Nope, two hit creator owned books wasn’t quite enough, so iFanboy’s would-be benefactor is starting up a new series at Image, and they’re giving it away. The first issue of Robert Kirkman’s The Astounding Wolf-Man will debut on Free Comic Book Day.
And you don’t have to pay to try it. That’s mighty brilliant.
I gotta say, if this wasn’t from Kirkman, I wouldn’t even give this title a second look, free or no. I mean, I couldn’t be less interested in a book about a werewolf, in theory. In theory, I didn’t care about a zombie book either. But this is a pretty good pitch.
THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN tells the story of workaholic CEO Gary Hampton, who is bitten by a werewolf while on a rare family vacation. Cursed to live out his nights as a werewolf, Gary seeks to find a positive purpose in his horrific new existence. But can a werewolf be a hero? THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN is about one man’s struggle to do good when his body is designed for evil.
And Robert, if you’re reading this, this will be your last unpaid endorsement, if you know what I’m saying.
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I’m in. Kirkman’s enough
Bor-ring! More mediocre work from Robert Kirkman? No thanks.
Really?
wow. they could announce that kirkman was writing My Little Pony #1 and I’d buy it
I wonder – how many Kirkman fans out there have read Battle Pope? And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?
They’re reprinting Battle Pope in color now aren’t they?
My god that was a funny book.
“When he’s not saying mass, he’s out kicking ass.”
That line alone sold me on the book before I’d ever heard of Kirkman. I remember getting a sketch of Pope from Moore in 2001, and there was NO ONE talking to them.
Such good comics. Sorry, I’m gushing.
what are you waiting for?
more ponies
I’m SO down with this. It could create quite the scene on FCBD, as this’ll be in high demand. I might need to start sharpening my elbows now in preparation.
Kirkman is possibly my favorite writer working today. I admit I buy almost everything of his in trade. But the man is so good, even when it’s an “Eh” book for Kirkman…it’s still a good book by most standards (I feel)
I’m in for all thing Kirkman:
Breaking news! Robert Kirkman craps in a mylar bag goes into it’s 4th reprinting!
I got the variant crap in a mylar bag – best $800 I ever spent
Everytime I get my hands on an invincible Trade or The Walking Dead, I can
This is a brilliant marketing strategy.
Its about time someone started using Free Comic Book Day for something worthwhile, Marvel and DC’s offerings thus far have been pretty dire.
As for Wolfman – sounds awesome, i can’t wait! Kirkman kicks ass.
It is a brilliant marketing strategy – especially if the book is any good.
I’ve been picking up the Battle Pope reissues in trade. Good stuff.
I found an autographed copy of Squadron Supreme at my LCS for 4$. I scooped it up but haven’t read it yet. Any thoughts?
Oh, dude, not only did I get the variant crap in a mylar bag, I also grabbed the limited and numbered autographed crap in a mylar bag. By Robert Kirkman.
uh lucky
Kirkam is God
Put that on a wall in England
Always happy to get on a good book at ground level!
This should be interesting. Right now, Kirkman’s batting 50/50 with me. I really enjoyed Invincible, but I just the read the first trade of Walking Dead last week and didn’t see what all the fuss was about. I missed the crap in a mylar, but I got a gold plated dog crap on a stick by Bendis.
You know, it’s weird: this sounds so interesting to me, and yet Marv Wolfman’s Astounding Kirk-Man does nothing for me at all.
This groundswell of Kirklove would have probably been welcome during Marvel Team-Up. And what of Ant-Man?
Kirkman’s Marvel stuff oddly fairs less well than his indie stuff on these message boards. Isn’t that weird?
I picked up on Team Up at the end, and enjoyed it well enough. I’m liking Ant-Man more each issue, and it’s very much unlike anything else at Marvel at the moment. But no one seems to be talking about it.
I’m totally in. I’m sure on paper a lot of his other stuff sounded pretty insane and look how amazing a lot of it has turned out. I will definitely pick this up on Free Comic Book Day.
By the way, did anyone notice that his Vol. 2 hardcover of The Walking Dead is coming out in March? It looks delicious.
Keep reading Scott. TWD is the bomb (BOOOMMM)
And what of Ant-Man?
I read it. It’s good
Ah, but how good is it? Ant Man starts making out with his dead friend’s girlfriend on the guy’s grave! It’s that good.
I must be the only person in America that doesn’t really dig his writing. I like Invincible well enough, but anything else I’ve tried of his I was just ‘meh’ about.
Maybe I’m just mad because the League of Losers arc on MTU sucked so much. Maybe I should give Walking Dead another chance…
I think Walking Dead is a masterpiece. Haven’t been able to get into Invincible yet, but I’ve only read the first trade. If anyone out there is a big fan of Walking Dead, I’d recommend you try the Luna Brothers’ Girls. It’s like WD with, well, girls instead of zombies.
It took me a while to warm up to Invincible, but I do agree with most people who say it is one of the best super hero comics out there right now. Other than Invincible I have only read his Marvel stuff. I enjoyed the League of Losers story he wrote in Marvel Team-up and I am liking Irredeemable Ant Man. Did he write the Captain America issues of Avengers Disassembled? I remember not being too impressed with those. He isn’t my personal savior, but I recognize that guy has stills and free right in my price range.
I read the first Walking Dead trade and was kinda ‘meh’ on it. I get that it’s more about people in crisis than the zombies. But that feels a lot like… well, most every zombie movie/story I’ve ever read or seen. Maybe I just need to try the next couple.
