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Some of you are already aware of this event, some of you have kids, others probably know people with kids.  This is a great event across the country worth checking out tomorrow.  Also, please consider passing it on to anyone with kids.  SATURDAY, MAY 1, IS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

What is “Free Comic Book Day” you ask? Free Comic Book Day is an annual event where participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores. How cool is that!

So stop by your local comic shop on Saturday, pick up something you’ve never read before FOR FREE, and expand your mind. Click here for a complete list of all the free comics that are being offered in conjunction with Free Comic Book Day.

If you have children/nephews/nieces, be sure to bring them too. Many of the comics are specifically geared towards getting children interested in comics (see the list below for kid-friendly comics being given away free on Saturday). Most comic shops really make an effort to make it a family-friendly event. Some shops this year will feature face painting for kids, comic/Star Wars character appearances, giveaways, writer/artist signings, and more! 

Some titles available for FREE this Saturday include:
·       Iron Man/Thor
·       War of the Superman #0
·       Archie’s Summer Splash #1 – KID FRIENDLY!
·       Doctor Solar/Magnus
·       G.I. Joe #155 1/2
·       Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock – KID FRIENDLY!
·       Shrek & the Penguins – KID FRIENDLY!
·       Toy Story – KID FRIENDLY!
·       Sonic the Hedgehog – KID FRIENDLY!
·       Bongo (Simpsons): Free-For-All – KID FRIENDLY!
·       Irredeemable #1
·       DC Kids Mega-Sampler – KID FRIENDLY!
·       Owly and Friends – KID FRIENDLY!
·       Green Hornet #1
·       Love and Capes #13
·       Iron Man: Supernova
·       The Tick #1
·       Marvel Heroclix: War Machine Figure
·       and much, much more!

Visit Shag’s site, Once Upon a Geek, a Comic Blog Elite favorite, for more on FCB and geekiness squared.

Sorry Jim, but according to Screenrant, Aint It Cool News, and, no doubt, a million other sources by now, Chris Evans has been offered–and has accepted–the role of Captain America in Marvel’s upcoming The First Avenger: Captain America.

Instant reaction: Boo–I was genuinely intrigued by the idea of John Krasinski in the role, or maybe a relatively unknown “handsome young arian” to weild the sheild.

Secondary reaction: Chris Evans WAS Johnny Storm in the two Fox-produced Fantastic Four movies. The guy nailed everything about that character except the hair color, but still, he was so perfect in the part that hair color was the only gripe.

But is this a GOOD thing for Captain America?

Johnny Storm is a cocky goofball hothead prankster who finds the will to man up when danger calls. Steve Rogers is–in the comics anyway–an earnest, noble runt who wants desperately to serve his country in World War 2, but he isn’t up to snuff. But he has such heart and a willingness to do ANYTHING to be a hero to his country that he signs up for the super soldier program. He is psysically limited, but a hero from the start. And the super soldier serum simply gives him the physical goods to back up his spirit.

I’m sure the movie’s story will be a little more nuanced than this, but will Evans’ performance?

I’m a big Captain America fan–original, Ultimate, Bucky-Cap, and everything in between–so I hope this works. And I’d even say I am a fan of Chris Evans’ work–Push was entertaining, he was great in the FF movies, and I even liked that silly cellphone thriller he was in a few years ago. Marvel has been aces so far, but they’ve also been casting A-list actors. Like him or not, Evans is B-list all the way…at least until he gets that big A on his forehead.

Fingers crossed that this will be good. Luckily, the bar for Cap on film has been set…low.

Click the image above to visit Neil’s site and view each pic in full.

This and 25 more pics like it await:

If you’re not into sci-fi, you may prefer this rendering of The Dark Knight vs a Great White.

That guy will fight anything!

So what if it takes a team of three geeks to muster this ellusive enthusiasm I seek? And so what if this trio often claims to be drunk when they come up with their content? Blame it on the a- a- a- alcohol, if you must, but the High Five trio get the job done. Three writers make for a reliable schedule of regular posts, often playing off one another, but generally just doing their own individual things. Readers get a nice mix of straight-up comic book reviews, opinion pieces, and–for those missing curmudgeonly nit-picking–the occassional rant.

Hold a hand up high for the team of Johnny, Maggie, and their neighbor Rob, and check out their blog. They won’t leave you hanging.

The Comic Blog Elite Top 10 (for March 4, 2010)

Vague, mysterious, confusing spoilers ahead.

You have been warned.

• Damon says the show’s “Daddy issues” were inspired by “Star Wars”.
• The mystery of whether Desmond was actually on Flight 815 will be answered soon.
• Mr. Eko was supposed to have a longer, more prominent story in the show but the actor wasn’t interested in continuing on.
• There will be no chronological DVD release of the show.
• In the other universe Jack is married to someone we’ve met before.
• “It’s a thing we might do on a street corner or in a church basement”-Michael Emerson on he and Terry O’Quinn playing hit men in a show.
• “For me it was finding out who the hell I am! I’ve never known what I was doing”-Nestor Carbonell on his favorite moment thus far.
•  Greg Nations is the go to guy for “LOST” mythology because he keeps the show’s Bible and answers questions for the writers re: backstory.
• “I don’t think any of us are smart enough to answer that!”-Edward Kitsis on a fan’s question re: time travel and string theory.
• Carlton Cuse said that if Malcolm David Kelley hadn’t grown up, “Walt” would absolutely still be seen on the show, and they are trying to find a way to get the “Walt” character back into the show in this final season. (Only a few episodes left to shoot, so…)
• Is Locke good or bad? The producers just asked this to the audience, 10% think good, 90% think bad or are indifferent about it.
• “Every single episode of ‘LOST’ is broken in a room with all of us”-Damon Lindelof
• “Put people in a dark room, spin them around for a minute, punch them in the face and say ‘You’ve just had the lost experience’”-Damon L.
• There is a lot of talk tonight about why there aren’t monkeys or apes on the island.
• “No”-Terry O’Quinn on whether or not they’ve ever been able to pitch stories.
• They refer to the show we see as the “Iceberg”
• Water is the final word on this season. 

John Krasinski, known to most as Jim, the smirky, self-aware nemesis to Dwight Schrute and romancer of Pam on NBC’s The Office has made the short list of actors rumored to be up for the role of Captain America in Marvel’s upcoming film The First Avengers: Captain America.

“WTF?” you might think, while staring directly into the camera blankly. WTF indeed! Sure, he’s tall and blondish…and he played an old-timey football player that one time…but can Krasinski really go from playing straight-man to Steve Carell to throwing Captain America’s mighty shield?

Seeing this Krasinski-inspired drawing of Cap by Josh Adams has me thinking yes. Yes he can. God bless America!

Still, at my more leisurely current rate, I write about comic books, movies, nostalgia, and sometimes my cancer. These areas of interest are encapsulated in a person dubbed an “Essential Man” in an article I consider essential reading–a profile from the March 2010 issue of Esquire of iconic film critic and thryoid cancer survivor Roger Ebert.

I grew up watching At the Movies and Siskel & Ebert. Back then, I knew Ebert simply as the fat one from the bickering balconeers reviewing the weekly film releases of the 80s and 90s. After the skinny one, Gene Siskel, passed away in 1999, Ebert seemed to shed this old caricature image and take on a more scholarly voice in his reviews (or maybe it was there all along, and I was the one who matured)–even while remaining one of the few mainstream film critics to respect geek interests and appeal to the sensibilities of the Comic Con crowd (I didn’t mature too much to not think this was awesome of him). After his initial illness–thyroid cancer, diagnosed in 2002–Ebert began to transcend his and Siskel’s thumbs up/thumbs down gimmick. When he lost the ability to speak (lost his entire lower jaw, in fact!) due to aggressive radiation and metastasized disease, Ebert stepped out of the televised spotlight, but hardly missed a beat with his written reviews. He proved that, once you got past the bantering “Siskel & Ebert” (and later “Ebert & Roeper“) schtick, the man is a critical genius–a master of cinematic opinion and appreciation. And even though he can only give a proverbial tongue lashing these days, he weilds a deadly pen and types with lethal keys. The way he has continued living his life despite disfigurement and disability is, of course, amazing as well.

The article, written by Chris Jones, has been making the Internet rounds all week, and for good reason. Ebert’s story has all of the ingredients of great cinema–for which the iconic critic would surely (at least under more objective circumstances) give an enthusiastic “thumbs up.”

Ebert’s story inspires and terrifies me. It is insane to me that he has the will and the enthusiasm to continue like he has, a testament to how a strong mind and spirit can outlast and outshine a broken body.

But Ebert’s tale also scares me, because, while I’d love to follow his lead should my own disease take me down a similarly horrifying road, I think his celebrity (the celebration of him, not just the fact that he has money and can get a seat in an exclusive restaurant) and a full life’s worth of accomplishment before the disease are what gives him his strength today. I am no icon. I’m not even a famous caricature. I think I’d take a legacy as the fat one, just to have a legacy at all. Ebert’s example makes me even more desperate to find my own voice, like he did his, before I lose it.

“It breaks my heart to announce Jack the Pelican is closing our space at 487 Driggs Ave. In Williamsburg. It is our hope to re-open some months in the future at another location. But where and when, we cannot say. But we are saying goodbye for now on a bright note, with one final show that is dear to our hearts…

THE SACRED COMIC BOOK
by anonymous, ca.1921

Opens this Saturday
February 20, 7 – 9pmThis is a beautifully drawn, 40-page comic book about an artist, his seedy existence, his community, and his struggles. A single narrative, extending over 30 years, it was completed anonymously in 1921, which makes it the earliest document of its kind. What we’re showing here are the original drawings in watercolor and ink.

This comic book belongs to Jack the Pelican and all our artists and also everyone who struggles against the odds and the day-to-day adversities of being an artist. It’s central message is Just Keep Pecking Away, and it’s dedicated to “the down and outs, the never-was-its and the also-rans (sic), in the Year of our Profits 1921. In the early days of Jack the Pelican, we invited all our artists to read it. It was akin to an initiation. We always called it “The Sacred Comic Book.” It’s not really much of a mission statement for a gallery, but it was the closest thing we had. We are happy now to have this last chance to share it with all of you.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E03E5DD1E3AE733A25756C0A9659C946596D6CF . {{Link broken}}

In the early 1920s, he escaped from New York to make Canada Lake his permanent home. He continued making art for the rest of his life, but seems to have abandoned his restless pursuit of Art & Fame.

We’re not presenting it as a book. The pages were never bound. It came to us as a stack of drawings. We’re hanging them in sequence on the wall, running through all four of the gallery’s spaces. The first thing that visitors will note is that it looks way too modern to have been drawn in 1921. The pen and brushwork is too fast and furious. Plus, it has a smelly, underground quality that makes it feel very contemporary. This could be Williamsburg now. Those kids—now long dead—could be you and me. What’s more, it appears to have been influenced by R. Crumb and fired by the imagination of Dr. Seuss—and it’s almost even as curmudgeonly as William Powhida—even though it comes many many decades before all of them.

Around 1910, our hero,’ as the artist refers to himself, goes to an art gallery that guarantees fame.’ He is duped. Inside, he finds a note from Art and Fame, whom he’s been chasing for years: Sit down & make yourself at home,” it says, “Will be back in 100 years. This strong point of view is consistent throughout. He is skeptical of those who run the art world and many of his peers whom he sees as selling out. But he remains darkly optimistic, an idealist to the end. And, he loves his dog. And it’s 2010 now, so…

That this work was authored and drawn anonymously is no accident. It is emphatically anonymous. Song without Music, reads the cover, Whistled to any old tune; Composed, sung and illustrated by the author; Published by the same guy. The protagonist is fantastically obsessed with art. He runs off in his youth to Tahiti to make paintings. He wins the Great War for his country (as an artist). At first, we thought the whole thing a satirical work of fiction. (Oh, and it never was published, nor even intended to be, in the traditional sense. Nor was it ever even seen by the public, until now.)

But no, it’s him. It all turns out to be an autobiography. The incidents and the people he describes are real. More than a few went on to brilliant careers. We know this because we were able to figure out his identity.

His name is Charles Nicholas Sarka (1879 1960).

Sarka’s uncanny skill in capturing the attitude and character of people and places in quick flashes of pencil and watercolor has long been widely admired. In the first decade of the 20th century, he traveled extensively by steamship to paint on-site in diverse locations around the world, including Egypt, Morocco, the Hawaiian Island, the West Indies, Tahiti and Mauritania, and Southern California. Well known among fellow artists of the time as Sarka of the South Seas and dubbed in 1966 by Pacific Islands Monthly (Sydney) as the American Gaugin, he was long associated with that region and wrote a novel based on his experience there, Tahiti Nui, available in the Archives of American Art. (Despite the Bowery dialect he uses in his comic book, he was a literate man.)

Among his traveling companions were George Overbury Pop Hart, an older and better known artist, whom he depicts throughout The Sacred Comic Book as the crusty old mustachioed sign painter, always carrying a pot of beans. The two lived modestly in their travels with their income mainly coming from watercolor portraits of yachts they painted in port. They apparently also did a lot of fishing for dinner.

Sarka was celebrated in the 1960s as the ideal of an itinerant ‘hobo’ artist. It has been noted that his inability to sit still was probably a detriment to his career and that as a result of constantly moving, much of his work has been lost. A serious painter, with an active exhibition record, Sarka nonetheless became better known as an illustrator for books and magazines, an occupation not uncommon for American artists in this period. He was successful at it for many years, doing covers for the foremost periodicals of his day, including Collier’s, Leslie’s, Scribner’s, Cosmopolitan, Everybody’s and Harper’s. He was popular. There’s even a contemporary coffee-table book that features him as one of the greatest American artists of the era. The New York Times gave his exhibitions mixed reviews, on the whole commending his adventurous spirit and talent, while criticizing his slapdash approach.

The Sacred Comic Book is set in New York, where Sarka moved from his native Chicago in 1899 to work as a staff artist for the New York Herald. His close friend and mentor was Walt Kuhn, American painter and organizer of the 1913 Armory Show. Another close acquaintance was Rudi Dirks, renowned creator of the Katzenjammer Kids. Sarka shared a studio with Rudi’s brother Gus (who killed himself there with a revolver). Sarka built his shack on Canada Lake, near Gloversville, in the summer of 1910. In 1914, a terrible fire in his Gramercy Park studio destroyed much of his work. It was humorously reported in the New York Times.

To see what a character this man truly was, download the pdf from the NY Times, Published: March 5, 1914 )

In 1963, following his death, a show of his Tahiti watercolors sold out, with works going to major American Museums, including the Metropolitan, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney. The only one to get into private hands went to then First Lady Jackie Kennedy.

His watercolor technique is still much admired. In the American Art Review in 1999, James Crawford wrote a feature about him, entitled The Watercolor Tradition of Charles Sarka. Sarka loved to draw and paint and his friends looked forward to his letters, pouring over with elaborate, humorous sketches. His friend, naturalist artist Paul Bransom declared that throughout his long life in art, “Sarka never drew a bad line.” Several of his colorful missives were featured in 2000 in the Smithsonian’s Art of the Illustrated Letter, which identified the genre as one of the forerunners of the comic book. Nothing in that show, however, gives the merest hint of what visitors to The Sacred Comic Book will encounter.

Please come and help make Sarka famous.”

This sounds like an amazing, inspiring find, which the gallery had hiding in plain sight. If any PCS readers make it to the exhibit, please report back on this sacred event!

Where do they get those wonderful toys, you ask? INTERNET!

When Jim isn’t writing for himself, he contributes content to PopMatters.com. One recent PM piece he wrote was a review of Fall of the Hulks: Alpha, which inspired him to dig a little deeper on his own blog into the relationship between the Incredible Hulk (the green one) and his archnemesis the Leader. It isn’t the voluntary PR for Marvel’s Hulk-centric event that you might expect from other sites, nor is it a goofy numbered list of “funny” quips about green skin and gamma rays. Jim writes as a fan and an enthusiast, simply getting geeky about a subject that struck his fancy.

And this is how it is on ACSA all the time (the site has been running for about a year now). Jim has a great enthusiasm for what he writes about and for writing in general, and he does a really fine job of balancing his fanboy glee with actual research and deeper insights. Other reasons to check out ACSA include Jim’s requesite snark, his choice of a simple Blogger template design that doesn’t strain the eyes or pain the brain, and his freshly unexpected topics that tend to lean more toward the personal than the promotional.

ACSA is currently hovering around #143 on the CBE, so it has a long climb up the list before it falls into the top 10. Let’s give it a push.

And be sure to visit the CBE toplist for links to all the other great sites that make up your comics Internet!

THE CBE TOP 10: February 3, 2010

The Comic Blog Elite toplist is one means to that end. Another means is going to be a new, recurring showcase for the CBE–right here in No Cure For Comics.

In the future, I plan to highlight individual sites from The CBE that I think deserve some added attention or could benefit from some fresh exposure. But for now, I want to provide a bigger, broader look at what the toplist has to offer with a rundown of the current Top 10 Blogs on The CBE:

1. X-Ray Vision: Enjoying a long reign at the top of the list, this site most recently posted last week about the recent reshoots scheduled for the Jonah Hex movie.

2. Bat-Blog: Holy Bat-Nostalgia, Bat-Blog! Since first joining the toplist, this site dedicated to all things Batman has dominated the CBE, ranking in the top two or three easily, and–before X-Ray Vision came along–resting comfortably at #1 for longer than any other CBE blog. There’s clearly no shortage of fun, interesting Bat-stuff out there, because this site is constantly updated with bat-links, bat-photos, and other bat-content, often submitted by fans of the Dark Knight and this Blog Wonder. (See what I just did there?)

3. 4thletter!: Mostly an opinion site, with occasional reviews and non-comics features, written with a level of sophistication that helps raise the quality of comics chatter without talking down to the readers. Like the tagline says–they talk smart about comics.

4. Comic Book Revolution: The dominant “News & Reviews” site on the list covers a lot of ground–from Marvel to DC and everything in between–with some subtle (and occasionally not-so-sublte) snark.

5. Geek Orthodox: The High Priest of Geek is my favorite kind of fanboy–he knows what he likes, he knows what you like, and he’s got a good wit about him when it comes to writing about things like hunting down nostalgic treasures on e-bay, showing off his vintage collectibles, and objectifying hot woman in geeky costumes. And that’s just what he posted this past weekend!

6. El Blog de Jotace: Set your Google to “Translate” to enjoy comic geekery from Barcelona, Spain. I don’t know what the blog says, but it has been rubbing elbows with the Top 5 for a long time.

7. Forces of Geek: An excellent mix of old-school geekery and new-school buzz on a wide range of pop topics, from an even wider range of contributors from all walks of life. I hear there’s this one guy who writes for FOG! about parenting who is just amazing!

8. Has Boobs, Reads Comics: A fun site about comics and geek culture from a female perspective–and not just your run-of-the-mill fangirl, either. The Nerdy Bird uses this blog and her forum on the Girls Entertainment Network to raise awareness (and a lot of money) for the Muscular Dystrophia Association, while letting her geek flag fly about comics, cosplay, movies, TV, and more.

9. Eat. Sleep. Geek.: Standard, mainstream comics talk…the books, the movies, the merch. Many tabs. Many categories. Many posts. Clearly, their geekery is a 24/7 job.

10. Lady, That’s My Skull: Opinions, rants, and wit…usually about comics. Plus a webcomic–The Arrogant Narcissist–every Sunday!

About The CBE: Open to any comic-centric blogs and free to join, The CBE lists registered sites in user-selected categories like “Comics Culture,” “News & Reviews,” and “Creator Site,” and ranks them via a CBE widget that reports unique daily hits back to the toplist. The organization allows CBE visitors to discover new and alternative voices for the content they’re seeking, while the rankings adds an element of fun and friendly competition among the member sites. The aim of the CBE is simple: to strengthen the online comics community.

Best Ongoing Series: Regular, ongoing comics will always have their ups and downs–creative inconsistencies and other assorted hiccups on the road to long-term serialized storytelling–but a few titles had me hooked all year long. My pick for the best is a three-way tie between Walking Dead (simply my favorite monthly), Fantastic Four (Millar and Hitch kicked ass in “The Master of Doom,” and Hickman and Eaglesham’s “Solve Everything” blew my mind up) , and Batwoman: Detective Comics (gorgeous, sexy, badass…and that’s just the artwork).

Best Mini Series: Old Man Logan. I had more fun with each issue of this over-the-top, masterfully drawn post-apocalyptic, super-powered spaghetti western than I did with any of my favorite ongoing titles, and it was certainly better than watching Wolverine: Origins  or reading Young Man Logan in Fraction’s Uncanny X-Men or Bendis’s New Avengers.

Best Event: Blackest Night has certainly been a doozy–a zombie action movie in sequential print form–but I’ve also been loving the flagship book in Marvel’s “Dark Reign” event, Dark Avengers, and the epic tangents from that storyline in Invincible Iron-Man and Captain America. Let’s just call it a tie and hope both events lead to more quality storytelling from their respective publishers in 2010 and beyond.

Best Job of Pulling Me Back In: Amazing Spider-Man. I hated One More Day and the idea of the Brand New Day reboot, and I don’t exactly appreciate the cost of keeping up with a weekly title, but a love for the wall crawler (my own and the obvious love the rotating legion of creators on this book have for him) and some top-notch storytelling made this one of my favorite titles in 2009. The possibility of some serious long-term payoffs to the One More Day mess in the coming months could mean good things for the series in 2010, as well.

Best Hero: Barry Allen almost ran away with this honor for me when he started to outshine Hal Jordan and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps in their own event, and the new Dynamic Duo of Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne would have had a chance at sharing this title had their series not sputtered after two issues and become irrelevant after DC announce  the return of “the real Batman” in 2010. Norman Osborn has certainly worked hard to make people think he was the hero of the year, but we’ve got a better category for him coming up. So, back to Blackest Night and the color war going on across the DC Universe, the best hero of 2009 has got to be Green Lantern. The excitement and build up from Blackest Night leading to the upcoming live-action GL film would be enough to set Hal above the rest of the superhero landscape, but the main GL book and Cry for Justice have helped to cement him as a powerhouse character deserving of the same recognition as DC’s “Trinity” of the always awesome Batman and…those other two far less compelling characters. 

Best Villain: Doctor Doom had a big year, but it involved him being eaten by a prehistoric shark, being labotomized and imprisoned by an army of Reed Richards across multiple dimensions, and getting bitched repeatedly by the Green Goblin’s secret identity. And Norman Osborn would have taken this title for that very reason, if not for a brilliant stroke of villainy from the big bad to our best hero. Blackest Night’s architect of evil, Nekron, revealed himself in a major way, claiming responsibility for the revolving-door afterlife of the DC Universe and control over the souls of all of the major ressurected DC heroes–not to mention a galaxy-spanning army of nigh-invincible zombie Black Lanterns. We won’t know how it all plays out until 2010, but DC’s intergalactic demilich ended the year with some seriously big evil.

Best Graphic Novel: Stitches. Under almost any other circumstances, I wouldn’t have cared enough to read it, and my man Jay, the Mayor of Bookville, wouldn’t have even thought to give an advance reader copy to a mainstream superhero fanboy like me. But there was something extremely comforting about reading a comic about one family’s drama surrounding cancer, strained voices, and a gnarly neck scar right when my own family was coping with my own of the same. This book also wins the honor of being the only comic my wife read this year…and possibly ever.  (Confirmation on that, babe?) Here’s my original review.

Best Anthology: Doctor Dremo’s Taphouse of Tall Tales and Short Stories. Obviously.

Best Comic-Related Meme: Marvel by Disney!

Most Important, Best-Reviewed Book I Have Not Read and Probably Won’t Unless You Lend it to Me: Asterios Polyp. I can’t even spell Dave Mazza…Mazzi…Mazzu…Mazzucchelli…ah ferget it!

And with that, on this Palindrome Day 01.20.2010, may your New Year be filled with much sequential joy and hardboiled happiness!

1. Forty-Five is not a good comic book–in the traditional sense that a comic book involves a mix of words and pictures in a sequential narrative. The unusual format, a collection of 45 thematically linked interviews, each with an accompanying image by a different artist, feels more like an illustrated novella. More than any book old or new that you’ll pick up in a comic shop in 2010, Forty-Five deserves the label graphic novel.

2. Forty-Five is a very good read. Despite the odd format, each character comes alive in the brief moments we have with them, and you become truly invested in the protagonist interviewer James Stanley’s exploration of life as a Super-S (the term for those with powers; Normans are the regular non-powered folks), an investigation he’s conducting in preparation for the birth of his own possibly Super-S child.

3. Writer and creator Andi Ewington has created a rich setting where super powers have become common–caused by an extra mutant chromosome that has found its way into the collective human gene pool–and the Norman response has become to either celebrate it, fear it, or, in some cases, try to exploit it.

4. Whether Ewington’s deviation from the standards of comic book storytelling works for you, you’ll be drawn in by his impressive world building. While the subject matter is very different, I was reminded of the way, in World War Z, Max Brooks manages to paint such a complete, epic picture of a zombie infested Earth, simply through fictional interview excerpts.

5. While $17.99 USD may seem like a rich cover price for only about 60 pages, the book is so densely packed with story that you’ll get your money’s worth simply on time spent reading. 

6. By “densely packed,” I mean the print is very small. I don’t know if the dimensions of the final printed book will help with this, but I certainly took advantage of my ability to zoom in and enlarge the text on screen.

7. Griping about font size isn’t a strike against Ewington or the Com.X editors. There’s hardly a wasted word on any pages. The story is just too big a picture to paint within the limiting canvas of one spread per subject.

8. If anything, this is a book that would be well served to have a digital version made available, allowing e-readers to zoom in and enjoy the writing, minus the eye strain.

9. If dense copy alone doesn’t sell you (or if all this font size talk has you worried), consider the gorgeous artwork by a small army of contributors. The full-color illustrations accompanying each of the 45 interviews are not just throwaway, rush-job pin-ups. Each one tells as much story as its respective interview, and the variety of styles helps contribute to the vibrant landscape of Ewington’s world.

10. Forty-Five begins with an interview of parents of a newborn Super-S, just after delivery, while they are still feeling the glow of new parenthood. When asked what the couple has decided to name the boy, the father begins to rattle off all the superhero aliases they’ve already considered for the kid, not realizing the interviewer meant the child’s actual given name. The sheer joy and elation of the mother and father is undercut by this subtle hint of madness that you can assume the rest of the world is experiencing.

11. The variety of super powers displayed throughout the story is intriguing. By the third interview–of young Sally Berkley, who surrounds herself with an illusory fairyland of elves and satyrs where she can be their magical princess–you really get the sense that the Super-S powers may be growing beyond Norman control and comprehension.

12. With the interview of Nathan Miles-Miller, gifted with the power to control water, a father determined to see his son become a superhero, and no interest of his own to do so, it is clear that those Normans that do think they can control the Super-S’s may not be doing so with the best intentions.

13. It isn’t all ominous dread, however, as some of the interviews focus on reasonably well-adjusted Super-S’s who are handling their powers wisely and responsibly. Ewington manages to present these cases in a way that suggests a generation gap and a learning curve for the Normans, more than an impending super-powered apocalypse. We’re right on top of the fault line of a paradigm shift.

14. The Academy of Higher Development comes up often throughout the story, just one of many interesting bits of societal geography that beg for further exploration–perhaps, in a sequel or spin-off?

15. The case of “LunarBlade” throws a wrench (or maybe a crescent-shaped sword) into the works of how Super-S works, as she comes by her powers after chemical exposure–not necessarily due to the mutant chromosome to which others’ powers are attributed (so she’s what Ewington calls 2nd Degree.) Thankfully, the 2nd Degrees don’t strain the believability of the broader Super-S story; rather, they expand the possibilities in this world.

16. Also expanding the possibilities in this world are government-sanctioned guardians of specific cities, “black ops” style Super-S activity (linked to a group called XoDos), and official super teams like The ANNEX. It’s impressive how much of the story in Forty-Five takes place in the periphery of James Stanley’s interviews, in addition to the story points in the interviews themselves.

17. Black Jak’d, who has the ability to see in the future, but suppresses the power with drugs, was the first character to jump out as a potential lead in his own Forty-Five spin-off comic. The heightened sense of conspiracy in his story and the artwork by Boo Cook certainly helped make the case.

18. Auroron, as illustrated by Sean Phillips, screams Dr. Manhattan, but his foul-mouthed, braggadocious interview suggests The Comedian. An interesting pairing of power and personality, for sure.

19. “Bodyjacking” would be a wicked cool power (as displayed by the character called Residence). For a villain, at least. 

20. The interview with Solarflare and CarbonCopy, a dynamic duo with a less-than-dynamic partnership, devolves into the kind of silly hero in-fighting that comes up all too often in mainstream superhero comics, but instead of serving as satire or commentary on that, it simply disrupts the tone of the story up to that point.

21. Such a moment could have served as an opportunity for Ewington to change the narrative structure of the book, and jump into some sequential storytelling, but instead, the chaos is left unresolved at the end of the single-page interview, and we move on to a new Super-S subject.

22. With RollCage, we get yet another type of super in the world of Forty-Five–the Exo-S, which simply means his powers are completely external. Jeff Anderson’s accompanying illustration and the mercenary, in-it-for-the-perks bravado of the character are reminiscent of DC’s Booster Gold, as he was reinvented during 52.

23. The world expands again with Stronghold, described as a “Super-M”–a Super-S who has experienced a more drastic physical mutation.

24. Digging deeper into the story of XoDos and the Lotus reveals that, while we’re not dealing with traditional storytelling here, we do, in fact, have the equivalent of a Big Bad lurking in the shadows and behind the scenes of all these interviews.

25. Before reading a word of the interview, my jaw dropped at Matt Timson’s scary and heartbreaking illustration of Zip–a Flash-like super speedster who also has the unfortunate ability (or curse) to age people with a touch.

26. The Zip entry is another one where it seems jarring how the interviewer simply walks away from the chaos that has broken out during the course of his interview. It is an intense scene, but one hindered by the book’s structure.

27. And again, with the combo-interview between rival Super-S’s DarkMatter and Twister, the interview deteriorates into chaos that is cut short. At this point, it is clear that the Super-S community is putting on a false smile for its adoring public, as most of the veteran adult Super-S’s act anything but adult.

28. These first-generation Super-S’s are more like children than the kids profiled earlier in the book. Some, more like sociopaths!

29. “Vader” as a catch-all term for “evil” Super-S’s (or super-villains) is brilliant.

30. It is also one of many subtle reminders that the starting point for the world of Forty-Five is definitely our own. The interview that takes place with Peter in his father’s comic shop earlier in the book is filled with similar nods to our own real-world pop culture.

31. Ewington paces out the interviews wisely, knowing when the reader needs a break from any XoDos business and talk of government conspiracies. While the radioactive hero with cancer has become a comic book cliche, the interview with G-Core is a welcomed dose of super-powered humanity.

32. Some of the interview subjects–eg, Mr. Doe, Flaky-J–raise the questions How did James Stanley possibly arrange these interviews? and How does Stanley expect to survive his book release?

33. That first question is certainly never addressed.

34. “Max-Dex” as the name of a Super-S with inhuman dexterity tickles my nerdy bone. I’m not sure whether RPG humor is the highest or lowest form of geek humor, but I like it.

35. Aftershock Girl, illustrated by Trevor Hairsine and colored by Frank D’Armata, is another character rich enough to carry her own title. At 74 years of age, she’s the oldest active Super-S in the world, and her interview barely scrapes the surface of storytelling possibilities with her.

36. As the book began with the birth of a Super-S, things wind down with the death of another–StateSide seems to be a Captain America type hero, but the interview dodges any obvious sense of homage or satire.

37. I’ve used “satire” more than once in this review, but it is worth clarifying that the tone of Forty-Five is dead serious.

38. Forty-Five is not a half-hearted poke at mainstream comics, nor is it a weak riff on the Justice League or the Avengers (like so many other attempts at introducing “new” superheroes).

39. The characters and conflicts in Forty-Five all feel very organic–clearly sprung from the same well as the heroes and villains of the DC and Marvel Universes, but managing to transcend the obvious inspirations in a way few new superhero books ever manage.

40. Robert Kirkman’s Invincible comes to mind as another such exception, where the created world has sprawled far beyond simply Superman and Captain America ciphers. However, that series thrives on its serialized, popcorn movie tone. The world in Forty-Five is much darker. Sleeper, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, is probably a closer comic book match.

41. The 45-interview format makes a direct comparison to other comics difficult. In fact, Forty-Five reads more like a compendium to a role-playing game universe…

42. …and I would love to roll up a character for that game.

43. There’s an impressive collection of backup features included in this book–deleted scenes, extra and alternate artwork, and even two fictional interviews with the fictional James Stanley promoting his fictional collection of fictional interviews!

44. No fault of Ewington or the 45 artists involved with this project, but it is unfortunate that one of the pull quotes on the back cover, along with one of two forewords within, is attributed to “Optimous Douche” (from Ain’t It Cool News). There’s a time and a place for Internet aliases. The back of an otherwise extremely respectable read is probably not one of them. :)

45. Forty-Five is open-ended. Since the storytelling is restricted to what James Stanley reports in his 45 interviews, we’re left wondering exactly how all the threads from those interviews will resolve and even exactly what will become of Stanley and his unborn, possibly Super-S child. This isn’t a bad thing and it isn’t a spoiler. It’s just the ending the format demands. Also in demand, more from Andi Ewington and the Forty-Five Universe!

Really, that’s all I can say about the movie. (Closed set = no spoiler zone.)

Luckily, my co-pilot in nerdity and the reason for the trip, Peter V. Brett figured out a few things we could say about the visit over on his own blog, and even managed to swipe some of my pics to support the post. And while I won’t spoil any of the plot secrets we learned about RE4, I will share a few nonproprietary insights about the visit:

• Making movies is hard work. No DVD featurette has ever gotten across the beehive/ant colony aesthetic we saw on the set of RE4, and no amount of back patting would be enough to commend the hundred-plus crew members who, through the organized chaos on set, always seemed to know exactly who needed to be where hammering or painting or rigging whatever, without missing a beat…except for during lunch, which rocked both days. Making movies is hard…but the food is really tasty.
• Writer/director Paul WS Anderson has chosen the most difficult area to work in–genre films for the comic con crowd. The man sets out, film after film, to make pure, unadulterated popcorn escapism for the most opinionated, unfiltered, and hard-to-please moviegoing audience possible. For every viewer who appreciates the bloody, explodey escape or who is loyal to the growing RE movie mythology that Anderson has spent the last decade nurturing into the most successful video-game-to-movie franchise ever, there are dozens of thankless creeps furiously and anonymously flaming Anderson and his work on message boards and blogs. In this respect, when it comes to suffering for your art, Anderson may be a masochist! But love him, hate him, or confuse him with the guy that did Magnolia, Anderson was a total pro whose set pulsed with positive energy and fanboy enthusiasm for the magic of movie making. For the two days I got to see him in action, the man had an army-efficient production team moving seamlessly around four active studio stages choreographing stunts; blowing up zombie heads; building, breaking, and even flooding sets; and literally inventing new filmmaking technology for this latest entry into 3D cinema.
• An old school gimmick is the future of film. Anderson was particularly amped about his part in the mainstreaming of 3D. Paul was sure to point out to us as part of his tour through the latest advances in 3D technology that, with the exception of James Cameron’s Avatar (which relies heavily on digital actors for much of its content), RE4 would be the first live-action sci-fi movie in the new wave of 3D films–and certainly the first to feature copious amounts of zombie gore, raining bullets, and ass-kicking supermodels.
• I’m no tech-head when it comes to movies, but just listening to Anderson gush about it and getting a two-day crash course in 3D filmmaking (including a close-up look at tools and processes invented especially for this film), I am sold on 3D…at least for the types of effects-heavy genre movies I love. This is not the old red eye/blue eye cardboard glasses from a cereal box 3D you remember from the 80s, nor is it even the complicated and cumbersome flicker-effect 3D that some novelty theaters and amusement parks have employed. Real 3D (this new tech being used by Anderson and which will hit the mainstream with Avatar) really is the future of cinema–the next step toward a fully immersive moviegoing experience. (Now if only the theater chains would get on board quicker and install the necessary technology faster–one possible reason RE4 isn’t due in theaters until 2011–so more filmmakers are insentivized to try it out.)
• I’m also not exactly a Resident Evil zombie, but I can’t wait to see RE4. There was so much care for the product on set and concern for maintaining the sense of epic that drives the games and movies that I want to go back and revisit everything i’ve missed as a passive player and viewer. I want to be fully immersed in the battle of Alice vs Umbrella Corp in time for RE4‘s 2011 release. Thankfully, from what I gathered on the set, it looks like I may be able to skip a lot of backtracking and just watch RE3 (Extinction) and play Resident Evil 5. The plan for the fourth film is to follow the fifth game very closely–a smart move toward streamlining the entire franchise and moving away from any previous confusion about if, when, and how the movies and games mixed. I don’t know the latest game’s plot yet, but fans should be happy to hear that we did get to see Wesker on set, as well as concept art and props pulled straight from the game, including one BIG bloody ax.
• The Painted Man movie is in good hands. Producer Jeremy Bolt (who, with Anderson, optioned the novel for their Impact Pictures production company) is one of the few people who have had the opportunity to read the unreleased sequel to The Painted Man, The Desert Spear, as well as a collection of deleted scenes-style short stories from Peat’s fantasy world, and the man is clearly a fan of the work (he said he loved book 2 even more than the first and refered to the series as “the next Lord of the Rings” more than a few times. Anderson was still in zombie mode, but promised he’d catch up with the demons in The Desert Spear during a January break. But while he hasn’t had the chance to consume the sequel and short stories yet, he comes equipped with the same retired-Dungeon Master pedigree as Peat. Paul WS Anderson is the right kind of geek for the job! Whatever happens between now and whenever/if ever Impact Pictures produces a Painted Man movie, the people in control right now are approaching the project with love, respect, and no sign of the Hollywood cynicism that would have left the author on edge about his baby. And the best part may be that, if it all falls into place, we can expect the demon cycle in 3D!

The Painted Man by artist Kim Kincaid

While I plan to keep my eyes and ears wide for any exciting news about the movie, I won’t be on set in a spoiler-spy capacity. My travelling partner is in talks with Anderson about turning his novel–The Warded Man–into a movie, so priority #1 is to be on my best behavior to protect that relationship.

Priority #2 is to try to talk my way into being a zombie extra.

Regardless, I will be in a state of nerd shock, staring at my shoes and stammering my words if I get within restraining-order distance of Milla Jojovich or co-star Ali Larter, so I may be incapable of any quality scoopage. But I’ll try to work around this handicap so I can at least share some of the experience with you when I return.

In fact, we don’t even know if the character will actually appear in the movie yet–though that happy tingling we’re all getting at the possibility isn’t spider-sense–it’s common sense! Spider-Man may be a costumed hero who solves most problems with punching…but the Spider-Man story is equal parts everyman angst, costumed action, and romantic comedy. No supporting character in the Spiderverse better encapsulates those elements than the thieving jinx with the cosplay fetish. And now that you’ve read our casting suggestions for the Cat, how about a little speculative storytelling about how this kitty can fit into the picture for Spidey 4?

However you felt about Spider-Man 3 (here’s how I felt), you know that Sam Raimi and his amazing friends are going to continue following at least some threads from that film and the previous two in the next installment. Peter Parker and MaryJane Watson’s relationship will evolve to the logical next step, and Spider-Man’s world will be populated with more creative and colorful characters, as there’s still some alien symbiote goop oozing around and the Sandman was allowed to get away. Ideally, one particular plot point won’t hang like a somber black cloud over Spidey 4–Harry’s death. Peter and MJ mourning the loss of their friend is an important part of their shared story, but it would be best to let the actors internalize those emotions and let them play into the subtext of the various new, fresh storylines to be told. In the comics, Felicia Hardy–that’s the Black Cat–started off as a libidinous cat burglar who seduced Spider-Man, but over the years, her tale has been all about redemption. Another character expected to appear in Spidey 4, Dr. Curt Connors, is corrupted when he accidentally turns himself into the Lizard, but the Jekyll to that scaly Hyde is still a good man. Thinking back to Harry’s own journey through the first three films and his own battle with the corrupting influence of Venom, Spider-Man should be well-armed to deal with the challenge of leading both Black Cat and the Doc Connors to redemption. Here’s how it can all fit together:

• The best way to erase the funk left over from the end of the last film and to remind viewers that Spidey’s world is growing in weird and dangerous ways is to open Spidey 4 with a big, fun action sequence pitting the web-head against one of his classic (but not worthy of a whole movie) villains. I know another rumor going around is that Bruce Campbell will finally make the jump from funny cameo to full-fledged badguy in the next flick, and fans seem to like the idea of him doing so as Mysterio. I had my own idea for costumed Campbell since Spidey 1–casting him a Mac Gargan, the Scorpion. But I’ve since reconsidered, instead thinking the best baddy for Bruce to play would be the super-cheesy and easily defeatable Shocker. I can hear him now, taking a swing at Spider-Man with a vibrating gauntletted knuckle sandwich, shouting “This is my BOOM fist!” And then Spidey would beat him senseless, monologuing the whole time about how down he’d been since losing Harry, but between his engagement to MJ and getting to beat up on this clown, he’s beginning to see that maybe things are going to be all right, after all. We’ll get the classic moment of Spidey leaving his fallen foe webbed to a lamp post just in time for the opening credits to roll.
• I’m no fan of movie-MJ, but we’ve missed our opportunity to drop her off a bridge twice now. This time, MJ is going to spend most of the movie running around with Aunt May (and maybe even her new BFF Gwen Stacy) making preparations for her wedding to Peter. They are in love and she has accepted his crazy life, so MJ and Peter are definitely on the road to wedded bliss. We’ll hear all about it as they talk to each other on the phone, both so busy (she with her singing and planning, he with work and webbing) that they haven’t had any quality time with each other in weeks. There’s clearly tension over this separation, but they promise each other that things will calm down after the wedding and they’ll have the rest of their lives to be together all the time.
• But that is before a routine attempt at saving the day has Spidey running into the sexiest criminal he’s ever tried to collar. The introduction of the Black Cat into Peter’s masked moonlighting will set off all the natural urges and anxieties of any man about to tie the not, no matter how happy he is. Black Cat will represent the temptation toward one last fling, one final flirtation with that irresponsibility that forever haunts and drives Spider-Man to respect the power of great responsibility and the great responsibility of power. And in this first encounter, she will leave Spidey with his head spinning, as she totally gets away with her crime.
• The next day, Peter will be kicking himself for being played for a lustful fool. Not only is he supposed to be a morally upright superhero, but he’s also engaged to be married! He’ll angst over his superheroic failing and his possible mental infidelity all the way to Empire State University, where he is now working in the science lab with his old professor Dr. Connors. Their latest research project together is on animal genetics and pheromones, which has led to the creation of various serums that harness different animal attributes and characteristics. We’ll learn that this has been going on for several months, and Felicia Hardy will be introduce as another one of Connors’ student and junior lab assistant. Hardy has been engaging in her criminal ways in order to pay her way through school (it beats stripping, she thinks), and she has been dipping into Connors’ animal serums to help enhance her skills. Unfortunately, she got a mixed bag of tricks with her irresponsible off-label experimentation, giving herself heightened physical abilities at the cost of a “bad luck” aura that has just recently begun to manifest. We’ll learn very quickly that Hardy has ZERO interest in Peter Parker.
• Still in the lab and following up on a plot detail from Spidey 3, we’ll learn that Connors has managed to manipulate the tiny sample of symbiote that Peter brought to him into his synthetic regeneration formula. Ashamed of himself for lying to Peter about having destroyed the sample, and also selfishly concerned over proprietary rights should the formula prove effective, Connors has gone to extra lengths to keep his work on the formula secret. The bad luck aura permiating from Felicia causes Peter to break some vials or have some other sort of inconsequential lab accident, but this is enough to give Connors his window to protect his secret. Clearly overreacting to the accident, Connors fires Peter as his lab assistant.
• After Peter is gone, Felicia’s bad luck mojo will also cause Connors to make a crucial miscalculation in his regeneration formula that will ultimately lead to him becoming the savage humanoid reptile, The Lizard.
• Bummed out about losing his job, Peter decides to go out Spidering, hopefully to get some sellable photos for the Bugle (his Plan B income) and maybe to redeam himself with that sassy cat burglar. He does encounter Black Cat again, but her jinx powers and sexy wiles cause Spidey to fumble and flub his way to another defeat. But he’s so off his game this time that Black Cat thinks he’s playing with her, and this piques her interest a bit. Curiosity leads to cuddling, as the Black Cat gives Spider-Man a “friendly” kiss to make him feel better…right as she escapes into the night with her score.
• Peter is wracked with guilt when he sees MJ later that night, so much so that he can’t hide it from her. Revelations about how he let her go twice and the second time involved her kissing him leads to MJ threatening to cancel the wedding, acusing Peter of having second thoughts. She even brings up her own bad karma over her leaving John Jameson at the altar in Spidey 2.
• Peter puts on his costume and goes out to clear his head and to temp fate again, hoping another encounter with the Black Cat will allow him to redeem himself or, knowing his lousy luck, it will prove that he really is having second thoughts about marriage. But he’s a glutton for punishment, so he goes out to find her anyway–and find her. They do the usual dance–flirtatious banter, suggestive double entendres about Spidey’s web shooters, etc–until they are interrupted by screams from the city streets below. The Lizard has finally surfaced, and he is on a mindless rampage!
• Spidey and the Black Cat team up to battle the Lizard, but the Cat’s bad mojo leaves Spidey vulnerable, and causes him to get his butt whooped. Black Cat manages to do just enough damage to the Lizard on her own, however, to scare the beast off, and Spidey manages to tag him with a web tracer.
• The tracer will lead Spidey back to ESU and to the conclusion that Doc Connors is the man behind the monster. It will also put Parker in position to figure out the secret identity of his masked mistress in the making.
• In the end, Peter will figure out a way to convince MJ that she is still the only girl for him, and Spider-Man will convince Black Cat to “help him” break into ESU in order to administer an antidote to the Lizard and to negate her chemically induced jinx powers so he can lock her up for good. But being the good natured fellow that he is, Spidey gives Black Cat a free pass–this one last time–because he’s given her a taste of playing on the side of the angels, and he thinks she likes it. He also decides he owes her one for helping his relationship with MJ by putting his loyalty through the ringer.
• The movie can end with the small City Hall ceremony between Peter and MJ, with a post-credits tease of that tainted, manipulated mutation of the symbiote oozing its way out of the ESU lab, which was trashed in the final battle.

What do you think, True Believers?