ComicPageOfTheWeekend: Introducing...The Heckler!

And because I just love The Heckler!

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The Heckler © DC Comics

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: In search of Superman Blue and Superman Red!

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Ambush Bug © DC Comics

ComicPanelsOfTheWeek: It was all because of you!

Sue Dibny - Elongated Man's wife - killed by a crazy Jean Loring - Atom's wife?
That guy!

 

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He turned her crazy in this tale!

Ambush Bug: Year None © DC Comics

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: Cheeks, The Toy Wonder!

And now, it's time for....

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Ambush Bug © DC Comics

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: A night to howl!

Good ol' classic JLI! :D
Guy and Tora... I miss this couple..

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Justice League of America #28 © Marvel Comics

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: THE PLAN

And this, ladies and gentleman, is why Keith Giffen's my favorite artist/writer!

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Ambush Bug © DC Comics

CBR Lobo: unbound

 

Finally making an appearance on my blog, here's Lobo!

Lobo's got a very special place for me, being yet another original creation of writer Keith Giffen - the creator of such original DC Comics characters such as Ambush Bug and The Heckler!

Lobo was also one of the last successful modern characters that kept supporting various solo titles and kept on popping up around all these years since his first appearance, even going as far as appearing in videogames and TV series.
(the only other that comes to mind honestly, DC and Marvel alike, his Booster Gold)

[Warning: For mature audience only!]

Comic title: Lobo: unbound
Art by Alex Horley, with additional help from Mike Decarlo and Andy Kuhn
Story by Keith Giffen

Published by DC Comics
From 2003
Lineup Lobo
Format: Trade paperback, collects the 6-issue miniseries.

Who's Lobo?

Created originally by Keith Giffen and Roger Slifer in the 80s (before the Crisis!), Lobo was originally just a recurring bad guy in a Green Lantern spinoff title (Omega Men).
He was then over the years reimagined and perfected into the character he is today.

Lobo is the last Czarnian. He is an intergalactic bounty hunter and mercenary for hire.
Very dangerous, borderline psychotic, he made his reputation himself, one skull at the time. He is actually responsible for the genocide of his own planet, making himself the last of his kind when he was only a kid.

As you can guess, he's a very violent, over the top kind of character.
And for a reason, Lobo is actually a parody of all these gritty 80s and post-Watchmen comic book characters like Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Venom, etc..
When used in stories by his creator Keith Giffen, he's usually seen as a parody for this mature genre of superhero comics, making fun of the way people take these characters so seriously.
When someone else gets behind Lobo, they usually miss the point - I think - and turn him into a caricature of what he's supposed to parody, in my opinion..

The Main Man's Back to Kick Ass and #@$! ##%&?! some @%&

Lobo is back, at last!
Fresh from some bad comics and other random crossovers, Lobo isn't what he used t'be anymore.
His reputation in the low, nobody wants to hire this washed out intergalactic bounty hunter no more.
Vowing to climb right back to the top again, our hero goes on a mass murder rampage of dirty jobs in the worst galactic systems around.

To be a badass again, Lobo takes some hitman jobs.
He ends up finding a job that gets him to the strange planet of Dhabba Dhu. A planet where everyone's a fraggin' time bomb!
Self-exploders notwithstanding, things turn from bad to worse when someone from his past comes back to haunt the "Main Man".

Suddenly, it's an all-out world war that erupts amongst our characters...and the thing is, Lobo actually likes it!

Irwin's back...just because!

Lobo: unbound is a beautiful looking painted book.
Alex Horley did a fantastic job with the interior art. (his covers too...though I do actually prefer his sequentials over them)

The book's crude, rude, with 'tude.
It also introduces Bling-Bling the Hip-Hop Ho' - the kind of character you'd never found anywhere else. Strangely enough, she's pretty much aware of the way she's portrayed and is quite a strong figure that wouldn't take the kinda treatment other comic book heroines often find themselves in on other less self-aware books.

It's the book our anti-hero always deserved. High quality art, fun over-the-top parodical plot. It goes in all sorts of random directions and plays with the tropes and kind of characters you'd expect from the genre.

The comic also features various original segments that  breaks from the high octane violence and Horley's painted art.
Most of the chapters contain a few pages done in a completely different style. Often to break the story or to open an issue. Like Lobo's origin story recapped at the start of the book (parodying children comics), or Bling-Bling the bounty hunter-comic mocking Archie Comics.

