DMZ Book 5 The Hidden War

This image is copyright © 2008 DC Comics and is used as Fair Use Review images only. Image will be removed upon request of DC Comics or Vertigo Comics.

DMZ is a comic created by Brian Wood for Vertigo Comics. The premise is what happens after a second civil war breaks out in the United States and New York City becomes the DMZ. The story follows reporter Matty Roth as he tries to tell the real story of the DMZ to the Free States of America.

I buy DMZ in trade paperback so I don't get the story right away and actually I'm one trade behind but I wanted to review this book because I found it an interesting choice that Brian Wood made and also kind of risky. The Hidden War reprints DMZ issues #23-#28 and up until this point it has been all about survival in the DMZ but these six issues flip the script and make the main characters background characters and introduce new characters to the story. This seems like an odd choice to put out 6 consecutive issues of a comic that has nothing to do with the main story from the main characters point of view. I liked the book but if I was reading it monthly I'd probably be kinda upset at the turn the book took. I think these issues would have worked better as a series of one shots.

The characters that are introduced are good and have a lot of potential and should help take the story into new and interesting places in the long run. "The Militant Mob Boss Of Chinatown" story is excellent and I hope that he becomes a major player in the series. The aging Graffiti artist story was very interesting too.

DMZ book 5 overall is good stuff but I just want to be back into the main story. Hopefully book 6 is in my near future.

Kevin P. Johnson
Copyright 2009 Kevin P. Johnson

My Return to the blog

So I've been away for a while and have neglected this blog completely. I've been working on my webcomic Strange City Heroes and have got things to a point where I can attempt to come back to this blog. The schedule for this blog will be to make a post every Friday (no set time) and if there is time post whenever possible.

- Kevin P. Johnson

Backing Boards #6 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1

So I had heard abot this Wonderful Wizard of Oz comic coming out from Marvel Comics. Well I as a kid did not like the movie I think it was because I was forced to watch it because it always seemed to be on TV around Christmas time and all the other kids in the family seemed to want to watch it. I have not seen it in many years and didn't think I would be buying the comic book but I knew Skottie Young was doing the art and he's just so good. I didn't order it but I just happened to go into BSI Comics in Metairie, Louisiana and they had #1 so I picked it up and flipped through the pages. Man Skottie Young is good stuff and I bought it for the art alone.

So I just read #1 and its really good . . . given me new faith in the old Wizard of Oz story. The comic seems to be written for everyone, a child could read it or an adult and have fun with it and if the future issues are anything like #1 it'll be great when they release it in tradepaperback (I hope they do an oversized hardcover).

The characters look amazing and although we've only met Dorothy, The Witch of The North and the Scarecrow as for major characters I absolutely love the look of the Scarecrow and he's going to be my favorite character in the series. I'll have to hunt for #2 since I missed the order from DCBS on it but I will find it you can count on that.

Damn you Skottie Young it seems I like the Wizard of Oz now.

- Kevin P. Johnson
Copyright 2008 Kevin P. Johnson

My Current DCBS Order December 2008

These are the comics I have on order with DCBS for the month of December 2008, feel free to discuss what you are excited about.

I'm late on the blog again it's been pretty hard to work on the blog and do a webcomic at the same time but I'm trying.

Action Comics #874
Amazing Spider-Man #585
Amazing Spider-Man #586
Amazing Spider-Man #587
Batman #686
Captain America #47
Dark Avengers #2
Detective Comics #853
Green Arrow & Black Canary #17
Hulk #10
Justice League of America #30
Justice Society of America #24
Mighty Avengers #22
Moon Knight #27
Ms. Marvel #36
New Avengers #50
Spawn #189
Terry Moore's Echo #10
Uncanny X-Men #506
Usagi Yojimbo #118
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz #3 (of 8)
Wonder Woman #29
X-Factor #40
X-Men Legacy #221

Comics Now #5 (magazine)


Breakdown:
Marvel - 14
DC - 7
Abstract Studio - 1
Dark Horse Comics - 1
Image - 1


Breakdown of comics ordered from DCBS as of December 2008:
Marvel Comics - 300
DC Comics - 254
Abstract Studio - 9
Dark Horse -9
Image - 5
Ape Entertainment - 4
Archaia Studios Press - 3
Boom! Studios - 1
Evil Twin Comics - 1
Super Real Graphics - 1
Unknown Publisher - 1

Marvel Comics now leads with 51.02% of the comics ordered from DCBS and DC Comics drops to 43.12% all other indie's move up to 5.86%.


- Kevin P. Johnson
Copyright 2008 Kevin P. Johnson

Backing Boards #5 - Amazing Spider-Man: New Ways To Die

I love Spider-Man,
I love comic books,
This is a great comic book,
This is a great comic book about Spider-Man that I love!

