THE NERD WITHIN - Batman: Broken City (2003)

I recently went back and read Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee's geekeriffic run on Batman (issues 608-619) where EVERYTHING happens! The only thing their run was missing was Joe Mauer and Barrack Obama (circa 2008, not the present day Fraggle Barrack, whose delusional worshippers are slowly planning off ways to drink the kool-aid).

EVERYTHING happens, but it wasn't necessarily a believable story in the realm of the Batman mythos and I never had the urge to keep reading the monthly comic.

However, I finally bucked down and read the following issues dubbed BROKEN CITY.

Broken City was written by Brian Azzarello with art by Eduardo Risso, the team behind the acclaimed series 100 Bullets which I have yet to read a single issue. Perhaps some day.

I loved Azzarello's JOKER tpb, where he painted the clown prince of crime as a truly horrific character due to his "reasoned" insanity.



Now, I also love his Broken City storyline.

It's a detective tale soaked in noir.

It's a murder mystery marinated in mayhem.

It adds depth to Batman's habitually recanted origin tale and, in my opinion, gives a sustainable motivation to Bruce Wayne's obsession to dress up like a bat and beat up bad men all night and bad girls some nights.


If you haven't read the tale, pick it up and be swept away into gritty juiciness.

THE NERD WITHIN - Wolverine First Class 1-12 (2008)

Fred Van Lente has been infecting me.

I've enjoyed his collaborations on THE INCREDIBLE HERCULES but thought maybe it was more Greg Pak then him.

I few months back I stumbled upon a few issues of COMIC BOOK COMICS written by Fred and found myself laughing and smiling at his clever wordplay as he ran through a history of the medium we love through said medium.

I branched out to his series ACTION PHILOSPHERS! in which he runs through the history of philosophy with equal hilarity and in the same format as COMIC BOOK COMICS.


I needed more.

I discovered, thanks to MARVEL DIGITAL COMICS, he wrote WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS.

Bring it.

WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS examines the stories that took place between the pages and panels of UNCANNY X-MEN after Kitty Pryde joined the team. Wolverine is assigned by Professor Xavier to teach Miss Pryde in a one on one capacity and the dynamic of a spunky carefree teenager and a gruff and surly sasquatch brings new meaning to the phrase "odd couple".

The stories bring new depths to the classic tales TEEBORE will soon be reviewing and better explains how Kitty and Logan managed to grow so close.

Issue 12 showcases the rivalry of Cyclops and Wolverine from a new perspective as Cyke is assigned to teach Kitty for a day in place of Wolverine. A Lovecraftian monster gets involved, like you do, and Van Lente's run ends with one of his best issues.


Peter David supplied the writing until the series ended with issue 21. Of course, Peter provided what he usually does - witty writing and strong characterization, but Van Lente's issues had a heart to them that is often lacking throughout the medium.

If you're on Marvel Digital Comics, I believe the first 10 issues are available. Otherwise, the entire series is collected in TPB and can be found at your local comic store, amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or soon to be discounted at one of Borders fine store closings.

THE NERD WITHIN - New Avengers: The Reunion (2009)

Skrulls.

I don't pay too much attention to the wide reaching comics blog-o-sphere so I miss a lot of the current "backlash" that runs therein, however I believe there is a common concensus that the whole SECRET SKRULL INVASION mega-event sucked unshorn donkey balls.

Hawkeye has always been one of my favorite characters. I first became aware of him at the start of my comic reading days as he smoothly advised me in the back of some issues that I could save almost $3.00 a year!


Then he died, apparently.

And came back as a ninja. Normally ninjas are sweet but I wasn't buying this Ronin thing.

Hawkeye was married to Mockingbird. Her personality was that she was the chick that hung around Hawkeye. Then, she wasn't around. Apparently, she died, too. I never really noticed.

So, then Mockingbird shows up in the middle of this SECRET INVASION thing saying "I didn't die. The Skrull who replaced me did!" and we're meant to be all "whoop-i-dee do" but I was more "whoop-i-dee don't care".

That was until I read NEW AVENGERS: The Reunion.


Writer Jim McMann transforms Mockingbird into a strong female lead you can care about and turns Hawkeye into the boy who desperately wants to get the girl but the girl is more intent on beating people up at the moment.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird are now MR and MRS SMITH ( the version in my head where the movie is clever and funny. I never saw the movie since I heard it was neither funny nor clever.)

You even get to see what happened to Mockingbird while she was a SKRULL prisoner! And it's cool! Unlike SKRULLS. Who still suck. And should have stayed cows.