Also at mid-point through this story, Ambush Bug hijacks a whole issue in a beautiful segment by Andy Kuhn.
Getting his own sub-plot and meeting half-way with Lobo's Dhabba Dhu adventures.
The Moyl Men are coming up, only the Bug can prevent it and warn Lobo of the coming troubles!!

Huh...spoiler alert?

It's a great comic that even mocks previous Lobo comics.
And can be used as a great introduction to the character.

The book gets quite meta on its second half, and is pretty weird if you never picked a graphic novel in your entire life.

But it's such a fun ride!

Overall, fun, gross, gore, violent.
It such a mixed (body) bag of bad taste, vulgarity and hilarious over-the-top sequences!

It's definitively not a PG title, pretty far from any PC content.
Like I said above, it's for a mature audience.
You'll get the whole package, sexy, gore & rock 'n' roll!

The characters are caricatures of things people would shy away from using usually.
Prostitutes, "space Talibans", Lobo covers it all!
Giffen went the extreme, and all in good fun.
It might look bad in surface, but it's better played with than any of the usual other so-called "violent" or "mature" comics around. Here it's at least self-referential and a parody.

Keith Giffen said once:

"I have no idea why Lobo took off, I came up with him as an indictment of the Punisher, Wolverine, hero prototype and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure." 

If you can see beyond the simple look of things, it's a great trip with Lobo, mocking the genre, these type of characters and comics in general.

It might look in surface as book with no plot, but try to go along with it. You won't regret it!

I give it:

 3 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: Milk and cookies do a body good

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JLI #08 © DC Comics

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: What if? Keith had blown his deadline on this issue?????

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Angel & The Ape #5 © DC Comics

ComicPanelsOfTheWeek: Doorbell's there for a reason

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Doom Patrol/Secret Six crossover © DC Comics

ComicPanelsOfTheWeek: Ambush Bug retconned

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Ambush Bug: Year None © DC Comics

CBR DC Comics Presents: Metal Men

 

And we're back with the Metal Men once again!

Our metallic shape-shifting heroes didn't appear much in other DC Comics publication.

That is until the guys responsible for the 80s/early 90s Justice League (International) decided to give them a try.
The Metal Men didn't get another on-going series or mini but instead served as back-up stories in the latest iteration of the Doom Patrol. Penned by Kevin Maguire under the direction Keith Giffen (writer of said Doom Patrol comic) & J.M. DeMatteis, it was a return to comedy, a genre that is seriously lacking in today's comic books.

Was this new Metal Men story a disguised Super Buddies ploy?
Or did the BWA-HAHA suit Doctor William Magnus and his Metal Men?
Let's dig into...

Comic title: DC Comics Presents: The Metal Men 100-Page Spectacular
Art by Kevin Maguire & Tim Levins (fill-in artist)
Story by Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis
Silver Age: Metal Men feature - Art by Kevin Maguire & Story by Bob Haney

Published by DC Comics
From 2011
Lineup Metal Men
Format: Collects the 7 part Metal Men back-up stories from the 2010-11 Doom Patrol issues 1-7 as well as the One Shot SILVER AGE: The Brave And The Bold #1.

As said above, this "Metal Men 100-Page Spectacular" is actually a reprint of back-up stories featured in the new Doom Patrol issues.

The story kinds of picks up where the Metal Men mini and their later appearance in Superman/Batman ended up.
Thanks to some independent contacts, William Magnus was able to restore back Gold and build him a body again. The Metal Men are now composed of Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Tin, Platinum (but she prefers Tina) and newest member Copper.

Doc is living in the suburbs now, where the government decided to relocate him (after his adventures on Oolong Island).
But the neighbors are trying to have them expulsed, because he's living with friggin' dangerous robots next door!!

Meanwhile, the Metal Men are sent on various missions across the globe, thanks to a pretty regular income of little jobs sent there way now.

Since Gold had to be rebuilt from scratch he kinda lost his head (that's a fact actually!) and he's now overwhelmed by his primary personality.
Well to be precise the whole crew his sort of acting to the extreme of the personality each represent.
Tina is acting like a crazy desperate housewife, Mercury only cares about himself and his favorite TV Show "Douglas, Robot Hunter!!", Tin is as shy and incapable as ever, nobody cares about Copper. Oh, and Lead and Iron are starting to feel like they're the middle brothers of the Daltons.

