Hot Stuff
Rottentomatoes has been tracking reviews for Iron Man and so far, the movie is scoring a very high 94% with 144 reviews being taken into account. This means that Spider-Man 2 has been toppled from its throne (93%).
I personally have not seen it (going tonight!) but you can check out Goblin's review here.
This bodes well for Marvel, as Iron Man is its first Marvel Entertainment produced movie (The Incredible Hulk being movie #2).
Will you folks be checking it out?
[Edit: Just came back from watching it, and it certainly deserves all of its praise! The only weak spot that the film had was Gwyneth Paltrow, but I think I may be in the minority here. And yes, you definitely have to stay till the end of the credits for absolute fan service done well.]
This week we almost cried as we were exposed to Death of the New Gods #8, which brought the standards of professional comics to a new, unnerving low. The week also marked the end of the Countdown fiasco. But all is not dark with the world, as we found bastions of light in Ms. Marvel, Thor, and Ultimate Spider Man.
Power Rankings this week.
1. Thor #8
2. Ms. Marvel #26
3. Ultimate Spider-Man #121
4. Birds of Prey #117
5. Hulk #3
6. Mighty Avengers #12
7. JLA #20
8. Secret History of the Authority. Jack Hawksmoor #2
9.. Uncanny X-Men #497
10. Amazing Spider-Man #557
11. Countdown to Final Crisis #1
12. Death of the New Gods #8
[Edited to include Sgt. Sausagepants' books]
Agree? Disagree? Let us know what you thought of this week's books by commenting below!
This week marks our first Burn It rating for, no surprise here, Countdown to Final Crisis #2, and we couldn't have picked a more deserving book. I'll let Sgt. Sausagepants' review speak for itself.
Power Rankings are as follows:
1. Captain America #37
2. X-Men: Divided We Stand #1
3. Captain Marvel #5
4. Avengers: The Initiative #11
5. Catwoman #78
6. X-Factor #30
7. Robin #173
8. Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1
9. Tangent: Superman's Reign #2
10. Dreamwar #1
11. Countdown to Crisis #2
There's a moment in issue #5 of Frater Mine where you can see true genius at work. The author, Sean McGrath, and the artist, Juan Romera, work seamlessly together to bring a truly goosebumps-inducing series of panels. I literally felt a chill as one of the main protagonists woke up from a nap and watched a number of black shadows silently marching down her staircase.
Mysticism, angst, and relationships are combined in Mr. McGrath's first two story arcs, which encompass issues 1-6 (issue 6 is forthcoming and should be published soon). The first story arc (issues 1-3) finds main character Matt, an unhappy high school teacher, being called back for an unexpected reunion with his former mystical friends. With a focus on nostalgia and the ties that bind friends together, McGrath takes us on a magical romp through heaven and hell. While this first arc is engaging, albeit confusing at some points (there's a lightsaber, an angel, and a few betrayals involved in the confusion), McGrath shines in his characterizations in the second story arc.
In issues #4-#6, the story takes an unexpected, yet welcome, focus on Matt. The mysticism is still there (in the form of a supernatural force that threatens Matt's family life), but it takes a backseat to McGrath's brilliant multi-faceted portrayal of a frustrated man trying to find his place in the world as he balances his family life. Heavier on the drama and character relationships, the second arc also sees Romera's pencils improve with each issue. By issue 6 both writer and artist have reached remarkable levels of professionalism and storytelling. [Editor's Note: I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced copy of issue 6]
But wait, you may be thinking, what the hell does all this have to with the LGBT community?
Though it's not the main focus of the series, Matt's homosexuality is often referred to throughout the book and McGrath's subtlety in his portrayal is much appreciated. Frater Mine serves to continue to demonstrates the variety of LGBT portrayals in comic books.
And so, with great pleasure, we induct Frater Mine as our LGBT Comic of The Month. No, you read that correctly. We're changing our format to give each LGBT comic more exposure.
Make sure to order your copies of Frater Mine via IndyPlanet.
[Don't forget to check out Part I of our interview with Charles "Zan" Christensen, founding president of Prism Comics and creator of the erotic gay thriller, Mark of Aeacus.]
Welcome back! In part II of our exclusive interview with Zan, we discuss LGBT comics and whether or not we should hold them to the same standard as "mainstream" comics. You can check out our official stance here, but read on to find out what Zan thinks! Plus information on his latest project, Eleven Pages and see if he survives our round of raunchy PK questions!
