Man down! Man down! Man down! And yet, we soldier on in his stead because there could be no higher calling than to honor your fellow man in his time of need. That being said, should you find yourself a man down in your stack of books this week might we make a recommendation or two?
Ron says try…
Secret Avengers #21.1
By Rick Remender and Patrick Zircher
The new best book of 2012 starts here. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, Rick Remender has been the brains behind the best book in comics, Uncanny X-Force. This week, his new title at Marvel starts with a point one issue that’s designed to get you on board. If you haven’t read any Secret Avengers yet, it doesn’t matter, get this issue and get on board before the fun really starts with issue #22 (and Gabriel Hardman).
Conor says try…
Catwoman, Vol. 1: Trail of The Catwoman TP
By Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke, Brad Rader, Cameron Stewart, Michael Allred, & Rick Burchett
On the last podcast we talked about the heady days of Marvel in the late 1990s and early 2000s when just about anything went and creators were given a lot of chances to run wild with beloved characters. Similar books were coming out of DC Comics at the same time, and one of the best was Catwoman. Led by an up-and-coming writer named Ed Brubaker and drawn (for a few issues in the beginning) by some dude named Darwyn Cooke, Catwoman was a sexy noir crime caper and fewer books were better.
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Looking forward to Secret Avengers. I may be the only one, but I’m kind of glad Hawkeye has dropped the Wolverine mask.
It appears Josh has given up fun again.
(DISCLAIMER: This is a joke. This is only a joke. Do not take seriously.)
That Catwoman trade sounds like just what I need right now.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Just. Need. Money.
Ouch. $29.99. I’d trade anything for a place to trade trades. Mouthful, that.
I got it for $18.70 on Amazon.
Now, this is a nitpick but just pointing out that Catwoman run is probably the least sexy era of that character, and while Darwyn Cooke deserves the accolades you give him on ifanboy, sexy is not his strong suite. Just sayin’.
But yes, Catwoman is always worth checking out.
Speaking of light week titles, KING CONAN: THE PHOENIX ON THE SWORD #1 (OF 4) hits this week, a new adaptation of the first Conan story ever written. Looks freakin’ fantastic. Also, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose, and Witchblade have new issues out.
“Sexy” is in the eye of the beholder.
Of course. But just saying, when I see “sexy” in a tagline, for me anyway that’s a bit false advertising here. When I read it, it really stood out just how unsexualized it was, both in art and story. Compared to the sultry femme fatale nature Catwoman usually has anyway.
“Sultry femme fatale” is exactly how I’d describe the above image.
Could not disagree more, PsychoJudgeDredd! Drawing sexy women is in fact one of Cooke’s strengths. Like Conor says, what’s sexy to you is not sexy to all. For myself, Cooke’s classy, strong, yet sultry depiction of women is 1,000 times sexier than all of the ass shots and giant boobs in comicdom combined. The way he draws their eyes is enough on it’s own.
@j206: Cooke definitely draws the sexiest women in comics. (McKelvie is a close second.)
The cover is sexier than the scratchy interiors, that’s for sure. And you say ass shots and giant boobs like that’s something silly, I love women who look like that in real life call me old fashioned. Ha but yes, we all have different takes on sexy, kind of a wacky subject to bring up I know. But juuust sayin’, I think the more “realistic” take on that series resulted in a much less sultry version of Catwoman.
@Conor: Agreed on both. McKelvie is pretty great, too. Like Ron has said in the past. He draws the girls you want to date in real life.
I recently got the Parker: Martini Edition and Cooke’s females in that are stunning. Especially in larger print.
@PsychoJudgeDredd: That’s exactly it, man. Different strokes for different folks. Heck, some people prefer anime girls with boobs bigger than their heads. There’s all sorts. 😉
Darwyn cooke is probably my favorite artist, and I would say his cat woman is “sexy” no question.
That having been said, no one draws a woman like Guillem March and Adam Hughs. Except maybe god and southern California….
@PsychoJudgeDredd See, we had this same conversation in another thread. Catwoman is not some character that is meant to be oozing sex on every page, if thats your thing then I guess you really must love the new Catwoman book, not to mention that god awful 90’s series. If you ask me, THIS is how the character was meant to be, shes sexy no matter what, she doesn’t need to be bending over and exposing cleavage or something, it’s just inherent to the character(though it probably has a lot to do with the leather and whip). Ed Brubaker really took the best elements of Catwomans entire history and distilled her down to her most pure and definitive portrayal.
This reminds me of Spinal Tap.
Sure DKD, we have different takes on sexy. My take on sexy isn’t quite as simple as you’re making it sound, I do think not just from a cheesecake perspective but from a writing perspective she’s less sexy in Brubaker’s run. But, ha, again, pretty random topic. Also it goes to 11.
You are ALL wrong. Darwyn Cooke doesn’t draw women at all. He draws dames. And dames is sexy.
And yeah, most definitely check out the Catwoman book if you do not already own the Brubaker/Cooke stuff. This collection is truly great because it combines their run on Catwoman, with back-up material they did in Detective Comics, plus Selina’s Big Score. Well worth it!
Oh, so it does include Selina’s Big Score aswell? Well now, I feel silly for not buying this already.
From the solicit:
“Don’t miss this new collection of CATWOMAN: SELINA’S BIG SCORE, plus stories from DETECTIVE COMICS #759-762 and CATWOMAN #1-9, featuring the work of Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke and more.”
Both great picks.
Remender on SA is going to be my new favorite comic book.
Cooke’s art on Catwoman has an animation look to it, I like it. I will probably pick up that run since it is on Comixology.
I yjought issue 22 was Remender”s first arc< but if it starts on the point one issue I'm buying it.
I’m just curious here but do you guys get advanced copies of issues like Secret Avengers before you post this article?
They might sometimes. But I know for a fact that they don’t always. Like that one time Josh recommended Total Recall, and then gave it 1 star.
Sometimes. Not a lot.
Did you or Ron get Secret Avengers 21.1 in advance?
Lol @ “3 MONTHS UNTIL A v. X!”
But these both look fantastic. I was unaware of the .1 issue until the pull list came out this week, but I’ve been excited about a Remender/Hardman SA book. I’ll likely get it and will pick Catwoman up on amazon sometime after I finish Gotham Central.
Best run on Catwoman, period. Our local store didn’t get this TP.