Proud Lion Recommends Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1

Shared universe storytelling. Complicated plots crossing multiple comic titles. Some people love it. Others find it a barrier to enjoying superhero comics.

Personally, I enjoy the rich tapestries of the Marvel Universe and the DCU. When I was a kid, the first comic I adored was Marvel's Transformers comic and the brief appearance of Spider-Man was wonderful. Every boy imagines that his toys can interact. Imagination isn't bound by constraints of publisher, film studio or TV network.

However, others hate the fact that comics will sometimes require you to read other issues to understand the impact on their favourite characters. J. Michael Straczynski spoke in the comic media about how he disliked guiding Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four through Civil War, bound by the decisions of Mark Millar and the Marvel editorial policy. Indeed, he allegedly left Thor rather than compromise his storytelling again during the current Siege event.

JMS is a writer I admire and I appreciate his viewpoint. In 2000, a writer who's work I really don't care for also weighed in one this issue. Dwayne McDuffie (a writer fired from JLA by DC and Fantastic Four by DC - just saying) wrote a blog entry called Crisis On Mono-Earth! where he stated that:

"Shared universes are too hard to follow. The vast amount of information a reader has to master, simply to understand a typical monthly superhero comic is ridiculous. That's all well and good for geeks like you and me but it's become impossible to be a casual reader anymore. Casual readers should be our bread and butter; they certainly used to be. But I defy you to pick up a random issue of most current comics and be able to understand what's going on in it without the equivalent of a Ph.D. in trivia."

Whilst I dislike McDuffie's writing, he maybe has a point. In recent times successful events like Secret Invasion and Blackest Night have thrown readers in at the deep end. Civil War brought many lapsed comic book fans back into the fold, primarily because you could get by with just the main book and little or no knowledge of the then current continuity.

Marvel launched the Ultimate universe to give new readers a fresh take on their famous characters. The recent Ultimatum refresh of the Ultimate Comics range has shown that the need for gateway comics for new readers and accessible stories for casual readers are still very important.

Marvel's Astonishing X-Men series was the home of Joss Whedon's X-Men storytelling for a few years and then moved on to Warren Ellis' custody. It will now be relaunched as part of an expanded line of Astonishing comics.

Marvel's press release said:

"Pioneered to be the books for both the casual and hardcore fans, this new imprint kicks off with two can't miss series: ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN/WOLVERINE by superstars Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert, and the series that started it all back for a bold new era, ASTONISHING X-MEN: XENOGENESIS #1 by the duo of Warren Ellis and Kaare Andrews.

Here's how Astonishing works: set firmly in the Marvel Universe and providing the perfect starting point for all readers, new or old, these books will tell the most epic stories of heroic action set against the back drop of the real world. New readers will be able to jump right into these epic adventures, while die-hard Marvel fans will also find exciting insights and dramatic changes for Marvel's most prestigious characters."

Marvel's David Gabriel (Senior Vice-President of Sales & Circulation) added:

"The Astonishing line is exciting for us and the entire industry because it provides the top creators the chance to take on our top characters in stories that you won't find anywhere else," he says. "They are firmly set in Marvel continuity but also accessible to new readers. If you're looking for big changes and character developments or a place to start reading if you are new to comics, this is where you come. Thanks to Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, the name Astonishing is synonymous with excellence. That's what this line is all about, from the creators to the characters."

All of that long hyperbole leads me to the review itself because the first of these new books is now out. Part one of the six part Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine is a bold piece of storytelling, hurling the titular characters back to prehistoric times.

The writer Jason Aaron has been writing Wolverine's core solo title Wolverine: Weapon X for sometime now, to great acclaim. It's nice to see that his writing voice for Peter Parker is suitably different and at points I'm reminded of the superb JMS/John Romita Jr. run on Amazing Spider-Man. Peter's scientific mind shines through, an aspect of the character that is regular forgotten in the crappy post-Brand new Day era of Spidey storytelling.

