Orange Lantern Package's FOREVER!

What Can Orange Do For You?

GREEN LANTERN #42
cover by Philip Tan & Jonathan Glapion
On sale June 24 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

I've been wondering....do you think the Orange Lantern oath goes anything like this:

Looking at Marvel covers for April '09

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I'm not a Marvel reader, but I can still enjoy the pretty pictures they put on the front of their books!

ASTONISHING TALES #3
Cover by Kenneth Rocafort

Marvel is getting as much into the girl butts as DC is for April. Interesting cover, even if I'm not sure what's up with Spider-Woman's Human Torch hands...

NEW AVENGERS: THE REUNION #2 (of 4)
Cover by Jo Chen

Annnnd.... Here we go again! Although, this one is drawn (painted) by a female artist, so it's harder to scream "sexist fanboys!" And she also gives us a very hot looking guy for the price of admission. Check out the way Ronin is holding his dagger and the placement... Oh my.

SUB-MARINER COMICS #1 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
Cover by Mitch Breitweiser

Not only is the art (and Namor himself) hot on this cover; I love how it's true to it's golden-age origins: No nipples!!

WAR OF KINGS #2 (of 6)
Cover by Brandon Peterson

Brandon Peterson is just an awesome artist. I'm always awed by his work. Too bad Marvel only seems to use him on covers. But every one of them is so cool looking...

WAR OF KINGS: ASCENSION #1 (of 4)
Cover by Brandon Peterson

...even when it's a character that you just don't care about!

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS FINALS #3 (of 4)
Cover by Roger Cruz

Definitely an interesting color-highlighting choice there below the "X."

Hmmm...

Black Panther 2 #1 Variant Cover

BLACK PANTHER #1
70th Anniversary Variant
Cover by: Marko Djurdjevic
Writer: Reginald Hudlin
Pencils: Ken Lashley
The story: "Deadliest Of The Species, Part 1" -- The Black Panther is back…and she’s badder than ever. That’s right -- she! What happened to T’Challa? Who is the new Black Panther? Find out why the female is the deadliest of the species.
In stores: February 4, 2009
Not sure what Sub-Mariner has to do with this issue of BLACK PANTHER...but all I can say is "wow."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Have some cosplay!

I'm getting most of my Halloweening out on my Golden Age Heroes blog. So I was trying to think of something to do here. I decided that wearing costumes is a Halloweeny thing. So here are a bunch of pics I found on Flickr of people dressed as comic book characters. It fits the Halloween theme and the comic book theme. Success!! LOL

Have a great Halloween!!

Starfire, Nightwing & Donna Troy Originally uploaded by MargieC1022	Robin, Black Lightning & Superboy Originally uploaded by prometheus445
?, Deathstroke, Kid Flash, Starfire & Speedy Originally uploaded by israphael
Batgirl, Raven & Robin Originally uploaded by the3rdrobin
Superman & Namor Originally uploaded by hawkeyevsgirl	Captain America Originally uploaded by walkerspace
Superman meets "Superboy" Originally uploaded by manofsteel25
Justice League Originally uploaded by profundis
Wolverine Originally uploaded by Steam Pirate	Wonder Woman & Flash Originally uploaded by Steam Pirate
DC Folks Originally uploaded by IcyBrian
Donna Troy & Dark Mary Marvel Originally uploaded by MegaRed
Kyle Raynor, Hal Jordan & Wonder Woman Originally uploaded by Mafu	Some of the 300 Originally uploaded by Hueyatl
Robin, Superboy, Raven & Supergirl Originally uploaded by walkerspace
Robin & Superboy Originally uploaded by walkerspace
Superman Originally uploaded by Fonzie's cousin	Power Girl Originally uploaded by heath_bar
Green Lantern Corps Originally uploaded by walkerspace
Roy Harper & Green Arrow Originally uploaded by walkerspace
Superboy Originally uploaded by alecscudder69	Captain Marvel Jr & Captain Marvel Originally uploaded by daisylind

Observations:

• There are actually people in the world who can pull off the super-hero look!
• There are some who should not even make the attempt.
• Gerard Christopher has aged well.
• There ought to be more super-heroes who dress like the guys from 300! ;-)

DC Covers and Solicitations, November 2008

BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #23
Written by Andrew Kreisberg
Art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens
Cover by Stephane Roux
For my money, Stephane Roux draws the best Joker out there. He brings just the right amount of Brian Bolland and Jim Lee into the mix, that it seems like the definitive thing to me. Amazing.

DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY: SUPERMAN "KRYPTONITE NEVERMORE!" HC
Written by Dennis O’Neil
Art by Curt Swan & Murphy Anderson
Cover by Neal Adams, Curt Swan & Murphy Anderson
I do like this cover, but that's not why this is here. It's because of this: "The first in the new DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY line collecting memorable tales in their entirety." I hope they put it to good use. This would be an ideal place to bring "The Great Darkness Saga" back into print.

