Charlotte, Here I Come!

I am officially going to Charlotte, NC for HeroesCon in June! I am very excited. Not only have I never been to North Carolina before, I have never been to a comic convention before! I hear this is a really good one.

The nice boys from The Dollar Bin invited me down, so I'll be hanging out at their table (I believe) when I'm not running around the convention centre totally overwhelmed and exploding with nerdy glee. Or when I'm not eating as much pit BBQ as humanly possible.

So if you are going to be at HeroesCon, let me know and we can meet and chat and stuff. Or drink beer. I like beer.

I have a limited knowledge of Charlotte. I basically associate two things with the city: BBQ and Charlotte Hornets Starter Jackets:

Stylin'! I picture every resident of Charlotte wearing this at all times.

I can't wait!

What's Cyclops Whining About This Time?

Here's a long train of thought that is pretty unique to Cyclops:

Really. No one else could ever have those exact thoughts.

Ah, comic books. I love you. You're not going to find people moping about this stuff on Law & Order.

Now that's good television!

The Cyclops panel is from The Uncanny X-Men #29.

Free Comic Book Day!

IT'S TODAY!

Visit your local comic shop. If you happen to live in Halifax, Strange Adventures will be giving away over 20,000 comics. And Darwyn Cooke will be there! And Faith Erin Hicks! And Mike Holmes! And more! Don't miss out!

IRON MAN DAY!

The day that Iron Man opens is finally upon us. I'm sure most of you, like myself, saw the movie last night at an advance screening. It's AWESOME.

The Invincible Iron Man #172 is also awesome. Check it out:

With a cover that romantic, you know it's going to be good!

It opens with a drunk Tony Stark in a museum, wearing a suit of armour and being crazy:

Oh man I love it!

The cops take him down:

Tony Stark is drunk and sweating mayonnaise. He gets taken into a holding cell, but is quickly released on bail. This is pretty sad:

Oh, Tony.

Fortunately, James Rhodes is doing a great job being Iron Man while Tony is busy drinking it up.
I really appreciate the contrast between those two pages.

Ok, so now Captain America enters the story, and someone is very romantically describing him in the narration:

"The way his muscles flex and lock to give him a purposeful lope." I don't know who's doing the talking there in those narration boxes. I like to think Tony. Or maybe it's just Denny O'Neil who has the crush on Cap.

Anyway, Captain America finds Tony in a seedy motel room:

Oh come on, Cap. Just join him in a drink. It would be a such an entertaining comic. Obviously this is a very cool party that you've just walked in on.

Now it's Cap's turn to get romantic about Tony:

Tony doesn't have any answers, which makes Cap more angry. Get ready for a very special episode of Iron Man:

Oh come on, Cap. Your dad was an alcoholic? It was the thirties! Everyone was an alcoholic.

During all of this, Firebrand has decided to make a comeback. He wants to burn down the very motel that Tony is staying in. Since Tony isn't going to save himself, Cap has to do everything:

Rhodes is also there to help out (and say funny things):

When the flames are out and the people are saved, Cap and Rhodes go to get their pal Tony. Only Tony, even totally hammered Tony, has managed to outfox them:

Lookin' good, Tony!

Oh, and the OTHER thing going down in this comic is that, because Tony hasn't been around, Stark Industries has fallen apart and has now been sold to...

LEX LUTHOR!

No, wait. Obadiah Stane I mean. Yeah.

This comic is great. And so is the movie. It was worth the wait!

Hey Kids! You Don't Need Drugs...To Kill a Cobra!

And now, the most badass thing to ever happen in an Archie comic:

That cobra got its head blown clean off!!

You rarely see a gun, or a silencer, or a decapitation in an Archie comic.

Quick Review: X-Men First Class #11

I want to say two things about this issue:

1. It was totally awesome and everyone should read it.

2. Two of the Continuiteens, who are comic shop employees, look exactly like my comic shop co-workers/pals, Dave and Tiina. Check it:

So we can't decide if the creative team of X-Men First Class are watching us at all times, or if Dave and Tiina just look exactly like comic shop employee stereotypes. Either way, we all felt uncomfortable at the shop yesterday.

I had totally planned a triumphant return to reviewing weekly comics this week, but frankly the complete and utter confusion I felt after reading the last issue of Countdown and the last issue of The Death of the New Gods left me exhausted. It took me three tries to get through the New Gods because I kept getting sleepy and bored.

But there were very good comics this week. I highly recommend, besides X-Men First Class, The Hulk vs Hercules one-shot dealie, Wolverine First Class, The Spirit, and Birds of Prey. Sadly, it's the last McKeever issue of Birds of Prey, but Tony Bedard will also be good.

I've been cranky about comics lately because they are canceling some of my favourites (Catwoman, The All-New Atom) but will no doubt be putting out endless Final Crisis tie-ins or Countdown aftermath whatnots that are total nonsense and completely boring. I'm sure a lot of it will be great, but there will definitely be a lot of stuff that does not hold a candle to even the least good issues of Catwoman or The Atom. Blah. When I am able to get my thoughts together I'm sure I will have a whole long post about all the reasons why it sucks that Catwoman is canceled.