I, on the other hand, love Girls. I think it’s a cross between the artwork and the “WTF is going on” factor.
I liked the idea of League of Losers, but all the characters seemed the same. Not particularly well thought out or characterized. I think it might’ve just been introducing too many people and trying to cover all their backstories. I just didn’t get any sense of individualism from any of them. Kirkman does get points for using Darkhawk though.
If WD doesn’t speak to you, I don’t know what to tell you.
Has anyone actually read Battle Pope? What about Marvel Zombies? I loved both.
I don’t know if it is going to do me any good, picking up only one issue, but I am going to give Walking Dead a try this week.
I enjoyed League of Losers not because of the story, which earns a solid B rating. No, I enjoyed seeing Darkhawk, Sleepwalker, and Speedball (months before Civil War) again. It was enough to know that someone working at Marvel hadn’t forgotten about some of my favorite Marvel characters. As bad an era as it was, I started reading comics in the early 90’s. My first comic had a Speedball story in it. In a really dorky way, it was like hooking up with old high school friends you had lost touch with.
Everyone does that to me. I can’t be the only one who’s not completely blown away by WD. Can I? Where’s that echo coming from…
I don’t know if it is going to do me any good, picking up only one issue, but I am going to give Walking Dead a try this week.
I think that’s a bad call. You’re better off getting the first trade and spending a few bucks more. If you start in now, you won’t know who anyone is (which is sort of a weakness of the book), and you’ll potentially blow some of the story, had you read it from the start. I remember picking up Preacher #49, and just being completely lost. It put me off Preacher for years in trade form.
It really is a straight narrative story that should be read from the start.
A thought just occurred to me about Kirkman. Everything he touches doesn’t turn to gold. I accept that wholly. I don’t really love most of his Marvel work. When he does a good story, it’s great, and people really react positively. But when he drops the ball, it’s usually just average and boring. In a way, that’s more disappointing than dropping a stinker, like say Grant Morrison is prone to do. I think this contributes to the sort of large number of people who say they’re not really in to his work.
Does that make any sense?
Marvel Zombies was quite good
There I just put in a request in to be notified when the first four Walking Dead trades become available at the local library. Now I have an open slot to for this week.
Hmmm, I am not so sure about that. When the first trade of Invincible didn’t wow me, I wasn’t upset. I still believed Kirkman had the ability to write something I’d like and I was willing to give him as many chances he needed. However, after reading last week’s Civil War: The Return, which was just plain awful, I don’t think I am going to give Jenkins the opportunity to kick me in the nuts like that again. Does that make sense?
An average comic from an above average writer still dosen’t hurt. A stinker from any writer is three dollars waisted.
This is true, but I think it colors the opinions of said writer.
Just a thought.
I read Marvel Zombies in one sitting and wasn’t too enamored of it. I think the hype raised my expectations too much. It reminded me of that Earth X thing and The Kingdom mini. Stories that don’t really matter and don’t really speak to you unless you’re the type to enjoy seeing your favorite characters twisted. Kudos for Marvel for even trying it though. You’d never see DC do something like that. (See The Boys.) On the other hand, DC might do a book called Raped Second-Tier Female Characters…
Raped Second-Tier Female Characters…
They did it in the ’90s. It had a foil cover variant with a hologram. I have 35 copies
I really don’t understand the zombie thing. I didn’t get Marvel Zombies, but I’ll tell you, I love the covers. They’re great.
I think you’re onto something Josh. Although, I’m not sure that I totally agree because while I really like Invincible, it’s not one of my ultimate favorites. But it is, by far, my favorite of the stuff he’s done. I think my issue with Walking Dead isn’t so much the writing, but probably just the zombie stuff. I think my issue with Kirkman is I think he may have a hard time finding the voice of established characters. But with things like Invincible, and presumably Walking Dead, he has a much firmer grasp on how the characters should be written because they’re his own.
I know it’s easy to lump him up as a “zombie guy” but the stories in Marvel Zombies and Walking Dead are completely different from one another. To me, Marvel Zombies was just funny, and stupid in a good way. I loved that they took these characters that have been held up as a paragon of virtue for so long, and just stripped them of all dignity. How much fun is that?
Actually, that’s pretty similar to Battle Pope in a way.
To me, Walking Dead is a book about what life would be like if everything you knew just got ripped away, and how we would try to hold to some semblence of what life was life before. And we keep failing at it. Because it’s just gone. Think about it this way: when you’re a kid and life is fucking sweet, and you have this ideal of what life will be like when you grow up and move out. Then you do, and it fucking sucks. There are bills, and shit keeps going different than you’d hoped, and life is just hard. I have no idea if that’s what Kirkman has in mind, but there’s a similitude there.
I’m not so much characterizing him as the Zombie guy, as I’m saying that I’m not really interested in zombie propelled stories.
Or games. Or movies really.
But I’ll have to check out the second trade eventually.
Is “similitude” a word?
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=similitude
Ah! That reminds me. I like the word “versimilitude”. I’m going over to the Baghdad thread and use it right now!
Ron, could Wolf-man beat Frankenstein?
Nope. Know why? Wolf-man’s got nards.
monster squad?
A Monster Squad reference! Oh man, you just made my week. That is freaken awesome!
such a classic movie…
“Have you ever been…dorked?”
once