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Here's an all new Showcase Presents Brave and The Bold - Batman Team-Ups review by Rod Lott, straight from bookgasm.com. Enjoy !

On Sale This Week (02/28)

Two great new books are scheduled to be out this wednesday, one from DC and one from Marvel. I'm not going to get any of them since I have so much I have yet to read but both books are going to find their way into my collection one of these days.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS GREEN LANTERN VOL 2
Written by John Broome and Gardner Fox; Art by Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino and others; Cover by Kane

Over 500 pages of black-and-white comics are included in this fast-paced collection that features the Emerald Warrior's battles with the beautiful Star Sapphire, would-be world conqueror Sonar, and the renegade Green Lantern known as Sinestro from GREEN LANTERN #18-37 and THE FLASH #143.

DC Universe | 528pg. | B&W | Softcover | $16.99 US | ISBN
1401212646

I discovered Green Lantern with his current run and I can say he has quickly become one of my all-time favorite characters. His ring makes for some great visuals and the concept of the Green Lantern Corps offers a great supporting cast for Hal. He's definitely a character I'd like to learn more about...

ESSENTIAL PETER PARKER SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN VOL 3
The Story: "Spectacular" isn't just the title as Spider-Man's college years are augmented by authorial and illustrative excellence! Enemies old and new, recurring and rare, line up to teach the web-slinger plenty – but will he become his own worst enemy as the sinister Spider-Lizard? Robots, killer bees, living hallucinations and more! Guest-starring the Human Torch and the White Tiger! Plus: the surprising first appearance of the hero-hater who'll happen into being the Hobgoblin! Collecting SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #32-61 and ANNUALS #1-3.
544 PGS./Rated A …$16.99


The Swarm, Morbius, Roger Stern... What's not to like about this ?

Rumor Mill : New Essentials

It's that time of the month when Amazon updates its Marvel publishing schedule. Once again, many books that haven't been sollicited yet are part of that list and, if there's any thruth to it, we can expect two all-new Essential books in July.

The first good news is in the numbers. Marvel has picked up the pace and are back to publishing two Essentials a month. Then the books themselves are not too bad. Two proud products of the late 1970's, both of which had previous Essential volumes that were pretty successful. So without further ado, the July Essential books are...

ESSENTIAL DEFENDERS VOL.3
The Day of the Defenders first gathered Doctor Strange, the Hulk and the rest of Marvel's legion of loners - but can they survive "Defenders for a Day?" If the second team calling themselves Defenders doesn't finish them off, the third one just might! Plus: more non-stop action when the non-team faces team after team - including the Emissaries of Evil, Zodiac and the Headmen! Demons and gods alike threaten humanity, leaving its outcasts to defend it! Guest-starring Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Havok and Polaris, the Son of Satan, Hercules and more! Collects Defenders #40-69 and Annual #1
592 pages
July 25th 2007

ESSENTIAL MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE VOL.2
Cosmic calamities, espionage, black magic, time travel, alien gangsters and martial-arts madness: Benjamin J. Grimm can handle it all, but he won't have to face it alone! Stars old and new shine when the thunderous Thing joins them against many of the most magnificent menaces the Marvel Universe can offer! Invasions, impersonations, assassinations and transformations! Plus: when heroes play poker! Guest-starring Captain America, Daredevil, Ms. Marvel, the Black Panther, Moon Knight, Spider-Woman and more! Collects Marvel Two-in-One #26-52 and Annual #2-3
568 pages
July 4th 2007


source : amazon.ca

Essential Fantastic Four Vol.1 Review

A Skrull Walks Among Us

Originally from : Fantastic Four #18
Writer : Stan Lee
Artist : Jack Kirby

Ever since I saw the Fantastic Four : Rise of The Silver Surfer trailer in theaters, I have this urge to read some cosmic Marvel stuff. Since I'm still waiting for the Annihilation Vol.1 hardcover to come out, I decided to glance through my old Essential FF vol.1 copy and see if anything caught my eye. Towards the end of the book, I stumbled upon this issue featuring the Super-Skrull. Considering this character has an important role in Annihilation and considering I never read anything about him, I thought I'd give Fantastic Four #18 a shot. I wasn't disappointed.

