Boom Studios has released previews for their books coming out on January 13th.
THE ANCHOR #4
Written by Phil Hester
Drawn by Brian Churilla
SC, 24pgs, FC, SRP: $3.99
COVER A: Brian Churilla
COVER B: Phil Hester
Diamond Code: NOV090668
The Anchor’s battle with the offspring of the demonic Breeder comes to an earth shattering conclusion, but will victory require a sacrifice The Anchor is not prepared to make? Plus, the mysterious Wound holds the key to The Anchor’s forgotten past, but is he friend or foe? Answers revealed, arcs concluded, minds blown, comic racks melted. You are with this comic or against it, and being against it is not good for your health, chief. A new BOOM! ongoing series, brought to you by Eisner Award-nominated writer/artist Phil Hester (GREEN ARROW, SWAMP THING, THE COFFIN, FIREBREATHER, THE DARKNESS) and fan-favorite artist Brian Churilla (REX MUNDI, THE ENGINEER, CREEPY).
CARS #0
Written by Alan J. Porter
Drawn by Allen Gladfelter
SC, 24pgs, FC, SRP: $2.99
COVER A & B: Allen Gladfelter
Diamond Code: SEP090699
An all-new CARS storyline from BOOM! Kids! Lightning McQueen organizes a rally race on the dirt roads around Radiator Springs to raise money for his favorite charity. Along with McQueen’s friends, comes some rivals–both old and new–who want Lightning to eat their dust!
DIE HARD: YEAR ONE #4 (B)
Written by Howard Chaykin
Drawn by Stephen Thompson
24pgs, FC, SRP: $3.99
COVER A: Dave Johnson & Joe Cusko
COVER B: Jock
Diamond Code: SEP090682
The conclusion of the first DIE HARD arc! It’s 1976, the Bicentennial in NYC. John McClane’s on a luxury boat…that’s targeted by eco-terrorists! McClane has to take out the villains and save everyone, for the first time in his life! Think his luck will get better in the future?
FARSCAPE: D’ARGO’S QUEST #2
Written by Keith DeCandido, Rockne S. O’Bannon
Drawn by Caleb Cleveland
SC, 24 pgs, FC,(2 of 4), SRP: $3.99
COVER A: Chad Hardin
COVER B: Caleb Cleveland
Diamond Code: NOV090673
D’Argo has seen war, his family ripped apart and a host of horrors aboard Moya. Now he faces his greatest challenge of all. He must work with Raxil! The motormouth of a drug dealer is now forced to be D’Argo’s aide as he tracks down his greatest prey of all! Written by FARSCAPE’s Keith R.A. DeCandido and Executive Produced by show creator Rockne S. O’Bannon.
THE INCREDIBLES #4 (B)(Ongoing)
Written by Mark Waid and Landry Walker
Drawn by Marcio Takara
24 pgs, FC, SRP: $2.99
COVER A: Marcio Takara
COVER B: Ramanda Kamarga
Diamond Code: SEP090704
The hit series featuring everyone’s favorite family of superheroes continues—only from BOOM! Acclaimed writers Mark Waid (THE FLASH, IRREDEEMABLE, KINGDOM COME) and Landry Walker (SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE 8th GRADE) join forces to tell an all-new Incredibles adventure!
THE MUPPET SHOW COMIC BOOK #1 (ONGOING)
Written by Roger Langridge
Drawn by Roger Langridge
Covers A & B by Roger Langridge
SC, 24 pgs, FC, SRP: $2.99
Diamond Code: OCT090804
Roger Langridge’s celebrated run on THE MUPPET SHOW continues with this first issue of the new ongoing series! With the theater in disarray after the events of PEG-LEG WILSON, the Muppet gang decides to take their show on the road! Is the world ready for traveling Muppet minstrels?
WALT DISNEY COMICS AND STORIES #702
Written by Alessandro Ferrari
Drawn by Emilio Urbano
COVER A & B: Magic Eye Studios
SC, 24 pgs, FC, SRP: $2.99
Diamond Code: OCT090812
Featuring a brand new team of super-heroes culled from Disney’s Mickey and Donald universe! Come adventure with The Duck Avenger, Super Goofy, and the main man Mickey himself, as they take on the Phantom Blot and his nefarious group of ne’r do wells! At stake…nothing less than the riches in Scrooge McDuck’s Money Bin!
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SCROOGE MCDUCK VOL. 1 HC
Written by Don Rosa
Drawn by Don Rosa
HC, 112 pgs, FC, SRP: $24.99
ISBN13: 9781608865383
Released: 01/06/2010
Greed is good! BOOM Kids! proudly collects the first half of THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SCROOGE MCDUCK in a gorgeous hardcover collection — featuring smyth sewn binding, a gold-on-gold foil-stamped case wrap, and a bookmark ribbon! These stories, written and drawn by legendary cartoonist Don Rosa, chronicle Scrooge McDuck’s fascinating life. See how Scrooge earned his ‘Number One Dime’ and began to build his fortune! An Eisner Award-winning in its original publication. See how Scrooge earned his ‘Number One Dime’ and began to build his fortune! Collecting the first six chapters of the award-winning twelve part epic adventure.
THE REMNANT TPB
Written by Stephen Baldwin, Andrew Cosby and Caleb Monroe
Drawn by Julian Totino Tedesco
SC, 128 pgs, FC, SRP: $16.99
ISBN13: 9781608860012
Actor Stephen Baldwin and writer Andrew Cosby’s (creator of Sci-Fi Channel’s EUREKA) critically acclaimed story of espionage and the supernatural is collected for the first time! C.I.A agent David Sacker is thrust into a domestic terror case that questions everything he knows about reality. The action-packed thriller that introduced phenom artist Julian Totino Tedesco (UNTHINKABLE) to the comics industry!
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Avatar is a contradiction, both stunningly new and yet full of familiar cliche. Ultimately, though, James Cameron has pushed the technology of film-making to an entirely new pinnacle. Viewed in IMAX 3-D, as I saw it, Avatar is simply unlike anything we've ever seen before. The best achievements of previous effects-driven films were to push us from an initial suspension of disbelief into an acceptance of a new and different world, despite the cracks in its facade. Avatar is, I believe, capable of taking even the most cynical viewer...me...and forcing us to accept the vision, because it is just too beautiful to ignore. 
Let us dispel any doubt, first; there is nothing new in Avatar. All the "Dances with Thunder-Smurfs" or "Fern Gully in Space" jokes floating around out there in Geek circles are entirely apt. There is nothing new in this story. Nothing. Everything that you expect to happen is going to happen. As I was watching it, when Neytiri explains the role of the giant flying beast, the Toruk, in Na'vi society, I leaned over to my wife and said "I'll bet you five thousand dollars Jake flies one before the end of the film." Spoiler alert: don't take that bet.
And yet, despite the predictability of the story, despite the fact that I saw every single plot development coming, I loved every second I spent in that theater. Cameron brought a different world to life in a way no other director has, not even Peter Jackson. No, the film is not necessarily better than comparable epic films, not in the storytelling sense. But it is more vivid and more beautiful. The film's central dichotomy of nature vs. technology is simple, ham-fisted, and telegraphed from the opening act, yes. But once the film got to Pandora in all its bioluminescent glory I did not care. I just wanted to see more. The irony that this message was brought to the screen via specially developed technology does not, I think, concern the filmmakers.
If it weren't for the huge leap forward it represents, Avatar would be a sharply executed but thoroughly mediocre film. The only performance that really stood out to me was Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, who stole most every scene she was in. Sam Worthington's ascent to stardrom mystifies me; I find him forgettable and bland. Inoffensive, never bad, but I can't imagine anyone going to the movie to see a movie because Sam Worthington is in it, despite the fact that Hollywood seems bent on pushing him into star territory. Stephen Lang chews the scenery into a fine froth as the overdone Colonel Quaritch. Giovanni Ribisi puts on a thinly veiled parody of George W. Bush; he is not helped by dialogue that asks him to tell his PR people to "win hearts and minds" and his military to "fight terror with terror." If you want to see the allegory, it's there. It's there like a hammer blow to the forehead, really. It is hard to comment on the 'performance' of the actors vis a vis the motion capture of the Na'vi and Avatar-driver actors; Weaver's avatar looked and seemed like a Sigourney Weaver character, so that's probably a mark in its favor. But I did not feel a connection to the characters the way I did with Gollum; probably not a fair comparison there, or perhaps I just connect more easily to twisted, evil hobbit-like beings than I do tall, beautiful, graceful cat-people.
And at the risk of repeating myself, it doesn't matter. The unfathomable spectacle that Cameron has put on the screen quite simply deserves to be seen, if you care about film, if you care about science fiction, if you care about technology. Sure, the film leaves some questions unanswered; what exactly is at stake for the humans in their colonization of Pandora, for instance? And yes, just to drive the point home, you've seen, or read, or heard this story before. Even so, perhaps it would've been impossible to tell a new story using this method. Perhaps it had to be an old, familiar story for the reality of Pandora to creep up on us and take hold. And perhaps the level Avatar works best on is as a metaphor for watching movies. In our favorite movies, we recline in a dark, cool place and get to live another life for a few hours. Jake Sully does much the same thing, only he truly lives a different, more vibrant, more meaningful life. Avatar is going to change filmmaking; I thought that was a preposterous boast when on James Cameron's part, but it's true. Epic, 'event' movies will probably be judged on how they stack up against it, the way they were once measured against Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. If you are interested in big movies, see it, see it in a theater, in 3-D, in IMAX if possible. I did nothing but mock Cameron and the trailers when I saw them. Nobody could convince me that this movie was going to be as special or important as it was pretending to be. I scoffed. One hour of giant alien fauna and luminous flora, I was completely convinced. Cameron and Avatar have changed the game. Try to keep up.
