SPACE RANGER

NOT SURE WHAT THIS IS.... (BUT COOL!)

END OF AN ERA: FARE THEE WELL, DYLAN BATTLES

Well, its the end of an Era... DYLAN BATTLES, Back Issues Manager of Golden Apple Comics, is spreading his wings to soar to new adventurous heights. Today is his last day (Friday, 2/25/2011).

During his 8 year Tour of Duty, Dylan brought a unique level of excellence, fun & positive energy to the store. He also organized the crap out of the place, especially after the move to the 'new' store a few years back. He is a rare gem and the store will not be the same without his presence and influence. He shall be sorely missed by many fanboys & fangirls, including myself, who have made The Apple their local comic book store these past 8 years.

So if you're in the Hollywood area today, swing into Golden Apple and give that Fucker a happy farewell slap on the ass. Bring/buy a copy of DC Comics' 'MANHUNTER' (which he starred in) and have him sign it - it will make him really uncomfortable!

Godspeed in your new adventures, Sir Battles!

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Golden Apple Comics

7018 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038

(323) 658-6047

FAVORITE NAUGHTS COMICS: 2000-2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! 2010!

Comics, like other pop culture goodies, tend to be remembered and categorized by decade.

So, here are the "best" (ie my favorite) COMICS of the NAUGHTS!

They are pretty much off the top of my head and listed in no particular order. Also I unfortunately ran out of time to properly write about each (JimSmash sucks!).

UPDATE: AQUAMAN

Forgot to post this one, which is a Guilty Pleasure/Hidden Gem. I've never been into Aquaman but found the character had potential. With issue 15, writer Will Pfeifer & artist Patrick Gleason came aboard, returning Aquaman to his classic costume. For the first time in my life, I found myself an Aquaman fan and placing this book at the top of my monthly reading list.

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SLEEPER
Born out of Alan Moore's Wildcats, Sleeper is The Departed with superpowers. It's gritty and imaginitive and feels like the good ole days of Wildstorm, minus the spandex.
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CABLE/SOLDIER X
(Macon/Kordey)
I really enjoyed Kordey's art in this series and the book went in a new direction; less mutant savior stuff and more soldier-of-fortune. While maybe not the most stellar comic of the past 10 years, it has remained in my thoughts and so I've included it on this list as a "hidden gem".
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MYSTIQUE
(#7-24)
This series took off at issue #7. Writer Ted McKeever was doing fun, new things with Mystique while still staying true to her character. Unfortunately, the series was cancelled after #24 and Mystique was turned into a psychotic nympho by other writers. Here is the last good Mystique.
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MANHUNTER
This is a fun book but my favorite aspect was the new character DYLAN BATTLES. It's a shame the book was cancelled, especially since the last push had a fantastic new artist that fit the book perfectly. While the monthly book is gone, Manhunter still lives in the backup stories of Batman: Streets of Gotham.
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THOR ONE-SHOTS
I really enjoyed the art with these books. Asgard and its inhabitants looked like a nice blend of "authentic" Norse and Kirby Awesome. This is how I hope the Thor Movie will look. Seeing Thor walk into Asgard dragging behind him severed Frost Giant heads is one of the best Thor moments I've seen in a long time!
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CONAN
While the writing is "ok" (Busiek) and Conan talks waaaay too much, the art is fantastic and reminiscent of Frazetta in spirit. Its a nice adaptation and expansion of the original stories. I've picked this series up in hardcover format.
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MARVEL ZOMBIES 1
Very fun and funny. I'm concentrating on just the first series, before it was run into the ground. They totally dropped the ball with the ending, but its still a fun goofy read.
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X-MEN: THE END
That's right, I'm including this! Love or hate what has been done with different writers in the X-Men Universe, Claremont did a great job of incorperating the entire X-Mythos into a beautiful final act that wraps up the grand epic story that is the X-Men. It all works together quite nicely and by the end of the story I was shockingly pleased with it.
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PUNISHER MAX
The Garth Ennis run on this one. Ennis' can sometimes be too goofy and over-the-top, but he tones it down here to a nice level (Barricuda!). This is how the Punisher should be: realistic, brutal and full of military mayhem & mobster fun!
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THE FLASH
(Geoff Johns run)
The Flash was great those first few years of the decade. Hot off the great Waid run, Geoff Johns continued the momentum and made The Rogues fucking awesome! I was heartbroken when he left the book, but was happy when he took over Green Lantern!
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MADROX & X-FACTOR
Peter David returns to these B-List X-Characters and transformed X-Factor into a crime noir book full of drama, action, suspense, mystery and fun storytelling. He should be given a medal for his outstanding revamping of Madrox the Multiple Man. A great book every single month!
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X-MEN: MESSIAH COMPLEX
I haven't enjoyed the X-Men since the late 80s and early 90s... but the "Messiah Complex" crossover had that spark and had me excited about the X-Men for the first time since "Age of Apocalypse".
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ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
The first hardcover is absolutely amazing and spectacular! (get it?) The rest is still a fun read and Bendis' storytelling fits perfectly with this book. Its the best (and only good) Spider-Man to hit the stands in decades! And I got choked up with Gwen.... I knew it was coming and I still got choked up. A super fun, enjoyable read!
*(avoid all other Ultimate books)
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LOKI
The art alone is worth the price of admission. And its an interesting story through the eyes of Loki.
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WONDER WOMAN
(Rucka/Johnson run only)
I LOVE this run of Wonder Woman, but wish Drew Johnson had stayed on as the artist. When he left, the book took a turn for the worse. It also entered into the Omac stuff and suddenly Wonder Woman was a murderer and everyone hated her. Ugh. But this run, collected in 3 trades, is wonderful.
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CAPTAIN AMERICA

(Reiber/Lee/Brubaker/Epting/Lark)
I always wanted Captain America to have a more "Tom Clancy" feel to it and now it does. I was even pissed off that Bucky returned from the dead, but somehow the book still engaged me and kept me coming back each month. 'Civil War' kind of derails the momentum, but its still a great book - I'm buying a Captain America monthly book for the first time since the old Zeck (80s) & brief Waid/Garney (90s) days.
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DAREDEVIL
(Smith/Bendis/Maleev/Brubaker/Lark/Diggle)
What if Daredevil was a weekly cable TV show drama? It would be like this book. Bendis, while too wordy at times, shifted Daredevil over into a noir drama and it totally works. This book has been awesome for the past 10 years straight! If you liked the old Frank Miller DD, you might dig this.
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NEW X-MEN
(Kyle/Yost)
I didn't want to like this book and couldn't even imagine doing so. And yet, here it is on this list! Writers Kyle & Yost are the disciples of 80s Claremont. This was the best X-Book on the stands while it was out (along with Astonishing X-Men). Hell, in this book I can even tolerate X-23 and enjoy her stories! Madness.
---X-FORCE
New X-Men ended, but Kyle/Yost relaunched X-Force as Cyclops little dirty secret: a covert blackops team that takes the fight to the enemy and wipes them out. They also returned Warren to his Horseman Archangel which I will forever be grateful for.
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FABLES

With its references to popular characters everyone has heard of through songs, books and movies, Fables is a hugely accessible comic as well as being easily enjoyable. Fables has the simple but fascinating premise of placing characters like Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf and Little Boy Blue in our modern world and pretty much blows your mind with the mix of what you know with a whole new tale. You never know who will show up next or what crazy turns the story will take but the adventures are big, the romance is lusty, the battles are bloody...instant classic!
*(thank you, guest writer Helen!)
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MOUSE GUARD
These books are gorgeous and take you away to a different world of fantasy and adventure! Beautiful stuff.
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GOTHAM CENTRAL
A book focused on the cops of Gotham? Hell yeah! Written by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker, with killer art by Michael Lark, this is hands down one of the best books of the last 10 years.
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SUPERMAN: RED SON
What if, instead of landing in Kansas, baby Kal-El landed in Stalin-Era Russia? A super sweet story is what!
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JUSTICE
Another gorgeous romp through the DCU with Alex Ross!
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MIDNIGHT NATION
Why this hasn't been turned into a movie or television mini-series is beyond me.
---ALL-STAR SUPERMAN
Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and a whole lot of Weird! Its' brilliantly fun!
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FANTASTIC FOUR
(Hickman/Eaglesham: #570-572)
These 3 issues are the best FF I've read in a very very looooong time. It's a Reed-focused story that feels like its done by the offspring of Alan Moore and Jack Kirby.

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THE WALKING DEAD
Best. Zombie. Serial. Ever.
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ASTONISHING X-MEN
(Whedon/Cassaday run)
Joss Whedon & John Cassaday's love letter to the 70s & 80s X-Men. Every issue has goosebump moments.
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LEGION
(DnA era)
This run changed me from a Legion-Hater to Super-Legion dork! Its fun, adventurous and ended with me buying a Legionairre Ring Replica on ebay. Nerd!!!
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GREEN LANTERN
(Rebirth, GL, GL Corps, Blackest Night)
I always wanted to like Green Lantern but could never get into it, even though I would try just about every year from the 80s to Naughts. Then Geoff Johns came aboard, brought Hal back and reinvigorated the entire Mythos. I think the GL books are my favorite books of the decade.

