Panel of the Week – Farewell

I’m closing down Panel of the Week. Going to them thar Techland hills. Read on for the final heartfelt goodbye…

Invincible’s Costume – New vs Classic

In an upcoming one-shot called Invincible Returns that is coming out this spring the creators are going to return Invincible to his original yellow, blue, and black costume. Today we are going to look at some of the costume successes and failures of Mark Grayson (Invincible) as well as his friends and foes.

Panel of the Week 2/3/10 – Ultimate X #1

What’s that? You wanted another Wolverine? But y’know, younger and blonder? Behold! Click the bloody knuckles for more…

Top 10 Beatings of Kick-Ass

During the first eight issues of Kick-Ass our hero repeatedly gets the shit beaten out of him. Here are the top ten panels of Kick-Ass getting his ass kicked. (Plus a bonus round!) Click the bloody pulp for more…

Panel of the Week 1/27/10 – Avengers: Initiative #32

The Taskmaster is great example of a character that has original powers and style but no one really knows what to do with him. Perpetually cast as a mercenary and a trainer of henchmen he hasn’t found his voice just yet. Of course, that might be because he wears a skull mask for no reason and a white cape and hood. Click the impale for more…

From the Longbox – Path

Path is a fable, I think. It has talking animals and someone learns a lesson I’m pretty sure. Which is what makes a fable a fable, no? When Doppler the rabbit is on the run from a pack of crocidogs he is saved by a tumbling elephant named Dodge. Nothing solves a problem like dropping an elephant on it. Click the crater for more…

Panel of the Week 1/20/10 – Hulk #19

I know, I know, I just did a post about a Hulk fighting the Fantastic Four. But now Fall of the Hulks is really (like, totally) getting into full swing and dammit Ed McGuinness is behind the wheel. I can’t say no to him. I would read a Gossip Girl comic if he drew it. Click the clobberin’ for more…

From the Longbox – Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.

This is Elsa Bloodstone. She’s a monster hunter and she rolls with twin shotguns as well as twin uzis. Not even sawed-off boomsticks either. These are full stock and full barrel angry instruments of justice. Click the guns (ha) for more…

Week of 1/13/10 – Conan: Weight of the Crown

Darrick Robertson, the man behind the ‘The Boys’, took on everyone’s favorite barbarian with this Conan one-shot. Shortly after Conan buries the woman he loves he goes looking for blood. And when Conan loses himself in battle it’s bad the other side. Click the backhand for more…

From the Longbox – Cla$$ War

This is what happens when you piss off The American. Click the molars for more…

Week of 1/6/10 – Green Monk

Yeah so Marvel did drop some event called Siege this week but it was underwhelming. I couldn’t help but pick up this tiny little book called Green Monk just minding its own on the second shelf at Midtown. What a surprise that I should pick up an entire book made of friggin splash panels. This is Oxbreaker. He’s anitsocial. Click the broken ox for more.

From the Longbox – Civil War

In 2006 Marvel’s Civil War kicked off with a very big bang. And the deaths of hundreds of civilians including busloads of school children. The resulting crater left the Marvel super hero community split in half and fighting each other. Its political overtones were subtle like sledgehammers and its finale was abrupt and unsatisfying. Click the face off for more…

Week of 12/23/09 – Fall of the Hulks Gamma

The cover of this issue (Fall of the Hulks Gamma) features 8 characters that either share the name Hulk or have Hulk-like powers. In order they are: Hulk, Skaar (son of Hulk), Red Hulk, Red She-Hulk, A-Bomb, She-Hulk, Samson, and finally Lyra (Hulk’s daughter from the fucking future!). No wonder there’s an event called Fall of the Hulks. Maybe we can get their numbers down to what I can count on one hand. Click the team-up for more…

Week of 12/16/09 – Vengeance of the Moon Knight #4

Crab cakes and brutality, that’s what Moon Knight does. Well, I’m making an ass out of ‘u’ and ‘me’ with the crab cakes. But Konshu’s unreasonably angry avatar on Earth is gonna turn down a fresh crab cake if he’s crashing a cocktail hour? I say no. The rest of the time? He’s knocking out teeth. Click those teeth for more…

From the Longbox – Reaper

Sometimes I just want to see some ninjas doing some cool ninja shit. I’m sorry. I don’t always want deep character development or decompressed story lines. Or ‘events’. I just to see a guy chop another guys arm off with a katana. I’m easy. Click Skeletor here for more…

Week of 12/9/09 – Deathlok #2

When two very valuable soldiers get blowed up the guys in charge are in a jam. Solution? Cobble the working bits from both men into a super cyborg warrior dubbed Deathlok the Demolisher! Click his little six shooter for more…

From the Longbox – Marvel Team-Up #14

In issue #14 of Marvel Team-Up writer Robert Kirkman pulled his own character, Invincible, through a dimensional portal into a fight between Spidey and Doc Ock. Click the full body check for more…

Week of 12/3/09 – Siege The Cabal

Oh, Mask. The things you say sometimes, honestly! Well it’s finally happening. Norman is really starting to come unhinged. Just like every single hero in the Marvel Universe has hinted/suggested/screamed for the last year or so. It’s just a matter of time blah blah blah. Here in a quite moment Norman seeks council from his oldest and most trusted advocate, The Green Goblin. Click the creepiness for more.

