MattyLoves.com

Welcome to yet another comic book Wednesday. Drink it in. This week’s not going to go down as smooth as I prefer. My cat, bestie, main homie, Tildy is going under the knife this morning to get a small mass removed from her little snout. Although I know she’s going to be fine post-op, my wallet on the other hand–sheesh. A whole lot of love can be expensive, and she’s the greatest thing in my life. Worth every penny. But besides that snag financially, everything else couldn’t be better.

I wrapped up taping issues/episodes three and four of MattyLovesPodcast this afternoon. We have some really fun stuff ahead that I hope listeners will enjoy. I want to thank ‘Dr.’ Tom Lucas for being an awesome co-host. He’s a talented dude. Go on Amazon and buy his stuff. You don’t need any reason. Take my word for it. You’ll probably end up thanking me.

Allow me to take a minute to rant based on my observations about this up and coming generation. In this day of texting over talking, does anyone else think that women 20-23 have gotten really good at typing the word: LITERALLY? They do say it. A lot. Does it end up in texting vernacular?

“Oh my God. No. You don’t understand. Like, I was literally standing there literally looking at my car and I was like, ugggh. You know? It’s Sunday. Of course my windows are going to be rolled down. Everyone knows in the summer it’s literally hotter on Sundays. I don’t understand why someone would want to take a woman’s purse out of the front seat.”

 Or…

“So this ‘kid,’ like, literally took out his wallet and, like, tried to pay for me. I was literally about to say something. You know? I’m an independent person. He didn’t even, like, open doors for me either. Like, all night. I literally wanted to strangle myself.” 

Those are two conversational examples of the amalgam of improper word usage that has become an eye-rolling caveat of the English language in Orlando, Florida. Does anyone else experience similar cases? It’s an epidemic. Literally. It’s similar to the ‘Really?!’ craze five years ago. Glad that’s over. This soon shall pass.

But enough about weird girls. There’s more important stuff in this world to decipher and comprehend and understand and figure out–LIKE COMICS!

[Editor’s Note: Matt de Simone is 33, still single, loves bowling, hates Bubble Tape.]

Well, well, well, comic book fans. She-Ra is Skeletor’s daughter. I’m not kidding! He-Man The Eternity War is so money and I really don’t think you people know it. Looking back on last week’s books (that I have read), ­HTEW is pretty sweet. I’m not sure if Hordak or Skellie’s screwing with Adora’s brainparts, but its been an interesting ride learning new little tidbits about She-Ra and even Skeletor years before. (Did you all know he’s He-Man’s Uncle? It’s true! Well, now it is. Just read the comics.)

We Stand On Guard is yet another solid kickoff issue published by Image Comics. Lone Canadian survivors must learn to survive in the wastelands of Canadia, no thanks to the U.S. robots/AT-ATs of death. The first issue is more of a set-up. A team is established. Now it’s time for Brian K. Vaughan to ‘wow’ us. (It will happen, I’m just not sure how many issues it will take before that happens.)

Independent comics are truly where it’s at right now. I’m not kidding you guys, never in a million years did I think I would be into all the creator-owned material I’ve absorbed in the past two years. I look forward to the new stuff from Image on a monthly basis. It’s not ‘all-Invincible, all-day’ anymore. I’m getting older as a comic book reader. Subconsciously, I think I want to see everything that’s out there not necessarily wearing a cape. One of the main reasons I’ve always read and collected comics is for their ability to take you away from a crapbag day and, for example, throw you side by side with Atom Eve, soaring through the cosmos. Yes, please. I currently feel more of an escape when reading the stuff from Image Comics than I do reading the new stuff from Marvel and DC. I’m inspired. It gives a guy like me hope. Read more creator-owned material, people. I don’t know if any of you are noticing, but a small group of writers for Marvel and DC are scaling back their “Big 2” stuff and transitioning into the focus of creating their own personal works. In my opinion, for comic readers aware of Hollywood’s dirty fingers wrapped up in the comic book industry, the readers are beginning (or will begin) to steer toward Image Comics, Dark Horse, Boom!, and other independent publishers. That’s just my opinion.

But don’t think I’m not digging Marvel’s Secret Wars action anymore. That is definitely not the case. The price points are a little rough, but the stories are worth the cost for the most part. Planet Hulk #2 (the week before last) was, for lack of a better word, incredible. I want a Devil Dinosaur. I wasn’t sure how Sam Humphries would integrate a Hulk into this particular book. His choice of Doc Green–the newest personality of the Hulk–is the right one. Steve Rogers has no recollection of his previous life, but Hulk knows something he doesn’t. They run from other dinosaurs, manage to lose Devil, race the rapids, drop from a waterfall, and then encounter a sea monster. Tell me that don’t sound like some country fun.

For me, the Secret Wars tie-in stories don’t have anything to do with Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s Secret Wars story. And this will work out in the end. One thing the tie-ins add to Hickman’s story are the various charatcers. Although I doubt Karl Kauffman from Where Monsters Dwell… will make an appearance. If he does, I stand corrected and will be floored with joy. But regardless, I feel reading the tie-ins will be a better experience for a 33-year old reader than a 13-year old reader.

In getting back to issue four of Secret Wars, characters are starting to die and I’m on the edge of my seat wondering who else is going to bite it. I’m super-surprised that the internet isn’t wigging out over the latest issue. Usually, I would be pissed that Cyclops is dead. (Spoiler.) But we’re in Battleworld where 468 Cyclopi exist. (Wait. Did I do the ‘spoiler’ tag wrong? Oh well.) Dr. Doom’s ‘cool’ is most definitely the rule when it comes to Battleworld. He’s getting irritated with those who call him out (Cyke, Doctor Strange) for not actually saving the world but only saving himself and taking pieces of heroes’ past lives, then making them his own–ex. Sue Richards. Doom’s a thief, and his bitch ass is going to pay. We’re now at the halfway point. Can’t wait for what lies ahead in issue five.

Another thing I’ve mentioned before that Marvel excels in producing are captivating Star Wars comics. Any of you reading Darth Vader know exactly what I mean. If this story existed before Empire Strikes Back hit theaters, everyone would’ve been rooting on Vader for the last two films of the original trilogy and they wouldn’t have been nearly as compelling. It definitely would’ve changed feelings one way or the other. But knowing what we know now makes Vader’s comic book even more thrilling. He’s back on Tatooine. He’s seen where his son grew up. It makes him sick to know his offspring was raised on the same crop of dust he grew to despise. It has to. Vader’s wheeling and dealing with the Hutts and has sent his sidekick within enemy lines to put together a band of miscreants to rob an Imperial vessel hauling millions of credits. Vader knows Emperor Palpatine is up to something. Vader recovered the money, but it’s the property of the Empire. Why does he want the loot? Vader’s gots to get paid. I told you this book was dope.

Oh wow. I haven’t gotten to my DC titles from last week. Let’s see. Well, I already touched on HTEW. I’m hearing such good things about Action Comics from people at the shop. Are we reading the same book? There’s a piece missing in the story that I am having a hard time surpassing. How did Superman loose his powers? Or most of them? Or, whatever? The fact they’re taking so long to show us what happened is waining on my interest. There are highlights. Aaron Kuder’s art is some of the best to hit a Superman book in over ten years. Dude’s got Supes nailed down pat. His art style is similar to Chris Burnham’s. The art is proportionate, very real. His backgrounds are phenomenal. Anyway, the art in Action is holding my attention. There’s got to be something awesome for the Superman books coming down the pike, right? Right?!

Ugh. Moving forward to this week…

My list for 7/8/2015

AGE OF APOCALYPSE 1

AMAZING SPIDEY RYV 2

BATMAN 42

BLACK SCIENCE 16

CIVIL WAR 1

DESCENDER 5

INJECTION 3

MAD MAX FURY ROAD: MAD MAX 1

SPIDER-ISLAND 1

SPIDER-VERSE 3

SQUADRON SINISTER 2

STAR WARS LANDO 1

Oh my, a new Mad Max comic? The first two issues raised a few eyebrows. For any of you fools who complained about there not being enough Max in Fury Road, I hope you get your fill with this single issue. I’m still waiting on the second printing of issue one, which may be out this week.

I believe there are only two issues of Descender left to go. I’ve spoke about this book in a previous blog. Dustin Nguyen’s art fits this story perfectly. I really hope Jeff Lemire has another Tim-21 story in mind (if he survives).

Star Wars: Lando drops. Duh. I can’t wait to hear Billy Dee’s voice reverberating out of the comic-reader speakers in my brain and ears.

There’s only one selection from DC Comics for me this week. I really enjoyed Batman #41 last month. It was the one new title from the DCYou campaign I was worried about. Not doubting Scott Snyder, but more so the direction the powers-that-be at the WB. This particular style of story is one I wasn’t expecting. I love a Batman story where Bruce must fight his way back to the top after realizing playing the wall isn’t the way to go. Batman always wins. I’m stoked to see how he manages to come out on top of this one.

The Secret Wars tie-ins bring back two familiar arcs that changed the game, so to speak. Age of Apocalypse returns. I started rereading AoA a few months back and got about half way through the second book of the complete collection. I moved on intending to return to complete the series, but good grief, I read a lot of comics. I definitely will return to that series but in the meantime, I’m interested to see what this tie-in does to further phase out the X-Men (and to see how fun this story is too!). Civil War ought to bring forth new prospectives on the whole “Cap vs. Tony” dynamic. I believe this new series is a scenario in which the war never ended and that its waged on for years. I think. We’ll see. I could look up the synopsis, but I won’t.

Hey man, throw me another issue of Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows, Squadron Sinister, and Warren Ellis’ Injection and I’m all set, brother.

Lots of reading, writing, and editing sit patiently on my plate for the rest of the week. I can’t tell you enough how proud I am of this little podcast I’ve started up. ‘Dr.’ Tom and I have some cool stuff in the oven, ready to knead, bake, and rise up all kinds delicious and wonderful. Stay tuned. It’s going to be fun.

Have a great weekend, y’all! New podcast will be up on Friday! Be good to yourself.

Matt de Simone once dialed 9-1-1 on a payphone at a public pool. He was nine and didn’t know if you had to pay to dial for emergencies. Matt soon found out the hard way. It was one of those summer lessons he would never forget. That lesson: Use common sense, you fool. Check out his podcast to hear how much he’s grown up since then. Sort of.