In this week’s Comics Load, Brian takes a look at the state of troubled youth in comics. From Superboy Prime to the Jr. Hellfire Club to Wolfsbane’s demon baby, the kids are not all right. On Wednesday, we’ll have a special Comics Load Extra, featuring DC’s new Justice League #1. How will it all begin? Will it now be all edge-y and Marvel-y? Will Wonder Woman be wearing pants or not? And will there be demonic children involved? Tune in tomorrow and find out!
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Brian‘s Load 
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Brian’s Book of the Week
DC RETROACTIVE: Wonder Woman – The 90s
If I had a gun to my head filled with memory-erasing bullets, and I was being forced to pick my fave era of Wonder Woman comics or suffer a total mental meltdown that would leave me to wander the world aimlessly with people calling me Logan for years and years, I’d have no choice but to break down and pick the 90s as the best era for Wonder Woman. I know that says a lot, because most people would pick the classic George Perez issues or the equally amazing Phil Jimenez run on the title as key shining moments in Wonder Woman’s comic history, but there is just something about the offbeat, left-of-center take in the 90s on our dear Amazon that tickles me in all the right gay spots. When new writer William Messner-Loebs and new artist Lee Moder had Wonder Woman working at Taco Wiz, I was equally offended and hooked. Wonder Woman working at a fast food joint! Shocking! I loved it. Just as odd, and surprising as those stories were, so too is this awesome one-shot, where everyday girls step outside their cultural expectations to show up some snotty, misogynistic boys. In one issue this retro-look at the 90s captures everything that makes Wonder Woman so, well, wonderful. Pick this baby up and enjoy women’s lib in comic book form!
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Wonder Woman #614
Sadly, this final issue of the “all new” Wonder Woman’s adventures is kind of an example of everything I did not enjoy about this current run. Fourteen issues later and we’re right back where we started, with Diana remembering her old life, the return of the Amazons, her mother alive again, and what did she learn for it all? Something that she had already learned in just about every past issue: that she’ll “always be Wonder Woman.” Duh! Didn’t she learn this when Artemis temporarily took on the mantel, or when Diana was briefly an Olympian Goddess and took back the title from her mother? Yeah, been there, done that. Oh, well, now onto the next chapter of Wonder greatness as the all-new, all-different Wonder Woman emerges next month with DC’s new reboot! So raise your arms in the air and clink your bracelets together in the proper Amazonian cheer of happiness! Whoo-haw!
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Uncanny X-Force #13
X-Force’s not-so-merry three-hour tour of the Age of Apocalypse wraps up with the team jaunting back to the present with that weird seed thinger that they’ve been after to cure Angel of the curse of Apocalypse. Like usual, it’s another amazing issue, but the standout for me has to be seeing the background non-mutant Marvel U characters who pop in to battle X-Force, like Venom Captain America, Chamber Thing, some insect-y Dr. Octopus and Ghost Rider Iron Man. Now those are some comics that I for sure would read. Cray-cray stuff. Oh, and how in the world does the Age of Apocalypse version of Nightcrawler manage to not only survive being slashed in half by evil Age-of-Apocalypse-Wolverine but also pull himself together enough to help pick and half-carry a wounded Fantomex? Wow! Somebody must be eating his Wheaties! We may just see the little blue elf appear on the front of the cereal box very soon, because that is some true Olympic level chutzpa!
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Astonishing X-Men #41
I am so loving the artwork by Nick Bradshaw. Like super loving it. And I’m also quite fond of Armor’s samurai/pig-tail knots. I’m totes gonna be rocking that look at work on Monday. HR be damned!
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X-Men Schism #3
The baby Hellfire Club makes their naughty little move against the X-Men and almost fully end the mutant team, if not for poor, innocent Oya going all cold-blooded killer on the Club’s asses. That’ll teach those horrible little brats. Children—ugh. Aren’t they all just little psychopaths in waiting?
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Uncanny X-Men #542
Juga-Colossus? Hahaha. Wow. What will they think of next? It’s like the less sexy, less busty version of the Dark Phoenix. Let’s hope Juga-Colossus doesn’t destroy an entire planet full of broccoli-headed aliens, because we all know that SO does not go unpunished.
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X-Factor #224
Whoa! So Wolfsbane just barfs up her half-god baby, and the poor thing goes on a killing rampage? That’s something you don’t really see every day, right? Like I’ve said before, it doesn’t pay to be a woman in comics, much less a woman about to get married or have a baby, because terrible things always happen to them. But heck, that demon-spawn baby was so cute I’d take it in. I have a soft spot for furry little minions.
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Teen Titans #100
One hundred issues is a milestone in today’s comic market, so congrats Titans! Celebrate your achievement with a relaunch! Yay! About the only awesome thing I can say about the impending relaunch is that there will be (finger and toes and gonads crossed) no Superboy Prime! Yippee. I hate that annoying punk-ass jerk. He I will so NOT miss.
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Spider-Island: Spider-Girl #1
Decent writing, pretty great art, and Spider-Girl actually has spider-related powers, so I can’t really complain about this book. Other than to say that I recently read the trades on Spider-Girl’s first appearance when she was wannabe Arana, and her superhero tattoo was on her arm and not her back (as depicted in this issue’s flashback). That kind of lack of attention to detail is what drives us comic lovers insane. Because, well, you know we comic lovers have no lives, and that continuity stuff matters to us, so why doesn’t it matter to the editors and creators? Annoying!