I urge Spidey fans who - like me - despair at the current state of Amazing Spider-Man to try this book. It's also well known that Wolverine is one of my least favourite Marvel characters, but here he works in a way that feels true to the character without being as arrogant or obnoxious as I usually find Logan. In fact, I am slightly reminded of Mark Millar's excellent Old Man Logan story arc.

Topped off by beautiful art from Adam Kubert (Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Superman: Last Son), this first issue is a joy and it's easy to see why IGN gave it 9.1 out of 10.

Here's the first few pages, taken from Comic Book Resources.

Ben Fardon is the owner, proprietor, manager and filing clerk for Proud Lion. Bascially, Ben is Proud Lion is Ben. He often uses the personal pronoun 'we', in an attempt to not feel like a man alone. In that context 'we' refers to Ben, the bricks and mortar, the stock and the branding that comprises Proud Lion. It also makes him sound kind of crazy. 'We' are OK with that.

Ben has been reading comics since he was five years old and his Dad bought him a Transformers comic at the local newsagent. In the same comic were reprints of Iron Man in the red and silver armour. To this day, Tony Stark is his favourite superhero.

He likes eating, swimming and science fiction Tv series. He recently became addicted to The West Wing.

One day, he'll finish a script for something.

Proud Lion Recommends Superman War Of The Superman #1

Phew, after a few weeks of chaos thanks to Mount Doom over in Mordor (or is it Iceland?), we're finally all caught up and I can take some time to tell you about some great new comics.

Saturday 1st May was Free Comic Book Day 2010. Among the titles on offer was War Of The Superman #0, the first part of this bookend Superman event.

In 2008 the Brainiac storyline saw the return of the Bottle City Of Kandor. Restored to full size at the end of that story, the Kryptonians tried to live on Earth alongside humanity, but misunderstanding and conflicts drove them out.

Instead they created a new crystalline planet and placed it in Earth's orbit, but on the other side of the Sun. New Krypton became their new home and they choose the villainous General Zod to lead their defence force.

Meanwhile back on Earth, Lex Luthor and General Lane began to work together to combat the perceived alien menace.

War Of The Supermen sees all these elements come to a head. The cynic in me saw War Of The Supermen as a way of clearing house for DC. The past year of Superman comics has seen Kal-El leave Earth and travel to New Krypton, as documented in the 12 part World Of New Krypton series.

In his absence, Action Comics switched to focus on Nightwing and Flamebird, two young Kryptonians who had travelled to Earth to attempt to uncover the conspiracies surrounding their exodus and Lex Luthor's further plans. The core Superman title also switched focus to follow Mon-El, the old friend tasked with protecting Metropolis while Superman was gone. Suffice to say, sales plummeted.

The dawn of a new era of Superman storytelling is just around the corner and I'll talk more about that soon. This is why I assumed War Of The Supermen would be a sham event. But James Robinson and Suprgirl writer Sterling Gates have surprised me.

War Of The Supermen has some brutal punches in it's first proper issue. It was obvious New Krypton had to go, but the timing of that moment has a devastating impact on Supergirl.

Igle's panels of Zod's warfleet on the move are striking, underlining the subtitle of this miniseries, 'The 100 Minute War'. Interspersed with the continuation of the story thread of Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, desperately trying to uncover her father's machinations, this first issue plays to the strength of the established supporting cast. Mon-El, the Guardian, Superboy, Krypto, Nightwing and Flamebird are all seen waiting in the wings ready to join the fight.

I'd say that I have only two criticisms about this first issue. Firstly, Superman has very little to do other than a quick skirmish with Zod and comforting Supergirl. Secondly, the debris of New Krypton is littered with Kryptonite, yet Superman and his kin seem completely unaffected. Even though issue #0 took steps to reiterate the affect of the green rock on Kryptonians. Still, this maybe addressed in the second issue, so i'll forgive it as dramatic license for now.

Bottom line is, if you enjoyed the free issue last week, give issue one a go. Now's a good time to get involved in Superman again. In the coming months acclaimed writers J. Michael Straczynski and Paul Cornell take over on the Man Of Steel. I'll have more on that later this week.

Up, up and away...