JUSTICE LEAGUE NEW FRONTIER BOX SET
DESIGNED BY DARWYN COOKE
I'm really kind of irritated that they redesigned Wonder Woman's head for this set and this set is the only place you can get it!!! Now I have to decide if I want to shell out for a set to get one figure. A repaint I could pass by more easily. Grrrr. Altho the Superman figure is kinda cool, too. We'll see...

REIGN IN HELL #5
Written by Keith Giffen
Art by Tom Derenick & Bill Sienkiewicz and Justiniano & Walden Wong
Cover by Justiniano
This is just a mess.
Hopefully the final coloring will be better and we'll be able to make out what's going on. Bleh.

SECRET SIX #3
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Nicola Scott & Doug Hazlewood
Cover by Nicola Scott
Featuring Luke Wilson as Catman, and the big reveal of the mysterious Bat-villain joining the Six...

TERRA #1-2
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Art and cover by Amanda Conner
It's hard for me to care about this since they got rid of "my" Terra to make room for this one. And it's not just that they did kill her off, it's how: Unceremoniously, in a poorly-written sequence in a craptacular mini-series...and then she was. Never. Mentioned. Again.
Even Duela Dent got a funeral. And DC could never decide from one year to the next if she was even in continuity!!!
Give some love to "my" Terra, and then maybe I'll care about this one...

TERROR TITANS #2
Written by Sean McKeever
Art and cover by Joe Bennett & Jack Jadson
Is that the Star-Spangled Kid?
Weird.

TITANS: OLD FRIENDS HC
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Ian Churchill, Joe Benitez
Cover by Joe Benitez & Victor Llamas
collecting TEEN TITANS EAST SPECIAL #1 and TITANS #1-6.
Harcover? Seriously?
I'm not normally a Dan Didio basher but -- wow, his ego is pretty big.
No, I didn't forget the cover image. That was a conscious decision.

ACTION COMICS #871 | SUPERGIRL #35 | SUPERMAN #682
Written by Geoff Johns | Sterling Gates | James Robinson
Art by Pete Woods | Jamal Igle & Keith Champagne | Renato Guedes & Wilson Magalháes
Covers by Alex Ross

I just love these covers. They make me almost as excited about the "New Krypton" story as the creative teams.
Although that cover for SUPERMAN #682? Something has to be done about that. That guy to the upper right does not conform to DC standards. We'll need some art alteration or clever cover copy before that can see print...

You can check out DC's full November solicitaions at
Comic Book Resources and/or Newsarama.

Captain America stands out!

So, being unfamilar with Rodolfo Migliari's work (he who drew the cover to GREEN LANTERN CORPS #27), I did a little internet research. I was stunned by what I found.
After all the turmoil the web-world endured over Citizen Steel...I can't believe there was no hubbub over this one.
I didn't come across so much as a message board post about it. Marvel apparently wasn't too worried about it. They didn't alter the artwork or try and hide it.

CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL 2001

And this one is blatant.
In-your-face blatant.
On-your-knees in-your-face blatant.
Look at the detail in the folds of the fabric! And no one cried out for censorship!?
That's not even average-Joe packaging. That's ample. Where were the rapid fanboys?
And there are nipples! Didn't Joel Schumacher get a lot of crap for nipples?

Citizen Steel had to be neutered...

Boggles. The. Mind.

DC Comics: Still Petrified of Package

I don't know why I'm surprised.
But I mean, there was no uproar like the Citizen Steel thing generated.
I guess, at the very least, they didn't alter the actual artwork. Still...

Here's the beautiful art that Rodolfo Migliari created for GREEN LANTERN CORPS #27, and DC's "dressed up" version:

At least Luke Ross threw us a bone. Errr, so to speak...

Lookin' at Marvel Covers for October 2008

Just because I don't hardly read any Marvel stuff, doesn't mean I don't like to look at pretty pictures...

INCREDIBLE HERCULES #122
by Clayton Henry & Guru eFX
I don't know why Namor is trying to bite Hercules' stomach, but I'm not complaining. It's almost worth buying just to hang it on the wall...

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #18
by Mark Brooks
I don't know what it is about this cover, but I just think it's really neat. I love the art, the lighting, the coloring. It's just a really nifty image!

ASTONISHING X-MEN: GHOST BOXES #1
by Simone Bianchi
Boxes. Heh.
Nice boxes, too...

SECRET WARS OMNIBUS HC
by Alex Ross
I think it's really cool when Alex Ross takes an old, well-known image that was just a line drawing with flat colors and pops it out into three dimensions. This is a nice one. It would definitely make a cool poster.

ULTIMATE CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL #1
and

ULTIMATE HULK ANNUAL #1
by Brandon Peterson

I really love Brandon Peterson's art. He must have a real job somewhere, because he just doesn't draw enough comics! I wish he'd do more interior stuff (and I wish he'd do it for DC! LOL). I love his line work. I wonder if he does his own colors? If not, whoever did on these covers is an awesome match. The lighting, palette, textures...they all just really make these images pop! Awesomeness.

The power of MIKE ZECK:
Two of the above covers coming in October are based on artwork originally done by Mike Zeck for the covers of MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS #1 (May 1984) and CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL #8 (1986). Here they are: