Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…
Grace Randolph’s ‘Superbia’ brings capes down to Earth.
Admittedly I’m not very familiar with Grace Randolph’s work. It looks like she’s most notable for her Warcraft and Starcraft comics, and there’s probably a big chance I’m missing some vastly important, seminal work of hers and I’m going to look a fool for not knowing it. As I’ve previously said here before, you should own what you don’t know, and be willing to admit your ignorance, rather than feign knowledge. So why am I bringing up her work here today? 
Because the pitch of her new book Superbia sounds pretty interesting, if fairly derivative. On first glance it appears to be a story about superheroes putting down the capes and accepting a normal life in the suburbs, hence the name. While that’s been the focus of countless superhero stories, it’s never really been the focus of an entire book. How would you approach your ordinary, everyday life if you had superpowers? I know I’d mess with people a lot. How much only depends on what power I had. As for the book, it looks interesting, and I’m always supportive of original creator owned indie books any day of the week.
You can find out more here.
The Age Of Ultron Has Arrived!
It appears good ol’ Brian Michael Bendis is at it again, this time he’s writing yet another story that’s gonna be the be-all, end-all story of stories that he’s been alluding to and foreshadowing all this time all along. Ultron, our favorite evil robot that occasionally runs amok, has gained the upper hand over everyone else, and has decimated the Marvel Universe. The cover even implies that he’s killed a bunch of the fan faves in his conquest, leaving everything in his wake destroyed. Will Ultron be killing Iron Man and Captain America? Maybe. Even if he does though, it’s not like they won’t come back.
via [ComicsAlliance]
[quote]Age of Ultron, a 10-issue event series beginning next March. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Bryan Hitch, Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco, the book begins with the villainous robot Ultron, a corrupted creation of Avenger Hank Pym aka Ant-Man, having completely taken over and seemingly killed a good deal of the Marvel Universe. Foreshadowed for years throughout numerous Bendis comics including this year’s Age of Ultron 0.1 special, Age of Ultron is said to conclude in a fashion so shocking that only six people actually know what will happen.[/quote]
Six people! They’re locking it down like nuclear launch codes, or the secret 11 herbs and spices for The Colonel’s recipe! Zounds!
America’s Favorite Serial Killer Comes To The Funny Books!
I don’t think they’ve been called “The Funny Books” since 1958, but it doesn’t change the fact that Dexter is making his way to having his own Marvel branded comic miniseries. Fun Fact: I never finished the second season of Dexter, and thusly have never caught up with it. Unfortunately I now know all the spoilers from it and will probably never catch up, but that doesn’t change how much I dug the first season. I wonder how a show with such a time sensitive premise would last beyond a season or two (how has he not been caught yet? Seriously?), but it’s not like I hate the thing.
I am a bit surprised to see it come to be a comic now, but at the same time it makes sense. I would have thought Dynamite would have optioned it first though, if anything, so the fact that Marvel is picking it up is a bit shocking. My main problem is that the guy on the cover looks NOTHING like Michael C. Hall, and I’m guessing he’s either some other character, or they’re trying to adapt what he looks like more directly from the original source material description in the novels. Either way, Dexter fans will probably dig it.
Find out more here.
‘The Unwritten’s Cover Artist Wins The Society Of Illustrators Medals.
Yuko Shimizu has done covers for The Unwritten for 46 issues as of now, and every single one is a damned masterpiece. Her style is evocative of Japanese wood-cut style paintings, but with a flowing, hauntingly beautiful style all her own. It’s enough that The Unwritten is singlehandedly one of the best written, and most innovative comics still being printed today, but that every single cover is a beautiful masterpiece. Her work being recognized not only cements her place in mainstream artistic press, but brings legitimacy to the comics medium as a whole through that recognition. Too often are comics looked down upon as lesser forms of art by other artistic organizations, and seeing this happen is pretty darned awesome.
Find out more here.
‘Chew’ is gnawing at it’s halfway point!
In some news that surprised me, apparently Chew was planned to be around 60 issues. Some may call me out on this, but what they don’t know is I’ve actually met John Layman, and asked him how long he planned for it to go. Back when Chew #2 was coming out, and Layman wasn’t the huge name he is today, there was a pretty big buzz around Chew and my LCS managed to get him to show for a signing. I showed up because I was there to game that night anyway, and bought the comic on a whim after hearing its premise. I decided I might as well meet the guy and have him sign my book, figuring it might be worth something later. Little did I know just how big he, or Chew would grow to be, because If I had known, I would have asked him some better questions. I asked him how he got the idea for such a nutty book, how long he expects it to go on for, and then we talked for a bit about The Walking Dead. He seemed like a really nice, down to earth guy, but I distinctly remember him telling me he didn’t have any idea how long Chew would last, other than he wanted it to be a monthly.
Well time has passed, and it certainly seems like we’re bound to see the beginning of the end for the book, as the book is wrapping up story lines to prepare for its second half. Considering the humorous ingenuity of the book, I predict the ending will pleasantly mirror the beginning. A theme of repetition has been pretty prevalent in the book, as well as it’s delightfully non-linear approach to storytelling. Frankly, I look forward to meeting John Layman again some time in the future, and asking him then if he remembers my LCS, and meeting me. Until then, I’ll keep enjoying Chew, and so should you.
Find out more here.
Grizzly Bomb 