From the Longbox – The Magdalena

Right near the sunset of all the terrible trends of 90’s comics The Magdalena was published. Put out by Top Cow comics the guys behind the T&A holy trinity. Witchblade, Lara Croft, and then The Magdalena. In this three part series Sister Rosalia here faces off against the Vampiri. All this nearly a decade before Twilight, Tru Blood, and the Diaries made fangs super-fashionable. But when Rosy discovers that Vamps ain’t that bad she defends her new blood-sucking friends from Inquisitor special ops. Click the swordplay for more about the holy hotness…

Week of 11/25/09 – New Avengers #59

What does Luke Cage look like?!?! Ok, that was my first and last Pulp Fiction reference. Promise. In the land of the Marvel U there are three Avengers teams. By all accounts the new avengers are probably ranked three of three. But when it’s clubhouse leader Luke Cage gets captured by Mister Norman Osborne the call goes out for a rescue team. Look who answers. Click the lineup for more…

From the Longbox – Daredevil: Yellow

Daredevil: Yellow is technically an origin story. For those who might not know, when Matt Murdock was first starting out as costumed vigilante he wore an outfit that was mostly yellow. And no, it was not because he was blind. He made his first costume out of his dead father’s old boxing robe. Click the posedown for more…

Week of 11/18/09 – Punisher #11

What happens to a grizzled, New York City vigilante like the Punisher when he gets hacked to pieces and thrown into the sewer? FrankenCastle happens. You and me? We die. Frank Castle? He gets resurrected by Morbius the living vampire down in the old Morlock tunnels beneath Manhattan. Some things just ain’t fair. Click the lumbering for more…

From the Longbox – Blankets

Where to begin with Blankets? This critically-acclaimed, whopping, volume of a coffee table book has been on every best-of list since it was published back in 2003. And now it is here in Panel of the Week’s revered Longbox column. I could go on and on about how writer/artist Craig [...]

Week of 11/11/09 – Batgirl #4

How big is the friggin Bat-Universe right now? There feels like 7 or 8 Robins running around. And now the Bat-Females are multiplying with each new crossover. The latest Batgirl, Stephanie Brown, is featured here, hear her roar evil-doers! Click the posing for more…

From the Longbox – Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born

When Roland the Gunslinger was a boy of only 14 he was sent on his first mission. Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born is the story of Roland Deschain before the events of the seven Dark Tower novels by Stephen King. If you never read the novels you won’t understand the comic. Hell, even if you did read the novels this series doesn’t make much sense. Click the gunplay for more…

Week of 10/4/09 – Captain America Reborn #4

Gotta look close at this one. That is not a glimmer of hope in Cap’s eye. Those are Red Skulls. As in THE Red Skull. As in that vermillion visaged villain (hey, it is the fifth of November) has taken control of Cap’s newly reincarnated body! Click those demon peepers for more…

From the Longbox – High Roads

As an artist I suppose it can be hard to draw boring, everyday, rank and file Nazi storm troopers. So why not mix it up a little and throw some steam punk in to that sauce? Yes! Sprinkle some pipes here and some gauges there, now THAT is German engineering. Oh and ninjas. Click the drive-by for Nazi ninjas…

Week of 10/28/09 – Secret Warriors #9

Forget Kratos, this is the REAL God of War, Ares. Lately Ares, who inexplicably has been taking orders from Norman Osborn, has been butting heads with just about everyone including Nick Fury’s Secret Warriors. This is Ares after a secret base just self-destructed on top of him. Click the rubble for more panels from this week…

Top 5 X-Uniforms

There have been many teams that call themselves the X-Men over the years. One thing that has changed as much as the roster has been the uniform of the X-Man. Panel of the Week weighs in on the top five X-Uniforms of all time as well as some of the get-ups that didn’t cut it. Click the splashy for more…

Week of 10/22/09 – Invincible Iron Man #19

And so “World’s Most Wanted” finally comes to a conclusion (if you can call it that). In the end Norman Osborn shows up in his Iron Patriot armor he administers an appropriate beating to Tony Stark who now can only pilot a modified Mark I Iron Man armor. Click the pounding for more…

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