Then Magnus and Tin are captured by The Clique, evil mannequin robots built by a rival scientist, the real Douglas Robot Hunter finds out about them and attempts to save the world from the robot invasion and the neighbors are still trying to get rid of the Doc and his Metal Men.

And Gold is more obnoxious than he's ever been.

Ancient gods, humor, comedy, slapstick, this book got it all!

This comic was beautifully drawn by Kevin Maguire who really gets to shine here more than ever.
Reading old JLI stories penciled ny Maguire was already a joy, but giving him these stretchy cartoony characters really allowed him to play with expressions and faces like only he can!
Gold specially gets a full range of dickish expressions during this book.
Doc is slowly losing it, Merc' only has eyes for the Robot Hunter, Copper is sadly ignored...
Tina even gets a new hair style per chapter!

It really looks like he was having fun being back with these writers and on these characters.

Meanwhile Giffen and DeMatteis co-writing is on-par with their early 90s Justice League stories. The story flows well, the characters click together.. It's only sad it lasted for so few pages!
They even joke about Dan Didio's DC Comics and their current situation in each issue's credits!

It is truly a work of love!
The characters seem all crazy and to be jumping off the pages!
The art is great, I didn't even had a problem with Tim Levins acting as a guest artist for an issue (Maguire couldn't answer the call due to some personal problems).

It isn't as serious as past "in-continuity" (as nerds say it) appearances of the Metal Men. But it is all for the best, trust me!

Overall, a must read!
DC fans or Marvel-fanboys/DC haters! Metal Men newcomers, don't even worry about knowing these fun looking colored characters or not!

It's quite new readers friendly, self-contained and you only wish it could have lasted longer.

Fans of the ol' JLI/Superbuddies will adore it! It's as fun as that other super heroic gang was, minus no "event tie-in".

There's also a little bonus in the form of a reprint of SILVER AGE: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1.
Which is great!
"The All-New Silver Age" was a thematic event from DC, rather than an in-story event (like Blackest Night).
Kinda like the recent DC Retrospective or the Julius Schwartz-centric DC Comics Presents .
In the early 90s, DC decide to tell tales taking place in the early days of their various heroes' career, while working around a Silver-Age-vibe from the covers to the content of their books.
In this tale from "Brave & The Bold", the team first meets Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary, actually super-villains impersonating them through magic...and vice-versa!
Due to a strange occurence...they end up as real human beings!!
I had this as a separate issue, but it was nice to have it collected here on good quality paper.
The art's also by Kevin Maguire but from another writer.
Nice story, if a bit short and rushed near the end.


I give it:

  3 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

ComicPanelsOfTheWeek: One Man's Delusion...

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The Metal Men © DC Comics

ComicPanelsOfTheWeek: Ambush Bug on an issue of Lobo

One Keith Giffen character mocks the plot of another Keith Giffen character's book :P

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Lobo: Unbound #5 © DC Comics

CBR Ambush Bug: Year None

 

You think ya can put a good bug down, well you know what? You can't!!

After a decade of silence...and cameos throughout group shots...and hidden references in Wonder Girl bedroom in Young Justice...the Ambush Bug is back in the DCUniverse!

Meaner, greener...it is a whole new world out there!
DC Comics are now grittier...there's more deaths awaiting our heroes at every corner...and also strange editorial decisions that put good characters out of commission.
Will the Bug strike out against this injustice? Will Cheeky accompany our hero just like in good ol' times? What's up with the new DC logo since the last time the Bug had a mini-series for him?

And more important, did I forget to buy some flapjacks yesterday??

Comic title: Ambush Bug: Year None
Art by Keith Giffen, Al Milgrom & Art Baltazar (issue #7)
Story by Keith Giffen & Robert Loren Fleming

Published by DC Comics
From 2008-09
Lineup Ambush Bug
Format: Collects the six issues Ambush Bug: Year None mini-series.

Irwin Schwab is back! In an all-new series set in the (then) modern DCU!
Brought back to the mainstream attention thanks to a noticed cameo appearance in the middle of the epic blockbuster one year long storyline "52" (which layouts and breakdowns were done by Keith Giffen), it was only a matter of time until Irwin was given a proper new new mini-series.