Long story short, the Skrulls sends an all-new skrull super soldier to Earth to destroy the Fantastic Four. This aptly named "Super-Skrull" possess the abilities of every FF members, from The Thing's strength to Sue's Invisibleness, while being more powerful than each of them. So the Super-Skrull gets to earth and claim the planet in the name of the Imperial Skrull Empire. The Fantastic Four get there and the fight begins.

That issue was way better than what I remembered those early FF tales to be. It had good art by Kirby, bearable dialogues by Lee, the action was fun and most of all the villain was cool ! I always had a soft spot for the Super-Skrull concept (every FF rolled into one odd-looking alien) and this story made me like him a bit more. Granted, he's not the sharpest tool in the box, but he still managed to give the FF a run for their money. All in all, this was a rather nice silver-age tale that made me want to read more of the Fantastic Four adventures. Guess I'll get the new printing of Vol.3 coming up in March. After all, you can't go wrong with Galactus and the Silver Surfer. I'll keep you posted on that.

Grade : B+

Essential Spider-Man Vol.1 (2nd Edition) Review

Content
Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 (March 1963 - January 1965)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964)
552 pages
$16.99

Writer
Stan Lee

Artists
Steve Ditko
Jack Kirby

Overall Review

Even if the stories collected in this book are considered classics by many, I had a hard time finding the courage to jump in and start reading it. You see, I always had a hard time with Stan Lee's scripts. To say he's wordy is a big time understatement. The guy fill up word balloons like no other. Still, once I found the strength to get going with Amazing Fantasy #15, I finally discovered why so many people fell in love with Peter Parker and his alter-ego.

Now don't get fooled by the title of the book, the real star here is Peter. Sure, Spidey's adventures are fun and entertaining, but never as much as Peter's . His love life is a mess, he gets bullied by the school's jock and he needs to help his aunt make ends meet. And on top of all that, he puts on a costume and goes around town chasing criminals all night long. Speaking of which, Spidey's got one of the best (if not THE best) lineup of villains of all comicdom. Luckily for us, many of them are making their first appearances in these pages and we get to witness first hand the incredible design sense of Steve Ditko. On top of creating one of the best looking super-hero costume of all time in Spider-Man's webbed suit, Ditko designed some classics villains that stood the test of time and are still around today.

That's not to say Ditko's artwork is without a fault. His faces are less than stellar to say the least. When you compare his work with, let's say, Curt Swan's or Al Plastino's, you can't help but to notice some flaws in Ditko's art. It's less finished, more sketchy. Still, the man can draw some pretty dynamic action scenes and a mean Spider-Man.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Sure it had some pretty heavy dialogue and narration, but it told a very engaging story about a kid everybody can relate to. As I said previously, Peter's the real star of the book and most of the success of the Spider-Man franchise can be attributed to him. Without Peter Parker, Spider-Man would not be the household name it is today.

Grade : A

source : www.comicbookdb.com«

On Sale This Week (02/21)

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The good news is you'll have some more free time to plow through your "to read" pile. At least I'll do. And I need it. Badly. 30 single issues, 2 trades, 5 Showcases and 3 Essentials to go. Some great reads to look fowards to!

Showcase Presents Superman Vol.1 Review

The Man No Prison Could Hold

Originally from : Action Comics #248
Writer : Bill Finger
Artist : Wayne Boring

While "soaring in the ionosphere", Superman finds a strange little satellite. Our hero follows the thing's radio waves transmissions back to a small uncharted island where he discovers a Nazi scientist, Von Kamp, working on the top secret "Project X". Not one to shy away from a mystery, Supes makes up a plan to investigate on Von Kamp's whereabouts -- he's going to become one of his slaves ! A walk in the park, at least until good old Jimmy Olsen messes everything up...