PK: Now as Pink Kryptonite starts focusing on more LGBT content, we find ourselves going into uncharted territory: When it comes to reviewing these titles, we find that a lot of the stuff that's out there doesn't fare too well when compared against "mainstream" comics, and so it becomes easy to simply dismiss an LGBT comic because of this.
My question to you is-- as readers and reviewers, should we hold a different set of standards when reading LGBT books? That is, in the case of LGBT books, is the intention more important than the content?
Hit the jump for his response!
PK is proud to present a first in a series of original LGBT creator interviews. We recently sat down with Charles "Zan" Christensen, founding president of Prism Comics and creator of the erotic gay thriller, Mark of Aeacus .
Pink Kryptonite: Thank you very much for joining us Mr. Christensen, or do you prefer Zan? Charles?
Zan: Zan will be great
PK: All righty, Zan, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here at PK.
Zan: Always glad to be exposed to Pink Kryptonite!
PK: Did it make you more gay? Because we haven't studied its effects on people who are already gay.
Zan: Maybe it will make my gayness more deep and special.
PK: Hmm...maybe, we'll get the PK staff to do some studies. First of all congrats on your recent nomination for the 2008 Queeries!
Zan: I'm so excited about the Queeries! I'm such a fan of the Comic Book Queers podcast. It was great having my book reviewed on the show, but I had no idea I'd get nominated.
PK: And that particular book is The Mark of Aeacus, right? can you tell us a little bit about what it's about?
Zan: It's Spawn, but gay.
Hit the jump for the rest of Part I of the interview!
You already read our reviews for Secret Invasion #1 and know that we're excited about the event, but Marvel wants to make sure that everyone can catch up to speed on Skrull history by offering the following digital comics free for one week at www.marvel.com/digitalcomics :
After the one week free period, you'll need to become a subscriber to MDCU in order to enjoy these and thousands of other comics. With new comics added each week, and special monthly exclusives to MDCU subscribers only, you don't want to miss out on all the Mighty Marvel action!
Check out these free Secret Invasion Digital Comics, including the new ongoing Secret Invasion: Home Invasion Digital Comic, updated with a new page each Monday, Wednesday and Friday as well as Secret Invasion Prologue Digital Comic and Secret Invasion Saga Digital Comic.
Be on the lookout in the upcoming months for new Skrull Digital Comics including the entire Annihilation epic, the cult-classic Skrull Kill Krew, tons of Fantastic Four/Skrull stories and much, much more. And you get this all in one place: www.marvel.com/digitalcomics.
With so much free stuff coming out of Marvel these days, you would think that the other publishers would follow suite. I know we could all probably use a recap of 52, Infinite Crisis, and Countdown, no?
This week we had Marvel throw down the gauntlet with its Secret Invasion, and wowza did it blow us away.
Today we'll be doing something a little different: we're going to do the weekly PK rankings based on the quality of the books and their buzz factor.
This week's PK Rankings are as follows:
1. Secret Invasion #1
2. Buffy #13
3. Young Avengers Presents #3
4. G.I. Joe: America's Elite #34
5. Logan #2
6. Everybody's Dead #2
7. Midnighter #18
8. Countdown to Final Crisis #4
9. Young X-Men #1
10. The Boys #17
11. Amazing Spider-Man #555
[edited to include Young Avengers Presents #3...also added purdy pics]
Hit the jump for full reviews!
When we posted last week's LGBT Comic of the Week, Tommy Roddy's Pride High, we had no idea how large the reaction would be from our readers. I believe that, to date, this has been our most commented on story in Pink Kryptonite's history. Tommy has posted his own response to the comments, but I felt the need to write something regarding some of the negative comments.
When I first started writing for PK, we didn't have as many resources to seek out LGBT creators and their work to be able to highlight them. But when we did come across an LGBT book, we held it to the same standards as any other book, and we were quick to dismiss them because they weren't "real" or "authentic" and didn't portray the world to our liking.
When I took over being editor of this site, I had to face my own prejudices and set of standards that I held to LGBT comic books. Facing so much specialized and intense adversity as a gay man, my world strictly became me against everyone else. Then when I met other gay men who shared the same interests and beliefs, it became my skewed perspective of what gay men should be like vs everyone else. What ended up happening was that I dismissed any gay person who didn't fit within the confines of my ideal. So of course when this type of thinking is applied to comic books, you could see how easy it is to dismiss something like Brian Andersen's So Super Duper. As I met more people outside of my comfort zone and witnessed how diverse we truly are as LGBT people, my attitude started to change.