After a brief hiatus in the 90s (when the similarly crazy and 4th breaker Heckler took his slot), The Bug is back to make fun of all things comics, all in good fun of course, reference and make nods at clichés, tropes and the oh-so serious fanbase of funny books.

What's all this about this time? Is it any good?
You will traverse the entire Multiverse to be able to answer this question...

Female characters and "ethnic" heroes drop down like flies... It's a grittier and more edgy DC Universe..

Ambush Bug is like he's always been. Lazy. Grumpy.
He just wants to have fun and "enjoy life" in his lil' apartment with his faithful sidekick Cheeks, the Toy Wonder.
But the whole DCU has changed this last decade.

Things are a whole lotta more serious around, these days.

Characters die...women end up in refrigerators... All of this to boost sales!
And then some characters are brought back...only to die again! Again, for the sake of sales!
What changed since last time?
Well, Dan Didio's in charge now...

The Ambush Bug-family is all back and all get there time to shine!

This 6 mini-series ran from September 2008 to January 2009 where it "ended" on a cliffhanger (to boost sales???) on issue 5...only to be brought back a year later (One Year Later, for real!) directly with issue 7.

The series is like a best of the Ambush Bug and gets to showcase doing what the Bug does best, poking fun at various corners of the DCU.
All of his trademarks gimmicks make an appearance at some point or another.
Giffen and Fleming mock (gently) all the aspects of comic book publishing and DC (in-story actually!).
The Bug notices all the changes there's been in the DCU lately, mostly with events running all the time (and he tries joining the crossover...only to be left too late behind the JLA, the Titans, etc..). Some issues take place around specific events, the Bug ends up resulting in some tragic deaths (Identity Crisis/Jean Loring going after Sue Dibny, Blue Beetle getting shot by Max Lord while he's distracted by Irwin, his fan number one!) or getting beat down by retconned characters like the Silver Age Batgirl, finding the Golden Age Earth-1 Superman (living "outside" the DCU with the Super-turtle amongst others), the 52 new characters (Batwoman, Montaya!The Question..) guest-star in an issue, the world is invaded by OMACS in another, etc..

It's a very fun book for the ones that keep up with DC Comics....and easily a good way to introduce, while having a good laugh, the various bizarre concepts of the DC Universe!

All the other elements from Ambush Bug comics make a comeback, like splashpages/parodies, Giffen's traditional 6-panels grid, ..
Ambush Bug ends up accidentally killing Dan Didio (or did he?) and disappears for a whole issue leaving the spotlight for other characters such as the evil sock Argh!yle and Mitsu Bishi, the Bug's japanese counterpart.

DC's Editor-in-chief about to retcon-punch Ambush Bug out of his own pages!

It's a great series that doesn't take itself too seriously and has fun with comics.
The Bug gets to make sarcastic comments on the stats of modern comics.

"He's just lines on paper."

The industry, like rival company Marvel Comics gets lampooned as well.
In one issue, the Bug ends up married to The Inferior Five's Dumb Bunny (who already got to appear in past Ambush Bug comics) so he tries divorcing her by any means he can, like asking the devil himself to divorce them both.

Amber Butane of the Amber Butane Corps makes a comeback, now more of actuality than ever, trying to rid on Geoff Johns' current success.

The final issue #7 (and therefore, 6th issue), the main plotline has a detective trying to find out what happened to issue 6 (in a quite special finale issue guest-drawn by Art Baltazar).

One other issue starts out with the missing dialogue from a previous issue's page.

As you can guess, it's all in good fun.
Like comics should always be, heck, it's called entertainment for a reason! Am I right or am I right??

Overall, it's an amazing series, that makes a lot more sense now than ever!
I do miss the ol' Julius Schwartz-era Ambush Bug parodies... but it's a different book for a different time!

Dan Didio is seen as the reason behind everything that goes wrong at DC nowadays... The Bug doesn't hesitate to make fun of that and fanboys and nerds reactions. They're also integral part of what passes for a  "plot" here.

It's a great book making fun of the genre and having a kick, having fun while at it.
Easily enjoyable even by non-fans and huge collectors.
Perfect, featuring some of the best moments the Bug have been through his carreer, Keith Giffen art at its best and cartooniest.

A must for any DC or comics lover!
Get it!
But don't lose your hair trying to find issue #6, okay? It. Doesn't. Exist!!!

I give it:

  3 / 3 Plastic-trophies!