Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Rob Liefeld
Company: Marvel Comics

I understand that a significant portion of the revenue for Onslaught Reborn #1 will be going to charity, and that is an admirable choice to make. I still cannot in good conscience recommend handing over money for this book, but if you still want to donate money to the Sam Loeb Scholarship Fund, visit their official website to make a donation, and then you can leave this issue on the shelf without feeling guilty about it. An ill-conceived concept, a moderately nonsensical premise, hokey dialogue, and amateurish art make for a pretty painful reading experience. This is just one more example Continue Reading »

We started out being a little bit more paranoid than seems necessary in retrospect. First off, we required everybody’s first comment to the site to be approved by a moderator before the user was able to post comments without being moderated. We axed that security feature as it didn’t end up being relevant as we weren’t having to deny many request to post comments. Now, we are axing the requirement that users register an account and log in to that account to be able to post comments. All that is now required to post a comment is that the user fill out the name he/her wishes to post under and an email address (email won’t be published with the comment) when posting. As always, we eagerly await your questions and comments!

Writers: Welles Hartley & Mick Harrison
Artist: Douglas Wheatley
Company: Dark Horse

Dark Horse’s Star Wars titles have always been a cut above the source material of the prequels in my eyes, but having Lucas bring the saga to a close has proved an unexpected boon for the titles. Dark Times is the fourth book to be launched in this new, post-movie era, and it might be the best of the bunch. Following directly on the heels of “Order 66″, the order that turned the clone troopers against the Jedi, Dark Times tells the story of a Jedi who has joined forces with his former enemies in a battle against a growing Empire that fans of the Star Wars saga know he’s destined to lose. It’s an oddly dark setting for Star Continue Reading »

Wednesday Number Ones is a weekly feature here at Comic Pants. We take the books that are premiering a first issue from that week and give a quick opinion on them. From time to time we may also include more than issue number ones in this feature. If a noteworthy one-shot or the first issue of a new story arc is released, we may talk about it in this feature.

This week we will cover Batman/The Spirit, Crossing Midnight #1, Guy Gardner Collateral Damage #1 of 2, Immortal Iron Fist #1, Onslaught Reborn #1 of 5, Punisher X-Mas Special #1, Spider-Man Family Featuring Spider-Clan #1, Transformers Escalation #1 of 5, Ultimate Vision #0 of 6, Whisper One-Shot and Zombies Vs Robots #1 of 2.

Continue Reading »

Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Company: Marvel Comics

Well, what do we have here? Could it be that everyone’s favorite anti-hero and one man army, the Punisher, has finally stepped beyond the Max Universe and returned to the 616 Universe? This seems to be the case here with Punisher War Journal but in this first issue, there’s something that seems a bit off-kilter. Okay, is there violence? Yup. The Punisher? Yeah…Well, it looks like Frank Castle. It walks, shoots and dresses like him too. So far so good, but what’s this? Pop culture references to the X-Files? Frank actually trying to be funny? No. No, this I can not believe. Not in a Punisher book at least. Continue Reading »

Down the Line is our monthly look at Previews, and what titles are coming out a few months, well, “down the line.”

This installment covers the November Previews for comics due to ship out in February 2007. Remember, especially with the indy books, that pre-ordering is your friend, and the best way to make sure you get the books you want. I should mention, thanks to the increasing prevalence of advance solicitation, that several of the books here won’t actually ship until March or later, but the preorders are still due by the end of December.

As always, the Previews rundown is in alphabetical order, rather than the order used in the catalog. To facilitate Continue Reading »

Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano
Company: DC Comics

Whether or not the end result of this series was perfect, the ideas that Gotham Central presented on the whole were gutsy and always seemed to hook my interest. For a comic book, that ain’t a bad thing. What has always interested me about the series is the unflinching glimpse into the hard boiled and harsh realm of the Gotham City Police Department. Very much in the same vein as the television shows NYPD Blue or The Shield, the book allows you to see a city we already know through a different set of eyes and values besides that of the famed Dynamic Duo. In this fourth volume Continue Reading »

Episode number ten of the Comic Pants podcast is now live. Nick Budd, Randy Lander, David Martindale and Dave Farabee start with some “viewer mail” that kicks off a discussion on crossovers, continuity, legacy characters, the superhero icons and character death, as well as a few other related tangents.

As always, commentary is welcomed and encouraged. Let us know what you thought of the podcast, give us your thoughts on the various topics discussed, and if you’ve got suggestions for future podcast topics, leave us a comment! And listeners who write in could win cool comics every week! Please Continue Reading »

Wednesday Number Ones is a weekly feature here at Comic Pants. We take the books that are premiering a first issue from that week and give a quick opinion on them. From time to time we may also include more than issue number ones in this feature. If a noteworthy one-shot or the first issue of a new story arc is released, we may talk about it in this feature.

This week we will cover 24 Nightfall #1 of 6, Connor Hawke Dragons Blood #1 of 6, Damaged #1, Drain #1, Elephantmen #0, Enigma Cipher #1 of 2, Mischief Night Special #1, Planetary Brigade Origins #1 of 3, Punisher War Journal #1, Red Menace #1 of 6, Simpsons Winter Wingding #1, Turistas Other Side of Paradise Book One and Zombies: Eclipse Of The Undead #1.

Continue Reading »

Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke
Company: DC Comics

$75, and worth every penny. That’s my short review of Absolute DC: The New Frontier, the oversized, hardcover collection of Darwyn Cooke’s superhero magnum opus set in the DC Universe as the ’50s give way to the ’60s and the human adventurers give way to the Silver Age superheroes. Cooke, an Continue Reading »