I'm sure there's more, but I think this list is loooong enough.
What were your favorite books these past 10 years?

oh wait, I forgot to talk about......

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SPECIAL CASE:
BENDIS ERA MARVEL

Ok, so this one's tricky... Is the Bendis Marvel the best or worst of the Naughts?

The Marvel Universe has pretty much been under the control of Bendis for most of the decade. He's been telling 1 large story -via monthlies, mini-series, crossovers & events- that's supposedly coming to a close now with "Siege" (we'll see). I enjoy Bendis' IDEAS but his execution always falls short. Great build up with a disappointing climax -he's like a bad lover that way. If he had better execution and this large story was told in a single book (like say The Avengers) over a span of 100 issues or whatever, I think it would be perceived as more of a success; "The Bendis Avengers Run" (ala "the Byrne FF Run" or "Walt Simoson Thor Run". But alas, instead his epic story took over the entire line of Marvel Universe books and there was no escape.

To reiterate: I dig his overall IDEAS - TALKING about the stories to another is always better than the actual books themselves.

In the end, he atleast pulled the MU books away from the horrible shite state they were in at the end of the 90s; Iron Man was a 17yr old kid, Captain America was wearing a ridiculous armor that kept him alive, Spider-Man was in Clone Hell, Thor was either in S&M gear or just shirtless, the Fantastic Four was anything but fanastic (slut sue & helmet wearing ben), Daredevil was in armor, and the Avengers were angry B-Listers in brown leather jackets.

Under the Bendis Era, I have bought & read all those titles just listed - something I did not do in the 90s. So there's something to be said for that, I suppose. Does it belong in the "Best of"? I'm not quite sure.

GO BUY MANHUNTER #31

MANHUNTER returns after a year-plus hiatus!

Besides it being a good, fan-fav book, my buddy DYLAN BATTLES actually co-stars in it!!! Click HERE more about that.

In addition, JimSmash reader JAMES has also been making a cameo within the book... this issue is his best cameo yet!

MANHUNTER #31 is on sale NOW!

DYLAN BATTLES: COMIC STAR

Ah, man! The comic MANHUNTER is being cancelled!!!

*Note: It has been since saved!

What bums me out the most (besides a great comic being cancelled) is that my good friend DYLAN was actually a character in the book! That's right, the character "DYLAN BATTLES" is based off of a real guy by the same name and even looks just like him! Writer Marc Andreyko met Dylan one day and when he found out his name, he asked if he could use it in an upcoming comic.... then asked if he could just make the character look like him, too! So every month, for the past 2-plus years, I've totally geeked out at seeing Dylan in a comic book!

His character's backstory was that he used to be a 'tech guy' in the criminal world who was highly sought for his expertise with gadgets and gizmos and would work for various Supervillains; Like Two-Face, Queen Bee, Kobra, Killer Frost, and Black Manta.. He gets busted, and being tired of always getting his ass kicked by Superheroes (and their sidekicks!), cuts a deal with the Feds and begins a new life in the Witness Relocation Program. Flash forward and new hero MANHUNTER (the fed prosecutor who busted him years before, now a new vigilante hero) recognizes him one day and recruits (blackmails) Dylan back into the game, this time on the side of Angels. But don't think he's doing it to be one of the good guys. No, its more like he just hates living the Suburbia lifestyle and misses the excitement of his old job. So Dylan then begins to create all kinds of cool techy gadgets and weapons for her.

PIC: Page 1 from Manhunter #4, Dylan Battle's debut. Here he is shown at 3 moments in time, working for 3 different Super Villains.
PIC: DYLAN, working for Black Manta (Aquaman villain) getting stomach punched by a Dolphin! I think this was probably the last straw for the character. I mean, getting beat up by a Dolphin?!PIC: Cover to MANHUNTER #10, where Dylan graced the cover as "DYLAN! THE TECH WONDER!" Awesome cover that homages a classic Batman & Robin cover.
Totally blows the title is getting cancelled. I've been trying to put the idea out to have the book finish with Dylan packing up his things and heading to GOTHAM to see if he can find work - so that maybe another writer down the road could use that to bring Dylan into the Batcave!!!

Come on, Andreyko!!
Do it for Dylan!!!

DYLAN BATTLES debuted in MANHUNTER #4.
Pick up your backissues today at your local comic shop!

Some more pics of DYLAN BATTLES!