For those of you who have Marvel Digital Comic Subscriptions, check out this series! For those who don't, jump on ebay or peruse your local comic shop and pick it up.

THE NERD WITHIN - She-Hulk #1-12 (2004-2005)

When She-Hulk was being released monthly, I picked up the first 6 issues and was drawn to the light-hearted humor, unique take, and, even though I really shouldn't admit it, sexy covers.

However, money concerns propelled me to stop buying monthly mags and the girlie greenie's tale was not mine to read. Thanks to MARVEL.com, I've finally finished Dan Slott's initial run on Bruce Banner's voluptuous cousin's comic series.

For those who don't know, Jennifer Walters was in dire need of a blood transfusion so her cousin, the alter ego of the Incredible Hulk, gave her some of his life juice. This, combined with her "anger", transformed her into the She-Hulk.

This particular comic series starts off with the She-Hulk spending a bit too much time turning the Avengers mansion into a den of libations, pulsating music, and throbbing libidos.

Captain America and Iron Man are the buzz kills probably because one used to be an alcoholic and the other apparently doesn't know what an IPOD is.

She-Hulk gets kicked out of the mansion and is hired by a prestige law firm who specializes in "super-human" law.

The cases she handles are somewhat ridiculous and her co-workers include a shape-shifting process server and the Mad Thinker's Awesome Android, affectionately called Awesome Andy.

She gets drunk with a c-rate supervillian, uses real life comic books as government approved documentation, helps Spider-Man sue J. Jonah Jameson for libel, and many other silly things.


Dan Slott's writing is fluid and funny.

The artwork is pleasing to the eye and easy to follow.

The whole series will make you smile and crave more. Luckily, Dan Slott returned to the title a year later and wrote another 21 issues which are all available on marvel.com as well. Soon, I shall be ocularly devouring them.

These 12 issues are collected in two volumes here and here.

THE NERD WITHIN - The Brave and the Bold #31

I love comics.

In the past month I've attended my first comic book convention, been sniped on ebay several times attempting to complete my Gruenwald Captain America run, and spent an unhealthy amount of time reading the "funny" books on my computer and in print.

I'm a story guy.

Flashy artwork is nice while mediocre art can definitely hurt a tale, but if the story is strong, I'm more apt to remember the issue and even go back and re-read it.

For my money, I've always been a MARVEL guy. I broke into the habit by picking up G.I.JOE #97 at a drug store. The enticing subscription ads in the back compelled me to branch out to other Marvel offerings and soon I was becoming enlightened by the world of Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and the Uncanny X-Men.

DC never really did it for me.

Batman was cool but every time I picked up an issue of his he seemed to be gasping in a very un-Batman like expression.

I knew Superman from his movies but the comic character seemed so boring!

The Flash tv show was AWESOME but the comic seemed so confusing with Captain Chilly's ray gun or whateverTF he had going on.

However, then you have THE JOKER.

The Clown Prince of Crime is easily the most malevolent and memorable evil creation to ever grace our mischievous magazines. When done right, the Joker shows us a dark side lurking within our being and makes us ponder - all that separates us "normal" people from the criminally insane is one ReALLy bAd DaY!

Today, I stopped at Borders book store to kill some time while God's laser light show accompanied the angel tears pouring down from the heavens. While sifting through their cluster of recent back issues unsightly wedged in a wire spindle, The Brave and the Bold # 31 caught my eye.

I knew the title was a team-up of sorts and I knew The Atom was the DC version of Ant-Man (or vice versa. Does it really matter? Ant-Man was lame. My mind associated that lameness with The Atom. I was sure they drank from the same miniaturized SUCK fountain.) so why would an obvious villain like the Joker be teamed with a tiny good guy?

Then I saw the name of the writer. Stracynski. J. Michael Straczynski.

I loved Stracynski's run on Amazing Spider-man and was curious as to what he would do with a character like the Joker. I sat down and read it.

What he did was show us a side of the Joker I've never seen- his childhood.

What he did was show me that The Atom isn't lame but actually quite funny and human in the conflict and morality he needs to gauge.

What he did was make me want to read more DC comics, at least the ones he's writing.

I came home and jumped on Wikipedia like a mental trampoline. Seems JMS has been writing The Brave and the Bold since issue 27 ( the series is coming out with #33 soon) so I have a few dishes to taste from the JMS chef.

For those who like a tasty Joker tale, pick up this comic and give it a try. The story is superb. The artwork is wonderful. The Border's off Lyndale and 494 has comfy chairs and plenty of copies jammed in their spindle.