All in all, this is another great tale featuring some pretty nifty ideas from Bill Finger like

• Superman throwing his costume in the atmosphere so that it falls back down exactly three hours later. Just enough time to become a slave and investigate.
• After having pulled one of his Superman kinda moves, our big guy hollows a ball-and-chain with his finger so that he isn't unmasked.
• Superman making an invisible glass boomerang out of sand to hook an escaping Jimmy Olsen and pull him back to the island.
• Jimmy actually thinking it was the wind that blew him back.
• Supes making a kaleidoscope out of sand and putting it in front of Project X's camera lens so that Von Kamp thinks his invention doesn't work and give up on the whole thing.
• And, best of all, the fact that this trick actually works!

Once again, a great read from Showcase Superman. If you don't already own it, get $10, run to your LCS and buy it. Forget the fact you don't like Superman. This is 560 pages of pure comics goodness.
Grade : A+

Confirmed : May's Essential

ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 6 TPB
Written by STAN LEE, ROY THOMAS & GERRY CONWAY
Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA, ROSS ANDRU & JOE SINNOTT
Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA
From the Monster from the Lost Lagoon to the Overmind from beyond the stars, menaces from across time and space converge on Earth's most fabulous foursome! A space angel of death! Future warrior women! The horrors of the 1950s! Plus: Doctor Doom, Diablo and Dragon Man! Guest-starring the Inhumans! Collecting FANTASTIC FOUR #111-137.
592 PGS./All Ages …$16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2697-X

Not much surprise here, except maybe that there's only one Essential scheduled for May. Comments to come later...

A.V. Club's Top 10 Essentials

Here's a nice, even if a bit dated, article on Essentials in which A.V. Club's Noel Murray comments on his 10 favorite books of the line. There's only one thing to say, the guy knows his comics.

On Sale This Week (02/14)

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: AQUAMAN VOL. 1
Written by Robert Bernstein and Jack Miller; Art by Ramona Fradon, Kurt Schaffenberger, Nick Cardy and others; Cover by Jim Aparo

Collecting classic tales of Aquaman from ADVENTURE COMICS #260-280, 282 and 284 and more! Over 500 pages highlighting classic tales of Aquaman, featuring the debuts of Mera and Aqualad!

DC Universe | 544pg. | B&W | Softcover | $16.99 US | ISBN 1401212239

DC confirms Showcases for June to August

In a press release from February 2nd, DC Comics confirmed its collected editions publication schedule for June to August 2007. Showcase Presents fans will be glad to know that DC is still strongly pushing the line with two volumes each month. Without further ado, here's what you can expect to see on the shelves this summer :

Scheduled for June 2007
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: BATMAN VOL. 2 TP
Writers: Gardner Fox, Robert Kanigher, John Broome and Bill Finger
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff, Carmine Infantino, Chic Stone, Joe Giella, Murphy Anderson, Sid Greene and others
Collects BATMAN #175-188 and DETECTIVE COMICS #343-358
$16.99 US, 512 pages

I still have to get the first volume of this series but I'm sure fans of the 60's Batman TV show (just like me) will find lots of great stories in this.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE ATOM VOL. 1 TP
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artists: Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson and Sid Greene
Collects SHOWCASE #34-36 and THE ATOM #1-17
$16.99 US, 528 pages

As I'm rather new to the DC universe, I still have a lot to learn on its "second string" characters. I can't say The Atom is one of my favorite but I may give this book a glance to see if it's my kind of stuff.