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In this week’s Comics Load, Brian takes a look at the state of troubled youth in comics. From Superboy Prime to the Jr. Hellfire Club to Wolfsbane’s demon baby, the kids are not all right. On Wednesday, we’ll have a special Comics Load Extra, featuring DC’s new Justice League #1. How will it all begin? Will it now be all edge-y and Marvel-y? Will Wonder Woman be wearing pants or not? And will there be demonic children involved? Tune in tomorrow and find out!
Brian‘s Load
DC RETROACTIVE: Wonder Woman – The 90s
If I had a gun to my head filled with memory-erasing bullets, and I was being forced to pick my fave era of Wonder Woman comics or suffer a total mental meltdown that would leave me to wander the world aimlessly with people calling me Logan for years and years, I’d have no choice but to break down and pick the 90s as the best era for Wonder Woman. I know that says a lot, because most people would pick the classic George Perez issues or the equally amazing Phil Jimenez run on the title as key shining moments in Wonder Woman’s comic history, but there is just something about the offbeat, left-of-center take in the 90s on our dear Amazon that tickles me in all the right gay spots. When new writer William Messner-Loebs and new artist Lee Moder had Wonder Woman working at Taco Wiz, I was equally offended and hooked. Wonder Woman working at a fast food joint! Shocking! I loved it. Just as odd, and surprising as those stories were, so too is this awesome one-shot, where everyday girls step outside their cultural expectations to show up some snotty, misogynistic boys. In one issue this retro-look at the 90s captures everything that makes Wonder Woman so, well, wonderful. Pick this baby up and enjoy women’s lib in comic book form!
Sadly, this final issue of the “all new” Wonder Woman’s adventures is kind of an example of everything I did not enjoy about this current run. Fourteen issues later and we’re right back where we started, with Diana remembering her old life, the return of the Amazons, her mother alive again, and what did she learn for it all? Something that she had already learned in just about every past issue: that she’ll “always be Wonder Woman.” Duh! Didn’t she learn this when Artemis temporarily took on the mantel, or when Diana was briefly an Olympian Goddess and took back the title from her mother? Yeah, been there, done that. Oh, well, now onto the next chapter of Wonder greatness as the all-new, all-different Wonder Woman emerges next month with DC’s new reboot! So raise your arms in the air and clink your bracelets together in the proper Amazonian cheer of happiness! Whoo-haw!
X-Force’s not-so-merry three-hour tour of the Age of Apocalypse wraps up with the team jaunting back to the present with that weird seed thinger that they’ve been after to cure Angel of the curse of Apocalypse. Like usual, it’s another amazing issue, but the standout for me has to be seeing the background non-mutant Marvel U characters who pop in to battle X-Force, like Venom Captain America, Chamber Thing, some insect-y Dr. Octopus and Ghost Rider Iron Man. Now those are some comics that I for sure would read. Cray-cray stuff. Oh, and how in the world does the Age of Apocalypse version of Nightcrawler manage to not only survive being slashed in half by evil Age-of-Apocalypse-Wolverine but also pull himself together enough to help pick and half-carry a wounded Fantomex? Wow! Somebody must be eating his Wheaties! We may just see the little blue elf appear on the front of the cereal box very soon, because that is some true Olympic level chutzpa!
I am so loving the artwork by Nick Bradshaw. Like super loving it. And I’m also quite fond of Armor’s samurai/pig-tail knots. I’m totes gonna be rocking that look at work on Monday. HR be damned!
The baby Hellfire Club makes their naughty little move against the X-Men and almost fully end the mutant team, if not for poor, innocent Oya going all cold-blooded killer on the Club’s asses. That’ll teach those horrible little brats. Children—ugh. Aren’t they all just little psychopaths in waiting?
Juga-Colossus? Hahaha. Wow. What will they think of next? It’s like the less sexy, less busty version of the Dark Phoenix. Let’s hope Juga-Colossus doesn’t destroy an entire planet full of broccoli-headed aliens, because we all know that SO does not go unpunished.
Whoa! So Wolfsbane just barfs up her half-god baby, and the poor thing goes on a killing rampage? That’s something you don’t really see every day, right? Like I’ve said before, it doesn’t pay to be a woman in comics, much less a woman about to get married or have a baby, because terrible things always happen to them. But heck, that demon-spawn baby was so cute I’d take it in. I have a soft spot for furry little minions.
One hundred issues is a milestone in today’s comic market, so congrats Titans! Celebrate your achievement with a relaunch! Yay! About the only awesome thing I can say about the impending relaunch is that there will be (finger and toes and gonads crossed) no Superboy Prime! Yippee. I hate that annoying punk-ass jerk. He I will so NOT miss.
Decent writing, pretty great art, and Spider-Girl actually has spider-related powers, so I can’t really complain about this book. Other than to say that I recently read the trades on Spider-Girl’s first appearance when she was wannabe Arana, and her superhero tattoo was on her arm and not her back (as depicted in this issue’s flashback). That kind of lack of attention to detail is what drives us comic lovers insane. Because, well, you know we comic lovers have no lives, and that continuity stuff matters to us, so why doesn’t it matter to the editors and creators? Annoying!
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