Exposure to new ideas eases the dissolution of prejudices.
One of the major changes to the site that we made conscientiously was to grow and foster the LGBT comic book community by supporting the already small amount of LGBT books out there. Because LGBT characters are so rarely portrayed in mainstream comic books, it's been refreshing and interesting to read the wide spectrum of characterizations that these creators present to us. If Pride High isn't your cup of tea, don't read it. The benefit of having sites like Prism Comics, After Elton, The Gay League and Pink Kryptonite is that we are offering you many choices for you to pick and choose to your liking.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not everyone is entitled to delimit the advances of a minority without exploring all recourses for understanding.
Tommy's advancing the LGBT community. Whether you like it or not. It has people talking, and you my friends, are the proof.
As previously reported, Harvey Dent was running to be a candidate for the DA position in Gotham. Thanks to all of his supporters, he has finally officially announced his candidacy! Can you feel that change is in the air? It's electric!
Fair warning, please skip over if you absolutely must stay away at all costs.
Fray is returning.
First up, Comic Book Resources just confirmed with Fray co-creator and artist Karl Moline. Starting with Buffy: Season Eight #16, expect a lot of surprises as Buffy finds herself in Fray's timeline.
When Fray splashes and slashes for the first time in #16, Moline admits readers may see a slightly different take on the character than the one they last saw in 2003. A new and improved Fray, if you will."I like to think that I have grown a lot as an artist, so she has definitely changed," explained Moline. "I think I have sacrificed some of my original enthusiasm and maybe a little bit of heart for a lot more drawing understanding. I have definitely evolved as an artist for the better. I really feel like the world is a lot more complex this time around and I have a better grasp of who Fray is and the other characters involved. And I am having so much fun with the future stuff. It's really pretty exciting [pauses], yes, pretty exciting."...
..."There are going to be definite character evolutions that people will not expect and people will be thrilled, hopefully, by everything Joss hands them. Personally, I am thrilled getting these scripts. Just seeing the crazy stuff he comes up with is so much fun and I really think the audience is going to like this story a whole lot."...
...Moline added that while Buffy regulars like Willow, Dawn, Xander and Kennedy will be along for the ride in the run, so too will some familiar faces from the "Future Slayer" like Fray's older sister Erin and her ex-boss, the mutant fish, Gunther. "There will definitely be some surprise characters, a couple of curve balls during the arc," teased Moline.
For those who with to see a preview, you can check out this exclusive at Myspace Comics.
Moline Returns to the Fray in Buffy Season 8 [Comic Book Resources]
Exclusive First Look: The First Meeting of Buffy... [Myspace Comics]
This week, we find ourselves torn at the PK offices...
If you're a Secret Invasion or Countdown fanatic, there's all kinds of good stuff happening. If you're not...well...there's always trades to stock up on...or how about checking out issues from our LGBT Comic of the Week, Pride High?
Now on to this week's picks! Along with my giddy commentary!
Marvel Skrull Sightings
Mighty Avengers #11
(It's not so secret if everyone knows about it...)
Miss Marvel #25
(Miss Marvel: "I'm a Skrull!" Everyone else: "Attention whore")
New Avengers #39
(Deus Ex Skrulla is an awesome name for the main baddy of all this)
DC: Countdown Overkill
Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists #6
(Glad to see the second tier X-men characters finding work)
Countdown Special: Eclipso 80-page Giant
(I like gum. Note to self: this could prove interesting)
Countdown to Adventure #8
(which one? The adventure I had last weekend at the club in the back room or the adventure of me dislocating my shoulder? Neither? Oh...carry on)
Countdown to Final Crisis #5
(You better mean it, DC! You've had more crises than an episode of Degrassi! At least they have poutine, what do you have to show for all this?)
Normal DC stuff:
Green Lantern #29
(I heard some good stuff is happening in this book...rainbow rings and whatnot)
EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS NOT THE BIG TWO
Sonic X #31
(why not?)
Gravel #2
(written by Warren Ellis? Why was I not aware of this book?! Added to pull list.)
The Return of the Gremlins #1
(What? It's cute!)
World of Warcraft #5
(I like WoW...a lot)
Hit the jump for the mondo list of all new releases!
"Oh Lois, you SO don't want to know!"
Comic of the Week
Frater Mine by Sean McGrath and Juan Romera
Links
The Pink Kryptonite Store
- Help support Pink Kryptonite by purchasing your items through our store!
All rights reserved © 2007 FAD Media, Inc.
