Pads & Panels

Best Comic Books of 2011

Matt’s Picks

Ducktales/Darkwing Duck Series’ Finale Crossover — Imagine being a kid and watching the Disney Afternoon cartoon block when you get home from school. For thirty seconds, you’d see Uncle Scrooge having a snowball fight with his nephews when suddenly Goselyn walks up. You think “Hey, isn’t Goselyn on Darkwing Duck? What’s she doing in Duckberg?” Then, Darkwing walks up and shoots a snowball out of his gas gun. Sure, it’s just a “Happy Holidays from Disney” commercial, but you wish there was a full episode featuring a teamup of your favorite ducks. Wish no more, because Kaboom made that happen with the final issues of Ducktales and Darkwing Duck (respectively). With a captivating story by Epic Mickey‘s Warren Spector and illustration by cartoon veteran James Silvani, this story is sure to entertain and leave you with a smile on your face. (more…)

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2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the Image Comics Fan…

By P&P Staff

The Walking Dead Vol 13

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The Walking Dead is the best zombie comics series hands-down. If your significant other is a comics aficionado, he probably already has the first 12 trades. Number 13 just hit shelves, so the timing couldn’t be much better. If he’s just picking up on the AMC’s television adaption of the series, the massive Compendium (collecting trade paperbacks 1-8, or issues 1-48) is a great way to get caught up at a fair price. (more…)

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The Walking Dead

Interview with Robert Kirkman

Interview by: Bill Jones

Robert Kirkman may be one of the greatest ambassadors to the comics medium alive. As a writer, he has created the best ongoing zombie series comics have seen in The Walking Dead, carved his own space in the realm of superheroes with the popular Invincible, and has tackled the horror-meets-superhero genre with The Astounding Wolf-Man. All of this while keeping control of his properties through the creator-owned publishing model of Image Comics. That is all, of course, in addition to his work at Marvel, where he became known for his run on Ultimate X-Men and launched the Marvel Zombies series. He also earns cred for starting his career with a concept as awesome as Battle Pope.

In addition to juggling a number of comics franchises, Robert Kirkman has been hard at work in the position of executive producer of AMC’s television series adaptation of The Walking Dead, set to debut this October, directed by Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile). Kirkman took some time earlier this month to answer some questions about his long-running zombie series and delve into the gory details of the upcoming show. Kirkman talks about seeing his comic come to life as a show, his philosophy on adaptations of his work, AMC, working with Frank Darabont, how fatherhood influences his work and what fans can expect from both the show and comic. (more…)

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Title: Invincible Volume Four: “Head of the Class”

Publisher: Image

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artists: Ryan Ottley, Bill Crabtree

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

Trade #4, “Head of the Class,” is the largest trade of the first four volumes, compiling six issues of the comic, plus the Image Summer Special #1. It’s also the most scattershot of the bunch. In the wake of the events of the third trade, Invincible is trying to piece together his life, both on the personal end (with his mother, school and friends) and his role as the planet’s premiere defense system now that Omni-Man has left the planet and the new Guardians of the Globe are failing to live up to expectations. The small stories included are rather amusing – such as an underwater marriage with fish people that Invincible is thrown into – but the fourth trade is one of those Robert Kirkman uses to plant the seeds of later events. So, it’s a bit of bearing with the build-up rather than receiving the payoff, but it’s still relatively entertaining. Fortunately, Ryan Ottley’s art really hits his stride around this point, and the trade provides some of the most interesting visual storytelling in the series yet. (more…)

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Title: Invincible Volume Three: “Perfect Strangers”

Publisher: Image

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artists: Ryan Ottley, Bill Crabtree

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The third trade of Invincible, “Perfect Strangers” picks up where the second left off. That may seem like an obvious statement, but Robert Kirkman’s construction of Invincible is a bit scattered, often planting many seeds for things to come in later issues. The arc of the second trade revealed that Invincible’s father, Omni-Man, violently murdered the Guardians of the Glove. Now, Invincible finally becomes aware of this fact, and it sets in motion an epic confrontation between father and son. The battle is the highlight, along with an alternate telling of Omni-Man’s origins that craftily parallels the images of an earlier issue. In the aftermath, Invincible also takes a new job. (more…)

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Title: Invincible Volume Two: “Eight is Enough”

Publisher: Image

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artists: Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley, Bill Crabtree

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The second major arc of Invincible sees Robert Kirkman turning things on their head almost as fast as it got started. The first couple issues simply feature Invincible battling some seemingly harmless threats, and even using his linguistic skills to resolve a conflict at the outer edge’s of Earth’s atmosphere. The real draws of “Eight is Enough,” however, are the introductions of the Guardians of the Globe, who are essentially parodies of popular Justice League characters, and then the (SPOILER ALERT) violent murder of all of them. And the reveal of the person who did it will ultimately turn Invincible’s world on its head, though he isn’t privy to the same information as the audience up front. “Eight is Enough” also sees the transition from Cory Walker as series artist to Ryan Ottley, who seemingly picks things up, first blending in seemingly without effort, then making the comic his own. It also contains one of the funniest panels in the series. After a friend discovers Invincible’s powers and begs, the young hero takes his guy friend for a flight, Superman style, and simply says, “This is so gay.” (more…)

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Title: Invincible Volume One: “Family Matters”

Publisher: Image

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artists: Cory Walker, Bill Crabtree

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

“Family Matters” is the trade that started it all for Robert Kirkman’s Invincible series. It tells the tale of Mark Grayson, who is dealing with the same issues of almost any American high school student – girls, friendships, preparing for college and dealing with his strange family. Only Grayson’s family is strange in a very unique way – his father is the world’s most prominent and powerful superhero. As if the rest of his growing pains weren’t hard enough, Grayson is also beginning to acquire the powers his father has always had, so he can add fighting super-villains to the mix. Like Kirkman’s handling of The Walking Dead, Invincible isn’t a parody of its genre, nor is it necessarily breaking new ground. Kirkman revels in the superhero genre and all its trappings, and simply tries to do it better than anyone else has. “Family Matters,” bookended by similar scenes, already sets up Kirkman’s knack for the planting seeds to payoffs later in the series. Cory Walker’s art and coloring by Bill Crabtree make it feel like a classic superhero affair. (more…)

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From Comic-Con Part 4 – Robert Kirkman Panel

By Bill Jones

Robert Kirkman, the creator and writer of Image Comics series The Walking Dead, Invincible and The Astounding Wolf-Man, held an (almost) solo creator panel Friday afternoon at Comic-Con International 2009.

Kirkman wasted no time, with a jokingly nonchalant “whatever” attitude about talking to fans about his upcoming plans, in showing pages from issue #66 of Invincible, which Kirkman said will return to its “probably the best superhero comic in the world” slogan, only without the “probably.” Kirkman said he is planning for an oversized issue and a return to the red and yellow color scheme.

Following an Invincible run-through, Kirkman announced that issue #25 of The Astounding Wolf-Man will be the last. Everything is building to a point that cannot be topped in the current storyline, and with plans to continue Invincible and The Walking Dead for a long time, and an interest in exploring new projects, it is time to end the series, Kirkman said. He noted that is likely Wolf-Man will get a “complete” edition.

“I’m very excited to end the book on my own terms,” he said. (more…)

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