What is a Short Pants Review? While we’d love to give full reviews to everything, there just isn’t enough time in the day. So we’ve come up with Short Pants as a way of providing capsule reviews from our varied review writers, giving quick hits and short capsule thoughts about various comics we’ve read recently.

This time out, Dave and Randy cover Conan the Cimmerian #0, BPRD: The Ectoplasmic Man, Hulk #4, Immortal Iron Fist #16, Indiana Jones Adventures Vol. 1 TP, Magdalena/Daredevil, Man With No Name #2, Pilot Season: Alibi, Thunderbolts #121, Transformers Spotlight: Wheelie and X-Men First Class Vol. 2 #13.

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Welcome to Down the Line, our monthly look at Previews! Co-written by Randy Lander and Dan Grendell, each Down the Line looks at what’s coming out in comics (and manga) a few months down the road.

This installment covers the July Previews for comics due to ship out September 2008 or later. 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. Thanks to the increasing prevalence of advance solicitation, that some of the books here won’t actually ship until October or later, but the pre-orders are still due by the end of July. Continue Reading »

What is a Short Pants Review? While we’d love to give full reviews to everything, there just isn’t enough time in the day. So we’ve come up with Short Pants as a way of providing capsule reviews from our varied review writers, giving quick hits and short capsule thoughts about various comics we’ve read recently.

This time out, Randy covers Batman and the Outsiders #8, Brave and the Bold #14, George RR Martin’s Wild Cards: Hard Call #3, Guardians of the Galaxy #2, Pilot Season Genius, RASL #2 and Warhammer: Condemned by Fire #2.

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Welcome to Down the Line, our monthly look at Previews! Co-written by Randy Lander and Dan Grendell, each Down the Line looks at what’s coming out in comics (and manga) a few months down the road.

This installment covers the June Previews for comics due to ship out August 2008 or later. 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. Thanks to the increasing prevalence of advance solicitation, that some of the books here won’t actually ship until September or later, but the pre-orders are still due by the end of June. Continue Reading »

Secret Invasion Update is a weekly feature that among other things takes a gander at all things Skrully. More directly, we will be talking about the many issues of comics that tie into Marvel’s big summer blockbuster Secret Invasion. Is the series good? Which issues rock the house? Which ones bite the big one? Do you have to read everything that comes out to get the whole picture of the Invasion, or can you just read the main series and be fine? Those are the types of questions that we’ll be tackling with the gusto that you’ve come to expect from the Panteon.

This week we will be covering Mighty Avengers #14, and Incredible Hercules #117.
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Secret Invasion Update is a weekly feature that among other things takes a gander at all things Skrully. More directly, we will be talking about the many issues of comics that tie into Marvel’s big summer blockbuster Secret Invasion. Is the series good? Which issues rock the house? Which ones bite the big one? Do you have to read everything that comes out to get the whole picture of the Invasion, or can you just read the main series and be fine? Those are the types of questions that we’ll be tackling with the gusto that you’ve come to expect from the Panteon.

This week we will be covering Secret Invasion #1 of 8, Mighty Avengers #12, New Avengers #40, Secret Invasion #2 of 8, and Mighty Avengers #13.
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Writers: Dan Abnett & Ian Edginton
Artist: Rahsan Ekedal
Company: Boom! Studios

Just as Abnett & Lanning have carved out a niche for themselves in the galactic side of the Marvel Universe, Abnett has teamed with Edginton to create a place within the Boom! Studios publishing house. That place? The war-torn, grim universes of Warhammer, both fantasy and sci-fi flavored. Condemned by Fire is the former, a Man With No Name meets Solomon Kane style adventure of a witch hunter who roams the land, using blade and black powder pistol on chaos cultists and undead and scaring the crap out of even those he’s sworn to protect. The story here is familiar, a “plays by his own rules” loner whose dogged pursuit of a fugitive leads him into a much Continue Reading »

Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Paul Pelletier
Company: Marvel Comics

Nick: In the immortal words of Bruce Willis, “Welcome to the party, Pal.” I say this because that is exactly what Guardians of the Galaxy is, a tremendous, action-packed extravaganza that pulsates with entertainment and style. Bold words, I know, but I don’t say them lightly.

Randy: I don’t want to oversell Guardians or set the bar too high, but it’s not exaggerating to say that this is a hell of a first issue. Using three narratives (two flashback and one present-day), Abnett, Lanning and Pelletier establish their characters, set up the raison d’etre of the team, foreshadow future events and feature a kickass Continue Reading »

Writer/Artist: Alex Robinson
Company: Top Shelf

Alex Robinson, author of mega graphic novels Box Office Poison and Tricked, is back this summer with a shorter tale in Too Cool To Be Forgotten. The length of the book isn’t the only difference, as Robinson focuses in past his usual big ensemble cast and inter-locking stories to tell one story mostly about one character, Andy, a forty-something father who, in trying to cure smoking through hypnosis, winds up re-living his high school years. It sounds like the premise for a wacky comedy, and there are some laughs here, but Robinson does a great job of bringing to life the very real unpleasantness inherent in re-living your high school years, especially if you’re not sure how you got there or how long you’ll be staying.
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Welcome to Down the Line, our monthly look at Previews! Co-written by Randy Lander and Dan Grendell, each Down the Line looks at what’s coming out in comics (and manga) a few months down the road.

This installment covers the May Previews for comics due to ship out July 2008 or later. 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. Thanks to the increasing prevalence of advance solicitation, that some of the books here won’t actually ship until August or later, but the pre-orders are still due by the end of May. Continue Reading »