Ben Fardon is the owner, proprietor, manager and filing clerk for Proud Lion. Bascially, Ben is Proud Lion is Ben. He often uses the personal pronoun 'we', in an attempt to not feel like a man alone. In that context 'we' refers to Ben, the bricks and mortar, the stock and the branding that comprises Proud Lion. It also makes him sound kind of crazy. 'We' are OK with that.

Ben has been reading comics since he was five years old and his Dad bought him a Transformers comic at the local newsagent. In the same comic were reprints of Iron Man in the red and silver armour. To this day, Tony Stark is his favourite superhero.

He likes eating, swimming and science fiction Tv series. He recently became addicted to The West Wing.

One day, he'll finish a script for something.

New Comic Boxes - Volstor StorDror

Here's something new! Volstor StorDror comic boxes are now in stock.

Slightly larger than our ComiCare small boxes, these consist of a drawer and an outer sleeve, rather than the traditional box and lid approach.


The drawer has removable dividers, allowing you to segment your comics and keep them upright even if you don't have a full box.


The outer sleeve is reinforced by an additional cardboard insert, meaning that you can easily stack these boxes and take a drawer out to get at the contents without them all crashing down.


We wouldn't recommend stacking them more than three boxes high however, just to be on the safe side.


StorDror boxes are available in store at Proud Lion right now - they are £9.00 each. I'm going to swap my ageing comic boxes for these beauties.

Here are the folding instructions for the drawer (click on the image to make bigger):


These are the folding instructions for the outer section (click on the image to make bigger):

Proud Lion Recommends I, Zombie

Phew, that last blog post is a monster. And not much fun for people who don't play boardgames. So now it's time for another monster, of a comic book and zombie variety.

The Walking Dead is a fairly definitive and seminal zombie comic, and there have been many imitators in recent years.

But I think we can all agree, DC/Vertigo tend not to jump on the bandwagon, preferring instead to give us considered and well produced storytelling such as Hellblazer, Sandman, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Y: The Last Man, Fables, House Of Mystery and the wonderful Pride Of Baghdad OGN.

Next from this pedigree stable comes I, Zombie. This quirky and fun horror-fantasy comic is written by Chris Robertson, who recently wrote the excellent Fables spin-off, Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love.

The artwork is from the pencil of the wonderful Eisner Award winner, Michael Allred, creator of Madman and the man behind the much loved X-Statix mutants.

I was never a huge fan of his redesign of X-Force as it came after the wonderful Warren Ellis inspired Counter-X redesign that included a personal favourite of mine, Peter Wisdom, who came in and shaped the Cable-enamoured X-Force moppets into a no-nonsense Black Ops team. There was a really Global Frequency vibe there.

Still, there's no denying I was in the minority as X-Force sales and it's follow up X-Statix went through the roof. People still adore Doop and Allred's art really helped to sell that.

I Zombie #1 is out Friday May 7th in the UK due to the May Day Bank Holiday, and will cost just £1.00, part of DC/Vertigo's new debut issue for a dollar initiative. Here's the solicitation from the DC website:

Gwen Dylan is a gravedigger in an eco-friendly cemetery…and a zombie detective. Once a month, she has to eat a human brain – both to keep from going all "Night of the Living Dead," and to keep her own memories intact. As a result, Gwen's mind is crowded with the dead person's thoughts. And lately, she feels compelled to fulfill their final requests. Torn between a mysterious mummy and a dashing young monster-hunter, Gwen is set for adventures beyond imagination! A were-terrier, a swinging '60s ghost and a pack of paintball blasting vampires complete the cast of I, ZOMBIE.

It sounds fantastically mental! Gwen and the others debuted in a seven page story last year's House Of Mystery Halloween Annual and DC were kind enough to post those seven pages again on their Vertigo blog, entitled Graphic Content. You can find that blog here, but we've grabbed the seven pages for you to enjoy right now. Check out the awesome Shaun Of the Dead reference too!

If you like it, don't forget to place a pre-order! There's a Darwyn Cooke variant for issue #1 too, as seen at the beginning of this post. We have a couple coming in, but they won't last long!