complete story in one handy volume.

Janes in Love TPThe sequel to the

fantastic Minx book Plain Janes. This time the Janes

are blowin’ up in the art community! Jim Rugg draws this

and it’s a Minx book so it’s pretty much a guaranteed awesome.

Logan HCBrian K. Vaughan and 100

Bullets artist Eduardo Risso take a look at Wolverine’s early years in Japan. It’s bloody and Wolverine-y and has lots of flashbacks. Oh. And it rules.

Local HC T h e s e

comics are now stacked in various areas of my house, so I’ll be glad to read Local all in one go. The stories spanning these

12 issues always managed to feel completely fresh and different from one another while still tying together as one solid story.

Stinky GNRaw Junior, the publisher

behind Silly Lilly and various other books, has managed to put out an amazing group of kids’ comics over the last few months. It looks like they’re keeping that tradition alive with Stinky, a new story about swamp monsters and the meaning of friendship. Like all the Raw Junior books, Stinky is designed for emerging readers but is great for anyone who likes great stories.

Y: The Last Man Deluxe Edition Book 1 HC

Sure, you already bought all of the issues of this. You prob-ably bought the trades as well. This, my friends, is a hardcover! It features an all new….cover! This aforementioned new cover is much less floppy than previous covers. If you haven’t read Y: The Last Man, though, this couldn’t be more highly recommended. Stephen King says it’s the best comic he’s ever read and he wrote AND directed Maximum Over-drive, so…yeah.

Nemi Vol. 2 HCRocky Vol. 2: Strictly Business TP

Two of my favorite S c a n d i n a -vian comic s t r i p s have new collections c o m i n g out. Lise Myhre’s Nemi is the everywoman (in goth clothing); and Martin

Kellerman’s Rocky is based on his life in Stockholm with his very talkative friends — sort of a Swedish Seinfeld with more drinking and getting arrested.

Dungeon Monstres Vol. 2: The Dark Lord TP

Joann Sfar and Lewis Trond-heim continue with their hilarious series of tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventures, while keeping their friends gainfully employed doing the art.

Owly Volume 5: Tiny Tales GN

One new uber-cute Owly story, plus all of the Owly stories from the original m i n i - c o m i c s and Free Comic Book Day books — all in one handy volume. Might even ship on time for SPX....

Big Planet Orbit Volume 12 #4; September, 2008 is published by Joel Pollack, Peter Casazza, Jared Smith, and Greg Bennett for Big Planet Comics. www.bigplanetcomics.com.

Big Planet Comics, Inc. 4908 Fairmont Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814, 301.654.6856

Big Planet Comics of VA Inc. 426 Maple Ave. East, Vienna, VA 22180, 703.242.9412

Big Planet Comics of DC Inc. 3145 Dumbarton St. NW, Washington, DC 20007, 202.342.1961

4 | www.bigplanetcomics.com Hotline: 301.718.1890

Big Planet Comics of College Park Inc. 7315 Baltimore Ave. , College Park, MD, 20740, 301.699.0498

A preview of local consComics Roundtable with Greg Bennett, Kevin Panetta and Jared Smith

JS: So it’s quickly getting towards the Washington, D.C., comic book convention season, as both Baltimore Con and the almighty SPX are almost here (end of Sept and beginning of Oct, respectively!). There’s some crazy good people coming to both, including the just-announced Brian Lee O’Malley at SPX! This guy is the new alternative-wunderkind with his super-popular (and super-good) Scott Pilgrim series.

GB: I hadn’t even looked at Baltimore’s line-up for this year. Brian Bendis, Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, James Robinson, Geoff Johns, Robert Kirkman, Darwyn Cooke, Eric Powell, Matt Wagner, and Howard Chaykin! Wow, I can finally get my American Flagg! hardcover signed — since it actually exists!

KP: I hear that all American Flagg hardcovers will dissolve after a month and that the new edition is scheduled for 2015. In lieu of that totally factual piece of information, I have to say ... that is a great Baltimore list. Brian Bendis and Geoff Johns write 90 percent of Marvel and DC books right now, so I’m sure they will be signing palettes full of books. Those other guys are no slouches, either. Well, except for Mike Mignola. What a slouch!!

JS: Man, I wish Brian Michael Bendis was coming. Is Brian Bendis a relative of his? For you duck fans, Don Rosa will be at Baltimore, as well as the Luna Brothers of Sword/Girls/Ultra fame (yup, they’re local boys too!), and even the Robert Kirkman. Someone should go

ask him what he’s going to do with the Walking Dead after he’s killed off all his charac-ters. If he makes them zombies, then the title would fit. But it’d be cooler if they were zombies with superpowers. Bet there’s some crossover appeal in that. Kirkman, you owe me money if you use my idea!

GB: I keep looking at the SPX list and expecting to see some of the old names from back in the day — Dean Haspiel, Nick Bertozzi, Jessica Abel, Matt Madden ... But then I remember that they’re all big NYC rock star cartoonists now. Dean’s got The Alcoholic (with Jonathan Ames) coming out soon, Matt and Jessica just did that amazing how-to book, and Nick’s

Salon and Houdini books are still kicking — wonder what he’s doing next ...

KP: I’m hoping to see some new Persimmon Cup pages from Bertozzi soon! Webcomics are the future! (Sure, we all laughed at Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics five years ago, but who’s laughing now?! ) I don’t think SPX needs to worry about those NYC fancy-pants, anyway. We’ve got our share of soon-to-be-super-famous “sell-outs” attending SPX. Let’s see ... you’ve got Bryan Lee O’Malley with the Scott Pilgrim movie, Robert Venditti with the Surrogates movie (starring Bruce Willis!) and ... ummm ... I don’t know ... Jeffrey Brown with Trans-formers 2?

GB: Speaking of Jeffrey Brown, did you see that they’re making Change-Bots figures? I think there’s a Paul Pope vinyl figure coming soon too.

JS: No, I didn’t know about the Change-Bots figures — until Kevin ordered a caseload for himself, since he wears them out staging battles in his back-yard. I wish I was joking about this. But I hope we do have the descent of a swarm of Holly-wood merchandising lawyers on Baltimore and SPX. Now THAT’s the kind of exposure we need. I mean, really — DC does have 2 of the best shows in the world, and they are for the comics, and about the comics. Sweet.