GeekMom: Comic Book Corner — November 28th, 2012

Happy Comic Release Day! Welcome to another installment of GeekMom Comic Book Corner, where we recap our adventures in comics for the week.

Dakster Sullivan — My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #1

My Little Pony gallops into comic book stores today and thanks to an early look at the book, I can honestly say it’s a must read. Katie Cook (writer) and Andy Price (artist) have done an amazing job bringing the spirit of the characters from the small screen to the comic book world.

Our main characters are all the same lovable, adventurous ponies they are in the show and I love how their spirit translates to the comic book format. The story follows three young ponies, on a quest to get their cutie marks. Eventually, they fall into some trouble and it’s up to the Mane Six (Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity) to save the day.

For those of you who are worried this won’t appeal to everyone, let me ease your worries and tell you it does. I was thinking it was going to be a very childish story and the humor and story-line wasn’t going to appeal to me. It was a relief to see I was wrong.

The book itself has already sold over 100,000 copies in the direct market, making it a shoe-in as IDW’s best-selling single issue comic book of the year. You can check out My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic at your local comic book store and on Comixology.

Curious to know what I’m pulling this week? Check out my pull list on Comixology.

Corrina--Avengers Assemble!

I read Avengers of both kinds this week and they were equally as good. Hearing great word of mouth about Avengers Assemble by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Stefano Caselli, I picked it up before it sold out. AA is one of the Marvel Now! relaunch titles and features new stories, new creators and a fresh start for the characters. (Not a reboot!) While AA doesn’t have the same cast as The Avengers movie, it definitely captures the fun energy of the blockbuster film, with some great action sequences melded with terrific character moments, especially between Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, though Spider-Man steals the show a bit with his dry-erase board labeled “Thor/Iron Man Team Happy” on one side and “Hulk/Spider-Woman, Team Sad” on the other. This book was a joy to read.

Old-style Avengers showed up in the Boom! Studio book Steed & Mrs. Peel, issues #2-3 by Mark Waid, Caleb Monroe, and Will Sliney. I missed #1 but I picked up the story quick enough as it seems England is destroyed via nuclear blast and the intrepid British agents Steed and Mrs. Peel have to pick up the pieces. But all is not as it seems, especially since Steed is obsessed with what people had for breakfast. Awesome fun and for those who had a long ago crush on Diana Rigg, her comic counterpart does show up in dominatrix gear for a time. But to say more would be giving it away. Those who enjoyed the characters on television will enjoy this.

My comic reading was topped off with Batwoman #14 by J.H. Williams and W. Haden Blackman, an issue that features Wonder Woman and demi-gods as guest-stars. The Williams art looks gorgeous and to see these two very dissimilar characters work together was great, though I was glad to see their return to Gotham at the end. Sword & Sorcery Featuring Amethyst #2 by Christy Marx, Tony Bedard, Aaron Lopresti and Jesus Saiz brought our lost princess to Gemworld and her destiny while she and her mother try to survive an attack by her evil aunt. It’s nicely done but I admit, I loved the backup featuring Beowulf just as much, especially since it looks like a little technology has snuck into the Norse legend.

Kay Moore — The Last Unicorn, graphic novel

Last week was the 30th anniversary of the novel  The Last Unicorn  by Peter S. Beagle, a book I read and enjoyed in my early fantasy-reading years. I jumped at the chance to get the digital collected comic at a Cyber-Monday price of $4.99, and I’m thrilled that I did. This is a gorgeous, richly illustrated edition. The series was adapted by Peter B. Gillie with art by Renae DeLiz. The story is still coherent, enjoyable, and fantastic, and the characters have clearly portrayed quirks and traits, even in this slimmed-down version of the novel. The novel had some lovely language and I still found some passages to savor, which is rare in a comic. Introducing the unicorn, we read,

“The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.”

Later in the story, a magician named Schmendrick is captured and bound to a tree and it falls in love with him and (alone among all trees) talks to him, “Always, always. Faithfulness beyond any man’s deserving. I will keep the color of your eyes when no other in the world remembers your name. There is no immortality but a tree’s love.”

If you aren’t familiar with the story, here is a brief synopsis. A lone unicorn comes to suspect that she is the last unicorn in the world, and sets out to find any others. She discovers that a terrible creature may have exiled the others, and with the help of two humans who can see her, she continues her search. In the end they all must confront choices of what to sacrifice or trade and what to protect.

I loved DeLiz’s unicorn, glowing like a moonstone, and the details of the whole carnival and its denizens and creatures. Schmendrick oscillates between one persona and another. This is a story that cries out for an illustrated presentation, and while the movie provides one eyeful, this comic collected edition will overflow your eyes and mind with story goodness. The ComiXology edition also includes variant covers, a pinup gallery of art, and a long interview with Peter S. Beagle (Rated for 9 years and up; off-screen fantasy violence; mild profanity.) 165 pages; $9.99 digital at Comixology. Also available in print from Amazon or your local comic book store.other vendors.

Looking for something else, readers? Check out this week’s listed books:

All-Star Western #14 American Vampire #33 Aquaman #14 Arrow #1 Arrow #1 Batman Beyond Unlimited #10 Batman The Dark Knight #14 Before Watchmen Ozymandias #4 (Of 6) (CP) Before Watchmen Silk Spectre #4 (Of 4) (CP) Captain Atom Vol. 1 Evolution TP DC Comics Super-Heroes Blue Beetle Bust DC Universe Presents Vol. 1 Deadman Challengers Of The Unknown TP Flash #14 Flight Of Angels TP Fury Of Firestorm The Nuclear Men #14 I Vampire #14 Joe Kubert Presents #2 (Of 6) Justice League Dark #14 Lot 13 #2 (Of 5) Phantom Lady #4 (Of 4) Red Hood And The Outlaws #13 Red Lanterns #14 Savage Hawkman #14 Superman #14 Superman Family Adventures #7 Talon #2 Teen Titans #14 Teen Titans #14 We Can Be Heroes Justice League Action Figure 7-Pack Box Set Wonder Woman Chronicles Vol. 3 TP

+X #2 All-New X-Men #2 Astonishing X-Men Annual #1 Captain America And Black Widow #639 Captain America And Bucky Old Wounds TP Captain America And Iron Man TP Daken Dark Wolverine No More Heroes TP FF #1 FF By Jonathan Hickman Vol. 4 HC (PE) Gambit #6 Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Sub-Mariner Vol. 1 TP Marvel Previews #112 Marvel Super Heroes #5 Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man #8 Mighty Thor By Matt Fraction Vol. 2 TP New Avengers #34 (Final Issue) Secret Avengers #34 Spider-Man The Mutant Agenda TP Thor God Of Thunder #2 Ultimate Comics Iron Man #2 (Of 4) Ultimate Comics X-Men #19 Uncanny Avengers #2 Uncanny X-Men By Kieron Gillen Vol. 4 HC (PE) Untold Tales Of The Punisher MAX TP Venom #27.1 Winter Soldier Vol. 2 Broken Arrow TP Wolverine MAX #2 X-23 Vol. 3 Don’t Look Back TP X-Factor Vol. 17 The Road To Redemption TP X-Men Legacy #2 X-Treme X-Men #7

Acronym Key:  VC = Variant Cover  / HC = Hard Cover / TP = Trade Paperback  / CP = Combo Pack  / PE = Premier Edition

Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!