Scheduled for July 2007
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: BATGIRL VOL. 1 TP
Writers: Gardner Fox, Cary Bates, Bob Haney, Mike Friedrich, Robert Kanigher, Frank Robbins, Dennis O ' Neil and Elliot S. Maggin
Artists: Carmine Infantino, Curt Swan, Frank Springer, Gil Kane, Bob Brown, Win Mortimer, Irv Novick, Don Heck, Mike Sekowsky, Neal Adams and others
Collects stories from DETECTIVE COMICS #359, 363, 369, 371, 384, 385, 388, 389, 392, 393, 396, 397, 400, 401, 404, 405-424, BATMAN #197, ADVENTURE COMICS #381, WORLD ' S FINEST COMICS #169 and 176, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #78, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #60 and SUPERMAN #268 and 279
$16.99 US, 520 pages

Now THAT's what I'm talking about ! I absolutely LOVE goofy 60's stories and it probably can't get any better than this. To put some icing on the cake, the artists lineup is pretty good with the likes of Swan, Infantino and Adams. A definite must-buy as far as I'm concerned.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: MARTIAN MANHUNTER VOL. 1 TP
Writers: Jack Miller, Joe Samachson and Dave Wood
Artists: Joe Certa
Collects stories from DETECTIVE COMICS #225-305
$16.99 US, 522 pages

Not my cup of tea but I know there's a more than a couple of guys that requested this on the Marvel Masterworks Message Board (as of this writing, 35 to be exact). Good news for them !

Scheduled for August 2007
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: ADAM STRANGE VOL. 1 TP
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artists: Mike Sekowsky, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson and others
Collects stories from SHOWCASE #17-19 and MYSTERY IN SPACE #53-84
$16.99 US, 512 pages

Same as for The Atom, tough I prefer Adam Strange as a character.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: WONDER WOMAN VOL. 1 TP
Writer: Robert Kanigher
Artists: Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
Collects stories from WONDER WOMAN #98-117
$16.99 US, 528 pages

The only surprise here is how long it took before Wonder Woman got it's own Showcase. Since she's the only DC main character I know almost nothing about, I'll give it a glance. If it's in the same vein as Superman's silver age goodness, count me in !

On Sale This Week (02/07)

ESSENTIAL MS. MARVEL VOL. 1
Ms. Marvel's current successes are only the latest in a line of earth-shaking adventures that began in her original series, reprinted here in its entirety! New nemeses like Steeplejack and the Doomsday Man vie for the female fury's attention alongside classic criminals like the Scorpion, Tiger Shark and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Featuring Namorita and Vance Astro, later of the New Warriors! Alien intrigue with the Kree and Shi'ar! Supernatural thrills! And the first appearance of the marvelously malicious Mystique! Plus: X-Men alumni including Grotesk and the Lizard People! Guest-starring Captain Mar-Vell and the Avengers!
Collecting MS. MARVEL #1-23 and MARVEL SUPER-HEROES MAGAZINE #10-11.
512 PGS./Rated A …$16.99

This book collects every single issue of the short-lived 1977 Ms. Marvel series and two tales from a magazine I couldn't get any info on. It's not what I'd call "earth-shaking" or "essential" but it may be an entertaining read nonetheless.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY VOL. 2
Written and illustrated by Various; Cover by Nick Cardy

Do you dare to enter the House of Mystery? This value-priced collection includes stories from HOUSE OF MYSTERY #195-211. These fantastic black-and-white tales of mystery and suspence from the 1970s feature thrilling stories with surprise twist endings that will keep readers on the edges of their seats!

DC Universe | 552pg. | B&W | Softcover | $16.99 US | ISBN 1401212387

Rumor Mill : Essential Fantastic Four Vol.6

Can we expect a new Essential Fantastic Four volume to precede the opening of Rise of The Silver ? According to Amazon.com, it's a done deal...

Essential Fantastic Four, Vol. 6
From the Monster from the Lost Lagoon to the Overmind from beyond the stars, menaces from across time and space converge on Earth's most fabulous foursome! A space angel of death! Future warrior women! The horrors of the 1950s! Plus: Doctor Doom, Diablo and Dragon Man! Guest-starring the Inhumans! Collects Fantastic Four #111-137
Paperback: 592 pages
Publisher: Marvel Comics (May 30, 2007)