What Do You Mean They're Not Superheroes?: Sneak Peek Reviews 10/21/08

Superman: New Krypton #1 (One-Shot)
Written by: Geoff Johns, James Robinson, and Sterling Gates
Art by: Pete Woods, Gary Frank, and Renato Guedes

In the wake of what happened in the most recent issue of Action Comics as well as last week's Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen the first big crossover story line in the Superman family of books since One Year Later's "Up, Up, and Away!". New Krypton has every indication of becoming one of the most exciting stories of the past few years. Between Geoff Johns, James Robinson, two of the most talented writers in the industry, and Sterling Gates, one of the brightest new names in the world of comics, it is evident that it is going to be an incredibly well written story. The artists on each of the books are incredible talents in their own right, Gary Frank's "Kevin Maguire"-like ability to have his characters act on the page, Renato Guedes' skill at crafting incredibly vivid action sequences and Supergirl's new artist Jamal Igle and his skill at crafting unique characters and ability to draw beautiful women without falling prey to turning it in to cheesecake. While I know that I haven't said much about this issue in particular I fear that anything I could say would lead to elements of one really damn great comic book being spoiled, so allow me to assure you that if you are a fan of Superman that you are in for a treat and if you have been looking for a reason to get into Superman that there has never been a better time.

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1 (of 4) Written by: Jason Aaron Art by: Stephen Segovia

I can't even begin to count the number of times that I have mentioned that Jason Aaron is the most exciting new writer to come into the comics industry in the last five years. I also can't count the number of times that I have said that I have never been the biggest fan of Wolverine. So when one of my favorite writers takes on one of my least favorite characters one has to wonder which of the most frequent adages will survive to be said again ... Jason Aaron just plain rocks. He brings to the table so many great concepts as well as a fantastic precision in executing the concepts. At once this is a story of Wolverine being a simple man, but a simple man who has just had one hell of a life. So when he goes to San Francisco's Chinatown it's only understandable that he has some enemies there, but these are enemies that have been stewing over what Logan did to them for 50 or so years. This is going to be one hell of a fun ride, I can assure you. Stephen Segovia is doing his best Lenil Francis Yu impersonation while still managing to come across as unique. Seriously this is going to be one damn fun story.



G.I. JOE: New Beginning #0 Written by: Chuck Dixon, Larry Hama, Christos Gage & Mike Costa Art by: Andrew Crossley, Tom Feister, Antonio Fuso

I, like every other red blooded American boy who was between the ages of 7 and 14 in the mid to late 80's, was a huge fan of the G.I. JOE cartoon. When the world of comics tried to mine my childhood starting in the beginning of this millennium I was resistant. I didn't buy back in to the new Transformers book, or the later launched G.I. Joe book (and I was able to resist the call of the Thundercats comic as well). So, after changing hands several times the license for G.I. JOE has now come to small press innovators IDW, which means that for the first time in a very long time both the G.I. JOE license and the Transformers license are now under the same roof. Also returning to the title is the man who created the characters behind the figures, Larry Hama. Coming along with him is Chuck Dixon, who owes his career in comics to Hama thanks to a gig working on back up stories in Savage Sword of Conan that that Hama hooked Dixon up with. Also coming on board are Christos Gage, who has been crafting a whole new Wildstorm Universe, and newcomer Mike Costa, who recently penned a really great Jack Hawksmoor miniseries. Now ... it might seem like there are a whole lot of writers for one book ... that's cause there are going to be three books. There are going to be three books? Isn't that a little fast? No, not once you hear about them. First there is going to be G.I. JOE written by Chuck Dixon with art by Robert Atkins, which will tell the tale the current JOE missions and encounters with Cobra. Second is G.I. JOE: Origins written by Larry Hama and with art by Tom Feister which will tell the tale of the formation of the team and the recruitment of the JOE's. And finally there will be G.I. JOE: Cobra written by Christos Gage and Mike Costa with art by Antonio Fuso which will tell the story of the JOE undercover inside the most frightening terrorist organization in the world ... and no one knows what Chuckles will find among Cobra. And if this preview of each is any indication about the quality that we can expect from the new series then this is going to be one hell of a relaunch. Yo JOE!