Panel Vision - Top 10 Martian Manhunter Covers

Edited by Robert Beach

I’ve been on something of a Martian Manhunter kick lately. There’s no real reason for it; sometimes things just work out that way. Regardless, I thought for this week’s cover collection I’d focus on the best covers that predominately feature J’onn J’onzz, the Manhunter from Mars. In case you don’t know who J’onn Jonzz is, he’s basically green Superman, and if you want more than basically, read my “History of Martian Manhunter” article.  He’s one of my favorite comic book characters, and I almost guarantee this won’t be the last time I talk about him. For now, I'm counting down the top 10 Martian Manhunter comic covers.

Moon Knight #17 Review

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My final review for last week is up on All-Comic.com, it's a look at Moon Knight #17, check it out here- 

http://all-comic.com/2015/moon-knight-17/

Panel Vision - Should Spider-man Be Married?

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Last week brought us issue 2 of Dan Slott’s Renew Your Vows mini-series, Slott’s comprehensive look at the incredibly divisive One More Day story by Joe Quesada and J. Michael Straczynski.  Renew Your Vows has been shaky ground so far, leaning heavily on a lot of narrative contrivance while failing to really reach a more cogent stance on the nature of Peter as a father and husband.  It’s possible there’s a revival waiting in the wings for the series as Slott is an excellent writer in his own right but the whole affair has set me thinking.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Spider-man though I certainly like the character though I was always more intrigued by his villains than the man himself.  What’s attracted me to web head recently is the question that’s ultimately lingered over him and the entire Spider-man comic fandom since the events of One More Day: should Spider-man be married. 

Panel Vision - Golden Age, Bullet Points, & the Importance of Prose

The Golden Age was a four-part prestige graphic novel series by star writer James Robinson, published from 1993-1994 directly prior to Robinson’s seminal work on Starman.  The series is a little hard to quantify in terms of genre, the story takes place across several years and is more about the lives of its large cast of characters and the shifting flow of history.  There is a central binding arc concerning a charismatic superhero turned politician and his plan to build an atomic superman but for the most part that plot is actually very unobtrusive for the bulk of the story.  Eventually, as things build to a head in the 4^th installment and the various threads of conspiracy and villain fray into focus the plot becomes more focused and crystallized but for most of the series The Golden Age is just concerned with examining the lives and struggles of its cast of retired superheroes from DC Comics’ Golden Age.  

All-Comic Reviews

So, big announcement time; my reviews will now be featured on All-Comic in addition to Front Towards Gamer.  What this means is that my Front Towards Gamer content will be short, punchy, under-500 word reviews while my work for All-Comic will be longer and more in depth pieces.  All of this works in addition to the various reviews and posts I'll be putting out here at Lido Shuffle.  My first review is already up for All-Comic, a look at Hellbreak #4 that can be found here http://all-comic.com/2015/hellbreak-4/

Panel Vision - Southern Bastards

Southern Bastards is one of the best comics currently being published.  Initially the comic was about Earl Tubb, a tired old man returning to his childhood home to see the ugly twisted thing it had grown into.  However, as the narrative has unfolded over the past 8 issues the focused has moved away from formula plot and stock archetypes and settled into a focus on ideas and themes.  I’ve talked multiple times previously about the value of placing emphasis on mood and theme rather than the strict mechanics of character and plot and there is no better example of this than Southern Bastards.  

 

Panel Vision - Moon Knight #16

In case you aren’t familiar with him Moon Knight is a Marvel vigilante character created in the ‘70s to fight werewolves.  Since then he’s stayed around thanks to the popularity of his unique visual scheme while his actual character has ended up filtered through a variety of different lenses.  This latest incarnation of Moon Knight takes things somewhat back to the characters roots with an emphasis on supernatural fantasy, though it’s blended nicely with Moon Knight’s role as a gritty urban crime fighter.  The result is a comic that ends up thoroughly informed by ‘90s sensibilities but executed in an infinitely better manner. 

Panel Vision - Martian Manhutner

I am a huge fan of Martian Manhunter.  A lot of this has to do with how I first entered the world of advanced comic readership.  When I was younger my first entry point to comics that wasn’t in the form of animated TV was the extensive work of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis.  These two guys basically invented the tropes and ideas of modern comics, from character identities to universal events 90% of the stuff we like in modern comics can be traced by to Giffen and DeMatteis.  One of their first comics I ever read was a 1988 four-issue mini-series spotlighting the Martian Manhunter and his origins.  This series alone stands as a testament to how influential their work was as it’s still the defining mythos by which Martian Manhunter is written today. 

Since reading it I’ve always been keen to check out any appearances of the Manhunter from mars so when DC announced a new comic series I was intrigued.  So far DC’s post-New 52 titles have been a mixed bag but both Batman and Action Comics turned out very well, so I was optimistic going into Martian Manhunter.  The result doesn’t so much sore as it stumbles at the starting line but makes a decent effort in the process. 

Panel Vision - Astro City #24

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: apes on comics sell comics.  This week we take our first look at the strange comic staple that is Astro City.  Astro City is the product of the combined might of comic powerhouses Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross.  The trio came up together in the mid-90s with Astro City as their breakthrough title before Busiek and Ross went on to produce the groundbreaking Marvels mini-series.  Astro-City is a weird comic in that it doesn’t really rely on a solid cast of characters to tell its stories.  Instead the emphasis is on the location, as the name implies, and using it as sort of a loose canon pastiche of superhero tropes.  The book mainly draws from the bronze age for inspiration but is essentially a free for all grab bag of ideas thrown together to tell stories with superheroes in a superhero universe where fighting crime and brawling aren’t necessarily the focus. 

Panel Vision - Jurassic Park Raptor Saga

With Jurassic World hitting theaters and setting the world abuzz with this latest installment to a franchise that’s never really shown long term viability I thought it’d be fun to look at the first ever attempted Jurassic Park sequel; the Jurassic Park: Raptors saga. 

Panel Vision: Top 10 Ghost Fleet Panels

Hello and welcome to Panel Vision.  This is where I plan to cover comic related stuff I normally wouldn’t on my usual platform over at Front Towards Gamer.  This means stuff like older comic reviews, editorials, stuff I don’t have the space to review at Front Towards Gamer, and top 10 lists. 

So to start this new blog I though I’d continue to celebrate my favorite comic of 2015: Ghost Fleet.