Dan Ford
Staff Reviewer
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When a Mexican drug cartel is on the verge of forming an alliance with the Maras street gang, the US government enlists newly formed Trans World Operations operatives Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios to deal with the situation but is this Army of Two enough? 
After discovering that their former private military contractors, Security and Strategy Corporation, was a dirty organization Salem and Rios create their own PMC bringing Mission Coordinator Alice Murray with them. Their first assignment is to dissolve a burgeoning alliance between a Mexican drug cartel and rising street gang but with Salem nursing an injured leg, Alice brings in an Ex-Marine named Edberg to pick up the slack. Alice assures Salem it's merely temporary and that this assignment should be an easy paycheck but as they delve deeper into a hostage crisis it proves to be anything but.
IDW's Army of Two #1 is an all around good action story that centers around characters from the videogame of the same name. Milligan takes the time to develop the characters while Soy delivers action packed panels. If you're a fan of the game and need something to go with your newly purchased Army of Two: The 40th Day or just appreciate a good shoot 'em up this is the book for you.
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist:Dexter Soy
8.5/10
Rudy T.
Staff Reviwer
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Guy Ritchie’s take on the famous English detective Sherlock Holmes promised to deliver a new spin on the classic character. With a star studded cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams, and an add campaign that advertised a full throttle adventure, all the pieces of a great movie seem to be in place. So, does the film live up to expectations? Well, no sadly, not really.
So where does the film falter? The performances from Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes) and Jude Law (Dr. Watson) are good, and the performances by Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler) and Mark Strong (Lord Blackwood) are sufficient (though Blackwood is a bit of a limp villain). Sadly, there isn’t anything the actors could do to stop the problems with the film. The main problem runs much deeper, and was already in effect before the actors ever stepped in front of the cameras. What I’m referring to of course is the screenplay, which I can only describe as dull and rushed.
From the very get go something seemed wrong. I sat in the theatre wondering to myself, “Why doesn’t this feel right?” And then it hit me. “Where’s the set up?” Well, there isn’t one really. As the film opens up, Holmes and Watson are in an underground tunnel, fighting two men, and then making there way into an open room where what looks to be an ancient ritual of human sacrifice is taking place. The person conducting the ritual is none other than Lord Blackwood. At this point I’m thinking to myself, “Oh God, the theatre has screwed something up. This is the end of the film….” But it wasn’t. It was just a really odd opening to a movie. Holmes and Watson stop the ritual and Lord Blackwood is apprehended and sent to prison. As he is taken into custody, Lord Blackwood taunts Holmes that “It isn’t over.” I wish it had been. Instead, what happens is we are introduced to Holmes’ old flame … (does every hero have to have an old flame?) who isn’t exactly what she seems, and from this point on, the trio basically move from one set to another, fighting more than detecting, until they stumble their way to the end of the film, revealing an “evil master plan” that seems as if it was written by a six year old.
There are a few moments in the film where Holmes thought process is shown to the audience visually. This would have been a great way to get across Holmes intelligence in a film adaptation, if only it would have been used as a way to show his keen eye for picking up clues and putting the pieces together. Instead, it is used to show how Holmes plans out his moves in a fight before it actually happens, again putting more emphasis on Holmes as a fighter and action adventurer than a detective.
By the time we reach the conclusion, I don’t feel as if we know anymore about the central characters than when the film began. Sure, most of us know who Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick are, but how many of us have read the actual stories? If you haven’t then this film won’t teach you what these stories are really like, and if you have read the stories, then the film will probably play even worse for you since Holmes is played more as a sly fighter than a detective.
This ruined opportunity could have easily been prevented. Many of the problems with the screenplay could have been avoided if they simply would have done an origin story for the first film of what I suppose will end up being a series. How did Holmes become a detective that is respected by the police? How did Holmes and Watson meet, befriend each other, and eventually work together to solve mysteries? Neither of these issues are addressed and it really hurts the film. Secondly, if you were going to base a film series on one of the most famous characters from popular fiction, why would you not base the story on one of the beloved works featuring the character?
Evidently the filmmakers thought that an intelligent, more direct adaptation of the great detective wouldn’t play to the average A.D.D. movie viewer, so instead of sprinkling the story with clues, they sprinkled it with explosions and action sequences. What’s worse is that instead of actually filming the final confrontation on a set, the majority of the setting is done in very obvious CG. Some directors can handle filming scenes where vast amounts of CG will be needed and integrate it well. A good example of this would be what J.J. Abrams was able to do with the recent Star Trek reboot. Unfortunately, Ritchie doesn’t handle this type of filming well in Holmes. It’s bad enough that the over the top action doesn’t fit the character or story that should be expected from a Sherlock Holmes movie, but when the effects are blatantly obvious, it only makes things worse. The only thing elementary about this Sherlock Holmes is how much of a missed opportunity it is.
Terry Barnhill
Staff Reviewer
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