To me this is old school comics in a modern world. I've enjoyed every moment of Spider-Man since One More Day (I still want Spidey and Mary Jane back married though) and each issue is just plain fun. I'm not sure where Spider-Man is going but I can't wait to get there!!


- Kevin P. Johnson
Copyright 2008 Kevin P. Johnson

Backing Boards #4 - SPAWN

Spawn #185 came out with the news that Todd McFarlane would be back on the book. Now I have not read Spawn in quite a while #119 was the last issue I bought after a run from #88 -119. I missed out on a lot of Spawn over the years before #88 and after #119 but always wanted to read the entire story. Anyway I heard McFarlane would be on and Whilce Portacio would be penciling and longtime Spawn writer Brian Holguin would be writing along with McFarlane. This seemed like a great team to me. So I got in #185 and on the inside cover it say Todd McFarlane digital inks this made me happy because Todd doesn't do much art anymore (for published comics anyway) so this is a nice thing for me because I always liked his work and will take what I can get.

I read the issue and it was a pretty fast read but eventful and I'm excited to get the next issue. I had heard that this issue was the start of a reboot for Spawn and it would be a great jumping on point so I wasn't worried about being lost or anything (I had a few questions) but it seems like this is going to be a fun comic again. If you have not read Spawn #185 yet I promise you will be blown away by the end of the issue and wondering what's going to happen next.

I'm ready to be a Spawn fan again and as long as Image keeps it coming out every month I'll stay on this book for a while.

- Kevin P. Johnson

Copyright 2008 Kevin P. Johnson

My Current DCBS Order November 2008

These are the comics I have on order with DCBS for the month of November 2008, feel free to discuss what you are excited about.

Well I've been away from the blog for over a month but I'm back to get a few in tonight.

I got my DCBS order almost perfectly down to budget which is $50 with a total cost of $53.13 and I got a decent amount of comics too.

Here's the new order:
Action Comics #873
Amazing Spider-Man #582
Amazing Spider-Man #583
Amazing Spider-Man #584
Batman #685

Captain America #46

Dark Avengers #1

Detective Comics #852

Faces Of Evil: Grundy #1 (1 Shot)

Final Crisis #7 (of 7)

Green Arrow and Black Canary #16

Justice League of America #29

Justice Society of America #23

Mighty Avengers #21

Moon Knight #26

Ms. Marvel #35

New Avengers #49

Spawn #188

Terry Moore's Echo #6

Thor #600

Uncanny X-Men Annual #2

Usagi Yojimbo #117

Wonder Woman #28

X-Factor #39

X-Men Legacy #220

Breakdown:

Marvel - 13

DC - 9

Abstract Studio - 1

Dark Horse Comics - 1

Image - 1

Breakdown of comics ordered from DCBS as of October 2008:

Marvel Comics - 286

DC Comics - 247

Abstract Studio - 8

Dark Horse -8

Ape Entertainment - 4

Image - 4

Archaia Studios Press - 3

Boom! Studios - 1

Evil Twin Comics - 1

Super Real Graphics - 1

Unknown Publisher - 1

Marvel Comics now leads with 50.71% of the comics ordered from DCBS and DC Comics drops to 43.79% all other indie's move up to 5.5%.

- Kevin P. Johnson

Copyright 2008 Kevin P. Johnson

My Current DCBS Order October 2008

These are the comics I have on order with DCBS for the month of October 2008, feel free to discuss what you are excited about.

I got back to my budget this month and sold some stuff on eBay to make up for last months over doing it whew! The only extra I got this time around is the Hulk 100 Project...I love art books so this should be pretty nice to have.

Here's the new order:
Action Comics #872
Amazing Spider-Man #579
Amazing Spider-Man #580
Amazing Spider-Man #581
Batman #684
Captain America #45
Detective Comics #851
Green Arrow and Black Canary #15
Hulk #9
Hulk 100 Project
Justice League Of America #28
Justice Society Of America #22
Ms. Marvel #34
Moon Knight #25
New Avengers #48
Patsy Walker Hellcat #5 (of 5)
Spawn #187
Terry Moore's Echo #9
Uncanny X-Men #505
Usagi Youjimbo #116
Wonder Woman #27
X-Factor #38
X-Men Legacy #219

Breakdown:
Marvel - 13
DC - 7
Abstract Studio - 1
Dark Horse Comics - 1
Image - 1


Breakdown of comics ordered from DCBS as of October 2008:
Marvel Comics - 273
DC Comics - 238
Abstract Studio - 7
Dark Horse - 7
Ape Entertainment - 4
Archaia Studios Press - 3
Image - 3
Boom! Studios - 1
Evil Twin Comics - 1
Super Real Graphics - 1
Unknown Publisher - 1

Marvel Comics now leads with 50.65% of the comics ordered from DCBS and DC Comics drops to 44.15% all other indie's move up to 5.2%.

- Kevin P. Johnson
Copyright 2008 Kevin P. Johnson